NCAA UNDERGROUND weekly: Justin Sears &....

YOU DON’T KNOW (OR MAYBE YOU KNOW….) HOW GOOD IS…

F – Justin Sears (Yale)

Difficult to find similar animals in the Ivy League. Definitely the most different conference in college basketball, not a coincidence they’re the only one assigning their title to the regular season winner, without playing that rude post-season playoffs bracket
Justin is a 20-10 machine for a european league tomorrow morning. More, he plays good defense, a bit rought but with athletic skills, and he plays it every minute he’s on the floor. On the offense, his shooting style is not a beauty, but has good touch from 15feet, and his favorite zone to get the ball is facing the basket from high post where he can take advantage of his quickness to beat his man. He rarely forces shots and, considering the level where he plays now, he shares the ball with the teammates with surprising pleasure and consistency..
He got a hi-level chassis to work on, and a wingspan with which you can block shots without too much effort. The Bulldogs are 7-1, fighting the eternal battle against Harvard for the title and he’s definitely the main reason why they’re up there other than a strong candidate for Ivy League player of the Year.

SPORTANDO-U. TEAM OF THE WEEK (UNRANKED TEAM)

G – Anthony “Cat” Barber (NC State)

He comes from Iverson-land, and this makes him already a special one. Why they call him CAT you can discover the first time you double him on a basketball court: he barely notice… At Louisville he dribbles around for 35minutes against Cards pressing with no struggle, getting to the rim and making every single teammate happy. Complete player? No! Ready for the NBA? Definitely not! But when talking about big-size heart, handle and 360-degree of court vision it’s hard to do it better…

G – Trey Zeigler (TCU)

Yes, a 6-4 (non) shooting guard, played for 3 teams in 4 years, struggling to reach 50% from the free throw and celebrating the third anniversary since his last trey….is on our team of the week.
We haven’t told you about his defense yet. If TCU can beat the #21 Cowboys is mainly for his defensive effort “face to face” against the best shooter in Big12: Phile Forte III.  

G/F – Denzel Valentine (Michigan State)

When march gets closer nobody wants Coach Izzo Spartans on their way. It was February 14, East Lansing against Ohio State. Score is tie with 12 seconds left. He comes off an horizontal screen, catch and shoot off balance: swish. It was Valentine’s day!

F/C – Rakeem Christmas (Syracuse)

We’re again witness of his fantastic season. Dominant against Louisville frontline, his performance almost pushes Harrell our of the lottery. You already know what he normally brings to the game (low post threat and rebounds), but what is new is his 9/11 from the free throw line when he gets fouled. If so, there’s no one (outside Jahlil Okafor) can match his power in the ACC. Today, he’s a late first rounder.

C – Joshua Smith (Georgetown)

Irresistible. His athletic and mental resistance allow him 15, maybe 20, minutes in the competion. But what about those minutes… He physically pushes the Johnnies out of the game, showing the best footwork amongst all the bigs of college basketball (keep always the Duke big out of the equation) with such size. Coach Lavin tries everything against him, with no difference. It’s always basket or foul. Or both. From the free throw line it’s always a big struggle, and the lovestory he got with the bacon cheeseburger will probably keep him off a big pro career. That said, you can feel his presence in the Big East…

SPORTANDO-U. TEAM OF THE WEEK (RANKED TEAM)

G – Tyus Jones (Duke)  

Have you seen his first Tobacco Road battle? Duke was basically losing the game before he started to play at such level where you don’t expect a 19-year old point guard to perform. For the control of his body, nerves and offensive half of the court there’s no one better at point guard position,at least in the ACC. There’s some Mike Bibby in him and the NBA starts to look much closer at him…

G – Juwan Staten (West Virginia)

What a conference the Big12! He’s no doubt the best defensive point guard of college basketball and against Kansas put something more into the game, especially when it gets warmer, much warmer. He free his teammates up for the treys, and then wins the game with Staten-style layup, going strong to the rim, spinning and laying in…

G/F – Darrun Hilliard II (Villanova)

Arcidiacono is their mind, Ochefu their marble column, he’s the killer. Pulls out the best performance of the season in the most important game, scoring 31 with 8 triples in W at Butler. He shows sign of technical arrogance and strong personality. Amongst the eight triples, there’s the one with 1.2 seconds left on the clock, pretty relevant… it ends 68-65 Wildcats.  

F – Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga)

We know. He was here 7 days ago, but there’s no way we can take him out today. He buries Pacific under 45 points with 7/10 from the arc. It was since Adam Morrison mustache era, the Zags were not involved in such offensive show… in March, watch him play against “his” Kentucky Wildcats would be Don King kind of event.

C – Jameel McKay (Iowa State)

Three days, two consecutive wins vs West Virginia and at Oklahoma State, both with his relevant contribution. Athletically, you know that, he’s the one changing the Cyclones games. Morris manages the pace, Niang creates play when the defense is set, but up there to protect the rim they can only rely on him. Best news is, 21 on 27 from the line in the last two games…

Written by Marco Ridolfi