My 5 Favorite Things in College Basketball This Week
Good games are everywhere, if you know where to look
As we continue to settle into a new season, I’ve seen more and more disdain thrown at the pre-feast week schedule. And yes, I agree that the neutral site cowardice is becoming too common; I’d like to see games played on college campuses. Yet I still am able to find intriguing matchup after intriguing matchup, exciting finish after exciting finish, and amusing moment after amusing moment. And we’re not even done with this week as I write this! Clemson is playing Boise State in a different tab on my computer! So let’s walk through my five favorite things from this week.
#1 Lobbing Half Court Shots
My favorite moment came from a game I wasn’t even able to watch live. South Carolina travelled to Bloomington to play Mike Woodson’s Hoosiers on Peacock. I don’t have a Peacock subscription, but Kanaan Carlyle was able transcend paywalls with about 16:30 to go in the second half. Carlyle has the ball in his hands in transition, and around mid court, he sees Mackenzie Mgbako ahead of the Gamecock’s defenders. Realizing he could get the ball to Mgbako for an easy two, he tosses up a lob. It was no ordinary lob, though, as it splashed down for three. Take a look at this video.
#2 Late Game Miracles for the Golden Hurricane
I would like to congratulate Cuonzo Martin and his Missouri State Bears on being part of my favorite things for two straight weeks! Martin and his team found themselves up by five points (75-70) with 40 seconds to go at home against Tulsa. Dwon Odom had a free throw to shoot for the Golden Hurricane. It missed and Tulsa came up with an offensive rebound, immediately passing it outside to Tyshawn Archie. 75-73. Missouri State decided they’d like to make it interesting, making an errant pass that was intercepted by Odom for an easy lay in. Overtime. Missouri State up by three with a chance to ice the game at the free throw line. But this is college basketball, so the shot clanked off the rim and found Braeden Carrington at half court. You can imagine what happened next. Double overtime. Two overtime periods really feels like it should be enough. How much basketball needs to be played before one team scores more points than the other? A second overtime means 50 minutes of basketball have been played, a preposterous amount. It borders on unreasonable. It was not enough to decide this basketball game. This basketball game needed 55 minutes (plus some time with the ball in the air) to be decided. I’m a big proponent of watching as much basketball as possible, but this feels like too much basketball in one dose. Yet every single minute of it was why we love this sport so much.
#3 Another large dose of basketball
And yet there was somehow another game that required more than 50 minutes of basketball to be played. Florida Atlantic was being hosted by Charleston. This game found itself in overtime, and then double overtime. I had watched 49 minutes and 59 seconds of basketball before the only shot that ended up mattering was put up. Ante Brzovic, an absolute monster who will likely win CAA Player of the Year was having a game that proves why he should win that award. He had 36 points with 13 rebounds to go along with it. With 0.7 left on the clock, he put up a three. About four seconds later, the students were on the court. This one needed about 50 minutes and two seconds. A reasonable amount of basketball.
#4 The Papacy takes down the Savior
The Champions Classic. Cooper Flagg. Mark Pope. Duke and Kentucky. The villains were out to play on Tuesday. After a performance from Michigan State against Kansas that was better than anyone expected but still not overly impressive, hopes were high for an elite matchup. It was Cooper Flagg’s (I’m not going to describe him, you know who he is) first game on national television. People were ready to see why he is the best NBA prospect since LeBron James (and also to see if Kon Kneuppel and Khaman Maluach will be top 10 picks, too). And he didn’t disappoint. Until there were about eight minutes remaining in the second half. Kentucky went on an absolute heater, led by Andrew Carr, Brandon Garrison, and a mustachioed Kerr Kriisa. Maluach was taken off the court for a cramping leg, and Sion James found himself with a mild shoulder injury. Knueppel and Flagg are freshman. It showed. Otega Oweh made some free throws, and that was the game. Duke fans may think Flagg is their Savior, but he was bested by the Pope.
#5 Sco ‘Mons!
It’s been a tough few years for the DePaul Blue Demons. None of the coaches they’ve hired have been able to make anything work. This offseason, they replaced Tony Stubblefield (a coach sho gets too much hate considering the position he was in) with Chris Holtmann. They completely overhauled the entire roster that went completely winless in Big East play last year. The Blue Demons were 3-29 overall. This year, they’ve started 4-0. Every single player on the team wasn’t on this roster last year. Holtmann prioritized players with multiple years of eligibility so they could build for multiple years. And yet none of that is what’s been most impressive about their season thus far. The student body has bought in more than anyone could have possibly predicted. What was, last year, an empty Wintrust Arena, this year finds itself with four rows of students waiting after the game to high five players on their way to the locker room. More and more tickets are being sold. They say that if you build it, they will come, but all Holtmann had to do was lay down a foundation.
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