Dietz’s Debrief is a weekly column dedicated to the ever changing college basketball landscape. There will be weekly updates to recap the games of the week, upcoming matchups and bracket implications for March Madness.
In this week of college basketball, there were many highly-ranked matchups that we could possibly see again in the Elite Eight or Final Four. Houston (23-3, 11-2) took on Iowa State (23-3, 10-3), Texas Tech (19-7, 9-4) played Arizona (24-2, 11-2) and Michigan (25-1, 15-1) played Purdue (21-5, 11-4). As always, the weekly rankings were updated with the AP Poll coming out with a new number one. After Arizona’s losses to both Kansas (20-6, 10-3) and Texas Tech, Michigan now holds the No. 1 spot in the nation, followed by Houston, Duke (24-2 13-1) and Arizona.
Games of the Week:
The Iowa State Cyclones might have had the toughest schedule out of any team in the country this week. The team faced both Kansas – who surged up the rankings in the last two weeks, and Houston. Still, the Cyclones performed well enough to win both games and defend their home court, proving they are one of the best teams in the country. Although they suffered some bad losses to Kansas earlier in the season and more recently to TCU (16-10, 6-7) and Cincinnati (14-12, 6-7), TJ Otzelberger’s team looks better than ever, firing on all cylinders.
After beating Kansas, Iowa State played extremely well, backed by a balanced scoring effort from their starters and role players. Redshirt senior guard Nate Heise hit a clutch late-game 3-pointer to contribute to his 11 points on the game, which would ultimately decide the game. Success ran in the Heise family that day. As Heise stepped into his moment, his sister Taylor Heise helped the US Women’s Hockey team advance in the Winter Olympics on the same day. Senior guard Tamin Lipsey is the leader of this Iowa team, and when he is paired with junior forward Milan Momcilovic, who shoots 51.3% from the 3-point line, he is statistically the best three-point shooter in the country.
Another great game was at the mid-major level in the Atlantic-10 conference, where the Rhode Island Rams (15-11, 6-7) upset the No. 18 ranked Saint Louis Billikens (24-2, 12-1). This was the first conference loss for Saint Louis and was a reality check that this team still has to win most of their remaining games to earn a solid seed in the tournament. Rams junior guard Jonah Hinton had 29 points and senior guard Myles Cory added 15, 11 of which he earned at the strike. It was a big win for the Rams and showed their capability of playing with the best teams in the conference.
The final game I will highlight is Tuesday’s matchup between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers. This was a significant win for Iowa as it was their first ranked victory of the season. The Cornhuskers have been struggling recently and after being as high as a No. 1 seed, they could fall to a No. 4 seed by the end of the regular season. Hawkeyes senior guard Bennett Stirtz notched 25 points, while Cornhuskers junior guard Pryce Sandfort led his team with 13 points. This was a very disappointing loss for the Cornhuskers, and they will need to get back on track if they want a top 3 seed.
Notable Upcoming Games:
Saturday is a huge slate for college basketball, and it opens up in the afternoon with No. 2 Houston taking on No. 4 Arizona in a potential final four matchup. Houston has had a bit more of a rocky season than usual, but still only has three losses. The standards are high under head coach Kelvin Sampson, and the Cougars will want to win this one badly to recover from their loss against Iowa State. Star freshman forward Koa Peat will be out of the game and unavailable for the Wildcats along with freshman forward Dwayne Aristode remaining questionable. Arizona is coming off an impressive win against BYU but will have their work cut out for them in this game on the road.
Another potential final four matchup that will be played this weekend is No. 1 Michigan against No. 3 Duke. The game is a non-conference game and will be played at a neutral site in Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. Michigan is coming off an impressive road win over Purdue, beating the Boilermakers with six players scoring at least 10 points. Junior guard Elliot Cadeau led the way for the Wolverines, scoring 17 points. He’s grown into a key facilitator for the Wolverines as he’s become a greater scoring threat. Duke is led by star freshman forward Cameron Boozer along with sophomore guard Isaiah Evans, who make a great tandem. Michigan is the much more athletic and experienced team, but look for a good game, as both teams have national championship capabilities.
Bracket Implications:
After losing to Ohio State , USC’s March Madness hopes have begun to dwindle. The blowout loss against Illinois, where the Trojans lost 101-65 on Wednesday night, didn’t help their case either, as they are officially listed as the last team in the field, according to bracketology expert Joe Lunardi. Star senior guard Chad Baker-Mazara is currently battling an injury, and it has significantly affected the Trojans play on the court. If they don’t get a win against Oregon on Saturday, they can kiss their tournament chances goodbye.
The TCU Horned Frogs are right at the bubble when it comes to making the tournament, and they will have an important game against another bubble team, West Virginia over the weekend. TCU strengthened their resume over the last few weeks by beating Iowa State and taking care of bubble rival Oklahoma State as well. Led by senior guard Jayden Pierre, the Horned Frogs just need to keep winning games, and they’ll be fine.
Going over to the West Coast Conference, the Santa Clara Broncos are fighting to earn the conference’s third at-large bid. They head up the Peninsula in the Bay area to face San Francisco in a must win game to keep their tourney chances alive.
March is only one week away, and then we are on to conference tournaments. There is still time for there to be shifting, but teams on the bubble are fighting harder than ever, as every game counts.