On March 2, 2013, Wichita State and Creighton played a game initially notable for the fact that it would be the Jays’ final regular season game in the Missouri Valley Conference. Somewhere in the midst of Creighton rolling to a 12-point victory in Omaha, the contest became less about the Valley swan song and more about Doug McDermott, who poured in 41 points on 15-of-18 field goal shooting. At the time, it appeared to be a day to quickly forget for Gregg Marshall’s Shockers, and forget they did: Wichita State was playing in the Final Four just five weeks later. Fast-forward from that point more than 20 months, though, and that regular season finale has developed a new reason for recall – it’s the last regular season game Wichita State has lost. The Shockers will be sporting a 31-game regular season winning streak when they take to the Roundhouse floor tonight, where New Mexico State will be the latest opponent to have a crack at snapping the streak. Gregg Marshall’s team will face challenges this season that never afflicted last year’s team, but it returns a nucleus capable of maintaining an established lofty standard. So we ask: How good can these Shockers be, and exactly when will the regular season streak end?

How Long Can Ron Baker And The Shockers Keep Winning?

Wichita State will miss Cleanthony Early. List as many reasons as you want for the magical run of a season ago – Gregg Marshall’s coaching; utterly committed team defense; grinding offensive execution – but the Shockers also had the luxury of Early, a player with the athletic tools to dominate any game if needed. In 2013, Early’s 39-point explosion against Southern Illinois saved the Shockers from a near-upset at home. Last year at Indiana State, he scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to stave off the Shockers’ primary Valley challenger. And in that lone, season-ending loss of 2014, it was Early who matched Kentucky’s NBA talent shot-for-shot down the stretch, keeping the Shockers afloat. The current New York Knicks forward may not have been the most consistent Shocker during his two years in Wichita, but his athleticism and scoring ability made him a dynamic dimension that few college basketball teams – power conference or not – could lay claim to. Ron Baker, Fred VanVleet and Tekele Cotton will deservedly reel in plenty of acclaim this season, but for the myriad talents of that trio, none possess the game-breaking abilities of Early. This team will need to find its way without a take-over scorer.

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By nearly any measure, the American Athletic Conference’s maiden voyage was a successful one. The odd new assemblage of schools that was the 2013-14 AAC sent four of its 10 members to the NCAA Tournament, and then UConn went out and won the whole damn thing. As a result, the one-year old AAC is currently the proud owner of more post-2000 national titles than the Big Ten and Pac-12 combined — who says a new conference can’t possess a little slice of history? The brilliant opening act was fun, but present and future prospects for the AAC have quickly turned murky. Much has changed in the six months since the Huskies cut down the nets in Arlington. Three new programs have joined the league — East Carolina, Tulsa, and Tulane – while two former league members – Rutgers and Louisville – have departed. The balance sheet of coming and going league members is laced with irrelevant basketball programs, with one massive exception – Louisville. Can a nascent and unsettled league survive the departure of one of college basketball’s premier programs?

Louisville’s Move To The ACC? Should Be Fun For Pitino & Co., Less So For The American. (Getty)

If you’re wondering how Louisville is liking its new ACC digs, the answer – at least during this preseason – is very well, thank you. Six ACC squads populate KenPom’s preseason Top 25 (compared to just one from the AAC), including the Cardinals at a healthy No. 3. Identifying the ACC as tradition-laden is about as obvious as naming Michael Jordan an all-time great, but seeing conference-mates Duke, Virginia, North Carolina and Syracuse in the top 20 sends a message loud and clear: Welcome to the big time, Cards. Read the rest of this entry »

For four years, the college basketball world was blessed with the presence of a true superstar. Despite relatively limited national television exposure and a team that was rarely viewed as a legitimate national contender, Creighton’s Doug McDermott lit up the nation. We were all fortunate enough to witness the three-time first-team All-American’s consistently stunning scoring exploits, competitiveness and savvy, the likes of which were unmatched during his time in Omaha. He became known as Dougie McBuckets for a reason, but his career as a collegian has come and gone. Now, both Creighton and the sport in general are faced with the unenviable task of filling the void.

With Doug McDermott now earning checks that say “NBA” on them, these four guys (Iowa State’s Georges Niang, Wisconsin’s duo of Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, and Georgia State’s RJ Hunter) are the best candidates to pick up where McDermott left off.

Before we even entertain the thought of replacing him, it’s important to recognize what he brought to the table. Even with all the accolades he earned at Creighton, it’s possible that he was still underrated. We know about his incredible scoring ability (3,150 career points, fifth in NCAA history). We know that he was a prolific three-point shooter (274 career threes on 45.8 percent shooting). We know that he could score from anywhere on the floor, and that he could do so by nearly any means. And we know about his lengthy résumé of awards, records and accomplishments (in addition to three All-America selections, he was the 2014 NPOY).

The thing about McDermott, though, is that he was such a uniquely talented player. He had an innate ability to find open space on the floor, and it was this ability around which Creighton’s offense was strategically structured. His movement was both constant and unorthodox, incisive and smooth. He embodied the phrase “take what the defense gives you.” He used off-ball screens impeccably within the sets, but also spontaneously created space for himself and others, and it was this freedom of motion which made him, and by proxy, Creighton’s offense, impossible to prepare for. He could singlehandedly make a stagnant offense dynamic. Yes, there were other talented players on the roster, but the Creighton offense was largely built to utilize McDermott, and McDermott utilized the Creighton offense.

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Many college basketball fans still may not know who Delon Wright is – he remains a trendy selection for the “criminally underrated” superlative – but 12 months ago, no college basketball fan knew who Delon Wright was. The younger brother of NBA veteran Dorell Wright was a late bloomer who garnered little recruiting attention out of high school. He was a more coveted quantity by the time his two years at the City College of San Francisco had expired, but even then, Wright arrived on Utah’s campus with little fanfare.

Delon Wright Was A Pleasant Surprise Last Year; Are Bigger Things In Store For The Utah Senior This Season?

What a difference a year can make. The efficiency tour de force that was Wright’s first D-I season has turned him into a preseason contender for Pac-12 Player of the Year and made his team a good bet to crash its first NCAA Tournament in a half-decade. Utah was picked second in the Pac-12 preseason poll, and for the first time in a long time, there are real expectations in Salt Lake City. Whether those hopes are fulfilled will partially be decided by how stirring an encore (and finale) Wright can deliver. The now-senior was brilliant last season, but also disappeared for critical stretches of a Utah season that ended in the NIT. Fans crave a different sort of postseason this year, but a critical question has yet to be answered: Is Delon Wright ready for stardom?

Statistically speaking, Wright kept everyone happy last year. Old school per-game enthusiasts were satiated by a nightly average of 15.5 PPG/6.8 RPG/5.8 APG across the board, while efficiency hounds marveled at Wright’s disruptive defensive habits (4.0% steal percentage, 3.5% block percentage) and a squeaky clean 119.2 offensive rating. His efficient offense was propelled by an eye-popping 62 percent two-point field goal percentage, an outrageous rate of conversion for a guard from inside the arc. By contrast, Louisville’s preseason All-America big man Montrezl Harrell had 97 dunks a season ago and still failed to match Wright’s gaudy two-point range percentage.

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Streamers descended. Confetti flew. An overjoyed Ryan Boatright spiked the ball in elation. Shabazz Napier keeled over in emotion. “I told you,” Napier exclaimed. “I told you.” April 7, 2014, was a magical day for the UConn basketball program. It was the culmination of an exhilarating NCAA Tournament run, one that nearly ended after one game but ultimately concluded in style, and it was a memory that will not soon be forgotten by those involved.

Kevin Ollie and the Huskies Reached the Pinnable Last April (Robert Deutsch / USA TODAY)

But seven months later, head coach Kevin Ollie and his players are set to get back down to business. A new season looms and new challenges await. And as is the case for any defending national champion, so do expectations. When the new season tips off in 10 days, inevitably, a target will be on the Huskies’ backs. But UConn isn’t your typical defending national champion. Let’s not let recency bias significantly affect our perceptions. For much of last season, the Huskies were a pretty good team, but they weren’t a great one. They spent the duration of conference play outside of Ken Pomeroy’s top 20, and they were a #7 seed for a reason, with their best road win of the regular season coming against a perplexing Memphis squad.

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As always, college basketball received a series of new hires this offseason, with a number of familiar faces changing venues on the coaching landscape. A few notable faces in new places are Marquette’s Steve Wojciechowski, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Wake Forest’s Danny Manning, Missouri’s Kim Anderson, Tulsa’s Frank Haith and California’s Cuonzo Martin. There are obviously numerous obstacles inherent in taking on the role of a new coach at a new program. Some may embrace the challenge and build to reach the greatest of heights (see: Calipari, John; Pitino, Rick; etc.), while others may face too daunting of a task and eventually fall flat. Either way, building a successful program from the ground up is a difficult process and only certain individuals have proven that they can get the job done.

Bruce Pearl is Back in College Basketball at Auburn

When considering which new coach can get his team to the Big Dance the soonest, there’s one name that continues to pop up — Bruce Pearl. The former Tennessee coach was very successful in his time with the Volunteers, that is, until the NCAA got involved, and well, you know the story. Pearl spent his last couple of years working with ESPN as an analyst before getting hired by Auburn. Is Auburn the ideal program? Probably not. The job isn’t nearly as attractive as its football counterpart, but it does have excellent potential. Tony Barbee certainly couldn’t do it, but if anyone is going to push the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003, it’s going to be Pearl. He hasn’t even coached a game, and Pearl has already elevated the basketball program. How has he gotten the folks at Auburn excited? Simple: recruiting.

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