College Basketball Recap - Nov 25th

Wow... some really, really good games last night. I wasn't able to catch as much as I wanted but I saw the ending to the ND-Texas and Kansas-Syracuse games and they were both excellent. Impressions about both games:

ND beat Texas, 81-80

ND - Well, this team's got some talent around Harangody. Tory Jackson's points per game is up almost 7 ppg from last year, McAlarney is one heck of a shooter, Ayers made some key shots for them last night. But back to the big man. Harangody is an absolute beast in the post. He's more athletic than he looks, he can shoot the open jumper (not that banked three from 35 feet, like a 12-14 footer) but he's an absolute monster on the boards. If that's not enough, this team has 3-4 guys that can hit the three when open, meaning Harangody's got plenty of people to pass out to on the wings. Their free throw shooting almost cost them the game, though. And I'm still concerned about the lack of depth for this team, particulary when taking on a team that plays as fast as UNC.

Texas - Very good team here. Abrams is one heck of a shooter. Mason had a career day with 16 points on 7-12 shooting. James will get his. Gary Johnson gave them some good minutes off the bench. Depth could also become a problem for Texas, as they only played 5 guys decent minutes (I'm assuming Varez Ward would've played more had he not fouled out). Also, down the stretch I felt like this team did not take good shots, settling for contested jumpers rather than taking the ball to the hoop and kicking out, giving it to Atchley and kicking it out, etc. That could be due to the fact that they have no real PG. Abrams is good and everything but I think he's much better for the team flying around the perimeter without the ball and getting in position for open threes. I don't see Texas winning too many big games with him firing up 26 shots. The Longhorns are not really going to run anyone out of the building offensively so they need to get stops, and they were unable to slow down Harangody. I think Texas will be very good in the Big 12, but I'm a little worried about picking them as the Big 12 champs. I will have to see how OU looks tonight.

Syracuse beat Kansas, 89-81 (OT)

Syracuse - Great performance by the Orange, roaring back from 13 down in the 2nd half against a partisan crowd. So much for this team struggling at neutral sites. Honestly, there's so many offensive weapons on this team it's not even funny. Think of the ways they can score... Flynn with the drive or the 3, Devendorf with the drive or the 3, Onuaku in the post or grabbing rebounds, Paul Harris in a variety of ways, Rautins with the 3... they have 3 really good three point shooters and that's more than most teams can say or handle. Once they started feeding the ball inside to Onuaku, though, that's when their offense took over. I really think he needs more touches. Defensively, they didn't do a great job, and they still don't cover shooters well in that zone (or the drive in man-to-man), but they really got into the passing lanes in the 2nd half and came up with some big steals. I think they need to stick with man-to-man with all the athletes they have (I'm changing my mind from yesterday lol). Overall, this team is very, very dangerous and I still don't think they've come near their potential yet. That's a scary thought

Kansas - They had a really good showing, sparked by the crowd and all, but came up short in the OT session. Cole Aldrich is a beast in the paint both offensively and defensively. He didn't shoot very well today but he does a lot of things on the other side of the ball, disrupting and blocking shots, getting rebounds, etc. Marcus Morris has the potential to become a very good wingman. Sherron Collins was good as expected. They had a problem with foul trouble and that probably disrupted their rotation but they went 7 deep solidly and they have a good mix of post players, wingmen, and guards but it's going to take some time to develop as they were somewhat sloppy offensively in the 2nd half and uncharacteristically turned it over a lot. I still feel they move the ball as well as anyone in the nation and will be tough on a lot of teams defensively but they need to limit those turnovers because like Texas, they're not going to run anyone off the floor

UNC beat Oregon, 98-69. This game was a joke from the beginning. I thought UNC would come out and dominate but not like this. Oregon tried to come out and run like they did against Alabama... problem is, UNC does it better. A lot better. In their halfcourt set, Oregon looked awful. Bad shot selection, didn't really move the ball very well... outside of dumping it to Michael Dunigan in the post, this team had nothing really. UNC meanwhile has so many weapons offensively. Danny Green continues to impress and has really stepped up his game offensively. Hansbrough had 16 points in 19 minutes and it will be interesting to see how much PT he gets against ND. Ellington didn't even have that good of a game, and Lawson can also score if neccessary. This is going to be a good Maui final:

ND v. UNC, 10 PM (ESPN)

In other top 25 news: Soon to be out of the top 25, Florida squeaked by Washington 86-84. The game was closer than it probably should've been as Florida led much of the 2nd half. Calathes is a player but Florida needs a lot of work defensively, particularly in the post. Pitt beat Belmont 74-60 on the back of Young's 33 points. Marquette annihilated Texas Southern, and Davidson stomped down on Loyola (MD) despite Stephen Curry's ZERO points. Seriously, watch the highlight. Loyola just stuck two guys on Curry the ENTIRE game. Interesting defensive strategy. Oh, and St. Joe's destroyed IU. Had to put that in there :)