College Basketball Teams of the Week – Week 6 (December 28, 2020 - January 3, 2021)
A very Happy New Year to all! Welcome to the first column of 2021. I hope everyone had the opportunity to celebrate the new year and view some of the best College Basketball action of the season thus far. We have a lot to cover today and some very deserving teams of the week. The choices were not easy.
Before we begin, a few important updates on Bracket projections. Today, the NET rankings have been released. This is significant for being able to assist in sorting teams more accurately for bracketology work. I plan to share the first Big Board of 2021 tomorrow, stay tuned for that. The first complete bracket exercise will come late next week or in two weeks. The reason for patience is two-fold.
NCAA Tournament information should be released soon. Including locations, policies, procedures
Several teams have limited data. For example, Siena just played their opener yesterday. I’d prefer to give as many of the teams time to play as I can. Otherwise, we are juggling more preseason expectations weight than actual achieved success. Not preferred.
Now, let’s review last week.
Jericho Sims with the emphatic slam. Texas routed Kansas in Lawrence.
Texas - It had been 13 days since anyone had heard from Texas. Shaka Smart’s group had the majority of the Holidays off following a 77-74 win over Oklahoma State back on December 20th. The winners of the Maui Invitational still had some folks wondering how good they will be, or as many have asked, is Texas back? A trip to Lawrence, Kansas and Phog Allen Fieldhouse to open up 2021 was a great way for the Horns and the rest of America to gauge where this team stands in the hunt for a Big 12 title. The Baylor Bears have had an unbelievable past year and a half, and continue to be the front-runners. Then you have perennial power Kansas next in the pecking order. Texas had to feel a bit slighted coming into this game, despite what they achieved in Asheville (home of this year’s Maui Invitational). Now that we’ve established the expectations and build up let’s review what happened. Texas jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the opening stanza. That cushion was sustained throughout the first half, thanks to Kai Jones - who scored all 12 of his points in the first half of play. The Horns carried a 37-29 lead into the break. Dominance ensued in the second half, unlike we have seen before in this building in the Bill Self era. Texas shot 57% in the half, was perfect 7-7 from the line, and went 6-13 (62%) from deep to run away with an 84-59 win. The sheer breaking of the Jayhawks will was astonishing to see. Yes, it is still just a single win. However, this should do wonders for Shaka Smart’s club and for his job security. This firmly established Texas as a National and Big 12 Title contender. There are very little weaknesses on this veteran team, and a ton of talent to work with. This was only the second win ever for Texas at Kansas (2-18 all-time record) and Kansas worst loss at home under Bill Self.
Tulsa - The Golden Hurricane were a major thorn to American Conference contenders in 2019-20 season. Along the way, Frank Haith’s team established themselves as a contender. It all started with an early January home win over Houston, that led to a great AAC run and co-championship at 13-5 in the conference. This season, Tulsa started with a rough 1-3 mark. The team had a mix of newcomers that needed time to gel with regulars Brandon Rachal, Elijah Joiner, and co. Following that start, Tulsa had picked up three consecutive wins including a win over struggling Memphis. Up next was Houston, sound familiar? As amazing as Houston was a year ago, this Houston team appears to be even tougher and several pundits (myself included) have them pegged as a Top 10 team. Needless to say, this appeared to be a matchup a little too difficult for Tulsa. Tulsa also hadn’t beat a Top 5 team since 1996, before any of the current Tulsa players were born. The game itself started rough for the Golden Hurricane, who quickly trailed 15-4 out of the gate. Then a furious 11-0 run got them even at 15. The two teams stayed tight until the half, exchanging leads on four different occassions. In the second half, the Golden Hurricane continued to match baskets with a superior Houston team and did an excellent job overall defensively throughout the second half. With less than a minute to play, Houston’s Marcus Sasser tied the game at 62. On the ensuing possession, Rey Idowu for Tulsa drew a foul and made one of two attempts to get the lead back. UH’s Caleb Mills answered and put Houston ahead by one. In Tulsa’s final possession, Rachal was able to get to the Free Throw line for two high-pressure free throws with one second left. He sunk them both, giving him 20 points on the night and more importantly Tulsa the 65-64 lead that would hold for the major upset victory. HC Frank Haith praised his team, “I thought our guys played with great toughness. Down the stretch we executed. I’m just proud of how we competed.” The effects of the win stayed with Tulsa on Saturday as they played at Cincinnati. Rachal again was a hero, scoring 25 points on 8-11 shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds as Tulsa took down Cincy 70-66. Suddenly, Tulsa is 3-1 in the AAC. Here we go again.
Alabama - We had high hopes for Alabama Basketball this season in our preseason forecast. A projected 5-seed was based on a highly talented roster made of a mixture of parts and the heavy faith in Nate Oats ability to coach great offensive structure. While covering Oats at Buffalo, it was glaring just how well they moved the ball and spread the floor to create open shots. Also, just an overall selfless approach to overall team success permiated across those Buffalo teams. Clearly that will take time to build at Alabama. This season essentially kicked off with a 5th place finish in the Maui Invitational. It was only disappointing because the opening game was a lackluster 18-point loss to Stanford. However a 5th place win over Providence is now aging better. Then two more slip ups happened since then, vs. Clemson in Atlanta and a home loss to Western Kentucky. The loss to Clemson was perhaps more of a setback because this vaunted potential of an Oats-led offense just never showed up that day. Coming into this week the Tide held a 5-3 record with Ole Miss coming in and a brutal road game at Tennessee to open up SEC play. The opener went very well for Bama. Outstanding contributions from the bench (Jahvon Quinerly - 24, John Petty - 13, and Alex Reese -10) led the Tide to a 82-64 drubbing of Ole Miss. The Tide also held Ole Miss to just one 3-pointer all night (1-13). That win had to springboard the confidence level heading into Knoxville. Still, Tennessee had just blown out Mizzou on the road and the game was somewhat overlooked nationally. Once again, three-point defense was Alabama’s friend on Saturday. They stifled Tennessee into 4-21 (19%) shooting from deep and on offense shot the ball beautifully, 10-20 from distance. John Petty is completely back to himself and reentered the starting lineup in this one, adding 19 points and 7 rebounds. Bama’s defensive strategy caused Tennessee stars like Yves Pons and John Fulkerson to have their worst outings of the young season. Final score, Bama 71, Tennessee 63. This makes a significant difference for now on the Alabama tournament resume and gets the Tide on the right side of the bubble.
Evansville - Time for our miracle story of the week. The Evansville Aces came into Week 6 a 2-5 basketball club with losses to UT Martin and Prairie View A&M. The Aces overall are trying to recover from a mostly disastrous 2019-20 campaign which saw Walter McCarty get suspended and eventually dismissed and a complete dismantling (0-18 in the Valley) of what could’ve been a solid team after beating Kentucky in November of 2019. Veteran Head Coach Todd Lickliter is now doing his best to turn things around. The year started with more bad news when their most talented player, Sam Cunliffe, opted out for the season. The one thing Evansville has managed to do really well this season is effectively hit the three-point shot. They currently rank 37th in the nation in 3FG%, but more impressively they a third in the nation in three-point efficiency. The breakthroughs started showing up for real last Monday. In Game 2 against Southern Illinois on the road, the Aces stunned SIU 84-72. Nebraska transfer Samari Curtis put on a show, scoring 29 points on 6-for-8 three point shooing. The Aces shot 17-for-29 from deep in the game, that is 59%. They also controlled the glass 30-21. UNC Asheville transfer Jax Levich had 10 rebounds, another added piece this season. The SIU upset win led us to a weekend series against preseason league favorite, Northern Iowa. UNI has had their struggles since losing star AJ Green, but they still have talent and were widely expected to handle Evansville. Big mistake. The Aces won game one of the series by amazingly holding UNI to 0-for-11 three point shooting, en route to a 65-61 surprise victory. Evan Kuhlman has paid his dues in Aces’ Purple and Orange, had 21 to lead the offense. In Game two, the Aces managed to bring a bit more offense - connecting on 12 triples as a team and getting a great contribution from Canadian-born vet Shamar Givance. Coach Lickliter is really trusting his rotations, he only used seven players in yet another surprising Aces win, 70-64. Suddenly, Evansville is 5-5 and 3-1 in the MVC. Nobody can overlook them now, this quite a story in the Valley.
Colorado State - Niko Medved has hit year three in his stint as CSU head coach. Medved came into Fort Collins back in 2018-19 with fairly high expectations. After all, he had rebuilt Drake in just one year and really turned around Furman in the four season preceeding that. At CSU, it has been tough to rack the top four of the league. They tied for 5th last season at 11-7. This season they returned Sophomore sensations Isaiah Stevens and David Roddy. On a roster with no seniors, these two were entrusted with helping lead the Rams to the top tier of the Mountain West. The non-conference schedule was a rocky road. Program pauses and cancellations meant they didn’t start their season until December 12th. Coach Medved lined up what games he could. The Rams had a stinker at Saint Mary’s where the infamously only scored 33 points in a 20-point loss. CSU kept working, and scored a road win at Santa Clara and then returned home to sweep Fresno State to open up conference play. That gave the Rams a 6-1 record heading into a very daunting San Diego State road series. Game one took place on Saturday. It would be nearly impossible to match what we witnessed. San Diego State came out hot and playing great defense, and built a 33-7 lead. It looked very much over early. However, the Rams woke up and went on a 19-0 run to cut the lead to single digits. Early in the second half, the Aztecs extended their lead back up to 15 and were very much in control. That’s when another spurt from the Rams came, a 14-0 run cutting the lead to one. Despite no fans being at Viejas Arena, you could hear the electricity on the Colorado State bench. But as the game wore on, the Aztecs reestablished control and built a 67-59 lead with 1:53 remaining. For the third time of the day, the Rams geared up to make a charge. Going on a 11-0 run, highlighted by a game wining four-point play by John Tonje, dramatically propelled Colorado State to the biggest comeback win in Mountain West history, 70-67. Importantly, this win puts CSU back in the conversation for an At-Large for the time being as well. One of the games of the year in 2020-21. Congratulations to Coach Medved and staff on this breakthrough achievement, their first win at San Diego State.
Teams Strongly Considered
Honorable Mention
Seton Hall - SHU went into the Cintas Center and absolutely dominated Xavier, 85-68. The Pirates followed that up by beating Butler over the weekend. Excellent week.
Michigan - Wolverines remained unbeaten with impressive wins at Maryland by 11 and over Northwestern by 19.
Morehead State - Eagles snapped a 13-game losing streak at Murray State and ended Murray State's 25-game home win streak in a 61-56 upset win on Saturday.
Wichita State - Shockers went down to Ole Miss and came away with their 3rd road win of the year, 83-79. Tyson Etienne was brilliant, scoring 29 which included five treys.
Oklahoma - Sooners were able to capitalize on a West Virginia team who just lost their star, Oscar Tschibwe (left team). The 75-71 win was significant for the OU resume.
Bowling Green - Trey Diggs led the Falcons into Athens, Ohio for a key road win over Ohio, 83-75. Diggs had 20 points and 7 boards. Bowling Green capped off the week with a dominant win at NIU.
Clemson - Tigers continued progressing during a real impressive season by taking down Florida State by 10 and winning at Miami.
Wofford - SoCon opening week was a great one for the Terriers. Went into Mercer and played very well, winning by 13. Followed that by beating Samford over the weekend.
Belmont - Victories over Murray State and UT Martin have the Bruins sitting pretty at 4-0 in OVC play. Nick Musczynski is having another stellar year.
UCLA - Bruins overcame the devastating news that All-Pac 12 performer Chris Smith has a torn ACL and is out for the season. UCLA swept Utah and Colorado to move to 3-0 in conference.
Canisius - Impressive two wins over Saint Peter's. Golden Griffins got balanced efforts to grind out wins, Ahamadou Fofana stepped up in Game 2 with 17 Pts, 4 Assists.
Georgia Tech - Yellow Jackets took down North Carolina on Wednesday and followed that up with a blowout victory over Wake Forest. GTech has now won 4 straight.
Cal St. Northridge - Matadors picked up a game against WAC powerhouse, NMSU, on Monday. CSUN was able to capitalize on NMSU's rust to pull off a big 66-63 upset win.
Rice - The Owls managed to pull off a difficult sweep over UTSA in their CUSA openers. Rice now sits at 8-2 overall.
Creighton - Blue Jays extended their win streak to four, by beating Xavier and emphatically taking down Providence at the final second. Christian Bishop's dunk with 0.7 secs left helped the Jays avoid OT.
Eastern Kentucky - Took down Eastern Illinois on Wednesday, 69-61 and followed that by winning at Austin Peay on Saturday. Freshman Wendell Green exploded for 30 points in the win at APSU.
Drake - Bulldogs continue to be the main story in the Valley. Now 12-0 after winning on Monday at Indiana State, and Sunday vs. SIU.
Oral Roberts - 1-2 punch of Kevin Obanor and Max Abmas powered the Golden Eagles to a sweep of Omaha. Obanor had 39/10 in Game 1, 27/12 in Game 2. Abmas 25 points in Game 1, 37 in Game 2.
Little Rock - Trojans took control of the very early Sun Belt title race by sweeping UT Arlington. Ben Coupet was outstanding, scored 27 in Game 1 and 26 in Game 2.
Sam Houston State - Road win at Nicholls State to open up Southland Conference play 1-0. Demarkus Lampley drained 7 threes and finished with 27 Pts./8 Rebs. to lead the Bearkats.
Northern Colorado - Upset road win at Montana to move to 2-1 in Big Sky play on Saturday. Amazingly this is the Bears third straight win in Missoula. Another chance on Monday to win again.
Rhode Island - Rams became the first team to knock off St. Bonaventure, in a 63-57 victory on Wednesday. URI followed that up by beating St. Joe's over the weekend in OT.
Louisiana Monroe - JUCO sensation, now at ULM - Russell Harrison led the Warhawks to a sweep over Arkansas State. Many picked this team to get last place, so a 2-0 start is fantastic for ULM.
Northeastern - Beat a well-coached Elon team twice to open up CAA play 2-0. Huskies played a difficult non-conference schedule, but that should only help prep them for CAA play
Wyoming - In the midst of a big turnaround season. Wyoming won at Fresno State on Saturday to open conference play 1-0. Pokes are 7-1 on the year.
Morgan State - Maybe we shouldn't be so surprised. For the third time the Bears from the MEAC won in a road upset, this time at JMU. Morgan State also won at Iona and Delaware earlier this season.
Oregon - Played well in home sweep of Bay Area schools. The 17-point win over Stanford helps the resume and keeps the Ducks at the top of the Pac-12 alongside UCLA.
Cleveland State - Road sweep at IUPUI to move to an astonishing 6-0 in Horizon League play.
Furman - Paladins held tough to beat Chattanooga on the road in the SoCon opener, 77-73. Furman also beat Mercer in the home SoCon opener over the weekend.
Navy - Kicked off Patriot League play by sweeping Bucknell in Home-Away two game series. Midshipmen at 2-0 are in 1st Place in the league now.
Tulane - Picked up revenge win over East Carolina, 60-56. Jaylen Forbes paced the Green Wave with 20 points and 5 steals.
Siena - After 42-day layoff, the Saints finally opened their season on Sunday. A one-point win over fellow MAAC contender, Monmouth - has Siena out in first for now.
UC Irvine - Finished off the sweep of UCSB on Monday, 73-69. Anteaters were led by Jr., Collin Welp's 16 points and 9 rebounds.
Central Michigan - Chippewas appear to be recovering from a poor 0-3 start. Last Tuesday's 87-60 blowout at EMU is a great sign.
Check back for more posts this week on Bracketology. Enjoy Week 7!
~Rocco