Player of the Week:
Solo Ball, UConn
Another huge win for the Huskies this week who seem to be figuring it out at exactly the right time… just when you think they’re down and out, they get right back up. Solo Ball (best name in the sport by the way) had a cold-blooded performance on the road, scoring 25 points and drilling 7-of-9 three-pointers to lead the Huskies to a win at Fiserv Forum, a trend that has been pretty consistent for the Huskies. UConn is now 8-2 in their last 10 against Marquette, and Shaka Smart’s squad just can’t seem to find a way to take down the back-to-back champs. Back to Ball, he’s now the Huskies leading scorer and has started to peak his head above the rest of the team as the main guy in their offense. In this game he made clutch three after clutch three to continually thwart any opens of a comeback from Marquette. If there’s one thing Dan Hurley knows how to recruit, it’s gamers. Rarely do any Huskies shy away from the moment, Solo Ball is apart of that rule.
Who’s Hot?
Kadary Richmond, Saint John’s
Saturday was a huge day for Big East basketball across the board. Solo Ball scores 25 to help the Huskies upset the Golden Eagles, Steven Ashworth hits a game-winner against Nova while Kalkbrenner has a huge game, but Kadary Richmond absolutely stole the show this week. That Saturday, he had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, and hit a free throw line jumper with 3 seconds on the clock to win the game for the Red Storm. He followed that up with another masterpiece: Scoring 18 and grabbing 11 boards, as well as another 8 assists to hand Marquette their second straight loss. Richmond and the Storm have officially placed themself in first place in the conference after this week’s two wins, with another huge matchup tonight against UConn to get their 10th consecutive win. I’d bet the house on Richmond to come through huge and get a win for the Storm tonight. It just feels too obvious, he’s an elite guard with great touch in the midrange, an excellent playmaker, one of the longer and more compact wing defenders in the conference and he’s playing a team whose defense is absolutely abysmal. Richmond is a 6’6, 205 do-it-all guard who should be flying up draft boards as we speak, and he’s had his best week of ball this season, this week.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
This guy is a monster. Statistically, Kalk likely had the best week out of any Big East player this week. He averaged 28.5 points per game this week in two wins over Villanova and Providence. Every one of those points were needed, especially against Nova where the Blue Jays escaped with a two point win, thanks to Kalk’s co-star Steven Ashworth hitting a game winner. Ashworth and Kalk might be the best duo in the conference, and this week was likely their strongest showing as a tandem yet this season. Their pick and roll game is excellent, they have great chemistry on the court and are great communicators on the floor. Seriously, watch a Creighton game and pay attention to Kalk and Ashworth pointing things out on defense, talking a lot, it’s beautiful to watch. On offense it’s obvious: pairing a great shot-maker and downhill finisher with an elite big-man will almost always make magic happen. Shaq and Kobe, Magic and Kareem, all those great big and guard couples of history, and Creighton has something (loosely) akin to that.
Who’s Not?
Marquette Golden Eagles
Two straight losses for Shaka Smart’s team after riding high for the past couple of months. Losses are OK, no one expected the Eagles to go the rest of the season undefeated, but let’s look into why these losses happened. Well, for one, there’s an interesting state about the Eagles this year I discovered. The Eagles have scored 70 points or less in 6 games this season, they are 1-5 in those games. Their lone win was against Central Michigan back in November. This makes the issue clear: they gotta score to win. The loss againsty UConn was especially bad for Marquette. You have your rival, who is on the ropes this season after having some drama and bad losses, who also is an awful defensive unit, who you are playing at home against and you lose by 8 points and let a 6’3 sophomore score 25 against you? That’s just a bad look. The Eagles followed that up with another loss against Saint John’s where, guess what, they only scored 64 points. These two losses are their first consecutive L’s of the season, but things won’t be getting any easier tomorrow against Creighton. We’ll see if the Eagles can bounce back or if a massive AP poll plummet is coming up.
Eric Dixon, Villanova Wildcats
Dixon had a rough two games this week. The country’s leading scorer has two very poor shooting outings this week, and for the first time this season was not the team’s leading scorer in consecutive games… three consecutive games at that. The first game of the last seven days will definitely haunt Dixon for a bit. The Wildcats had a chance to take down Creighton at home and get a nice court-storm going but instead lost to a last second buzzer beater from Ashworth. Dixon shot just 4 of 15 the entirety of the game and lost track of Ashworth in the corner to let a relatively open shot fly over his head, and BANK in for the win. Just heartbreaking stuff for the big fella. He followed that loss up with another below-par showing. Shooting 4-of-14 and turning the ball over 4 times, he ultimately helped his team get a 10 point win over lowly DePaul. I don’t think these two games can define the great season he’s having, but he might be hitting a wall. Nova matches up with Saint John’s in 5 days, that’ll be a huge test to see if Dixon can step up to the moment once more like he did against the Huskies.
Power Rankings
5. Xavier Musketeers
The Musketeers have quietly put together a 14-9 season, winning games they’re supposed to and competing every night.
4. Marquette Golden Eagles
Two bad losses will not define the whole season, but a third in a row might…
3. UConn Huskies
Very streaky, but are they getting hot at the right time? Or is it just another flash in the pan… we’ll find out soon.
2. Creighton Blue Jays
8 in a row for the Jays, their midseason turnaround has been a marvel to watch.
1. Saint John’s Red Storm
Selfless, team-oriented and hard-nosed basketball always wins in the Big East. Coach Pitino is a second-year GOD… just look at the numbers.