- Admin
- #1
PLAYER WHO SHINED IN THE SPOTLIGHT
With its three most heralded freshmen sidelined by injuries and preseason All-American Grayson Allen hampered by a lingering toe injury, Duke needed someone else to hoist the team on his back. Enter Luke Kennard, who has morphed from spot-up shooting role player to national player of the year candidate seemingly overnight. In 11 games this season, Kennard has averaged a team-best 20 points per game on ultra-efficient 52 percent shooting from the field and 40.9 percent shooting from behind the arc. What’s even more impressive about Kennard is his versatility. While he will never be mistaken for a lock-down defender, he rebounds well for a guard, he has tremendous feel for the game and he is a skilled passer with keen court vision. Kennard’s field goal attempts may drop off as Allen’s toe improves and Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles shake off the rust, but it’s difficult to imagine him ceding much playing time. His outside shooting, passing and creativity off the dribble are too difficult to replace.
PLAYER WHO SHRANK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The transfer projected to make the biggest impact this season was dismissed from his new team after playing just a single game. Virginia coach Tony Bennett jettisoned forward Austin Nichols for unspecified rules violations last month after previously suspending him for the Cavaliers’ two preseason scrimmages and their season opener at UNC Greensboro. A 6-foot-9 forward who averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.4 blocks as a sophomore at Memphis two seasons ago, Nichols became the most coveted transfer on the market when he chose to leave the Tigers. He projected as an impact player at both ends of the floor for Virginia because of his ability to score in the paint, rebound and alter shots at the rim. In Nichols’ absence, Virginia has relied on 6-foot-9 Mamadi Diakite, 6-foot-11 Jack Salt and forwards Isaiah Wilkins and Jarred Reuter to anchor their frontcourt. None has duplicated Nichols’ scoring ability or rim protection alone, but they’ve collectively replaced some of his anticipated production.
CONFERENCE THAT HAS EXCELLED
So much for the notion that the Big 12 would not produce a worthy challenger to Kansas this season. The rest of the league has reloaded on the fly despite the departure of 11 of the 15 players on last year’s all-league teams including stars Buddy Hield, Isaiah Taylor, Georges Niang and Taurean Prince. Every Big 12 team is 75th or better in Ken Pomeroy’s latest rankings and the league collectively boasts a record of 75-17. Kansas has validated its preseason top-five ranking with a 9-1 start. Baylor owns the best resume of any team in the nation after victories over the likes of Louisville, Michigan State, Xavier and Oregon. Defensive-oriented West Virginia leads the nation in turnovers forced and points per possession surrendered. The ACC’s upper echelon may be stronger than the Big 12’s top tier and the Big East is certainly in the conversation too. But no league has thrived relative to preseason expectations than the Big 12 has.
CONFERENCE THAT GOT EXPOSED
Only sending one team to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year is no longer just a chilling possibility for the Mountain West. Now it’s highly likely given the league’s disastrous start to the season. Mountain West teams have a 2-12 record against Ken Pomeroy’s top 50, a 5-19 record against his top 100 and a 22-33 record against his top 200. None of the league’s three best wins — San Diego State over Cal, Boise State over SMU and Colorado State over Colorado — have come against surefire NCAA tournament teams. That the Mountain West could be this dreadful is surprising considering the league put five teams in the NCAA tournament in 2013. The Mountain West was No. 1 in RPI that year and boasted a stronger top tier than the Pac-12 during the Kawhi Leonard-Jimmer Fredette era just before that. Why the steep decline? The league is in a bad cycle. San Diego State has been a disappointment, UNLV is beginning a massive rebuild, New Mexico looks like it may need a coaching change and Nevada is still a year away from something special.
FOUR WHO HAVE SURPRISED
Baylor (8-0): The Bears didn’t receive a single vote in either preseason poll after saying goodbye to three of last year’s key starters. One month later, they’re undefeated and ranked fourth in the country after dispatching of Oregon, Michigan State, Louisville and Xavier during the past four weeks.
UCLA (10-0): The return of four of last year’s starters and the arrival of a decorated freshman class have helped transform second-ranked UCLA from one of last year’s biggest disappointments to one of this season’s pleasant surprises. The fast-paced, sweet-shooting Bruins average 97.5 points per game and own a handful of impressive wins, most notably a road victory at Kentucky.
Creighton (10-0): Torrid outside shooting has helped Creighton emerge as a potential threat to Villanova and Xavier in the Big East this season. The Bluejays have already beaten Wisconsin, NC State, Ole Miss and Nebraska, putting them squarely on track for their first NCAA tournament bid since Doug McDermott graduated in 2014
USC (9-0): Even though two of USC’s best players unexpectedly turned pro last spring and a third starter transferred to Marquette, the Trojans haven’t taken the step backward many anticipated. In fact, they’ve beaten Texas A&M on the road and SMU and BYU in Los Angeles on their way to an encouraging start.
FOUR WHO HAVE DISAPPOINTED
Connecticut (4-5): The Huskies had already suffered stunning losses to Wagner and Northeastern to start the season when the injury bug hit. They now must try to dig out of a deep early hole without their best all-around player, VCU transfer Terry Larrier, and their most heralded freshman, Alterique Gilbert.
Texas (5-4): Dismal point guard play, ice-cold outside shooting and erratic play from their freshmen have doomed the Longhorns so far in Shaka Smart’s second season. Aside from a decent win over Alabama, Texas has lost to the only credible teams it has faced — Northwestern, Colorado, Michigan and UT Arlington.
Syracuse (6-3): Three times Syracuse has faced power-conference opponents. Three times the Orange have fallen in alarming fashion. Double-digit losses to South Carolina and Wisconsin at least came against quality competition, however, last Monday’s loss to struggling Connecticut highlighted Syracuse’s offensive issues.
San Diego State (5-4): In a span of eight days, San Diego State may have sunk whatever chance it had of securing an at-large bid. The Aztecs lost to Loyola (Chicago), Grand Canyon and Arizona State, leaving themselves little chance of crawling back into NCAA tournament contention given the lack of chances for quality wins in Mountain West play.
BIGGEST UPSET
While Fort Wayne waylaying national power Indiana may be the season’s most memorable upset, it isn’t the most unlikely. Ohio State’s 79-77 home loss to Florida Atlantic on Dec. 6 was far more stunning and far more costly. Florida Atlantic was a 21-point underdog against the Buckeyes after going 8-25 last season and showing no signs of improvement this year. The Owls’ five losses prior to the Ohio State game came against juggernauts Texas State, SIU Edwardsville, Hawaii, Tennessee Martin and Hofstra. Florida Atlantic fell behind by 11 midway through the second half but rallied to force overtime. Nick Rutherford won the game for the Owls when he banked in the go-ahead runner with one second left in the extra session.
MOST MEMORABLE GAME
A handful of projected first-round picks. Two of college basketball’s most tradition-rich programs. Bill Raftery on the call. This month’s showdown between UCLA and Kentucky featured all the ingredients of an early-season classic, and the game itself did not disappoint. UCLA announced its return to title contention with a 97-92 upset victory over then-No. 1 Kentucky. The Bruins led by as many as 14 points in the second half en route to becoming just the fifth team to defeat the Wildcats at Rupp Arena during John Calipari’s seven-year tenure. What was even more impressive than the outcome was the way UCLA did it. The Bruins outgunned a Kentucky team that prides itself on excelling in transition, hitting 53 percent from the field and piling up the most points any team has scored on the Wildcats during the Calipari era.
BIGGEST COMEBACK
High Point trailed Morgan State by 20 with nine minutes left and by 13 with 95 seconds left before pulling off a near-impossible comeback. The Panthers closed the game with a 17-3 surge capped by senior Anthony Lindauer’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Lindauer’s game winner gave High Point its first lead of the game. At one point, Ken Pomeroy’s win probability tracker gave the Panthers a 0.2 percent chance of rallying for a victory.
BEST BUZZER BEATER
South Carolina thwarted Monmouth’s upset bid in remarkable fashion on Nov. 16. With a one-point deficit, no timeouts and just a few seconds left, Duane Notice spotted forward P.J. Dozier and threw him a floating cross-court pass. Dozier controlled the pass and sank a buzzer-beating 15-footer in one motion to give the Gamecocks a 70-69 win. Monmouth returns four starters from a team that upset Georgetown, UCLA, USC and Notre Dame last season yet had to settle for an NIT bid. South Carolina was one of the final seven unbeaten teams this season before losing for the first time Monday night without suspended star Sindarius Thornwell.
BEST DUNK
At 5-foot-10, Purdue guard P.J. Thompson isn’t exactly a fearsome rim protector. Thompson found that out the hard way earlier this month when he foolishly attempted to break up an alley-oop pass from Arizona State’s Shannon Evans to 6-foot-8 Obinna Oleka. ESPN’s Jay Bilas called it the best dunk he’d seen this season on the TV broadcast. Duke’s Grayson Allen and Wichita State’s Daishon Smith had a pair of contenders this past weekend, but Oleka’s dunk will be hard to beat.
WORST GAFFE
As the final seconds melted away in Bryant’s matchup with Brown last month, Bulldogs freshman Ikenna Ndugba dribbled out the clock, tossed the ball high in the air and raised his arms in celebration. It was a perfectly normal sequence except for one slight problem: Ndugba’s team trailed by one at the time.
You'll see this everywhere tomorrow. Wait for the end… #0 on Bryant thinks they won and dribbles out the clock ?????? pic.twitter.com/8XPaYWvHow
— Mike Goldfarb (@MikeGoldFool) November 29, 2016
Ndugba’s ill-timed brain cramp doomed Bryant to a heartbreaking road loss and made a hero of Brown senior point guard Tavon Blackmon. It was Blackmon whose driving layup with 3.8 seconds left had given the Bears a 91-90 lead on the previous possession.— Mike Goldfarb (@MikeGoldFool) November 29, 2016
– – – – – – –
Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @JeffEisenberg