College Basketball Teams of the Week - Week 3 (December 7-December 13, 2020)
This week begins with prayers for Keyontae Johnson, a junior forward, was the SEC’s preseason player of the year and a first-team all-conference selection by coaches last season. Johnson, was placed in a medically induced coma after collapsing during Saturday’s game at Florida State, his grandfather told sources. The moment happened early on Saturday in a game at Florida State. The incident has impacted the sport as we all wish Johnson a fast recovery. With the limited information available to us, we still aren’t clear what his medical causes are. Please keep the Johnson family and his Gator teammates in your prayers.
Around the country, somewhere between 20-25% of games remain postponed or canceled, but overall we are getting a good chunk of games played. We are still seeing games come together in less than 48 hour spans and that is already continuing to hold true heading into Week 4. The following teams are still waiting to start non-conference season:
These are the remaining prorams who intended to play a non-conference schedule, but have not been able to play.
Now, let’s review who performed the best in Week 3 and made a significant impact on their season outlook.
Missouri - The Tigers were picked too low to begin the season, and that is not their fault. What we have witnessed these past two weeks has been sensational. For the second consecutive week, this Missouri program recieves one of the weekly Teams of the Week Awards for their stellar Braggin Rights’ upset win over Illinois and a grinder of a win over Liberty. This past week, Illinois had made national headlines by beating Duke badly at Duke. Illinois had proved they belong as a team to contend for a Big 10 Championship. Back at Mizzou, the Tigers were coming off the wins last week over Oregon and Wichita State and still feeling like the forgotten team. By Wednesday, Mizzou had to rally late to beat a tough Liberty team, 69-60. This all set the stage for one of the most anticipated Braggin’ Rights games in recent memory. The Tigers took control of the game early with a 9-4 lead and really never lost their lead throughout, despite a late 12-2 Illini run that cut the lead to one point late and 36 points from Illinois star G Ayo Dosunmu - Mizzou was able to physically keep Illinois at bay (35-26 rebounding edge) and get balanced scoring efforts. Missouri continues to maximize an experienced seven-man rotation to create balance and multiple-weapons on the floor. An improved defense is clearly paying dividends as well. Tigers are a team to watch all year, it is now official.
Boise State - In a lot of ways, this Broncos program has been a model for consistency over the duration of Leon Rice’s tenure. If you remove a poor 2018-19 season full of issues, the Broncos have won 20+ games in the past seven seasons. Yet, without an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014-15, the program is beyond hungry to get back. Boosted by some roster additions (former Pac-12 regulars Emmanuel Akot and Abu Kigab) and emerging Sophomore Ray J Dennis, returning star player Derrick Alston suddenly has some quality weapons around him. BSU is playing eight regulars and getting exceptional minutes out of Max Rice off the bench, he was outstanding in the BYU win last week. Speaking of that BYU win, the Broncos jumped on the Cougars early and built a quick 14-5 advantage. The lead was sustained nearly throughout. In the end it came down to an Emmanuel Akot trey to break a 70-70 tie with 13 seconds left and propel Boise State to a very rare 74-70 win in BYU’s Marriott Center. This victory lands Boise State firmly on the Bracketology radar, as this win could end up being a fairly significant outlier if BYU does well in WCC play. For now, the Broncos turn to Mountain West back-to-back play, beginning with New Mexico on December 20th. Keep your eye on BSU.
The Boise State Broncos ended BYU’s 16-game home winning streak this past week.
Florida Gulf Coast - Remember Dunk City? I mean, come on - who can forget? The FGCU Eagles took the College Basketball world by storm during their improbable 2013 NCAA Tournament run. It got Andy Enfield the USC job and FGCU remained strong for the following seasons. Recently, it hasn’t been so easy for the Eagles. The effects of 2013 have helped build a fun and energetic fan base still, but in 2020 that is tougher to feel. To make matters more difficult, FGCU lost HC Joe Dooley to East Carolina following a 23-win campaign in 2017-18. Longtime assistant Michael Fly is now in his 3rd season as the Head Coach. Coach Fly has endured two difficult rebuilding years (14-18 in ‘18-19, 10-22 last year). This program is dying to get back to the top of the ASUN Standings and ultimately create another magical March Madness appearance. The Eagles only had one task last week, go into Coral Gables and face Miami. The game was an afterthought nationally. After all, the Hurricanes were coming off a feverish rally to beat Purdue earlier in the week. Why would FGCU challenge be much of a challenge for the Canes? Fortunately, FGCU didn’t care about any of that noise or adopt the mentality of not havin a chance. Instead, the Eagles went in and shot the lights out on Saturday, a scorching 13 for 30 from distance. Dakota Rivers came off the bench and made five of them! Steady Junior G Caleb Catto had a fantastic all-around game and led the Eagles with 18 points. Could Dunk City be back? We shall see.
Florida State - The defending ACC Champion Noles came into the week knowing they were going to be facing a new standard of competition. The Noles had the luxury of staying in Tallahassee all week, but had a quality Indiana team and arch rivals, Florida, coming to town. Quite a blockbuster week. The game vs. IU did not disappoint (unless you hate replay reviews, there were several of those). The game was neck and neck all the way throughout. Ultimately the contest went into overtime, where Freshman phenom Scottie Barnes hit the game winner. Barnes is one of the most talented players to come thru FSU that I can remember. However, he had a mostly difficult night (shot 3-for-10) and really needed to persevere mentally in this game. This demonstrated that he could. Noles won the game, 69-67 in OT. Up next was the Florida game. The UF game entirely changed when Keyontae Johnson collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Both teams were visibly emotional, and it was debated briefly if the game should continue or not. Keep in mind that this Florida State program was devasted back in August when the news of former Seminole, Michael Ojo’s death was reported. Ojo collapsed playing professionally in Serbia, and died later of what was believed to be heart complications. So when the moment with Johnson occured in front of them, I cannot fathom the emotions the FSU program must’ve experienced. As the game eventually resumed, Florida State began to run away with it. And this win will matter quite a bit come the end of the year. Excellent week overall for FSU.
Cal State Northridge - Well here is a first. The Matadors have earned a Team of the Week Award for the first time after successfully upsetting a strong, talented Pepperdine team in Malibu. This was a CSUN team who came onto the Malibu campus with a #300 ranking according to KenPom. So a victory did not seem likely or reasonable to many. The Matadors, coached by Mark Gottfried, didn’t care about any of that. They went toe to toe with the Waves from the onset. Matadors took a lead into Halftime and that helped buuild more confidence for what was to come later in the game. TJ Starks, a transfer from Texas A&M, is enjoying leading this CSUN squad early on in the campaign. He had a career-high 24 points in this one, a game I’m sure he will never forget. Also, CSUN has other options. Lance Coleman II had 18 points, Darius Brown II added 14 points. Alex Merkviladze had 13 points and seven rebounds. Final Score: Matadors 89, Waves 84. Suddenly CSUN is 3-1 and looking ahead to Stanford this upcoming week. This could be yet another compelling Big West story this season (see UC Riverside last week).
Strongly Considered Teams
Honorable Mention
Kansas - Crucial win over Creighton, survived on a missed FT by Marcus Zegarowski. Jayhawks also took care of Omaha.
Chattanooga - Mocs swept a two-game early week road trip at MTSU and Bellarmine. Mocs are now 6-0 on the year and are a real darkhorse in the SoCon.
Providence - Road win at TCU. Friars played a quality road game, David Duke led the way with 28 points.
Tennessee - Finally got two games in and won them both. Beating a couple of quality teams in Colorado and Cincinnati.
Oklahoma State - Cade Cunningham hit a GW three to win at Wichita State. Pokes also beat Oral Roberts earlier in the week.
Rutgers - Important regional win over Syracuse by 10. The win looked even stronger after Syracuse beat Boston College badly.
Penn State - Went into Blacksburg and crushed Virginia Tech by 20. Played tough, but fell short at Michigan on Sunday.
Southern Illinois - Salukis took down Murray State, 70-66 in an upset win. Complete team effort, 5 players finished in double-figure scoring.
Xavier - Blew out previously unbeaten Oklahoma, 99-77. Musketeers made 19 three's in the offensive onslaught.
Lamar - Cardinals' G Davion Buster hit the buzzer-beater of the season thus far, from about 40-feet away - nothing but net to defeat UL Monroe 63-60 on the road.
Illinois - Went into Cameron Indoor, and rolled past Duke, 83-68. Fell short in Braggin' Rights game
UCLA - Took care of business against Marquette and San Diego last week. Bruins look back to being full strength.
Wright State - 18-point road win at the preseason MAC favorite Bowling Green Falcons. Raiders getting back on track after losing their opener.
La Salle - Explorers got a crosstown road win at Drexel last Saturday for their first D1 win of the year, 58-48.
Mount St. Mary's - Picked up an important NEC win over St. Francis (PA) to open up conference play.
Auburn - Tigers took down Memphis in Atlanta, 74-71. Justin Powell had 26 for Auburn in a mild upset.
Appalachian State - Mountaineers picked up a nice road win at Charlotte, 61-57 this past Friday.
Evansville - Aces picked up their first win of the season, and did it against OVC contenders Eastern Illinois.
UMBC - 3-0 this week with wins over Delaware, GW, and Coppin State. Retrievers have looked impressive.
Beginning in January we will launch our Bracket Games of the Week.
In the meantime, Enjoy Week 4!
~Rocco Miller