The 2K Classic is a 4-team college basketball tournament held every November at Madison Square Garden that benefits the Wounded Warrior Project. This year’s quartet of Marquette/Michigan/Pitt/SMU included an NCAA title game coach (John Beilein), a coach in a new city (Kevin Stallings), a coach who played/worked for the winningest coach ever (Steve Wojciechowski), and a coach who has not lost a game since 2012 (Tim Jankovich). HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel celebrated his birthday in belated fashion by heading to the Garden to watch 4 games in 26 hours.
I showed up on Thursday evening for tip-off and headed to the press seating on the 200 level…which happened to be the only people who were sitting in the 200 level, as attendance for a weeknight doubleheader of 4 teams not based in New York was sparse. I sat down, turned to my right, and was thrilled to see 2 of my colleagues from the previous website I wrote articles for sitting next to me: I guess great minds think alike!
Game #1: SMU-Pitt
Basketball is often described as a game of runs but this was ridiculous. Pitt was up 20-15 midway through the 1st half, but then SMU went on a 16-0 run in a 4-minute span to open up a 31-20 lead, followed immediately by the Panthers going on a 13-0 run of their own to close the half and take a 33-31 lead. Pitt’s 2-man show of Michael Young/Jamel Artis combined for 42 PTS/12 REB, but they were no match for Semi Ojeleye. The Duke transfer had sat out for almost 2 full years while joining the Mustangs but he showed that he was worth the wait thanks to a 20-PT 2nd half that included a pair of nice alley-oops from Shake Milton, a pair of 3-PT shots, and a game-clinching sequence in the final minutes by blocking a shot/running the floor/getting the ball back from Milton for an easy layup. Coach Jankovich previously worked as an assistant to Coach Stallings at Vandy and apparently he learned a couple of new tricks while beating his old boss 76-67. He only has 9 scholarship players on the roster after taking over the reins from Larry Brown, but as long as 1 of those 9 is “Sem-Wow” then he has a good chance of winning the AAC.
Game #2: Marquette-Michigan
The nightcap got pretty ugly pretty quickly. Marquette made it a game for the 1st 7 minutes as it was tied at 15 apiece…and then Michigan proceeded to go on a 35-11 run to end the half with a 50-26 lead. The Wolverines are not a run-and-gun team as evident by their zero fast-break points all night long, but when you have 5 different guys who can make a shot from behind the arc and your defense holds the other team to 26.7 3P% then you are going to win a lot of games. The play of the day was a huge drive down the lane/1-hand dunk from Moritz “Mo” Wagner that brought the crowd to its feet en route to a 79-61 Michigan victory. DJ Wilson had 1 of the quietest double-doubles you will ever see with 10 PTS (3-7 FG)/12 REB, and Mark Donnal’s 15 PTS in 21 minutes off the bench was 1 short of the Golden Eagles’ subs’ entire production.
Game #3: Marquette-Pitt
As light a crowd as there was the previous night, it appeared that there were only about 500 people for this Friday 4:30PM EDT tip-off. It was eerily quiet and a prime opportunity for hecklers to ensure that the objects of their wrath were well within shouting distance. Coach Wojciechowski showed exactly how to make an in-game adjustment: he angrily called a timeout after an Artis jumper cut Marquette’s lead to 39-33 with 50 seconds left in the 1st half, then his team responded with a Sam Hauser 3, strong defense that forced a poor shot by Young, and a driving layup high off the glass by Andrew Rowsey with 3 seconds left for a 44-33 halftime lead that could have easily been a 3-PT lead had he been unable to get his team in gear. Rowsey had only made 1 shot through the 1st 3 games of his Marquette career but this was his coming-out party that featured a little of everything: making a 3 that bounced on the rim twice before going in, saving a loose ball from going out of bounds, driving the lane before making a beautiful behind-the-back bounce pass for a 3-PT play, drilling a deep 3 with a hand in face, baiting Chris Jones into fouling him on a 3 at the shot-clock buzzer with under 3 minutes left and then converting all 3 FTs to tie it at 75, etc. However, after all the great things Rowsey did while scoring 20 PTS in 28 minutes off the bench, he was unable to finish strong by dribbling the ball off his foot with 48 seconds left and then missing a 30-footer at the buzzer in a 78-75 loss. Artis had 21 PTS/7 REB in a winning effort but the story of the game was Young: he had a personal 10-0 run to turn a 59-49 deficit into a tie game, finished with a career-high 30 PTS, and had a huge BLK on a Rowsey drive to the hoop with 18 seconds left. I do not know if Young is going to play in the NBA but I would not bet against him leading the ACC in scoring this season. When I asked Wojo in the postgame press conference about trying to stop a guy who scores 10 straight points, he spent 30 seconds raving about all of the Pitt seniors.
Game #4: SMU-Michigan
We saved the worst for last: no, not the least-competitive game of the 4, a 76-54 Wolverines win that was painful to watch. The saddest sight of the weekend was every Michigan fan under age 10 who would get on the Jumbotron…and then proceed to dab. Go Blue, stop dabbing. The most surprising sight was the gentleman sitting 5 rows behind the SMU bench: Larry Brown! The ESPN telecast kept him up on the screen for about 60 seconds while the announcers talked about him and the whole thing just felt really awkward. Derrick Walton Jr. had a 24-hour rollercoaster: zero points on 0-4 FG on Thursday, followed by 23 PTS on a career-high 7 threes on Friday (1 short of the school record for most 3PM in a regular season game held by Garde Thompson/Aubrey Dawkins). His teammate Zak Irvin was named MVP with 16 PTS in each of his 2 games.
Conclusions
Marquette: I thought that this was going to be their year with a lot of seniors and if Rowsey keeps scoring 20 PPG then they can finish in the top half of the Big East, but my prediction is that they end up off the bubble.
Michigan: 4 games, 4 double-digit wins, if they are making their 3s they are unbeatable, I cannot WAIT for their road trip to UCLA on 12/10!
Pitt: they are 3-0 in games decided by 5 PTS or less due to their abundance of juniors/seniors, and if they can win at Maryland next Tuesday then they could easily be 12-1 entering ACC action, but is there another team in the nation with a more difficult 10-game stretch to open conference play (Notre Dame/Virginia/Syracuse/Louisville twice/Miami/NC State/Clemson/North Carolina/Duke)?
SMU: 1 of the only teams I can think of whose 2 best players (Ojeleye/Milton) are neither freshmen nor seniors, if these 2 stick around for 1 more year then I think they might win an NCAA tourney game in 2018.
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News, Notes and Higlighted Games: Monday, Nov 21st
NEWS AND NOTES
Happy Feast Week! Thanksgiving is traditionally synonymous with football, but there are actually more college basketball games this week, and probably more important games that end up impacting how the season shapes out, then any other week of the season.
We will see a lot of exempt tournaments this week. The one thing I would impress upon everything is that third place games and fifth place games are not weighed any less than if those two teams were playing in a regular OOC neutral floor game. Games are games. If a team picks up a quality win in a fifth place game, it’s the same as doing it as if it were on a neutral site in a non-tournament game.
CLICK HERE for our latest and admittedly way too early Bracket Projections
CLICK HERE for Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WOFFORD VS VERMONT (Gulf Coast Showcase). A win gets Vermont out to an impressive and attention grabbing 4-1 start.
-TENNESSEE VS WISCONSIN (Maui Invitational). We think Wisconsin is a top ten caliber team, but up to this point their only wins have been home buy wins. Doing well in this tournament will give their profile some high quality wins.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO VS WASHINGTON STATE (Paradise Jam – 5th place game). Both teams come into this game with just one loss, and have a chance to add another neutral floor win to their profiles.
-GREEN BAY VS UMKC. We didn’t expect much out of UMKC this year, but they come into this game with just one loss, and they’re beginning to grab our attention.
-GEORGETOWN VS OREGON (Maui Invitational). Oregon is a Final Four caliber team, but as of now their best win is at home against Valpo. They can really add to their profile if they do well in this tournament. They face a Georgetown team that
sucksappears to be spiraling out of control.-KENT STATE VS SOUTH DAKOTA (Gulf Coast Showcase). Both teams are unbeaten, and Kent State is a potential bubble crasher that we have our eyes on.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT TCU. We like Illinois State this year despite their early loss to Murray State. They have a chance to pick up what may be turn out to be a decent road win against a 3-0 TCU team.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S VS. NC STATE (Paradise Jam – 3rd place game). Both teams are coming off losses and looking to add a possible notable neutral floor win to their profiles.
-BELMONT VS FLORIDA (game in Tampa). Belmont is always tough, but we have some questions about them this year. If they can pull off a win in this game, our questions will probably be answered.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON VS GEORGIA (Hall of Fame Classic, Kansas City). After a roller coaster of an offseason, GW is out to a 3-0 start and they have a chance to pick up a notable neutral floor win today against a pretty good Georgia team. The winner will most likely face Kansas, and the loser will most likely face UAB.
-NOTRE DAME VS COLORADO (Legends Classic). Both teams are unbeaten and both are fighting for a place on the college basketball map. Neither team has done much other than win buy games up to this point.
-MONTANA STATE VS RICE (Hardwood Showcase, Houston). Both teams come in with decent records, so this one is worth keeping an eye on.
-CENTRAL MICHIGAN VS PEPPERDINE (Lone Star Showcase). Neither team has any notable wins yet, but both come in at 3-0.
-OLE MISS VS CREIGHTON (Paradise Jam – Championship). Both teams are unbeaten, and Creighton has managed to rack up some pretty good wins already. Ole Miss is still flying low on the radar, but a win in this one will put them on the national scene.
-OKLAHOMA STATE VS UCONN (Maui Invitational). Oklahoma State hasn’t knocked off any heavyweights yet, but they do come into this unbeaten. UConn has played three lightweights, lost to two of them, and barely beaten the other one. They need some wins in this tournament just to get things turned around.
-TEXAS VS NORTHWESTERN (Legends Classic). Texas is unbeaten so far, but has only played buy games. This is their first real test against a Northwestern team who’s only loss was a close one at Butler
-SAINT LOUIS VS BYU (MGM Grand Main Event). BYU looks to remain unbeaten.
-UAB VS KANSAS (Hall of Fame Classic, Kansas City). UAB looked pretty good in their last game despite losing a key player for the season to an injury, but they look to be way overmatched in this one.
-UC DAVIS VS SACRAMENTO STATE. Both Sacramento-area teams are playing each other in the inaugural collegiate basketball game in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center. UC-Davis picked up 2 wins in the Cable Car Classic plus a non-DI win; the Hornets have a pair of losses against
Big 12 powersColorado and Nebraska along with a non-DI win of their own.-CALIFORNIA VS SAN DIEGO STATE. This is a good OOC game that both teams could use since neither has done anything other than win buy games yet. This is the second game of a doubleheader that is being played in Sacramento’s brand new Golden 1 Center.
-GEORGE MASON VS HOUSTON (Gulf Coast Showcase). Kind of an oddity that the only two teams from major conferences face each other in the opening round. Then again, it’s easy to see why the puppet thought this was a buy game – George Mason appears to be mismatched against a Houston team that should be favored to win this tournament.
-NORTH CAROLINA VS CHAMINADE (Non D-I – Maui Invitational). This will likely be the biggest mismatch of the tournament, and perhaps of the entire week.
-VALPARAISO VS ALABAMA (MGM Grand Main Event). Valpo is good, but they really need a good win on their profile and this is one of the few chances they have to get one. It’s a winnable game against a decent Alabama team that they really need to win.
BUY GAMES
-Western Carolina @ Ohio State
-Winthrop @ Illinois. Watch out for Winthrop, who is one of the bettter teams in the Big South
-Norfolk State @ Butler (nonbracketed game – Las Vegas Invitational)
-Bucknell @ Vanderbilt (nonbracketed game – Las Vegas Invitational)
-Northern Colorado @ Arizona (nonbracketed game – Las Vegas Invitational)