By Kenneth Cross
ESPN is the fortress in posting three-day college basketball tournaments around Thanksgiving and ESPN’S Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. once again places eight teams in their matchups that can threaten and win comfortably in each of their leagues.
Florida State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Stanford will look to move back into NCAA Tournament play as the Seminoles missed last season’s March Madness with a 17-14 record that saw them finish the regular season with a 4-2 mark in their last six games. They were beaten 96-57 by Syracuse in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
Ole Miss and Stanford open against each other as the Rebels and Cardinal sit in the same bracket with FSU. The Rebs had a tough time on offense as they shot only 43.5 percent (213th/CBB) from the field and put up only 68.1 points per game (258th/CBB).
Seton Hall and Memphis play their initial game against each other as well while Nebraska takes on Oklahoma in a twist on one of the most renowned football series in the history of the game. Meanwhile, Siena is this season’s MAAC entrant as the league gets an automatic entrant each year.
The schedule is set for Nov. 24 (Thanksgiving Day), Nov. 25 and Nov. 27.
Florida State vs. Siena, 11 am – The Seminoles didn’t have their usual defensive drive last season as they struggled on the perimeter where opponents shot 36.9 percent from the three-point line (335th/CBB). Opponents outscored them by 0.9 points and outrebounded them by 0.3 points, two categories which Florida State can usually dominate. Guards Caleb Mills (12.7 ppg) and Matthew Cleveland (11.5 ppg) return as they were last season’s leading scorers. Coach Leonard Hamilton will have a solid competition for the starting positions as six freshmen, including four 4-star players, and two transfers come aboard.
Siena had trouble scoring the ball as well last season but the Saints were able to hit the three at 35.6 percent (74th/CBB) while averaging only 10 assists (349th/CBB) while they only averaged 66.3 points per game (297th/CBB). Jackson Stormo was Siena’s second leading scorer last season as he shot 53.6 percent from the field.
Ole Miss vs. Stanford, 1:30 pm – Daeshun Ruffin (12.6 ppg) and Matthew Murrell (12.1 ppg) are back the Rebels as the top two returning scorers for coach Kermit Davis. In Ruffin’s game, he scored 19 points in a win over LSU, but an injury late in the game caused him to have knee surgery which ended his freshman season early. Defensively, Ole Miss struggled in giving up 45.5 percent from the field (299th/CBB). Malique Ewin is a 6-10 center who is four-star recruit and will give the Rebs depth on the interior.
Stanford had a tough time defending their opponents inside as their defense averaged 52.9 percent from inside the three-points line (299th/CBB). On the offensive end, Spencer Jones (12.0 ppg) and Harrison Ingram (10.5 ppg) were the top two leading scorers as Jones shot 47.7 percent from the field and Ingram was the leading rebounder at 6.7 per game. Stanford went 2-8 in it’s last ten regular season games in ’21-22 and the Cardinal will look for more of a consistent offensive effort after averaging only 66.4 points per game (299th/CBB).
Stanford was almost the same offensively as Mississippi as the Cardinal only shot 44.3 percent from the field (228th/CBB) behind a solid scorer in Spencer Jones, who averaged 12 points per game and shot 47.4 percent from the field.
Oklahoma vs. Nebraska, 5 p.m. – The Sooners had gotten into the NIT in the spring as they had won five out of six games up until their loss to St. Bonaventure. Coach Porter Moser lost his top four scorers, but returns senior forward Jalen Hill (9.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and twins Jacob Groves (4.6 ppg, 2.9. rpg) and Tanner Groves (11.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg). Moser also brings over a solid transfer at point guard in Grant Sherfield, who had previous stops at Nevada and Wichita State. He was the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year in 2020-21 when he averaged 18.6 points, 6.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Guard Bryce McGowens led the Cornhuskers at 16.8 points per game last season and he signed with the Charlotte Hornets on a two-way contract which probably puts him in the G-League with the Greensboro Swarm. Nebraska struggled defensively last season as the Huskers gave up 78.5 points per game (347th/CBB) while their opponents took 18.6 foul shots per game (253rd/CBB). Watch Derrick Walker (9.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg) as he shot 68.3 percent from the floor in starting all 32 games with 26 minutes per contest.
Memphis vs. Seton Hall, 7:30 p.m. – Memphis finished 22-11 and 13-5 as the Tigers were posted in the NCAA Tournament where they defeated a tough Boise State Broncos team, 64-53, while narrowly missing an upset vs. Gonzaga in losing, 82-78, in the second round. Tigers leading scorer Jalen Duran was picked by the Hornets and then traded to the Detroit Pistons. He was part of right Tigers who averaged from 6.1 to 12.0 points per game. Coach Penny Hardaway is going to have an older and more experienced group with fifth year players in Deandre Williams (11.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Alex Lomax (6.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg) leading the way with senior Malcolm Dandridge (4.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg) with potential break through capabilities in the paint.
Coach Shaheen Holloway moved from St. Peters to Seton Hall after he pushed the Peacocks into the Elite Eight. Kadary Richmond (8.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg), who started his career at Syracuse is the leading returning scorer for the Pirates, will play along side USF transfer Alexis Yetna. (8.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg) as the latter was Seton Hall’s leading rebounder in ’21-22. The Pirates were solid defensively as they allowed opponents to shoot only 40.2 percent per game (30th/CBB). Senior Tray Jackson will be a solid post performer (6.8 ppf, 2.6 rpg) as he found five-six shots in his average of 18 minutes on the floor.