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Hoop Thoughts: Why polls matter, Dunphy’s farewell, troubles at UK, KU and IU, my weekly top 25, and lots more
By Seth Davis
Last Monday afternoon, Furman coach Bob Richey was sitting in a staff meeting when his cell phone started buzzing incessantly. At first, Richey was concerned something was wrong, but he soon learned that those buzzes represented great news: His team had been installed at No. 25 in The Associated Press poll, the first time in school history the Paladins had been ranked.
Two hours later, Richey met with his players and had each one of them reflect on the journey that led to that moment. “I don’t know if I can accurately describe what this has done for our institution and our university and the city of Greenville,” he told me on Saturday following his team’s 74-60 road win over South Carolina Upstate, which kept the Paladins undefeated and poised to remain ranked for at least one more week. “We’ve had to manage it, to be honest. I thought in the first half today we played with a little bit of pressure. But it has been an affirmation of how we have built this program, and that has been really rewarding.”
It was also an affirmation of the extreme importance of the polls in college basketball. This runs counter to the popular argument that polls are meaningless. I’ve heard people say that we should scrap them altogether, or at least wait a few weeks for the first ranking so voters can have a chance to watch the teams play before setting them in order.
Balderdash, I say. College basketball polls are awesome, and they serve this sport very well. Here are four reasons why:
1. They set the narrative. On Sunday afternoon, Gonzaga played Tennessee on a neutral court in Phoenix. Normally, we wouldn’t expect such a game to garner any attention in the middle of an NFL Sunday, but this contest featured schools that were ranked first and seventh in the AP poll. That lent it a much greater significance, which led a few extra people to check it out while they were channel surfing in search of info about their NFL fantasy teams.
It’s hard for college hoops to get eyeballs during football season, but the polls help to keep casual fans engaged. It lets everyone know the basic storylines in the sport. When we see that there is just one Pac-12 team ranked in the top 25 (No. 20 Arizona State), that tells us something. Nevada is a top-10 team. Maybe people didn’t expect that. Furman is a surprise at No. 25, and Buffalo is rising as well. West Virginia started No. 13, but now it’s unranked. Texas Tech started unranked, but now it’s 13th.
Narratives in sports are just as important as records and stats. Polls aren’t the end-all, be-all, but they do provide a helpful glimpse into the moment.
2. They lend historical context. The computerized model on KenPom.com has become the go-to ranking for good reason, but that site has only been around since 2002. The AP, on the other hand, has been ranking teams as voted on by writers since 1949. So when we say that Furman is ranked for the first time ever in that poll, we are really saying something.
Auburn is inching toward a top-five ranking, which if it happens would be the program’s first since January 2000. The polls also give us a way to quantify the long-term dominance of programs such as Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. It’s one thing to know what’s happening right now, but when we can set those events against 70 years of history, that is extremely useful.
3. They stir debate. When Kentucky lost to Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, the initial conversation wasn’t about what’s “wrong” with the Wildcats or whether John Calipari could work his usual March magic. It was whether this team, which entered the game at No. 9 in the AP poll, should be ranked the following week. (You can see my answer below.)
Indeed, few things stir passion like a good argument over a poll ranking. Anyone who follows my Sunday night Twitter troll feeding knows what I’m talking about. (And if you’re not, why are you even on Twitter?) That weekly exercise grew organically out of my desire for transparency. I would tweet out my AP ballot on Sunday nights, and instantly my mentions got lit up with pissed off fans. Kansas partisans are still ticked at me up for ranking the Jayhawks third behind Duke following the Blue Devils’ loss to Gonzaga over Thanksgiving. Many of the comments on these Hoop Thoughts columns have to do with my weekly top 25. Sure, most of them come from people who are ripping me, but that’s OK. I’m just happy they care.
Anything that gets fans arguing is usually good for that sport. Arguments indicate interest. And I love the way a ballot squashes equivocation. You can’t get away with saying a team is “pretty good” or “underrated.” Put everyone in order, so we can see exactly where you stand. Then the fun can begin.
4. They generate attention for programs that need it. Richey marveled to me that each of his team’s games this week was attended by an Associated Press reporter. That meant the Paladins’ game recaps appeared in newspaper sports sections all around the country. Their results are being linked to the “top 25” page on every sports website. And they are included on the ticker scrolls of the all-sports cable channels. A school can’t buy that kind of publicity.
Being on a bottom line ticker might not be a big deal for Duke and Kansas, but for many of the schools fighting for a piece of this prized real estate, it definitely is. Having a number next to your name means a little more attention, which could bring some more fans to your home games, and maybe give you a little boost in landing that next big recruit. Every little bit helps.
The argument that polls are meaningless because they don’t decide anything falls flat. If anything, the opposite holds true. The reason we can have fun arguing about them is that we know that in the end the debates will be settled where they should be – on the court. So for all the carping and caterwauling, we don’t ever have to get really stressed about this stuff. Face it, fans: College basketball polls are our guilty pleasure. We might as well enjoy them to the fullest.
Whadya know: Seton Hall guards the in-bounder … and still pays the price
The most memorable play of the weekend was the buzzer-beating half-court shot made by Kentucky freshman Keldon Johnson, which sent the Cats’ game against Seton Hall to overtime. It’s ironic that Johnson made it even though Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard decided to guard the inbounder on the baseline. After all, ever since Christian Laettner’s epic game-winner beat Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight, the overwhelming consensus amongst second-guessers is that guarding the inbounder is not just the best strategy but the only one to utilize in that situation.
You may recall that Houston coach Kelvin Sampson got roundly criticized for not guarding the in-bounder before Michigan’s Jordan Poole hit a fallaway buzzer beater to knock the Cougars out of last year’s NCAA tournament. What’s notable here is that Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard has steadfastly refused to guard the baseline inbounder throughout his career. “There’s only one guy in that situation who can’t shoot, and it’s the guy taking the ball out. So why guard him?” Willard says. “I’d rather have a free safety protecting the middle of the floor.”
So why did Willard go against his own philosophy? Because there was a delay while officials checked the monitor to be sure that the bucket just made by Pirates guard Myles Powell was a 3 and not a 2. That gave Willard enough time to look at Romaro Gill, his 7-2 junior center. “I was thinking, man, I’ve never had a seven-footer before,” Willard says. He made an instinctive decision to assign Gill to guard Kentucky’s inbounder.
Another reason not to guard the inbounder is that after a made basket, he is free to run the baseline. PJ Washington took a couple of steps to his left and then back to his right to shake Gill, which gave him a clear path to throw the ball to Johnson – who was guarded by one defender instead of two. “Right when he caught the ball, I literally whispered to myself, ‘That shot’s going in,’ ” Willard says. “I wasn’t even mad at the guys when they came to the huddle. I told them it was my fault.”
Fortunately for Willard, Seton Hall went on to win, but it’s funny how not one person that I know of criticized Willard for his strategy. I call this the Laettner Rule: The No. 1 argument for putting a defender on the inbounder is that if the shot goes in and you lose, no one can say it was because the coach didn’t guard the inbounder. The lesson here is clear: There is no one right strategy in any given situation, and no strategy is ever validated or invalidated solely by the end result. Hoop happens.
Fran’s farewell tour
The annual Big Five series between Philadelphia schools is one of the great traditions in college basketball. Normally there’s not a lot of brotherly love at these games, but exceptions were made when Temple played at Saint Joseph’s and Villanova.
Last spring, Temple coach Fran Dunphy, 70, announced he was stepping down at the end of this season and would be handing the reins to assistant Aaron McKie. In advance of the Owls’ trip to Villanova on Wednesday night, Wildcats coach Jay Wright asked his fans over Twitter to “help us honor a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, Philadelphian and Gentleman Fran Dunphy with a standing ovation for his introduction tonight at The Finn.” When Dunphy’s name was announced during pregame introductions, the Nova fans obliged Wright and gave Dunphy a warm, extended ovation.
He got a similar reception four days earlier at Saint Joseph’s. Dunphy is a soft-spoken, frumpled, humbled fellow who normally eschews this kind of attention, but he was gratified that fans honored him in this fashion. “I have so much respect for both those institutions and those programs,” he says. “All I can tell you is it was very nice.”
Dunphy, who is in his 12th season at Temple following 17 years as the coach at Penn, told me that he hasn’t given much thought to his impending departure. “Once the ball goes up, you’re just worried about your team,” he said. His main goal is to get the Owls to the NCAA Tournament one last time, but it won’t be easy. Temple is 7-2 but has just one win over a team ranked in KenPom’s top 100 (No. 93 Missouri). It will have to have a great season in the American Athletic Conference or win the automatic bid at the conference tournament to make the field of 68, but Dunphy is working hard to make it happen. “If we pay attention to details, we’ve got a good chance,” he says.
Even though he won’t be coaching next year, he hopes to continue the Management Theory and Practice course he has been teaching at Temple the last 12 years. He taught the same class at Penn for seven years. The course, which is usually taken by about 20 undergraduates and for which he partners with a university professor, is wrapping up with a final exam this week. Normally, Dunphy only teaches the course for the fall semester, but with no basketball season to occupy him next year, perhaps he could add it to his spring agenda as well.
There will be many more ovations and honorifics to come these next three months, but Dunphy does not want to think of this as a march towards retirement. As of yet, he has no plans to coach somewhere else, but he’s not foreclosing the possibility. “All I know is I want to keep working,” he says. “I want to be as busy as I have ever been. The rest of my life will take the turns it’s going to take, and I’ll be grateful for whatever comes my way.”
Other Hoop Thoughts
So Kentucky’s struggles are going to be a big topic of conversation. The bottom line is that this team is plainly devoid of bucket-getters in the backcourt. Tyler Herro went 0-of-6 from 3 in the loss to Seton Hall, and sophomore Quade Green played just 10 minutes off the bench. This is a serious problem, folks. It’s not a matter of really talented guards who just need to learn the game. It’s an indication that this team lacks really talented guards.
Indiana’s free throw shooting is officially a thing. The Hoosiers are ranked 310th in the country, and their 16-of-25 performance almost cost them a win over Louisville on Saturday.
Boy, there’s a lot to unpack at Kansas. With Udoka Azubuike sidelined by an ankle sprain, the Jayhawks for the first time are feeling the effects of not having Silvio De Sousa, the sophomore forward who is sitting out because of questions about his eligibility. Freshman Quentin Grimes still has not played nearly as well as he did in the opening win over Michigan State. Worst of all, Lagerald Vick is back to his confounding ways. After playing lights out for five straight games, Vick was left out of the starting lineup for last Tuesday’s win over Wofford because he arrived late for shootaround. Then he didn’t start on Saturday against New Mexico State because, according to Bill Self, “he had a really bad Thursday. Let’s leave it at that.” The Jayhawks overcame a seven-point deficit in the second half to beat the Aggies, 63-60, but there was nothing comfortable about it.
Purdue got a nice lift off the bench last week from freshman forward Aaron Wheeler. He had 15 points in 21 minutes to help the Boilers to a 62-60 win over Maryland on Thursday night. It was his first double-digit scoring effort of the week. Alas, he reverted and scored just five points in 19 minutes in Purdue’s loss to Texas on Sunday. This team needs Wheeler to keep progressing because this team does not have much scoring punch beyond Carsen Edwards and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Cline. Sure doesn’t look like that will be forthcoming from Nojel Eastern.
Seriously, Ethan Happ, how do you do it?
Tough loss for Iowa State at Iowa last week, but the good news is that the Cyclones are about to get sophomore point guard Lindell Wigginton back. He has not played this season because of a foot injury. Coach Steve Prohm told me that he expects Wigginton will start practicing without restrictions this week. Wigginton has been doing conditioning and non-contact work, so hopefully, it won’t take too long to get him back into game shape.
I really do not understand all the hostility about charging calls. I feel as if a lot of people feel they don’t belong in the game at all. Are we supposed to let guys just physically plow through defenders without any recourse? Sure, the refs miss a lot of them because it’s the hardest call to make. Even when we slow down replays, it’s hard to tell if a call was correct. I don’t like flopping, but I don’t mind a guy hitting the deck if it helps to sell the call. With almost every rule change being made these days favoring the offense, we need measures in place that reward good defense. So take your whining about “charbage” elsewhere, mate.
I’m not quite sure how good Oklahoma is – beating Notre Dame and Wichita State is no great shakes this season – but I sure do enjoy watching Lon Kruger’s teams run offense. There’s just something different about a guy who has coached in the NBA.
Florida State is a really good team that’s about to get a whole lot better. Last year’s leading scorer, 6-8 senior forward Phil Cofer, is almost recovered from the foot injury that has kept him out of the Seminoles’ first nine games. He dressed for their win against UConn on Saturday but did not play.
Auburn is yet another really good team that’s about to get an important player back. Junior forward Danjel Purifoy, who hasn’t played since before the start of last season because of eligibility issues stemming from the FBI case, is finally out of purgatory and set to rejoin the Tigers for their game against UAB on Saturday. Meanwhile, 6-3 senior guard Bryce Brown is coming off a career-high 34 points in Saturday’s win over Dayton. So this should be fun.
I know a lot of people are upset the NCAA did not grant a transfer waiver to Wichita State guard Teddy Allen. (And if you haven’t read C.J. Moore’s story about Allen, surely you must.) I don’t know all the ins and outs of this decision, but it’s important to remember that the NCAA staff charged with making these calls is bound by a set of standards that the schools themselves have put in place. There is not a lot of flexibility built into the process. This is another example of why the concept of the hardship waiver, while well-intended, causes more problems than it is worth.
There’s a lot of reason to be optimistic about Arizona State even after the Sun Devils blew a 12-point halftime lead and lost to Nevada in L.A. on Friday night. However, this team needs to get Remy Martin straight, pronto. The sophomore guard has been battling a bum ankle for two months, his practice time has been limited and he missed the previous two games. But he was just awful in this one, making 1-of-10 from the floor, mostly because of atrocious shot selection. Either he needs to shut it down and get fully healthy, or he needs to learn to play hurt. ASU doesn’t play again until Saturday, so hopefully, Martin will get his ankle right once and for all.
Speaking of Nevada, it’s hard to figure out why Caleb Martin has been so bad in the first half of games all season and so great in the second. Against the Sun Devils, he had 14 of his 17 points after intermission. He has scored more than two-thirds of his points in second halves. That’s a dangerous game to play, my man.
Is Michigan coming down to earth? It nearly lost at Northwestern last Tuesday before escaping by a deuce, and it looked just OK in beating South Carolina by 11 on Saturday. I spy two flies in this ointment: One, Zavier Simpson’s inability to make jumpers is allowing defenses to play off him, which makes the Wolverines easier to guard. And two, beyond Isaiah Livers, John Beilein is getting almost no production from his bench. I know I’m picking at nits, but conference play is coming, and such flaws tend to get exposed.
Meanwhile, who’s crazier than Tom Izzo? A road game at Florida on Dec. 8? Really?
ICYMI: One of the great traditions in college basketball took place last Friday as Taylor University, an NAIA school in Upland, Ind., celebrated Silent Night for the 22nd consecutive year. The students show up to the game in costume, stay totally silent until the home team makes its 10th point, and when it does, everyone goes nuts. At the end of the game, the crowd sings “Silent Night.” Man, I miss college.
Cincinnati point guard Justin Jenifer is a great example of a senior who has waited his turn and gotten steadily better each season. He is having by far the best season of his career, and he had nine assists to just one turnover in the Bearcats’ win over Xavier on Saturday. That brings his season totals to 39 assists and five turnovers. That’s good, right?
Dean Wade continues to be a head-scratcher. Kansas State’s 6-10 senior forward is supposed to be one of the best players in the Big 12, but he has a knack for taking himself out of games because he’s so unassertive. He had two points on 1-of-6 shooting in Kansas State’s one-point loss at Tulsa on Saturday. The Wildcats came into the season with high expectations following last year’s run to the Elite Eight, but they’ve now dropped straight on the road, also losing at Marquette on Dec. 1. Time to regroup.
Before Nebraska’s 94-75 win over Creighton on Saturday, Tim Miles’ record against Greg McDermott was 0-14. Just making sure you knew.
Gotta like the promising debut for Oregon freshman Louis King, a 6-7 forward from New Jersey. The former McDonald’s All-American has been working his way back from a bad injury for 11 months, but he had 11 points (3-of-4 from 3) in 17 minutes in the Ducks’ win over Nebraska-Omaha. Obviously, he will be facing much more difficult competition in the weeks to come, but given what the kid has been through, I’m sure he’s pleased. Oregon could use him.
Georgetown couldn’t quite pull off the win in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, losing 72-71 on Tyus Battle’s jumper with three seconds to go. But that’s a moral victory if ever there was one. The Hoyas led by 15 points against a good team on the road but couldn’t close it out. For a program that has been as moribund as this one has the last couple of years, this is something to build on.
After starting 5-0, Miami has now lost four straight, to Seton Hall, Rutgers, Yale and Penn. That’s, uh, not good.
Kudos to Sagaba Konate for becoming West Virginia’s career blocks leader during the Mountaineers’ win over Pitt in Saturday’s Backyard Brawl. Konate had seven blocks in the win to put his total at 191 and counting. Pretty good for a guy who’s only 6-8. And he’s only a junior.
Thanks to the good people at St. John’s for honoring longtime AP college basketball writer Jim O’Connell during Sunday’s game against Princeton. Oc, who died in July after a long illness, was a great guy and a terrific reporter, and he sure loved his Johnnies. The school made a presentation to Oc’s family before the game, and the players wore “Oc” patches on their jerseys during the 89-74 win.
By the way, it’s very cool that the Big East extended its contract with Madison Square Garden to hold the conference tournament there through 2028. That’s where that event belongs.
Finally here’s a gift – or should I say a gif – from me to you. Presenting Nevada’s Trey Porter with the block of the season on Romello White.
This week’s AP ballot
(Last week’s rank on my ballot in parentheses)
Kansas (4)
Tennessee (5)
Gonzaga (1)
Duke (2)
Michigan (3)
Auburn (6)
Nevada (7)
Virginia (8)
Michigan State (9)
North Carolina (12)
Virginia Tech (13)
Florida State (17)
Texas Tech (15)
Villanova (16)
Syracuse (18)
Ohio State (20)
Nebraska (21)
Indiana (23)
Marquette (NR)
Wisconsin (11)
Buffalo (19)
Maryland (NR)
Arizona State (NR)
Cincinnati (NR)
Furman (25)
Dropped out: Kentucky (10), Purdue (13), Texas (22), Creighton (24)
One of the traps I try to avoid as a poll voter is being limited by the previous week’s ballot. Normally if a No. 1 team loses the No. 2 team should move up. However, Tennessee’s win over Gonzaga not only knocked the Zags from the top spot and elevated the Vols, it also elevated Kansas by proxy of its overtime win over Tennessee in Madison Square Garden. And of course, Gonzaga beat Duke in Hawaii as well. Frankly, I couldn’t resist the symmetry. All three of those games, by the way, were all on neutral courts, making the comparisons even more apt. So the transitive property holds, and Kansas is my new top team. You’re welcome, Rock Chalk Nation.
As for Kentucky, well, like I said, I try not to get trapped in the past. (This is also a good rule for life, by the way.) Kentucky was my preseason No. 1 team, but they just have not done anything to indicate they are a top 25 team right now. Their seven wins all came at Rupp Arena, and none was over a team currently ranked in the top 75 on KenPom. Yes, I know the loss to Seton Hall was close – this is a Seton Hall team, by the way, that got blown out at Nebraska and lost to a good Saint Louis team at home – but I would probably have dropped the Cats even if they had pulled it out in OT. This ballot should be done based on resume, not reputation. There is simply no argument for Kentucky to be ranked right now.
As we collect more data points, we can make better evaluations of teams, not just based on a particular team’s results, but also on what its former opponents have done. Nebraska’s loss to Texas Tech continues to hold up since the Red Raiders are still undefeated. And I didn’t want to ding the Huskers too badly for losing a tough road game in the conference. Marquette deserved to be ranked not only for beating Wisconsin but because its losses to Indiana (road) and Kansas (neutral) are still respectable. And as I filled out my ballot, I went with a Maryland team that played Purdue to the wire on the road, and I chose Arizona State because of all the remaining candidates, it had the best win (Mississippi State in Las Vegas).
I do like Buffalo, but I don’t think it’s right to keep bumping the Bulls up because teams ranked ahead of them are losing. They are clearly not playing the same caliber schedule. And Furman will remain at No. 25 so long as the Paladins can stay undefeated. No pressure, guys!
Other teams I considered this week included Cincinnati, which hasn’t lost since that season opener at Ohio State; Louisville, which fought Indiana to the wire in Assembly Hall on Saturday; St. John’s, which remains undefeated but its best win is over No. 67 Georgia Tech; TCU, which is ranked No. 30 on KenPom but lost to Lipscomb at home; Houston, which is also undefeated following its win at Oklahoma State on Saturday; and San Francisco, which is quietly 8-1 with its only loss coming to Buffalo in Ireland, and which just won at California last Wednesday. Things are going to slow down for exams and the holidays over the next couple of weeks, but once the calendar turns to January, conference season will be in full swing.
See ya next Monday, Hoopheads.
By Seth Davis
Last Monday afternoon, Furman coach Bob Richey was sitting in a staff meeting when his cell phone started buzzing incessantly. At first, Richey was concerned something was wrong, but he soon learned that those buzzes represented great news: His team had been installed at No. 25 in The Associated Press poll, the first time in school history the Paladins had been ranked.
Two hours later, Richey met with his players and had each one of them reflect on the journey that led to that moment. “I don’t know if I can accurately describe what this has done for our institution and our university and the city of Greenville,” he told me on Saturday following his team’s 74-60 road win over South Carolina Upstate, which kept the Paladins undefeated and poised to remain ranked for at least one more week. “We’ve had to manage it, to be honest. I thought in the first half today we played with a little bit of pressure. But it has been an affirmation of how we have built this program, and that has been really rewarding.”
It was also an affirmation of the extreme importance of the polls in college basketball. This runs counter to the popular argument that polls are meaningless. I’ve heard people say that we should scrap them altogether, or at least wait a few weeks for the first ranking so voters can have a chance to watch the teams play before setting them in order.
Balderdash, I say. College basketball polls are awesome, and they serve this sport very well. Here are four reasons why:
1. They set the narrative. On Sunday afternoon, Gonzaga played Tennessee on a neutral court in Phoenix. Normally, we wouldn’t expect such a game to garner any attention in the middle of an NFL Sunday, but this contest featured schools that were ranked first and seventh in the AP poll. That lent it a much greater significance, which led a few extra people to check it out while they were channel surfing in search of info about their NFL fantasy teams.
It’s hard for college hoops to get eyeballs during football season, but the polls help to keep casual fans engaged. It lets everyone know the basic storylines in the sport. When we see that there is just one Pac-12 team ranked in the top 25 (No. 20 Arizona State), that tells us something. Nevada is a top-10 team. Maybe people didn’t expect that. Furman is a surprise at No. 25, and Buffalo is rising as well. West Virginia started No. 13, but now it’s unranked. Texas Tech started unranked, but now it’s 13th.
Narratives in sports are just as important as records and stats. Polls aren’t the end-all, be-all, but they do provide a helpful glimpse into the moment.
2. They lend historical context. The computerized model on KenPom.com has become the go-to ranking for good reason, but that site has only been around since 2002. The AP, on the other hand, has been ranking teams as voted on by writers since 1949. So when we say that Furman is ranked for the first time ever in that poll, we are really saying something.
Auburn is inching toward a top-five ranking, which if it happens would be the program’s first since January 2000. The polls also give us a way to quantify the long-term dominance of programs such as Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. It’s one thing to know what’s happening right now, but when we can set those events against 70 years of history, that is extremely useful.
3. They stir debate. When Kentucky lost to Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, the initial conversation wasn’t about what’s “wrong” with the Wildcats or whether John Calipari could work his usual March magic. It was whether this team, which entered the game at No. 9 in the AP poll, should be ranked the following week. (You can see my answer below.)
Indeed, few things stir passion like a good argument over a poll ranking. Anyone who follows my Sunday night Twitter troll feeding knows what I’m talking about. (And if you’re not, why are you even on Twitter?) That weekly exercise grew organically out of my desire for transparency. I would tweet out my AP ballot on Sunday nights, and instantly my mentions got lit up with pissed off fans. Kansas partisans are still ticked at me up for ranking the Jayhawks third behind Duke following the Blue Devils’ loss to Gonzaga over Thanksgiving. Many of the comments on these Hoop Thoughts columns have to do with my weekly top 25. Sure, most of them come from people who are ripping me, but that’s OK. I’m just happy they care.
Anything that gets fans arguing is usually good for that sport. Arguments indicate interest. And I love the way a ballot squashes equivocation. You can’t get away with saying a team is “pretty good” or “underrated.” Put everyone in order, so we can see exactly where you stand. Then the fun can begin.
4. They generate attention for programs that need it. Richey marveled to me that each of his team’s games this week was attended by an Associated Press reporter. That meant the Paladins’ game recaps appeared in newspaper sports sections all around the country. Their results are being linked to the “top 25” page on every sports website. And they are included on the ticker scrolls of the all-sports cable channels. A school can’t buy that kind of publicity.
Being on a bottom line ticker might not be a big deal for Duke and Kansas, but for many of the schools fighting for a piece of this prized real estate, it definitely is. Having a number next to your name means a little more attention, which could bring some more fans to your home games, and maybe give you a little boost in landing that next big recruit. Every little bit helps.
The argument that polls are meaningless because they don’t decide anything falls flat. If anything, the opposite holds true. The reason we can have fun arguing about them is that we know that in the end the debates will be settled where they should be – on the court. So for all the carping and caterwauling, we don’t ever have to get really stressed about this stuff. Face it, fans: College basketball polls are our guilty pleasure. We might as well enjoy them to the fullest.
Whadya know: Seton Hall guards the in-bounder … and still pays the price
The most memorable play of the weekend was the buzzer-beating half-court shot made by Kentucky freshman Keldon Johnson, which sent the Cats’ game against Seton Hall to overtime. It’s ironic that Johnson made it even though Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard decided to guard the inbounder on the baseline. After all, ever since Christian Laettner’s epic game-winner beat Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight, the overwhelming consensus amongst second-guessers is that guarding the inbounder is not just the best strategy but the only one to utilize in that situation.
You may recall that Houston coach Kelvin Sampson got roundly criticized for not guarding the in-bounder before Michigan’s Jordan Poole hit a fallaway buzzer beater to knock the Cougars out of last year’s NCAA tournament. What’s notable here is that Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard has steadfastly refused to guard the baseline inbounder throughout his career. “There’s only one guy in that situation who can’t shoot, and it’s the guy taking the ball out. So why guard him?” Willard says. “I’d rather have a free safety protecting the middle of the floor.”
So why did Willard go against his own philosophy? Because there was a delay while officials checked the monitor to be sure that the bucket just made by Pirates guard Myles Powell was a 3 and not a 2. That gave Willard enough time to look at Romaro Gill, his 7-2 junior center. “I was thinking, man, I’ve never had a seven-footer before,” Willard says. He made an instinctive decision to assign Gill to guard Kentucky’s inbounder.
Another reason not to guard the inbounder is that after a made basket, he is free to run the baseline. PJ Washington took a couple of steps to his left and then back to his right to shake Gill, which gave him a clear path to throw the ball to Johnson – who was guarded by one defender instead of two. “Right when he caught the ball, I literally whispered to myself, ‘That shot’s going in,’ ” Willard says. “I wasn’t even mad at the guys when they came to the huddle. I told them it was my fault.”
Fortunately for Willard, Seton Hall went on to win, but it’s funny how not one person that I know of criticized Willard for his strategy. I call this the Laettner Rule: The No. 1 argument for putting a defender on the inbounder is that if the shot goes in and you lose, no one can say it was because the coach didn’t guard the inbounder. The lesson here is clear: There is no one right strategy in any given situation, and no strategy is ever validated or invalidated solely by the end result. Hoop happens.
Fran’s farewell tour
The annual Big Five series between Philadelphia schools is one of the great traditions in college basketball. Normally there’s not a lot of brotherly love at these games, but exceptions were made when Temple played at Saint Joseph’s and Villanova.
Last spring, Temple coach Fran Dunphy, 70, announced he was stepping down at the end of this season and would be handing the reins to assistant Aaron McKie. In advance of the Owls’ trip to Villanova on Wednesday night, Wildcats coach Jay Wright asked his fans over Twitter to “help us honor a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, Philadelphian and Gentleman Fran Dunphy with a standing ovation for his introduction tonight at The Finn.” When Dunphy’s name was announced during pregame introductions, the Nova fans obliged Wright and gave Dunphy a warm, extended ovation.
He got a similar reception four days earlier at Saint Joseph’s. Dunphy is a soft-spoken, frumpled, humbled fellow who normally eschews this kind of attention, but he was gratified that fans honored him in this fashion. “I have so much respect for both those institutions and those programs,” he says. “All I can tell you is it was very nice.”
Dunphy, who is in his 12th season at Temple following 17 years as the coach at Penn, told me that he hasn’t given much thought to his impending departure. “Once the ball goes up, you’re just worried about your team,” he said. His main goal is to get the Owls to the NCAA Tournament one last time, but it won’t be easy. Temple is 7-2 but has just one win over a team ranked in KenPom’s top 100 (No. 93 Missouri). It will have to have a great season in the American Athletic Conference or win the automatic bid at the conference tournament to make the field of 68, but Dunphy is working hard to make it happen. “If we pay attention to details, we’ve got a good chance,” he says.
Even though he won’t be coaching next year, he hopes to continue the Management Theory and Practice course he has been teaching at Temple the last 12 years. He taught the same class at Penn for seven years. The course, which is usually taken by about 20 undergraduates and for which he partners with a university professor, is wrapping up with a final exam this week. Normally, Dunphy only teaches the course for the fall semester, but with no basketball season to occupy him next year, perhaps he could add it to his spring agenda as well.
There will be many more ovations and honorifics to come these next three months, but Dunphy does not want to think of this as a march towards retirement. As of yet, he has no plans to coach somewhere else, but he’s not foreclosing the possibility. “All I know is I want to keep working,” he says. “I want to be as busy as I have ever been. The rest of my life will take the turns it’s going to take, and I’ll be grateful for whatever comes my way.”
Other Hoop Thoughts
So Kentucky’s struggles are going to be a big topic of conversation. The bottom line is that this team is plainly devoid of bucket-getters in the backcourt. Tyler Herro went 0-of-6 from 3 in the loss to Seton Hall, and sophomore Quade Green played just 10 minutes off the bench. This is a serious problem, folks. It’s not a matter of really talented guards who just need to learn the game. It’s an indication that this team lacks really talented guards.
Indiana’s free throw shooting is officially a thing. The Hoosiers are ranked 310th in the country, and their 16-of-25 performance almost cost them a win over Louisville on Saturday.
Boy, there’s a lot to unpack at Kansas. With Udoka Azubuike sidelined by an ankle sprain, the Jayhawks for the first time are feeling the effects of not having Silvio De Sousa, the sophomore forward who is sitting out because of questions about his eligibility. Freshman Quentin Grimes still has not played nearly as well as he did in the opening win over Michigan State. Worst of all, Lagerald Vick is back to his confounding ways. After playing lights out for five straight games, Vick was left out of the starting lineup for last Tuesday’s win over Wofford because he arrived late for shootaround. Then he didn’t start on Saturday against New Mexico State because, according to Bill Self, “he had a really bad Thursday. Let’s leave it at that.” The Jayhawks overcame a seven-point deficit in the second half to beat the Aggies, 63-60, but there was nothing comfortable about it.
Purdue got a nice lift off the bench last week from freshman forward Aaron Wheeler. He had 15 points in 21 minutes to help the Boilers to a 62-60 win over Maryland on Thursday night. It was his first double-digit scoring effort of the week. Alas, he reverted and scored just five points in 19 minutes in Purdue’s loss to Texas on Sunday. This team needs Wheeler to keep progressing because this team does not have much scoring punch beyond Carsen Edwards and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Cline. Sure doesn’t look like that will be forthcoming from Nojel Eastern.
Seriously, Ethan Happ, how do you do it?
Tough loss for Iowa State at Iowa last week, but the good news is that the Cyclones are about to get sophomore point guard Lindell Wigginton back. He has not played this season because of a foot injury. Coach Steve Prohm told me that he expects Wigginton will start practicing without restrictions this week. Wigginton has been doing conditioning and non-contact work, so hopefully, it won’t take too long to get him back into game shape.
I really do not understand all the hostility about charging calls. I feel as if a lot of people feel they don’t belong in the game at all. Are we supposed to let guys just physically plow through defenders without any recourse? Sure, the refs miss a lot of them because it’s the hardest call to make. Even when we slow down replays, it’s hard to tell if a call was correct. I don’t like flopping, but I don’t mind a guy hitting the deck if it helps to sell the call. With almost every rule change being made these days favoring the offense, we need measures in place that reward good defense. So take your whining about “charbage” elsewhere, mate.
I’m not quite sure how good Oklahoma is – beating Notre Dame and Wichita State is no great shakes this season – but I sure do enjoy watching Lon Kruger’s teams run offense. There’s just something different about a guy who has coached in the NBA.
Florida State is a really good team that’s about to get a whole lot better. Last year’s leading scorer, 6-8 senior forward Phil Cofer, is almost recovered from the foot injury that has kept him out of the Seminoles’ first nine games. He dressed for their win against UConn on Saturday but did not play.
Auburn is yet another really good team that’s about to get an important player back. Junior forward Danjel Purifoy, who hasn’t played since before the start of last season because of eligibility issues stemming from the FBI case, is finally out of purgatory and set to rejoin the Tigers for their game against UAB on Saturday. Meanwhile, 6-3 senior guard Bryce Brown is coming off a career-high 34 points in Saturday’s win over Dayton. So this should be fun.
I know a lot of people are upset the NCAA did not grant a transfer waiver to Wichita State guard Teddy Allen. (And if you haven’t read C.J. Moore’s story about Allen, surely you must.) I don’t know all the ins and outs of this decision, but it’s important to remember that the NCAA staff charged with making these calls is bound by a set of standards that the schools themselves have put in place. There is not a lot of flexibility built into the process. This is another example of why the concept of the hardship waiver, while well-intended, causes more problems than it is worth.
There’s a lot of reason to be optimistic about Arizona State even after the Sun Devils blew a 12-point halftime lead and lost to Nevada in L.A. on Friday night. However, this team needs to get Remy Martin straight, pronto. The sophomore guard has been battling a bum ankle for two months, his practice time has been limited and he missed the previous two games. But he was just awful in this one, making 1-of-10 from the floor, mostly because of atrocious shot selection. Either he needs to shut it down and get fully healthy, or he needs to learn to play hurt. ASU doesn’t play again until Saturday, so hopefully, Martin will get his ankle right once and for all.
Speaking of Nevada, it’s hard to figure out why Caleb Martin has been so bad in the first half of games all season and so great in the second. Against the Sun Devils, he had 14 of his 17 points after intermission. He has scored more than two-thirds of his points in second halves. That’s a dangerous game to play, my man.
Is Michigan coming down to earth? It nearly lost at Northwestern last Tuesday before escaping by a deuce, and it looked just OK in beating South Carolina by 11 on Saturday. I spy two flies in this ointment: One, Zavier Simpson’s inability to make jumpers is allowing defenses to play off him, which makes the Wolverines easier to guard. And two, beyond Isaiah Livers, John Beilein is getting almost no production from his bench. I know I’m picking at nits, but conference play is coming, and such flaws tend to get exposed.
Meanwhile, who’s crazier than Tom Izzo? A road game at Florida on Dec. 8? Really?
ICYMI: One of the great traditions in college basketball took place last Friday as Taylor University, an NAIA school in Upland, Ind., celebrated Silent Night for the 22nd consecutive year. The students show up to the game in costume, stay totally silent until the home team makes its 10th point, and when it does, everyone goes nuts. At the end of the game, the crowd sings “Silent Night.” Man, I miss college.
Cincinnati point guard Justin Jenifer is a great example of a senior who has waited his turn and gotten steadily better each season. He is having by far the best season of his career, and he had nine assists to just one turnover in the Bearcats’ win over Xavier on Saturday. That brings his season totals to 39 assists and five turnovers. That’s good, right?
Dean Wade continues to be a head-scratcher. Kansas State’s 6-10 senior forward is supposed to be one of the best players in the Big 12, but he has a knack for taking himself out of games because he’s so unassertive. He had two points on 1-of-6 shooting in Kansas State’s one-point loss at Tulsa on Saturday. The Wildcats came into the season with high expectations following last year’s run to the Elite Eight, but they’ve now dropped straight on the road, also losing at Marquette on Dec. 1. Time to regroup.
Before Nebraska’s 94-75 win over Creighton on Saturday, Tim Miles’ record against Greg McDermott was 0-14. Just making sure you knew.
Gotta like the promising debut for Oregon freshman Louis King, a 6-7 forward from New Jersey. The former McDonald’s All-American has been working his way back from a bad injury for 11 months, but he had 11 points (3-of-4 from 3) in 17 minutes in the Ducks’ win over Nebraska-Omaha. Obviously, he will be facing much more difficult competition in the weeks to come, but given what the kid has been through, I’m sure he’s pleased. Oregon could use him.
Georgetown couldn’t quite pull off the win in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, losing 72-71 on Tyus Battle’s jumper with three seconds to go. But that’s a moral victory if ever there was one. The Hoyas led by 15 points against a good team on the road but couldn’t close it out. For a program that has been as moribund as this one has the last couple of years, this is something to build on.
After starting 5-0, Miami has now lost four straight, to Seton Hall, Rutgers, Yale and Penn. That’s, uh, not good.
Kudos to Sagaba Konate for becoming West Virginia’s career blocks leader during the Mountaineers’ win over Pitt in Saturday’s Backyard Brawl. Konate had seven blocks in the win to put his total at 191 and counting. Pretty good for a guy who’s only 6-8. And he’s only a junior.
Thanks to the good people at St. John’s for honoring longtime AP college basketball writer Jim O’Connell during Sunday’s game against Princeton. Oc, who died in July after a long illness, was a great guy and a terrific reporter, and he sure loved his Johnnies. The school made a presentation to Oc’s family before the game, and the players wore “Oc” patches on their jerseys during the 89-74 win.
By the way, it’s very cool that the Big East extended its contract with Madison Square Garden to hold the conference tournament there through 2028. That’s where that event belongs.
Finally here’s a gift – or should I say a gif – from me to you. Presenting Nevada’s Trey Porter with the block of the season on Romello White.
This week’s AP ballot
(Last week’s rank on my ballot in parentheses)
Kansas (4)
Tennessee (5)
Gonzaga (1)
Duke (2)
Michigan (3)
Auburn (6)
Nevada (7)
Virginia (8)
Michigan State (9)
North Carolina (12)
Virginia Tech (13)
Florida State (17)
Texas Tech (15)
Villanova (16)
Syracuse (18)
Ohio State (20)
Nebraska (21)
Indiana (23)
Marquette (NR)
Wisconsin (11)
Buffalo (19)
Maryland (NR)
Arizona State (NR)
Cincinnati (NR)
Furman (25)
Dropped out: Kentucky (10), Purdue (13), Texas (22), Creighton (24)
One of the traps I try to avoid as a poll voter is being limited by the previous week’s ballot. Normally if a No. 1 team loses the No. 2 team should move up. However, Tennessee’s win over Gonzaga not only knocked the Zags from the top spot and elevated the Vols, it also elevated Kansas by proxy of its overtime win over Tennessee in Madison Square Garden. And of course, Gonzaga beat Duke in Hawaii as well. Frankly, I couldn’t resist the symmetry. All three of those games, by the way, were all on neutral courts, making the comparisons even more apt. So the transitive property holds, and Kansas is my new top team. You’re welcome, Rock Chalk Nation.
As for Kentucky, well, like I said, I try not to get trapped in the past. (This is also a good rule for life, by the way.) Kentucky was my preseason No. 1 team, but they just have not done anything to indicate they are a top 25 team right now. Their seven wins all came at Rupp Arena, and none was over a team currently ranked in the top 75 on KenPom. Yes, I know the loss to Seton Hall was close – this is a Seton Hall team, by the way, that got blown out at Nebraska and lost to a good Saint Louis team at home – but I would probably have dropped the Cats even if they had pulled it out in OT. This ballot should be done based on resume, not reputation. There is simply no argument for Kentucky to be ranked right now.
As we collect more data points, we can make better evaluations of teams, not just based on a particular team’s results, but also on what its former opponents have done. Nebraska’s loss to Texas Tech continues to hold up since the Red Raiders are still undefeated. And I didn’t want to ding the Huskers too badly for losing a tough road game in the conference. Marquette deserved to be ranked not only for beating Wisconsin but because its losses to Indiana (road) and Kansas (neutral) are still respectable. And as I filled out my ballot, I went with a Maryland team that played Purdue to the wire on the road, and I chose Arizona State because of all the remaining candidates, it had the best win (Mississippi State in Las Vegas).
I do like Buffalo, but I don’t think it’s right to keep bumping the Bulls up because teams ranked ahead of them are losing. They are clearly not playing the same caliber schedule. And Furman will remain at No. 25 so long as the Paladins can stay undefeated. No pressure, guys!
Other teams I considered this week included Cincinnati, which hasn’t lost since that season opener at Ohio State; Louisville, which fought Indiana to the wire in Assembly Hall on Saturday; St. John’s, which remains undefeated but its best win is over No. 67 Georgia Tech; TCU, which is ranked No. 30 on KenPom but lost to Lipscomb at home; Houston, which is also undefeated following its win at Oklahoma State on Saturday; and San Francisco, which is quietly 8-1 with its only loss coming to Buffalo in Ireland, and which just won at California last Wednesday. Things are going to slow down for exams and the holidays over the next couple of weeks, but once the calendar turns to January, conference season will be in full swing.
See ya next Monday, Hoopheads.
