Barstool Basketball Mailbag: How Does Oklahoma Keep Winning, New NBA Draft Lottery, Best College Teams Of 2000s & More
Basketball is a year round sport, so due to that we’re going to do a year round mailbag. We’re still going to run this every Friday like we do during the season, but we’ll be talking about college hoops, transfers, NBA Draft, NBA and recruiting questions. That’s right you get an NBA and college hoops mailbag all rolled into one every Friday. Reminder you can always submit questions on Twitter @barstoolreags
The first 4 that jump out to me would be the 2001-02 Duke, 2011-12 Kentucky, 2014-15 Kentucky and 2017-18 Villanova as the top-4. After that I’d listen to arguments about the 2004-05 UNC team, 2007-08 Kansas team and 2003-04 UConn team. I think that’s the shortlist. All were great teams with a ton of pros and big time college talent. But, those 4 would be my answer and then the honorable mentions would be the next three.
This is a bit of a weird question and thought process because you’re essentially saying who you’re higher on than the general public. There’s really not an ‘underrated’ player that completely jumps out. I’d say Ty Jerome, Sam Hauser and Chuma Okeke.
For the national title? No, I don’t think they are there, but right now they sure look like one of the 15 best teams in the country. If you told me Ohio State is in the Final Four I won’t be surprised. First off they have one of the best coaches in America in Chris Holtmann. We know that no matter what he will always get the most out of his team – happened at Butler and last year at OSU. They do currently have a top-40 offense but that’s because of the ability to get to the line and play through Wesson in the post. I’m not as worried about the lack of elite scorer as I am the lack of shooting and lack of for sure pros in order to win a title. But, again, this has been a top-15 team this year and we’ll see what happens during Big 10 play.
I have him third right now behind Ethan Happ and Carsen Edwards. Juwan Morgan has been real good and he’s a large part as to why I think Indiana is the 3rd best team in the Big 10. The POY race will be intriguing with these three, Jordan Murphy, Romeo Langford, Cassius Winston and James Palmer Jr. among others all looking the part. Morgan’s efficiency has been downright unreal this year though.
The quick breakdown is that they are shortening the odds from 1st to 5th for the lottery. So right now it’s essentially the top-3 having a huge advantage, now it’s the top-5. Now the worst 3 teams will have the same percentage odds to get the No. 1 spot. The other big change is the team with the worst record now can draft 5th where the previous rules were the worst team drafted no worse than 4th. Winners? We’ll find out. I mean it gives teams that maybe are in the West and actually have a decent young core continue to get better because they are going to finish with a terrible record in the loaded conference. Perhaps that gets them the No. 1 spot now instead of 4th. I don’t really think there are true winners or losers to the format change.
Have to start with two things right off the bat. First, Lon Kruger. He’s a coach who doesn’t really get the respect he deserves on a consistent basis for what he’s able to do year in and year out. He does a great job developing talent and we’re seeing that this year. Second, Oklahoma has been one of the best defensive teams in the country. That’s fallen on the likes of Rashard Odomes, Jamuni McNeace and Jamal Bieniemy. They are protecting the rim and challenging the 3-point line. They also have the depth to throw guys out there and really get after it defensively. As for their outlook? I think they end up somewhere around 5th in the Big 12 with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. This team is good. Offensively Christian James took the jump to be the go-to guy, Miles Reynolds is getting to the line and Aaron Calixte sets everyone up.
First team
Zion Williamson (Duke)
RJ Barrett (Duke)
Coby White (UNC)
Keldon Johnson (Kentucky)
Antoine Davis (Detroit)
Second Team
Bol Bol (Oregon)
Iggy Brazdeikis (Michigan)
Lamine Diane (Cal State Northridge)
Lugentz Dort (Arizona State)
Romeo Langford (Indiana)
Cats by 9..actually, you know what? I’ll have a full write up on the game tomorrow and I’ll take the pageviews.
I’d say my early favorite is Zion with the likes of Rui Hachimura, Jarrett Culver, De’Andre Hunter, Grant Williams, Ethan Happ, Ja Morant and Markus Howard on the shortlist.