Andy Kennedy finally found himself in the NCAA Tournament last season after years of wrong-side-of-the-bubble torture at Ole Miss. Winning the SEC tournament had taken some of the drama out of the moment, but the Rebels built on that by beating Wisconsin in the second round. If Kennedy guides the Rebels back to the Dance this season it’ll be because one or more of his frontcourt players emerges as a consistent source of rebounding and rim protection. Demarco Cox and Aaron Jones have looked the part in spurts thus far, and they, not Marshall Henderson, are therefore the keys to Ole Miss’ season.

Andy Kennedy needs his front court to step up this season to take advantage of talented guards.

The Rebels have the pieces on the perimeter to play with most teams in the country. Henderson doesn’t need a lengthy explanation. He’ll infuriate other teams with jersey pops and landsharking, and probablyequally frusttrate Kennedy with his shot selection at times. But he’ll score, and score a lot. Jarvis Summers is one of the best distributors in the conference, and has a superb 33 percent assist rate so far. Derrick Millinghaus is another high-volume shooter, but has shown he can score at a high level too.

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For Tennessee, the causes for concern following Thursday night’s loss to UTEP are numerous. The Vols showed no ability to run any semblance of an offense against Tim Floyd’s triangle-and-two and box-in-one defense, hitting only 34.9 percent of their shots, including 3-for-21 from three-point range. They allowed the Miners to shoot 58.0 percent on the other end, and played a wholly uninspired game against a Miners team that previously had given no indication it would be able to compete with the team many expect to finish behind Kentucky and Florida in the SEC race. And while Tennessee has a long way to go at this point to even be mentioned in the same breath as the NCAA Tournament, it’s still November, and what may be the most troubling aspect of losing in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis is that it created missed opportunities for two more games against teams certain to be part of the Big Dance.

Cuonzo Martin Missed a Good Opportunity This Weekend (AP/Adam Brimer)

With the loss, the Vols fall into the tournament’s losers’ bracket, and Friday will seek to exact revenge against a Xavier team that dealt them a 67-63 loss in the season opener. While Tennessee appeared to be the more talented team in that game, it got virtually no offensive production from forwards Jarnell Stokes and Jeronne Maymon (11 combined points), and shot a paltry 7-of-19 from the free throw line. The Vols also let Matt Stainbrook, who led the Musketeers with 15 points and nine rebounds, control the game. Xavier is expected to finish in bottom half of the revamped Big East, and it is coming off a performance in which it blew a 15-point second half lead and lost 77-74 to Iowa in overtime Thursday. The Musketeers could turn out to be a quality opponent Tennessee will now have on its resume twice, but a win against UTEP would have given the Vols games against the Hawkeyes and either Kansas or Villanova, each of which appears to be sure-fire NCAA Tournament teams. Now, after playing the Musketeers, Tennessee will draw either USC or Wake Forest, neither of which is expected to compete for a bid to the Big Dance.

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1. Eastern Michigan trapped and swarmed Kentucky’s Julius Randle on Wednesday, holding the big man scoreless in the first half. “If they’re going to do that, they’re going to have to live with other guys stepping up and having big days,” he said. Aaron Harrison was the other player stepping up, scoring 22 points and going 9-of-11 at the free throw line. Part of Randle’s immense value is that he affects the game even when he isn’t scoring. Harrison took advantage of the attention focused elsewhere, and did a great job attacking the basket. His two big scoring nights (the other being a 28-point outing against Robert Morris) have been aided by 10-plus free throw attempts in each game. Kentucky has no shortage of athletes, so there should be plenty of slashing opportunities at the rim when defenders are out of the lane denying Randle the ball.
2. The temperature will be in the low 50s this weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas — that’s not unbearable, but the Razorbacks will likely miss the Maui sunshine. They also missed an opportunity in Maui, going 1-2 with losses against California and Gonzaga sandwiched around a win against Minnesota. The trip wasn’t a disaster because the Gophers are a team with solid metrics and a decent win over Richmond. But Gonzaga was Arkansas‘ last chance to make a non-conference splash, and 34 points from Kevin Pangos ended that dream quickly. Mike Anderson must avoid any non-conference setbacks and has some work to do in SEC play to make his first NCAA Tournament appearance with the Razorbacks. A bright spot was Bobby Portis, who began to assert himself offensively in the latter two games, scoring 12 and 18 points, respectively.
3. A few thousand dollars can buy you a piece of Texas A&M basketball history. G. Rollie White Coliseum, the Aggies’ basketball home from 1954 to 1997, was demolished in August. Workers uncovered the original playing floor during the process, the existence of which was unknown prior to the demolition. Texas A&M began auctioning off portions of the floor yesterday, which include a NCAA logo, school name and logo, and a retro-Southwest Conference logo. The top bid on the baseline floor section is currently over $2,000. This is a neat story that probably won’t repeat itself very often. The vintage, yellowed Southwest Conference logo would be an especially great addition to a living room or office, if you’ve got a some money to burn.
4. Mississippi State barely avoided disaster Wednesday, hanging on to beat KenPom #280 Jackson State by two points. It was an ugly, low-scoring affair marred by 19 Bulldog turnovers and plenty of missed shots. “We shouldn’t need evidence that this can happen,” head coach Rick Ray said. “We need to embrace who we really are, and until we do that, we’re going to struggle.” Mississippi State missed its freshman point guard, I.J. Ready, who had been playing well before “severely” injuring his hamstring. Without him, the Bulldogs had six assists against those 19 turnovers in escaping with the win. Gavin Ware has established himself as a credible low post threat and he’ll see plenty of double teams, but Mississippi State can’t capitalize on this if they keep fumbling the ball away. Their blowout loss at Utah State wasn’t a cause for alarm, but performing so poorly at home against a bad team does not bode well for the rest of the season.
5. Tennessee suffered a setback in the Bahamas, losing to UTEP by eight late last night. The shooting backdrop in the Atlantis ballroom must be difficult, but it’s no excuse for the 38 percent shooting performance from the Volunteers. This included a putrid 3-of-21 from beyond the arc. Jordan McRae had a particularly rough shooting night, missing seven of his eight three point attempts. Not much is known about UTEP at this point: the Miners have two losses, but (oddly) both are to a decent New Mexico State team. Conference USA has already had Charlotte step up and surprise last weekend in Puerto Rico, but this was not a game Tennessee should have lost. They now find themselves with a rematch against a Xavier team that already beat them once to open the season. Semaj Christon got to the basket with ease in that game, so it’ll be interesting to see what adjustments Cuonzo Martin makes to prevent this from happening again.

1. Jordan McRae was named SEC Player of the Week after scoring a combined 45 points against the Citadel and Tennessee State. He has tightened up his efficiency on offense since the beginning of the year, missing only nine shots in those two games after missing ten in the opener against Xavier alone. His hot offensive week has helped make up for sluggish starts from two players expected to carry part of the scoring load for the Volunteers, Jarnell Stokes (40% FG%) and Robert Hubbs (35% FG%). James Young was named the Freshman of the Week, continuing the stranglehold the Wildcats will likely hold on the award all year long.
2. Kentucky had its first non-Michigan State scare of the season last night as Cleveland State held a ten-point lead with ten minutes left. The Harrison twins were mainly responsible for the rally that helped Kentucky avoid the upset. This is encouraging for Wildcat fans because Aaron (who has struggled from three) hit a big corner three, and Andrew (who is shooting 37 percent overall) had an important old-fashioned three point play. Consistent perimeter offense from the Harrisons would elevate Kentucky to a truly complete team, and perhaps they can use their big plays last night as a confidence building block.
3. Scottie Wilbekin made his season debut last night against Jacksonville, and it was immediately apparent how badly Billy Donovan needs his senior point guard. With Kasey Hill injured, Wilbekin had to play 34 minutes in a 26 point win. He had a good start to the season with seven assists against two turnovers. As Donovan gets one important player back, it appears another, Damontre Harris, won’t suit up for Florida this season. “Right now, he’s been gone for 25 days,” Donovan told The Sun. “I don’t have any hope he’s going to come back. We’re still going to try to help him and work with him and try to get him to do the things he needs to do, but there’s no level of accountability on the things that he needs to do on a regular basis.” It’s not often you see a coach be this honest, especially in a negative context. The Gators still have three good forwards in Patric Young, Will Yeguete and Dorian Finney-Smith.
4. Interim Missouri coach Tim Fuller ended his stint at the helm with a 5-0 record after a win against IUPUI. Frank Haith returns when the Tigers play Northwestern on Thanksgiving. The record looks impressive, but Fuller did it against a weak slate of teams. Still, he had to show composure as the Tigers were tested against Hawaii (one-point halftime deficit), Gardner-Webb (two-point halftime lead), and IUPUI (nine-point lead with under eight minutes to play). This doesn’t say much for Missouri, but it was a good learning experience for a guy with a sterling recruiting reputation that will likely get head coaching looks down the line.
5. Arkansas dropped its first real test of the year, losing to California 85-77 in the opening game of the Maui Invitational. The Razorbacks were bullied on the glass as the Golden Bears grabbed 18 more rebounds. Mike Anderson got good scoring efforts out of Michael Qualls and Anthlon Bell, but his front court combined to make only seven baskets. Luckily for Arkansas, the deep Maui field means they still have a shot at a resume-boosting win against Minnesota, which lost to Syracuse. The Golden Gophers present a challenge to Arkansas because they haven’t turned the ball over much this year, and have a dynamite rebounder in Eliot Eliason (11.2 rebounds per game).

Arkansas leaves the comfort of Bud Walton Arena and heads to Maui this week for a stretch of games that will define its non-conference season. The road hasn’t been kind to the Razorbacks under Mike Anderson, so getting some neutral site wins would be a nice confidence booster. Reaching potential later round games with teams like Syracuse, Gonzaga, and/or Baylor is also important because the rest of Arkansas’ non-conference schedule is devoid of quality opponents. They also won’t play another game away from Bud Walton Arena until their SEC season begins in College Station on January 8 against Texas A&M.

No surprise: Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks are turning opponents over at a high rate. (AP)

Here’s a look at what the Razorbacks have shown in their first three games:

Wins: (plus KenPom rating) Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (#329), Louisiana-Lafayette (#170), SMU (#67)

The Good: Turning the opponent over and defending the three. It’s not a big surprise when it comes to forcing turnovers because that is what Anderson’s teams do. The Razorbacks have forced 61 turnovers in only three games, and currently hold a 19-turnover advantage over their opponents in that area. They are also doing a good job pressuring opposing three-point shooters, allowing a meager 28 percent from beyond the arc. Contrast that with the 41 percent Arkansas has shot from three and you’ve got a recipe for success. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Mike DeCourcy defended John Calipari and refuted the never-ending “one and done” talking point that Calipari is doing things the wrong way by recruiting so many blue chip players destined for the NBA after a lone college season. DeCourcy writes: “What will all of them say, all of those who behaved as if this were John Calipari’s rule, his personal province? Because this morning, the university that has collected three apparent one-and-dones, three top-10 prospects in the 2014 recruiting class, is not Kentucky. It is Duke.
” It’s bothersome that Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo have been portrayed by some as doing things the “right way” while Calipari has not. The simple fact is that Krzyzewski and Izzo should and absolutely would take most “one and done” players. It’d be bad for business and irresponsible if they didn’t. The “one and done” rule is riddled with problems, but it’s incorrect to think some coaches avoid those players at all costs.
2. Alandise Harrisis off to great start at Arkansas, a start that the Houston transfer wishes had taken place three years ago. The Little Rock native took an interesting path back to his home-state school: “Harris said Arkansas was his top choice, and that [former coach John Pelphrey] offered him a scholarship as a sophomore — an offer he accepted. However, he said Pelphrey didn’t want him to go public with his commitment until after he earned the grades needed to be eligible.Those grades weren’t secured until the spring of Harris’ senior year, he said, at which time the promised scholarship from Arkansas was no longer an option.” What makes this story even more interesting is that Pelphrey remains in the conference as an assistant at Florida. The Gators play in Fayetteville on January 11. Harris just might a little extra motivation to play well that night.
3. Ole Miss scored over 100 points for the first time since 2010 in their win over Mississippi Valley State last Friday. Despite the inferior competition, the Rebels still showcased their high offensive potential on the perimeter. Derrick Millinghaus, who had 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting, is a high volume shooter, but has proven he can be an effective option. The Rebels’ more notable high volume shooter, Marshall Henderson, certainly isn’t alone. Jarvis Summers is an effective slasher, and Ladarius White finally reached double figures with 13 on Friday. Guard play will be the strength of Andy Kennedy’s team this year, and that was on display against the Delta Devils.
4. Missouri forward Stefan Jankovic announced over the weekend that he will transfer. The sophomore has only played 223 minutes in 28 games over the past two years, so the decision isn’t surprising, especially after Jankovic sent out a cryptic tweet a few weeks ago. He struggled with defense and avoiding fouls, and until he improves on that end of the floor he won’t be able to take advantage of his diverse offensive skill set. His stretch four skill set could, however, thrive in a smaller conference. Jankovic is the third member of Frank Haith’s first recruiting class at Missouri to transfer following Negus Webster-Chan and Dominique Bull.
5. Georgia is already saddled with four losses and it’s not even Thanksgiving. The Bulldogs came up empty at the Charleston Classic, losing to Davidson, Temple, and Nebraska. The Temple loss is especially frustrating given that Georgia led in the final moments of the game, only to be undone by a late Owls three. Mark Fox now has five home games against lesser competition to level the season out. Things could get particularly ugly if the Bulldogs were to drop any of those games, however.

It was a summer to forget for Kevin Stallings. After finishing a relatively disappointing 2012-13 campaign with a run to the SEC Tournament semifinals, there was reason for some optimism heading into the offseason. Then Kevin Bright left to play professionally in Germany. And Sheldon Jeter transferred. And, in the biggest blow to this season’s prospects, star point guard and team leader Kedren Johnson was suspended from school. Without those three key contributors, many wrote off the Commodores’ chances for anything but a disastrous season. Picked to finish 10th by the SEC media, the prediction was only that high because the four teams predicted to finish behind them – Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Auburn – are in more dire straits. While the losses of Bright and Jeter hurt — both were expected to be major contributors — Johnson’s departure appeared disastrous. The rising junior would have been an all-SEC selection and was the team’s on-court leader and go-to scorer. With his departures, the Commodores returned only 35 PPG from last season and appeared to be a roster full of complementary players.

Kevin Stallings May Have Some Tricks Up His Sleeve This Year (AP/Wade Payne)

Despite all that happened over the summer and a general expectation of a finish near the bottom of the SEC, Stallings remained optimistic about his team’s prospects during the preseason. And while it’s far too early to say that this team will exceed its low expectations, there are signs Stallings wasn’t just engaging in coach-speak when he talked up his squad. Heading into Friday’s game with Providence at the Paradise Jam, the Commodores sit at 2-1 with home victories over Georgia State and Lipscomb, and an overtime loss at Butler on Tuesday – a game in which they fought back from a 14-point second half deficit to force the extra frame. While the team’s defense appears to have fallen off somewhat (ranking 122nd, down from 51st nationally), the offense, according to Ken Pomeroy, is much improved (177th to 65th). The team heads to the Virgin Islands with a chance to build some necessary confidence against quality competition.

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1. ESPN.com‘s Eamonn Brennan took a look at the early candidates for the Wooden Award, and it’s no surprise that Julius Randle made the list. In fact, Randle was the only SEC player to be named. In a season of big-time talent across the nation, the SEC is a bit short yet again. Put me in the camp that has Randle as the current favorite, though, as he has dominated in a way that freshman typically do not. While Marcus Smart and Jabari Parker are both fine candidates, my money is on Randle. He’s a singular force that changes the way his entire team is defended. Even on nights when his shot isn’t falling, Randle can control a game with his rebounding and brute force. Ultimately, though, the winner of the award will probably be whichever player’s team wins the most games.
2. It has been far too long since a John Calipari to the NBA rumor came out, so good thing it was reported yesterday that the Knicks are interested in hiring him. From a Kentucky perspective, this would be an unmitigated disaster. Calipari has been insanely successful as the Wildcats’ head coach, and it is doubtful the school could strike gold twice in a row (remember Billy Gillispie?). Odds are that this speculation continues for a while but goes away when Calipari gets a pay bump from his employer. Barring another visit from the NCAA, Coach Cal can stay in Lexington for as long as he likes. In New York, Calipari would be setting himself up for disappointment with a lack of draft picks and a bunch of overpaid fading stars. Right now, it doesn’t seem worth it for Calipari to leave the college game.
3. Jordan Clarkson has been an early revelation for Missouri this season, and the defending SEC Player of the Week is just getting started. Clarkson sat out last season due to transfer rules, and he spent all the practice time working on his finishing moves. That work has given Clarkson the confidence to keep attacking the rim, which is going to help Mizzou in games where they would otherwise have no business winning. Clarkson can get an entire team’s frontcourt in foul trouble and make a living at the line. The most impressive park of his game thus far, though, is his willingness to avoid the three. He’s only taken eight treys this season, and he seems to be aware it isn’t his strength. That awareness is what is allowing him to flourish.
4. With Kasey Hill out for at least a month, Billy Donovan has a lot of work to do. In this press conference Donovan talks about how he already had to pull point guard minutes from desperate places when Hill needed rest during games. The problem is that Donovan previously only needed to find 10 minutes per game to spell him, not 40. The bottom line is that without a true point guard the Gator’s offense will suffer. Shooting guards and point forwards are more inclined to look to score and make plays for themselves rather than through the offense.That can lead to bad shots and unhappy players. At least for one night though, the team found balanced scoring in a solid win over Middle Tennessee. Still, they had just 10 assists on 25 made baskets, which just goes to show they really miss having a true point guard.
5. Ever wonder what a high major recruit could do to JuCo competition? Well new LSU commit Josh Gray is giving us a pretty good idea. Gray, who will be joining Johnny Jones in Baton Rouge next season, scored 61 and 59 points in his last two games. Originally a Mississippi State recruit, Gray actually went to Texas Tech for his freshman season before moving on to junior college, and now LSU gets to enjoy his services next season. A solid rim attacker and distributor, Gray will be an excellent addition to a rising Tigers program next season.

Alabama doesn’t play again until November 27 in New York against Jabari Parker and #6 Duke. In honor of this mini-break, let’s take a look at what the Tide have done in the early part of their season.

Wins (plus Kenpom rating): Georgia State (#114), Texas Tech (#144), Stillman (NR, Division II)

Loss: Oklahoma (#55)

Trevor Releford is perfect from the free throw line, but needs to cut down on turnovers.

The Good: Rebounding and free throw shooting. Alabama has rebounded well considering Nick Jacobs is the only player taller than 6’8” who is playing more than 20 minutes per game. The Georgia State win is a good illustration of how the Tide will have to attack the boards the rest of the season given their guard-oriented lineup. Seemingly everyone chipped in: five players had more than four rebounds, and Trevor Releford and Levi Randolph had six each. Another key statistic is that of the six players with more than eight free throw attempts on the season, five are shooting above 75 percent. This includes a perfect season (11-of-11) from Releford thus far. Alabama can help itself immensely by keeping this up given the new hand-check rules.

The Bad: Taking care of the ball. The Tide have turned the ball over too much and are not creating opportunities off the bounce. The only positive assist/turnover ratio the team recorded was against Division II Stillman, and they had an ugly four to 14 ratio in their loss to Oklahoma. A team at the Tide’s level simply can’t cough it up 10 more times than they dish it out and hope to win many games against quality competition. Some of that can be attributed to early season rust and Releford sitting on the bench with foul trouble, but he is off to an especially tough start, averaging a turnover more and assist less than his career averages. Given that he’s the active SEC assist leader, though, there’s a good chance he’ll turn this around, and that would have a big impact considering he is Alabama’s primary ball-handler.

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