2015-2016 College Basketball Season

[celticdb15]

I hope some were watching the Duke/UNC game tonight.. if you did, you weren't disappointed. Duke won in a thriller over the all-black Tar Heels!! In a game where the Blue Devils were reduced to playing 5 guys (Allen, Kennard, Plumlee, Ingram, and Thornton) the entire 2nd half, they fought their way to a victory. Marshall Plumlee played the last 11+ minutes of the game with 4 fouls. Jay Bilas praised Plumlee the entire night as well, saying how he expected Plumlee to start and contribute at Duke, and how great of an athlete he was. Every time UNC threatened to blow the game open in the 2nd half, Allen and Ingram fought the Blue Devils back into contention. Allen finished with 23 points, Ingram had 20. Luke had 15 as well, including a 3 with about 2 minutes left to put Duke ahead for the first time in the 2nd half. Marshall Plumlee had 11 points and 7 boards, but played some outstanding defense, especially when he had 4 fouls. Great win for Duke!

Go Blue Devils; it's great to be able to root for Duke again!

Good for Duke! But what's the deal with them having such a thin rotation?!

 

[Riggins44]

I didn't see the game but what a great win for Duke. Allen, Kennard and Plumlee score 49 of their 74 points.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Good for Duke! But what's the deal with them having such a thin rotation?!

Celtic, I think it is because Amile Jefferson (who was playing great) is out injured, and the fact that "5-star" recruit Chase Jeter, who apparently oozes potential, can't seem to do anything other than foul and turn the ball over, has resulted in Marshall Plumlee being the Blue Devil's only big man. Also, Matt Jones is now out with an ankle injury, leaving basically 5 guys that will play, it's 6 when Jeter comes in for his 4-5 minutes per game to spell Plumlee.

 

[Leonardfan]

I am watching the St. Mary's - Gonzaga game. Both very white friendly teams - 21-4 and 21-6 are their records yet they are somehow on the bubble for the tournament. Could any college bball fan explain why they are not guaranteed spots in the tournament?

 

[Jack Lambert]

I am watching the St. Mary's - Gonzaga game. Both very white friendly teams - 21-4 and 21-6 are their records yet they are somehow on the bubble for the tournament. Could any college bball fan explain why they are not guaranteed spots in the tournament?

I too think that's "weird" how these schools aren't on the right side of the bubble. It's weird, because Monmouth is still safely in the tourney despite four terrible losses, three of them to 300+ RPI teams. Also, LSU is still "somehow" safely in, despite a lack of "marquee wins."

I think we all know the reasons for this: LSU has Ben Simmons, the probable No. 1 overall pick in the draft. And Monmouth is the media's dream, a potential nearly all-black Cinderella team, complete with a ridiculous all-white bench performing antics that I'm sure you had to have seen a couple of times this year. Also, somehow, Alabama managed to jump Butler, despite a worse record in a worse conference; I think we all know the reason for that.

St. Mary's is somehow on the bubble because they've lost to Pepperdine twice. That's it. I know Pepperdine sucks, but to have Monmouth safely in the field while St. Mary's is on the bubble is ludicrous. Hopefully, Monmouth getting run out of their own gym against Iona is enough to put the nail in their coffin in terms of an at-large team.

 

[celticdb15]

2 underrated Big men from the Big Ten; Alex Olah (NU) and Mark Donnal (Mich).

Olah is a four year starter for the Cats and he's got a bit of Zaza Pachulia to his game. The 7 footer from Romania is a savvy scorer,really effective in pick n pop situations. He's averaging 10pts and 5 rebounds on the year.


Donnal is a 6'9 240 sophomore forward from Ohio. He burst on the scene recently dropping 25 against Maryland.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2016/02/column_1.html

 

[celticdb15]

Great game between Wisconsin and Iowa!! Koenig has 14 and he's been cold blooded drilling3s. Iowa's Adam Woodbury another underrated Big Ten Big Man! 7 footer has 18 rebounds!

 

[celticdb15]

Wisconsin Guard Zak Showalter(JR.) is fun to watch. He can do a little bit of everything. At 6'2 he's an excellent athlete. Crazy vert, he's tough, play defense, team player, etc. Not the purest scorer but chips in crunch time. I think he should consider applying for a 5th year of eligibility and play Safety for the Badgers,once his day's on the hardwood are done.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Sorry I haven't been as active as I'd hoped; but my schedule has cleared up, so I should be able to post some more updates!!

Here's a quick recap of some games the last couple of games.

TUESDAY

Ryan Spangler had a double double with 15 points and 13 rebounds in the Sooners' win against Baylor.

Jarrod Uthoff led Iowa against Indiana with 18 points and 8 boards, but it wasn't enough against the Hoosiers. Iowa's starting to concern me a bit; they've been on a big slide lately. Wrong time of year for that to happen.

Dakota Mathias had a nice game against Purdue, with 11 points, 6 assists, and 5 boards in the Boilermakers' win vs. Nebraska.

Grayson Allen is simply unstoppable. He scored 30 points in the Blue Devils win over Wake Forest. Marshall Plumlee had a great game as well with 13 points and 17 rebounds!! Hopefully, Duke is able to make a run in the tournament.

Four St. Mary's starters were in double figures, led by Calvin Hermanson's 18, as the Gaels beat probably WAC champ Grand Canyon.

WEDNESDAY

Ethan O'Day grabbed 21 points and 10 boards while Cam Ward led the team in scoring with 24 points in Vermont's AEC tourney win. Hope they make the Big Dance, especially with white-friendly Albany already knocked out of that tournament.

Kellen Dunham led Butler with 22 points as the Bulldogs scored a critical win against Seton Hall, which should help get them into the tournament.

Bronson Koenig had 14 points and 6 assists in the Badger's win vs. Minnesota!

Josh Hawkinson had 23 points and 17 rebounds for Washington State in their loss to instate rival Washington. It's a shame Hawkinson plays for such a terrible team; he's a great player.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Jarrod Uthoff, the outstandingly talented senior forward for the Iowa Hawkeyes, has been named THE men's college basketball Academic All-American of the Year. per the Iowa University website:

Uthoff, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has an economics degree and is pursuing a Master's in leisure studies. He has a 3.42 G.P.A., including a 4.0 G.P.A. during the fall semester. He was named an NABC/ESPN Midseason second team All-America, and is a finalist for the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Uthoff is also on watch lists for the John Wooden Award and the Lute Olson Award. He was the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week on Dec. 14 and the CBS Sports Player of the Week on Jan. 4.

Uthoff has led the Hawkeyes to a 20-9 record and a No. 16 national ranking. He leads the Big Ten in blocked shots (2.7 blocks per game), and is second in scoring (18.4 points per game) and 12th in rebounding (6.4 rebounds per game). Uthoff is one of two players in the last 20 years to average at least two made three-pointers per game and two blocks per game. In less than three years he has accumulated 1,209 points, 126 three-pointers, 557 rebounds and 169 blocks.

Uthoff becomes Iowa's second Academic All-American of the Year recipient; Adam Haluska earned the distinction in 2007.

additionally for the Iowa hoops program, junior guard Ally Disterhoft was named THE women's college basketball Academic All-American of the year.

Iowa is the first school EVER to win both awards in the same year.

furthermore, Iowa senior point guard Mike Gesell was named a second-team Academic All-American. he was a third-team Academic All-American last season. please take note that all of the aforementioned names are of the "blue collar, overachieving" variety of "surprisingly" athletic types.

Uthoff is joined on the first-team by fellow "lunch pail carrying, hard hat wearing students of the game," Canyon Barry from the College of Charleston (the son of Rick Barry) and Joshua Braun from Grand Canyon. Gesell is joined on the second team by Grayson Allen (sophomore, Duke), Domantas Sabonis (sophomore, Gonzaga), and Craig Bradshaw (junior, Belmont).

on a related note, of the 15 members on the three teams to earn Academic All-American honors, 11 are of the melanin-deficient, gym rat caliber. compared to the percentage of non-White scholarship players at the Division One level, i'm sure there are some conclusions one can draw here. heh.

 

[Jack Lambert]

St. Mary's is playing now on ESPN2 if anybody wants to watch!! Gonzaga will be on after the Gael's game.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I figured I'd share some results from a great day of basketball for our guys:

Butler senior Austin Etherington has really come into his own at the end of this season. He led Butler with a career high 18 points today. Andrew Chrabascz added 15 and Kellen Dunham 12 as the Bulldogs ran Marquette out of the gym, 95-74, and it wasn't that close. This win should get Butler into the Big Dance. Henry Ellenson scored 29 points and had 8 boards for the Golden Eagles, but he was pretty much a one-man team today.

Michigan State senior forward Matt Costello has been of of the Spartans' best players this year. He was great again today, with 15 points and 11 boards in the win over Ohio State.

Notre Dame blew out NC State at home today. Freshman sharpshooter Matt Ryan had 17, while Vasturia added 13 for the Irish. They should be a fun team to watch in March.

Five BYU players were in double figures today, led by Nick Emery's 15. Chase Fischer added 14, Collinsworth 13, Seljaas 12, and Davis 11 as BYU prevailed over Santa Clara in the WCC tournament.

The Yale Bulldogs clinched their first NCAA Tourney berth in over 50 years tonight!! They were led by Makai Mason's 22 points against Columbia.

Jarrod Uthoff was back in a BIG way tonight as Iowa outlasted Michigan in Ann Arbor. He had 29 points and 7 boards in the win.

Jakob Poeltl led the Utah Utes with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 blocks as the Utes beat Colorado.

A very white-friendly Evansville team will be playing Northern Iowa in the MVC Finals tomorrow at 2PM Eastern!

 

[Jack Lambert]

Gonzaga and St. Mary's both won their games last night! St. Mary's will be playing Pepperdine and Gonzaga will be playing BYU Monday night on ESPN2.

 

[Average American]

Northern Iowa in the MVC Finals..

Fun ending to the Northern Iowa game, win on a buzzer beater.
I've been following Northern Iowa sports on their YouTube page (listed as UNI Athletics). They have a range of uploads (hoops, track, softball, etc). From appearances, seems Northern Iowa is a fair-minded athletic program (ie- not unfairly caste'd), and they have a good-looking student body. For whatever it's worth I think their YouTube page is a good subscription..
Only downside I can see, winters on a campus in Northern Iowa gotta' be brutal

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Good to hear AA, I'm going to have to check out.

 

[Leonardfan]

Good stuff JL!

 

[Jack Lambert]

I've just heard Jay Bilas during the Monmouth Iona game declare: Monmouth is in with a loss. Really? You mean that team that's lost four times to sub 200 RPI (a metric that people love to use) teams in their crap conference? That team that's beaten a grand total of 1 sure tournament team in Notre Dame and a bubble team in USC? Yet these idiots breathlessly tell us that teams like Gonzaga and St. Mary's need to win the WCC tournament to get in. Absolutely ridiculous that they'd even be considered. Sure, they beat Georgetown and UCLA, but those teams turned out to be garbage.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

less than 8 minutes of game action into the Saint Mary's-Pepperdine contest, and i've already heard Dick(head) Vitale breathlessly extoll the lack of talent and athleticism of the Gaels at least a dozen times ... they are currently up over the "more athletic (aka blacker)" Pepperdine squad, 22-8. LOL

in fairness, i should add that he and the other commentator have talked favorably of the incredible passing and shooting skills the Gaels team offers. "weird," though, that those skills are somehow less exciting and desirable than simply being able to jump high ... i don't get it.

 

[Jack Lambert]

less than 8 minutes of game action into the Saint Mary's-Pepperdine contest, and i've already heard Dick(head) Vitale breathlessly extoll the lack of talent and athleticism of the Gaels at least a dozen times ... they are currently up over the "more athletic (aka blacker)" Pepperdine squad, 22-8. LOL

in fairness, i should add that he and the other commentator have talked favorably of the incredible passing and shooting skills the Gaels team offers. "weird," though, that those skills are somehow less exciting and desirable than simply being able to jump high ... i don't get it.

I'll give him credit as well; he also said the Gaels should be in the NCAA Tourney, even if they were to lose in the WCC Final (should they win tonight). I think it's beyond ridiculous that Monmouth is supposedly "safe" when St. Mary's is not.

Also, after this game, BYU and Gonzaga are on!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i should also add that the "more athletic" Pepperdine team's best athlete is their lone White starter. Jett Raines, the 6-foot-7 undersized power forward, is a high flyer who is also VERY strong. it is his athleticism and versatility that allowed the Waves to have any chance of defending opposing frontcourt players this season.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Not a good night for some of our guys at the mid-major level. Valpo, which stars stud forward Alec Peters, is most likely out now. Same with Hofstra, which had three white starters. Also, IPFW, a team whose two best players are white, also lost in the Summit League Tournament.

On a bright note - St. Mary's is schooling Pepperdine - up 20 at the half!! Hopefully, they don't get sloppy in the 2nd, and the refs don't magically start swallowing their whistles when Pepperdine starts to "press" (you know, hack and slap).

I hope both the Gaels and Gonzaga are able to make it; it would be a shame to not see their dynamite duo of Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis in the tournament.

 

[Jack Lambert]

The Gaels are putting on a clinic!! Up 53-29 early in the 2nd half!!

 

[celticdb15]

Watching the BYU/Gonzaga game with a couple of buddies. Very entertaining I'm pulling for BYU so there's no doubt they get a tournament bid.

*Also a fan of what St. Mary's has been able to do over the last few years!

 

[Phall]

Greg Gard got a five year extension as the Wisconsin head coach, removing the 'interim' tag from his job title. He was mid-season retiree Bo Ryan's hand-picked successor. A lot of speculation has been put forth that Ryan's sudden retirement was done at least in part to give Gard an extended audition at the job he was not guaranteed to keep. Gard of course has excelled, reversing Wisconsin's early stumbles into a 12-6 conference record and tournament lock status.

This is good news for Wisconsin fans, who can expect the team's unathleticism, lack of 'flash', and scrappy hustle to continue going forward with great success.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Well, St. Mary's lost to Gonzaga in the WCC championship, and now, we're being told they won't be able to get in. WTF?? That's absolute BS. These are same morons who breathlessly tell us Monmouth is safe (read my post above), while the Gaels, who've had a great year, will be on the outside. This logic is ridiculous.