College Basketball: Weekly Mailbag
Each week, CHN college basketball expert Joel Welser opens up his mailbag to answer
fan questions. At the end, Joel also includes
some timely college basketball tidbits. If you'd like to ask Joel a
question or if you'd like to read past editions, check out the
Monday Mailbag archive.
- Check out Joel's new daily
Broadcast Basketball
Blog.
Joel’s Monday Mailbag
Joel,
I’m filling out my conference tournament brackets for
a little practice for the big one, but am having some trouble with the
Horizon League. Who do you like in the Final Four of the Horizon
Tournament?
From Lee,
Indianapolis, Indiana
I’m glad I’m not the only one that fills out conference
tournament brackets for fun, well usually for fun. No questions on the Big
South Tournament?
Wisconsin Milwaukee and Butler get byes to the
semifinals, so they are obviously in. I like Detroit to slip by Loyola to
reach the semifinals. The Titans won at home by six over the Ramblers and
lost on the road by five. That is a tight game, which will be tough to
call; however, Detroit has a little more momentum heading in with victories
in four of their last five games. In any event, the winner loses to UWM.
On the other half of the bracket, UIC should be facing Wisconsin Green Bay
for the right to play Butler in the semi-finals. I like the Flames to upset
UWGB. It’s hard to pick against UWM to win it all in Milwaukee. The
Panthers only lost one conference home game, but that was just a couple
weeks ago against UIC. I hate to stick by the seedings, but the Panthers
take it over Butler in the finals.
Joel,
What is going on with Northern Iowa? Are they still
going to be in the tournament?
From Abe,
Minnesota
Losing four of their last five is painful to watch, but I
still think they are in at the moment. There is a good chance that the
Panthers will lose their opening game in the MVC Tournament against Missouri
State, who just beat them in Iowa a few weeks ago. If they lose there and
we end up with a bunch of teams stealing automatic bids (A-10, Colonial,
C-USA, Patriot are a few places to look out for that), they might have to
sweat it on Selection Sunday. They should still make it, but the bigger
issue is what was a hot #5 seed, is now a tired, struggling and undersized
#10 seed.
Joel,
Does Quincy Douby have a viable shot at being selected in
this year's draft if he comes out early?
From Lou,
Montclair, NJ
I'm going to defer to CHN Draft expert Shawn Siegel for
this one:
Thanks for the question Lou. Douby's having perhaps
the most underrated season of anyone in the country. I recently
discussed Rutger's 24.7 ppg scoring star in the
Daily Dribble. In the last 23 years only 5 players have led the
Big East in scoring at over 24 ppg: Chris Mullin with 24.9 in 83-84, Eric
Murdock with 27.2 in 90-91, Donyell Marshall with 25.7 in 93-94, Allen
Iverson with 25.4 in 95-96, and Troy Bell with 27.8 in 02-03. The NBA
Draft track-record of those big-time Big East scorers is definitely in
Douby's favor. However, his game is most like Bell in that he's a
scorer in a skinny point guard's body, and Bell has played in a whopping 6
NBA games. Returning for his senior season could only help Douby's
chances. He needs to step-up his 3 pt %, his ball-handling ability,
and cut down on the turnovers. Obviously, at 180 pounds, you'd like to
see him gain strength and weight as well, but with his frame, I just don't
see his body ever becoming NBA-quality. Still, with his speed and
scoring ability, some team in the 45 to 60 range could take a stab at him
over other college guards like Taquan Dean, Sean Dockery, and Rashad
Anderson.
Have a question? Ask them
on the easy form at the
Monday Mailbag Homepage. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.
Please include your first name and home state and put Monday Mailbag in the
email title.
Joel’s Thoughts of the Week
We are so close to conference tournament time. The fun
begins on Tuesday with the Horizon League, Big South and Ohio Valley
tournaments tipping off at the site of the higher seeds. Five of the
Horizon League’s nine teams ended the season at a smooth 8-8 record, which
will make that a very interesting tournament, and seemingly unfair. Wright
State with a record of 8-8 has a road game in the opening round, while
Wisconsin Green Bay, also 8-8, found themselves with the #3 seed and a bye
to the quarterfinals. I hope somebody at Wright State has reviewed the
tie-breaker rules. I did a couple weeks ago, but don’t remember anything
about a five-way tie.
Think the regular season ends this upcoming Sunday?
Think again. Princeton hosts Penn on Tuesday, March 7th amidst
the plethora of conference tournament games, well that day is really the
calm before the storm. With three games to go, Penn holds a two game lead
on the Tigers. There is a chance, a slim one, that the winner of that game
will represent the Ivy League in the NCAAs. Both Princeton and Penn visit
Brown and Yale leading up to that showdown.
The Mid-American Conference has divisions, but don’t
separate the divisions for the conference tournament, besides granting the
top team on each side one of the four byes to the quarterfinals. Don’t be
surprised if no team from the West makes it to the Final Four of the
conference tournament. I’ll take Kent State, Akron, Miami (OH) and Ohio
over Western Michigan or Northern Illinois just about any day, if the
brackets allow that to be possible.
Have a question? Ask them on the easy form at
the
Monday Mailbag Homepage. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.
Please include your first name and home state and put Monday Mailbag in the
email title.
