February 14th

Joel’s Monday Mailbag

Each Monday, Joel Welser will be bringing you his Monday Mailbag.  If you have a question which you'd like Joel to answer, email jwelser_chn@ameritech.net.  He’ll post and answer as many questions as possible.  Please include your first name and home state when contacting Joel. 

One question each week is chosen as the "Question of the Week", and is answered by a few CHN staffers.  At the end of each Monday Mailbag, Joel presents his "Team of the Week" and his "Thoughts of the Week."  Visit the Mailbag Archive for past installments.

Joel,

Minnesota lost two games last week and winnable games at that.  Ohio State is ineligible and Iowa is without Pierre Pierce.  Is the Big Ten only getting three teams into the big dance?

From Ben,

Pennsylvania

I hope not.  But you’re right, who else is there?  The Gophers have some bad losses now and only one good win over Wisconsin and that is including the non-conference schedule.  And they will lose again on Wednesday at the Breslin Center.  Winning out is a must after that for Dan Monson, but even that may not be enough. 

The Buckeyes would have been the most likely candidate, but that can’t happen. 

I wouldn’t give up on the Hoosiers yet either.  If they win four of their last six and end up 10-6 in conference they should be a legitimate bubble team.  A week from now IU may be out of it though.  They have to win some games on the road against Ohio State and Michigan. 

Iowa hasn’t looked too bad without Pierce.  They need somebody to create shots and drive the lane, but if they can pull together, the hopes for a fun March in Iowa can still be realized.  The committee will note that Pierce is gone, but if they can win some games without him than that shouldn’t be that big of an issue.  Four of the last six on the road and hosting Illinois won’t make it easy.  All four of those road games against Purdue, Minnesota, Penn State and Michigan are all very winnable.  If they can go 4-2 over that stretch they’ll end up 8-8 in conference and 20-9 overall.  Steve Alford’s squad has some quality wins over Louisville, Texas and Texas Tech.  This is also the team that took Illinois to overtime at Assembly Hall.  Well it isn’t quite the same team anymore, so it may take a win in Iowa City over the #1 team in the nation to capture attention for a team without its leading scorer.

Question of the Week

 - The question of the week is answered by multiple CHN staffers -

Joel,

What will be the most exciting Bracket Buster games on Saturday?  Not necessarily from a bracket busting point of view, but just exciting and intriguing match-ups.

From Darrin,

California

Shawn Siegel

To be honest, I’m pretty disappointed in the Bracket Buster field this year. (For a complete listing of games, check http://www.bigwest.org/sports/mbball/release2.pdf ).  UTEP at Pacific is clearly the game I’m most looking forward to watching.  The Miners are coming off of a big home loss to WAC leader Nevada, and need a big win in order to improve their NCAA chances.  This game probably has the most on the line, but more importantly features two quality teams that just never get any exposure.

Even though it’s not one of ESPN’s televised games, I’m highly intrigued by Manhattan at George Mason.  The Jaspers have really struggled on the road, but they’ve been playing better of late, and feature CJ Anderson, who is the best freshman in the country that nobody knows about.  Anderson is averaging 16 points, 9 rebounds, and over a block and a steal per ballgame. 

Joel Welser

We will all hear plenty about the TV games from the folks at Disney.  There are some other fine match-ups down the list that shouldn’t be ignored.

Cal State Northridge at Fairfield – The X’s and O’s in this one should be fascinating.  Deng Gai at Fairfield going up against the 1-3-1 zone of the Matadors will be a treat to watch.  Traditionally the 1-3-1 defense allows for some easy buckets under the basket and with Gai being one of the best big men in the country, Bobby Braswell will have to make some adjustments for CSUN if Gai and company can crack the 1-3-1.

Valparaiso at Butler – There aren’t two programs out there that have given us any better ‘cinderella’ moments than these two in recent memory.   

Oral Roberts at Southwest Missouri State – Two big time up and coming programs that will make noise in March during their conference tournaments and won’t be a pushover in either the NCAA or NIT either.  SMS has won seven in a row at the moment and ORU has won eight of their last nine.  This should be a TV game.

Have a question?  Email Joel at jwelser_chn@ameritech.net, and please include your first name and home state. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.  All questions may be published or edited unless requested otherwise.

Joel’s Team of the Week

TCU Horned Frogs

Marcus Shropshire’s three-pointer with eight seconds left gave the Horned Frogs a 63-62 victory over Marquette on Wednesday.  Shropshire led the squad with 17 points which has now beaten Marquette three straight times.  TCU was down much of the game and steadily decreased the deficit and made the big shots down the stretch.  Hosting UAB on Saturday would prove that TCU is in the upper half of CUSA if they could pull out a win.  Nile Murry led the way against the Blazers with 17 points en route to a 76-65 victory.  Corey Santee added 16 and dished out five assists.  UAB had beaten the Frogs three consecutive times and now have a 6-5 record in conference and 16-9 overall.

Joel’s Thoughts of the Week

Maybe Illinois won’t lose during the regular season.  They definitely shouldn’t, but I’ve always said they will.  At Iowa and Ohio State are their toughest tests before the Big Ten Tourney.  Iowa has looked solid without Pierre Pierce, but may not have enough firepower to beat the Illini.  Terrance Dials has to have a big game to stop Illinois from going undefeated heading into the tournaments and Dials is capable of doing such a thing against the bigs of Illinois.  It won’t make much difference if nobody can stop Head, Brown and Williams though. 

Kudos (and a little love for V-day)

-Pacific and Utah State…for living up to the hype of one of the best games west of North Carolina…that barely anybody got to see.

-Gary Williams…for just knowing how to beat Duke. 

-Saint Bonaventure…for finally adding an A-10 squad to the list of teams they’ve beaten.  Rhode Island joined Alcorn State on that exclusive list Saturday.  It shouldn’t get any longer.

For Shame (no chocolate from me)

-North Carolina…for not making a better attempt at getting Duke in foul trouble.  When an injury to Reggie Love is big news, you know there is a depth problem.  

-San Diego State…for totally collapsing and giving up a ten point lead in less then 30 seconds against UNLV.

-Mid-American Conference…for constantly beating up on each other so much that they’ll never get two teams into the big dance. 

Have a question?  Email Joel at jwelser_chn@ameritech.net, and please include your first name and home state. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.  All questions may be published or edited unless requested otherwise.