NCAA Basketball: Biggest takeaways from 2020 Crossover Classic Tournament

Northern Iowa Panthers (8th place)

The Panthers came into this event without their second-best player Trae Berhow, who averaged 12.5 ppg and 5.7 rpg last season. As great as Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year AJ Green was (22.6 ppg through 3 games) was, the team simply didn’t have enough firepower to win a single game.

Northern Iowa was right up there with Loyola-Chicago as preseason favorites to win the Missouri Valley but this team also had genuine at-large aspirations. But while none of these defeats can be considered “bad”, going 0-3 in his major opportunity all but shuts that door on not needing the conference tournament. The road matchup at Wisconsin on December 16th is now a must-win for the Panthers.

Utah State Aggies (7th place)

There was a reason for Northern Iowa’s struggles but Utah State getting blown off the floor by both VCU and South Dakota State in the first two games were shocking. The starting frontcourt of Neemias Queta and Justin Bean played well as normal but the absence of former Mountain West Player of the Year Sam Merrill was clearly felt.

The backcourt struggled mightily until the 7th place game, with Virginia transfer Marco Anthony scoring 22 points to lead the way. He needs to be a consistent double-digit scorer for the Aggies to be a top-tier threat in the conference. On a brighter note, freshman Rollie Worster (17 against UNI) has earned starter minutes and will be an impact player going forward.