CBB Stock Market: March 8th-9th

Looking for something else on Sports News on Tap, I found a gem called 'CBB Stock Market' which highlighted what happened on the weekend of college hoops. Sometimes I will use this space for a longer form recap, but mostly, it will be a subheading.

BUY BUY BUY 

Wichita State's unbeaten year - I know we wrote last week about Wichita State, but it needs to get mentioned again. It is hard to believe a team without a single loss is the 'Nobody believes in us at the NCAA Tournament.' Honestly, it will all depend on their draw. I think Gonzaga's futility in the postseason have made people nervous to really go all in. Nonetheless, an unbeaten season with a sweep of both the regular and conference tournament is impressive. Shockers are one of the best offensive and defensive efficient teams, and it will honestly depend on their draw to see how things will shake out for them. They are locked in as a one seed though. No question about it.  

Wiggins and Parker rising to the top - At the beginning of the season, all we could do is talk about Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker's future with their respective teams. They went up and down yet at the end of the year, we have both players at their highest level thus far in the conference season. Wiggins finished with 41 points in a losing effort against West Virginia where it only took 18 shots. Parker dropped 30 points and eleven rebounds against rival North Carolina in a win. This is exactly what every college basketball fan should want heading into the tournament season. Having these two guys play so well makes things so much more interesting. I am hoping we get one more Parker v. Wiggins duel.

 

Iowa State's celebration of Marcus Smart flopping - I am always a fan of creativity in the student section that is not cruel or offensive. Marcus Smart got the label of being a flopper for good reason as he really does not care how dramatic he makes a simple touch look. Iowa State's solid student section took it upon themselves to send a message and flop in the student section. This is perfect almost to the point where I wish the Woodland Conference had a known flopper so we could have done the same in my formative years.

HOLD HOLD HOLD

Matt Norlander's mid-major theory - In lieu of Green Bay losing this weekend, Matt Norlander came out with an article explaining why conference championships should get the NCAA berth versus the conference tournament champion. Here's the thing, if they are the best team in the conference, they should be able to win the game. Green Bay got tight and lost to Milwaukee. I watched nearly the whole game. They did not play very well throughout the game and did not look an NCAA Tournament against a 7-9 team in the Horizon League. Just because they beat Virginia and nearly beat Wisconsin in December, does not guarantee them a spot in the Big Dance. I do think we could do some sort of idea when it comes to making sure the best teams are in, but to make the conference tournament a consolation prize is pretty ridiculous.

SELL SELL SELL 

Iowa Hawkeyes - What the hell happened? We see this every year where there are some real good teams in January and by March, they look like average teams. Iowa lost at home to Illinois which apparently is the cool thing to do. I think the people saying if they lose to Northwestern, they are closing in on the bubble is stupid, but they desperately need a win just to rite the ship a bit before the tournament. I do not think Iowa has a long shelf life in March, but things could change with a bit of a hot run at Indianapolis.

NOTE: I do not have much today as this once again is late and I feel like it is pretty tiresome at this point of the season. We will have something up and running about the major tournaments on either Tuesday or Wednesday with predictions in there.

Charlie.