Stock Watch
James Bouknight
The Brooklyn native and projected lottery pick changes everything for UConn. It’s more than just his scoring. It’s his presence, the attention and focus he garners. When the sophomore guard plays — he missed five weeks with an elbow injury — the Huskies are 8-2, with the lone losses to Villanova and Creighton. When he doesn’t, UConn is 4-4, offensively challenged and mediocre. Bouknight doesn’t just make the Big East program an NCAA Tournament team. He makes them a secondweekend contender.
NET
The small sample size excuse doesn’t work at this point in the year. There is absolutely no reason Colgate — yes, Colgate! — should be ranked 10th. That Loyola Chicago should be ranked 16. And San Diego State should be ranked 18th. Together, they have one Quad 1 victory — in five opportunities. Colgate’s season has been games against Army, Boston University and Holy Cross. That’s it. San Diego State’s best win is over 37th-ranked UCLA at home. Loyola Chicago won at No. 41 Drake. The NET relies a lot on offensive and defensive efficiency. It values quality performance. It also has to take into account who a team beats. The evaluation tool needs tweaking.
Isaac Brown
In November, Wichita State was in disarray. Gregg Marshall resigned amid allegations of physical and verbal abuse. The depleted Shockers were picked seventh in the AAC. Fast-forward to the final week of the regular season, and they are atop the conference. The 51-yearold Brown, in his first year as a college head coach, has done more with less, and the one-time interim coach was rewarded for it with a five-year contract. He deserves every cent he gets.
Drake
The Bulldogs are going to need to win their conference tournament to go dancing. They now have more Quad 3 losses (two) than Quad 1 wins (one) after an ugly setback to sub-.500 Bradley on Saturday. Their NET of 41 is good enough, but the body of work is not. It’s a shame Drake lost stars ShanQuan Hemphill and Roman Penn to significant injuries. This team looked capable of doing damage in March.