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Trabs Files: College Hoops In Review Week 6

12/27/2015, 2:00pm EST
By Matt Trabold

Matt Trabold (@TrabsMatt)
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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:

December Showed Its Holiday Tournament Clout, Too

Over the years, events like the Maui Invitational, Battle 4 Atlantis and previously much more notable Great Alaska Shootout have made Thanksgiving time reign over its late December calendar counterpart when it comes to the excitement surrounding and prominence of the fields of its holiday tournaments. With the likes of the Quaker City Tournament, Kodak Classic and Old Dominion Classic not being played anymore, the Diamond Head Classic, Las Vegas Classic and Global Sports Classic are now what men’s college basketball fans that enjoy the seasons within a season of these holiday tournaments have to tune in for at this time of the year. The 2015 installments certainly didn’t disappoint.

The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors-hosted Diamond Head Classic is arguably the most high-profile event of the bunch. Eran Ganot’s group is now rather quietly 9-2 on the season – the best record in the Big West currently – after grabbing a pair of wins over a Northern Iowa side with victories over North Carolina and Iowa State in addition to Auburn on their home floor in this tournament. Their one defeat this past week was by just three points to third-ranked Oklahoma. Harvard may have turned around its season with back-to-back wins at the Stan Sheriff Center against BYU and Auburn before falling in the event’s title game to those Sooners. On a noteworthy individual player basis, BYU senior guard Chase Fischer converted on five heaves from behind the arc in just the first ten minutes versus New Mexico en route to 41 points on 9-of-14 shooting from deep. Fischer hit seven triples in the first ten minutes of a 2014 Maui Invitational match-up with Chaminade.

In Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas for the Global Sports Classic, now 9-2 Houston won on the final day of the event in double overtime despite a combined 57 points from the Wyoming backcourt duo of Josh Adams and Jason McManamen. The event also featured the Grand Canyon Antelopes – came in off a big-time win over San Diego State – moving to 11-2 on the year with wins against the stout Cougars and rising Marshall for the tournament's crown.

Larry Brown returned from suspension to his eighteenth-ranked and undefeated Southern Methodist Mustangs in the Las Vegas Classic. Freshman guard Shake Milton led a late charge that saw the Mustangs overcome a seven-point deficit at the 7:11-mark of the second half to win the event’s title game over Colorado by a score of 70-66. Milton scored six of his fourteen points from that moment in the contest on.

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Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)

Texas Southern at Syracuse--Sun., Dec. 27, 2:00 PM ET

Since he took over the reins at Texas Southern, few men’s college basketball head coaches have recruited as successfully creative to become one of the country’s smaller conference staples consistently in the mix at the end of the season as Mike Davis. Derrick Griffin has only suited up in four games for the Tigers this season, but is already one of the top storylines nationally in the sport. The hulking 6-7 front liner and former five-star wide receiver recruit was nearly a two-sport athlete at Miami (FL) before being ruled an academic non-qualifier by the NCAA, but has exploded from the very start on a collegiate hardwood to the tune of a combined 59 points, 37 rebounds and four blocks over his first three contests against Mississippi State, Stephen F. Austin and Central Michigan.

Davis and his staff have become known for successfully integrating high-profile Division I transfers, many of them dismissed from their former programs, including Aaric Murray (La Salle, West Virginia), D.D. Scarver (Marshall), Ray Penn Jr. (Oklahoma State), Nevin Johnson (Creighton), Nick Shepherd (Long Beach State), Deverell Biggs (Nebraska) and Chris Thomas (Marshall). The most recent one in former Kennesaw State Owl Orlando Coleman had 23 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, 3-of-3 shooting from deep and 6-of-7 shooting from the charity stripe last time out versus Iona. Right around this time last season was when a 1-8 Texas Southern squad – the Tigers currently stand at 1-9 – upset a ranked Michigan State side and then downed Kansas State two games later. The Orange dropped three of four games after winning the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis, including one to a St. John’s club that has since fell to Incarnate Word and NJIT. One of the country’s most well-rounded players in Michael Gbinije could really use some more consistent help from his teammates going forward.

Oakland at No. 5 Virginia--Wed., Dec. 30, 6:00 PM ET

The Golden Grizzlies were turning heads this season even before bringing top-ranked Michigan State to overtime last time out. Oakland had a legitimate hiccup in its third game of the year with a nine-point loss to Southern Illinois, but has displayed that Valparaiso and Milwaukee aren’t the only Horizon League heavy hitters with a fourteen-point drubbing of thoroughly notable Washington, that aforementioned performance against Tom Izzo’s bunch and by taking Georgia to the brink. Springy 5-9 junior point guard Kay Felder may be the country’s top mid-major stat sheet stuffer this time around. Felder is first nationally in assists with 8.9 dimes per contest and second nationally in scoring with 26.9 points per contest.

Half of Greg Kampe’s six double-digit scorers currently – as part of a top-five scoring offense nationally – are first-year transfers for the program. The duo of former Iowa State Cyclones in Percy Gibson and Sherron Dorsey-Walker accounts for nearly 25 points and seventeen rebounds an outing. Recent Longhorn Martez Walker became eligible for the Golden Grizzlies two games ago and combined for 25 points and ten rebounds versus the Spartans and Huskies. To go along with the early season George Washington upset defeat, Virginia had its second less than positive eyebrow raiser of the 2015-2016 campaign in its most recent match-up as the Cavaliers needed a seemingly impossible London Perrantes-led overtime comeback to get past underachieving California. With popular preseason breakout candidate pick Marial Shayok not living up to that particular billing just yet, another sophomore for Tony Bennett and his staff in Tennessee transfer Darius Thompson has recently become one of the top options for the squad. Thompson had five double-digit scoring performances leading up to the tussle with the Golden Bears.

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Stat Tease

Radford at High Point: 3-point shooting

Radford is one of the country’s most pleasant surprise smaller conference teams with the non-conference slate almost finished thanks to upset victories over Georgetown and Penn State. The Panthers would be right there with the Highlanders in that designation if not for falling to Texas Tech, Georgia and NC State by just a combined ten points. High-flying senior forward John Brown is what makes High Point such a notable mid-major, but Scott Cherry’s forces are also eighth nationally in three-point field goal percentage. Another senior frontcourt player in Lorenzo Cugini is tied for fifth nationally himself in the statistic after hitting 33 of his 55 shot attempts from behind the arc through twelve contests. Radford is fourteenth nationally in three-point field goal defense after limiting opponents to 28 percent shooting from deep thus far.

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All-Late December Holiday Tournaments Team

Roderick Bobbitt--Sr., Hawaii
Despite being just the third-leading scorer for the Rainbow Warriors so far, Bobbitt exploded for a combined 16-of-25 from the floor, 9-of-11 from behind the arc and 21-of-24 from the charity stripe for 62 points and five steals in Hawaii’s last two 2015 Diamond Head Classic games – a twelve-point victory against Auburn and taking third-ranked Oklahoma to the brink.

Zena Edosomwan--Jr., Harvard
Edosomwan ended his 2015 Diamond Head Classic stint in the same magnificent fashion he started it in going for 25 points, sixteen rebounds and two steals in the event’s title game against third-ranked Oklahoma. In the Crimson’s opening game in the tournament, he dropped 23 points, seventeen rebounds and two blocks versus BYU. The junior center is now one of only sixteen players nationally averaging a double-double of at least fourteen points and ten rebounds an outing.

Joshua Braun--So., Grand Canyon
The 2014-2015 WAC All-Newcomer Team member combined for 33 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three-point land in Global Sports Classic wins over Houston and Marshall to propel the surprising Antelopes to an 11-2 record. Braun had the go-ahead triple against the Thundering Herd with 27 ticks left in regulation in what ended up being a four-point victory.

Payton Banks--So., Penn State
There’s no question Banks is one of the most improved players in the country this season. After averaging just 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per contest as a freshman for the Nittany Lions, the 6-6 swingman is now the squad’s third-leading scorer with nearly twelve points an outing through thirteen games. In Las Vegas Classic battles with Colorado and Kent State, Banks combined for 22 points and fourteen boards.

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