Holidays, travel and other nonsense got the best of us for a couple of weeks, but the RTC Podcast is back in action with a look back at the first few weeks of the season. As always, Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114) hosts our discussion which includes this week a discussion of the top four teams in the polls, some of our hits-and-misses from the preseason, and a look at some of the surprising teams of the first month of action.

This full podcast will suffice for this week but we’ll back with our regular schedule next week, with a full podcast on Tuesday followed by our shorter (~15-20 minutes) podblast on Friday taking a quick look at the intervening week’s worth of news and action. Feel free to jump around using the outline below.

Also make sure to add the RTC Podcast to your iTunes lineup so that you’ll automatically upload it on your listening device after each recording. Thanks!

0:00-2:30 – Duke’s great November.
2:30-4:20 – Why can’t there be more good games in December?
4:20-12:00 – Duke/Indiana/Michigan/Florida impressing the most early on.
12:00-17:30 – What’s wrong with UCLA?
17:30-21:30 – Can Kentucky rally for a third straight Final Four run?
21:30-26:15 – NC State leads the disappointments in the ACC.
26:15-29:15 – John Groce finds early success with Illinois.
29:15-31:45 – Minnesota another Big 10 surprise.
31:45-33:45 – Quick Big 10 power rankings.
33:45-35:50 – Back pats – what we got right in the preseason (Michigan/Ryan Harrow).
35:50-40:15 – Back tracks – what we got wrong (DeShaun Thomas/Tennessee).
40:15-45:00 – Weekend preview and wrap up.

We welcome any and all feedback on these podcasts including topics for future discussion or if you want to send us any questions for our “May Not Be From Actual Listeners” segment. Hit us up atrushthecourt@yahoo.com or @rushthecourt on Twitter.

We’re past the nitty-gritty portion of the non-conference schedule — packed with intriguing Thanksgiving tournaments and exciting events like the Champions Classic and the ACC/Big Ten Challenge — and on to the portion typically reserved for the cupcake games entering the holiday break. But Big Ten teams still have some important non-conference meetings coming up before they thrust themselves into conference play around the New Year. Here’s a list of some of the most intriguing — and important — remaining non-conference games. Don’t miss them (in no particular order):

A rematch of this 2012 Final Four matchup highlights the best of the remaining Big Ten non-conference games. (Credit: Columbus Dispatch)

• Texas at No. 19 Michigan State, December 22 — This is looking more and more like a must-win for the Spartans. They’ve got two losses already this season (although both respectable, against UConn in the Carrier Classic, and at Miami) and would do well to avoid a third heading into Big Ten play. After their rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday, the Spartans have won 69 consecutive home non-conference games and Texas is not looking like the caliber of team that should break that streak. If the Longhorns get Myck Kabongo or Jaylen Bond back in time, though, that changes things. Until then, it’s just a big-name opponent, and a loss in this game could really hurt the Spartans come March.
• No. 20 Illinois at No. 9 Gonzaga, December 8 — When will the undefeated Illini eventually slip up? Here’s a likely candidate. It’s hard not to be impressed with the job John Groce has done in the early going, but you have to believe the clean slate will end somewhere before the Big Ten opener. Not many teams go into McCarthey Athletic Center and up against the Kennel Club in Spokane and come out alive. This will be an interesting challenge for Illinois and by far its most difficult road test of the year to date. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Illinois is a perfect 8-0 this season, but if there’s something the Illini could do better, it’s shore up their defense. John Groce’s team has allowed 63.2 PPG this season, which ranks 10th in Big Ten and puts that priority at the top of his to-do list. To help that situation, he’s going somewhere former Illinois head coach Bruce Weber never dared to go: the zone defense. Groce said that the Illini played zone defense about 25 percent of the time against Georgia Tech last week and told Mark Tupper of the Herald-Review that fans can expect to see it more often this year.
2. Tom Izzo has had the luxury of at times going 11 deep with his Michigan State roster, but one player who has been slow on the uptake this season has been freshman Matt Costello. The big man was slowed this summer by an injury that has also potentially hampered his progress this year. So should the Spartans have redshirted him from the get-go? And would they consider doing it now? According to Josh Slagter of MLive.com, Costello wants to keep fighting for playing time.
3. Ohio State doesn’t really have a quality win yet under its belt and with 19 days until Kansas comes to Columbus for a rematch of last year’s Final Four game, Brandon Castel from thezone.net figures the Buckeyes have just that much time to get some issues sorted out. Much of that, he writes, has to do with LaQuinton Ross becoming another scoring option behind star Deshaun Thomas. The Jayhawks succeeded in slowing Thomas down last year and, if they can do that again, Ohio State could be in trouble. Enter Ross, who had a career-high 22 points against Northern Kentucky on Saturday. “My coaches have been really pushing me in practice and telling me to shoot the ball,” Ross said.
4. If Indiana is the best team in college basketball right now, does that mean that will be the case come season’s end? Not so, says Grantland‘s Charles Pierce. But the present — Indiana has been ranked No. 1 since the beginning of the year and remains so as of today — is not what head coach Tom Crean is focusing on. Right now, he’s more focused on the past and honoring Indiana’s illustrious history with this year’s group. Of course, his immediate past in Bloomington wasn’t so peachy until last year’s turnaround Sweet Sixteen season (rings included!). But if the Hoosiers keep up that level of performance, that will seem like the more and more distant past.
5. Purdue has four losses already this season and it’s easy for Matt Painter to see why. In the Boilermakers’ loss to Xavier at Mackey Arena on Saturday, they did not make a single shot from three-point range, leaving Xavier with the ability to easily defend the post without having to worry about Purdue hurting them from long range. The Boilermakers relied primarily on the backcourt last season, but the frontcourt is more seasoned this year and Painter wants his players to incorporate the post more into the offense.

The Top 10 in this week’s poll went relatively unchanged—aside from Kentucky plummeting 12 spots to #20—but nine of the other teams held their positioning for the most part. Gonzaga makes their first appearance in the single digits by checking in at #9. Tremendous movement occurred from #11-#25 as four teams departed the Top 25 and the average movement was a shade above five spots. Two teams remain true: #1 Duke and #2 Indiana. Both continue to impress and earned all votes of “1” or “2” in this week’s 25, with the exception of a single “3” that Indiana picked up.

This week’s QnD after the jump…

Quick ‘n Dirty Analysis.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

Tonight’s Lede. Don’t Get Worked Up Over #1. Over the past two nights, the two best teams in the country stated their case for #1 by knocking off quality opponents in nationally televised games. Indiana’s 83-59 win over North Carolina prompted an onrushing of praise for the Hoosiers’ high-powered offense. The debate was settled – Indiana was the best team in the country. That was the prevailing consensus heading into Wednesday night’s showdown at Cameron Indoor, where Ohio State outplayed Duke for 30 minutes yet ultimately succumbed to a blistering second-half run led by Mason Plumlee and Rasheed Sulaimon. It was an impressive win to add to an already impressive resume. So who’s #1 today? It’s anybody’s guess, frankly. When you have two teams playing as well as Duke and Indiana, the distinction need not matter. The ups and downs of a 30-game season have a way of parsing the upper crust of elite teams. We may not know who the #1 team in the country is right now. And you know what, it really doesn’t matter, nor will it matter in March. My recommendation: Soak in every last minute of Duke and Indiana basketball, watch Plumlee and Cody Zeller dominate the paint, observe Sulaimon’s precocious maturity, and Jordan Hulls’ deadeye three-point marksmanship. Take it all in. These are two excellent teams playing at the highest level. The difference between them is a matter of degree, not type.

Your Watercooler Moment. The Year’s First RTC!!!!….Was Uncalled For.

There are no universal guidelines or restrictions for court rushes. The criteria are unique to each school, influenced by circumstance. The true bluebloods of the world – the Dukes, Kansases, Kentuckys and so on – do not rush the court, because doing so requires an implicit acknowledgement of reverential respect for the visiting opponent. They don’t excessively celebrate big victories, because victories are nothing to celebrate. It really is that simple. For schools like Miami, with diffuse basketball histories and tradition, on-court celebrations are totally within bounds. That’s not to say the act doesn’t require a special occasion. Beating an opponent of exalted stature, in comparative terms, is a fundamental precondition. Hurricane fans may have violated that Wednesday night after Miami’s 67-59 victory over Michigan State. The Spartans are a very good team; they beat likely Big 12 champion Kansas on a neutral floor earlier this year to prove it. That said, this Miami team – which, given how wide-open the top of the ACC looks with NC State and North Carolina taking its lumps in non-league play – does not lag far enough behind the Spartans to grant them that level of deference. Thing is, the Hurricanes didn’t beat Michigan State on some fluky sky-high shooting percentage. They beat the Spartans because the talent disparity between these two teams isn’t all that far off. Beating Michigan State is a praiseworthy cause, particularly in light of the Hurricanes’ not-so-hot start to the season. But it does not fall into the “special” category. Fuzzy and unclear and vague as the stipulations may be, court rushes happen because they feel right. It’s a carpe diem exercise; you do it when you know. Wednesday night was not one of those nights.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. One of the most surprising things about Minnesota‘s fantastic start has been what it’s been able to do considering Trevor Mbakwe‘s contribution (or lack thereof). The senior and former All-Big Ten forward has been practically a non-factor at times for the Gophers as he comes back from an injury that sidelined him for most of the 2011-12 season and a tumultuous offseason. To counter that counter-production, the team has relied on other scorers, and some lesser-known role players like Andre Ingram and Maverick Ahanmisi. Ingram, a senior, has turned into a sort of do-everything glue guy that handles a lot of the dirty work Mbakwe typically does and is just “a real hard worker” as teammate Andre Hollins told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Ahanmisi has filled a critical role as well as the team’s backup point guard.
2. When it comes to shooting — either good or bad — teams often revert to the mean. And that’s what can make relying heavily on the three-point shot so difficult: When it’s good, it’s good. When it’s not, it can really cause problems. Illinois has jumped out to a fast start largely thanks to hot shooting from long distance but, as Loren Tate puts it, it’s live by the three and die by the three. The Illini used threes to beat Gardner-Webb and Hawaii at the last moment, and as a whole, are averaging almost 15 more points per game this season thanks to five additional three-point buckets. But can they sustain that pace through the remainder of the non-conference slate and into Big Ten play? History says that’s probably unlikely.
3. When All-American center Jared Sullinger was on his way out, there was sure to be a considerable void in Ohio State‘s frontcourt. Part of that burden could be shouldered by the versatile Deshaun Thomas, but some of it would also have to fall onto former McDonald’s All-American and now-sophomore Amir Williams. His minutes have more than doubled (from 6.6 MPG to 13.5), and his point production has gone up accordingly (from 1.7 PPG to 3.5) but it’s still not enough to keep opponents honest in the paint. He contributed a vital nine minutes in last year’s Elite Eight win against Syracuse, leaving fans optimistic about this season, but since then, there hasn’t been much improvement. And coach Thad Matta is waiting.
4. Tom Izzo recognizes the value of conference expansion. It improves the Big Ten’s footprint, which now reaches to the East Coast thanks to Rutgers and Maryland. It’s a huge revenue boost, largely thanks to the Big Ten Network and its new market reach. But with that comes negative consequences too; namely, the value placed on the regular season conference title. That will surely be diluted with a 14-team league (soon to be 16?) and teams not having the opportunity to play each other regularly. Simply put, the more teams in the conference, the more one-time meetings over the course of a year and the harder it is to really evaluate which team is the best during the regular season. The conference tournament is already a tough enough litmus test, but now the regular season title is becoming even more diluted.
5. Wisconsin freshman Sam Dekker was heralded as one of the best recruits in the Bo Ryan era, and he’s found a way to stay motivated early on. The problem is, the Badgers’ early season losses that are fueling his fire. Wisconsin has already dropped two games, and they seem to be eating away at the former five-star recruit. Dekker is averaging 19.8 MPG this season and after a 10-point loss to Creighton, he responded with season highs in points (19) and minutes (26) in a victory against Arkansas. “Winning is everything to me,” Dekker said, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I am crushed when we lose… Going out and losing to two teams already in the first six games, if that’s not telling you that you have to get into the gym and work harder, I don’t know what is.”

Brian Otskey is an RTC columnist. Every Tuesday during the regular season he’ll be giving his 10 thoughts on the previous week’s action. You can find him on Twitter @botskey

1. I was extremely lucky to be sitting courtside for the first truly great game of this young college basketball season last Tuesday night in Brooklyn where Indiana defeated Georgetown in overtime to win the Legends Classic. IU head coach Tom Crean called it an “epic November battle” and boy, was it ever. The level of play displayed by both teams was incredible for this early in the season, something media row couldn’t stop buzzing about. It was as well-played a game I have seen in quite some time and the atmosphere in the building made it all the more special. Most folks thought we’d be seeing Indiana against UCLA in the championship game but it’s funny how fate works out. The Hoyas proved to be a much better opponent than UCLA and gave IU all it could handle. I’ll give you some of my thoughts on each of the four Legends Classic teams, starting with Indiana: You could call me a skeptic because I didn’t have Indiana pegged as a sure-fire Final Four team but the Hoosiers proved they’ll be in the thick of it come March. Indiana’s offensive attack is second-to-none in college basketball and I love the balance this team has. Jordan Hulls is as pure of a shooter as you’ll find but his leadership and defensive improvement are two things that can take Indiana to the next level. Hulls was all over the floor on both ends and Indiana’s best player in the two games at the Barclays Center. Crean has so many weapons to choose from including Hulls, Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo, Christian Watford and more. Oladipo’s athleticism is terrific while Zeller is Mr. Steady. Even Will Sheehey adds a spark off the bench with his leadership and intensity. Where does IU have to improve? Two areas stood out to me.
   

   Georgetown Players Had No Reason to Hang Their Heads (Washington Post)

   One, Zeller needs to get more touches. Part of that comes from him needing to work harder for position and demand the ball but it wouldn’t hurt if Indiana’s guards looked to him some more. Second is tightening up their defense. The Hoosiers showed a zone for a large part of the game and Georgetown took advantage with spectacular ball movement. Indiana is a better defensive team this year but it’ll have to tighten that up some more in order to win a national championship. I was overwhelmed by Georgetown’s ability to move the ball and get good shots. This shouldn’t be a surprise given past Hoyas teams but this may be John Thompson III’s best unit not in terms of talent but in terms of basketball IQ. The Hoyas probed Indiana’s defense with precision and overcame a talent disadvantage to the point of almost knocking off the top team in the land. Markel Starks is the most improved Hoya but Otto Porter is their undisputed leader and star player. Porter worked the high post all night against IU’s zone to rave reviews and was a strong presence on defense as well. Even in a loss, Georgetown established itself as a Big East contender. UCLA and Georgia rounded out the Legends Classic. The Bruins are an absolute mess defensively and the lack of hustle and intensity is a major red flag. Shabazz Muhammad made his debut and scored a lot of points but didn’t “wow” anyone. Kyle Anderson seems lost offensively and isn’t having the impact many thought he would. Jordan Adams looks like a future star but this team needs to start defending and playing with a purpose if it has any intention of saving Ben Howland’s job. Things are not pretty in Westwood, especially after Sunday night’s stunning collapse and defeat at the hands of Cal Poly. As for Georgia, it was clearly the worst of the teams in this event. That doesn’t mean the Bulldogs are a terrible team but I would be surprised to see them in NCAA contention. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a very good scorer but his shot selection leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t think Georgia is as bad as early losses to Southern Miss and Youngstown State would seem to indicate but I don’t see this team winning more than seven or eight games in the SEC. They do play hard and didn’t back down against two blue-blood opponents.

2. Two of the 10,000+ people in the seats at the Barclays Center last Tuesday night were Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Peter Jurkin, two Indiana freshmen currently serving out a nine game NCAA suspension for receiving impermissible benefits. Both players lost their appeal to have the suspension shortened and will not be eligible until Indiana’s game against Butler on December 15. This all stems from $6,000 to $8,000 in impermissible benefits received via Indiana Elite AAU coach Mark Adams, an individual deemed an Indiana donor because of a total of $185 in donations he gave to the university over 20 years ago, ironically before either of these two players was born. On this surface this seems like a severe miscarriage of justice, especially in light of Shabazz Muhammad’s outcome after a shady recruitment. Muhammad only had to sit out three games for UCLA while Mosquera-Perea, a four-star forward who is expected to contribute off the bench for IU, and Jurkin, a 7’0” center, have to sit out nine games (roughly 29% of Indiana’s regular season). Maybe it is. But look a little deeper and the situation gets murkier. Adams has a VERY close relationship with Indiana, so much so that the NCAA deemed it “unique access and continuous involvement.” As a result, Indiana has suspended its relationship with Adams until next July. Adams lived with Mosquera-Perea and Jurkin in Bloomington on multiple occasions according to published reports and has been involved with some former Indiana basketball players as well. Benefits provided to the players include, among other things, plane tickets, housing, a laptop and a cell phone according to a report in USA Today. It’s hard to make a decision when you look at the facts of the case but my hunch is the NCAA has more on these two players that it isn’t willing to make public. If that’s the case, it’s a shame. Transparency is not the NCAA’s forte and further feeds the criticism of the organization. The bottom line, from my perspective, is that I believe a suspension is warranted. Should that suspension be nine games based on the available facts? I don’t think so. Something more along the lines of what Muhammad received seems appropriate in this case. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the annual marquee non-conference events of the college basketball season arrives this week, and the Big Ten/ACC Challenge is as enticing as ever. With the Big Ten coming in as the presumed toughest conference in the country, it has the opportunity to shine against some of the nation’s most storied programs under a bright spotlight. It’ll be the first true test for some of the conference’s top squads and a chance for the Big Ten to show its substantial depth. The ACC won the first 10 challenges, but the Big Ten has won the last three. Here are a few predictions for the week’s match-ups:

Tuesday’s Games

IU Awaits North Carolina as the Headliner Game Tuesday (US Presswire)

• Iowa at Virginia Tech (7:15 PM, ESPNU): The Hawkeyes’ hot start was slowed this week by Wichita State, and things don’t get any easier when they travel to face undefeated Virginia Tech. But Fran McCaffery has an upstart group that can rebound the ball. The test will be in slowing the Hokies — expect a high-scoring ballgame. Iowa 88, Virginia Tech 82.
• Minnesota at Florida State (7:15 PM, ESPN2): The most popular sleeper pick in the conference has been as advertised, even without contributions from All-Big Ten senior Trevor Mbakwe. But the Gophers will need him Tuesday night against a Florida State team that traditionally excels inside. The ‘Noles can score (26th in the country, with 80.4 PPG) but aren’t as tough on the glass as usual (187th overall). That will be the deciding factor. Minnesota 77, Florida State 69.
• N.C. State at Michigan (7:30 PM, ESPN): What was billed as perhaps the most intriguing game of the Challenge took a bit of a hit when the Wolfpack was beaten soundly by Oklahoma State last week and then snuck by UNC-Asheville. Suffice it to say, Michigan’s freshmen are a bit further along the learning curve than N.C. State’s gifted newcomers. Michigan 79, N.C. State 70. Read the rest of this entry »

1. With another big non-conference game looming with Michigan State’s trip to play at Miami on Wednesday, Tom Izzo said Monday that there’s a chance sophomore guard Travis Trice and possibly even freshman wing Gary Harris could get some minutes. The Spartans have missed the two badly — Harris is nursing a sprained shoulder and Trice has had concussion symptoms since the season opener — in their recent games. MSU snuck by Boise State and Louisiana-Lafayette at home and it’s been clear that the team is fatigued and more turnover-prone without two of its best run-and-gun players. Harris, also the team’s leading scorer, was expected to miss 2-3 weeks, but Izzo says his healing has progressed well.
2. With this year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge — the conference’s premier early-season event — on the horizon this week, BigTenNetwork.com is ranking the best games from this year’s Challenge. The ACC handled the Big Ten in the first 10 renditions of the Challenge before the Big Ten came storming back to take the crown the last three years. It seems as if the Big Ten is poised for an excellent all-around season, with Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan making a case for early Final Four picks, and depth is at an all-time high. Which games are you most looking forward to this week?
3. Many didn’t know what to expect from Illinois this season under first-year head coach John Groce, but the early returns have been stellar. The Illini are undefeated after winning the always-prestigious Maui Invitational and, as the Chicago Sun-Times’ Herb Gould points out, every Maui Invitational champion since 1986 has gone on to the NCAA Tournament. Groce said he’s seen a lot of character in his young team, particularly in coming from behind in a few games. “Is [Maui] the end-all, be-all? No,” Groce told the Sun-Times. “We still have work to do. We have to rebound better. We have to foul less. We have to execute some things better offensively. By no means have we arrived. At the same time, we feel blessed to have had a chance to play for that trophy and to have won it.”
4. It’s hard to imagine any single player means more to one team in the Big Ten than Tim Frazier does to Penn State. And now that he’s out for the season with a ruptured Achilles, the Nittany Lions are learning how to move on without him for the time being. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” coach Patrick Chambers said Monday, according to StateCollege.com. “The text messages I received when he went down, the text messages I still receive, I went to the football game the other day and everybody is like, ‘I’m so sorry.'” Chambers says the team needs to find ways to work through it, and that starts with the flow of the offense finding its way without its natural point guard and senior leader.
5. Purdue is certainly rebuilding this year, and the team’s long-term future may have taken a bit of a hit with an injury to recruit Kendall Stephens, a 6’5″ senior guard at St. Charles (IL) East High School. The Indianapolis Star‘s Jeff Washburn reported Monday that Stephens, who scored 30 points and was named MVP of a recent holiday tournament, is playing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that is expected to require surgery. If so, he’s likely to miss summer workouts before his senior year, which can be a critical time in a freshman’s development if he is to contribute early.

Let’s cut right to the chase: Duke is #1 and Indiana #2. This may upset some, considering Indiana began the season as our #1 team, is a perfect 6-0 with a good win against Georgetown, has perhaps the best offensive attack in college basketball, and has shown little — if any — weakness. But, there is little denying Duke’s resume at this point (more on that after the jump). Two Big East squads—Georgetown and Cincinnati—made power moves up in the rankings after impressive weeks, while two other teams have plummeted right out of the Top 25—UCLA and Memphis. There wasn’t just movement at the top of the rankings, as five new teams have entered the Top 25 after strong showings during “Feast Week.”

This week’s QnD after the jump…

Quick ‘n Dirty Analysis.

• Read the rest of this entry »