NCAA Basketball: ETSU, AJ Green top mid-major performers of the week
By Logan Butts
Conference play continues to roll along across the nation. Several contenders are starting to separate from the pack, including the three NCAA Basketball teams in this week’s column.
Best Performance, Team – East Tennessee State Buccaneers
The SoCon may not be sending a team into the Big Dance unbeaten in conference play again this year, but whoever earns the league’s automatic bid is going to be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament. What was thought to be a four-horse race has possibly whittled down to three with a clear favorite at the top in East Tennessee State.
While UNC G, Furman, and others continue to give the SoCon a deep pool of contenders for a mid-major league, the Buccs seem to be the veteran-laden squad ready to win a game in the tournament this year. Over the last week, ETSU simply took care of business by blowing out Samford (88-63 at home) and Western Carolina (85-66 on the road), with the win over the Catamounts being the more impressive of the two.
The Buccs are deep. In the win over the Bulldogs, five players scored in double-figures, including three off the bench. Against Western Carolina, four Buccs scored at least 10 points. They are clicking as a team and hope to continue that momentum as we go further into the season. Tray Boyd III, Bo Hodges, Jeromy Rodriguez, Daivien Williamson, Patrick Good, Isaiah Tisdale, and Lucas N’Guessan all average between 13.4 and 7.9 points per game. A different player, or combination of players usually, can step up every night with this group.
In the latest net rankings, ETSU sits in 50th, the eighth-best mark for a mid-major team (which includes THREE top-10 spots for the little guys) and the second-best among teams from historically one bid leagues behind Liberty all the way up at 24. They have two Q1 wins (at LSU and at UNC G) with the loss at Kansas. However, a Q3 loss (at North Dakota State) means an at-large bid (and prime seeding) is most likely out of the question.
A date with UNC-G looms large on Feb. 1. They already took care of the Spartans on the road, but if they could sweep their main competition, then ETSU might be alone atop the conference standings.