There is a rich history of 6 footish (and under) guards who were set to upset March Madness when their number was called. Here are some of the dangerous scorers who may be overlooked, quite literally, by their competition.
The saying normally goes, “he only needs an inch” to score. And while watching the Tar Heels try to triple team Alex Hunter around the 3 point line earlier this season, I thought: “maybe he just needs a centimeter” to score.
Hunter shoots 46% from the field and 43 percent from the 3 point line. He creates space with ease in a James Harden-like step back dribble. Hunter scored 17 against Louisville, 30 against UNC, and 21 against Mississippi State in the 2021-2022 campaign. So he welcomes the big moment.
Hunter also averages north of 3 assists per game.
I warned you guys about this dude Alex Hunter at #Furman now he is putting a real scare in Chapel Hill. #UNC#Tarheels double teaming him at the 3pt line because theyโre tied up at half!!! pic.twitter.com/lVPP87qedJ
Jamaree Bouyee is a super senior who, like a fine wine, has been chilling and ready to show his game has gotten better with age. Saying someone can score in all three levels is cliche. Bouyee has that old cliche on lockdown. He can dance around the three point line to create his own show. Bouyee is solid shooting the ball off a screen in a midrange. And he has been seen to start and finish his own fast break.
The San Francisco Dons are part of a very strong WCC conference. You could say the league is stronger than the ACC. The Dons and their two guards emulate another West Coast backcourt in the Portland Trailblazers with Lillard and McCollum. Bouyee’s backcourt mate Khalil Shabazz is another dangerous scoring combo guard.
He scored 29 against Ohio State and then 26 against Florida en route to a Sweet 16 berth. With Oral Roberts tangling with some other Summit League opponents in conference this season, he has somehow slipped off the radar.
#OralRoberts takes a modest 6-5 record into conference play, but Max Abmas settles right back into Summit League conference play. He scored 22 in the first half and just hit a dagger 3 late at South Dakota. (Tasos Kamateros looked great for the Coyotes). pic.twitter.com/Y2CQsBBA08
Watching Darius McGhee is like watching Spud Webb with a modern step-back 3 point jump shot in his arsenal. McGhee has an insanely high vertical leap and can attack the rim with bad intentions. Yet, he shoots 41 percent from the 3pt line (Spud averaged 31% over his NBA career.).
๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฅ@D1McGhee is the Nationโs Leader in 3-Pointers ๐ pic.twitter.com/HJ4gvVyV9x
It’s the season of giving and college basketball is delivering in its last weekend before Christmas.
The schedule for Saturday, December 18th features critically important games in-conference and out of conference.
Let’s start with the much-maligned Memphis Tigers. They have caught criticism because brining on two 17-year-olds (who re-classified in high school) top NBA prospects hasn’t jived yet. After a four game losing streak, they stopped the bleeding with a season saving resume building win against highly ranked Alabama. Today, they have another important regional and non-conference matchup. They catch Tennessee as a 5 point underdog.
Tennessee just recently played Texas Tech in a game that was probably the ugliest watch of the season among top 50 teams. Although Texas Tech has retained its toughness epitomized by since departed coach Chris Beard, neither team could score the ball. Texas Tech won, but it wasn’t pretty. If the Red Raiders show any signs of those same offensive struggles, they’ll get run out of the gym against Gonzaga. The Zags are one of America’s best offenses.
And let’s spend some time with Conference USA. This conference never gets any credit, despite pulling upsets repeatedly in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. You’ve heard of the Hilltoppers because Western Kentucky is always dangerous. Last year, North Texas beat Purdue outright in the field of 64. This year, LA Tech is a real threat with big man Kenneth Lofton, Jr.
On this date, Conference USA gets a chance to prove itself again. UAB is a favorite hosting West Virginia. LA Tech battles with LSU. And Western Kentucky hosts Louisville. No one should be surprised if the conference nets a 2-1 record there.
Meantime, one conference is diving into its conference season full steam ahead. And that’s the Big East. Friday night Creighton blew Villanova out of its gym to immediately shake up the power structure of the conference. On Saturday, Providence has an opportunity to validate its own strong start. They open up conference play, surprisingly as a 6.5 point underdog, against UCONN. Ed Cooley is doing it again. His Friars have started the season 10-1 with wins against top 50 (if not top 25) teams Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Texas Tech. The Friars only loss is to (embattled) Virginia.
A night cap to keep an eye on is the Oregon Baylor game. At first glance, this looks like it should be a blowout for Baylor. But true college basketball fans know better. Oregon has embraced a litany of transfer students and they’re paying the price of patience for that decision. Coach Dana Altman has to, once again, prove his worth as a top coach when it comes to development and continue grooming this group. Right now it’s mixed bag of talent that hasn’t clicked. Meantime, Baylor lost four starters from its national championship team and hasn’t missed a beat. They’ve surprised a lot of people being voted this week as the #1 overall team in the AP Poll.
Friars wrap up their pregame prep prior to their first game in Hartford since 2008.Photo Courtesy: Providence Friars Men’s Basketball/Twitter.
Thanks for reading this article. Follow CBBEyeTest on Twitter, where author Matty D. shares his observations and predictions. Ahead of every Saturday, he shares his picks against the spread. The current record for his “Suspect Spread Saturday” series is 13-6-1 early in this 2021 season.
#SuspectSpreadsSaturday: Take #Baylor -8, Providence +6.5, Murray State -3.5, LA Tech +9.5, #WVU +3.5, Northern Iowa +3.5, +WKY +2.5, Memphis +5.5, #Zags -8
Here are December’s most epic match-ups around the college basketball 2021-2022 season.
These are my choice for the top 4 games in December and why…
4. December 30, 2021 Arizona vs. UCLA
Before the season tipped, it was a foregone conclusion by the “experts” that UCLA would win the PAC-12 conference in convincing fashion. And as Arizona State head football coach would say, “that’s why you play the game.”
Arizona will visit UCLA at the end of the month in what I consider to be the biggest barometer game of the month to figure out how good these teams really are. UCLA got blown out by Gonzaga, which brings up a lot of questions about its previously vaunted defense. Meantime, Arizona has risen from a 80-1 favorite to win it all to the 25 or 35-1 territory. This happened pretty fast. Arizona’s dominant win against Michigan opened a lot of eyes. They also handled a very underrated Wichita State team. One of these teams has built a strong out-of-conference case for having a top seed in the tournament, and it’s not UCLA. This is a true test.
3. December 7, 2021 Villanova vs. Syracuse Madison Square Garden
You better start Googling Big East Basketball history if you don’t know the significance of this matchup and this location.
2. December 11, 2021 Cincinnati vs. Xavier i.e. “The Crosstown Shootout”
This would be a bad day to physically attend a game, because there’s going to be so much must-see TV drama in your living room. Xavier scraps with Cincinnati in what I consider college basketball’s longest-standing local rivalry with genuine bad blood. The last time tempers really flared up in this one, it involved former Cincy Coach Mick Cronin accusing JP Macura of throwing some F-bombs his way.
And it’s hard to believe that it’s already been 9 years since this all-out brawl at the Cintas Center:
December 11, 2021 Missouri at Kansas Allen Fieldhouse
This matchup is what history is made of, literally. The rivalry between the Jayhawkers of the Free State and the confederate forces of Missouri is well documented. The hatred lasts to this day. And Missouri left the Big 12 in recent years to join the SEC. Without it, there was no natural meeting between these two heated opponents. With conference re-alignment tearing at the fabric of what makes the regular season great, this is a big win for college basketball that this rivalry is renewed.
More Honorable Mentions and Notes for Upcoming Dates:
Dec 4: Buffalo Bulls at St. Bonaventure Bonnies
St. Bonaventure fell hard outside of the top 25 after taking a tough 10 point loss to Northern Iowa. However, St. Bonaventure should still be everyoneโs underdog darling after the way it waxed Marquette (and others) during the โFeast Weekโ holiday platform. This Buffalo team was perhaps where St. Bonaventure is ascending to, now. They are both often overlooked schools in Upstate New York that play for formidable basketball conferences. Buffalo rose to respectability (and a 2018 tournament game win) under coach Bobby Hurleyโs watch. St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt has been with the Bonnies since the 2007-2008 season and has built a similar threat upstate. In fact, St. Bonaventure has been considered by some a top 10 mid-major program for a few consecutive years. This contest could determine who, if, and whether both teams can make a NCAA Tournament with some juice.
Dec 5: Richmond vs. Northern Iowa
Itโs not only power 5 conference bubble teams that need to score some out-of-conference wins before the winter officially kicks off. Richmond and Northern Iowa play each other in a similar, possible, resume building spot. Richmond was a darks horse candidate to make some noise around the pandemic shortened and canceled seasons. The same can be said for Northern Iowa. Big picture, these programs could be on the decline in terms of their bids for an at large in any upcoming tournament. A game like this could prove otherwise.
Dec 6: Iowa vs. Illinois
Dec 7: Villanova vs. Syracuse (at MSG)
Dec 8: Utah St. vs. BYU
Dec 9: Iowa vs. Iowa State
During a week when in-state rivalry let rip, a role reversal might play itself out in the Hawkeye State. The Cyclones were picked to finished last in the Big 12. Yet, they found themselves ranked 19th in the AP Top 25 at the start of December. With Iowa figuring its identity out without graduated Luka Garza, this could be an Iowa changing of the guard.
Dec 10: Murray State at Memphis
The school that helped produce the blossoming legend of Ja Morant visits his new home (of the Memphis Grizzlies). And when it comes to which team has inherited the best new crop of point guard talent, the edge might go to Murray State. The Racers enter December with only one loss at the top of the Ohio Valley conference. Memphis, despite having NBA talent, is struggling to run its offense in simple terms.
Dec 11: Missouri at Kansas
This matchup is what history is made of, literally. The rivalry between the Jayhawkers of the Free State and the confederate forces of Missouri is well documented. The hatred lasts to this day. And Missouri left the Big 12 in recent years to join the SEC. Without it, there was no natural meeting between these two heated opponents. With conference re-alignment tearing at the fabric of what makes the regular season great, this is a big win for college basketball that this rivalry is renewed.
Dec 12: Rutgers vs. Seton Hall
Dec 13: UMBC vs. Princeton
Dec 14; Alabama vs. Memphis
Dec 15: UC Irvine vs. USC
Dec 16: UT Arlington vs. Oral Roberts
Dec 17: St. Mary’s vs. San Diego State
Caught some #Big10ACCchallenge in person last night. #PennStateโs refusal to guard the 3pt line probably cost them the game. Sloppy at times on both ends but in the end Isaiah Wong got his. A scorer is gonna score eventually. #CBBEyeTestpic.twitter.com/5oFDU8GFnA
December 18-19: This weekend featured a grand finale of the out-of-conference season.
December 22-25: For college basketball, The Diamondhead Classic is likely the most relevant action around the Christmas holiday itself. BYU has looked awesome at times, but slipped outside of the AP Top 25 ahead of this holiday tournament. Still, the Cougars can score the ball in a variety of ways and come in as the betting favorite. Meantime, a first round matchup between Liberty and Northern Iowa features two mid major programs that have been extremely relevant in the past 3-5 years. A lot of talent has passed through each of these programs, but they remain legitimate threats to pull an upset win, especially in a tournament scenario like this one. Each team retains consistency at the head coaching position. Ben Jacobsen has been leading Northern Iowa since 2006 and Ritchie McCay has made an impact at Liberty almost immediately when getting the job in 2015.
December 30, 2021 Arizona vs. UCLA: UCLA had to pause its activities a week before this game because of COVID-19 issues. Meantime, Arizona drives through a brutal stretch of games around this holiday. The Wildcats play Tennessee after the Vols had ample time to prepare on the heels of Memphis canceling their game in last minute, dysfunctional fashion.
Whichever team, Arizona or UCLA, can navigate the adversity best might find itself as a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament come March.
College Basketball Eye Test 