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:

Last Hurrah of Non-Conference Play Did Not Make Some Blue Bloods Say, “Hooray”

With many conferences officially starting conference play early next week, the days of non-conference games happening across the entire national slate this season are coming to an end. The last full week of countrywide non-conference play this campaign saw some big-name programs trip up.

Many thought that, if Michigan State was going to be upset in this week leading up to Christmas, it would be against Oakland on Wednesday night. The Golden Grizzlies beat the Spartans in overtime last season behind 37 points from current Cleveland Cavalier Kay Felder. Michigan State pulled it out late a couple nights ago. The same could not be said about the team’s game three days prior.

The Spartans were etched next to Connecticut on Northeastern’s upset victim list this season. Michigan State’s leading scorer and rebounder Miles Bridges joined Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter in the club’s frontcourt injury doldrums for that one. The Huskies made them pay for it by outrebounding Tom Izzo’s group by a pair of rebounds. 6-3 guard T.J. Williams pulled down nine rebounds for Northeastern. That contest’s box score also featured a team-high 18 points for former Duke Blue Devil and Florida Gator Alex Murphy. It shows how mighty a transfer addition Murphy was with Northeastern having this kind of season so far – with those two upset victories – right after graduating the renowned trio of David Walker, Quincy Ford and Zach Stahl. The Big Ten Conference led the country in conference RPI going into that Sunday.

Nebraska is a blue blood in terms of its entire athletic department more than specifically the men’s basketball program there. With that being said, the Cornhuskers were one of the biggest success stories in the sport in the 2013-2014 season in the first season of the head coaching tenure of Tim Miles. Nebraska was arguably overachieving this season going into Sunday with a win over Dayton under its belt. Then, the Cornhuskers were shocked by Gardner-Webb by eight points despite eighteen rebounds (seven of them of the offensive variety), four blocks and nine points from Ed Morrow. The Bulldogs upset Purdue and Clemson in their non-conference slate two seasons ago.

Losing to a Louisville team, especially a top-ten one, is obviously not a loss that is going to ruin one’s season. It was the first time Kentucky had fallen to the Cardinals since 2012 though. Bam Adebayo’s dunks on Anas Mahmoud were the aspect of the game that probably showed up on social media the most, but it was Quentin Snider’s career-high 22 points that arguably were the most important one when it was all said and done.

Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)

Saint Peter’s at No. 25 Notre Dame--Wed., Dec. 28, 7:00 PM ET

The Peacocks have already shown this campaign that they can be competitive against a team that has been ranked this season. Two games ago, Saint Peter’s held Maryland to just sixteen points in the final 14:22 of regulation en route to falling by only ten points. 6-8 senior center Quadir Welton is undoubtedly the top option for John Dunne’s club. Welton is averaging around fourteen points and eight rebounds an outing despite failing to eclipse five points in each of his last three games. Behind Welton, keep an eye on a trio of transfers for the Peacocks. George Washington transfer three-point specialist Nick Griffin is second on the team in scoring. Houston transfer Cavon Baker is coming off of his best game as a Peacock after he went for thirteen points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and three steals in eighteen minutes against Elon. Temple star Obi Enechionyia may be getting the headlines, but his older brother in Samford transfer Nnamdi Enechionyia also had his best outing as a Peacock versus the Phoenix with nine points.

The 6-5 Bonzie Colson could really use a higher level of help in Notre Dame’s post-Zach Auguste frontcourt to properly combat Welton in this one. Despite being undersized, Colson is actually one spot outside the top-twenty nationally in rebounding with 10.4 rebounds per contest so far this year. The only player in the country that is the same height as him or shorter with a better rebounding average at this point is George Mason’s Marquise Moore. 6-10 Lithuanian junior Martinas Geben showed promise his last two times out. Geben combined for seventeen points and ten rebounds in that pair of ballgames against the fifteenth-ranked team in the country at the time in Purdue and Colgate.

No. 13 Butler at St. John’s--Thurs., Dec. 29, 7:00 PM ET

No pun intended, it has been a whirlwind last two weeks for the Red Storm. On December 11, St. John’s was upset by Long Island, Brooklyn. In its next contest a week after that, Chris Mullin’s group fell to Penn State by sixteen points in a game in which the Nittany Lions ended the first half on a 35-5 run and led by 23 points with 5:55 to go in regulation. Then, St. John’s swung its season back in the right direction in a big way Wednesday night by pummeling Syracuse at the Carrier Dome by 23 points for the program’s third victory in a row against the Orange. 6-11 Tennessee transfer Tariq Owens has picked up his play for the most part since his former brother-in-harms towards opposing shot takers Yankuba Sima transferred out of the program a few games ago. Owens has recorded at least four blocks in five of the last six Red Storm ballgames. Redshirt freshman Marcus LoVett, Jr. had a near triple-double of seven points, six rebounds and nine assists versus Syracuse in just his second game back from missing some time due to a sprained ankle.

The Bulldogs have certainly rebounded from being upset by Indiana State by downing a pair of ranked sides in Indiana and Cincinnati on top of America East Conference preseason favorite Vermont last time out in their last three contests. In that trio of outings, Kelan Martin combined for 69 points, 11-of-19 shooting from behind the arc and 16-of-17 shooting from the charity stripe. People are still waiting on the Butler breakout of former George Washington Colonial Kethan Savage. He did miss the first foursome of contests of this campaign due to pneumonia. The sultan of spring averaged around twelve points per contest in each of his last two George Washington seasons.

Stat Tease

Northern Kentucky at West Virginia: Rebound Margin vs. Offensive Rebounding Average

The Norse may not have anyone averaging double-digit rebounding at this point in the season, but find themselves tenth in the country in rebound margin right now due to prowess on the boards by committee. Northern Kentucky has three players averaging at least 5.8 rebounds an outing. Freshman Carson Williams is averaging over six rebounds per contest so far despite being a little undersized for his position at 6-5. Williams went for fourteen rebounds, ten points and five assists against Illinois in his second men’s college basketball game. Alabama transfer Jeff Garrett began this campaign with double-digit rebounding outings in three of Northern Kentucky’s first four games.

The eleventh-ranked Mountaineers are outside of the top-seventy nationally in rebound margin, but their offensive rebounding numbers are just about the best in the country currently. West Virginia finds itself at second in all the land in offensive rebounding average. Nathan Adrian only averaged 3.1 rebounds an outing as a junior. So far as a senior, Adrian is averaging more than that just in offensive boards. That is good for ranking him in the top-fifty nationally in offensive rebounding average on an individual basis. Even if it has only risen to around fourteen minutes per contest thus far, 6-9 senior Brandon Watkins is making the most of his significant increase in playing time this year on the boards. Watkins had a double-double of eleven points and ten rebounds in just seventeen minutes against Virginia Military Institute three ballgames ago.

2016-2017 All-Grinch Team (Notable Men of Steal)

Luwane Pipkins--Fr., Massachusetts

Along with Marcus LoVett, Jr. from St. John’s, Mike Watkins from Penn State and Samir Doughty from Virginia Commonwealth among others, Pipkins was one of the most notable cases of an incoming freshman going into last season being ruled ineligible for that year by the NCAA. The redshirt freshman is fourth nationally in steals average right now. He kicked off his young men’s college basketball career with eight steals and fourteen points against Massachusetts Lowell.

Jevon Carter--Jr., West Virginia

This team would be incomplete without a member of “Press Virginia.” Carter, along with Tarik Phillip, has gone from a good to a great hardwood pickpocket this season to make up for the production lost in that phase by the graduation of Jaysean Paige. He is fifth in the country in steals average with 3.2 of those bad boys an outing. Unsurprisingly, the Mountaineers are first nationally in turnover margin, steals average and turnovers forced.

Zjori Bosha--Jr., Lamar

Bosha has come away with at least nine steals in two of Lamar’s last four ballgames. That is an impressive feat even if that pair of contests was against non-Division I sides on the program’s schedule this year. He is tied for fifteenth in the country in steals average on top of being tied for thirtieth in the country in total steals thus far despite not recording a single one of them in the first six outings of his junior campaign. Also, Bosha leads the nation in steal-turnover ratio behind just eight turnovers in eleven games this campaign.

Ehab Amin--Jr., Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Hameed Ali ended last season second in the country in steals average. Now, a former teammate of his with the Islanders in Amin is leading the country in the same statistic so far. Playing for the Egyptian senior men’s basketball team this summer, Amin was sixth in FIBA AfroBasket 2015 in steals average – a little above current Portland Trail Blazer Al-Farouq Aminu, current Detroit Piston Michael Gbinije and a recent backcourt starter for the Toronto Raptors in Ben Uzoh on that list.