Seth Davis’ Hoop Thoughts: After a Bumpy Ride, Auburn Sticks the Landing

“It was challenging because we put in some new wrinkles for Houston during the week, so during the walkthrough I had to teach two different players those positions,” he said. “When the game got going, it felt like March. One thing I really liked was that it was a really physical game but there wasn’t one ounce of unsportsmanlike play.”

Pearl really really liked the play of 6-foot-1 freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford. He didn’t score in the Tigers’ 94-43 season opening win Monday against Vermont but he sure made his presence felt on Friday, scoring 15 of his game-high 21 points after intermission and sinking 5 of 8 from three-point range. Pettiford has not been in the starting lineup, and Pearl told me he probably won’t be in the near term. You can be sure, however, that more often than not, Pettiford will be playing when it counts.

“He’s a special talent and a special kid,” Pearl told me. “He was a four-star recruit, but everybody in our business knew he had ‘it.’ He may be a little undersized, but he’s not afraid of the moment. He has a feel you can’t teach.”

There was plenty more to like about the win. Super senior forward Johni Broome played like the projected All-American he is, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Senior guard Denver Jones hounded Houston’s best perimeter scorer, L.J. Cryer, into 5 for 14 shooting. And even though Georgia Tech transfer Miles Kelly, a 6-foot-6 senior guard who made seven threes in the opener, didn’t play in crunch time, Pearl noticed he was cheering mightily from the bench as the Tigers pulled away.

Moving forward, Pearl will have to decide what further penalties, if any, he will assess to the two players involved in the fracas. Minor controversies, however, tend to be forgotten quickly if the team involved is playing as well as Auburn did Friday night. For Pearl, the larger concern is that his players don’t get diverted from their mission. “The most important thing for us is to stay humble and hungry,” Pearl said. “None of us are thoroughbreds. We’re all mid-major mutts.

Indeed, aside from Pettiford, none of Auburn’s players were projected for great things coming out of high school. Broome transferred two years ago from Morehead State. Jones came from FIU. One senior forward, Chaney Johnson, played his first three years at Division II Alabama Huntsville while another, Chad Baker-Mazara, started out at Duquesne. There’s no reason this team can’t climb to greater heights, but only if it stays grounded in all the important ways.

The Ryan Kalkbrenner Game

As my colleague Alex Squadron notes, not only did Creighton 7-foot-1 super senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner turn in the best game of the opening week, he turned in what could end up being the best performance of the season. Yes, he did it against UT Rio Grande Valley, which is ranked No. 295 on KenPom, but still: 49 points on 20 of 22 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, three blocks and two assists. That’s just epic. Kalkbrenner also bottomed both of this three-point attempts, which is noteworthy considering he previously shot 28.7 percent from behind the arc during his career.

It was an extraordinary outburst for a guy who has been named the Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year three times. (Only Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning have done that.) Kalkbrenner followed it up by scoring 24 points in Sunday’s 96-70 win over FDU. What struck me most about that season opener, however, was something that Bluejays coach Greg McDermott told the media afterwards: “There’s not a person on the planet that deserves success more than Ryan Kalkbrenner.”

I thought that was an interesting and highly intentional way to put it, so I called McDermott and asked what he meant. “The guy has spent five years at the same place, which doesn’t happen anymore,” he told me. “He could have entered the portal and been one of the highest paid transfers in the country, but he stayed loyal. For four and a half years, it’s never been about him. When the spotlight shined on him the other night, he didn’t hardly know how to handle it, which is kind of cool in itself.”

Kalkbrenner entered the NBA draft last spring, but he withdrew soon after getting the requisite feedback from pro scouts. The two main criticisms he heard were that he needed to get into better condition and show he can score away from the rim. He certainly did that in the first two games, although the competition will obviously get more difficult.

McDermott, by the way, gave me a stat about Kalkbrenner that blew me away. Even though he’s led the Big East in blocks the last two years and was second in the U.S. last season, Kalkbrenner has never fouled out of a game. Not once. According to McDermott, he has only had four fouls nine times. If he remains that kind of defensive weapon this season while continuing to develop his offensive potency, he will be right in the thick of the national player of the year race.

Other Hoop Thoughts

• Kansas did well to hang on to defeat North Carolina, 72-69, despite blowing a 20-point first half lead. I found it odd – and concerning for the Jayhawks – that even though KU outscored the Heels 50-32 in the paint, North Carolina attempted 14 more free throws and outscored the Jayhawks by 16 from the line. That almost never happens in Allen Fieldhouse. It tells me that KU has lots of work to do on the defensive end, especially a wonderfully brutal schedule coming up.

• Something to watch for regarding Cooper Flagg. Duke’s 6-foot-9 freshman forward appeared to be battling cramps during the Blue Devils’ win over Army Friday night. He played 25 minutes and was seen on the bench using a leg massager and drinking Gatorade. Maybe it’s nothing, but it’s not uncommon for young players to have issues with cramping because their bodies are not used to this level of exertion. It can take some time to adjust. We’ll see if it factors in to Duke’s game against Kentucky on Tuesday night in Atlanta.

• UConn coach Dan Hurley has been promising for a while that we would see a vastly improved version of 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Jayden Ross and Ross made his coach look like a truth teller on Saturday. After sitting out the opener because of an ankle injury, Ross had 14 points in 23 minutes off the bench during the Huskies’ 92-53 win over New Hampshire. When I interviewed Hurley last month, he told me the reason he didn’t take more transfers is because he was committed to developing his young reserves. Sophomore guard Solo Ball has also taken a big step forward in the early going. The Huskies have an easy couple of weeks before they hit their stretch of Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga in December, which will springboard them into the Big East season.

• Baylor bounced back nicely from its drubbing at the hands of Gonzaga in its first game. After playing almost exclusively man-to-man against the Zags, Bears coach Scott Drew switched things up and went zone on Saturday night against Arkansas. The result was a 72-67 win. The zone was a smart move against a Razorbacks team that had been struggling from three (they shot 5 for 20 against Baylor) but I wouldn’t be surprised if Drew stuck with the zone a while longer and even made it his primary defense for the season. “That’s the beauty of playing teams like Gonzaga in the first game because you find out what you need to get better at,” Drew told me when I spoke to him by phone Sunday night. “I would imagine we’ll be more of a man team in the future, but at the end of the day, we’ll do whatever gives us the best chance to win.”

• Bummer news out of West Lafayette as Purdue announced on Sunday that 7-foot-4 freshman center Daniel Jacobsen is out for the season because of a broken tibia. Jacobsen is no Zach Edey, obviously, but he is considerably ahead of where Edey was at this same stage. This is the ultimate Next Man Up program so I don’t expect the Boilermakers to miss a beat. They even have another 7-footer, sophomore Will Berg, available off the bench. But I was psyched to watch Jacobsen develop over the course of the season. Here’s hoping he heals properly and quickly.

• On the flip side, it has been really nice to see Oregon center Nate Bittle get off to a promising start. The 7-foot senior is a former McDonald’s High School All-American who grew up in Central Point, Oregon. Two games into last season, Bittle broke his wrist and needed surgery. He came back in late January, only to have a bout with Covid-19 that wrecked his gastrointestinal tract. He missed the rest of the season and lost 30 pounds.

• Bittle is healthy and strong again. He averaged 16.5 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists in Oregon’s opening wins over Montana and UC Riverside. This is significant because the Ducks have a rising star in 6-foot sophomore point guard Jackson Shelstad and a slew of talented wings. The big question for Oregon this season — literally — was how they would replace 6-foot-11 center N’Faly Dante. If Bittle can stay healthy and productive, that would could well make Oregon a first-tier Big Ten team.

• It’s way too early in the season to panic, of course, but UCLA’s loss to New Mexico in Henderson, Nev., Friday night raises a concern for me. Mick Cronin is a big “culture” coach. He has won throughout his career because his teams play tough, smart and together. He took the Bruins to the 2021 Final Four and two more Sweet Sixteens because he had guys like Jaime Jaquez, Tyger Campbell and David Singleton stick together for multiple years. So it is a steep challenge for Cronin to build that kind of culture with a nine-man rotation that includes six transfers and two freshmen. Cronin is a terrific coach, so we know UCLA will get better as the season goes on and will play harder on the defensive end and take better care of the ball (the Bruins had 21 turnovers in the loss to the Lobos). But like a lot of coaches, he is operating in a different environment than he has been used to and he has a lot to figure out.

• Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson had a sensational debut last Monday, going for 29 points (5 for 10 from three), five rebounds and four assists against Ohio State. The Longhorns, however, lost the game, 80-72, which underscores just how badly they need Tramon Mark to get healthy as soon as possible. The 6-foot-6 super senior guard, who averaged 16.2 points per game last season at Arkansas, injured his ankle on Oct. 27 during a closed scrimmage against Colorado. He has been held out of action ever since.
  
  Mark is the perfect complement to Johnson – a strong, aggressive older guard who can spread the court with his shooting but also averaged 5.3 free throw attempts per game. The week before he hurt his ankle, Mark had finally recovered fully from a lingering groin injury. When I spoke with coach Rodney Terry over the weekend, he said that he intended to be extra patient. “Those ankles are tricky,” Terry told me. “You don’t want it to be something that lingers. He’s really good when he has his wheels. I don’t want him to be limping out there. So whatever it takes to get him fully healthy, we’re going to do that.”

• Tom Izzo has had a lot of great ideas during his Hall of Fame career and here’s another one: He appointed two captains for Michigan State this season (guards Jaden Akins and Tre Holloman) and each week he is going to name a third based on the players’ performances in games, in practice and in the classroom. He got the idea from football, which is not surprising since Izzo is a huge football fan. (His best friend from childhood is Steve Mariucci.) It’s a really smart way to build your culture.

• We think of Brad Underwood as an old school coach, but the Illinois coach has enthusiastically embraced the world of new-age analytics. He assigned three members of his staff (assistants Zach Hamer and Tyler Underwood and vieo coordinator Patrick Bittle) to suss out the numbers and develop a plan. The results have been both compelling and entertaining. The Illini shot a program-record 42 three-pointers (making 16) in their season opener against Eastern Illinois and 38 (making 15) against SIU Edwardsville. The only player who’s allowed to take long two’s is 6-foot-8 freshman forward Will Riley, which appears to be a good rule given that Riley is averaging 22.5 points on 60 percent shooting over his first two games.

• As a corollary to that note, I’ve been watching a lot of Big Ten teams so far this season and this may actually be the year the league sheds its reputation for playing grinding, physical and (let’s face it) sometimes unwatchable basketball. Penn State, for example, scored 100 or more points in both of its first two wins, the first time in school history the Nittany Lions have eclipsed the century mark in consecutive games. I’m sure we’ll see a few rock fights when we get into the teeth of conference play, but with the addition of four west coast teams, a few new coaches and the philsophical evolution of people like Underwood, I think the Big Ten is going to be considerably more aesthetically pleasing this winter – that is, if you’re like me and you prefer up-tempo, high-scoring games.

• Finally, I’m not sure any coach had a better opening week than North Florida’s Matthew Driscoll. Though his Ospreys were picked to finish seventh in the ASUN in the preseason, they notched the school’s first-ever win over an SEC program on Friday at South Carolina and got their first-ever win over an ACC program Sunday at Georgia Tech. In between they trounced Charleston Southern by 24 points. We’ll see if this team can continue the momentum Tuesday at Georgia, but I guarantee you it got Bulldogs coach Mike White’s attention. Whatever happens, UNF is the team to beat in the ASUN until further notice. (And if you’re wondering, an osprey is a type of river hawk.)

Five Games I’m Psyched to Watch This Week

Michigan State vs. Kansas, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., ESPN. This is the opener for the Champions Classic in Atlanta. Most teams will have a hard time dealing with Hunter Dickinson, but given the Spartans’ lack of size and phyicality in the paint, this will be an especially tough test.

Duke vs. Kentucky, Tuesday, 9 p.m., ESPN. The world has been waiting for its first look at Cooper Flagg on a big-time stage. Will his fellow freshman Kon Knueppel steal the spotlight?

Alabama at Purdue, Friday, 7 p.m., Peacock. A pair of highly-ranked teams coming off a Final Four doing battle in one of the best homecourt environments in college basketball? Gimme gimme gimme.

Marquette at Maryland, 8 p.m., FS1. Everyone wants to talk about Terps frosh stud Derik Queen – for good reason – but Marquette senior guard Kam Jones has averaged 28.0 points on 58.3 percent three-point shooting through the Golden Eagles’ first two games.

Arizona at Wisconsin, 9 p.m, Peacock. A classic tortoise vs. hare matchup. Neither team has played a top 150 opponent yet, so this will go a long way toward letting us know how good they really are.