February 21st

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,

Since coach Knight and Texas Tech have been putting some W's together lately, and with the win over Kansas (which may have been one of the best college basketball games I've seen), do you feel Bobby Knight has put all the testosterone crazed violent type incidents behind him, and is on his way back to respectability in the national limelight?

From Dan,

Madison, Wisconsin

Can you ever really tell with Bobby Knight?  This sounds more like a psychology question than a basketball question, but my shrink had no opinion on the issue.  From a basketball standpoint the respectability has never left, which is sometimes forgotten by those who prefer to remember only the ‘crazed violent type incidents.’ 

It is somewhat bizarre that Coach Knight’s team is currently sneaking under the radar, considering who is at the helm.  There isn’t a big star on the team, but the three leading scorers (Ronald Ross, Jarrius Jackson, Martin Zeno) all average over three assists and three rebounds per game.  There is balance and a tenacity that will make this a tough team to play come March…as we saw against Kansas. 

While I tend to get more senile and irritable in my old age, maybe Coach Knight is becoming less irritable.  He’ll still make a scene on the court when it is necessary for the sake of his team, so don’t get that confused with irritability.  The ‘crazed violent type incidents’ happen when you’re stocking up on croutons at the salad bar.  The incidents seem to be subsiding and a new generation of college basketball fans may only know the coach of the Red Raiders and not the history behind the man.  Another overblown incident can quickly put that to rest though.

Joel,

Now that Bracket Buster Saturday has passed, which team really benefited from the day?

From Monty,

Arizona

Miami of Ohio definitely helped their at-large stock by beating Wichita State 65-58.  The RedHawks needed this win more than the Shockers as far as dancing in March is concerned.  The MAC overall went 7-5.  Not too spectacular, but a winning record on Saturday may boost the credibility of the conference slightly in the eyes of the selection committee.  Charlie Coles’ squad still has some work to do, but the win over the Shockers is huge.  Three of their final four games are on the road and none of them will be easy with Akron, Bowling Green and Kent State remaining on the slate. 

Question of the Week

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

Joel,

Which two teams (one good, one bad) have been most surprising so far this season?

From Sam,

Ohio

Kristi Chartrand - Kansas

I have to say I’m totally shocked at what Georgia Tech has or should I say hasn’t done this season. This writer was sucked in and picked them to go back to the Final Four. I didn’t think it was such a reach. Paul Hewitt had almost everyone back on a team that reached the National Championship game. I thought their backcourt was one of the toughest in the nation. Jarrett Jack is big-time and certainly off the bench Wil Bynum is a great sixth man to have. I know B.J. Elder got hurt but they’ve really underachieved as far as I’m concerned. Luke Schenscher isn’t even half the player he was last season down the stretch! I thought they would be the 3^rd best team in the ACC. There’s still time to make a run in the ACC tournament but in my mind they’re not even an NCAA tourney team right now. They need to improve their resume down the stretch.

As far as surprises in a good way I’d have to say Illinois. I’m not surprised they’re a top-tier team at all. I’m just surprised at the level of improvement in all those players. They were quality players coming out of high school but Dee Brown has become a well-rounded player, Deron Williams has dropped weight (some by choice and some not) and improved his shot, and Luther Head is one of the most dangerous players in America. Not to mention the fact that Roger Powell was always knocked for not showing up in the big game; I think that theory can be dismissed now. I’m pleasantly surprised at the LEVEL of play they’ve sustained not that they’re undefeated and number one. They’re also one of the most fun teams in the country to watch. They play the game right.

Shawn Siegel - Head Editor

I happened to write a whole article this weekend on the Top 10 Most Surprisingly Bad Teams of 2004-05.  My #1 was Rhode Island, followed by Georgia Tech, Providence, Princeton, and then UNLV.  For the complete list, and reasons for each team, check out the link here.

The most surprisingly good team in my eyes is Miami (FL).  Miami has already won 15 games this year and 6 in the ACC.  This compares to just 14 for all of last season to go along with 4 weak Big East wins.  Not bad when you consider that the Hurricanes lost their leading scorer and biggest name player in Darius Rice, and lost a promising you guard in Armando Surratt who transferred to San Francisco.

Jon Teitel - Ivy League

Good - Boston College: The Eagles were not expected to contend for the Big East title with the likes of Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and defending national champion Connecticut, but they have proved all the doubters wrong.  After receiving a total of 7 votes in the AP Preseason Top-25 poll, BC has won 22 of 23 games, with its lone loss coming at the hands of Notre Dame, on the road, by 3 points.  Forward Craig Smith has been as good as advertised (as he is one of the favorites for Big East Player of the Year), but his supporting cast has been a pleasant surprise: Jared Dudley (#6 in the conference with 16.5 PPG), Jermaine Watson (10.3 PPG off the bench), Sean Marshall (leading the team with 1.3 3-PT FG/game), and Sean Williams (#3 in the conference with 2.4 BPG off the bench).  If they can win their final four regular season games, and then run the table in the Big East Tournament, the Eagles will enter the NCAA Tournament as a #1 seed. 

HONORABLE MENTION: Pacific (22-2, with one loss to Kansas and one loss by 3 points, and eighteen straight wins since December 21^st) and Villanova (only 16-6 overall, but after coming off of recent NCAA sanctions, nobody expected them to beat Kansas and Pittsburgh by a combined 29 points and lose road games to Boston College and Connecticut by a total of 6 points).

Bad - Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets finished 2004 on a strong note, with a 9-1 record and the only loss on the road to nationally-ranked Gonzaga.  However, they started 2005 off on the wrong foot, or at least the wrong hamstring, as leading scorer BJ Elder strained his hamstring in a 2-point overtime loss at Kansas.  Elder missed the next 9 games, 5 of which were losses, and Georgia Tech currently finds itself with a 6-6 conference record and a 6^th place standing in the ACC.  The Yellow Jackets were not given an easy schedule this year: they lost 5 of their 6 games so far against ranked teams, and still have to host Duke and travel to Wake Forest in the weeks ahead, but expectations were high after making it to the national championship game last spring before losing to Connecticut.  Jarrett Jack (15.3 PPG) and a host of seniors tried to pick up the slack during Elder’s absence, but the rest of the ACC is not forgiving to teams who lose one of their stars to an injury.  Georgia Tech is not currently ranked among the top-25 teams in the country, but with Elder back, there are not too many teams in the country who are looking forward to playing against them.

HONORABLE MENTION: Princeton (yours truly picked them to win the Ivy League title, and they responded by losing 6 of their first 8 conference games, en route to their first losing conference record in 52 years) and North Carolina State (after starting the season 10-1, the Wolfpack lost 9 of their next 12 games to fall into the second tier of a powerful ACC).

Joel Welser - Mailbag

Princeton and Oregon have had surprisingly bad seasons, but UNLV has to be tops on my list.  There isn’t a good reason for this team to be floating around .500 overall.  They should be second in the conference, especially with the seemingly down year in the MWC.  Odartey Blankson, Jerel Blassingame and Romel Beck should be the best senior trio in the conference, but instead they’re hanging out towards the bottom with Colorado State and BYU.  This should have been the year for the Rebels too with a senior heavy roster.  Next year the inexperience and lack of confidence should make expectations very low, but maybe that is what they need.

One of the biggest positive surprises for me is Old Dominion.  They should have been a solid team, fighting for the Colonial Conference title, but still a year away from really big things.  They hit their stride a year early and are 13-2 in conference and 23-4 overall and starting to think about an at large bid.  Nobody on the team averages over 28.1 minutes per game, so these guys shouldn’t be hitting that February lull that we are seeing quite a bit of right now from teams with short benches (Duke).  Don’t be surprised next year when ODU is a team people are talking about.  Although, I think we’ll be talking about them next month too.  They should only lose one player in starting guard Kiah Thomas after this year.  Alex Loughton and Isaiah Hunter will lead the Monarchs to the big dance this year and, as seniors, they should next season as well.  I don’t want to get the ODU expectations up too high for next year already though.

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

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

At Oakland and a trip to Southwest Missouri State is tough, even for a team that was 8-1 in their last nine games heading into the week.  Oral Roberts proved to be up for the task and then some.  The Golden Eagles headed to Rochester, Michigan and handled Oakland quite easily led by Ken Tutt’s 24 points.  But how would the Mid-Con leader fair at a Missouri Valley school that had won seven of their last eight games?  ORU led by as much as 11 in the first half, but had to continually hold off the Bears comeback attempts.  ORU did just that and ended up with a comfortable 86-76 victory led by super sophomore Caleb Green’s 33 points. 

Joel’s Thoughts of the Week

I’m not sure if the Bracket Buster is really a good thing or not, but it is definitely fun.  Sure how many people out there, besides me, really care about both Vermont and Wisconsin Milwaukee?  Yet, it is great exposure for some teams that most people don’t get to see.  It’s a long 14 hour day and Miami of Ohio should probably be playing Minnesota if we really wanted to bust some brackets, but how about some of those games and players we saw on Saturday.  Nick Fazekas put up 31 points for Nevada as the Wolf Pack knocked off Rice 74-64.  Jamaal Tatum had a killer game for SIU, leading the Salukis over Kent State 65-54.  Ben Jacobson racked up 29 points leading Northern Iowa to a 86-75 victory over Western Michigan.  These are all great players and performances that we don’t get to see nearly as often as we should.

Kudos

-Fred Washington…for making us all say ‘Dan who?’ after the sophomore scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists in Stanford’s 71-62 win over USC while stepping in for the injured Cardinal Dan Grunfeld. 

 -Virginia Tech and Miami…for not bringing down the quality of hoops in the ACC like we all thought they would.

-The Gopher bench…for restraining Minnesota head coach Dan Monson from storming the court at the Breslin Center…and making him tuck his shirt back in.  If the players have to tuck, so should the coach. 

For Shame

-Princeton…for still baffling me every Friday when I check the scoreboard.

-Howard…for not allowing us two winless teams this season and losing to Longwood, currently 1-27, back in December.  Although, I think Longwood has a shot at Wake Forest on Wednesday.  Go Lancers!

-Kentucky…for losing to a team that lost at home to Auburn three days earlier.  Sure South Carolina played much differently, as they better after what I imagine was quite the scolding from coach, but it still doesn’t sound very good for the Wildcats.   

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.