It was a big weekend of College Basketball. Here are three big thoughts from this weekend.
by Jordan Beckley
1. Illinois can compete without Terrence Shannon Jr. & the Trey Kaufman-Renn investment pays off
Friday Night started off with one of the biggest games of the Big Ten Calendar year with Illinois visiting Purdue. All due respect to Wisconsin as the only remaining undefeated team in the conference, but these two top ten teams are the favorites to win it meeting in the first of two heavyweight matchups.
The ending was predictable with the home favorite (by double digits) winning 83-78, but how we got there was anything but predictable.
For Illinois, the game was a major gut check and show of resiliency. In their third game without All-American level guard Terrence Shannon Jr., the Illini went into the toughest arena in the Big Ten and took quite the first punch falling behind 20-6 quickly. However, Underwood’s team weren’t knocked out and fought back to make it 21-24. The Boilers again hit them with an uppercut and took a 15 point lead into halftime. Again, Marcus Domask, Coleman Hawkins, Quincy Guerrier and the rest of the Illini hung in there. The Illini never gave up and were able to keep heartrates high for Purdue fans cutting an 18 point second half lead to 5 points by the final whistle.
Since losing TSJ, Illinois has proven that they are still a high caliber team and one that certainly won’t give up because he is gone. Marcus Domask has officially just replaced TSJ as their All-Big Ten performer and might even be a better distributor to his teammates than Shannon was in the lead role. The rest of the Illini all spread the floor and can punish opponents from deep (okay, maybe not Ty Rodgers) or off the dribble. Their versatility and unpredictability was a harnessed weapon against Northwestern. The Illini are playing through Coleman Hawkins more and he is helping to run better half court offense. Their pace has been slower, but the offense has actually been more productive.
We don’t know how long Shannon will be out or if he will come back. But right now somehow you have to take Illinois seriously still as a very good team.
For Purdue, the biggest takeaway is that the investment into starting Trey Kaufman-Renn next to Zach Edey paid off. Often, the minutes with the 6’9 big next to the other huge big seemed redundant and only helped to seal off defenders on drives. I hadn’t quite figured out why Coach Painter had insisted on playing both bigs, but this game showed why. TKR dropped 23 points on 8-12 shooting (and more shockingly 6-7 from the line) while adding 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The rebounds were misleading as it seemed TKR was everywhere on the offensive glass and certainly tipped just as many balls that were corralled by other teammates.
Kaufman-Renn is obviously a 5 and it has been puzzling as to why he had been out there with the best 5 in the country. The Illinois game showed he is out there because he is too talented to not be. Illinois was supposed to be able to exploit the Boilers two bigs with their versatile Hawkins and Guerrier. Instead, TKR imposed his will all game and was the mismatch. With all due respect to Caleb Furst and Mason Gillis’s Penn State game from last year, neither has the ceiling that TKR hit in this game.
So, Purdue now wins their fourth game against a Top 10 opponent and their fifth against Top 10 KenPom teams. We have seen Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith, Lance Jones, TKR and obviously Edey have huge games and moments in at least one of those premier matchups. Scream about FDU all you want, Purdue is now 43-7 in their last 50 games and continues to show you why they are National Title favorites.
2. Flagrant Fouls have gone too far
TCU was locked into a tight battle with Kansas in Phog Allen on Saturday.
The Horned Frogs had been working their tail off to upset the Big 12’s Goliath and were up 79-77 with 1 minute left when former-Jayhawk Ernest Udeh relentlessly fronted Hunter Dickinson and beat him to the pass.
In the process of them fighting for the ball (one they both have a right to get) Dickinson took an unintentional elbow and crumpled to the floor.
Because Dickinson stayed on the ground, the refs stopped TCU’s fast break off the turnover, reviewed the play (that they were fine with in live action) and called Udeh for a Flagrant 1.
Kansas made the two free throws, got the ball back and Dajuan Harris scored to take the lead at 81-79 . The Flagrant call was arguably a 6 point swing and handed the game to the Jayhawks.
It wasn’t the only big flagrant call either. Lance Jones got a flagrant 1 for (checks notes) … boxing out his opponent who then fell on top of him. The call helped spur on the furious late comeback from the Illini.
Both calls are examples of normal physicality in the flow of the game, but because both players stayed on the ground they were both rewarded with essentially two possessions worth of points.
I don’t necessarily have a huge problem with either of these being Flagrant 1s, but I do think that it is officially too much for incidental physicality to be worth two possessions. I agree with dirty Flagrant 2 calls being worthy of that, but if we are going to officiate normal basketball plays as too physical, then maybe Flagrant 1s should just be two free throws.
Right now a Flagrant 1 is too big of a call. I think two free throws regardless of where they are in the bonus and the fouling opponent then getting the ball is more appropriate with the sort of calls warranting Flagrant 1s.
3. North Carolina might just be good and not great
This is more of a gut feeling than a true observation.
Logically a win at Pitt and a win at Clemson should not make me go, “Ehhh, I just don’t think they have it.” but that’s where I am at with the Tarheels. There was something about Ian Shieffelin’s 16 point, 11 rebound, 5 steal and 4 block performance that made me think North Carolina is just good not great.
I don’t believe in Armando Bacot and National Champion existing in the same sentence. I know we are about 20 months and a loose floorboard away from him making that sentence exist, but I have just seen Bacot beaten down low too many times or not snuff out other great big guys to buy into him.
Bacot is a good player. Not a great player. RJ Davis might be great. Harrison Ingram does the right things but North Carolina might need him to do more than he can. Elliot Cadeau hasn’t been the 5th guy yet. Seth Trimble could be. Neither of the bench bigs have shown any reason to think they can carry the ship for 4-8 minutes in March if foul trouble happens.
It’s a weird conclusion to make for a team that will move up to 7th in the AP Poll today after two true-road wins. I know I have no real proof statistically to show my work here. Still, I think its important to say that while North Carolina has climbed the rankings, they haven’t made that leap to be a great team like UConn, Houston or Purdue.
Parting Shots
- Seton Hall had a big week winning at Providence (first home loss for the Friars) and protected their home court against Marquette. Expect Shaheen Holloway and the Pirates to be in the AP Poll this week.
- Clemson had a bad week losing their first two big ACC games against Miami and North Carolina. Don’t be surprised if Clemson falls out of the AP poll after dropping two prove-it games.
- Other prove-it games from early conference play included Ole Miss being blown out by Tennessee, BYU losing their first Big 12 game at home to Cincy and Houston dismantling West Virginia.
- Three ranked Group of 5 teams fell in Colorado State at Utah State (understandable), James Madison to Southern Miss (finally) and FAU to Charlotte for it’s second loss in three games (concerning).
- Auburn is really, really good and I regret not including them in my Super Sixteen after they hunted the Razorbacks in Bud Walton Arena.