Desperate to Make a Match

Tipoff

Around Valentine’s Day, it’s common to see desperate posts from friends, looking to find that last-minute hook up.

‘Hey guys, I am free this weekend in case anyone else needs a partner. Just saying…’ .

After dealing with more COVID-related cancellations and time running out to rack up all-important wins, the UNC basketball team turned to twitter to look for a date this week:

In 2021, all it takes to schedule a game at the Dean Dome is to slide into the DM’s. This year, the desperate are bubble teams, even historically great programs like North Carolina. UNC is solidly on the bubble. In Monday’s NET rankings, one of the tools the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will use to craft its Field of 68 teams, UNC comes in at 57 overall. Bracket Matrix has UNC as a 10-seed. The Tar Heels lost an opportunity to build off its win over Duke last week when players were seen celebrating with friends indoors and maskless. This prompted Miami, which had flown into Chapel Hill for a Monday night matchup, to cancel the game out of concern. This week’s game against Virginia Tech was postponed due to positive cases in the Hokies program. UNC needs to rack up as many wins as possible if they hope to get off the bubble before the season ends in early March.

Many teams have faced cancellations this winter. For those on the bubble, time is running out to reschedule or find another playing partner. The NCAA Tournament is often referred to as “the big dance.” This scramble to schedule games has its own feel, like a junior prom where all the popular kids have been on the dance floor the whole night. Better find a date before the clock strikes midnight.

Weekly Recap

What happened in college basketball last week? We recap who won big, who lost, who got injured, and how did the landscape of college basketball change over the week.

Wolverines Returned with a Vengeance

This season has felt at times like a quest for a third team to emerge as a third legitimate contender alongside Gonzaga and Baylor. After dealing with a long COVID-pause, that third team might be the Michigan Wolverines. Head coach Juwan Howard has his alma mater ahead of the pack in the B1G behind the stellar play of senior forward Isaiah Livers and a pair of young frontcourt players in sophomore Franz Wagner (brother of the 2018 Final Four team’s Mo) and 7-foot freshman Hunter Dickinson. This team has an old-school-meets-new-school feel between Howard’s Fab Five roots and the modern offense he brought from his long tenure in the NBA. With a big 67-59 win over the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, the Wolverines have stepped forward into the title hunt.

Drake Wrecked the Ramblers

Perhaps I overstate the situation. The Missouri Valley Conference’s leading teams, Loyola-Chicago and Drake, met twice over the weekend. The entire MVC plays back-to-back games to limit travel, so both matchups were held in Des Moines, Iowa. On Saturday, the visiting Ramblers looked every bit like the conference top dog, beating the hometown Bulldogs 81-54 behind its stifling defense and hot shooting. On Sunday, the home team returned the favor by winning in overtime 51-50. An aesthetic pleasure, it was not. However, Drake got a much-needed win as it looks for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Morgantown Maalox Matchup

Two of the top teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma and West Virginia, met for a Saturday matinee and put on an aesthetically pleasing thriller. The visiting Sooners eeked out a 91-90 victory behind Austin Reeves’s 28 points and late heroics. Miles “Deuce” McBride did his best to answer and scored a game-high 29 points for the Mountaineers. A last-second attempt by big man Derek Culver missed the mark for the home team. For more on the Mountaineers, check out the next section, featuring an interview with WVU legend and Field of 68 podcast host Da’Sean Butler.

Four Point Play

Each Tuesday, we’ll check in with one of our podcast hosts and see what they’re up to in addition to producing compelling content for us at The Field of 68.

This week, we check in with former West Virginia standout Da’Sean Butler, co-host of The Dauster & Da’Sean podcast (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts).

1. The run to the Final Four in 2010 was special, including West Virginia’s first Big East Tournament title and then the upset of #1 Kentucky in the East Regional Final. What do you think needs to happen for the WVU team to recapture the magic this season?

Continue to work on chemistry, especially on defense and playing together. The team needs consistent play from Miles “Deuce” McBride and Dereck Culver but they need a third scorer, too. When I was in college, we had three to four guys in double figures most nights. Having Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil shooting the ball well from the perimeter will help. They did a good job against Texas Tech last week and need to build momentum from that to make a run in the tournament.

2. You have played professionally since graduating from West Virginia, including the past few years in Israel. What’s your favorite thing about Israel and do you plan on going back? Bonus points if your favorite thing is getting fries with your falafels.

The people are my favorite thing. It’s never easy traveling to new countries with the language barrier. After the season is underway, you start to pick up some of the language. In Israel, everyone speaks English so you get to communicate with everyone right away. That was a lot easier with having my family with me. The people were awesome. They were the best part.

3. You have played for outstanding coaches in the sport, including John Beilein, Bob Huggins, Gregg Popovich, and Eric Spoelstra. What are some of the characteristics that these coaches share in common that make them so successful? 

Different things, but at the same time, it was easy to understand the philosophy. Some guys are more defensive-oriented or offensive-oriented. One thing they all did was make it easy to understand their philosophy. Coach Beilein used word association, sometimes silly things, to help everyone understand the concepts. He wasn’t a big yeller. Coach Huggins was more of a yeller at times, but he motivated people to work harder in practice and that translated into games. We weren’t the toughest team when he arrived but he got us there. Coach Pop, he was fair across the board, an overall good guy and philosopher type. He demanded respect from everyone on the team, including Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili. Those were the guys he picked on first. Coach Spoelstra was very detail-oriented and made sure everyone was doing the little things. At the end of the day, you have to be focused on the details. Overseas, I had some great coaches as well. What makes a great coach is about articulating what you want to each player in their own language, their own love language.

And one!

4. One of the regular features of your podcast with Rob Dauster is Thursday night Beers and Ball Livestream where you each share a drink and talk about college hoops. What are your favorite beers right now?

I’m always a Leffe and Duvel guy from my time overseas. I played in Belgium, so I love those Belgian beers. It’s hard to get into American beers after 10 years overseas. Rob is trying to open my eyes to newer beer here in the United States, like Fat Tire and other IPAs.

Tuesday Superlatives

Each week, we will shine a light on a team and an individual player that has captured the hearts of the world of college basketball.

• Team of the Week: ArkansasThe Razorbacks had a pair of tight wins on the road, including an 81-80 win over Kentucky during the week and then an 86-81 win on the road against #10. Head Coach Eric Musselman has his team in second place in the SEC-West and ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time in his tenure in Fayetteville. Musselman has built his roster with a number of transfers, including former Indiana Hoosier forward Justin Smith as well as home-grown talent like leading scorer freshman guard Moses Moody. The mix of talented youth and experienced transfers has paid off as the team has won 6 of its last 7 games. The team is looking to earn its first trip to the Sweet 16 since Hall of Famer head coach Nolan Richardson’s “40 minutes of hell” was the style of play in the mid-90’s.

• Player of the Week: Drew TimmeConference season is typically when the world of college basketball turns its attention away from Gonzaga as they play overmatched opponents. Drew Timme, the 6’10” forward from Texas, deserves attention this week. It is not just his approach to grooming, either. Timme’s play has been attention-worthy. He put up 20 points and 13 rebounds in a tough roadd win against BYU and then followed that up with a 23-point, 10-rebound performance in just 22 minutes against USF. Coincidently, Gonzaga has played its last 5 games on the road and 7 of its last 9. Has the number 1 team in the country ever played that many road games?

The Mixtape

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

• Rob Dauster and Da’Sean Butler take a look at a B1G battle that has national considerations: Is Ayo Dosunmu of Illinois or Luka Garza of Iowa the National Player of the Year? Garza shared National Player of the Year awards with Dayton’s Obi Toppin last season and was the odds-on favorite to sweep the awards this season. While Garza has not disappointed, Dosunmu has developed a compelling case of his own. Rob and Da’Sean debate one of the tightest races in the college game.

• On the House of Hoosier podcast, former Indiana standout A.J. Guyton meets with IndyStar writer Zach Osterman to discuss the question on the mind of IU fans: What is holding back head coach Archie Miller and the Hoosiers? The discussion focuses on recruiting misses and more. 

• Kansas head coach Bill Self joined the Goodman & Hummel podcast and talked about his favorite stories about Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins. My respect for Embiid grew immeasurably when I learned about his love of nutella, a vice I also share. Self also shared his approach to breaking through the Canadian attitude of Robbie’s former NBA teammate Andrew Wiggins.

• Jeff Goodman made the news when Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse called him out by name over the weekend. Goodman responded to the accusation by noting that he is not, in fact, a (former Vanderbilt head coach) “Bryce Drew guy.” Goodman is a college basketball guy and his criticisms of Stackhouse are rooted in hiring a team of people that have no experience in college basketball. See if you agree with Goodman’s take on the Best Bets podcast.