PC's and How6rd's CBB Corner: Week 6

Dude…

Just when you thought there was a clear number 1 team in the country another team is there to conquer the “best team in the nation” once again. That team also happened to lose to a team that lost this past week to a school ranked 231st in the country (according to KenPom rankings) before the week started. Just as last year nothing makes sense and we have no clue how it will turn out now that conference play is just around the corner or already here for everybody, but the dudes got you covered below to try our best to recap more mayhem!

PC’S CBB CORNER

Kansas Balls Away from Home- Kansas demonstrated a tough, gritty teamwork in the win at Assembly Hall. Kansas won the game 75-71. The Jayhawks trailed most of the game and was down 13 at one point. The Jayhawks always seem to wait til the second half to actually play like a top 5 team. It’s extremely frustrating as a fan. If Dajuan Harris Jr can be effective throughout the game this team could contend for a national championship. Another huge fault is the Kansas bench. That’s exactly where those guys belong, riding the bench. McDowell and Furphy are the only two guys that should be in this rotation. Maybe Parker Braun to give the bigs a breather down low, but other than that, the rest of the team can stay on the bench. Timberlake, bench. I don’t want to see that guy on the floor ever. The top 4 guys in Hunter Dickenson, KJ Adams, Dajaun Harris Jr, and Kevin McCullar are going to try and carry this team. It’s pretty scary being a Kansas fan. If one of those guys have a bad game, it’s almost guaranteed a loss.

Purdue is the Best Team in the Country- The game on Peacock featured two of the best teams this season. The game did not disappoint. The Boilermakers won 92-84. Arizona played well. Caleb Love had 29 points and 6 boards. However, the rest of the Wildcats did not help him out. Ballo only had 13 points. On the other hand, Zach Edey performed well with 22 points and 9 rebounds. He had his supporting cast that helped him out drastically. Fletcher Loyer had a career high with 27. Braden Smith had 26. The supporting role of the Boilermakers allowed them to take the lead all the way out to 17 points. Purdue should be the #1 team in the country after they’ve beat 4 of the top 10 teams in the nation. Purdue was my favorite to win the title, and they continue to support my early claim.

Kentucky edges out North Carolina- The CBS Sports Classic lived up to its name. Kentucky and North Carolina put on an instant classic that turned out to be a single possession game with 10 seconds left. RJ Davis balled out for the Tar Heels with 27 points. Armando Bacot had 20 as well. On the Kentucky side, D.J Wagner scored 14 and lightning in a bottle player, Rob Dillingham had 17 off the bench. Rob Dillingham is just so fun to watch. If he gets hot, it’s unlikely he misses a shot in general. Freshman Reed Sheppard continues to become a lock in next year’s draft as he put up 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. This Kentucky team is loaded with talent. Even though they had an early lead, North Carolina got the game to 2. They brought the ball up and tried to free RJ Davis up. However, a botched pass ended up having the ball almost bounce out of bounds. Davis tried to save it, but ended up having his foot on the line. The Wildcats made both of their free throws and won the game. Both teams look like deep run candidates coming March. Kentucky still has some growing to do due to their youth of their roster. North Carolina needs that 3rd guy to make that jump to help out Bacot and Davis. Both teams will be good, Kentucky was just better on this day.

Is Michigan State back on track? Tom Izzo’s Spartans were picked to be a top 5 team this year in the preseason. Then, they lost to James Madison on their home floor. Then, they lost to Duke. After a few gimmie wins, they got manhandled by Arizona. After picking up a win against Georgia Southern, they took back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Nebraska. All seemed lost to keep Izzo’s 25 consecutive tournament bid seemed to be in shambles. Playing #9 Baylor seemed like another loss was coming, it looked like one of the longest streaks was over. Except, the Spartans kick the snot out of undefeated Baylor. Tyson Walker finally showed up in a basketball game and scored 25 points. AJ Hoggard is another guy who has been pissing down his leg all season that showed up on Saturday. He had 14 points and 5 assists. The Michigan State defense shut down RayJ Dennis and freshman Ja’kobe Walter to a combined 18 points. So, with a quad 1 win are the Spartans back on the course that everyone expected them to be? I think this is a massive step in the right direction. However, they haven’t been consistent. One big win doesn’t account for the 3 games they should’ve won (JMU, probably Wisconsin, and Nebraska). They need another big win to really be considered to be back in contention to make the NCAA Tournament.

How6rd’s Big East/Mid-Major Roundup

UConn beat a glorified Mid-Major team in Gonzaga-  “Wait but Gonzaga isn’t Mid-Major?!” That’s what many college basketball fans including all of Gonzaga would say with how successful they’ve been regardless of the current conference they’re in, but the truth is this season they really do look like a squad of that caliber and truthfully one of the worst Gonzaga rosters we’ve seen under Mark Few in MANY years. The Huskies star in Tristen Newton had arguably his worst game of the season missing shots early on and struggling to even move the ball and create plays at a consistent rate so, in UConn fashion, another star stepped up with Donovan Clingan finally doing what was asked of him preseason. As Clingan and Cam Spencer put up 36 combined points anchoring UConn to victory there was more wrong with Gonzaga than right as Newton’s off night wasn’t even a true issue for how poor Gonzaga shot from the field. Outside of a good night from Anton Watson nobody else really had a solid night, whether it was poor shot selection from Nolan Hickman or just more lazy basketball in general from Ryan Nembhard and no bench production this team has looked all out of sorts within their last two Power Six contests. As things remain to look up for UConn and showcasing their depth it’s more so the opposite for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, as their best case for a strong March Madness case hasn’t looked anywhere near as impressive as it has in the past for non-conference play.

Creighton…you good?-  I think this is a VERY similar case of how this Creighton squad came into last year with a bit more experience than they had back then. They’ve handled most of the teams they should handle but they also struggle with teams that seem very outmatched by the Bluejays and quite frankly their resume is very up and down right now before Big East play has even begun. They have dominated a decent squad like Nebraska and stretched out a good win in the closing minutes against Alabama (took Purdue to their limit) but have had two blowout losses to two Mountain West teams in Colorado State and a way less impressive UNLV squad who lost to Loyola Marymount just a game before. In my opinion they have good players and should have a similar run of wins in the Big East as they did last year because I trust Greg McDermott and their experience, but also if Trey Alexander has a bad game this team struggles TERRIBLY to work up shots without using him. The defense itself hasn’t been too impressive as it was last year making them even more special from what they had, but if Alexander isn’t hitting shots or doing something to give this team a spark at their toughest moments in close games then there could be some consistency issues with this year’s Bluejays squad.

Northwestern: beating the best to losing to one of the worst- If there is a stretch of a season so far that sums up what this sport brings to us, it’s the past two weeks that the Northwestern Wildcats have had. NU beat the number one squad in the nation in OT which made them look like the best team on the court in that one…to losing to one of the worst teams in the country on paper Chicago State. Now I’ll take this sentence giving the Cougars their props, as they played a very solid game in this one matching the Wildcats shot-for-shot in this one and Wesley Cadet (excluding the six turnovers) was making drives to the basket and passes look easy multiple times against the same players that gave Purdue fits not too long ago. That being said, Northwestern’s bad runs outweighed their good ones as when they went four minutes without a single score Chicago State had managed to build their biggest lead of the game at 45-38 with 17 minutes to go in the second half. Even with that much time left meanwhile the Wildcats never really got a strong lead back at any point the rest of the game and Chicago State was already hitting on all cylinders no matter how hard NU tried as the team led out by Boo Buie took a huge hit to their March Madness resume after gaining a big plus against Purdue. What a weird yet crazy sport.