College hoops hits homestretch
What to watch for the rest of the way
If the only college basketball you’ve paid to attention to this season involved Grayson Allen tripping someone, have no fear. The USA TODAY Sports college basketball primer is here to help you catch up — and it’s sure to be more enjoyable than your Super Bowl Sunday hangover.
STRETCH-RUN STORY LINES TO WATCH 1. Is this the year Northwestern finally makes the NCAA tournament?
It sure looks like it. The Wildcats have never gone dancing, but they’ve come agonizingly close. Coach Chris Collins, in his third season, doesn’t shy away from saying he wants to make history in Evanston. His squad — 18-5, 7-3 in the Big Ten — is almost at the precipice of that.
Nervous Northwestern fans will tell you there are a lot of games left and a lot that can go wrong — look no further than leading scorer’s Scottie Lindsey’s illness as a prime example — so they are hesitant to believe this is the year everything will ultimately go right. But … it is. (Knock on wood.)
2. Duke has been confusing, controversy-prone and disjointed all season.
The Blue Devils were the preseason No. 1 in both polls, based on the roster’s combination of elite freshman talent and experienced veterans who know what it takes to win a national championship. But things haven’t come together the way they expected.
There were injuries that derailed the start of the season for the heralded freshmen, Allen’s antics that earned him a suspension and back pain that required surgery and kept coach Mike Krzyzewski sidelined for a month. But Coach K is back, everyone’s healthy and the team is riding a threegame winning streak into its game against North Carolina on Thursday. It’s time to see what this team looks like when it’s firing on all cylinders — and whether it can fire on all cylinders at all.
3. Kansas’ off-court issues are piling up, and they ’re overshadowing the Jayhawks’ on-court success.
The Jayhawks lost at home Saturday for only the 10th time under coach Bill Self, a testament to their dominance of the Big 12 during his tenure. Despite the loss, they’re within reach of their 13th consecutive regular-season Big 12 title.
But the headlines related to off-court incidents are alarming. Five players have been interviewed as witnesses as part of a rape investigation tied to a December incident. And then last week, news broke that Josh Jackson and Lagerald Vick are persons of interest in a police investigation into vandalism. The victim, according to The Kansas
City Star, is the same female student a university investigation found Vick likely hit in the arm multiple times and kicked in the face in late 2015.
It’s unclear what the fallout will be from these incidents, but it’s worth monitoring this fact: Jackson and Vick continue to play, and only Carlton Bragg (charged with possession of drug paraphernalia) has been suspended.
4. Gonzaga likely will enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed — and undefeated.
This is the time of the year when we don’t pay a ton of attention to the Zags, mostly because they’re always head and shoulders above their competition in the West Coast Conference. (And, to be honest, East Coast bias is a real, unfortunate thing.) But Gonzaga is worth watching, for many reasons — from national player of the year contender Nigel Williams- Goss to its dominant frontcourt and everything in between — as the Zags make their march toward history.
They’re 24-0, and their toughest remaining test (on paper) appears to be Saturday at No. 19 Saint Mary’s. But if they can clear their hurdle, not only will they likely become the first team since 2014-15 Kentucky to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated, but they also could become a popular pick to reach the Final Four for the first time under coach Mark Few.
5. For the first time, college basketball fans will get a sneak preview of Selection Sunday.
CBS Sports and Turner Sports will air a bracket preview show at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday in which selection committee chairman Mark Hollis will unveil the nation’s top 16 seeds (sorted 1-4 by region) as if the season had ended. It’s a live look-in of sorts for fans and mock bracketologists alike, helping us understand the committee’s thought process and how the top teams’ résumés stack up against one another. There will be faux outrage, of course, to seeding that can obviously change over the course of the final month of the season, but mostly it’s a fun way to generate buzz for a sport that lacks it outside the month of March.
NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR RACE
1. Kansas senior Frank Mason III
He’s the straw that stirs the drink for the Jayhawks, half of one of the nation’s best veteran backcourts alongside Devonte’ Graham. If the game’s on the line, this is the guy Kansas wants with the ball — taking the game-defining shot or setting it up for a teammate. Stats: 20.4 points per game, 5.2 assists per game, 4.3 rebounds per game. 2.Villanova senior Josh Hart
You should remember him from Villanova’s title run a season ago — and know that he’s even better and more efficient this season. He’s also the current leader in the KenPom.com player of the year metric, which takes offensive and defensive value into account. Stats: 18.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.4 apg. 3. UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball UCLA’s offense is high-scoring and fun to watch, and he’s a huge reason. He’s enter- taining, unorthodox and a future top-three NBA draft pick. The Bruins have flaws — most noticeably on the defensive end — but they’ll go far in March because of this terrific freshman. Stats: 15.1 ppg, 7.8 apg, 5.8 rpg. TOP SEEDS TO KNOW NOW Villanova, Gonzaga, Kansas and Baylor would be No. 1 seeds if the season ended today, according to USA TODAY Sports bracketologist Shelby Mast (we are five weeks ahead of Selection Sunday). Expect the Zags to stay on the top line despite facing weak competition for the rest of the regular season. Keep an eye on the Atlantic Coast Conference, too; the eventual champion of the best conference ought to have a strong case for a top seed by March 12. Other potential title contenders include North Carolina, Duke, Baylor and Oregon. BRIEF BUBBLE BREAKDOWN The proverbial bubble is always fluid, particularly with five weeks to go. But here’s a glance at the most borderline of all borderline NCAA tournament teams.
Mast’s last four in: California, Kansas State, Seton Hall and Tennessee
Mast’s first four out: Wake Forest, Rhode Island, Georgetown and Arkansas
If the slipper fits: If they’re able to punch their tickets to the NCAA tournament by winning their conference tournaments, these teams could do damage: Middle Tennessee State, Valparaiso, Monmouth and Yale. BEST LEAGUE IN THE LAND The ACC will almost assuredly send the most teams, with likely nine or 10 making the tournament. FRESHMAN PHENOMS TO KNOW, MOSTLY FOR NBA DRAFT LOTTERY PURPOSES We’ll start with Ball, who could very well be the No. 1 pick in June’s draft — if he’s not edged out by Washington’s Markelle Fultz, who is much more than a trick-shot extraordinaire yet stuck on a team that won’t sniff the NCAA tournament.
Other freshman stars who won’t be in college much longer include Kentucky’s star-studded backcourt of De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, Kansas’ versatile Jackson and North Carolina State’s dynamic Dennis Smith.