Daily Preview: November 18th, 2010

I DVR'ed a lot of Tuesday's games since I didn't get a chance to see much of them. I'll blog about Tuesday's games in much more detail when I watch them this weekend. It's always tough to tell in these early games just how good these teams are, since we don't have much of a barometer to measure them by. It will likely take a month or so (or longer) to really get a feel for many of these teams, and like I mentioned on Sunday night, there's a big difference between the way college basketball teams play in November and the way they play in March. This is especially true in today's college basketball when there is so much turnover in programs and so many new pieces entering each year. With that said, here's Thursday's top games, and it consists of one tournament: The 2K Sports Coaches v. Cancer semifinals.

Game of the Night:

Illinois v. Texas (Coaches v. Cancer semis)

The Illini have been a trendy underdog to pick in the Big Ten this year. Almost all the key pieces return, including Big 10 POY candidate Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, and a couple of talented sophs in D. J. Richardson and Brandon Paul. Add in another good recruiting class and there's reason to get excited for basketball again in Champaign. Texas, meanwhile, seems to be one of those programs that recruits well but can't seem to get the chemistry or continuity to breed any sort of long-term success. Three NBA draft picks (Avery Bradley, Damion James, Dexter Pittman) left the program after last year, leaving the team in the hands of a group of talented, yet inexperienced freshman and sophomores and a bunch of role players. From the bit of Texas that I saw, they are definitely talented but still very raw on the offensive end. It will be interesting to see how the Longhorns perform against a team that matches up better with them athletically.

Other games:

Pitt v. Maryland (CvC semis): Both teams had early season scares. Pitt will be the favorite in this game, but do they have anyone to match up Jordan Williams in the post?

Puerto Rico Tip-Off 1st Round: Hofstra v. UNC, Davidson v. West Virginia, Nebraska v. Vanderbilt, W. Kentucky v. Minnesota

There should be some good semifinal matchups, but the first rounders appear to have 4 heavy favorites. Doesn't mean there can't be some good games, though.