PC and How6rd's CBB Corner: Week 10

Dude…

This week proves why College Basketball is a roller coaster ride. At the beginning we had a buildup. The beginning of the ride is always the most anticipated part of the journey. We’ve had to build up to conference play that had teams being tested early. Giving us the anticipation of what was to come. That part of the ride is over. We are now in the loopty loop of the conference play. This is the most upsets we’ve seen out of the top 10 in the AP poll in decades. The Dudes have your latest reaction to the beginning of the loopty loop part of the ride.

PC’S CBB Corner

Upset Next to Upset: Out of the top 10 AP Poll teams, only 2 came out unscathed this week. #1 Purdue fell to Nebraska. Nebraska has been a team I’ve had some slight interest in. They had beat the “Blue Blood” team of Indiana at home, they took a tough loss to Wisconsin. However, the Boilermakers couldn’t get anything going. Keisei Tominaga went off for the Cornhuskers. He had 19 points and was 5-9 from three point range. The Boilermakers dominated from start to finish. Watch out for Nebraska getting into the tournament this year. However, the loss to Iowa hurts those chances some. #2 Houston got a warm welcome by losing TWICE. The Cougars lost in their first true road games in the Big 12. The Iowa State Cyclones first welcomed them by defeating them in Aims 57-53. Houston shot horrifically from the floor and couldn’t defeat a solid Big 12 opponent. Then, they went and faced the home state conference team in TCU. You can’t call it a rivalry due to it being Houston’s first year in the conference, but being from the same state had to mean something. Plus, TCU was coming off a bogus loss to Kansas in Phog Allen. So, Houston was kind of set up, but they still lost 68-67. Losing to 2 unranked opponents isn’t a great look, but it is Kelvin Sampson’s first year in the hardest conference in the nation. Speaking of top league in the nation, #3 Kansas lost (see section below for my rant). #5 Tennessee, #6 Kentucky, #8 Arizona, #9 Oklahoma, and #10 Illinois all lost this week. The rise and fall of college basketball, how can you not enjoy it?

KANSAS RANT: Ok, so I understand that we are still considered a National Championship contender, and that there are teams out there that haven’t done anything in the tournament cough Mizzou cough, but Kansas doesn’t look like a National Championship team right now. When they went to UCF it was supposed to be a simple win and get out. However, Kansas fell apart in the second half. Something of a rarity for a Bill Self team. It doesn’t help that they turned the ball over 18 times. I’m sorry, you shouldn’t win with that many turnovers. The big 4 have been playing well. Not in this game. Hunter Dickenson seemed almost swallowed up by UCF. He ended up with 12 points in a non-existent effort. Speaking of non-existent, are we not going to talk about Elmarko Jackson? I mean at least shoot the ball. He scored 0 points on 0 SHOT ATTEMPTS?!! I mean what the hell are we doing out there. I would rather have someone shoot poorly than not at all. A good shooter will find his rhythm eventually. I mean, if Furphy goes 4-8 and only 1-4 from three, I want that on the floor than 0-0. Even bum boy Nick Timberlake who was 2-3 from the floor with 5 points. If you don’t attempt a shot, then you have nothing to watch to try and fix it. I hope Furphy gets some more minutes, as he will be a key piece next year. I just want Elmarko Jackson to at least try and make a play with his shot. The Jayhawks lost 65-60 in a come from behind victory. Jaylin Sellers and Darius led the way for this unbelievable upset. Kansas did bounce back and beat #9 Oklahoma. Hunter Dickenson and company showed up and took care of business. KJ looked like an x factor as he will be another guy KU can hold onto come next season. Kansas is still going to be fine. They’re still in contention. However, their weaknesses have been exposed and if one of those freshmen can’t step it up (even you McDowell, I see you). If someone would step up consistently, this team could win. If they don’t, look for another first weekend exit.

North Carolina and UCONN stand tall: The only two teams to not lose in the top 25 this week was #4 UCONN and #7 North Carolina. The Huskies are seeking to be the first back to back champions since the Florida Gators did it in 2006 and 2007. Dan Hurley has a squad that could do it. The Huskies are absolutely loaded again this year. Their guard Cam Spencer is lighting it up from the floor and leading this team in points with 15 a game. His three other huge contributors are Tristen Newton (15 ppg), Alex Karaban (15 ppg), and the big fella Donovan Clingan (14 ppg). These four can compete with any four in the nation. However, their bench is also helping out a lot. Stephon Castle has been consistently getting his fair share of shots and that’s the biggest difference between UCONN and a lot of the other top schools. Their fifth guy is showing up consistently, where the rest of the nation is still searching for that fifth guy to help out. North Carolina is different. RJ Davis plays well and they have a 90% chance of winning. Since Caleb Love left, RJ has been the man in Durham. He’s been able to have the offense run through him which has helped out his numbers a lot. Armando Bacot is the perfect second option and a co part to RJ Davis. Then, the two other role players are noticing their roles and contributing. You hardly see that, but Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan both notice they will get more buckets and wins if the ball goes through RJ. Are their shot attempts down because of that, of course. However, for the benefit of the team, they are being extremely efficient role players which always elevate a good team to great. These two teams have now been established as two different ways to build a team. UCONN is loaded with depth and skillful players. North Carolina has a star and irreplaceable pieces surrounding him. I can’t wait to see which sided philosophy pans out in the end. 

How6rd’s Big East/Mid-Major Roundup

Providence continues to spiral without Hopkins-  For a team that once looked like they were going to take over the Big East the injury of Bryce Hopkins not only made the Friars’ big-man depth near non-existent but also just lost as a whole. The Junior forward was the perfect half of a big-time duo next to the star player Devin Carter who is still healthy and getting buckets, but now without Hopkins to be his supporting cast to feed off of Carter has been asked to do almost everything on his own (aside from Josh Oduro slowly trying to become what Hopkins was to the team). With that there has been a lot of difficulty in keeping up with any team for a full 40 minutes for Providence and since Bryce Hopkins’ injury halfway through the Seton Hall game this team hasn’t looked near what they were all year so far losing their last four games. Kim English started off the year in his first time being at the head coach spot in Providence pretty well establishing roles for each player and really getting the best out of his starting lineup, but now he needs to quickly find a way to make up for what Hopkins brought to the team along with getting more production aside from Oduro down low. After their recent 20-point blowout to Xavier at home they have little to no room for error the rest of the way if they want to keep their tournament hopes alive at this point.

It’s overdue time to talk about Memphis-  Memphis is one of those teams similar to Gonzaga where you can consider them one of the best historical programs in the country yet they’re still in a “mid-major” conference, but they’re doing too good for me not to talk about them at this point. For not losing since the start of September, head coach Penny Hardaway and his group this year have been one of the hottest teams in the country (arguably the hottest) and their offense is a ginormous factor in that. Starting with one-half of their star duo in Jahvon Quinerly the Redshirt Senior point guard has been a huge facilitator of this high-powered scoring unit attributing to scoring baskets as well as he’s passed the ball around finding the best scoring opportunity for a teammate. Quinerly has also made two game-winning threes this month (in back-to-back games) and has also been a solid on-ball defender creating multiple fast break opportunities a game, yet the other half of this team’s star duo is doing everything to get them to game-winning opportunities or just helping dominate alongside Quinerly in David Jones. Also a transfer like his playmaking teammate, Jones has been a matchup nightmare for anybody trying to guard him one on one as he either will be too strong for someone to stop him from driving at the perimeter or too quick for someone to stay in front of him near the basket. The former St. John’s talent is top 10 in the nation for points per game and also leads the team in rebounds and steals, so in summary the Senior has been an absolute problem this season. The rest of the team doesn’t get near the playing time those two get, but they do enough to support the team in their own right whether scoring on offense or making stops on defense and Penny Hardaway looks to have a squad that can take on any team in the country right now.

Boise State is the latest Mountain West threat-  It seems like each week the Mountain West looks greater and greater with the top teams taking down each other and this past week Boise State looked arguably the most impressive in the country. Turns out the Broncos aren’t just a football school after all, as the team from Idaho has taken down two of the plethora of strong teams there are along the western region as they’ve seemingly dominated the three-point and rebounding areas of their past few games which is a recipe for major success in college ball. After starting their season 3-3 they’ve won nine of their last 10 games and remain one of the only undefeated teams in conference next to Utah State who has the longest winning streak at 15 games. The Broncos haven’t had the best looking games meanwhile as they’ve turned the ball over 43 times in just their last three games, but their constant rate of 30+ rebounds a game has really helped them out with that by getting second-chance points and ending possessions quickly for their opponents with defensive rebounds. An interesting month remains for the Broncos as their next two games are opponents who have given other talented team fits at the least in UNLV and San Diego State, then after a game against Fresno State they finish off January with two huge contests against the red-hot Utah State Aggies and gritty New Mexico Lobos.