College Hoops Week in Review: Five Thoughts

Ben McLemore is turning into the missing piece for Kansas: We all know what Kansas is missing this year: a go-to player. A star. A ‘give me the ball and get out of my way’ scorer that can be trusted with the ball in his hands in crunch time. Their best option? Freshman Ben McLemore, who is not only learning how to be a collegiate player right now, he’s learning how to be the focal point of an offensive attack; he played second-fiddle to Bradley Beal in AAU.

That aggressiveness was missing against Michigan State in the Champions Classic, and as a result, Kansas blew a five point lead with five minutes left as their offense bogged down. McLemore finished with 14 points on just seven shots against the Spartans. But two nights later, McLemore went for 25 as the Jayhawks erased an eight point halftime deficit against Chattanooga.

My point? He’s learning. He’s getting better. So watch out.

Has Murray State found their third option?: The key for the Racers heading into the season was to find out a way to take the pressure off of Isaiah Canaan and Ed Daniel. Who would play the role of Donte Poole this year? It certainly wasn’t going to be Zay Jackson, who got the boot after that ugly incident in the Walmart parking lot. Maybe Stacy Wilson is the answer. Through four games, the 6-foot-4 senior is averaging 17.5 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 46.4% from the beyond the arc.

What is going on with Larry Drew II?: Contrary to what all of the headlines will tell you this week, Shabazz Muhammad’s affect on this UCLA team is not going to be the biggest influence on the Bruins’ season. Drew will be. It’s a small sample size, I know, but Drew’s averaging 8.3 assists while committing a total of five turnovers over 108 minutes in three games. Will that last? Can he continue to be a playmaker and a facilitator for this team? Because if he can, with Muhammad, Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams, the Wear twins and Tyler Lamb, there are no shortage of talents at Ben Howland’s disposal.

Memphis still has rebounding issues: After the Tigers struggled to knock off lowly Samford at home on Friday night, Memphis Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins had some very harsh words for Josh Pastner’s team. There are a host of issues plaguing Memphis right now, but none bigger than their board work. Calkins explains:

But in trots Samford — skinny, small and slow — and outplays Memphis for much of Saturday night. How does that happen? Or, better yet, how does this happen: How does Samford outrebound Memphis, 25-24?

How does Tarik Black get two rebounds in 25 minutes? How does Adonis Thomas get zero rebounds in 39?

“They shot 52 percent in the first half,” said Thomas. “There weren’t that many balls coming off the rim.”

Which is ridiculous, of course. There were plenty of balls coming off the rim. Samford missed 21 shots on the night. Memphis missed 24. So there were 45 balls coming off the rim.

Thomas didn’t get one of them. Even though he weighs 30 pounds more than any player from Samford. You’d think it would be humiliating at some point, wouldn’t you? You’d think Thomas would just say the heck with it, and focus on nothing else but getting a rebound, even if he had to tear one from a teammate’s hands.

If Glenn Robinson III plays the four, the concerns about Michigan go away: The Wolverines were vaulted up into the top five in the preseason polls this season, due in part to the return of Trey Burke. But a big factor in that bump was what the Wolverines were bringing in on the recruiting trail: namely, a lot more talent than we are accustomed to seeing John Beilein land. There were concerns that this could affect the way his system runs, and that was shown when the computer profiles showed that Michigan was overrated.

For me, the biggest question mark was at the four: were the Wolverines really going to try and play two of Mitch McGary, Jordan Morgan and Jon Horford?

Well, apparently they aren’t Robinson has been starting at the four. He’s averaging 15.0 points and 6.5 boards in two games against D-I competition, but more important is the fact that he’s shooting 3-6 from deep. Throw in Nik Stauskas and Tim Hardaway, and the only difference between the usual makeup of Beilein’s 2-3-4 and his current one is that the current one is longer, more athletic and more talented.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.