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.