College Basketball Recap - Nov 27th

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Eat some turkey, reflect on what you're thankful for in life, and watch some college basketball. That's right, people. I mean seriously... those football games were blowouts. Who really expected Detroit to put up a fight? Anyway, here's what happened in college b-ball on Turkey Day:

Tennessee beat Siena, 78-64. This was a difficult game to judge the Vols in for two reasons: one, they were relatively up and down throughout the game so I don't know if their good stretches or their bad stretches are what to expect consistently. And two, I don't know if that was considered a good performance by Siena or a bad performance. So here's some reluctant observations. The Vols will obviously play at a high intensity but to me, it felt out of control at times. When they were at their best, they were forcing the issue, getting in passing lanes, getting turnovers and flying to the basket on the fast break. When they were at their worst, they struggled against the Siena press, made some awful looking passes that turned out well for them, and basically looked uncomfortable in the face of pressure. They did a good job in the half-court set defensively, cutting off driving lanes and forcing Siena to put up threes, and Chism and company looked very good in the post, but I don't know if Siena's just not that good offensively and I know Siena was a very small team. Overall a difficult game to judge, and honestly, I may not get that much more from their next game (Georgetown) if the Hoyas struggle offensively like they did today.

Georgetown beat Wichita State, 58-50. It's obvious this Hoyas team has a long way to go in terms of ball handling, turnovers, and overall shot selection but defensively they shut down Wichita State, holding them to 27% shooting. Austin Freeman led the Hoya charge with 18 points, DaJuan Summers had 14, and the star freshman Greg Monroe added 11. I figured with a young Hoya team they would struggle to find their groove early, especially offensively, and they did, but a lot of good defense (particularly in the paint) got the Hoyas the win they needed. Stopping Tennessee will prove to be a much more difficult task and I'm not sure Georgetown will be able to dictate tempo and limit turnovers enough to where they can keep the game manageable.

Maryland beat Michigan State, 80-62. Well, Spartans, I said you guys had something to prove. This isn't the way to do it. With Suton hurt, that does leave a gap in the middle of the Spartan defense but Maryland scored at will for many stretches in this game and Michigan St. simply didn't have a consistent answer. Morgan was plagued by foul trouble the entire game and the Spartans aren't winning too many games with him scoring 4 points. Senior Travis Walton was the only kind of consistent offense for the Spartans, scoring 16. I think it's important to remember at this point that this is still a very young Spartan team with lots of potential, but they will have their share of poor performances this year, especially offensively. As for Maryland, this team looked pretty darn good, and with Virginia Tech and Boston College not terribly impressive, I still believe the door is wide open for the 5th spot in the ACC and the Terps could be the team to take it. Greivis Vasquez led Maryland with 17 points and is a good offensive weapon. Guard Eric Hayes added 13 and senior Dave Neal had a surprising 17 points off the bench (6-10 shooting).

Gonzaga beat Oklahoma State, 83-71. Good win for the Zags as this is an Oklahoma St. team that could very well make the tournament this year. Gonzaga showed a bit of versatility, as Daye and Heytvelt scored the least of any of the starters but Gonzaga was still able to put up 83. Senior Micah Downs led the team with 17 points and 12 rebounds. He's become a legit scoring threat in his own right this year. Pargo was 6-15 from the field but did manage 15 points and 7 assists and made key plays down the stretch. I didn't watch the game, but from looking at scouting reports and box scores this team appears to be the most talented Mark Few has ever had and they seem poised to make a deep tourney run this season. Don't overlook Maryland though. As far as the Cowboys, they kept it close for much of the game but Gonzaga pulled away with around 6 minutes left in the game. 37% shooting and 19 turnovers was too much for Oklahoma State to overcome. Three guys (Terrel Harris, Obi Muonelo, and James Anderson) did much of the scoring, and Oklahoma St.'s four guard lineup will likely give teams matchup problems, but they need to take better care of the ball vs. Michigan State.

At the Anaheim Classic, Wake Forest fended off a late charge by Cal State Fullerton and won a sloppy game 75-69. They get UTEP today, who is no cakewalk either, so not an easy road for the Demon Deacons. Meanwhile, Arizona State took care of business vs. Charlotte and they get Baylor in the semis of the Anaheim Classic.