NCAA Basketball: Top transfer, Gonzaga running the table among top questions

The NCAA Basketball roundtable is back! What are some of the biggest questions as conference play gets fully underway?

As the holiday break ends and NCAA Basketball gets fully into conference play, there are plenty of questions we all have regarding the 10 weeks until Selection Sunday. Here’s our latest roundtable for Busting Brackets, featuring five writers each answering five burning questions.

Jacob Zinkula – @1Perfectbracket

Andrew Tineo – @D_Tineo4

Benjamin Zacher – @beezacher

Karl Heiser – @karlheiser17

Drew Schmelzer – @DrewSchmelzer

1.  Which player departure will affect their team the most? (Caleb Mills (Houston), Chris Smith (UCLA), Oscar Tshiebwe (WVU)

Zinkula

From a style of play standpoint, the answer is likely Oscar Tshiebwe, as West Virginia will have to veer away from its “twin tower” lineups featuring the 6-9 Tshiebwe and 6-10 Derek Culver. In terms of which departure most hinders the team’s chances to make a deep tournament run, however, the answer might be Caleb Mills.

The 6-3 guard had been up-and-down thus far, but the backcourt tandem of Mills and Marcus Sasser had dangerous scoring upside. If Mills doesn’t return this season, his last shot will have come with roughly seven seconds remaining in the Cougars’ 65-64 loss to Tulsa. He hit a clutch baseline jumper that temporarily put Houston up 64-63. These are the kind of impact plays that the squad would be missing.

Tineo

Oscar Tshiebwe. West Virginia.

The effect has already been felt, but the loss of Tshiebwe will hold the most weight. Tshiebwe was an All-Big 12 selection, as well as, on the All-Freshman team last season. Tshiebwe’s shot-blocking presence and defensive tenacity will be missed the most.

The impact was felt when West Virginia fell to Oklahoma on Saturday. Oklahoma shot just 31 percent from beyond the arc but was 55 percent from within that arc. That shows the missing piece of West Virginia in Tshiebwe. That could continue as West Virginia has started to falter over the past two weeks.

Zacher

It is no mystery that Oscar Tshiebwe’s sophomore slump hurt West Virginia – but they still went 8-2 with him on the roster.  With him gone, they will be even worse – and their loss to Oklahoma proves that.  It is not necessarily their production that they will miss, but more-so his status as a physical post who could threaten to produce.

The Mountaineers sported one of the most highly-touted frontcourts in the nation coming into the season – and now, with Tshiebwe gone, Derek Culver’s production should heavily decrease.  It is no coincidence that against Northeastern, in Tshiebwe’s best game of the year (12 points), Culver had 18 points.  In WVU’s first game without Tshiebwe?  Two points on just four shots for Culver.

With Tshiebwe out, double – and even triple-teaming – Culver has become so much easier to do.  Kansas exploited that when Tshiebwe was not producing – and now that he is gone permanently, that could plague the Mountaineers all season long.

Heiser

UCLA is in a lot of trouble without Chris Smith. Despite their respective departures, Houston and WVU will probably still make the tournament. That’s not to say the Bruins can’t make the tourney without Smith, but it will be a lot closer than they would like. Houston and WVU are firmly within the KenPom top 15.

UCLA is at 34. The NCAA NET rankings have them at 54. Chris Smith currently ranks 2nd on the Bruins in points, assists, rebounds, and steals per game. He’s third in blocks. The senior is shooting 50% from deep. Smith is an integral part of everything UCLA does on the court and is probably their best overall player. The negative impact of losing him will be much greater than that of Mills for Houston or Tshiebwe for WVU.

Schmelzer

I think it’s got to be Tshibwe mainly because if West Virginia has him on the floor and healthy, the Mountaineers have a legitimate chance to make a Final Four run. They are still a good team without him and Miles McBride has been awesome, but the main advantage that West Virginia had against almost anybody was its front line, and while they are still big, the talent level significantly declines when you take Tshiebwe out of the discussion.

Houston and UCLA will suffer without Mills and Smith, but neither of those teams presents the matchup nightmare that WVU does in a win or go home NCAA tournament type situation. Houston is still a Sweet 16 team without Mills and I am not sold on UCLA with or without Smith. West Virginia’s ceiling takes the biggest hit out of the three.