The Blue Bloods Are Back!

Tipoff

It’s time, yet again, to take a look at the teams that can’t escape the headlines. There are two teams - Baylor and Gonzaga - with undefeated records late in February, each with a chance to run the table and win the NCAA Championship for the first time since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers. You would assume that would be the dominant story. One of the defining storylines of this season, however, has been how terrible the traditional powers have been. Kentucky is 8-13 on the season. Duke briefly fell below .500 for the first time since the Clinton administration. Kansas fell out of the AP Top 25 for a week, ending the longest streak of being ranked in AP Poll history. North Carolina, pegged as a top 25 team at the start of the season following their disastrous 2019-20 campaign, hasn’t been ranked since losing 4 of 6 to close out a 2020 to forget (we can all sympathise with that, can’t we?). For one day, though, the Blue Bloods of college basketball were back in the headlines, and not for controversy, either. They all won on Saturday.

The question remains, though, which teams are contenders and which are pretenders? We take a look at six of the traditional powers and try to separate wheat from chaff.

Kansas: Contender

The Jayhawks are, by the standards of the program under head coach Bill Self, underperforming at 17-7 on the season and in 3rd place in the Big 12. KU is on a 5-game win streak and won a thrilling 67-61 matchup over Texas Tech on Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas. Some of the recent success has been a gift of the schedule as they have played conference bottom-feeders Iowa State and Kansas State a total of 3 times in the last 5 games while the other 2 wins were at home. The last 2 games of the regular season include a tough road game at Texas on Tuesday night and then a huge matchup against undefeated Baylor on Saturday to close out the regular season. While Kansas lacks a star player this year, they have enough weapons with an experienced backcourt and an improving frontcourt of Jalen Wilson and David McCormack to make a run in the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments this spring.

UCLA: Contender

By most accounts, the hiring of Mick Cronin as UCLA’s head coach was underwhelming in the spring of 2019. Perhaps it was the long wait of more than 3 months searching for Steve Alford's replacement. Fast forward two years, and the early returns have been promising. Cronin, the long-time head coach of Cincinnati before heading to Westwood, was known for a blue-collar approach and falling short in the NCAA Tournament, where the Bearcats made it as far as the Sweet 16 once in 12 seasons. Without an NCAA Tournament record at UCLA, the fans have to be encouraged that the team is contending for the Pac 12 conference title at the very least. Cronin’s young Bruins, a group led by sophomores, including forward Jaime Jaquez, Jr., point guard and all-hair team member Tyger Campbell, and former Kentucky Wildcat Johnny Juzang (boy, how John Calipari could use his shooting this year) have UCLA poised for a return to the Big Dance and a shot at the Pac 12 Conference Title, to boot.

North Carolina: Contender

The Tar Heels put the burners on Saturday, defeating Louisville 99-54. The Cardinals were playing their first game in 19 days following a COVID pause and ran into a buzzsaw in Chapel Hill. UNC has won 9 of its last 12 games thanks in large part to the best offensive rebounding in the country. On the other hand, UNC’s resume lacks a signature win. They have losses against ACC top dogs Clemson, Florida State, and Virginia and most likely will not play Virginia Tech following a postponement. UNC appears to have a solid case for an at-large bid based on their overall record, but the record against good teams is thin at best. Closing the season against Florida State, at Syracuse, and the rematch with Duke presents North Carolina with both opportunities and challenges to solidify its place in the Field of 68 or find itself firmly on the bubble.

Duke: Pretender

This is a difficult judgement call to make. On one hand, Duke is playing its best basketball of the year and looks to have come together following the decision last week by talented freshman Jalen Johnson to depart the team to prepare for his future in the NBA. Duke had a nail-biting 66-65 victory over Virginia on Saturday night. That signature win followed a pair of blowout road wins over NC State and Wake Forest. They then followed that up by easily dispatching Syracuse on Monday night, 85-71. The Blue Devils have figured out how to score the ball after struggling in that area earlier in the season. The emergence of 7’1” freshman center Mark Williams has made life easier for the defense, too. It helps that sophomore forward Matthew Hurt is making better than 60% of his 3-point attempts during this mini-run. Still, the Blue Devils are on a razor’s edge with regards to their tournament hopes. They face other bubble teams the rest of the way, including a home game against Louisville on Saturday and two road games at Georgia Tech and North Carolina. If Duke loses one or two of those games, they will almost certainly need to win the ACC Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State: Pretender

Is Michigan State a Blue Blood? If you asked the question, which teams have been the best over the past 25 years, MSU would be a sure-fire member of that club. By that measure, let’s assume they are. Like the others in this list, the Spartans have not looked like themselves. Tom Izzo’s squad has made every NCAA Tournament since 1998 and has never had a losing conference record. Those streaks appear to be snapping. While MSU won a tight contest in Bloomington, Indiana on Saturday against other maybe-Blue Blood IU, the home stretch for Sparty is daunting. They host Illinois on Tuesday night and close the season with back-to-back games against Michigan, among other matchups. Those are opportunities to pick up signature wins. On the other hand, those two teams are each vying for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. At 11-9 overall and 5-9 in conference, their hopes for reaching the NCAA Tournament rest solely on winning the B1G conference automatic bid.

Kentucky: Pretender

The Wildcats looked like the defensive juggernaut their long and athletic roster promised for one glorious afternoon as they defeated Tennessee 70-55 in Knoxville. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late for John Calipari’s team. They have 3 regular season games remaining but can only reach an 11-13 record at best. Even with a winning conference record, a 1-6 start to the season and then a 1-7 stretch from mid-January to early February precludes hope for an at-large bid. Still, wouldn’t it be totally unsurprising to see this team come together and win the SEC Tournament to sneak into the NCAA Tournament? Alabama and Arkansas, among others, will have a say in that matter. The SEC’s automatic bid is the only hope that remains for Big Blue Nation.

Conference Tracker

It’s Championship Season! Let’s take a look at conference tournament action and what lies ahead.

• Horizon League. The first conference tournament of the year starts on Thursday night. The Horizon League used a formula to determine seeding in its tournaments this year due to unbalanced schedules and COVID-based cancellations. That explains why Northern Kentucky, which ended the year 11-7 in conference play, was seeded 4th in the men’s tournament while 10-10 Oakland was seeded 3rd. The conference says it weighed four factors to seed the tournament: 1) conference winning percentage, 2) strength of schedule, 3) weighting road wins vs. home wins, and 4) number of conference games played. Sure, I guess that makes sense? At any rate, the tournament is stretched out over 3 weeks with games taking place at home gyms Thursday, February 24th and Tuesday, March 2nd before the final four teams travel to Indianapolis to play for the conference title the following week. Between the first and second rounds, the conference will re-seed teams before scheduling games for the 2nd round (i.e., the lowest remaining seed will face #1 seed Cleveland State). In the era of COVID, this might be the most cautious and thoughtful approach to scheduling conference tournaments this season.

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 Duke guard and 2010 National Champion Andre Dawkins, host of the Dawkins on Duke podcast (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts).

1. You had some talented teammates in your time at Duke, including Kyrie Irving, all three Plumlee brothers, Austin Rivers, Rodney Hood, and Jabari Parker. Mason Plumlee appeared in the NBA Dunk Contest while Seth Curry has been one of the most accurate 3-point shooters in NBA history. As a player known for both deadly shooting and vicious dunks - check out this jam from the 2010 ACC Championship game - which would you most likely win, HORSE against Seth Curry or a dunk contest against Mason Plumlee?

Right now, I would have to go with winning a game of HORSE. I don’t have many dunks I got in my repertoire at the moment. I don’t know who is beating Seth right now when it comes to making shots, but I will go with that.

2. The world of college basketball has lost a pair of giants this year in John Thompson II and John Chaney. Both were trailblazers for Black men in the game, as players and coaches. What does the legacy of these men mean to you and what do you think needs to be done to advance Black men in the coaching ranks in college basketball moving forward?

Those guys were staples in coaching for a long time. I remember John Chaney coaching Temple when I was growing up. Allen Iverson was a 757 guy in Virgina (note: Andre grew up in the same area of southeast Virginia) and played for John Thompson II at Georgetown. His son, John Thompson III, recruited me and I got to meet his father a couple of times. That was cool for me and for my father, too. My dad was a big Georgetown guy. In terms of getting more coaches of color, I think it has to be a concerted effort. Giving coaches a chance is the main thing. They don’t want a handout; they want to have the same opportunity. The Rooney Rule in the NFL (in short, all NFL teams must interview at least one minority candidate for head coach and other senior positions) is not the right model. There are so many players that are Black but so few of the coaches. It doesn’t make any sense. A lot of these guys want to get into coaching later on. You see so many coaches recycled. It’s not often you see new blood get into the coaching ranks. I don’t know if it is giving chances so much as judging guys on the same metrics.

3. Head coaches have gotten in the news a lot this season for saying some pretty wild stuff. What’s a story of your time with Coach K that stands out to you, either for good or for bad, that the general public would be surprised to hear? 

Something people may not know is that Coach K is a big Beyonce fan. We were doing a film session and he played a clip from Dreamgirls, the main Beyonce song. He played that and the message was basically to play like Beyonce sang that song. We won the game, so I guess it worked. He’s always trying to motivate through pop culture and connect with guys. When the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song, Empire State of Mind, came out, he was playing that to get us pumped before a game in New York City.

And one!

4. You are in the real estate field these days. During your college years, you played home games in one of the most storied venues in the sport, Cameron Indoor Stadium, and also got to play in Madison Square Garden, in the Final Four at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, and many other famous properties. What was your favorite piece of real estate to play a game? And where would you play a game that you never got to? 

My favorite place to play is Cameron Indoor Stadium. You just can’t match it. Outside of there, I love to play at Madison Square Garden. I seemed to play well there. Just getting into the stadium is an experience in and of itself. You have to take an elevator to get up to the locker rooms. If not Cameron Indoor Stadium, I would have to go with MSG. If I had to pick another place, it would be Staples Arena in LA. I always wanted to play there but didn’t get the chance.

Look out for upcoming episodes of Dawkins on Duke. Andre has some big-time guests coming up soon, including Jay Williams and Tommy Amaker.

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: Michigan

  If you were a fan of high-scoring basketball, the game of the year was on Sunday between the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes. Both teams are contending for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with the Wolverines coming out on top, 92-87. The Wolverines offered a balanced attack with a notable contribution from freshman center Hunter Dickinson leading the way with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. For a team that took an extended pause in late January/early February, Michigan looks like they haven’t missed a beat. In defeating Ohio State, Juwan Howard also grabbed bragging rights over Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor. Another stiff test awaits Michigan on Thursday night as they host Iowa. The beat goes on in the B1G.

• Player of the Week: Ayo Dosunmu

  This is not the first Player of the Week award from this prestigious newsletter for Dosunmu. The Illinois guard has earned it and in the process has put himself in contention for National Player of the Year consideration. On Saturday, it was another triple-double (19 points/10 rebounds/10 assists) against host team Minnesota. The Barn, homecourt of Minnesota’s Gophers, has been a house of horrors for visiting teams - the only loss on Michigan’s record was there - but was not a problem for Dosunmu and Illinois. This was the second triple-double for the Chicago native this season and only the 4th such performance in school history.

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.

• Robbie Hummel and Jeff Goodman discussed Sunday’s Michigan-Ohio State matchup and asked the important question, how good is Michigan? The game of the year so far was impressive for both teams, but the performance by the Wolverines left the cohosts impressed by the clear-cut third best team in the country. Now the question remains, how close are they to Gonzaga and Baylor?

• Usually we don’t double-dip with the same podcast, but we have to go back to Hummel & Goodman for their guest, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few. In fact, it was Few’s first ever podcast appearance. After refuting Goodman’s most inflammatory accusations against the scheduling snafus, Few set the record straight on that and his approach to the WCC conference. 

• The ACC’s all-time leading scorer, National Player of the Year, and National Champion Tyler “Psycho T” Hansbrough joined the Carolina Conversation with Shammond Williams. Hansbrough gave an update on his playing career, which after several years in the NBA, has taken him to China. He also discussed his favorite game, a famous dunk over 7’6” center Kenny George, and more. It’s a must-watch interview for the Carolina family out there.

Former Florida standout Erik Murphy opened up about the arrest that changed his life when he joined the Patric Young and the Rowdies podcast. Murphy explained the situation and how his head coach, Billy Donovan, reacted and supported Murphy through this trial.