Pause Pandemonium

Tipoff

Selection Sunday will take place one month from this weekend. Making sense of how the NCAA will go about selecting and seeding teams for the Field of 68 (pun alert!) is nearly impossible. Between the shortened regular season, teams going into, out of, and back on pause, and the nature of unbalanced schedules within and across conferences, figuring out which teams are good and which are just going through some stuff presents a set of challenges the selection committee has never faced before. Perhaps few teams exemplify these evaluation challenges quite like Clemson.

The Tigers began the year on a tear, collecting wins against Purdue and Alabama on a neutral court and dropping a close one to Virginia Tech. Then, “the pause.” Following an overtime win against NC State, Clemson went on an 11-day pause due to a positive test and contract tracing. The team postponed its matchups against North Carolina and Syracuse, games that will in all likelihood never take place. Following that break in action, the Tigers looked like a different team. They lost by 35 points at home to Virginia, by 18 at Georgia Tech and then by 19 to Florida State. After a close win at home to Louisville, they were crushed by a Duke team that will in all likelihood miss its first NCAA Tournament since 1995, losing 79-53 in Durham. The wheels had fallen off. Seemingly embarrassed by its efforts, the Tigers have pounced back with a vengeance, winning by 13 at home against UNC and then by 17 against Syracuse. You can see the dramatic dip in performance post-pause in the game score chart on Bart Torvik’s T-Rank page for Clemson. Does the selection committee discount the midseason slide? Those game still took place with the same players on the roster before and after the break. Clearly, though, something happened.

Clemson is not the only case of pause pandemonium. Since going on an extended break, Villanova has not looked as crisp and pressed as head coach Jay Wright’s snazzy suits. The Wildcats did not play a game between December 23rd and January 19th, missing almost a full month. Currently, top teams Michigan and Baylor are on extended pauses of their own, in the heart of the season. Sorting out what teams are capable of doing and what their “real” resume looks like this season was going to be a huge challenge. With pauses throwing monkey wrenches into the spokes of so many teams, that challenge is infinitely more difficult. 

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.

• Senior forward Corey Kispert loves headbands and draining jumpers. In addition to leading the Gonzaga Bulldogs to an undefeated record, a lock on a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and shooting his way to a potential NBA draft pick this summer, Kispert joined the Bulldog Broadcast with Dan Dickau to talk about even more things going on in his life and the Gonzaga team.

• Sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James joined the Big Vol’n with Dan Bradshaw show and gave a compelling look at the life of a former 5-star recruit that went through some struggles as a freshman and the advice he had for a pair of talented young freshmen this year on a very good Tennessee team.

• UConn legend, Hall of Famer, and ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo logged into Nothing but Net with Debbie Antonelli to discuss life as a working mother, the current UConn team, and women’s basketball in general. You won’t find two people that know more about living this game than these two.

• Ohio State head coach Chris Holtman joined Robbie Hummel & Jeff Goodman for an interview that covered a lot and revealed interesting details. For example, a hair transplant almost cost Coach Holtman a shot at the job in Columbus. The trio also talked about a potential #1 seed for the Buckeyes and other basketball-related topics.

Weekend Primer

Heading into the weekend, we take a look at the big matchups on the schedule.

With the season hitting the home stretch, this section will feature some of the top conference games coming up this weekend, including several mid-major matchups. The slate of games could include teams poised to make a deep run in March and wreck brackets in what promises to be one of the most unpredictable tournaments in memory. 

On Friday night in the A10 Conference, the first place Bonnies of St. Bonaventure travel to Richmond, Virginia to take on second place VCU. By the way, have you ever wondered what other teams would be named if they had the same kind of nickname as the St. Bonaventure Bonnies? One plucky redditor asked that very question and produced amusing results. Anyway, the top two in the Big South, Winthrop and Radford, will face off in Virginia for control of the conference race.

On Saturday, we start with what could be the top game of the weekend. You remember Loyola-Chicago, Porter Moser, and Sister Jean from the 2018 Final Four, right? Well the Ramblers are back and might be better than before (according to FiveThirtyEight). Senior forward Cameron Krutwig is playing like an All-American and has put together an impressive career resume. Krutwig and teammates face off at Noon against Drake, the darling of America that was 18-0 before falling to Valparaiso last weekend. Can the Bulldogs bounce back against the top team in the Missouri Valley Conference? The two teams will get a rematch on Sunday afternoon. In the Big East, top-ranked Villanova will look to extend its lead in the conference on the road in Peyton Manning’s favorite place, Omaha, against Creighton. This matchup strains the geographic understanding of “East” if Nebraska is considered part of it. Meanwhile in the Ohio Valley Conference, head coach Casey Alexander has the Belmont Bruins at 20-1 on the year and 14-0 in conference play, poised to bust brackets in March. They host second place Morehead State. Out west, #1 Gonzaga goes to the Bay Area to play USF. This might not seem like a big matchup with the Dons at 4-5 in conference play and 10-9 overall, but they did defeat Virginia early in the season and have a history of playing tough against the Bulldogs.

The Sunday schedule begins in the American Athletic conference, with Houston looking to distance itself from third place Memphis in a midday Sunday matchup. Finally, one of the big matchups for the weekend will be in the B1G with Michigan against Wisconsin. The Wolverines are in 1st place in the conference but have not seen action since January 22nd due to a shutdown of all athletic activities in Ann Arbor. Will Michigan suffer from Pause Pandamonium? They have a stiff test against a Badgers team looking to make up ground in conference play.

• FridaySt. Bonaventure vs. VCU (7:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2)Winthrop vs. Radford (7:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+)

• Saturday#22 Loyola-Chicago vs. Drake (12:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2)#5 Villanova vs. #19 Creighton (5:00 p.m. Eastern on Fox)Morehead State vs. Belmont (5:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+)#1 Gonzaga vs. USF (6:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2)

• Sunday#8 Houston vs. Memphis (1:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN)#22 Loyola-Chicago vs. Drake (3:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2)