Brian Goodman is an RTC editor and contributor.

Year In Review

Before the start of the season, pollsters bought into Kansas State as the sexy pick to take the Big 12 in 2011 on the heels of an Elite Eight appearance in 2010. The Big 12 was not overly impressive in non-conference play, as the Wildcats fell hard to Duke in a de facto home game in Kansas City, and Missouri did the same against Georgetown in one of the more thrilling matchups of the early season.

As league play began, the preseason #3 Wildcats disappointed, starting 2-5, and the usual stalwarts of the Big 12, Kansas and Texas, rose to the top. After topping the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse in January, the Longhorns looked to be in the driver’s seat, especially after Kansas was blindsided at Bramlage Coliseum to give Texas a two-game lead. However, Rick Barnes‘ team suffered another late-season collapse, going 2-3 to finish the regular season while the Jayhawks dusted off the competition to pull ahead to take their seventh straight conference crown.

Elsewhere in the conference, the Wildcats bounced back to end the season in third place. The middle of the conference wasn’t settled until the latter stages of the season with Missouri falling lat and Texas A&M, Colorado and Nebraska treading water. Baylor underachieved, given the talented personnel in Waco, and Oklahoma State never really looked in sync. Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Iowa State all had awful seasons to finish at the bottom of the standings.

In the conference tournament final, Kansas played its best basketball of the season, topping Texas to gain some revenge entering the Big Dance. Colorado was snubbed on Selection Sunday despite beating Kansas State three times, but the Big 12 still managed to get five teams into the NCAA Tournament. However, only the Jayhawks made it out of opening weekend alive, and they fell short of expectations as they lost to Shaka Smart and the Rams’ reign of BCS destruction.

KU's front line of Thomas Robinson (left) and the Morris twins evolved into a strength, and the Jayhawks struggled most when they weren't utilized on offense. (AP/Jamie Squire)

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Andrew Murawa is an RTC contributor.

Last week we spent some time praising the work of two of the most familiar faces in the college basketball coaching world, Rick Pitino and Bruce Pearl, in getting their teams off to sparkling starts in the aftermath of some rough off-court patches. Today, I’d like to recognize some perhaps less well-known coaches who have turned awful offseasons of a different sort into solid starts for their respective teams. At Providence, Oregon and Iowa State, the basketball programs all went through turbulent summers full of personnel changes and uncertainty, but thus far the coaches at each of those programs has fought through the adversity to earn a combined 29-9 record for the three schools, albeit against maybe some lesser competition. None of the three schools are necessarily expected to be major contenders for NCAA Tournament berths, but at least they’ve got their programs headed in the right directions after rough offseasons.

Marshon Brooks Has Been a Revelation This Season

For Keno Davis and the Providence Friars, the offseason was an absolute nightmare – not that 2009-10 was all that great to begin with. The Friars lost their last 11 games of last season on the way to a 12-19 record, during which time junior guard Kyle Wright abruptly left the program. After the season was over, a new rash of bad news hit the Friars. First, it was announced that point guard Johnnie Lacy and center Russ Permenter would be transferring out of the program. Then, a couple days later, Lacy and freshman center James Still were charged with felony assault, leading to Still’s eventual dismissal. A month later, the bright spot in the Friar program was extinguished when leading scorer and rebounder Jamine “Greedy” Peterson was kicked off the team. About a week later, assistant coach Pat Skerry left to head to Big East rival Pitt, and in the process, severely hurt Providence’s recruiting with incoming 2010 recruit Joseph Young announcing that he would be staying closer to his Houston home for college. After Davis lost some face in refusing to allow Young out of his scholarship for a time, he was eventually released and allowed to enroll at the University of Houston. Next, 2011 commit Naadir Tharpe announced that he was withdrawing his commitment to the Friars and opening back up his recruitment. And finally, for good measure, Kadeem Batts suffered a disorderly conduct charge in July. In short, it was a miserable offseason.

But, in the face of all of that turmoil, the Friars are off to an 11-2 start to this season. Yes, they’ve dropped games to La Salle and Boston College, and for every win over a Rhode Island and an Alabama, there’s a win over Central Connecticut and Prairie View A&M, but at least Coach Davis has not allowed the negative momentum of the offseason to boil over into a disastrous 2010-11 campaign. Senior wing Marshon Brooks has developed into a versatile threat (22.9 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.5 BPG, 2.0 3PG) and a team leader, while sophomores Vincent Council and Bilal Dixon are each developing into serious Big East-level talents. Council is among the top ten point guards in the nation in assists, with seven per game (he had 16 in a game against Brown), while Dixon has been killing the boards on both ends, to the tune of 9.7 rebounds per night (more than three of those on the offensive glass), and adding almost three blocked shots a night. While much more serious competition awaits the Friars come Big East play, Davis has focused on tightening things up on the defensive end where PC ranked in the bottom 100 teams in Division I last year in defensive efficiency; now PC ranks in the top 100. There is certainly a ways to go for this Friar team, and the talent level  is still such that any dream of a run to an upper-division Big East finish should be tempered with, you know, sanity, but Davis has taken what was a disastrous offseason and settled things down in Providence to the point where the program is no longer in freefall and is playing up to their talent level. There are sure to be plenty of losses (and losing streaks) in conference play, but expect the Friars to beat a team or two that they have no business beating, and to be competitive on a regular basis.

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1. We’d like to start off today’s Morning Five with a trite but true statement about some of the many things that we’re thankful for here within the RTC family.  The growth of the site to become one of the leading voices in the college basketball community is (trust us) well beyond what we ever imagined possible here.  We’d like to thank you, the faithful readers, who continue to push us with ideas for improvement, challenge us if we print half-baked thoughts or incomplete analyses, and generally keep us on our toes to the point where sleep schedules for the editing team from October to April are pretty much nonexistent.  We might complain about it if we didn’t love this stuff so much.  We’d also like to throw a special thank-you to our many contributors, who have similarly grown from a few to several to a bunch, and in our efforts to corral the absolute best minds thinking about and discussing this sport on a national level, we feel that we are well on our way to reaching a sort-of hoops nirvana.  Finally, a shout-out absolutely must go to our families and friends — the wives, parents, pets, colleagues and buddies who we’ve had to continually bail on so that RTC can live to see another day.  The sacrifices these people make to remain close to us are not something that we’ll overstate — after all, it’s not like we’re fighting wars here — but it does have a day-to-day impact on those relationships to the point where mere choices between an extra half-hour behind the computer screen or a walk with a loved one is a quandary fraught with potential pitfalls.  We’re thankful for all of these things, and we want to wish everyone out there in College Hoops Nation the very best of Thanksgiving days wherever you are in your lives, and hopefully you too can find the happiness that we all get from making this thing happen.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
2. Iowa State received the bad news on Wednesday that Minnesota transfer Royce White’s appeal to become eligible to play this season was denied by the NCAA.  The troubled player never played a game as a freshman for Minnesota in 2009-10 due to a Mall of America incident that left him in trouble with the legal system, so his eligibility request was based on that lag.  The NCAA didn’t buy the argument, however, choosing instead to impose the standard one-year transfer redshirt rule with White as it typically does any other transfer player.
3. Mike DeCourcy answers some reader (?) questions, and the lead query asks which coach among the heavy-lifters (K, Izzo, Calipari, Donovan) would he choose to win a one-game scenario.  His answer won’t surprise you (K), but it reminded us of a solid question we received last week in a similar vein.  If we had to choose one coach and player to currently build a program with — who would it be?  We assumed a four-year window, but our choice was Butler’s Brad Stevens and Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger.  Who would you guys start with?
4. Luke Winn’s weekly in-season power rankings just might be the best read you’ll get on a regular basis during the season.  If RTC ever gets that creative on something, we’ll know that we’ve arrived.
5. Thanksgiving was once all about that sport with the oblong ball and a 100-yard field of grass.  And yeah, we suppose that there are NFL games that actually matter, but the only college football game on today involves a 5-6 Texas team taking on an 8-3 Texas A&M team as the battle for seeding in the national tournament in an exercise of utter meaninglessness.  Good luck with that.  Or, you could watch the 76 Classic and Old Spice Classic, both of which begin today and even though March Madness is still over three months away, these games today actually have meaning.  The meaning might be marginal in scope, but it’s more than zero; and zero is what you get by watching late November games involving Texas schools going nowhere fast in that other sport.

1. Unless Iowa State wins an appeal, Royce White will not play for the Cyclones this season. Having never played a game for Minnesota after signing with them last year, White is more famous for his method of leaving teams than what he can actually do when playing for one. White and ISU were hoping that the absence of court time last season would allow him to transfer to Ames without sitting out a year, but the NCAA was having none of that.
2. An alum of San Diego State is threatening charges against unnamed current Aztec ballers who he says jumped him outside of a San Diego nightclub on Sunday morning. As the linked FanHouse report explains, though, the alleged victim has presented only some scrapes on his body as evidence, and so far there’s been no mention of witnesses actually fingering any players as responsible for those injuries. Until that happens, we’ll assume that SDSU will begin the season with their roster intact.
3. Villanova freshman JayVaughn Pinkston was reportedly involved in an incident on Sunday morning that unfortunately might not go away as easily. Pinkston was allegedly involved in an altercation that led to an assault report and police departments talking to each other about whatever happened in Upper Merion Township. The school is now investigating. Understandably, head coach Jay Wright is withholding comment pending the outcome of that inquiry, but the SI.com report from this encounter sounds a bit more troubling than the San Diego incident from the same night described in #2.
4. UCLA’s Reeves Nelson was impressive in the Bruins’ first exhibition game against Westmont on Thursday, contributing 20 points and 10 boards. The next day, the sophomore woke up with what has been diagnosed as a strained hip flexor, and he’ll miss UCLA’s final exhibition tonight against Cal State Los Angeles. Freshman Matt Carlino will also miss the game with a concussion. Nelson should be ready for their first official game against Cal State Northridge.
5. Illinois is enjoying some lofty predictions for this season [ed. note: how sweet is it now to say the words, “this season?”] but everyone knows those expectations can only be met if senior Demetri McCamey has the kind of season of which everyone thinks he’s capable, including his coaches. The Rockford Register Star explains how McCamey considers his final season a chance to “make up for the last three years.”

For the second October in a row, we’re bringing you our RTC Impact Players series.  The braintrust has gone back and forth on this and we’ve finally settled on a group of sixty players throughout ten geographic regions of the country (five starters plus a sixth man) to represent the who and where of players you should be watching this season.  Seriously, if you haven’t seen every one of these players ball at least once by the end of February, then you need to figure out a way to get a better television package.  As always in a subjective analysis such as this, some of our decisions were difficult; many others were quite easy.  What we can say without reservation is that there is great talent in every corner of this nation of ours, and we’ll do our best to excavate it over the next five weeks in this series that will publish on Mondays and Thursdays.  Each time, we’ll also provide a list of some of the near-misses as well as the players we considered in each region, but as always, we welcome you guys, our faithful and very knowledgeable readers, to critique us in the comments.

You can find all previous RTC 2010-11 Impact Players posts here.

Upper Midwest Region (MI, WI, MN, IA, NE, SD, ND)

• Kalin Lucas – Sr, G – Michigan State.  Few elite players and certainly no other senior elite players will enter this season as more of an unknown quantity than Kalin Lucas. Coming off a solid junior season where he averaged 14.8 points and 4.0 assists per game, Lucas and the Spartans were poised for yet another run at the Final Four before a torn Achilles tendon in the second round against Maryland supposedly ended those hopes along with the possibility that Lucas might declare for the 2010 NBA Draft, already lacking in depth at the point guard position. We all know what happened instead (MSU rallied to yet another Final Four even without their starting point guard).  All indications point to Lucas having recovered from the untimely injury to near 100%, but we can’t help but wonder if his explosiveness, which already was a concern for NBA teams, might be compromised. Lucas is certainly fast enough when he gets going in the open court, but his first step has never been at the level of the other elite point guards he has been compared to and a potential reluctance to push off that torn left Achilles tendon may hinder that more. Despite the questions, Tom Izzo is certainly happy to have Lucas and his all-around skills and intangibles back in East Lansing—there are very few All-American point guards in BCS conferences that stick around for their senior season—and if Michigan State is going to make a push to yet another Final Four it will be Lucas who will again be the driving force. Having lost the enigmatic but explosive Raymar Morgan and equally enigmatic but troublesome Chris Allen, Izzo will expect Lucas to carry an increased offensive load while still distributing the ball to wings Durrell Summers and Draymond Green along with the talented Delvon Roe, who has yet to fulfill the promise he showed coming out of high school. If Lucas is able to meet those expectations, he could have a senior season much like one of his Spartan predecessors (Mateen Cleaves) that results in the Spartans cutting down the nets in Houston next April.

Lucas Returns For a Last Final Four Shot

• Blake Hoffarber – Sr, G – Minnesota. Here’s the thing about Blake Hoffarber: he’s probably not the best player on this Minnesota team, maybe not even the third or fourth best player, but he is absolutely critical to their success, perhaps the most important player on the team in that regard. Guys like Al Nolen and Devoe Joseph, Ralph Sampson, III, and Colton Iverson, are all probably more talented and more complete players than Hoffarber, but last year’s Golden Gopher results tell the tale of a team that succeeded when Hoffarber succeeded and failed when he failed. In the 15 games in which Hoffarber scored ten or more points last season, Minnesota went 13-2; in the remaining 20 games when he scored less than ten, they were 8-12. The lesson is simple: Hoffarber needs to score for this team to be successful. And given that Hoffarber’s offensive game is almost entirely predicated on hitting spot-up threes, maybe the true impact player here should be Joseph or Nolen, getting Hoffarber good looks on drive-and-dish. Or maybe it should be Sampson and Iverson for sucking in defenders in the post or kicking out offensive rebounds that eventually find their way into Hoffarber’s hands. But the point remains, Hoffarber needs to get and hit threes for the Gophers to be successful. His offensive numbers tell the story well, as last season Hoffarber was the most efficient offensive player in the nation, but only used 14% of all Gopher possessions when he was in the game. He scored a total of 351 points last season, 255 of which came from behind the arc (at an impressive 46% clip, leading to an effective field goal percentage of 67.3%, good for fourth in the nation). Of the remaining 96 points, 28 came from the line, meaning he scored just 34 hoops inside the arc, less than one point per game. Basically, Hoffarber is the very essence of a pure shooter – you really don’t need to worry about him going around anybody and the only open looks he’ll create for teammates is when he draws defenders to him at the line and rotates the ball around the arc. Sure, he contributes a handful of rebounds a game and rarely turns the ball over, he passes pretty well and is a decent if unspectacular defender, but when it comes right down to it, he’s “just a shooter” – one of the best in the nation upon whom the Golden Gophers’ chances depend, but in the end, still “just a shooter.”

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1. You probably already knew that Michigan State star Kalin Lucas sprained his ankle in the game against Wisconsin on Tuesday evening, but yesterday MSU officials confirmed the important news that there was no broken bone in his foot.  As of now, he’s listed as day to day but he’ll be re-evaluated after treatment today to determine if he might be back for Saturday’s game against Illinois.
2. Minnesota forward Royce White has officially retired from basketball as he formally withdrew from the Minnesota program on Wednesday.  You’ll certainly recall White’s bizarre YouTube announcement that he was quitting basketball in mid-December, and it was clear that not all was right with the budding impresario.  A tough week gets tougher for Tubby smith, who lost Al Nolen to academic problems on Tuesday.
3. This is an internal link, but we want to make sure everyone sees it who comes here.  Have you wondered who some of the teams are that would be invited to the NCAA Tournament if they stupidly expand it to 96 teams?  Check out our analysis for the answer to that.  If you’re not as appalled as we are that the likes of Alabama and Boston College would be part of the field, then you’re a better person than us.
4. Impressive.  The February 27 Gameday matchup between #2 Syracuse and #3 Villanova has already sold out the Carrier Dome (34,616), and it will set a new record (breaking SU’s own 2006 makr) for the largest crowd to ever see a college basketball game in an on-campus arena.
5. Mike DeCourcy thinks that the three most likely teams to run the conference table will be the MEAC’s Morgan State, the Horizon’s Butler, and the MAAC’s Siena.  Cornell in the Ivy is another obvious choice, but they do have to visit Harvard, and of course #1 Kansas has a tough road game coming up at Texas on Monday night.

1. UConn AD Jeff Hathaway stated unequivocally yesterday that Jim Calhoun’s medical problems were not career-ending in nature, but there is no timetable for the coach’s return to the sideline.  Seth Davis, not messing around with his pointed advice to the UConn coach regarding his most recent leave of absence: get out while you still can. The sideline is no place for a good man to die.  While we agree with the general sentiment of Davis’ article, we’re also betting he’s back within a week.
2. Dan Fitzgerald, the progenitor of the Gonzaga basketball program as the man who recruited John Stockton to campus in the 80s and developed a coaching staff that included future GU coaches Dan Monson and Mark Few, passed away suddenly on Wednesday in Spokane.  His record was 252-171 (.596) in fifteen seasons at the school and he took the Zags to their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 1995 before resigning two years later.  RIP “Fitz.”
3. Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan is in the college hoops news for the second time in a week, stating yesterday that the NCAA should consider tying invitations to the NCAA Tournament to player graduation rates.  Umm, yeah.  While we’re at it, let’s have the players bring their report cards to the scorer’s table before checking into the game.
4. The University of New Orleans has lost its struggle to remain a Division I school, and has voluntarily withdrawn itself from the Sun Belt Conference, effective July 1, 2010.  We knew this was coming, but it’s sad to see the Privateers go.  The four-time NCAA Tournament entrant won a game in 1987 with Ledell  “A-Train” Eackles as its star player, and who can forget former grocery bagger Ervin Johnson who played for Tim Floyd in the early 1990s and took the program to two NCAA Tourneys.
5. And this is the part where you realize these players are still kids and they’re not always the most mature beings around these programs.  Royce White, the Minnesota player who created a bizarre YouTube video announcing his retirement from basketball last month, is back at practice for Tubby Smith’s team.  There’s no timetable for his actual return to action, but Tubby has been known for giving troubled kids second chances, and it’s clear that something like this is happening here.  Let’s hope he understands and appreciates the opportunity he’s being given this time around.

It’s a travel day around here, which we’re sure is also true for many of you out there in Hoopsland.  Apologies if things get a little quiet after tonight, as there is only one game over the next three days (Saturday’s West Virginia at Seton Hall tilt).  Have a safe, happy and tremendous Christmas celebrating however your family chooses to do so (or not at all), and remember to give that little extra, whether time, attention, or cashmoney, to those in need this weekend.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

1. Georgetown’s Nikita Mescheriakov will transfer at the end of the semester, according to school officials, marking the fifth such transfer from the Hoya program in the last three seasons.  Mescheriakov wasn’t getting much playing time as JT3 continues to utilize a very short bench this year, but we wonder if his style of coaching isn’t grating on some of these players who are leaving?
2. Rick Pitino has suspended forward Terrence Jennings for Wednesday night’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette for an undisclosed violation of team rules.  Recall that in October Jennings and teammate Jerry Smith were involved in an altercation with police outside of a party in nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana.  Speaking of Coach P, Karen Sypher pleaded not guilty yesterday to (new) charges of retaliation against a witness.
3. Tubby Smith is acting the role of the eye-rolling parent by stating yesterday that the status of Royce White, who retired from college basketball and the University of Minnesota in a strange YouTube clip we wrote about last week, has not changed.  Probably for the best.
4. Hear about that UK2K thing from Monday night?  Check out this cool graphical interpretation of the winningest programs in college basketball history by decade.  Trust us, you’ll enjoy it.  Promise.
5. This is fairly interesting.  SI.com rated the top 25 “franchises” in both professional and college sports for the 2000s.  Their top CBB “franchises?”  #10 – North Carolina, #13 Kansas, #17 Michigan State, #20 Florida, #22 Duke.  Interesting how that matches up with our very own Team of the 2000s we set forth last summer — same top five, slightly different order.

Jason Prziborowski is the RTC correspondent for the Big Ten Conference.

Standings

1. Purdue       10-0
2. Michigan State      9-2
3. Ohio State      9-2
4. Wisconsin       8-2
5. Northwestern      9-1
6. Illinois       8-3
7. Minnesota     8-3
8. Penn State     8-4
9. Michigan      5-5
10. Indiana       5-5
11. Iowa             4-7

Three Things Last Week

• Evan Turner looks like he might be back early – a full four weeks ahead of schedule, which will help Ohio State as well as the Big Ten.
• The Big Ten has speculated on adding another team to its ranks, adding further confusion as to how it will be able to call itself the Big Ten. Apparently if you spell out Ten you can add as many teams to the conference as you want.
• Three Big Ten teams are in the top 25: #4 Purdue, #9 Michigan State, and #17 Ohio State.

Top Storyline

The Big 10 is busy off the court.

• Bobby Knight singles out John Calipari to show the dismal state of the NCAA when it comes to academics.
• Minnesota’s Royce White decides to give it up and leaves Minnesota and college basketball after his mounting legal troubles caused him, his family, and the school undue stress.
• Not to be outdone, Iowa’s Anthony Tucker drops 17 on Drake, gets drunk in public, and is then suspended indefinitely by Iowa.

Coming Up

• December 22^nd – Michigan State @ Texas, 7:00 PM ET, ESPN2 – As far as I am concerned, this is the biggest matchup for a Big Ten team this year. One could argue that the MSU vs. UNC game earlier in the season was bigger, but after Texas’ thrashing of UNC the other day, I would say that this is a biggest test for Tom Izzo and company. They are going to have to come to play down in Austin if they want to stay in this one.
• December 23^rd – Illinois @ Missouri, 9:30 ET, ESPN2  – This is a classic Bi-State rivalry, as the 29^th Annual Busch Braggin’ Rights game happens in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center. This game could be close, or it could be a blowout. If you play the who played who and what happened game, you will find that there could be 17 points separating these two teams, with Illinois having the advantage. That’s the difference in what happened when both teams played Vanderbilt earlier in the year. The other stat that could prove interesting is 6-0. That’s Missouri’s record at home this year. Too bad this game is being played in neutral territory. Watch the game to see if the Vanderbilt proves as an accurate guide. 

Breaking It Down

• Purdue first to Ten in the Big Ten. Robbie Hummel had a 19/9 game and Purdue’s top three scorers were good for 47 of the 69 points that the Boilermakers put on the board against Ball State. Purdue will blow out both SIUE and Iowa, but I can’t wait to see what they do against West Virginia in West Lafayette. To move up in the rankings, though, they will need some help from Michigan State against Texas or Louisville to knock off Kentucky.
• Michigan State has one more blowout before Texas. Admittedly, I had never heard of IPFW and Oakland, but they definitely found out how dominant MSU can be, even on off nights. MSU hasn’t lost to Texas in three years, and hopefully they can make it four. Time will only tell how both of their inside games match up.
• Ohio State could be saved by the Christmas bell. The Buckeyes have done an admirable job in Evan Turner’s absence, but if his recovery is going to be as speedy as he announced this week, they won’t have to keep it up for much longer. They just have to get past Wisconsin and Michigan on the road, and Indiana at home before Turner is back. If they can do it, it’s anyone’s game in the Big Ten.
• Northwestern is the best basketball nerd school in the nation. Two great things about last weekend’s Stanford game for the Wildcats. First, they beat probably the only school that can compete with them on the hardwood and in the classroom. The second is that John Shurna is back. He had a 22/8 game against Stanford, so I hope I don’t jinx him. Stanford actually shot better from the field and from 3-pt territory, but the Wildcats dominated from the free throw line. Northwestern is going to have to find a bench though, as five points from the reserves isn’t going to cut it in the Big Ten.
• Wisconsin gives opponents a nice Madison Tour, they might not come back. It’s no secret that Wisconsin does ok in the Kohl Center, but their game against Cal Poly gave the southern California team a Wisconsin blizzard. The Badgers were up by 52 points at one time in this game, and dominated in every area. That type of performance will be repeated in the next two games, but after that OSU will be sure to give Wisconsin a run for its money.
• Illinois gets cocky, loses to Georgia. Illinois had a good run, and maybe this game is just a hiccup on its way to another four-game win streak. Actually, if you look at earlier in the season, they reeled off four straight, only to lose two straight followed by another four wins. Let’s hope they don’t need two losses to learn their lesson. Let’s see if Demetri McCamey can repeat his 21/5 performance against Mizzou.
• Will Minnesota’s distractions end anytime soon? I already mentioned what hopes to be end of the Royce White era, but is this theme going to repeat itself throughout the year, or will the Gophers make all of their news on the court for the rest of the year? The good news is that Minnesota is torching outmatched opponents on the court, but once conference starts, it could be a different story. Blake Hoffarber set a school record by hitting eight shots from long range in their last game, so that is definitely a bright spot when someone goes off for 26 points after only averaging 10.5 on the year. Look for another three wins for Minnesota before colliding with Purdue on January 5^th.
• Michigan doesn’t get embarrassed by Kansas. Ok, so the good news is that Michigan managed to stay in the game against Kansas. The bad news is that they let a great opportunity to beat Kansas slip away. My main question with Michigan is when will they figure out that they aren’t a very good three-point shooting team? They shot an ice cold 17.9% against the Jayhawks, and on 28 attempts nonetheless. They are now 28.4% on the year on 257 attempts. Kansas in contrast is shooting 43% from long range. Michigan needs to take it to the basket and leave the threes for someone else.
• Penn State hits the Century Mark. Who knew that the Nittany Lions hadn’t hit 100 in a game since a game against Virginia Military Institute three years ago. Penn State was lights out against Gardner-Webb, led by Talor Battle’s 21. Penn State most remarkably shot 87.5% from the free throw line, which I can’t say I have seen much this year in the Big Ten. The bad news is that Penn State has eight days off before traveling up to Minnesota to take on the Gophers.
• Indiana has definitely found the guy to build the program around. Maurice Creek is his name, and lighting it up from three and leading the team last game in rebounds with seven is his game. He followed up his 31-point performance against Kentucky with 29 against North Carolina Central. Want to be amazed by more stats from Creek? Ok, so he is shooting 44.3% from three, 53.3% from two (as a guard), and a respectable 4.1 boards per game. IU should get a couple more wins before battling Michigan at Assembly Hall for a New Year’s Eve special.
• Iowa is not the worst in state, just the Big Ten. Iowa just got worse after suspending their second leading scorer in Anthony Tucker after beating Drake by four. Guess December just isn’t Anthony’s month, as he pulled the same move last year as well. The bad news for Iowa is that they will have to venture outside the state, and the competition is much better. It will be a long year for the Hawkeyes.

You guys remember Royce White, the uber-talented freshman power forward from Minnesota who has spent the better part of his first semester in college getting in various forms of trouble — allegedly shoplifting at the Mall of America followed by shoving a security officer onto the ground (twice), and somehow later getting mixed up in a laptop theft on campus where it’s still uncertain how involved (if at all) White may have been in that incident.  Needless to say, he’s been on semi-permanent suspension by Tubby Smith as the team and school awaited to learn how all of this would ultimately shake out.

Royce White (left) in Better Times

Gopher Nation probably didn’t think it would shake out like this.  Today White released a bizarre, somewhat rambling, six-minute mea culpa explanation buttressed by a couple of interestingly chosen musical montages at each end.  In the opening segment straight out of Eight Mile, he walks around the streets of Minneapolis while Beanie Sigel’s “Feel It In the Air” plays in the background.  After you get past the clear ripoff of the Geto Boys, a quick read of the lyrics of this song reveals a troubled mind given to fits of paranoia and instability.  White then enters the video at around the 3:20 mark as narrator in a Saw-like feed from his couch, where he riffs mostly about how the “wheels of justice” are putting a “stressful burden” on him, his family, Coach Smith and the Gophers.  This crescendoes to a point at the 7:20 mark when White announces that he is “leaving college basketball” but that he will not be transferring to another school, and as for his next steps, that’s “to be decided.”  The clip ends with another song chosen for maximum cinematic effect as photos of his friends, family and playing career cycle through: Timbaland’s “Apologize.”  (keep in mind that the chorus repeatedly states, ‘it’s too late to apologize…”)  But don’t take our word for it – check it out yourself.

There’s a lot here, not least of which involves his apparent resignation from college basketball.  White clearly strikes us as a troubled young man who might need some time away from the stresses of basketball and school to get himself together.  One commentator said this clip reminded him of Ron Artest in his role as emerging impresario, and he’s probably on to something, but we’re a little worried that he also has a bit of Avondre Jones in him as well, the former USC/Fresno State center and rapper who became notorious in 1998 for assaulting someone with a Samarai sword back when Samarai swords were cool (along with Raider hats and do-rags, but we digress).  White is only 18.5 years old, and he wouldn’t be the first kid to feel the weight of the world on his shoulders and think that exiting stage left is the answer to his problems.  But there was one segment of his diatribe that rang completely true, a morsel of wisdom of which we hope that White will heed.  Too many situations like this turn out to be utter train wrecks, so we hope he follows his own advice where he talked about his coach Tubby Smith, who is universally reknowned as a great teacher and man.  It’s very unlikely that Tubby would counsel White to fight the justice system by withdrawing from responsibility; even if White is telling the truth about the laptop incident, he still needs to own up to the shoplifting and assault.  People make mistakes, but character is earned by addressing them and learning from them.  Let’s hope that White’s story on the national level doesn’t end (today?) with people wondering what could have been.