Strengths: Kemba's biggest strength is his athleticism. Simply put, he is impossible to stay in front of. He is lightening quick with the ball in his hands, capable of changing direction instantly even when running at full speed. It also helps that he has the handle you'd expect from a New York City point guard. That quickness, combined with his vertical explosiveness and body control, make him terrific at finishing around the rim despite his diminutive stature. Walker is capable of hanging in the air and contorting his body at awkward angles in order to finish layups amongst the trees. Walker started out the season on fire with his jumper, but he came back to earth as defenses began to key on him more. Still, his stroke looks much improved and when he has time, he's consistent. He likely won't be asked to shoulder as much of a load at the next level as he did at UConn throughout much of the season. Perhaps Walker's biggest strength as a player is his leadership ability. He put that UConn team on his back for much of the season, keeping them in the mix as his young teammates slowly learned from him how to be a winner. He's a charismatic kid that should be a terrific locker room leader down the road. Weaknesses: The most obvious weakness when it comes to Kemba is his size. While he measured out bigger than expected at 6'1" in shoes, his size is obviously a detriment to him defensively. Its not that Kemba isn't a terrific defender -- he is -- its that bigger, stronger guards like Deron Williams and Derrick Rose will be able to dominate him. That's an issue that could end up keeping him from being a starter. The other concern with Walker is whether or not he is truly a point guard. He averaged 23.5 ppg as a junior, taking more than 18 shots per game. He appeared at times to be more of a natural shooting guard than point guard, although he did also average 4.5 apg and just 2.3 t/o's.
Comparisons:
Best Case Scenario: Brandon Jennings or Aaron Brooks pre-injury. Smaller point guards that are able to score in bunches while dominating the ball are a trend in the NBA right now. Its more than just the two I listed here. The NBA likes players than can create shots, and that is exactly what Kemba's strength is.
Worst Case Scenario: Louis Williams. Williams was a big time prospect coming out of high school, but he has yet to fulfill his potential in the League. A double figure scorer, his role is more as a back-up point guard and spark plug than as a consistent starter.
Outlook: Kemba Walker was expected to be one of the best point guards in the country coming into the season, but I don't think anyone expected what Walker gave us. He followed up a 42 point performance against Vermont with one of the great Maui Invitationals we have ever seen before leading UConn to Big East and NCAA Tournament titles. The numbers were impressive, but some of the performances weren't. During the middle of the year, Kemba struggled with his shot selection and his ability to trust his teammates. He had a group of youngsters around him, and early in the season everything that the Huskies did went through him. Late in the year, right before the Big East Tournament began, Walker's play started to change. He started to trust his teammates more, allowing them to get their shots while picking his spots to make the big play. As they developed into consistent threats, Walker was able to run the Huskies as more of a point guard than a big time scorer. That is the role he is going to have to play at the next level, and his ability to orchestrate that much postseason success out of a roster that wasn't expected to finish in the top half of the Big East is one of the biggest reasons that his future appears bright.
Draft Range: Top Five to Seven
And the experts say...
Chad Ford: "Walker may be small in stature, but he has a HUGE heart. He has taken UConn on his back this season and has become one of the most prolific scorers in college basketball. He has great quickness, speed in the open court and has really improved his jump shot this season."
Draft Express: "He is at times criticized for questionable shot selection and a penchant for playing out of control, but Walker's turnover rate is down substantially this year. This is a very good sign, especially considering the huge role he's forced to shoulder offensively. We've seen a handful of possessions this season that reminded us of Walker's old ways, but nothing that should make NBA decision makers overly concerned. This is something to keep an eye on as the season progresses, as opposing coaches will surely be throwing everything in their arsenal at Walker in an attempt to slow him down."
Swish Scout: "Exciting scoring guard with an NBA skill set when it comes to shooting, passing, dribbling, and picking up steals. Although an undersized combo guard at 6’1” who occasionally forces things, Walker’s an outstanding gamer and clutch performer who can play a gear above everyone else and knows how to win."
As we all expected, Kemba Walker announced his decision to enter the NBA Draft on Tuesday afternoon.
Its the correct decision. There is nothing that he can do that will ever make his draft stock any higher. A 5'11" scoring guard, Kemba will be selected in the top ten of this year's draft despite most outlets projecting his best case scenario as a high-energy, instant-offense threat off the bench. That's what happens when you dominate the month of March in college hoops.
Throw in the fact that Kemba is coming off of a national championship and will be graduating this spring, and there really isn't anything left for him to do at the college level. According to the Hartford Courant, he'll be finishing up his degree by interning for whatever NBA team drafts him:
Walker, a sociology major, is just shy of graduating. He'll finish course work over the next few weeks and will have some online courses and internship (probably conducted with the NBA team that drafts him) in order to officially graduate. He will walk in the commencement next month.
The fact that Walker is graduating in three years is a bit of a shock in and of itself. He wasn't exactly a model student prior to this year, but he made a decision over the summer to dedicate himself to his studies in order to leave UConn with a degree in three years.
Even before that Walker had begun trying to complete himself in ways that underscore the danger of painting any college basketball program—even one that will go on probation immediately after winning the national title—in broad, cynical strokes. Last spring Walker approached UConn academic counselor Felicia Crump and asked her to help him figure out how to earn his degree in sociology so that he could enter the draft this year and still graduate. Together they built a schedule that required Walker to take courses last summer in Storrs and then a full load in both the fall and the spring. "We're talking about a young man who was just an average high school student, at best, and who had always been more concerned with basketball," says Crump. "I told him, 'If you can do this, you'll leave behind a legacy that's more important than anything you do on the basketball court.'"
Walker took schoolwork with him throughout the Big East and NCAA tournaments, completing short required papers while postponing tests until after the season. He met with his campus tutor on Skype. And in his travel pack is a copy of New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden's Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete, a book that Crump encouraged Walker to read as part of an independent study class on racism in sports. Before the Final Four, Crump suggested that Rhoden's book would be the first that Walker had ever made it through cover-to-cover. After the win over Kentucky, Walker confirmed this. "That's true," he said. "You can write that. It is the first book I've ever read."
On Friday, Joe Nocera of the New York Times wrote this column showcasing the NCAA's double standard when it comes to players and coaches.
The central characters?
Jim Calhoun -- the head coach of UConn that earned an $87,500 bonus for winning the national title despite the recruiting violations he was sanctioned by the NCAA for this yeay -- and Perry Jones -- a star freshman at Baylor that was suspended for the Big 12 Tournament because his sick and single mother got a loan from a family friend that happened to be Jones' AAU coach to help cover rent.
Honestly, there is nothing in this column that I disagree with.
I love college basketball. I love the passion that it is played with. I love learning about these kids before they are stars at the college and the professional level. I love the NCAA Tournament. But that doesn't mean that I agree with the way college basketball, and football, players at the top programs are exploited for profit. And it also doesn't mean that I enjoy reading and knowing about the cheating and illegal recruiting that happens at the top of the sport.
Like I said, there isn't much in that column that I disagree with.
What bothers me, however, is the focus that has landed on Jim Calhoun after his third NCAA title. And the overwhelming majority of what was written sounded an awful lot like this column from Gary Parrish. Don't get me wrong, that column from Parrish is terrific, but in worrying and focusing on the wrongs of Calhoun, the national media trivializes just how special UConn's run was.
Kemba Walker didn't cheat anyone. He didn't commit any recruiting violations. In fact, he's every journalist's dream. Kemba was a first-team all-american and the story of the college basketball season, carrying a team full of freshman from 10th in the Big East in the preseason to the top ten nationally, a Big East Tournament title, and an NCAA championship. But he was also a legitimate student-athlete. He'll walk in May and will complete his degree requirements with a couple of online courses this summer.
What about the growth of Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier throughout the season? Did those two look like they were good enough influential members of a national title team as late as January?
Did you hear any mention of the fact that Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Alex Oriakhi have now won national titles as teammates at the prep, AAU, and college levels?
Winning 11 straight games in the postseason doesn't just happen. In fact, prior to this year, it had never happened. And while it was Calhoun that was manning the sidelines, it was the kids that were on the court that won those 11 straight games.
Calhoun will forever be thought of as a dirty coach.
But his players did nothing wrong.
And one can only hope that their accomplishment won't be tarnished by the legacy of Nate Miles.
UPDATE: For those that don't believe Kemba was a true student-athlete, take a look at this excerpt from Tim Layden's piece in the latest SI on UConn's title run:
Even before that Walker had begun trying to complete himself in ways that underscore the danger of painting any college basketball program—even one that will go on probation immediately after winning the national title—in broad, cynical strokes. Last spring Walker approached UConn academic counselor Felicia Crump and asked her to help him figure out how to earn his degree in sociology so that he could enter the draft this year and still graduate. Together they built a schedule that required Walker to take courses last summer in Storrs and then a full load in both the fall and the spring. "We're talking about a young man who was just an average high school student, at best, and who had always been more concerned with basketball," says Crump. "I told him, 'If you can do this, you'll leave behind a legacy that's more important than anything you do on the basketball court.'"
Walker took schoolwork with him throughout the Big East and NCAA tournaments, completing short required papers while postponing tests until after the season. He met with his campus tutor on Skype. And in his travel pack is a copy of New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden's Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete, a book that Crump encouraged Walker to read as part of an independent study class on racism in sports. Before the Final Four, Crump suggested that Rhoden's book would be the first that Walker had ever made it through cover-to-cover. After the win over Kentucky, Walker confirmed this. "That's true," he said. "You can write that. It is the first book I've ever read."
On Sunday afternoon, Jimmer Fredette was announced as the Naismith Award winner, one of the six National Player of the Year awards that get handed out.
As of the end of the regular season, that choice looked correct.
As of now?
Well, frankly, not having Kemba Walker as the Player of the Year just seems silly.
If you couldn't tell, the difference has been what Kemba Walker has done during the Big East and NCAA Tournaments. He's been sensational. He's averaged 26.3 ppg, 5.0 apg, and 5.4 rpg. He's thrown his team on his back and carried them from ninth place in the Big East to the Big East tournament title and, quite possibly, the national title come Monday night.
There has been no one in the country better than Kemba over the last month. But does that mean he was the best player in the country this season?
No, it doesn't. What people are forgetting right now is just how average Walker was during the middle of the Big East schedule. Not all of that was his fault, however. The Big East is a grind. While the league as a whole underperformed in the NCAA Tournament, that doesn't change just how tough it is to go through a Big East regular season. Its been said many times over, but there was a lot of good in the Big East, but not a lot of great.
It may be more difficult to play a schedule that is loaded with a lot of good. Nights off in Big East play were few and far between. Five teams didn't make the NCAA Tournament. One of them was Seton Hall, who had as much talent on their roster as anyone in the middle of the Big East's pack. Another was Rutgers, a tough, physical group that played as hard as their head coach Mike Rice is emotional. Providence had an all-american on their team in Marshon Brooks. Hell, even DePaul played a pressing style under Oliver Purnell that put quite a bit of wear and tear on the legs of their opponents.
The Big East schedule wore on UConn's youngsters. Alex Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb, and Shabazz Napier were incredibly inconsistent during that stretch. It put all kinds of pressure on Walker to make every play. It forced him to become over aggressive at times, as he was playing selfishly at times.
That hurt his numbers. But it also prepared the youngsters for the bright lights and pressure and physicality of the tournaments.
Kemba is not a different player than he was during February. If you think he is the best player in the country right now, than he was probably still the best player in the country during the regular season. Guys like Nolan Smith and Jimmer Fredette simply had better, and probably more consistent, seasons than him.
Kemba Walker is playing his best basketball right now, but that is a result of his supporting cast playing as well and as consistently as they have all season long. Continue reading...
The question of whether this is Kemba Walker's tournament to lose is an interesting one.
He is, in fact, the best player left in the tournament. It isn't even all that close.
When Kemba gets it going, he can flat out take over a game. He's a nightmare to try and stay in front of, but he no longer is infatuated with trying to score over big men around the rim. While his mid-range jumper has become a deadly weapon, he's developed a reputation for knocking down tough jumpers from deep in clutch situations.
Throw in the fact that he is a perfectly willing and capable distributor of the ball when defenses start to collapse on him, and Kemba is an absolutely ideal fit for this UConn team. The Huskies are talented, but all of that talent is young. What could be better than an experienced, talented leader taking the brunt of the defensive focus and setting up his teammates in a position where they can easily succeed.
The problem, however, is that Kemba has a habit of forcing the issue on the offensive end of the floor. He has a tendency to over dribble, and there are times where his shot selection is less than ideal. It is those times that UConn struggles.
Those situations have been few and far between in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments, however, and that is the direct result of the play of Kemba's teammates.
Jeremy Lamb's growth this season has been tremendous. He's gone from a timid and unsure freshman to a confident scorer and a clutch performer on both ends of the floor. Not only has he averaged 16.0 ppg in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments, he made the plays down the stretch that won UConn's games against San Diego State and Arizona.
Alex Oriakhi has the ability to be an absolute menace on the interior. When he is playing well, he is carving out space around the rim. Defensively, that results in blocked or changed shots. Offensively, it results in a lot of easy buckets and offensive boards.
Shabazz Napier hits some clutch shots, Roscoe Smith and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel have become double digits scoring threats, and even guys like Charles Okwandu and Niels Giffey have contributed at key moments in this Husky run.
UConn cannot survive without Kemba's production.
Saying otherwise is silly. Its wrong. Its the kind of thing that will make me not trust whoever made that statement in the future.
But UConn also cannot survive if Kemba is the only one producing. We've seen it happen too many times this season. Kemba finished the game with 30 points on 28 shots, no one else reaches double figures, and the Huskies end up losing by ten.
The key for the Huskies will be Kemba's supporting cast. If they play well, UConn has a very good shot to win another national title. If they don't, the Huskies will head home with a loss, either on Saturday night or Monday night.
Kemba Walker may be the best player still dancing.
But whether or not UConn wins this tournament will be based on what the rest of the Huskies can provide. Continue reading...
The importance of Kemba Walker to the UConn Huskies this season cannot be overstated.
He is that team. He carried them early in the season to wins over teams like Texas and Kentucky. He led them to a title in the Maui Invitational. UConn, who barely cracked the top ten in the Big East's preseason poll, made it all the way into the top five in the country at one point this season. And in March, the month when reputations are earned and sullied, he has led UConn to eight consecutive tournament wins. Five came in a five-day span as UConn won the Big East Tournament title, and three have come in the Huskie's run to the Elite 8, capped by Thursday night's 74-67 win over San Diego State.
As good as Kemba has been, the Huskies are not a one man show. That said, while there is certainly no argument over who the leader is for this team, UConn hasn't exactly had a clear No. 2 emerge.
It sounds silly saying that now, after Jeremy Lamb scored 26 points and made arguably the two most important plays of the game against San Diego State, but early in the season it was Shabazz Napier who appeared to be ready to play the role of Kemba's sidekick. When he faded, it was Alex Oriakhi picking up the slack inside. When Oriakhi had his ups and down, Roscoe Smith stepped in and had a couple of big games.
As much as Kemba Walker has added to this team on the stat sheet, his biggest contribution has been largely immeasurable. And it will be Jim Calhoun and the UConn faithful that reap the benefits.
I don't think anyone expected this kind of season from Kemba Walker. I am certain that no one expected a year like this out of the Huskies, not with the talent they were losing and NCAA violations hanging over the program's head.
This was supposed to be UConn's rebuilding season. It was supposed to be the year where Kemba showed off his talents to NBA evaluators while helping to get his younger, inexperienced teammates seasoned to the rigors of Big East basketball.
And while the results have been more than anyone expected, those facts haven't changed.
Kemba is going to be paid to play next year.
The rest of his team will be back for their sophomore and junior and senior seasons.
Regardless of what happens over the course of the next 10 days, Kemba has already cemented his legacy in the annals of college basketball history. He's already ensured that he will be treated like a deity every time he steps foot in the state of Connecticut. A Final Four or a national title would be icing on the cake.
But his greatest contribution has been the fact that he is the anti-Jerome Dyson.
Kemba's leadership has done more than just win individual games for the Huskies. It has helped make the individuals on the UConn team better basketball players.
Jeremy Lamb has the skill set to be a pro. He's 6'5", he's got the wingspan of an 747, he's athletic, and he is a smooth and well-rounded offensive threat. He's also a passive, shy kid whose biggest flaw as a basketball player is his lack of aggressiveness. If it wasn't for the confidence that Kemba has helped to instill in him, would Lamb even be in a position to score 26 points in an NCAA Tournament game?
Would he be in a position where folks were talking about him potentially being a Big East player of the year down the road?
Shabazz Napier has gone from a turnover prone gunner to a freshman with the balls to take, and make, tough shots in the clutch. Jamal Coombs-McDaniel went from an afterthought sitting on the bench to an important asset at the forward spot that can player the three or the four and is capable of scoring 20 points in a game. Alex Oriakhi has gone from a big body in the paint to a post threat on both ends of the floor and one of the toughest players to keep off of the offensive glass. Roscoe Smith is now a defensive playmaker, an offensive rebounder, and a power forward that can get out in transition while being a threat from three.
All of those guys had that potential coming into the season.
But anyone that watches UConn closely knows that all of them developed and gained confidence over the course of the season. Its that growth and development that has UConn supporters feeling confident about next year's team with their star point guard playing in the NBA.
How much of the growth of the supporting case that can be attributed to Kemba is something we will probably never be able to put a value on. But that value, frankly, is irrelevant. At the end of the day -- at the end of the UConn season, whenever it comes -- it won't matter how or why the UConn supporting cast developed and grew the way they did.
It will only matter that they did.
Because without the production from the non-Kemba's, UConn wouldn't be where they are right now. They wouldn't be sitting in Anaheim preparing for the Elite 8 as Big East Tournament champions. And there wouldn't be the same kind of confidence about the 2011-2012 season.
Maybe that will be Kemba Walker's legacy as a UConn Husky. Continue reading...
When Kemba Walker gets into a zone, he is a very difficult man to stop. It took the wear and tear of 190 grueling minutes of basketball over the course of just five days to slow down the UConn sophomore.
Even that was only so effective. Instead of scoring the game winning basket on Saturday night, Kemba, who had 19 of his 130 Big East Tournament points against Louisville, drove through four Louisville defenders and set up Jeremy Lamb with a wide open layup to give the Huskies a 67-66 lead with 33 seconds left.
Go ahead. Throw four defenders at Kemba. He'll still make a play. He's that difficult to stop.
Which is why Rick Pitino was so frustrated when he felt the referees were giving the all-american a friendly whistle.
"He's not Michael Jordan!" Pitino yelled at the refs at one point during the game.
Kemba agreed. When informed of what Pitino said, Kemba said "I'm not Michael Jordan, I'm Kemba Walker. That's it."
And he's right. Kemba is not Michael Jordan, even if he played like it for five games in Madison Square Garden. No one is.
But Kemba is not the same player he was when he entered college as a freshman, playing a role behind AJ Price on a Final Four team. The writing was on the wall, however -- like when he scored 21 in Madison Square Garden against St. John's or when he scored the bucket that forced the first of six overtimes against Syracuse in the Big East Tournament.
Craig Austrie saw it.
"I knew he was going to be a player, but what he's doing now is just amazing," the former Husky shooting guard said after watching UConn win the Big East title. "The transformation in his game is unbelievable. I've never seen a player's game improve that way. His jumpshot. His fearlessness. His leadership."
"Its just unbelievable to see someone improve like that."
The point that Austrie is making isn't that Kemba struggled in his first season in Storrs. He averaged 8.9 ppg and 2.9 apg in 2008-2009, which is far from struggling. What Austrie was getting at -- and what I wholeheartedly agree with -- is that Walker is simply that good.
Maybe not Michael Jordan good (yet), but better than anyone we've seen in college basketball this season.
"He's the best player in the country right now," Austrie said.
Its tough to disagree with him after seeing what Kemba managed to accomplish this week.
That improvement didn't come easy, however. It took long hours in the gym, doing dribbling drills until his hands were calloused and shooting jumpers until his calves were cramping.
"This is what I worked for the whole summer," Walker said," this is what my whole team worked for, and the hard work is paying off."
The biggest improvement the junior point guard has made this season is in his mid-range and pull-up game. Last year, Walker had a very bad habit over-penetrating, of beating a defender and taking the ball all the way to the rim to try and finish amongst the trees. For someone standing all of 6'0" on a good day, challenging players 6'10" or 7'0" is not the most efficient way to score.
While Walker still takes the ball all the way to the rim this year, he's only doing it when he was a lane. When a big man rotates over in helpside defense, Walker isn't challenging him this year. He's taking that 8-10 foot pull-up jumper.
And making it. Walker is damn near automatic in that range.
"He's just out their doing his thing," said Andrea Walker, Kemba's mother, who sounded just as exhausted as Kemba did after five days of cheering her son at the Garden. "He's doing what I know he can do, and what the whole world now knows he can do."
"It's unbelievable."
Apparently, that is a popular way to describe Kemba.
Perhaps the most unbelievable part is that Kemba hasn't let this success -- the awards, the all-american nominations, and the flocking cheerleaders -- change him from who he is. His mother, who can be seen standing for the duration of every UConn game wearing her white No. 15 UConn jersey, was the first person he sought out in the crowd.
"I'm never nervous," Andrea Walker said when asked why she never sits down. "Its just that I like to cheer and keep him motivated."
"I know he can hear me."
What did he say to you after the game?
"I told him congratulations and he told me he loves me."
Everyone loves the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Four straight days jam-packed with 12 hours of do-or-die college hoops is more than most people can handle.
But for junkies like us, the next 13 days are just as good, for it is when the true Madness takes place. Over the course of these two weeks, we whittle some 347 teams down to 30 conference champions (the Ivy doesn't have a tournament). Auto-bids will be won. Bubbles will be burst. Buzzers will be beaten. And most importantly, a 68 team bracket will be made.
For a comprehensive listing off all the conference tournaments, follow this link or click the "Complete Conference Tournament Schedules" page at the top of the screen. To become more acquainted with the teams that have already sealed up auto-bids, follow this link.
Here is what happened on Friday:
Kemba Walker had the most vicious buzzer-beater you will ever seen, Colorado got off the bubble, and a few teams got their bubbles busted.
Game of the Day: North Carolina 61, Miami (Fl) 59
North Carolina played so poorly in the first half that head coach Roy Williams yanked all five starters in favor of walk-ons. The Tar Heels had committed 14 first half turnovers and scored only two field goals in the first four minutes. But the starters eventually found their game and battled back. Miami led by 19 points with 9:56 remaining in the game, but Carolina closed the game on a 27-6 run. The Tar Heels' only lead came when there was no time remaining on the clock, which was a result of this great finish:
They were good too
- UConn 76, Syracuse 71 OT
This was the first time these teams have played in the Big East tournament since the six-overtime game in 2009, UConn and Syracuse picked up where they left off. Kemba Walker scored 33 points, and filled the stat sheet with 12 rebounds, 5 assists and six steals to lead the Huskies to their fourth win in four days. Scoop Jardine had 20 points to lead the Orange, including a pair of 3-pointers at the end of regulation to bring Syracuse back from the dead, and force overtime. Alex Oriakhi was dominant down low for for the huskies and reserve forward Tyler Olander had a career-night. Follow the link to read more about the magic that took place at the Garden on Friday night
Team of the Day: St. Joseph's Hawks
The Hawks pulled off the upset of the night, defeating No. 3 Duquesne in overtime of the Atlantic-10 quarterfinals. They won just four games during conference-play, but have now strung together three straight wins, two coming in the post-season. Duquesne rallied from an eight point deficit with seven minutes to play. For the final five minutes of regulation, it was a back-and-forth battle. Ronald Roberts scored on a slam-dunk with 1.5 seconds left to send the game into overtime. In the extra frame, the Hawks scored five quick points and kept the Dukes at bay. Sophomore guard Carlton Jones led the Hawks with a career-high 28 points.
They were good too
- Clemson Tigers
The Tigers win the award for "Most impressive victory in a must-win situation". Clemson destroyed fellow bubble-dweller Boston College 70-47 in the ACC quarterfinals. Boston College was never allowed to make this a competitive game. The Tigers never trailed and in the second half had a double-digit lead for all but about 2 minutes. Their longest scoring drought was just under 50 seconds. Demontez Stitt led the way with 20 points, 8 rebound and 4 assists. The Tigers now must face No. 2 North Carolina in the ACC semifinals.
Co-Player of the Day: Kemba Walker, UConn
"...Most valuable player in America, bar-none. You cannot question it." That's what Jim Calhoun had to say about his superstar guard after UConn's 76-71 overtime game in the Big East semifinals. UConn has now won four games in four days. In those four games, Walker has played 157 of 165 minutes and has scored 111 points. The 111 points has broken the previous Big East tournament record, the 84 set by Eric Devendorf in 2008. But Walker didn't just score points last night. He grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out five assists and had six steals. He didn't hit a game-winning buzzer-beater, but he did just about everything else.
Co-Player of the Day Jimmer Fredette, BYU
Imagine if a team had two players of Jimmer Fredette's caliber. Then imagine those two Jimmers merging into one, forming a super-mega-Jimmer. Sounds a bit ridiculous, right? Well, that's essentially what happened last night in Las Vegas.
BYU had lost four straight games against New Mexico, and it was clear that Fredette wasn't going to let it happen again. Jimmer scored a career-high (and tournament-record) 52 points on 22-37 (59%) shooting, including 7-14 (50%) from behind the arc. His 52 points accounted for 59% of his of his team's overall output.
Consider this: by halftime Fredette had scored 33 points, the same amount of points it took Wisconsin an entire game to score. In fact, Fredette outscored seven D-I programs last night. Jimmer may actually get an at-large bid all by himself.
They were good too
- Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
The senior leader rolled his ankle in the Spartans first round game against Iowa, and his availability for last night's game was uncertain. Not only did he play, he dominated. The guard scored a career-high 30 points in the Spartans must-win game over No. 2 Purdue, 74-56. He was8-15 from the field including 4-6 from behind the arc.
Bubble Banter
- Alabama beat fellow bubble-sitter Georgia in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. You would think this would have solidified Alabama's tournament status, right? Well their work isn't done. If they can beat Kentucky in the SEC semifinals, then the committee will have no choice but to let them in.
- The last thing Boston College needed was to suffer a 23-point defeat to another bubble team, and that's exactly what they did. The 70-47 loss to Clemson will likely burst the Eagles' bubble.
- Beating Boston College was big. But beating them convincingly was even bigger. Clemson is right there on the cusp of a bid, and unlike Boston College, they still have a chance to improve their status.
- Colorado got out to a big lead, then blew it, then got down big, then fought back, but ended up running out of time. But despite the 90-83, the Buffs should end up in the Big Dance.
- Georgia needed to beat Alabama and they didn't. But losing is overtime isn't as bad as it could have been. But now they are forced to sit and wait, and that's not what they wanted to do. They are looking like part of the "last four out" right now.
- Illinois needed to beat Michigan, and they didn't. I'm not sure if their bubble is completely busted or if they still may have an outside chance. but nonetheless, it's not up to them any more.
- No team has improved their bubble status in the past month as well as Michigan has. With the win over Illinois yesterday, it is likely that Michigan will get a bid come Sunday.
- Did you really think Michigan State would fold and force the committee to leave them out of the tournament for the first time in decades? The Spartans punched their dance ticket last night by throttling No. 2 Purdue 74-56.
- The good news for Penn State is that they won the game. The bad news is that the final score was 36-33. For now Penn State just needs to continue winning.
- USC was on the wrong side of the bubble entering last night's semifinal game against Arizona. Without the services of their head coach, the Trojans put up a valiant effort but ultimately lost, ending any hopes they had of making the tournament.
- Virginia Tech is in a sticky situation. Yes, they did get the win they needed, beating Florida State in the ACC quarterfinals, but the game was decided by a razor-thin overturned video-review. But with the win, they get to continue playing, and they face a Duke team may not have their best player. For the Hokies, it's simple: win, and you're in.
Friday Results
Patriot League Finals
#1 Bucknell 72, #6 Lafayette 57
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Quarterfinals
#1 North Carolina 61, #9 Miami 59
#4 Clemson 70, #5 Boston College 47
#2 Duke 87, #7 Maryland 71
#6 Virginia Tech 52, #3 Florida State 51
Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament Quarterfinals
#9 Dayton 68, #1 Xavier 67
#12 St. Joseph's 93, #4 Duquesne 90 OT
#2 Temple 96, #10 La Salle 76
#3 Richmond 55, #6 Rhode Island 44
Big East Conference Tournament Semifinals
#9 UConn 76, #4 Syracuse 71
#3 Louisville 83, #2 Notre Dame 77 OT
Big Ten Conference Tournament Quarterfinals
#1 Ohio State 67, #8 Northwestern 61 OT
#4 Michigan 60, #5 Illinois 55
#7 Michigan State 74 #2 Purdue 56
#6 Penn State 36, #3 Wisconsin 33
NEW YORK - Kemba Walker didn't want Friday night's Big East semifinal against Syracuse, which UConn won 76-71, to go into overtime.
Can you blame him?
Ignoring the fact that UConn blew a six point lead in the last 40 seconds of regulation, the kid has played 157 minutes of basketball in the last four days, including 85 in the past two games.
"Of course I didn't want to go into another sixth overtime," Walker said with a laugh after the game. "I was mad when it went into the first overtime. But I thought about the six-overtime game and I wanted to get the win in that first OT. I didn't want to go into another one."
Eventually, you would think he would get tired, right?
Because these aren't easy minutes Kemba is playing. Every shot he takes he has to work for, whether its coming off of a screen or putting the ball on the floor. Nothing comes easy for him on the offensive end, not when he's spent the majority of the season with the team resting squarely in the center of his diminutive shoulders. When he's not scoring, he's forced to defend one of an opponent's best back court players. Hell, he even led the team in rebounding tonight.
"Tell me the other guys who were getting 12 rebounds, six steals and assists," UConn head coach Jim Calhoun said after the game, ignoring the 33 points Kemba had on 9-18 shooting. "One of the greatest performances of any player of mine. I've never see a guard dominate a game inside and out."
What Walker has done in this tournament is nothing short of spectacular. He's already set the record for points scored in the Big East tourney with 111, breaking the old mark of 84 that Eric Devendorf set in 2009. When he scores his sixth point tomorrow night, he will break the all-time conference tournament record of 116 points held by Armon Johnson, who did it for Ohio last year in the MAC.
Regardless of what happens in Saturday's final, Kemba has cemented his spot in Big East Tournament history.
The question that UConn must answer is whether, after becoming the first team in conference tournament history to play five games in five days, their team, and Kemba in particular, will have the energy to compete tomorrow night.
Alex Oriakhi, for one, isn't worried about Walker.
"When we play pick up in the summer and we're all tired, he's still running around," the Huskies center said after going for 15 points and 11 boards, including six huge offensive rebounds. "He's like a little kid with tireless energy. Kemba, he's just never tired."
"He can't get tired tomorrow. Its the championship."
Tonight, however, you could see Kemba's legs start to go late. Where he was able to get by his man early in the game, the Husky point guard didn't have that extra burst down the stretch. The step back jumpers he was hitting all tournament? Those were coming up short in the second half.
"The only thing that surprised me is when he went to the interview he looked tired," Calhoun said. "Not so tired at the start of the game but at the end of the game."
When Kemba got tired in the second half, his teammates were there to pick him up. After being relatively non-existent for much of the game, freshman Jeremy Lamb made arguably the two biggest baskets of the game in overtime, knocking down a couple of floaters against the Syracuse zone that allowed UConn to hold on to their lead.
Regardless of what happens tomorrow, the talking point for the next week regarding the Huskies is going to be whether playing five games in the Big East Tournament is worth it. The amount of effort that the Huskies have expended this week has to have some effect on how they play during the NCAA Tournament.
For now, however, that isn't what the Huskies are focused on. They are focused on winning in the here and now.
"To say you are the best team in the best conference, that speaks for itself," Oriakhi said.
Walker agreed.
"Its the best collegiate tournament in the world," Walker said. "Its big time. It would definitely help us out for seeding in the NCAA Tournament."
"We want to win. We're not going to play no games to lose. We want to go out and win."
And if Kemba continues to play the way he has, there's a good chance that happens. There is no half-ass in these Huskies. This is a group that has gelled as the season as gone along. This is a team that believes that they can beat anyone in the country. And they understand that in order to do that, they have to play with a reckless abandon. They have to outwork their opponents. They have to make the blue-collar plays. They have to win the 50-50 balls.
Not to be cliche, but they have to leave everything they have on the floor every night.
And their star is the guy that leads the charge, that sets the tone for the rest of the team.
"I think [Kemba]'s the M.V.P. on any college basketball team in America," Calhoun said. "And I'm going to keep saying that because you've got a chance to witness what we have witnessed over the past 30-somewhat games."
Did I mention he got 12 rebounds?
How did a point guard that is 6'0" of a good day manage that?
"He got a lot of long rebounds," Oriakhi said with a laugh. "He wasn't battling like I was." Continue reading...
NEW YORK - For the sixth time this season, Kemba Walker hit a shot that won a game for UConn.
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel had dug out the last of UConn's 13 second half offensive rebounds and called time out, and after running Kemba off of a ball screen, the clock was winding and the Huskies all-american had 6'10" behemoth Gary McGhee guarding him.
And if a picture is worth a thousand words, than video is priceless:
"Everybody knows that I'm going to be the one to take that last shot or make the last play," Kemba told reporters just minutes after being mobbed by his teammates at center court. "So that's what I had to do for my team."
"There's nothing like doing it in your hometown," the Bronx native said.
And he's right. I'm sure the moment was just as special for Kemba as it was for his mom, who was standing and dancing in the front row next to the student section wearing her trademark white No. 15 jersey.
But the end result was almost very different.
For the first two months of the season, Kemba Walker was the runaway favorite for national player of the year.
He was scoring 30 points a game in wins over top ten teams in Maui. He was hitting buzzer beating shots to give the Huskies wins over teams like Villanova and Texas. He was putting UConn on his diminutive shoulders and carrying them, all the way to a top five ranking in the country.
But as the season wore on, defenses started focusing on him. The shots that were open early in the season were contested down the stretch of conference play. The game-winning shots he was hitting earlier in the season became turnovers in crucial moments late. As one prominent writer told me yesterday, the amount of good Kemba did early in the season was beginning to be outdone by the bad he was doing down the stretch of games late in the season.
This was Kemba's sixth game-winning shot of the season. It was his first, however, since the runner he hit to knock off Villanova on January 17th. Since then, his play in the clutch has been more goat than gloat. UConn lost close games to Louisville, West Virginia, Marquette, and Notre Dame, and in all four Kemba failed to make plays down the stretch.
It didn't exactly look like that was going to change on Thursday afternoon.
After Shabazz Napier got hung up on a screen, leaving Ashton Gibbs wide open in the corner for his sixth three of the game, this game was tied at 74 with 47 seconds left. As everyone in the gym knew, the ball was going to Kemba Walker. But, as Walker had already done three times in the previous three possessions, he missed a tough jump shot with 20 seconds left in the game.
Luckily, Coombs-McDaniel was there to grab the offensive rebound, giving Kemba and UConn another shot at getting the win in regulation.
"It's special, especially because I missed a couple of shots before that shot and my teammates had the confidence in me," Kemba said.
"Anybody in the world knew that ball was coming to me. I wouldn't take that shot and I called it out in the huddle. I wanted to take that shot."
But he hit the shot that mattered, and he sent the Huskies to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament to play the winner of Syracuse and St. John's. So credit Walker, who finished with 24 points on 8-22 shooting with five assists and three turnovers, for being able to rise to the occasion on the biggest of stages.
That said, credit must also be given to the other guys on the team. Alex Oriakhi completely dominated the paint in the second half, grabbing offense rebound after offensive rebound and leading the Huskies to 16 second chance points in the second half. He had 11 of his 13 points in the second half, and grabbed four of his five offensive rebounds (he had seven boards total).
"he didn't start off the game well, didn't play particularly well," Jim Calhoun said. "And in the second half he was the guy and he was great in the middle, scored points first for us, rebounded first, got in there, did a great job on defense."
Jeremy Lamb finished with 17 points and four boards while Shabazz Napier added 10 points and a couple of huge jumpers in the second half. Coombs-McDaniel had just five points and two boards, but he made the biggest play of the game getting the offensive board with 18 seconds left.
So while Kemba is the hero, remember that he would not have been in a position to provide the heroics if it wasn't for the play of the other four guys on the floor.
After beating Georgetown yesterday, UConn head coach Jim Calhoun was asked in the press conference how he felt about Kemba Walker not being a unanimous first team all Big East selection.
As you might imagine, Calhoun didn't hold back.
"I think someone took a vacation and didn't tell us and has been gone for five months," Calhoun told reporters after the game. "If anybody did it because they lost out in him recruiting wise, which we went to one city this year that that was the story in the paper, something from three years ago."
"If he's got something to say, he needs to say it to me," Cronin said, "and you print that. How would he know who I voted for?"
Later, Cronin was asked again.
"I root for kids when I'm close to them and I like them," Cronin said. "That's unbelievable. I'd do anything for Kemba Walker. He's a class act. It's not me, I can tell you that. If he wants to know who I voted for, he needs to ask me." Continue reading...
Kemba Walker didn't win Big East player of the year.
Ben Hansbrough did.
And no matter how clouded your judgement is with UConn bias, arguing against Hansbrough is a tough thing to do. Kemba was sensational earlier in the season, but struggled a bit in Big East play. Hansbrough, on the other hand, carried the Irish from a potential tournament team in the preseason to a potential No. 1 seed in the postseason.
You can argue Kemba was more deserving if you like, but you cannot rightfully say that Hansbrough didn't deserve this award.
You also cannot rightfully say that Kemba Walker was, at worst, the second best player in the Big East conference, which is why it was shocking to find out that he was not a unanimous pick by the Big East head coaches for first team all-Big East, which, for the record, has six players. UConn head coach Jim Calhoun, for one, was not pleased when he found out.
"I think someone took a vacation and didn't tell us and has been gone for five months," Calhoun told reporters after the game. "If anybody did it because they lost out in him recruiting wise, which we went to one city this year that that was the story in the paper, something from three years ago."
The article that Calhoun is referring to came from Bill Koch at the Cincinnati Enquirer at the end of February, and it highlights one of the issues with having coaches select the postseason awards in a conference. Kemba committed to UConn, backing off from Cincinnati late in the recruiting process. What if Mick Cronin, voting out of spite for the decision of an 18 year old, cost Kemba the player of the year in the Big East?
I'm not insinuating that Cronin was the coach that didn't vote Kemba on the first team, but in a business as cutthroat and shady as collegiate coaching, you're telling me there is no chance that a coach would allow a personal beef over a broken commitment, a hurt feeling, or a backroom deal backed-out on influence his voting?
"I've always said the media should vote this because I've watched things," Calhoun said. "Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, and they don't always come out because there is enough guys who thinks it actually makes a difference."
"[Kemba]'s as good a player in America and he'll be a first-team all American. I can't believe that no one would ever see him play and see the joy in which he plays with the speed he plays with the ability he plays with and the pure love of the game and think he is not as good of a player as he is in the league."
Kemba was terrific again in this afternoon's 79-62 win over Georgetown in the Big East Tournament's, confirming Calhoun's feelings about him. He finished with 28 points on 10-18 shooting from the field while adding six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. This came a night after he had 26 points, seven boards, and five assists in UConn's win over DePaul.
But DePaul is DePaul. And Georgetown without Chris Wright has played like DePaul.
Up next for the Huskies will be Pitt, who beat the Huskies by 15 this season despite a 31 point performance from Walker. That game, however, took place back in December, and since then the rest of the UConn roster has come alive.
Jeremy Lamb and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel have both become legitimate double digit scoring threats from the perimeter. Getting the scoring isn't as important as simply having a presence on the floor that the defense needs to be aware of.
"You don't need a lot of those shots to go in," Calhoun said. "You need the threat of a guy who can make those shots go in, that makes a big difference. They changed the defense, he made a difference today he's going to have to make one tomorrow."
Lamb and Coombs-McDaniel will help create space for penetrators like Kemba and Shabazz Napier, but the key for the Huskies tomorrow will be in the form of their front court. Pitt is the best offensive rebounding team in the Big East, and while the Huskies have a knack for getting to the offensive back boards, boxing out isn't necessarily this team's strong point.
"We need Roscoe and Alex and those guys to be tough for us," Walker said after the game. "That's the biggest thing. Pitt is an aggressive team down low and they get rebounds you've got to outrebound them and stay tough."
Yesterday, Alex Oriakhi ended up with 19 rebounds. He only had five in 24 minutes this after noon. Charles Okwandu only had three rebounds, while Lamb and Smith added four each.
Believe it or not, Kemba Walker was the Huskies leading rebounder on Wednesday.
While that supports Calhoun's argument that leaving Kemba Walker off of the Big East's first team is ludicrous, its a bad sign for UConn's team.
If that happens tomorrow, The Huskies can spend Friday and Saturday packing for the NCAA Tournament.
Its no secret that UConn is going to go as far as Kemba Walker takes them this season.
Its what was predicted by every writer in the preseason. Its what became abundantly clear as Kemba carried the Huskies to a top ten ranking in December and early January. But it may also be what dooms the Huskies in March.
Kemba Walker scored 27 points against Marquette last Thursday when the Golden Eagles visited the XL Center, but UConn ended up losing that game. At Cincinnati on Sunday, Kemba finished with just 16 points, but UConn ended up winning that game on the road largely because he was able to get his teammates involved throughout the game. The UConn supporting cast has really grown as the season as gone along. Alex Oriakhi is not as consistent as would be ideal, but he's developed into one of the better big men in the Big East. Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier have both become playmakers capable of creating shots. Jamal Coombs-McDaniel has come back to earth a bit from the three game stretch where he averaged 20.3 ppg, but he's proven -- both to opponents and, more importantly, to himself -- that he is a scoring threat that's must be identified.
No longer is this a one man show. The Huskies now have options. Kemba is the star, he's the focal point of what they want to do offensively and what their opponents are going to try to do defensively.
But its when he trusts his teammates and allows them to make plays is when UConn is at their best.
I went back and watched a bunch of tape of the Huskies past few games, specifically the end of the Marquette loss and the Georgetown and Cincinnati wins, to try and deduce precisely what the Huskies issues were.
In the last five minutes of regulation and overtime against Marquette, there was only one possession (not including the final 30 seconds when UConn was scrambling to score down five) in which the Huskies didn't immediately run a high ball-screen or an isolation for Kemba. Even on the possession where the Huskies ran a set, the ball ended up in Kemba's hands at the end of the shot clock.
The issue wasn't necessarily that Kemba didn't pass the ball, which is what the majority feeling was after the game on Thursday. Kemba didn't have anywhere to pass to. The other four players on the court simply didn't move. Each possession started in a 1-4 set, meaning Kemba had the ball up top while the two wings were buried in the corners and the big man that wasn't setting the screen would stay on the block:
Walker ends up splitting the double team and getting himself into the teeth of the defense, where he is surrounded by three Marquette defenders with all five sets of eyes on him. Notice where his four teammates are on the floor. Ton have moved from where they were in the first image:
This possession actually worked out. The pass you see Walker throwing should have been stolen, but it bounced around and into Oriakhi's hands for a layup.
This is what every possession looked like for the Huskies down the stretch. Its tough to pin the blame directly on Kemba. Even on the turnovers he had late in the game, the blame falls on his shoulders as much as it does his teammates that stood 30 feet away from him without moving while he was getting double teamed.
The issue with UConn isn't necessarily that Kemba is a ball hog. The issue is the lack of movement they get on the offensive end. So much of what they do offensively is centered around Kemba's ability off the dribble, and rightfully so. Its impossible to stay in front of him and he's so dangerous once he gets into the paint. The risk involved is that the rest of the Huskies have a tendency to stand and watch Kemba instead of moving into an open spot. Not only does that limit the passing angles Kemba can find, it also makes it much, much easier to play help defense. In other words, a stagnant UConn offense makes it easy to collapse on Kemba in the paint.
Part of that blame has to fall on the shoulders on the players. They are the ones actually on the court, standing and watching. But the coaching staff is also at fault as well. There are ways to incorporate a high ball screen into an offensive set. Here is a perfect example from UConn's win over Georgetown.
Kemba had passed the ball up the right side of the floor to Lamb, who is standing on the right wing:
As Kemba cuts through the defense to the left wing, Coombs-McDaniel, who was standing on the left wing, cut under the basket to the right corner. Lamb swung the ball up top to Smith who swings it again to Kemba:
Oriakhi comes and sets a ball screen from Kemba, who attacks the middle off the bounce. At the same time, Coombs-McDaniel comes off of a staggered screen being set by Lamb and Smith. The help comes at Kemba, who finds Coombs-McDaniel open on the wing for a three when his defender got hung up on a screen:
For UConn to win games in March, the Huskies cannot rely simply on Kemba Walker going one-on-one.
They are going to need his supporting cast to step up. The best way to do that?
Keep them moving on the offensive end of the floor.
Kemba's a ballhog, yes, but that is just a symptom of a bigger problem for the Huskies.
You've surely seen this play on Sportscenter by now, but I am finally coming across the youtube video. Can't hurt to watch it again, right?
During his 31 points, 10 assist, seven rebound performance in a win over Georgetown last night, Kemba perfectly executed a self-pass off of the back board:
"It was the only play I could make," Walker said of the Kobe-like maneuver. "I had Henry Sims on me. I stepped back, picked my dribble up, I didn’t have anything. It was just me and the rim and the backboard."
Here is a Public Service Announcement courtesy of the fine folks here at BIAH: focusing your defense on stopping Kemba Walker and forcing him to become a facilitator is no longer working. All you've succeeded in doing is turning Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, and the rest of the UConn supporting cast from wide-eyed freshmen and sophomores into competent, capable, and pretty damn good role players.
On Tuesday night, the Huskies picked up arguably their most impressive win on the season against Marquette. It wasn't their most impressive win just because the Huskies were twice able to come back on a tough and scrappy Marquette team desperately needing a win on the road. It wasn't just because they didn't collapse after blowing a nine point first half lead. It wasn't just because they were able to put on a 13-0 run in the final seven minutes that turned a 60-55 deficit into an insurmountable 68-60 lead with 2:26 left.
It was because they were able to do all of that in spite of Walker's 14 point performance that saw him shoot 5-16 from the floor and 0-5 from three.
In fact, Walker has been less than impressive the past few weeks. In UConn's last three wins, Walker has shot 17-51 from the field. He's averaged just 18.0 ppg, well below his season average of 25.0 ppg. At the same time, however, Walker has averaged 7.0 apg, easily the most he's had over any three game stretch this season. Last night he had nine dimes and just two turnovers.
Those assists are a huge part of the reason why guys like Smith and Lamb are currently shining.
Lamb has easily his best game as a Husky on Tuesday. He finished with 24 points on 9-14 shooting to go along with four assists. He carried the Huskies in the first half and made some big plays in the second half to help keep Marquette from pulling away. Lamb is currently playing with more confidence than he has all season. Over the last four games (all UConn wins) Lamb is averaging 16.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.8 apg, while shooting 60% from the floor and 7-15 from three. He had nine threes in his first 15 games combined.
Lamb now appears ready to take over the role of UConn's secondary scorer.
That's a role we previously assumed that Alex Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, and Smith were preparing to take over after a couple of big scoring performances.
All of a sudden, it looks like the Huskies have some talent on the floor with Walker. Its why they haven't fallen off the way that most (including myself, I can admit when I whiff) predicted they would.
And you have all the coaches that decided Kemba must be stopped at all costs to blame.
With all due respect to Georgetown and Missouri, I think we have a new favorite for Game of the Year. This one was wild. Kemba Walker didn't score until there was 2:32 left in the first half. He had just five points at the break, but despite that the Huskies were only down 37-32 at intermission. Walker was still cold in the second half, but Texas couldn't put the Huskies away. Down 48-41 with with 15 minutes left, UConn went on a 27-11 run sparked by Shabazz Napier and Roscoe Smith. Once again, UConn did it without much help from Walker, who had five points during that stretch.
Texas had an answer, however. Tristan Thompson sparked a 12-2 run with six points, and with 1:33 left in the game, a short jumper by J'Covan Brown gave Texas the lead. (The Longhorns would have been ahead earlier if it wasn't for this blunder by Jordan Hamilton, which wasn't even the dumbest play of the game.) At the other end, Walker came through in the clutch -- something that would become a familiar theme here -- with a gorgeous, and-one, reverse layup to put UConn up 73-71. After two J'Covan Brown free throws and a missed Walker jumper, Texas had a chance to win it it in regulation. Johnson had his shot blocked with 14 seconds left. Smith gathered the ball and threw it 85 feet at the basket with 10 seconds left in the game.
Texas had another shot to win it, but Brown missed a short jumper in the lane. In overtime, UConn took the lead on three separate occasions, the third of which was a 40 foot prayer by Kemba Walker to beat the shot clock. Texas had an answer every time, and after Walker's 40 footer, Cory Joseph and Hamilton both knocked down midrange jumpers to give Texas the lead with under a minute left. After both teams had empty possessions, UConn ended up with the ball with time winding down, setting up these heroics from Walker:
Triple Overtimes: We had three of them this weekend. Believe it or not, both St. Bonaventure and Ohio -- who played a four overtime game earlier in the season -- were involved in one.
UAB 100, UTEP 97: Randy Culpepper scored 30 of his 34 points in regulation, but it was a Christian Polk three as time expired that forced the first overtime. In the first extra frame, it was Culpepper's turn for some heroics, and he drained a three -- his second attempt in the last five seconds -- from the corner to force a second overtime. Claude Britton, who scored all of his 14 points after regulation, scored to give UTEP a 97-94 lead with over a minute left, but a three from Preston Purifoy followed by a three from deep in the corner by Cameron Moore (who had 29 points and 14 boards, 26 coming after halftime) with five seconds left gave the Blazers the win. Culpepper missed a 35 foot prayer that would have forced a fourth OT. Of note -- Aaron Johnson had 26 points, 14 assists, and 7 boards in the win.
St. Bonaventure 92, Charlotte 88: Andrew Nicholson had 34 points for the Bonnies, who took a 40-28 lead at the half. Charlotte would storm back to take a 68-66 lead, but Da'Quan Cook hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to force overtime. In the first and second overtimes, both teams had a multiple chances to win the game late, missing each time. Then in the third OT, the Bonnies finally built a lead, hitting nine of their 10 free throws to knock off Canisius.
Miami OH 92, Ohio 88: One of the most underrated rivalries in the country had a wild second half. After the game was tied at the break, Miami went on a run to take a 47-39 lead. Ohio answered with a 19-7 run, and Miami answered that by scoring nine of the next 11 points. The end of regulation was anti-climatic, but after DJ Cooper had given Ohio a three point lead to start overtime, he had to hit a three with 39 seconds left to tie the game and force a second OT. The Redhawks eventually pulled away in the third overtime, as 26 points and 12 boards from Ivo Baltic was more than Cooper's 27 points and 11 assists could overcome.
Player of the Week: Jimmer Fredette, BYU
BYU went 2-0 this week, beating UNLV and a better-than-expected Air Force team to start MWC play. Against UNLV, Fredette had one of the most dominant individual performances of the season. BYU was down 25-15 with under six minutes to go in the first half when Fredette finally caught fire, sparking a 37-13 run over a 12 minutes span. When the run started, Fredette was just 1-7 from the floor and 0-3 from three with three points. By the time the night was over, Fredette had 39 points on 12-25 shooting and 7-13 from three and BYU had won 89-77 in a game that wasn't that close. You want a sense of how hot Fredette was? Check out where he hit this three from:
That kid of game had to feel very good for Fredette considering some of the comments made by Tre'Von Willis during the week. It is because of performances like the one he had against UNLV that when Fredette had 22 points against Air Force it seems pedestrian. Think about that for a second. You can legitimately say that Air Force played well because they "held" Fredette to 22 points.
The All-they-were-good-too team
G: Ben Hansbrough, Notre Dame: Hansbrough was fantastic in a 2-0 week for the Irish. He had 21 points and played 40 minutes chasing around Kemba Walker in a 73-70 win over the Huskies. He then went out and dropped 26 as Notre Dame beat St. John's.
G: Charles Jenkins, Hofstra: If you haven't seen this kid play yet this year, its about time you started to tune into the CAA. The Pride went 3-0 this week, winning at Drexel and Northeastern and also knocking off George Mason, to move into first place in the conference at 4-0. Jenkins was fantastic, averaging 25.0 ppg and 6.3 apg while turning the ball over just five times.
F: Alec Burks, Colorado: Burks averaged 28.0 ppg for the week, but it was his 36-point, eight-rebound performance in an upset of No. 8 Missouri that got him on this list.
F: Sam Muldrow, South Carolina: If you are in a college basketball fantasy league, I suggest you pick up Muldrow. He averaged 15.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg, and 8.0 bpg this week, including notching a triple double -- 16 points, 14 boards, 10 blocks -- as the Gamecocks upset Vanderbilt in overtime.
C: Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson, USC: The Trojans starting front court combined for 33 points and 20 boards in a win over UCLA.
Bench: Justin Harper, Richmond; Casey Mitchell, West Virginia; Mike James, Lamar; Cameron Moore, UAB
Team of the Week: Missouri State Bears
After a 3-0 week in the Valley, Missouri State is now sitting all alone atop the MVC standings at 5-0. Making that record all the more impressive is that the Bears have already made their three toughest road trips of the season, going to Northern Iowa, Creighton, and Wichita State (the latter two both coming this past week and both now sitting at 4-1 in the league) and coming out with wins. The Bears likely won't be getting an at-large bid this season -- not with a non-conference schedule that features losses to Tennessee, Tulsa, and Oklahoma State and their best non-conference win coming against Oral Roberts -- but that doesn't mean this isn't a good basketball team. Anyone that can go into Northern Iowa, Creighton, and Wichita State in the span of 10 days and come out unscathed is a good basketball team. Kyle Weems (14.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and Jermaine Mallet (10.3 ppg) led the way this week.
Teams that deserve a shoutout
UConn: Ranking teams is difficult to do, especially in the case of a team like UConn. After beating Texas on the road, UConn now has just two losses on the season -- both to top 15 clubs on the road -- and has beaten Kentucky, Texas, and Michigan State. But according to the all-encompassing eye test, this is not an elite team. Regardless of how you feel about UConn's program, the one thing that their win at Texas does is but them the benefit of the doubt. They beat a top-15 team on the road a month and a half after they one the Maui, and they did it with Kemba Walker struggling most of the night. I still have my doubts, but until they prove otherwise, they deserve all the credit they get.
Austin Peay: Do we have a new favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference? The Governors went to Murray State on Saturday and knocked off the Racers, snapping a 25 game home winning streak. They are now 5-0 in conference play and hold a two game lead over both Morehead State and Murray State with a win against both. Did Fly Williams make a comeback?
Colorado: The Buffaloes were supposed to be a sleeper in the Big XII this season. When you have two talents like Alec Burks and Cory Higgins on your roster, that's pretty much what is expected of you. But with losses to San Francisco and Harvard in non-conference play, it looked like this Colorado team would be reverting back to their old ways. That was until they knocked off Missouri on Saturday afternoon. Burks and Higgins combined for 54 points and 18 boards in the win. They are not going to be able to keep that up all season long, but the win is the confidence booster that this team needed. They will be an interesting team to keep an eye on.
Georgia: Like the Buffaloes, the Bulldogs were predicted by many to be a sleeper in the SEC. After starting the season off slowly -- they only have two losses (both with Trey Thompkins slowed with an ankle injury) but their wins have been far from impressive against less than impressive competition -- Georgia made a statement on Saturday by knocking off the visiting Kentucky Wildcats, who are ranked in the top 15. Trey Thompkins had 25 points in the win and finally looks like he is healthy. Expect quite a bit of noise to be made by the Bulldogs in SEC play.
USC: Its pretty obvious that Washington and Arizona are the two best teams in the Pac-10. After that, things get a little bit sticky. Washington State, UCLA, Cal, Arizona State, and USC are all in the mix, but two weeks into the season, it looks as if USC is the frontrunner for that gig. They are 2-1 in conference play after beating UCLA at home on Sunday night and look like a different team with Jio Fontan running the point. The problem? Those three games were at home. USC doesn't play a real conference road game until Jan. 27th, and ends the season at Washington State and Washington.
Virginia Tech: I feel bad for Seth Greenberg, I really do. The year he finally puts together a brutish schedule for his team in non-conference play, he loses half of his team to injury and loses every big game he plays. Count me as one of the people pulling for this team to do well in ACC play. A win over Florida State on Saturday is a good place to start.
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