Category: College Basketball

Champ week is this week…Duke-Carolina number three in the ACC Tournament Semifinals, no that is not what I’m talking about today. Why didn’t Arkansas big man Daniel Gafford not win co-SEC Freshman of the year along with Alabama Guard Collin Sexton and Kentucky Forward Kevin Knox?

No, I’m not being biased, this guy shot up the draft boards as Arkansas has won seven out of their last nine games and Gafford is a main reason for it (And Macon, and Barford both All-SEC First Teamers).P lus Sexton and Knox are both great players. The hogs started 2-4 in SEC play and went 8-4 to close it (Thanks SEC Country for that stat). Gafford was once somebody nobody even thought of to be a first round pick and then shot up draft boards. The best game of his career was just a week ago Tuesday, as Gafford put up twenty-one points and added ten rebounds and added seven blocks, maybe Gaffords biggest trademark. Gafford averages two and a half blocks per game, above six rebounds and twelve points and he is almost a lottery pick like Sexton and Knox may not even be a lottery pick.He has insane stats so why wasn’t Gafford recognized? We will never know but Daniel Gafford is definitley a great player no matter what.

Nope not Duke, not North Carolina, not Kansas, not Villanova. Nope. My early pick to win the NCAA Men’s College Basketball National Championship is Virginia.

The Cavaliers have one of the best defenses any of us have ever seen and dominated the ACC during the regular season,aside from one defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech in stunning fashion. Because of their good… sorry great defense means that they only have to put up sixty-five points per game. They should get to the Final Four in easy fashion and they’ve got some good offensive players even if their defense is the best in years. If they dominate in the ACC Tournament and ride it in to the NCAAs, there is almost no reason why the Virginia Cavaliers should not win the whole thing in early April.

I know… I should be studying right now but I decided to make a quick preview of North Carolina and Duke number two.

The Tar Heels and the Blue Devils will meet for the second time this season on Saturday night, live from Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. North Carolina ha won seven out of their last eight games after a three point loss to Miami on Tuesday night. That snapped the Tar Heels’ seven game winning streak, but the Tar Heels still sit pretty at number nine in the country and a 22-8 overall record and 11-6 in the ACC .Duke has also just lost a game, a loss in stunning fashion to Virginia Tech on Monday night.They did get their superstar back, Freshman big man Marvin Bagley the third, but he still wasn’t enough to lead the Blue Devils past the Hokies. Duke Guard Grayson Allen had starred in Bagley’s absence but went back to subpar play in the loss. If the Tar Heels beat Duke, meaning a sweep of the season series, then they will get the two seed in the ACC Tournament next week but if Duke wins, they get the nod to play as the number two seed.Remember the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils, 82-78, in Chapel Hill back in early February. So the stage is set for the best rivalry in college basketball, no. 9 UNC at. no. 5 Duke.

Sorry I missed a college basketball Saturday review. It is life. I had to take one off. To make up for it,I will do a college basketball news post with the conference tournament week less than a week away.

Shaquille O’Neal’s son and five-star recruit Shareef O’Neal has verbally committed to UCLA after decommiting from Arizona after the scandal involving heead coach Sean Miller.

A couple of weeks ago, Villanova snagged five-star Point Guard Jahvon Quinerly. Quinerly decommitted from Arizona a couple of months ago.

The top player in Georgia, Ashton Hagans has decommitted from Georgia, his AAU coach said Monday. Hagans is also reclassifying to 2018 class from the 2019 class.

The best rivalry in colleg basketball is back on Saturday as 5.Duke was upset by Virginia Tech last night but that doesn’t take away from their rivalry rematch with the number nine-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels who the Blue Devils will look to get revenge on Saturday. The Tar Heels beat 82-78,the when they played back in February.

Kansas, 24-6 (13-4), in the Big 12 has now clinched their fourteenth straight regular season Big 12 Championship. Kansas was trailing Texas Tech last week but then got a game ahead of the Red Raiders and then beat those Red Raiders last Saturday. Kansas locked up the regular season trophy after a win over Texas on Monday night.

Conference Tournament Week is less than a week away and all of these conference tournaments will give each team its NCAA Tournament fate meaning its seed line or if the team will be in the tourney or not.

Yesterday in college basketball, no. 13 Kansas beat no. 20 West Virginia headed by a surge in the second half. No. 3 Villanova cruised past no. 4 Xavier, 95-79, and no. 14 North Carolina is playing the best basketball of any team in the country.

No. 10 Auburn was upset by South Carolina a team on the bottom-half of the SEC, Missouri lost to LSU, and Arkansas beat no. 21 Texas A&M, and Alabama fell to no. 24 Kentucky setting up a third place tie in the SEC between Arkansas, Alabama, and Missouri.

Villanova shot 47%  from deep, after only shooting twenty-three percent in their lost couple of games in their 95-79 win over 4.Xavier.

No. 13 Kansas shot thirty-five free throws to no. 13 West Virginia’s two in a second-half surge for the Jayhawks. Kansas beats West Virginia 77-69.

North Carolina cruised to a victory over Louisville, having won five straight games. The Tar Heels were led by Joel Berry’s 23 points.

There is one month before Selection Sunday. Let’s recap the big games yesterday.

The SEC is looking like they will get eight teams in the tournament. Alabama shut down no. 15 Tennessee 78-50 after the Vols had beaten no. 24 Kentucky. No. 8 Auburn handled Georgia, Texas A&M beat Kentucky by eleven, and Arkansas handled Vanderbilt. The eight teams projected to be in the tournament for the SEC are Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia if they can continue winning with two opportunities to boost their resume both times against no. 15 Tennessee.

In the ACC, no. 21 North Carolina beat NC State, Boston College upset no. 25 Miami, Notre Dame beat Florida State, and most notably Virginia Tech’s upset of no. 2 Virginia.

No. 4 Michigan State stunned no. 3 Purdue with a game winning three-pointers by Miles Bridges with little time still on the clock. No. 13 Arizona beat USC, no. 1 Villanova beat Butler, and no. 12 Gonzaga beat 11.St. Mary’s.

Yesterday in college basketball was a day of upsets. Most notably no. 4 Duke was taken down at Madison Square Garden by St. John’s, who remains winless in the Big East.

In the SEC, No. 23 Florida fell to Alabama, Missouri defeated no. 21 Kentucky for the first time in program history. In the Big 12, no. 12  Oklahoma lost to Texas and Oklahoma State upset no. 7 Kansas at Allen Field House. Finally, in the Pac-12, Arizona fell to Washington.

No. 19North Carolina snapped a three-game losing streak by blowing out Pitt led by Luke Maye’s 26 points and eight rebounds.

The top three teams in the country all won yesterday.

Duke and North Carolina are ready for the first of two instate clashes on Thursday.

No. 4 Duke, (18-3), lost to no. 2 Virginia, (20-1), 65-63 in Durham, NC on Saturday night. This shows that Virginia is a legitimate “Final Four” threat. Virginia’s defense is the best in the country and that’s why they beat the Blue Devils.

In other ACC news, 10.North Carolina lost their second straight game to NC State in OT.

In the SEC-Big 12 Challenge, Alabama beat no. 12 Oklahoma, Arkansas beat Oklahoma State, no. 5 Kansas beat Texas A&M, Florida beat Baylor, no. 14 Texas Tech beat South Carolina, Tennessee beat Iowa State, and Kentucky defeated no. 17 West Virginia. The SEC won the challenge. Most notably, two of the nations’ top point guards, Collin Sexton and Trae Young faced off, and Sexton and Tide held Oklahoma’s star to just seventeen points. The Wildcats came back from a seventeen point deficit to defeat the Mountaineers, 83-76. Kentucky forward Kevin Knox had a career night, propelling his team to a victory.

Welcome to the first ever College Basketball Saturday Review on the cbhsports blog. Yesterday we had many headlining topics but none more than when Duke landed the nation’s number two ranked high school prospect, forward Zion Williamson.

Williamson’s commitment gives Duke the top three prospects in the country (joining top ranked RJ Barrett and third ranked Cam Reddish). This shows just how dominant Coach K and Duke have been on the recruiting trail. Zion Williamson, a South Carolina native, left instate Clemson fans  stunned.

Early Saturday, Trae Young scored 48 points against arch rival Oklahoma State. Young’s performance was not enough for the Sooners to overcome the Cowboys in overtime.

After starting the season as one of the best teams in college basketball, Wichita State is now suddenly skidding after their 73-59 loss to Houston. Who is to blame for this?

In ESPN College Gameday’s first Saturday morning of the year, they chose a battle between two SEC heavyweights. Florida and Kentucky battled at Rupp Arena. Florida got the best of the Wildcats for a 66-64 victory. Four Gators scored in double figures against the Wildcats. Is it time to rethink expectations on Kentucky? They’ve lost three of their last five games.

Marvin Bagley has starred for Duke in his freshman season but he isn’t even supposed to be here. He reclassified from the 2017 to 2018 class at the end of the summer and committed to Duke over USC. But even if he isn’t supposed to be here, he’s still arguably the best player in college basketball.Is there anything Marvin Bagley can’t do?

As a 6’11 big man that’s able to shoot very well, dominate in the paint, and be a great teammate, what else is there? Bagley,on a good night will put up twenty-five points and fourteen rebounds but on a great night, maybe thirty-two points and almost twenty rebounds. Bagley can lead Duke to a national championship with a great supporting cast (Grayson Allen, etc.) The only thing he hasn’t been able to do is fix Duke’s defensive woes and trouble in conference games on the road.Otherwise, Marvin Bagley can do everything, even if he is a year younger than EVERYBODY else.