Tag: Andy Katz

Andy Katz says Oregon is a dark horse to make the Final Four

CBS Sports college basketball analyst Andy Katz says Oregon is one of four possible dark horses in the NCAA tournament.

When it comes to the NCAA tournament, 11 and 12 seeds are popular upset picks and a lot of the times, those seeds tend to come through for some reason.

Oregon finds itself as an 11-seed in this year’s tourney as they are matched up with 6-seed South Carolina today at 1 pm PST in Pittsburgh.

According to CBS Sports college basketball analyst Andy Katz, the Ducks are one of four dark horses to keep an eye on as March Madness proceeds over the next three weeks.

Other than Oregon, Katz said teams such as New Mexico, San Diego State and Wisconsin are all possible schools that could play the role of Cinderella.

New Mexico is an 11-seed, like Oregon, in the West Region and the Lobos open with Clemson. San Diego State is a 5-seed in the East Region that opens with UAB. The Badgers, soon to be a Big Ten foe for Oregon, is a 5-seed in the South Region and they begin competition with James Madison.

It’s funny how things can change on a dime in college basketball. Just two weeks ago, the Ducks were getting thumped by Arizona and now they are a possible favorite to advance to the Sweet 16 thanks to their Pac-12 tournament run in Las Vegas.

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Andy Katz names Jared McCain his Player of the Week following 35-point outburst against Florida State

Duke freshman Jared McCain was named Andy Katz’ Player of the Week after a 35-point game against FSU and a double-double against Wake Forest.

By now, Jared McCain’s scintillating shooting performance in Tallahassee has introduced him to everyone in college basketball.

The true freshman from Sacramento, California, opened up more eyes this weekend after his 35 points helped carry Duke to a win on the road against an always-tough Florida State team coached by Leonard Hamilton.

Duke needed every single point McCain provided. For his efforts, McCain was named ACC Rookie of the Week, and college basketball reporter Andy Katz called McCain his national Player of the Week.

McCain’s week ended with the win and 35-point explosion over FSU, but earlier that week against Wake Forest, McCain also dropped a 17-point double-double while shooting 3/7 from distance.

He averaged a whopping 26 points per game for the week, and his total field goal percentage for the week’s games was 53%, He shot 61% from the 3-point line.

For good measure, McCain averaged seven rebounds a game, too.

 

We’ve discussed how McCain tied a Duke freshmen record held by a legendary one-and-done player, Zion Williamson. Still, McCain is now flirting with a place within the top 10 all-time 3-point shooting seasons by a Duke freshman. He’s tied currently with Austin Rivers at No. 10 with 58 made threes. One more 3-pointer with eight games left would see him officially pass Rivers and firmly move inside the top 10.

With four more makes from deep, he’d pass his head coach, Jon Scheyer, who had 61 in his freshman season at Duke.

With McCain, Duke has found a dynamic long-range threat that could affect how teams gameplan for Duke the rest of the way—playing off that could benefit Duke greatly as they continue to push toward the NCAA Tournament.

Duke basketball 12th in Andy Katz’s latest Power 36

NCAA’s Andy Katz dropped his ranking of the top 36 teams in college basketball right now and Duke just cracked the top dozen.

NCAA’s Andy Katz released his rankings of the top 36 teams in men’s college basketball on Monday, a series he calls the Power 36, and Duke managed to snag one of the top dozen spots.

The Blue Devils ended up 12th on Katz’s big board, one spot below North Carolina as the two highest-ranked ACC teams on the board.

Defending national champion Connecticut took the top spot, with Houston, Arizona, Purdue, and Alabama rounding out the top five. Iowa State, Marquette, Kansas, Baylor, and Tennessee took the remaining spots in the top 10 to keep out Duke and the Tar Heels.

There’s always more to basketball than a head-to-head record, but not for nothing, Duke defeated Baylor in their December game and currently sits one spot above the Bears in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. Baylor has won five of its last six games after a three-game skid last month, while Duke has lost two games since December 2.

Three more ACC teams found their way into the bottom of Katz’s rankings, including a surging Pittsburgh squad. The Panthers have seven of their past eight games, including road wins over Virginia and Duke, to vault up to 28th on the list. The Cavaliers came in one spot behind in 29th with Clemson immediately behind them in 30th.

WATCH: Third Badgers MBB player cracks Katz top 22

Three Badgers in Andy Katz’s top 22

The Badgers men’s basketball team is set for an exhibition matchup with UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday (Nov. 1) and another one of their players was ranked within Andy Katz’s Top 22 players in the Big Ten.

Tyler Wahl has returned to Madison for a fifth season, coming in at number six on the Big Ten analyst’s list. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 11.3 points per game and a career-high 6.3 rebounds while appearing in 32 games, all of which he started.

Wahl joins teammates Chucky Hepburn (15) and Connor Essegian (16) within Katz’s top 22 player countdown.

Wisconsin will have their entire starting lineup back from last year while also adding guard AJ Storr from St. John’s and freshman big man Nolan Winter, amongst others.

Grant Nelson tabbed as a top 10 senior in college basketball

Grant Nelson set to make an impact for the Tide!

The 2023-24 college basketball season is nearly upon us and that means preseason lists are being released daily.

Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide will look to build off last season’s historic campaign that not only led to an SEC Championship but also the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

A big piece to the puzzle for the Crimson Tide this season will be North Dakota State transfer, Grant Nelson who is expected to make a significant impact in the Alabama frontcourt.

On Tuesday, Nelson was named among the top true seniors in the country by college basketball analyst Andy Katz who ranked Nelson at No. 7.

Nelson and Alabama will get the 2023-24 campaign started on Nov. 6 at 7:00 p.m. from inside Coleman Coliseum against Morehead State.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for more Alabama men’s basketball coverage!

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Badgers guard checks in at No. 16 in Andy Katz’s Countdown

Badgers stud ranked in top 20 by Andy Katz

The Badgers men’s basketball season is around the corner and their second-year guard Connor Essegian is considered one of the best players in the Big Ten by analyst Andy Katz.

Katz has been slowly counting down his top players in the conference and Essegian came in at number 16. The guard was a true freshman last season, recording 11.7 PPG and 3.7 RPG while making a program freshman record 69 three-pointers over 35 games.

Essegian started the year as bench player, but by the end of the year, he had started 19 contests in his first campaign with Greg Gard’s squad in Madison. He now returns to Wisconsin for a second season, joining the remainder of the team’s starters from 2022-2023.

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MSU basketball freshman SF Coen Carr is receiving national recognition

Coen Carr is receiving a lot of national praise ahead of the 2023-24 season:

In Andy Katz’s latest preseason rankings, Spartan freshman small forward Coen Carr received some high praise and recognition from the national media analyst.

Katz ranked the top ten wings in the nation heading into the 2023-24 season and Coen Carr checked in at No. 9 on his rankings.

Michigan State may be getting a special player for this season with expectations being high for the Spartans true freshman.

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Andy Katz lists MSU basketball in top five of updated power rankings for 2023-24 season

Michigan State basketball will enter the 2023-24 season as one of the favorites to win it all

Michigan State basketball will enter the 2023-24 season as one of the favorites to win it all.

Michigan State got some great news on Wednesday when both AJ Hoggard and Jaden Akins announced they would be returning for another season in East Lansing, Mich. Those two and the return of Tyson Walker means the Spartans will have arguably the best backcourt in the country next year.

College basketball analyst Andy Katz must agree because he has the Spartans at No. 3 in his updated power rankings. Michigan State is behind only Kansas (No. 1) and Duke (No. 2).

Katz also is high on Purdue at No. 4. Other Big Ten teams included in his top 36 power rankings are Ohio State (No. 19), Illinois (No. 20), Maryland (No. 22), Northwestern (No. 24), Indiana (No. 27), Wisconsin (No. 31) and Rutgers (No. 36). So it should be yet another great year of basketball in the Big Ten in 2023-24.

Click on the tweet below to view the complete rankings from Katz:

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Andy Katz singles out Ohio State basketball as Big Ten’s top stock riser

We’ll see if it translates to success on the court. #GoBucks

College basketball doesn’t begin and end with the start and finish of the basketball season any longer. With a slew of potential one-and-done players and early entries into the NBA draft, transfer portal moves and NIL temptations, rosters can be shaped and formed in drastic ways through the offseason.

We’ve seen that so far under Chris Holtmann who has seen his fair share of players leave the program, but who has also enticed many to back the U-Haul up to the banks of the Olentangy as transfers. And with a couple of portal additions this offseason, that trend has continued.

The Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz recently took to Twitter to name the top five stock risers in the Big Ten after the spring and singled out Ohio State as his No. 1 team.

“Ohio State had great momentum because of their play in the Big Ten Tournament,” Katz said. “What did they do this spring? Well, they went within the Big Ten to add two key pieces. Jamison Battle from Minnesota — who is going to be a big-time scorer for the Buckeyes — and Evan Mahaffey from Penn State — certainly will be a major factor in the rotation.”

Behind the Buckeyes, Katz singled out Northwestern (2), Indiana (3), Wisconsin (5) and Penn State (5) as rounding out the top five teams that helped themselves in the spring from the conference.

There’s no doubt that Ohio State has some returning talent to work with, an influx of talented freshmen, and a couple of pieces through the transfer portal that should be a good mix. What remains to be seen is if all the pieces fit together to form the border of a fantastic turnaround this winter.

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WATCH: Brice Sensabaugh opens up to Andy Katz at NBA combine

Hear what Sensabaugh thinks of how well he thinks the OSU basketball team will be next year. #GoBucks

All indications point to Ohio State forward Brice Sensabaugh sticking in the 2023 NBA draft, especially with the Buckeyes seemingly without a spare scholarship for the talented, rising sophomore, and with most NBA types considering him a lock for the first round.

But if there’s something that Sensabaugh has to show, it’s his ability to be a two-way player. His offensive game was on full display last season but his defense was often looked at as an area of improvement.

Sensabaugh is onsite to take part in the NBA scouting combine and he took a few minutes to talk to Andy Katz. It’s a quick interview, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth taking just a couple of minutes to hear the former OSU star talk about his defense, what he thinks of next year’s Ohio State hoops team, and how he transitioned himself into a one and done player.

This year’s NBA draft is set to take place Thursday, June 22, and we’ll be here to bring you everything surrounding Sensabaugh’s experience, and ultimately, his landing spot when everything plays out.

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