March 8, 2025 Game of the Day Recap
Alabama 93 – Auburn 91
Not only did I summon the buzzer beater yesterday, but it was yet another Overtime game for our last college basketball regular season game of the year. The 4 players mentioned yesterday could not have been any better in terms of impact on a game. With 3 high-point scorers and a buzzer beater, these 4 left their mark win or loss.
Grant Nelson started the game off hot. Nelson was able to show more of a shooting touch this game and if he continues to show he can do that, Alabama will have a fun run for the next few weeks. He finished the game with the most points he has scored in a game since January 18th with 23, on an efficient night from the field. He grabbed a tied-for game high 8 rebounds to add to that. The energy he was giving his team is, what I think, the most important part of his game and that showed yesterday.
Johni Broome was a beast yesterday racking up a season high 34 points, again, shooting the ball with efficiency. He is averaging less than 1 make from three-point range on the season but was able to go 2 for 4 in that department. While the team lost, there are good things to come from this game from Broome and company. The team’s offensive production, along with this game being a high-level game against a good opponent right before the tournament should give them optimism. The team defense as a whole can get better. With 2 losses in a row now, for the Tigers, they should be able to bounce back. Whether or not they do is in the hands of Johni Broome. Johni also added 8 rebounds and 5 blocks to his stat line.
Tahaad Pettiford was lights out in the first half and a crucial reason the Tigers were able to keep things close in the first half. His shot looks so pretty, as a lefty, and he has great confidence in that shot going down whenever he releases it. He passed the ball well adding 6 assists to his total. I like how Pettiford plays coming off the bench because it gives that second life right away in the first half. When he comes off the bench, coach Bruce Pearl has the chance to throw off the substitutions from the other team by giving them another big offensive threat right out the gates. As I mentioned yesterday, I hope he stays at Auburn for another season of college basketball, but his draft stock keeps rising so I would not be surprised if he took his chances on entering the draft.
Mark Sears, for Alabama, was much more quiet tonight than normal, having only 7 points going into the final seconds of the game. His averages will not go down much shooting percentage wise as he did not attempt many shots throughout the game. He also showcased some good passing with 7 assists on the night, many of which via lobs to Clifford Omoruyi. All of that in the rearview window now, as he hit one of the bigger shots in Alabama basketball history, as well as his own career.
This was vintage Sears as he got to a spot he likes and had no hesitation to put it up for the win. With the team getting the win, and him not producing as much as usual, it looks very promising for the Tide, if they can build off of their role players’ performances here. This win against a great opponent on the road may have gotten them back into the 1 seed conversation.
Grant Nelson: 23 points, 8 rebounds, 8-15 FG, 3-6 3P
Mark Sears: 9 points, 3-9 FG, 1-4 3P
Johni Broome: 34 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks, 15-28 FG, 2-4 3P
Tahaad Pettiford: 19 points, 6-15 FG, 4-8 3P
All-in-all, this was a great end to the regular season I was just starting to cover. In a very short span of games, our game of the days featured 3 buzzer beaters and countless close games. Moving ahead, I will be trying to pick what I think will be the best conference championship game until the tournament where I will try to do the same. With basketball starting to wind down, baseball will be on the heavy up-and-up shortly.
March 9, 2025 Game of the Day
Bradley – Drake (MVC Championship)
Arch Madness concludes with a pretty chalk matchup. I was fully expecting to see both of these teams in the finals once the seeds were released. Bradley and Drake split the season series, with each road team getting the victory.
Drake is coming off a not so good win against Belmont, where they scored 21 points in the first half. They made up for this with their great defense in the ensuing half, only giving up 20 team points. This Drake team was my pick to win the Missouri Valley because I just know their coach knows how to win games when they matter.
Ben McCollum was a coach at Division 2 Northwest Missouri State before taking the job with the bulldogs. He won four national championships from 2017 up until his departure. He had a record of 394-91 while coaching for the Bearcats and was able to get big production from his guys in his time there. McCollum also brought a few transfer players from his Division 2 school to give them a shot at the Division 1 level. This team squashes the D-1 or D-none crowd as those 4 transfers are the 4 more productive players on the team offensively.
Bennett Stirtz, the Missouri Valley Player of the Year, is one of those 4 and the leader of the pack. He averages 19 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.2 steals a night. He is the team leader in all of those 4 categories excluding rebounds where he is still third on the team. While adding on a 37% stroke from behind the line, Stirtz does it all.
Bradley is coming off a win against a Valparaiso team that turned lots of heads this tournament. Bradley will look to avenge a 2023 Missouri Valley Championship loss they had against this Drake program a couple seasons back. The matchup between Stirtz and Duke Deen will be an important one for the Braves to win in order to get the victory.
Duke Deen is a senior leader on this team leading the team in points (14.0ppg) and assists (3.7 apg.) He shoots a great 40% from three and will need to close to or above that this game for Bradley to come away with a win. In their win against Drake in February, Deen shot a good 3 for 7 from 3-point range. In the January matchup where his team lost, he shot 1 for 4. If he can shoot well, the Braves will have their best chance to win.
I made a bet for this game taking the over at 119 points. In both of their last meetings this season, they went over that mark and with how bad Drake started yesterday, I think they come out firing, scoring early and often.
(over bet)