Thursday, Dec. 31st in College Basketball

Cincinnati made a big statement on their home court Wednesday, beating a very good UConn team 71-69. The Bearcats took over the lead in the middle of the 1st half and held that lead for the rest of the game, resisting a late run by the Huskies to pick up an important conference win. Deonta Vaughn and Lance Stephenson combined for 38 of Cincy's 71 points and ran the break very well. If Cincy's offense can play like this more often, they have a good chance at making a run out of the middle of the Big East and into a tournament spot. For UConn, Kemba Walker struggled, going only 3-11 from the floor with 4 turnovers (although he did hit a big three to tie the game at the end).

Illinois trailed for most of the game vs. Northwestern, but a second half charge led to a tie game and a very exciting final 10 minutes of regulation. In overtime, Illinois took the early lead and held on for the win 89-83. Mike Tisdale had 31 and Mike Davis had 20, but it was D. J. Richardson's play in the 2nd half that sparked the Illini and helped them break the pesky NW 1-3-1 zone. Illinois lives and dies by the play of their freshman.

Great games to close out the new year. Here's what's coming up tonight:

Game of the Night:

Tennessee @ Memphis: I was tempted to go with the Ohio St/Wisconsin game, but I decided to go with the rivalry game instead. While it may not have as much draw as a Calipari-Pearl matchup, this game definitely has some interesting storylines. Memphis hasn't had many big games yet this year outside of almost taking down the number 1 team in the country in November, but has Syracuse and Gonzaga later in the season besides this game. Elliot Williams has been outstanding since transferring to Duke. Meanwhile, Tennessee only has two losses, one to undefeated Purdue, but has played a fairly easy schedule otherwise. This will be a good measuring stick for both teams. While Memphis is at home, Tennessee is the more complete team and should have the advantage in this one.

Pick: Tennessee 83, Memphis 76

Others:

Michigan @ Indiana: Big win for IU. On a related note, how far has Michigan plummeted? I mean, I guess there are worse losses than a close loss at Indiana, but they're at .500 now. They're not even on the bubble, and it's a pretty big bubble right now.

Ohio St. @ Wisconsin: Not as exciting now that Evan Turner is still out, but should still be a good matchup.

Oklahoma @ Gonzaga: More competitive than it appeared to be a month ago.

Green Bay @ Butler: Watch out for Green Bay. They beat Wisconsin earlier in the year and will give Butler all they can handle today.

Oregon @ Washington St.: The Ducks haven't done much of anything this year. I swear I'll stop talking about them if they don't win this one.

Richmond @ Wake Forest: Two under the radar teams. Should be entertaining.

Wednesday, Dec. 30th in College Basketball

Several good games on Tuesday night. Purdue trailed to Iowa at the end of the 1st half but the tide was turning even before that point and the Boilers shut them down in the 2nd. Syracuse fell behind early to Seton Hall, tied it up at halftime, fell behind again, then took the lead and never looked back, winning 80-73. Jeremy Hazell can only do so much by himself. West Virginia, meanwhile, trailed almost the entire game vs. Marquette and needed a Desean Butler fadeaway 18-footer with 2 seconds left to beat the Golden Eagles. The lesson? It's never easy to win on the road in conference, even if you're a top 5 team. The other three undefeated teams, Kansas, Texas, and Kentucky, all won with relative ease. In other games, New Mexico took down Texas Tech at home to rebound from their first loss of the year. More good conference games on tap tonight:

Game of the Night:

UConn at Cincinnati: I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of Big East games featured in this blog. Anyway, Cincinnati is one of those teams that appears to be squarely on the bubble at the moment, and you know they're going to be on the bubble at the end of the year. Cincy will have plenty of chances to get statement wins, but starting off on the right foot is always important. I believe the Bearcats are stout enough defensively that they can slow down UConn. What I worry about is Cincy's offensive abilities. Deonta Vaughn was supposed to get better with the addition of Lance Stephenson, but that hasn't happened. Yancy Gates is solid but not spectacular. The wild card is Stephenson. He has the tools to become a great player, but he needs better shot selection. Those factors mean UConn will probably win a slow-paced game.

Pick: UConn 65, Cincinnati 56

Others:

Baylor @ Arkansas: Baylor is a bubble team at this point, but probably needs this game to really be serious about making a tournament run.

South Carolina @ Boston College: Both teams need a signature win... and, well, this one will have to settle for now.

Northwestern @ Illinois: Guess which team is ranked? No cheating... Okay, it's the Wildcats. After 40 years. Congratulations, NW.

Tuesday, Dec. 29th in College Basketball

Game of the Night:

Syracuse @ Seton Hall: The Pirates are an interesting team. They haven't beaten anybody (best win is Cornell) but their two losses are to two very good teams in Temple and West Virginia in OT. The Seton Hall offense seems to revolve around Jeremy Hazell and the 15 plus shots he puts up every game, yet three other guys average in double digits and they shoot fairly well from three (if Hazell didn't throw up so many threes at a 30% rate, maybe they'd be even better). This is an intriguing matchup, and I haven't been particularly high on Syracuse this year, so this may be a spot to go with an upset pick. However, I can't see how a team whose offense revolves around one guy taking over a third of his team's shots is going to take down a team as stout defensively as Syracuse has been this year. We'll see, though.

Pick: Syracuse 78, Seton Hall 71

Others:

Marquette @ West Virginia: The tests coming early and often for the Mountaineers. Welcome to conference play.

Texas Tech @ New Mexico: Two surprising squads go at it in a good late non-conference game.

Purdue @ Iowa, Penn St @ Minnesota: Big Ten conference play kicks off tonight as well.

Weekend of Dec. 26th - Review

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Here's what happened in college basketball this week if you missed it:

Tuesday:

Michigan State hung with Texas for a while until they wilted in the final 5 minutes and the Longhorns came away with a victory. James was excellent, as usual. Pittman was in foul trouble for most of the game and that forced Rick Barnes to go small to match up with Izzo's Spartans. The depth of the Longhorns was in full display, as 5th best scorer Jordan Hamilton lit it up from three (4-6) and had 14 points overall. I think we know where Texas stands: they're probably the best team in the country along with Kansas. But what about the Spartans? So far they have losses to UNC (Top 15-ish), Texas (Top 2), and Florida (not a Top 25, but probably a tournament team), with wins over Gonzaga (borderline Top 25) and that's about it. The polls on Monday will probably have Sparty around 15, but you could make the argument they should be somewhere in the 20's. Will they get better? I would like to think so. Their most glaring weaknesses to me are turnovers (technically should get better over time, but there's a lot of good defenses in the Big Ten), size at the 5 (shouldn't be a huge issue, since they still rebound very well and are big at other positions), and free throw % (somewhat overrated, since a lot of teams struggle from the line). This team's still 2nd best in their conference, but what does that really mean? I'd put them at around 20 right now, just off the top of my head.

Wednesday:

West Virginia took care of business at home vs. a very good Mississippi team to remain undefeated. More on them later. Also, Long Beach State hung with Kentucky and even led at one point in the 2nd half, USC picked up a good non-conference win (this will be a trend), New Mexico was handed their first loss of the season by a scrappy Oral Roberts team, Missouri won for the first time in a decade over Illinois, and Arizona beat NC State on a last second lay-up by Nic Wise.

Friday:

USC continued to stay hot, beating UNLV 67-56 to give the Pac-10 some rare good news this winter. The Trojans are an interesting team. Left for dead at 2-4 earlier this season, USC now has three good non-conference wins to their slate and are rolling heading into conference play. Plus, 3 of those 4 losses (Nebraska, Texas, Georgia Tech) really are not all that bad. Still, they have a paper-thin bench and they have turnover problems, which is a problem when you play at a snail's pace. Maybe their grinding style of play and tough defense will lead to an abundance of wins in the weak Pac-10. They're available.

Saturday:

West Virginia coughed up a 10 point lead in the final minute vs. Seton Hall but pulled it out in OT to stay perfect heading into their New Year's Day showdown with Purdue. I've been saying for a while now that this is the best team in the Big East, and they haven't proven me wrong yet. They're strong defensively, they rebound better than almost anyone despite not having anyone taller than 6-9, and Ebanks isn't even playing that well. If he gets to where he can be offensively, this gives them three legitmately good weapons on the wing along with Desean Butler and Kevin Jones. If there's a team that can match Syracuse's length, it's the Mountaineers. I'm really scared for Friday. And the close call with Seton Hall? As long as they don't give up 41 points to one guy, I think they'll be okay.

Sunday:

Some ranked teams won and stuff.

I'm going to try and get out an initial bracketology/bubble watch for teams heading into conference play. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, Dec. 22nd in College Basketball

Not a lot of time to write this, but there's some great games on Tuesday, so here's what you should expect.

Game of the Night:

Michigan St. @ Texas: Well, people questioned whether or not Texas was ready on Saturday, and they passed test #1. Here's #2. Yes, the Spartans lost to the team Texas just beat. That doesn't mean they're not any good. Michigan St. is still a very deep team with size at the wings. They're also a better rebounding team than UNC. They probably won't (and shouldn't) try to run with Texas, so I'd imagine they'd look to slow down the game, limit possessions and turnovers, and play a physical game. Will it work? Maybe. State may be able to match up decently enough on the perimeter, but their weakness is at the 5, where they don't really have a solid presence to deal with Pittman. That, and the more you slow down the game, the more Pittman becomes a factor. I think it's too much Texas, especially since it's in Austin.

Pick: Texas 84, Michigan St 76

Others:

Cal v. Kansas: Theo Robertson is back, which makes this game an intriguing one. Upset? Probably not, but do not rule out a team that can hit the 3 consistently.

Stanford v. Texas Tech: Not the most exciting of matchups, but Tech needs a bounceback win after the loss to Wichita State.

Texas A&M v. Washington: Washington failed test #1 vs. G-Town but passed against Portland with flying colors. It doesn't get any easier for UW tonight.

LSU v. Washington St: It will be interesting to see if either of these two teams win enough in conference to make a tournament run. The wins are there for the taking.

Monday, Dec. 21st in College Basketball

Top things to take away from this weekend:

1. Texas is for real. The thing that amazed me is the number of guys you need to shut down in order to stop Texas offensively. Even if you somehow figure out how to stop Damion James, you still have to hold Avery Bradley in check, and keep Dexter Pittman off the glass, and stop Jordan Hamilton, and J'Covan Brown, and Gary Johnson can score at times... there's a lot of guys in both the frontcourt and backcourt that can hurt you. Plus, they have the best rebounding frontcourt tandem I have seen this year with James and Pittman. They grabbed 30 rebounds combined against a big (albeit not great rebounding) UNC team. I thought the Heels played well too. They shot well, got good production out of Ed Davis, even limited turnovers somewhat. But the final minute of the first half where they gave up 6 points in 30 seconds turned the game from a manageable halftime deficit to a double-digit one. Big win for Texas.

2. This Duke team isn't as talented as earlier teams, especially on the perimeter, but they are probably as good defensively as they've ever been, which will keep them in many games. As for Gonzaga... this team is not this bad. They can't be. But they're clearly nothing more than a top 20 team at this point. When it comes down to it, they don't have that killer scorer, a guy who can take over the game. Gray? Maybe, but he's a jump shooter. Bouldin? Not really. Sacre? Got owned by Zoubek and co. The Zags may have somewhat limited potential this year.

3. Somebody for Michigan other than Harris and Sims needs to start knocking down some shots. And their D wasn't as bad today, but they need to get more defensive intensity too. Lots of things going wrong in Ann Arbor right now.

4. Teams that are for real: New Mexico, Kansas St, the entire A-10 (well, not the whole conference, but much of the top half), Old Dominion, and Iowa State. Teams that are not for real: Georgetown (I thought they turned the corner too...), Tennessee, Texas Tech, and Memphis.

Now for Monday:

Game of the Night:

Drexel @ Kentucky: Only because Kentucky has a shot at becoming the first college basketball team to 2,000 wins. As much as you many not like them, they are one of the greatest programs of all time. Now if only their fan base was better...

Pick: Kentucky 87, Drexel 59

Others:

UTEP v. Oklahoma: The Sooners have been playing better basketball as of late. And UTEP is no pushover.

La Salle v. Oklahoma St.: Other A-10 programs got some decent wins over the weekend. Okie St hasn't really been tested. Who knows?

Weekend Preview: December 19th

So I took a week off. I checked every day and there weren't really any exciting matchups to write about, and with finals and coming back home, I was busy anyway. But it's Saturday, which means college basketball is back in full swing and I'm ready for a bunch of great games. Because it's Christmas, and because of my week off, I'll give you guys a present: I'll pick every game I talk about today. That's right, you can see how wrong I am more than once today. That has to be exciting enough to make you read the rest of this post.

Saturday, Dec. 19th

Game of the Day:

UNC v. Texas (Dallas): Man, the Heels have played some good non conf games. And most of them haven't been in Chapel Hill. By now, we have a good feel for UNC; good size, lots of depth, no real primary scorer, which occasionally leads to prolonged scoring droughts, and lack of offensive ability on the perimeter. Enter Texas, who has one of the deepest backcourts/perimeters in the game, and has given up over 62 points in a game once this year (and that was against Long Beach St and was likely due to pace of the game more than anything). Oh, and this is pretty much a home game for Texas. Not a good sign.

Pick: Texas 80, UNC 64

Michigan v. Kansas: The "Green Game", whatever that means. Maybe it means Beilein should tell his team that shoots under 29% from three to throw up 40 threes a game. I understand it's Beilein's coaching style, but still. Probably should play some defense too. Either way, they don't really match up properly vs. Kansas.

Pick: Kansas 87, Michigan 72

Gonzaga v. Duke (NYC): Could be one of the best contests we see today. Duke is big, obviously, but they haven't seen a guy as skilled as Robert Sacre in the post all year. The Blue Devils have a tendency to rout out the cupcakes and then play slow and shoot poorly against good teams, especially quality defenses. I'll take the Zags in the upset.

Pick: Gonzaga 67, Duke 64

Xavier v. Butler: Fun with the mid-majors. Butler's struggled this year, but so has Xavier. Bulldogs it is.

Pick: Butler 71, Xavier 61

Old Dominion v. Georgetown: The Hoyas are for real, but don't be surprised if ODU gives them a scare.

Pick: Georgetown 75, ODU 69

Texas Tech v. Wichita St: Can you say "trap game"? For no reason whatsoever, I'll make a "shocking" pick and take WSU. Get it? ... no? ... okay.

Pick: Shockers 75, Red Raiders 71

Portland v. Washington: Both teams need this win for one reason or another. I'll take the Huskies to get back on track.

Pick: Washington 85, Portland 73

Kansas St v. Alabama: The most underrated team in the country? Illinois. The 2nd most underrated? The away team right here. Sure, Bama almost pulled off the upset over Purdue, but K-State's still better than Bama, and this time there's no Heisman Trophy announcement to fire up the crowd.

Pick: Kansas St 78, Alabama 65

UCLA v. ND: Oh, how the mighty have fallen. That comment was directed at both teams (sorry, can't lose on your home floor to Loyola Marymount and escape the jaws of public humiliation).

Pick: ND 72, UCLA 54

Western Kentucky v. Louisville: It's okay, Pitino just has problems against teams with "Western" in their name.

Pick: WKU 76, Louisville 73

Temple v. Seton Hall: I enjoy how this is more likely to be a matchup of tournament teams than the UCLA-ND game.

Pick: Temple 70, Seton Hall 68

Sunday, December 20th

Game of the Day:

Florida St. v. Georgia Tech: Important early season ACC matchup. I haven't watched a ton of GT, but they've been excellent this year compared to last year's squad. Shumpert's injury hurts them, but frosh Mfon Udofia was playing just as well at the point, and when you have guys like Lawal and Favors inside to deal with, you're going to create problems inside against anyone. However, this is a conference that has a lot of size, and it's going to be the guard play that will differentiate teams. That means guys like Derwin Kitchen need to step it up for FSU in conference play. It's been a mixed bag for Florida State against teams of GT's caliber... I'm going to say FSU's offensive problems are their downfall again. GT wins.

Pick: Georgia Tech 71, Florida State 63

Others:

NC State v. Wake Forest: Another good ACC matchup. Man, the ACC is crowded in the middle. It'll be interesting to see Wake's ceiling though. They're athletic enough to be in the top 3 of the ACC. Can they execute offensively, shoot well from the perimeter consistently, and avoid turnover problems? If yes, they'll be a dangerous team.

Pick: Wake Forest 70, NC State 55

Weekend Preview - December 12th

Syracuse continues to pick up good non conference wins with an 85-73 victory over Florida. The zone wasn't at its best on Thursday night, but they kept Florida out of the paint, away from the foul line, and they racked up plenty of steals and turnovers. Not that it really would've mattered. The Syracuse offense was on display last night, particularly the frontcourt, where Rick Jackson put on a show. 21 points and 11 rebounds, seven of them offensive, but perhaps more importantly, the Florida frontline was shut down all night long, forcing the Gators to live by the three. That reliance on the three point shot, combined with Florida's inability to get a stop, cost them the game. Syracuse has as good a resume as anyone in the conference right now... but they haven't played anyone with the athleticism on the perimeter to punish the zone off the dribble. They will face that against Nova, WVU, and UConn and G-Town to a lesser extent. Stay tuned.

Fridays are traditionally pretty lame in college basketball (except Vandy vs. W Kentucky might be fun) so we'll just skip ahead to what appears to be a loaded Saturday slate. A Top 10 confrontation is about all that's missing from this weekend's games. Let's take a look:

Saturday, December 12th

Game of the Day:

Georgetown @ Washington: At some point in December I'm going to unveil my first Top 25 rankings, and I'm not exactly sure where these teams belong. Washington can be a Top 10 team, but if a fast, efficient offensive team like the Huskies can't outscore Texas Tech, what are they gonna do against Top 10 teams? The Hoyas could also be a Top 10 team... if Greg Monroe plays with the same intensity he had against Butler. My conclusion: I need to see one more monster game out of Monroe before I believe he is going to demand the ball like an offensive star should. If he doesn't, UW is more than talented enough to push the tempo and put the ball in the bucket consistently.

Pick: Washington 85, G-Town 70

Others:

Marquette @ Wisconsin: Fun crosstown matchup between two surprising teams this year (although Wisky's come back to Earth a bit).

Ohio St. @ Butler: Would be a much better matchup had Turner not gotten hurt.

Purdue @ Alabama: This game screams "trap game" at me. Be ready, Boilers.

Kentucky @ Indiana: Same as above, but to a much lesser extent.

Oklahoma @ Utah: Both teams could use a good win... heck, OU's been on life support for the past three weeks.

St. Mary's @ Oregon: I write this more because St. Mary's has been on fire as of late and has a realistic shot at making a run at an at-large bid.

Mississippi St @ UCLA: Man, if UCLA was actually good, they would've had some really fun early season games...

Texas A&M @ New Mexico: Extremely, extremely underrated game. Both are good teams and fairly evenly matched when you throw in the home court advantage.

Siena @ Northern Iowa: Mid-major matchup of the night.

Kansas St @ UNLV: Good Mountain West teams taking on tough competition at home... I sense a theme here.

Sunday, December 13th:

Game of the Day:

Cincinnati @ Xavier: This is the best I could do. Not that it won't be fun, it's just that it might be a little... slow. Cincy's in no hurry to push the tempo, and Xavier isn't going to blow them away either. The rivalry factor and the home crowd will keep it close for Xavier, but Cincy's the better team. Xavier has three losses and all three teams are as good as or worse than UC. I'll take the Bearcats.

Pic k: Cincinnati 64, Xavier 58

Others:

Villanova @ Temple: Big Five games always seem to be competitive if not close, and Temple is one of the better A-10 squads this year.

Rhode Island @ Boston College: On second thought... nevermind. BC lost to Harvard. Not worth talking about.

Thursday, Dec. 10th in College Basketball

John Wall shows us once again why he's a special player. With the Wildcats struggling to score down the stretch, Wall put his team on his back, scored 12 of the final 15 points for UK, and led them to a 64-61 victory over UConn. Wall seems to live for these big moments, and down the stretch he was basically unstoppable no matter who Calhoun put on him. Kentucky still has turnover problems (Wall especially), they still can't shoot from the outside, they still have issues executing in a halfcourt set... but they're 9-0 and they've beaten some pretty good teams in road venues (and let's face it, MSG was primarily UConn fans last night). The Huskies weren't bad yesterday but they found ways to shoot themselves in the foot, whether it be inopportune turnovers or giving up offensive rebounds. I'd like to believe this is a top 10 team, but they need more consistency out of Jerome Dyson in order for that to happen. Top 15, Top 20 seems more reasonable at this point.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin fell in overtime to Green Bay, as the defense that gave Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer fits was non-existant (48% shooting, 9-18 from three for GB). For the 2nd game in a row Nova gave up over 85 but simply out-scored their opponents. They have a TON of weapons and are incredibly difficult to shut down. Kansas clubbed another nobody and the other ranked teams took care of business. And Oral Roberts stunned Missouri on a last second lay-up, dealing a big blow to the Tigers. Here's what's up tonight:

Game of the Night:

Syracuse v. Florida: The SEC/Big East Two Day Event/Challenge Thingy continues with a very intriguing matchup. This young Gators team has handled everything thrown at them so far and has looked really good doing so. This team has four guys scoring in double figures and and has been superb defensively. The same could be said for Syracuse (by the way, this seems to be a theme. Team loses key player, team focuses on defense, team is actually better. See Gonzaga another example) but the Orange offense is more focused around one guy, Wesley Johnson. It will be interesting to see how this offense operates when Johnson is not shooting 60% from the floor. It's going to happen eventually, and why not against a defensive-minded team that has some size? I'll take Florida in a 2nd straight minor upset.

Pick: Florida 75, Syracuse 70

Others:

DePaul v. Mississippi St: Actually might be a decent game.

Colorado v. Colorado St: Yay for rivalry games between two irrelevant teams.

Wednesday, Dec. 9th in College Basketball

So Greg Monroe comes out of his shell. The Georgetown big man showed how he can take over a game, going 9 of 20 for 24 points as G-Town beat Butler 72-65. Monroe looked for his shot, which in turn opened up good looks for guys like Austin Freeman. And Chris Wright didn't even play that well. If Georgetown can consistently work from the inside out, they will be successful because there's few guys in the country who can man up Monroe. As for Butler, inconsistency continues to plague Matt Howard, and Butler can't afford to have their best big man scoring and in foul trouble, particularly against a good defensive team like the Hoyas.

Also... how about another solid win for Illinois? They should be a Top 25 team despite some ugly losses. A bad loss for Pitt, who just looks lost offensively. And Kansas State continues to pile up decent wins. They'll get their shot at Texas and Kansas, but for now they've got to deal with UNLV on Saturday. Let's look at what's up tonight.

Game of the Night:

Kentucky v. UConn: Good times. If UConn was having issues on the boards vs. Duke, they're going to have all kinds of problems keeping UK from grabbing 15+ offensive rebounds. It's a shame, because the Huskies are a very good defensive team and if they can slow the game down like UNC did in the 2nd half vs. UK and make the Wildcats execute in a halfcourt set, they have a very good chance at winning this game. In fact, this game may go down in a similar fashion as the UNC-UK game... except UConn has the guards to punish Kentucky on the perimeter and avoid long droughts like the Heels had. The Huskies shoot better than they did against Duke and come out with the upset.

Pick: UConn 77, Kentucky 73

Others:

Duquesne @ West Virginia: Am I the only one who thinks the Dukes can give WVU a game? Yea probably.

Villanova @ St. Joseph's: Same as above... no wait, I saw St. Joseph's play. Nova's gonna blow them out.

Michigan @ Utah: Very important game for both teams. Michigan is by no means a lock for an at-large spot in the tourney.

Tuesday, Dec 8th in College Basketball

Nothing major happened last night, unless you count Texas kicking Long Beach St.'s butt, so let's get to tonight's action:

Game of the Night:

Butler v. Georgetown: Part of the Jimmy V Classic at MSG, this matchup features two top 20 opponents that really haven't done a whole lot this year to give me any confidence in them. Butler in my opinion shouldn't even be a top 25 team. Losses to Clemson and Minnesota have looked worse since they've happened, and Butler hasn't been all that impressive in their other wins. I guess the Bulldogs' style of play lends them to ugly wins, but still.... The one time I saw Georgetown this season was their one point win vs. Temple. Monroe has been solid, if unspectacular, and Chris Wright has looked good offensively, but they really haven't played anyone, and Butler will probably be their biggest test on both sides of the court this season. Butler's two losses have been against athletic teams, and I'm not sure Georgetown really fits that mold. I'll take the Bulldogs to get a solid win.

Pick: Butler 62, Georgetown 56

Others:

Vanderbilt @ Illinois: Coming off the big win at Clemson, the Illini will have some momentum when Vandy rolls into town.

Dayton @ George Mason: Important game for both teams in terms of at-large hopes.

Indiana @ Pitt: The 2nd half of the Jimmy V Classic.

Xavier @ Kansas St: Both top A-10 Programs going on the road to hostile environments. Plus K-State's not getting a ton of national attention, which could change quickly.

Arizona St @ BYU: One of the few feel good stories of the year for the Pac-10 faces a challenging road game.

Dec. 5th Weekend Recap

Well, Kentucky certainly justified their Top 5 ranking. UK went on a 28-2 run in the 1st half against UNC and held off a 2nd half comeback to come out on top 68-66. The Wildcats looked as good as anyone in the country in the 1st half. John Wall runs the break as well as anyone in the country, has tremendous quickness, and finishes well at the rim. He also has great passing skills and consistently finds the open man. The UK defense left the Heels completely inept in the 1st half, not allowing UNC's perimeter guards to get the ball inside. In the 2nd half, Wall and UK were sloppier and UNC were able to slow the game down and get the ball inside to Thompson, Davis, and Zeller, and they whittled the lead down. However, Kentucky was able to hold on for the win behind Wall and Patrick Patterson's 19 points. Big win for this young team, and while they still need to play consistently well for 40 minutes, UK definitely established themselves as a great team and potentially a title contender.

In other weekend basketball news, Evan Turner went down hard after attempting a dunk and will be out 8 weeks with 2 broken vertebrae. That's a big hit to a team who IMO was hovering right around top 10 territory and was trying to establish themselves as a force in the Big Ten. Turner is the guy that makes their offense go and is really the only guy that can create a shot by himself. Without Turner, Ohio St will struggle to stay at .500 in Big Ten play until Turner comes back, and they also have non conf games against Butler and West Virginia to deal with. Props to NC State for beating Marquette and Wake Forest for going into the Kennel and taking down Gonzaga in a very hostile environment. No props to Penn St, who managed 42 points and 3 of 15 shooting from Talor Battle in a loss to Temple, and Oregon, who lost by nearly 40 to Missouri.

On Sunday, UCLA actually gave a valiant effort for once but never really threatened the #1 team in the nation. Kansas shot poorly (except for Xavier Henry) and wasn't their best but got big contributions from Henry (16 points on 4 threes) and Markieff Morris (19 points in 21 minutes) to win at Pauley Pavilion. Number 3 Villanova hit 11 first half threes and 16 overall to drown Maryland. The Terps were on fire as well (52% from the field) but they couldn't keep up with Nova, partially because they gave up 20 offensive rebounds. Clemson beat rival South Carolina, Boston College nipped Miami in the first ACC conference game of the year, Portland lost again to a weaker mid-major (not good for their at large hopes) and OU beat a struggling Arizona team.

Just a preview of what's to come. In the next few weeks I will be debuting my first Top 25, Bracketology, and Bubble Watch. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to do this this year, but if I have the time, why not? Plus it will be a good review of the early non-conference season. Until then, I'll continue with the daily updates and try and keep you aware of the big picture in college basketball. Because in this blog, we are always focused on March.

Weekend of Dec. 5th - Preview

It's the weekend! Lots to talk about. First, the first victory for the Big Ten in the challenge required a 23 point 2nd half comeback by Illinois and a top 10 upset by Wisconsin. Both Big 10 schools were impressive in their own ways. I noticed Illinois early in the year and realized they could be special this year. Anytime you rely on a couple of freshman (Brandon Paul and D. J. Richardson) to play a big role in the offense, there will be hiccups. But Illinois now has that speed, quickness, and offensive ability on the perimeter they really needed last year. Now the question is, can Paul and Richardson match the defensive intensity Trent Meacham and Chester Frazier brought every night to the court? If they can, this is one of the best teams in the Big 10.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, led basically wire-to-wire against Duke. The Badgers have always been tough at home, so it doesn't completely surprise me that they won. The dominating fashion in which they won, however, was impressive. Now, while I don't believe Trevon Hughes and Wisconsin will shoot as well from the perimeter consistently as they did on Wednesday, I do think this is an efficient, well-coached basketball team that forces teams to play their style of basketball. At the very least, that will make them competitive every night, but when they hit shots, it gives them knockout power.

Other big games on Wednesday include Ohio St's dominance of Florida St, Gonzaga's comeback win over Washington St on the back of 28 points from Matt Bouldin, UNLV's overtime win against Arizona, and big wins for Miami, Northern Iowa, and Boston College. On Thursday, USC made things interesting early vs. Texas but the Longhorns put them away in the 2nd half. Washington realized the best way to avoid being upset on the road is not to give up 50 points in the 1st half and 99 points overall. And Baylor survived a close game vs. Arizona St. and picked up a good non conf win.

This weekend marks the end of college football dominance of Saturdays and the entrance of college basketball in the spotlight. Celebrate by watching a big-time matchup in Lexington before the conf champ games in football begin.

Game of the Night:

UNC @ Kentucky: Finally, a big time college basketball game to challenge football on the weekends! These teams are actually very similar. Lots of athleticism and size, somewhat erratic and turnover-prone offenses, youth and inexperience on the perimeter. UNC's perimeter play won them the Michigan St. game, and they will likely need similar play from Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland to beat Kentucky this afternoon. Defensively, I expect UNC to pack it in and force UK to hit threes and beat them on the outside, like Stanford and Miami (OH) did. I think Kentucky has the advantage on the perimeter with John Wall, but I have a feeling the Wildcats are walking on thin ice right now and are due for an early season loss. Meanwhile, UNC has already played several Top 10 teams and will be prepared for the speed that Kentucky brings to the table.

Pick: UNC 78, Kentucky 74

Others:

St. John's @ Duke: Every year we wonder if the Red Storm can take down the Dukies... can they finally come through this year?

Wake Forest @ Gonzaga: If Wake thought Mackey was tough, they'll have fun out in Spokane tonight.

Iowa State @ Cal: The Pac-10 BADLY needs a decent win, and at this point, the Cyclones probably qualify as one.

USC @ Georgia Tech: The Trojans put up a good fight vs. Texas, and should have an easier time vs. a less talented team.

NC State @ Marquette: The honeymoon for the Wolfpack ended against Northwestern. Good luck dealing with one of the real surprises of the year.

DePaul @ Vanderbilt: I'm gonna guess the Blue Demons are going to win a Big East game this year.

Washington St. @ Kansas St.: I'm really, really big on both of these teams. The Cougars are probably one of the best teams in the Pac-10, and the Wildcats are going to surprise people in the Big 12.

St. Mary's @ Utah St.: Mid-major game of the night.

Sunday, Dec. 6th

Game of the Night:

Villanova @ Maryland: Beats out Kansas/UCLA because of how bad the Bruins are. At first glance, it appears the Terps have struggles early on. But then again, it seems Cincinnati and Maryland are better than predicted, and they survived at home vs. Indiana to go to 5-2 on the season. Vazquez is still shooting poorly but at least he got to the line consistently on Tuesday. Also, guys like Sean Mosely and Landon Milbourne have picked up the offensive slack. They'll have their hands full, though, with an extremely talented Villanova backcourt. Defensively, I think Maryland will be okay, but I don't know how they're going to score consistently against a Nova team that has been extremely stout and defense.

Pick: Villanova 76, Maryland 65

Others:

Kansas @ UCLA: For this game to not be Game of the Night, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong for the Bruins had to. That has been the case so far.

South Carolina @ Clemson: The rivalry takes basketball form and should be an interesting game to boot.

Miami @ BC: What?? A conference game? But it's early December... ok...

Arizona @ Oklahoma: Both teams desperately need a decent win at this point.

Thursday, Dec. 3rd in College Basketball

Due to limited amounts of time, I will cover the results of the Big 10-ACC Challenge in my weekend preview. For now, let's look ahead to Thursday, which should have some decent Pac-10/Big 12 matchups. Maybe.

Game of the Night:

Baylor @ Arizona State: Yes people, this is it. I value close games and intriguing matchups over blowouts by ranked opponents. In fact, these two teams have actually been pretty good in the early going. The Sun Devils beat LSU at MSG a couple of weeks ago and hung with Duke for a while a day earlier. The best guy I saw for Arizona State was freshman guard Trent Lockett, who was getting to the buc ket at will against Duke and finishing well before succumbing to foul trouble. Derek Glasser is the team leader, and Eric Boateng has matured into a good post player. On the other side, Baylor is also 6-1 with a win over Xavier. LaceDarius Dunn is leading the rebuilding charge, averaging almost 21 pts a game. This should be a fun game to watch and it will be interesting to see if either of these teams can become tournament worthy.

Pick: Arizona State 73, Baylor 69

Others:

USC @ Texas: Would be more fun if it was football. I really, really tried to talk myself into seeing how this could be a decent game, but I couldn't.

Washington @ Texas Tech: After a cupcake early season schedule, UW gets this and Cal St Northridge before facing Georgetown, Portland, and Texas A&M in a row. This game wil also be the only non conf game the Huskies have outside of Washington. Wimps.

Wednesday, Dec. 2nd in College Basketball

All kinds of things to talk about today after last night's games. UNC was hitting on all cylinders last night in their 89-82 victory over Michigan State. The Heels finally got a big time performance from Ed Davis and got the guard play they needed from Larry Drew. Dexter Strickland also looked impressive in limited minutes. They turned it over a lot, especially late, but when you shoot 57% you can afford to have a few poor possessions. Defensively, they were strong, limiting the Spartans from the perimeter (although they gave up a few too many offensive boards). As for Michigan State, they seem to miss Goran Suton a lot more than normal tonight. Michigan State's guards did not shoot well from the outside and they were beat up inside, which led to open outside jumpers threes for UNC. I think Sparty will be fine, but they can't afford shooting performances like that against top tier opponents.

Purdue shot just as poorly but ended up on top thanks to big games from Johnson and Moore. E'Twaun has risen to the occasion the past few games and taken over the scoring reins, and JaJuan was his usual dominant self. But the rallying call for the Boilers (as usual) was their defense, causing 25 turnovers and effectively negating Wake's height and Ishmael Smith's speed in the 2nd half. Wake needs to become more skilled on the perimeter if they want to avoid long scoring droughts like ones they had in the 2nd half of Tuesday's game. For the Boilers, well, I would like to see someone other than Moore and Johnson start scoring (Hummel??) but having one of the best defenses in the game is a nice tradeoff.

Now for today... You know you're a college basketball fan when you look at the day's lineup and it makes you all giddy inside. Today is one of those days. In fact, I have plenty of games to talk about without even mentioning the five ACC/Big Ten Challenge games taking place. Let's begin out west:

Game of the Night:

Washington State @ Gonzaga: Who would have thought this game would turn out to be as good a matchup as it is? Some in Spokane have been saying this is the best Zags team in years. Without getting into too much about recent Gonzaga basketball, let's just say that although their ranking isn't as high as previous years, the Zags are certainly equipped to make a deep tournament run. This team is as committed to defense as any Gonzaga team this decade. And while there may not be many big names, guys like Matt Bouldin, Steven Gray, and Robert Sacre have matured into very nice players and see to be working together well. Depth and athleticism could be an issue, but for now they look capable of beating anyone on their schedule, including @ Duke on Dec 19th.

The Cougars entered the year with even less expectations than the Zags, but apparently all they needed was a change in style. After seeing year after year of slow-paced, mid-50s scoring, Ken Bone has implemented a much more up-tempo style and Washington State has scored less than 85 in a game once this year. Clay Thompson is quickly becoming a household name with his 28 point per game average. The Cougars look like the 3rd best team in a very weak Pac-10 right now. But before we get too excited, let's remember they haven't really beaten anyone yet. And they haven't played a defense nearly as good as Gonzaga's. The Bulldogs take this one.

Pick: Gonzaga 79, Washington State 74

Others:

UNLV @ Arizona: Big win over the weekend for the Rebels, as they upset Louisville again. This one wouldn't be as big, but still important.

Siena @ Georgia Tech: The Saints are gonna be one of those mid-majors you know are good but don't have the resume to back it up. They really need this one.

Western Kentucky @ South Carolina: Same as above

Missouri @ Vanderbilt: The loser may look back on this one in March and see it as one that got away.

Old Dominion @ Richmond: The mid-major game of the night. I love finding gems like this :) okay, I'll stop being a nerd.

Oklahoma State @ Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane gets to prove themselves before C-USA play.

Northern Iowa @ Iowa State: Another game between two teams that could be fighting for a tournament spot come March.

Arkansas @ Oklahoma: So much for OU remaining an elite team when Blake Griffin left...

San Diego State @ San Diego: Okay, I understand nobody cares about this one (but they could both be really good mid-majors!!!!)... time to stop.

Season Preview: ACC/Big 10 Challenge

Due to the lack of decent matchups on Monday, I instead present to you my preview of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. It's another year of the pointless made for ESPN event that everybody makes a much bigger deal over than it actually is. Okay, maybe I'm just upset that Purdue got killed in their game last year. It always provides some good matchups to look forward to. Here are my sneak peaks and picks for each game:

Mon., Nov. 30th

Penn State @ Virginia: A game that doesn't really mean anything but will help decide which conference wins anyway. Virginia has the "better" losses so far.

Virginia 68, Penn State 64

Tues., Dec 1st

Wake Forest @ Purdue: I'm guessing when this game was scheduled, people still thought Jeff Teague and James Johnson would be in Wake uniforms. Bottom line, Purdue is the better team and should win this game.

Purdue 80, Wake Forest 67

Northwestern @ NC State: NC State is 5-0, but they haven't beaten anybody, and NU has wins over Notre Dame and Iowa State without Coble. I'll take the Wildcats.

Northwestern 65, NC State 59

Maryland @ Indiana: The Terps did not look all that impressive, but will be good enough to defeat the Hoosiers, who are at least a year away from competing for a tournament spot.

Maryland 80, Indiana 70

Virginia Tech @ Iowa: The worst team in the Big 10 vs. not the worst team in the ACC. I'll take the latter.

Virginia Tech 67, Iowa 52

Michigan State @ UNC: Likely the best game of the challenge. Michigan State got killed last year, but this isn't nearly the same UNC team as last year. Namely, they're not going to run people off the court. Michigan State will have the advantage on the perimeter. However, the Spartans have struggled with turnovers in big games up until this point. That and the fact that this game is in Chapel Hill makes this a more even game than it looks. The Spartans will not create a lot of turnovers defensively, but they do a good job of forcing opponents into bad perimeter jumpers, and I would expect them to force the Heels to make shots to beat them. That, plus the fact that UNC has had turnover problems of their own, convinces me that Sparty will gain revenge from last year's slaughter(s).

Michigan State 81, UNC 77

Wed, Dec 2nd

Illinois @ Clemson: I had a feeling the Illinin were going to win this game, but that was before the loss to Bradley. Plus, it's at Clemson. Advantage Tigers

Clemson 78, Illinois 71

Minnesota @ Miami (FL): This is one of those swing games that will determine the outcome of the challenge. Miami gets to prove if they're for real.

Minnesota 76, Miami 74

Boston College @ Michigan: BC has not looked good at all early. Manny Harris should dominate against a somewhat suspect Eagle defense.

Michigan 85, Boston College 71

Florida State @ Ohio State: Another game that could come down to the wire. Buford and Diebler will need to hit some big shots to win.

Ohio State 73, Florida State 66

Duke @ Wisconsin: Two reasons to believe Wisconsin could pull off the upset. One, the Badgers will not get killed on the boards as badly as UConn did against Duke. Secondly, Bo Ryan will have his guys prepared and Wisconsin will keep the game slow and low-scoring. However, Duke is simply too talented to lose this game. At least, I think so.

Duke 70, Wisconsin 63

FINAL RESULT: Big Ten wins, 6-5

Weekend of Nov. 28th Preview

Beat Florida State? Eh. Beat Michigan State? Okay, now we're talking. Florida shook up the college basketball world Friday night, knocking out the Spartans 77-74, and the Gators are now 5-0. They got Michigan St. to turn the ball over 22 times and go 2 of 12 behind the arc, which made up for the large rebounding gap. Are the Gators legit? It sure seems like it. Can they compete for the SEC East title? It's a crowded division, but neither Kentucky nor Tennessee have looked particularly dominating. Only time will tell. As for Michigan State... I'm not worried about them. If this becomes a habit, we'll talk again.



It takes a pretty significant event to out-headline Duke-UConn. I actually thought this was a pretty sloppy game. Duke shot below 30% but annihilated UConn on the boards which gave them plenty of second chances. The Huskies simply couldn't put the ball in the bucket, whether from the outside (no threes for the ENTIRE game!), at the baskey, or at the line. It appears the Huskies will have problems rebounding for much of the year, putting that much more pressure on Dyson an Walker to score consustently. They didn't tonight, and the UConn offense struggled as a result.



In other news, the finals of the 76 and Old Spice Classic are set. Marquette was efficient, quick, and deadly on offense and put Michigan away. They'll get an interesting matchup against a Florida State team that is much bigger inside and will not allow easy layups in the paint. I'm guessing the Eagles will need to hit some outside shots to win this one. In Anaheim, West Virginia took down Texas A&M once Desean Butler woke up. They'll take on (drum roll please) Cinderella wonders Portland, who won their semi-final over Minnesota and get a shot at making their claim to win the WCC. As in, beat Gonzaga. Last time someone other than the Zags won the WCC, Marion Jones was actually a legitimate athlete (zing!!!). An upset over WVU would have tremendous implications.



Saturday, Nov. 28



Game of the Night:



Louisville v. UNLV: This is a somewhat intriguing game, if only because the Rebels won last year in Louisville. The Cardinals will look to return the favor this afternoon. Louisville has looked less than stellar so far this year, but the Wildcats have really been challenged themselves with a tough schedule so it's okay (that's a joke. Ha ha. This is the only Louisville road game until early January). UNLV has beaten some decent mid-majors but this will easily be their biggest game to date. With absolutely no evidence to back this up, I will pick Louisville to return the favor and win this year.



Pick: Louisville 88, UNLV 74



La Salle v. Villanova: Maybe a decent matchup... maybe



Massachusetts v. Michigan St., Rutgers v. Florida: See, now why couldn't they have set it up so the Gators/Spartans matchup is for the championship of the Legends Classic and not a first round game?



Boston College v. Providence: So much for BC being a surprise team in the ACC.



St. John's v. Temple: These are a couple of teams you can name-drop at parties as potential sleepers and get some "ooh"s and "aah"s.



Presbyterian v. Southern: Both teams are 0-5. However, neither one has played a home game, so I'll cut them some slack. And they've both played a lot of tough opponents. Okay, they both suck. Come on, people, I'm trying to help these guys out.



Sunday, Nov. 29



76 Classic Final:



West Virginia v. Portland: This matchup is just too good to pass up. The Pilots have been on e of the most offensively efficient teams in the country up until this point... high effective FG%, low turnover %. They have some decent size and they crash the boards well. And these past two games have probably been their best defensive games of the season. Can they beat the Mountaineers? I don't know. They haven't faced as good a scorer as Butler yet this year. Minnesota had athleticism on the wings, but not like this. The thing about West Virginia is they can hurt you in so many ways, especially with Ebanks back. I think this is either a blowout for WVU or a really close game. And I men really close.



Pick: West Virginia 83, Portland 80



Others:



Old Spice Classic:



Marquette v. Florida State: Not quite as intriguing as the 76, although still fun to think about.



Michigan v. Alabama, Xavier v. Baylor, Creighton v. Iona: The first team fir each game should win. And if not, well, they've got some major problems. Maybe not Xavier, but definitely the other two.



76 Classic:



Minnesota v. Texas A&M: This is why preseason tournaments are awesome. Even third place games get good matchups and mean something.



Clemson v. Butler/UCLA: Both teams could really use a legitimizing non conf win.



Nevada v. UNC: Here's hoping this one's a good game.



Nebraska v. USC: Probably would be more fun if it was football. Even then...

Friday, Nov. 27 in College Basketball

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Most of you were probably watching football (to be honest, so was I!) but hopefully you were able to catch some good basketball. Creighton and Michigan went to OT, and although the Bluejays played some inspired basketball at the end, Michigan shut them down in the overtime period and won. They'll take on Marquette today, who played Xavier even for most of the game but was able to pull away late. On the other half of the bracket, Alabama pulled out a close one over Baylor, and Florida State got all it could handle from Iona but advanced. In Anaheim, Clemson found out it's a little more difficult to run for 40 minutes against a quality opponent and fell to Texas A&M. West Virginia awaits the Aggies in the semis. Also, Minnesota upset Butler off some big three point shots late. However, the big story of the night was the demise of UCLA, who suffered their worst loss of the Ben Howland era to Portland. Don't get me wrong, the Pilots are a decent team, but this definitely isn't the UCLA of old, particularly offensively. So now on to today:

Game of the Night:

Preseason NIT final:

UConn v. Duke: After a one day absense, the NIT preseason tournament is back, and this final looks to be a good one. Maybe. See, the thing is, I'm not sure how well Duke matches up in this game. Their strength is inside, but UConn certainly didn't have any problems on the glass on Wednesday against a pretty good rebounding team. Duke has Singler, but UConn counters with a taller and more athletic Stanley Robinson. And if Arizona St. was able to get to the rim on Duke like they did in the 1st half, then how are they gonna stop Dyson and Walker? I'm pretty sure the game will be closer than my prediction. I'm just not sure how to justify that.

Pick: UConn 85, Duke 68

Others:

Old Spice Classic:

Michigan v. Marquette: Just finishing up as I type. If Marquette doesn't win, well, they've certainly looked like the better team. Michigan threw 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones in the 2nd half and while Marquette struggled early, they pulled it together and never gave up the lead. Bottomline: Marquette was the more athletic team, and Michigan (other than Manny Harris) had no answer.

Alabama v. Florida State: We could see a Bama-Marquette final on Sunday. Raise your hand if you picked that. I shouldn't see any hands.

Creighton v. Xavier: Neither mid-major could pick up a good non-conf win, so it's a fight to the death instead, where the winner's at-large hopes are still alive. Actually, Xavier will have some games vs. Dayton to prove themselves. The Bluejays are running out of quality opponents on their schedule.

76 Classic:

West Virginia v. Texas A&M: No Ebanks means this is probably the Aggies' best shot at getting a marquee win. Unless they want to take down KU or UT in conf, which I would not recommend relying on.

**EDIT** Ebanks is playing.

Minnesota v. Portland: The Pilots are one win away from having enough decent wins to be in the at-large discussion in March, provided they don't lose any cheapies. And if they don't get this one, they still have @ Washington and two vs. Gonzaga to prove themselves.

Butler v. UCLA: A better sounding matchup than it actually is.

Las Vegas Invitational:

Illinois v. Utah: Don't forget about this one, and do NOT sleep on the Illini. Paul and Richardson have added a new dimension to this Illini offense.

Michigan St. v. Florida: This is the best non-tournament matchup of the day. I really, really believe the Gators are gonna give Sparty a good fight tonight.

South Padre Invitational:

Old Dominion v. Missouri: My pick for underrated game of the evening.

Thursday, Nov. 26 in College Basketball

Thanksgiving, college b-ball style:

I'm thankful for being able to watch Gonzaga outlast Cincy down the stretch behind some big plays by Robert Sacre and some stifling defense (and if it were me, I'd be looking to get him the ball more often... having a 7 footer with touch around the paint is a very, very good weapon).

I'm thankful for Arizona St. and Stanford, who, although they didn't win, at least played like they have some pride (unlike other Pac-10 schools so far this year).

I'm thankful that Wisconsin beat Maryland and somehow shot over 45% from beyond the arc after shooting horrendously from there in the previous two games. I am not thankful, however, that the Badgers probably will not crack the top half of the conference, meaning for my Boilers, every single conference game is going to be a challenge to win.

I'm thankful for UConn, who looked dominant against LSU yesterday.

I'm thankful for mid-majors who continue to beat OU.

I'm thankful that Vandy got a decent win out of Maui. Arizona's got some serious work ahead of them if they want to be a tournament team.

I'm thankful to be able to watch the greatest sport on Earth today.

All is good.

Game of the Night:

76 Classic:

Minnesota v. Butler: How often is it that we get a first round tournament game as the game of the night? Okay, fairly often I guess. But still... the Bulld ogs have looked fairly beatable over their first few games. They've survived, but it hasn't been pretty at times. Shooting 28% from the field again isn't gonna get it done. Meanwhile, Minnesota has cruised through their first three games and gets their first real test today. Considering Minnesota's athleticism on the wings with Rodney Williams and Damion Johnson, Butler will have to execute their offense and make shots more than they have had to in previous games. I'll take Minnesota in a minor upset.

Pick: Minnesota 73, Butler 67

Others:

76 Classic:

Texas A&M v. Clemson: The Tigers have been running people out of the gym lately. Let's see if they are for real.

Portland v. UCLA: I would say this is a trap game for the Bruins, but that implies they are the better team.

West Virginia v. Long Beach State: WVU is still without Ebanks... may not hurt them tonight, but I think they'll need him to win this tournament.

Old Spice Classic:

Creighton v. Michigan: Important game for both teams, especially the Bluejays, who could use some good out of conference wins.

Marquette v. Xavier: A couple of rebuilding schools. Time to find out if either can play.

Alabama v. Baylor: Should be a competitive game if nothing else. The Bears have looked strong early.

Florida St. v. Iona: Definitely don't think the Noles should've gotten pounded at Florida. They can take out their aggression today.

Wed, Nov. 25th in College Basketball

Varez Ward went down in warmups, but the only real impact it had was it allowed the Horns to show off their backcourt depth. Three guards scored in double figures and Damion James had 20 as Texas knocked out Pitt 78-62. The Panthers starting backcourt shot 10 for 39 and, while Pitt actually had the lead at the end of the 1st half, were just overmatched down the stretch. In Maui, Cincinnati beat Maryland in a game that really wasn't as close as the score showed, and Gonzaga got good production from guards Matt Bouldin and Stephen Gray as the Zags went up big early on Wisconsin and held on in the 2nd half. The games in Maui, plus the continuation of the Preseason NIT, set up the big games for tonight.

Game of the Night:

Maui Invitational final:

Gonzaga v. Cincinnati: These seem like two pretty evenly matched teams to me. I think Cincy has an advantage on the perimeter. Bouldin, Gray, and Demetri Goodson will have their hands full trying to stop Vaughn, Stephenson, and the other guards Cincy will throw out there. Then again, Yancy Gates hasn't faced a front line that's this good either. Gonzaga seems to do their best when they sit in their 2-3 zone and let the bigs control the paint. The Bearcats have struggled from the outside all year, and that will be their downfall tonight.

Pick: Gonzaga 70, Cincinnati 66

Others:

Preseason NIT:

Arizona St. v. Duke: The Blue Devils have looked outstanding this year, albeit against vastly inferior opponents. The Sun Devils are undefeated, which is good enough to make them one of the best teams in the Pac-10 so far (isn't that kinda sad?).

LSU v. UConn: The Huskies revamped frontcourt will be tested tonight, as LSU is getting 33 points and 20 rebounds a game from Storm Warren and Tasmin Mitchell.

Maui Invitational:

Maryland v. Wisconsin: Pretty solid 3rd place game if you ask me. Vasquez has gotta start putting the ball in the bucket if Maryland wants to do anything this year.

Vanderbilt v. Arizona: Nic Wise woke up last night in the Wildcats OT win over Colorado. Vandy's a significantly bigger (and better) team, though, than the Buffs.

Cancun Challenge:

Stanford v. Kentucky: Is it sad when Stanford's win over Virginia the other day is arguably the biggest win the Pac-10 has had this year?

Tuesday, Nov. 24th in College Basketball

What a great night to be a Purdue fan! The Boilers and Vols were pretty much even in the stat sheet and the scoreboard. Purdue's mini 8-0 run late in the 2nd half gave them the lead, and they would hold on as Wayne Chism's game winning jumper missed right. Chism led the way in the paint for Tennessee with 24 points against a Purdue frontcourt that was in foul trouble all night long. E' Twaun Moore came up big for Purdue and took over offensively, putting in 22 points on 8 of 15 shooting. My Boilers found a way to win at the end and this will be a big confidence booster for the team going forward.

Meanwhile, Iowa held Texas close and actually led at one point in the 2nd half, but Pittman and the Texas guards were too much and the Longhorns blew Iowa out. Cincinnati took down a ranked Vanderbilt team. Vaughn struggled with foul trouble and Stephenson was okay, but Yancey Gates came through in a big way with 16 points as Cincy put together a big run early and never looked back. On the other side of the Maui bracket, Gonzaga staged a furious 2nd half comeback to edge Colorado, and Wisconsin grinded out a victory over Arizona. In other games, Northern Iowa got a much needed win over Boston College, and Pitt advanced, setting up this matchup for tonight:

Game of the Night:

CBE Classic Final:

Texas v. Pitt: There's a chance the Cincy/Maryland game will be closer, but I'm more intrigued by a game featuring a (somewhat) proven Texas squad and a very much unproven Pitt team. The Panthers have looked good this year. Ashton Gibbs has been the leader early. Pitt will look to slow the game down and grind out a victory, and unlike Iowa, they have some size inside to handle Dexter Pittman. The key to Texas' success, though, is the variety of offensive options they have. The Longhorns have a multitude of guards alongside James and Pittman in the frontcourt who can score. At the end of the day, there's just too much speed and talent for Pitt to handle.

Pick: Texas 81, Pitt 64

Others:

Maui Invitational:

Maryland v. Cincinnati: ACC power vs. Big East power. Gates could have another big day inside, but I think this will be won by whoever has superior guard play.

Wisconsin v. Gonzaga: The other semi-final. The Badgers probably lead the nation in "ugly wins" over the past 5 years or so.

Florida St. @ Florida: Annual rivalry has basketball significance as well.

Monday, Nov. 23 in College Basketball

The first major weekend in college basketball was relatively overshadowed by football, both of the college and professional variety. That means you missed a VCU upset over Oklahoma and a bunch of ranked teams beating down cupcakes. Except for Butler. And Louisville, to a lesser extent. Sunday featured a few other decent games, including a Kansas State upset over Dayton off of 26 points from Jacob Pullen, Villanova getting a game from Ole Miss in the 1st half before pulling away early in the 2nd to win the Puerto Rico title, Miami beating South Carolina for the Charleston Classic title (5-0 isn't too bad either), and Tennessee and Purdue advancing in the Paradise Jam, but through different circumstances (more on that later). Monday begins Feast Week, which means if you're not excited about college basketball now, you need to be. The Maui Invitational starts today, and while the field isn't as strong as in years past, it should be very competitive. Other tournaments are starting or finishing up and we'll get our first look at a couple of Top 25 teams, like Texas. Here's what's on the Monday slate:

Game of the Night:

Paradise Jam Final:

Purdue v. Tennessee: The Vols limp into the championship game after shooting 37% from the field and 3 of 12 from three but beating DePaul by 4. Purdue, meanwhile, shut down St. Joseph and knocked them out early in the 2nd half with a barrage of threes. Tennessee is capable of putting massive amounts of points on the board with their full court press, but Purdue has the ball-handling and passing skills necessary to break the press consistently. The Boilers will likely try to slow the game to more of a half-court pace, and if they do that I think they'll have the advantage, as they probably execute better in the half-court than the Vols do. If Tennessee is able to speed up the game and get some turnovers, though, this could be a long game.

Pick: Purdue 69, Tennessee 66

Others:

Maui Invitational:

Cincinnati v. Vanderbilt: No ranked teams in this tournament, but plenty of teams around the same level. These are both teams that received their fair share of preseason hype, meaning I want to see if either are legit.

Arizona v. Wisconsin: This should be an interesting match-up of teams that were depleted by graduation/the draft and are looking to rebuild quickly.

Paradise Jam Consolation:

Northern Iowa v. Boston College: I know, I know, it's early, but in this blog, we're always thinking about March, and both of these teams really don't need another loss.

DePaul vs. St. Joseph's: I'll take the 5th place game over this one, actually.

CBE Classic

Texas v. Iowa, Wichita St. v. Pitt: Both of the favorites should take care of business tonight, setting up a fun final tomorrow. Then again, things never seem to turn out the way you expect. But I certainly don't expect a team that couldn't beat Texas-San Antonio to beat Texas-Austin. That's Texas if you don't know. But you should. Okay, I'll stop typing.

Season Preview: Preseason Tournaments, Part 2

Feast Week is here! That means turkey, family, and... that's right, college basketball! (What did you think I was going to say? Football? Geez...) All kinds of Thanksgiving tournaments are taking place, and the biggest ones are highlighted and previewed here.

CBE Classic

Nov. 15-18, 23-24

Favorite: Texas. As mentioned before, they're so deep it's scary. They should roll through their semi-final and final games in this torunament.

Others: Pitt. They're 3-0, despite not looking particularly dominating in any of their games. Talent is there, but do they have the depth and scoring ability the Longhorns?

Sleeper: Wichita State. The Shockers are still probably too young to make much noise in this tournament, but they were one of the hottest teams in the MVC at the end of last year and could play a big role in the conference again this year.

Cancun Challenge

Nov. 18-21, 24-25

Favorite: Kentucky. They're easily the most talented team in the field.

Sleeper: None. If Kentucky doesn't win this I'll be shocked.

Las Vegas Invitational

Nov. 14-24, 27-28

Favorite: Illinois. Could go with Okie State, but I'll take the Illini, who have looked good in the early going. Brandon Paul and D. J Richardson add a new dimension to that offense.

Others: Oklahoma State is one of the most improved teams in the Big 12 and James Anderson has looked awfully good in their first few games. Should they meet the Illini in the final, they can and will give them a great game.

Sleeper: Utah. The Utes were not highly projected in the MWC and lost early to Idaho but got a good win over Utah St and will give Illinois a game.

Maui Invitational

Nov. 23-25

Favorite: Gonzaga. The traditionally strong field is replaced by a bunch of marginal tournament teams. I would have taken Maryland before the season, but I don't know if they have the size to match up with the Zags.

Others: Maryland will be competitive, along with Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Cincinnati. In reality, any one of these teams could take this tournament.

Sleeper: Arizona. Since I'm not picking Chaminade, of the power conference teams, the Wildcats have the least amount of hype but a lot of talented frosh and Nic Wise and Solomon Hill.

Great Alaska Shootout

Nov 25-28

Favorite: Oklahoma, although the loss to VCU makes them seem a little less dominating than they would have been.

Others: I think Washington State will be better than expected, and the Pac-10 is wide open at this point (and I mean wiiiiiide open. Like, win the conference open).

Sleeper: Houston. A lot of the focus in the C-USA has been on Memphis and Tulsa, but the Cougars could make some noise in conference as well.

76 Classic

Nov. 26-27, 29

Favorite: West Virginia. Nova has struggled, albeit against good teams, in their conference tournament. There are good teams in this tournament as well, and the Mountaineers will get some good tests next week.

Others: All the teams are either power conference at-large contenders or quality mid-majors. This includes UCLA, Minnesota, Butler, Texas A&M, and Clemson.

Sleeper: Portland. One of those quality mid-majors, they sit opposite of West Virginia and will get two winnable games before the final. They may be playing WVU for the title on Sunday.

Old Spice Classic

Nov. 26-27, 29

Favorite: Michigan. Another even field that could be won by several different teams.

Others: Florida State, Creighton, Marquette, Xavier, Alabama, and Baylor round out the big names.

Sleeper: Xavier. Dayton's gotten all the attention early, but something tells me the Musketeers will have a say in who the A-10 champ is. And don't be surprised if they win a few early here.

Legends Classic

Nov. 18-22, 27-28

Favorite: Michigan State. Neither of the other three teams should seriously compete for this title.

South Padre Invitational

Nov. 15-22, Nov. 27-28

Favorite: Mississippi State. Ugly loss early but they've rolled since. Vernardo has been dominant, averaging a double-double and 7.5 blocks a game.

Sleeper: Old Dominion. The Colonial's looked really good early this season, and the Monarchs were the preseason conference favorite. Bad news for the rest of the field.

Weekend of Nov. 21st - Preview

Well, I guess the world knows who Wesley Johnson is. Boeheim placed Johnson at the 4 and he simply manhandled bigger, slower defenders en route to 25 points and 10 of 17 shooting. Meanwhile, UNC struggled from the field early in the 2nd half and Syracuse buried them in a hole that proved to big to break out of. UNC is big, talented, and deep, but don't have that one guy on the offensive end to take over the game. Johnson, on the other hand, can score early, often, and in a variety of ways. This team is also getting some good contributions from players like Rautins, Brandon Triche, and Scoop Jardine (we knew Onuaku was going to be good offensively anyway). Syracuse was obviously very underrated and will be a threat come Big East play.

That wasn't the only important game on Friday, though. Ohio State rebounded with a good win vs. Cal. The Bears could really, really use a healthy Theo Robertson. Dayton put up a good fight but Villanova pulled it out with the help of Corey Fisher and 18 points. Georgia Tech and Ole Miss picked up good wins in their preseason tournaments, and DePaul and St. Joseph's both won in minor upsets.

So it's time for the first weekend preview of the year! Conference tournaments really heat up during Feast Week, but this weekend's got some good matchups in store. Expect an update on Sunday when more games are known.

Saturday:

Game of the Night:

Ohio St. vs Michigan (football): With the college football season wrapping up, college basketball has chosen not to interfere and as a result, there really aren't any marquee matchups. And actually, Oregon v. Arizona is probably the bigger game this weekend. Screw it, let's stop talking college football.

Oklahoma @ VCU: Trap game for the Sooners. They look good so far with Warren running the show, but quality opponents have not come up yet.

Siena @ Temple: Always happy when the Saints get a decent matchup. Watch 'em while they're playing quality opponents.

Utah St. @ Northeastern: Fun mid-major matchup.

Southern Illinois @ UNLV, Houston @ Nevada, Oregon @ Portland: A bunch of mid-majors I want to keep on my radar, and Oregon. Because the Pac-10 needs some decent wins, and quick.

Sunday:

Game of the Night:

Puerto Rico Tip Off Final:

Villanova v. Ole Miss: A couple of decent matchups on TV tonight, but I'll go with the Wildcats/Rebels matchup. A team that everyone expected to be good (Nova) vs. a team that hasn't gotten much preseason attention but is talented and very capable of winning this game (Miss). While Nova has relied primarily on Corey Fisher to carry their offense these past two games, Ole Miss has four guys that can all carry the offense on any given night: Murphy Holloway, Chris Warren, Eniel Polynice, and Terrico White. This should be a great matchup of two talented backcourts. Although I've been hyping up the Rebels recently, I'll take the Wildcats, who are better defensively than anybody the Rebels have faced so far this year and should slow them down enough to take home the W.

Pick: Villanova 82, Ole Miss 75

Others:

Purdue v. St. Joseph's: The Hawks pulled off the upset over BC last night and are looking to make it two for two. Returning seniors Darrin Govens and Garrett Williamson have joined with freshman Carl Jones and forward Idrus Hilliard to form the bulk of the offense. St. Joe's hung with the versatile BC Eagles but should have a tougher time scoring against a defensively sound Boilermaker team.

Tennessee v. DePaul: The other half of the Paradise Jam semis. We'll see if Tennessee runs the Blue Demons off the court like they have with the rest of their competition this year.

Dayton v. Kansas St.: The consolation game in Puerto Rico may be as fun as the final, however less talented.

Miami v. South Carolina: Both teams could really use an early season quality non conf victory.

Friday, Nov. 20th in College Basketball

Although today's top games involve the same teams as last night, there are plenty of great matchups on this Friday, including another game between two ranked opponents, two under the radar schools, and some good mid-major/major conference matchups.

Games of the Night:

CvC Finals

UNC vs. Syracuse: It was tough to get a good read on the Heels last night. They alomst blew their dominating lead once Ohio St started hitting from the outside, but they did dominate athletically and in the paint for the vast majority of that game. Meanwhile, the Orange took Cal to the woodshed yesterday on the back of Scoop Jardine and Wesley Johnson. It will be interesting to see how UNC does against a more dynamic team that is shooting the ball well right now. Guys like Rautins, Johnson, and Jardine should make UNC pay for open outside shots. Will size dominate again, or can Syracuse negate that with their 2-3 zone and athleticism on the wings? I think UNC's size is too much in the paint for Syracuse and they win a close one.

Pick: UNC 77, Syracuse 73

Ohio State vs. Cal: The early game features a couple of perimeter oriented teams. The difference? Cal has no one to match up with Evan Turner. With no Marcus Gilyard-type player to slow down Turner, and with Theo Robertson out, Cal will rely on Jerome Randle to take over the game again. He will get his, but in the end I think the Buckeyes offense goes back to the level it was at before UNC and they pick up a solid non-conf win.

Pick: Ohio St 81, Cal 71
Others:

Dayton v. Villanova: The Flyers look to go 3 for 3 against ranked opponents. And they're one win away from getting this b-ball fan (and plenty of others) on their bandwagon for the rest of the year.

Georgia Tech v. George Mason: The Yellow Jackets get a solid non-conference win. The big 3 for GT: Lawal, Favors, and Shumpert, all played well and GT got to the line early and often (although they still didn't shoot them well). GT should fight for a tournament spot in the middle of the ACC.

Ole Miss v. Kansas St.: A slightly under the radar game featuring two schools who I think are tournament teams.

St. Joseph's v. Boston College: DePaul/Northern Iowa turned out to be a pretty good game, but this should be the best first-round matchup of the Paradise Jam. Or maybe BC will blow them out. I don't know.

Thursday, Nov. 19th in College Basketball

So what happened last night? Well, Butler and Northwestern fought early but once the Bulldogs shut down Michael Thompson's threes Northwestern's offense went down the tubes and Butler never really looked back. Texas cruised by Western Carolina, and Florida St., Florida, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin all won handedly as well. The best game of the night by far was Utah squeaking out a 1 point win over Utah State on the back of 22 points by junior guard Carlon Brown. Thursday actually has less games overall but conference tournaments start today, which means lots of good matchups, including the night games:

Games of the Night:

Coaches v. Cancer semifinals

Syracuse v. Cal: The first game features two teams heading in different directions in terms of preseason predictions. The Orange lost an exhibition game to a Division II squad but have looked dominant in the early CvC games. Onuaku is taking more of a leadership role after the perimeter losses Syracuse suffered in the offseason. Meanwhile, Cal was one of the expected Pac-10 favorites and cruised through their first two games (well, Murray State gave them a game) on the play of their standout guards Randle and Chritopher and forward Theo Robertson. I think Cal's not quite as good as expected, and Syracuse is going to be better than some think, but that's not enough to make me pick the Orange.

Pick: Cal 72, Syracuse 65

UNC v. Ohio State: A Big Ten fan told me at the beginning of the season that he thinks Ohio State can be a Top 5 team. You know what? I just might agree with him. Evan Turner does a bit of everything offensively and gets William Buford and Jon Diebler open shots, which they haven't been missing early on. Plus there's plenty of reasons not to pick UNC: Larry Drew could struggle in his first true test at the point, Thompson, Zeller, and Davis may struggle initally to establish consistent offense, perhaps this team is not built to run like the previous UNC dynasty was... who knows at this point.

Pick: Ohio State 76, UNC 72

Others to watch:

Dayton v. Georgia Tech: Finished this afternoon. The Flyers got what they needed to win: good offensive contributions from the bench, especially from the outside, and good defense. It didn't hurt that Lawal had 8 turnovers for the Yellow Jackets (26 overall). It's going to be a learning process for Paul Hewitt's young team.

George Mason v. Villanova: First Round Puerto Rico tip-off action is going on as I post. Early on Mason has been limiting the Nova guards offensively and has led most of the half. Nova is getting to the line but is having trouble making free throws. This would be a huge win for GMU and a legitimizing game for the Colonial.

Indiana v. Ole Miss: IU won't be as bad as last year, but they won't be all that good either. First test for the Rebels as well.

La Salle v. South Carolina: Don't let this late Charleston Classic slip by your thoughts. Both up and coming teams, and too much Devan Downey is never a bad thing. Unless you're playing the Gamecocks, of course.

Wed, Nov. 18th in College Basketball

24 hours of college basketball is over, and while I didn't pull an all-nighter like I was hoping (real life intervened... geez) I was still able to catch a lot of games and write down some observations. That includes Kansas actually looking inept offensively, Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers pretty much willing Michigan State to victory, UCLA and Georgetown struggle, and a couple of MAAC teams that should have some very good battles come conference season. They will all be blogged, don't worry, but for now let's talk about today, which is a pretty slow day in college hoops. Don't fret... Thursday's looking real good.

Game of the Night:

Butler @ Northwestern: Butler gets tested again early in the season. Butler already has had one scare against a much weaker Davidson team but now draws a pesky (albeit hurt) Northwestern team with annoying 1-3-1 trap zone and the always fun to watch Princeton offense. NW is down a couple wings with Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan out for the season, but will still play hard and compete, and their defense is so unique that it's a pain to play against. They may struggle to score, however, and Butler should win a slow-paced game.

Pick: Butler 64, Northwestern 52

Others to watch:

Utah vs. Utah St. - Fun rivalry game between two mid-majors, one that should be good (Utah) and one that could be very good (Utah St.).

Oakland vs. Wisconsin - Oakland could be a decent team in the Summit this year... okay, fine, just watch Texas blow out Western Carolina. That's the best I got tonight.

Tuesday, Nov. 17 in College Basketball

This is the daily feature of the blog. Each night, recaps of games from the night before, followed by a small preview of upcoming games for the day. Since this is the first of the year, I'll start by recapping some important weekend/Monday games:

Friday, Nov. 13th

Pretty much every ranked team played a cupcake and won (save for one school). Impressive debuts included: Kansas (beat Hofstra 101-65, Xavier Henry with 27 in his first college game), Michigan State (beat FL Gulf Coast 97-58 after a slow start), Duke (beat UNC Greensboro 96-62), Minnesota (beat Tennessee Tech 87-50), Illinois (beat SIU-Edwardsville 96-69. 96 points for U of I???). Notable close calls include Washington, who needed 30 points from Isaiah Thomas to beat Wright State 74-69, and UConn, who got 27 from Jerome Dyson in a 75-66 win over William & Mary. The one big upset of the night: Rider over Mississippi St., 88-74. Rider did shoot 10 of 16 from three, but my pick to win the SEC isn't looking so hot right now. Oh, and Arkansas won 130-68, with Rotnei Clarke shooting 13 for 17 on threes and scoring 51 points.

Saturday, Nov. 14th

Dayton 90, Creighton 80 - The Bluejays were up by as many as 10 in the first half but the Flyers righted the ship in the 2nd half and pulled away late to pick up the early-season win. Creighton, down two of its top forwards, went into the game in a zone and pressured Dayton out of their rhythm. Creighton also shot 56% in the first half. At the start of the 2nd, Chris Wright had his way, scoring 7 points, blocking a shot, and creating 3 fouls in the first two and a half minutes en route to 25 points overall. He will need to have those kinds of days when Dayton gets into funks offensively. Chris Johnson added 18 points and 15 rebounds. As for Creighton, they missed out on a great chance for an at-large win, and that could come back to haunt them in March.

Butler 73, Davidson 62 - The Bulldogs avoided an early-season disappointment by putting it together in the 2nd half after shooting 31% with 7 turnovers in the first 16.5 minutes. Gordon Hayward had 17 and Willie Veasley had 15.

Michigan 97, Northern Michigan 50 - Manny Harris had 18 points, 13 boards, and 10 assists... and this was with 8 minutes in the game. Michigan shot 57% from the field and they rolled.

Sunday, Nov. 15th

More Top 25 teams rolling over nobodies. UNC held off Valpo to win 88-77 and go 3-0, for what it's worth.

Monday, Nov. 16th

Kentucky 72, Miami (OH) 70 - I don't think John Wall anticipated needing to make a 15 footer to win in his college debut, but that's just what he did. Wall finished with 19 points and is already cementing the hero status Kentucky fans gave him thr moment he set foot on campus. Miami packed it in and prevented Wall and Bledsoe from driving much of the game, but the Wildcats still got 32 points in the paint and outrebounded the RedHawks by 12 (mostly due to Patterson and Cousins). Despite this, Miami (OH) shot 15 of 26 from three and jumped out to an 18 point lead in the first half. While they played better offensively today, Kentucky has looked very sloppy early on in the season. Probably all the youth trying to come together as one team (hey, someone warned you all these freshman on one team isn't going to go over so smoothly. Don't worry, I fully expect them to figure it out this year. At some point... maybe)

Western Kentucky 69, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 65 - Best 1st Round game of the Preseason NIT so far. After a quick start by the Hilltoppers, this game remained close the entire way. A. J Slaughter had 30 points on 10 of 16 from the field and WKU shot 51% from the floor compared to 42% for UW-Milwaukee.

Otherwise, Monday was mostly Top 25 teams winning tune-up games and minor upsets (such as Missouri St. over Auburn)

Tuesday:

Game(s) of the Night:

Memphis @ Kansas (St. Louis) - Look, it's the first daily preview and I'm already mired in indecision. We'll start with a rematch of the 2007 National Championship game (for what it's worth). Kansas looks like they could score over 100 points a night in every game they play. The key for Memphis is keeping up with the high-powered Jayhawk offense. Elliot Williams is good, and Wesley Witherspoon, Doneal Mack, and Roburt Sallie form a solid backcourt, but there's definitely a talent disparity between the two squads. Look for Kansas to pound it inside with Aldrich against a smaller Tiger team.

Pick: Kansas 90, Memphis 75

Gonzaga @ Michigan State - In my opinion, the better of the two games. Michigan State is not going to blow anyone out of the water with size or athleticism or shooting, but they do a lot of things very well and are a complete team. Well, except at center. Meanwhile, the Zags are attempting to replace a lot of key contributors from last year. Matt Bouldin will be the leader of this squad, as he was on Saturday vs. Miss Valley State. Gonzaga played a lot of guys in their first game and might have a deep rotation as Mark Few tries to find his regulars. Gonzaga, as always, has a tough non-conference schedule, with games still upcoming against Washington State, Wake Forest, @ Duke, Oklahoma, and @ Illinois, so we'll know what the Zags are made of by mid-January.

Pick: Michigan State 82, Gonzaga 70

Others to watch:

Temple @ Georgetown - Time to find if G-Town is for real, early. This isn't a big test, but Temple is the kind of team that can get you if you're not ready.

Arkansas @ Louisville - Might be a fun non-conference matchup between power conference schools. Louisville's season debut will be against an Arkansas team that is only dressing 8 guys due to suspensions.

Northeastern @ Siena - Bracket Busters in November. One of the top teams in the Colonial faces off against one of last year's cinderellas who is currently just outside the Top 25. Fun times.

Season Preview: Preaseason Tournaments

First a quick update: my wrist surgery went well but I am currently typing with one hand, making this a very slow process. I am still blogging but it will be slower than before. The show must go on, right? Anyway, continuing on with season previews, here's a look at the major preseason tournaments starting this week. A part two will begin next week for Turkey Day preseason tournaments. And here we go:

Coaches v. Cancer:

Nov. 9-13, 19-20

Favorite: UNC. The Tar Heels had no problems in their first two games. Plenty of talent and depth is present, and Larry Drew and Marcus Ginyard looked fine. Still the most athletic team in this tournament.

Others: Ohio State. Evan Turner can't do it all, but he'll try. This team is right on the border of "scary good" right now.

Cal. If they're shooting well, they can beat anyone in the country. Probably the best backcourt in this tournament with Randle and Christopher.

Sleeper: Syracuse. It's evident that they lost a lot of talent and will be fairly thin across the board. But if Rautins shoots well and they get significant offense from guys like Wesely Johnson and Rick Jackson, they could surprise.

Preseason NIT:

Nov. 16-17, 25, 27

Favorite: Duke. Until a young UConn squad proves themselves, I'll go with the more proven Blue Devils. Duke looked just fine on Friday even with Nolan Smith and Mason Plumlee out. Scheyer and Singler will log plenty of minutes and carry this team.

Others: UConn. Every starter logged 30 or more minutes in Friday's win over William & Mary. Dyson will be the star, but Kemba Walker will be the key for this squad after losing A. J Price to graduation.

Sleeper: Western Kentucky. A. J Slaughter and Stephon Pettigrew give the Hilltoppers two effective outside shooters and will spread out teams in this tournament. Do they have the size to handle bigger teams, especially Duke and UConn?

Cancun Challenge

Nov. 18-25

Favorite: Kentucky. With Wall out on Friday, Eric Bledsoe and Patrick Patterson led the team. Lots of turnovers, but lots of talent on this Wildcat team.

Others: None. Oral Roberts, Rider, Virginia, and Stanford isn't really the kind of competition that will keep John Calipari up at night (although Rider did just beat Kentucky's biggest competition for the SEC crown, Mississippi St.)

Sleeper: Rider. They shot lights out to take down the Bulldogs on Friday and may challenge Niagara and Siena in the MAAC this year.

Puerto Rico Tip-Off

Nov 19-22

Favorite: Villanova. No struggles for the Wildcats on Friday. The guards will carry this offense, but forwards Mouphtaou Yarou, Antonio Pena, and Taylor King will have to provide some support offensively.

Others: Georgia Tech, Dayton, Mississippi, Kansas State. There's a lot of teams that could take out the Wildcats and win this tournament. My money would be on either the Flyers or the Yellow Jackets.

Sleeper: Mississippi. This team returns three guys who were all hurt last year but played significant minutes the year before. It will be interesting to see how the Rebels fare this week.

Charleston Classic

Nov. 19-22

Favorite: South Carolina. The Gamecocks lead this somewhat depleted field. Finding a 2nd scorer to complement Devan Downey will be key for the Gamecocks if they want to make the tournament this year.

Others: La Salle. The A-10 will show its depth here, as the Explorers are expected to be one of the better teams in this conference and this tournament.

Sleeper: Miami (FL). Dwayne Collins and co. will look to pick up the production of Jack McClinton after his graduation.

Paradise Jam

Nov. 19-22

Favorite: Purdue. The Boilers looked strong on Friday. They will be thin at forward but the backcourt depth is impressive. Watch for frosh Kelsey Barlow, who has impressed in the early season and will fight for minutes in a crowded backcourt.

Others: Tennessee. If these two teams meet in the finals, it will be a classic battle if tempo. Look for the athletic Vols to push the pace more often this season.

Sleeper: Boston College. The Eagles have lots of weapons offensively and good wings with Sanders and Raji. They could emerge from a crowded middle pack in the ACC this year, and this tournament should be a good test of their overall strength.

College Basketball Season Starts!!!

Today is officially the first day of the college basketball season! The first week is pretty slow, with primarily warm up games for Top 25 opponents and other power conference schools. Some preseason tournaments start, but they are primarily initial round-robin games. Tournaments like Coaches v. Cancer have preliminary rounds but four schools automatically advance to the semi-finals. Since those don't take place until next week (and to a larger extent, the week after), this week is devoid of good matchups. Still, I hope to get started on weekday and weekend game previews as soon as possible. Here's what my schedule looks like over the next few weeks:

Today: This post, final Season Preview (hopefully)
Friday: Weekend games to watch
Sunday: Weekend recap, games to watch for upcoming week
Wednesday, Nov. 18: In-depth preseason tournament preview
Every day after: Daily recaps

A somewhat intense schedule, I know. We'll see if I can keep this pace up for the entire year. I figure this weekend and the next two weekends I should have plenty of time to watch and write about college basketball, so might as well use the time well. Enjoy!