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.