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Trabs Files: College Hoops In Review Week 1

11/22/2015, 1:45pm EST
By Matt Trabold

Matt Trabold (@TrabsMatt)

In his weekly Trabs Files, CoBL national analyst Matt Trabold takes a look around the national college landscape, both in the week that was and the week to come:

The Opening Day That Was

Not even taking into account Alabama State upsetting Virginia Tech and Radford beating Georgetown with 1.5 seconds left in double overtime the following day, the first day of games this men’s college basketball season was undoubtedly one of the craziest opening days in the history of the sport.

By the time the dust settled, a couple of handfuls of upsets had taken place. The most notable of that bunch happened on some of the most hallowed grounds in collegiate hardwood: Wisconsin’s Kohl Center. Western Illinois won just eight games a season ago and were picked to finish last in the preseason poll for the Summit League this time around, but still managed to shock the world against the seventeenth-ranked Badgers by a score of 69-67.

The Leathernecks didn’t only come back to pull off one of the most jaw-dropping regular season upsets in at least this generation of men’s college basketball, but they did it in style. A 6-3 senior guard for Billy Wright’s squad in J.C. Fuller climbed the ladder for a baseline dunk among the trees less than five minutes into the second half to cut Wisconsin’s seven-point halftime lead to just two. Plus, Fuller went 4-of-4 from behind the arc as part of the team as a whole going 7-of-9 from deep.

The West Coast member of that Friday’s ten-spot of shockers was Monmouth making the cross-country trip to knock off UCLA in overtime by a score of 84-81. The most astounding aspect of this particular upset was that the most high-profile Hawk this season in former Oklahoma backcourt starter Je'lon Hornbeak was only 2-of-6 from the floor. The three-headed monster of point guard types that start for the Bruins in Bryce Alford, Isaac Hamilton and freshman Aaron Holiday combined for twice as many turnovers as assists. That ended up playing a pivotal role in a game where Steve Alford’s side shot better from the field and deep, outrebounded Monmouth by 23 boards and were whistled for less fouls.

Springy marksman Marcus Thornton was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2015, but William & Mary was still able to deal an opening head-scratcher to an NC State team with some of the best young talent nationally in a contest where the Tribe started the game on a 27-7 run. Triple-double threat Terry Tarpey – actually had one come to fruition against James Madison last season – had eleven points, eight rebounds, three assists and five steals for Tony Shaver’s club. The Wolfpack lost the battle on the boards versus a team that starts four guards. The most unfortunate part of this one though was NC State’s prized West Virginia transfer Terry Henderson going down with a season-ending right ankle injury just seven minutes in.

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Watch Your Back Goliath (Upset Predictions)

East Tennessee State at Georgia Tech--Sun., Nov. 22, 2:00 PM ET

Georgia Tech hasn’t been a premier team in the ACC since the last season it finished with a record of more than one game over .500 in the 2009-2010 campaign. The Ramblin’ Wreck has started this season out with a bang though scoring 116 points to wallop Cornell in the season opener, beating another power conference squad in Tennessee and hanging 107 points on a Green Bay team that barely lost to Stanford to come away with a thirty-point victory.

East Tennessee State will get helped out on the boards against the front line prowess of the Yellow Jackets in this one due to the athleticism of some of its key guards causing them to play much taller than they stand. Cincinnati graduate transfer Ge'Lawn Guyn and A.J. Merriweather are both 6-2 and averaged 6.5 rebounds an outing through their first two games. The athletically electric and intangibles-driven Guyn came into the season with just three double-digit scoring outings in his men’s college basketball career, but really worked on his offensive comfortability and already has performances of 26 points and 19 points as a Buccaneer.

Valparaiso at No. 25 Oregon--Sun., Nov. 22, 6:00 PM ET

One of the biggest injury-related national storylines coming into this season was that the Ducks would be without Villanova graduate transfer guard Dylan Ennis and one of the best rim protectors in the country a season ago in current sophomore forward Jordan Bell for the first part of the season. While not at as high-profile, the Crusaders have a couple of major injuries as well so far with 7-1 freshman Derrik Smits needing to take an injury redshirt after tearing two ligaments recently and another key front line piece in sophomore David Skara missing the last three contests due to a left ankle injury.

Valparaiso was expected to be one of the top mid-majors in the 2015-2016 campaign and that’s just what they have been so far beating another team with that billing in Iona by 25 points and grabbing a road win against a side many expected to make the 2016 NCAA Tournament before E.C. Matthews went down in Rhode Island. Even with Bell sidelined, Oregon’s frontcourt is no slouch, so it’s good for the Crusaders that Jamaican center Vashil Fernandez was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA at the end of July. Fernandez – ended last season as the eighth-best shot-blocker nationally – has nearly three blocked shots per contest through four games, including a whopping seven of them against the Gaels.

No. 9 Wichita State vs. Southern California in Orlando, FL--Thurs., Nov. 26, 2:30 PM ET

The Shockers won’t be starting the season 35-0 like in the 2013-2014 one after being upset this week on the road by a Tulsa side that returned its entire main rotation from last season on top of adding a promising junior college transfer wing in former Illinois-Chicago Flame Pat Birt. Few teams in men’s college basketball right now have depth like Wichita State does, with Gregg Marshall playing ten men for at least ten minutes an outing this young season so far, but the Trojans are one of them with ten players themselves averaging at least twelve minutes per contest.

Despite the early blemish on their senior years, Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker still make up one of the top starting backcourts in the country. That will only be more of the case for the Shockers when Kansas transfer Conner Frankamp becomes eligible to suit up alongside them on December 12. Another new addition guard for Wichita State in 6-4 freshman Landry Shamet showed his worth with thirteen points in the season-opening win over Charleston Southern.

Southern California may just have the weapons to go toe-to-toe with guardplay of that caliber with a daunting mix of sophomores and veterans. The sophomore duo of Jordan McLaughlin – in his second season as the starting point guard after averaging around twelve points, five assists and two steals an outing as a freshman – and Elijah Stewart accounted for 38 points per contest in the victories over San Diego and a Monmouth team that upset UCLA to begin their 2015-2016 campaign.

Wichita State has a quartet of returning rotation bigs, but it’s become pretty apparent even this early on that brutish Cleveland State graduate transfer Anton Grady is going to be the focal point up front for the Shockers. In the upset loss to Tulsa, Grady had eighteen points and nine rebounds. 6-11 Serbian junior Nikola Jovanovic has been the consistent double-double threat over the past two seasons for the Trojans, but the member of this frontcourt full of promising freshman and sophomore giants that could end up being the go-to in the trenches down the stretch is 6-10 first-year player Bennie Boatwright. Boatwright had 10 points and six rebounds in fifteen minutes against Monmouth.

Stat Tease

No. 10 Gonzaga vs. Washington in Battle 4 Atlantis: Rebounding

Gonzaga had the second half of their season-opening military base game at Camp Foster in Okinawa, Japan suspended due to wet court conditions, but the Bulldogs still find themselves top-ten in rebounding nationally in this young season due to pulling down 53 boards versus Northern Arizona.

Early on this season, the Huskies have also had some surprising stalwarts on the glass en route to being the early leading rebounding team in the country. Few, if any, teams in the country had a more impressive batch of newcomers coming into the 2015-2016 campaign than Washington. 6-10 top-ten junior college transfer Malik Dime and mountainous freshman Noah Dickerson were expected to do plenty of their work on the boards. The duo has lived up to those expectations with a combined seventeen rebounds per contest in victories against Mount St. Mary’s and mighty Texas.

Joining Dime thus far with 9.5 boards an outing is 6-5 freshman guard Dejounte Murray. Even wilder than that, another freshman backcourt player in 6-0 David Crisp logged eight rebounds against the giant Longhorns.

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Philadelphia Area Product Update (First Week Freshman Edition)

Derrick Jones Jr.--F, UNLV (Archbishop John Carroll)

Jones Jr. wasn’t as highly rated a recruit in the Class of 2015 for UNLV as Stephen Zimmerman Jr. was, but maybe the best dunker in men’s college basketball is averaging more points through three games for the Runnin’ Rebels than his freshman front line counterpart. Against Cal Poly, Jones Jr. was 4-of-4 from the floor for eight points. In twenty minutes last time out versus a Southern Utah team that gave Utah all it could handle, he had 19 points, two steals, two blocks and 9-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe.

Kimar Williams--G, Florida International (Constitution)

Williams has been the second backcourt player off the bench for the Panthers so far this season, which places him seventh on the team in minutes played in this young 2015-2016 campaign. In the season opener against Trinity Baptist, he was 3-of-4 from the field for 10 points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals.

Quincy McKnight--G, Sacred Heart (Phelps School)

McKnight has been turning heads to start his men’s college basketball career as the third-leading scorer through three games for the Pioneers versus Quinnipiac, Yale and Massachusetts-Lowell. His top game thus far was 10 points, three assists and a steal against a Yale squad projected by the Ivy League preseason poll to win the conference for the first time in the program’s history.

Otis Livingston II--G, George Mason (Linden)

A big reason why the Patriots have been able to make their jaw-dropping run to the championship game of the Charleston Classic after upsetting Ole’ Miss and Oklahoma State is the play of their freshman starting backcourt of Jaire Grayer and Livingston II. Livingston II had ten points, three assists and two steals versus the Rebels on top of nine points and four rebounds versus the Cowboys.

Dave Krmpotich--F, Colgate (La Salle)

Before George Mason pulled off that pair of upsets in Charleston, the Patriots fell at home against Colgate to begin the season. Krmpotich made a case for more playing time off the bat by making his mark in that upset road victory with two points, two rebounds and an assist in nine minutes. Last time out against a 2015 NCAA Tournament team in Albany, he impressed with fifteen points on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor and three blocks.

Lamarr Kimble--G, Saint Joseph’s (Neumann-Goretti)

Kimble rebounded from going 0-of-4 from the field in the Niagara win for the Hawks with nine points making three of his four shot attempts and two steals in fifteen minutes last time out as Saint Joseph’s ran over Buffalo by 22 points. Kimble’s biggest improvement over this young season so far arguably is him being increasingly smarter with the ball as he recorded three more assists than turnovers against the Bulls.

Trey Lowe--G, Temple (Ewing)

Lowe has been showcasing his striking length and height for a guard on a national stage a lot so far through three games with the Owls playing top-ranked North Carolina, Minnesota and No. 22 Butler in that span. Against the Tar Heels and Golden Gophers, Lowe combined for seventeen points and eight rebounds.

 


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