This Weekend’s Lede. Every Week a Playoff… Until It Isn’t. No matter your opinion on whether Oklahoma State or Alabama should have the right to play LSU for the BCS national championship next month, can we at least come to an agreement that college football’s tired meme of “every week a playoff” has once again been blown out of the water as farcical? Look, we all know that the NCAA Tournament system is far from perfect in terms of anointing the best team as the champion, but like every other major American sport, at least every team that has a reasonable claim to the crown gets a chance to prove its worth on the hardwood. The old saying goes, “in order to be the best, you have to beat the best,” but as this comical CFB playoff scenario shows, at least one deserving school will get no such chance to do that. On to basketball…

Your Watercooler Moment. Anthony Davis’ Game-Saving Block.

Kentucky vs. North Carolina. North Carolina vs. Kentucky. What else could it be? Saturday afternoon’s tilt in Lexington was one of those rare fulfilling games where the action on the floor not only lived up to the hype, but exceeded it. And the hype for this game was extraordinary, especially considering that it took place on the first Saturday in December rather than sometime deep in March. Our post-game takes on what we’d seen in the one-point Kentucky win are located here, but the long and short of it is this: Carolina should feel as if they were only a play away from winning a difficult road game that didn’t cater to its strengths (61% on threes, but only 33% on twos), while Kentucky should feel that its extremely young but talented team stood toe-to-toe with the other most talented team in America and didn’t blink. Both UNC and UK should be playing in New Orleans next Spring, and if we’re lucky they’ll tip off for the fourth time in just over 16 months with nothing less than the national championship on the line.

Five More Weekend Storylines.

1. Big East Dominates SEC in Challenge. Coming into Friday, the SEC was tied with the Big East at 2-2 in this year’s Challenge. The Big East then won the next six games before dropping the final two Saturday evening to finish at 8-4. The most impressive wins over the weekend were Pittsburgh and Cincinnati’s road wins at Tennessee and Georgia, respectively(the Big East had four roadies), and as we noted in our commentary on Saturday, the Big East appears to be an eight- or nine-team NCAA Tournament conference, whereas the SEC seems to deserve roughly half that. Nothing too surprising here, just further confirmation that the Big East, along with the Big Ten, are the top two conferences in college basketball this season. Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Hoiberg brought in four notable Division I transfers this season, and by now, you know them by name: Chris Babb (Penn State), Royce White (Minnesota), Anthony Booker (Southern Illinois), and Chris Allen (Michigan State). After months of hype from media members and writers such as ourselves, the group basically became known as Iowa State‘s version of the Fab Four.

So far, Babb, White, and Allen are the team’s three leading scorers, serving as the catalysts during a decent 5-1 start for the Cyclones. And that’s all great and dandy.

Except the most important transfer so far may arguably be Tyrus McGee, a junior college guard who has not started a single game this season. He earned a reputation at Cowley County Community College as a sharpshooter, and he’s certainly lived up to that billing with a blistering 56.7% mark from three-point land. Besides the season opener against Lehigh, McGee has scored in double figures in every other game, and he’s also made at least two three-pointers in each contest.

Tyrus McGee Plays Hard for Coach Fred Hoiberg (Credit: Des Moines Register)

But his scoring totals aren’t the reason McGee has earned constant praise from Hoiberg. Instead, McGee is actually making more of a mark on the defensive end, bringing a much-needed energy and toughness to Iowa State’s roster. Like any defensive stopper, Hoiberg says he “love[s] the kid because he’ll run through the wall for you.” He may not have run through any dry wall last week, but his efforts did help Iowa State to a 64-54 victory over Providence in the South Padre Island Invitational.

McGee then scored 17 points in a route of Rice in the title game. In six games, McGee has exactly one turnover. And did we mention he’s missed only one free throw so far? Yeah, it’s early. Really early. Iowa State already lost on the road to a decent but unspectacular Drake team, and its wins so far (against Lehigh, Western Carolina, Northern Colorado, Providence and Rice) aren’t going to turn any heads. Still, hustle is hustle, and McGee will play hard against any opponent. If the Cyclones surprise the Big 12 this season, he will probably be a major factor in this program’s revitalization.

1. First, some housekeeping notes on Thanksgiving morning: in an interesting move, the Big 12 will split up the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments beginning next year. The men’s tournament will stay in Kansas City, but the women’s tournament will move to Dallas in 2013 and Oklahoma City in 2014. After that, it is anybody’s guess as to where the league holds its tournaments. It seems, however, that the departure of Missouri may have something to do with the women’s tournaments moving away from KC.
2. The Oklahoma State men’s team didn’t fare very well in a blowout loss to Stanford at Madison Square Garden last night, but basketball isn’t on anybody’s mind at OSU right now. ESPN caught up with coach Travis Ford about the tragedy in the women’s basketball program, and it is an article worth reading. As you may expect, Ford and the late Kurt Budke were good friends, sharing a bond as head coaches of Oklahoma State basketball teams. Although Ford would probably never admit it, the plane crash has to be a distraction right now for the Cowboys.
3. There are still a lot of question marks surrounding Iowa State, but freshman Royce White has responded to the critics so far with a brilliant early-season performance. As The Gazette details, White has put his legal issues at Minnesota behind him, and he has emerged as a new player and a new man in Ames. Fred Hoiberg could really use White’s production this season in the frontcourt, so it’s important that he continue to progress as a Cyclone.
4. After Missouri dismantled both Notre Dame and California in the CBE Classic, CBS’s Jeff Goodman asked the Tigers what’s so different about new coach Frank Haith. Kim English, who looks revitalized after a subpar junior year, says he’s got more freedom. He says he trusts Haith’s system and that the offense flows a little better than it did under Mike Anderson. Whatever Haith is doing is working: Missouri tallied 30 assists in those two victories in the CBE Classic. Part of it may be Haith’s more structured half-court offense, which features a lot of pick-and-roll and gets the ball in point guard Phil Pressey‘s hands. However, a lot of the credit has to simply go to the players, who are playing more unselfishly and are passing as well as anybody in college basketball right now.
5. It hasn’t been a banner week for Texas, which dropped two games to Oregon State and North Carolina State in the Legends Classic. The Longhorns are young, and they will probably look drastically different by February, but there is still clearly a lot of work to do. Luckily, the guys at Burnt Orange Nation are here to break everything down for us. If you’re interested in determining which offense Rick Barnes ran most frequently in the tournament, these are your guys. And if you want to know about every statistic known to man, these are your guys, too. Bottom line: for all things Texas basketball, check out that post.

1. In the midst of signing week, Kansas State hauled in a big-time talent in Robert Upshaw, a 7’0” center out of California. Upshaw, the eighth-ranked center according to Rivals.com, opted to play for Frank Martin over offers from Louisville and Georgetown. After Huggins helped recruit Bill Walker and Michael Beasley several years ago, Martin has continued the strong recruiting tradition, and Upshaw could be the next elite big man in the Big 12. With Jordan Henriquez already in the fold, Martin will have a monstrous twin towers to work with next year.
2. Although the Oral Roberts/Oklahoma State game tonight is an interesting match-up in and of itself, it’s a little more interesting due to the Sean Sutton storyline. Sutton, an assistant to his brother, Scott, at ORU, says he hasn’t even stepped inside Gallagher-Iba since his firing a few years ago, but we’ll have to see how he’s welcomed by the OSU faithful. Our guess is the fans will be classy: Sutton’s on-the-court results weren’t great, but he’s turned his life around after a bout with drug addiction and he’s part of the Cowboys’ first family. There shouldn’t be any boos tonight.
3. Royce White hadn’t played a basketball game in months, but he scored 25 points against Lehigh on Friday for Iowa State and earned Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors. Sure, it was only Lehigh, but the dominant performance showcased just exactly how dangerous White could be this season. He may look a little rusty here in the early months, but he’s so physically gifted it’s not even funny. White will certainly be one of the top forwards in the Big 12 this season if Iowa State continues to emphasize his role in the offense.
4. And keeping with awards… J’Covan Brown of Texas earned the league’s first Big 12 Player of the Week honors, scoring 28 points on 10-19 shooting against Boston University. Brown, who’s stepping into a new role as the Longhorns’ unquestioned leader, was an easy choice here. He turned in exactly the kind of performance Rick Barnes needs out of his guard, as he’s trying to mesh a young team full of newcomers. Brown has been around the block before, and he’s got to continue to lead like this.
5. Nobody has much faith in Oklahoma this season, even though Lon Kruger has won everywhere he’s been. One newspaper has at least a little faith, claiming OU should at least aim for the NIT. That’s not an unattainable goal for a team with decent guards, a rising star in Cameron Clark and a good big man in Andrew Fitzgerald. Kruger won’t turn this program around overnight, but he’s got enough to work with for a post-season appearance this season.

1. Baylor freshman Quincy Miller has wasted no time putting up big numbers for the Bears. After scoring 17 in its season-opening victory against Texas Southern, Miller again dropped 17 on Jackson State in a lopsided 92-59 Baylor victory. Miller scored just two points in the first half, but went off in the second, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the game’s final 20 minutes. A common concern for freshmen is a lack of confidence on the court, but Miller appears to have no issues in that department, stating, “my coaches told me to be confident from the start and shoot the ball, and that’s what I did.”
2. Many Iowa State fans feared that a transfer-heavy team like their Cyclones might not be able to mesh as a cohesive unit this season, resulting in poor on-court results. Some of these worries were put to rest this weekend, however, as all four Iowa State transfer players scored in double-figures in an 86-77 victory over Lehigh. On paper, a Patriot League vs. Big 12 matchup would appear to be an easy power conference victory, regardless of which teams were participating. However, this Lehigh team is the defending PL conference champion, and narrowly lost to St. John’s earlier this season. While all transfers performed splendidly, Minnesota-transfer Royce White stole the show, dropping 25 on the Mountain Hawks.
3. The good news is all Big 12 teams won their season openers. The bad news? Many of the teams did it in an uninspiring fashion. Missouri struggled with Southeast Missouri in the first half before pulling away for a 15-point victory. Oklahoma narrowly defeated Idaho State, 88-84, while Texas Tech escaped Troy with a five-point victory. Kansas State found themselves down 14 at one point against Charleston Southern before clawing back for a 72-67 victory, and Baylor did not look very dominant in a 20-point victory over Texas Southern. That said, I wouldn’t look into these narrow victories too much (even though I just did). Many teams struggle in season openers, whether due to jitters, new faces, or rust.
4. NewsOK.com examines if the Big 12 Tournament could return to Oklahoma City soon, where it was hosted in 2007 and 2009. The men’s tournament is under contract to remain in Kansas City’s Sprint Center until 2014. However, with the expected change in Kansas City’ conference culture due to Missouri’s departure to the SEC, many folks think that the Big 12 will not be interested in renewing its contract to for Kansas City and instead will look somewhere else. Oklahoma City and Dallas are the only two cities who have hosted a Big 12 tournament, other than Kansas City, so one of those would seem to be a natural fit.
5. While Texas faces the daunting task of replacing many star players not returning from last year’s team, J’Covan Brown seemed to have no problem carrying the Longhorn offense in 2011-12. Brown dropped 28 points as the Longhorns cruised to a 82-46 victory over Boston University. One concern for the Longhorns, however, was their performance on the glass, as BU snagged 18 offensive rebounds. With Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson now gone, Brown will need more help from his guards when it comes to grabbing defensive boards.

This Weekend’s Lede. All the Way Back. College basketball trickled out last week, but with a total of 232 games taking place between Friday and Sunday nights, it’s safe to say that the November fire hose of hoops has been turned on. Every Top 25 team except one (Memphis) played at least once over the weekend, and those schools went 30-2 playing mostly unranked teams that never had much of a chance. There were a couple of exceptions, of course, and we’ll be sure to get to those below. Regardless of the quality of the ball (and it mostly ranged from adequate to poor), how satisfying was it to see regular updates over the weekend bringing you scores, highlights and storylines from games that actually count? It was fantastic, and with all of the great events coming up in the next two weeks — Champions Classic, Coaches vs. Cancer, CBE, Legends, Maui, PNIT, the conference challenges — it’s a great time to be a college basketball fan.

Your Watercooler Moment.  This one is easy.

The Setting For Outdoor Basketball in San Diego Was Spectacular (credit: US Pacific Fleet)

It’s somewhat rare that a gimmicky game like the Carrier Classic could end up being so completely awesome, but you could tell when you heard the voices of the players, coaches, media and military personnel on Friday night that they all felt like they were in the midst of something special. Maybe it was the fact that it was Veterans Day, or that President Obama was there, or that the Coronado evening came through with a gorgeously orange sunset… we don’t care. What we do care about is that the setting and venue put college basketball on a pedestal (literally) for its unofficial opening night, and for a game that sometimes fails to promote itself in a manner commensurate with its passion, fanfare and excitement, the inaugural Carrier Classic was a big-time hit. Oh, and #1 North Carolina needs to work on its offensive rebounding…

Dunktastic. Is it possible that the best dunk of the entire season was on the opening weekend?  Goodness… Jeremy Lamb, who knew?

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Zach Hayes is an editor, contributor and bracketologist for Rush the Court. Follow him on Twitter @zhayes9.

Every August, ESPN college football guru Kirk Herbstreit releases his Herbie awards, a grab bag of honors and predictions about the upcoming season covering everything from quickest running back to hardest-hitting linebacker. The Herbies are so popular they even resulted in their own half-hour show hosted by Herbstreit and Erin Andrews. With no equivalent in the hoops world, I volunteered to step up to the plate. Some of these awards are Herbie knock-offs, some are 100% original and all are intended to be fun. Whether they look ridiculous by March…well, the jury is out. Here are this year’s Pro-Zach awards, passing out happy pills since 2011:

Washington's Terrence Ross is ready to make the leap

All-Next Chapter

• Team Irreverence: Players Who Don’t Get Enough Respect – GOLD: Rodney McGruder (Kansas State), SILVER: Kent Bazemore (Old Dominion), BRONZE: Doug McDermott (Creighton)
• Shhh, Don’t Tell: Best Kept Secrets – GOLD: C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), SILVER: Alex Young (IUPUI), BRONZE: Dominique Morrison (Oral Roberts)
• Forwarding Address: Top Transfers – GOLD: Mike Rosario (Florida), SILVER: Royce White (Iowa State), BRONZE: Brandon Wood (Michigan State)
• Fresh Approach: Top True Freshmen – GOLD: Anthony Davis (Kentucky), SILVER: Austin Rivers (Duke), BRONZE: Andre Drummond (Connecticut)
• Off and Running: Ready To Take It To The Next Level – GOLD: Terrence Ross (Washington), SILVER: Keith Appling (Michigan State), BRONZE: Michael Snaer (Florida State)

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Projected finish: 8th

2010-11 record: 16-16 (3-13), 12th

Head coach: Fred Hoiberg, second season

Key Losses: Diante Garrett (17.3 PPG), Jake Anderson (12.8 PPG), Jamie Vanderbeken, (11.1 PPG)

Coach Fred Hoiberg‘s team started quick in nonconference play during his first season, but his Cyclones eventually tumbled to a dismal last-place finish in 2010-11. After losing one of the league’s top point guards in Diante Garrett, Hoiberg’s job doesn’t get much easier this fall. However, he does have one of the more intriguing rosters in the Big 12 with four big-name transfers set to take the court. There are a lot of wild cards for Iowa State this season, but there may be enough talent for a surprise finish.

Fred Hoiberg's Team Could Surprise (AP/A. Heisenfelt)

The Stars: Scott Christopherson may be the most underrated shooter in college basketball. He shot a blistering 44.1% from three-point range last year, making 83 threes during a terrific campaign. Garrett got a lot of the credit as the star last season, but Christopherson was probably the second most important player on the squad. After playing sparingly as a freshman at Marquette due to injury, Christopherson finally emerged as a team leader when he became fully healthy and earned a starting job.

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I. Renko is an RTC columnist.

Question: Which Transfers Will Have the Biggest Impact This Season?

Every year, college basketball fans draw up their preseason predictions of conference champions and NCAA Tournament fields based on returning players and incoming recruits.  But each year, a handful of key transfers play a pivotal role in leading their teams to a conference championship or NCAA Tournament bid.  Which transfers are most likely to play that role this year?

Pierre Jackson and Gary Franklin, Baylor — With the return of Perry Jones and the addition of blue-chip recruits Quincy Miller and Deuce Bello (coming soon to an All-Name Team near you), expectations for the upcoming season in Waco are high.  The Bears have more raw talent than almost anyone in the Big 12 and have a realistic shot at a conference crown.  But Baylor also had quality talent and relatively high expectations last year, only to find their season upended by mediocrity at the most important spot on the floor — the point guard position.  AJ Walton was thrust into the role of replacing Tweety Carter and responded by posting an obscene 32.1% turnover rate.  In a not-unrelated phenomenon, the Bears finished the season ranked 322nd in Division I in team turnover percentage.

The Development of Franklin and/or Jackson Could Be the Difference-Maker for Baylor This Season

If Scott Drew can’t find someone to settle things down at the point this year, the Bears may disappoint again.  And that’s where Jackson and Franklin come in.  Jackson is a well-regarded JUCO transfer and Franklin a formerly touted recruit who transferred from Cal after just a semester.  Franklin will not be eligible until the spring semester, but both will have a chance to pin down the starting point guard job.  If either proves to be a stable floor general, the Bears could have their first conference championship in more than 60 years.

Iowa State’s Starting Lineup — Okay, so maybe the entire starting lineup won’t consist of transfers, but it might come close.  Fred Hoiberg is trying to resuscitate the Iowa State program by resuscitating the careers of several D-I talents, including Chris Allen (Michigan State), Royce White (Minnesota), Anthony Booker (Southern Illinois), and Chris Babb (Penn State).  They make this list as a group because collectively, they will have the single biggest transfer impact on any BCS program this year.

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Steve Fetch of Rock Chalk Talk is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12. You can find him on Twitter @fetch9.

Reader’s Take I

Top Storylines

• This is of course the last year for Texas A&M to leave its mark on the Big 12, and it could be Missouri’s as well. Both teams enter the 2011-12 season with serious conference title hopes,  but each comes with some question marks. Missouri lost Laurence Bowers to an ACL injury, which really puts a strain on their interior depth. They didn’t rebound terribly well in the first place, ranking 317th nationally in defensive rebounding, and the loss of the 6’8” Bowers, who was their best returning player on the glass, won’t help. A&M meanwhile still has Khris Middleton, but do they have anyone to get him the ball? Dash Harris had a turnover rate of almost 30% last year and an assist rate of only 21%
• Speaking of those two, the Big 12 has four new coaches this year, with Texas Tech and Oklahoma joining A&M and Missouri as teams with new head men. The Big 12 hasn’t had this many new coaches since 2007 when six of the twelve schools had first-year men on the job. I took a look at  how coaches in the Big 12 have done in their first year on the job and compared it with the historical performances of the programs who have new coaches at the helm this season, and it looks like all four could be in for rough times initially.
• Kansas has won at least a share of the last seven Big 12 titles, but in order or the Jayhawks to make it eight, Bill Self will have to do his best coaching job yet. He lost both the Morris twins and Josh Selby to the NBA, as well as the underrated Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar to graduation. What’s more, incoming freshmen Ben McLemore, Jamari Traylor and Braeden Anderson were all deemed ineligible. Kansas still has some talent to work with, especially Thomas Robinson, who had a tremendous summer.

Even Bill Self Has Admitted That This Season Will Be A Challenge For The Perennial Blueblood

Predicted Order of Finish

1. Kansas (14-4)
2. Baylor (13-5)
3. Missouri (13-5)
4. Texas A&M (12-6)
5. Oklahoma State (10-8)
6. Texas (9-9)
7. Iowa State (7-11)
8. Kansas State (5-13)
9. Oklahoma (4-14)
10. Texas Tech (3-15)

All-Conference Team (key stats from last season in parentheses)

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