College Basketball: Early Observations

The College Basketball is in full swing and with most teams close to playing their 10th regular season game after the early season tournaments now ended, conferences are in to the strength of their non-conference schedule.

Fort Wayne triumphed over Indiana

In this instance, many teams can either decide to fill their card with cup cake victories whilst playing a top 25 side to look good in the eyes of the committee come Selection Sunday. The need for these games is to fulfill a season rota but also learn how your team is playing before the conference schedule comes into full swing.

Some games are built on rivalry in-state, such as the Big 12 West Virginia travelling to the ACC Virginia; both teams will be in the NCAA tournament but a win for either promised a big RPI victory. In this case, it was Bob Huggins' Western Mountaineers who left with the bragging rights and a road win to the resume.

West Virginia in their starting back court formation

Others can find a defeat can be liberating. Indiana Hoosiers, so often a perennial underachiever with Tom Crean at the helm defeated Kansas Jayhawks on the opening night; then followed a loss on the road at Fort Wayne, Indiana. A crippling loss for the Hoosiers, but should Fort Wayne win the Horizon League or even finish a close 2nd with 25 wins they can be considered for the tournament. And not all defeats are bad, the Hoosiers themselves welcomed North Carolina, who at the time were undefeated and handed them their first loss of the season.

It is this merry-go-round or carousel of chaos that makes the College Basketball season so unpredictable at times. Due to the one and done rule, teams are frequently looking for new schemes and integrating personnel into those schemes  You will not see a team like Florida who won back to back titles under Billy Donovan and had a returning title side of four starters; Kentucky with their frequent revolving door of talent attempt it but even they can end up in the NIT.

Teams that look good thus far are sometime familiar, Kansas Jayhawks (7-1), North Carolina (8-1), title holders Villanova (8-0) proving it was not a fluke and that Jay Wright deserves more props than he receives and UCLA (9-0) who went into the Rupp Arena, Kentucky (7-1) and served up the Wildcats first defeat of the season.

The Bruins 97-92 victory was nothing to do with the Wildcats having an off day, but more to do with the collective talent of UCLA combining in spite of an off day for Lonzo Ball, their heralded guard who himself had an off day.

Lonzo Ball silenced the Rupp Arena on Saturday

This victory which elevated the Bruins to #2 in the rankings behind Villanova, is indicative of a trend currently returning to College Basketball. Guard play and balanced scoring - up and down the divisions you can see good guard play making a comeback. From Kansas playing a small rotation with Devonte Graham and Frank Mason, Ball at UCLA to Al Freeman and Manu Lecomte at Baylor (8-0).

The idea of balanced scoring and not being over-reliant on a big forward in the paint means a team is harder to prepare for in opposition, utilises confident shot makers from behind the arc or in mid-range yet it asks for consistency at both ends of the court. Guards by definition are defenders, who hassle attackers forcing turnovers and steals then quickly scoring on the break.

Teams are scoring a lot, the Bruins scored 97 at Kentucky, a team who have scored over 100 points three times already this year. This is due to teams wanting to score more in possession and the growth of the three point shot, a trickle down effect from the success Steph Curry had in college up to the NBA.

There will still be good defending sides who make it difficult for teams to score and eat up their shot clock possession such as Louisville (7-1) and West Virgina (6-1), whose constant press will be hard to face for a full 40 minutes, and Villanova while they may not have the dynamic playmakers that set the NBA draft on fire, the diligence of the system will win them more games than they lose.

Markelle Fultz 22.7-6.7-6.6 on a 4-3 team

Games to watch for this week:
Markelle Fultz's Washington on the road at Gonzaga; Fultz is a top NBA prospect averaging 22.7 ppg, 6.7rpg and 6.6apg yet the team is 4-3 facing a tough road trip at undefeated Gonzaga (8-0) - Wednesday night.
Saturday - Battle of 2 undefeated teams - Villanova travel to Notre Dame (8-0) ranked #23
and a barn burner as Cincinnati (7-1) travel to Butler (8-0)

Keep watching this space for more CBB observation next to the aisle.

College Football Week 1 review

Week 1 in College football seems odd.  You had a game taking place in Dublin for the Fighting Irish, you had games on Thursday night for South Carolina, with the superstitious Steve Spurrier (say that fast 5 times) enjoying a tough road trip to Vanderbilt, but winning nonetheless.

The other mystifying occurence is the use of pre-season rankings before anyone has played a down.  So you had USC ranked #1 when they have not played yet, and having to back up all this potential.  The ranking works in two ways, they stay atop of them until they lose or play an absolute stinker in victory.  USC made short work of Hawaii, with Heisman trophy favourite and senior Matt Barkley throwing for 372 yards and four TDs; helped by wide receiver Marqise Lee who caught 10 passes for 197 yards and returned a punt 100 yards for a TD.  USC had so much on offence but the defence will face sterner tests throughout the year, most notably from Oregon, #5, who scored heavily as always 57-34 at home to Arkansas State.

The most impressive performance however was Alabama, the National Champions, who having lost a lot of defensive starters did maintain the offensive line and have a good QB in AJ McCarron.  In a tough opener at Cowboys Stadium against the respected Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten, led by senior Denard Robinson, the Crimson Tide were never threatened scoring three 1st quarter TDs in a 41-14 victory.

The team they beat in New Orleans in January, LSU also won 41-14 but against lesser opposition in North Texas; at the moment though for LSU following the Tyrann Mathieu suspension, they need to go about their business and yet the Tide and Trojans enjoy the spotlight.

What did come to the fore however, is the gulf between the SEC and other conferences.  The depth of talent in the SEC is significant with victories for Georgia (#6, 45-23 v Buffalo), Arkansas (#10, 49-24 v Jacksonville St), Clemson (#14, 26-19 v Auburn; a real barn-burner to start the season) and Florida (#23, 27-14 v Bowling Green).

The best individual performance that put down a marker for the season was by Geno Smith, quarterback for the West Virginia Mountaineers, who in their first game in a new conference having moved from the Big East to the Big 12 defeated Marshall 69-34. Smith completed 32 of 36 attempted passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns, one rushing TD with no interceptions.

The Big 12 have some ground to make up on the dominant SEC but with the WVU high powered offence joining the powerhouses of Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State expect West Virginia and Smith to be making some notable headlines this season.

What to look forward to?
In Week 2, a lot of programs have picked winnable games for home openers (South Carolina play East Carolina); but you still have some interesting contests.  The LSU Tigers host Washington, Missouri new to the SEC from the Big 12 host #6 Georgia.  However, the game of the weekend could be Nebraska visiting UCLA; as below the Bruins have a high powered offence led by QB Brett Hundley and RB Johnathan Franklin, they can score heavily unlike some of the Big 10 teams did over the weekend.

Notable performances
UCLA's Johnathan Franklin rushed for 214yds on 15 carries and 3 TDs against Rice in their season opener with a long of 78 and a 74 yarder. Not to be out done his QB Brett Hundley ran for a 72yd TD.  This was not a career night for Franklin, who ran for 216 in 2010 v Washington State.

Utah may be a sleeper in the Pac12 and opened with a 41-0 shutout over Northern Colorado; Jordan Wynn threw for 2 TDs (19-27, 200) and John White ran for 119yds in a one-sided contest.