CoB Higher Post: Wheelin' and Stealin'
...and these Irish don't need luck.
Congregation, please stand up….
…because its been a week and we all need a stretch!
My apologies in the late arrival of this one. You know there is thing called life that can really get in way of my fun. After a long work week, I had a couple of fellow hoopsters reach to see if things were ok. They were and I am. It was just busy. Good thing there was a lot of hoops to pull me into a happy place when needed. The joy of the season!
I used to get really excited about the non-conference part of the season because you would get a series of matchups you normally don’t get the see. However, the NET ranking changed all of that. If the goal is to get into The Dance, scheduling philosophies in the days of the NET ranking means power teams are better scheduling cupcakes to go into conference play with 8-10 wins over little teams. Also, because those little teams play many power teams, their strength-of-schedules increase their NET rankings. As a result, most power conference schools become Quad 1 teams going into conference play and they can ride the wave into Selection Sunday. This is why you are seeing more power teams get into the play-in games and losing to mid-major teams with 25-27 regular season wins. They are not that good but the NET bends the curve.
There are only so many “Tennessee vs Austin Peays” that I can watch before I just start binging ‘Star Trek: TNG’ episodes. This is why I love these in-season tourneys and doubleheaders like The Champions Classic. We get to see top teams go head-to-head to see what we have been hearing about all summer and see if they stick.
So, what did we see on Tuesday?
#1 Kansas over Michigan State, 77-69:
The Jayhawks entered this game with a top ranking, the older and more experienced squad, and off the ‘heels’ of containing #9 North Carolina from a late surge at home. Michigan State, on the other hand, were 2-0 on the season, both wins were cupcake blowouts (Monmouth, Niagara). Kansas is potent, but not the unstoppable force you think of when Kansas is #1. In both the Carolina and Michigan State games, they went on scoring droughts that allowed their opponents to climb back in to the game. That said, this team was able to still close out these games, showing that experience allowed them to regroup and reclaim victory, but the question is will this bite them at some point, or are the Jayhawks getting ahead of their homework assignments now because the new (and bloated) Big XII will be unforgiving? We will see when they play Duke on 11/26.
#19 Kentucky over #6 Duke, 77-72:
Ok, I’ll say it… Lexington has a new Pope. Yes, the joke has gotten old, but then again, so did John Calipari’s tenure. Coach Pope is making his Mark in his short time in Lexington by building a roster that is quite opposite then what Big Blue Nation has been used to the past decade plus. Pope went to the transfer portal and these Wildcats are older, more experienced and not full of ‘one and dones’. There were a lot of questions on this team: Would they gel? Is Pope ready for this level? Well, some of those questions are being answered and we were treated to a gem. Duke has all the firepower centered about freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, but Kentucky kept clawing and scratching their way through this game. Trailing most of the way, they never let the Blue Devils get too far ahead and kept it within 1-possession for the last 5mins. It was a coaching battle of two alums but it was inexperience that made the difference in the end as Flagg committed two costly turnovers in the final seconds that Kentucky’s junior guard Otega Oweh capitalized on for 4 pts to put the game out of reach for the Blue Devils.
This Kentucky team is learning how to play together, under a new system, but Pope gives them heart putting the wild back in wildcats. It will be fun to see them grow. Go Defense!
And, btw - this year The Champions Classic is coming to the women’s game! The teams are UConn, Louisville, Iowa and Tennessee, with the inaugural Classic being held Saturday, December 7 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. I cannot wait! More to come as we get closer.
Other quick hits across the week:
Low Tide in Tuscaloosa: #13 Purdue took down #2 Alabama 87-78
Grin and Bear It: #8 Baylor, starting the season losing to #6 Gonzaga, shared the love against #13 Arkansas, 72-67
Badgerin’: #9 Arizona goes down (quite convincingly) to unranked Wisconsin, 103-88
No Buzzkill: Texas A&M bounced back after losing to UCF by taking down THEE #21 Ohio State Buckeyes, 78-64
And finally… (on the Women’s side):
Sirens Call: This week was dry of top upsets, but here is one story you might have missed. While not an upset, can we talk about the 85 point whoop #3 USC had on CSU Northridge this week? The Trojans almost lapped them as the final score was 124-39! USC outscored CSU-N by 30 in just the 3rd quarter alone. Juju Watkins scored only 21 pts but that equaled to 54% of the total scored by their opponent. And, I say ‘only’ because she was only on the court for 28mins.
Keeping Up With The Hannahs
Two of my favorite players are not only incredibly fun to watch…but are both named Hannah! I dedicate this section to them. We try and keep up with them during a pivotal season!
Hannah Stuelke (Junior / Forward / Iowa):
She’s a rim runner! - Rebecca Lobo on Hannah Stuelke
Rebecca Lobo is a fan. You heard it during Iowa’s game against Virginia Tech on Sunday. When you think of low post players in basketball, speed is usually not the first thing that comes to mind. For her first two seasons, we saw Hannah Stuelke mostly posting down low, using her nimbleness to convert a Caitlin Clark bullet pass into an easy deuce, which is one of things I really enjoy about her game. This week, against Virginia Tech, we got to see her speed. And damn, Stuelke has wheels! Lest we forget, she was a track star in high school.
This season, the Iowa coaching staff is growing Stuelke’s game by pulling her out away from the hoop to a more natural position where she can work on driving to the hoop, midrange jump shots and even 3’s. This allowed us to see two things: 1.) she used her speed to get into the paint past defenders for the layup; and 2.) she uses her wheels to be the first player back on offense because she was starting at more of an outside position. You know, a ‘rim runner’. Lucy Olsen runs a very different point than Clark and knowing your forward was back fast allows some easy transition passes to her before the defense could adjust. This makes for an exciting new element of her game we will get to see against speeder opponents. Against Virginia Tech, Stuelke scored 16pts, along with 7 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Wednesday night against Toledo, the Hawkeyes took off right out of the gate and never looked back. This allowed Coach Jan Jensen to keep her bench on full rotation and get her freshmen in for some real minutes. As a result, Stuelke was only on the court for 22mins but still managed to score 15pts with 9 rebounds. Seeing this team grow with a good mix of newbies and veterans puts them in great shape to be the dark horse of the B1G come conference play.
Next up: The Hawkeyes have two upcoming games this week.
First, they travel to Des Moines to take on Drake (Coach Jensen’s alma mater) Sunday, Nov 17, 3p EST on ESPN+.
Then, on to Sioux Falls, S.D. to match up with the Jayhawks of Kansas (Weds, Nov 20, 7p EST on B1G Network)
Hannah Hidalgo (Sophomore / Guard / Notre Dame):
In an early edition of an EASports World Cup Soccer game, there was setting you could customize for a player’s ‘intensity level’. The highest of intensity setting was called ‘nutter’ and when a player was nutter, their jersey would shake in the formation graphic. It was quite funny to see, but there is no better way to describe Hannah Hidalgo’s defensive game. It’s nutter. And, that was on full display against Purdue last Sunday.
As Fox Sports commentator Jane Schoot said (which is heard during these highlights):
“No one likes to play defense. Hannah Hidalgo gives more energy on the defensive end almost, than the offensive end.”
With such an emphasis on offense making the star, it is easy to translate defensive skills as a lack of offense. Hannah Hidalgo has both. While she smothered Purdue to a 102-58 defeat defensively, she also accumulated 28 points, 7 Rebounds, 6 steals and 2 assists. A point guard who gets a 3:1 ‘steals to assists’ ratio is scary. (There were 13 total assists there were spread pretty evenly across the starters showing the Irish’s balance is really their superpower.)
I said in the first ‘Keeping Up…’ segment:
“There is usually a quality jump in a player going from year one to year two as a player settled in on expectations and gets a year of experience at a higher level. Given that, you will need a telescope to see Hannah Hidalgo’s ceiling” - Keeping Up With The Hannahs, October 4, 2024
Well, this was only game #2. If you are not watching this Notre Dame team, you need to start. (We haven’t even started talking about Olivia Miles and Liatu King!…and Cassandre Prosper…and Sonia Citron …. and (Long Island’s Kate Koval….and Maddy Westbeld is still on the bench??)
Next up: The Irish take on Lafayette this Sunday at 2p EST on ESPN+.
Five Touches: Passing around the hoops world
Records are meant for breaking: Big milestones this week for legends as UConn’s Geno Auruemma ties D1 win’s leader Tara VanDerveer. And, Kansas’ Bill Self’s win over Michigan State moves him over the great Phog Allen as the winningest coach in Kansas history.
…speaking of milestones: USC pheom Juju Watkins scored her 1000th point this week. She achieved this in only 38 collegiate games.
Oh, the Swamp: The Alligator, Univ. of Florida’s student newspaper published a scathing exposé on Florida head coach Todd Golden on allegations against on regarding incidents of sexual harassment and stalking. Golden is still allowed to coach as the school investigates. Something tells me this will not end well.
I’m feeling Supersonic. Give me gin and tonic: The Athletic makes the case for Seattle to get their NBA team back. Could Pearl Jam be the owners and called them the Seattle Blaylocks?
We got a practice facility with your name on it, kid: Carmelo Anthony’s son Kiyan declares his decision to play ball at Syracuse live on his dad’s podcast.
Extracurricular Reading: Sometimes we all need a T.O.
I’m at IHOP. I’m at the Applebee’s I’m at the combination IHOP and Applebee’s: Dine Brands, who owns both restaurant chains, is opening the first combination IHOP-Applebee’s in Texas. You may not agree with which one you want to go to, but you can agree on poor metabolic health!
G - U - I - _ - D : The New York Times Tech Guild has made a site with a series of ‘strike’ related games to play while the Guild is on strike.
Single Espresso and Three Bad Shots: Trinity Rodman’s Washington Spirit beat NJ/NY Gotham FC in the NWSL semifinals Saturday to reach next week’s NWSL Championship game. The game went to PKs where Gotham only shot 3 because all 3 shots were blocked cinching it for the Spirit.
Ok, time to log off. I have Hannahs to keep up with. Until next week.
Always live One Shining Moment at a time. Never be boring.
Four games in and I’ve got about a 1,000 word take on the 24-25 Jayhawks locked and loaded