Tag: Matt Norlander

So much for Arkansas being 47th in one CBS writer’s rankings

Arkansas is probably going to make Matt Norlander rethink his preseason ranking of the Razorbacks, who he had 47th in his top 100 teams on CBS.

Matt Norlander, who has covered college basketball for over a decade for CBS, recently released his top 100 college basketball team rankings ahead of the 2023-24 season.

If you’re wondering where Arkansas was on that list, you’re going to have to read for awhile.

Norlander had Arkansas 47th, behind SEC teams such as Florida and Georgia, who have combined for one NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.

Here’s what Norlander said about the Razorbacks:

Arkansas fans, you don’t need to find me because you’ve already found me. The Hogs are too low! Hey, I am not prone to a mistake here or there, but let’s see how a team with, theoretically, less talent does after finishing ninth in the SEC last season. (I actually have Arkansas at eighth in the SEC.) Eric Musselman is entering his fifth season and carries a 95-42 record overall and a 41-30 SEC mark.

Wanna know who his No. 1 team is? Purdue.

Who, you know, lost to Arkansas yesterday in overtime before a capacity crowd in Bud Walton Arena.

Norlander had a little fun with it on Sunday afternoon, at least.

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Sooners No. 45 in Matt Norlander’s “Top 100 and 1” basketball teams

Oklahoma finds itself at No. 45 in CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander’s top 100 and 1 best NCAA basketball teams.

College basketball is approaching in a hurry. November marks the first month of college basketball and with the season close writers across the nation are laying down their preseason rankings.

One of the sport’s biggest writers is CBS Sports, senior writer Matt Norlander, who is about as plugged in as anyone in all things collegiate basketball dropped his “top 100 and 1” rankings of the 101 best teams in Division 1 as he sees them heading into this 2022-2023 season.

Oklahoma is one of nine Big 12 teams to feature in the rankings. If that’s any indication, the Big 12 could very well be the toughest conference in basketball once again.

Norlander ranked the Sooners No. 45 and had this to say:

The Sooners clock in at No. 28 in KenPom’s preseason ratings, which looked mildly surprising at first glance — until you realize OU finished last season 30th. It was the highest-ranked team to not dance. Porter Moser’s second season will benefit from bringing three starters back: the Groves brothers, Tanner and Jacob, and Jalen Hill. That will be a productive troika. They’ll be uplifted if Nevada transfer Grant Sherfield continues to be a stat compiler like his past two seasons. Sherfield averaged 19.1 points, 6.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds last season. If his shooting can improve, OU will finish in the top five in the ever-competitive Big 12. He’ll be backed up by sophomore C.J. Noland, who could grow into one of the most valuable reserves in the conference, provided he doesn’t eventually earn a starting spot in time for Big 12 competition. – Norlander, CBS Sports

Oklahoma rolls into this season with the returning trio Norlander mentions. They had to go portal shopping to round out the rest of their roster, especially for guard depth.

Grant Sherfield and Joe Bamisile give the Sooners two productive bucket-getters that can create their own shot, which is ever important against the high-level defense you’ll see in this conference. Sherfield is certain to run the point with Noland backing him up. If Bijan Cortes can take a step, it would be a huge for the guard depth.

Oklahoma’s interior looks to be focused around the Groves brothers and Missouri transfer Yaya Keita. Keita is 6’9, springy, and potentially could give Oklahoma some quality minutes as a rim running big to clean up misses and run in transition. They needed his depth in the absence of the three big men that left the program in Ethan Chargois, Akol Mawein, and Rick Issanza.

At No. 45, it paints a clear picture that barring a really bad year, Oklahoma should find themselves in the NCAA Tournament after so narrowly missing the field last year.

With the depth in the Big 12, a top five finish, and a decent foray thru the non-conference should give Oklahoma the resume it needs.

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Will Mike Brey coach at Notre Dame for only three more years?

Is the Irish’s coach close to walking into the sunset?

Just about every college basketball expert agrees that Notre Dame will bounce back after a disappointing past few years. A great group of returnees, a solid incoming recruiting class and a touted transfer in Paul Atkinson will make the Irish a team to watch in the eyes of many. One of those Irish optimists is CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, who has picked the Irish as one of five programs he expects to have a bounceback 2021-22 season. However, he also raises questions about Mike Brey’s long-term future as coach.

Norlander begins his outlook for the Irish by guessing that Brey only will remain as coach for three more seasons. Indeed, Brey will have just turned 65 at the end of the 2023-24 season, which would be his 29th as a collegiate head coach. Norlander believers how the Irish perform in the coming season will dictate the timeline Brey follows.

While we haven’t heard anything from Brey himself on when he might retire, it’s certainly possible that the thought has crossed his mind as he’s gotten older. Whenever it happens, it will be difficult to watch Notre Dame’s longest-tenured and winningest coach leave everything behind. In the meantime, he’s on a mission to bring the Irish back to relevancy, which he’s more capable of doing than at any other time over the past few years.

Breaking: Ivy League cancels winter sports

The Ivy League has become the first conference to cancel all sports for the 2020-21 winter season, including basketball.

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In the same week we saw some basketball programs announce their entire season schedules, the Ivy League has announced their cancellations of the entire 2020-21 winter sports schedule.

Ivy League presidents voted to make that decision on Thursday afternoon and Matt Norlander of CBS Sports was the first to report it.

From the Matt Norlander/CBS Sports report:

This is not a shocking vote — far from it. Multiple Ivy League sources, dating back to early September, expressed pessimism about the notion that league presidents would allow for winter sports/a basketball season. Some programs have yet to even hold indoor workouts to this point. Added one source, “We don’t need money to play. In the Ivy League, it’s 100% a health and safety issue.”

As you may recall the Ivy League was the first conference to cancel their 2020 football season while the likes of the Big Ten and Pac-12 and MAC all followed suit, although all three ultimately reversed course and decided to play.

It remains to be seen if the Ivy League will remain on an island with cancelling fall sports or if other conferences will follow their lead before long.

College basketball is set to get underway in just two weeks.

Stay tuned and buckle up.

MSU Basketball just outside top 10 in CBS Sports’ preseason rankings

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports released the final batch of his 1-357 preseason rankings on Thursday, with MSU sitting just outside the top 10.

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This is the time of the year where we are bombarded with college basketball preseason rankings from media outlets, and again we are seeing the Spartans just outside the top 10 — this time from CBS Sports.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports released the final batch of his 1-357 preseason rankings on Thursday, with Michigan State sitting in a familiar spot just outside the top 10. Norlander pegged the Spartans at No. 13 in his rankings, behind three other Big Ten teams — Illinois (No. 4), Wisconsin (No. 8), and Iowa (No. 9).

Norlander offered up his thoughts on the Spartans in his rankings, citing the loss of Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman for why he has MSU outside the top three in the Big Ten. He did, however, point out newcomer forward Joey Hauser as a sneaky good three-point shooting threat.

Here’s some of what Norlander had to say about MSU:

“The Spartans, for the first time in a while, aren’t a sure thing to be a top-three Big Ten team. Yet, I’ll tell you that Tom Izzo’s league contemporaries are not assuming anything with this group. Michigan State lost one of its best players in school history, Cassius Winston, and that is going to sting. Xavier Tillman staying in the draft is also a big hit. But MSU does look fairly durable for players 1-8 heading into Nov. 25.”

Jeff Borzello of ESPN also has MSU at No. 13 in his updated preseason poll that was released last week. It appears that the Spartans’ sweet spot in these preseason rankings will be right in the No. 12 – No. 15 window, but don’t be surprised if some people are higher on MSU — like Dick Vitale who had the green-and-white at No. 7.

Click here to see the rest of Norlander’s rankings and to read more on what he had to say about Michigan State, including his projection for the Spartans’ starting five.

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Reports indicate more shake-ups to MSU Basketball 2020-21 schedule

A flurry of reports came out on Friday evening, making it quite clear the original eight-team Orlando Invitational field is no longer intact

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The crazy schedule-making game of the 2020-21 college basketball season appears to be taking another wild turn for the Spartans as reports are now suggesting the originally planned eight-team Orlando Invitational is no more.

A flurry of reports came out on Friday evening — centered around the original participants of the Orlando Invitational — making it quite clear the original eight-team field is no longer intact. CBS College Basketball Insiders Matt Norlander and Jon Rothstein both reported on Friday evening that three of the teams scheduled to participate in the Orlando Invitational (Gonzaga, Auburn and Boise State) have all agreed to play in different Orlando-based tournaments to start the season.

Then, Norlander followed-up his earlier reports later on Friday evening stating he’s hearing all of the multi-team events in Orlando will be four-team setups and no eight-team events will take place.

So what does this all mean? Well, if these reports are true then it’s disappointing news as we now know that potential intriguing matchups with Gonzaga and Auburn are off the board for the Spartans. It also means quite frankly that we can’t read all too much into any schedule-related reports and won’t know anything until the schedule is announced by the school because things are constantly shifting behind the scenes.

With Michigan State still expected to play in the Champions Classic in Orlando on Dec. 1, we can assume the Spartans will still play in some type of multi-team event in the Orlando bubble to start the season. However, at this point, it’s up in the air who will be their opponents and how many games they’ll play in Orlando.

Earlier this week, Rothstein reported the Gavitt Tipoff Games won’t take place this season, which at the time left the Spartans with two available non-conference games. I anticipate the Spartans will play at least three or four games in the bubble (two in multi-team event and Champions Classic) so expect Michigan State to still have two or three spots left to fill on the non-conference slate.

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