Will Wade's Wiretap, Juwan Howard's Right Hook, and the Happenings of College Basketball in the Past Month and a Half

There has been some significant time passed since late November, but there is still nothing better than being back home for the week for Thanksgiving. It was awesome to get away from schoolwork, be with family, and grub on absolutely phenomenal home cooking (shoutout Mom). But one of the best parts of that week was the plethora of college basketball Feast Week screens that adorned my TV screen, watching from noon to midnight most days while I was home. 

I watched a good amount of basketball before then, believe me, but to sit there and be able to see each and every big team play gave me a good picture of the landscape of college basketball at this point in the year. It was especially hilarious to see many of these tournaments played in makeshift ballrooms where some of the rims looked like they belonged in a high school gym and not a Top 25 matchup between some of college basketball’s best teams. Yet that is the beauty of this week, with wacky finishes, goofy venues, and players rising or cratering in the moment. 

I have continued to watch college basketball at a high level, but there is no replacement to seeing top teams compete against each other in tournament style basketball over the course of a week period.

It was shocking to see some teams I was especially high on struggle mightily and a variety of others look incredible over the week. Some of the teams I have mentioned have risen to the occasion since late November, and certain teams have stooped to even lower lows. 

Fallers

UConn

I will profess I am still a massive fan of Dan Hurley and the way he runs his program in Storrs. You don’t win back-to-back championships by accident, and his attention to the most intricate of details and passion for the game is something I admire deeply. Yet, he embarrassed himself and the program with his actions in UConn’s matchup with Memphis in the first round of the Maui Invitational. His verbal abuse of the officials served as a catalyst for the following two days. Losing to Colorado and Dayton and finishing 0-3 in sunny Lahaina was striking to see. 

Donovan Clingan and Cam Spencer aren’t walking into Gampel Pavilion anytime soon. The Huskies showed major flaws, especially in their defense this past week, that were striking to see. 

The notable impact guys that were expected to contribute and slot right into the departed members of last year’s Huskies roster were notably not up to snuff on the defensive end, where they, for their three game stretch in the Pacific Ocean, gave up an average of 85.6 points a game. That’s a far cry from their stifling defense of years past. 

Aidan Mahaney, the prized point guard from Saint Mary’s, benched after a game getting torched by Tyrese Hunter on both sides of the ball? Dan Hurley going nuclear after a dubious foul call on Liam McNeeley in the closing minutes against Memphis? Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed exchanging performances of heavy foul trouble?

This is not the UConn basketball I know. A lack of an alpha dog was apparent in late November, but the Huskies have rebounded with back-to-back wins against Baylor and Texas at the Moody Center, and got a major victory against a damn good Gonzaga team at the Garden. Bonafide five-star recruit Liam McNeeley broke out with a massive 26-point performance, and the continued offensive aggressiveness in Big East play is a joy to watch. Anytime you have a 6’7” wing that can score at all three levels, stroke it from deep, and get to the rack, you have to make a priority to get him touches throughout the game.

Sophomores such as guard Solo Ball (12.5 PPG) have stepped up, giving big minutes for the Huskies this year, but Karaban and McNeeley have to continue to step up to be alpha dog scorers on this team or the struggles seen in Maui will resurface against better teams. 

USC

I was curious when I first saw Eric Musselman's transfer portal class entering the year as to what players would fit in the rotation and around each other over the course of the season. Outside of Xavier transfer guard Desmond Claude, I was unsure what the cumulative effect of the players around him would amount to.

Well, you get 36 total points scored versus Saint Mary’s in an almost empty arena in Palm Springs. Almost dead last in the Big Ten in KenPom, the Trojans have struggled against good competition this non-conference season with losses to California, New Mexico, the aforementioned Saint Mary’s, and Oregon.

I will admit, some guys around Claude have stepped it up for the Trojans. Journeyman Big Ten guy Terrance Williams (10.6/4.9), and big man Josh Cohen (10.0/2.8) have given the Trojans a little added juice in the scoring department to help out Desmond Claude (13.6/3.5/3.4).

The lack of three-point scoring (308th nationally ranked in 3PT rate and 131st in 3PT%) and individual scoring is apparent this early in the season for a Trojans team that had concepts of tourney hopes heading into the season. I, for one, am a big fan of Eric Musselman, and I think the world of his ability to turn over a roster in an offseason at multiple stops now. 

But the USC season right now is a microcosm of what is wrong with the portal in college basketball. Out of the ten transfer portal players on USC this season, a grand total of three had previously played at the Power 5 level.. Not every guy is ready for a move up to the Power 5 level, and the outcasts of the USC rotation are getting a harsh lesson of the new business of collegiate athletics. 

I’m not here to bash on the USC basketball program, and I hope their win against Washington is a turning point in stringing some wins together (Saint Thomas 19 points, let him feast, Muss Buss). Yet the early start to the season and warning signs lead me to believe this is not only an issue of talent, but a lack of offensive rebounding, consistent scoring, and defensive lapses. Those will have you behind the eight-ball in the BIG10 in a hurry. 

Miami

Going into a season, you look at a roster, and see the talent a team brings in and you begin to think. 

“Oh wow, Final Four guard, 2 million-dollar-man Nijel Pack coming back to school, Matthew Cleveland, he was pretty good. Wow, he's back! Oh man, Jalil Bethea, the highest-ranked recruit to ever come to Miami, they are gonna be damn good!!” 

Then you turn on the TV, and they just don’t look anything like they are supposed to. 

Offense is the least of Miami’s concerns at the moment in all honesty. They are Top 30 in the country in offensive efficiency, with a top-10 2PT% to boot. Nijel Pack is averaging 13.9 PPG and looks the part of an All-American guard. Center Lynn Kidd is having a nice start to the season coming in from Virginia Tech, putting up 11.4/7.3 and is 1st on the team in offensive box plus/minus. Guards Jalen Blackmon and Matthew Blackmon are shooting above 38% from beyond the arc. So what is the issue?

The defense is unwatchable.

I’d have to think it is part effort, part scheme, and the epitome of this came in the opening round of the Shriners Hospital classic against Drake. 

Drake is coming into this season losing both their head coach and star player (the DeVries) to West Virginia, and replacing them with Ben McCollum, a junior college coach from Northwest Missouri, a program who competes at the Division-II level. He brought four of his players with him to Drake and he proceeded to offensively outscheme Jim Larrañaga for 40 minutes of basketball. 

In every offensive action Drake ran, whether it was a back cut from the corner, a simple pick and roll action, or a flare screen for a Drake shooter, Miami was lost out there. There seemed to be zero communication or philosophy in the game to switch picks, or defensive rotations when they got time and time again blown by. Getting 80 put on them by Drake seemed to start a slide that the Hurricanes have not seemed to recover from. A stretch of seven straight losses, bottom tier rankings in defensive efficiency (309th in defensive 3P%, 294th in defensive eFG%, 299th in defensive TO%), and an entire ACC conference slate awaits them. 

The Hurricanes aren’t short on talented players, which is exactly the flummoxing predicament of the Hurricanes’ problems. Defensive issues to me, are less of a talent issue, and entirely more of an effort issue. The encouraging aspect is that the Hurricanes aren’t getting BLOWN out of the water in any of these games, but are keeping it close despite having a defense more reminiscent of my high school basketball film lowlights than a D-I basketball program. 

There is no world where a Power 5 basketball program that has invested the amount of NIL that the Hurricanes have should be losing to Mount Saint Mary’s in December. Being 4-8 with the level of talent this team has is a catastrophe. 

Getting Jahlil Bethea going (6.7/1.6/0.8) might be the boost this Miami team needs, with the talented scorer being stuck in a glutton of guards in the Miami rotation, and struggling on the defensive end of the floor. He did finally break out against the aforementioned Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers for a tune of 17 points in the overtime loss. I was a big fan of the talented Philadelphia guard out of high school, and the Hurricanes don’t have much to lose going forward. 

I hope Jim Larrañaga has the team doing defensive slides or something, or this is going to be the beginning of a long long season in Coral Gables. 

Risers

Michigan

The Jewish Joker, the 7-Foot Man of Mystery. Whatever you want to call him, Danny Wolf is  must-see-TV in Ann Arbor, Michigan this season. Dusty May is harkening memories of the 1980s Houston Rockets with Wolf and Vlad Goldin patrolling the middle this year. 

Starting two 7-footers seems almost bizarre in the year 2024, with the only team I can think of off the top of my head with a level of success employing that strategy is the Minnesota Timberwolves the last two years with Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony-Towns.

Wolf is different from your average plodding big man, ladies and gentleman. He dissects the floor, bringing the ball up as a pseudo point guard, and gives the Wolverines the ability to run inverted pick and rolls with the guards on the floor and Vlad Goldin at any point in the game. 

Hey Tre Donaldson, glad to see you doing well! Buried on the Auburn bench the past two seasons, the junior guard has broken out this season, putting up 12.3 PPG, shooting 41.3% from deep, and breaking out a full court Shammgod against the Iowa Hawkeyes that had my jaw dropped to the floor. 

Wins against Xavier, TCU, and on the road versus Wisconsin have Dusty May and his Wolverines in prime position to have a great resume once conference play rolls around in a down year in the BIG10. 

Top 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and numerous guards that compliment the Goldin/Wolf duo, (Tre Donaldson, Rodney Gayle Jr: 12.5 PPG, Nimari Burnett: 9.0 PPG). This squad has the ability in my eyes to make a legitimate run in the tournament come March. It all comes down to the fact that the Wolverines have a 7-footer who, in college, can put up a triple-double any given game. This Michigan team is damn fun to watch, and I hope they keep this traction going. 

Auburn

Compared to most of the teams I have spoken about, Auburn actually came into the season with legitimate national title hopes, with a returning NPOTY candidate in Johni Broome, experienced role players around him, and two stud freshmen in Tahaad Pettiford and Jakhi Howard. Other than Howard getting benched after an altercation on the team plane after the Vermont game, the remaining statements have given Auburn an electric beginning to the season. 

It was striking to see Auburn play North Carolina in the Maui Invitational semifinals, and how physically daunting the Tigers frontcourt was every time a Tarheels player went to the cup. RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, they wanted no part of meeting Dylan Cardwell, Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara, or Chaney Johnson at the rim. 

The Tarheels were getting foul calls inside, but the Auburn big men made sure they earned it. It was more reminiscent of clips of the Bad Boy Pistons with Filthy and McNasty (Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn), delivering crushing blows to driving finishers. 

If this is the reincarnation of the Bad Boy Pistons, then Pettiford is the Isiah Thomas for the Tigers. The freshman sensation has a deep bag of tricks, shifty as all get out in the open court, and is a plus, plus shot creator, getting to his step back jumper on repeat. I always love a good lefty, and in the Tigers hard-fought loss at Cameron Indoor against Duke, the New Jersey native put up 20 points in a display of tough shot making and moxie that leaves me more encouraged than anything that the freshman x-factor is playing like this…off the bench!

Wins against Houston, Iowa State, a red hot Memphis team, North Carolina, Ohio State, Purdue…the Tigers have not been afraid to play teams and they have looked the part of a true, bonafide, national title contender. When you have a deep rotation of players that put their body on the line for Bruce Pearl, shot-making guards, Johni Broome putting up, wait, does that say 18.5 PPG/11.5 RPG on the stat line? Yeah, this team is the real deal. That dude Johni Broome is the real deal.

1st in offensive efficiency, 17th in defensive efficiency, and the #1 team in all of KenPom. The numbers back the Tigers up, the results back them up, and the eye test is being passed with flying colors. Bruce Pearl has title hopes with this group, and I am all in. 

Florida

I had an assumption about Florida and the Todd Golden era heading into this season. Fun team, good guard play, will do well in SEC play, bounced from tournament early. They were a NIT participant in his first season in Gainesville, a first round exit from the big dance this past season, and I genuinely did not expect anything beyond that going into this season of basketball. 

I can admit, I can even say that I am wrong. 

Walter Clayton Jr. has been the catalyst for the Gators 12-0 start, putting up 17.6/3.3/3.5, cementing himself as one of the most must-watch players in all of college basketball. The senior guard is a walking, talking, bucket to say the least, with a flamethrower of a shot from deep. (He attempts 8.1 a game on a 36.1% clip.) 

Add in the consistent progression of running mates guard Will Richard (14.0 PPG/5.3 RPG), and forward Alex Condon (11.9 PPG/7.6 RPG), and you get a veteran, skilled, and talented trio of guys who have continuity in Todd Golden’s analytic-based offense. 

This is where the transfer portal is most beneficial, for teams that have an established core but have a missing piece somewhere on the roster. Whether that be a rebounding presence, scoring off the bench, or a primary ball-handler. Someone to integrate in the roster without compromising existing chemistry and team dynamics. 

The guy in question for the Gators, the one that has been the x-factor for this 12-0 start is Alijah Martin. The senior forward’s former claim to fame was being on the Florida Atlantic crew that made their run to the Final Four with guys like Johnell Davis, Nick Boyd, and Vlad Goldin around him. When the band broke up this past year with coach Dusty May heading to Michigan, Martin elected not to follow his coach up to snowy Michigan, and relocated about 295 miles north to play his final season with the Gators.

Martin has responded by starting the year recording a career high in points at 14.9 PPG, and has given the Gators a Robin to Clayton’s Batman to alleviate the scoring burden and gives the Gators an added two way presence in the starting lineup. 

The advanced numbers back up the Gators play at this point in the year strongly, grading out as 7th in the country in offensive efficiency, 2nd in offensive rebounding percentage, top 25 in defensive efficiency, and top 55 in 2PT%. Like Auburn, the numbers and eye test are all up to snuff. The Gators finally played Power 5 competition with a pulse recently with games against Arizona State and a ranked North Carolina team in Charlotte, and the Gators passed those tests with flying colors. It wasn’t even the blowout 83-66 victory over the Sun Devils that impressed me the most.

It was the grit and toughness to withstand the Tar Heels coming back down 17 points in the first half, and closing out the game with the orchestrator of their offense Walter Clayton Jr. showing up when it matters most. With his partner in crime Alijah Martin getting key buckets to hold off the Tar Heels in crunch time. 

Star power, a veteran lineup, a humming offense, you can’t really ask for more from a team.