College Hoops Today: The Bulldogs Match Last Season’s Win Total

This week, UCLA pulled off a big upset over No. 4 Purdue thanks to Tyler Bilodeau’s trey with eight seconds left; without coach Bill Self (illness) and despite a meh showing from Darryn Peterson, Kansas topped Colorado; and while UNC is finally going ahead with its expansion, it’s unclear if the plan will include a new stadium for the Tar Heels. Other college basketball news items we’re following include…

Sami Pissis Flashes Some Scoring

Back in 2022-23, the Alabama A&M Bulldogs seemed to be making progress, winning 15 times for its highest total since 2004-05 – the only season the school has made the NCAA tourney. However, it’s been downhill since as Alabama A&M dropped to a dozen wins the following season and then just 10 last season.

This season under new coach Donte Jackson, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-1 start and have managed to maintain a .500 record since, thereby already equaling last season’s win total with a 10-8 mark (including a 3-2 record and two-game win streak in the Southwest Atlantic conference).

In Monday’s win, the Bulldogs’ leading distributor, senior guard Sami Pissis, showed off his scoring touch with 22 points while adding four assists, four steals and two treys. A transfer from New Hampshire, he’s playing more with Alabama A&M, but has shifted into more of a secondary scoring role with fewer touches, especially from downtown.

However, Pissis is shooting better and is averaging more assists and steals than ever.

We do know he’s a capable scorer (he finished tied for seventh in PPG in the American East last season), but on his new squad he’s deferred to guards Kintavious Dozier and Koron Davis. A 6’3” French native, Pissis tended to be a high-volume scorer at New Hampshire, averaging nearly 16 points, but taking 14.9 shots per game and shooting just 34.4 per cent. He wasn’t exactly Mr. Efficiency.

He’s not considered an NBA prospect, but it’s worth noting that Gonzaga showed interest in him when he entered the transfer protocol last spring, likely opting against him given his poor accuracy from both inside and beyond the arc.

Perhaps a pro gig playing back in France is in Pissis’ future.

Nebraska Keeps Rolling

It’s high time to give some love to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Two years ago, the program started showing more life, earning 23 wins to stake a place in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013-14.

Unfortunately, Nebraska took a small step back last season, garnering just 21 victories and missing out on March Madness play.

This season, the Cornhuskers are back and better than ever. After taking down Washington 76-66 on Wednesday, Nebraska is now 19-0, including 8-0 in Big Ten play. That’s already more wins in conference play than the school had all of last season, propelling them up to No. 7 in the country.

Even with 23 straight wins dating back to last season, the Cornhuskers still aren’t getting the respect they deserve as a potential national champion (+4000 as per FanDuel), but they are definitely turning some heads.

On Monday, junior forward Pryce Sandfort paced the team as usual. Nebraska’s leading scorer poured in 23 points and four treys, his third straight game with at least 22 points.

A transfer from Iowa this season, he’s taken on a much bigger role in Nebraska and his bucket count is way up despite a slight degradation in his overall shooting (although he’s been better from outside). Sandfort is also getting to the line more, which has obviously helped his scoring numbers.

He has evolved into a unrelenting threat on offense and given his shooting touch he has a legitimate chance to see NBA action, especially with another season of college eligibility remaining to continue to hone his game. At the very least, Sandfort is a sleeper NBA draft prospect whose stock is on the rise.

He’s got the size (6’7”), shot and vision to be an NBA asset, so it will be interesting to see if he starts popping up on mock drafts as we head down the stretch of this college season.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

When Robert Levon Been and Peter Hayes decided to form a band, they started looking for a drummer, which led them to Nick Jago, who became the third and final founding member of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Here’s “Half-State” the closing and longest track from Beat the Devil’s Tattoo.