City of Basketball Love

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:

Hide Your Bids, Kids

Georgia did it in 2008 as shooting sleeve-donning Sundiata Gaines and lumberjack in basketball shorts Dave Bliss led the Bulldogs to four victories in three days to win the SEC Tournament and make that year’s NCAA Tournament field despite having a record of just 17-16 at the time. Then, St. Bonaventure did it in 2012 in Atlantic City by winning three games in as many days to grasp the Atlantic 10 Tournament crown when the Bonnies wouldn’t have danced otherwise. Stealing a bid to the NCAA Tournament by taking at least back-to-back-to-back contests in a conference tournament is one of the most impressive feats in the sports world. With every team having around a handful of games left on their regular season schedules, it seems like a good time to point out a couple of squads with the potential to pull of this hallowed exploit this time around.

With names like Ben Howland and Malik Newman entering the fray for Mississippi State this season, many expected the Bulldogs to be a no-brainer inclusion in the 2016 NCAA Tournament field before the season even tipped off. Howland’s group has certainly underachieved this season, but those men have still shown their mettle in slim losses to some high-profile opponents. Mississippi State lost by just a single point to Texas A&M before the currently fifteenth-ranked Aggies lost four of five ballgames, by six points to the fourteenth-ranked team at the time in Kentucky and by three points to Florida. Plus, the Bulldogs ran over an Arkansas side that upset Texas A&M not long before by 32 points last time out. Mississippi State’s other big-name Class of 2015 recruit in Quinndary Weatherspoon had sixteen points, ten rebounds, two steals and a block in that one versus the Razorbacks. Gavin Ware is still one of the most underrated trenches weapons in the country.

Going into Pac-12 play, Arizona State looked like a surefire 2016 NCAA Tournament side after beating the eighteenth-ranked team at the time in Texas A&M, UNLV, North Carolina State, a team now heading back towards the right side of the bubble in Creighton, Stephen F. Austin and Belmont – not to mention taking Marquette to overtime – in the non-conference slate. Even after upsetting ranked Southern California Friday night, that perception has widely changed with the Sun Devils currently holding just a 4-8 record in conference competition. A real deflator at the time was Bobby Hurley’s group losing three contests in a row right in the middle of the Pac-12 part of its schedule all by five points or less against Washington, California and most disappointingly Stanford. At the front of Arizona State’s attack is one of the most poised and confident floor generals in the country despite only being a sophomore in Tra Holder. Junior college transfer forward Obinna Oleka exploded for eight-straight double-digit scoring performances going into Friday after having just five of those bad boys over the first sixteen games of the season.

Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)

North Carolina State at No. 7 Virginia--Mon., Feb. 15, 7:00 PM ET

Cat Barber joined the Wolfpack a few years back as a top-forty recruit and McDonald’s All-American in large part due to his wowing wheels. The electric point guard’s game just struggled to have much substance early on as he had trouble at times controlling his trademark court chaos. Barber has tightened the hinges on his repertoire as a junior though to the tune of nearly doubling the scoring average from his sophomore campaign thus far and finding himself ranked sixth nationally at the moment in that mightiest of metrics. Before dropping 26 points on Duke last time out, Barber had three-straight outings of at least thirty points penciled in on his stat line. For the season and change now that North Carolina State’s roster has boasted the Martin twins, Caleb has been the brother with the loftier role in Mark Gottfried’s rotation. With two-straight double-digit scoring performances against Florida State and Duke – and three of them in his last five games – Cody has closed the gap for that distinction.

After falling in three of their first five ACC contests this season, including versus Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers have rather quietly climbed back to a top-ten ranking thanks to a seven-game winning streak. Former South Carolina Gamecock Anthony Gill has transformed from useful frontcourt supplementary piece to star manimal, but is currently Virginia’s leading rebounder despite pulling down less than six boards an outing. The Cavaliers actually have the second-least amount of rebounds up to this point of any ACC squad, while North Carolina State is just outside the top-twenty in the country in rebounding. Marial Shayok was one of the most popular breakout candidate picks around the country leading up to this season, but hasn’t lived up to that billing just yet. With that being said, Shayok has made fans of the Wahoos grin at times over the last handful of games, including going a perfect 4-of-4 from the field for ten points against Wake Forest on top of eight points and two blocks against Pittsburgh.

New Mexico State at No. 25 Wichita State--Mon., Feb. 15, 8:00 PM ET

In the last Trabs Files installment, the now-defunct late-season men’s college basketball event showcasing mid-major talent called BracketBusters was prominently mentioned. After these two sides weren’t able to compete the first time around on December 28 due to winter weather causing travel issues for New Mexico State, this match-up has an exciting BracketBusters feel to it with each team having a handful or so of regular season games left to play. Even though they trounced Drake by 26 points Tuesday night, the Shockers are still licking their wounds to a certain degree after being upset by underrated Illinois State last weekend. One of the country’s most elite backcourt duos for years now in Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet combined to shoot just 5-of-21 from the floor against the Redbirds.

Three games ago, the Aggies pulled off the seemingly impossible task this season of downing Grand Canyon – by twenty points no less – and getting their hands on the top spot in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Seventeen points, sixteen rebounds and two blocks versus the Antelopes in that one is actually a pretty tame outing for Cameroonian New Mexico State sophomore Pascal Siakam. Siakam is one of the best players in any conference this season and has displayed that fact by currently being ranked thirteenth nationally in scoring and seventh nationally in rebounding. At the moment, he averages around 22 points, twelve rebounds and presumably close to those numbers in NBA scouts in attendance when he plays per contest.

Stat Tease

Colorado at Southern California: Three-Point Field Goal Percentage vs. Three-Point Field Goal Defense

After George King opted to take a developmental redshirt year last season following a freshman campaign with the Buffaloes that saw him get less than six minutes an outing of playing time, I don’t think many expected him to be Colorado’s best weapon not named Josh Scott this season. King has added thirteen points per contest to his freshman scoring average and is currently shooting 47% from behind the arc. A handful of games ago, King went a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point land against Stanford. King and company find themselves fourteenth nationally in three-point field goal percentage at the moment. There was a worry about the production of Julian Jacobs tapering off after how well Jordan McLaughlin performed as a freshman last season in the backcourt for the Trojans, but it’s hard to call his play as a junior thus far less than brilliant. The quick hands and feet of those two and Katin Reinhardt collectively are a big reason why Southern California is nineteenth right now in three-point field goal defense.

Philadelphia Area Product Conference Play Update

Troy Harper--So., Campbell (Neumann-Goretti)

Harper has gone for at least sixteen points in each of the last three games for the Camels versus Longwood, UNC-Asheville and Gardner-Webb. Over that span, he shot 23-of-29 from the charity stripe and snagged seventeen rebounds despite standing just 6-1. Campbell’s second-leading scorer had sixteen points and six rebounds last time out as the Camels broke a ten-game losing streak by taking down Gardner-Webb in overtime.

Ja’Quan Newton--So., Miami (FL) (Neumann-Goretti)

Before only recording three points last time out against Pittsburgh in his second-lowest performance of the season minutes-wise, Newton rattled off six double-digit scoring outings in a row. That stretch included fifteen points, five rebounds and five assists in an eleven-point win over then-ranked Duke. Newton has just about tripled the scoring average from his freshman go-around so far on top of only having five single-digit scoring outputs in 23 contests as a sophomore.

Savon Goodman--Jr., Arizona State (Constitution)

On Friday night, Goodman broke a three-game streak of failing to reach double-digit scoring by shooting 8-of-10 from the floor for 17 points in the upset victory over a ranked group of Southern California Trojans. Despite not being able to eclipse seven points in any one of that trio of ballgames - versus ranked Oregon, Washington and Washington State - before that most recent match-up, he did average 6.7 rebounds per contest over the span and has recorded at least six boards in five games in a row.

Otis Livingston II--Fr., George Mason (Linden)

Livingston II has impressed early and often in this up-and-down season for the Patriots. Prior to only managing to score two points in George Mason’s last contest against Rhode Island, he exploded for a career-high 21 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc and five assists against ranked Dayton. The game before that, he dropped eighteen points and another five dimes in the upset victory over Richmond.