Tulane put it all together yesterday against UAB, getting terrific shooting from Kam Williams and Asher Woods, outstanding passing from Rowan Brumbaugh, good offense and defense from Gregg Glenn and athleticism from Kaleb Banks, who blocked three shots despite struggling from 3-point range. It is a talented starting five that meshes well. and if can take that home cooking to Fort Worth, it will have a legitimate shot to win three games and get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 30 years.
Tulane has not been a good road team, but there's a difference between playing on someone else's home court and in the sterile, empty environment all teams will face at Dickies Arena. Some teams simply cannot play well away from home regardless of the venue, but for others the problem is hostile environments rather than not being at home. We will find out which is the case for Tulane, which had the biggest home/road disparity in the AAC according to the metrics.
As for the Wave's path, I hesitate to predict easy or difficult ones based on the history of conference tournaments. For example, Chattanooga lost to Furman in the SoCon semis yesterday after sweeping Furman in the regular season. SIUE beat Southeast Missouri by 21 in the Ohio Valley final after losing by 15 and 16 during the regular season.
I will say this. It's a good thing Tulane is being coached by Ron Hunter rather than Perry Clark in his prime. Clark, for whatever reason, was abysmal in conference tournaments, going 3-11 in his Tulane tenure. (Hunter is 3-5). The Wave almost certainly would have gotten a bid to the 1997 NCAA tourney if it had won its first-round game in CUSA and might have made it in 1996 with a first-round win. Hunter has won four tournaments, although at a lower level than even what the AAC has become. Tulane likely will play FAU in the quarterfinals, and Hunter is 2-0 in quarters with the Wave. FAU would be a slight favorite by the point spread in that matchup. A matchup with Memphis in the semis would be tough because although the Tigers seem to play to the level of their competition no matter the level, they usually make the necessary plays to win at the end, but it is not out of the question that Wichita State would upset Memphis in the quarters if it gets past USF on Thursday. They split their meetings this year and Wichita State had a real chance to win at Memphis, too.
Tulane has not reached a conference tournament final since 1992 and did it only one other time, in 1983, since leaving the SEC, when it lost to Kentucky in the championship game twice. It has never won a conference tournament.
The most likely outcome this week is a semifinal loss to Memphis, but Tulane can beat anyone in the league (and also lose to almost anyone). If Williams and Banks are aggressive in Fort Worth and Glenn does not counterbalance his unique talent with bonehead plays, winning three in a row is possible.
For anyone wondering, Hunter's four tourney titles came when IUPUI finished tied for second in the Mid-Continent at 10-4 in 2003, won the Sun Belt at 15-5 in 2015, finished second at 12-6 in the Sun Belt in 2018 and finished first at 13-5 in the Sun Belt in 2019.
Hunter, Williams and Woods talked after the game. I also had a brief interview with UAB coach Andy Kennedy, who was not in a great mood.
HUNTER
"I thought we were pretty good today. Defensively we played with an edge for most of the game. We came out of the gate really well, something we hadn't done in the past couple of games. I keep saying I wish we could play every game in this building because we're just a different team in this building than we are when we go play on the road. A lot of that is just maturity. We'll be better a year from now when we play on the road, but right now I just love what these kids have done. What a great year for these guys. Predicted almost last in the league and finished fourth. We didn't want to back in. Florida Atlantic won, so we were able to back in, but we wanted this thing outright. That was personal for us, and the other thing that was personal was we hadn't lost back-to-back conference games all year. We didn't want that to happen. Now the new season starts. Doesn't matter what your record is. We have to be ready to play on Friday. I'm really happy that we don't have to play until Friday."
On having 40 minutes of top level after seeing signs of it in spurts all conference season:
"It's great. Also what's great is UAB is the only (top) team really that we got a chance to play at home other than Memphis (I agree with this. I think UAB, North Texas, Temple with a healthy Jamal Mashburn and Wichita State are the most talented teams in the AAC other than Memphis and Tulane played each of them on the road with no return trip until facing UAB). We haven't had many of them, so we took advantage of it today. But again, at some point we'll pause and reflect, but I can't say how proud enough I am of these guys. There were probably a lot of people that gave up on us in November, and we talked about that, the bandwagon was going to grow and grow by the time we got to the end of the year. These guys stayed focus and showed how good they can be."
On Kam Williams being aggressive:
"He played great today. When he's aggressive, he knows it, he's a really good player. Like most really good players, when they see the ball go in they can't wait to get that next one. He saw one go in early and he stayed patient, and then we were were able to get our transition 3s. We haven't been able to get a lot of those lately, but today we got them. We usually get those here. We just can't seem to get them when they're on the road."
On Asher Woods:
"Asher has been steady really all year. It's almost to the point where it's expected. He's one of our older guys. He made some clutch shots today. His attitude that we weren't going to lose this game showed on all the other guys today. He was great defensively. He talked and showed his leadership. I don't know if a guard drove by him at all. He was really good defensively today."
On closing it out in second half:
"We game planned for Yaxel (Lendeborg). He's a really good player. Probably the most impressive thing we did was he only got five attempts, and for a guy like that, we really wanted to take him away and let the other guys become volume shooters. Again, it was really the defense. The defense kind of led, and it's done that all year. There were three out of four possessions where we had blocked shots at the other end of the floor. It looked like they were facing seven or eight guys. We were just swarming everything."
On how this creates momentum going into conference tournament:
"Well you always want to feel good about going into it. We finished the season off strong and beat one of the better teams at our place. We'll have confidence. There's no question about that. We've been waiting for this all year. As I told the guys, we are not even supposed to be in this situation, so we'll go down and play relaxed and we're going to try to bring our defense with us and see what happens."
On how confidence he is that this team can make a run in tournament:
"I've taken multiple teams to the NCAA tournament. The most important thing is what this team has that none of the teams had is this team can defend for 40 minutes. If you can do that in a tournament atmosphere, it gives you a chance every single night. That's what really affects me. I've had more explosive teams, but I haven't teams that for 40 minutes can compete. These guys (UAB) were averaging almost 80 points, and we shut them down. That just shows that this defense can do a lot in the tournament."
Tulane has not been a good road team, but there's a difference between playing on someone else's home court and in the sterile, empty environment all teams will face at Dickies Arena. Some teams simply cannot play well away from home regardless of the venue, but for others the problem is hostile environments rather than not being at home. We will find out which is the case for Tulane, which had the biggest home/road disparity in the AAC according to the metrics.
As for the Wave's path, I hesitate to predict easy or difficult ones based on the history of conference tournaments. For example, Chattanooga lost to Furman in the SoCon semis yesterday after sweeping Furman in the regular season. SIUE beat Southeast Missouri by 21 in the Ohio Valley final after losing by 15 and 16 during the regular season.
I will say this. It's a good thing Tulane is being coached by Ron Hunter rather than Perry Clark in his prime. Clark, for whatever reason, was abysmal in conference tournaments, going 3-11 in his Tulane tenure. (Hunter is 3-5). The Wave almost certainly would have gotten a bid to the 1997 NCAA tourney if it had won its first-round game in CUSA and might have made it in 1996 with a first-round win. Hunter has won four tournaments, although at a lower level than even what the AAC has become. Tulane likely will play FAU in the quarterfinals, and Hunter is 2-0 in quarters with the Wave. FAU would be a slight favorite by the point spread in that matchup. A matchup with Memphis in the semis would be tough because although the Tigers seem to play to the level of their competition no matter the level, they usually make the necessary plays to win at the end, but it is not out of the question that Wichita State would upset Memphis in the quarters if it gets past USF on Thursday. They split their meetings this year and Wichita State had a real chance to win at Memphis, too.
Tulane has not reached a conference tournament final since 1992 and did it only one other time, in 1983, since leaving the SEC, when it lost to Kentucky in the championship game twice. It has never won a conference tournament.
The most likely outcome this week is a semifinal loss to Memphis, but Tulane can beat anyone in the league (and also lose to almost anyone). If Williams and Banks are aggressive in Fort Worth and Glenn does not counterbalance his unique talent with bonehead plays, winning three in a row is possible.
For anyone wondering, Hunter's four tourney titles came when IUPUI finished tied for second in the Mid-Continent at 10-4 in 2003, won the Sun Belt at 15-5 in 2015, finished second at 12-6 in the Sun Belt in 2018 and finished first at 13-5 in the Sun Belt in 2019.
Hunter, Williams and Woods talked after the game. I also had a brief interview with UAB coach Andy Kennedy, who was not in a great mood.
HUNTER
"I thought we were pretty good today. Defensively we played with an edge for most of the game. We came out of the gate really well, something we hadn't done in the past couple of games. I keep saying I wish we could play every game in this building because we're just a different team in this building than we are when we go play on the road. A lot of that is just maturity. We'll be better a year from now when we play on the road, but right now I just love what these kids have done. What a great year for these guys. Predicted almost last in the league and finished fourth. We didn't want to back in. Florida Atlantic won, so we were able to back in, but we wanted this thing outright. That was personal for us, and the other thing that was personal was we hadn't lost back-to-back conference games all year. We didn't want that to happen. Now the new season starts. Doesn't matter what your record is. We have to be ready to play on Friday. I'm really happy that we don't have to play until Friday."
On having 40 minutes of top level after seeing signs of it in spurts all conference season:
"It's great. Also what's great is UAB is the only (top) team really that we got a chance to play at home other than Memphis (I agree with this. I think UAB, North Texas, Temple with a healthy Jamal Mashburn and Wichita State are the most talented teams in the AAC other than Memphis and Tulane played each of them on the road with no return trip until facing UAB). We haven't had many of them, so we took advantage of it today. But again, at some point we'll pause and reflect, but I can't say how proud enough I am of these guys. There were probably a lot of people that gave up on us in November, and we talked about that, the bandwagon was going to grow and grow by the time we got to the end of the year. These guys stayed focus and showed how good they can be."
On Kam Williams being aggressive:
"He played great today. When he's aggressive, he knows it, he's a really good player. Like most really good players, when they see the ball go in they can't wait to get that next one. He saw one go in early and he stayed patient, and then we were were able to get our transition 3s. We haven't been able to get a lot of those lately, but today we got them. We usually get those here. We just can't seem to get them when they're on the road."
On Asher Woods:
"Asher has been steady really all year. It's almost to the point where it's expected. He's one of our older guys. He made some clutch shots today. His attitude that we weren't going to lose this game showed on all the other guys today. He was great defensively. He talked and showed his leadership. I don't know if a guard drove by him at all. He was really good defensively today."
On closing it out in second half:
"We game planned for Yaxel (Lendeborg). He's a really good player. Probably the most impressive thing we did was he only got five attempts, and for a guy like that, we really wanted to take him away and let the other guys become volume shooters. Again, it was really the defense. The defense kind of led, and it's done that all year. There were three out of four possessions where we had blocked shots at the other end of the floor. It looked like they were facing seven or eight guys. We were just swarming everything."
On how this creates momentum going into conference tournament:
"Well you always want to feel good about going into it. We finished the season off strong and beat one of the better teams at our place. We'll have confidence. There's no question about that. We've been waiting for this all year. As I told the guys, we are not even supposed to be in this situation, so we'll go down and play relaxed and we're going to try to bring our defense with us and see what happens."
On how confidence he is that this team can make a run in tournament:
"I've taken multiple teams to the NCAA tournament. The most important thing is what this team has that none of the teams had is this team can defend for 40 minutes. If you can do that in a tournament atmosphere, it gives you a chance every single night. That's what really affects me. I've had more explosive teams, but I haven't teams that for 40 minutes can compete. These guys (UAB) were averaging almost 80 points, and we shut them down. That just shows that this defense can do a lot in the tournament."