Winners And Losers Of The College Basketball Weekend
Image: usatoday.com
By Sam Beard
Going to try and make this a weekly thing for the rest of college basketball season announcing some winners and losers of the weekend.
WINNERS
Arkansas- Former UK players and Coach Cal.
Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena has been long awaited in the college basketball world, maybe even more so given the struggles down at Arkansas. The Hogs walked into Rupp and dropped 89 points after failing to crack 74 points in their previous 7 SEC games. A CLASSIC performance from a Calipari team in a spot like this. Kentucky ranking 89th in defensive efficiency has become a problem for them in their SEC losses. All five starters scored in double digits for Arkansas, I’m sure their return to Rupp was just as satisfying as the boo’s rained down from the Kentucky faithful.
Shorthanded Volunteers-
A true Rick Barnes masterclass on Saturday afternoon rolling out a 7 man rotation without Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic Jr. Many Vols fans, including myself, wrote off this team as we got the news we would be without two starters. Coming off a 25-72 shooting night against Kentucky, with 11 of those 25 field goals not playing, and you come out playing as good as you have all year. The 2nd half in particular was one that put this team back on track after a tough few weeks. The leadership of Gainey and Mashack was immeasurable in this one.
Uconn getting back on track-
Well, at least one Hurley brother didn’t make an ass of himself in college basketball this weekend. The best name in the country, Solo Ball, was definitely living up to it. 25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 7-9 shooting from 3. They shot 60% from the field and 63% from 3 in a game at Marquette that they honestly had to win. They will get Liam McNeely back at home on Friday against St. John’s as well. They host Pitino on Friday and then travel to Creighton with the opportunity to pick up two Quad 1 wins after grabbing just their 4th against Marquette.
LOSERS
Iowa State
A 19-point home loss to an under .500 Kansas State team is a bad look for an Iowa State squad that has been pacing for a 1 seed for a while now. You follow up your 19-point home loss by taking a trip to Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night, losing by 17 points. These guys couldn’t hit a shot, shooting 30% from the field and 14% from 3. Granted, the trip to Kansas is not an easy follow-up, but it was an ugly weekend for Iowa State, causing them to fall off the 1-seed line.
Bobby Hurley’s meltdown
It’s fine to meltdown if your name is Dan Hurley and you just won back-to-back national titles. Bobby Hurley has been aggressively average in his career at Arizona State, and the freakouts aren’t as cool when your team sucks. It took Hurley all of 10 minutes to get a technical foul and rip his tie off. We got Caleb Love headbutting someone (I'll admit it was a half-ass headbut), but his energy all game is just so weird. It all ends with Hurley telling Tommy Lloyd he doesn’t want to shake hands at the end of it. Tough look. Maybe y’all can get to .500 in conference play someday.
Hubert Davis
Shoutout to generational shot-chucker Caleb Love for dragging Hubert Davis to a Final Four and ending the Coach K retirement tour. North Carolina is kind of like the Ohio State football job to me—it’s almost impossible to screw up, given its historical pedigree and the ability to recruit there. Five-stars would be willing to commit if they announced Russell Smith as head coach and he’s coaching his kids’ middle school team. It’s only a matter of time until we’re talking about a coaching search in Chapel Hill.