College Basketball: Dec. 29th Update

There have been a number of twists, turns, ups and downs over the course of the past two seasons in the world of College Basketball. After a full, normal regular season in 2020 the NCAA Tournament was canceled as COVID-19 entered our lives, and a year ago it was great to have a season but there were times where it just didn’t feel normal. While we enjoyed having a complete full College Basketball season with the NCAA Tournament back – with no fans in the stands, to a handful of games per week getting canceled, to VCU having to pull out of March Madness before even playing a game because they didn’t have enough players, the 2021 season was not normal.

The not so normal we all endured last year, was one of the biggest reasons why so many College Basketball fans were so excited going into 2021-2022. Fans would be back in the stands, with mostly every player and coach fully vaccinated, plus a normal non conference slate and for the first handful of weeks the excitement was fulfilled. From watching Duke dominate The Champions Classic, to Feast Week to so many other fun, marquee moments it really did feel like College Basketball as a sport was officially back.

However, the season has come to a screeching halt as the new Omicron variant has quickly become the biggest story in all of sports. There were originally supposed to be 30 games in College Basketball on Tuesday December 28th. 15 of them have been postponed and that number continues to grow as time goes on. Each of St. Johns last 4 scheduled games have been postponed, and this is a Red Storm team that has been dying to get back on the floor since their loss to Pittsburgh on December 18th, which was so bad for their resume, there is a chance that loss can cost them an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Big East conference alone, has already had to postpone 10 conference games set to take place in the next week and there is zero doubt that number will continue to grow. With the amount of cancellations, and the disappearance of all of the excitement that took place earlier this season it feels like a very important time for the sport. Up to this point, teams were testing one or two players randomly and if a positive test popped up the rest of the team would be tested. This includes all players regardless of their vaccination status. Once you start testing every player on your team, even the ones who are asymptomatic, that is really when the positive tests really start to come in. With the amount of positives going rampant across the country the NCAA has one of two choices. Either change the protocols and stop testing vaccinated asymptomatic players or just put the season on hold. There is no way the season will be able to continue with about 15 games per night being canceled. The worst part is, a lot of these games in both College Basketball and Football are being called just a few hours or left before tip. It is insulting, to the fans, players and coaches who spent thousands of dollars flying across the country just for these games not to happen. With most teams and players being off and traveling home over the past week, it seems like a good bet that even more programs will have growing COVID-19 concerns within the next few days unless these teams just stop testing asymptotic vaccinated players. The CDC did announce Monday, that the quarantine period for someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 has been moved from 10 days to 5 days which should help. However, it is clear that with the number of cancellations and postponements COVID-19 will still unfortunately have a large impact on the College Basketball season.

Quick Hits in Major Conferences

ACC –  The ACC, had a handful of conference games including Duke holding off a very solid effort from Virginia Tech and Clemson going into Charlottesville and blowing out Virginia. Duke is by far the best team in the league, but after the Blue Devils this league has a lot of questions including who is the second best team? That is why it would be so important if a team like Clemson can emerge after a not so great start in conference play. When some of your top programs that you have been relying on are down like Virginia, Louisville and Florida State then you expect the league to struggle. Even North Carolina, who has plenty of talent, has had their ups and downs, and has a first year Head Coach in Hubert Davis. However, this could be the worst the ACC has looked in recent memory.

Big East –  No conference had more scheduled games get postponed or canceled this week than the Big East. There was a sneak peak into just how fun and challenging this league could possibly be when a desperate Villanova team was able to survive a poor first half against Xavier and couldn’t miss in the second half to eek out of a W. UConn was able to get 100% healthy as they welcomed the return of big man Adama Sanogo who along with Tyrese Martin helped the Huskies get back in the win column over Marquette. For teams like DePaul and St. Johns who have some work to be done if they want to punch tickets to the NCAA tournament, it will be interesting to see how if they survive a handful of their games have been wiped out to start the conference slate.

Big 10 –  The only team in the Big Ten to earn a win over a Power 6 team in the past week, was Illinois who dominated their rivals Missouri with a 88-63 victory in the bragging rights game. Although they are missing a preseason first team all conference member in Andre Curbelo, this is the best and most threatening Illinois has looked in a while and that includes last year. With Ayo Dosumnu, who was the best closer in all of College Basketball a season ago out of the picture now, guards Trent Frazier and Alfonso Plummer have become one of the most dynamic backcourts in College Basketball with their ability to pull up from anywhere for 3. This was a weakness for last years team that ended up with a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Junior big man, Kofi Cockburn has continued to dominate College Basketball just like each of his first two seasons and he is currently averaging 21.8 points per game and 12.1 rebounds per game. Purdue has established themselves early as the best team in the Big 10 but there isn’t a bigger threat to the Boilers than the Illini.

Big 12 –  It was a light week in the Big 12 Conference, as the conference’s two biggest games in Kansas Colorado, and USC Oklahoma State were both canceled due to COVID-19 related issues. One thing that remains clear, is that the 2021-2022 version of the Big 12 will be the same as usual with every night being an absolute war. Baylor has remained to look like the clear best team in the sport, Kansas is a top 5 caliber team, and teams like Iowa State and West Virginia have really been much better than expected. In addition, Texas will have too much talent and too good of a coach to keep struggling against good teams and Texas Tech’s defense will keep them in a lot of games. TCU is 10-1 and has picked up a pair of victories over Power 6 opponents Texas A&M and Georgetown. The league’s depth for a 10 team league is ridiculous and will continue to be one of the premier conferences in the sport.

Pac 12 –  Arizona has been one of the only brightspots in the Pac 12 in the early part of the non conference slate and unfortunately just took their first loss of the season on Tuesday against Tennessee. Even in a loss, it was hard not to be impressed with Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats. They really didn’t play well at all and almost came back to win a game they trailed for a majority of the way and started by trailing 16-2. Benedict Mathurin had 28 points and looked worthy of the NBA Draft Lottery Pick label that many have given him. Aside from Arizona, UCLA and USC at the top, the league is wide open. It was unfortunate that Stanford’s championship game in the Diamond Head Classic against Vanderbilt was canceled due to COVID-19 issue as the young Cardinal team does have some talent. With Oregon being one of the biggest disappointments in College Basketball, who can take advantage of a golden opportunity? It doesn’t seem like anyone wants to right now.

SEC –  There wasn’t a team in College Basketball that had a more important week than the Tennessee Vols as they picked up their biggest win of the season on Tuesday night over Arizona. There were a lot of expectations for Rick Barnes’ team with the amount of talent they brought in from last season. With that being said, even with the additions of 5 star freshman Point Guard Kennedy Chandler and Auburn transfer Justin Powell who averaged 11.7 points in the SEC last year the Vols were really struggling offensively and especially in big games. Tennessee was not able to score at all against Villanova and Texas Tech, and it looked ugly in the process. For the second season in a row, Tennessee was looking like a team that had too many good players and all of them didn’t have a clue what to do or how to play with each other. That changed against Arizona, as John Fulkerson led the way with 24 points and Santiago Vescovi had 15. Kentucky also continues to impress as they dismantled Western Kentucky behind Oscar Tshiebwe who broke Shaquille O’Neal’s Rupp Arena record for rebounds in a game with 28. Considering Tennessee has a trip to Tuscaloosa coming and LSU Auburn Wednesday night in the SEC…. buckle up

Zac’s Elite 8

1. Baylor- There are still a significant number of people who think it’s crazy to call this Baylor team as good as last year’s team that won the National Championship. One thing that both teams have in common, is the ability to blow bad teams out. Baylor will head into their Big 12 opener against undefeated Iowa State, coming off of a 94-57 beatdown of Alcorn State and another monster victory over Northwestern State. There are no words to describe the job Scott Drew has done since he got to Waco rebuilding this program, let alone what he’s done to start off last year after losing 4 key pieces from last year’s National Championship squad.

2. Duke – AJ Griffin, was able to show the world not only, just how good of a player he is but also just how important he could be to the Blue Devils long term National CHampionship aspirations. Griffin scored 13 points in 24 minutes of play against Virginia Tech which was his highest number of minutes for Griffin on the season. This is a kid, who was a top 20 recruit and was considered by many to be one of the best players in High School Basketball last year but had suffered a knee injury in October. With Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin playing in a smaller lineup at the 4 and 5 sports, we saw just how scary of a team Duke can be when all things are clicking.

3. Gonzaga – The Bulldogs only action this past week, was a blowout 95-49 win over Northern Arizona. There continues to be significantly less buzz for this Gonzaga team after they took early season losses to Duke and Alabama. However, being a little bit out of the spotlight and not having to walk around with the burden of a possible perfect season will be very helpful come March. Anton Watson, who was the third man off the bench in the game against Northern Arizona contributed 17 points in 18 minutes of action. These are the offensive contributions that Goznaga was simply not getting from their bench a season ago. With all of these factors along with an improved West Coast Conference that should challenge Gonzaga a little bit more than usual, could this be the season for Mark Few? Stay tuned.

4. Purdue – Matt Painter’s team has been able to bounce back nicely after what was a tough stretch when they suffered their first loss of the season on a buzzer beater against Rutgers and were somewhat lucky to comeback and win in Overtime against a fairly average NC State team. Purdue beat Incarnate Word 79-59 on Monday, following their blowout win in the Crossroads classic over Butler. Trevion Williams continuing to get better and stronger over the course of the season is a great thing, but the key for Purdue will be finding guards that will be able to make big plays late down the stretch. As dynamic as Jaden Ivey is, can he get you a bucket late in crunch time when your team needs it the most? Sasha Stefonovic is a great shooter and Isaih Thompson has done a great job in his role to start the season. However, most opposing coaches will take those guys trying to beat them every single time. This will definitely be something to monitor as Purdue is guaranteed to play some close games in the Big Ten over the course of the season.

5. Kansas – Both of the Jayhawks games that were scheduled this week against Colorado and Harvard were postponed due to COVID-19 issues, but it will be good to see the Jayhawks back out on the floor against Nevada on Wednesday night. It’s not very often that not many people are really talking about Kansas in the Big 12, but they haven’t played since December 18th and a lot of the buzz in the Big 12 is on Baylor. With Iowa State’s surge and Texas’ struggle against good teams to start the season, Kansas has been the exact same team that many people expected. Christian Braun has stepped up next to Ochai Agbaji to form an explosive one-two combo from the offensive end and it hasn’t even seemed like Remy Martin or Jalen Wilson has really gotten going yet which is a great sign for KU going forward considering they will enter Big 12 Conference play with only one loss.

6. Auburn – For the first time all season, we saw what Auburn looked like with their starting Point Guard Allen Flannigan. Even with only 3 points and 4 rebounds, it was great to see Flannigan back out on the court after undergoing surgery on an injured achilles in September. Bruce Pearl’s teams have always had a significant amount of depth the past few years, and that is especially when his teams are good. Auburn played 9 guys at least 12 minutes in their win over Murray State on Wednesday. The bevy of guards on this team including Wendell Green, Zep Jasper, KD Johnson, Devan Cambridge, and now Flannigan makes Auburn a legitimate National Championship not enough people are talking about and maybe even the favorite to win a loaded SEC Championship. That is without even having mentioned Jabari Smith yet who is a lock top 3 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Watch out for Bruce Pearl’s Tigers

7. Arizona – Although the Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season last week to Tennessee, there were still some positives to come out of the game including just knowing Benedict Mathurin will be on your team for the rest of the year. Arizona was able to show toughness and grit, even in a loss. Alongside Mathurin’s wonderful performance, Sophomore Point Guard Kerr Kriisa looks completely different from a season ago and after watching him in 2 hostile road environments against Illinois and Tennessee there may not be a more frustrating player in the country to watch when your team is playing against him than this guy. Arizona continues to be one of the biggest surprises in College Basketball to start off the season and will absolutely make a lot of noise in a weak Pac 12 conference. Unfortunately the Wildcats first two Pac 12 conference games against UCLA and USC were canceled due to COVID-19 related issues, and with the Pac 12 Conference not having that many opportunities for marquee wins if or when these games will be rescheduled will definitely be a factor for seeding purposes in March. 

8. UCLA – Another team from the Pac 12 rounds out the Elite 8, as the Bruins have had their last 3 games canceled due to COVID-19 issues, which doesn’t include each of their next 2 upcoming games against Arizona and Arizona State. It’s so unfortunate that one of the best teams in College Basketball hasn’t been able to take the floor since December 11th, but at least UCLA got some big game experience against some of College Basketball’s best in Villanova and Goznaga but after a while the mental toll of not playing basketball for a significant amount of time has to eventually take a toll. Thankfully, Mick Cronin and a small group of players including Myles Johnson, Cody Riley and Jake Kyman were able to return to the practice court on Tuesday. The Bruins with Cody Riley in the lineup could be a significant boost as Riley was a key contributor to last year’s team that went all the way to the Final 4 and returned just about everyone. Not every team that gets a 5 star recruit can survive their top freshman only averaging 3.9 points per game and 4 rebounds per game but UCLA is currently sitting at 8-1 with wins over Villanova, Marquette and Colorado. The hope is just to see these Bruins return to the court as soon as possible because when they do, Arizona and USC will be competing for the Pac 12 title all season long.

Weekly Awards

Team of the Week: Tennessee

Player of the Week: Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky)

Coach of the Week:  Bob McKillup (Davidson)

Flop of the Week: Washington