Rivals Roundtable: Looking ahead to the madness of March
College basketball’s most important month has arrived and conference tournaments are under way. This week in the Rivals Roundtable we celebrate all things March by asking our national basketball duo of Rob Cassidy and Travis Graf three questions related to the madness that’s about to get under way.
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Which team outside of the current AP top 15 do you see as a threat to make some serious noise in March?
“Something in my gut says it’s going to be an ACC team. I’m not a total ACC apologist and think the league earned its “down year” reputation early in the season, but I also think early season slumps have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies as the season progresses. Enter Miami and Pitt, both of which maybe had to work a little harder for respect that they should have this season. The Hurricanes, in particular, feel built to win in March by virtue of being a guard-led squad with a balanced backcourt. The combination of Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller and Nijel Pack will be a tough out. It always seems like the conference we spend the most time describing as being “in a down year” strikes back in March. The Canes were under-valued at this time last year and I think they are again now.” - Cassidy
“The Big 12 is the best conference in college basketball this season. All of the programs are battle tested and have been beating up on one another this whole year. A team that I feel can make a run out of that conference is TCU. The Horned Frogs are led by a trio of upperclassmen in Mike Miles Jr., Emanuel Miller and Damion Baugh, whose experience will help a ton in the Big Dance. Miles is the type of player who can carry the team if need be as well, so there’s a lot of boxes checked by the personnel.” - Graf
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Which current bubble team do you see as a candidate to play their way into the dance next week?
“Gimme Michigan here for a couple reasons. First, the Wolverines seem to be finding some semblance of consistency of late, even without Jett Howard, who missed a pair of games with injury before returning for Thursday night’s double-overtime loss to Illinois. Secondly, I don’t think it will take too much for the Wolverines to remove themselves from the bubble. Michigan still has a winnable road game at No. 15 Indiana, which it almost knocked off a few weeks back. Juwan Howard and company will also have another chance or two to secure statement wins in the Big Ten tournament. As of today, ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi has Michigan listed as one of his first four out, but it’s easy to imagine a world in which the Wolverines, who have legit NBA talents in Howard and Kobe Bufkin, are included in the field come Selection Sunday.” - Cassidy
“I’ll go with the Clemson Tigers here. I think the front court pairing of Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall is good enough to carry them to a couple of wins in the ACC Tournament, which will lock down a bid, in my eyes. The biggest hurdle is finishing the season out strong at home against Notre Dame, which they can’t overlook. The last time the Tigers came out and played unenthused basketball they lost to the worst Power Five team in college basketball, Louisville. They have to take care of the task at hand and then win a game or two in the conference tournament.” - Graf
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Which player is your pick to help his draft stock in March?
“It seems conceivable to me that Indiana’s Jalen Hood-Schifino is in the process of playing himself into the 10 to 12 range. If there’s something to be said for clicking at the right time, it can be said about the Indiana star, who threw up 35 points against national title contender Purdue last weekend. Still, the freshman isn’t just a volume scorer. The versatile, 6-foot-6 guard has loads of translatable skills, as he creates his own shots from multiple places on the floor and gets to his spots through ball-handling and a strong upper body. The freshman has been steadily climbing up draft boards for a while now, and I think he’s a good bet to continue to do so under the sport’s brightest lights this month, especially if he manages to continue to shine as a passer while finding a way to further limit his turnovers, which have plagued him at times.” - Cassidy
“If NC State can make it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament I believe you’ll see Terquavion Smith’s stock start to solidify into the late first round, and maybe in the late teens if he completely takes over a game or two. He’s one of the best scorers in the country, and I believe a team will take a chance on him inside of the first 30 picks. He’s up and down at times, erratic, takes bad shots, whatever. But he has a gift for scoring the basketball and it wouldn’t shock me to see teams really warm up to him more and more throughout the tournament.” - Graf