Plan your weekend college hoops on TV
Be sure to plan ahead your weekend hoops because we have some exciting games this weekend. A quadruple header on FSN on Sunday including Kansas at USC, Texas at UCLA and Texas A&M at Arizona, and North Carolina visiting Kentucky on Saturday on ESPN2. For all the games, channels and airtimes, check our December 2007 college hoops TV schedule
Game of the weekend: North Carolina at Kentucky
Here are some previews of this big game from around the net: A Sea of Blue has an early preview of the game, Jerry Tipton of Kentucky.com. CSTV's update discusses Ole Roy's thoughts on Tywon Lawson's injury, Greg Barnes of Scout.com previews the game from a UNC perspective, a local news channel News14 says that Lawson is doubtful, and so does the UNC Rivals page.
More coverage on the game: John Clay of the Sidelines Report blog and the Lexington Herald Ledger has an audio interview with ESPN's Andy Katz!. Check it out!
John Clay provides a scouting report on UNC, and a six-pack of related stories to this big game. And John Clay has a nice article on UK attendance records for non-conference games.
FireBilly.com has predictions of the game, and they "scout" Tyler Hansbrough.
More previews of the game at Aaron's UK Basketball blog!
Now back to the North Carolina perspective, here are thoughts on the game from Tar Heel Fan, Inside Carolina, Tar Heel Daily, Tar Heel Blue at CSTV, Tar Heel Times, and Carolina March.
Elsewhere in the world of college basketball
College Basketball Reference picks the winners and losers of the pre-season tournaments, and posts their own Top 25.
From the world of comedy and silliness, Kansas State's Billy Walker gets caught urinating on towels during the game (story at ballhype.com).
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Preparing for a weekend of college hoops
Oklahoma at USC
Devon Jefferson in the first half, and OJ Mayo in the fourth quarter were too hot to handle for the Oklahoma State Sooners, and USC won this defense-intensive game. Despite the hard defense, the game was more watchable than the final score may indicate.
Regular readers of this blog knew how good Devon Jefferson was months ahead of time. The rest, found out this week after two solid games against the Southern Illinois wrestling team and the Oklahoma Dookies.
Austin Johnson, strep throat and all, single-handedly brought the Sooners back in the game in the second half, but then Tim Floyd spun a web around him, and took him out, just like he did with touted physical specimen freshman Blake Griffin. Keith "Moose" Clarke had his moments on offense, showing potential if he continues to work and improve his game.
So what did we learn from this game? USC is for real, as we had predicted, and despite the diva moments from OJ Mayo, the team plays defense for real. The Oklahoma Sooners are a team mending and blending, with a new coach and players, and has the potential of getting an NCAA bid, but they have to earn it the hard way. In a worse case scenario they'll probalby be invited to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational (CBI), aka not-good-enough-for-the-NIT.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Oregon at Kansas State
They must have put something in the water they hand out at the inaugural Big 12 Pac 10 Hardwood series, because both games so far ended in overtime and in dramatic fashion. The prodigal freshman was going against the Quack Attack. Who prevailed???
The game started fun, fast and furious, until both coaches "zoned out", and used zone defenses to slow the opponent down. This worked in slowing down the game to almost a crawl and having a low first half score.
The second half was exciting however, with the teams going back and forth. Michael Beasley once again showed his "mad skillz", although some could point out that he was jumping over shorties, not players his own size, length and athleticism. But Fran Frachilla (who blogs and surfs in a swimsuit? (just testing to see if you are reading this Fran :)) has appointed Beasley the #1 pick of the 2008 NBA draft, and why not? He might be the next Kevin Garnett or Melo. Can you afford to not pick him over yet another guard or wing? Thankfully I don't have to make that decision, but NBA GMs will have to :)
I had my reservations with this season's Quack Attack, because Aaron Brooks was the glue that held last season's team together as a seasoned four year veteran college point guard. That's why I haven't given the Ducks much vote love in the BlogPoll Top 25 bloggers poll.
But after watching them for the first time this season, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, they do have their issues, in that they lack size, but they are a versatile team with a capital T. Space-eater Jo Catron is no longer just five fouls off the bench, he has improved his game in many aspects, and showed he can have impact in the paint on the offensive end. Marty Leunen continues to be the all-around player that was advertised, but he seems to have added more toughness as showcased by his four-rebound effort at a critical time of the game while going against three Kansas State players. The Mighty Mouse may be a liability because of his size, but he is a game changer because of his size, speed and shooting. Bryce Taylor is another player that has improved his game from last year. And while Mailk Hairston, just like his other overrated teammate Joe Crawford at Kentucky, failed to meet their lofty expectations coming out of high school, he is also another solid experienced player in the rotation.
Kansas State could have easily won the game, if they could hit their free throws (they went 0 for 3 in three one-and-one attempts, essentially 0 of 6). They also made some freshman mistakes as expected, but they also showed some poise. While this team is not yet a top 25 team, there is a lot of potential as Billy Walker continues to get up to speed, and the newcomers get more acclimated to D1, and Frank Martin finds more ways to take advantage of having Michael Beasley in his line-up.
Despite the loss, this was a good game for Kansas State, although obviously a W would have been even better. Needless to say this was a good road win for the Mighty Tiny Ducks, in front of an ESPN audience.
The (Big 12 Pac 10 Hardwood) series is now tied 1-1, with Oklahoma playing USC as we speak, and ten more games are coming up in the next few games. What's different in this series is that some tams are playing more than one game, namely Arizona, Stanford and USC (assuming the Kansas at USC game is part of the series). This presumable was set up as such so that all 12 Big 12 teams would play in the hardwood challenge.
George Washington at UCLA
George Washington lost the game, but they managed to do something no other college team has been able to do: put Kevin Love in a straightjacket (to borrow a Kevin Harlan expression), and get him upset and frustrated. This was the first test for Kevin Love and he showed (as expected) that he is human after all.
The return of Darren Collison and the continued improvement of Westbrook were something to cheer about for UCLA Bruins fans. The Ben Howland defense managed to shut off GW's water in the second half and cruise to a comfy victory.
Early in the game the Colonials made a push, and a barrage of three brought them back in the game. But without the benefit of more threes in the second half and going against the UCLA defense and the road crowd was too much for this rebuilding team.
The Karl Hobbs squad does look promising though, as they blend two "ACC" transfers and promising freshmen into their rotation. Because of their size, quickness, fastbreaks and three pointers will be perhaps what decides most of their games.
According to the FSN Prime Ticket crew, John Wooden missed the game as he was at home recovering from a cold.
Wild Prediction: Ben Howland will be out of UCLA faster than you think!
Here is another Wild Prediction: Ben Howland will be out of UCLA faster than you think!
Before you dismiss it as totally crazy, keep in mind that I predicted Jamal Boykin's transfer out of Duke more than 12 months before it happened, so you can upgrade this prediction from "totally crazy" to "really crazy" :)
Why is Ben Howland is going to be out of there faster than you all think? Because of his style of play. As long as he is winning games, he will be fine, but once he has a couple of iffy seasons, it will all collapse like a house of cards. He won't get the Steve Lavin benefit of the doubt.
John Wooden himself, who doesn't want to say anything negative, has pointed out during his interviews with ESPN this year that "he does it with defense", and "the game is too physical". You can read between the lines there, the Wizard is saying that Howland is winning with slugfest, instead of playing the game the way it's supposed to be played!
Ben Howland will find himself in a Tubby Smith situation once he stops going to the Final Four. He may have an impressive record on paper, but it won't be good enough for the legacy of UCLA/Kentucky, because at those places, it's not just wins and losses, it's also how you play. As some of the biggest and most historic college basketball programs, they are not just another team, they are the guardians of the game. The coaches call themselves the Guardians of the Game, so when you are the coach of one of the top ten programs, you have even more responsibility. And as such, the fans expect not only wins, but high caliber basketball.
Neither Tubby Smith nor Ben Howland have been able to deliver that. Especially when they get compared to the Rick Pitino and John Wooden style of play.
What's even more telling with Ben Howland is that he has the fastest point guard in the country, and he uses him to run on offense, not to score, but to put pressure on the defense and then pull back. Don't believe me? Grab some UCLA tapes from the previous years and take a close look.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
North Carolina at Ohio State
It was a fast moving game, but nowhere near as high scoring or entertaining as the one last year. Without Tywon Lawson, North Carolina was playing at a "slower pace", but was able to grab the deal and hold it while the young Ohio State team was looking for an offensive identity.
The good news for the young Buckeyes was that their touted scorer Diebler (shooter, not dribbler) finally found the net as he hit a barrage of three pointers (but he took a lot of them too). The bad news was that their touted freshman center Kosta Koufas had a second bad game in a row. Was it the competition, the size of the opponents, or an early freshman wall, or all of the above?
The initial burst that got the Ohio State team out of the team looks like it's waning off, and now the freshmen and youth of the team is perhaps starting to surface. But the raw talent is there, and they have one of the best current coaches in Thad Matta, so you can bet they'll figure it out.
Carolina is starting to "like" the "win ugly" approach to games as they get their second win in the 60s. What? Carolina in the 60s? Well, they were without Lawson baby! Once again, for whatever strange reason, the Carolina coaches played Quinton Thomas and Marcus Ginyard at the same time. While that may be great on defense, neither one of those guys is an offensive thread. Having two of them on the floor at the same time is an ealry XMas present for the defense as it allows them to focus on the other three UNC players.
So what did we learn from this game? Ohio State is young, and North Carolina can win ugly.
The new Blog Poll Top 25 has been published!
Read all about it: The Blog Poll Top 25 Google spreadsheet! See how each blog-voter blog-voted on this blog-vote-poll!
Memphis got 6 #1 votes, and the #1 spot, with UCLA getting 4 #1 votes and the #2 spot, and North Carolina getting 2 #1 votes (despite playing defense for a chance ;-) and the #3 spot.
My late motion to proceed on a motion to consider a non-binding resolution to drop the Salukis from the Top 25 failed, so the wrestling team of the Salukis is at #23. More of my thoughts on the Salukis and their "offense".
The Pukies have climbed all the way to #6, while the Texas schools (Austin, College Station) invaded the Top 10 with their performances at the Versus StubHub Legends Classic and the preseason NIT Tip Off.
BYU burst into the top 20 after playing two solid back to back games against PitinoVille and Carolana. I had them much higher even, at lucky #13, which means they are probably going to lose by 20 to the next low-major team they play :) Speaking of low major, they do play Michigan State on December 8 (just kidding Izzo State fans!)
Villanova climbed one spot (from #25 to #24) as the blogger-voters realized that their loss to NC State was on a bad call at the end of the game.
Out went Syracuse, Kansas State (Michael Beasley should ask for a trade), Davidson and the University of Iverson-Singletary.
Mid-majors receiving votes were George (pause) MASON, George (pause) MASON, Miami of Ohio and Saint Mary's of the WCC. Mid-major-conference teams in the top 25: Butler, Gonzaga, and Southern Illinois. We need more mid-major-conference bloggers :) Teams from BCS-wannabe conferences: Memphis, Xavier and BYU. The remaining 19 slots went to BCS teams.
Meanwhile Clemson was all over the place, as high as #11 and as low as out of the top 25. I think last season's epic Clemson meltdown is fresh in the minds of a number of voters (me included), so Clemson has to earn my top 25 vote the hard way. Similar to Pitt, they'll get a top 25 vote when they earn it the hard way.
If you want to To find out which blogs are participating in this Blog Poll Top 25, then find out!
Reaction from the other participating bloggers
March to Madness, who does a great job administering the poll, may have found a new mascot for the BlogPoll Top 25 :) They also comment on BYU, OJ Mayo Mania, Butler, and more.
SEC Hoops The Good The Bad and The Dirrrrrtty dissects this week's (week 3) blog poll votes. They highlight the teams that have moved on up and down, and the newcomers in the top 25.
Storming the Court casts their first Blog Poll Vote, and provides a detailed analysis of their picks.
You decide my #1 vote for next week
One more thing, for this week you, the readers will decide who I vote for #1 next week - there is a poll vote at the top of the right column. The team voted #1 by the readers will receive my #1 vote in next week's BlogPoll Top 25. If there is a tie for the #1 spot, I will be the tie-breaker (unless someone has a better idea for a tie-breaker) :)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Existential questions for Wisconsin fans
Can Bo Ryan's style of play and recruiting style really win the big games? Can they ever make the Final Four? Is his style destined for 25+ wins but not winning the big games? While he has won lower division championships, is he still thinking and recruiting in D3 terms? Has Wisconsin reached its ceiling and simply can't get any higher?
All these are open ended questions, not conclusions :)
Jimmy V speech to air on Wednesday across the family of ESPN Networks
A very nice touch by ESPN, on Wednesday November 28, 2007, they will run the inspiring Jimmy V speech at the ESPYs through the family of ESPN Networks at 7pm eastern (4pm pacific). This is why the games start at 7:13pm, instead of their usual 7pm tipoff (eastern).
More details on the November College Hoops TV schedule, as well as the December College Hoops TV schedule, which will be updated throughout the month as usual.
The return of Lute Olson (for a practice)
Lute Olson returns to practice says ESPN.com, but it is still not known whether he is back full time. He was quoted saying that he was "going to give it a try".
More on this from the Arizona Sports Hub. This blog, A Sideline View says that it has to do with the health of one of his sons.
The lesson learned from this: If you are a high profile person, you owe your fans an explanation. Obviously the Arizona fans will for the most part, respect Olson's wishes, but as basketball fans deserve to know.
Southern Illinois vs USC
This game showed exactly what I have been talking about when it comes to the Southern Illinois Salukis. This may be a top 25 defensive team, top 25 wrestling team, top 25 hard working team, top 25 over-achieving team, top 25 smartest team, top 25 body building team, top 25 football team, top 25 slugsketball team, but they are not a top 25 basketball team.
Let me describe the Salukis offense in simple terms: Use 20 to 30 seconds of the shot clock while pushing and shoving the opponents, throw the ball at the rim, push all the opposing players out of the way, grab the rebound, and make the layup. I'm sorry but if this is one of the best top 25 basketball teams, I'd rather watch Spelling Bee and Dog and Pony show reruns with Jimmy Dykes on ESPN Classic.
Thankfully the USC Trojans exposed them for the whole nation to see. Enough excuses for the Salukis. They are the premier team of the Missouri Valley (allegedly), they are not a low-major in the RPI #30 conference. They should be playing more basketball and less football/wrestling/slugfest. I'm sure Digger Phelps is going to have a field day with this game - unless he is busy playing ...actor.
Now imagine if half of the teams in the country adopted the Salukis style of play. That would ruin college basketball! Wake up Salukis!
On the other side of the aisle, the USC Trojans were impressive. Tim Floyd did not "Fear the Mayo" as he benched his star recruit, while spinning his decision to the media to save face for the Juice perhaps. Well, his decision apparently paid dividends, not because the two starters played better, but when Mayo and Taj Gibson got in the game, they grabbed the lead and never looked back.
As I have been saying for quite a while now, it was only a matter of time before Devon Jefferson got up to speed, both recovering from his injuries and getting accustomed to the college game. As I mentioned many times, he was a high-school all-star caliber player (he played in one or two of the big four post-season high school all star games in 2005), and he is two years older now, with presumably two years of prep school seasoning. Expect to hear a lot more from Devon Jefferson.
As Steve Lavin pointed out, the Trojans were a different (better passing) team without the Mayo. Daniel Hackett is continuing to emerge as the engine or backbone of the team. Angelo Johnson is another player that can have an impact on the game, as he can shift gears and give opposing defenses a different look.
But perhaps the big Thank You from Trojan fans should go to Charles Coles and the Miami of Ohio Red Hawks who prepared the USC Trojans for this type of a game. While the Trojans looked more jittery against Miami of Ohio, their "training' paid off when they took over the Salukis game and never looked back.
More on this at Trojan Wire, including their piece on Devon Jefferson. Also at Daily Trojan, uschoops.com, and Brendan Loy's Irish Trojan blog.
The Salukis point of view at SIUSalukis.com.
And non-denominational opinions at College Hoops Journal, ArcaMax.com.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Who is #1? You vote, I vote!
As promised, you, the blog readers, will decide which team I will pick as #1 in my vote in mext week's BlogPoll Top 25. The choices are from four of the teams I consider #1-worthy: UCLA, North Carolina, Memphis and Georgetown. You vote, you decide, and then I vote as #1 the one you decided!
What is the BlogPoll Top 25 you ask? It's a weekly poll based on the votes of a number of college basketball bloggers! Who are the bloggers participating you ask? Here they are:
PS1> If I forgot to include a participating blog, please let me know!
PS2> Are you a blogger and you want to join? You can!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Arizona at Kansas
This was a surprise. The Lute-less and struggling Arizona Meerkats were supposed to get their asses kicked real bad at Allen Fieldhouse. That's what one who has watched the previous Arizona games would have thought.
But instead of that, we got a very close game that was decided late in overtime, where Kansas finally took over the game, following an airball by the high scoring Chase Budinger, an airball that unraveled the Wildcats.
With Collins out, and Brandon Rush slowly recovering from his injury, the Kansas Jayhawks did not look particularly impressive, even though deep and talented to a certain extend. They clearly did not look like a Final Four team today.
With the rich history and tradition at Kansas, is it too early to bring up the "U-word"? Has Bill Self underachieved given the talent he inherited and the boatloads of talent he brought in himself? Were two Elite 8s and two first round exits not signs of the U-word when there was talent for two Final Fours and two Sweet 16s?
Arizona looked a lot better than before, with Kirk Waters thrown into the fire, Nic Wise taking over the point for a big chunk of the game, and at times looking like a kitten running and bumping into things, Jordan "Lee" Hill continuing with the P-word (potential) but not delivering the R-word (results). Apparently ESPN's Ron Franklin decided to call Jordan Hill "Lee". But because he lulls people to sleep with his monotone, people probably didn't notice ;-)
Jamelle Horne is a talented and athletic player but he is clearly overmatched to play big-time power forwards. But apparently Kevin O'Neill does not mind throwing him into the fire. Despite the big bigs of Kansas, Mohammed Tangara and Fendi Onobun, along with touted 7-footer freshman Alex Jacobsen did not get any PT.
Kansas has a ridiculous six-man rotation upfront, they are so deep that perhaps they should experiment with Arthur-SlimShady at the 3-spot when Brandon Rush is not in the game. This was the first time I saw a full Kansas game, and I must admit that I was expecting more from the team, knowning that Rush was recovering and Collins was not playing. They still had a lot of burgers in their rotation! But obviously it's too early, and things, can and do usually improve over the season.
A sneak preview at my next BlogPoll Top 25 vote
There will be another BlogPoll Top 25 vote tomorrow. In preparation for that vote, I'm thinking blogging aloud on how I will be voting. There are 24 hours left before the vote is cast, and things can change with more games played and the wind adjusting my opinion :)
So, who's #1?. Based on how UCLA Gonzaga'ed their win over Michigan State, I will be giving him the #1 spot. North Carolina surprised me by being able to lock down BYU on defense towards the end of the second half, but I get the feeling there's something missing from this Carolana team. Memphis and UNC are a toss up for the #2 spot, I'll do a coin flip if it remains too-close.
Rushing into the top 25 will be BYU after two impressive performances against UNC and Louisville. If they continue at this pace, BYU may be looking for a new head coach in April (now that's what I call jumping on the bandwagon!)
Barely sneaking into the top 25 will be Michigan State (I had my doubts, still do, still think Drew Neitzel is over-rated) and Illinois. Despite their loss to Puke, they have shown versatility, depth and promise.
USC will remain in the top 25, partially because of the potential contributions of Davon Jefferson, and the blending and mending of this new team.
I haven't seen Kansas play this year, but that will change in a few minutes when I start time-shifting the Arizona vs Kansas game. Depending on what I see, their position will be adjusted.
Needless to say the run and gun Austin Torreros (Rick Barnes's Texas) will jump up, while the struggling Bruce Pearl Vols will take a tumble in the teens. Their game against West Virginia did not impress me much.
Unless Southern Illinois shows offensive skills in their game against USC, I will continue not to include them in the Top 25. The Top 25 is the best 25 basketball teams in my opinion, not the best 25 football/wrestling/slugfestball teams :)
Gone gone will be Kansas State, perhaps Michael Beasley should ask for a trade to West Virginia? :)
Davidson will remain in the top 25. Road losses should not necessarily cause knee-jerk reaction and have a team drop out. Remember, the vote is the best 25 teams, not the Billboard Charts where things go up and down in predictable patterns. The AP/Coaches polls are behaving more like the Billboard Charts.
I'm glad I kept Xavier in the Top 25, especially now that they beat Indiana ;-) Poor Xavier was robbed in two of the last four NCAA tourneys. Thad Matta's Xavier should have advanced to the Final Four over Duke (bad zebras bad!), and the Greg Oden call kept Miller's Xavier from advancing in the 2007 tourney.
Clemson will remain out of the top 25 until I am convinced they are actually one of the best 25 teams. Remember 2006-2007? :) Pitt is another glorified Clemson-type team. They have to earn the top 25 based on how they play and who they play, not by cupcaking :)
If I don't have 25 teams in the Top 25, Syracuse might find itself in there! Another team that might find itself in the Top 25 is George Mason, and Mike Anderson's 40 minutes of H*ck!
While this is theoretically a west-coast bias blog, it's hard to miss the fact that the Pac-10 and west coast teams are collapsing like a house of cards. Granted a number of those are because of injuries or other reasons, and some will point out that the projections look towards teh end of the season, not necessarily how teams do in their first five or ten games. But those first ten games can play a significant factor in setting up the RPI/SOS.
Is it too early to talk RPI/SOS? Based on my early tea-leaf Bracketology Syracuse is out, but they do earn the #1 seed in the new College Basketball Invitational! Just kidding Orange fans) :-)
If you are wondering what is the Blog Poll Top 25, see the intro to some of the blogs participating, and all my posts on the Blog Poll Top 25 so far. There is also a BlogHype group discussing the Blog Poll Top 25!
I have been behind on a lot of posts this week: Week 2 of the Blog Poll Top 25 was published on Tuesday, but I'm mentioning it just now. There are some paper caught in my typewriter so I couldn't publish it earlier on. Here is the Week 2 Top 25 (Google spreadsheet), along with the votes of each participant-blogger.
Coming on Tuesday: I will create a poll, and you, the readers, will decide which team I will vote in the #1 spot in next week's Blog Poll. The list of teams to vote on will be teams that I consider worthy of #1 consideration, it won't be a have-a-field-day vote :) This is to thank readers like you for reading and supporting this blog through the centuries.
Miami of Ohio vs USC
The Red Hawks with hawkish coach Charles Coles played like your typical solid mid-major team with experienced players and having NCAA aspirations: solid hard-nosed defense and solid half-court shot-clock-violation offense. What they didn't have was pure talent and athleticism. They forced Floyd's squad to compete with them at their level, and it wasn't easy for the Trojans. It took some good karma from football coach Pete Carroll and a bounce of the ball here and there for USC to win.
The Trojans, Mayo included, tightened their defense, although as expected of a young team they had their lapses which translated into Hawk-points. As expected Mayo had some impressive moves, some "what is he doing" shots, and such, but because of the pace of the game, he wasn't able to showcase his skillz more often.
Another player that continues to fly under the radar is Devon Jefferson. This guy was a summer all-star selection two years ago. So with two years of prep school preparation, the former UNLV signee should be an all-conference caliber player once he gets his feet wet.
This sets up the Trojans for another grinder, this time with the anti-basketball squad of the Salukis. The first one to 45 wins :)
Surely this must be frustrating for the ESPN big wigs (and fans alike) because they set up this tourney (Anaheim Classic) to showcase OJ Mayo's skills, not to show grinded out affairs. And it looks like the worse case scenario had happened, USC is facing two methodical teams, Miami of Ohio and Souther Illinois.
Gift ideas for the hardcore hoops fans and more
With the holiday shopping season upon us, now it's about as good of a time as any to pick up gifts for friends, family and yourself! Here at NCAA Hoops Today we have some suggestions, for both the basketball fan and the general population.
First up, for the hardcore basketball fan, consider getting them DVDs of their favorite college team playing (and preferably winning) games in the 2007 NCAA College Basketball Tournament. If your team didn't make it or didn't do so well, consider also some of the classic NCAA tournament moments. and digging into the classic DVD archives sold on Amazon by CSTV.
If your trusty VCR is wearing down and you are looking for a new way to record your favorite hoops games, consider all the alternatives in our Tech Talk special article.
And how about the 2008 College Hoops Video games? The 2K Sports games are already shipping, while the EA Sports game will ship around XMas time.
And now some gift ideas for the general population:
BYU vs North Carolina
We had some shocking revelations in this game. This group of North Carolina players can actually play defense and not have a meltdown when punched in the mouth? That's what the end of the second half showed, while the end of the first half showed the same team that had an epic meltdown/lock-up against Georgetown in the Elite 8.
Granted they were playing without Tywon Lawson who got injured two minutes into the game, so Ole Roy did not have time to create a game plan without him. But that meltdown showed that perhaps there's something missing from this team, and I'm not talking about talent or Xs and Os, but the intangibles. So what exactly is missing? (that's why they pay the experts to figure it out!)
While Ellington has the talent and can hit big shots at times, it doesn't seem like he has as much impact on the game as he should have based on his talent/position. He is not the type of player that would scare an opponent like Rashad McCants, but then again it took McCants three years to figure it all out.
BYU once again looked impressive. Tavernari never met a shot he didn't like hoisting up in 50 milliseconds or less, and once again he made a lot of those, which is scary for the defense because if this guy can make 3-6 crazy three-pointers per game, that's the difference between winning and losing a game. Plaisted had a big game and got Vitale to sing his praises. Once again Vitale was expecting to call a game with a big team from the state of Kentucky, but found himself getting his hands "dirty" with non-BCS teams. Oh it's unbelievable I am the one and only Dick Vitale and I have to call games of Gardner Webb and BYU! Oh it's unbelievable get me the ESPN VP! I want to sing the praises of Coach K, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, not David Rose and Gardner Webb baby!
Back to Trent Plaisted, he had a big game numbers wise, even though he missed a number of baskets he should have made, but you may want to credit the defense for that, with the Carolina players flying at him. He perhaps exposed a hole in this year's UNC team, they cannot guard big talented and athletic centers. The good news for UNC is that there are not that many like that around. The bad news is that they are facing Ohio State and Kosta Koufos next week, so they'll be tested again. Although Koufos is nowhere near as athletic, mobile, agile and experienced as Plaisted, but he does have seasoned offensive moves perhaps for a player of his age.
What's even more promising for BYU fans is that they almost beat Carolina and beat Louisville with Cummard in foul trouble in both games. Plaisted had an okay game and a great game, while Tavernari's shooting was off the hook on both nights. If you average out the performance of those three players, and assume that Tavernari can continue to deliver crazy 3s on a consistent basis, we could be looking at perhaps an Elite 8 if the stars align, or a Sweet 16 team.
Which brings up another question, why was BYU "hiding" David Rose in the "boring" Steve Cleveland staff and why didn't they give him the reigns a lot earlier? This guy looks like he can coach. Okay, I'm starting to sound like Vitale now, so I better stop singing the praises of Rose baby!
Another surprise to those who don't think Ole Roy is a solid coach was the smart move of not burning out Psycho T on Plaidsted. Not that Psycho-T would have been the ideal player to guard him, but by rotating Thompson and the athletic Stepheson on him, he allowed Psycho-T not to get into foul trouble and have Plaisted-stress. However, this backfired in other areas, because Psycho-T was on the perimeter chasing Tavernari, instead of grabbing defensive rebounds and filling up the paint.
One thing that the Carolina coaching staff seems to not pay attention to is having Quinton Thomas and Marcus Ginyard on the floor at the same time. Neither one of those guys are offensive threads, so they allow the defense to focus on the remaining three players. But if you don't need to score points, or you want to have an impact on defense, then perhaps it makes sense to have them in the game together. This is perhaps why the Carolina fans petition to get Q-Thomas more "PT" is mostly going to fall on deaf ears.
More on UNC at the TarHeel Mania blog, UNC Basketball Update, Carolina BBall. The BYU perspective at Cougar Fan. And an independent point of view at College Sports Pro. CSTV Headlines.
Tennessee vs West Virginia
The second game of the StubHub Legends Classic on Versus with Dennis Miller sports "funnies" during the commercial breaks promised to be an exciting game, the fiery Bruce Pearl vs the fiery Bob Huggins! Wow, it looked good on paper! But the games are not played on paper. So it was quite disappointing that the first 30 minutes of the game were a whistlefest instead. But...
... the last ten minutes made up for it a bit, with a more open and exciting game developing. In that game we saw a hybrid Huggins, with trademark John Beilein backdoors, three point showers, and 1-3-1 zone being employed. It will be interesting to see how long Huggins can stay with his players shooting threes like there's no tomorrow. There is certainly talent on the team, but how fast can Beilein-ball become Huggins-ball, and how well can Huggins and his players adapt to a temporary hybrid style of play? I must confess that I was impressed with how they handle it in this game, although obviously they didn't get the W, but they gave the Vols all they could handle. And who knows, he may like it and adapt it into his system! (*cough* *cough*)
While there was no Dane Bradshaw (author of Vertical Leap: Inside the Rise of Tennessee Basketball), Bruce Pearl has waves and waves of players to come off the bench, including his own son, and the now slimmer 7-footer Brian Williams (not of NBC News). Obviously Lofton is the star who appears to be going through a slump (for his standards/expectations), just like Ramar Smith. Of couse part of the "slump" is the clueless play by play and highlight announcers who think a player's performance is judged by looking at the box score and if it's under 20 points for a star, well, he must be struggling.
With so many cable, satellite and internet outlets broadcasting college basketball games, it must be a bull market for basketball analysts. Which perhaps explains why Versus picked former Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien as the basketball analyst for the Legends Classic.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
College Hoops TV Guide, the 2007-2008 season tips off!
Welcome to a new season of college hoops TV guide. That's right, in the next two weeks we will have our first exhibition games televised! Woohoo! Note: all times pacific! Please note times can change! Treat these as only estimates! Always double check with your local listings!
Fresh 2007-2008 College Hoops Games
Sunday November 4, 2007
Friday November 9, 2007
Saturday November 10, 2007
Sunday November 11, 2007
Monday November 12, 2007 (ESPN2 triple header)
Tuesday November 13, 2007
Wednesday November 14, 2007
Thursday November 15, 2007
Friday November 16, 2007
Saturday November 17, 2007
Sunday November 18, 2007
Monday November 19, 2007 - the start of Feast Week!
Tuesday November 20, 2007
Wedn November 21, 2007
Thur November 22, 2007
Old Spice Classic quadruple header on ESPN2:
Fri November 23, 2007
Don't miss a game with TiVo!
Sat November 24, 2007
Sun November 25, 2007
Mon November 26, 2007
Tue November 27, 2007
Wedn November 28, 2007
Thur November 29, 2007
Fri November 30, 2007
DECEMBER 2007 SCHEDULE
Record and time-shift the games with...
The Philips DVDR3575H/37 DVD Recorder with Hard Drive. This costs $300 and has a hard disk drive along with the ability to record on DVD, either directly or from the hard disk drive. Ideal for the hard core basketball fan who wants to have control. Read more on this topic
2007-2008 games on Regional FSNs
2007-2008 games on ESPNU
Repeats and Classics
Documentaries and Season Previews
NBA 2007-2008 Preseason Games
Everything else
More TV Listings
Direct from the Source
Record your favorite games!
Relive your favorite 2007 NCAA Tournament games
Gigantic 2007-2008 preview with links
Want a second opinion on some of the games so far? Check out our new feature, The Game Critic! Here are some recent games under the microscope:
*Davidson at North Carolina
*StJoe's at Syracuse
*Youngstown at UCLA
*WiscGB at Ohio State
*NM State at Duke
*Montana at Gonzaga
*UCSB at Stanford
*Concordia at Arizona (game without Lute Olson)
*E.Wa at Wash State
*Stony Brook at Villanova
Time-shift your favorite games with...
The Philips DVDR3575H/37 DVD Recorder with Hard Drive. Read more on this topic.
Singing the Praises of our TV Guide
A veteran Scout.com forum user from the Tennessee HoopVille forum says: "This one is a little sketchy, but it will give you an idea of what's on today".
San Diego vs USC
You know you are big time when ESPN creates a tournament just for you. I am talking of course about the Anaheim Classic whose raison d'etre was to showcase three OJ Mayo games on the ESPN family of networks.
After 15 years with the Zags, Bill Grier left so that he could take over his own program, and revitalize the San Diego "Chargers" that went downhill after their season to remember that ended in the NCAA tournament. It will be an uphill battle for Grier - and I'm not talking about getting to the SD campus ;-)
His team played quite well and showed promise as they gave the USC Trojans all they could handle, under the bright lights of the ESPN cameras. The Johnson and Jones trio looks promising, and could give other WCC teams headaches during the conference season.
While Floyd's defense was ...comfortably numb during the Mercer game, the defensive Trojans ...broke free during the San Diego game and kept them in check, while waiting for their offense to overcome the San Diego pesky defense. OJ Mayo did not score as many points as before, he took some questionable shots, but when the game was on the line, he was ...money. A couple of times he gave Floyd the ..."what do you want from me" look. At times Floyd looked ...marooned on the bench, and was hoping that Mayo's shoot-athon did not ring the ...division bell with regards to team chemistry. Obviously everybody has ... high hopes for the USC team and it's no secret that USC basketball is ...coming back to life.
Guess the Pink Floyd references and win zero prizes :-)
Louisville at UNLV
We are presenting this out of order chronologically as we have already posted our comments on the BYU vs Louisville game.
This game was fairly simple to describe. Defense won in the first half with both teams struggling to score, Derrick Caracter showing flashes of dominance, Edgar Sosa receiving "pine lessons", Lon Kruger's team over-achieving, etc, etc.
The second half was where it all changed, PitinoVille's press wore the Rebels down, and broke the game open, and then closed the game in favor of the Cardinals. Pitino was pressing despite his seven+ rotation, with Will Scott being the "+" guy. With Farley and Caracter being "friends of foul", and Caracter not being as fast as the rest of the team, this is a risky strategy for Pitino, but it work quite well against UNLV. But it certainly boomeranged later on against the faster and deeper BYU Cougars. So instead of facing Ole Roy and North Carolina, Pitino will be facing the pesky Old Dominion coached by not-Ron-Jeremy/not-Stan-Van-Gundy.
If I was Pitino, I would start looking for another point guard in the 2008 recruiting class. Andre McGee is a liability on offense, and playing him along side Terrence Farley is only recommended when the team has a big lead and doesn't need to score more points. Edgar Sosa seemed to be all over the place, and it appears that his missed free throw woes have followed him into this season, as he missed a layup at the end of the half, and two critical one-and-one free throws when the game was on the line at the end of the second half (BYU game). One could also find fault with Pitino's risk management, and think that given the history of chronic and repeated injuries to Juan Diego Tello Palacios and David Padgett, he should have had a backup plan, perhaps a juco or another redhirtable player that could contribute if need be.
Ohio State vs Syracuse
Another fun game! Yes, basketball is supposed to be fun, I'm talking to you coaches! Stop ruining the game by turning it into an ugly blend of football, wrestling, arm wrestling, ultimate fighting, and slugsketball :)
Syracuse played another *cough* neutral *cough* game at MSG, and despite their loss and growing pains, they have shown, once again, a lot of promise. Of course promises are just that, and it takes a lot of hard work to turn potential into gains. But this team does have a lot of potential. And you could see why Izzo was so interested in getting Devendork (not a typo), the guy is crazy, he apparently enjoys taking charges, the more painful the better. It is quite interesting how each year Syracuse manages to find itself on a pre-season tournament at MSG :-)
I jumped on the Thad Matta Express when his Xavier team "lost" to Duke in the 2004 Elite 8. If the jerseys said anything but Duke, Xavier would have been to the Final Four. If you are not convinced, get the tape or the DVD and witness the preferential treatment Duke got on the 50-50 calls! If Matta was able to get to the Elite 8 at Xavier and the Sweet 16 with Butler, and get an utterly despondent post Jim O'Brien team without any post-season hopes to perform as they did, you bet he's gonna have a very good season with this talented lot. I don't think people realize how good his second team is, let alone his starting five.
While we know of Butler, small Othella (Othello Hunter), Lighty, and Terwilliger, the incoming freshmen are only going to get better, not just Dribbler (not a typo) and the anti-Oden (Koufos), but also Evan Turner, space-eater Dallas Lauderdale, once-over-rated Eric Wallace, and the mysterious PJ Hill.
LSU vs Arizona State
Finally a fun game! As Pete Gillen puts it: "they put baskets to score, they put scoreboards to score". The game was not designed to be a slugfest! The game should be Wooden's basketball, not Ben Howland's and Saluki's Slugsketball!
Both the Tigers and the Devils are young teams, with the Tigers missing three key pieces and having had even more inexperienced players on the court. But despite all that, the Tigers broke free from their slump and managed to make a comeback and send the game into overtime thanks to a clutch three by coveted juco #5 (Marcus Thornton).
Apart from this being a fun see-saw game to watch, it showed that these two teams have a lot of P (potential) for this season but also for future seasons. Even if the current season ends up without post-season play for either team, they could make giant leaps in terms of development, and make a big splash in the 2008-2009 season.
I am particularly bookmarking the LSU Tigers, if Tasmin Mitchell returns, this team could bite a lot of SEC opponents thanks to their athleticism and talent, and could sneak into post-season play.
UCLA vs Michigan State
It's no secret that we have fallen behind on our game critic updates, so now that we have found a window in time, we will attempt to push a few of them out your way :)
Kevin Love must have felt like one of the 300 (two-disc special edition for $7) when he faced hoardes of Michigan State forwards ready and eager to foul him. Xerxes-Izzo was sending them in waves and waves at Kevin Love. But despite the aches and bruises, Kevin "Gerard Butler" Love and the Bruins avoided a loss and ended up winning the game despite being down and down.
If Mark Few was watching this game, it may have made him feel a little bit better. As you may recall from the 2006 NCAA tournament, his GoneZaga team had an epic meltdown against UCLA, surrendering a big deal and losing the team. This is what happened to Izzo State at the CBE/Guardians Classic final at a smaller scale, so Izzo should be calling Mark Few to join his support group.
I had my reservations about Michigan State, and more specifically on Drew Neitzel being yet another overrated player who earns his reputation because of where he plays, not how well he plays. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Michigan State actually took the lead when they were playing without Neitzel. After watching this game, I am now considering Michigan State to be a top 25 team, but a marginal one. The tricky thing with the Top 25 is that you have to pick 25 teams, regardless of how bad the teams may look :)
UCLA once again showed how they win games, by sticking to it regardless of the score and situation. Clearly this is emerging as a "coach/team skill", because very few teams are able to do this on a consistent basis. This increases UCLA's chances for another Final Four run, although the numbers may be against them as Tom Brennan mentioned: the only team to make the Final Four three times in a row in the modern era were the Duke Pukies of the early 90s. Well, I would asterisk that however and mention that Pitino's Wildcats did so three times in a row, with Tubby "TimberGopher" Smith coaching the 3rd one. ESPN Research Department, how did this escape you? :)
Outside the Lines: The one-eyed Zebra
The Sunday edition of Outside the Lines (930am pacific, Sunday November 25, 2007) takes a look at the story of Big Ten referee Jim Filson who lost an eye but wanted to continue to do what he loves: being a referee. Steve Cyphers reports. More details on the OTL page.
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Friday, November 23, 2007
BYU vs Louisville
BYU spoils Dick Vitale's party! Dick Vitale was pumped up - he was going to Vegas to cover the Rick Pitino vs Roy Williams matchup! Aww! Awesome with capital A babeeeee! But David Rose and his Cougars spoiled Vitale's party, just like Gardner Webb did. And this win wasn't a fluke. The Cougars earned every single dot in the W.
BYU took over the first half, having a +10 turnover advantage over PitinoVille and Derrick Caracter sitting on the bench with two fouls. But two three-pointers in the last minute of the first half brought PitinoVille back in the game.
In essence, BYU beat Pitino at his own game. The pressure was not effective, and Rose rotated players in and out so they wouldn't get worn out. And they did not. In fact the Cougars turned the press into an advantage as they were able to score uncontested buckets after they broke the press.
A seven man rotation with Will Scott coming in occasionally as the 8th man, is not exactly what fits the Pitino system. Furthermore, Derrick Caracter is not exactly the perfect compliment of a pressing team. With both Caracter and Farley being foul-prone, the rotation gets tighter. To further complicate matters, having Andre McGee and T. Farley on the court at the same time allows the defense to concentrate on the remaining players. Obviously having either Padgett or Juan Diego Tello Palacios would have given the team a lot more leeway. Given that both are injury-prone, it looks like the current rotation is all that Pitino will essentially have. Unless of course R. Delk is eligible at the semester break (which I do not know).
Plaisted and Caracter battled it out in the paint, but Tavernari was the one that had the biggest impact and broke the Cardinals back, and not just because he scored 28 points.
This creates a potentially exciting high scoring affair, assuming North Carolina is able to beat Old Dominion. The game will air tomorrow night on ESPN2 with Dick Vitale. More TV details.
The game was broadcast on BYU-TV, which is great if you dislike commercials because there are none (other than the BYU promos of course during every media timeout). BYU-TV is usually on satellite or digital cable among all the other religious/spirituality channels. One funny thing with their graphics is that they have a giant transparent overlay at the top of the screen with parts of the letters BYU. That graphic was obnoxiously annoying and distracting :)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
2008 College Basketball Video Games!
Hey, the new season has started! It's awesome with capital A for Amazon! That's where we find the latest college hoops video games for the 2007-2008 season!
Available right now is the 2K Sports College Hoops 2K8 for XBox360, Playstation 3 and Playstation 2.
The EA Sports 2008 March Madness is available for pre-orders at Amazon, with an estimated release date of December 18, 2007. Why are they waiting so long baby? Release it now! The games have began! Amazon offers pre-order and post-order price guarantee, so you can get the lowest price.
The Maui Final: Duke vs Marquette, a preview
Yes, it's revenge time for the Dookies, and a chance for another big win and big media "cred" for the Marquette Golden Warrior Eagles! Duke vs Marquette, NEXT, on ESPN! Well, by next, I mean 7pm pacific (10pm eastern) tonight (Wednesday, November 21, Thanksgiving Eve). Today is a jam-packed day on TV, so be sure to check our TV schedule.
Duke is heading into the game after a satisfying win over the Fighting Illini, while Marquette comes in after dismantling Sutton State, and receiving defensive praise from the one and only Shark the Tark (ok, Tark the Shark).
The local newspaper, the Honolulu Advertiser previews the game, while the Marquette-Scout page notes Coach K's praise for the Golden Eagles. More on this from Cracked Sidewalks (a Marquette blog). More previews at the NCAA Men's BBall blog.
Meanwhile this Madden guy picks Duke to win. I pick and want and wish for Marquette to win! Go Golden Eagle Warriors! More on this game from Worlds Sports News and Draft Express.
If you can't wait for the 2009 Maui Invitational, CSTV's Hangtime slog (not blog, but slog, as in sports + blog = slog) reveals the 2009 field. The 2009 field will be part of the 2009-2010 season. Which teams are participating? Check their slog to find out!
Xs and Os
Both teams are deep and athletic. Neither one has a dominant inside presence, but Duke's gets the edge inside on the offensive edge. The guards and the wings are more or less evenly matches with one exception that could be the game changer: the little guys: Can the Dookies keep Dominic James and David Cubillan in front of them, especially if they play together? And which Marquette defense will show up? The one that dismantled Oki State and earned Tark the Shark's praise or the one that made Chaminade players and fans happy?
On the other side of the court, will Coach K try to create mismatches with Marquette's little guys? DeMarcus Nelson is a potential mismatch waiting to happen. As Doug Gottleib stated on the air a couple of days ago, Duke may be an even better team without Greg Paulass (not a typo). And if Coach RatCase wants to create a mismatch he could try Demarcus Nelson, Gerald Henderson and Nolan Smith (or Scheyer) as the three guards, and try to post up Cubillan or James.
This has the potential of a highly entertaining instant classic game since both teams are not shy about running, however, game pressure and bright spotlights might turn this into a more grinded out affair with lots of fouls and jittery play without much flow. But I hope not!
NCAA Tournament DVDs
Looking for the perfect gift for the basketball fan? We have dozens and dozens of suggestions for you: pick and chose from the 2007 NCAA Tournament DVDs produced by NCAA On Demand. You don't need to squint on a 6-hour VHS tape to celebrate your team's success in the NCAA. You can instead proudly showcase it on your big screen TV with an official NCAA DVD-quality DVD! (Oh dear, this reads like an infomercial!)
Duke vs Illinois
As much as I dislike the Dukies, I have to confess that with the help of the zebras, the NCAA and the announcers they look like they could be a very good team this year. Which will make Duke losses even more exciting and fulfilling :) Meanwhile the Fighting Bruce Webers...
... continue to impress me. While they lost to Duke by double figures, the game was much closer than the final score because of their offensive "spurtability". I am voting for the Fightning Illinois for next week's BlogPoll Top 25! More on them from the Daily Illini Sports blog and Figthing Illini.com.
The Dookie side of the story can be found at Duke Illustrated (Rivals). An independent account of the game from CSTV. Certainly this Duke is not like the 2006-2007 team, they have more depth and more talent. But what is also emerging is the real reason why Coach K wanted the Team USA job: so he and his three helpers can upgrade their coaching skills by working with other coaches. So they picked up offense from Mike D'Antoni, and they picked up defense from (gasp) Jim Boeheim, their "Orange" zone defense. That explains why all three of his assistants went with him. Of course the official reason was that they would be running drills and such, sure, sure, because four basketball coaches with almost 100 years of basketball head-coaching experience and more as assistants do not know how to run drills :) If you want more from the Duke side of the story, check the Just Duke blog.
On the court, the Dookies look like a formidable opponent, not only because they get most of the 50-50 calls, but because they are talented and versatile and deep. While DeMarcus Nelson is the only Duke I do not dislike at the moment, they have plenty of good or good enough players to win a lot of games. Singler is an impact player, who may not be as loud as the other freshman with his game or his style, but he can get things done. Henderson, yes the broken nose guy, is another solid wing. Zoubek gives them an option to play bigger if they have to. And the list goes on and on and on.
And one parting shot for the Xs and Os fans, Coach Bruchu diagrams Duke's Zone Buster play. Coach Bruchu's blog is an excellent resource for players, fans, coaches, and everyone interested in the Xs and Os of basketball!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Arizona State vs Illinois
The Arizona State players were zoned out, not because they were playing zone defense, but because they looked really zoned out when Illinois kept them scoreless for a few days. Illinois fans have a lot to celebrate, they may not have Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon, but it looks like they have a team with a capital T, and a rotation that apparently can go 15-deep or so.
The Sons of the NBA game, with McMillan and Michael Jordan's son playing was nowhere near a close game. Defense took over at times, and defense prevailed.
Herb Sendek may have improved the talent level of the team, but this was only game one of the season for them, and it showed. Will the struggles of last year continue or was this just growing pains of the first game of the season against a solid and deep Illinois team? The answer, or at part of the answer, will be known by Wednesday night, where the Sun Devils will have played against Princeton and then against LSU or Chaminade. More on this game from a local impartial observer, the Honolul Advertiser.
lllinois was cruising along, and now they are getting ready to beat Duke! Go Bruce Weber! Go Fighting Illini! Beat the Pukies! It will be interesting to see how the Illinois depth can affect the Dookies. Bruce Weber doesn't often get a chance to play the big wigs, and this is a great chance for him to get a notch against Coach K. This will be an interesting battle from a coaching perspective, the unassuming Average Joe Coach (Bruce Weber) vs the Pope of Basketball Coaches (Roach K).
More on the Illinois team and a preview of the Illinois vs Duke Maui game at the Illinois Rivals page, and also check FightingIllini.com.
UCLA vs Maryland
Have you ever seen a Ben Howland game that wasn't a grinded out root canal affair? If you had, it wasn't last night! UCLA prevailed in another slugfest (particularly the first half). Meanwhile Maryland continues to struggle, and the Gary Williams magic is gone... But Gary Williams may have found a personality clone on the court in...
... sophomore Greivis Vasquez who creates a dilemma for camera-men: Do you follow Gary Williams jumping up and down or Vasquez? And someone please teach Mike Gminski how to pronounce his name properly!
It will be interesting to see how Ben Howland will cope with the coaches box. As you may recall, he is frequently following the action and playing defense on the sidelines. While Kevin Love continues to have solid performances, I am starting to get vibes of the over-rated. But I'll withhold judgment until he actually plays against a college player of similar weight and relevance.
I continue to think Chace Stanback is under-utilized by Howland, and the reason it's no secret, defense! Stanback could have the offensive impact of an Arron Afflalo, except Stanback is taller, so it would be easier for him to shoot over opponents. But as Wooden has pointed out, Howland wins on the defensive end.
I will add to what John Wooden said: Doing so is such a mid-major thing to do when you are ooaching at UCLA :)
The Gary Williams Experience at Maryland continues to deteriorate. No longer teams fear the turtle, but instead they end up having turtle soup (no turtles were hurt during this blog post). Vasquez alone cannot wake up the rest of the team, and Gist continues to have flashes, a problem that has plagued a number of recent (touted) Gary Williams recruits.
Can the new wave of freshmen pick things up quick enough to have an impact this season? With Brenda Freese doing so well, will Gary Williams get on the hot seat if he has a bad season? Surely, he shouldn't, but in this era of what have you done for me lately, will The One Ring save him from Doom? :)
For the UCLA point of view, check Bruins Nation, and for the Maryland point of view check It Never Rains in College Park.
College Football: Outside the Lines revisits "The Play"
Today's edition of Outside the Lines (OTL) at noon pacific (3pm eastern) on ESPN will revisit "The Play" in its centerpiece segment. "The Play" happened at the end of the Stanford vs California-Berkeley football game in November 1982. For those not familiar, I won't spoil it :) More details at the OTL page!
Monday, November 19, 2007
LSU at Oklahoma State
At the end of the first half, Chaminade's chances of winning a game at the Maui Invitational tomorrow never looked any better. Their potential opponent, the LSU Tigers were down 20, with three players down due to injury, Tasmin Mitchell, D. Mason, and JuCo space-eater Thornton.
But that was just half one. In the second half the LSU Tigers played inspired and managed to make a valiant comeback and get to within three points of the Oklahoma State Sooners. It was Oklahoma State's turn to look not so good in the second half, after having a solid first half. As you can see, it often takes two to have a good game or a bad game.
But at the end of the game one could not help but see that both of these teams have a lot of potential for this season. LSU is loaded with raw talent. If Glen "Big Baby" Davis was not eating everyone's lunch and dinner, the returning LSU Tigers wouldn't be so skinny ;-) Assuming this group continues to improve over time and the three injured players return, LSU has the potential of a solid season and a run for an NCAA bid. One thing you cannot accuse John Brady is not being able to get recruits. Just a few weeks ago he beat a number of national powers for the services of high scoring juco wing Marcus Thornton.
Oklahoma State has its upside as well. They have a nice blend of returning players and newcomers. Back is Obi Manuelo, and in comes promising freshmen James Anderson at the wing and big man Ibrahima Thomas. Byron Eaton continues to be in the dog house, he has to lose some more weight before being allowed to start by Emperor Sutton Jr, but he lost a lot already. Regardless of a very promising outlook, someone should prescribe Sean Sutton some Prozac, he looks very unhappy all the time ;-)
UMKC at Arizona
The first half looked gloomy for Arizona fans as they managed to give up their early lead, and actually fall behind to the UMKC Kangaroos. This was starting to look bad for the Kevin O'Neill era, but the second half was different as freshman Lucas Laval Perry came in and injected some toughness to the Wildcats who played defense more to the liking of Kevin O'Neill. Perry's enthusiasm also motivated senior Daniel Dillon who had a career high 14 points with 3 out of 3 three pointers. Meanwhile, the other freshman, Jerryd Bayless was just one assist and one rebound short of a triple double. Yes, close to a triple double.
And while the second half was very promising for the Wildcats, their Sunday Big12-vs-Pac10 game with Kansas will be a good test. Not that they would be expected to win, but rather, can they be competitive in the game and avoid being blown out? Kansas may be without Sherron Collins, but they are loaded.
More on this game at Arizona Sports Hub.
Breaking news from Pat Forde: David Padgett out for the season!
Breaking news from Pat Forde: Louisville's big man David Padgett is out for the season again because of an injury. This is scrolling at the bottom of the ESPN news tickets.
This is really sad news for the player since he hasn't been able to have a healthy season since he transferred to Louisville. Rick Pitino has a relatively deep bench so it's not a devastating loss in terms of raw talent, but he has the experience and passing ability that you can't expect from younger and less experienced players.
Marquette at Chaminade
Tom Crean was sporting a "lobster" sun tan, while he was flirting with the idea of a four-guard line-up according to the preseason Funniest Announcer Trio of 2007-2008 of Bill Raftery, Jay Bilas and Shawn McDonut (intentional sp?). This was supposed to be a glorified early morning practice for Marquette...
... but instead, they got a really good workout, and showed the coaching stuff some things they need to work on. Obviously you can' sprout new inside players overnight, but they can make adjustments both offensively and defensively.
The Fighting Chaminades had a very solid game and sent a message to all other Division II teams that they mean business. Given today's performance, will they be able to get a win? Perhaps not tomorrow where they'll face the loser of LSU vs Oklahoma State, but on Wednesday they likely play the loser of Princeton vs Arizona State. That increases their chances of a win!
My hope is for a final of Marquette vs Duke and the Marquette Golder Warrior Eagles beat the smug out of Duke for the second year in a row :-)
More on this game at Marquettte fan blog Cracked Sidewalks.
Also, during half time we had Tom Brennan's interesting statistical prediction: UCLA will not make it to the Final Four because very few teams have gone to three in a row in the "modern era" (since the 70s).
Also visit SportsNation at ESPN.com to vote for the biggest college basketball upsets of all time. Among the five nominees are Chaminade vs Virginia, Jimmy V beating Houston.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The Sunday College Hoops Round-up
We have joined BallHype.com!
We have just joined BallHype.com! More details coming up!
There we found this cool post on Dick Vitale and his off-topic comments. It's one thing to make off-topic comments during breaks or when the game is a blowout, but another thing to drop them in the middle of a play or during a highly contested game!
Virginia at Arizona
It was the Sean Singletary show! The little guy, Iverson-Singletary was able to carve up the Arizona defense like a pumpkin and score or get his team mates good shots. On the other side of the aisle, the first ominous clouds will start hanging over the Enforcer Kevin O'Neill. Stumbling through wins does not create discontent, especially this early in the season, but losing at home does.
This was the first game of the season for the national FSN, and the first game of Marques Johnson, who was select as second funniest basketball announcer by this blog. But gone was his partner in crime Steve Physioc, and in the more "boring" Ted Robinson.
Virginia was like two teams, one with Iverson-Singletary, and one without him. It will be interesting to see whether the little guy can withstand yet another season of carrying the team bucket by bucket. With Iverson-Singletary in place, Virginia looks good as the other pieces fit around him.
Arizona on the other hand is probably going to start "feeling" the absence of Lute Olson. Granted Bayless (not Skip), is a true freshman and "converted" to point guard from czar-guard. What's a czar-guard? A czar-guard is a guard who dominates the offense by shooting, dribbling, driving, scoring, and giving the ball a headache.
Clearly Daniel Dillon is a major headache on defense for opponents, but he is also a liability on offense. This makes it difficult to score when the trio of Bayless, McClellan and Budinger are not on the court at the same time as Dillon.
Jordan Hill is another one of the big men with a big potential, but he's not there yet, he's on the journey towards the potential. Fouls seem to like him, which doesn't help. Without Jamelle Horne, Arizona was down to just one big man, either J-Hill or walk-on/walk-off Bret (not Brent, or Brett) Brielmaier (not Brillmayer, Brillmeyer).
While this team looked good on paper in the off-season, it is now down to a very tight rotation. Starting to remind you of the 2006-2007 Arizona situation?
This turned out to be an exciting game series with dramatic games, that perhaps can turn into a made-for-TV rivarly for FSN. This is etched in Virginia history as the game/series that cut the ribbon of their new John Paul Jones arena.
More on this game at March to Madness who was live-blogging this game last night, and by Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Random College Hoops Airballs
Phil Jackson, the Zen Master, has released a new basketball training DVD on defense.
John Wooden is not shy about letting people know what he thinks. As he was swarmed by the ESPN crew covering the UCLA regional of the CBE/Guardians classic, he shared with the audience some of his thoughts. For example, he emphatically pointed out that UCLA's Ben Howland success was on the defensive end. He also (indirectly) criticized the NCAA/officials for allowing the game to become too physical. Both of these I absolutely agree with. But I certainly not agree with taking away the dunk :)
What if Bruce Weber got the Helen of Troy (Eric Gordon) and Derrick Rose? Can you imagine a backcourt of Rose and Gordon, with Dookie Scheyer coming off the bench for good measure?
Did Pitino buy Gardner Webb t-shirts for his team or not? Dick Vitale was stirring the pot...
Vitale jealous of Derrick Rose for being on the cover of ESPN the Magazine's college basketball preview? He wasn't joking folks! He wanted his bold dome to be featured on the cover! And if you happened to watch ESPN News's signature program, the Hot List, you may have seen Dick Vitale say this "I'm so sexy".
JJ Hickson scored 30+. This guy was under the radar too, below Johnnie Flynn of the Flynnstones!
Things getting too serious? Need to laugh at the world of basketball? Check the Basketawful blog!.
Tired of things not being serious enough now? Check The Game Critic, our new analysis of sorts of individual games.
Don't forget to stay on top of the TV schedule with the college hoops TV listings. Included are ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, FSN, CSTV, Versus, Fox College Sports, Comcast Sports Net, and sprinkles of ESPN Full Court, but no ESPNU.
Too many things on TV and can't watch them all live? Tired of sitting through commercials? Then check our Tech Talk discussion on TiVo, DVRs, VCRs, and DVD recorders.
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The BlogPoll Top 25 is launched (tape delayed coverage)
The first regular season BlogPoll Top 25 has been published earlier in the week, but we are tape delayed, so now we are finally able to present and discuss the BlogPoll, along with reactions on it around the Blogosphere.
Participating in the BlogPoll Top 25 are a number of college hoops blogs, and the number is increasing by the day! Who are some of the blogs participating? Find out!. And if you are interested in joining, don't be shy!
Let's see what the other participating bloggers are thinking about week one of the BlogPoll Top 25!
March to Madness, who does a great job in administering this BlogPoll, has posted the Top 25 and comments on some of the teams that were the topic of discussion. To find out how each participating blog voter voted check this Google spreadsheet. Don't worry, you don't need Excel!
A Sea of Blue has created an excellent table showing team rankings, trends, and a breakdown by conference. They also average out rankings by conference and list the participating blogs.
SEC Hoops TGTBTD picks the winners and losers of this week's poll, compared to the pre-season poll.
College Hoops Heaven makes a case for UCLA to be the #1.
Rush the Court justifies their ballot, and also looks at five teams with the wildest range of positions among the various ballots.
APIAS discusses their ballot and ...herding bloggers cats.
As you can see in the Google spreadsheet some of my votes this week were of the crazy juice variety. Why did I vote that way? Here are some explanations, pasted from a previous discussion (talk about recycling!)
On dropping Stanford out of the poll:
the reason I dropped them is because without the Lopez twins and L.Hill they were evenly matched with UCSB for most of the first half. Given that Robin Lopez is a friend of foul trouble, and Brook Lopez is not there yet (and there's no guarantee he'll be back unless he meets whatever requirements Stanford has for him), they lost the benefit of the doubt from me
On dropping Gonzaga from the Top 25:
Gonzaga is not just without Heytvelt, Stephen Gray is out too, and they have a backup point guard by committee at the moment. I actually liked them and I was pleasantly surprised by wha tI saw (I saw their game vs Montana), but it' was too early to tell for me whether their current team would actually be able to beat a top 30 team. Given that neither Heytvelt or Theo Davis played a full season yet, I discounted their potential future contributions.
On poll voting philosophy:
I don't see the previous poll position as any guarantee they'll be
there again next week. I look at it as the top 25 teams (every week.
So with the player losses I didn't see those teams as being one of the
best 25 at the time of voting. Since we are so early in the season,
it's a lot more subjective and speculative.
UConn vs Memphis
Calipari vs Calhoun, the non-rivarly rivarly was downplayed and overplayed at the same time. It was just two games after all.
The subtitle of this game should be "Joey Dorsey and AJ Price appreciation night". Both showed how valuable they were to their team when they got in foul trouble and left the game.
UConn survived a horrible start, and made the game competitive and exciting. This is a fast team, and at times they were blazing past Memphis, but at other times, the Tigers were blazing past them. AJ Price had a solid game showing he is baaaack, Dyson was slicing and dicing in the second half including a facial dunk on Dorsey who got back at him with a sensational block. He spend the first half in the dog house. Thabeet is just too raw, he has the ingredients, but you can't expect him to make up for a dozen years of formal hoops training in just a handful of years. It looks like he may be a longer time frame project perhaps, but you never know. At times players grow fast during a season.
Memphis's offense was very two dimensional, with Derrick Rose and CDR dominating the ball and the scoring. So much for Derrick Rose being a pass first guy. Of course you can't blame him, he had to take what the defense gave him, and if his other teammates were not producing offensively, what's a superstar to do? CDR had an unassuming 33 career high points, and he would have had more had Rose given him the ball even more often.
Because of foul trouble Calipari went 11-deep in his rotation. What was evident in this game is that they badly needed someone else to actually score. Despite his hard work, Antonio Anderson continues to not be an offensive presence - he must have transfered all his offensive skills to CDR. And while Calipari is probably going to be loyal to his Laurinburg starters, troublemaker Robinson is probably the one that should start by January. Watch out for this freshman!
Despite the foul troubles of Dorsey, Taggart and Dozier, the speed of UConn made this not a good game for Pierre Niles and Hashim Bailey.
So what did we observe about Memphis today?
1) They can start games really well
2) Derrick Rose is as good as advertised, but he is a freshman and he is human. He even takes bad shots, and too many shots at times.
3) CDR can score. Okay we knew that already.
4) Dorsey is an impact player inside the paint even if he doesn't score
5) they seem to be able to handle physical play and adversity a bit better than last year
This game was exciting enough that we are making it our first nominee for game of the year. To find all the game of the year nominees in the future, click on the Label (tag) named "game of the year nominee".
Don't forget to check the latest TV listings! Virginia at Arizona is about to tip-off right now on FSN and Fox College Sports! More college basketball tv listings.
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Oklahoma vs Memphis (Coaches vs Cancer)
Derrick Rose proved that he is both human and a freshman. While showing some flashes of "specialness", he was not Jason Kidd in that game. Nevertheless, he led his team to a grinded out win, and that's perhaps something Memphis wasn't able to do in the past (see: 2006 Elite 8 meltdown against UCLA).
Dookie Jeff Capel did the best he could to increase his teams chances to beat the Memphis Tigers. After probably watching the Memphis losses of the last couple of years, including their epic meltdown against UCLA in the 2006 Elite 8, he decided to play them tough (that's not a new thing to the Oklahoma Sooners), and mix in the defenses to confuse them and take away their AASAA principles. This worked to a certain extend, but he was betrayed by his offense - or perhaps Memphis was playing some defense too?
The good news for John Calipari and fans was that Memphis was able to win a game that was a grinded out affair. The Tigers were all over the place in their performance - granted this was just their 3rd game, and they were under the bright lights of MSG and the bold dome of Dookie Vitale. But they did not look like a Final Four team in this particular game.
Joey Dorsey had his impact on the game on defense and on the boards, but he seems to be trouble too, this time in a pushfest with touted freshman Blake Griffin.
Calipari went to a nine man rotation, leaving Jeff Robinson (red-shirting? suspended? DNP?) and the two space-eaters (Pierre Niles and Hashim Bailey) on the bench. The nine man rotation gives Calipari a lot of flexibility, and Shawn Taggart gives him something new, a big man with polished offensive skills. One open question is: who will emerge as reliable shooter(s)?
Friday, November 16, 2007
Billy Gillispie coaching without a contract?
Apparently Billy Clyde Gillispie is currently coaching Kentucky without a contract. Why is that an issue? Part of it perhaps because of the big home loss (Gardner Webb), part of it because the fans and reporters have a lot of idle time in-between games, part of it because sensational news get people's attention. A Sea of Blue covers this in detail, including links to stories by the AP, Kentucky.com and KentuckySportsRadio.com. To put it in perspective, Gillispie has not been one to have an army of agents and handlers, so going without a contract is not as big of a surprise as it would be for a coach who has an army of handlers (*cough* leeches *cough*).
And while we are on the topic of Kentucky, Kentucky Ink has some recruiting-related news for Kentucky fans. Look for the news in their KentuckyInk message boards (free to register/signup). A certain player appears to have been cleared by the Big Brother (NCAA) which could/would make him eligible to play this season instead of waiting for 2008-2009. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so you have to read it over there :)
Gardner Webb vs UConn
A valiant effort by the "Running" Gardner Webb team was not enough to upset the prepared UConn Huskies. Raw talent and athleticism tramped experience and fundamentals in this MSG game which had Dick Vitale eating cupcakes baby!
Vitale managed to stir the pot by mentioning that Rick Pitino ordered 15 Gardner Webb t-shirts after they beat Kentucky, but he later retracted it. But back to the game, Gardner Webb tried hard and did their best, but they were simply not fast enough, long enough or skilled enough or athletic enough to match up with the UConn Huskies. Samba Fall was probably the only one to come close to UConn in terms of athleticism. Not be confused with SMU's Bamba Fall and Matt Doherty's classic "I love coaching Bamba Fall".
AJ Price, who will probably have a long career advertising laptop computers after his basketball career is over, had a solid game and put points on the board. This Huskies team can be really fast, providing they don't fumble the ball during transition. There's a lot of raw but also untapped talent on the team, like Stanley Robinson, Hasheem Shot-Blocking Thabeet, Curtis Kelly, Jerome Slice-n-Dyson, and the Helen of Troy of the Big East (Doug Wiggins). Not to be confused with the Helen of Troy of the Big Ten (Eric Gordon). In case it didn't make sense, that was Dennis Miller-esque joke ;-)
With the holiday shopping season rapidly approaching, here is an idea for the perfect gift for the hardcore basketball fan: Official 2007 NCAA tournament DVDs, produced by NCAA on Demand.
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Northern Arizona at Arizona
The dessert meets the mountains in this game, and the Arizona Wildcats were pushed to the limit, not just by Kevin O'Neill, but also by the feisty Mike Adras and the NAU LumberJacks.
The Enforcer (Kevin O'Neill) was perhaps prophetic when he said during the half time interview on FSN Arizona that he wanted the team to be able to expand leads in their teens, not let teams back in the game. And this is exactly what happened. NAU came back strong, and Arizona had to scrap to hold them back. Mike Adras was "playing" almost as hard as his players on the sidelines, with the FSN cameras following all his moves and sudden facial expressions.
The team had maybe half a dozen possessions where they had fast-forward Princeton-esque possessions on offense with very crisp and speedy passing around the horn. This was one of the characteristics of last year's team, at least earlier in the season. But for the most part their offense did not resemble the feared Arizona juggernaut of the past.
While NAU was rolling players in and out of the rotation, Kevin O'Neill was on a relatively tight rotation, not being confident enough to give PT to Tangara (he made a "stupid" foul and got the hook in milliseconds), Onobun, Kirk Walters, seven foot Jacobsen, Zane Johnson. The seasoned veteran and walk-on Bret Brielmaier seemed to be a stabilizing force when he got in the game, and that may earn him a starting spot, which was given to versatile forward Jamelle Horne who has apparently become an Enforcer favorite. Jordan Hill's foul trouble showed that while Arizona has more big men on the bench, none of them are either trusted or effective (or both) at the moment. As expected, defensive specialist Daniel Dillon got his share of PT.
What was perhaps a bit more surprising is that Arizona struggled despite keeping turnovers under control. Some of course could argue that some of the shots and shot selection should be counted as turnovers :)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Outside the Lines: The non-rivarly rivarly between the two Delaware state schools
Today's edition of Outside the Lines (3pm eastern, noon pacific) features a centerpiece story on the non-rivarly between two state schools in Delaware, Delaware and Delaware State. Some theories are provided as to why they are not playing each other, some think it is competitiveness, others think it may be racially motivated. Be sure to check out OTL for more.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Davidson at North Carolina
We knew this would have been an interesting game, but perhaps did not expect it to be so sloppy. But it is the start of the season, and it was an intense game, and a see-saw battle at that. Because of the slugfest at times, it is harder to guestimate and project on Carolina and Davidson.
One thing that was obvious is that Ole Roy and his crew of coaches should never have Quinton Thomas and Marcus Ginyard on the floor at the same time - if they actually want to score points. Neither one is an offensive thread, and having two of them together allows the defense to zero in on the remaining three.
Another interesting observation, the only time UNC had a sustained offensive spark was when they went with one forward, and four wings/guards. This both in the first and the second half. Granted this was just a game, but Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson did not show much. Perhaps this creates an opening for William Graves?
UNC at times showed signs and shades of the Georgetown meltdown, which of course was the last game they played. Was this just an early season jitters type of thing or is there more to it? Is there something missing from this Carolina team? Why didn't Green and Frasor get more PT since they seem to be more effective?Dell Stephen Curry got his points, but he was almost Iverson-esque in the number of shots he took to get those points. Davidson was what we expected (for real, not another Coach Green joke). Apart from the smooth shooter in Curry and the heady point guard in Jason Richards, they showed a variety of other players that fill in the blanks. The slugishness of this game made it harder for our Crystal ball to look ahead and project what to expect from Davidson. But the fact that they were in the game from start to finish, and made Carolina earn it the hard way (and just barely at that) is definitely very positive for the Wildcats. But I need to see Davidson again, I was not able to get as much out of it!
Off we go, we now have a 3rd post-season tournament, the College Basketball Invitational!
Move over NCAA and NIT, here comes the 16-team College Basketball Invitational! Okay, it won't do any damage to the NCAA or NIT. This will be the third tier tournament, after the NCAA and NIT field is selected. Although it may make a play on the NIT perhaps at some point in the future - maybe. It will be single elimination on campus games but with a twist, the champion will be determined in a Best of Three playoff series. Yes, playoffs with colleges!
The NIT took away eight post season bids by retracting from 40 to 32 teams, so the 16-team CBI is "gaining" a net of 8 post season births when comparing to two years ago, and 16 when comparing to last year.
Perhaps a sign of desperation for coaches getting fired for not reaching the post season? It will be interesting to see how the teams are selected. Will it be 12 BCS teams and 4 mid-majors or will it be more merit based?
More details on the brand new men's post-season College Basketball Invitational from CSTV. The event will kick off right away, in March 2008 and it is produced by the Gazelle Group of Princeton, New Jersey.
And for fun, they have prepared a mock draft of what the CBI of 2007 would have looked like. This is in PDF file format.
To summarize the story: Desperate basketball coaches beg for more post season births to save their jobs and get an extra 16 spots :)
Columbia at Ohio State
Jones and his Columbia Smarties got the Ohio State Buckeyes confused in the first half by mixing it up and taking and making early three point shots in the shot clock, something that was not expected or countered by Ohio State right away.
But the party was over in the second half as Ohio State managed to stumble through the game without any real danger of losing the game. But Columbia gave them enough headaches that should be a good learning experience for Thad Mata's young squad.
Koufos continued to show old man skills on offense. What is it with Ohio State and "old-men centers"? First it was 40 year old Greg Oden on defense, now it's 40 year old Koufos on offense. Imagine if both of them played together on the same roster!
Don't miss any of the games on TV! Check our college hoops TV schedule!
Rant: On Comcast, ESPN and ESPNU
This is something that is bothering sports fans who are Comcast susbcribers. ESPNU is not available on Comcast in any shape or form, even though they have hundreds of channels available, some having duplicate content even. So why not ESPNU?
Right now there appears to be a stalemate on ESPNU. Comcast wants to put it in the sports tier package ($5 per month extra (currently on sale for $3/month), while ESPN wants ESPNU to be available to all subscribers.
As you can see this is a petty difference where reasonable minds can find a reasonable compromise. Unfortunately stubborn mules are apparently handling this situation thus the stalemate :-)
In protest, ESPNU is not listed in this blog's TV listings until Comcast and ESPN come together and reach a compromise.
If you want ESPNU, call your local cable and satellite provider and demand ESPNU and tell them to stop the diva wars and reach a compromise. Also let ESPN know that you want them to do whatever it takes to reach a compromise and make ESPNU available one way or another on Comcast.
It's a shame that the ESPNU crew is working so hard to produce so many games, documentaries and in-studio programming that subscribers of one of the biggest cable providers cannot watch.
Today: Two hour Recruiting show on CSTV and Kansas and Starbury Drama on OTL
Today's stories on ESPN's Outside the Lines at 3pm eastern (12pm pacific) will feature the Kansas Jayhawks (football program) and Starbury's drama-feud with Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks. As the NBA World turns, next on ESPN!
And don't forget to check the latest college basketball TV schedule!. Today's action includes Davidson springing a trap for Ole Roy and the Carolana TarHeels, and a preseason NIT regional final from Seattle.
However, the most exciting thing today is perhaps CSTV's two hour signing day special. The fall signing period starts today and CSTV with Seth Davis, and presumably the likes of Van Coleman and Tom Konchalski (sp?) will be breaking them down. The show will air at 6pm pacific, and repeat at 10pm and 2am pacific. It will also repeat a couple more times later on.
Saint Joseph's at Syracuse (the leader of the Flynnstones)
It was the first true see-saw game of the 2007-2008 standard cable TV season. The game was going back and forth, back and forth, but The Flynnstones prevailed!
"Don't call me coach, call me a Letterman wanna-be" was perhaps a top ten rejected title for Phil Martelli's new book, but Martelli almost managed to steal a win at the Carrier Dome. While there's no Meer-Meer or West, the Hawks were an interesting team to watch. And this was with their big man Ahmad Nivins (sp?) being off. Iowa State transfer Tasheed Carr appears to be just what the doctor ordered for the Martellis.
Martelli's TV sidekick, more famous for his other gig, tried to explain why Syracuse was left out of the 2007 NCAA tournament. Or rather, he tried to explain it to Syracuse and Big East fans, because the rest of the world knew the answer. Syracuse hasn't played a true out of conference road game in ten years! Need I say more?
I jumped on the Flynn bandwagon when I was blog-scouting all-star games for the 2007-2008 season. And while he poured on 28 points in the first game, his performance against St Joe's was perhaps equally impressive for a freshman point guard. He continued to manage the team as a point guard even though his scoring was off. His game winning shot with just hairs of time left in the game officially makes him the leader of the Flynnstones.
So how is Syracuse going to do in the Big (y)East? That's a very good question! It's too early to tell, but they certainly have lots of talent, along with the toughness and relative experience of Devendork (not a typo :)
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The College Hoops Game Critic: The story so far
With the start of the new season we have started a new experimental feature, the college hoops game critic. Everyone's a critic on the internets after all. Here is the story so far:
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Youngstown State at UCLA
A trip to the dentist might have been more fun. A classic Ben Howland game, uglier than ugly. At times Kevin Love looked like a unique player and a surefire top 10 lottery pick, at other times he looked like a ...beached whale :)
To be fair to UCLA, they were missing Darren Collison, shooter Mike Roll and forward James Keefe. Defensive lapses have probably put shooter Chace Stanback further back in the rotation, even though offensively he could easily be playing the Arron Afflalo position, infact Stanback is taller so he could shoot over the defenders.
Of general purpose interest, the UCLA student section embraced Steve Lavin. To be fair to fairness, they probably enrolled at UCLA during Ben Howland's tenure, so they may not even remember the Steve Lavin era first hand.
Lorenzo Mata added to his game, and he also added to his name. He is now Mata-Real. Hopefully the NCAA won't think he is sponsored by the Spanish basketball team Real Madrid and suspend him ;-)
Can you image if Darren Collison played for Roy Williams? He would go so fast, there would be sonic booms!
Not much to say about Youngstown State, these types of games are lambs to the slaughter for mid-major teams, designed to let the "designer" BCS teams walk through to the made-for-TV final four event. Unless of course they run into a Gardner-Webb and then poor Dick Vitale has to throw away his Kentucky notes and *gasp* learn about Gardner-Webb.
Wisconsin Green Bay at Ohio State
It was the Lighty, Hunter and Koufos show. Sounds like a law firm? Maybe, but the raw talent is there for the Thad Mata express! Don't count out this team just because it's young and inexperienced! Their second five are good enough to start for half of the other Big 10 teams in terms of raw talent.
This team has it all, with the exception perhaps of a backup point guard, and that really depends on how sophomore juco PJ Hill does. Other than that they have it all, athletic forwards, inside-out forwards, centers, thinking forwards, perimeter forwards, and more forwards! And wings too! Look out for Dallas Lauderdale to become a Terrence Dials type player by the end of his sophomore season. Also in the second wave are Eric Wallace, Evan Turner, and transfer Kyle Mardsen.
Wisconsin Green Bay was a no-match for the Thad Mata express. Not only they had to content with the home advantage but also the waves and waves of raw talent coming their way.
New Mexico State at Duke
Our Italian correspondent, Ricardo Vitalioni, was in town, and he sent us this report from the game. And yes, the pictures below (sometimes) have symbolic messages, like the floor mat in this case :) 
The game was a tale of two Dookies. During the first half, we saw a typical Cameron take-them-out Duke performance that reminded us of the Duke teams we loved to hate. The second half showed a Duke team we loved to watch in 2006-2007 because it was much more likely to lose and lacked the "Duke factor" :)
Kyle Singler was celebrated, and for good reason, he is a very solid player. Against the Aggies however he was really in the background, allowing Greg Paulas and others to take the spotlight. I still can't believe Greg Paulass is one of the top 40 point guards according to the Bob Cousy selection committee, while Jeremy Pargo is not! You are picking the top 40 players baby, not the top 40 BCS teams! Wake up and watch some games Bob Cousy selection cmte! The cynics out there might ask: "Has anything good ever come out of a committee?"
The New Mexico State Aggies showed flashes of Pitino-esque style of play, since their head coach Marvin Menzies and their previous TV coach Reggie Theus had spent time with Rick PitinoVille. But with Herb Pope and J. Young still waiting to hear whether they are eligible, they were not at 100%. Yes, that's another committee responsible for clearing them to play! Not that that justifies how they played in the first half. They got the typical "Cameron OpenDoor stadium" punch in the mouth and did not recover until the second half.
Monday, November 12, 2007
ESPN SportsCenter Hummer All Access Press Pass Schedule
All through this week ESPN will be featuring their usual All Access pass where they will be visiting different college basketball teams and campuses in preparation for the upcoming season. So far we have:
Vitale on Mike and Mike discussing college hoops for a change
Dick Vitale appeared on Mike and Mike in the morning in his regular Monday morning slot (720am eastern) on ESPN2 and ESPN Radio, and finally started talking college basketball, after crying about the Notre Dame losses.
Vitale used the Kansas football and BCS example versus the Kentucky loss and the NCAA tournament to make a case on why college basketball is so much better in determining a basketball championship than college football baby. He asterisked that by saying "if they don't panic at Kentucky".
As I predicted last week, Vitale complained that he has to prepare for Gardner-Webb for the Coaches vs Cancer Final Four at MSG this week. He was already prepared for Kentucky baby! He also mentioned that when Gardner Webb sent him lots of cupcakes a few years back, he ate them all! Go Vitale!
Dick Vitale has a motivational DVD out, and the proceeds go to the V found. More details on Dick Vitale's website.
And an ESPN programming note, Sportscenter's Hummer All Access Press Pass will be looking at college basketball all through this week!
Montana at Gonzaga
Move over Ammo, here comes Addo! Cousy Award pre-season selection committee: eat crow, Pargo is for sure one of the top 40 point guards. Heytvelt did not sniff paint or glue, but he is out. This and more, inside the Game Critic Repor(t).
While Micah Downs has been stewing in potential for half a dozen years, Austin Daye had a game-changing performance on game one for the Zags. This long, lean, talented, basketball-savvy and athletic player had no fear on offense and was not shy shooting either. He had a 20/10 game, but more importantly he changed the both on offense and on defense as a shot blocker/shot changer.
Pargo brought the house down twice with some impressive power dunks, and played almost every minute as the lone point guard. With Stephen Gray down with an injury, and P-Mac transfering, Matt Bouldin is the temporary backup point guard when Jeremy Pargo takes a quick breather on the bench.
Pendo (short for Pendergraft) and Bouldin were the solid tough do-it-all fill-in-the-blanks kind of players that Gonzaga needs in their rotation. Larry Gruganious is back after a red-shirt (he shouldn't have R/S last year unless it was an injury) and looks like another value member in their rotation. The former baseball-pro JuCo Ira Brown was not in the rotation (he played when the walk-ons came in).
But that's where the good news end for the Zags. Now get ready for the cold shower. Kuso is still Kuso, a foul waiting to happen, but the Zags can get defense, rebounding, blocked shots, and 1 out of two baskets made when he is inside the paint. Will Foster is 7'4", and his height alone was able to change some shots but that's all he seems to be able to contribute. He would have R/S if it wasn't for the new Heytvelt "outage". Theo Davis DNP for personal reasons.
And now to Heytvelt. No, he did not sniff glue or paint or mushrooms. He is going to have surgery and as a result of that he is going to be out for at least six weeks, which puts him out of the out of conference schedule. The Zags will face their patented tough OOC schedule once again without Heytvelt. The good news is that they got trained in these type of situations since Heytvelt went down in early 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 (for different reasons).
And while this was a great performance by the Zags, and the game was really fun to watch (lots of offense, defense "did not get in the way"), most of their high profile opponents will be much better than Montana and not all games will be played in a capacity Kennel crowd, and Austin Daye will get scouted a bit more by then.
Speaking of Montana, they looked like good Big Sky team, which is perhaps why they were picked to finish in the top two of the Big Sky. Very promising as a mid-major player was their point guard Martin.
And now to the Mark Few critic segment. Mark Few almost let Montana make a comeback in the second half when he waited for six minutes before bringing Austin Daye back in the game. Montana's defense tightened and they were chipping at the margin. But once Daye came back it, the game was over for the Montana Grizzlies.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
UC Santa Barbara at Stanford
My pilot was getting married today so he took the day off, so unfortunately I couldn't get to Stanford to watch the game live from the non-bouncing floor. So I had to make do with the television set :)
The game summary is really short: Brook Lopez is out until the second semester, Robin Lopez and lawrence Hill got in very early foul trouble and sat out the first half, and Stanford was evenly matched with UC Santa Barbara, until the Gauchos stopped scoring towards the end of the first half. In the second half, with Lopez back, Stanford had the lead and the game was just moving along without any serious threats from the Gauchos.
Of interest, the two tv announcers were having an interesting discussion on the value and impact of Spencer Hawes vs Robin Lopez. Lopez was indeed a factor in the game, especially on the defensive end, and if Brook was around, his foul troubles wouldn't have had as much of an impact on the game. But he also had his fumbles and mistakes, which goes to show perhaps why Spencer Hawes is now in the NBA, and Robin Lopez is not?
By the way, the half time show entertainment was a martial arts act. Not that it really matters :)
For the Stanford fans reading this, the new 6th man club t-shirts from the Stanford store that are coming out are supporting a good cause: Lucille Packard's Children Hospital.
Of the Gauchos, Alex Harris was their star (he had 20+ ppg last season) and Stanford's Fred Washington took him on and slowed him down. Ivan Elliot had a good all around game for the Gauchos, he was their version of Fred Washington.
The absence of the Lopez twins and the subterranean play of Lawrence Hill showed something scary for Stanford fans: They are a Big West team without them. Yes, Stanford fans will not like this and they will object, but let's not forget Drew Shiller was a WCC transfer and he is their first guard off the bench. While Goods and Johnson are not bad players, they are not exactly All Pac-10 caliber players either. But they don't need them to play like lottery picks to win games, they just have to do what needs to get done.
Concordia of Canadia at Arizonia (exhbitionia)
The game without Lute it was and Lute was the subject of the game, even though all the Arizona loyals (broadcasters included) respected Lute's request for privacy and avoided to discuss or speculate on the actual reason why he took an indefinite leave of absence. 
This was a chance for Kevin O'Neill (the Enforcer) to showcase his softer side. A softer Kevin O'Neill is like the softer side of Sears. It may sound good on paper, but it's still Sears :)
His impact on the team was very evident however. Gone were the Moody Blues, and in came the Defenders. They kept Concordia down to 50, and a modest score, which in other Arizona years would have been the half time score.
What surprised me is that Daniel Dillon was not prominently featured in the rotation, since his main skill is defense and the Enforcer likes defense. But what do I know? I'm just another self-appointed internet authority on basketball ;-)
As expected, Jerryd Bayless is running the show, with Nic Wise as the deputy, but the two of them are also able to play well together, especially given Bayless's's's's ability to score and then score and then score some more. However, Nic Wise finished the game. with Bayless on the bench
McClellan and Budinger are the featured wings, infact they are now the only wings, so it's more shots and more playing time for them. The San Diegan freshman Horne looks like is playing some power forward, taking advantage of his quickness, skills and athleticism. So much for going to a traditional line-up eh? He had some impressive off the ball blocks during the game.
Tangara is becoming what he was supposed to be, after recovering from the injuries, a strong big man who rebounds and blocks shots. Because Jordan Hill is ready for a big breakout and that's all they need from Tangara right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he (Jordan Hill) is an NBA top 25 first rounder before August 1st, 2008.
I'm not one to encourage players to transfer, but if Fendi Onobun can't find a place in the rotation, and if he wants to actually play, perhaps it is time to follow Marques Johnson of UConn. If he can't play for the Enforcer with his power and size, he probably won't break the rotation when Lute Olson returns either.
ESPN the Magazine $10 for one year at Amazon with $5 instant rebate
We have a magazine special from Amazon, this offer is good until December 31, 2007. About 200 magazines have a special $5 instant rebate on their current price. The current price of a one year ESPN the Magazine subscription is $14.97, minus the $5 instant rebate, you get it for $9.97. The price is reduced during checkout. Before that you will be seeing the regular $14.97 price.
Other sports magazines in this promotion: Golf Digest, Sports Collectors Digest, Scuba Diving, Fantasy Sports, Future Snowboarding and more. Of general interest, they have GQ, Men's Health, Esquire, Oprah, Popular Mechanics, . All are $5 off the currently listed price over there. All the magazines with $5 off at Amazon.
PS> You may also be able to convert this subscription to an ESPN Insider subscription for up to one year and get access to the ESPN Insider stuff on their website. This depends on what promotions ESPN Insider is running at the moment. This is not part of the Amazon offer!
Eastern Washington at Washington State
One of the presidential candidates had to borrow our private jet for a haircut, so we ended up watching the game on the television. All apologies for not bringing you live action from the floor :)
Eastern Washington is a mess, and that's putting it nicely. With a new coach, a four pack of transfers-out, and Rodney Stuckey (we told you last November to keep an eye out for him!) in the NBA, this is a team in search for a team. But that doesn't mean they are going to mail it in. They did come to play, even though they only had eight players at their disposal, and one of them was only approved by Big Brother a few hours before tipoff.
Washington State was pretty much what we expected, wasn't it coach Green? The core played as expected, Kyle Weaver, Derrick Low with a Diana Taurasi at UConn hair style (ok, I'll leave the fashion analysis to E!), walk-on designate Taylor Rochestie, and the two versatile forwards, Cowgill and Harmeling. What is a big wild card for the Cougs is the big Australian center Aron Baynes. He showed some nice moves, he lost weight and gained more strength, and had his way with the undersized opponents. So the big question is how will he do against bigger, stronger and better centers and power forwards? Can he bully them the same way? If yes, Tony Bennett has just found yet another (good reason) to slow down the game even more and pound it inside using his revamped space eater. And we will find out how he does because there's a lot of bigs in the Pac-10, such as Kevin Love and UFC wrestler Lorenzo Mata, the Lopez twins, Brockman and Wallace, Boetang, Tangara, etc, etc.
Stony Brook at Villanova
With the start of the new 2007-2008 season we are introducing a new blog feature, the Game Critic, where we will be analyzing college basketball games. Or at least attempting to do so :)
The first game under the microscope is Stony Brook visiting Villanova. Our private jet was in the shop for an oil change, so we had to watch the game on TV. The TV broadcast had some technical issues, and for a while it was shown anamorphically squished which made the players look like seven footers with the physique of Ally McBeal.
After the video and audio problems were sorted out, we sadly discovered that Corey Fisher was not going to play because of an injury. This was the main reason we booked this game! But that was good news for Scottie Reynolds as he had the ball to himself. I imagine when Corey Fisher returns, Jay Wright is going to petition the NCAA to allow two balls to be in play.
Speaking of the NCAA, the zebras were enforcing the new "stay in your box Coach" rule. Jay Wright got his with a T (technical) after he was warned to stay in his box.
Villanova looked good in the second half, and this is going to be a fun team to watch if they are allowed to play run and gun. And this was without Corey Fisher! One potential problem I see for Villanova, especially in the big Big East is that their best forwards are all tweeners. This does not necessarily condemn them to the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney, but it will be interesting to see how they can handle big big men offensive and defensively. Casiem Drummond is their only big big man and he is raw (to put it nicely). Antonio Pena is probably their next in line in terms of power-size. If the name sounds familiar, yes, he was Sebastian Telfair's teammate in high school at Lincoln. While Telfair had a whole career it seems in the NBA, Pena is just having his first full college season (after prep school and redshirt).
The game itself was over when Dwayne Anderson had an impressive dunk after a hockey assist from Scottie Reynolds.
Villanova's flexibility is something else to watch. Jay Wright could go to a four-guard line-up or he could go to one point guard (Reynolds or Fisher) and two tall wings, or any other possible combination.
Shane Clark had a career high by the way, scoring inside and out, making Gary Williams sweat even more ;-) As you may recall, Shane Clark got started in the middle of the season, so his progression has been a bit out of phase. But he has a chance for a major breakout if he continues to play like he did tonight.
Hey, how about the little guy? How about Stony Brook? Their star was former Karl Hobbs wing Ricky Lucas who transferred out for some more PT. Stony Brook also showcased a three point shooter, jersey #5, Michael Tyree. For those not familiar with this Long Island school, they are members of the America East conference, a low major conference according to Street and Smith. But they are planning to play football in the Big South? It may sound like I'm making it up, but I'm not!
Friday, November 09, 2007
2007-08 Preseason awards: Funniest College Basketball Announcers
Since so many websites and blogs are doing player of the year, freshman of the year, coach of the year type of awards, I decided to do something else: The Funniest College Basketball Announcers awards! And without any further delay, here they are:
1. The Trio of Bill Raftery, Jay Bilas and Sean McDonough (ESPN)
2. Marques Johnson (FSN)
3. Bill Raftery solo (ESPN/CBS)
4. Pete Gillen (CSTV) ("eating bagels")
5. Tom Brennan (ESPN/ABC) ("sometimes you are the pigeon, sometimes you are the statue")
And we have a regional media award as well for announcers who are not typically available to a national audience. From the ones I have seen/watched, the award goes to... Bob Elliott of FSN Arizona. His humor is an acquired taste, it is accountant humor after all :-)
What do you think?
Thursday, November 08, 2007
ESPN the Magazine $4.97 today only! (seen on FatWallet.com)
According to this post at FatWallet.com, Best Deals Magazines has a special one day promotion for ESPN the Magazine for $4.97. And if you use the coupon code mentioned in the FatWallet thread, you can get an extra 15% off. You can also use this to renew your current subscription, but be sure to follow the instructions, so you won't have to do it as an extra step later on.
According to the FatWallet.com discussion thread, the added benefit of this is that you can convert your magazine subscription into an ESPN Insider subscription if you like, so you can be an Insider.
I don't have any personal experience with Best Deal Magazines, so I am just passing the information along. I am neither recommending or not-recommending this :)
November Madness on today's Outside the Lines!
Be sure to watch or record today's Outside the Lines because it is of college basketball interest! Their "First Report" is titled "November Madness" and talks about all the upsets we've had in this very young season. The latest one being Gardner-Webb upsetting Kentucky at Rupp Arena, along with two big ten schools falling to D2 teams at home (Izzo State, Ohio State). Gardner Webb's head coach Rick Scruggs (who looks a bit like Eddie Sutton) will join them. More details on this at the OTL page.
What's even more painful for Kentucky fans is that this loss means they lose a chance to play two additional games at MSG in the 2K Coaches vs Classic Final Four. So essentially they haven't just lost one game, they lost the chance to play two additional high profile games on national TV, in a prestigious event, on and off the court. Needless to say this is also ouch for ESPN and Dick Vitale who will have to talk about Gardner-Webb instead of Kentucky.
For reactions on the Kentucky upset, also check A Sea of Blue.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
And so it begins (the 2007-2008 season)
Discover New Websites and Blogs
Coaching Blogs
Posts from the "BlogPoll Top 25" Blogs
More from the Blogosphere
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Subscribe to our blog feed. Use your favorite news reader or website to get notified of all our latest posts. And of course it is FREE!This not to confused with the other blog, NCAA Hops Today, which discusses hops, not hoops ;-)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Reviewing the College Hoops TV Preview shows
College Gameday on ESPN (one hour long, aired Tue Nov 6, 2007)
Crystal Ball on CSTV (one hour, airs multiple times)
Women's Crystal Ball on CSTV (30 minutes, multiple air times)
Countdown to College Hoops on Versus, Comcast Sports Net and Fox College Sports (one hour long, multiple air times)
Monday, November 05, 2007
Preseason 2007-2008 AP All American team announced!
The Associated Press, soon to be displaced by the Associated Bloggers, has posted their pre-season all-American team and some very familiar faces, and some surprising faces were included in the list.
Psycho T got the most votes, the writers were probably scared of him ;-) Roy Hibbert was the team's center, but he's not going to block as many shots as Hasheem "Shot-blocking" Thabeet. This team lacks a small forward or even a wing, which shows you how much the writers know ;-)
The three guards were speedy point guard Darren Collison (t-shirt says UCLA), shooting machine Chris Lofton, and the WFT choice was Drew Neitzel. Was it because of Izzo or because he is a senior or they wanted a "Token" on the team or what? I can assure you he is not one of the top 5 guards in the country, let alone top 5 players.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Breaking news: Lute Olson takes indefinite leave of absence
This is running at the bottom of the ESPN News sticker and also at SportsNetwork.com.
The Silver Fox is taking an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons and Kevin O'Neill will take over while Olson is away. Is he pulling a Dean Smith? The release said the reasons are not health related.
Arizona is playing an exhibition game right now, live on Fox College Sports and on regional FSNs. The time change screwed up the tv listings so I didn't record the start of the game. Arizona does not participate in these silly time changing schemes. Grrrrrr!!!
Now you can all go back to watching the soccer game between New England and Indianapolis on CBS ;-)
Update
During the half-time report of the exhibition game, FSN Arizona's Shawn Mooney interviewed "acting head coach" Kevin O'Neill. No details were revealed by O'Neill said "our thoughts and prayers are with Christine and Lute and their family".
More from the half time show, the news was broken to the team at 8:30am, before it made its way to the masses. Coach Olsen requested total privacy, so we are not going to find out what happened from the insiders.
After the game, Arizona AD Jim Livengood (sp?) will appear on the post-game show on FSN Arizona. Meanwhile, Indianapolis leads the New Englanders by 13-7 just seconds before the end of the half.
Kevin O'Neill's impact on the game was obvious, the opposing team, Concordia only scored 50 points.
Update #2
Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood appeared on the FSN Arizona post-game show discussing the Lute Olsen leave of absence. This started at the end of the football while Livengood and the Olsons were watching the football game together. They are honoring Lute's privacy so they will not give any more details. Livengood said "he'll be back". Next up a Kevin O'Neill interview.
Kevin O'Neill, with his new widescreen glasses, said they were "all shocked", himself included. We "played well enough" and was satisfied with the defense. O'Neill stressed that Olson is coming back this year and he'll be there next year too.
In a pre-recorded interview, Lute Olson said that Kevin O'Neill came in to be the "Defensive co-ordinator" and take over the defense from Lute. O'Neill said he doesn't want to switch, he wants to "know who to blame". The enforcer has spoken! He is also impressed by Jamelle Horne's rotations on defense.
Update #3: November 27, 2007
According to multiple reports, Lute returned to Tuscon for a practice, but it is still not clear if or when he will return for good. One of the blogs in that link mention that it may have to do with the health of one of his sons.
Update #4: December 7, 2007
Arizona announced that Lute Olson will not be coaching this season. More details on our latest Lute Olson story, which includes a nice timeline by the Arizona Star Net Daily.
The Big Media Files
The DeCourcy Files
The Goodman Files
The Dick Hoops Weiss Files
Saturday, November 03, 2007
The Blogosphere Files
Yes basketball fans the exhibition part of the season has tipped off! And for those of you with television sets, there will be a couple of games tomorrow (Sunday) on Fox College Sports as Arizona hosts Concordia and Kentucky hosts Seattle (no, not the SuperSonics, but the D2 powerhouse). Also those of you with access to the regional FSN package on satellite may be able to get those and a few more games assuming they are not blacked out in your region. For more details, check our weekly tv schedule.
The Blogosphere Files
2007-2008 Season Previews
Inside the NCAA Hoops Today blog
Calhoun wrote a book
Among our busy-iness we forgot to mention this but Jim Calhoun has written another book that is published to coincide with the start of the new college basketball season. The book is titled A Passion to Lead: Seven Leadership Secrets for Success in Business, Sports, and Life, co-authored by Jim Calhoun and Jr., Richard Ernsberger (Hardcover - Oct 2, 2007). The hardcover is $16.50 at Amazon and eligible for free shipping with orders over $25. To jump over $25, you can send an online gift card to yourself (or someone else) for the remaining amount, or load up on a few high quality DRM-free MP3s from Amazon. The book is 288 pages long.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Today only: NCAA sweatshirt and t-shirt for $19 together (Amazon)
Hello Basketball Shoppers, this is your online shopping greeter! Today only, as Amazon's gold box special of the day, they are featuring a sweatshirt and t-shirt combined for $19. These are Russell Apparel NCAA branded. They are available for 37 NCAA colleges, popular for the football and basketball programs.
Free shipping is with orders $25 or more. Since this is at $19, you can get over the $25 hump by buying an Amazon gift certificate and even sending it to yourself.
I can't list them all but this is the list of the 37 schools on sale
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