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:

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Cloudy with a Chance of Conference Tournament Top Seeds Falling
One of the most hectic aspects of the stretch on the men’s college basketball calendar where conference tournaments are played and automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament are awarded every year at least in recent memory is top seeds – that most expected were a no-brainer to be a given smaller conference’s representative in dancing – bowing out surprisingly early in those events and having their top postseason dreams shattered. Some key results this week in intriguing smaller conferences certainly clouded up some expectations of which teams would be top seeds in their respective conference tournaments and, furthermore, ultimately see their name in the field of 68.

Texas-Arlington was one of the top stories in the country in non-conference play with victories over Ohio State, Memphis and Texas-El Paso on top of taking Texas to the brink. The Mavericks were dealt a crushing blow nine games ago though when one of the top double-double threats – and players overall – nationally in 6-7 sophomore Kevin Hervey was lost for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. After falling in four of five right after that highly unfortunate news, Texas-Arlington has won a foursome of contests in a row however – situating them in fourth place in the current Sun Belt standings. That four-game winning streak culminated in an overtime win Thursday night that directly prevented Louisiana from grabbing sole second place in the league. Georgia State may have fallen to eighth place in the absurdly deep Sun Belt with a loss Thursday night against now 23-3 Arkansas-Little Rock, but Ron Hunter's men definitely still have the roster to legitimately contend for the conference’s 2016 NCAA Tournament ticket.

Albany has just possessed that little extra to have Stony Brook’s number in the end in snagging the America East’s bid to the NCAA Tournament the last couple of seasons coming into this one. Even though the Great Danes haven’t been too far behind the Seawolves record-wise this time around, it has just seemed like fate throughout the season that Steve Pikiell’s forces have what it takes this year to dance out of this conference in the senior campaign and last shot of one of the country’s tip-top big men in Jameel Warney. That belief took a slight hit Wednesday night when Albany ended Stony Brook’s nation-leading eighteen-game winning streak with a twelve-point win over the Seawolves.

Many expected Hofstra to run away with the Colonial Athletic Association crown after ending the non-conference slate with an 8-4 record, including an upset win over Florida State. North Carolina-Wilmington has not allowed that to come to fruition. The Seahawks had an eleven-game winning streak snapped Thursday night when the side that is currently third in the league’s standings in William & Mary used a 31-3 run in the second half to pull the rug out from under them to win by a score of 87-69. You know a conference race down the final stretch is going to be one to keep an eye on when a ballclub that has downed Miami (FL) and Stony Brook (Northeastern) is only seventh in the standings with a few regular season games to go.

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Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)
No. 8 Michigan State at Ohio State--Tues., Feb. 23, 9:00 PM ET
This selection is not a testament to the Spartans being significantly susceptible to being upset at this point in the season, but it’s more of an acknowledgment of how the Buckeyes have turned around their season in Big Ten play. Ohio State has come a long way since losing four games in a row early in its non-conference slate, including falling to Texas-Arlington and Louisiana Tech in consecutive contests. A major reason why Thad Matta’s group has been able to rise to a 9-5 record in conference competition thus far – just two games out of first place in the current Big Ten standings – is the one-spot of the squad becoming more solidified.

The point guard position for the Buckeyes had been nationally renowned for the better part of a decade coming into this season due to the likes of Aaron Craft, D’Angelo Russell and Shannon Scott, but freshman JaQuan Lyle had his share of struggles in non-conference play this time around. With increasing assistance from fellow freshman A.J. Harris, Lyle has made strides tightening the hinges on his game as the season has progressed. Lyle even had a triple-double of sixteen points, twelve rebounds, eleven assists and only a single turnover in Ohio State’s first meeting with Rutgers. The Buckeyes may have won three games in a row, but Michigan State’s current two-game winning streak includes victories of nineteen points against previously ranked Indiana and twelve points against the hottest team in the Big Ten at the time in Wisconsin Thursday night. After three-straight performances of at least 24 points and ten assists, Denzel Valentine is the only player in the country averaging at least nineteen points, seven rebounds and seven assists an outing right now – though Brigham Young’s Kyle Collinsworth is awfully close.

No. 23 Providence at Seton Hall--Thurs., Feb. 25, 7:00 PM ET
As one of the top positive stories in men’s college basketball this season in Ben Bentil has been working himself back to full form following an ankle injury, the Friars have dropped five of their last seven ballgames after beating Villanova in overtime on January 24. That stretch even included an upset defeat versus the second-worst side record-wise in the Big East at the moment in DePaul. Bentil may still not be entirely back to full health, but he did drop 42 points, twelve rebounds and six threeballs in last week’s upset loss against Marquette in double overtime. Kris Dunn recorded 23 points, eleven rebounds and six assists last time out in the second loss this year for the Friars against Xavier, but his stat line also uncharacteristically included seven turnovers – one more than his assists total in that one.

On the other hand, the Pirates have reigned supreme in five of their last six outings, including wins over fellow Big East bubble teams Creighton and Marquette. Isaiah Whitehead is playing much more tenured than a sophomore right now due to eclipsing twenty points in four of his last five performances. In Seton Hall’s last two against Butler and Georgetown, Whitehead combined for 48 points, sixteen assists and 11-of-14 shooting from deep. After basically getting as close as possible to averaging a double-double as a freshman, Angel Delgado is currently accomplishing that feat in his second year in the program. Delgado had a double-double in each contest of Seton Hall’s recent four-game winning streak that ended last Wednesday.

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Stat Tease

Texas-Arlington at Arkansas-Little Rock: Scoring Offense vs. Scoring Defense
Even though one of the country’s top double-double threats in 6-7 sophomore Kevin Hervey was shut down for the season with a knee injury nine games ago, Texas-Arlington is still 23rd nationally in scoring offense right now. Erick Neal and his twin brother – current Kansas cornerback, Derrick – are no longer the focal point of celebrated electrifying high school boys basketball YouTube videos, but he has more than doubled the scoring average from his freshman campaign thus far. His stretch of nine double-digit scoring outbursts over his last ten games included a triple-double of 27 points, ten rebounds, twelve assists and just two turnovers against another of the Sun Belt’s best in Louisiana-Monroe. The Mavericks will be battling the top scoring defense in the country in the form of Arkansas-Little Rock in this one. Two of the top reasons the Trojans have been so polished this year at stifling the offensive attacks of opponents are diminutive but lightning-quick junior college transfer guard Marcus Johnson Jr. and the above-average length and size overall on the wing of Mareik Isom.

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All-Ricky Vaughn Team (Players Closing Regular Season with Style)

Jamal Murray--Fr., Kentucky
Big Blue rebounded from being upset by Tennessee on February 2 in a big way by winning its next four contests. With his play in this four-game winning streak, Murray has arguably pulled off the difficult task of surpassing Tyler Ulis as the go-to guy for the Wildcats. On top of his perimeter prowess during that stretch of 21 made threeballs at a 57% clip, Murray averaged over 25 points an outing.

Tai Odiase--Soph., Illinois-Chicago
The last name of Odiase is referenced most in men’s college basketball at the moment with Texas Tech knocking off three ranked Big 12 teams in a row – including third-ranked Oklahoma last time out – despite mountainous Norense Odiase being sidelined, but Tai deserves plenty of love right now as well. He has risen to tied for fifth nationally in blocked shots after a combined 22 of them over his last three performances versus Wright State, Northern Kentucky and Youngstown State. On top of what he did in that trio of games in terms of protecting the rim, Odiase also averaged around seventeen points (on 23-of-33 shooting from the floor) and nine rebounds per contest.

Ronnie Drinnon--Sr., St. Francis (PA)
Drinnon is one of four veteran long-time contributors for the Red Flash this season as St. Francis (PA) currently finds itself just a game back of the lead in the Northeastern Conference standings. He has rattled off six double-doubles in a row, including two performances boasting twenty rebounds. One outing of that pair was 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor, twenty rebounds, five assists and only a single turnover against Central Connecticut State.

James Kelly--Sr., Marshall
Kelly is currently well on his way to accomplishing something – he has it through 26 games – that very few men’s college basketball players can say they achieved: going an entire season without having a slipup to the extent of not reaching double figures in scoring in a game. In a narrow three-point loss to current Conference USA top dog Alabama-Birmingham on January 30, Kelly had thirty points and ten rebounds. Thursday night against Charlotte, he exploded for a double-double of 27 points, 23 rebounds and two blocks. He is one of only two players in the country at the moment – with New Mexico State’s Pascal Siakam – averaging at least twenty points and ten rebounds an outing.