PC and How6rd's CBB Corner: Week 2

Dude…

The second week of college basketball is over, and we have some amazing games to go over!! We had the Champions Classic on Tuesday, where the #1 Kansas Jayhawks faced #17 Kentucky. Also, #9 Duke faced #18 Michigan State. Then, in the Gavitt Games, #4 Marquette faced #23 Illinois. How6rd will be covering some of the mid-major games as well!! We all love sports, so let's take a look at these great games!!

PC’S CBB CORNER

Kansas beat Kentucky, but Kentucky looked impressive- Obviously the Jayhawk fan is going to start off with the Kansas game. The Jayhawks won 89-84 with a double digit comeback win in the second half. The big man in the middle, Hunter Dickenson, had 27 points and 27 rebounds. I mean ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? The best big in the portal picked the right place to come. Bill Self is known for his incredible usage of the big men, and has continued to do just that with Dickenson. Dujuan Harris Jr. had an outstanding shooting night with 23 points and going 5-6 from deep. Juan has been known as a non shooter, as he didn’t put up a single field goal attempt against NC Central. He only put up 4 attempts going 1-4 in the game against Manhattan College. Some people started to doubt Harris’s shooting ability. They were wrong. It’s like Dennis Rodman on the Chicago Bulls. Sure, he could shoot, but why would you shoot if you have MJ and Scottie Pippen on your team? Now I know Hunter Dickenson and Kevin McCullar aren’t the same as those two. I’m not that biased. However, Dujuan knows his role in the team is to be a facilitator. Just because he doesn’t shoot doesn’t mean he can’t. Finally, Kevin McCullar had a triple double, which is mind boggling that he was Kansas’s third best stat line on the night. He doesn’t need to attempt anymore threes as he continues to struggle beyond the arc, but if he stays in his role as a slasher, the Jayhawks are scary. The biggest surprise was Kentucky. This team is filled with freshmen. That usually implies that they will struggle. They did not. Rob Dillingham can put the ball in the bucket. He had 16 points in the first half and went off for a stretch in that 1st half where it didn’t seem like he could miss. Antonio Reeves had 24 points, although on poor shooting. Reed Sheppard was another one of those freshmen that balled out. He seemed to fit right in with the team and also had 13 points with only being on the floor for 16 minutes. The biggest surprise was Adou Thiero. TALK ABOUT X FACTOR!!! He was flying up and down the court. He was scrappy for loose balls and rebounds on the offensive end, and would propel himself to the other side of the court to come up with huge blocks on defense. This game came down to experience, which Kansas has more of. Dillingham sat for most of the 2nd half with foul trouble. It also always seemed like Kansas made the right move in the 2nd half when Kentucky did not. The Jayhawks were able to squeak out a win, but this Wildcats team isn’t one I want to see come tournament time.

ALL RISE FOR DUKE- Both Duke and Michigan State come into the Champions Classic with 1 loss. Duke, losing a close game to Caleb Love and Arizona, and Michigan State getting upset by James Madison on their own floor. Now, they look to not fall to two losses, which would have been a head scratcher if you said that at the beginning of the season. The Michigan State Spartans have been struggling from beyond the three point line and it continued throughout the first half. Kyle Filipowksi and Tyrese Proctor took the Blue Devils out to a double digit lead in the first half. In the second, Tyson Walker woke up in the second half. He almost made a few Duke defenders put their hands to the floor on a step back three. Malik Hall also went off and had 18 points of his own. However, whenever it seemed like the Spartans were down six or seven, the Blue Devils always answered. It wasn’t just Filipowski and Proctor who were filling up the stat sheet. Freshman Caleb Fostered blossomed into the missing piece Duke seemed to miss in their game against Arizona. Foster went 4-5 from three in a stretch where it didn’t seem like he could miss. Anytime it came to him, he made it rain from deep. The Blue Devils cruise to a 74-65 victory. The Blue Devils look like the team that is finding its pieces and is going to be a threat come March. If you’re a Spartan fan, don’t hit the panic button yet. That second half demonstrated that this team is starting to figure things out. They need guys like AJ Hoggard to contribute if they want to think about a National Championship.

How6rd’s Big East/Mid-Major Roundup

Kolek’s injury not an issue in dominant performance-  Going into the game against ranked teams in Marquette and Illinois there was a huge question over the heads of the Golden Eagles, but even as Tyler Kolek was questionable to play close to game time he had a stellar performance like his ankle wasn’t bothering him at all. Marquette’s defense has been looking top-tier so far this season and the same unit carried over into this game as Illinois had no two-point field goals in the last 11 minutes of the game and not a SINGLE shot made from the floor in the last 3 minutes and 11 seconds of the matchup. The first half was just about all Marquette outside of a couple of equalizer buckets from the Fighting Illini as Tyler Kolek was on fire early and it wasn’t until a quarter of the way into the second half that the home team gained the lead in the game. After the 11-minute mark meanwhile, Illinois would only make two three-pointers and some field goals the rest of the game as they were just about completely shut down on offense and preseason All-American Tyler Kolek had his first huge game on the season playing better with one bad ankle than most can with two good ones. After a tough win like this and seeing what Marquette looks like when their star player is on fire for the game this is so far the clear favorite in the Big East as it stands right now.

High expectations are a new roadblock for FAU: Last season FAU went into the year not expecting to be incredibly successful in the college basketball world let alone their own conference, but now after dominating the Conference USA last season and making a very impressive run to the Final Four everyone expects the best out of this team especially when they return nearly everyone to start the season and they get placed in the preseason top-10. The Owls were nearly in complete control of their first two home games of the season and looked like they were once again going to be completely unbeatable for at least the first month of the season. Then, the tables turned on them and they couldn't get a shot to fall if their lives depended on it at home against a low-major team that has had problems both on and off the court in the Bryant Bulldogs and had their first top-10 upset in school history. Games like this happen to ranked teams just about every season, yet Bryant was a HUGE underdog going into this game and this was an unfortunate way for the Owls to have their 19-game home winning streak end. Although this now brings the question as to whether they should’ve been ranked top-10 in the preseason which can be valid, I still believe this team is very capable of another huge run this season and now they know the very worst that can happen early in the season and clean their mistakes up the rest of the way into the tournament in 2024.

Saint Mary’s…what’s going on?: After being projected by multiple people including national media members not only to win the WCC this season over Gonzaga but even make the Final Four, the Gaels have seemingly fallen off a cliff since 10 minutes remained in their matchup against Weber State and in their last two games facing San Diego State and Xavier they’ve lost by a combined total of 32 points. Although both of those two teams have at least solid expectations for this year, the question now comes as to how a preseason top-25-ranked team is getting handled this badly by teams that they were supposed to be close to if not better performance-wise this year. Many people online are coming out of the woodwork and saying “they were never good” which is a hilarious lie, but it is true that with the singular loss of their leading scorer from last season Saint Mary’s looks way different now as they don’t have a player yet who can take over and become the leader this team needs in the tough stretches of the game. This role was projected to be former star freshman in Aidan Mahaney for this year, but since their dominant win against New Mexico he hasn’t shot over 30% from the field in his last three games and damn near has become a liability for this offense to get any sort of run going. It isn’t much of an easier ride for them either before conference play starts so they will have to try and win against some tough Mountain West competition next month in Boise State and Colorado State if they want to keep their at-large bid hopes alive before it’s too late.