Hoop, Line And Sinker

A weekly column on men's college basketball.

Monday, November 30, 2015

15 Nov 9 - Graduate Transfusions (PRESEASON)

Volume XX, No. 1 - 15 Nov 9: PRESEASON - [] Top 25 Ballot

Graduate Transfusions


Hey, all. Health issues have slowed me down considerably at the start of the season. I'll do my best to keep the HLS website up to date in a timely fashion. (I'll try to get the Pigskin Pool up and running with as much lead time as possible, but don't panic if the Entry Form isn't ready until near the deadline.) -- Ron


Last year, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski finally mastered the art of coaching a Golden Child-led team as his Baby Blues won the National Championship over Wisconsin. Kentucky, undefeated through the regular season -- the first team from a Basketball-Major conference to do so since 32-0 Indiana went all the way in 1976 -- fell short of going a perfect 40-0 in losing its Semifinal rematch from the previous year with the Runner-up Badgers. Michigan State joined UW to give the BIG 10 a second Final Four squad.
Individually, the inside-outside/offensive-defensive all-around prowess of Wisconsin senior xFrank Kaminski edged out Duke GC cJahlil Okafor as Player of the Year (while fellow Blue Devil SuperFrosh pTyus Jones took Most Outstanding Player honors at the Final Four).

Only two teams changed conferences over the summer, and with New Jersey Tech's joining the ATLANTIC SUN, we have no Division I independents (?for the first time ever?). In a sign of the times, the Texas Pan American "Broncs" have become the Texas-Rio Grande Valley "Vaqueros(Cowboys)" -- (I can hear knees
jerking everywhere out there.)
New rule changes for this season include a reduction of the shot clock from 35 down to 30 seconds as well as the elimination of the 5-second closely guarded defensive turnover. (The Powers That Be feel like College Basketball loses out to the NBA with its lower scoring and more emphasis on defense and coaching strategy; but for my part, "speeding up the game" will only actually mean more lousy "stop-and-pop" possessioni, even more free throws and more players who only focus on their offense and never bother to master any defensive skills whatsoever -- all for the worse, in my book.)
While it's not a new rule change, there has been a massive increase in the use
of Graduate Transfers this season, especially at highest levels. Undergraduate transfers must still sit out a full year before playing for their new school; but GTs (who have earned their undergraduate degree but still have a year of eligibility left) can play immediately. (Some coaches [stuck in a "plantation" mentality, frankly[ have decried the rule feeling a player in whom they have invested their recruiting/coaching efforts should have to pay a penalty [i.e., sit out a year] for daring to change allegiances. [Mind you, coaches have always been able to switch schools with no waiting period.] I'm for anything that gives student-athletes more freedom and tips the scales of power in their favor with respect to the multi-million dollar institutions that currently exploit them.) The newly fashionable quick fix from these "five-and-done" Graduate Transfusions may come to counterbalance the effect of the "one-and-done" GCs.

While the overall outflow of talent from last year appears to have exceeded this year's inflow, some conferences may be better off. The PAC-12 enters the preseason with the most talented pool of players overall (ahead of the BIG 12); the AMERICAN, MOUNTAIN WEST, CONFERENCE USA and ATLANTIC 10 are slightly up; the BIG EAST, WEST COAST and MISSOURI VALLEY are slightly down from a year ago. Among One-Bid Conferences, the MID-AMERICAN, AMERICA EAST and PATRIOT are stocked with returning talent while the BIG WEST, BIG SOUTH, METRO ATLANTIC and SUMMIT are the most depleted from last season.
New trends be damned -- it's a new batch of GC's from reloaded Kentucky (led by 6-5 bJamal Murray and 6-11 cSkai Labissiere) who should ultimately cut down the nets at season's end (but with seven of last year's ten mainstays having moved on, don't quite expect another undefeated run). It remains to be seen whether Mike Krzyzewski can master the GC-reload as well as we already know UK's John Calipari can as Duke's new crop (6-9 fBrandon Ingram) may take longer to gel. Arizona's reload is a mix of GCs (6-4 gAlonzo Trier) and GTs (ex-San Francisco, 6-9 fMark Tollefsen).
Louisville's reload rests heavily on GT (ex-Drexel) 6-6 bDamion Lee. Other powers fortified by GCs include Kansas (6-9 fCheick Diallo) [which shuold add to its amazing streak of ELEVEN-STRAIGHT BIG 12 TITLES) and Villanova (6-1 gJalen Brunson). Some of the biggest GC names have wound up in non-powerhouse places such as California (6-7 fJalen Brown, 6-11 fIvan Rabb) and LSU (Australian 6-11 fBen Simmons). Fortified squads expecting big things from GTs include Wichita State (ex-Cleveland State, 6-8 fAnton Grady) and Connecticut (ex-Cornell, 6-10 cShonn Miller; ex-Seton Hall, 6-2 gSterling Gibbs). Last year's powers mostly standing pat include Virginia, North Carolina (pMarcus Paige), Oklahoma (B>xBuddy Hield), SMU (pNic Moore) and Cincinnati.
Wichita State(bRon Baker)[MVC] and Gonzaga(xKyle Wiltjer)[WCC] (which should have no trouble adding to its FOURTEEN-OUT-OF-FIFTEEN WCC TITLE run) both will continue to lead the Mid-Majors along with SMU[AMERICAN]
as well as Davidson/Dayton[A-10] and San Diego State[MWC].
Veteran 1BC squads looking to make a Splash include Stephen F. Austin[SUMMIT], Valparaiso[HORIZON], UAB[C-USA] (in a repeat performance) and Louisiana[xShawn Long)[SUN BELT].

Some coaching changes figure to have a huge impact on this season. Fred Hoiberg left a still loaded Iowa State(xGeorges Niang) for the NBA (while Murray State's Steve Prohm takes over). Billy Donovan left Florida for the NBA (for real this time), leaving an even bigger gap between Kentucky and the rest of the SEC. Shaka Smart hopes the MM magic he wove at VCU will work at B-Major Texas (as bounced Rick Barnes wound up at Tennessee). Former Duke great Bobby Hurley makes the jump from 1BC Buffalo all the way to B-Major Arizona State (replacing Herb Sendek). Ben Howland (ex-Pittsburgh/UCLA) is now at Mississippi; Steve Donahue (ex-Cornell/Boston College) is now at Penn; Bill Carmody (ex-Princeton/Northwestern) is now at Holy Cross; former Boston College coach Al Skinner has taken over at Kennesaw State. NBA greats new to the college coaching ranks are Avery Johnson(Alabama), Chris Mullin(St. John's) and former Georgia Tech great Mark Price(Charlotte).
Jim Boeheim must sit out the first nine games of the ACC regular season due to NCAA sanctions.

There's no particular preseason favorite for Player Of The Year, but xKyle Wiltjer(Gonzaga) and xBuddy Hield(Oklahoma) as well as xGeorges Niang(Iowa State), xKris Dunn(Providence) and triple-double specialist xKyle Collinsworth(BYU) all figure to rack up the stats.
Plenty of SuperFrosh figure to figure prominently: Kentucky's bJamal Murray and cSkai Labissiere, Cal's fJaylen Brown and fIvan Rabb, Duke's fBrandon Ingram and LSU's fBen Simmons all figure to be the leading players on their teams.
Among the SuperGrads, bDamion Lee(Louisville) and fMark Tollefsen(Arizona) may be their teams' best player.

Friday gives us a nice start: Some Veteran's Day specialty events highlight the first weekend as Gonzaga and Pittsburgh meet in Okinawa, JAPAN (ARMED FORCES CLASSIC) and North Carolina meets Temple while Navy hosts Florida, all at Annapolis (VETERAN'S DAY CLASSIC). The MWC/MVC CHALLENGE gets an early start Illinois State at San Diego State, Air Force at Southern Illinois) -- evenly matched pairings should lead to a 5-5 split overall. Most everyone else is in WarmUp mode in their preseason tournaments. (The NIT SEASON TIP-OFF, once a full 16-team bracket with consolation round-robins at regional sites, is now down to a 2x4 tournament with pre-set semis -- now at the BARCLAYS CENTER, no longer MADiSON SQUARE GARDEN -- Yikes!)
(Don't forget ESPN's 24-hour(+) TIP-OFF MARATHON at the beginning of next week: Monday week overnight/all-day Tuesday week, including the long-awaited meeting of Georgetown at Maryland and concluding with the latest installment of the CHAMPIONS CLASSIC double-header series featuring Kentucky-Duke, Michigan State-Kansas.)

This year, we're on the road to HOUSTON!!!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Friday:

@Utah-SoUtah(UT), @BYU-UTValley(UT),
ARMED FORCES CLASSIC 1Off @ OkinawaJAPAN/CAMP FOSTER/
-(Gonzaga-Pittsburgh),
VETERANS' DAY CLASSIC DblHdr @ AnnapolisMD/Navy/
-(NCarolina-Temple, @Navy-Florida),
CONNECTICUT SIX CLASSIC TrplHdr @NewBritainCT/CConnecticutSt
-(@CConnecticutSt-@Hartford[CT][CT6], @Fairfield-@Yale[CT][CT6], @Quinnipiac-@SacredHeart[CT][CT6]),

Friday-Monday week:

RAINBOW CLASSIC RndRob3 @ HonluluHI/Hawaii/
-(Nevada, @Hawaii, CoCarolina, MontanaSt, @{HiHilo}),

Friday-Tue 24 Nov:

LEGENDS CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ KennesawGA/KennesawSt/; 3rd/Semis @ BrroklynNY/BARCLAYS/
-!(A: LSU, Marquette, IUPUI, @KennesawSt;
   B: NCState, ArizonaSt, SAlabama, Belmont),

Friday-Wed 25 Nov:

HALL OF FAME-B TIP-OFF 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; 3rd/Semis @ UncasvilleCT/MOHEGAN/
-(A: Purdue, OldDominion, Buffalo, NCA&T;
   B: )Florida, StJosephs, Vermont, Niagara),
LAS VEGAS-MAIN EVENT 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; 3rd/Semis @ LasVegasNV/MGM/
-(A: Clemson, Massachusetts, TXSanAntonio, CArkansas;
   B: Rutgers, Creighton, Howarrd, TexasSo),

Friday-Thu 26 Nov:

MAUI INVITATIONAL 8Bracket WarmUp1 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ GreeleyCO/NoColorado/; 2nd/Qtrs @ LahainaHI/{Chaminade}/
-(Main: Kansas-@{Chaminade}, UCLA-UNLV, Indiana-WakeForest, StJohns-Vanderbilt;
   Cons: CalPolySLO-AustinPeay, @NoColorado-MDBaltimoreCo),
2KS CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ SmithfieldRI/Bryant/; 3rd/Semis @ NewYorkNY/MSG/
-(A: Duke, VCU, Siena, Radford;
   B: Wisconsin, Georgetown, @Bryant, PrairieViewA&M),

Friday-Fri 27 Nov:

HALL OF FAME-A SHOOTOUT RndRob4 on-campus
-(@Kentucky, SFlorida, Albany, BostonU, NJIT),
CBE CLAASIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; 4rd/Semis @ KansasCityMO
-(A: NCarolina, Northwestern, Fairfield, Wofford;
   B: @KansasSt, Missouri, Columbia, MDEaShore),
NIT SEASON TIP-OFF 2x4 RndRob2,4 on-campus; 3rd/Semis @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/
-(A: Villanova, Stanford, Akron, Green Bay;
   B: GeorgiaTech, Arkansas, ETennesseeSt, CharlestonSo),
GS-1 SHOOTOUT RndRob4 on-campus
-(@Oregon, Baylor, ArkansasSt, SavannahSt, JacksonSt),

Friday-Sun 20 Dec:

MWC[2-1;1]/MVC[1-2;1] CHALLENGE on-campus
[San Jose State does not play.]
-(Fri: @SanDiegoSt-IllinoisSt, @SoIllinois-AirForce;
   Wed 18 Nov: @NewMexico-LoyolaIL;
   Tue 24 Nov: @NoIowa-ColoradoSt;
   Wed 2 Dec: @MissouriSt-UtahSt;
   Wed 9 Dec: @WichitaSt-UNLV;
   Sat 12 Dec: @Nevada-Drake;
   Wed 16 Dec: @IndianaSt-Wyoming;
   Sun 20 Dec: @BoiseSt-Bradley, @FresnoSt-Evansville),

Sunday:

@Cincinnati-RobertMorris, @NewMexicoSt-NewMexico(NM),

Sunday-Tue 24 Nov:

(new)BEAVER HARDWOOD SHOWCAWE RndRob3 on-camppus< -(Valparaiso, @OregonSt, Iona),

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@GeoWashington-Virginia, @Utah-SanDiegoSt, @LongBeachSt-BYU,

Monday week-Tuesday week:

    (TIP-OFF MARATHON)
  • Monday
  • (5.30Pet): @ {wOhio St} v {wConnecticut}
  • (7.30Pet): @ Geo Washington v Virginia
  • (9Pet): @ LSU v Kennesaw St (LEGENDS CLASSIC)
  • (9.30Pet): @ Utah v San Diego St
  • (11.30Pet): @ Oregon v Baylor (GS-1 SHOOTOUT)
  • Tuesday
  • (1.45Aet): @ Long Beach St v BYU
  • (4Aet): @ Hawaii v Nevada (RAINBOW CLASSIC)
  • (6Aet): @ E Tennessee St v Green Bay
  • (8Aet): @ No Iowa v Stephen F Austin
  • (10Aet): @ Rhode Island v Valparaiso
  • (1Pet): @ Dayton v Alabama (A/ORLANDO INVITATIONAL)
  • (3Pet): @ Auburn v Colorado
  • (5Pet): @ Memphis v Oklahoma
  • (7.30Pet): @Kentucky v @Duke (CHAMPIONS CLASSIC @ Chicago, IL /UNITED/)
  • (9Pet): @ Maryland v Georgetown (MD/DC)
  • (10Pet): @Michigan St v @Kansas (CHAMPIONS CLASSIC @ Chicago, IL /UNITED/)

Monday week-Sat 28 Nov:

EMERALD COAST CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; 4rd/Semis @ DestinFL
-(A: IowaSt, VirginiaTech, JacksonvilleSt, ChicagoSt;
   B: UAB, Illinois, Chattanooga, AlabamaSt),

Monday week-Sun 29 Nov:

A/ORLANDO CLASSIC 8Bracket WarmUp1/1 on-campus; 2nd/Qtrs @ OrlandoFL
-(WichitaSt-USC, Xavier-Alabama, Dayton-Iowa, NotreDame-Monmouth),
SPARTAN SHOWCAWE WarmUp1/1 RndRob4 on-campus
-(Navy, IFPW, @UNCGreensboro, Jacksonville),

Tuesday week:

@Maryland-Georgetown(MD/DC), @Memphis-U>Oklahoma, @RhodeIsland-Valparaiso,
CHAMPIONS CLASSIC DblHdr @ ChicagoIL/UNITED/
<-(@Kentucky-@Duke, @Kansas-@MichiganSt),

Tuesday week-Sun 29 Nov:

WOODEN LEGACY/ANAHEIM CLASSIC 8Bracket WarmUp1/1 on-campus; 2nd/Qtrs @ FullertonSt/CalStFullerton, AnaheimCA
-(MichiganSt-BostonCol, BoiseSt-@UCIrvine, Arizona-@SantaClara, Evansville-Providence),



Top 25 - 15 Nov 9: PRESEASON - [] Column
  1. Kentucky
  2. Wichita State
  3. Virginia
  4. Gonzaga
  5. Kansas
  6. North Carolina
  7. Indiana
  8. Maryland
  9. Oklahoma
  10. Iowa State
  11. Duke
  12. Arizona
  13. Connecticut
  14. Michigan State
  15. California
  16. LSU
  17. Utah
  18. Oregon
  19. SMU
  20. Villanova
  21. Davidson
  22. Dayton
  23. San Diego State
  24. Stephen F. Austin
  25. Valparaiso
Worth keeping an eye on:

Boise State, BYU, Butler, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Evansville, James Madison, Louisiana, Loyola(Illinois), Purdue, Rhode Island, Texas A&M, Tulsa, UAB.


posted by Ron @ Monday, November 30, 2015