Rathbun Roundball Report, Vol. 1, Issue 16

Vol. 1 No. 16 — December 11th, 2019

Welcome to the 16th edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report, Subscriber First Name!

First the news…

Ann Arbor, Michigan

With college football dominating the headlines last weekend, the college basketball season is forced to take a back seat to all the national publicity.

But in Ann Arbor, Michigan last Friday night, a truly remarkable performance was turned in.

The homestanding Wolverines opened Big Ten play with a 103-91 victory over Iowa, overcoming 44 points by Luka Garza.

Garza scored 27 points in the first half, including 15 of Iowa's first 17.

Garza set a record for the most points by an opposing player at Michigan's Crisler Center, breaking the mark of 39 by Ohio State's Dennis Hopson in 1987.

And perhaps the most amazing part of his performance: he didn’t make a three-pointer (0-3).

Only one player has scored more points at Crisler than Garza did in this game. Michigan's Rudy Tomjanovich had 48 in a 1969 game against Indiana.

Garza also easily surpassed his career high of 30 from last month against Oral Roberts.

What a shame for Garza and Iowa that it came in a loss.

Difficulties watching college basketball

The college games have been, shall we say, hard to watch early in the season. My good friend Fran Fraschilla tweeted Monday:

I haven’t watched a ton of college games yet, but from what I’ve seen, three thoughts:

It is so much easier to stop or slow down college players than the pros primarily due to defensive emphasis and skill level. A press or a zone is so much more effective in college because of the lack of skill to recognize and execute against it. That’s why you see neither in the NBA. The players are too good and too big to let that affect them. In college, you see all the junk defenses to take a big scorer out.
The early start to key, big games in the college season exacts a toll. Again, these are not pros. It takes time to get a college team rolling to meet great competition. Therefore, a lot of defensive preparation overwhelms offensive preparation in November and December.
So much for freedom of movement! From what I’ve seen, the college game is more physical than ever, and the officials have been lax in calling fouls on the defense. (Just a quick take here—haven’t studied it in depth. But some of the games I’ve watched—yikes!)

What do you think? Drop me an email bob@bobrathbun.com We’ll reprint some of the responses next week.

Quality Coaching

Speaking of great coaching…

After each led USA Basketball teams to perfect, 7-0 records and gold medals at a 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup, Jeff Walz (Louisville) and Bruce Weber (Kansas State) this week were announced as co-recipients of the 2019 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year award.

Walz led the USA Women's U19 World Cup Team to gold from July 20-28 in Bangkok, Thailand.

"It definitely an honor," Walz said. "And also, it shows what type of staff we had. I was very fortunate to be able to work with Cori (Close) and Natasha (Adair) the past two years. And then the players, obviously you don't get such an award without having an outstanding staff and a good team."

Weber led the USA Men's U19 World Cup Team to gold medal from June 29-July 7 in Heraklion, Greece, as well as to two exhibition wins.

"Just coaching a team for USA Basketball is a special honor in of itself -- to just represent your country -- and to win a gold medal like we did, made it even more special," Weber said. "To throw another honor on to it, there aren't even words to describe my emotions. It's a special recognition that I'm very proud of. I'm very appreciative of the opportunity to coach the U19 team and can't thank the players and the assistant coaches enough for their hard work and commitment to winning the gold medal."

Since 1996, USA Basketball has awarded its National Coach of the Year honor to a USA Basketball head coach, who during the year of the award, made a significant impact on the success of individual athlete and team performance at the highest levels of competition in a manner consistent with the highest ethical, professional and moral standards.

"Jeff Walz and Bruce Weber guided our 2019 USA men's and women's U19 national teams back atop the gold medal podium," said Jim Tooley, USA Basketball chief executive officer. "USA Basketball is grateful for their leadership and commitment, and we are proud to recognize them for their tremendous efforts."

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