In these college basketball times, now more than conference play is an oasis in the desert, a true sight for sore eyes amidst the season’s journey.
The December portion of the season has become something of a wasteland, dominated by 1) buy games with major conference teams almost unilaterally refusing to leave their nests (the excellent commentator Mark Adams regularly provides the sobering statistics that it seems many others want to ignore) or 2) dime-a-dozen conference challenges or power rating cross-breeding and collusion scheduling, providing the type of contests we already see throughout January and February but typically with a fraction of the soul. It’s awful for the sport as a whole, but if there’s one positive purpose it serves it is to make one appreciate league play all the more.
Quality conference races will be everywhere, and the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southern Conference and West Coast Conference will be three of the most fascinating ones to watch for the next two months. All three offered a glimpse of it Thursday night, the first night when league play really kicked into collective gear across the country.
Through nearly two months, North Carolina State has been one of the many high-profile programs that is hard to get a read on. The Wolfpack’s 13-1 start and recent win over top-10 Auburn seemed to suggest a team worthy of a ranking of its own, and the team is ranked 18th in this week’s Associated Press poll, but anyone saying they know N.C. State is a top 20 team for sure is lying. Certainly, it has ‘looked’ powerful with seven wins by 27 points or more, but the Wolfpack entered Thursday night’s road tilt at Miami (Fla.) having played just one game on the road, losing at Wisconsin in late November.
It will take about a month’s worth of conference play to start giving us a real sample of how these teams show on the road, but the early returns for N.C. State were positive as it displayed some real toughness in fighting through for an 87-82 win at Miami in a game it trailed for most of the second half.
The Wolfpack was not at its best, committing 16 turnovers and on the other end of Chris Lykes scoring a career-high 28 points, but State found a way late with defense and a huge lift off the bench from Markell Johnson, who scored 20 points and hit four three-pointers. It’s just one game, but it’s a very positive one for N.C. State, for a number of teams in similar situations have not much a good impression in few road tests so far (see: Iowa, Marquette, etc.)
In the ACC’s footprint is the Southern Conference, whose recent rise is one of the best-kept secrets in the country, an ancient circuit that often in the past 30 years struggled to stay out of the bottom 10 leagues in NCAA Division I but of late is threatening to join the top 10.\
The SoCon already has five of its 10 teams with 11 wins or more, and two were on display as East Tennessee State outlasted Samford 81-72 in an overtime thriller. The Bulldogs-one of the most improved teams in the country, one that already has surpassed its win total from all of last year-came back on the road from 17 points down to force extra time, but ETSU held on as Tray Boyd scored 22 off the bench and Jeromy Rodriguez totaled 12 points plus 19 boards.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that games between any of the top five or six teams should generally be fantastic this year. Along with these two, defending champion UNC Greensboro, early-season top 25 club Furman and experienced Wofford all are very capable of winning the league, while the likes of The Citadel and Mercer are no pushovers.
The WCC also has surged in the conference power ratings this year and, coupled with the Pac-12’s misadventures, will be worth watching for much more than just Gonzaga this year. The league is ranked eighth in many conference ranks, and its non-conference success has ensured that WCC wins against more than just the Zags will matter this year, more than most are accustomed to.
Quality wins are available in the WCC, and one was on Thursday as hot upstart San Francisco hosted old standby Saint Mary’s on the opening night of conference action. The Dons held serve at home against their longtime rival, improving to 13-2 with a 76-72 victory on national TV as defensive stopper Nate Renfro finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
USF showed poise down the stretch after the Gaels rallied from 13 down and showed the depth of a solid eight-man rotation, with reserves Jamaree Bouyea and Matt McCarthy-in his first time off the bench after starting the opening 14 games-coming up with huge blocks in the final seconds. It’s still early, but the Dons ‘look’ like an NCAA Tournament team, though they’ll have to come up with road wins which proved tough for some others to get in the WCC on Thursday as presumed first division teams Loyola Marymount-a 77-62 loser at Pepperdine-and San Diego-defeated by Santa Clara 68-56-both lost in their first road travels.
Side Dishes:
- It’s only Jan. 4, and already Arizona State appears well on its way to replicating its 2017-18 season. The Sun Devils’ post-big wins fade has started, with last week’s loss to Princeton and now a 96-86 loss at home to Utah in their Pac-12 opener. The latest loss came as the Utes came back from a 17-point deficit on the road in Tempe. For ASU: ouch.
- A busy night in the Big Ten saw in particular two notable scores. Purdue had a surprisingly easy time with Iowa, beating the Hawkeyes 86-70 in a game not as close as the final score. A pristine offensive performance by the Boilermakers, who shot 53.2%, committed just seven turnovers and also got 39 points from their bench. Add Iowa to the list of teams with gaudy records who have proven nil on the road yet: 0-2 in hostile environments.
- Also, Minnesota won at Wisconsin 59-52, building a 15-point halftime lead and then holding on at the end. Amir Coffey scored 21 and the Golden Gophers outplayed the Badgers inside. Alarm bells should be getting louder about UW-for its awful free throw shooting (7 of 17 here) and for its lack of support for Ethan Happ.
- Western Kentucky built off its win over the Badgers last weekend, easing by UNC Charlotte 68-50 on the road. It appears the Hilltoppers are starting to hit their stride. Also in Conference USA, North Texas moved to 14-1, holding off Louisiana Tech 63-59, and Marshall got a last-second three-pointer from Jarrod West to win at Old Dominion 70-67.
- Sun Belt play opened, and Texas State improved to 12-2 overall by edging Georgia Southern 73-70 with Tre’Larenz Nottingham scoring 24 to offset an ice-cold shooting night by star Nijal Pearson, who made just 2 of 16 shots but grabbed 14 boards. GSU, meanwhile, continues to play without injured guard Ike Smith and fellow senior big man Montae Glenn.
- UCLA suddenly looked a lot more spirited in a 92-70 defeat of Stanford at home in the first game under interim coach Murry Bartow. A meaningful win for the former Alabama-Birmingham and East Tennessee State head man, as it came on the seventh anniversary of the death of his father Gene Bartow, the coaching legend who once followed John Wooden at UCLA and soon after literally built the UAB program from scratch.
- Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy has been one of the most explosive freshmen in the country, and he erupted for 48 points in the Titans’ 79-58 win over Wright State. The son of coach Mike Davis canned 10 three-pointers, and UDM is now 3-0 in the Horizon League. Also with the same mark in the Horizon is the Titans’ rival Oakland, which tipped Northern Kentucky 76-74 as Xavier Hill-Mais scored 32.
- Purdue-Fort Wayne-the school formerly known as Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, or IPFW-fired a warning shot on behalf of the field in the Summit League that South Dakota State’s path to another league title will not be an easy one. The Mastodons (who thankfully kept the cool nickname) drilled the Jackrabbits 104-88, with John Konchar threatening a triple-double with 23 points, eight boards and eight assists.
- Finally, give it up for California Baptist. Again. The Lancers, in the first year of their transition from NCAA Division II to Division I and in their first year playing a full Western Athletic Conference schedule, toppled New Mexico State 82-76 to improve to 9-5. Milan Acquaah scored 36 points and Cal Baptist continues to impress.
- Once again a touted freshman’s college career has ended early, as Oregon’s Bol Bol will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury and he has announced already that he’ll be entering the NBA Draft. The 7-foot-2 Bol played in just nine games, and even with him the Ducks did not look like the team many expected before the season, perhaps overrated as an understandable nod to coach Dana Altman. Without Bol, Oregon’s talent level drops and this looks like a surefire NIT team at best, though opportunity abounds in the Pac-12 and perhaps Altman can develop more continuity without a high-profile freshman showcasing for the pros.
- Miami lost on the court Thursday and also received bad news earlier in the day as Dewan Hernandez (formerly Huell) lost his appeal to the NCAA and was declared ineligible for this season. Hernandez was on the bench as the NCAA reviewed his eligibility after his name came up as part of the FBI’s investigation into college basketball.
- We typically avoid transfer news here but will note that Saint Louis freshman Carte’Are Gordon announced on Thursday that he was leaving the Billikens, and he indeed was granted his release. Gordon was a high-profile recruit for SLU, one who passed up bigger names to stay home, and he was averaging 8.9 points and 4.1 rebounds as an improving post presence. Gordon can do what he wants, but a personal request: can we please have a stop to transfers telling us how much they will cherish the time and memories at the schools they’re leaving, and what an honor it was to play there? Excuse the bluntness, but if they really loved it that much, they wouldn’t be transferring.
Tonight’s Menu:
- It’s a thin slate, but with some quality provided by the Mid-American Conference. Ball State goes to Toledo (7 p.m. Eastern, CBSSN), matching two of the top contenders in the MAC’s West Division. The Cardinals have won eight of nine, while the Rockets enter with a 12-1 mark equal to that of noted conference bully Buffalo and have started to pick up some votes in the national polls. (They got our vote here in the Rockin’ Top 25 Poll this week, a poll we participate in with several other excellent independent writers of the sport for KONE-FM 101.1 radio out of Lubbock, Texas)
- That starts a MAC twinbill on CBSSN, some superb scheduling by that network. The second game is Buffalo’s Bulls going to Eastern Michigan (9 p.m.), which has been rather disappointing with a 6-7 mark after being pegged by some as a contender to win the MAC. If the Eagles are going to turn it around, there’s no better time than now.
- Elsewhere, SMU is at Tulane (7 p.m., ESPN2) and it’s two ships passing in the night, with the Mustangs having won seven of eight and the Green Wave losers of eight of 10.
- The only other game featuring D-I teams squaring off is IUPUI at Illinois-Chicago, and it’s also on TV (7 p.m., ESPNU). Important early season game in the Horizon League as the Jaguars try to avoid going 0-3 while UIC doesn’t want to lose a home game and fall to 1-2.
Have a terrific Friday, the eleventh day of Christmas.
