Before I begin this week’s mid major blog, there are two mid major players that deserve some recognition. With the 2016 Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 candidates being announced, senior forward Alec Peters of Valparaiso and junior guard Nigel Williams-Goss of Gonzaga have been named finalists. Both players are having spectacular seasons for their respective schools and conferences. Peters is averaging 23.8 points per game, 10.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, while he is shooting 45 percent from the field and 92 percent from the free throw line. Williams-Goss is averaging 15.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game and is leading Gonzaga in all categories. Both these players started the season as Wood Award Preseason player watch lists. Other mid major players on that list were St. Bonaventure’s Jaylen Adams, Memphis’ Dedric Lawson and Davidson’s Jack Gibbs. Speaking of Alec Peters…
Player of the Week
Alec Peters, F, Senior, Valparaiso Crusaders
There are so many ways to define great college basketball players and teams in the country. Great teams can be explosive, dangerous, tough, gritty, fast paced or just plain old talented. College basketball has plenty of teams and players with these traits, but not many of them with one specific characteristic: consistency. Few programs each year play and win with consistency and consistent effective players are in small number. One of the most consistent and best mid major players is one of the Wooden Award Midseason candidates.
Alec Peters is arguably the best Mid Major player in the country and week in and week out he consistently performs like it. He’s a guy that could make Player of the Week every week. I have already listed his season statistics above, but what puts him back in the list is his consistent play. When Peters made this list five weeks ago, he was averaging nearly 25 points per game and 9 rebounds per game. Today, his scoring has just dipped slightly but clearly his rebounding has jumped up. How much so? Peters is in the midst of 8 straight double-doubles in rebounding and points. He has notched double figure rebounds in 11 games this season including his last eight. He just recently had arguably his best game of the season against Santa Clara (but I will get into that in my Top Five list…). His scoring touch has been there all season; he has scored in double figures all season and frequently leads his team in points and shots per game. Back when I wrote about Peters as the Player of the Week before, the most consistent thing he was doing then was scoring, along with being consistent at free throws. Now, he has drastically improved his game down the stretch to be an excellent rebounder and AVERAGE a double-double. Any player in college basketball that is good enough to average a double-double is extremely consistent and good at what they do. The senior was predicted to be good, started off playing good and to the surprise of many has been playing even better down the stretch. I was surprised only because I thought he was already so good and could not have been better, but he has.
Peters had nice numbers and performances in his last three years at Valpo, but this season he has taken off and elevated his play and consistency to whole new levels. Peters is leading his Valparaiso Crusaders’ squad right to a well-deserved tournament berth. They are a team that almost always wins and relies on their potential Wooden Award winner. I say this about a lot of teams and players, but come tournament time this team and Alec Peters are not ones to take lightly. Peters in playing on top of his game and all it takes in the tournament is one hot player to make a run.
Who’s Hot
TJ Cline, F, Senior, Richmond Spiders
Gotta always be checking in on the always fluctuating Atlantic Ten Conference and who is sitting up top in second place right now? The Richmond Spiders who are being led by Spiderman himself T.J. Cline. Cline is one of the best players in the conference, averaging 17.9 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game and 5.1 assists per game this season. He has five double-doubles this season in points and rebounds and he has scored in double figures in every game but one. He had been having a good year up until conference play, but his team was always far back in the standings. That has changed in the team’s first four conference games. Richmond is 4-0 in conference play and their four-game win streak has brought their record to 10-6. Cline could be called the biggest factor in their win streak, as in those four games he has two double-doubles and is averaging 16 points a game. He is being a force on the glass and in the scoring column and has the Spiders playing at a high level right now.
Cincinnati Bearcats
Thursday night, head coach Mick Cronin and the Bearcats played their biggest game of the season to this point against the red-hot SMU Mustangs. With both tied for first in the American Conference standings and the Mustangs having won nine games in a row, Cincinnati grinded out a gritty and hard fought win, 66-64. This marks the sixth win in a row for them and their eight straight at home. The Bearcats are now the red-hot team in not just their conference, but also in much of college basketball. They now sit alone in first place in the American Conference and sport one of the most ferocious and nastiest defenses in the country, ranking 12th in total points allowed and second in the nation in field goal percentage defense. What makes their team special is anyone of their five starters can step up any given game. Thursday saw forward Gary Clark lead the way with 18 points, even though Jacob Evans is their leading scorer and who only scored two. This team had its offense going last night, hitting 12 threes which is far above their average. They have already beaten SMU and Houston who sit right behind them in the American standings and if they can beat them both again later this season, they have a great chance to win the conference and head to the tournament with a fairly high seed.
Who’s Not
Jared Brownridge, G, Senior, Santa Clara Broncos
Brownridge was on the Who’s Hot list at the beginning of December and was playing lights out at the time. He was averaging 20.6 points per game and proving to all of college basketball that he was a scoring machine. Since the middle of December, though, his play has been extremely erratic and inconsistent. His average in those games has dropped to 15.3 points per game and he has posted four games with single digit scoring and games with a sub 40 percent field goal percentage. If consistency is a key element to making this list, Brownridge is heading in the wrong direction. The Broncos play in the West Coast Conference with talented Gonzaga and St. Mary’s so we may never be able to see Brownridge play in the Big Dance.
Top 5 Individual Performances (So Far)
5. Jaylen Adams vs Army (12/19)
Adams is one of the best players in the Atlantic Ten this season and one of the best scorers in all of college basketball with 22.3 points per game. One of his best games this season came when the Bonnies were hosting Army. He went off for 31 points, 10 assists and shot 58 percent from the field. He also made 14-17 free throws in the 92-83 victory. It was one of his best performances on the season and easily one of the best in the Atlantic Ten this season.
4. Jordan Caroline vs New Mexico (1/7)
Jordan Caroline of the Nevada Wolfpack had the game of his life against the Lobos in “The Pit” (as their arena is commonly referred to and made my top 5 list last week). He scored a whopping 45 points and secured 13 rebounds in the Wolfpack’s 105-104 overtime win. It’s how he did it though that impresses. Down 90-76 with under a minute and a half to go in the second half, Nevada mounted a furious comeback for the ages. They rallied to shoot NINE three pointers in the final minutes and completed the comeback to tie the game 94-94. Caroline made five threes that game, one coming with under a minute in regulation and the game winning three pointer with 0:02 left in overtime to go up by one. He also made 17/29 field goals. In one of the greatest comeback upsets I have ever seen, Caroline played a spectacular game in helping the Wolfpack rally all the way back
3. Marcus Keene vs Montana State (12/21)
The NCAA men’s basketball scoring leader Marcus Keene has been crushing it this season for Central Michigan. He leads college basketball with 29.3 points per game and has torched teams this year. His best game of the year came in one of the higher scoring games this season against Montana State, where Central Michigan won 106-103. Keene was feeling himself that night, firing off 44 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He made 13-27 field goals and 5-13 three pointers. He also knocked in 13-17 free throws. Keene is trying to be the first player in two decades to average 30 points per game in a regular season and the scoring machine has been doing big things this season. This performance cemented the explosive potential he is capable of when he gets his shots off in a shootout.
2. Alec Peters and Jared Brownridge; Santa Clara vs Valparaiso (12/22)
I mentioned this game in my blog a couple weeks back as one of the marque mid major matchups this season. This game pitted two of the best and most dangerous players in mid major college basketball, both of whom are mentioned in this very blog earlier. Jared Brownridge and the Broncos traveled to face off against Alec Peters and the Crusaders in what turned out to be one of the best mid major games this season. The Broncos edged out Valparaiso 87-80 in double overtime, but these two players put on a show. Brownridge scored 30 points with five rebounds and five assists, while shooting 10/19 from the field. Peters one-upped him, going for 35 points, 13 rebounds and shooting 12/28 from the field. They both COMBINED for 12 three pointers and put on a spectacle. Both games were some of the best performances in each players’ respective campaign and it was truly special to have them go off against each other.
1. Nigel Williams-Goss vs San Francisco (1/5)
This choice or number one really is a no brainer for the circumstances of his performance and just how special his performance was. Gonzaga’s Williams-Goss is the other Wooden Award finalist from mid major play and he was my Player of the Week last week for this performance. Playing in San Francisco was Gonzaga’s first real road conference game and San Fran was playing very well up to that point. Williams-Goss put their hopes to rest quick. He led the Bulldogs to a 95-80 victory and got them to 15-0 to start the year. He exploded for a career high 36 points, 11 rebounds, shot 80 percent from the field and went perfect from the free throw line at 9-9. He became the first player this season with at least 35 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game. He also became just the fifth player in the last 20 years to have 35 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and shoot 80 percent from the field. The former Washington Huskie and recent transfer is proving to be one of the best offseason transfers in college basketball and a clear leader for the #5 team in the country.