The
Iowa Hawkeyes are the #13 team in the country. They've made the Big Dance every year except 2017, when they were shut out. And they still had a winning record that season. Lost in the NCAA Championship in 2016 and made the Final Four in 2020. 95 prestige.
Looking at their roster, I feel like their starting lineup isn't fantastic. The issue is they go
8 deep in green, 11 deep in yellow, and 13 deep in orange. The team also boasts the #4 recruit in the country, C
Arthur Lake, whom despite playing off the bench already has 2 Player of the Game nods to his credit. The #5 recruit,
PF Robert Dunning is averaging just under 10 minutes a game. Their roster is absolutely stacked with Mr. Basketballs from the Midwest, including the last two years Missouri Mr. Basketballs. 3 of these Hawkeyes have been 5* recruits, though none of them has cracked the lineup yet. Definitely a team on the ascendant the next few years.
UC-Riverside is a 4 seed in the NIT;
UC-Santa Barbara a 7 seed - both in the West region.
Hawaii is a 6 seed in the South. Really surprised the Rainbow Warriors made it in - nothing in their profile said NIT team to me. The Gauchos if you squint I can kinda see.
We take a 4 point halftime lead and a lot of TVs on turned on to the game, but their depth takes over in the second half when
Major Ramirez and
Eutropio Rey have major foul trouble. Very proud of these boys - they threw a scare into a far more talented team and nearly broke open some brackets.
Code:
Iowa 88, Cal State Northridge 82
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Cal State Northridge (19-14, 12-6):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Tim Grey C 31 5-7 7-8 4 9 0 3 17
Major Ramirez PF 18 2-7 0-0 1 4 0 5 4
Jeromy Harrington SF 31 8-16 4-4 3 7 1 4 22
Robert Serra SG 30 6-9 1-3 2 6 2 4 16
Eutropio Rey PG 10 0-6 2-2 1 3 3 4 2
Paul Mattson PG 29 2-5 2-4 0 1 3 0 6
Rene Abbott SF 15 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 2
Bradford Taylor PG 5 1-1 2-2 0 1 0 0 4
B. Klingensmith PF 17 2-2 2-2 0 1 0 1 6
Conrad Magee PF 14 1-2 1-2 1 4 1 1 3
Turnovers: 18 (T.Grey 4, M.Ramirez 2, J.Harrington 3,
R.Serra 4, E.Rey 4, P.Mattson 1)
Blocked Shots: 5 (T.Grey 2, J.Harrington 1, R.Serra 1,
C.Magee 1)
Steals: 9 (T.Grey 1, M.Ramirez 1, J.Harrington 1,
P.Mattson 3, R.Abbott 1, B.Taylor 1, B.Klingensmith 1)
3P FGs: 5-13 (J.Harrington 2-4, R.Serra 3-5, E.Rey 0-2,
R.Abbott 0-2)
Iowa (29-5, 13-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
W. Rademacher C 23 5-9 1-1 2 5 0 4 11
Allen McGuinness PF 29 1-3 0-0 5 14 2 2 2
Matthew Campagna SF 33 6-13 4-5 1 5 5 5 18
Angelo Brace SG 26 11-19 3-4 0 1 1 1 29
Noah Corliss PG 26 5-12 1-2 3 5 9 2 12
Ted Judge PG 14 2-4 2-3 0 1 2 2 7
Herb Jorge SG 11 1-7 1-2 0 0 1 2 4
Arthur Lake C 22 0-2 0-0 2 6 0 2 0
Arden Raab SG 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
John Young SF 7 0-2 2-2 1 1 0 1 2
Robert Dunning PF 6 0-0 0-0 2 2 2 0 0
Turnovers: 16 (W.Rademacher 1, A.McGuinness 2,
M.Campagna 4, A.Brace 1, N.Corliss 4, T.Judge 1,
H.Jorge 2, A.Raab 1)
Blocked Shots: 8 (A.McGuinness 7, A.Lake 1)
Steals: 8 (W.Rademacher 1, A.McGuinness 2, M.Campagna
2, A.Brace 1, N.Corliss 1, T.Judge 1)
3P FGs: 10-28 (A.McGuinness 0-1, M.Campagna 2-7,
A.Brace 4-9, N.Corliss 1-3, T.Judge 1-2, H.Jorge 1-4,
A.Raab 1-1, J.Young 0-1)
Player of Game: SG Angelo Brace (IOWA)
Hell of a game by
Paul Mattson, too, stepping in for
Rey. He was thankfully back to full health by the game, so he was able to keep the show running.
UC-Riverside knocked off
Southern Miss, and
Virgil Hudgins led the
Gauchos to a stunning blowout of
Holy Cross. As expected,
Hawaii was a first-round bounce.
Not all surprised when
Iowa got bounced by 7 seed
DePaul in the next round. Like I said, the Hawkeyes' starting lineup didn't impress me.
UC-Riverside falls to top seed
Lipscomb in the next round, but
UC-Santa Barbara keeps the train rolling to the NIT Final Four, where they're ousted by 2 seed
West Virgina, the Mountaineers then losing by 39 to top-seed
Auburn in the championship.
Over in the Big Dance it's:
1 seed
Oklahoma vs 8 seed
Michigan State
2 seed
Tennessee vs 3 seed
Georgia
Sooners-Volunteers final and
Oklahoma trounces Tennessee 81-45 for the Sooners' first title after they lost in the championship two years ago.
Code:
2025 BIG WEST AWARDS
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Player of the Year:
SR SG Virgil Hudgins UC Santa Barbara 22.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.9 APG 1.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Freshman of the Year:
FR SF Lucius Drury UC Riverside 8.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.1 APG 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG
Coach of the Year:
Deandre Camargo UC Santa Barbara 22 - 14 (12 - 6)
All-league 1st Team:
C SR Craig O'Neil Hawaii 9.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 2.7 BPG
PF JR Delmar Jones UC Riverside 15.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 2.4 BPG
SF SR Jeromy Harrington Cal State Northridge 15.1 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.1 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG
SG SR Virgil Hudgins UC Santa Barbara 22.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG
PG JR Eutropio Rey Cal State Northridge 15.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 5.0 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG
All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Trinidad Lane UC Riverside 14.9 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PF SO Major Ramirez Cal State Northridge 14.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SF JR Del Holmes Hawaii 15.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG
SG SR Adrian Johnson UC Davis 14.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG SR Dante Alvarez UC Santa Barbara 9.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG
All-freshman Team:
C FR Stephen Schuh Long Beach State 2.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PF FR Brian Klingensmith Cal State Northridge 3.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SF FR Lucius Drury UC Riverside 8.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG FR Robert Serra Cal State Northridge 9.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG FR Richard Fanelli UC Santa Barbara 7.8 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.1 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG
You have to go back to that 2019 team to find the last time we were this decorated a squad.
Reinaldo "Gem" Gonzalez and
Winston Reyes were all 1st Team All-Big West; the incomparable
Thomas "Block Gawd" Hadden and
Joseph Velarde as 2nd Team All-Big West. That was also the year I won Big West Coach of the Year.
All four of those were seniors.
Eutropio "Trop King" Rey and
Major Ramirez are a junior and sophomore respectively. Like I said, Ramirez is probably the greatest player ever to be a Matador, with apologies to Hadden and the Trop King.
Code:
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE MATADORS TEAM INFO
Current Performance
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Team Prestige: 29 Record Vs 1-50: 0-4 Poll Rank: NR
Season Record: 19-14 Record Vs 51-100: 3-2 RPI Rank: #153
Conference Record: 12-6 Record Vs 101-200: 7-2
Home Record: 7-8 Record Vs 200+: 9-6
Team Stats CR NR Opp. Stats CR NR Margin CR NR
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Points 76.1 1 27 Points 73.0 9 304 Points 3.1 1 80
O.Reb 11.9 3 79 O.Reb 12.1 9 285 O.Reb -0.2 5 187
D.Reb 28.5 1 8 D.Reb 25.7 9 230 D.Reb 2.8 1 28
Rebounds 40.4 1 9 Rebounds 37.8 9 275 Rebounds 2.6 2 72
Assists 15.1 1 52 Assists 14.8 10 324 Assists 0.3 3 122
Steals 4.8 6 261 Steals 5.4 3 108 Steals -0.6 7 222
Blocks 2.6 5 205 Blocks 3.4 8 199 Blocks -0.8 8 245
Turnovers 13.3 3 104 Turnovers 12.5 8 289 Turnovers 0.8 7 219
Fouls 19.3 4 150 Fouls 20.2 4 96 Fouls -0.8 4 113
FG% .446 3 74 FG% .420 2 85 FG% .026 2 55
FT% .713 1 39 FT% .644 1 33 FT% .069 1 11
3P% .346 2 128 3P% .341 5 199 3P% .004 3 153
PPS 1.27 2 88 PPS 1.18 1 43 PPS .095 2 46
Adj. FG% .496 3 117 Adj. FG% .480 2 104 Adj. FG% .016 3 105
A lot of these stats are down to the 9 Pace we ran most of the season. The FTs surprises me, as I've continued to ignore that in recruiting. Not surprising - our steals/blocks numbers being so bad. I quit recruiting that the last few years and started focusing more on just straight up defense in the relevant positions. We didn't press at all this year and had our best showing yet.
I'm looking forward to the bar fights in Northridge over which team was better - 2019 or 2025. You can make a case for either one.
So we know I won't be fired. But will other schools come calling? And will I take the offers? Seniors first.