10 Things That Every College Basketball Fan Wants for the Holidays
The college basketball fan's ideal world consists of non-stop entertainment on the hardwood and access to as many intriguing moments of the 2016-17 season as possible.
The holidays are a time for fulfilling wishes, and lovers of college basketball have several requests for things that would make the winter months more enjoyable.
Some of the things fans want are sheer fantasy, while others are within the realm of possibility. Whether it be something to see or something to imagine or something to change, the fan has his list of what he wants for the holidays.
We offer 10 things every college fan would want this time of year.
A Healthy Duke Team
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Duke looks like a dominant team on paper with all of the talented pieces it has. That's why it was an overwhelming choice as the preseason No. 1 team.
We haven't seen that team yet, so we don't really know how good this team is or can be. First there were the absences of the three talented freshmen: Jayson Tatum, Marques Bolden and Harry Giles.
Then there were the injuries to Grayson Allen and Frank Thomas that kept them out for a game. Tatum and Bolden became available and began to work their way into the system, and Allen and Thomas are back to full strength.
However, Giles, the nation's No. 2-ranked prospect according to Scout, is still not part of the picture. He made his debut in Monday's victory over Tennessee State, but he went scoreless in just four minutes on the court, so the real Harry Giles has not appeared yet. Even after Giles starts getting meaningful minutes, it will take some time for him to shake off the rust.
It will also take Mike Krzyzewski some time to settle on a rotation and for his players to get used to their roles. The starting lineups for most top teams were apparent before the season began. That's not the case for Duke, which has eight or nine players who could be starters.
Some awfully talented players will have to be satisfied with coming off the Blue Devils' bench, and it remains to be seen how that will impact the the Blue Devils' chemistry and success.
It will be fun to see how it turns out, if and when all of the pieces are available and working together.
Can the fully equipped Blue Devils roll through the ACC, which currently features six nationally ranked teams? How will that Duke team of offensive standouts fare against a Virginia team that leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing a mere 46.7 points per game, more than 10 points fewer than the No. 2 defensive team?
The regular-season finale against archrival North Carolina on the Tar Heels' home court could be a doozy.
Whether you love the Blue Devils or hate them, you want to see them at their best if you are a college basketball fan.
A Rule Change Forcing Players to Play at Least Two Years of College Ball
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UCLA's Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf, Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, Washington's Markelle Fultz, Michigan State's Miles Bridges, Duke's Jayson Tatum, Kansas' Josh Jackson, North Carolina State's Dennis Smith Jr., Arizona's Lauri Markkanen and Florida State's Jonathan Isaac. These are the biggest stars from the strong lineup of standout freshmen who have made a major impact on college basketball this season.
And this does not even include Duke freshman Harry Giles, who was the No. 2-ranked recruit, according to Scout, and might be the best of the bunch when he gets going.
You could argue this is the best freshman class in history. The numbers they're putting up are off the chart, and the influence they're having on their teams' upward mobility is impossible to ignore.
Ball and Fox are among the national player of the year candidates, according to Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. Monk put up 47 points, including the game-winning three-pointer, against North Carolina. Fultz is projected by Draft Express to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft. In fact, Draft Express projects the first eight draft picks and 13 of the first 16 will be freshmen.
Wouldn't it be nice to see those players in a second season of college ball? One or two may stick around to become college sophomores, but most will be gone before we receive a full dose of their talent.
Which ones would develop further and be even better as sophomores? Which would plateau or regress as second-year college players once opponents figure out how to deal with them? Which ones would continue to dominate play with the infusion of more freshman talent next season?
Obviously it's sheer fantasy to think such a rule change would occur soon enough to be in effect next season, but this is the time for dreaming.
Frequent TV Appearances by UCLA's Entertaining Squad
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UCLA has taken over Showtime in Los Angeles.
It's not just that the Bruins are undefeated, ranked No. 2 and resemble the great UCLA teams of the 1960s and 1970s. It's the way they are doing it, with flash, elegance, teamwork and amazing offensive skill. Every UCLA game is a showcase of basketball entertainment.
UCLA ranks second in the nation in scoring at 96.9 points per game, behind only the wild and largely unsuccessful style of The Citadel. The Bruins have scored over 100 points five times, and they aren't putting up those big numbers against weaklings. They scored 102 against Michigan and 97 against Kentucky.
The Bruins' smooth, fast-paced, but unselfish style adds to the show. UCLA leads in the nation in assists by a fairly wide margin at 28.3 per contest, and more indicative of their sweet execution is that it's second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.95).
There's more. The Bruins lead the nation in field-goal percentage at 55.4 percent and are second in three-point percentage at 43.9.
It is all held together by freshman point guard Lonzo Ball, an early candidate for national player of the year, according to Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. Ball is second in the nation in assists (8.7 per game) while averaging 14.4 points and 5.5 rebounds. He is making 54.5 percent of his shots, an excellent number for a guard, while making 44.8 percent of three-point attempts with his funky-looking shot.
He is not the entire show, however, as the Bruins have six players averaging more than 11 points per game. Isaac Hamilton, Bryce Alford and 6'10" freshman T.J. Leaf are all averaging at least 16 points while hitting at least 41 percent of their long-range shots. Leaf is also grabbing 9.3 rebounds a game while demonstrating every offensive skill that exists.
Thomas Welsh, a 7-foot junior with a nice outside touch, has missed the past two games with a bruised knee, but he's expected back soon, according to the Orange County Register. He is averaging 11.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
The Bruins also have Aaron Holiday, probably the best sixth man in the country. He is averaging 13.9 points while making 53.8 percent of his shots overall and an amazing 56.1 percent of his three-point attempts.
Their games against crosstown rival USC should be great entertainment because the Trojans are undefeated, nationally ranked and averaging 82.6 points with five players scoring in double figures.
The Bruins' games against the athletic Oregon Ducks and tough Arizona Wildcats should be fascinating, and so should the contests against Washington, when Ball will go against Huskies freshman point guard Markelle Futlz. The Bruins play all three of those teams twice during the Pac-12's unbalanced 18-game schedule, and none should be missed.
Wouldn't it be nice if a UCLA basketball channel existed this season?
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A Seat on the Plane for Villanova's Midwest Trip
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Defending national champion Villanova deserves its current No. 1 ranking, and Wildcats swingman Josh Hart deserves to be considered a prime early season candidate for national player of year honors.
However, it will be a five-day stretch in the midwest that will indicate just how good Villanova and Hart are.
On Dec. 31, Villanova plays undefeated, ninth-ranked Creighton in Omaha, Neb. On Jan. 4, Villanova plays 13th-ranked Butler in Indianapolis. Those two Big East games are the toughest regular-season contests on the Wildcats' schedule, and they must play them back-to-back.
The Jan. 29 non-conference game against Virginia will be a challenge, but Villanova gets to play that game in Philadelphia. The Feb. 11 game at Xavier will be a difficult one for Villanova, but the Musketeers have not looked overpowering recently.
The Wildcats' tough five-day stretch begins with a 1,200-mile trip to Omaha, where Villanova will play a Saturday afternoon game in front of about 18,000 hostile fans at CenturyLink Center. Creightoin has won 10 straight games there, including a 12-point victory over a Wisconsin team ranked No. 9 at the time. Bluejays point guard Maurice Watson Jr. leads the nation in assists per game (9.2) and is a national player of the year candidate.
If Villanova survives that, it will next play Butler at storied Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the Bulldogs are 6-0 this season, including a 10-point victory over then-No. 22 Cincinnati. Butler also beat then-No. 9 Indiana at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and knocked off Arizona in Las Vegas.
Wouldn't it be a hoot to accompany the Wildcats to see how coach Jay Wright and his players prepare for those two games and how they react to the results? The two games won't define Villanova's season, but they will go a long way toward determining the toughness of this Villanova squad.
A Ticket to Baylor's Feb. 1 Game at Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse
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Kansas was a unanimous pick in the coaches' preseason poll to win the Big 12 title for a 13th consecutive season, and it's easy to see why. The Jayhawks returned four of their top six scorers from last year's regular-season conference champion and added Josh Jackson, the nation's No. 1-ranked recruit, according to Scout.
With the conference looking considerably weaker overall, it seemed the Jayhawks were a shoo-in to match the record of 13 straight conference titles accomplished by UCLA from 1967 through 1979.
But then along came Baylor.
The Bears were unranked in the preseason poll; in fact, they were not one of the 49 teams that received votes in the season's first Associated Press poll.
However, Baylor caught attention for beating fourth-ranked Oregon by 17 points. Then the Bears knocked off 24th-ranked Michigan State by 15 points. After Baylor handed No. 10 Louisville its first loss of the season, it dealt No. 7 Xavier a 15-point defeat.
Baylor has zoomed up to No. 4 in the country and received more first-place votes in this week's AP poll than No. 3 Kansas.
Baylor has three wins over top-10 teams this season and is easily the season's most surprising success story. There is one caveat: None of the Bears' victories over ranked foes came on the opponent's home court, and three of the four were on Baylor's home court.
Nonetheless, it appears that if any team is going to prevent Kansas from winning another conference title it will be surprising Baylor. West Virginia, at No. 12, is the only other Big 12 team in the top 25, and the prediction that the conference would be weaker this season appears to be accurate.
The Big 12 is one of the few major conferences in which each team plays every other team in the conference twice. Baylor will have its best chance to beat Kansas when the teams meet in Waco, Texas, on Feb. 18. But the Jayhawks may have a firm grip on the conference race by then. The more intriguing matchup will be the first one, on Feb. 1 in Lawrence, Kansas.
The Jayhawks have won 46 consecutive games at Allen Fieldhouse, and that streak may be at 50 by the time Kansas hosts Baylor. The surprisingly good play of Johnathan Motley and the effectiveness of the Bears' zone defense have carried Baylor to unexpected heights, but can the Bears knock off Kansas on the hallowed grounds of Allen Fieldhouse?
The Jayhaws' last home loss came nearly three years ago, in a non-conference defeat against San Diego State on Jan. 4, 2014. Coach Bill Self is 213-9 at home, giving him more consecutive conference titles (12) than home losses (nine).
If any team can pull off the upset at Allen Fieldhouse and possibly end Kansas' run of conference titles, it may be Baylor, which has been pulling off surprises all season. Having a ticket for that game would be special.
A Live Look at the Citadel's Circus
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The Citadel's style may be more of a gimmick than a strategy, but it may be the only way the Bulldogs can attract national attention. Certainly The Citadel would not be mentioned on this wish list unless it had something peculiar to offer.
And it is peculiar. The Citadel leads the nation in scoring at 102.5 points per game in games played through Dec. 18. It is also 346th of 347 Division I schools in scoring defense, yielding 100.3 points per game. (Savannah State is actually allowing more points, at 103.7 pr game.)
The Citadel scored 110 points against Arizona State and lost, and it allowed 112 points against Stetson and won.
Ths Bulldogs lead the nation in three-pointers attempted with 458 through 12 games, an average of 38.2 per game.
The style was introduced last season when Dugger Baucom was named The Citadel's head coach. The Bulldogs had averaged just 64 points per game the year before he arrived, but averaged 86 points last season. The Bulldogs are scoring more this season.
The Baucom style calls for full-court pressing the entire game, with players encouraged to shoot three-pointers whenever they are open.
“In a nutshell we’re going to play the fastest tempo of any team in college basketball,” Baucom said in a FoxSports.com story last December. "Our basic philosophy is that we try to shoot it before we turn it over.”
Baucom insists his team actually plays defense.
“We don’t give up baskets. We try to turn you over," he said. "We’re more risk than reward. We’re not about trading twos for threes. We want to stop you or steal it from you because we want more possessions in a game. It’s almost like shot inflation.”
It is somewhat like the style Loyola Marymount used with great success in 1989-90, averaging 122.4 points (most in the country) and yielding 108.1 points (most in the country). The Lions made it to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight that year.
The difference, of course, is that Loyola Marymount had players like Bo Kimble, Jeff Fryer and Hank Gathers (before he died during the West Coast Conference tournament). The Citadel has no player of that caliber, which is why the Bulldogs are just 7-5 with no wins of significance.
But wouldn't it be a hoot just to sit in on a game involving The Citadel just to see how it's done? A few minutes of observation may be enough.
Prime-TIme Television Coverage for Saint Mary's Games Against Gonzaga
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Tucked away in the West Coast Conference resides one of the best rivalries in college basketball.
Saint Mary's and Gonzaga have been running neck-and-neck for conference supremacy for more than a decade. The two schools have finished first and second in the WCC 12 of the past 13 seasons. They tied for the regular-season title in 2011 and 2016, and in 2012 Saint Mary's recorded its only outright WCC regular-season title since 1989. Gonzaga, under Mark Few, has had the upper hand in conference titles, but the Gaels have provided a stiff challenge ever since Randy Bennett became the head coach.
They typically play three times every season: twice during the regular season and again in the conference tournament. Each game is a thriller. Each plays in a small, noisy arena that typically spells doom for any unsuspecting visiting team.
Gonzaga has won nine of the past 11 meetings between the two teams, but Saint Mary's won both regular-season games against Gonzaga last season, including a rare victory at Gonzaga. However, Gonzaga captured the conference's only 2016 NCAA tournament berth by beating the Gaels in the finals of the conference tournament.
After the two teams finished tied for the WCC regular-season title last season, it's ratcheted up a notch this season, with both teams ranked in the Top 25.
The Bulldogs added transfers Nigel Williams-Goss and Jordan Mathews, and welcomed back 7'1" center Przemek Karnowski, who missed most of last season with a back injury. They are unbeaten, including a win over Arizona, and rank No. 8 in the country. A strong defensive team, Gonzaga is allowing opponents to shoot just 36.7 percent from the field.
The Gaels return all five starters from last season's 29-win team, and that does not include Jock Lansdale, who leads the team in scoring and rebounding this season after coming off the bench last season. Again the Gaels are fortified with Australian players, with seven Aussies on the roster, including four who are among the team's top six scorers.
A remarkably efficient team with outstanding passers and shooters, the Gaels rank third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Saint Mary's and Gonzaga meet for the first time this season on Jan. 14 at Gonzaga's McCarthey Center. That game will be televised by ESPN2, but it will start at 10 p.m. ET. Their second meeting, at Saint Mary's 3,500-seat McKeon Pavilion, will be Feb. 11. Again it will be televised by ESPN2, but again it will start at 10 p.m. ET.
It's a good bet the Gaels and Bulldogs will meet in the WCC tournament championship game as well, and that game starts at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 7, making it a bit easier for those along the Atlantic seaboard to see it.
It would be nice if all three Saint Mary's-Gonzaga games were played on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, allowing the entire country to see what has become a major West Coast event.
A Season Pass for Central Michigan Games to Watch Marcus Keene
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Only the ardent college basketball fan is aware of the gem hidden in the Mid-American Conference.
His name is Marcus Keene, and this 5'9" offensive dynamo plays for Central Michigan. But before this season began there was no indication he would become a national conversation piece.
Keene played his first two college seasons at Youngstown State, averaging 6.5 points as a freshman and 15.6 points as a sophomore on a mediocre Penguins team that finished last and next-to-last in the Horizon League those two years.
He was playing shooting guard for Youngstown State and decided to transfer to Central Michigan. After sitting out a year as a transfer, Keene returned to action as a point guard who has put up mind-blowing numbers.
In games played played through Dec. 19, Keene is averaging 30.8 points, more than five points per game more than the nation's second-leading scorer. Keene could become the first Division I player in 20 years to average 30 points or more for the season.
However, he is not the typical high-scoring player from a low-profile program who racks up points with no concern for efficiency or team success. Keene is making 51.1 percent of his field-goal attempts overall, an impressive number for any guard regardless of size or scoring rate. He is also making 42.9 percent of his three-point shots while collecting 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists for a team that is 8-3.
Granted, Keene has not produced his impressive numbers against the likes of Duke or Kentucky. His 40-point game in the win over Green Bay didn't get much attention, even though Keene also had 11 assists and seven rebounds with just one turnover.
His 36-point efforts against Pepperdine and William & Mary were also greeted with shrugs. But every highlight clip of Keene shows him hitting amazing shots, sometimes from 10 feet behind the three-point line.
His lowest scoring output of the season was a 23-point effort in a 107-58 victory against overmatched NAIA Division II opponent Marygrove College, a game in which Keene played just 23 minutes.
Watching every Central Michigan game as the Chippewas bid to win the MAC and Keene tries to maintain his 30-point average would be a basketball fan's delight.
A Rough and Tumble Big Ten Race, Plus a Sweet Ending for Northwestern
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Big Ten favorites Indiana, Purdue and Wisconsin are grouped together in the middle of the Top-25 rankings, and all three have dynamic frontcourts with stars occupying space in the paint. It rekindles the reputation of the Big Ten as a rough, tough conference where physical play and aggressiveness around the basket carry the day.
The college basketball fan can only hope officials let these teams play out their physical brand of basketball to determine the Big Ten champ.
Indiana features 6'10" center Thomas Bryant, who was NBC Sports' preseason Big Ten player of the year and demonstrated his impact when he had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the season-opening victory over Kansas.
Purdue answers with 6'8", 250-pound power forward Caleb Swanigan and 7'2" center Isaac Haas. They are the Boilermakers' top two scorers, and Swanigan is having a monster season, averaging 16.8 points and 11.1 rebounds.
Wisconsin also has two of the conference's top frontcourt players in 6'8" Nigel Hayes, who was named the preseason Big Ten player of the year in the media poll, and 6'10" Ethan Happ, last season's Big Ten freshman of the year. Hayes has come on recently, averaging 20.0 points over the past four games, while Happ showed his skills in a 24-point, 13-rebound effort in a victory over Syracuse.
Lingering on the outskirts of that tussle for Big Ten supremacy is Northwestern and its bid to earn its first NCAA tournament berth in history. Northwestern has had a men's basketball team since 1904 and the NCAA has held a Division I postseason basketball tournament since 1939, but never have the two intersected.
The Wildcats are the only power-conference team that has had a Division I program since 1939 but has never played in the NCAA tournament. This could be the year. They are 9-2 with wins over Texas and Dayton, and could have won the games against Butler and Notre Dame.
It would be treat for college basketball fans to see Northwestern break through to the Big Dance, just as baseball fans enjoyed seeing the Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.
A Challenge for Kentucky in the SEC
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Kentucky's talented freshmen tend to showcase their impressive skills best when the Wildcats play formidable foes.
In the loss to UCLA, De'Aaron Fox had 20 points and nine assists, Malik Monk contributed 24 points and five steals and Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 13 rebounds.
In the victory over North Carolina, Fox had 24 points and 10 assists, Monk had 47 points and Adebayo had 13 points and seven rebounds while being limited to 19 minutes because of foul trouble.
The college basketball fan wants those players pressed to the limit to force them to produce their best. The concern is that teams in the Southeastern Conference may not be able to provide enough of a challenge.
This Kentucky team is starting to resemble some of John Calipari's best squads, and his best teams have had little trouble waltzing through the SEC season. The 2014-15 Wildcats finished five games ahead of the second-place team in the conference standings. The 2011-12 Kentucky team won the regular-season SEC title by six games.
The conference season was merely a walk-through in preparation for the NCAA tournament. The same possibility exists this season.
South Carolina is the only other SEC team in this week's Top 25, and at No. 22 the Gamecocks do not seem to be at the same level as the Wildcats. Florida and Texas A&M, whose only losses have come against teams currently ranked, may be the only SEC teams capable of pushing the Wildcats.
It would be a nice gift to college basketball observers if South Carolina, Texas A&M or Florida could force the best out of the Wildcats through the entire SEC season.
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