Hello and welcome to Midweek Madness! This is The Floor Slap’s weekly CBB article from our CBB expert, Jordan Beckley… Hi, that’s me. Every Thursday, I will be recapping the week that was, the weekend ahead and doing so in a variety of recurring segments and superlatives. So, follow us (@thefloorslap) and have our site bookmarked to make sure you don’t miss a moment of the Madness all season long!
by Jordan Beckley
The Iso
Time to clear out and go 1 on 1 on this week’s Isolated Team.
This week’s ISO team is the Michigan Wolverines and it couldn’t have come at a better time as Juwan Howard taken the Head Coaching position back.
Howard resuming his title comes at a weird time for the Wolverines. UM had lost three straight games before winning at Iowa, but not without the coaching staff breaking into infighting on whether or not to pull the walk-ons after a late Hawkeye surge.
There’s also of course the weird twitter and message board fueled story that Juwan Howard would no longer be the coach after an alleged altercation with the Michigan Basketball strength and conditioning coach.
That story has sort of blown over, but it was clear that this program needed some sort of leadership and somebody to take control.
Michigan started with a strong performance this past week with a home win over Eastern Michigan. The Wolverines took a lead early and never surrendered it. They hit threes, a bunch of players contributed and there was enough defense to win.
A good start for Coach Howard’s return.
Then this past Tuesday Michigan played Florida in the Jumpman Invitational in North Carolina. After that here is where I land on Michigan:
Michigan is a fine basketball team.
Watching that Florida Michigan double overtime game (which was closer to a stinker than a thriller) you see the difference between good, great and fine teams.
A great team makes 3-5 bad plays a game and those are overanalyzed while the 95% of terrific offense and tough defense is taken for granted.
A good team has some games of 3 bad plays where maybe they get a win they shouldn’t. Think Northwestern upsetting Purdue. And has bad games where they have 15 bad plays and lose a game they maybe shouldn’t. Think Northwestern losing to Chicago State.
A fine team constantly vacillates between good and bad play and that can be more infuriating than just being a bad team.
There are moments where you watch Dug McDaniel zip passes cross court, dice up defenders ankles, or hit floaters that you wonder how high up in the Big Ten guard rankings he should be. Then there are also the turnovers, the lacking defense and the rough forced shots that make you think, “What the hell was he thinking?”
Same is true of Olivier Nkamhoua, Nimari Burnett, Will Tschetter, Tarris Reed, really anyone on this team.
Sometimes Burnett is a lockdown defender. Other times he is an open doorway to the lane. Sometimes Nkamhoua is an unstoppable offensive player. Other times he floats out of the game. Sometimes Tarris Reed looks like a future All-Big Ten big. Other times he is a fumbling oaf who can’t hit free throws.
Both Florida and Michigan showed they were fine teams in that Double OT game. Neither team could string together enough good plays in a row to win until we were 50 minutes into it.
You see the flashes of an awesome offense and a capable defense with the Wolverines and you go, “Ok, just play like that all the time.” Then they go and have a 7 minute period where Florida buries them.
It’s because Michigan isn’t capable of consistently producing the good run of play. Otherwise they would be a good or great team.
Michigan is a fine team, and that is more frustrating than just being a bad team like they were projected to be.
So, tournament outlook is real dicey after the loss to Florida. Michigan has wins against St. Johns and Stanford (who are not tournament teams right now) and losses to Oregon, Florida and Long Beach State (teams that will be fighting for bids over the Wolverines).
It’s been a weird start to the season for Michigan. Maybe Juwan Howard resuming his post can bring some clarity and structure. If Michigan wants to make the tournament, they will need to be a good to great team and rack up some wins they aren’t supposed to get in conference play.
The Big 3
3 things I noticed in the world of CBB. Could be a big win, a big performance, a trend in the sport, a coach who made a dumb face on camera, really anything I want to talk about.
1. Purdue’s Guards are Good Enough to Win It All
One of the biggest knocks of the past two seasons for Purdue as a National Title contender has been their guard play.
“Purdue can’t win the National Title. You need at least one pro if not two in the backcourt to win. Purdue has 0.”
This criticism has always made sense.
You know when you are walking out in the moments before tipoff of a pickup game where you size up the opposing team and call out matchups?
Well, two guys with the build of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer certainly don’t strike fear into the opponent in those moments. Definitely not for guys with the visible brawn and athleticism that Kylan Boswell, Jaden Bradley and Caleb Love have.
Yet, this isn’t a pickup game where you eyeball the other team for 5 seconds and pick matchups. Arizona had a full week of preparation and scouting to take on Purdue this past Saturday.
All that prep and the higher status as pro prospects didn’t matter for the Arizona guards as Loyer and Smith dominated on the Pacers’ homecourt.
The Loyer & Smith Lawfirm combined for 53 points on 9-16 shooting from three in a game where Zach Edey faced one of the few teams in the country that could matchup with him down low. The two also accounted for 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 steals and most importantly 1 W.
The sophomore stars dominated the first half and Caleb Love dominated the second half, but it was late baskets from Smith, Loyer and Lance Jones that lead to the Boilers getting the last laugh.
It was one of many outstanding performances in a growing profile for the Purdue guards.
Smith had 26 points in the game against no. 1 Arizona and had 27 points, 5 rebounds & 8 assists in the game before against a top 10 Kenpom opponent (even still with 4 losses) in Alabama. Smith also turned in 18/5/5 against no. 4 Marquette to win the Maui Title. His evolution this season of hunting his own shot continues to raise the Boilermakers’ ceiling.
Loyer has been more boom or bust, but his booms of 27 points against no. 7 Tennessee and Arizona have landed two of the most impressive nonconference wins in the country.
As of Monday, Purdue is now once again the no. 1 team in the country. These two guards have a record of 39-7 in their collegiate career. Purdue this season has had the most difficult schedule of any Power 5 program according to KenPom and already have four wins over Top 10 teams.
Continue to underestimate these two at your own peril. There is one game last March that tells you what you think they can’t do and a whole bunch of results that tell you otherwise.
After seeing these two rise up for Purdue’s first victory over the no.1 team in the country in 23 years, I believe Purdue can win it all with their backcourt. You should too.
2. Weekend’s Big Winner: The Big Ten
This has not been a great year for Big Ten Basketball so far, but this weekend was definitely a good one.
The conference is certainly staring at one of its lowest bid counts in recent memory and a less than stellar non-conference performance would certainly hurt any tiebreakers come Selection Sunday.
However, this weekend’s performance will go a long way towards respectability for the Big Ten as we had many big non-conference wins and competitive losses.
Michigan State’s win over no. 6 Baylor (and therefore the Big 12) was a huge step in the right direction for a Spartan team that was starting to be left behind. Close losses to Duke and Arizona won’t get you in the tournament and no matter how good JMU finishes this season a home loss to the Dukes could’ve prevented the Spartans a berth. Now a signature, dominating win over Baylor will help bolster whatever conference resume Izzo’s team will make.
Purdue was always going to be a top seed but them regaining the no. 1 overall ranking by the end of non-conference play and beating the likely PAC-12 champion will certainly go a long way for the teams that upset them in Big Ten play. For instance, Northwestern’s loss to Chicago State is much more forgivable with a win over the best team in the country. The Wildcats did bounce back and win an ugly 56-46 game against DePaul on Saturday, so they aren’t the worst Chicago team thankfully.
Other big results swung the Big Ten’s way with Ohio State beating UCLA on a neutral court and Nebraska winning in Manhattan against Kansas State in what might be a bubble bursting game come March.
Even results that didn’t swing the Big Ten’s way make it look more competitive. Penn State taking a Georgia Tech team (that beat Duke) to overtime is nice and will make the conference’s bottom theoretically more appealing. But, the big non-win win was Indiana fighting like hell against no. 2 Kansas.
The Hoosiers almost pulling off their Assembly Hall upset of the year will help them down the road. Sure, beating a top tier Kansas team would have been better, but this outcome is infinitely better than if the Jayhawks stomped them like last season. Indiana should make the tourney this year, but if it is close between them and the potential 10th bid in the Big 12, competing this hard against one of the conference’s best will help them get the nod. (We aren’t going to talk about the Morehead State close call btw).
3. Transfers on Top Programs
Building on my transfer point from last week’s article, it struck me this week how many teams have a starter or in some cases their best player from the portal.
Here is this week’s AP Top 10 and a significant transfer from each team:
- Purdue – Lance Jones
- Kansas – Hunter Dickinson
- Houston – LJ Cryer
- Arizona – Caleb Love, Keshad Johnson
- UConn – Cam Spencer
- Marquette – N/A
- Oklahoma – Literally the whole team
- Tennessee – Dalton Knecht
- Kentucky – Tre Mitchell
- Baylor – RayJ Dennis
So 9 of the 10 teams have a key player come from the portal in just this past offseason alone. I didn’t include anybody like Tyler Kolek, Tristen Newton, Oumar Ballo etc. who transferred before this year.
This is just another sign that recruiting, player development and retention are important, but you still need to be a player in the portal to stay at the top. This is why Michigan State fans should be upset with Tom Izzo for not going portaling for a center.
Blindly sticking to the old ways can hurt you. You need to be able to upgrade certain positions and minutes through the portal if you can. Otherwise you can be left behind.
Good Game Bad Game
Loosely defined as a weekly game where I name one (or more) good game and bad game from a player, coach, ref, mascot, towel boy, jumbotron operator or anybody in CBB.
Good Game: Trey Galloway, Devin Carter, Keshad Johnson
It is harder to have a better game than Trey Galloway had against Kansas on Saturday. With Xavier Johnson out again, Galloway was lights out carrying the Hoosiers offense with 28 points on 12-17 shooting. Yes, Trey Galloway attempted 17 shots and it wasn’t a bad game for IU! Sadly, it wasn’t enough as Coach Woodson’s bench scored just three points and Gabe Cupps made one basket in 37 minutes. Galloway certainly did his best though.
How about the Big East huh? In the opening games of the conference schedule we got to see Seton Hall blow out no. 5 Uconn, Villanova beat no. 12 Creighton in overtime, and witness Devin Carter and the Providence Friars knock off reigning champs no.6 Marquette. Carter scored 22 points, procured 8 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 5-9 from the deep. He and Davonte Gaines’ 10 threes helped power Providence to another home-cooking win despite a tough Bryce Hopkins performance. This could be the first of many signature wins for Kim English at Providence College.
A lot of the coverage from the Purdue game will be about Caleb Love’s good game, but the guy who stood out in person was Keshad Johnson.
Johnson scored 24 points on 8-13 shooting with 8 boards and 3 steals. Trust me, it felt like Johnson went 12-13 when watching live. He is 6-7″, 210lbs, long as all hell and quick as all hell. Johnson out muscled smaller opponents on the glass and near the rim, and drove right past Purdue’s similar sized forwards. I mean he even drove right past some of the smaller Purdue defenders too. Oh plus he is shooting the three at his best % (34%) on the most attempts of his career (2.9 3PA).
Love also got all the hype as the summer transfer, but don’t forget Johnson also has Final Four experience too. Johnson is a mismatch for every team in college basically and could be a huge X-Factor for Tommy Lloyd.
Bad Game: Isaac McKneely, Baylor’s AP Poll Ranking
You could say almost everyone but Reece Beekman had a bad game in Memphis for Virginia. I am going to pick on Isaac McKneely though. The Sophomore McKneely scored just 6 points on 1-8 shooting (0-5 from three) with just 1 rebound, 2 assists and 4 turnovers. The Cavs are currently scoring the 335th most points per game in the country and McKneely is their second leading scorer at 11.7 a game. Tony Bennett simply can’t have him lay an egg like that if they want to compete.
Baylor entered this past weekend as an undefeated no. 6 team in the country. The Bears have lost two straight and will have dropped probably 8 spots come Monday. Sometimes climbing rankings happens from just not playing anyone. Baylor was always closer to the 10-15 range and the neutral site losses to Michigan State and Duke reaffirm that.
Weekend Wagers
I preview the biggest games in the weekend slate and give my moneyline picks. For picks ATS follow us on X.
We have a pretty weak slate with the Holidays coming so here are quick three to keep an eye on for Friday and Saturday.
Illinois vs Missouri
- Braggin’ Rights Rivalry Game
- Last year Missouri won by a lot
- This year Mizzou is much worse than Illinois
- Does that mean that Illinois will dominate?
- Most of these games finish as single-digit wins.
- I don’t see it being a close game this year.
Maryland vs UCLA
- Under Armour Revenge Game
- Last year UCLA demolished the Terps.
- The Bruins were up 29 points AT HALF!
- Mick Cronin’s team also just lost to… Cal State Northridge? and are 5-5 on the year.
- Maryland might also be bad?
- With lots of change, neither team has put it together quite yet this season
- I like the under! Two bad teams who flat out might not score against each other.
- I hate having to pick a team to win this game, so I will pick Jahmir Young to win this game.
Arizona vs Florida Atlantic
- This is the lone ranked matchup of the weekend
- It is a neutral site game in Las Vegas
- This should be one of the highest over unders in college basketball as both teams/ love to run
- They both usually deliver too. (I like blindly taking the over and rooting for points)
- Can the Owls keep pace though?
- It will be fun to see Vladislav Goldin run the court with Ballo. It will be more fun to see Johnell Davis and Caleb Love go at it.
- I like Arizona to win by up to 7.5 or so.
Award Winning Wings
A rotating selection of made up superlatives and awards. Named fondly after how every restaurant has ‘award winning wings’
Dunk Party in Detroit
If you haven’t checked out the highlights of Michigan State’s win over Baylor, it’s worth a watch.
Baylor’s defense was about as good as what a CBB traditionalist believes an NBA defense is like and that lead to an awesome Tyson Walker performance and dunks from essentially everyone on the Spartan Roster.
Excellence in Journalism Award
This year’s first Excellence in Journalism award goes to Evan Miyakawa who answered the age-old question of, “Is Zach Edey Good? Or is he just tall?”
Not only is Zach Edey lapping the field of the “really tall” players, but Miyakawa goes on in the next tweet to point out that from the Bayesian Performance Rating (a measure of offensive and defensive impact) he has been the best player in D1 basketball since 2011.
So, thank you Evan Miyakawa for your excellent reporting for helping the blind people see.
In this example, blind people are the haters who need a Bayesian Performance Rating to tell them that the guy who averages 25 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks is in fact skilled and good.
At this point if you are still saying, “Well, if he was 6 inches shorter he wouldn’t be good…”, all you are doing is exposing yourself for not knowing ball.
The Wait What? Upset of the Week
Apologies for publishing last week before seeing that Chicago State beat Northwestern. That for sure would’ve been the Wait What? Upset as that is exactly what happened when I saw the score later that day.
This week’s pick is for a team nobody would blame you for not being tapped into. Micah Shrewsberry’s Fightin Irish are supposed to suck this season. A transfer portal exodus decimated a roster that was already not good. Notre Dame is very very young and will be appropriately bad this season.
Still, losing to The Citadel by 20 points at home in a 65-45 defeat is pathetic. Coach Shrews was fittingly upset in the press conference.
It could be a long season for Notre Dame fans.
Ethan Morton Three Point Tracker
Morton held steady this week at 2/8 from beyond the arc still. He didn’t attempt one in the Arizona game, but we did get to see a rare game with both a free throw and 2 point attempt. He missed both.
Did Louisville win a game this week?
Yes, Louisville won a game this week with an 85-63 victory over Pepperdine. The 22 point win is the largest margin of victory in the short Kenny Payne era.
Somehow it has felt like four years of futility and we are less than 21 months into it. The Cardinals have Kentucky today in the Yum! Center.
A win could earn Coach Payne a longer tenure. An embarrassing loss could signal a new coach for the new year.
No Explanation Power Rankings
I am just the humble mouthpiece for the No Explanation College Basketball Committee, who release their weekly Big Ten Rankings to me. I provide their rankings with… no explanation.
Zero explanation was given for the big moves from Nebraska, the slide from Iowa, and the neutral teams lack of movement. Not even a Happy Holidays from the Committee.
But I will wish you a Happy Holiday weekend! Despite the paltry upcoming late December slate we will be back next week with another Midweek Madness and a mystery ISO team!