As Monday morning arrives, most sports fans return to their desks. They hold memories of Ndamukong Suh getting ejected from a game and Michigan football breaking a seven game losing streak in the Big Game. But for most people, despite a plethora of dramatic neutral site basketball games in the last 10 days, college basketball is still not a Thanksgiving tradition. 

Perhaps while waiting for a flight Wednesday night, fans saw a few minutes of the Georgetown’s OT win over Memphis in Maui. Perhaps Saturday they saw the ticker which showed that Harvard won the Battle for Atlantis Tournament. But thanks to a crowded sports calendar, for most fans Monday morning brings a host of college basketball surprises.

North Carolina was supposed to have the best frontcourt in the nation, but the heralded trio of Tyler Zeller, John Henson, and James McAdoo shot just 6-of-22 from the floor in a tournament loss to UNLV. Kentucky played against Old Dominion in a neutral site event last weekend and could barely score against a zone defense. Down in the Bahamas, UConn lost to UCF and then needed OT to beat Florida St. Syracuse barely beat Stanford despite playing in their home-away-from-home at Madison Square Garden. In injury news, Notre Dame’s Tim Abromaitis tore his ACL tear, crushing the hearts of Fighting Irish basketball fans. And with those surprises at the top, nothing else can qualify as truly shocking.

As noted on Thursday, I attended the Old Spice Classic this weekend. Here are my final thoughts on the event.

Dayton over Minnesota, 1st place game

After watching Dayton play two games, I had one note circled on my notepad. Where is Chris Johnson? The talented three-point shooter was reportedly Dayton’s best player. But I saw little to suggest he was dominant. He was only 3 of 10 against Wake Forest, and 2 of 7 against Fairfield. But more than his lack of shooting, I was disappointed in his body language on the court. He mostly seemed to be an immobile spot-up shooter. He was not running around screens and confusing the defense. At best he seemed to be conserving energy for the three games in four days format.

On Sunday, after Minnesota took a 20-10 lead on Dayton, I wrote down another note about how Minnesota’s perimeter defense was much improved this season. The Gopher’s forwards were doing a great job switching screens and preventing open looks for Dayton’s prolific backcourt. A year after Minnesota had struggled to defense the three point line, Oto Osenieks and Trevor Mbakwe have shown much greater mobility on the perimeter, allowing the team to do more to shut down a guard oriented team.

But suddenly the script flipped. Dayton ran a simple curl screen on an inbounds play that got Chris Johnson a wide open three. And Dayton started using simple double screens and ball rotation to find other open shooters. And before the first half was over, Dayton had seven three pointers. The Flyers erased a ten-point deficient and had built a nine-point lead. And in the second half, the damage would continue. Dayton hit five more threes, and had two more long twos where a Dayton guard got caught with his foot on the line. The Flyers outside shooting was simply phenomenal.

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s best player Trevor Mbakwe went out with a leg injury early in the second half and for all intents and purposes the game was over at that point. Mbakwe’s injury certainly puts a damper on a weekend where the Gophers had two huge comebacks. Injuries and player defections have crippled Tubby Smith’s teams the last few years, and if Mbakwe is out for any length of time, it certainly hinders Minnesota’s chances. But the focus today should be on the Flyers who were dominating the game even before Mbakwe went down.

Dayton’s Chris Johnson, Paul Dillard, and Luke Fabrizius will get all the tournament accolades for their great shooting, and they deserve praise. But I thought the players that impressed me most for Dayton were forwards Matt Kavanaugh and Josh Benson. Their defense, first against the imposing Fairfield front line, and then against Trevor Mbakwe was what allowed Dayton to win this tournament.

Indiana St. over Fairfield, 3rd place game

On Sunday, Indiana St. used some sensational passing to shred the previously dominant Fairfield defense. But because of a late Fairfield comeback, the Sycamore’s cannot be happy with their play in Orlando. Indiana St. has to get better at finishing games. The Sycamores blew a late seven point lead to Minnesota on Friday, and nearly blew a late sixteen point lead to Fairfield on Sunday.

Jake Odum is supposed to be the great calming influence at point guard for Indiana St., but his decision making in crunch time has not been great. One play on Sunday represented Odum at his absolute worst. With about 4 minutes left, he got called for one of the worst five second violations I have ever seen. Odum was holding the ball as players typically do at the end of the game when the clock is about to run out. And he let a Fairfield defender walk up to him and hold his hand out. The defender was certainly not putting any pressure on Odum. Odum could have easily dribbled in any direction. But Odum simply stood still while the referee counted to five. A veteran PG just cannot forget that when you are closely guarded you must advance or pass the ball. This is basketball 101 and it symbolizes why Indiana St. is having trouble finishing games right now.

On the flip side, here were Fairfield’s defensive performances heading into Sunday:

Points Per 100 Possessions
Quinnipiac 85.2
Minnesota 98.1
Holy Cross 79.8
Arizona St. 69.7
Dayton 95.9 

(I exclude the Providence game, because former head coach Ed Cooley clearly knew the team’s weaknesses.)

These are dominant defensive performances, but if Fairfield doesn’t start scoring itself, it won’t make much of a difference. Fairfield lost to Minnesota, had to hang on against Arizona St., and lost to Dayton despite posting these elite defensive numbers. And through 27 minutes on Sunday, Fairfield had only 33 points. (Suffice it to say, if you hate brutal Big Ten slugfests, then you do not want to watch Fairfield either. They may be co-favorites in the MAAC, but they are not fun to watch.)

But if Sunday’s games proved anything, it proved there are other ways for Fairfield to score. It doesn’t just have to be the Rakim Sanders show. Since Fairfield has incredible length, they can play great half-court defense. But they can also play great pressure defense too. That was the formula in Sunday’s comeback, and for a team with offensive issues, it may have to be the formula in more games. Instead of laying back and forcing missed shots, it may be time for Fairfield to start forcing more turnovers.

Final Fairfield Note: Head Coach Sydney committed a very foolish technical foul in Friday’s lost to Dayton. He was called for a technical with less than 30 seconds left with his player headed to the line in a game his team still had a chance to win. He has a reputation as an emotional coach, but that was a mistake he cannot afford to repeat.

DePaul vs Arizona St., 5th place game

Trailing by two in the final seconds, Arizona St.’s Carrick Felix took a three pointer that would have given his team the lead, but it rimmed off. Fortunately for the Sun Devils, the rebound was grabbed by Jordan Bachynski, and Bachynski was immediately fouled. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, Bachyniski missed a pair of free throws that would have tied the game.

I honestly have no feel for Arizona St. even having seen them play three times. They were absolutely brutal offensively against Fairfield, but Fairfield’s defense is great. Then they were on fire shooting the ball against Wake Forest, but Wake Forest’s defense is usually porous. I thought Sunday’s game might answer my questions, but it was a tail of two halves. Arizona St. scored only 9 points in the first 14 minutes of the game, and then the team caught fire and nearly pulled off the comeback. Whether this team has adequate shooting to run Herb Sendek’s system remains to be seen.

On the flip side, I think I have finally figured out DePaul’s Cleveland Melvin. He cannot always dominate in the half-court because the opposing team will usually key on him. But the moment there is a loose ball, he races to the rim, and he always finishes. For a turnover-forcing team, Cleveland Melvin’s ability to finish really is the key ingredient. DePaul still has some issues with personnel. I am not sure how many of their players would start on other Big East teams. But they are starting to figure out that in Oliver Purnell’s system, you don’t have to be the most talented team to win games.

Wake Forest over Texas Tech, 7th place game

I’ve labeled this the battle to determine the worst major conference team in the country. But before I talk about Texas Tech’s disaster of a tournament, I want to talk about how important this win was for Wake Forest.

By winning the final game, the Demon Deacons can exit this tournament with significant positive energy. Not only did the Demon Deacons win the finale, they nearly beat tournament champion Dayton on the first day. For a program in disarray last year, those small moral victories count.

I continue to be quite impressed with Wake Forest sophomore guard Tony Chennault who appears to have made the magical second year leap. His ability to finish in the lane in traffic is going to be extremely important in ACC play.

Now, as for Texas Tech, this was an embarrassing tournament in which to finish 0-3. Getting blown out by Indiana St., and then losing to two struggling BCS teams in DePaul and Wake Forest, really is rock bottom.

I can point to a lot of mistakes. There was a play where three Texas Tech players fought over a rebound with no Wake Forest players in sight and knocked it out of bounds. There was Robert Lewandoski fouling out with 16 minutes left in Sunday’s game. Even likeable newcomers like Terran Petteway seem to have a very questionable shot selection. But instead of criticizing, I will offer one ray of hope for the Red Raiders. Freshmen Jordan Tolbert looks like a winner. He’s shooting well over 60% on the season so far, and on a team that lacks easy baskets, he showed a knack for finding the right spot this weekend.