skip navigation

Trabs Files: 2016-2017 College Hoops In Review Week 9

01/13/2017, 2:30pm 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:

Plenty of Early Conference Standings Surprises

Unsurprisingly, the first couple weeks of national conference play this season have resulted in Kansas at the top of the Big 12 standings, Wichita State at the top of the Missouri Valley standings and Kentucky at the top of the Southeastern Conference standings. With that being said, there is still a many a surprise to be had at the moment in various conferences across the country when it comes to which squad is atop the conference standings.

Even though Virginia Commonwealth’s only non-conference losses were against the twentieth-ranked team in the country at the time in Baylor, Illinois and a Georgia Tech side that began Atlantic Coast Conference play with a victory over North Carolina, many deemed the Rams as underachievers going into Atlantic 10 competition. Virginia Commonwealth has silenced the doubters at least for now after starting out conference play with four wins. The only other team that has done that in the Atlantic 10 this year is the Rams’ crosstown rival in Richmond. This is the first time ever that the Spiders have started Atlantic 10 play with a 4-0 conference record.

By reigning supreme versus Duquesne, Massachusetts and George Washington, the Rams did not pick up victories over any of the Atlantic 10’s tip-top clubs arguably in their last three ballgames. However, Will Wade’s group did start their conference play slate by downing one of the biggest overachievers nationally this campaign in George Mason on the road. In mid-April, Justin Tillman chose to go back on his decision to transfer away from the Rams. That choice is especially paying dividends in the Atlantic 10 hustle at the moment with Tillman averaging over thirteen points and ten rebounds per contest in this part of the schedule.

The program at the top of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings thus far is actually Rider rather than Monmouth or Iona. The Broncs had a lot to do with Monmouth shockingly starting its conference play slate this time around with a pair of losses to seemingly inferior opponents – the other defeat coming against Saint Peter’s. To make matters worse after the second-leading returning scorer for the team in Deyshonee Much left the program for personal reasons at the start of the true Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference part of the schedule, Iona also dropped a couple early conference games. Canisius was also deemed by many as a more likely Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings leader than Rider after beating two Atlantic 10 foes earlier in the year in a Pittsburgh-downing Duquesne side and St. Bonaventure.

From Broncs to Broncos with the next mostly unforeseen existing conference standings leader. Just as surprising as usual Mountain West stalwart San Diego State presently being at the very bottom of the conference’s standings is Boise State being in sole possession of first place in them after losing Anthony Drmic, James Webb III, Mikey Thompson and Lonnie Jackson from last year’s squad. Not only are the Mountain West’s three most notable programs in this day and age arguably in San Diego State, New Mexico and Nevada, Las Vegas all more than two games back of the Broncos in the conference’s standings, but the Nevada Wolfpack reinvigorated by the leadership of Eric Musselman is also a game back of Boise State.

Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)

No. 24 Minnesota at Penn State--Sat., Jan. 14, 12:00 PM ET

One of the better victories in conference play across the country so far this season was still pretty inexperienced Penn State beating previously ranked Michigan State last Saturday afternoon at a prime candidate for the designation of college basketball’s top venue in Philadelphia’s The Palestra. That win looks even better now almost a week later with the Spartans in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings despite not currently being included in the national rankings. The aspect of this contest that may just stick out the most is how mighty both sides have been at rim protection thus far this year. Redshirt freshman Mike Watkins is eleventh nationally in shot-blocking with 2.88 blocks an outing for the Nittany Lions.

The Golden Gophers are actually even better than Penn State in the rim protection department. In addition to Illinois State transfer Reggie Lynch being tied for eighth in the country in shot-blocking, Bakary Konaté and 6-6 sophomore Jordan Murphy both also send over one shot per contest the other way. That frontcourt trio has Minnesota sixth nationally in shot-blocking as a team. Richard Pitino’s group certainly did not fare as well as Penn State against Michigan State in the Spartans’ very next ballgame. Granted, losing to Michigan State any year is not going to completely ruin a squad’s season – even if the Spartans were still without Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter on top of downing the Golden Gophers by a whopping eighteen points. Watkins, Lamar Stevens and Tony Carr have all had their moments as notable Big Ten freshmen, but you cannot forget about 6-8 first-year guard Amir Coffey for Minnesota. Coffey already has a threesome of scoring performances of at least seventeen points each in Big Ten play, including seventeen points against Michigan State the first time around this campaign on December 27.

Maryland at Iowa--Thurs., Jan. 19, 7:00 PM ET

The Terrapins could easily be on their way back to a spot in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll on Monday afternoon after holding off previously ranked Indiana by three points on Wednesday night. Maryland never relinquished the lead in that one after a Kevin Huerter threeball was followed up by the same young man immediately tossing an outlet pass assist to Anthony Cowan after pulling down a rebound on the other end all in a 33-second span with under two minutes left in regulation. Along with Cordell Pemsl, Tyler Cook, Jordan Bohannon and Isaiah Moss of the Hawkeyes, Maryland is also known for having one of the country’s very best collections of rotation freshmen behind Cowan, Huerter and Justin Jackson. Huerter and Bohannon have already proven on a number of occasions in their young men’s college basketball careers that they are two of the most clutch players at this level at the moment.

Even after upsetting seventeenth-ranked Purdue at home on Thursday night, Iowa is still tied for being the Big Ten club with the most losses currently in its overall record. In this contest of theirs against the Terrapins, the Hawkeyes have to take advantage of Maryland’s undermanned frontcourt – as far as true big men go – if Michal Čekovský is still not able to play with a left ankle injury. Čekovský and Damonte Dodd have only been able to play together three times through the team’s first seventeen games this campaign. The front line threesome of Pemsl, Cook and former walk-on Nicholas Baer could be difficult to combat if the Terrapins do not have the services of both Čekovský and Dodd. In just nineteen minutes of play versus the Boilermakers, Baer pulled down ten rebounds and blocked a dunk attempt from a player with seven inches and 85 pounds on him in Isaac Haas.

Stat Tease

North Carolina at Wilmington at College of Charleston: Scoring Offense vs. Scoring Defense

The Colonial Athletic Association presently has three squads with a 5-0 record in conference play. The Seahawks and Cougars are joined by a Northeastern side with victories over Connecticut, Michigan State and Oakland in that regard. North Carolina at Wilmington has risen to its 16-2 overall record largely due to the scoring barrages the Seahawks have unleashed on their foes this year. The forces of Kevin Keatts currently find themselves eleventh nationally in scoring offense. 6-7 sophomore Devontae Cacok has missed more than one field goal attempt in just one of the five conference games his team has competed in up to this point. Cacok went 32-of-37 from the field in that stretch. That is a major reason why the underclassman leads the nation in field goal percentage right now.

On the other side of this battle, College of Charleston is currently eighth in the country in scoring defense. With the exception of Villanova’s lone loss on the year to Butler, the third-ranked Wildcats have not scored fewer points in a single game than when they played the Cougars on November 23. Sophomores Jarrell Brantley and Marquise Pointer both average over a steal an outing. College of Charleston also leads the country in three-point field goal defense after not allowing its opponents thus far this season to shoot over 27% from behind the arc. The Cougars held the squad presently tied for sixteenth in the country in total three-point field goals made in Elon to 3-of-20 shooting from downtown when the two sides met earlier this season.

Philadelphia Area Product Update
Quincy McKnight--So., Sacred Heart (The Phelps School)

McKnight is not currently putting up points at quite the pace he was to begin his sophomore campaign – scoring in the twenties in each of his first four games of this season against the tenth-ranked team in the country at the time in Arizona, Hofstra, Santa Clara and Fairfield – but he does find himself fourth in the Northeast Conference at the moment in conference competition scoring this year. He went for 26 points against St. Francis of Brooklyn last time out.

Sean Lloyd--So., Southern Illinois (Imhotep Charter)
It is no surprise that the three games of Lloyd’s men’s college basketball career in which he has received the most minutes of playing time are his last three. Lloyd recently experienced the first stretch of consecutive games of double-digit scoring in his still young career in the sport. He followed up a career-high fourteen points against Indiana State on January 4 with ten of those bad boys versus Missouri State. Both of those double-digit scoring performances for him accompanied victories for the Salukis.

John Davis--Sr., Towson (Neumann-Goretti)
Last time out, Davis dropped a season-high eighteen points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and nine rebounds at 6-5 in a 27-point win against Delaware. Davis also recorded eighteen points in Towson’s Colonial Athletic Association opener this season against the conference’s cream of the crop in North Carolina at Wilmington. He had fourteen rebounds and a block as well in that one versus the Seahawks.

Secean Johnson--Sr., California, Riverside (Penn Wood)
In the two games Johnson has been back to his regular allotment of minutes following a recent two-game suspension, the leading scorer for the Highlanders reached double figures in scoring in each with sixteen points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown against Long Beach State on top of thirteen points and eight rebounds at 6-5 against California, Davis last time out. In one of those games he was suspended for, California, Riverside got its first Division I victory of the season by beating one of the country’s best mid-majors in Grand Canyon.

ARTICLE/VIDEO GOES HERE


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Matt Trabold  Events  Division I