College Basketball Recap - Nov 21st

It's the weekend! That means college basketball time. As for Friday, no major upsets, but a couple of close calls and some important preseason tournament games. Let's start with the one final... Coaches v. Cancer. Duke won the tournament, beating Michigan 71-56. Michigan had a similar game plan vs Duke as they did when they upset UCLA... slow the game down, keep it close, and maybe steal one late. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, it was simply too much talent for Duke. Duke still had plenty of turnovers (17) and a so-so game from Henderson and Scheyer but Singler and Nolan Smith stepped up to take the scoring load. Meanwhile, Duke shut down the Michigan offense, allowing only 35% from the field and keeping DeShawn Sims in check for the most part (5-13 shooting, 10 points). Manny Harris went off for 25 but I would imagine Michigan will be more successful when guys like Sims are scoring and not when Harris is putting up 30 a game. In the consolation game, UCLA beat SIU 77-60 behind a monster game from Aboya (22 points, 6-8 shooting, 10-13 from the line) and Darren Collison (17 points). SIU had 23 turnovers and never looked in sync offensively.

The two other big tournaments going on this weekend are the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the Paradise Jam. Both had preliminary games on Friday. The Puerto Rico semis featured Memphis, who jumped up early and big on Seton Hall and held on for the win 84-70. Memphis only shot 40% from the floor but still put up 84 points, which gives you an idea how fast this team plays and how often they get to the line (47 free throw attempts). They don't shoot well at all but all of them are athletic and can drive to the bucket. Memphis will take on Xavier in the finals, who drained a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to beat Virginia Tech 63-62. In a consolation game USC recovered from the loss to Seton Hall on Thursday and pounded Chattanooga 73-46. Taj Gibson had 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks, and Dwight Lewis added 16.

In the Paradise Jam, a couple of first round games saw Miami (FL) winning over Southern Miss 70-60, Wisconsin needing OT to beat Iona 60-58, and UConn getting key performances from Jeff Adrien (22 points, 14 rebounds) and Kemba Walker (23 points) to beat La Salle 89-81. This sets up semifinal matchups on Sunday between Miami (FL) and UConn (6 PM) and Wisconsin and San Diego (8:30 PM). In other top 25 news, Hansbrough made his debut and scored 13 points in UNC's win over UC-Santa Barbera 84-67. Pitt and Davidson won big in their matchups on Friday, while ND and Tennessee had semi-close calls vs. Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee St. respectively.

Saturday, there's a few Top 25 teams playing but no real great matchups. Watch for Sunday to be a good day for college b-ball, including the Puerto Rico final and the Paradise Jam semi-finals.