Welcome to Five College Basketball Questions You Need Answered. Any retransmission of this column without the expressed written consent of the author is prohibited and punishable by being forced to stare Clockwork Orange-style at a video mash-up of N.C. State’s and Oregon’s court (more on than later).
No.1 Did Arizona have the unluckiest week for a ranked team?
You can certainly make that argument. The Pac-12 favorite is off to a 1-2 conference start after back-to-back close losses in California.
On Thursday, Arizona fell 87-84 at UCLA on a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left. Two days later, the Wildcats suffered a quadruple overtime defeat 103-101 at Southern California on a pair of free throws with 22 second remaining. It that wasn’t bad enough, freshman guard Allonzo Trier broke a bone in his right hand and will miss four to six weeks. Trier is the Wildcats’ top scorer (14.8) and is shooting 51.7 percent.
In a statement, Arizona coach Sean Miller said: “”I am disappointed first and foremost to see a great young man like Allonzo suffer an injury. He was playing the best basketball of his young career at Arizona. Allonzo has worked tirelessly every day since he arrived on our campus. Hopefully he will be able to rejoin us at some point this season and continue his improvement and development as an outstanding player.”
No. 18 Arizona (13-3) has dealt with numerous injuries this season. Seven-foot center Kaleb Tarczewski missed eight games with a foot injury. Freshman forward Ray Smith sustained a season-ending right ACL tear in October. And senior forward Ryan Anderson missed a November game in against Northwestern State due to an ankle sprain.
Arizona will try to get well in the standings with home games against Washington on Thursday and Washington State on Saturday. The Wildcats have already lost as many Pac-12 games as they did last season when they finished 16-2 to win the league.
No.2 Does Kelvin Sampson deserve more credit?
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Nobody ever said Kelvin Sampson couldn’t coach. Houston (13-2, 3-0 American Athletic Conference) is second in the American Athletic Conference standings behind only SMU (15-0, 4-0). The Cougars, picked to finish seventh in the 11-team league, have matched last season’s win total when they had only five scholarship players. They’re off to their best conference start in eight years.
The turnaround has been shocking after last year’s 13-19 record.
“If this was a three-game conference race, we would be in great shape,” Sampson told the Houston Chonicle. “We have 15 more games to go.”
Houston has been keyed by four returning starters plus the addition of JUCO transfer guard Rob Gray Jr. Gray (18.6 ppg) is the AAC’s top scorer for the league’s second high-scoring offense (81.5). Gray originally was going to commit to Tennessee but re-opened his recruitment when Donnie Tyndall was fired.
The Cougars haven’t really been tested. Their strength of schedule is ranked third easiest in the nation by the Pomeroy Ratings. They will face tougher competition over their next two games: Wednesday at Cincinnati and Sunday at home versus Connecticut.
Sampson has always excelled on the court. He got Oklahoma to the 2002 Final Four and his 2007-08 Indiana Hoosiers were 22-4 and ranked No.9 in the country until Sampson exited mid-season.
Sampson’s coaching acumen has been overshadowed by his NCAA troubles. He committed NCAA infractions at Oklahoma and Indiana, stemming from improper phone calls. He was hit with a five-year show cause penalty, which rendered him essentially unhireable during that span. After leaving Indiana, Sampson worked in the NBA as an assistant but returned to college when Houston hired in him April 2014.
If Sampson gets Houston into the NCAA tournament this season, he will get all the credit he deserves.
No.3 How long before Drake gets a school in serious trouble with the NCAA?
Many college programs have celebrity fans. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence roots for her hometown Louisville Cardinals. Singer John Mellencamp loves his Indiana Hoosiers. Kentucky enthusiasts include actress Ashley Judd and rapper Drake.
Drake was in the news recently for the wrong reasons. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Kentucky self-reported a minor NCAA violation. According to the report, a UK athlete was given “preferential treatment” after a Drake concert in Chicago last May.
The report doesn’t name the athlete. However, Kentucky guard Tyler Ulis posted a picture of himself with Drake on Instagram. The Herald-Leader also reported that Ulis was briefly ineligible before being reinstated prior to the start of the season.
According to the story it’s the second time Drake has been caused a minor NCAA infraction. The Herald-Leader said Kentucky had to self-report after Drake posed for pictures with Kentucky recruits in 2014.
Apparently Drake hasn’t caused NCAA problems at other basketball games. Last week, he went to Pepperdine and did the “Hotline Bling” dance.
No.4 Is there a can’t-miss game this week?
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No.16 Iowa (12-3, 3-0 Big Ten) at No.4 Michigan State (16-1, 3-1) on Thursday: Michigan State will try to avenge an 83-70 loss at Iowa last month. The Spartans played that game without Denzel Valentine. Valentine, a national player of the year candidate, returned from knee surgery on Sunday in the Spartans 92-65 win at Penn State. He scored 10 points in 23 minutes.
No.5 Which court is more likely to disturb small children: N.C. State’s or Oregon’s?
It’s a push. N.C. State’s halfcourt Wolfpack looks like something from a Stephen King novel. Oregon’s wild tree design might cause seizures. Staring at either long enough is sure to induce nightmares.