Dude…
Feast week is upon us and is rocking and rolling through the week. We’ve had some great slates of games this week that brought us buzzer beaters and blowouts. Here is your weekly CBB update from none other than PC.
Kam Jones helps Marquette- Marquette had their first big matchup of the year as they welcomed Matt Painter’s Purdue Boilermakers team to their home floor. Purdue who had already beat my championship prediction in Alabama the week before. There are a lot of good players this year fighting for the National Player of the Year. Ryan Kalkbrennar, Mark Sears, Hunter Dickinson, Johni Broome just to name a few. However, Kam Jones may be my frontrunner right now. Jones had a triple double, the first one since Dwayne Wade. He had 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Golden Eagles cruised to an easy win of 76-58. It was competitive until Kam Jones turned the heat up and got hot. Trey Kaufman-Renn had 16 and Braden Smith only had 11 on 4-11 shooting. Kam Jones is my current pick for National Player of the Year. Shaka Smart has another legit contender in the Big East, even with UCONN and Creighton in the mix.
Baylor vs. St. Johns Classic- Baylor and St. Johns may have given us game of the year. A double overtime thriller took place on a neutral court. St. Johns was down near the end of regulation, when Baylor’s terrible free throw percentage allowed St. Johns to get back into the game. When the game was tied in regulation, we needed another period of free basketball. Again, St. Johns found themselves down, Baylor would miss a few free throws, and then St. Johns tied it again to bring the game to a second overtime. This time, St. Johns found themselves up. With 9 seconds left, Baylor came down and made a clutch three. Baylor fouls Zuby Ejiofor, who goes to the line. He missed the first of a 1 and 1 and Norchad Omier got the rebound. He passed it up to Jeremy Roach who launched a 3. Roach called game as the ball swished through the net for a 99-98 victory. Norchad Omier led all scorers with 24. There is nothing too concerning with St. Johns as they just ended up on the short end of the stick. Baylor gets a big win to notch a good resume builder here early on in the year. This game should be in consideration for game of the year, even if it happened in November.
Duke Defense- After a tough loss to Kentucky last week, Duke was looking for a bounce back win in a tough environment in Arizona. Tommy Lloyd’s team has always been good, and Caleb Love came back to give Lloyd his #1 option back. Even with the offensive prowess of Caleb Love, the offensive scheme of Arizona had no effect on Duke. Duke locked down on defense, holding Arizona to less than 40% from the field and 26% from three. Caleb Love went 3-13 from the field with 8 points. A lackluster performance from the veteran. Cooper Flagg on the other hand, had 24 on 10-22 from the field. Flagg and Knueppel had most of the scoring and kept the game out of reach from the WIldcats. If I’m Arizona, I would be concerned about the shooting performance, or lack thereof. Duke gets a good bounce back win as they solidify as National Championship contenders after a huge win on the road.
D2 Drake? Usually I don’t cover mid majors… I leave that the How6rd (I think he’s off in Antarctica saving the penguins) but I couldn’t forget about my guys Bennett Stirtz and Isaia Howard on the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic Championship winning Bulldogs. Ben McCollum coached at NorthWest Missouri State University at a Division 2 school. Bennett Stirtz, Mitch Mascari, Isaiah Jackson, and Daniel Abreu all followed McCollum from Division 2 to the Missouri Valley Conference in the Drake Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are 6-0, beating Power 5 competition in Miami in the first round, and Vanderbilt in the championship. Bennett Stirtz is averaging 18.3 points per game, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Stirtz is looking good, and the role players on Drake allow the offense to run through him. Isaia hasn’t played a lot, but look out for the young freshmen for years to come. Shout out to the Bulldogs man, this is one hell of a story that I hope leads them to an NCAA Tournament bid.
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