In case you didn’t know, there are four NCAA post-season tournaments. The 65-team NCAA field and the NIT are probably the two you already know about. The third is called the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) and has a contract with HDNet, which is owned by Mark Cuban, to broadcast all of its games on TV.
Last year, I was told that Harvard would’ve made the CBI had they won their last game. Unfortunately, they lost that last game and extended the streak of zero post-season appearances since 1946.
With this year’s 20-win team, I figured the CBI had to be a lock, since this year’s team is way, way better than last year’s. Not so. By finishing in 3rd behind Princeton and Cornell in the Ivy League, and with a bevy of “BCS” powerhouse teams such as UConn and UNC underachieving this year, there weren’t many spots left in either the NIT or the CBI.Alas, Harvard finds itself in the fourth tourney, the CIT (short for “CollegeInsider.com Tournament”), which didn’t exist not too long ago, so we can be thankful for the Internet era. They are paired against Appalachian State, which came in 2nd place in the Southern Conference (Wofford won their conference tourney and is headed to the NCAA Tournament).
Appalachian State is located in Boone, NC, which was named after — you guessed it — Daniel Boone, on the far west side of the state of North Carolina, the opposite side of the state from Tobacco Road, home of college hoops meccas UNC, Duke, and Wake Forest. The nickname for Boone is literally, “The Heart of High Country”.
Let’s get to it. Who are these Appalachian State Mountaineers? I got a chance to watch video of their Southern Conference Tournament semifinals and championship games (thanks to the wonderful ESPN360.com)…
- pg: Brandyn Curry vs Donald Sims. Sims plays like a Welfare Man’s Stephen Curry. You know, poorer than a Poor Man, but not quite as destitute as a Homeless Man. Seriously though, it’s a bit ironic that I call him that, not only because he’s light-skinned, kind of short, kind of skinny, and tends to manufacture shots from all over the court, but also, Curry’s alma mater Davidson also plays in the Southern Conference! Sims is leading the conference in scoring at 20 ppg. Just think Steph Curry, but not quite as sweet a stroke, not quite as quick, not quite as fast. For a mid-major, however, Sims is solid although he did make some questionable decisions in the championship that they lost. Perhaps it’s because he’s still a junior. Harvard’s Brandyn Curry (no relation), a freshman, will have his hands full.
- sg: Jeremy Lin vs Kellen Brand. Now, this is a matchup. Kellen Brand is not that tall, about 6′1″. But he is rock solid as an athlete and gets up and down the court with relentless speed. He scored 37 points in the semifinal over the College of Charleston (for you Georgia Tech fans, the coach of CoC is now Bobby Cremins, believe it or not!). However, those points came against a beaten squad and he had his best shooting night of his career. Brand doesn’t normally shoot a lot of treys. He’s a slasher. He likes to get out on the open court and run. There’s not much else to his game. He does look very mean, though. His face looks like Tommy “Tiny” Lister, the guy who played the big scary prisoner on the convicts barge in The Dark Knight; the guy who ended up throwing the detonator out the window. It’s a good thing Harvard has its best player covering this guy. On the other end of the court, Brand may be surprised by Jeremy’s athleticism and moves. Again, there’s nothing special about Brand’s game except that he hustles, is strong, and can finish a layup.
- sf: Kyle Casey vs Jeremi Booth. Here’s where Harvard can take advantage. Booth has a solid body and is athletic, but he doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary. When Appalachian State subs in Andre Williamson for Booth, that’s when things start to even up. Williamson is taller and better at blocking shots. He’s also a bit more potent on offense, sporting a left-handed midrange. Although Casey is a freshman, he’s vastly more talented than either of these guys. But, he’s a freshman. By definition, anything can happen.
- pf: Pat Magnarelli vs Josh Hunter. Down low, Appalachian State has a pretty thick and mobile big man in Hunter. Again, nothing spectacular. You’ll notice him by the ponytail dreadlocks. Incidentally, he’s a very poor free throw shooter.
- c: Keith Wright vs Isaac Butts. ASU fans will have their placards that read, “I L’Ike big Butts” on hand! Butts is a really big center, but he’s slower than molasses and sometimes displays stone hands. His FT shooting is also not that good. Harvard’s Wright isn’t the quickest guy either, but I think he’s finally found someone slower than him. Wright should be able to maneuver around Butts, but Wright cannot get into the habit of killing his dribble with nowhere to go. He has to make his moves in fluid motions and have Butts chasing him. Wright will also need to stay out of foul trouble. As we know from this entire season, Harvard’s frontline is dangerously thin.
- Bench. Harvard’s got Oliver McNally and Max Kenyi off the bench. With McNally, just hope that he hits his open jumpers. With Kenyi, you have a spidery defender and someone who can knock down an open trey every now and then. ASU has Ryan Abraham off the bench. A senior from Puerto Rico, he could easily start, but he’s a bit too short to have two guys (Sims the other one) under 6-foot at any given time. But Abraham is tough, he’s fearless, and like Derek Fisher, he just does what’s needed to get the job done. I already mentioned Williamson, who can be a sparkplug for the frontline. ASU probably won’t go to deep on their bench, nor will Harvard.
- Intangibles. Per the NIT, CBI, and CIT format, the lower seeds must travel to the higher seeds’ homecourt. ASU will be in front of their home crowd, which seats over 8,000. I doubt many Harvard fans will make the trek to the back country. It will be more than 99% ASU fans, in an arena that’s probably double or triple the capacity of your typical Ivy League stop. This is a huge concern, especially since Harvard’s talent other than Jeremy revolves around freshmen and sophomores. On the flipside, at least Harvard is finally playing a team that likes to “play”. ASU wants to get up and down the court and they’re not particularly interested in the Bobby Knight style of play where you completely sacrifice your game (and basically the “fun” of playing) for the good of submitting to the team machine and execute plays like robots, as was so prevalent in Ivy League conference play — because most Ivy League schools simply do not have the talent.
As it should and assuming Wright will ultimately find himself in his chronic foul trouble, assuming Casey has no more than a solid game, this matchup will come down to Jeremy Lin. Again, he is the best player on the court. In fact, I’m not sure that anyone else in the entire CIT got an invite to Portsmouth. He’s got 8,000 people rooting against him. He’s got 8,000 people who’ve probably rarely seen an Asian man walk down the street, let alone lead a basketball team. But I’m sure the crowd will have no effect on Jeremy.
ASU will try to dictate an uptempo game. That is fine by Jeremy. What will be difficult is if Jeremy’s teammates mentally check out and he has to start shouldering the burden. Does he shoulder it? Or will he continue to defer to his teammates until they finally check in?
Throughout the end of the Ivy League season, I’m not sure if it was the Ivy League defenses or if it had to do with Jeremy, but he seemed to defer much more than earlier in the season. I tend to think that Jeremy is glad he doesn’t have to face another Ivy foe. It’s like when I take my Dream League All-Star team to the Japanese League tournaments. There, they slow the game down, keep it close, sacrifice individuality, and do everything they can to turn the game of basketball into a chess match. There is no way that’s happening against Appalachian State, thankfully.
But Jeremy needs to turn the Ivy League switch off now, like he did earlier this season in non-conference play. It’s the Year of the Tiger now. Hopefully he doesn’t remain a crouching tiger.
Possibly looking ahead, the CIT doesn’t announce its seeds and I can see why. You don’t want the rest of the world to know that your #13 seed is playing, say, the #9 seed for your championship. Not good for marketing or credibility purposes. You just announce the pairings, say who has the higher seed, give them homecourt, and see what happens. Then, based on who wins, you re-seed accordingly. Bottom line: don’t bother looking ahead. We have no idea who Harvard would play if they were to beat ASU. They just need to win four games in a row, most likely on the road, and that’s that!
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