Not much happened Monday. Louisville got their third win in three days as they beat Lamar, Georegtown was all over Savannah St., San Diego lost again to put them below .500 in non-conference play, and St. John's beat NJIT. Dickie V. mentioned the St. John's game on Tuesday and said they shouldn't be playing teams of NJIT's caliber. As if there's never been a power conference team in the history of college basketball that hasn't beaten a crappy D-I team. This was almost as bad as his whining and crying about how Virginia Tech didn't get in last year (which he STILL complains about from time to time). I love your passion, Dick Vitale, but seriously, you're an idiot sometimes.
Tuesday, however, was more fun. Some very good matchups, and we learned some important things about a few teams. Start with:
Texas beat Villanova, 67-58
Texas - This is the third game I've seen them in, the other two being their other top 25 games, vs. ND and UCLA, and they look to be a very dangerous team thus far. Their perimeter D is as good as anyone's I've seen all year. Villanova had major troubles getting the ball to the basket, and outside of Cunningham nobody really played that well offensively. Mason is one of the best on the ball defenders I've seen this year. Scotty Reynolds couldn't get anything going all night. Texas is an extremely physical team defensively, and they really wear you down over the 40 minutes. They have good depth and size too, although the defensive rebounding was suspect at times. Offensively, they're not going to run anyone out of the gym but they do have weapons. Mason is a very good PG for this team and he seems very comfortable running this offense. Abrams, as we all know, can shoot with the best of them. James continues to impress me with his offensive development and him and Abrams took over late. This is what a slow paced, defensive team needs... a couple of weapons who can hit big shots at the end of games.
Villanova - My first look at them. Looking over their stats coming into the game, I wasn't sure if this was just a team that spread the ball well or a team with a few decent offensive players and that's it. And yes, I understand it was Texas's defense they're going up against, but I'm leaning towards the latter. Remember, there's plenty of teams who can play good perimeter defense in the Big East. UConn, Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse (when they want to), Marquette, even Georgetown... Villanova's going to have to find ways to score consistently, especially in the paint. Cunningham was magnificent but he isn't going to be enough. Stokes was good in the first half but completely disappeared in the 2nd. Reynolds has to take over in situations and find ways to get to the bucket/score. Better movement without the ball would be nice too. Overall, I'm sure the fact that this was their first test of the season and that they were basically worn down by Texas contributed heavily to the loss but right now I can't peg them above 7th in the Big East at best (sorry, I believe Marquette's the better team at the moment).
Ah well, it could be worse. They could've had West Virginia's problems on offense. The Mountaineers shot 33% from the floor and 4-16 from three as they lost to Davidson 68-65. They were without Alex Ruoff and Joe Mazzoula, which is basically their starting backcourt, and that left Da'Sean Butler as their only legit scorer. He had a solid game, and Devin Ebanks helped, but overall it was not a good day for West Virginia offensively. As far as the future, they have @ Ohio State on Dec. 27th and then conference play starts. They don't have any awful losses but their best win so far is @ Ole Miss, which means they have some work to do in Big East play. Meanwhile, the Wildcats pick up a decent neutral site victory, which should keep them safe for the moment. This team has no offense when Curry is not playing well, but when he is, this team is capable of beating anyone simply because Curry is capable of scoring on anyone. They stepped it up at the end defensively as well. This is how this team needs to close out games against good opponents.
In other top 25 action, Purdue shut down Ball State to win 68-39. Outside of the top 25, the Hokies lost yet another tight game @ Georgia 67-66. I'm sure they'll win some decent games in conference, but at this point their out of conference resume is basically empty and in all 4 losses they had a real chance to win at the end. It has to be difficult for the players and fans to endure this game after game. And Wisconsin beat Idaho State, 60-58, making this the second bad team they've almost lost to this year. A win's a win, but come on now. The Big Ten is going to be WIDE open this year, and I could see any one of 5 or 6 teams winning it all and pretty much anyone beating anyone on any given night. Except for IU.
IU sucks. Ha.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Games to Watch - Week of Dec. 8th
Outside of some small conference tournaments and made-for-TV one-day basketball extravaganzas, there really isn't much on the schedule. Most teams appear to be slowing it down in preparation for the conference season. Still, there's meaningful college b-ball games to be played if you search. Take a look:
Mon, Dec. 8th
Marques Maybin Classic
Lamar v. Louisville - It's a slow day in college basketball when this game is the best game on the slate.
Tues, Dec 9th
Jimmy V Classic
Davidson v. West Virginia - The Mountaineers were somewhat of a question mark coming into the season, and their performance so far this year has made them... well... still a question mark. Expect questions to be answered Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Wildcats try again to get a good looking non-conference win. And if you think Davidson's a lock for the tourney at the moment... think again. With no signature out of conference win at the moment, any slip up in the Southern, particularly the tournament, and there may be no Stephen Curry in the NCAAs. But that's a long shot at best.
Texas v. Villanova - I enjoy watching Scotty Reynolds play, but him and the Wildcats have their work cut out for them against a very good Texas team, especially defensively on the perimeter. Villanova has a lot of guys that can score, and they've spread the wealth pretty well this year, but it will be interesting to see how they operate against the Longhorns. Villanova's first true test of the season.
Virginia Tech v. Georgia - The Hokies NEED this win to have a somewhat legit tourney resume. Otherwise, they're really going to have to take care of business in conference .
Wed., Dec 10th
Cal v. Utah - A battle of a couple of borderline tournament teams. Cal got blasted at Missouri on Sunday and really could've used a stronger performance. Utah has had some ugly losses so far this year but there are decent wins to be had in the Mountain West. Both teams have plenty of room to move up in terms of conference standing, so there's quality wins to be had. But they both could really use a decent non conference win as well.
Dayton v. Creighton - For Dayton, this would be the icing on the cake to a very good non-conference performance in a conference where nobody seems willing to get good non-conference wins. For Creighton, it's likely either win this or win the Missouri Valley. If I were the Bluejays, I'd go with the former. Just to be safe
San Diego St. v. Arizona - Okay, this is my one shameless plug for the year for the Aztecs. If they do well, more will be coming. But anyway... this team played Arizona St. well early in the year, they just beat San Diego, and it's not like anyone's running away with the Mountain West (well, maybe BYU, but nobody's unbeatable in this conference). If they win this game, could they make an at-large bid run? Meanwhile, this would be an important win for Arizona at the start of what looks like a brutal non-conference run (Gonzaga, @ UNLV, Kansas, then Weber State to close the non-conf season).
Gonzaga v. Washington St. - Hoops fun on the west coast. I don't see Washington St. hanging in this game for long, but if they can slow the game down and keep it in the 50s, anything is possible.
Thurs., Dec. 11th
St Joseph's v. Villanova - More non-conference tests for the Wildcats. And St. Joe's... I know you guys are under .500, but it's not like the Atlantic 10 is blowing anyone out of the water here. Or maybe they're just saving it all for Xavier and Dayton in conference play. Another possibility
Fri., Dec. 12th
Drake Invitational
Stephen F. Austin v. North Dakota St., Georgia Southern v. Drake - Okay, there are literally 8 games on the college b-ball schedule. Go out and party or something. But if you really want to know what's going on in college basketball, this tournament actually has some half-decent teams in it. Might be fun to check the scores afterward or something.
Sat., Dec. 13th
Tennessee v. Temple - You know, one of these days I'll stop talking about these Atlantic 10 teams as legit at-large teams.
Memphis v. Georgetown - The game where we found out Memphis was for real last year. Will we find out if one of these teams is for real this year?
Utah v. Oklahoma - Another opportunity for the Utes, in case they didn't get the Cal game. But if they have trouble beating Cal, how are they going to expect to stop Blake Griffin and the Sooners?
Xavier v. Cincinnati - The Bearcats just beat two NCAA tournament worthy opponents in back-to-back games (well, maybe UNLV and UAB won't be tournament teams, but they'll be borderline, and that's important for ranking purposes). The biggest issue standing in their way is their conference. At this point I'd say they're favored to win 9 games in the Big East, and that's giving them home v. Georgetown and Seton Hall. Wins will be hard to come by in conference, and if they end up 8-10, the committee might not give them the benefit of the doubt. A win over the Musketeers would make it awfully difficult for the committee to do that, though.
Texas A&M v. Alabama - We may be looking at only 3 bids from the SEC this year. Meanwhile, the Big 12 has as many as 9 teams that could make cases for the tournament (Nebraska and Oklahoma St. are probably stretching it, but at least they don't have any ugly losses at this point), including this Aggies team.
Butler v. Ohio State - Another battle of the unbeatens. I'm expecting Ohio State to run away with this one, but then again, people have been hating on Butler all season long and they just beat the Horizon League favorites Cleveland State on their floor, so this Bulldogs team is going to come ready to play.
St. Mary's v. San Diego State - Okay, I swear THIS is the last time I needlessly hype the Aztecs. Plus St. Mary's is playing, and they can use all the semi-decent non-conference wins they can get before WCC play starts up.
John Wooden Classic
UCLA v. DePaul - Probably won't be a close game, but how can I not recognize one the greatest college basketball coach of all time in a college basketball blog?
San Diego v. Oregon - NIT showdown if I ever saw one.
South Alabama v. Mississippi St. - See above
Miss Valley St. v. Houston - And in this week's episode of "Miss Valley St. gets annihilated by a major D-I basketball program," the Delta Devils lost to Creighton and Kentucky, both by over 20 points, to fall to 0-10 on the year. And if that wasn't bad enough, both Grambling State and Alcorn State picked up wins, meaning now only SEVEN of the ten teams in the conference have one win or less. Bottom line... this conference is starting to pull away from Miss Valley St. They need to get this thing under control before it's too late.
Sun., Dec. 14th
Gonzaga v. Arizona - Geez, Gonzaga knows how to assemble a non-conference schedule. They still have this game, UConn, Utah, and Tennessee left on their schedule after taking down Oklahoma St., Maryland, and Tennessee earlier in the year. And it's not their fault IU's program went down the tubes and that doesn't look like a "good win". And NONE of these games are at home. Teams are still scared to go play the Zags in Spokane. Give credit to Mark Few... this guy's not afraid to load up his non-conference schedule and take on the best, and his team is responding. He has to get mentioned as one of the best college coaches in the game today.
Mon, Dec. 8th
Marques Maybin Classic
Lamar v. Louisville - It's a slow day in college basketball when this game is the best game on the slate.
Tues, Dec 9th
Jimmy V Classic
Davidson v. West Virginia - The Mountaineers were somewhat of a question mark coming into the season, and their performance so far this year has made them... well... still a question mark. Expect questions to be answered Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Wildcats try again to get a good looking non-conference win. And if you think Davidson's a lock for the tourney at the moment... think again. With no signature out of conference win at the moment, any slip up in the Southern, particularly the tournament, and there may be no Stephen Curry in the NCAAs. But that's a long shot at best.
Texas v. Villanova - I enjoy watching Scotty Reynolds play, but him and the Wildcats have their work cut out for them against a very good Texas team, especially defensively on the perimeter. Villanova has a lot of guys that can score, and they've spread the wealth pretty well this year, but it will be interesting to see how they operate against the Longhorns. Villanova's first true test of the season.
Virginia Tech v. Georgia - The Hokies NEED this win to have a somewhat legit tourney resume. Otherwise, they're really going to have to take care of business in conference .
Wed., Dec 10th
Cal v. Utah - A battle of a couple of borderline tournament teams. Cal got blasted at Missouri on Sunday and really could've used a stronger performance. Utah has had some ugly losses so far this year but there are decent wins to be had in the Mountain West. Both teams have plenty of room to move up in terms of conference standing, so there's quality wins to be had. But they both could really use a decent non conference win as well.
Dayton v. Creighton - For Dayton, this would be the icing on the cake to a very good non-conference performance in a conference where nobody seems willing to get good non-conference wins. For Creighton, it's likely either win this or win the Missouri Valley. If I were the Bluejays, I'd go with the former. Just to be safe
San Diego St. v. Arizona - Okay, this is my one shameless plug for the year for the Aztecs. If they do well, more will be coming. But anyway... this team played Arizona St. well early in the year, they just beat San Diego, and it's not like anyone's running away with the Mountain West (well, maybe BYU, but nobody's unbeatable in this conference). If they win this game, could they make an at-large bid run? Meanwhile, this would be an important win for Arizona at the start of what looks like a brutal non-conference run (Gonzaga, @ UNLV, Kansas, then Weber State to close the non-conf season).
Gonzaga v. Washington St. - Hoops fun on the west coast. I don't see Washington St. hanging in this game for long, but if they can slow the game down and keep it in the 50s, anything is possible.
Thurs., Dec. 11th
St Joseph's v. Villanova - More non-conference tests for the Wildcats. And St. Joe's... I know you guys are under .500, but it's not like the Atlantic 10 is blowing anyone out of the water here. Or maybe they're just saving it all for Xavier and Dayton in conference play. Another possibility
Fri., Dec. 12th
Drake Invitational
Stephen F. Austin v. North Dakota St., Georgia Southern v. Drake - Okay, there are literally 8 games on the college b-ball schedule. Go out and party or something. But if you really want to know what's going on in college basketball, this tournament actually has some half-decent teams in it. Might be fun to check the scores afterward or something.
Sat., Dec. 13th
Tennessee v. Temple - You know, one of these days I'll stop talking about these Atlantic 10 teams as legit at-large teams.
Memphis v. Georgetown - The game where we found out Memphis was for real last year. Will we find out if one of these teams is for real this year?
Utah v. Oklahoma - Another opportunity for the Utes, in case they didn't get the Cal game. But if they have trouble beating Cal, how are they going to expect to stop Blake Griffin and the Sooners?
Xavier v. Cincinnati - The Bearcats just beat two NCAA tournament worthy opponents in back-to-back games (well, maybe UNLV and UAB won't be tournament teams, but they'll be borderline, and that's important for ranking purposes). The biggest issue standing in their way is their conference. At this point I'd say they're favored to win 9 games in the Big East, and that's giving them home v. Georgetown and Seton Hall. Wins will be hard to come by in conference, and if they end up 8-10, the committee might not give them the benefit of the doubt. A win over the Musketeers would make it awfully difficult for the committee to do that, though.
Texas A&M v. Alabama - We may be looking at only 3 bids from the SEC this year. Meanwhile, the Big 12 has as many as 9 teams that could make cases for the tournament (Nebraska and Oklahoma St. are probably stretching it, but at least they don't have any ugly losses at this point), including this Aggies team.
Butler v. Ohio State - Another battle of the unbeatens. I'm expecting Ohio State to run away with this one, but then again, people have been hating on Butler all season long and they just beat the Horizon League favorites Cleveland State on their floor, so this Bulldogs team is going to come ready to play.
St. Mary's v. San Diego State - Okay, I swear THIS is the last time I needlessly hype the Aztecs. Plus St. Mary's is playing, and they can use all the semi-decent non-conference wins they can get before WCC play starts up.
John Wooden Classic
UCLA v. DePaul - Probably won't be a close game, but how can I not recognize one the greatest college basketball coach of all time in a college basketball blog?
San Diego v. Oregon - NIT showdown if I ever saw one.
South Alabama v. Mississippi St. - See above
Miss Valley St. v. Houston - And in this week's episode of "Miss Valley St. gets annihilated by a major D-I basketball program," the Delta Devils lost to Creighton and Kentucky, both by over 20 points, to fall to 0-10 on the year. And if that wasn't bad enough, both Grambling State and Alcorn State picked up wins, meaning now only SEVEN of the ten teams in the conference have one win or less. Bottom line... this conference is starting to pull away from Miss Valley St. They need to get this thing under control before it's too late.
Sun., Dec. 14th
Gonzaga v. Arizona - Geez, Gonzaga knows how to assemble a non-conference schedule. They still have this game, UConn, Utah, and Tennessee left on their schedule after taking down Oklahoma St., Maryland, and Tennessee earlier in the year. And it's not their fault IU's program went down the tubes and that doesn't look like a "good win". And NONE of these games are at home. Teams are still scared to go play the Zags in Spokane. Give credit to Mark Few... this guy's not afraid to load up his non-conference schedule and take on the best, and his team is responding. He has to get mentioned as one of the best college coaches in the game today.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
College Basketball Recap - Dec. 4th-6th
Confused about college basketball yet? This is the time of year where we see games that make us think "Wait, Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat Team C, so why is Team C beating Team A?" It's pretty simple, actually. Teams have good and bad games. Teams have games where they match up well and games where they don't. The most difficult job I have is removing preseason expectations from the mix and judging teams on how they actually look. So without further ado, I am here to sort out the mess... hopefully. Start with thursday:
Oklahoma beat USC, 73-72
Oklahoma - Good win for the Sooners, again. Blake Griffin had 25 points but only 6 boards, but if he continues to get good performances from his guards, OU will continue to win games. Austin Johnson helped with the scoring load tonight, with 17 points on 7-12 shooting. Warren only took six shots but had 5 points. Cade Davis stil does not look right from beyond the arc. Taylor Griffin is better than I thought and seems to know his role offensively. Tony Crocker's offensive numbers are down this year but he isn't taking as many shots either. Overall, this Sooner team takes care of the ball offensively and generally doesn't rush shots. These guys know their roles in the offense and don't do anything they're not capable of offensively. It helps to have one of the best players in the nation too. This is a top 10 team right now.
USC - This was my first look at the Trojans and I can say they are very athletic at many positions. A lot of those guys can beat their man off the dribble and get to the basket. Taj Gibson is not a true center but he holds his own on both sides of the ball. This team is big enough at the wings that rebounding won't be a serious issue either. Now for the bad news... a team that normally shoots 34% from three shot 70% from three and they still were unable to win. DeRozan will be good one day but he still looks like he's forcing shots. In general, the Trojans look more like 5 guys on the court than a true team, as they turned the ball over at key times and looked undisciplined overall (i. e. that cheap shot on Griffin which is one of the most inexcusable things I have ever seen on a basketball court or any sports field in general). This could be a dangerous team come March though.
Texas beat UCLA, 68-64
These teams are about as even as it's going to get. One of the best games all year. But it did confim one of my scares for this Bruins team... who will step up and make shots for them at the end of games? They were unable to do that on thursday, even when Texas continued to give them extra looks via offensive rebounds.
Texas - I hope the Abrams at PG experiment is over, because it's fairly obvious to me Abrams is better off the ball. He excels at coming off screens and getting open looks from three, where he is one of the best in the nation. Mason took more of a backseat offensively in this one but he can score when neccessary. James continues to mature nicely as an offensive threat. Defensively this team challenges every shot taken and is physical. They need to do a better job on the boards (Aboya had 7 offensive rebounds, 16 total for UCLA) but otherwise they're pretty solid defensively, probably the best in the Big 10.
UCLA - This is UCLA's second loss, and just like the first one, nobody steps up offensively to help Collison and Shipp. Darren Collison has done a good job of recognizing an offensive need and filling it. He's taking more shots this year and stepping up when his team needs him. Shipp is doing the same, although to me he appears uncomfortable in a lead scoring role. Outside of that, Holiday had a rough game but will play better and continue to mature. He's shown against other teams he can be a scoring monster but he needs to do that more consistently. In the inside, Keefe and Aboya are nowhere near the level this UCLA front line used to be at. Defensively, this team is a typical phsycial, in-your-face Ben Howland unit. Overall this team has a lot of talent and a lot of good freshman but nobody is stepping up at the moment and until some of these role players do, UCLA will continue to remain a top 15 team at best
One other big games of note... Butler beat Cleveland State on a last-second three to win 50-48. That's a very important game which could go a long way to determining the Horizon league champ.
Friday
Texas A&M beat Arizona, 67-66. Arizona tore them apart on the boards, 29-17, but when you lose the turnover battle 15-4 it's difficult to win a game. Budinger had 15 and Jordan Hill had 20, and the Wildcats shot over 60% from three but they still couldn't win. As for the Aggies, this team has flown under the radar and has a semi-ugly loss at home vs. Tulsa but got a good win here. They have some key games coming up (@ Alabama, home vs LSU) and if they can get both of them an at-large tourney bid isn't out of the question.
Saturday
Lots of crazy college basketball games, beginning with:
Michigan beat Duke, 81-73. I think we all knew Duke would struggle vs. a team with good post players but I didn't think it'd be this bad. On the other hand, Michigan has proven to be a good team this year (beat UCLA earlier in the year if you remember) and Sims has really matured into a legit scoring threat to complement Manny Harris.
THE VERDICT: Duke isn't going to shoot 22% from three all year, but then again, this isn't a good 3 pt shooting team. Duke was overrated in the Top 5 but shouldn't fall that far. Michigan should be a borderline top 25 team and will be a threat in a Big 10 that is starting to become a bit more crowded at the top than everyone (including me) thought.
Ohio State beat ND, 67-62
This is the 2nd legit team Ohio State has beaten away from home, but are they for real? The ND guards had no answer for Evan Turner, who was getting the ball to the rim all day. The Irish is not an athletic team by any means, though. And Harangody, while his numbers were fine, had to be affected somewhat by the pneumonia.
THE VERDICT: Ohio State will be competitive. B. J. Mullins had his best game of his college career and will only continue to get better. Still, I'm not ready to label them as Big 10 championship contenders just yet. Meanwhile, ND will live and die by the three, and while McAlarney won't go 0-6 from three every game, he certainly won't shoot 60% from three every game either.
Miami beat Kentucky, 73-67
The U was on their way to another collapse after giving away a 2nd half lead in the Ohio State game, but luckily for them McClinton wasn't going to let that happen. This guy is really, really good, as he can score from a variety of spots on the floor and is obviously the leader of this team on both sides of the ball. Meanwhile, Kentucky continues to find ways to lose and outside of beating West Virginia on a neutral court hasn't done much to hide that loss to VMI.
THE VERDICT: Miami is solidly 4th best in the ACC but not any better than that. Kentucky is still on the outside looking in for the moment.
Marquette beat Wisconsin, 61-58.
Marquette has a lot of good guards. And they can all score. Despite a game played at the Badgers' pace, Jerel McNeal would not let his team lose, as he went off for 26 points off 10-18 shooting as the Golden Eagles got a solid home victory. The Badgers are a very disciplined, well coached team but are unfortunately undermanned and under-talented (if that's a word)
THE VERDICT: Wisconsin moves to 4th in the Big 10 for the moment. Marquette may challenge in the Big East but will most likely stay in the logjam right below the top tier and they'll all beat up on each other.
Cincinnati beat UAB, 87-80
Well, so much for all those preseason expectations for the Blazers. I'm beginning to regret picking this team to beat Memphis (but I'm sticking with it)
Other random thoughts: Southern Illinois continues to suck it up in the non-conference season for the second year in a row (lost to Charlotte on Saturday). Providence beat Rhode Island in a game they needed to win. Don't look now, but VMI is 2-0 in the Big South and just beat the supposed favorites UNC-Asheville. Nobody in the Atlantic-10 wants an at-large bid so far (URI, St. Joseph's, Temple, and UMass all lost). And Baylor beat Washington State on the road, something that is not easy to do by any means.
Yea, this is still a mess. And to think it's only going to get worse...
Oklahoma beat USC, 73-72
Oklahoma - Good win for the Sooners, again. Blake Griffin had 25 points but only 6 boards, but if he continues to get good performances from his guards, OU will continue to win games. Austin Johnson helped with the scoring load tonight, with 17 points on 7-12 shooting. Warren only took six shots but had 5 points. Cade Davis stil does not look right from beyond the arc. Taylor Griffin is better than I thought and seems to know his role offensively. Tony Crocker's offensive numbers are down this year but he isn't taking as many shots either. Overall, this Sooner team takes care of the ball offensively and generally doesn't rush shots. These guys know their roles in the offense and don't do anything they're not capable of offensively. It helps to have one of the best players in the nation too. This is a top 10 team right now.
USC - This was my first look at the Trojans and I can say they are very athletic at many positions. A lot of those guys can beat their man off the dribble and get to the basket. Taj Gibson is not a true center but he holds his own on both sides of the ball. This team is big enough at the wings that rebounding won't be a serious issue either. Now for the bad news... a team that normally shoots 34% from three shot 70% from three and they still were unable to win. DeRozan will be good one day but he still looks like he's forcing shots. In general, the Trojans look more like 5 guys on the court than a true team, as they turned the ball over at key times and looked undisciplined overall (i. e. that cheap shot on Griffin which is one of the most inexcusable things I have ever seen on a basketball court or any sports field in general). This could be a dangerous team come March though.
Texas beat UCLA, 68-64
These teams are about as even as it's going to get. One of the best games all year. But it did confim one of my scares for this Bruins team... who will step up and make shots for them at the end of games? They were unable to do that on thursday, even when Texas continued to give them extra looks via offensive rebounds.
Texas - I hope the Abrams at PG experiment is over, because it's fairly obvious to me Abrams is better off the ball. He excels at coming off screens and getting open looks from three, where he is one of the best in the nation. Mason took more of a backseat offensively in this one but he can score when neccessary. James continues to mature nicely as an offensive threat. Defensively this team challenges every shot taken and is physical. They need to do a better job on the boards (Aboya had 7 offensive rebounds, 16 total for UCLA) but otherwise they're pretty solid defensively, probably the best in the Big 10.
UCLA - This is UCLA's second loss, and just like the first one, nobody steps up offensively to help Collison and Shipp. Darren Collison has done a good job of recognizing an offensive need and filling it. He's taking more shots this year and stepping up when his team needs him. Shipp is doing the same, although to me he appears uncomfortable in a lead scoring role. Outside of that, Holiday had a rough game but will play better and continue to mature. He's shown against other teams he can be a scoring monster but he needs to do that more consistently. In the inside, Keefe and Aboya are nowhere near the level this UCLA front line used to be at. Defensively, this team is a typical phsycial, in-your-face Ben Howland unit. Overall this team has a lot of talent and a lot of good freshman but nobody is stepping up at the moment and until some of these role players do, UCLA will continue to remain a top 15 team at best
One other big games of note... Butler beat Cleveland State on a last-second three to win 50-48. That's a very important game which could go a long way to determining the Horizon league champ.
Friday
Texas A&M beat Arizona, 67-66. Arizona tore them apart on the boards, 29-17, but when you lose the turnover battle 15-4 it's difficult to win a game. Budinger had 15 and Jordan Hill had 20, and the Wildcats shot over 60% from three but they still couldn't win. As for the Aggies, this team has flown under the radar and has a semi-ugly loss at home vs. Tulsa but got a good win here. They have some key games coming up (@ Alabama, home vs LSU) and if they can get both of them an at-large tourney bid isn't out of the question.
Saturday
Lots of crazy college basketball games, beginning with:
Michigan beat Duke, 81-73. I think we all knew Duke would struggle vs. a team with good post players but I didn't think it'd be this bad. On the other hand, Michigan has proven to be a good team this year (beat UCLA earlier in the year if you remember) and Sims has really matured into a legit scoring threat to complement Manny Harris.
THE VERDICT: Duke isn't going to shoot 22% from three all year, but then again, this isn't a good 3 pt shooting team. Duke was overrated in the Top 5 but shouldn't fall that far. Michigan should be a borderline top 25 team and will be a threat in a Big 10 that is starting to become a bit more crowded at the top than everyone (including me) thought.
Ohio State beat ND, 67-62
This is the 2nd legit team Ohio State has beaten away from home, but are they for real? The ND guards had no answer for Evan Turner, who was getting the ball to the rim all day. The Irish is not an athletic team by any means, though. And Harangody, while his numbers were fine, had to be affected somewhat by the pneumonia.
THE VERDICT: Ohio State will be competitive. B. J. Mullins had his best game of his college career and will only continue to get better. Still, I'm not ready to label them as Big 10 championship contenders just yet. Meanwhile, ND will live and die by the three, and while McAlarney won't go 0-6 from three every game, he certainly won't shoot 60% from three every game either.
Miami beat Kentucky, 73-67
The U was on their way to another collapse after giving away a 2nd half lead in the Ohio State game, but luckily for them McClinton wasn't going to let that happen. This guy is really, really good, as he can score from a variety of spots on the floor and is obviously the leader of this team on both sides of the ball. Meanwhile, Kentucky continues to find ways to lose and outside of beating West Virginia on a neutral court hasn't done much to hide that loss to VMI.
THE VERDICT: Miami is solidly 4th best in the ACC but not any better than that. Kentucky is still on the outside looking in for the moment.
Marquette beat Wisconsin, 61-58.
Marquette has a lot of good guards. And they can all score. Despite a game played at the Badgers' pace, Jerel McNeal would not let his team lose, as he went off for 26 points off 10-18 shooting as the Golden Eagles got a solid home victory. The Badgers are a very disciplined, well coached team but are unfortunately undermanned and under-talented (if that's a word)
THE VERDICT: Wisconsin moves to 4th in the Big 10 for the moment. Marquette may challenge in the Big East but will most likely stay in the logjam right below the top tier and they'll all beat up on each other.
Cincinnati beat UAB, 87-80
Well, so much for all those preseason expectations for the Blazers. I'm beginning to regret picking this team to beat Memphis (but I'm sticking with it)
Other random thoughts: Southern Illinois continues to suck it up in the non-conference season for the second year in a row (lost to Charlotte on Saturday). Providence beat Rhode Island in a game they needed to win. Don't look now, but VMI is 2-0 in the Big South and just beat the supposed favorites UNC-Asheville. Nobody in the Atlantic-10 wants an at-large bid so far (URI, St. Joseph's, Temple, and UMass all lost). And Baylor beat Washington State on the road, something that is not easy to do by any means.
Yea, this is still a mess. And to think it's only going to get worse...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
