Big 12 M5: 11.20.12 Edition

Posted by dnspewak on November 20th, 2012

  1. Josh Gray might be one of the more important players in this league (to his team, we mean). It seems odd, but Texas Tech‘s point guard situation was so awful a year ago that Gray seemed almost like a savior of sorts entering his freshman season. A coveted recruit from Louisiana, Gray has played well in a limited two-game window and aready has drawn praise from his head coach. Chris Walker likes the way he’s progressed since the beginning of the summer, and it’s hard to disagree. In two games, Gray scored in double figures and dished out four assists both times, tallied a combined six steals and even grabbed seven rebounds against Nebraska-Omaha. The competition stiffens when Texas Tech lines up against Arizona on December 1, but that’s not a terrible way to start a college career.
  2. I have absolutely no idea where I’ll be in two years or what I’ll be doing, but Kansas State does. Exactly two years from today, it’ll play in the 2014 Maui Invitational, along with Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Missouri, BYU, and, of course, Chaminade. That seems like a stacked field right now. But for all we know, in two years, Arizona will be a cellar-dwellar in the Pac-12, BYU will have joined the America East and Chaminade, fresh off that win against Texas last night, will have transitioned to Division I. Point is, congratulations to Kansas State for entering this prestigious tournament. Even if it’s not for 24 more months.
  3. In yet another addition of Take Away the Practice Gear, Bob Huggins decided to do just that after West Virginia’s embarrassing defeat to Gonzaga last week. College coaches have engaged in this practice since the caveman days, and we’re still trying to put our finger on the exact psychology behind it. As Keaton Miles puts it, “he was saying we played as individuals and he is trying to get us to earn the WVU on our chest and that we represent a state that takes pride in its basketball.” We’ll go with that.
  4. Believe it or not, Travis Ford’s Oklahoma State program had not cracked the Top 25 until this week, just a day after slamming North Carolina State and winning the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. That’s fairly surprising considering the early success and NCAA Tournament appearances Ford enjoyed with the Cowboys. The polls don’t mean much at this point, but it has to be refreshing for Ford to see his team ascend to #20 after that landmark victory over the Wolfpack. For a coach supposedly on the “hot seat,” this is a big deal.
  5. You may have noticed that Kansas beat Washington State by, like, 150 points last night. Three players scored in double figures: Perry Ellis, Travis Releford and Ben McLemore. Notice that last name on the list. McLemore, a redshirt freshman fresh off a 25-point performance against Chattanooga, scored 11 points and probably has the potential to do a whole lot more damage. If you’re bored and want to break down exactly how McLemore scored those 25 points this weekend, here’s a good look at his offensive output so far this season.
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Big 12 Morning Five: 11.19.12 Edition

Posted by dnspewak on November 19th, 2012

  1. Rick Barnes will just need to stay patient with Myck Kabongo, it appears. The star point guard has traveled with the team to Hawaii for this week’s Maui Invitational, but the NCAA has not yet deemed him eligible to play. The Longhorns have looked lost offensively without Kabongo, and they can’t afford for him to stay on the bench much longer. They should be able to dispatch of Chaminade and, truthfully, either Illinois or USC in the semifinals, but this team can’t get off the island with a championship if Kabongo’s not playing. Here’s the funny thing about all of this — technically, according to that article linked above, there’s nothing necessarily preventing Kabongo from playing right now. It’s just that if he plays and the NCAA eventually finds him ineligible due to his relationship with an agent, Texas would have to forfeit every game he appeared in. As if there’s a chance in the world Barnes would risk that.
  2. Even before Oklahoma State’s thrashing of North Carolina State in the finals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, The Oklahoman published this piece about Le’Bryan Nash‘s maturity and improved play so far this season. Then he lit up the Wolfpack for 23 points, and his team looked immortal during the final two days of this three-day tournament. It’s obvious that some of us — like myself, who said in a preseason podcast I had serious doubts about Oklahoma State’s potential — might have been, um, dead wrong about Nash and the Cowboys. It’s early, sure, but everything’s coming together perfectly for Travis Ford. Nash looks like he gets it. Marcus Smart can play the point. His high school buddy Phil Forte really is one of the top shooters in his freshman class. There’s no telling how long the Cowboys may ride this wave of momentum from Puerto Rico.
  3. It’s hard to be TCU. New league, new opponents, new era, and on top of that, Trent Johnson is really in rebuilding mode with this program right now. That’s why losing Amric Fields, the Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year last season, hurts so much. The Star-Telegram claims Fields is probably out for the season, which means he’ll join freshman center Aaron Durley on the walking wounded list (Durley’s also out for the year). Luckily, the Horned Frogs do have a lot of bodies up front still, even if they’re largely unproven. Nobody said Trent Johnson’s new job was going to be very easy.
  4. TCU lost Fields in the midst of a loss to in-state rival SMU. That’s Larry Brown’s new team, of course, and here’s an interesting analysis as to how TCU and SMU differ in their approaches to rebuilding. It’s not as though Trent Johnson is some sort of up-and-comer as a coach. He’s taken three separate programs to the NCAA Tournament and established himself as one of the game’s better coaches during his tenures at Nevada and Stanford. He’s no Larry Brown, however. Nobody is. And that’s why this article is a good read, no matter if you live in TCU/SMU territory in Texas or 1,000 miles away in another part of the country. These two programs both needed a bold move, and they took different paths to achieve it.
  5. Bruce Weber may not have the same sort of talent that Bill Snyder has on his football team, but he says he loves his depth so far. He has a point. Outside of Rodney McGruder and perhaps Jordan Henriquez, the rest of the rotation is mostly interchangeable. There are just solid players up and down the roster at every position. Right now, the Wildcats have 11 players averaging between 16-24 minutes per game. That will obviously change as the season progresses, but even against early cupcakes, that’s quite staggering.
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Jamaal Franklin’s West Coast Swagger

Posted by dnspewak on November 17th, 2012

Danny Spewak is an RTC correspondent. He filed this following San Diego State’s 60-44 victory over Missouri State in Springfield on Saturday.

Trotting up and down the floor like he owned the place, Jamaal Franklin’s mouth just kept moving. “I guess that’s what they do out on the West Coast,” Missouri State guard Anthony Downing said. Sometimes, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year would flash a wry smile at nobody in particular. Other times, he’d stare blankly at the first row of fans at JQH Arena, where hecklers hollered at him and accused him of playing like a “thug” after referees called him for a flagrant foul on Keith Pickens.

Jamaal Franklin, Steve Fisher, San Diego State

Jamaal Franklin Impressed at Missouri State (Christopher Hanewinckel/US Presswire)

By the time San Diego State put the finishing touches on a 60-44 victory over Missouri State on Saturday, all 7,272 fans at the “Q” booed Franklin every time he touched the ball. “West Coast snobs!” said one woman behind press row. The others exited the building silently — with vengeance, of course. They can hate Jamaal Franklin all they want in Springfield, but it won’t change the box score. Twenty-two points. Twelve rebounds. Three blocks. Three steals. All part of another victory for his 25th-ranked Aztecs. “It was an eye-opening experience,” Bears’ coach Paul Lusk said. But for anybody who has seen Franklin play before, it wasn’t eye-opening in the least. Like the rest of his team, which missed its first 10 three-point attempts and shot 32 percent from the field, the versatile 6’5’’ wing wasn’t perfect. He turned the ball over seven times, misfired on six of seven three-point attempts and never exactly found his stroke offensively. Yet Franklin still managed to tally a double-double and turn in a stellar defensive performance.

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OK State “OK” Without Olukemi For Now, But May Not Stay That Way

Posted by dnspewak on November 16th, 2012

For months, we’ve heard rumors about Travis Ford’s job security and the pressure to win big this season with Marcus Smart and Le’Bryan Nash. It’s rare for a college basketball coach to have one star of their caliber, much less two, so all eyes were on that duo during Oklahoma State’s showdown with Tennessee this morning in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. It was the first real test for the new-look Cowboys, and they could not have possibly played more flawlessly on both ends of the floor in a 62-45 win. Smart can apparently run the point just fine. Nash looks more mature. A smaller OSU team bullied the Jeronne Maymon-less Volunteers, winning the rebounding battle and stifling Jarnell Stokes, and it put on a defensive clinic.

J.P. Olukemi Is Hurt Again

That’s one heck of a start for Ford in this make-or-break year. But remember, the injury bug ruined Oklahoma State’s 2011-12 season, and Ford must once again deal with injuries after J.P. Olukemi hurt his knee in Thursday’s overtime victory against Akron. Ford said it “doesn’t look good.” That’s just heartbreaking to hear for the senior, who missed most of last season with an ACL tear. It’s even more heartbreaking when you consider that the NCAA just granted Olukemi a waiver to play the second semester earlier this fall — originally, he only had eligibility through the first semester. He was supposed to play all of 2012-13, and he was supposed to play it well. Oh, and Brian Williams is already out for the season as well, so it’s a mess of a time in the trainer’s room right now.

Now, there’s no telling when Olukemi will make it back. Unfortunately, he’s out of redshirts and second chances from the NCAA. Oklahoma State could really use him, too, because he’s probably the best athlete on the team and just adds another athletic element to that backcourt full of big, physical guards. The Cowboys may have looked immortal against Tennessee, but Olukemi is a major part of this program. He’s a match-up nightmare, a versatile defender and an experienced leader with three years of Division I basketball under his belt. Outside of Nash and Smart, Olukemi is the sort of invaluable secondary player who makes this team run. And if he can’t play, it won’t only be heartbreaking for him. It’ll be heartbreaking for everybody.

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Big 12 M5: 11.16.12 Edition

Posted by dnspewak on November 16th, 2012

  1. As if TCU weren’t already in trouble in its first season in the Big 12, coach Trent Johnson learned he’ll likely lose forward Amric Fields for the remainder of the season due to a knee injury. Freshman center Aaron Durley is already out for the season, and Fields figured to play a more important role on the Horned Frogs after a earning Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year honors as a sophomore. Outside of point guard Kyan Anderson and perhaps Garlon Green, the team’s leading returning scorer, it’s hard to fathom a more significant loss for Johnson.
  2. This is not a men’s basketball story, but it’s worth your time. Last November, Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna died in a plane crash en route to a recruiting visit in Arkansas. They were traveling to watch Roshunda Johnson — who signed with the Cowboys this week. That’s chilling. At the same time, it’s inspirational and an incredible story. Here’s what Johnson told the paper: “At first, I started off blaming myself,” Johnson told The Oklahoman. “It was just like, ‘Aw, man. They were on their way to come see me, and then that accident happened.’ I felt kind of bad. It was kind of hard for me… (But I had to remember) ‘At the end of the day, they were still watching you.'”
  3. It’s always fun to judge a first-year head coach in November. Kansas State fans haven’t seen Bruce Weber‘s team play any notable competition, but they’re already trying to size up their new guy. As you’ll read in that article, though, it’s difficult to make any sort of real judgment yet. It’s interesting to read that former coach Frank Martin had a reputation for failing to motivate his teams in guarantee games and cupcake non-conference matchups. This writer praises Weber for getting his kids to annihilate Alabama-Huntsville (and, just for kicks, he mentions Martin’s overtime nail-biter against Milwaukee over the weekend). He’ll have a lot more to write about after KSU’s trip to Madison Square Garden, of course.
  4. Amath M’Baye has a fascinating life. It’s much more interesting than mine and probably yours as well. He’s traveled across the world, finally landing in Norman as Oklahoma’s newest star transfer. As The Oklahoman details in this feature, M’Baye’s mother will be there every step of the way. On the court, he just might represent the missing piece for the Sooners, who tanked in Big 12 play a year ago after a solid start in Lon Kruger’s first season. Now in his second season, Kruger needs M’Baye — and his mom, we suppose — to really take on a leadership role.
  5. One final note: Kansas signed two additional recruits on Thursday. Bill Self inked Joel Embiid, a seven-foot center, as well as wing Brannen Greene. They’re both big-time prospects (I mean, they signed with Self, so they’ve got to be, right?), but Greene appears to be a little more polished at this point. He’s a top-25 recruit out of Georgia. Embiid hails from Cameroon, where he’s only played a year of organized basketball. True seven-footers don’t come along all too often, though, so there’s no telling how good this kid could be in a few years.
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Numbers Tell the Story in Myck Kabongo’s Absence

Posted by dnspewak on November 15th, 2012

The numbers are in: Texas without Myck Kabongo is a bit of, well, a disaster. The Longhorns, playing without their star point guard while the NCAA determines his eligibility due to a relationship with an agent, narrowly escaped a test from Fresno State in their opener and then beat down Coppin State by 23 earlier this week. Their offensive output during those two games was frightening, and by frightening, we mean the sort of offense that would make Bob Knight or any basketball coach from church league to the NBA cringe. Rick Barnes has a freshman in Javan Felix running the point, and without Kabongo, everything’s falling apart. That’s putting it nicely. Quickly, let’s run down the statistics for you in Texas’ first two games:

No Kabongo (left) Means Big Trouble for Texas

vs. Fresno State (11/9)

  • Three team assists, 13 turnovers
  • 37 percent from the floor, 1-13 from three-point land
  • Felix: 5-15 (10 points), one assist, three turnovers

vs. Coppin State (11/12)

  • 26 team turnovers (14 assists)
  • 7-20 from three
  • Felix: zero points, nine assists, eight turnovers

These are pretty simple statistics. No Nate Silver sabermetrics here, just simple turnover, assist and field goal percentage numbers. And, as you can see from the box scores, even if you don’t receive The Longhorn Network and couldn’t see a single minute of either game, it’s evident this team could really, really, really use Myck Kabongo back in the lineup. Felix, in time, will likely grow into a solid point guard. He played very well in the first half of that Fresno State game and finished with 10 points (and, extraordinarily, nine rebounds, close to a double-double), but this team wasn’t built for a freshman. It was built for Kabongo. Without him, these Longhorns hardly look recognizable. A 26-turnover performance against Coppin State is inexcusable, and three total assists against Fresno State may actually be more inexcusable. So forgive Barnes for counting down the days until he gets his star point guard back.

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West Virginia’s New Season Begins How the Old One Ended

Posted by dnspewak on November 13th, 2012

Well, that seemed oddly familiar. Seven months after Gonzaga ended West Virginia‘s 2011-12 season in the most embarrassing of fashions in a 77-54 NCAA Tournament beatdown, the new-look Mountaineers hardly looked new at all. They unraveled in the first few minutes of their season opener — also the first game on ESPN’s 24-hour Tip-Off Marathon slate — and wallowed to an 84-50 loss Monday night (or was it Tuesday morning)?

Gonzaga Took It Right to the Mountaineers… Again (Jed Conklin — AP)

It was bad. Real bad, across the board. Before anybody hopped up on coffee and Five Hour Energy could blink an eye, Gonzaga led 17-2. That lead got to 27 at halftime, and, as Billy Packer once said a little bit prematurely in a certain Final Four game, “this game is ovah” at that point. Players were visibly frustrated, body language was poor and coach Bob Huggins seemed to have no answers. Offensively, his team was a mess. That’s understandable after losing Kevin Jones and, probably more evidently on Monday night, point guard Truck Bryant. Dayton transfer Juwan Staten and Jabarie Hinds combined for just two assists against five turnovers, and the team totaled only eight overall assists. Aaric Murray, a newcomer from La Salle with major pro potential, scored 14 points in his debut, but that hardly mattered. The Mountaineers couldn’t initiate any open looks, and they missed everything. We mean everything. Three-of-26 from three-point land is not very pretty to open the year. Boston College transfer Matt Humphrey, known for his perimeter shooting, finished 1-of-7. Hinds was 1-of-6. It didn’t help that the Bulldogs executed very well offensively after a rather sluggish start, as four Gonzaga starters finished in double figures.

And that’s all you really need to know about West Virginia’s season opener. Playing in unfamiliar territory in the state of Washington, the Mountaineers looked about as culturally shocked as humanly possible in The Kennel. The crowd was fierce, the place was amped and Huggins’ team did not respond well. It’s clear his reclamation project will take time. He has new guards to break in, a new centerpiece on offense in Murray and a lot of sophomores trying to adjust to new roles. You know Huggins will have this team in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament by February. Unfortunately, after this debacle, it’s fair to wonder whether Huggins’ program will ever get that swagger back on the defensive end and on the boards. It lost that identity a bit a year ago — especially against Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament — and it certainly did not return today.

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McDermott vs. Mitchell a Fun Show, But the Lesson Lies in Creighton’s Legitimacy

Posted by dnspewak on November 9th, 2012

Danny Spewak is an RTC correspondent and Big 12 microsite writer. He filed this report from Omaha after Creighton’s 71-51 victory over North Texas tonight. You can follow him on Twitter @dspewak.

The Tony Mitchell Show began with a fast-break dunk in the opening minutes and continued with a block, a three-pointer from the wing, another swat, a monstrous slam off an offensive rebound and, finally, a loud, piercing scream of raw emotion directed toward the sold-out CenturyLink Center crowd. The public address announcer continued to call that name in monotone – Tony Mitchell ­– as he racked up nine points, two dunks and two blocks in the first eight minutes of the game to put himself on pace for numbers that would make ESPN look foolish for failing to televise this matchup against All-American Doug McDermott and Creighton.

Doug McDermott Isn’t the Only Bluejay on His Team (ALYSSA SCHUKAR/THE WORLD-HERALD)

A funny thing happened, though, as the game progressed. North Texas, the consensus Sun Belt favorite but a team heavily reliant on underclassmen, began to crumble when Mitchell struggled offensively. A Mean Green offensive drought turned into a double-digit deficit, and by the end of the half, Mitchell sat on the bench with two fouls as his team fell out of contention. Suddenly, it became apparent that this wasn’t the Tony Mitchell Show or the Doug McDermott Show, nor was this game simply an individual battle between Tony Mitchell and Doug McDermott. Instead, the 71-51 throttling was a testament to the potential and limitless ceiling of this Creighton team. More importantly, it was a testament to the fact that the Mean Green have a long, long way to go. Still, this was no Division II school to open 2012-13 season—instead, the Bluejays welcomed one of the nation’s top players in Mitchell and a team with serious NCAA Tournament hopes. “I don’t know if I’ve been as nervous for an opening game for this one than I have been in 24 years of doing this,” coach Greg McDermott said. “I thought it was a great idea when we scheduled it, and then all this week I thought it was a terrible idea.”

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Big 12 Team Previews #2: Baylor Bears

Posted by dnspewak on November 9th, 2012

Over the next two weeks, we’ll bring you the obligatory team preview here at the Big 12 microsite. Baylor at the #2 position is next on our list. 

The Skinny

  • 2011-12 record: 30-8, 12-6
  • Key contributors lost: Quincy Acy, Perry Jones III, Quincy Miller
  • Head coach: Scott Drew
  • Projected finish: 2nd

Scott Drew doesn’t care what you think. He’s perfectly fine reloading with NBA prospects after his stars leave early for the pros, and he’s perfectly fine dealing with the stigma of underachievement and playing an “impure” style of basketball, whatever that really means. In the end, Scott Drew doesn’t care what you think. That’s because he wins. For all the criticism, Drew has reached the Elite Eight twice in three seasons and once again welcomes a collection of stud freshmen to replace the departed Perry Jones III, Quincy Miller and Quincy Acy. Call this team undisciplined all you want. Drew has the league’s best player in Pierre Jackson, another ferocious frontcourt and as much depth as anybody in the league. Drew just has one more step in quieting his doubters: He must find a way to finally win a Big 12 title.

Drew Is Suspended For The First Two Big 12 Games, But His Team Should Be Just Fine

The Personnel

Pierre Jackson is fun. Read the rest of this entry »

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Big 12 Team Previews #3: Texas Longhorns

Posted by dnspewak on November 9th, 2012

Over the next two weeks, we’ll bring you the obligatory team preview here at the Big 12 microsite. Texas at the #3 position is next on our list. 

The Skinny

  • 2011-12 record: 20-14, 9-9
  • Key contributors lost: J’Covan Brown
  • Head coach: Rick Barnes
  • Projected finish: 3rd

And now we play the waiting game. Coach Rick Barnes still has no idea whether star point guard Myck Kabongo will play this season after the NCAA began investigating his eligibility. The situation, which pertains to Kabongo’s relationship with an agent, could not have possibly come at a more crippling time for Texas. Already recovering from the early departure of do-it-all guard J’Covan Brown, the Longhorns cannot afford to lose Kabongo for any amount of time. They’ll need to remake themselves after relying so heavily on Brown a year ago, and their new style of offense — as well as any potential for a Big 12 title run — hinges on Kabongo’s presence. To make matters worse, this is a roster consisting almost exclusively of freshmen and sophomores, so there’s not a lot of room for error.

It’d Be a Problem if Kabongo Can’t Play

The Personnel

Along with Pierre Jackson, Kabongo is one of this league’s most dynamic playmakers at the point guard position. His world-class speed and explosion, coupled with his innate ability to dish out the basketball and makes his teammates better, is the reason his eligibility concerns are so widely publicized right now. If he plays, he’ll change the entire course of Texas’ season. As a freshman, Kabongo arrived on campus with out-of-this-world expectations, and he struggled to acclimate himself at first. His rookie season wasn’t necessarily “rocky,” but it took him all the way until March for his coach to notice a change in maturity and poise at point guard. After the Longhorns’ critical Big 12 quarterfinal victory over Iowa State all but secured an NCAA Tournament berth, Barnes singled out Kabongo as a major factor in the victory from a leadership standpoint. Apparently, it was Kabongo’s idea to put Jaylen Bond in the final minutes of the game, just so UT could switch on ball screens. “Of all the things he’s done this year,” Barnes said after the game, “I’m telling you. He’s heading in the right direction.”

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