College Basketball Weekly: Johnny Davis POY, Beard visits Texas Tech

College Basketball is swinging into the prime of the regular season. We’ve got Chris Beard returning to Texas Tech, Johnny Davis challenging Oscar Tshiebwe, a rivalry out west and another Penny update. Check it out.

Results of the Week

(7) Texas Tech 91 @ (4) Kansas 94 (2OT)
(11) Michigan State 55 @ Illinois 56
(2) Arizona 59 @ (7) UCLA 75
(13) Providence 65 @ (18) Xavier 62
VCU 70 @ (23) Davidson 68
Stanford 64 @ (20) USC 61
(21) LSU 68 @ TCU 77
(12) Kentucky 80 @ (4) Kansas 62
(19) Tennessee 51 @ Texas 52

Who can top the Big O?

Not here to write more about Oscar Tshiebwe. KSR has a litany of links about the lovable big man’s rise into the National Player of the Year conversation. See Below.

Oscar breaking records (by BTI)
Oscar’s POY candidacy in context (by Wynn)
Oscar’s postgame presser after Kansas Win

Instead, let’s discuss the other realistic candidates for the Wooden Award, starting with Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis.

Wisconsin graduated four senior starters and a fifth off the bench from last year’s team that won a tournament game. A drop-off was expected. Then Davis transformed into the best guard in college basketball. A 6-foot-5 superathlete that’s scoring 21.4 points and grabbing 7.9 rebounds a game. Next to old man Brad Davison, he carries not just the Badger offense, but the entire Wisconsin team.

This season, that team is 10-1 in close games, I’d say solely because of Davis. He’s nailed a dozen clutch jumpers in close games, most notably in a win at Purdue (above). He crashes the glass as well as any guard in the country. He’s such a supreme athlete that he can pull off the LeBron chase-down block.

Whether it’s a jumper or a dunk or a rebound or a pass to find the open man, Davis makes all the plays for a Wisconsin team that has no business in the top echelon of the sport but earned that respect because of Davis.

It’s treasonous, but I can’t deny that Davis is the best and most valuable player in the country. He and Big O are the betting favorites to win the award and by far the two leaders. Going to be a great race down the stretch.

Texas Tech hosts the Chris Beard revenge game

Oh man, there is not a game on the college basketball schedule the entire season I’m more excited about than Texas Tech hosting their former coach, the guy who backstabbed and big-leagued the Red Raiders last offseason.

In case you forgot, Chris Beard took Tech to the title game in 2019 and fell in OT to Virginia, enchanting TT basketball fans along the way. He built a basketball power and raucous fan base only to abandon it for a Texas program that couldn’t fill its stadium and sits in the shadow of the football team.

Beard’s defensive coordinator and arguably the man behind the hectic defensive dominance Tech deployed en route to the Final Four is now the coach. Mark Adams. He’s playing Bobby Knight ball with this wacky Raiders roster. Starting four players between 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-8 while often playing five at once. Switch everything, toughness and athleticism at every position, and a lack of positions on offense.

They muck it up, leave a cloud of dust and somehow come out clean on the other side in most matchups. Not a program or a fanbase I respect more than Texas Tech. Just such a fun group all the way around.

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Tech fans are already camping out for the Tuesday night game:

UPDATE: More students have set up their tents to camp out until the Texas Tech versus Texas that will occur on Feb. 1, 2022. pic.twitter.com/VagYwbByhj
— Amber Cooper (@AmberCooper_DT) January 30, 2022

If you thought these fans were rowdy during the Beard era, imagine how rockin’ that arena will be when they welcome him back as a rival coach. Cannot wait for this one. For the bettors out there, Texas Tech money line all day and twice on Tuesday.

UCLA vs. Arizona (X2)

An under-the-radar game of the week came late Tuesday night as Pac-12 powers UCLA and Arizona met in Pauley Pavilion. Behind a hot first half from Johnny Juzang and the Bruins’ strongest defensive performance of the season given the competition, UCLA hammered ‘Zona 75-59 in a game that was hardly that close.

UCLA entered this season with all the hype and a loaded roster — which returned all five starters off the Final Four run and added a five-star wing (Peyton Watson) and elite defensive big (Myles Johnson). But Mick Cronin’s squad dealt with a lengthy COVID break and really hadn’t made headlines with a big win since November.

Beating a one-loss, top-three Arizona team won them all the headlines out west. And they’ll get a chance to do it again this week. This Thursday features the return match as Arizona gets to host UCLA. Easily the second-best game of the week following Beard’s return.

Thursday at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Tune in. Surely it will be more competitive than last Tuesday’s game.

Penny heads or tails?

Hey, hey look at little Penny Hardaway, finally going a week without a loss. Memphis played just one game this past week and actually managed to win. The Tiger exacted revenge on the East Carolina Pirates in commanding fashion with a 71-54 victory after ECU beat ’em two weeks ago by just a point.

Penny was even pretty tame in the press conference. Severely fewer cuss words this time around. For some reason.

Memphis also overcame the absence of Jalen Duren and have no won two in a row without the five-star big man. “Don’t they still have generational talent Emoni Bates?” you might ask. Yes, but he continues to look a year too immature on the court, having not shot above 50% from the field since November 16th.

For those clamoring that Shaedon Sharpe will be an immediate stud, perhaps look at the Bates experiment in Memphis. Everyone expected that kid to shine and he’s struggled mightily as a college basketball player.