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:

And Then There Were Three

What do eighteenth-ranked Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee State, Akron, Illinois State, Belmont and fifth-ranked Arizona all have in common? Each of those teams suffered its first conference defeat this season within the last two weeks.

That leaves just three squads at the highest level of men’s college basketball that are undefeated in conference play this year right now. That fortunate trio consists of Vermont out of the America East Conference, Princeton out of the Ivy League and the top-ranked team in all the land in Gonzaga out of the West Coast Conference.

With their win over Massachusetts Lowell Wednesday night, the Catamounts clinched a share of this season’s America East Conference regular season title. Vermont needs just one more victory over its final pair of regular season games to rise to an outright America East Conference regular season title rather than just a piece of that crown.

That win against the River Hawks also gave the Catamounts a program-best sixteen victories in a row. Freshman forward Anthony Lamb has been something special in the three ballgames since going for just two points and one rebound versus Binghamton on February 6. Lamb recorded 66 points on 7-of-8 shooting from downtown and 19 rebounds against New Hampshire, Massachusetts Lowell and Maryland, Baltimore County in the span. On Monday, Lamb was named America East Rookie of the Week for the sixth time this year. The previous record for the number of times a player received that award in a full season was just three times.

The surprise in what the Catamounts have done in conference play thus far this year is due to the extent to which they are going about what was expected of them in the standings of their conference rather than actually exceeding the expectations of how they were going to fare in said conference standings – were picked first in the preseason poll for the America East Conference coming into this season. Princeton was also picked first in the preseason poll for its respective conference coming into this season. The surprise with how far the Tigers have come in the last two months has to do with the obstacles they have had to overcome this season.

Within the first eight outings of this campaign, Mitch Henderson, Kerry Kittles and company were faced with two of the most notable season-ending injuries men’s college basketball as a whole has seen this year as Hans-Georg Brase and Henry Caruso were lost to a knee injury and a toe injury, respectively. Princeton ended its most recent non-conference slate with a disappointing 7-6 record, but has rattled off an eleven-game winning streak.

There is a lot less surprise in top-ranked Gonzaga being the other team in this trio. The Bulldogs beat a fellow ranked side from the West Coast Conference in Saint Mary’s by a cumulative 33 points in the two meetings between the rivals this season so far.

Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)

No. 19 Southern Methodist at Houston--Sat., Feb. 18, 6:00 PM ET

The Mustangs have not looked human much in American Athletic Conference play this season so far. Their ballgame Wednesday night was one of those few occasions. Southern Methodist’s opponent in that one was previously 4-20 Tulane, no less. Tim Jankovich’s group needed a 53-33 second-half performance on the scoreboard just to beat the Green Wave by five points in a game that saw the top option for the Mustangs in Semi Ojeleye start 1-of-15 from the field. Due to the midseason departures of Australian freshmen Harry Froling and Tom Wilson, Southern Methodist has a true rotation of only six players at the moment. The Mustangs find themselves third in the country in scoring defense right now. In five of the contests of the nine-game winning streak they are currently in, the male basketballers from Dallas held their opponent to fewer than 54 points.

Houston is in the midst of a five-game winning streak of its own – the second one the Cougars have experienced this campaign thus far. As part of this current string of success in the win-loss column, Houston took down that same Tulane side that gave nineteenth-ranked Southern Methodist so much trouble a couple of nights ago in two different instances by a cumulative 43 points. Rob Gray Jr. may be the leading scorer for the Cougars at this point in the season, but former Oregon Duck Damyean Dotson arguably has the squad’s hottest hand at this time. Dotson scored in at least the twenties in each of his last six contests. That span including perimeter shooting outings of going 6-of-7 from downtown in Houston’s most recent matchup with Tulane, going 7-of-12 from downtown against Central Florida and going 6-of-10 from downtown in his team’s first meeting this year with Southern Methodist. Something the first battle this season between these two teams did not contain was Houston’s Indiana transfer in Devin Davis. The Cougars now have his services again after Davis missed seven games in a row recently with a left foot injury.

No. 22 Saint Mary’s at Pepperdine--Thurs., Feb. 23, 10:00 PM ET

Another double-digit loss this year to Gonzaga on Saturday certainly did not ruin their season, but the Gaels had a couple of other alarming performances over their most recent five ballgames. Those two outings were not getting by previously 9-15 Portland by much at home a week ago in a tussle that saw the Pilots trailing by just five points with 1:27 left in regulation and only beating previously 8-15 Pacific by four points two contests before that. Saint Mary’s only managing to put up 51 points in that one versus Portland tied the club’s season-low for scoring in a single game – the other being in the fourteen-point loss to Texas at Arlington. Both of the sides in this one struggle on the glass. Neither the Gaels nor the Waves are mighty enough on the boards at this point in the season to be in the top-two hundred nationally in rebounding presently.

Because of that, a case can be made that the individual matchup to keep an eye on the most in this battle is the road team’s 6-11 Australian junior in Jock Landale against Pepperdine’s former Utah frontcourt starter in Chris Reyes. Those big men are tied for first – with Brigham Young’s Eric Mika – and fourth in the West Coast Conference in rebounding, respectively. So far in his first campaign with Pepperdine, Reyes is up over nine points an outing and over four rebounds an outing from the numbers he recorded in his best season as a Ute. Speaking of the West Coast Conference’s up-to-date individual leaders, a teammate of Reyes in Lamond Murray Jr. is leading the conference in scoring. The record the Waves are currently at this year is a pretty dismal 9-18, but they did pummel a very good Brigham Young team by sixteen points three games ago. If you wanted to compare how both sides fared in their most recent contests against Portland and Pacific, Pepperdine performed much better by downing that pair of West Coast Conference foes by a combined 28 points.

Stat Tease

Marshall at Old Dominion: Scoring Offense vs. Scoring Defense

The Thundering Herd pulled off a head-turning victory last time out as they beat Alabama at Birmingham by fifteen points. Marshall is currently eighth nationally in scoring offense. Dan D'Antoni and his staff have four players in their rotation averaging at least 11.3 points an outing. Austin Loop is tied for eleventh in the country in amount of three-point field goals made thus far this season. On top of that, Jon Elmore is just outside the top-ninety nationally in that statistic. On the other side of this matchup, the Monarchs are seventh in the country in scoring defense. Old Dominion has three players averaging at least a steal per contest on top of another two players averaging over a block per contest. George Mason transfer Trey Porter is sending 1.6 shots an outing the other way.

All-Conference Play Smooth Operator Team (Assist-Turnover Ratio National Rankings Notables)

Drew Charles--Sr., Texas at Arlington

One of the many reasons Texas at Arlington is currently at the top of another impressive Sun Belt Conference is Charles presently leading the country in conference play assist-turnover ratio. Over the twelve games the Mavericks have been a part of in conference play thus far this year, Charles recorded three more assists than turnovers on a quarter of those occasions.

Brady Ellingson--So., Iowa

Ellingson’s role on the Hawkeyes since beginning his men’s college basketball career has primarily been as a perimeter shooting role player. He has added all sorts of assist-turnover ratio proficiency to his repertoire since Big Ten games started this campaign though. That is why he is currently seventh nationally in conference play assist-turnover ratio. In a recent two-game span against Rutgers and Nebraska, Ellingson had a combined ten assists and no turnovers.

Landry Shamet--Fr., Wichita State

The redshirt freshman is one of three Shockers averaging double-digit scoring at the moment, but it is what Shamet is doing in the assist-turnover ratio realm over the last couple games that is arguably grander. In Wichita State’s last two victories, Shamet combined for thirteen assists and just two turnovers versus Loyola (Chicago) and Southern Illinois. Teammate Conner Frankamp is also one of the top players in the country in terms of conference play assist-turnover ratio this year up to this point.

Jake Flaggert--Jr., Texas at El Paso

Even though Flaggert has seen his playing time rise by around fifteen minutes per contest as a junior in comparison to his sophomore campaign, he has astoundingly gone the last nine ballgames without recording a single turnover. Two of the performances in that stretch featured him tossing seven assists.