Tag: Jon Rothstein

Despite losing to Alabama, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein is very high on Texas A&M

From his mouth to the NCAA Tournament committee’s ears

Texas A&M’s (13-3, 2-1 SEC) nine-game winning streak may have ended on Saturday night, but the Aggies are still in great shape heading into the second third week of SEC play after losing to No. 5 Alabama 94-88 on Saturday night.

Star guard Wade Taylor IV missed his second consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury that was aggravated during A&M’s 80-60 win over rival Texas last Saturday. At the same time, his timetable to return is still unknown, according to coach Buzz Williams.

Still, the Aggies look like one of the country’s best and most complete teams, especially after junior forward Pharrel Payne scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench. In comparison, senior guard Zhuric Phelps netted 24 points to follow up his career-high 34 points during Wednesday’s win over Oklahoma.

Texas A&M’s depth and borderline elite defense, outside of the recent three-point issues, are among the reasons this team could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein concurs, asserting that even with the loss to Alabama, the Aggies’ victory over Oklahoma on the road and their near comeback after falling behind by 15 points in the second half against the Crimson Tide position them as Final Four contenders.

Yes, this may be a stretch so early in the season, but Rothstein’s opinion is based on the makeup of the Aggies roster and what the team will look like once Wade Taylor returns to the lineup.

Texas A&M will return to face No. 6 Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Jan. 14 at 6:00 p.m. CST. The game can be watched on ESPN2.

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Texas A&M men’s basketball team embracing being ‘one of the oldest teams in the country’

“Last year, we had a tremendous season, a lot of memories. What happened to us last year, we took this year and we’re just building off it.”

The No. 17 Texas A&M men’s basketball team earned an impressive 70-66 victory this past weekend against No. 11 Purdue.

After the win Saturday, Aggies senior point guard Wade Taylor IV spoke to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

“It just speaks to our togetherness. Coach always telling us we’re one of the oldest teams in the country, so I think that showed today, our maturity. I think everybody came to play today and were excited. We love 11 a.m. games. We wake up early every day. I think today was a great win for us,” Taylor said. “I think the lessons we’ve learned (is different). Last year, we had a tremendous season, a lot of memories. What happened to us last year, we took this year and we’re just building off of it.

“We have a lot of guys back from that team, a lot of us felt that hurt. We’re just excited to have a go one more time.”

Texas A&M swapped ranking spots with the Boilermakers following the victory.

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Williams says that the Aggies men’s basketball ‘staff doesn’t get the credit they deserve’

“I think our staff doesn’t get the credit they deserve for how they’re implementing the plan and our guys are receiving it,” Williams said.

After the Texas A&M men’s basketball team beat Purdue on Saturday afternoon, head coach Buzz Williams spoke to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, who asked him about what he learned about the Aggies this past weekend.

“I think I probably knew it, and I don’t mean that arrogantly,” Williams said. “The consistency of those guys, their character, their maturity, their experience. I also think that we’ve had a lot of reps over the first six weeks of the season. This is very similar to what we did last weekend, this sort of environment.

“Our guys just continue to improve. I think our staff doesn’t get the credit they deserve for how they’re implementing the plan and how our guys are receiving it. That’s easy to say, that’s hard to do.”

Texas A&M (9-2) is set to host Houston Christian University at Reed Arena on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. on SEC Network.

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CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein praises Texas A&M basketball’s deep backcourt

Senior point guard Zhuric Phelps has made Texas A&M’s backcourt one of the deepest in the country

No. 23 Texas A&M (3-1) is off to a solid start to the 2024-2025 college basketball season, as the season-opening loss to UCF is now in the rearview mirror after the Aggies defeated previously ranked Ohio State team 78-64 last Friday night behind an elite defensive effort.

Outside of the UCF loss, the addition of former SMU guard Zhuric Phelps has changed A&M’s offense for the better, adding quality depth to help out star guard Wade Taylor IV and senior Manny Obaseki while replacing former veteran guard Tyrece Radford’s slashing ability in the paint.

In just three appearances, Phelps has already led the Aggies in scoring. At the same time, his defense is equally impactful, setting up consistent transition scoring opportunities for a team still figuring out its half-court offense. On Tuesday, CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein praised Phelp’s addition to the Aggies backcourt.

“Texas A&M’s Zhuric Phelps is underrated nationally. Leading the Aggies in scoring (16 PPG) and also having an impact on D (2.7 SPG). Add Wade Taylor IV and Manny Obaseki and Buzz Williams has three quality veteran guards.”

Underrated is right, as Phelp’s under-the-radar addition this offseason, paired with former Minnesota center Pharell Payne and guard CJ Wilcher, has only made the Aggies a more formidable team. In contrast, the equally underrated return of senior forward Henry Coleman (11.3 points, 6.8 rebounds) has also impacted the team on both ends.

No. 23 Texas A&M will host Southern (0-3) on Wednesday, November 20. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and ESPN+ at 7:00 p.m. CT.

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Jon Rothstein: Notre Dame ‘potential bubble team’ for NCAA Tournament

This would be huge.

Notre Dame is working its way back toward relevancy. While it’s not yet at the point where it can compete with the best in college basketball, all signs point to the program being on an upward trajectory. The Irish widely are expected to make some sort of progress during the 2024-25 season.

To that end, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein has been in contact with [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag]. Rothstein wrote on social media that Shrewsberry told him he has high defensive expectations for [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag], the former Seton Hall forward who is entering his second season with the Irish just like Shrewsberry is.

More importantly, Rothstein feels the Irish could make a run at a 2025 NCAA Tournament spot. To already be a bubble team in Shrewsberry’s second season would be a tremendous sign of progress.

Even if the Irish fell short of March Madness, that almost certainly would mean getting into the NIT, which would be a valuable experience for a team ahead of the top 2025 recruiting class in the country arriving.

While the women’s basketball team easily will have the better season, the future for the men is looking very bright.

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Notre Dame reportedly to take part in 2026 Maui Invitational

The Irish are gonna get some sun before they get some turkey in a couple of years.

Imagine being a college basketball fan and knowing part of your team’s schedule two years in advance. It’s not college football when you often know who your team is playing a decade or more in advance. Both sports are just different.

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Notre Dame is among seven teams that will take part in the 2026 Maui Invitational during Thanksgiving week. Also participating are Ole Miss, Maryland, Providence, BYU, VCU and Arizona. The eighth team that will round out the field is not yet known.

This will be the Irish’s fifth appearance in the tournament, in which they have an all-time record of 8-5. They last competed in 2021 when COVID-19 forced the tournament to be relocated from Hawaii to Las Vegas. They won this tournament in 2017 with [autotag]Matt Farrell[/autotag] receiving tournament MVP honors.

So if you love Notre Dame hoops and want to do something during Thanksgiving week two years from now, might we suggest making the trip to Hawaii to watch these games?

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Jon Rothstein: ACC needs Notre Dame to be good for March Madness spots

Can the Irish play their part this season?

Few if any people in the country love college basketball as much as CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. If you follow him on social media, you know he puts absolutely nothing in sports above college basketball. If a college football fan tweets something at him, he’ll play dumb and frame his response in college basketball terms.

Rothstein has released his ACC preview, and Notre Dame gets only one mention, which isn’t unexpected given that it has a lot to prove. However, it’s how Rothstein references the Irish that makes this interesting.

The ACC has been going through a bit of a dry spell as far as the number of berths it gets in the NCAA Tournament. The Irish last made the tournament in 2022, but some conferences teams have even longer droughts. Rothstein particularly signals out Louisville, Syracuse and Florida State.

Rothstein’s point is that all of these high-profile programs need to get their act together in order to restore the ACC’s reputation as the best in college basketball and have more than the five March Madness berths it’s gotten in each of the past three years.

We’ll see how the season plays out, and hopefully, the Irish can help make the ACC truly intimidating again.

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Analyst Jon Rothstein says Kentucky basketball is an NCAA Tournament team

College basketball analyst Jon Rothstein calls Kentucky basketball an NCAA Tournament team.

The 2024-25 Kentucky basketball season is set to be one of the most interesting in recent memory. After Mark Pope was hired as the new head coach, he had to build the entire roster from scratch. To do so, he brought in a large number of transfers to mix with a few Freshmen.

Projections for the Wildcats have varied greatly this offseason. A few have rated Kentucky highly, even as a top 25 team. However, most have them as a team in transition, and middle of the SEC team.

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Analyst Jon Rothstein has previously ranked the Wildcats as the ninth best team in the SEC. He based this on the nature of the roster, primarily filled with players from smaller schools without the pressures of Kentucky.

Recently, Rothstein watched a Wildcats practice, and gave his thoughts about what he saw.

Kentucky looks like an NCAA Tournament team in 2025, but the makeup of the perimeter will be fascinating to watch from now until opening night on November 4.

He pointed out that the frontcourt was a strength of the team, and especially liked Andrew Carr. Collin Chandler was another player he mentioned as a player to watch.

It sounds like Rothstein likes what he saw from the Cats at the practice he watched. Nobody can predict how things will play out, but they have talent. Fans, along with analysts like Rothstein can only guess at what will happen.

Jon Rothstein projects Notre Dame to finish 12th in ACC in 2024-25

Is this a fair ranking?

College basketball is a few months away, but that doesn’t mean predictions can’t be made now. Jon Rothstein has taken this to heart and written an early preview for how he things the new-look ACC will shape up during the 2024-25 season. With 18 teams to rank, Rothstein has the Irish finishing 12th, or the tail end of the conference’s middle tier.

Rothstein also highlights a couple of Irish players to watch. He lists [autotag]Matt Allocco[/autotag], who came over from Princeton, as one of 15 under-the-radar transfers. He also has picked [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] as one of 10 breakout players with the stipulation that players who previously have averaged double figures in scoring are not eligible to be considered breakout players.

Both Allocco and Davis are projected to be starters on the Irish alongside returnees [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag], [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] and [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag]. You won’t get much of an argument with that starting lineup right now. We’ll see how much, if at all, that changes once we’re through training camp.

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Notre Dame leads ACC in returning scoring for 2024-25 season

Amazing what continuity on a young roster will do.

A year ago, Notre Dame was completely rebuilding itself. So it was no surprise that it had by far the lowest percentage of returning scoring in the ACC. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, the Irish are on the exact opposite end of the spectrum.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has tweeted out the percentages of returning scoring for every ACC program, and it’s insane how much difference a year makes:

While the Irish still will be a young team making strides this upcoming season, the high roster carryover from the 2023-24 season should make things run at least a little smoother. It also helps that they barely lost anyone to graduation or the transfer portal.

One easily could make the argument that the Irish overachieved in [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag]’s first season. They stayed out of the conference cellar and even won their first ACC Tournament game en route to a 13-20 record. The question now is how they can build on that.

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