College Basketball Teams of the Week - Week 2 (November 30-December 6, 2020)
The second week of College Basketball is now behind us, if you can believe that. There have been somewhere between 20-25% of games postponed or cancelled, but overall you would have to consider this a somewhat successful thus far, given the situation. We knew 2020-21 would be like no other season weve seen before. I am mostly impressed with programs being flexible to get games played, examples: Florida was willing to play Army, Boston College played everyone they could, and Minnesota/Loyola Marymount agreed to play each other twice in Minneapolis. Every program must remain flexible, we may in fact continue to see ad hoc non-conference games scheduled well into the 2021 calendar year if teams need the games and it makes sense regionally. The following teams are still waiting to start non-conference season:
Health and safety for all involved is the top priority. We sincerely hope all individuals impacted by the virus are able to safely recover.
Now let’s get into this week’s award winners!
Villanova - The Wildcats came out of nowhere this week to take the top award of the week. They couldn’t have done it without Texas winning the Maui Invitational (more on them soon). The Horns amazing week set the stage for Villanova to go into Austin and snatch away a major road win. Well, thats exactly what Villanova did yesterday. It was a game of several runs, an early Nova lead was outdone by a 13-2 Texas run in the first half. The Wildcats responded by building an eight-point lead in the first six minutes of the second half. Down the stretch, this game was back and forth. Two clutch three pointers from reserve forward Cole Swider, proved to make a decisive difference. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl continued his great play with 19 points, 8 rebounds and an emphatic dunk to ice the game late. Cats got out of Austin with a 68-64 victory, which completely validates them as the number one-seed contender we thought they were in preseason. Villanova also took care of Hartford at the Mohegan Sun earlier in the week, 87-53.
Missouri - Mizzou has not made the NCAA Tournament since Cuonzo Martin’s first season in Columbia, 2017-18. The past two seasons have been a real struggle going 5-13 and 7-11 in SEC play, respectively. But there is a new optimism around the program this year. Dru Smith is a playmaking, experienced Senior Guard. Jeremiah Tilmon is in his fourth year in Cuonzo’s system, and has a lot of talent. Xavier Pinson is looking to make a jump in his third year under Cuonzo. And Mark Smith, another Senior, is ready for a big year. This team has a lot of experience - it’s pretty rare to see the top seven guys in the rotation all stick together for another season at a power conference school. Mizzou’s continuity showed in an impressive season-opening win over Oregon, 83-75. Pinson led the way with 22, and had nine of those at the foul line. Good teams make their free throws and the Tigers proved here that they can put away a tournament calibler team. On Sunday, Mizzou went visited a depleted Wichita State program. Wichita State was down to eight scholarship players, and has recently fired embattled HC Greg Marshall. But talent remains on the Shockers roster, this was no guarantee for Mizzou by any means. The Tigers arrived and did what a good team should do, took all the mystery out of it. Missouri left Wichita with a 72-62 victory and didn’t exactly let the Shockers get into the game. This time, Mark Smith led the way with 19. Missouri has shown us something, tremendous week for the Tigers.
Texas - Rarely do you see a Maui Invitational Champion land here. We desperately wanted to give the Longhorns the top award for the week, but the scheduling gods were not kind to Texas. The Villanova game had to happen before awards time (recapped in Villanova section). But let’s not lose sight of what was accomplished this past week in Asheville by Texas. Texas came into the season with a lot of returning talent and the addition on 5-start Greg Brown. But HC Shaka Smart also had the weight of tremendous pressure to have a great season or he may not be back as Head Coach. We have seen talented Texas teams plenty in recent seasons. Those teams typically would fall short in events like this. However, this season’s Horns were absolutely resilient. Matt Coleman hit a shot at the buzzer to beat North Carolina in the Championship Game for goodness sakes! Texas also completely manhandled Indiana, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. In the Horns opener, they were able to survive a scare from Davidson. That may have been the psycological boost Texas needed to get through adversity in the title game, as they never backed down. Congrats to your 2020 Maui (on the Mainland) Invitational Champions!
Matt Coleman - Maui in Asheville Hero.
South Dakota State - The Jackrabbits came into the week tasked with two difficult road tests, at Iowa State and at Bradley. Certainly no walk in the park for a Summit League program aspiring to get national attention following a respectable showing at the Crossover Classic. One person ready for the challenge was Nate Freidel, a local 6-4 sharpshooting Sophomore from Tea, South Dakota. Freidel sunk five treys in each of the two games and paced the Jackrabbits with 24 and 23 points respectively. Baylor Scheierman may have been the most valuable player in a 71-68 win in Ames, however. Scheierman had 18 points, 10 rebounds and four steals in the landmark victory. He then followed that up with 14/12 against Bradley on Friday. Four Jackrabbits got into double-figures in the high-scoring 88-84 triumph at Bradley. The two wins for South Dakota State keep them in the early conversation for a slim chance at an At-Large bid, but more importantly put any team on their upcoming schedule on notice that they are a quality basketball team.
SMU - Mustangs were an often-discussed bubble team coming into the season. There is a lot of personnel to like returning for SMU like Kendric Davis, Tyson Jolly, Feron Hunt, Ethan Chargois, Emmanuel Bandoumel and others. The week started rough when Jolly tweeted he is done with the SMU program. There still has not been official word given from SMU, but the general thought is he is moving on without playing a minute this season for the Mustangs. That led us to this past weekend, where SMU made a unique trip to Dayton to face the 2019-20 season darlings. Dayton is another projected bubble team, and it was great to see this game get scheduled and ultimately played. In what was a tremendous battle, SMU saw its 3-point lead in the final seconds erased on a corner 3-pointer by the Flyers. It seemed the Mustangs might pay the price in not fouling when up by three points. A buzzer-beating floater by Bandoumel erased that idea, and gave SMU a 66-64 win. It was tremendous to see when you consider that last season was stained by nail-biting losses, including the final three games by four points or less. Watch out for the Mustangs.
Honorable Mention
Oklahoma State - Quality road win at Marquette, then beat Oakland over the weekend
Georgia Tech - Bounced back in a big way this week by beating Kentucky handily in Atlanta event.
San Francisco - Dons had two outstanding road wins in dominant fashion, over Nevada by 25 and Cal Poly by 28.
Samford - Major upset win at Belmont. Bulldogs came in over 200 spots behind Belmont in KenPom rankings.
Southern Utah - Swept Montana to open Big Sky play. Won both games by 1 point each (64-63 and 75-74), amazing.
Oklahoma - Got their season going with a blowout win over UTSA and then won at TCU to open up Big 12 play on Sunday.
Mercer - Blew out Georgia State 86-69, went 3-0 this week.
Indiana - Hoosiers showed well overall at Maui Invitational. Wins over Stanford and Providence should help on Selection Sunday.
Rhode Island - Beat Seton Hall by double-digits in only game of the week. Potentially big for the Rams' resume
Baylor - Big-time win over Illinois by 13, unfortunately had the showdown vs. Gonzaga postponed.
Bowling Green - Grinded out important victories over Buffalo and at Appalachian State in OT.
UT-Martin - Emotional 2OT season-opening win over Evansville. This followed the tragic death of HC Anthony Stewart.
Middle Tennessee - Blue Raiders surprised Murray State and most of the country, with a 78-61 win over the Racers
Marshall - Thundering Herd had an impressive road win at Wright State, going away at the end with a 80-64 victory.
Dixie State - Trailblazers beat North Dakota in their innagural game as a D1 program, went 2-0 this week overall.
Bryant - Road win at New Hampshire, Bulldogs look like a contender in the NEC
Hampton - Season-opening win at George Washington in upset win
Ohio - NCAA record 40-0 run during blowout win over Cleveland State. Bobcats deserve a shout out for such a run!
UConn - Despite the disappointment of cancellations, UConn was able to play USC and get an important win over the Trojans.
Enjoy the Week 3 action!