What Mismatch Will Determine Iowa State/Kansas, Top-25 Rankings, Podcast with James Fraschilla

This college hoops season is one thing for sure and that’s consistent. There were plenty of upsets again this past week, with seven of the top-10 teams losing at least once. On top of that we have another great Big Monday game.

Let’s go there first, because it’s the best thing in college basketball right now. I outlined this a little bit last week with how you need to turn to ESPN at 9 p.m. on Monday. This time we have Brent Musburger (who was on Texas and the over this past weekend) and Jay Bilas calling Kansas at Iowa State.

We all know about Hilton Magic, but this is an interesting matchup because of guard play. Iowa State has a hidden gem in Monte Morris, who simply isn’t talked about enough as one of the best point guards in the country. Morris was known as a guy who just took care of the ball and set up teammates as a freshman. This year as a junior, he’s clearly the No. 2 guy behind Georges Niang on the Cyclones. Morris is averaging 15.2 ppg, 6.8 apg and 4 rpg. On top of that he’s only averaging 1.5 turnovers per game while playing 91.4 percentage of minutes this season.

Kansas will put Frank Mason on Morris as he’s their best perimeter defender. We saw what Mason did to Buddy Hield – despite Hield scoring 46, Mason was in his shorts every possession and contesting shots. Iowa State will use a typical NBA offense with a lot of high ball screens, trying to pick and pop with Niang or Abdel Nader with Morris. Nader could have a mismatch with a shorter Wayne Selden Jr on him, which could lead to more touches for Nader.

On the flip side, look for Kansas to attack Niang defensively. The likely matchup will be Niang defending Perry Ellis. As much as I love to make fun of Ellis for being 50 years old and looking like Trey Lyles’s uncle, he’s still a damn good player and can score in a variety of ways. However, if I’m Steve Prohm, I would look to switch that defensive matchup and go Niang on Landen Lucas, Jamari Traylor, Carlton Bragg or Chieck Diallo. Put Jameel McKay, the best defender Iowa State has on Ellis and take away that advantage for the Jayhawks. McKay is quick enough to guard Ellis when he steps up to the elbow to look for a jumper.

Whoever wins the mismatch advantage between Ellis/Niang and Nader/Selden will win this game. Vegas has the line as Iowa State -2, which makes sense as Hilton is one of the toughest places to play and Kansas has struggled a little recently.

North Carolina Hitting a Stride

North Carolina is currently looking like a top-3 team in the country, now that they are fully healthy. However, what happened to Marcus Paige lately? He hasn’t hit double digit points in the last 4 games and is shooting 14 percent from the floor. That’s beyond disgustingly bad. So, how is North Carolina getting past this? There are two reasons. The first is Brice Johnson, who is solidifying himself as the best player on the Tar Heels and an All-American candidate. In the same four game span, Johnson is averaging 17 and 8.5 while shooting 58.4 percent. The other reason is the 3-point distribution. Last year Paige shot 46% of the attempts from behind the arc for North Carolina, this year he’s shooting just 21.4 percent of the shots, with Joel Berry shooting 25.2 percent. If Paige can bounce back without taking away from Brice Johnson, North Carolina will be a heavy favorite to win the national championship.

Barstool Reags Top 25

1. Oklahoma
2. North Carolina
3. Iowa
4. Kansas
5. Xavier
6. Texas A&M
7. Villanova
8. SMU
9. Maryland
10. Providence
11. Michigan State
12. Iowa State
13. West Virginia
14. Baylor
15. Miami
16. Louisville
17. Arizona
18. Oregon
19. Kentucky
20. Indiana
21. Wichita State
22. Purdue
23. Duke
24. Dayton
25. Michigan

Barstool Reags Player of the Year Race

1. Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
2. Jarrod Uthoff (Iowa)
3. Kris Dunn (Providence)
4. Brice Johnson (UNC)
5. Denzel Valentine (Michigan State)

Podcast with James Fraschilla

I sat down and talked with James Fraschilla, who was a walk-on at Oklahoma, graduating last year. He talks about his time with the Sooners, live as a D-1 player, current life working in the D-League and what it’s like growing up the son of a coach and analyst. Check it out here