Kenny Ocker is an RTC correspondent.

True star players often have a way of making it obvious how good they are and how prodigious their talents are. Jared Cunningham is one of those players, and he has the market cornered in the Pac-12 this season. The Oregon State junior guard’s game against rival Oregon last Sunday clearly illustrated how Cunningham’s ability exceeds that of any other player in the conference. Despite shooting 1-for-7 in the first half against the Ducks and scoring just three points, Cunningham went off in the second half and scored 24 points and — offensively, defensively and emotionally — led the Beavers to a come-from-behind, 76-71, road victory in a game that their rivals could ill afford to lose.

“I felt more vocal. I was trying to get Ahmad (Starks) going,” Cunningham said of his fellow guard, who also had just three points in the first half, but finished with 15. “I talked to him at halftime and just told him to play hard and get his shot going.” Oregon State — especially Cunningham and Starks — took advantage of Oregon’s porous perimeter defense in the second half, but the 6’4” shooting guard from Oakland led the way, shooting 5-for-7 from the field in the second half, demonstrating that he was far and away the best player on the court and likely the best player in the conference.

Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Vernetti is the WCC correspondent for RTC.

Reader’s Take 

 

Looking Back

Saint Mary’s was in the spotlight last week and the Gaels did not shirk from the attention. First came a businesslike, 71-64, win over Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, then an epochal, 80-66, romp over BYU in Provo that seemed to unhinge everyone connected with BYU basketball. It wasn’t only the 22,000-plus rabid fans in the Marriott Center, it wasn’t only normally low-key BYU coach Dave Rose losing his cool, it wasn’t just Noah Hartsock earning a flagrant foul with a blatant forearm shiver to the neck of Gaels’ forward Rob Jones. It was almost a fan riot, an atmosphere so riddled with boos, objects thrown on the floor and technical fouls that ESPNU announcers Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham repeatedly warned about the need for officials to gain control.

Fat chance, as the officiating crew of Frank Harvey, James Giron and Glen Mayberry seemed incapable of providing the right answer to a surly crowd – calling the game tight on both sides and leaving it up to BYU officials to calm the masses. Instead, the crew seemed to come to a collective decision that ignoring repeated fouls by BYU players and cracking down on Saint Mary’s would do the job. This theory came to a head about halfway through the second half with a technical foul called on the Saint Mary’s bench for allegedly standing up and/or crowding the floor – it was never made clear. The spuriousness of that call was caught by a BYU fan who happened to be shooting video of the BYU and Saint Mary’s benches at the time the technical was called.

Check it out:

Everyone on the Saint Mary’s bench is seated at the moment the technical is called. Even if they were all jumping up and down, one wonders how the ref would know since he made the call with his back to the bench and from the opposite end of the court. It seems bizarre and indicative of the desperate measures the refs applied to deal with a bad situation. No one from BYU stepped forward to calm things down, no one addressed the crowd, no one made any placating gestures (except for a routine announcement from the public address announcer after the fans were warned for their first barrage of object-throwing). All in all a big black eye for BYU’s first year in the WCC and a testament to the cool of Randy Bennett’s Gaels, who didn’t panic under relentless pressure from BYU and the crowd.

Power Rankings

1.  Saint Mary’s (21-2, 10-0) spent another week at the top of the league standings and another week moving up in both major rankings – to #16 in the ESPN/Coaches Poll and to #18 in the AP poll. To top it all off, ESPN announced that Saint Mary’s would travel to Murray, Kentucky, on February 18 to play currently undefeated Murray State in the premiere contest of ESPN’s Bracket Buster event. Never mind that neither Saint Mary’s nor Murray State – ranked in the top 10 by both polls – needs the game to break into the NCAA Tournament brackets, it still will be a closely-watched contest with obvious benefits for whichever team wins.

2.  Gonzaga (17-3, 7-1) bided its time last week, topping Portland,74-62, in Portland in its only contest. The Zags saved their energy for their showdown with BYU tonight in Provo, a game with huge importance for both teams. The Zags are two games behind Saint Mary’s at present, although only one behind in the loss column. A loss to equally-desperate BYU would put them two back in the loss column with Saint Mary’s coming to Spokane on February 9.

3.  BYU (18-6, 6-3) and Loyola Marymount (13-9, 6-3) (tie): Tonight’s contest with Gonzaga might be BYU’s last chance to salvage its season, as a defeat would drop the Cougars four games back from Saint Mary’s and three behind Gonzaga. Not only how it plays but how its team, coaches, and fans, behave will be under scrutiny for BYU, as a repeat of last week’s meltdown against Saint Mary’s could have dire repercussions for the school’s reputation and self-respect. Loyola split last week, following up the Saint Mary’s loss with a throat-tightening, 62-59, win over Portland that wasn’t decided until the final minutes. The win was important to keep LMU close to the conference leaders and to prove they could win a league game at home. Before dispatching the young Pilots, LMU was 5-0 on the road and 0-3 at home.

5.  San Francisco (15-9, 5-5) began to look more and more like last year’s team (well, it IS last year’s team), as it appears to be peaking at the same time. By beating Santa Clara on the road and San Diego at home, the Dons evened their conference record and began looking ahead to see how far they can advance in the standings. It’s crowded at the top, and it won’t be easy to move into fourth place and earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament. The Dons, with a tough challenge in Los Angeles against LMU on Saturday, seem ready to take it on.

6.  San Diego (8-13, 3-6) showed some signs of life in its, 65-56, home win over Pepperdine – its third win in five games – but then regressed in an, 84-70, road loss to San Francisco. It was enough to keep the Toreros out of the depths of the conference’s lower half.

7.  Portland (5-17, 2-7) is in seventh place only because it has fewer losses than Pepperdine, but the Pilots were more than competitive against LMU and their 74-62 loss to Gonzaga wasn’t as lopsided as the score indicates. Eric Reveno’s achingly young troops scare everybody they play but Portland hasn’t figured out how to beat most teams. Yet.

8.  Pepperdine (8-13, 2-8) recovered from the loss at San Diego to topple hapless Santa Clara, 74-62, at home. The Waves continue the PCH Cup series with LMU tonight, then hitch up their shorts for the invading Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday – it may get ugly.

9.  Santa Clara (8-13, 0-8) continued its nosedive with losses to San Francisco and Pepperdine, and face Portland at home tonight before going on the road to face San Diego. Most observers feel the Broncos will pull out of this swoon some time, but the clock is ticking on the 2012 season.

Looking Ahead

• You don’t have to look far for this week’s drama, as Gonzaga vs. BYU in Provo (ESPN2, 8:00 PM Pacific) tonight should have all you want. BYU is barely hanging on in the WCC race and Gonzaga can’t afford to fall further behind Saint Mary’s, which has only tonight’s home game against San Diego.
• A week from tonight comes the battle between Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga in Spokane, which should be as riveting as the Gaels’ assault on BYU. The Gaels throttled Gonzaga, 83-62, on January 12, and the Zags have not forgotten.

Continuing with our midway point theme from yesterday, it’s time to take a closer look at who — if the season ended right now — should be taking home some hardware.

The most interesting (and often important) thing about examining All-Big Ten and conference Player of the Year candidates is what they’ve been able to do over the course of the season versus what they’ve done in Big Ten play. It’s not that hard to pull in a double-double against a cupcake non-conference opponent, but you have to be able to do it against Big Ten competition to merit lofty mention.

All-Big Ten First Team

• Tim Frazier, Penn State: Frazier has really burst onto the scene in conference play. After averaging just 5.0 and 6.3 points per game in his first two seasons at PSU, he’s averaging 18 per game this year. He hasn’t scored fewer than 12 points in a Big Ten game this season.
• Draymond Green, Michigan State: Green is the most versatile player in the Big Ten and will go down as one of the few best captains Tom Izzo has had at Michigan State. He currently ranks in the top 15 among Big Ten players in nine categories, while leading in rebounding (10.3 RPG) and coming in 10th in scoring (14.9 PPG).

North Carolina State‘s Scott Wood is many things. He’s a sweet-shooting three-point sniper for an increasingly potent Wolfpack attack. He’s a gifted marriage counselor who truly understands the pain of the human condition. He’s the Atlantic Coast Conference’s current leader in offensive efficiency rating as well as true shooting percentage. It’s also been some time since he missed a free throw. Specifically, it’s been a year and a day since he last missed a free throw in a game. Last weekend he broke J.J. Redick‘s ACC record for most consecutive free throws (Redick made 54 straight), and Wood hasn’t displayed any interest in missing anytime soon. As of last night, Wood stands at 63 consecutive makes, including a few clutch shots as Boston College desperately tried to extend the game by fouling the one guy in college basketball who you just shouldn’t foul. In any case, Wood is now only 22 makes away from tying the all-time Division I record of 85 consecutive makes, set by Butler‘s Darnell Archey.  That seems challenging, if doable.

My favorite detail of Wood’s rise to free-throw shooting genius comes from Robbi Pickeral’s profile of the shooter. No, not the part about how low tops are the key to his success (though that, in all fairness, is pretty funny). The best part comes from a simple declarative sentence, paraphrasing Wood’s appraisal of his chances at breaking the all-time college record:

Wood said he once made 214 foul shots in a row, in a gym with his uncle when he was 12.

I’m not sure quite what it is about this that makes it so funny: The highly specific and precise memory of middle-school free-throw shooting glory witnessed by his extended family or something I ate for lunch, but now, I can easily say that I hope he smashes the national record for the glory of the conference. Luck be with you, Scott Wood. May your ankles move freely and your future wife never cheat on you.

Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Lead Story: Nerlens Noel Re-classifies To Class of 2012

Elite Junior Will Graduate A Year Early. There’s been ongoing speculation for a long time that center Nerlens Noel might re-classify from the Class of 2013 to the Class of 2012, but he didn’t gave much of an indication that he was going to. However, late Wednesday night the best shot-blocker in the prep ranks in the country confirmed that he was indeed going to graduate a year early and move to the Class of 2012. What does that mean? Well, other than getting to see him in college a year early, it means that he will have to decide which school he’s going to commit to in the next couple of months. Syracuse and Kentucky have long been the favorites for Noel and while a couple sources have told RTC that they think he will pick the Orange, it’s going to be a close race between the two. Other than John Calipari and Jim Boeheim‘s squads, Noel is considering multiple other schools and has already visited Providence and Connecticut while he plans on visiting Syracuse (February 11), Kentucky, Florida, Georgetown and North Carolina soon. He doesn’t have a timetable for committing but keep in mind that the regular signing period is April 13-May 18. We will be interviewing Noel some time in the next several days so if you’re interested in his recruitment, make sure you check back next week to see what he has to say about the schools on his list.

What They’re Saying

• Senior star Rodney Purvis on why he’s happy he made the Jordan Brand Classic: “Being from the same city and with John [Wall] being like my big brother, I wanted to do all the things he did. I didn’t tell a lot of people, but I really, really wanted to play in the Jordan Brand Classic. Like a whole lot.”

I. Renko is a DC-based correspondent for Rush the Court.  You can follow him on twitter @IRenkoHoops.

The headline numbers from Georgetown’s win over Connecticut last night are the Huskies’ paltry 44 points on horrendous 27.6% field goal shooting.  It was the third-lowest point total in team history.  RTC was there live in the District, and here are four things we saw as the keys to Georgetown’s humbling of the Huskies.

1. (Lack of) Veteran Leadership — UConn had three players on the floor last night who played more than 25 minutes in the NCAA Championship game last year:  Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, and Alex Oriakhi.  They were a combined 4-28 from the field, including 2-13 from three-point range.  I guess Oriakhi’s defense is that he only played seven minutes as part of his ongoing disappearing act — though that was more than enough time for him to rack up two fouls and three turnovers to go with his single rebound.  But Lamb and Napier, who lead the team in scoring, were out of sync all night.  While Lamb didn’t stop shooting, he couldn’t stop missing either.  Contested or open, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference on a miserable night for the sophomore guard.  By contrast, Georgetown’s big three — seniors Jason Clark, Henry Sims and junior Hollis Thompson — combined for 42 points on 16-34 shooting.  After the game, Jim Calhoun dismissed, in characteristically colorful fashion, the fact that his team is the sixth youngest in America:  “I have no idea what that means.  It means sh*t in plain English.”  And indeed, it probably shouldn’t mean much to a team that that returns four starters from a championship squad.  Sure, Andre Drummond stepped up for UConn with 18 points on 9-12 shooting, but you can’t rely on freshmen to lead the way on the road in the Big East. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is a chart comparing four potential national player of the year candidates from Mike Rothstein’s media straw poll. The first two columns are ACC players. The second two are national frontrunners. Any idea who each one is?

The leftmost column is Mike Scott, who received one — seriously, one — third place vote in the straw poll (along with Julian Mavunga, Arnett Moultrie and Ricardo Ratliffe). The second column is Harrison Barnes, who received one first place vote and one third place vote. The third and fourth columns are Thomas Robinson and Jared Sullinger, respectively. Robinson showcased a commanding lead in the poll with 37 (of 53) first-place votes, seven second-place votes, and five third-place votes. Sullinger finished in third with two first-place votes, 12 second-place votes and 12 third-place votes. If we take the poll at face value, Robinson has dominated college basketball (not an unreasonable statement), Jared Sullinger is doing moderately well and Mike Scott sort of impressed someone — but isn’t playing as well as Barnes.

Luckily, we don’t take straw polls at face value because the truth is far from the votes. Take the above statistics with a slight grain of salt because they don’t include defense at all (Scott, Barnes and Sullingers are all mediocre defenders). But let’s break down the stats one by one.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

Gonzaga at Brigham Young – 11:00 PM EST on ESPN2 HD (****)

• Gonzaga is basically in a must-win situation if they want to have a shot at the regular season West Coast Conference title. If they can beat BYU tonight on the road, they will then get both BYU and St. Mary’s at home over the next few weeks. If they lose, they will drop two behind SMC in the loss column with a month to go, making it extremely difficult for the Bulldogs to win another WCC regular season crown. GU is by far the best defense in the WCC, so it is certainly possible for Mark Few’s team to win in Provo. This team is reminiscent of the UCLA teams that made the Final Four under Ben Howland in that their defense is good enough to survive very poor shooting nights and still win. Mark Few’s team is 6-1 when their eFG% is under 50%. The teams that have been able to beat Gonzaga have killed them from inside the arc, though. With the size that GU possesses, this seems unlikely. However, when you look at their losses to Michigan State, Illinois, and St. Mary’s, each of those teams shot between 55% and 62% from two against the Zags. Keep a close eye on how Elias Harris, Robert Sacre, and Sam Dower defend the interior.
  

  Matt Carlino (10) Is Going To Play A Big Role In BYU's Critical Matchup Against Gonzaga

• BYU has already been beaten twice by St. Mary’s, so their regular season title chances are essentially done. They are positioning themselves for either a run in the WCC Tourney or an at-large bid. A win against the Zags will go a long way to help their cause. The game could be shaping up to be a size versus speed matchup. At 73 possessions per game, BYU likes to get up and down the court. They need to tire out the bigs from Gonzaga and get easy transition buckets if they want to win this game. Keep a close eye on 6’8” forward Noah Hartsock and guard Matt Carlino. Hartsock needs to go inside-outside on the GU big men and Carlino needs drive and dish to create easy two point baskets for his teammates.
• Do not expect a lot of second chance points in this game, as both teams are excellent on the defensive boards. However, the team that is able to grab a few extra offensive boards will have an advantage. Give the edge to the Zags in that area because of their size. The game will ultimately be decided by BYU’s ability to make two-point shots. They are going to have to hit between 55% – 60% of their interior shots to win. Not an easy task against the size and defensive toughness of Gonzaga.

Other Games to Watch:

• Duke at Virginia Tech (8:00 PM EST on ESPN HD): Until Virginia Tech can show they are able to win consistently, they cannot be considered a serious opponent against any of the top tier ACC teams. The game is in Blacksburg, but nothing indicates they can win because they can’t shoot.
• Oral Roberts at South Dakota State (8:00 PM EST): Nobody is giving any TV love to the top two teams in the Summit League, so you can’t TiVo it. Maybe there is local coverage that I’m missing. Regardless, ORU has won 13 consecutive games including a 22-point beatdown of San Diego State during the streak. Look for Nate Wolters and company to step-it up at home, where they are undefeated this season.

***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2014

Wednesday night was a night of valiant efforts, but no surprises. Despite the underdogs’ collective success at keeping games close, Goliath withstood David’s slings and the ACC standings are starting to finally look understandable. Without Glen Rice Jr., Georgia Tech was no match for the still-hot Florida State Seminoles who put the Yellow Jackets in the rear view with a dynamic closing stretch. Boston College, formerly a high-octane scoring attack, tried a more traditional underdog approach with a hideous burn offense that slowed the game with North Carolina State to a crawl. Despite some notable efforts to try to give away the game in the second half, Boston College still faltered in its end-game execution and Mark Gottfried and his crew walked away with the win.

The real excitement of the night was in the Maryland at Miami game. While it looked like it was going to be a by-the-numbers blow out, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon took exception to a referee call late in the second half, kept arguing, and finally got ejected. The Terrapins, rallying behind the guy who stood up for them, suddenly started playing some inspired ball. That combined with the absence of any true post players for Miami (Kenny Kadji was injured while both Reggie Johnson and Raphael Akpejiori fouled out) resulted in a remarkable turnaround that turned a double-digit deficit into a double-overtime thriller. It wasn’t the prettiest game, and before all was said and done, Durand Scott, Sean Mosley, and Nick Faust also fouled out of the game. Scott’s 24 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists would prove to be the deciding line of the night. Though Terrell Stoglin scored an impressive 33 points, he did so only after taking an I-still-can’t-believe-it 20 three-point shots. Though Maryland lost, Stoglin’s will, and the key defensive play of Alex Len means that the Terrapins leave Coral Gables feeling that their team is tough enough to hang in the big games and that their coach believes in them.

The Only Game In Town

• Duke at Virginia Tech at 7:00 PM on ESPN

Each week through conference play, we’ll offer up a couple of different takes on the biggest question of the week in the Pac-12. This week:

Halfway through the conference season, who are your picks for Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and who’s going to win the regular season title?

Connor Pelton: Oregon State guard Jared Cunningham is my pick for player of the year. The junior leads the conference in PPG, made free throws, and SPG. More importantly, however, is that he is Oregon State’s only consistent offensive producer. Ahmad Starks, Devon Collier, and Roberto Nelson have their moments, but Cunningham has also been there to hit the big jumper or ice the game at the line.

At this point in the season, the coach of the year is definitely Dana Altman. Altman has persevered despite losing two big recruits just a month into the season, and halfway through Pac-12 play he finds his team tied for third. As I said in the “20 Questions” article, Mike Montgomery and Tad Boyle would also be good choices, but there are still problems with those two. California is 0-2 against the Top 25 and has a bad loss against Washington State, while Colorado doesn’t have a good win outside of the altitude-influenced Coors Events Center. Wait, you’re saying that Oregon doesn’t have a Top 25 win either? God, this conference is awful.

I like Washington to take the regular season title. The Huskies did a good job of managing the first half of their schedule, with the only losses coming at Colorado and home to a good California team. The Golden Bears can’t say the same as their two losses have been against lower-half teams. With Tony Wroten, Jr. and Terrence Ross leading the offense, the Huskies are as good a pick as any to take the Pac-12.

Andrew Murawa: At this point, with Oregon State still sitting under .500 in the conference, I can’t in good conscience pick Jared Cunningham for Player of the Year. Instead, I’ll opt for California’s Jorge Gutierrez. He doesn’t score as much as Cunningham, but he uses just as many possessions as his counterpart in Corvallis, and he is every bit as important to his team’s chances as Cunningham is to the Beavers. Gutierrez is the floor general for the Golden Bears, an extension of head coach Mike Montgomery on the floor. He may not have the ridiculous athletic abilities that Cunningham possesses, but he ekes out every last bit of production from the talent he does have. This Cal team would likely not be in the top half of the conference standings without Gutierrez. Read the rest of this entry »