Player of the Week:
RJ Luis Jr., Saint John’s Red Storm
The Storm haven’t been talked about a lot in national media, Marquette and UConn steal most of the spotlight from the conference, but they’ve been great this year, and RJ Luis has been an excellent (and very draftable) player for them. Luis is more of an old-school guard, something I’m sure Rick Pitino is a huge fan of, he likes to get downhill and attack the rim, he’s got solid touch around the rim and he’s a magnet for fouls (he shot 20 free throws against Nova!). In that game he had 30 points, 16 from the charity stripe, but applied pressure on the Nova interior all day. I really love Luis’ tenacity on the defensive end, he’s a career steal-a-night kind of guy, and he’s at 1.7 a game this season. He uses his 6’7 frame to defend around the rim, too, and he’s great in that aspect. Luis averaged 25 a game over the last week and snagged 10 rebounds against Nova. He’s fun to watch, an old-school two-way guard and he’s the biggest reason Saint John’s is as dangerous as they are. Pitino has a good one in the big apple.
Who’s Hot?
Marquette Golden Eagles
Shaka Smart and company has continued to win in conference play over the last week, with a lot of close wins to conference foes. Typically, you expect dominance from the best team in their division, but I’m a fan of seeing Marquette execute in crunch time. The level of coaching there is clearly head and shoulders above many other programs in the country, and these close games will prove to be essential to success come March. Their overtime win against DePaul, a team many would say are the worst in the conference, was the David Joplin show. Joplin made 7 threes, two coming in OT, and the Eagles barely squeaked out a win. That’s what feels different about this team, they feel complete this year. Their starting lineup is great, they have excellent defenders like Stevie Mitchell, one of the front-runners for NPOY in Kam Jones, and guys like Joplin that can blow the roof off of any arena in a short amount of time. I’m a fan of the way they play as a unit on both ends of the floor and I think the only way to beat them right now is to out-rebound and out-tough them. Yeah… good luck with that.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Kalkbrenner and the Jays had a rough start to the year, but they’ve turned it around and remain comfortably on the bubble to be in the tournament. Kalkbrenner has had a stellar last two performances, something we come to expect of him at this point. He averaged 6 blocks a game across their two wins over Providence and Butler and has re-established himself as one of the premier defensive forces in college basketball. More impressively, he shot the highest number of threes in a two-game stretch of the season thus far, and he hit on a lot of them. He shot 5/9 from three over the games, helping him average 23 points a game this week. His three-point attempts are at a high this season, not by much (he’s only shooting 1.7 a game), but they’re still up. If this two-game stretch shows us anything, it’s that Creighton is going to start using him on the perimeter more and more often as his confidence grows. This will do wonders for their offense, that last year felt congested at times with Kalk in the middle of everything. Watch out for a revamped offense from coach McDermott and his staff if this trend continues.
Who’s Not?
Villanova Wildcats
I write this after the Cats got back on track with a nail-biting win over DePaul at home, barely surviving a non-foul at the end of regulation. Since the UConn win, Nova has looked increasingly reliant on Eric Dixon. He just put the team on his back against DePaul, and they needed every ounce he could give them to win that game. Dixon is one of the best players in the country, we all know that, but I don’t think their offense is sustainable if he has a bad game, or if they run into a team that has sprawling defensive talent like Marquette. Nova is overachieving this season, nobody really expected them to be as good as they have been, and their win over UConn was one of the best since the Jay Wright era, however with good play comes expectations, and the expectations they’ve set are very reliant on one player. They see Marquette a week from today on the 24th, we’ll see how Dixon handles being attacked by an elite defensive unit then.
Malik Mack, Georgetown Hoyas
Yikes. The Hoyas promising start to the year has hit an iceberg, and a lot of that falls on the shoulders of Mack, who has been atrocious shooting the ball over the last couple games. He shot a combined 8/29 over two very close losses to Saint John’s and UConn. He also averaged 4 turnovers a game in those contests. Mack is the third leading scorer on the team, and he’s second on shots taken and threes taken this season for the Hoyas. Mack also isn’t an elite defender, his 6’2 175 lb frame isn’t doing him any favors there, so his offensive impact is crucial to his playability. If he’s shooting 25% from the field, he may be doing more harm than good. I’m a fan of Mack’s game, I love a high-volume undersized point guard as much as the next guy (I’ll never forget you Markquis Nowell), but when the shots don’t fall that style of play can become detrimental to the entire team. If he makes more shots, they win more games. Simple as that.
Power Rankings
5. Villanova Wildcats
A rough stretch, help for Dixon is needed.
4. Creighton Blue Jays
They might be back. Look out for those threes attempted increasing from Kalk.
3. Saint John’s Red Storm
Fun to watch, gritty, and tough to beat. NYC will love this team in March.
2. UConn Huskies
Dan Hurley just had his birthday, UConn has been excellent after his birthday over the last few seasons. Maybe it’s not a stat, but something to look at !
1. Marquette Golden Eagles
Shaka Smart continues to be an excellent coach for the Wisconsinites, I look forward to seeing them grow from these close wins.