There is a lot Big 12 at the beginning of our report cards, even if the challenge with the Sec it was resolved in a 5-4 for the latter, also thanks to one Florida privateer on the West Virginia field and that never ceases to surprise.
Florida. Senza Keyontae Johnson (“the best player I’ve ever coached”, according to coach Mark White) and after losing three of their first four conference games, obituaries for the Gators were wasted. Huge mistake: the straight wins are now four, including the last, heavy one, on the West Virginia field. Tre Mann (watch his name in the next mock draft), Noah Locke and Tyree Appleby guarantee points, Scottie Lewis is a luxury off the bench and Colin Castleton has simply become one of the strongest longs in the DI.
Oklahoma. Another team that came out of nowhere and now unable to lose: the Sooners have won five in a row, the last three against teams in the ranking. In one of the tightest games of the Sec / Big 12 Challenge he beat Alabama without two starters including Austin Reeves, his top scorer who had just spanked Texas with 23 points. But Da’Vion Harmon is demon-possessed, the defense works (86.4 by Adj. Efficiency in the last 5 races) and the team is clearly on a mission.
Mac McClung (Texas Tech). Against West Virginia he scored 30 points putting it in a bit of all ways and making our jaw drop a couple of times, but it went wrong, because to put the decisive thrust has been Miles McBride. He made up for it immediately: 22 points against LSU with a last minute of cunning and pure talent, to be taken and placed in a museum. Below 7, here are two triples (one more beautiful than the other) and one stolen to serve Shannon the overtaking ball. No longer just a social phenomenon but a real, high-level player.
Davion Mitchell (Baylor). In Waco there is glory for everyone. If the previous week had been that of Jared Butler, the one just passed was certainly his. First he recorded a new career-high of points (31) with a devastating test against K-State (5/7 from two, 7/9 from three) and then took away the satisfaction of beating his former team, Auburn, resulting among the best: 13 points and 7 assists, two more than the expected Sharife Cooper (15 points with 6/17 shooting and 5 assists), found himself quite trapped by an opponent indigestible for anyone.
Drake. For an unbeaten dream that vanishes (Winthrop) there is one that continues. After three weeks of hiatus due to Covid, the Bulldogs have resumed the interrupted speech with three wins, surviving three finals, one more drawn than the other. Coach DeVries’ team now have records 16-0 this season and 7-0 in a once again top-tier Missouri Valley: the top match with Loyola-Chicago Cameron Krutwig in mid-February it will be a must-watch.
GCU. A monkey as big as an orangutan has taken off her shoulders. It is one of the most moneyed and ambitious colleges in the mid-world but, in the past three years, it has only remedied defeats (8) by its bitter rival, New Mexico State. Two conference finals lost, a couple of bludgeons and even a half-court prank on the siren. But Drew arrived on the bench, he said enough and here are two victories of authority over the weekend against the Aggies, with the Lopes celebrating like crazy in the locker room. Alessandro Lever and mates seem impregnable in the WAC.
Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State). He comes back after two games of absence and starts a bit quietly against Arkansas but, from the last minutes of the first half onwards, he begins to take the stage. In the end, the show is all his: 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a very heavy basket with 21.3 seconds left. Oral Roberts, Wichita State, Kansas and now the Razorbacks too: Cade is often a clutch and this is one of the many qualities that make it the almost unanimous first choice of mock drafts.
E.J. Liddell (Ohio State). Not having talked about the Buckeyes semi-long before is actually a nice flaw. Let’s admit the mistake. Spa-ven-to-sa season for the 2-meter player who plays center, but who has mobility and pure winger hands. Ohio State has only one player he holds onto in tough times: him. The Buckeyes have won 6 of their last 7, and in at least four instances the Illinois boy has been unquestionably MVP. The last against Michigan State: 20 points, 6/12 shooting (1/3 from the arc), 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals.
I freshmen di Purdue. We first fell in love with Zach Edey, then Jaden Ivey showed up with his cheeky game winner against Ohio State and now Brandon Newman has arrived. Well, “now” up to a certain point, to be honest, because he had scored several good tests. But a 29-point explosion (with 9/14 shooting and 6/6 free throwing) against Minnesota was not easily foreseeable. And in the same game, there is also a Mason Gillis who comes close to double double (11 points, 9 rebounds). The future of the Boilermakers is in good hands.
The Mountain West title race. Very exciting, because it is animated by four teams that have everything to become regular season champion. Colorado State (9-3) systematically acted as a spoilsport for the other three suitors, who found their first conference defeat against them. To stumble against the Rams there was first San Diego State (7-3), then Utah State (10-2) and finally Boise State (10-1) in the last week, which, however, made up for it in the second race , played with great authority and clear ideas in attack. In the second half of February we will have to fasten our belts, with the Broncos engaged in two double goals (USU and SDSU) that will probably decide the fate of the MWC.
Houston. At the end of last week, looking at the calendar, this observation came out: hey but Sunday 31 there is the big match of the American between Houston and SMU, interesting! Big match one horn: the Cougars won 70-48 and asphyxiated the Mustangs, playing with double the intensity against a team that makes intensity its trademark. Nobody would ever want to meet them in the Tournament.
St. John’s. The streak of consecutive victories gets longer, we are 4 in a row, which is the longest since the beginning of the season. Away win on the Connecticut field (che it was without Bouknight, but it must still be beaten) and the last one in Marquette’s house (with Julian Champagnie driver), in short, not two mattress teams. Now the Big East record is 5-6, which places the team in the middle of the table. And coach Mike Anderson has already hit number W in last season’s conference. At least 6 if they deserved it.
Jaden Springer (Tennessee). No brilliant game (9 points against Mississippi State and 13 against Kansas), but since the first-year guard returned to the team the Vols are back to winning. Tennessee’s only three defeats this year came when Springer either didn’t play or was on the pitch for only 5 minutes. And we bet they know this statistic in Knoxville too.
Virginia. I don’t have time to say in our podcast that they were the fittest team in the ACC and here comes the defeat against Virginia Tech. Let’s be clear, the Hokies are a very respectable team this year (towed by the Keve Aluma center), but the Cavaliers looked much more solid. The truth is that as soon as the engine of the team, the PG Kihei Clark, drops a few revs, suddenly everyone else struggles.
Jeff Neubauer (Fordham). The best season for the Rams coach was the first, in 2015-2016, with 8 victories in the conference (in any case a negative final record, let’s be clear). After a 24-point home defeat to Duquesne this week, the university decided to part ways with their coach. And we don’t know very well whether to award it more to him who has never closed a winning championship or more to Fordham who fired him senseless in mid-season and not (as many expected) a year ago.
Miami. A cursed season. There are now four consecutive losses, with an average difference of 18.3 points. Constantly rearranged due to injuries, during the week he lost Elijah Olaniyi (shoulder) and Matt Cross, who will move with the blessing of coach Jim Larrañaga: “I was probably just not the right coach for him. […] So I just came to the conclusion the best thing would be for him to find some place that he would be happier at”. The 4-star freshman is expected to create a decent lineup of interested teams, but the family says he may also stay in Miami to play football though.
Brad Davison (Wisconsin). The average of the last three games is 5.6 points with 1/7 of two and 5/19 of three. It’s not just his fault, of course, but two defeats have come in three games for the Badgers. The one at home against Ohio State hurts, but perhaps even more so the one away at Penn State. Sure, we repeated to exhaustion that the Big Ten is the most fought conference, but the feeling is that Wisconson was more solid. And that Davison had finally acquired continuity in performance.
Kansas. Sad. There is no other definition for the ghosts trained by Bill Self who took the field against Tennessee. Saturday’s big match was anything but a big match, since it never actually started: -19 with the Vols always largely in control and fourth defeat on the back of the Jayhawks in the last five games played. The defense is watery and in attack there is a terrible lack of someone capable of illuminating the game.
Michigan State. A sort of Kentucky from the Big Ten, without even the excuse of having almost everyone freshman. The team has so far only won two games in the Big Ten, one against Nebraska and one at home against Rutgers. Coach Tom Izzo changes quintet at every match, but the result doesn’t change. The return after a 20-day (forced) Covid break was a nightmare: 67-37 defeat against Rutgers (second lowest score since the shooting clock has existed) and then another 79-62 debacle against Ohio State. The coach blamed his stars for contributing little. But at the moment nothing is running.
Fran McCaffery (Iowa). Last week we had highlighted the unhappy releases of Mike Krzyzewski, Jerry Stackhouse and Bobby Hurley, but the little man pictured above was no less impressive with his post-game performance in Iowa-Illinois. The two consecutive defeats did not go down and he rightly refers to the poor journalists: a minute of video, four questions and no real answer (maybe even a veiled insult to one of the reporters?). Which class.
P.J. Hall (Clemson). The emblem of a team that suddenly collapsed and does not seem to be able to recover. The poor freshman ended up on the wrong side of the highlights, dominated by one imperious dunk by Jalen Johnson. Not without faults, because it was evident that his help with iron could be solved only and only with a sensational poster. It will serve as a lesson for the future.
