The Floor Is Yours: Welcome to the year of the senior

— -- For a moment, he froze. Most would in that situation.

Duke Blue Devils forward Brandon Ingram, a freshman savant, found himself with the rock in his hands and the moment on his shoulders and every eye on his next steps at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. After he bumped Utah's Dakarai Tucker in the post, he stood five feet from the bucket in overtime, alone with a chance to seal a Duke comeback in the final seconds.

He stumbled toward the rim, and then the game-tying shot veered awkwardly off his fingertips and smacked the back of the rim.

Senior Amile Jefferson, Duke's best rebounder and a key interior presence, could only watch -- the victim of a fractured foot that could sideline him for a chunk of the season. Jefferson's absence -- its impact most apparent in Duke's inability to slow Utah's Jakob Poeltl (19 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks) -- played a role in the loss and emphasized, again, that seniors matter, especially this season.

This could be the "Year of the Senior."

On Saturday, senior Denzel Valentine finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in Michigan State's 20-point win at Northeastern, an effort that will keep him at or near the top of the Wooden Award favorites list. Creighton tried to upset Oklahoma on the road, but Buddy Hield's 33 points squashed those dreams. Northern Iowa guard Wes Washpun collected 28 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds in his team's 81-79 upset of No. 5 Iowa State in Des Moines, Iowa.

Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon and Anthony Gill combined to record 42 points in the No. 8 Cavs' masterful effort in Saturday's 86-75 win over No. 12 Villanova. Roosevelt Jones led Butler to a neutral-site win over Purdue. Brice Johnson did the same for North Carolina in a dominant victory over UCLA. Danuel House's 17 points and eight rebounds powered Texas A&M's lopsided win over Baylor.

But where's the love for seniors?

"It's exciting for people when they see new faces," said Kansas star Perry Ellis, who collected 18 points and nine rebounds in KU's lopsided win over Montana on Saturday. "When people have been around, I guess they don't think much of it. They've been around a lot."

In New York City, we expected Ingram to hit that shot in the final seconds of the 77-75 overtime loss to Utah. And that's the problem. The one-and-done craze elevates expectations each season and turns 18-year-olds into superstars before they pick a college. As a result, we send the Amile Jeffersons, the seniors who've grown over four seasons, to sing backup in the perennial buildup to each college basketball season.

This season, Ben Simmons is Springsteen. Jefferson, Buddy Hield, Denzel Valentine and the rest of the game's elite seniors? They're the E Street Band, respected but not revered like the headliner.

"I don't think that's what's exciting to people," said Brogdon, who scored 20 points in Virginia's win. "I don't think that's exciting to people for a guy to stay all four years and slowly mature."

The NBA is the main culprit for that reaction. The best players rarely reach senior status. So we talk about Tim Duncan nearly 20 years after he earned every meaningful award as a senior at Wake Forest because he completed the era that once rewarded extended stays at the collegiate level. A four-year stint is no longer the stuff of praise, though. It raises concerns: Shouldn't you be in the NBA by now?

Miami point guard Angel Rodriguez said those assessments of seniors in today's game motivate him whenever he faces a freshman star. When he was a freshman, he couldn't wait to play some of the game's top seniors. Now that he's a senior, he's after the youngsters.

"I look at it as you're very, very talented, but I've been doing this a long time," said Rodriguez, "and I'm here to prove a point."

Rodriguez and his colleagues continue to provide significant contributions to some of the country's best teams. The one-and-done era has not altered that. Yes, Anthony Davis led Kentucky to a national title in 2012 and Duke won last season with three elite freshmen. But they're largely anomalies because it's not easy to reach the final stages of the game or win conference titles with a squad that relies on freshmen.

"The teams that don't have senior leadership, they're not as together," Xavier senior James Farr said.

Miami is led by a quartet of seniors. And Hurricanes star Sheldon McClellan said senior leadership grants the Hurricanes a sturdiness that's difficult to construct with an abundance of new faces.

McClellan, who began his collegiate career at Texas, never thought he'd become a role model for a Miami squad that's now an ACC contender. He's one of the nation's top players, a position he has maintained with a work ethic he lacked as a freshman. He preferred the nightlife over the grind earlier in his career. This season, he's in the gym two times per week at 6:30 a.m. Alone. If someone had asked McClellan to rise before dawn for a workout during his freshman season? Well ...

"I would say, 'You're crazy,'" McClellan said. "'Are we going out tonight?'"

But now he encourages the younger players on Miami's roster to learn from his failures, especially as ACC play approaches. Those locker-room contributions often go unnoticed, but they're impactful. The freshmen might grace the covers now, but the seniors still bind the game together and provide a critical foundation that helps young players evolve.

Whenever Ellis spots Kansas freshman Cheick Diallo with his head down after he makes a mistake, the senior counsels him. Ellis has been there. He knows the difficulties young bigs often encounter as they transition from high school to top-tier college basketball.

"Sometimes he gets down on himself, which I did as a freshman too, and I tell him I've been through that," Ellis said. "But you really have to keep on going when something does not go right."

To the general public, college basketball still acts as a six-month movie trailer for the next group of lottery picks. But the game's investors -- fans, coaches, players, assistants and media -- all know better. Saturday provided a reminder.

Those final seconds at Madison Square Garden featured a stranded Duke freshman, one who might secure a top-three slot in next summer's NBA draft, flummoxed in a moment that gets easier with time -- time these youngsters don't have at this level.

Ingram would have tied the game if he'd made that shot. And perhaps Duke would have won the game in a second overtime.

If Jefferson had been available, however, the Blue Devils might have avoided that dicey situation altogether.

"It takes experience," Brogdon said of his time at Virginia, "to get through your lows."

America's Most Unheralded Seniors

Roosevelt Jones, Butler Bulldogs
The senior stepped up (19 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block) when Kellen Dunham struggled in his team's 74-68 victory over Purdue on Saturday.

Damion Lee, Louisville Cardinals
The Louisville star is ranked 14th in offensive efficiency per KenPom.com's individual ratings, and he'll be the most important player on the floor when Louisville travels to Lexington to face Kentucky on Saturday.

Anthony Gill, Virginia Cavaliers
Is a résumé that includes 14.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG, a 77.4 percent clip from the charity stripe and a 61 percent mark inside the arc enough for Gill to warrant serious Wooden Award consideration? It should be.

Wes Washpun, Northern Iowa Panthers
Google "Wes Washpun" and "Iowa State." He was unstoppable against the Cyclones in Saturday's upset a month after dropping 21 points in his team's win over North Carolina.

Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati Bearcats
The 6-10 forward is averaging 10.1 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 1.6 BPG for a team that will contend in the American Athletic Conference.

Patricio Garino, George Washington Colonials
The 6-6 wing is averaging 13.2 PPG and connecting on 56 percent of his 3-pointers for a squad that has a home win over Virginia.

Stefan Moody, Ole Miss Rebels
He's averaging 23.8 PPG for a team that has won six consecutive games. He's also shooting 85 percent from the free throw line.

Beat The Buzzer

Kentucky-Louisville will be wild
Yes, Kentucky fans will bring dozens of signs to Rupp Arena that will reference Katina Powell and the sex-for-pay scandal hanging over Louisville's head when the two teams meet on Saturday. But Wildcats fans should also carry a few "Will someone please hit a jump shot?" posters because this Kentucky squad has some serious offensive issues right now.

Everybody needs a big man right now
Be happy that your favorite team isn't missing its top post presence right now. Duke already misses Jefferson. Louisville's Mangok Mathiang suffered a broken foot in Saturday's win over Western Kentucky and he could miss two months of action. No Kennedy Meeks for North Carolina against UCLA. Stanford's Reid Travis (12.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG) is sidelined with a stress reaction in his left leg. Gonzaga's Przemek Karnowski has missed the past six games with back issues. Arizona's Kaleb Tarczewski has a left foot injury that will keep him on the bench until next month. If I'm a college team right now, I'm hiring a chauffeur for all of my bigs and making sure they're sleeping on one of those soft mattresses offered on 2 a.m. infomercials.

Wichita State might need the MVC tourney title to dance
Entering the weekend, the Shockers were a quandary for the NCAA tournament selection committee. They looked horrible without Fred VanVleet but impressed by defeating UNLV and Utah in Wichita, Kansas, last week after he returned. But the loss at Seton Hall on Saturday was a missed opportunity for the Shockers. The Missouri Valley Conference tourney might be their lone chance to reach the tournament.

Wisconsin's next move
The good news for Greg Gard is that he's a familiar face and offers continuity now that Bo Ryan has retired. The bad news is Ryan enhanced the status of that job during his 14-plus seasons. There's always a chance that athletic director Barry Alvarez will give Gard the gig if he excels in the next three months. But you also can't blame Alvarez if he makes some calls and gauges interest from the intriguing names that would fit in Madison, Wisconsin.

That's somebody's child, Sindarius Thornwell!

Why did you do that, Sindarius? We talked last offseason at SEC media day in Charlotte, North Carolina. You said then that you'd devoted more time to your game that summer. You didn't tell us that you were working out with the Harlem Globetrotters. But after that nasty Friday night flush over that young man from Clemson -- oh, in case you didn't see it, watch it ... now -- it's obvious you saw a dunk specialist or something. C'mon, Sindarius. It's almost Christmas! Send him a candy cane or something.