Illinois St

A review of the week that was in college basketball focusing on the best (and worst) performances. Check in every Monday morning for our weekly awards.

 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The first Saturday of the new year proved to be far more exciting than anticipated, much to the detriment of ranked teams who took their show on the road. Removing #7 Missouri and #20 Marquette, who both lost on the road to ranked opponents (more on both of those games below), five ranked teams lost to unranked opponents with four of the losses coming on the road. The Big East provided the most intrigue, with #8 Connecticut and #9 Georgetown falling on the road while #10 Louisville lost in double overtime at home. So which of the three defeats is most concerning?

The matchup between #10 Florida and Rutgers on Thursday night was hyped up due to the return of Mike Rosario, who transferred from the New Jersey school following two seasons in New Brunswick. But his return was a subplot in what turned out to be one of the best games of the calendar year, with the focus by the end being Mike Rice's young guards. Eli Carter led the way with 31 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while Myles Mack knocked down some big shots late in regulation and during the overtime periods to lead Rutgers to the 85-83 double overtime victory.

In a game filled with runs the UTEP Miners looked to be in good shape up 70-58 with 5:31 remaining. The Miners had just run off eleven straight to take the double-digit lead and with the Ole Miss frontcourt in foul trouble Tony Barbee's team simply had to get to the finish line. But the Rebels proved to be a difficult bunch to put away, with Andy Kennedy's team outscoring UTEP 14-2 to get the game into overtime. From there the Rebels scored nineteen points on their way to the 91-81 victory.

The MVC race is always up for grabs, and perhaps another surprise team like UNI lurks. Perhaps no league has as much parity as the Valley, where even the bottom teams are improved.

NORMAL, Ill. – Jordan Threloff (TREE-lawf), a 6-foot-10, 240-pound senior center at DeKalb High School, signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) Thursday and will continue his academic and basketball career at Illinois State University.  

 

CollegeHoops.net's Preseason High-Major All-America Team is led by Tulsa big man Jerome Jordan, a potential First Round NBA pick. Jordan, along with the likes of Luke Babbitt and Chris Wright, is part of an impressive forward crop in this year's High-Majors. BYU, Illinois State, Memphis, Nevada, and Tulsa are the only schools with multiple players on the list.

 

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Northern Iowa men's basketball team has been picked to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference, according to the preseason poll announced today during the league's annual Basketball Media Day.

Northern Iowa, which returns all five starters after sharing the regular-season title with Creighton last year, earned 38 of 39 first-place votes in the survey of league coaches, beat writers, sports information directors and play-by-play men.

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