Rarely do the Champions Classic and Maui Invitational take a backseat to a game later in the week, but with top-ranked Gonzaga taking on Baylor, that will be the case this weekend. In addition to that heavyweight matchup, I’m intrigued by teams leaving bubbles, teams off to shaky starts, and teams just getting going. Here are 10 questions I have for games taking place over the weekend:

1. What will be the impact of the Jalen Suggs ankle injury as #1 Gonzaga takes on #2 Baylor? (Gonzaga vs. Baylor, Saturday, 1 PM EST, CBS) The ankle injury to Jalen Suggs in Wednesday night’s win over West Virginia had many college basketball fans around the country holding their breath. Suggs ultimately came back and played 16 minutes in the second half, but he did not score upon returning. However, Gonzaga had four other players score 10 or more points in its 53-point second-half to surge from behind for the win.
2. After playing four games in Bubbleville, how will Villanova fare in hitting the road against the champs of Maui? (Villanova @ Texas, Sunday, 1 PM EST, ESPN) Villanova had its share of ups and downs while playing at Mohegan Sun Arena last week. All told, though, the Wildcats were a second-half collapse against Virginia Tech away from a 4-0 start to the season. After averaging just under 11 points per game a season ago, Jermaine Samuels has yet to hit double-figures yet. Villanova takes on a Texas team that has held opponents to a three-point percentage of just 20.3 percent through its opening four games.
3. Will Marquette be able to slow the versatile Wisconsin offense? (Wisconsin @ Marquette, Friday, 7 PM EST, Fox Sports 1) In last season’s match-up between these teams, which the Badgers won 77-61, six different Wisconsin players scored 10 or more points. With four of those players back in action, a Marquette defense, which just saw four Oklahoma State players reach double-figures in the Golden Eagles loss, will be put to the test.
4. Will this be the game that Kentucky finds any outside shooting? (Kentucky @ Georgia Tech, Sunday, 5 PM EST, ESPN) Kentucky is just 3-of-31 from beyond the three-point line over its last two games. The Wildcats last made three or fewer threes over a two-game span in the 2014-15 season (3-of-19 in wins against Providence and Texas). The Wildcats will be up against a Georgia Tech defense that has allowed its first two opponents to make 22-of-55 three-point attempts.
5. Might Richmond be primed for a letdown following its win at Rupp Arena? (Furman @ Richmond, Saturday, 6 PM EST) The Spiders return home to face a KenPom top-100 Furman squad which returns five of its six leading scorers, including three players who averaged better than 10 points per game. Mike Bothwell of Furman has scored 17 or more points in each of his first three games and has made 21 of his 26 shots inside the three-point line. The disruptive Richmond defense will be tested by a Furman offense that has finished with a top-30 effective field-goal percentage in each of Bob Richey’s first three seasons as its head coach.
6. Will it be Oregon or Seton Hall who leaves Omaha with an important win? (Oregon vs. Seton Hall, Friday, 9 PM EST, Fox Sports 1) The Ducks dropped their season opener on Wednesday night just hours after preseason all-conference first team guard Will Richardson had surgery on his thumb. For Seton Hall, the start of the season has included road losses to Louisville and Rhode Island — both teams are looking to find their stride after replacing all-everything players Payton Pritchard and Myles Powell.
7. Will having played just one game impact Oklahoma as they hit the road for its Big 12 opener? (Oklahoma @ TCU, Sunday, 4 PM EST, ESPN 2) The Sooners take on a TCU team that will have played three more games than Oklahoma when the teams meet on Sunday. The Sooners are looking to replace last season’s leading scorer Kristian Doolittle with a group which includes North Texas transfer Umoja Gibson, who averaged 14.5 points per game with the Mean Green last year.
8. Was Auburn’s loss on Monday against UCF a sign of things to come or more like a hangover from the Gonzaga loss? (South Alabama @ Auburn, Friday, 9 PM EST, SEC Network) Bruce Pearl’s squad sits at 1-2 with its lone win coming in overtime against Saint Joseph’s. In addition to tis on-court struggles, this is an Auburn team that has been without Sharife Cooper whose status remains up in the air. Without the McDonald’s All-American, Auburn has not yet found what it takes to replace the likes of Samir Doughty, Austin Wiley, J’Von McCormick, Daniel Purifoy and Isaac Okoro.
9. Will home court advantage reign supreme again in the Battle of Cincinnati? (Xavier @ Cincinnati, Sunday, 3 PM EST) The home team has won each of the past five match-ups between Cincinnati and Xavier with the average margin of victory exceeding 10 points. While Travis Steele’s Musketeers’ squad will have played five games prior to Sunday, the Bearcats will be hitting the court for just the second time. It is a Cincinnati team that is replacing a pair in Jarron Cumberland and Tre Scott, each of whom averaged north of 10 points per game a season ago.
10. Will Georgetown show fight against the tough Mountaineer team or is the beginning of the end of the Patrick Ewing era well underway? (West Virginia @ Georgetown, Sunday, 4:30 PM EST, Fox Sports 1) In the Hoyas’ loss to Navy on Tuesday, Georgetown surrendered 40 points in the paint, lost the turnover battle, was -1 in second-chance points, and only had one bench point. All that could go wrong seemingly did go wrong. Now in his fourth season at his alma mater, Patrick Ewing needs his team to show signs of life very quickly. Jahvon Blair is averaging 20 points per game so far and is showing production inside the arc where he is shooting 56 percent, but his lack of production from beyond the three-point line (4-of-19) has been troubling for the Hoyas’ offense.

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

This season marks the first year of Division I competition for Cal Baptist and North Alabama. Down a pair in the closing seconds last week against Oral Roberts, the Lancers walked away a winner after this miraculous half-court shot dropped in.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1062747837702815744

On the topic of a big-time shot from a particular spot on the court, Villanova head coach Jay Wright gave Andy Katz a tour of the remodeled Finneran Pavilion, including his first look at the Final Four floor Villanova brought in with the spot of Kris Jenkins‘ game-winner memorialized forever.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1062495273837101056

After James Akinjo led Georgetown to a nice win over Illinois, Hoyas’ head coach Patrick Ewing had a tongue slip when it came to describing the “ONIONS!” of his player’s performance…

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The NBA season tipped off last week, which makes it the perfect time to roll out some new Big East content to drown out the monotony of early-season professional basketball. Over the coming weeks, the Big East microsite will be previewing all the teams, players and key storylines to watch as we approach tip-off. Be sure to follow @RTCBigEast and its contributors Justin Kundrat and Brad Cavallaro to get your fix. In the spotlight today will be (alphabetically) DePaul and Georgetown.

DePaul: Have the Blue Demons improved their overall talent level enough to climb the standings?

Dave Leitao Has Done a Nice Job at DePaul So Far (USA Today Images)

DePaul has undoubtedly improved during Dave Leitao‘s second tenure at the school. In 2016-17, the Blue Demons finished 183rd in KenPom and they ascended all the way to 99th a season ago. Although it was a remarkable improvement — most notably on the defensive end of the floor — it was not enough to change position in the Big East standings (last in both seasons). The Blue Demons have talented players like Max Strus (16.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG) and Eli Cain (11.7 PPG, 4.7 APG) returning, but will the additions a pair of quality transfers in sharp-shooting guard Jalen Coleman-Lands and skilled big man Femi Olujobi be enough to compensate for the losses of former starters Tre’Darius McCallum and Marin Macic?

Improvements from sophomores Paul Reed and Jaylen Butz in the frontcourt should also be expected, but for DePaul to be in position to jump to ninth or higher in the league standings, the team will need to shore up the point guard position. Cain suitably filled the role last year despite it not being his natural position, but if redshirt sophomore Devin Gage or freshman Flynn Cameron shows promise, Leitao’s group might be poised to finally rise out of the Big East cellar. Don’t count on it, however. This group of point guard candidates does not inspire much confidence and the Big East is simply too tough on a nightly basis for a key leadership position to be so shaky. Still, Leitao should be commended for making the Blue Demons competitive and all indications are that his team could again rank among the top 100 nationally despite finishing in last place in the league standings.

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To nobody’s surprise, the Hoyas have largely flopped this season. Their 15-13 overall record is padded by an extremely soft non-conference schedule, and their 5-12 Big East record leaves much to be desired. But buried beneath the figurative record are a number of “should have wons”: games that Georgetown played to the wire for the first 30-38 minutes. Of the Hoyas’ dozen Big East losses, eight came by single-digits and the team’s improvement over the course of the season is glaringly obvious. Their inside-out offense creates a natural source of ball movement; the team is fouling considerably less often on the defensive end (a significant problem in prior years); and four-star freshman Jamorko Pickett is showing flashes of his elite scoring ability. But most of all, junior forward Marcus Derrickson has completely revamped his game under the tutelage of Patrick Ewing and now represents one of the conference’s biggest mismatches. Illustrating his breakout campaign is best done with a simple chart that shows Derrickson’s usage, shooting percentages, rebounding rates and free throw rates are all up remarkably from last season.

Not only has the junior become a more efficient player, he has also transformed from an outside shooter used to stretch the floor to a three-level scorer. In other words, his perimeter shooting accuracy has continued to improve while he has demonstrated a propensity for scoring in the mid-range and around the rim. During his freshman year, a whopping 60.5 percent of his shot attempts were from beyond the arc. Now, it’s just 31.6 percent.

His three-point shooting range extends to the NBA line, forcing bigger defenders to play up to him, and consequently, giving teammate Jessie Govan room to operate inside. This has made the 6’7″ forward particularly difficult to guard, as shown in the below clip.

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With the season just a few weeks away, Rush the Court’s Big East preview will tip off its coverage by posing season-defining key questions for each team.

#10 DePaul – Is this the year the Blue Demons finally embrace perimeter-oriented basketball?

DePaul’s Dave Leitao Needs a Good Season (USA Today Images)

DePaul hasn’t had a team that finished among the top 100 in three-point shooting in 13 years. That’s right, the last time the Blue Demons posed any sort of perimeter threat was the same year Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor was embarrassing opponents in the post. Last year’s squad had just one player shooting better than 35 percent from deep, and he graduated. So it should come as no surprise that DePaul has struggled mightily on the offensive end of the floor, relying on a hard-to-watch “free throws and rebounding” offense, to which most teams responded by simply packing the paint. Thankfully help is on the way in the form of a pair of wings who have the potential to reshape the offense. The first is Max Strus, a 6’6″ Division II standout sporting a career 35.7 percent mark from deep. The second is Ohio State transfer Austin Grandstaff, a player who saw little court time with the Buckeyes but was a highly-touted perimeter shooter coming out of high school. Both will see significant minutes on the wing alongside leading scorer Eli Cain. The hope is that these three will provide enough spacing and production for the Blue Demons to run a perimeter-oriented offense. Moreover, 6’10” graduate transfer Marin Maric, the team’s only post player with any real experience, shot 46.9 percent on two-point jumpers last season, which is better than all but one of Dave Leitao‘s players. Big men who can consistently knock down shots out of pick-and-rolls don’t grow on trees. Bottom line here: There is a variety of shooting threats on the roster, so perhaps this is finally the year in which DePaul starts to run an efficient half-court offense. Let’s not go any further than that just yet.

#9 Georgetown – Will Patrick Ewing’s legacy at Georgetown carry over to coaching?

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1. With Syracuse’s 78-53 takedown of Rutgers at the Carrier Dome last night, Jim Boeheim took sole ownership of second place on the Division I all-time wins list with 903 victories, passing Bob Knight. These first few months of the season have been eventful for Boeheim, whose ascent up this list has been the focus of tremendous media attention and occasional scrutiny this season. In weighing in on Boeheim’s ranking among the greatest coaches of all-time, Rob Dauster notes the affect that a single Keith Smart jumper has had on Boeheim’s perception. If that shot doesn’t fall, Boeheim is two wins ahead of Knight, has the same number of national titles (two) as the man who many consider the greatest game coach of all-time, and many writers have a lot less material come March.
2. USF and UCF have played twice this season, splitting two contests that foreshadow what may develop into a nice rivalry for whatever the future of the Big East holds. Tampa Bay Online‘s Joey Johnston argues that the rivalry between the two schools could become a staple for the new look Big East, or whichever conference the two schools find themselves attached to in the future. Johnston believes that the natural rivalry and the high number of television sets in the I-4 corridor makes the two schools very attractive. Let the lobbying begin.
3. Buzz Williams‘ 48-hour suspension from the Marquette basketball team has now ended, and the fiery coach will rejoin the team in preparation for Georgetown. Williams’ suspension stemmed from assistant coach Scott Monarch giving apparel and rides to a Golden Eagles recruit. Monarch, a close friend of Williams, was summarily fired. Williams was not found to have had any knowledge of the violations, but he took the school-sanctioned leave as the program is ultimately his responsibility. Marquette defeated UConn in overtime during Williams’ absence from the team.
4. Pittsburgh‘s two losses to Michigan and Cincinnati had a very similar feel to them, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Ray Fittipaldo outlines three major factors that hurt the Panthers in both games: a lack of rebounding in the second half, especially from the center position; struggles against talented, aggressive guards on the perimeter; and, opposing teams limiting the Panthers’ transition game.  If Pitt can’t solve these issues soon, the team will have major struggles in league play. Syracuse has a strong interior presence, Louisville has excellent high-energy guard play, and Georgetown will absolutely look to control the game’s tempo, just to name three teams who will look to take advantage of these weaknesses.
5. Syracuse.com‘s Mike Waters was asked about his all-time Big East team in his weekly mailbag. This is a fun exercise that I’m sure will come up on many sites and blogs this year, especially around Big East Tournament time. Waters weighs in on a number of Big East greats before settling on a strong starting five consisting of Sherman Douglas, Ray Allen, Chris Mullin, Derrick Coleman, and Patrick Ewing.  When a conference could have a second team of Allen Iverson, Kerry Kittles, Carmelo Anthony, Donyell Marshall, and Alonzo Mourning, you know that they’ve been doing something right for a very long time.

Brian Goodman is an editor and contributing writer to RTC.

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame enshrined its seventh class of inductees Sunday night in Kansas City, paying tribute to 10 players, coaches and contributors who helped shape the game we all love into what it is today. Georgetown legend Patrick Ewing led the star-studded group, which also included Kansas great Clyde Lovellette, North Carolina‘s Phil Ford, Kenny Sailors of Wyoming, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe of Winston-Salem State and another Knicks great, Willis Reed. In addition, former coaches Joe. B Hall of Kentucky and Dave Robbins of Virginia Union were honored as well as contributors Joe Dean and Jim Host.

Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing led the Hoyas to three straight NCAA Tournament final appearances and captured the 1984 title. (SI Photo/A. Hayt)

You Might Know Him As… A lockdown defender who brought Hoya Paranoia to Washington and one of the best centers the game has ever known. Despite not picking up a ball until he was 12 years old, Ewing flourished under John Thompson. To this day, Ewing remains the school’s all-time leader in blocks, rebounds and games played. The dominant center was a mainstay of the Hoyas for four memorable seasons, including Georgetown’s 1984 title run. He went on to win two gold medals for Team USA and was an 11-time all-star with the New York Knicks.

Quotable: “I chose Georgetown because of Coach Thompson. (He) was a great man and afforded me the opportunity to come in as a boy and leave as a man.”

Phil Ford

You Might Know Him As… One of the most beloved players in North Carolina basketball history. Ford was the first freshman to start the first game of his career in Chapel Hill, and by the time his collegiate career ended, Ford would rack up three All-America selections and capture the 1977 Wooden Award along with consensus Player of the Year honors. Until he was overtaken by Tyler Hansbrough in 2009, Ford was UNC’s all-time leading scorer and a master of Smith’s “Four Corners” offense.

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On Wednesday night, NBA TV will air “The Dream Team,” a brand new documentary that relives the 1992 Men’s Basketball USA Olympic Team that’s better known by that same name. This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the team, the inspiration behind documenting the players, and their legendary run through the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The national team of 12 players included 11 future Hall of Famers and some of the greatest players in basketball history all in one locker room. The forgotten member of the team is Christian Laettner, the lone collegian at the time to make the squad, who was coming off of one of the greatest NCAA basketball careers of all-time as a two-time National Champion for Duke. Looking back, how did the other 11 players fare in their amateur careers? Was their collective NBA and international success predicated by dominance in college? On the day the documentary airs, we reflect on the Dream Team from a college perspective.

Michael Jordan hit the game-winning shot in the 1982 National Championship game for North Carolina 10 years before he joined the Dream Team (AP Photo)

As it turns out, the team wasn’t just a collection of all-time great professionals. Exactly half the players on the roster also qualify as some of the greatest collegiate players ever. Six players on the Dream Team were included on ESPN’s list of the 25 greatest players in college basketball history, the highest of whom was Larry Bird at #9. Bird averaged 30.3 points per game in his career at Indiana State, and in his senior National Player of the Year season he led the Sycamores to a 33-1 record and a loss in the National Title game to Michigan State and Magic Johnson. Johnson is another one of the greatest collegians on the list (#15), averaging 17.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game in two seasons for the Spartans that became a preview of the stat-sheet stuffing machine he would become in the NBA.

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Rush The Court is back with another edition of One on One: An Interview Series, which we will bring you periodically throughout the year. If you have any specific interview requests or want us to interview you, shoot us an email at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Hall of Fame power forward Charles Barkley has become without question one of the most entertaining analysts on sports television. TNT’s Inside the NBA has been must-watch television for over a decade now in large part because of his wit and wisdom, and Barkley’s recent foray into college basketball analysis with Turner Sports has helped pick up what had been a somewhat stuffy studio environment. For the past month, Rush the Court has been providing a weekly column  called What Would Charles Say? on Barkley’s website, and he was gracious enough to allow us to spend some time with him this week for a short Q&A. 

Charles Barkley Will Provide Analysis All March Long for the NCAA Tournament

Rush the Court: Charles, the big news early this week was the news that Fab Melo was ruled ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. I was hoping to get your take on how you feel that impacts the chances for Syracuse and Jim Boeheim to get to the Final Four and win a national championship this year?

Charles Barkley: Well, I think that they probably can’t win the championship, but they’re still deep enough to go deep into the Tournament. But I don’t think they can win it without him… but they’re still the deepest team in the Tournament, honestly, top to bottom.

RTC: So the news has come out that this relates to an academic issue for Melo, and with all the academic services that schools give these guys nowadays, how does that happen? How do you drop the ball so badly that you’re not even eligible for the Tournament?

CB: Well, to me it’s very frustrating, because if you get this deep in the season, you should already have all that stuff squared away. I mean… c’mon man. You’re really letting your team down at this point.

RTC: Certainly. Well let me ask you about last year, there was a little bit of criticism with you, Kenny [Smith], and Ernie [Johnson], as knowledgeable as you guys are about NBA stuff, coming in to the college basketball world and giving your takes with maybe not having watched games the whole season. But that ended very quickly with your take on the Big East — how it wasn’t as good as everybody thought — with nine out of the 11 teams gone by the end of the first weekend. Do you have any early takes this year on maybe a conference or teams that you’re just not buying?

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With all due respect to the legions of legendary players the Big East has produced in its storied history, the Big East has always been a coach’s league.  This makes perfect sense given that the conference was conceived by, and molded through the eyes of a coach.  It was the vision of that coach which propelled the Big East and college basketball to new heights beginning in the early 1980s.  The Mount Rushmore of the Big East resides in its foundation and backbone.  In many ways these are the four fathers of the conference.  They all made long-term and lasting contributions to the league, and their statures grew in-kind with that of the conference as a result.  These four men are your pillars.

Dave Gavitt:  It is impossible to conceive any reference to the success or history of the Big East without Dave Gavitt at the forefront.  A true visionary who gave life to the Big East Conference when he founded it in 1979, Gavitt relinquished a successful coaching career at Providence where he led the Friars to the 1973 NCAA Final Four to devote his attention to building the league as its first commissioner.  It is hard to imagine where smaller Catholic schools like Georgetown, St. John’s, Providence , Boston College and Villanova would be today without Gavitt’s influence.  He believed that there was an audience for college basketball, a belief that probably saved the relevance of college basketball in the northeast and one that transcended his league, leading to the national television attention and marketing of the sport as we currently know it.

Jim Calhoun: The long time Connecticut head coach epitomizes the tenets of the Big East.  A New England-born no-nonsense guy and tireless worker who always appears ready for a challenge, Calhoun was hired by Connecticut in 1986. He has led the Huskies to three National Championships, including last season’s historic double where Connecticut came out of nowhere from a ninth-place regular season conference finish to win both the Big East and NCAA Tournaments.  The Huskies have made 22 NCAA tournament appearances and four Final Fours under Calhoun’s watch.  Further, in this age where football and football money are deemed king, it is important to note that Connecticut has major Division I college football today as a result of the success Calhoun and Connecticut had on the basketball court and not vice versa.

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