The Year of the Stretch Forward

In the last two weeks since my rankings came out, there have been many changes: upsets, shocking victories, and the Chinese New Year.  That's right, on February 10th we officially entered The Year of Snake.  So, in honor of The Year of the Snake, I am naming this college basketball season "The Year of the Stretch Forward".

The stretch forward, or stretch four, is a term used to designate a player that plays at the power forward position, but has skills that are not normally associated with a power forward, namely: the ability to knock down a three pointer. The difference between a traditional forward and a stretch forward is purely on the offensive end. The stretch forward has the ability to play inside and around the perimeter, thus stretching out the defense.  Made popular in the NBA by players like Ryan Anderson, Kevin Love, and Ersan Ilyasova, the stretch forward position, if played correctly, can become a team's most dangerous weapon on offense. Recently however, college teams have began recruiting and developing players to play this role, and for many of them, it is working very well.  I am going to highlight five of the best in the college game at this position, and show the impact they are having on their teams.

Erik Murphy - Florida Gators - 6'10" 238 lbs. 

The senior (pictured right) from South Kingston, Rhode Island is one of the best stretch forwards in the nation.  He is averaging 12.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game for the 5th ranked Gators.  Murphy, a career 44% three point shooter, is shooting a blazing 50% from 3 this year, making 52 of his 104 attempts from deep.  He is an 83% free throw shooter, and also takes care of the ball: only 1.4 turnovers per game.  Murphy has led Florida to a 21-3 record, and a first place standing in the SEC with an 11-1 conference record. They are in running for a potential 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, with ESPN projecting them for one of the four coveted top seeds.  Florida arguably would not be in the situation they are now without Murphy, who has stepped up in a huge way in the last few weeks as Florida's front line has been plagued by injuries   Look for Murphy to lead his Gators deep into the NCAA Tournament this year.

Romero Osby - Oklahoma Sooners - 6'8" 232 lbs.

Osby is making a big name for himself in Norman.  The transfer from Mississippi State has played his last two seasons of eligibility with the Sooners.  Known as a lock-down defender, Osby has improved on offense to become the leading scorer for Oklahoma averaging 14 points per game.  He is shooting 56% from three this year, and grabbing 7 rebounds per game as well.  He doesn't take a lot of threes, but his ability to knock them down is what often opens up lanes for him to drive, which is exactly what he did to score 17 points in Oklahoma's upset win last week over #5 Kansas.  As for the rest of the team, Oklahoma is 16-8 with a 7-5 conference record.  They have quality wins over Kansas, and Oklahoma State; and no bad losses  so far.  They are being projected for an 8 seed in the tournament, and 5-1 or even a 4-2 record to finish out the season should place them safely in the NCAA Tournament. 

Doug McDermott - Creighton Bluejays - 6'8" 225 lbs.

You have to love those coach's sons.  Greg McDermott, Doug's father and Creighton's head coach, has to be pleased with his son's (and his team's) play this year.  Creighton is #1 nationally in 3 point percentage at 43%, and #2 in 3 pointers made per game at 9.3.  Doug McDermott is averaging 22.9 points per game, which is good for 3rd in the nation.  He also adds 7.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  Doug has shot 48% from 3 the last two years, and adds an 86% mark from the charity stripe.  He is not afraid to shoot the ball, hoisting 118 attempts so far this year, and making 57 of them.  Doug McDermott went to Ames High School in Ames, Iowa where he was teammates with All-American and now Golden State Warrior, Harrison Barnes.  During McDermott's and Barnes' junior and senior seasons they posted a 53-0 record, and won two state championships.  Now McDermott has led his Creighton team to a 21-6 record, and they have been ranked most of the year.  They have however fallen a bit in conference play in the Missouri Valley Conference  and trail Wichita State by 1 game.  The good news is the Shockers have to travel to Omaha and take on Creighton in the last game of the year on March 2nd.  Both teams are projected to get seed somewhere in the 7-9 range in the NCAA Tournament. 

Ryan Kelly - Duke Blue Devils - 6'11" 230 lbs. 

Senior Ryan Kelly is by far the most valuable player for Duke this year.  He has averaged 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game this year to go along with 52% shooting from three.  His defense is incredible: he's known as a shut-down post defender.  He is deadly in transition shooting the three, and is an 80% free throw shooter.  The only problem is that he has been out with a leg injury since January 12th.  This is where you realize just how valuable Kelly is to Duke: they are 15-0 with Kelly, including 3 wins over top 5 teams, and they are 7-3 since then, going 0-2 against ranked teams.  This included a 27 point thrashing they took at Miami.  After losing to Maryland this past weekend, Duke has fallen to #6 in the rankings.  They are still projected for a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but how far they go in that tournament will solely depend on the heath of Ryan Kelly, who is projected to be healthy by the time the tournament starts. 

Kyle Wiltjer - Kentucky Wildcats - 6'10" 239 lbs.

In a season that has been highlighted by disappointments for the defending national champions, Kyle Wiltjer has been a bight spot for Kentucky.  The sophomore from Portland, Oregon has been a great scoring option for the Wildcats, averaging 11.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.  The 41% three point shooter showed up the biggest in Kentucky's most pivotal game of the season against then #16 Ole Miss.  The game was in Oxford, Mississippi, and Wiltjer silenced the crowed with 26 points, including 5 threes.  Kentucky, who is clinging to a tournament spot received more bad news last week, as standout center Nerlens Noel tore his ACL and is out for the season.  In their first game without him, Kentucky suffered a 30 point defeat to Tennessee who is just a .500 SEC team.  Kentucky sits at 17-8 with an 8-4 SEC record.  They will have to prove themselves in their 6 remaining games to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament, where they are currently projected for a 10 seed.  

I can't believe that March Madness is almost here! This has been a crazy year for college basketball, and I'm pretty sure that it will only get crazier from this point on.  I will be releasing the second edition of my Straight Up Index rankings tomorrow.  'Til next time. 

College Basketball November Recap

2011-2012 was a great year for college basketball.  But if what has happened so far this year is any indication for this season, we are in for a treat! Here is my recap of the first month of college hoops:

Team of the Month: The Duke Blue Devils. Ranked #2 in the nation at 8-0, Duke went into November facing an absolute gauntlet of a schedule.  They beat then #3 Kentucky, and in back to back games toppled #2 Louisville and #4 Ohio State.  The #1 ranked team, Indiana, has impressed as well, but has only faced one ranked team, a #14 North Carolina squad, who they crushed by 24 points.  The rest of the road was not a cake walk for Duke however: they beat now ranked Minnesota, and a tough VCU team. One interesting thing to watch with Duke is the fact that they have yet to play in a true road environment, with four of their eight wins coming on neutral court.  They will play two more neutral court games against Temple and Davidson before heading down the road to take on NC State on January 12th.  Mark that one on your calender!

Dark Horse of the Month: This was a tough category for me to pick one team, but I went with the 8-1 Bucknell Bison. Bucknell started the year off well with a 15 point road win against Purdue, and has built on that upset with wins against New Mexico State, Columbia, and Kent State.  They did lose to a decent Penn State team on the road, but look for Bucknell to turn some heads in the Patriot League and be very dangerous come March and tournament time.

Surprise Team of the Month: Everyone likes surprises. The Virginia Tech Hokies, who entered the season with low expectations and a new coach, like them too. Off-season hire James Johnson has turned this team around in an unbelievable way. At 7-0, the Hokies look like ACC contenders under the leadership of senior guard Erik Green, who is averaging almost 25 points per game. After playing a pretty soft schedule early, Virginia Tech beat Iowa and then upset Oklahoma State (then ranked #15) by ten points. This team still has challenges before conference play starts, like a tough road matchup against West Virginia, but it's time to start believing in the Hokies!

Player of the Month: Many players impressed in November with great stats like Lehigh's C.J. McCollum who averaged 26.3 points per game to lead the nation. But the best player was Duke's Mason Plumlee.  The 6 foot 11 inch senior has been the key to Duke's undefeated start, averaging 19.9 points and 11 rebounds per game. The combination of his smart play and size make Mason Plumlee someone to be feared in the ACC this year.

Freshman of the Month: Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State. Smart has led the Cowboys to a 5-0 record in November. He is averaging an incredible 13.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game.  How good is that? Well, the last freshman to reach those numbers in November was Dwyane Wade in 2001. Smart will try to lead his Cowboys to a championship in what looks like a pretty wide open Big 12 this year.

6th Man of the Month: Just because you don't start doesn't mean you don't have game.  Syracuse senior forward James Southerland would agree with that statement.  The Bayside, New York product is averaging an extremely efficient 16.7 points off the bench this year in 26 minutes per game. His presence has been felt off the bench, helping Syracuse to an undefeated start.

Shot of the Month: You can always count on Butler for some drama.  Brad Stevens' squad was down 2 points late against Marquette in the first round of the Maui Invitational when this happened:

Upset of the Month: Non conference play is always good for some upsets, and we are going to stay in Maui for this one, where Division II host school Chaminade knocked off the Texas Longhorns.  It wasn't a fluky upset either. After leading by 4 at the half, Chaminade outpaced the Longhorns in route to a 86-73 victory. Thirty years after upsetting Ralph Samson's #1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers, the Chaminade Silverswords struck once again, and took down another quality opponent in the Maui Invitational.

Game of the Month: With so many tournaments and high powered non conference matchups, it was hard to choose just one, but Duke's nail biting win over Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament final got my vote.  Featuring two of the top 5 teams in the country, Duke jumped out to an eight point halftime lead before Louisville clawed their way back, forcing Duke to nail several clutch threes down the stretch to close the deal, 76-71. It looked like a preview of what we might see come tournament time in March.

November was an awesome month for college basketball, and I can't wait to do the December Recap. Here are some great high-powered games that you can't miss for December (rankings are as of December 6) (all times Eastern):
December 8th: 
#8 Arizona @ Clemson (8:00 pm), #13 Illinois @ #10 Gonzaga (10:00 pm)
December 15th:
#1 Indiana @ Butler (2:00 pm EST), West Virginia vs #3 Michigan (8:00 pm), #6 Florida @ #8 Arizona (10:00 pm)
December 19th:
Xavier @ #11 Cincinnati (7:00 pm)
December 22nd:
#9 Kansas @ #7 Ohio State (4:00 pm), #13 Illinois @ #12 Missouri (6:00 pm)
December 27th:
#18 New Mexico @ #11 Cincinnati (9:00 pm)
December 29th:
Kentucky @ #5 Louisville (4:00 pm)
December 31st:
#11 Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh  (12:00 pm), #19 Michigan State @ #14 Minnesota, #10 Gonzaga @ #23 Oklahoma State (6:00 pm)

There you have it. Happy watching! 'Til next time.

College Basketball Roundup

2011-2012 was a great year for the sport of college basketball.  We saw incredible depth throughout the Power Six conferences, great games every week, the excitement of a cinderella in Murray State, and most of all, one of the most riveting tournaments in recent memory.  But this is my favorite part of the season, when you are able to look back and reflect on what made this season so amazing.  Here, I will have the Straight Up Sports Post-Season Awards, given to the players, coaches, students, and yes, even the mascots, that made this season memorable:

"First Team" All Straight Up Sports: These players were, in my opinion, the best at their respective positions:

G- Kendall Marshal, UNC

G- Marcus Denmon, Missouri
G/F- Michael Kidd-Gilchrest, Kentucky

F- Anthony Davis, Kentucky

F- Thomas Robinson, Kansas

The (Very Good) "Second Team" All Straight Up Sports: There were the guys who didn't quite make the cut on the first team, but still had incredible years. 

G- Marcus Teague, Kentucky

G- Pierre Jackson, Baylor

G- Bradley Beal, Florida

F- Jae Crowder, Marquette

F- Draymond Green, Michigan State

Honorable Mentions:
John Henson, Doug McDermott, Mike Scott, Michael Snear, Austin Rivers, Tyler Zeller, Kevin Jones, John Shurna, Darius Johnson-Odom.  

The 6th Man Award: The 6th Man Award goes to the best bench player in the country. It's not easy to come off the bench, and still give your team what it needs every game to win.
G- Dion Waters, Syracuse

The Freshman of the Year Award:
F- Anthony Davis, Kentucky
Guards Trey Burke (Michigan) and Bradley Beal (Florida), and Indiana forward Cody Zeller were right behind Davis, who not only was the best freshman, but the best player in the country.  It was a tough year to be a freshman.

Coach of the Year Award:
This was a very tough one for me, with so many great coaches this year.  You had great coaches like Tom Izzo and Roy Williams have good years like usual, and so many great stories across the country.  I thought of going with John Calipari, who won his first National Championship with the Kentucky Wildcats, or maybe someone like Rick Majerus of Saint Louis University, who brought the Billikens to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years. For me, it came down to Steve Prohm of Murray State, and Frank Haith of Missouri, and I had to go with Haith.  In his first year as a coach in the Big 12, he brought the Missouri Tigers to a Top 10 ranking, and a number 2 seed in the tournament.  He finished 30-5 (14-4 in the Big 12), including winning the Big 12 Tournament at the end of the season. Though Missouri lost a heart-breaker in the first round to 15 seed Norfolk State (who played the perfect game to pull off an upset like that), I believe that Frank Haith wins the Coach of the Year Award.

The Best Atmosphere in College Basketball Award:
One of the things that I love about college hoops is the student sections and gyms across the nation.  The sheer noise of the fans can bring an intimidation factor to your opponent, making it so hard to go and win big games on the road.  Places like Duke's Cameron Indoor, and Michigan State's Breslin Center carry an atmosphere with them that makes opponents nervous just thinking out playing there.  But the school who had the best student section of this past season (and many previous) is San Diego State.  Loud, annoying, obnoxious, and sometimes offensive, their student section makes their area a place to be feared throughout college basketball.  Their student section, called "The Show", was the first one to use the giant cutouts of peoples faces, waving them in the air when someone is shooting.  Playing in this crazy atmosphere not only hinders visiting teams, but helps the Aztecs carry one of the best home records in college basketball over the last few seasons.

The Best Mascot:
A banana slug, a tin keg, and a red blob. Just some of the unique mascots that make their home in college gyms throughout the country.  But nothing matches Syracuse University's Orangeman.  This goofy orange creature has been a part of Syracuse basketball culture for many years, adding just one for facet to their successful and entertaining basketball fans for years to come.

That is it.  The 2011-12 college basketball season is finished, and we look forwards to next year. I know its WAY to early to be thinking about this, but look for Indiana and Michigan to emerge out of the Big Ten, becoming two of the top teams next season.  It saddening for this season to end, and for us to lose great seniors throughout the country.  But that's past us, because it's time for baseball now! 'Til next time.