K-State enters the polls

The Wildcats have ridden their 5-game winning streak and success in Hawaii to just get into the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll at #25. This is well-deserved for Frank Martin’s squad, which is sitting at 10-1. This is a long way from halftime of the Wildcats’ first game of the year, when they trailed Charleston Southern at home by 14. 

Frank has done a lot of good coaching along with yelling this season. Image courtesy coreybrinn.com.

But Martin is really starting to show his coaching chops, and has K-State looking like an easy NCAA team 11 games in. The Wildcats went 3-0 in Hawaii over the past few days with wins over Southern Illinois (83-58), UTEP (78-70) and Long Beach State (77-60). The first two have been notable mid-major programs in the past but seem down this year. Long Beach State, however, is a quality win as that team has beaten Pitt and (weakened) Xavier, and played Kansas close in Lawrence. 

Since Michael Beasley was in Manhattan (and really Bill Walker the year before), K-State has had at least one All-Big 12 type player every year (Beasley, Walker, Jacob Pullen, Denis Clemente). The Wildcats don’t have that this year, but it seems Martin (a testament to his coaching) has turned that into the team’s strength. K-State is developing into a team with depth: right now the Wildcats go eight deep, with eight players averaging over 19 minutes/game.

Two freshmen have been nice surprises. Forward Thomas Gipson was making a big offensive impact until the past four games, where he has tailed off. But since that time, guard Angel Rodriguez has seen a big jump in his scoring (even though he went 0-6 in the last game). These two will continue to grow, and as they both become more consistent the Wildcats will have plenty of offensive options. 

K-State will need to keep the solid play rolling along, as they enter the Big 12 with a tough stretch of games. They open on January 4 in Lawrence, and even though school will be out, I imagine Allen Fieldhouse will still be intimidating. They then get Baylor and Mizzou in Manhattan, followed by a trip to Oklahoma (whom the jury is still out on after a good start). 

K-State should be able to stay in most games, even road ones, because of some of the things they’ve done well thus far. They’ve defended well, holding teams to 63 points a game and putting up a defensive rating of 88.4 (27th in the country). In addition they’ve rebounded well, averaging 41.6 (7th in the country). Their field goal percentage is pretty average, so the rebounding numbers aren’t inflated by a ton of missed shots. 

The ceiling on this K-State team may not be that high without a star to take over in the tournament. But right now they are a solid team that should be a tough to beat on a nightly basis. Stay tuned. 

Missouri is Bragging for Third Straight Year

For the fourth time this season, Missouri faced their “first test” of the season. The first three times the Tigers were “tested” they won in such convincing fashion that the opposition was flat out dismissed as invalid. This time, that was not the case. This time, Missouri finally faced the test all the critics were waiting for, and they passed, beating Illinois 78-74 to move to 12-0.

It wasn’t the prettiest win in the world, and last 12 minutes of the game brought up plenty of concerns, but Missouri still won. They won a game where their two highest scorers, Marcus Denmon and Kim English, combined for 16 points. They won a game where they shot 44% from the field, eight percentage points below their season average. They won a game despite regressing back to the selfish offensive play that ruined them last season.

That last thing is, unfortunately, my big take away from last night. For the first time this season Missouri played a close game, and they responded in the way nobody wanted them to. The amazing ball movement and team work that has defined the season disappeared. It was replaced by contested shots early in the shot clock. Phil Pressey started forcing his shot, instead of looking for teammates. Despite getting the Illini in foul trouble early in the second half, the Tigers stopped attack and started jump shooting. The result was a 21-6 Illini run to turn a potential blowout into a hardcore basketball game.

The good news is, Missouri snapped out of their poor decision making in the final moments. Phil Pressey drove to the hoop in order to create for his teammates rather than look for a contested layup. The result was a sweet behind the back dump off to Ricardo Ratliffe. Another layup by Ratliffe, immediately after Illinois took a 70-69 lead, gave the Tigers the lead for good.

The play of the game, and the play that I’m sure is giving Illinois fans nightmares right now, came with about 30 seconds left. The Tigers were up four and had the ball. Rather than foul, Bruce Weber elected to let Phil Pressey dribble out the shot clock. The result was an easy driving layup for Pressey, and just 15 seconds for Illinois to score six points. It was the kind of super conservative coaching that Weber is known for, and it basically handed Missouri the win.

Missouri’s critics will point to the 21-6 run and offensive meltdown as evidence that Missouri is still the team they were last year. Missouri fans will say this proved the Tigers are ready for a big run in conference play, and that when it matters most, the team can get the baskets they need to win. Feel free to jump to your own conclusion.

Other notes

Steve Moore had his best effort of the season last night. The box score only gives a small picture. Moore was able to play 21 minutes of active defense, and made Ricardo Ratliffe’s early game foul trouble a non-issue. His emergence as a good defender and rebounder is as big a story as any for Missouri this year.

Marcus Denmon might catch some heat for not having a good game, but you won’t see that here. Denmon has been the best player against every major conference team Mizzou played this season. Won’t penalize a guy for having one off night, especially when the offense went away from him the whole second half.

Missouri is going on the road next week to play Old Dominion, then its on to conference play.

A&M takes hit, K-State cruises on

Over the half of the Big 12 was in action Thursday, and we had some interesting results. 

Rice 65, Texas A&M 58 

The Aggies had two excusable losses on their schedule (even if one was a shellacking), but this third loss at home to a middle-tier Conference USA doesn’t fall in that category. It wasn’t as if Rice fluked their way to a win by making a ton of three’s. They actually beat the Aggies at their game, out-rebounding A&M 35 to 24. The Aggies should still be fine, but they’ll need to bounce back quickly as they travel to Waco on January 2. 

Kansas State 83, Southern Illinois 59

Angel Rodriguez has been dynamite lately for the Wildcats. Image courtesy desertnews.com

Southern Illinois clearly isn’t what it was in Chris Lowery’s early years, but Kansas State should still feel good moving right along and getting to 8-1. We’ve talked about the Wildcats lack of a great individual player this year, which they’ve seemingly had every year since Michael Beasley. But as the season progresses Kansas State is showing that they may have a ton of depth. 

Thomas Gipson was the early story. Now Angel Rodriguez has stepped up lately. Add them to Jordan Henriquez, Jamar Samuels, Will Spradling and Rodney McGruder and you’ve got a number of guys that can beat you on a given night. Statistically of note in this game was that 10 of Samuels’ 14 points came from the free throw line. 

Texas Tech 56, Oral Roberts 72 

It wasn’t difficult to see this one coming. Oral Roberts probably isn’t one of the darling mid-majors this year, but I’m sure they had a lot of confidence after giving Xavier their first loss of the season, even if Xavier wasn’t at full strength. You can’t expect to win on the road when you turn the ball over 20 times, which Tech did tonight.

This is simply where Tech is right now as they rebuild their program, and there is no shame in that. It probably means nothing, but for comparison’s sake, Oklahoma beat Oral Roberts by 14 earlier this year, though that game was in Norman. 

 

Kansas falls to Davidson

The Big 12 has taken a few (understandable) non-conference lumps the past couple of days. Texas A&M got waxed by Florida, which is a good team but shouldn’t be 20 points better than the Aggies. Oklahoma State lost a virtual home game in Oklahoma City to New Mexico, although the Lobos are projected to be one of the better teams in the Mountain West.

Then Kansas followed suit, losing a virtual home game in Kansas City to a Steph Curry-less Davidson team. Davidson had shown flashes this season, losing a close game against Vanderbilt and holding a lead over Duke at halftime.

But they had just come off a 20+ point loss to Charlotte and were a team the Jayhawks probably should have taken care of. Especially since basketball-reference.com has them at 209th in defensive rating. Davidson has also been a poor shooting team thus far. Kansas was probably the most forgivable 2-loss team in the country, with “good” losses to Duke and Kentucky. No more.

Although obviously this isn’t the end of the world. The Jayhawks have just lost so rarely over the past few seasons that it is strange to see, especially in a building they’ve looked so invincible in lately. Kansas did lose to UMass in the Sprint Center in 2008-2009, and things didn’t work so badly as they ended up in the Sweet Sixteen that year.

It’s not surprising the Jayhawks looked sloppy last night. They were just coming off a big win against #2 Ohio State and had 9-day layover between games, which may explain how rusty they looked. They turned the ball over too much (14 TO’s). Davidson also turned it over with 12 in the first half, but took care of the ball as they didn’t commit any in the second half.  The Jayhawks also didn’t shoot the ball well from three (6-23) or from the free throw line (18-31).

The three-point shot is an element the Jayhawks have been lacking a bit this year. Clearly their talent level has dropped with the loss of the Morris twins, and the only real NBA-prospect on the team being Thomas Robinson. But they are also feeling the loss of Tyrell Reed and Brady Morningstar in a few different areas.

One of them is their consistency from three. Both shot over 38 percent last season, and this year only Conner Teahan is shooting at that rate. As a team the Jayhawks are shooting 3 percent loss from deep. But then again Teahan really struggled Monday night, going 2-8 from three.

Here are some links from last night’s game:

Kansas City Star: Davidson topples KU 80-74 at the Sprint Center 

Rock Chalk Talk: A (semi) Statistical Recap of Davidson 

 

Ok-State has good chance for quality win

It may be flying under the radar, but Oklahoma State and New Mexico will end your basketball Saturday at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2. The Cowboys have a good opportunity to get a quality win in front of what will undoubtedly be a pro-Cowboy crowd in Oklahoma City.

This picture of Le'Bryan Nash needed to be put up. Courtesy thesportsbank.net

UNLV by virtue of their win over North Carolina would seem to be the Mountain West favorite at this point. But New Mexico should be right behind them along with San Diego State.

The Cowboys are in the middle of a pretty tough non-conference stretch. After tonight they’ll play Alabama and Virginia Tech (who they’ve lost to already) before New Year’s day.

Obviously there are enough big games on the schedule for the Cowboys to make up for a mediocre non-conference record, but winning tonight is still important. If they were to lose tonight it is very possible they’d enter conference play at 7-6.

One of New Mexico’s best players is UCLA transfer Drew Gordon (10.9 ppg, 9.6 rpg), a 6’9” forward and efficient rebounder. The challenge for the Cowboys will be to not allow Gordon to dominate the glass like Pitt’s bigs did. But then again rebounding has been Pitt’s calling card lately.

I’d like to see Le’Bryan Nash continue his improvement tonight, especially by getting to the  free throw line more. He got there 11 times against Tulsa and eight against Missouri State, but only three times against Pitt. New Mexico sophomore Tony Snell (6’7”) is in the same sort of highly-versatile, wing-type player mold as Nash, so that should be a matchup to keep an eye on.

 

Big 12 Power Poll 12/15

After a busy weekend, the Big 12 is taking it easy this week. That means there isn’t much movement, though I’m switching the Oklahoma teams.

1. Baylor Bears

I might have to write expanded thoughts on the Bears later today, but for now, I’ll just say this: They are the most exciting team in the conference, and maybe the country.

2. Missouri Tigers

The next test for the Tigers: facing a team that can successfully slow them down. I’m not sure any team outside of Baylor can beat Missouri when the game is played in the 70s and 80s. I’m sure this will be Illinois’ strategy next week.

3. Kansas Jayhawks

They got a big name win at home, albeit one with a large asterisk. Won’t lie, I think KU still winds up winning the Big 12 this year. Thomas Robinson is so NBA ready it’s scary.

4. Texas Longhorns

I really like the way Rick Barnes has his freshman playing. Come next week, they will FINALLY get a big test against North Carolina.

5. Texas A&M Aggies

Khris Middelton is back. They finally play a team of value, going to Florida this Saturday. Time to see what they are made of.

6. Oklahoma Sooners

I way undervalued the Sooners last week, they deserve to be here right now. Steven Pledger leads a really good offensive attack, and Lon Kruger is a very good coach. At the same time, I don’t think the Sooners are going to fare well in conference play.

7. Kansas State Wildcats

Too bad nobody on this team is capable of making a play on their own. Once again Frank Martin has a tough, defensive minded team. They are going to give a Baylor, Kansas, and Missouri plenty of trouble, but in the end, a lack of a go to scorer will be their downfall.

8. Oklahoma State Cowboys

This is a very good team, no doubt about it. Probably one of the better defending teams in the conference. They struggle to score though, which is why the continued improvement of Le’Bryan Nash is so important.

9. Iowa State Cyclones

Royce White has shot 22-31 from the field his last three games. Not quite at the level of a Ricardo Ratliffe, but damn impressive.

10. Texas Tech Red Raiders

At least TCU knows they will be able to win some conference games next winter.

Friday Night slate: Iowa State hosts rival Hawkeyes

Iowa State, at 6-3, has lost most of its interesting non-conference matchups this season. The Cyclones fell early in the year to Drake, and recently lost to Michigan and Northern Iowa. So that’s two in-state opponents I-State has been beaten by.

Big chance today, as they take on Iowa. So far, I-State has shown some good things but a 6-3 record isn’t too indicative of success. The Cyclones need to take advantage of non-conference games to boost their record before the tough Big 12.

Some things I like:

 – Iowa State has shown scoring balance. Four players average more than 10 points per game: guards Chris Allen, Chris Babb and Tyrus McGee, and big man Royce White. McGee doesn’t play quite as much as the others. As an observer I prefer scoring balance in the college game because it shows you’re not relying on one guy for points and offense (as it would be easy for I-State to do with White). If the Cyclones compete in the Big 12, it will be in part because of continued offensive balance.

 – Royce White is playing very well. Averaging very close to a double-double (leading the team in both points and rebounds) is quite an accomplishment for a guy who has been playing competitive games for less than a month. I know he is in shape and has obviously been practicing, but he wasted no time contributing to this Iowa State team. White also shoots better than 52 percent, which indicates he is getting good shots.

 – Scott Christopherson is getting a lot of minutes. He is currently shooting 38.7 percent from three-point range, which is fine as this is his primary skill. If he could raise that to about 40 percent in Big 12 play, it would be a huge asset for Iowa State.

In its last game, Iowa got routed at Northern Iowa, 80-60. (UNI beat I-State 69-62 in Ames. I-State was outrebounded by five.) The Hawkeyes actually outrebounded UNI but shot 1 of 12 from three-point range, while the purple Panthers hit 11 of 21.

I’m not going to say too much more about Iowa because I don’t know much of anything you couldn’t just find from statistics, but it would seem if Iowa State can keep from getting outrebounded badly and continue to get White the ball where he can score, the Cyclones can get a very helpful non-conference win.

Le’Bryan Nash Showing Signs

Every year there are a couple of McDonald’s All Americans that just don’t pan out. Sometimes they can’t behave on campus, sometimes they can’t resist the allure of all you can eat dorm food, and sometimes they just weren’t that good to begin with. After his first handful of games in Stillwater, it appeared that Le’Bryan Nash wasn’t going to be the player he was hyped as. The 10th ranked prospect in the country, according to ESPN, was averaging just 12 points under five rebounds a game. Travis Ford benched him after a total no-show against Virginia Tech.

Nash looked lost at times, and over matched at others. Hard to not be frustrated with him if you are an Oklahoma State fan.

In last night’s 72-67 win at Missouri State though, Nash showed some signs of turning the corner. In 29 minutes Nash led the Cowboys in scoring with 19, and added eight rebounds. He played solid defense all night, and pulled down a couple of big rebounds. Most importantly, he looked active and engaged throughout, something that wasn’t the case earlier in the season.

For Oklahoma State to make noise in the Big 12 this season, they need Nash to be really good. The team lacks a go to scorer that can create his own shot. Keiton Page can only score coming off screens. JP Olukemi could be that guy, but he fades in and out of games. Markel had been the team’s best player, but last night managed just one point, and only took four shots.

Nash is the most talented player on the team. He will be the one getting the ball in close games come January and February. Before yesterday, I would have predicted disaster in that situation. After watching him play well on the road, and contribute meaningful minutes down the stretch, it’s clear Le’Bryan Nash has plenty of great nights ahead of him.

Other notes from last night

Oklahoma State is a damn fine defensive team when they want to be. Despite having one of the worst individual defenders in the conference (Page), Travis Ford had his guys playing multiple stretches of great team defense.

That defense will have to keep them in games too, because the Cowboy’s half court offense is really bad. A lot of standing around and hoping someone makes a play. Posting up Nash or sending Page through eight screens seems to be the only two plays they have right now. Otherwise, everyone stands around and waits for the guy with the ball to take a bad, contested jumper.

Cezar Guerrero is trending in the opposite direction of Nash. Guerrero looked like a surprise freshman star after scoring 29 points against Texas San Antonio. He hasn’t been above 10 points in a game since, and played eight scoreless minutes last night. Wasn’t hard to see why either, he took a couple of bad shots yesterday, and was playing too loose with the ball. He’s another guy capable of creating his own shot, so hopefully he can fall back into favor with Travis Ford and start contributing more.

OSU plays next on Saturday afternoon in New York, against #14 Pitt.

Ricardo Ratliffe Passes the Test

Last night the 10th ranked Missouri Tigers added another impressive win to their early season resume, taking down Villanova 81-71 at Madison Square Garden. While the Tigers had already passed their first “test” of the season in Kansas City, last night presented a new challenge for Mizzou, defending a legitimate big man.

With star forward, and defensive stud, Laurence Bowers out for the season, the big man duties fall squarely on the shoulders of senior Ricardo Ratliffe. Mouphataou Yarou has been enjoying a breakout season for Villanova, averaging almost 16 points and eight rebounds a game. He was expected to be the difference maker for the Wildcats yesterday, as it is generally perceived that interior defense is the Tigers’ greatest weakness.

Instead, Yarou wasn’t the difference maker at all, Ratliffe was. Not only did Ratliffe do an excellent job of defending Yarou, he dominated on the offensive end as well. In 33 minutes (a season high), Ratliffe scored 17 points on 8-8 shooting, and added 11 rebounds (five offensive). He held Yarou to just 11 points, and limited him to just seven shots on the night, all without getting into the foul trouble that has plagued him throughout his time at Missouri.

Yarou had trouble all night getting good position down low. Often getting the ball far outside of the paint, or near the top of the key. Positioning is half the battle (as Ratliffe showed on the other end, he practically lived under the basket all night) and Yarou struggled to get the advantage. Same can be said for rebounding, Ratliffe stayed active on the glass and boxed out Yarou effectively. Good rebounding has always been Mizzou’s biggest problem, but last night, against a good rebounding opponent, it wasn’t. Credit Ratliffe.

Games like last night are exactly what Missouri needs from Ratliffe all season long, especially in Big 12 play. He showed he can defend a high level big man without spending most of the night on the bench. He controlled the glass, and kept a number of Missouri possessions alive. Offensively he was efficient, and he will have a chance to continue that all season, thanks to Phil Pressey and Marcus Denmon getting him open looks.

Missouri is going to be a major factor in the Big 12 this year, and their guards will win them a lot of games. To beat Baylor and Kansas though, Missouri needs inside play. Last night Ratliffe showed that he is capable of providing that, and then some. Perry Jones and Quincy Acy are a different animal than Mouphtaou Yarou, but its good to know Missouri has a big man capable of keeping up with the big boys.

Other Notes from last night

Phil Pressey’s shot comes and goes, but his passing and defense don’t. There will be some games during conference play where he won’t miss much, which should really scare the opposition.

Marcus Denmon is legitimately a first team All-American right now. He’s an elite scorer, great shooter, but also a really good rebounder. Not sure he ends up on the first team at the end of the year, but if he keeps playing like this, he’ll deserve to.

Missouri was able to beat a high major team, essentially on the road, despite most of the team shooting the ball poorly. Encouraging sign.

Missouri’s next game is Friday night against Navy.

Big 12 Power Rankings

We’re deep enough into the non-conference season to put together the first power rankings of the season. Expect weekly updates (probably Tuesday’s) the rest of the season.

1. Baylor Bears

Baylor has been more than just the most talented team in the conference so far this season. While the early season script wasn’t pretty (too much mental wandering during second halves) the results have been. Perry Jones III is back, which has benefited the team across the board. JuCo transfer Pierre Jackson has been impressive for stretches off the bench, which provides Baylor with the outside threat they need to be great.

2. Missouri Tigers

Somehow going away from the Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball has made the Tigers even faster. The speed of Phil Pressey and Mike Dixon has given opposing guards nightmares all year long. Inside play will be a question all season, but the emergence of Kim English as second banana to Marcus Denmon gives Mizzou hope for a run at the conference title.

3. Kansas Jayhawks

A loaded non-conference schedule will pay off later in the season. Kansas has a lot of work to do, but looks good to challenge for the conference title. Thomas Robinson is a star, and Tyshawn Taylor has really stepped up. To stay with Missouri and Baylor all season though, Kansas needs better three-point shooting, and more scoring from Elijah Johnson and Travis Releford.

4. Texas Longhorns

The freshman have looked good so far, especially Jonathan Holmes and Myck Kabango. J’Covan Brown is a scoring stud, and will benefit from the surprising help he’s gotten so far. I think this Texas team does a lot more damage than people were thinking a month ago.

5. Texas A&M Aggies

Not sure yet what TAM is, especially with Khris Middelton injured. Not sure we will know much about them until conference play starts.

6. Oklahoma State Cowboys

I haven’t been terribly impressed by Le’Bryan Nash, and Keiton Page is in a terrible shooting slump. Right now, this team isn’t anything special, despite having intriguing talent.

7. Kansas State Wildcats

Undefeated so far, but haven’t played much. Win over Virginia Tech is nice, beating West Virginia on Friday would be better.

8. Iowa State

Have a feeling Iowa State is going to lose a lot of really close games all season long. Royce White is dark horse candidate for conference player of the year.

9. Oklahoma

Only loss is to an impressive SLU team, but haven’t played much competition. Their offense has been impressive all season, which should keep them in games this season.

10. Texas Tech

You lose to DePaul, you get ranked last. Tech already has issues scoring, that will only get worse once Big 12 play starts.