Thursday Night Hoops

SWAC Basketball. The worst conference in the country, and these are no doubt two of the worst offenses in the country. I’m taking a shot with Arkansas Pine Bluff as I feel there is some value here. First, these two split in the regular season. Second, Arkansas Pine Bluff uses a ton of different full-court presses, half-court traps, and gets after it in the half court from the guard positions. Alabama State isn’t the greatest team in the world in terms of taking care of the ball, despite being one of the smallest teams in the country and one that utilizes many guards. And, they’re walking into a tunnel of death here. Exactly one week ago, Jeffrey Middlebrooks went down with a knee injury in the game with Grambling State. And the results were alarming. Held a 13 point lead at the half with him, then were outscored in the 2H, although they won by 2. Without their PG in Middlebrooks, they turned the ball over ten times in that 2H against one of the worst defenses in the conference and worst teams in the country. Just two days later, they took the court to face another horrific team in Jackson State, and again, narrowly escaped with a 3 point win. Congrats, they also turned the ball over 20 times. The real question here, is how much is Middlebrooks worth to this team? Pretty big as you can see. He’s the senior leader. He get’s everyone else involved not only within the offense, but defensively as well. He is the main person that has handled all ball handling responsibilities for this team the past two years. He ranks top 125 in assist rate in the country. He is mega-important to an already pathetic offense, and without him, they haven’t shown the ability to score on their own. His replacement is a kid that joined the program this year (Mason), and he just hasn’t seen the minutes, nor has he seen any kind of pressure like Arky PB’s going to bring today. It just so happens that he also turns the ball over more than anyone on the team in terms of the minutes he has played. This isn’t a team that gets better without their PG and this isn’t a spot where they should look better going against a press, and multiple traps from multiple positions on the floor. Without Middlebrooks, this team has scored halves of 16, 25, and 24. With Pine Bluff, again, the offense pretty much blows. But, they’re going to have opportunities with all the size they have on the inside, and they’re going to have additional opportunities in transition off of turnovers.