While the BlogPoll Vote is due after midnight on Monday night, this is a good time to start thinking ahead on our vote. This week Storming The Court will be herding cats (read: administering the blog poll).
First up, Pitt. Regular readers of this blog know that we pick on Pitt's scheduling, and we are not fooled by Pitt playing a tough game against Duke at MSG and picking apples in the state of Washington. Their non-conference SOS is #63 despite their "tough schedule". Their dismantling at Dayton was not something that surprised us at all. With Mike Cook out for the season and the hero of the Duke game (thank you Lavance Fields for beating the Dookies with that step-back three-pointer) out 8 to 12 weeks, we are rebooting Pitt's record and we are looking at them as a brand new team from now on. Needless to say they are not even remotely in consideration for a top 25 vote. Sorry to disappoint you Pitt fans! (Pitt was down 13 when Lavance Fields got injured, so it's not like they lost the game after Fields got injured - they were already lost).
Memphis was nowhere near as crisp against Kevin "The Dentist" O'Neill. We are waiting to see how North Carolina does against Valpo before we decide who gets the #1 spot. Carolina has lost Bobby Frasor, and we are not sure how this will affect the Tar Heels since they are so deep. If Wayne Ellington and Danny "Escalade" Green continue to make three-pointers, the TarHeels should be fine.
We already had Dayton in the top 25 the last time we vote and you can rest assured that Jon Stewart's Flyers will jump into Top 20 when we submit our vote.
The Kevin O'Neill Arizona continues to impress me, not because of their exciting run and gun style (as if!), but because they are starting to play like roaches (you can't get rid of them)! But at the same time, Kevin O'Neill is not going to be able to bring talented recruits like Lute Olson in the future, so he better enjoy it this season while he can!
We continue to hold Georgetown in high regard, and while we were surprised by Texas losing in Austin to Wisconsin, we suspected that the Torreros were the ones that showed up versus Michigan State and Wisconsin, not the ones that beat the ugly Bruins (no, not talking about Lorenzo Mata, but their style of play) in SoCal.
We are not sure what to make of Duke and UCLA and Washington State and Baylor and such. That's why these are early thoughts :)
With JP Prince and the Orange Revolution added to the Tennessee roster, we will re-evaluate our position on the Vols. Meanwhile we understand that the Zags are in transition, with new players added to the mix. Does that mean they still get in the top 25? We do not know yet!
Not sure what the Blog Poll is? More details here! You can also be added to the voting rotation if you are interested. Just let any of the participating bloggers know.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Early thoughts on Week #8 of the BlogPoll
Arizona at Memphis
Injuries ruined ESPN2's marquee match-ups - the crown jewel of their sextuple-header (six games in a row), and Kevin O'Neill added insult to ...injury by slowing the game down to crawl.
Despite playing without injured Jerryd Bayless and Brett Brillllmaier, the Meercats showed poise and managed to stay in the game, partially because of turning the game into a slower and uglier experience for the Tigers who wanted to break free and run wild all over the court.
Dozier showed how his unique skills make him a valuable member of the Tigers team. And so did Taggart coming off the bench and providing offense. Even Pierre "dancing bear" Niles made a guest appearance and forced a guard to turn it over. This was a team effort and the Calipari Tigers did not let the Comeback Cats attempt a comeback on them like they did with Kansas, Illinois, Texas A&M, Virginia, and just about every game they played.
With a shorter rotation, O'Neill was forced to play players he doesn't usually play. Kirk Walters was not bad actually and while Fendi Onobun had energy and movement, he showed why he didn't play last year: very poor decisions on offense. Jordan Hill showed some almost-NBA level moves on offense against Joey "Ben Wallace" Dorsey, but it has just a handful of moves, and not enough to turn the tide.
But something for Wildcat fans to worry: Just like many coaches (eg Tubby Smith in his first year at Kentucky), Kevin O'Neill has shown this year that he can coach and get things done with a talented group of players. However, do you really think the abrasive and no-nonsense Kevin O'Neill can recruit players the caliber of Budinger, Bayless, Jennings, Iguodala, etc? Unlikely! So when you look at the future of Arizona without Lute Olson but with Kevin O'Neill, the recruiting is not going to look as pretty. He will probably have to recruit the same way Tony Bennett recruits at Wazoo. But then again Tony Bennett is doing very well at Wazoo, so perhaps one cannot complain. Except the Wildcat fans are spoiled by waves and waves of talented NBA-caliber recruits.
Tennessee vs Gonzaga
The annual "neutral site" Battle of Seattle boomeranged in the faces of the Zags. Granted the Zags are a team in transition with Heyvelt and Stephen Gray returning to the line-up and the Tennessee Vols are just starting to heat up with the addition of JP Prince and the Orange Revolution.
Pearl, an avid fish-seller at Seattle's fish-market (?), confused and exposed the "soft" Zags with his frenetic style of play. The Zags have three tough cookies (Pendo, Pargo and Chia-Pet-hair-Bouldin), but the rest of their talented players are either too young or not tough enough. Remember how the Zags got manhandled in the NCAAs by Wyoming, UCLA, Nevada, etc, etc, etc?
But the Zags found their mojo and made a furious comeback. Mark Few can hope that performances like that will be ...marked as ...few in the team's record books :)
Pargo was clearly bothered by the crazy Vols style of play, and the good news for the Zags is that the little kid (Ravioli) has graduated otherwise he would have had 20 turnovers in this game.
The good news for the Zags is that this should only be a transition period until Heytvelt returns to form and mushroom remain frozen ;-) Gonzaga's record is not that bad, although not as impressive as previous years. Nevertheless you have to give them credit for the tough schedule - they beat UConn in the land of clam chowder soup, they lost to Oklahoma in their home state, they lost to Wazoo in a close regional rivarly game, and to Bob Knight in Alaska. The losses are not bad, it's just that there isn't the high profile win in there, and it doesn't look like there's gonna be one - unless they "steal" one in ElvisVille in 2008.
So this would raise the question, how do you evaluate the Zags as an at-large team? Because I certainly value a tough but less pretty record than a record paved with cupcakes (Clemson, Pitt, Syracuse, UConn, etc).
The Vols may be finally starting to play to their pre-season potential. They looked like it for the most part of the Zags game - let's not forget this was a road game for them, in front of a pro-Zags crowd in GrungeVille.
More on this game from Zag-fan blog La Rev.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wow, this is a shocker, Kentucky loses at Rupp to San Diego!
Say what you will about Tubby, but he wouldn't be losing to San Diego and Gardner Webb at Rupp Arena. Granted this season is a shared responsibility between Billy Gillispie and the Tubby Smith era. Let's not forget that Billy Clyde Gillispie is very stubborn (his own words - remember the Acie Law story?), so he is probably locking horns with just about everyone who disagrees with him, on and off the team. Unlike Texas A&M and UTEP that were at the bottom of the pit, he is finding himself in a totally different situation right now.
Rebuilding it's one thing, losing to top 10 teams is another thing, losing to San Diego and Gardner Webb at Rupp Arena in back to back months is a disaster for a program like Kentucky.
Kentucky fans, look up the Matt Doherty 8-win season at North Carolina for inspiration and support, or perhaps the last season of Steve Lavin at UCLA. Or the last season of Mike Davis at Indiana. It looks like a season of misery is almost inevitable for every program. Kansas fans, be thankful of Ole Roy: You didn't have to go through that!
I am very surprised by this, and while this team has had its injuries and issues, I wasn't expecting such epic losses. Well that's really the issue: the losses were not epic, they were not buzzer beaters, they were "owned" by Sun Diego and Garden Webs!
So, I don't know if this is a stretch, but who are the currently available head coaches at the moment? Either from the NBA or the college level, or ones with UK ties - ones that for one reason or another are out of a job or in broadcasting and might be interested in a mid-season pickup? Because Billy Gillispie may need to ... "take a leave of absence"!
Here's a few names: Larry Brown, Nolan Richardson, Hubie Brown, ...
More on this game from A Sea of Blue and also ASoB, and wall to wall coverage at John Clay's Sidelines Repor(t). More coverage including Gillispie quotes at the Wildcats Thunder blog, and an SEC wrap-up at SEC Hoops Good/Bad/Dirty.
Live: Jimmy Dykes makes very inappropriate comment during Kentucky game!
Jimmy Dykes put his foot in his mouth once again, this time making a sexually inappropriate comment: "value the basketball like your sister at a fraternity party". Women rights groups and feminists go after him! Is FireJimmyDykes.com up and running already? :-)
Wisconsin at Texas
A late three and a steal by senior Michael Flowers got Wisconsin a big road win in Austin, Texas, giving the Austin Torreros (oops Texas Longhorns) all they could handle and a big L. And the Wisconsin Badgets were playing without point guard Trevon Hughes!
Now this only goes to show what I was suspecting about Texas: They win in SoCal over UCLA was more of the exception than who they really are. And it showed, they couldn't beat Wisconsin at home - and Wisconsin was playing without their starting point guard.
This means that Rick Barnes has to re-evaluate his rotations, a six-man rotation playing at a break-neck style is not the ideal way to go through a tough season. Will Rick Barnes go more conventional or will he continue to play the "mad scienstist"?
Wisconsin had some embarasing losses earleir this season, but this road win at Texas is a good way to "reset" all that and start a new. This also fuels the question: Do Bo Ryan's teams have a low ceiling or did they just have bad luck so far? We blog, you decide!
The game was the start of a long marathon on ESPN2, a total of six games back to back, yes, 12+ hours of non-stop hoops! For all the games available on TV, please check our December 2007 college hoops listings. Also be sure to check our on-going January 2008 college hoops listings.
This game was supposed to have been a Dick Vitale game, but with Vitale sidelined, Jay Bilas continues to be his "designated" replacement, with Dan Shuman and Doris Burke being able to talk more :)
The Notorious Eddie Sutton
Yes, he is back! Eddie Sutton has not met a gray area he didn't like. From the boozing to the cheating and now to the "in-season firing of another coach". Class act Eddie Sutton. I guess 800 matters more than anything else, doesn't it? Class act loser!
Pictures of Eddie Sutton's first game by Scout.com. My Space reports that Weber State ruins Sutton's debut. Thank you Weber State! The San Francisco Dons website talks about the Sutton (CSTV site).
Arkansas coach John Pelphrey publicly supports Eddie Sutton. Sutton himself acknowledges his motivations. *cough* confesses *cough*
This is not the first time San Francisco tempted an almost-hall-of-fame coach. When Gene Keady was pushed out (oops! retired) at Purdue, the USF Dons tempted him to coach for them. Keady was very tempted but there was an intervention by former players and assistants and friends to prevent him from tarnishing his legacy.
And while Eddie Sutton has every right to make a comeback, the way he made the comeback is what is the big stinker. And given Sutton's past transgressions, this surely rules out Hall of Fame consideration for this cheater-loser.
Firing a coach mid-season is a no-no in college sports, and despite all the pressures of winning, even high-pressure BCS schools haven't fired a basketball coach in mid-season. Of all the teams to do that, a small Jesuit school in a mid-major conference. Yes, we understand USF, you want to return to the glory days of the 50s, and I'm sure you are pissed that nearby St Mary's is doing much better, and GoneZaga has become a national darling. But why not do that in the off-season?
USF took advantage of the Lute Olson leave-of-absence story to piggy-back on that and send Jessie Evans to a "leave of absence". Well this may not be bad for Jessie Evans - Arizona has an opening for an assistant at the moment!
Sutton's first game loss is covered by Utah's KSL. Sutton's announcement to return at ESPN. More on this at Storming the Court.
Eddie the Cheater-Loser Sutton has found a new assistant too: Robert McCullum.
A lot of websites and analysts are either avoiding the issue or giving Eddie Sutton a pass. At least Len Elmore called him and USF out for doing what we all know they did: They fired Jessie Evans mid-season in order to get Eddie Sutton and get into the record books and create buzz around their miserable program.
I hope USF does not win a single game with Eddie Sutton as a head coach! :-)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Week #7 of the Blog Poll Top 25 is published!
Week #7 of the Blog Poll top 25 has been published! Vegas Watch has done a great job in administering this week's blog poll top 25. We had fallen way behind, so we were not able to catchup and submit a vote in time. As you can see, we just caught up today with a barrage of posts.
Hot off the heels of their impressive win over the Georgetown Hoyas, the Calipari Tigers have taken over the #1 spot. That's where I would have voted them too.
At the #2 spot are the North Carolina Tar Heels. I would have been very tempted to vote Georgetown at #2, as unconventional as that may sound. Our approach to the polls is to pick the best 25 teams in our opinion, and unlike the NCAA tournament, the polls are not single elimination. We do not like the way the AP/Coaches poll predictably and blindly move teams up and down based on wins and losses.
Pitt jumped all the way to #8, partially thanks to me not voting :) This would have been the first week I would have voted for Pitt in the top 25. But there's no way I would put them in the top 10. Let's not forget they had a very good win at MSG over Duke in overtime, on a last minute miracle shot by Lavance Fields. Their win at Washington was similar, fractions of a second saved them from a loss. And their other "impressive" win was over Oklahoma State which is not exactly a good road team. So Pitt has more to prove yet. But beating the Dookies certainly makes me happy *__*
Georgetown crash-landed down to #9, which is sad, because they are a tough team to beat. Do you think Memphis would have been able to beat them this handily at a neutral site or in DC? Unlikely! Besides part of their loss was freshmen showing their age in the second half (eg Chris Wright going crazy).
Clemson managed at #24, thanks to me not voting. Because there's no way I'm gonna vote for Clemson in the top 25. They have to beat a top 25 team first. And they just lost to Ole Miss. OLE! Yes, Ole Miss is #19 in week #7 of the BlogPoll top 25.
Other teams: Huggie-Bear is at #23, and Rhode is getting some love at #22. Watch out for Jon Stewart's Flyers at #25! With the TV strike taking the Daily Show off the air, Jon Stewart is able to devote all of his time to his basketball coaching. And it shows. Don't be surprised if Dayton beats the Pitt Panthers! I know I won't :)
As expected the X-men dropped out of the top 25 after two miserable weeks. Some teams are not able to handle the spotlight, especially if they are not accustomed to!
Without my vote the USC Condoms (oops Trojans) were left out of the top 25. I have seen quite a few USC games and I am fairly convinced that there is no way there are 25 teams better than USC. No Way!
Another team that is slowly gaining my attention are the wild Providence Friars. They seem to be able to keep both teams in the game, which makes the games entertaining. And look at some of their scores! When I watched them play for the first time against South Carolina I called them an NIT team. They may still be an NIT team, but their wackiness may get them some solid wins in the Big East and force the NCAA selection cmte to give them an at-large bid. They already have a #15 RPI with a #11 SOS, and a #16/#17 out-of-conference RPI/SOS.
West coast teams dominated the "others receiving votes" category with USC, Stanford, Gonzaga, St Mary's, Oregon, and Arizona State being just outside the Top 25.
For a list of participating blogs and bloggers visit our Introduction to the BlogPoll Top 25.
Nevada at North Carolina
Yeah! We have finally caught up with "real time"! The Fazekas-less Wolfpack visited the Dean Dome with the re-arranged banners, but it wasn't the banners, the crowd or the zebras that took them out. It was a late first half Tywon Lawson epic beep-beeper effort. It was as if there were three Lawsons on the court as he was stealing, scoring, rebounding and assisting.
At the start of the game it was fairly obvious that most of the 50-50 calls were going Carolina's way. This did not deter the Wolfpack who continued to attack until the zebras started calling the fouls. Once again Carolina did not open strong, and if it wasn't for the Lawson outburst, the game might have been close throughout (eg BYU game?).
Mark Fox has an impressive (80% wins) record but part of that is scheduling and the WAC. He is clearly not playing a Mark Few type of schedule, although he is not having a dozen cupcakes eithers.
Danny Green seemed to have been taken out of rhythm as a starter, but coming off the bench did not bother Ellington who had another 20+ game. The Carolina bigs are question-marks with Cali kids, Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson needing to deliver more. Granted there's only one ball, but I am not the only one who thinks they might be underachieving.
Despite the epic meltdown, there were two bright spots for the Wolfpacks: JaVale McGee showcased his skills and length and had an early block party in the paint. This breakout on national TV though may be bitter sweet as the NBA Siren song will probably get louder after his performance in the Dean Dome. The other good news for the Woflpack is the tough play of guard Armon Johnson. This is what the back-court doctor ordered for the Wolfpack reeling from the untimely departure of Ramon Sessions.
And on the "Bob Knight" front, Mark Fox got caught by the ESPN cameras counseling Brandon Fields "aggressively". Not quite Bob Knight, but quite close.
Texas vs Michigan State
The "neutral" NBA arena of the Detroit Pistons might as well have felt like the Roman Colliseum filled with Detroit ...Lions. Izzo State took advantage of their NBA home court and Texas's inability to hit their usual amount of shots, and exposed them for what many thought were their vulnerability.
So the big question now for the Texas Longhorns is: Are they the team that lost to Michigan State or the team that beat UCLA in SoCal? The doubters will no doubt point to the Izzo State game, others may point to them being somewhere in between. How many people think they are the team that beat UCLA in SoCal? Remember they barely won that game, UCLA made one of their patented comebacks that fell short, but to their credit, the Rick Barnes Experiment managed to withstand the Bruins onslaught.
So what about Izzo State? Izzo is now playing faster and the more fun style of play is attracting more skilled recruits to the Breslin Center (see Delvon Roe, 2008 class). Well, for one thing, Michigan State is a better team with Kalin Lucas at the point. This is something that Spartan fans may be in denial of, and coaches tend to be "loyal" to their trusty upperclassmen, instead of handing the reigns to a freshman. Unless of course the freshman happens to be Derrick Rose or OJ Mayo or Jerryd Bayless. What usually changes this? Sub-bar play and losses. Losses are one thing with coaches that tramps all other cards. If they are losing, everything is fair game (to change).
Needless to say I still think that Drew Neitzel is severely overrated. His hype is based on ...non-basketball factors (please feel free to read between the lines!)
So where do I see these two teams? Well I need to see more for both. Michigan State is not as bad as I thought, and what I need to figure out for Texas is which team are they when the shots or the run-and-gun style is not working. It's not even January 2008 after all :)
Stanford vs Texas Tech
The last remaining "official" game of the Big 12 Pac 10 Hardwood Series Challenge was played last Saturday in Dallas. There were a few more "unofficial" games in the series, but Stanford just barely won and sealed the victory for the Pac-10.
Brook Lopez is back, and that's what Stanford fans have been waiting for. As it is common with the Lopez twins, they are "friends of foul", but in the second half Brook showed his offensive skillz.
Texas Tech is really the same old story, but with a twist: Bob Knight and his prized pupil (Coach Ratcase Krapola-K) have "embraced" the zone defense. What is this world coming to? Knight wants to recruit Knight players to play the "right way" (Knight way) and there's only so much Pat Knight can do to "soften" the blow. The good news for them is that the state of Texas is loaded with talent and the Knight brand still has some appeal in Big-10 states.
Stanford's biggest issue are its guards. Anthony Goods is probably the only Pac-10 level guard in their line-up. Mitch Johnson is probably a second-string point-guard type but he has been handed the keys at Stanford. The rest of the Stanford guards are also of the second-string variety, which allows teams to focus on the Lopez twins and Lawrence Hill (if/when he plays well). With Brook Lopez back, the onus is on the guards to deliver. And if the other guards can provide some offense, Mitch Johnson is not going to be a liability. If Goods and Hill can hit outside shots and the Lopez twins dominate inside, the team can even make a Final Four run with Johnson as their point guard. In an ideal scenario that is. Most likely scenario? Sweet 16? One and done?
Florida at Ohio State
The best way to describe the game is this: Someone emptied two baskets of kittens on the basketball floor and let them run all over the place. The game was all over the place, both teams being loaded with very "green" but talented and promising players.
This was Florida's first game outside the state and it showed. After a hot start, the Gators cooled off and played like a young team playing its first hostile road game. You can't really blame them. You couldn't possibly expect this team to walk into Value City Arena and take over the game.
The biggest talent at Ohio State continues to be the coach, Thad Matta. With a loaded squad of talented freshmen and a few experienced players of seasons past, there is no doubt that Matta will turn this team into a steamroller by mid-February. Sure there are questions, for one who will be the backup point guard when the team needs one and will Diebler or someone else be able to be a consistent outside shooting threat?
Oh yes, this was a rematch of the 2007 NCAA Final, we almost forgot to mention that. And there's good reason we almost forgot that: Because it's a rematch in name only. Sure the coaches are there (almost), and some of the players are there, but the majority of the impact players of the 2007 NCAA final from both teams have either graduated or playing professionally.
San Diego State at Arizona
We have fallen slightly behind schedule. Well not slightly, we are almost one week behind :) So we are now starting to catchup!
San Diego State was able to stay within arm's reach of Arizona for about three quarters of the game, but Arizona never really felt threatened by the Aztecs. The good news for the Aztecs is that they did that at McKale with their top scorer Lousville-transfer Lo(renzo) Wade in very early foul trouble.
The good news for Arizona fans was the return of Fendi Onobun, a player who is built for the Kevin O'Neill (KON) "Enforcer" approach. Infact he along with Jamelle Horne and three guards/wings could form a wild run and gun line-up. The problem? Kevin O'Neill is not a fan of run and gun. Not fun!
With KON being officially named Head Coach Designate, the uncertainty - at least for this season - should significantly subside. Going forward of course there's still going to be the Lute question, especially as other schools "approach" Brandon Jennings and other recruits and telling them of Kevin O'Neill horror stories, and tempting them to switch to their college.
Despite having a long bench, O'Neill's rotations are relatively tight, which makes Jordan Hill even more important - a game changer for Arizona. Can Hill make the leap from "promising big man with flashes" to a consistent all-conference performer? That may make or break Arizona's post-season-wise.
Steve Fisher has quietly almost completed a decade at SDSU, and has slowly but steadily improved their standing, although perhaps not as fast as some fans may have wanted things to improve.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Work it out! Treadmill special today only: Horizon T73 Treadmill for $650
We interrupt the holiday season with a work-it-out special! Burn the holiday fat with this $650 Horizon T73 treadmill. The special price is only good for today (Thursday December 27, 2007) and offered by Amazon. Shipping is free and the treadmill ships in the original manufacturer's packaging.
You don't have to be a basketball player to take advantage of this. We could all benefit by losing some weight or improving our cardio regiment. At least that's what the doctors and the trainers say. Who am I to disagree with them? :)
There are nine customer reviews of this treadmill at Amazon and the average rating is five stars out of five. It sells for $1000+ at other retailers in the Amazon marketplace. It has a lifetime frame warranty and a 12-year motor warranty. Labor is for one year. For more details including the user manual in PDF format, please visit the Amazon product page.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Exposing the reality of Pittsburg's non-conference record of the last few years
While Pitt has had a solid win over the Dookies, can we please stop singing the praises of their 61-3 record in November and December? While it's not easy to win that many games, the record and the impressive RPI is a factor of "who did you play" and "where did you play them". And the historical RPI/SOS numbers don't lie. They are there for everyone to see :-)
Pitt's 2008 current out of conference SOS is 120, thanks to the Duke game giving it a big boost. This year's schedule is a little bit of an upgrade, but not by a whole lot. They barely beat a weakened Washington team in Seattle. And barely is really barely. One of the little guys of Washington had a winning basket but it was fractions of a second after the buzzer showed 0:00. So this was as close of a "W" you can get as any. The home game against Oklahoma State was another "fudging the numbers" attempt. Everyone knows that OKi State does not do well on the road. Their "road" game was a few thousand inches down the road, still in Steeltown against "powerhouse" Duquesne. Everything else was winnable games at home. So let's not forget that!
But let's look at the previous years to see how Pitt has managed to assembly this "impressive" record. The numbers are the out of conference strength of schedule:
As you can see it's a lot easier to pile up the wins if you play cupcakes at home. It's no rocket science. And while the victory over Duke at MSG was HUGE for Pitt, and they will earn my first Top 25 vote in the next BlogPoll Top 25 blogger's poll (week #7 is next), it doesn't mean that that victory "legitimizes" all the cupcakes they beat in the non-conference the last few years. Sorry Pitt fans, the numbers don't lie :-) And you can't fudge them. They SCREAM :-)
Georgetown at Memphis
Wow! That was a nice game! And how can you watch another game today after that game? It's like having a dollar store wine after you had a $500 bottle wine! Wowie!
With Dorsey and Hibbert in foul trouble in the first half, the game was faster than most people thought it would be with both teams scoring 40+. Nice! A sea-saw battle with Georgetown taking the reigns early and the Tigers breaking free late in the first half.
Rosie O'Derrick once again started the game showcasing his perimeter offense. Perhaps the USC triangle-and-two straightjacket was what got his perimeter game rebooted. And the Tigers are now grateful for that. Georgetown played like Georgetown for the most part, but at times in the half the crowd and the relentless Memphis pressure managed to get to them. But earlier in the game they were able to punish the Tigers with run-outs and beating them at their own game.
The second half showed more side-effects of the pressure and the crowd on the Hoyas, and perhaps the most telling of all was a wild three pointer from almost half court by promising freshman Chris Wright. As you may recall Chris Wright got injured in the preseason and he was supposed to miss this season altogether - at least that's what we were told during the preseason. But obviously he didn't!
Hibbert probably lost money in this game, and while Big John (John Thompson the old Hoyas coach) was calling him "Big Stiff" in an affectionate-motivational kind of way, I am more inclined to call him Mecha-Hibbert. He is more mechanical than stiff. But he can certainly be effective in the NBA with his size and passing skills. Just don't expect him to be a Shaq or a Tim Duncan, but do expect a NBA team with Hibbert in its rotation to do well in wins and losses and have NBA playoff runs. All in my opinion of course.
Calipari was wild during the game, and I'm not talking about the technical foul. He used a 12-man rotation in the first half, and a 6-man rotation in the second half. Wow! But that may have been a blessing in disguise as the first half foul trouble on Dozier and Dorsey kept them fresh and ready for the second half. The second half was where CDR woke up and started scoring, and his performance prompted Calipari to take him out of the game at the end, so the crowd would give him some deserved props.
And it was the six starters that won the game for Memphis, and after their very solid performance in the second half, perhaps we may see more tightening of the rotation during close or big games by Calipari.
We even saw space-eaters Hashim Bailey and Pierre Niles for a few minutes in the first half. Well okay, that was Pierre Niles. Hashim Bailey made a mini-brief guest appearance when someone busted Pierre Niles's nose.
This was a good game for Georgetown as it showed them that they are not invincible and showed some areas where they need to work and improve. Obviously if this was an NCAA game it would have probably been played at a neutral court, and without the crowd's influence we may have had a different outcome.
Nevertheless it showed that their freshmen are freshmen (Chris Wright in particular), but Georgetown has a very solid and versatile rotation that can punish and grind teams but also beat them at their own game. Can they do that for 40 minutes? That may be what decides how far Georgetown goes this season. Despite their second half performance, this game has improved the value of Georgetown's basketball stock in my eyes.
This four-game series has the additional benefit that Georgetown and Memphis will likely avoid each other until either the Final Four or the Championship game. The NCAA selection committee and its computers prefer not to have re-runs during the tourney, but don't be surprised if this game ends up being played again in April under much brighter lights!
This was obviously a solid game of the year nominee and if you have it on DVR, be sure to save it on VHS or DVD if you are a basketball junkie! It was awesoem with capital A! It would have been even nicer if the score was closer and more like the first half, but we can't expect perfection :)
Opinions on the game around the internet
Now let's see what other websites and blogs are saying out this game, starting with College Hoops Journal who thinks that Memphis may be cutting down the nets in April. FanIQ has a live thread, while Hoopskills thinks this was the game of the year.
Hoya Hoops has the boxscore of the game, while the Examiner recaps the game. Fox Sports has a recap as well. More on this at Yet another basketball blog (that's the name of the blog, not an editorial comment by the way).
The Big Lead sings the praises of Jay Bilas in taking over for Dookie Vitale, and I would like to strongly agree with that. Infact this game was much more fun to watch without Vitale screaming and yelling at the wrong point in the game, or engaged in tireless self-promotion, and the like. But as you may have noticed, Bilas was trying to "spice it up" a bit by closing the TV timeout breaks with something "loud", including the obligatory "Rafterism".
CSTV's Hang Time says CDR gives CPR, while WMCTV covers the game as well. Sports from Two Burns thins Georgetown falls short.
And if you missed our preview of the game, be sure to take a look.
And before we go, a reminder: Check the college basketball TV schedule of December 2007 be sure to visit and bookmark this blog!
The dream of going undefeated (Sunday's Outside the Lines)
The Sunday edition of Outside the Lines examines the dreams of having an undefeated season. They examine all sports, both professional and collegiate. They do mention of course the 1972 Miami SeaTurtles, John Wooden's 88 game winning streak with the UCLA Bruins, Bob Knight's perfect season, and this season's New England Chowders in the NFL.
And by Bob Knight's perfect season we don't mean hunting season, where each one of his shots hit something or ...someone ;-)
And a last minute gift idea for the rock and roll fan: Led Zeppelin Complete Studio Recordings CD Box Set for $65 and free shipping at Amazon. This special price is only good today (Saturday), so get yours now!
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Friday, December 21, 2007
Preview: Georgetown at Memphis, tomorrow's big game
A big game tomorrow on ESPN and ESPN-HD, perhaps a preview of the Final Four or an Elite 8 matchup, the Georgetown Hoyas travel to the FedEx Forum in Memphis to square off with the Calipari Tigers.
Of course we all know it's just a game, and unlike football, winning or losing won't make or break the season of either one of the teams. But nevertheless it's certainly fun and a nice notch to have on their NCAA selection committee bedpost.
So the big questions, can the Calipari bigs handle Roy Hibbert? Will Calipari go to his two beef-eaters, Pierre Niles and Hashim Bailey to bruise Hibbert? Will Georgetown run? Will they try some of the Tim Floyd junk offenses? Can Memphis win in a half-court game against a tough solid well-coached team? How much impact will the home court advantage play? What impact will the early start of the game have?
The game tips off at 3pm eastern (12pm pacific) on ESPN and ESPN-HD. For more of the many many exciting games on TV, be sure to visit and bookmark our December 2007 college hoops tv schedule.
Long list of game previews on the net
If you really want to get into the game, be sure to check all these previews of the big game! Let's get started: Hoops Skills blog, Rivals, SEC Talk blog, and even social bookmarking site digg has sniffed up the game.
More previews: Go Tigers Go!, CSTV, Hoya Hoops, CSTV's Hangtime slog. A slog is not a slug. A slog is a sports blog, a term CSTV seems to love to use despite its silly sound :)
And some more previews, The Van Buren Boys, The Bracket Board, WKRN, Rutland Herald, Yahoo Sports, and the Washington Post.
Did you read all the previews above and want some more? Okay, fine, have it your way! Here's some more: ESPN, Yahoo News, Ball Hype, and U of M Tigers.
Okay, I think this is a good sampling of the many previews this game is getting! There's plenty more, and I just couldn't include every single one of them. Be sure to read them all, because there will be a pop-up quiz tomorrow before tip-off ;-)
2007-2008 College Hoops TV Guide December 2007
Welcome to another edition of the College Basketball TV schedule! This is the December 2007 schedule. For the previous month, check the November 2007 TV schedule. Also be sure to check our January 2008 College Hoops TV schedule.
Check your local listings for availability and air times
Listings can be changed by the channels at the last minute, so always double-check with your local provider
Sat December 1, 2007
Sun December 2, 2007 (aka Big10 vs Pac10 Hardwood Series Challenge)
Don't miss a game with TiVo!
Mon December 3, 2007
Tue December 4, 2007
Wedn December 5, 2007
Thur December 6, 2007
Fri December 7, 2007
Sat December 8, 2007
Sunday December 9, 2007
Monday December 10, 2007
Tuesday December 11, 2007
Wedn December 12, 2007
Thur December 13, 2007
Fri December 14, 2007
Relive your favorite 2007 NCAA Tournament games
Sat December 15, 2007
Sun December 16, 2007
Mon December 17, 2007
Tue December 18, 2007
Wedn December 19, 2007
Thur December 20, 2007
Fri December 21, 2007
Don't miss a game with TiVo!
Sat December 22, 2007
Sun December 23, 2007
Mon December 24, 2007
Tue December 25, 2007 - Merry XMas!
Wedn December 26, 2007
Thur December 27, 2007
Fri December 28, 2007
Sat December 29, 2007
Sun December 30, 2007
Mon December 31, 2007
Direct from the Source
Time-shift your favorite games with...
The Philips DVDR3575H/37 DVD Recorder with Hard Drive. Read more on this topic.
High School Basketball TV Schedule
The ESPN family of networks will bring us 15 high school hoops games this season. Details in this printer-friendly edition of ESPN High School. Some of the upcoming stars that will be spotlighted include Tyreke Evans, Samardo Samuels, J'Rue Holiday, Delvon Roe, Brandon Jennings, Lance Stephenson, Dexter Strickland, and lots more!
Gonzaga vs Oklahoma
NBA scouts, meet, Longer Longer. Bob Cousy pre-season selection committee, meet Jeremy Pargo. A game that was offensively-challenged in the first half became an entertaining see-saw battle in the second half. Infact the game had a soccer score at the first TV timeout (2-2). Four plus minutes of hoops and just 2 points for each team! Ouch!
The Sooners showed a lot of promise with the way they were able to push back after a run by the Zags, and earlier in the game the Zags did the same when the Sooners made a run.
Jeremy Pargo had an impressive run in the second half when he scored 11 consecutive points, but this may have damned his team's chances of a win as he continued shooting but not making the shots. But you can't complain about Pargo, he scored a career high 28 points, and a lot of them were critical buckets when the rest of the Zags were not able to make plays or score.
And to think that the preseason Bob Cousy selection committee did not have Jeremy Pargo as one of the 40 nominees! Really, there are 40 point guards better than Pargo? Where? In the NBA? Maybe, but certainly not in the NCAA!
This was a transitional game for the Zags. Josh "shroom" Heytvelt made his return to the court after ShroomGate and an injury, true freshman Stephen Gray played his second game, and tough cookie Matt Bouldin was coming back after an injury. With so many comings and goings there was expected to be some tumblings. But this is the short term. In the long term, this gives Few a 10+ man rotation, with a lot of versatility. The only weak point is backup point guard - if Pargo ever leaves the game - and there a combination of Bouldin and Gray will probably do for the few milliseconds Pargo is off the floor.
The first half the Zags played good defense as neither Ammo nor lil kiddie Raivio was on the court. But in the second half the defense was ...GoneZaga. This team certainly has a toughness boost as Pargo, Bouldin and do-it-all Pendo are definitely of the tough cookie variety. The only member of the "Moody Blues" appears to be "lowered expectations" Micah Downs.
If you had any questions whether Jeff Capel was a Dookie, just look at his hair. It looks like a blend between Coach K's head and the Duke logo! A total Dookie!
But the Sooners look very promising as of that game, with a four-pack of solid forwards, the Griffin Bros, Longar "I got offensive moves NBA scouts" Longar and Keith "Moose" Clark. The guards may be an issue but as long as Austin Johnson keeps making threes, things will be good.
But we learned more from this game, for instance, Fran Frachilla has an iPod, and he has Toby Keith songs on his iPod - according to Fran of course. The iPod was not made available for an independent entity to verify whether Frannie was just trying to please the home crowd. Toby Keith was right there watching the game :-)
More on this game at La Rev, Zagaholic, Ball Hype, News Channel 8, and AOL fan house.
For more TV games, be sure to check the December 2007 college hoops tv sked here at NCAA Hoops Today. Not to be confused with our beer blog, NCAA Hops Today ;-)
One funny thing we forgot to mention: At one point the TV cameras caught Mark Few looking miserable and sleepy on the bench. As soon as Few noticed he was on camera, he jumped up and started making (or faking) hand signals and hollering at his players down the court. I think he was faking it to save face :-)
Pitt vs Duke
Move over over-rated Pitt big men (yes, you Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall), here comes a really effective big man, the new Big Baby, DeJuan Blair, or DJ Blair. And he sure was mixing it up on the court last night, getting close to a 20-20 in points and rebounds. And a big thank you to DJ Blair for being instrumental in defeating the Dookies! Thank you DJ Blair!
As I had predicted in my game preview earlier (master of the obvious prediction), Duke "won the zebra game", as they got the majority of the calls, but perhaps not as many as they usually do. But that did not phase the Pitt Panthers who made a comeback after they got punched in the mouth by the Dookies.
The game was supposed to be a high scoring affair because both teams are allegedly playing fast this season, but instead it was a high-stakes wrestling match, interrupted by basketball moments. Mike Cook can attest to that as he had what looked like a serious knee injury.
LaVance Fields won the game in overtime with a step-back three in the face of the Dookies, and that couldn't make fans of Pitt and anti-fans of Duke any happier! Thank you LaVance Fields!
More on this game from Pitt Blather, Pitt Rivals, CSTV's Slogville (CSTV uses the term "slogs" to describe "sports blogs").
Even more coverage by 850 the Buzz (a blog that uses a radio format?), the News Leader, Pitt Live, College Hoops Journal, and Sportsocracy.
Be sure to plan your weekend of college hoops using our December TV Guide!
Speaking of TV, the game was called by Jay Bilas, standing in for Dick Vitale. It looks like Bilas will also do the Georgetown at Memphis game as well. More on this in the random college hoops thoughts post.
Random College Hoops Airballs
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Pitt vs Duke, previewing the big game tonite at MSG
Just two hours before tip-off of a big game to be played at MSG on ESPN tonight. The Dookies are playing injured, as their #1 Bestest cheerleader, Dookie Vitale is on the injured reserve with a vocal chord injury. How can the Dookies adopt and play without Vitale? Watch tonight and find out!
Previews of the game from the Pitt perspective: Pitt Blather, Pitt Rivals, Pittsburgh live, Bill White.
Some previews of the game from the Duke perspective: , ACC Basketball blog.
And some more previews at Us vs Them, Doubt about it, blog hype, Vegas Watch.
Also, CNN SI interviews Pitt's Sam Young and the Charlotte Observer (link via Blog Hype via the ACC Basketball Blog) discusses Duke's D'Antoni D'AntDookie offense.
For all the upcoming tv listings, be sure to check our college hoops TV schedule.
My prediction: Duke wins in overtime while getting 70% of the 50-50 calls. Normally this would be considered unfair, but given that Duke normally gets 80% of the 50-50 calls, Hank Nichols sings the praises of his officials for "fair and balanced officiating" ;-)
My Preference: Pitt beats the Dookies by 20. DJ Blair has a triple double with 24 points, 22 rebounds and 11 blocks. Taylor King goes 0 of 8 from the three point line, Greg Paulus has 12 turnovers, Coach K gets caught by the cameramen mouthing filthy obscenities at the zebras, Kyle Singler gets in early foul trouble, and Jon Scheyer cries on the bench because he got benched for not playing good defense. Just about the only Dookie I do not dislike is De Marcus Nelson. Nelson, there is still time, the spring semester has not started, there is still time to transfer out of Coach K's SmugNest!
ESPN Full Court gets stingy with its freet previews
From what I recall from previous years, ESPN Full Court used to have more free previews and it would also selectively "unlock" some days or some games as teasers for fans to watch, enjoy, want more, and subscribe.
This year it seems they have gone stingy with their free promos and previews, as I have not run into any of them so far. Granted we are only one month into the season, but give us some freebies! We are pay a gazillion dollars per month just to get digital cable, so give some freebies baby! ;-)
Arizona at UNLV
This was an intensely ugly game. Oops! I should say it was intense but ugly. The scoreboard? That would have been the halftime score if Tark's UNLV was playing Lute Olson's run and gun Wildcats. But instead this game was defensive Lon Kruger squaring off defensive Kevin "Enforcer" O'Neill, and we were shocked to actually see one team score more than 50. Which is (sadly) what took to win the game.
On the plus side, Seth Davis fans will be thrilled that he will be the half-time show analyst on CSTV college basketball games this season. During this game he was joined by studio anchor/host Adam Zucker of CSTV in the Fieldhouse in New York City.
As expected, Jordan Hill had a big game against the UNLV smalls, getting a career high 19 rebounds, and 16 points or so. And the Arizona Meercats needed them all, as Chase "Over-Rated" Budinger was off once again, and Bayless spent more time in this game being a freshman than usual.
Meanwhile Nic "Hoops" Wise showed once again lots of onions and was the second most important player in getting the Cats the "W".
UNLV on the other hand, needs players, they need to sign a few free agents, but of course they can't, so they have to play small ball. Kruger seems to love getting power-guards, you know the 6'1" to 6'3" 200+ pounders, but can't seem to be able to get any big men.
And while he can deliver results and have a very solid team on the court, it's just not the same when you have the UNLV Running Rebels being the UNLV Grinding Slugfesters. Sorry UNLV fans, but the truth hurts!
More on this game at CSTV, UNLV Rebels, Ball Hype, Xs and Os Coaching Better Basketball blog, and Rebel Nation.
Don't miss Duke vs Pitt and the Zags tripping out to Oklahoma tonight! More details in our college hoops tv guide.
Memphis at Cincinatti
One time a big Conference USA rivalry, this game was reduced to an ugly and choppy affair where the bottom team of the Big East was hosting a Top 5 team. Calipari apparently decided he would win the game only with three pointers in the first half and it worked as long as the threes were falling.
Once again Memphis showed why I have so questions about them being a top team. This of course depends on how you perceive these games. Were they able to win despite playing bad, thus they are a really great team, or is this their true self and they are going to struggle winning close half-court games? We blog, you decide!
Cincy of course had its share of injuries but the feisty Mick Cronin (who wore an anti-GQ outfit that screamed against his red head (yes we are TMZ.com pseudo-analysts)) did not let his team fall behind, although they were never a "serious" threat of winning the game.
The good news for Tigers fans is that Derrick O'Rosie was raining threes, a welcome development for his game, both at the college level and in the eyes of the scouts. Just like Kevin Love, Rose (and the analysts) are discovering that it's a different game when you are not playing against the kiddies any more, but you have to face players that may be stronger, faster, taller, and older.
The Tigers big men were having foul trouble and frustrations which caused Calipari to go 11-deep and bust out not only Jeff Robinson but Pierre Niles as well. He is probably going to need his space-eaters to body-up Roy Hibbert on Saturday.
However the most effective line-up in this game was when Calipari went to a three point guard line-up, oh the luxury to be able to do that, most coaches will tell you. Rose and Kemp are big enough that they can cover most wings, and this line-up was able to significantly cut down on turnovers. Don't be surprised if they make another appearance if Georgetown causes them too many turnovers.
Meanwhile the Laurinburg group looked as if they were "on strike" in support of the television writers. CDR was a non-factor on offense, Dorsey had another "Oden" game, Dozier was off, and Antonio Anderson's saving grace was hitting a few threes (he lit up Cincy two years ago).
Cincy can look forward to fighting teams off for the #16 spot in the Big East. It's gonna get uglier before it gets better for Cincy, and perhaps they should strongly consider going back to Conference USA. There, they would have been a top-tier team, instead of having to scrap and claw just to make the Big East tourney.
More on this game from MySpace (yes, they have sports), Commercial Appeal, Zanesville Times Recorder, and on Memphis and Conference USA by the RealSportsBloggers.
Don't miss Pitt vs Duke tonight from MSG, and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Classic double header from Oklahoma. More details in our giant college hoops tv listings
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Week #6 of the Blog Poll Top 25 is published!
Week #6 of the Blog Poll top 25 has been published! Be sure check out the total vote, along with details on how each blog-voter voted. All the details in this Google Doc.
Spoiler Alert: This sentence will reveal who is #1! The #1 in this week's BlogPoll is ... North Carolina with Memphis at #2, Texas a clear #3, Kansas a clear #4, the Dookies a clear #5 (I voted them #1, please Pitt beat them!!!)!
#6, #7 and #8 are nearby in terms of votes, Washington State, Georgetown and UCLA, the slugfest trio! (just kidding or am I?)
Much further away in terms of votes is Michigan State at #9, with Marquette rounding up the Top 10. Check the Google doc mentioned above for the complete top 25.
The last team in was BYU and the last team out was Villanova. Apparently people are holding the "phantom Mickey Mouse call" loss to NC State in the Disney made-for-thanksgiving-TV tourney against the Nova Wildcats. I am not!
For wall to wall coverage on the BlogPoll Top 25, and a list of participating bloggers, check the left-hand column of this blog, or click on the "blogpoll" tag/label at the end of this post.
Today on Outside the Lines: The Green Monster (Danny Ainge's new Boston Celtics)
Today's centerpiece of ESPN's Outside the Lines features the "Green Monster", Danny Ainge's "new" Boston Celtics "dynasty". Outside the Lines airs at 3pm eastern (12pm pacific) on ESPN today.
Here is how ESPN describes the centerpiece in their OTL promo email:
So far in this young NBA season, Danny Ainge appears to be a genius. The Boston Celtics are 20-2 and are dominating the league. The additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen this off-season along with Celtics favorite Paul Pierce have given Boston a 1-2-3 superstar punch that Boston hasn't seen since the Bird, McHale and Parrish era. However, some critics say that the Celtics haven't proven anything yet with an easy early-season schedule. Wednesday night should be a good indicator as the Celtic's face off with the always tough Detroit Pistons. Today on Outside the Lines, we examine what the Boston Celtics have done so far and what they are capable of doing.
Kentucky at Houston
Turnaround Tom is one of the last few remaining "mad scientists" of the game. His "scramble" style of play was "modernized" by attaching the "Phoenix Suns offense" tag to it, and his specialty in re-recruiting continues to pay off with the likes of Dior Dowell and Marcus Cousin (who did not play in this game).
This was another disappointing game for Kentucky, considering the high level of expectations, but the silver lining was that Jodie Meeks came back with guns ablazing (he picked up from where Darth Vaden left off in their previous game), and the team continued to fight and chip away even when everyone knew what the outcome of the game was.
They were playing without Patrick Patterson who had a "last minute" injury because according to the ESPN crew he was fine in practice. Without Patterson to patrol the paint, the crazy Cougars had their way on the offensive glass, running and gunning Penders style.
Patterson's absence was an opportunity for the seven footer Carter to get some PT, but the style of play of Houston was not a good match for a seven footer. Carter, who considered transferring, may want to considering "Division 2" if he really wants to play (Ouch!). The new NCAA ads say "I chose Division 2", so it can't be that bad :)
Crawford added another bad mark to his under-achieving career with a "coward's foul" on an opponent's breakaway dunk. I think the NCAA needs to punish players beyond just a technical for fouls that endanger a player's career. Those types of fouls are just wrong, and the excuses used by players and coaches are just plain LAME! NCAA, do your job!
Meanwhile Tom Penders probably has to have a roll coll before each practice, that's the only way he can keep track with his ever-changing roster. With Lanny Smith healthy so far (knock on wood for his sake), the team looks like it may have the breakout year Tom Penders was hoping two years ago. They certainly have lots of players to mix into the rotation. I was impressed by Toney's rebounding ability but then again, there was no Patrick Patterson to patrol the paint.
More on this game at the following websites and blogs:
Don't miss any TV games! Visit and Bookmark our College Hoops TV Guide of December 2007, updated on an on-going basis!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Dick Vitale on the injured reserve!
Dookie Vitale is on the injured reserve! Dickie V had successful surgery to remove ulcers from his vocal chords and will be sidelined from broadcasting games until February 2008. This according to ESPN News.
Vitale will continue to cover college hoops online, on his website and at the ESPN website. But he won't be doing any games until February 2008.
While we all wish Dickie V a speedy and full recovery, one cannot help but wonder: Who will ESPN pick to do Vitale's games? Will ESPN go after an outside analyst for the spotlight games, "promote" one of their current analysts in the "star analyst" role, or "rotate" their existing analysts in those slots?
Monday, December 17, 2007
Live-blogging my Week #6 BlogPoll Top 25 vote
My vote for week #6 of the BlogPoll top 25 is going to be wacky, but in a good way. When I vote in the blog polls, I do not use the same approach used by the AP and Coaches polls, which causes some teams to be ranked/unraked despite "conventional wisdom" which really is just "programming" from following the way the AP/Coaches poll "moves" when teams win or lose regardless of how they played, who they played, and the circumstances of the game.
Let's not forget that the Top 25 is not a single-elimination vote like the NCAA tourney, but an "overall picture" type of ranking with a blend of past, present and future mixed in.
One more thing, I will be "honoring" the RPI by voting the #1 team in the RPI at #25 or higher each week. This week the Miami Hurricanes are the #1 team in the RPI (Kenpom.com), so I will add them to my top 25. Where? Read on to find out!
I'm saying all that because my #1 is *gasp* the hated Duke Pukedevils. While both North Carolina and Memphis are loaded with talent, the "truthiness" component of my vote feels that there's something missing from each team. Duke on the other hand has the extra benefit of getting 80-20 of the calls, and they have a more "basketball-friendly" style of play this year after Coach RatCase K "stole" from his assistants. D'Antoni's offense and Boeheim's defense!
Because of the UNC/Memphis "uncertainty", I am ranking Georgetown at #2. Georgetown is not going to dazzle and razzle but they are going to knockout a team out when the game is on the line.
With UNC and Memphis at #3 and #4, Texas, UCLA, Kansas, and Washington State are ranked #5 through #8.
The under-appreciated Butler Bulldogs are at #9, with the Indiana Phone Cheaters at #10. Marquette's power-trio of guards is also flying under the radar a little bit, given their impact, but they are getting #11 from me, which is one spot above the "Clyde do you miss us?" Texas A&M Aggies.
I reluctantly vote Izzo State at #13, and at #14, the Arizona Meercats! Yes, the Kevin O'Neill the Enforcer is starting to "toughen up" the team, with Bayless and Wise emerging as "tough cookies". The team has enough pure talent to be a top 10 team, but they are not there yet. The #14 might be a little bit generous, but I couldn't find anywhere else to put at #14 :-)
From here on, it's really a toss-up, if I voted one hour earlier, I would have come up with a different list :-) So here we go, into the hat they go, and out of the hat they come in this order: USC, Villanova, West Virginia, Vandy, and Xavier. Why Xavier? They looked average at best against Cincy and they got "owned" by Herb Sendek. Well, I have good excuses for both losses: Cincy was an emotional intracity rivarly, and Sendek was Sean Miller's former mentor/head coach. As you may recall, Sean Miller also got beat by former co-coach Charles Coles. Since they taught him everything he knows (ha!), they were able to beat him. So goes the theory anyways :)
More A-10 love as Rhode, Dayton and UMass are ranked next. Yes, UMass!
#1 RPI team Miami of Florida sits in at #23!
Now there's two spots left, and about 30 teams that I could make a case for. So, who gets in then? Well, let me throw the darts ;-) Based on "gut feeling", the Zags get #24 and the Donuts get #25!
Others receiving consideration, in no particular order: St Mary's, Louisville, Oregon, Arkansas, BYU, Cal, George Mason, UAB, Wright State, Miami of Ohio, and Syracuse.
So who is left out that may surprise some?
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Injury report: Eric Devedorf out for the season
Sad news for Syracuse fans as Eric Devendorf is out for the season. This is a big blow for the Orange but the silver lining is that it would throw the "FlynnStones" even more into the fire and force them to mature more quickly.
More coverage on this at the Daily Orange, Orange Basketball blog, Cuse Country, and Orange Hoops.
North Carolina at Rutgers
"THE TARHEELS WERE AS GOOD AS WE THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE!", Denny Green would have said if he was the Rutgers college basketball coach.
The game was exactly as Denny Green's "trademark" phrase suggests, with Tywon Lawson getting a new career high with 26 (or so) including a healthy number of three-pointers made. Tyler Hansbrough hit his head on a camera man's knee and left the game with a few minutes left, and Rutgers saw a glimmer of hope, but that was quickly squashed by the rest of the Tar Heels - something that perhaps can make the Carolina fans feel less uneasy - at least they didn't have a Georgetown meltdown without Hansbro.
Convincing players to come off the bench became easier for Roy Williams (and other coaches to a lesser extend) after #3 NBA Draft pick Marvelous Marvin Williams came off the bench of the 2005 NCAA college basketball national championship team. And that's perhaps the role that Danny Green (no relation to the trademark/football coach) could play in this season's squad if it hopes for a national championship.
Ole Roy was not happy with a 9-man rotation so he mixxed in a little bit of William Graves and Copeland. Some people (read: Doug Gottleib) have a problem with that, I do not. If you have the players, play them! If you can mix it up and win, just do it!
There was once again an awkward offensive moment where Q. Thomas, Ginyard and Stephenson were on the floor at the same time. But this time it was quickly corrected as they made a quick substitution to add more offense to the line-up.
Rutgers on the other hand is on a long and winding rebuilding road. But the good news is that they have the right man for the job, Mr Jersey Fred Hill. He already brought in (read: kept in-state) a touted guard in Corey Chandler, with more talent in the pipeline. His current roster has a relatively low ceiling, especially playing in the 16-team Big East team, however the bottom of the Big East is "competitive" the wrong way at the moment, so they do have a chance of ...making the Big East tourney this year (last year only 12 make it in).
Meanwhile JR Inman has probably learned his lesson the hard way as his "statements" were empty, both scoreboard-wise and personal statline-wise. Win some games first JR Inman, and then run your mouth :-)
More on this game from the Tar Hell Times and Ball Hype. Meanwhile the Basketball Predictions blog projects North Carolina as their overall #1 in their latest Bracketology projections as of today (12/16/07).
Fresno State at Arizona
Why is Nic Wise not starting at Arizona? Beats me, but then again, I'm not the interim head coach for the season :) Arizona is winning and toughening up game by game, so who am I to question the Enforcer? (Kevin O'Neill)
Once again Arizona started slow but were able to pick things up in the first half and did not fall behind this time. And once they had the lead, they were able to keep a safe distance, which is why the second half looked more like a scrimmage than a competitive game.
Because of the nature of the game, most players who played major minutes had a good game, including another 20+ from Jerryd Bayless, a good Jordan Hill and Budinger game, and such. There was even a flashback to the run and gun Cats on a fastbreak play with Bayless and Jamelle Hill.
Kevin O'Neill's mad scientist rotation was pretty much down to seven players when the game was competitive, with Daniel Dillon and Kirk Walters being left out. On the plus side for Arizona fans, Fendi Onobun played a few minutes towards the end of the game (returning from injury). And Mohammed Tangara blocked a shot.
Speaking of mad science, I can't help but think that Nic Wise may find himself in an Omar Bynum situation next year. With Jerryd Bayless presumably staying for a second year and Brandon Jennings presumably coming in, minutes are going to be hard to come by for Nic Wise since both Bayless and Jennings are going to want to play at least some point.
Fresno State is without guard Dwignt O'Neill due to injury and forward Rekalin Sims due to ...robbery [allegedly]. Without those two players, the ceiling for this ragtag fleet of transfers gets lowered. Transfers you say? Sure, apart from Kentucky transfer Rekalin Sims, they have Alabama's Shawn Taylor, Louisville's Bryan Harvey.
This is the first time I saw the Bulldogs and while they were not competitive in this game, they do have the potential of being in the run for CBI bid perhaps if all goes well. Steve Cleveland has some talent to work with, providing he can re-invest the team without O'Neill and Sims.
More on this game at Ball Hype, Fresno Bee, beRecruited.com, sports snipe, Go Cats message forums, and Daily Wildcat.
Be sure to check our college hoops tv guide! for all the upcoming games!
Undefeated in December: Exposed by the SOS
It sure is fun to follow the remaining 14 undefeated teams. It's fun for the fans, it's fun for the bloggers, it's fun for the media. Some root for teams to remain undefeated, others root for teams to lose, some just want to enjoy the excitment.
However, being undefeated in December is not a function of how good your team is, but who you play!.
Don't believe me! Look at the numbers at Ken Pomeroy's excellent site, sorted by the fewer losses. There we see the 14 undefeated teams EXPOSED in all their glory: While the RPI is obviously inflated because of the 100% winning percentage, the SOS tells the story.
Of the 14 undefeated teams, ten of them have an SOS (strength of schedule) of 114 or worse. Only one of the fourteen undefeated teams has an SOS ranked better than #59. That's Frank Haith's Miami Heat Hurricanes with a #29 SOS! The next up is Vandy with SOS #59, Texas at #88, Memphis at #95, and the rest are above SOS 100.
Memphis vs Middle Tennessee State
Kermit thought he could pull a "muppet show" on Calipari with his junk defenses, but let's face it, Middle Tennessee State does not have the caliber of players USC and Tim Floyd has, and his triangle and two and other assortment of junk defenses were merely a nuisance to the Calipari Express.
Their defense did manage to keep Memphis scoring down, but Memphis was able to keep the Kermit Davis's team's scoring even lower, by 20+ points. Thus another comfy win for the Calipari Tigers.
Derrick Rose seems to be going through a slump (or is it growing pains?) He "woke up" a bit at the end of the third quarter, but it was really a team win for Memphis which in a way is good news for their fans. Shawn Taggart to me looks more and more like the player that could be the difference between another Elite 8 and a Final Four as he provides them a 3rd big man who is actually better offensively than the two starters. Given Calipari's loyalty to the Laurinburg "litter" (cats-tigers), Taggart will probably not start this year, but that's not a bad thing for him as he can come in the game and make an immediate impact while flying under the radar.
Jeff Robinson seems to be emerging as the #10 player in the rotation. Although the freshman is physically ready, he is still a freshman and has a lot of "on court" growing up to do. And he is at the right place to do it since there's no pressure to deliver right away - being #10 in the rotation and all.
More on this game at College Hoops Journal, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Go Blue Raiders, ArcaMax.com, ESPN, Go Tigers Go (CSTV), and Memphis Flyer.
Don't miss any TV games! Check our College Basketball TV Listings!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Louisville vs Purdue
Getting win #500 at the Wooden Tradition would have been of great symbolic value for Pitino as he continues to reflect on what "could have been" had he stayed in place instead of chasing the NBA rings.
But that didn't happen in this reality. Once again it was evident that the big guys are not the only reason Louisville is struggling as of late. It's the guards! In my opinion having one of Caracter, Padgett or Palacios healthy could have been enough for an NCAA-caliber team, assuming the guards were playing up to their talent level and potential.
But they are not! So if you are a point guard with 2008-2009 eligibility, send your resume to Rick Pitino at the U of Louisville. He should be "looking" for point guards right about now.
The boringly ugly game was turned upside down when Pitino went to his trademark frentic press, spearheaded by Preston "Energizer Bunny" Knowles, but the Purdue diaper dandies showed poise and were lucky that the barrage of three pointers the Cardinals were hoisting did not connect.
Purdue no doubt has a lot of raw talent, but not a whole lot of experience. Matt Painter has a challenge in balancing two those and getting the team ready for the Big 10 conference and the post-season. They certainly have something a variety of "power guards" which bodes well for the tough Big 10 and for not closely-called games in the post-season.
Billy Packer went into Dick Vitale mode when he kept singing the praises of Purdue freshman Robbie Hummel throughout the broadcast. The same way Vitale keeps singing the praises of Duke and Mike Shoe-Chef-Ski.
Meanwhile Tim Brando needs to be smacked in the mouth for calling Nebraska's home win over Oregon in overtime an "upset". Will someone please teach all these clueless announcers and studio hosts that an "upset" is not determined by looking at the polls, but at the gap in talent, size and history between the two teams playing, as well as where the game is played.
More on this game at Brian Bennett's blog, Brightcover, Purdue Rivals, Big Ten Network, News Channel 5, and Schan's blog.
Don't miss any TV games - stay up to date with our December 2007 college hoops TV guide!
UAB vs Kentucky
While Jimmy "dog and pony show" Dykes sounded like he was rehearsing for the "UAB defensive co-ordinator" job, Darth Vaden showed up in the second half and spoiled Kentucky's three point parade. 33 points were just too much as he led the Blazers to a second half comeback. The offensive drought ended at Freedom Hall, Kentucky's "home" for the day, as Bradley, Crawford and Porter were hitting three like crazy. But so was Darth Vaden (Robert Vaden).
This was the first end-to-end UAB Blazers game I watched this season. The team is missing the injured veteran Paul Delaney so they have two newcomers in the back court. But certainly mighty mouse Aaron Johnson was better than I expected for an unheralded freshman. Ditto backup Ed Berrios. Obviously Darth Vaden is not going to score 33 every game, so a combination of Frank Holmes, Walter Sharpe and the like have to deliver. One thing that may work in Mike Davis's favor is #51, Reggie Huffman, who is four years older than his class because of military service, so even without Delaney they have someone more mature and disciplined than the average player.
What does this mean for UAB's future? That is a good question! They are a work in progress, they do have a high ceiling but they can also hit rock bottom.
For Kentucky this game started great, as they had a comfy lead on the home court of bitter rival PitinoVille. The threes finally started falling, and Mark Coury started the game as if he was a top 100 player. To a certain extend you can't blame the defense when someone has a wild second half like Darth Vaden did. But you can certainly blame the defense for not containing him more.
What does this mean for Billy Gillispie? In a way he is a victim of his own early recruiting success. The expectations with Tubby players were not high, but "Clyde" brought in Patrick Patterson and Alex Legion and started filling up the pipeline and got everyone excited.
And this perhaps raises a big question: When Billy Gillispie took over UTEP and Texas A&M they were in total mess. A&M was coming off zero (0) conference wins. Anything more than zero was a success. But unlike UTEP and Texas A&M, this won't cut it at Kentucky. A NIT bid in year one may have put Billy G in contention for coach of the year at UTEP or A&M, but at Kentucky it's a really bad season. So he has his work cut out for him this season. Even though he is dealing with the after-effects of the Tubby Smith era, there is no "get out of jail card" like UTEP or A&M.
More on this game at A Sea of Blue, John Clay's Sidelines report, Rick Bozich, and Wildcats Thunder.
During the game the announcers mentioned the four possible transfer destinations for Alex Legion, one of them being Notre Dame.
Be sure to check the upcoming December 2007 college hoops games on TV.
Oak Hill vs Saint Benedict's
One of the most anticipated high school basketball games was played on Thursday, but the game did not live up to its billing for the most part as it was quite choppy and the zone defenses played by both teams "zoned them out".
But there was a lot to like about the game, and a new "star" emerged scoring almost 30 points. More on this game at Recruiting Wars.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Previewing the weekend of college hoops on TV!
While the finals have slowed down the week in college hoops, the weekend TV slots had to be filled and the exams are pushed aside for some nice games to watch, particularly on Saturday, but also with two games on Sunday featuring Arizona hosting Fresno State (Jim Rome'ism: Frenseck State) and North Carolina visiting the RAC. Be sure to check our December 2007 College Hoops TV schedule!.
Let's see what our fellow bloggers are saying about the upcoming weekend of hoops! Some of the games look tough on paper, as if they were members of a fight club!
We just discovered a new SEC blog called Best of SEC, think of it as the Sportscenter of SEC blogs. There you'll find all sorts of coverage of the weekend games from a variety of blogging sources!
A Sea of Blue goes inside the UAB Blazers numbers and dissects their statistics. Does Mike Davis and the UAB Transfers have enough to steal a W at Rupp Arena?
Storming the Floor previews the weekend of hoops, spotlighting some of the games that you should really watch, TiVo or Tape!
Speaking of Watch, TiVo or Tape, be sure to check our Tech Talk segment discussing TiVo, DVRs, DVD recorders, VCRs and the like. Don't miss your favorite teams or the game of the year!
Storming the Court looks at the weekend ahead as well, spotlighting some must see TV games!
Meanwhile College Hoops Journal is on a roll as they break down the unbeatens, feature a spotlight game of the weekend (you can watch it on FSN and Fox College Sports), and break down Joe Lunardi's bracketology.
March Madness All Season has a very detailed breakdown of the weekend action, covering a number of national and regional TV games, including Florida State vs Butler.
College Hoops TV schedule has been updated
The College Hoops TV schedule for December 2007 has been updated, now going all the way to Friday December 21, 2007. More will be added soon. Check the December 2007 College Hoops TV schedule here.
And if you don't want to miss an update from NCAA Hoops Today, be sure to Subscribe to the NCAA Hoops Today RSS feed. It is FREE and fun :) You can use your desktop news reader or online newsreaders like the Google Reader, or Bloglines, or you can use your browser's bookmarks or add it to your Google or Yahoo page! So subscribe now!
NCAA March Madness 08 is now shipping!
The EA Sports 2008 NCAA March Madness is now shipping from Amazon and other retailers!
The game is available for XBox 360 for $50, Playstation 3 for $50, and Playstation 2 for $29. Free shipping and handling at Amazon for each one.
The NCAA March Madness 08 has been reviewed by IGN, TeamBox, Gamestats, Game Trailers, and many other places that review games :) We do not plan to review those games here at NCAA Hoops Today.
Also available are the 2K Sports Games in the same three flavors (XBox360, PS3, PS2).
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Must see TV tonight: Oak Hill vs St Benedict's on ESPN
Be sure to watch, TiVo or tape this game tonight on ESPN at 9pm eastern: Oak Hill vs St Benedict's! Two of the brightest stars of the 2008 class square off. The "high school" team of Oak Hill with super-guard Brandon Jennings square off with Samardo Samuels of St Benedicts. Samardo Samuels is a big time prospect but unlike Derrick Caracter, he doesn't have the same issues, which is why he is a top 5 players in the class of 2008. Perhaps this is why Pitino is in a hurry to send Caracter to the NBA, to make room for Samardo Samuels :)
More on this game at Recruiting Wars. With Lute Olson on "sabbatical", you bet the Brandon Jennings recruiting wars will flare up again!
Also be sure to check our on-going December 2007 College Hoops TV Guide.
Discover new college hoops sites and blogs
Today we are "discovering" new college hoops websites and blogs. There's so much stuff out there and not enough time, so let's get started. All the blogs mentioned in this post have been added to our links in the left sidebar/column of this blog, under the "College Hoops Blogosphere" heading for your convenience.
First up, we have a new wave of blogs participating in the BlogPoll Top 25 that have just been added to our links. Here they are: Storming the Court, Super, Scintillating and Sarcastic, College Hoops Journal and Vegas Watch. To see all blogs participating in the BlogPollTop25, visit our BlogPoll Top 25 intro.
Want more blogpolls? Then you are in luck! Check out the Big East Bloggers Power Poll, with a number of Big East blogs participating! With 16 teams in the conference from all over the country, it's like a mini-national poll!
And now some more (new to me) blogs from the world of college hoops:
NCAA Hoops Digest covers the world of college hoops. Be sure to check their introduction to Saint Mary's Patrick Mills.
Notre Dame Basketball covers the Notre Dame Hoops as you may have guessed already! Check out their latest post on Luke Harangody and Kyle McAlarney.
Ball Hype's College Hoops Newscenter, for lack of a better word, this is the page where all the college hoops posts are featured.
RauRaur.com covers the Arizona Wildcats. Be sure to check their blog as they have some juicy rumors: Rick Carlisle, former NBA head coach, may be joining the Arizona Wildcats bench this season to fill the 3rd assistant opening voided by the departure of Lute. Remember the current staff is Kevin O'Neill and two "kids" in Josh Pastner and Miles Simon. This could be interesting, Arizona having two former NBA head coaches on its bench! They also have news of an Arizona freshman transfering. Read on to find out more!
College Basketball Link covers the world of college hoops and they have some nice blogs in their RSS feed :-)
College Hoops is one of the many well thought-out topics you will find at Irish Trojan.
PS> If I left anyone out, please let me know! My brain is a Celeron and it's trying to do the work of a four dual-core processors ;-)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Rumors: Kelvin Sampson may get fired by Indiana!
While surfing around at Ballhype.com, I saw this story from the Cobra Brigade discussing rumors-speculation that the "suspensions" of IU players for the Kentucky game may have been the tip of the iceberg and Kelvin has ...420 more problems to deal with ;-) All the details along with discussion at the Cobra Brigade. Again please keep in mind that this is rumors and speculation! To repeat for those who are speed reading: This is rumors/speculation!
Vandy at DePaul
The first half can be summarized with this: "Coach, it Burns!". DePaul looked very impressive in the first half while Vandy looked like it got frozen by the ice storms. DePaul could do no wrong and their players looked like stars in the making.
The situation continued in the second half with DePaul building an 18 point lead, but then things started reversing, with Vandy slowly but steadily chipping away at the score and sending the game to overtime where they grabbed the W by the horns - as it is often the case when a team loses a big lead and the game heads to overtime. Good old Mo(mentum).
Jerry Wainwright has a lot more to worry than messing up his hair during the half-time report ;-) What was a microcosm perhaps of DePaul in the last few years was how they played in the last two minutes of regulation and allowed Vandy to send the game to overtime: They played as if it was an AAU game Taking a shot just 5 seconds into the possession, silly foul on defense, not concentrating at the foul line, woofing at each other instead of getting things done, not understanding the game situation (fouls, score, time remaining, etc). Wainwright has his work cut out for him.
Having said all that though this was my first full game look at DePaul and they have shown a lot of promise and potential. It looks like they are going to be like last year's team, all over the place, and the new CBI may in the end be what allows them some post-season play.
The game itself was "turnovery" at times, but unlike the Cincy at Xavier game, it was fast and entertaining, the way basketball should be played. Are you reading this basketball coaches? *cough* Ben Howland, Salukis, etc *cough* Infact we are making it a game of the year nominee. (We are very generous with the nominations).
This was also the first full Vandy game I watched. Needless to say the first half was not good, but it doesn't look like it was representative of their performance YTD. The second half was more like it, and their experience and basketball savvy showed late in the second when Vandy players made basketball plays while DePaul players made AAU plays. And that was the difference. Some of the Princeton fundamentals came in handy late in the game as well.
More on this game at VU Commodores, Vanderbilt Sports Online, BallHype, and RUWT?, and AOL Sports Fanhouse
Cincy at Xavier
The battle of Cincy, prefaced by the city's mayor was a tough ugly grinded out affair, with a big scare for Marvin Gentry who got hit by one of his teammates while going for a loose ball. As the ESPN people said, its saving grace was that it was a big intracity rivalry game. They call it the CrossTown ShootOut. Josh Duncan got injured too and left the game.
Xavier did not look good though, especially in the first half, but they did show why they are highly rated at crunch time when they made the plays while Cincy didn't.
This was the first time I had seen either time, and since it was a big rivalry game, a lot of the stuff you may deduce from a typical game gets thrown out the window.
The game however showcases the pros and cons of having a tiny little point guard like Drew Lavender. Both on defense and offense you gain and you lose. This may be something that may bite the X-Men in the NCAA tourney.
And kudos to ESPN for discussing Skip Prosser's tenure at Xavier; it's still hard to digest that Skip Prosser is gone :-(
More on this game at BallHype, RUWT?, and SBRforum, and AOL Sports Fanhouse.
PS> Something a bit strange in the broadcast, with 1 minute 5 seconds left during the timeout, someone approached the Cincy bench and one of the Cincy people in a business suits reached out and pushed him away.
Week #5 of the Blog Poll Top 25 is published!
Yes basketball fans, week #5 of the BlogPoll Top 25 has been published by our great blog administrator at March To Madness. You can see the Top 25 standings along with how each blog voted in this HMTL-based Google Spreadsheet (opens in the browser like any other page, no need for Excel!)
Here is the list of participating blogs. If you are a college hoops blogger and interested in joining, just let any of the participating bloggers know.
So what do we have in the Top 25? Carolana is #1 with 8 #1 votes, the Calipari Tigers are #2 with 5 #1 votes, and the Rick Barnes Experience is at #3 with 1 #1 vote. Then we have the Kansas Jayhawks at #4 who apparently have decided to play all the teams that could beat them in the first round of the NCAA so they can avoid them in the tourney (Miami of Ohio: CHECK, but they can't avoid the Davidson Wildcats!)
The nasty neo-Dookies are at #5, with the slugfest Bruins at #6, and the big fun-da-mentals of Georgetown and Washington State at #7 and #8.
The #9 spot, with quite a bit of a voting distance goes to Izzo State, who earned my higher vote after beating the BYU Sinners in Utah. Izzo's friend Tom "I recruited Dwyane Wade" Crean rounds up the top ten at #10 after beating the low-ceiling Wisconsin Badgers at their place.
Then we have Texas A&M, Indiana, Tennessee (way too high based on what they have done on the court - I voted them #24), Butler and the Nike Ducks.
At #16 we have the X-men who face Cincy tonight in a Nutty affair, my "favorite" two teams to pick on Pitt and Clemson (I did not vote either one of them in the top 25, don't blame me; although I do believe that DJ Blair was underrated by scouting services), Vandy and the ...Caracter-less Pitinoville Cardinals. Please keep in mind that the Caracter news broke while about half of the bloggers had already voted. Expect Louiville to fade out even more unless things change.
The bottom of the top 25 is occupied by GoneZaga, Miami of Florida (give us some RPI respect baby!), Saint Mary's (before they lost to the Southern Illinois Ultimate CageMatch Fighting squad), the neo-Arizona O'Neill MeerCats, and the BYU Sinners.
Just on the outside looking in are West Hugginsville, Villanova who gets no love (let's not forget their loss to NC State came because of a phantom 0:00 call), USC Divas, Stanford SmartyPants, Rhode "Linc Chafee is gone" Island, Wisconsin and the Jon Stewart Dayton Flyers.
No other teams received votes in this week's edition of the BlogPoll Top 25, which is quite interesting that 12 different people voted yet only 32 teams received top 25 votes. Are we clones? :)
So what do you think? How does it compare to the AP/Coaches Poll? The Power Rankings? The RPI/SOS? The Sagarin Ratings? The Common Sense Index? The Eyeballs Indicator? The Majerus Approach?
What are the other BlogPoll Voters saying about Week #5?
March to Madness reports week #5 and has a celebrity "reacting" to the votes. They also offer their MWC perspective on BYU.
SEC The Good The Bad The Dirty and The UnTold Secrets analyzes the movers and shakers in this week's Top 25.
APIAS has a pictorial representation of their blogpoll vote.
Storming the Court dissects the picks and tries to sort out the middle of the poll which feels like a roll of the dice.
Vegas Watch dissects the SOS numbers of the top teams in the polls. Read them and you will see Tennessee, Pitt and Kansas exposed, while Butler getting a lot of "sauce".
The College Hoops Journal compares the BlogPoll Top 25 with the Traditional Poll Top 25.
Super Scintillating and Sarcastic analyzes the top 25 and their own entry as well.
March Madness All Season reports on week #5 of the blog poll and has a brief intro on the poll for anyone who is reading about it for the first time or interested in joining up.
Meet the BlogPoll Top 25 participating Bloggers!
You may have seen the preseason Blogger's Poll mentioned here and in other blogs. If you haven't, here it is!
Now let's meet the blogs who are participating in the poll. Forgive the awkward transitions and segways but I'm more of a reader than a writer. March to Madness is doing a great job in administering and organizing the blogger's poll. With Midnight Madness just hours away, the March to March has just began!
The good, the bad and the dirty of SEC Hoops covers SEC Hoops and beyond. Staying in the SEC, A Sea of Blue is a Kentucky blog but has stories of interest to all basketball fans.
March Madness All Season has an on-going magazine-size and beyond preview of the 2007-2008 season. No trees harmed and your wallet remains in your pocket. This time of the year is indeed College Hoops Heaven, a blog that covers Big 5 Hoops in Philly and beyond. A must read blog for Phil "Dave Letterman" Martelli fans.
We are just weeks away from fans Rushing the Court after a big home win. And I can guarantee you there will be quite a few, because there's almost 5000 regular season games per year. Shockers and surprises are statistically unavoidable!
The above were the blogs that were part of the Blogger's Poll IPO. Since then, a new wave of basketball investors have jumped in. No, unfortunately there's no Maria Bartiromo, not just yet, but don't lose hope! TarHeel Mania covers UNC sports, but they also have a very nice portrait of Coach K.
And beating Coach K's team usually guarantees that fans will be Storming the Floor in jubilation and Vitale will be crying in desperation. STF has an on-going season preview with previews of the Big 12, SEC, Pac 10 and the ACC.
Next blog is A Pudge is a Sandwich, a Wordpress sports blog. Find out what's in the sandwich! Next we have something that ESPN badly needs, West Coast Basketball bias, which is the subject of Pissken at the Buzzer.
And there you have it, an intro to the eleven blogs participating in the Blogger's College Basketball Top 25 Poll!
But wait there's more! A new wave of Bloggers have joined the BlogPoll Top25! Let's meet them:
Storming the Court is a college basketball blog covering the world of college basketball.
George Mason Basketball covers the world of George
Speaking of Vitale, Super, Scintillating and Sarcastic offers College basketball commentary that won't make your ears bleed.
Also joining in is College Hoops Journal, an all-inclusive college basketball news and opinion site.
Vegas Watch covers the world of sports including college hoops too!
If you are a blogger and interested in joining the BlogPoll Top 25, just let any of the participating bloggers know!
The Best Freshman so far Poll
As you may have noticed we have posted a poll on this blog asking our readers to tell us which one is the best freshman so far. After 274 votes, it is a good time to take a look at the results and see what people think!
Michael Beasley is #1, with Eric Gordon following up at #2. Clearly the on-court performance has weighed in on the voters, and they have moved on past the preseason hoopla and hype. Which is precisely what we find at the #3 spot, where OJ Mayo and Derrick Rose are neck and neck (literally and figuratively) for the #3 spot. OJ Mayo won the on-court match-up on defense, as he and his fellow Trojans short-circuited Derrick Rose, but when Rose looked at the scoreboard, I'm sure he was smiling.
The battle for the #5 spot is between the Beached Whale with Passing Skills (Kevin Love) and Jerryd "O'Neill tough" Bayless, with Kyle "The Dookie" Singler following up.
At the bottom of the poll we find Thad Matta's Kosta Koufos and NC State's JJ Hickson.
Of course there's a number of other freshman that we could have (and should have) included in the poll, but we didn't want to have a poll with 20 or 30 names in it. It would be just too long.
Here are some other freshmen that I am suspecting were receiving votes in "Others receiving votes" category:
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
OJ Mayo feature tonight on ESPN's E-60
Be sure to watch or TiVo tonight's E-60 on ESPN tonight Tuesday December 13, 2007. The one hour "TV 2.0 web-magazine show" will feature OJ Mayo. I do not know whether the whole episode will be devoted to OJ Mayo, or one or two segments. We will find out at 7pm eastern (4pm pacific) when it airs on ESPN and ESPN-HD.
For more TV coverage be sure to check out December 2007 TV schedule. And don't forget the big high-school game on Thursday between Brandon Jennings and Samardo Samuels. Aka Oak Hill vs St Benedicts of New Jersey on ESPN.
Monday, December 10, 2007
My vote for Week #5 of the Blog Poll is in!
My vote for Week #5 of the Blog Poll is in! You can see it this Google Spreadsheet (opens right in browser): Week 5 of the Blog Poll.
North Carolina won the coin toss at #1, with Memphis #2. Georgetown sneaked in at #3 based on talent/toughness/style of play. Texas earned the #4 spot based on their record, although I have questions on their three-guard rotation, and the difficulties run and gun teams face when they have to slow down (but Texas did manage to hold off UCLA's slugfest comeback).
Duke, Kansas and UCLA were a toss-up for the #5 spot, with Wazzu following at #8. They are a team in the true sense of the word, but I need them to beat top 25 teams before I put them in the top 5.
Indiana impressed me playing without their top three guards/wings (no Eric Gordon even), so they jump all the way to the top 10.
Izzo State earned a higher ranking from me thanks to their win at BYU. That was an important win to "win me over".
Tennessee collapsed in my eyes, and the only reason they are in the top 25 is because I couldn't find two more teams to replace them. They have not played like the team they were supposed to be, and they haven't exactly played a tough schedule either.
Arizona on the other hand is winning me over again after a third tough game in a row (Kansas, Texas A&M, Illinois). With the Lute situation not being an unknown anymore and Kevin O'Neill enforcing, they may actually start playing to their talent/potential.
Louisville is #16 because I didn't know Derrick Caracter was suspended when I voted. Had I known they would be Caracter-less again, I would have dropped them down down down, even out.
The last six teams were really a toss-up, if I was picking again, I would probably have them in a totally different order.
Last in was Rhode with their 10-pack of Ws! Viva Atlantic Tenteen (10 + 14)
Receiving consideration: Gonzaga, George Mason, Dayton, Providence, Arkansas, UMass, and a couple more
They have to earn it the hard way: Clemson and Pitt have a history of pretty Novembers and mediocrity in conference play. Same coaches, similar players, similar schedules. They have to earn a top 25 from me the hard way: By beating Top 25 teams :)
Cal at Kansas State
In yet another unofficial Big 12 Pac 10 Hardwood Series Challenge Invitational, the Cal Bears and Kansas State squared off in the snow. The real Billy Walker that was a top 10 2007 recruit when he was in high school showed up with a career high in points and rebounds putting 30 points on the Cal Bears and being very solid at the free throw line. This despite Cal "containing" Beasley to a 19/10 or so game.
Frank Martin reshuffled his line-up and it paid off. The starting gig got Billy Walker fired up, and Clent Stewart returned as he continues to recover from his injury. Also in the line-up he inserted high-energy Merriewether (sp?). If Billy Walker plays at a 20/10 game level, and one of the wings is able to hit three, watch out Big 12!
Cal started each half with spectacular blocks on Beasley from DeVon Hardin. But Hardin got two early foul troubles that essentially removed him from the game. Ben Braun needs to trade two of his one hundred forwards/centers for two guards because he only has two guards and one walk-on. How can a team with so many big men not be able to recruit guards? Hello Ben Braun? And on top of that, Jamal Boykin will become eligible at the end of the semester, giving them anotere versatile team player in the rotation.
Cal looked a lot better than I expected given that DeVon Hardin was taken out of the flow of the game, and Boykin is not there yet. The biggest question mark for Cal is the little guys, Randle is too tiny, Knezevic may be a bit too mid-majorish, and those are the two starting guards at the moment. But Anderson and Vierneisel (sp?) are good ball handlers which can help the situation.
More on this game at GoPowerCat.com, video highlights from Fox Sports, a recap from Pac-10.org, Merc News, and Cal Rivals.
Not many games in the next couple of weeks
With the student athletes being busy with their end of semester of quarter finals, right before the holidays, the number of games played, and the number of games shown on TV will slow down significantly in the next couple of weeks. This may be a good time to go back to the tapes and scout teams or rewatch your favorite team's wins :)
However be sure to watch or TiVo the high school game on Thursday December 13, 2007 on ESPN, at 9pm eastern (6pm pacific) where the touted Oak Hill Academy with USC Arizona-bound super-guard Brandon Jennings visiting Saint Benedict's of New Jersey with Louisville-bound Samardo Samuels.
As always, you can find updated TV listings at our on-going December 2007 College Basketball TV listings. Included are listings from ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, ESPN Classic, Versus, FSN, Fox College Sports, CSTV, ESPN Classic, Comcast Sports Net, and select ESPN Full Court games. Not included: ESPNU, Big Ten Network, local or regional networks.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Davidson vs UCLA
While Bill Walton was getting drunk, front and center, on national TV (WGN), there was a game taking place at the showcase game of the Wooden classic. UCLA started ugly as usual, and then Ben Howland presumably spiked their Gatorade with some Barry Bonds Juice, and the UCLA players started playing much much better.
Stephen Curry was contained, but that didn't stop the barrage of 10+ three-pointers made. Ultimately though the run UCLA made towards the end of the first half and sustained in the early second half was what game them the win. The final score is not indicative of how close the game was. although Davidson was always a step or two behind - they never threatened to retake the lead late in the game.
What is perhaps even more surprising is that the critically acclaimed Bob McKillop's Davidson team has not beaten a ranked team during his long tenure there. Of course that is partially because they play only a few of them every year. Since they are near Duke and Carolina and play them every year, that feels more like a conference game, which reduces the element of surprise since both Duke and UNC are familiar with McKillop and Davidson.
Russell Westbrook stole the show with an impressive showing on both ends of the floor (he was guarding Dell Stephen Curry), and Darren Collison showed some flashes of his old self. Michael Roll (in all honesty a Big West player) slowly tried to make a comeback.
Kevin Love is starting to get exposed! He is no longer playing against little kids in high school, and he cannot out-muscle and out-space-eat them any more. To me, he looks more like a beached whale with passing skills than an NBA Lottery Pick ;-)
The game aired on WGN, with Steve Physioc doing the play by play. Why isn't any Physioc on FSN basketball? Without Marques Johnson to keep him in line, Physioc was all over the place making things up (eg "Davidson scheduled Duke and Carolina after their NCAA Maryland game"). Newsflash: They play them every year!
And why do all the fired coaches end up being analysts? San Diego's Brad Holland was the analyst of this game. If they are so good at figuring out the game, why aren't they still coaching? ;-)
More on this game at Deacon Sports, Posting Up Slog at CSTV, The Olympian, Bruins Nation, NCAA Fan Zone, and Inside UCLA.
Kentucky at Indiana
The debut of 2007-2008 college hoops on CBS was a disaster. Their double header consisted of two blow-outs. Not only that, but the player most people tuned to watch, super-frosh Eric Gordon, did not play because of a back injury.
In fact each team was missing three of their guards from their media day roster. Indiana was playing without injured Eric Gordon and DNP-CD Armon Bassett and sharp-shooter AJ Ratliff (why are all the Ferengis good shooters?). Kentucky was playing without injured Jodie Meeks, Derrick Jasper and "transferring" Alex Legion (Wildcats Thunder story).
Despite all that, Indiana managed to play quite well and impress me. They also exposed how much Joe Crawford has underperformed in his career as he was outplayed by his freshman brother, who is probably the fifth guard in the Indiana rotation. Ouch! The Indiana fans were chanting "Jordan is better" to taunt Joe Crawford.
Move over Big Baby! Here comes DeAndre Thomas! This space-eater had the agility of a Bear, and this Hoosier-Bear may be a game-changing performer since he gives Indiana something that their other players cannot give! A space-eater with good hands!
On the other hand, Kentucky is doing worse than I expected. Despite the late additions of Patterson and (then) Legion, the fingerprints of Tubby Smith's "ball line defense" recruiting can be found all over the court. I will venture a guess here, but in April I see a lot of Tubby Smith recruits either transferring or giving up their scholarships. Check Billy G's history at A&M and UTEP for that.
Patrick Patterson is a very good player, but he has not been a spotlight-hungry player so far, unlike his high-school teammate OJ "rehearsing for endorsement money every time he is interviewed" Mayo. But he is only one, and he can't do it all.
More on this game at A Sea of Blue. They also have a "State of the Big Blue Nation" recap. Also at John Clay's Sidelines report, Inside the Hall, Rick Bozich (Courier Journal), Hoosiers Insider, and Aaron's UK blog, and ESPN's Pat Forde.
And finally, Kentucky Sports Radio find a silver lining in the blowout loss.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Dayton at Louisville
Pitino 500? Cancel the party! Donate the balloons! The Dayton Flyers flew in and spoiled the party. And while it's conventional wisdom to blame the injuries of Padgett and Juan Diego Tello Mauricio Andande Renaldo Palacios, the real reason for Louisville's struggles was perhaps exposed for the nation to see today: It's the guards!
Pitino's primary trio of guards is not performing at a Pitino-level. Jerry Smith, the most touted is under-performing, Edgar Sosa is having point guard issues, and Andre Magee is the type of a point guard a Top 10 teams brings off the bench. Pitino was so frustrated that he sat them during crunch time and brought in high-energy Preston Knowles, who will probably see his playing time increase after his energy infusion. Earl Clark was probably the only one who played at his talent level, although he did make some "freshman" mistakes towards the end of the game.
On the other side of the court, with the writer's strike putting his show on ice, Jon Stewart is able to spend more time with his basketball team. And it paid dividends as the Daily Flyers showed a lot of "onions" when they got punched by Louisville and the crowd at the score of 41-39, and sprung back to take over the game once again.
Speaking of 41-39, the game turned into a soccer game for a few minutes when the score was 39-39 (zero-zero). Viva Defense! Chris Wright was all over the place, with some impressive moves but also his share of humble pie in the form of him getting blocked left and right.
Finally some national love for Dayton senior Brian Roberts who put 20+ on PitinoVille, and was excellent in the first half!
More on this game from Brian Bennett (Courier Journal blog), Card Chronicle, Miami Herald, and March Advantage.
Arizona at Illinois
Fate plays funny games on us. Consider this: In March 2005, Arizona played Illinois in Chicago (Allstate arena) in the Elite 8. Arizona jumped to a commanding lead, almost everyone thought the game was over, but Illinois made a miraculous comeback and sent the game into overtime. Once into overtime the Fighting Illinis grabbed the W by the horns.
Fast forward to today, Arizona plays Illinois in Chicago again, this time the United Center of the Jordan Bulls. This time Illinois jumps ahead, Arizona makes a surprising comeback, send the game into overtime, and grabs the W by the horns in OT!
This is not the first time we saw a tale of two halves from Arizona (Texas A&M, Virginia, home-cupcakes). It looks like perhaps Kevin O'Neill is finally making a dent in the department of toughness.
Nic "Hoops" Wise showed up as the player everyone thought he would be when he came in highly touted (and chubby) out of high school. The new and improved Nic Wise found himself in this game as he, along with Jordan Hill were the main reasons why Arizona stayed relatively close and made the comeback.
Speaking of big men, Illinois's Shaun Pruitt also had a solid game, and has managed to transform himself from a clumsy freshman into a solid Big 10 center. Trent Meecham had his shooting moments at clutch situations, but he is a bit too "mid-majorish" to be a starting guard at Illinois. And there is perhaps good reason for that, Bruce Weber was supposed to have Eric Gordon. Another player who had some solid moments was Calvin Brock, he is the player with the face that can get away with pulling pranks on everybody ;-)
This was the first Arizona game without Lute Olson. Check our yesterday' post on his sabbatical, and the original post of his "indefinite leave of absence".
More on this game from ABC27 News, Scout.com forums, fightingillini.com, and Go Cats Forums.
PS> I forgot to mention the time-out Nic "Hoops" Wise called at the end of regulation but the zebras decided not to decide the game C-Webb style and instead pretended they didn't see it. Obviously Illini fans can point out that that should have been a standard-issue technical, with Illinois shooting two free throws and likely winning the game in regulation!
Friday, December 07, 2007
Previewing the first full weekend of college hoops on TV!
This is the first full weekend of college hoops on TV land. We have games left and right, up and down, and all over. On top of that, CBS debuts their 2007-2008 college basketball season coverage with a double header.
The game of the weekend is the classic TV rivalry between Indiana and Kentucky on CBS. This year's game takes place at Bloomington. For a preview of this game, be sure to visit A Sea of Blue.
Arizona visiting Illinois on ESPN will be an interesting game because of Lute Olson announcing he is taking a sabbatical for 2007-2008. The latest rumors talk of a divorce between Lute and Christine, his current wife.
After that, DePaul will visit Kansas. The last time Jerry Weinwright visited Allen Fieldhouse with his Richmond Spiders he managed to sting Bill Self. Given DePaul's current fluctuations, will this be an upset city or a +40 Kansas win?
Meanwhile, Pitino tries to win game #500, at home against the flying Dayton Flyers and under-published hyper-active freshman Chris Wright. The News section at A Sea of Blue has a story linked on Pitino 500 by SI. The Dayton Flyers did manage to beat PitinoVille last season.
Another game that is very intriguing is Michigan State visiting BYU in Utah. David Rose managed to create a lot of buzz by beating PitinoVille and giving North Carolina all it could handle in back to back games in a preseason tourney in Vegas. The game will be on Versus and perhaps on BYU-TV (look for it in the religious channels section of digital cable or satellite).
Another exciting game is the classic state of Wisconsin rivarly between Marquette and Wisconsin. Marquette has the most highly thought of team of the two, Wisconsin has the home court advantage. With Majerus back in the coaching ranks, ESPN will have to send someone else to cover the game :)
Yet another game of interest, can Pitt actually win an out of conference game on the road? They are facing an underperforming Washington Huskies team in the Pacific Northwest. But the true test for Pitt comes on December 20 when they square of with the Pukies.
Still have room on your TiVo? The high flying Texas Longhorns will be playing Rice on CSTV. Will they score 100 again? Will they score 120? You decide!
Sunday has a few more games, the most interesting is the ACC Conference Season Tip Off with Boston College visiting Gary Williams at Maryland on FSN's ACC Sunday Night Hoops 2008. There's also Michael Beasley squaring off with Cal's big center DeVon Hardin. An opportunity for an NBA Draft statement, especially for DeVon Hardin who is not getting as much hype and coverage as super-frosh Michael Beasley.
Too many games and not enough tapes in your VCR? Be sure to visit and bookmark our Tech Talk special discussing TiVo, DVRs, DVD recorders, VCRs, and the like.
For airtimes and channels and more TV listings for December 2007, check our college hoops TV guide.
South Carolina vs Providence
To be brutally honest, this looked like an NIT/CBI game. The good news is that the season doesn't end today, and there's plenty of time and opportunities for both teams to become NCAA-bound.
Providence seems to love drama as once again ended up losing a close game after making a late comeback. They were playing without their beep-beeper (Lavin'ism) (Sharraud Curry is out for another 3-4 weeks), so that gave South Carolina the edge since their beep-beeper (Cincy transfer and South Carolina native Devon Downey) was able to occasionally wreak havoc offensively.
Geoff McDermott woke up late in the game, and South Carolina's Michael Holmes showed promise and potential and some thunderous dunks too.
More in this game at the SEC Talk forums, Whole Hog Sports, and John Clay's Sidelines Report.
Campbell Hall at Saint Edward
A high profile high school basketball game took place last night on ESPN2, featuring Campbell Hall of California and St Edward of Ohio, with two top 10 players, JRue Holiday and Delvon Roe. More details on this game at Recruiting Wars.
Here are some highlights:
The highest ranked player of the game, UCLA-bound JRue Holiday justified his top tier ranking... Delvon Roe also showed his skills, but because he was playing with a more mature and balanced team, he didn't need to try to take over the game...Indiana-bound Tom Pritchard may have managed to put himself into the top 100...
Mark your calendars for Thursday December 13, 2007 and set your TiVo to ESPN2 at 6pm pacific (9pm eastern) where Brandon Jennings and the Oak Hill Academy square off with Samardo Samuels and Saint Benedict of New Jersey.
Breaking News: Lute Olson will not coach this season!
This I just saw on ESPN Outside the Lines email alert. The Arizona Star Net has a nicely done timeline of Lute Olson's leave of absence (aka "sabbatical"). More on this story from Rivals, Arizona Sports Hub, Arizona Athletics, Can't Stop the Bleeding, Fan Natino and lots more.
Speaking of Outside the lines, their centerpiece feature will be Michael Vick's legal situation.
Opinion
Judging from how Lute Olson behaves, and some of the rumors, it is not unreasonable to speculate that the issue might involve someone in his family that Lute wants to protect from the media attention. Most coaches would coach through their own health problems and issues, and only step away when the ADs or the university presidents (or the medics) carry them off the court.
Some have mentioned that it has to do with the health of one of his children. His behavior would certainly be consistent with that of a dad dealing with a difficult health issue affecting one of his children.
What does this mean on the court? Kevin O'Neill is no longer temporary-interim, he is a full-season-interim head coach. This is a good thing for the players and the fans for this season because it removes the day to day uncertainty. Now the players know that the enforcer is running the show and there won't be no Lute coming in to "save them". They have to fully buy into Kevin O'Neill, otherwise they will be "friends of the pine". And it will be an interesting dress rehearsal for Kevin O'Neill as a potential heir to the U of A throne (or at least as a potential head coach somewhere else in Division 1).
But what about the future? This is where things get murky. Lute's age had been an issue but he managed to remain in place while most of the other schools in the Pac-10 have gone through more than one coach. But this "sabbatical" combined with the uncertainty will raise a cloud over future recruiting. Coaches are always trying to find ways to "convince" players to switch up, so expect a wave of runners to go hard at Brandon Jennings and the other Arizona commits and prospects, using a softer side of Sears approach. "Lute is a great coach, we wish him the best, but is he going to be there next year? Can you take that risk and be coached by that lunatic Kevin O'Neill instead? Why not come to ZZZZ State, where we have great..."
Books on Lute Olson
Update!
An AP story by Arthur Rotsein at AOL News reports that a divorce was filed the same day Lute Olson took a leave of absence. If that's the only reason Lute Olson took time off, it sounds a bit too dramatic. If anything, he would need coaching to take his mind off the divorce drama. But then again, it's his life, his choices, his decision, not mine!
West Virginia vs Auburn
FireJeffLebo.com? Does that website exist? :) Not because they were blown out, but four years into his tenure and he still has trouble filling up his roster and he is still playing small ball - not by choice. His team was playing a home-neutral game, just two hours away from home, "hosting" Bob Thuggins and the Beilein Offenders who became Defenders after Huggins stumbled into town.
West Virginia grabbed the reigns (no horses hurt during this phrase) and never looked back. It looked like a glorified Thugineers practice, with all sorts of dunks, three pointers, back-cuts, back-doors, open-doors in the key, and such. Joe Alexander stole the show with his versatility (please don't mention that Woody H. movie) and Alex Ruoff with his "shootability".
It is amazing when you stop and think at what Bob Huggins was able to do in just two seasons. He single-handedly brought back Kansas State back to life, he recruited potentially the #1 NBA Draft pick (okay, he recruited Delonte Hill who brought Beasley with him), and he made them relevant. Then he takes off, takes over Beilein-ball, a team that plays about as diametrically opposed to Thuggins-ball as possible, he turns them into rebounders and defenders, and he is able to adapt and use the Beilein offense principles.
If you set aside the off-court issues, can you not make a case for Bob Huggins at least in the College Basketball Hall of Fame?
More on this game from the Mountaineer Sports Network and Razorback network.
PS> I forgot to mention that some of Jimmy Dykes's comments on the Jimmy V event seemed a bit out of phase as if he was in a different dimension that last few years. Then again we are talking Dog and Pony show specialist Jimmy Dykes :)
Thursday, December 06, 2007
The RPI Files: Exposed by the 2007-2008 RPI and SOS
You think you could get away with it Pitt, didn't you? You think the RPI and SOS wouldn't get published? You thought wrong :) You are exposed!
Our senior RPI analyst Jacques Kaffertie grumbles and complains about teams with poor non-conference SOS in his regular "The RPI Files" segment. Jacques Kaffertie wrote this whole blog post while standing up and typing angrily on his keyboard ;-) Jacques, you have the (blog) floor:
Take a look at the excellent KenPom RPI pages, and sort the ranking by non-conference SOS. Then go to the bottom of the page and discover the truth :)
Here is what I discovered (the rankings are as of Thursday, December 6, 2007, 930am eastern time). This is the non-conference SOS (strength of schedule):
We could go on all day, but we have to stop at some point :) I hope you enjoyed this expose on the SOS Softies!
Georgetown at Alabama
The first game of the inaugural SEC Big East Invitational (challenge, hardwood series, made for TV, whatever you wanna call it) tipped off last night and the Georgetown Hoyas played a NINO game (NINO = neutral in name only) in the state of Alabama against Mark Gottfried's Crimson Tide.
The game was much closer than the final score indicates perhaps. This was the first game I saw Georgetown this year and I expected a bit more from them. But they did win the game Georgetown style, separating themselves from Bama the last couple of minutes.
In the first half Alabama managed to do something not many teams can do: They forced Georgetown to play faster and go and up and down the court. This worked for Alabama as they were either ahead, tied or just a bucket behind for most of the first half. Georgetown uncharacteristically (wow that's a long word, what does it mean?) turned the ball all over the place. In the second half, especially the fourth quarter, the Hoyas tightened things up and kept turnovers under control and forced Alabama to play at their pace and got a road win.
I was pleasantly surprised by Alabama. I was expected to see a train wreck, but I saw a feisty up and down team. Richard Hendrix would have probably been in the NBA by now if he had committed to North Carolina instead of Alabama - assuming he wanted to jump to the NBA early. With Ron Steele (one of the five most injured players along with Juan Diego Tello Palacios, David Padgett, etc) taking a medical redshirt, the point guard position was nowhere near as stable. But the versatility and athleticism helped carry the team before the game became a half court affair. But even then, Alabama exceeded expectations. So this team perhaps may sneak up on people and bite off some surprising wins along the way!
Georgetown may have not played as good as their perceived ranking, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they have a solid team that could win the National Championship in April 2008. Where do I start? They have a style of play that is an advantage because teams don't see it as often. They have the personnel to run it as well. They also have the talent and athleticism to run up and down (except perhaps Roy Hibbert) but JT3 prefers to play the game the "Pete Carrill right way". And this time around they have Chris Wright on the bench as a very promising backup point guard, so Jonathan Wallace is not alone.
Plus JT3 has been great at picking space-eater versatile wings like Jessie Sapp and incoming freshman Austin Freeman, which is another big plus for their style of play. Then they've got a number of versatile forwards as well, De Juan Summers, V-Mac (Vernon Macklin) and Patrick Ewing. And best of all, they have a true center in the middle, in Roy Hibbert, who can pass and play outside the key as well. Who can stop Hibbert without opening up the perimeter to a barrage of three pointers? That may be the key to defeating Georgetown in the NCAA tourney and for Georgetown to win the NCAA tourney (perhaps).
More coverage of this game by the Hoya Prospectus, Bama Online, Roll Bama Roll, GUHoyas.com, BigEast.org, the Tide Druid blog, among others.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Week #4 of the Blog Poll Top 25 is published!
Week #4 of the Blog Poll Top 25 has been published! With more than a dozen bloggers participating this is an exciting poll! If you are interested in joining, just let any participating blogger know! Here it is, the week #4 blogpoll top 25, stored in a Google Doc for your convenience.
SPOILER ALERT! The following discussion reveals the top 25. If you don't want to be spoiled, visit the link above first to see the top 25, then come back here for the discussion ;-)
The Calipari Tigers retained their #1 spot, with North Carolina being hot on their ...heels. Rick Barnes "run and gun show" has jumped all the way to #3 after managing to hold back a patented Ben Howland desperate comeback and beat UCLA at Pauly.
The Dookies managed to jump ahead of Georgetown (GASP!) at the #6 spot, while the first mid-major-conference team (other than Memphis) is Butler at #9, up two slots from last week.
Two teams that I love to pick on, Clemson and Pitt, are at #18 and #19. I pick on them because they play soft or easy schedules, pile up the games, but when the going gets tough, they collapse like a house of cards. So, until Clemson and Pitt prove me wrong by beating a top 25 team, no top 25 for them :-) Sorry to disappoint Tiger-Panther fans.
Vandy is the only newcomer this week at #23, and it replaces the Southern Illinois Salukis. Last week I attempted a failed motion to proceed on a motion to consider a non-binding resolution to remove the Salukis from the Top 25. But they are gone now :-)
Just outside the top 25 we have Arizona, Saint Mary's of NoCal, Stanford, the aforementioned Salukis wrestling team, Davidson, West Hugginsville, Wisconsin, UAB (woohoo!) and Kansas State.
For a partial list of participating bloggers, check this intro to the top 25 blogpoll blogpost (I need to update the list with the newer bloggers). But if you look at the Top 25 Google Doc, the name of each blog will take you to the aforementioned blog so you can pay them a visit. Then you can bookmark them, and visit them every day and make them Technorati Faves, and submit them to Digg, and then starting talking like Dick Vitale. Your programming is now complete ;-)
You can also compare the BlogPoll Top 25 with the latest RPI (KenPom.com RPI).
USC vs Memphis
Tim Floyd is a party pooper. Not only did he got Kevin Durant out of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, he turned into one of the most anticipated games of the season into a borderline-boring slowfest. His decision to use junk defenses and slow the tempo on offense, derailed the Memphis Tigers offense, and made the game slow and choppy.
This of course hurts the Jimmy V cause, because viewers were more likely to tune out, and the less viewers, the lower the donations made to the Jimmy V Foundation.
So Tim Floyd, if you want to win by slugfest, can you please not sign-up for high-profile "charity" games? Thank you.
The game itself was supposed to be the stars of OJ Mayo and Derrick Rose shining. Instead the star of the game was the triangle and two defense. Expect more coaches to try and copycat this when they play Memphis, and the onus is on Calipari to find ways to attack it a lot better next time.
OJ Mayo played "D" and he probably earned some street-cred with defensive minded coaches as he blanketed Derrick Rose. Rose perhaps lost a lot of money in this game, he looked like a deer-in-the-headlights freshman for a good part of the game. The good news for Memphis fans is that that increases their chances of him staying for another year from 1% to 11% :-)
Scoring was so painful, the overtime score was close to a 0-0 soccer match that was decided on penalty kicks ;-)
Taj Gibson was not as bad as the previous two games, but he continues to struggle. Is he "outshined" by Mayo and Jefferson and that is affecting his game? His return to New York was probably not as he would have hoped it.
While there's no doubt that Vitale raises a lot of money for cancer research, at times he does stupid things like promoting his personal stuff in the middle of emotionally-charged pleas for donations. He did it again last night by promoting his website while being one step away from tears while telling stories of cancer victims. Which can lead some skeptics to ask: Is Digger Phelps the only actor among the ESPN analysts?
Which leads to this question: What's the difference between Dick Vitale and a televanglist? Answer: They are on different channels ;-)
Kansas State vs Notre Dame
Michael Beasley had the prettiest and most athletic moves, Luke Harangody had the ugliest but most effective, the Dancing Bear led his team to victory!
A young coach with a blend of new and old players, along with possibly the #1 2008 NBA draft pick in their roster, Kansas State looks like a puzzle with a wide range of possibilities for the season. Let's not forget seasoned David Hoskins is out with an injury and his moving-target return date is January-ish at the moment. Also two more players will get eligible on December 15, one of which is a high-flying wing, Dominique Sutton, once upon a time an Arizona "commit". With him and Billy Walker in the line-up, the best offense may be the "bubble drill", but without covering up the basket (obviously).
All of the above (except of course for the injured and ineligible players) showed in the game as Michael Beasley had a solid first half, but was "lost" in the second half. Partial credit of course goes to the Mike Brey defense, but as Frank Martin pointed out some of his players were trigger-happy instead of playing through versatile super-frosh Michael Beasley.
It's really hard to figure out where Kansas State will be in February 2008! Whatever it is, the TV networks should make sure that they pick up any Kansas State games that are not currently available on national TV!
This is the first time I watched a full Notre Dame game this season and I was rather impressed. This team will fight for a Top 25 spot when I submit next week's Blog Poll Top 25 vote. They have the luxury of their back-up point guard being a starter, and a four-pack of forwards/big-men, along with a tall wing in Ayers. Peoples comes off the bench, and that's the one thing that is perhaps a red flag, they only have three "shorties" in their backcourt rotation. Harangody is becoming an Irish man's Tyler Hansbro, and Kyle "420" McAlarney is back. If you were looking for Colin Falls or Russell Carter, they have graduated after twelve great seasons at Notre Dame ;-)
And some towels for Billy Walker when he is on the ...go :)
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Jimmy V tribute on ESPN Classic right now!
Right now an Up Close Classics featuring Jimmy V is airing on ESPN Classic. Following that at 1pm eastern, there will be three classic Jimmy V (NC State) games on ESPN Classic, including of course the 1983 NCAA championship final vs Houston. More details in our December college hoops TV guide. Also don't miss the live Jimmy V Classic double-header on ESPN tonight, with Michael Beasley and Billy "peed my towels" Walker facing off the Bold Domers, and OJ Mayo and USC squaring off with Derrick Rose and the Calipari Tigers.
For donations, visit JimmyV.org or call 1-800-4-JIMMYV.
More on Jimmy V at Amazon:
Monday, December 03, 2007
My Blog Poll Top 25 Week 4 Vote has been cast!
The vote for Week Four of the BlogPoll Top 25 has been cast! As promised last week, the winner of the Poll I posted (currently in the right sidebar of this blog), would get my #1 vote. And it sure did, UCLA got the #1 vote. Their loss late last night did not have enough time to affect the poll vote which closed earlier today.
My last team out was Saint Mary's, UAB came in as the wildcard/dark horse, and Vandy got some love at #24. Other rankings of note, Butler is #8, Duke #5 as much as I hate voting them so high, Xavier at #13, Gonzaga back at #19 after a tough cookie performance against UConn and MartelliVille, USC at #17, BYU at #18. I am slowly starting to "believe" in Izzo State (#20), but I'm very interested to see how they will do when they visit BYU in Utah next weekend. Prove me wrong, Izzo State :)
My top 25 teams for week #4 are listed in this Google Document (HTML).
The first 2007-2008 College Basketball RPI is out already!
Take a cyber-stroll at KenPom's RPI page and you will find RPI and SOS rankings for the 2007-2008 college basketball season! That's right, there's enough data now for RPI and SOS! Ken Pomeroy does an excellent job with the RPI/SOS on his site!
And yes, Syracuse is out! They are #64 in the RPI! Just kidding Syracuse fans :-)
Some of the surprises perhaps in the top 10: Gonzo's Seton Hall, the Saint Mary's Gaels, the Donut Friars, and Miami. Check KenPom's RPI to see which one of these contestants is #1 in the RPI as of this moment.
For a complete list of RPI resources, check our previous RPI and Bracketology resource page.
Yes, you may think "this is way too early", but is it really? It's December already, and selection Sunday is just three and a half months away! So it's almost time to play, IN or OUT? And will both Duke and North Carolina take advantage of the pod system and play their games close to home since there will be week one and week two NCAA tournament games in the state of North Carolina this year? And will they give Gus Johnson more air time? Time to retire some of the play by play guys who are dozing off during the games, send Jim Nantz to the golf course, and give Gus Johnson more airtime!!!
Bargain alert: Lifetime 71283 Height-Adjustable Portable Basketball System with 50-Inch Backboard for $240
Bargain alert: Lifetime 71283 Height-Adjustable Portable Basketball System with 50-Inch Backboard for $240. This is a very limited time offer from Amazon. The offer expires at 2pm pacific (5pm eastern) or if the item sells out before then. The offer price is $240. After that time, the price will go back up to its regular price of $350. To see this price you have to check your Amazon Gold Box. It's the gold chest towards the top left of the Amazon page.
This ships for free in the original manufacturer's packaging and ships separately from any other items you may have ordered from Amazon. There are 18 customer reviews of this hoop system at Amazon. Check the Amazon Product Page to see more details.
Dick Vitale proposes again the Vitale plan for the NBA Draft
Vitale makes a weekly appearance on early Monday mornings on Mike and Mike at around 7:20am eastern time (4:20am pacific, wink wink?) In today's Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio and ESPN2, Dick Vitale re-iterated his proposal for the NBA Draft.
Vitale's proposal seems geared towards colleges and coaches, but it has perhaps some merits. He proposes:
1) A committee of NBA experts evaluates the high schoolers and determines which ones may be ready to play in the NBA. If a player is on that list, and if the player wishes, then he can apply for the NBA Draft out of high school. This is so that a player like LeBron James doesn't have to stay in college. My Opinion: This sounds reasonable.
2) If a player decides to go to college, then he has to stay in college for three years. My Opinion: Sure, the coaches, the media, and the universities would benefit from this, but what about the players and the NBA? Do you think Howard David Stern would be happy if the top players were "trapped" in college for three years instead of infusing new talent to his league? And how about the players. What if a kid is good enough to play after one or two years, or if they have financial needs that "force" them to go out earlier than they want to? Why should they be forced to stay in college for three years?
I think #1 is do-able, assuming they can clear the legalities, but #2 is too restrictive for the players. After all, the players are the one playing the game, not Vitale, not the coaches, not the fans, not the NCAA, not the NBA, not Myles Brand, not the bloggers, not the boosters, not Paris Hitlon!
Houston, we have a problem, the BCS is astro-nut, all it needs is a diaper
Today's edition of ESPN's Outside the Lines deals with the issue of the BCS mess. The title of their centerpiece is "SYSTEM FAILURE" and covers both the BCS mess and the hiring process in place that does not necessarily give minority coaches a fair chance at getting interviewed for the job, let alone getting the job.
Today's edition airs at 3pm Eastern (12pm pacific) on ESPN and ESPN-HD.
PS> The astro-nut/diaper title is of my own device, it is not the ESPN title. Don't blame them for my silliness :)
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Thinking aloud, Monday's Blog Poll Top 25 vote
Monday is voting day for the bloggers participating in the BlogPoll Top 25. This week I tried something interactive, the readers of the blog will decide which team I vote as #1 by voting in the poll in the top right corner of this blog. Currently UCLA leads the way, with Memphis and UNC going neck and neck for the #2 spot.
I will keep Georgetown at the #4 spot, and Kansas at #5, despite KU's road win at USC.
Into the top 25 will jump one of my "surprise" teams of 2007-2008, the UAB Blazers, injuries and what-not. They will probably occupy the #25 spot. This is more of a gut feeling, since their record is not as pretty. But the whole point of voting is to pick the teams one thinks are the best 25 teams. Otherwise, there would be no need to vote, just pick the teams as they are ranked by the RPI or Sagarin or any other index.
Texas will definitely move on up, while Texas A&M will not necessarily drop because of the loss, although the way they melted down is a reason for concern.
Arizona is a toughie, with the Lute Olson uncertainty and the sub-par play, including the first half against Texas A&M, makes a good case against including them in the top 25. On the other hand, they had a solid game at Allen Fieldhouse, and their second half at Texas A&M was almost reminiscent of some solid Wildcat teams of the past.
Butler will likely move on up, providing there is room for them to move on up, while the Ohio State Buckeyes may get dropped from the top 25 as they are heading into the wrong direction at the moment.
I didn't have or considered Wisconsin as a top 25 team, so no worries about dropping them out :)
Clemson has to earn it the hard way, there's no way they are a top 25 team simply because they haven't lost yet. Their results look exactly like they did last year. I haven't seen them play yet, but they haven't exactly beaten a top 25 team yet. Wake me up when they do :) Also in the "wake me up when they do" is Pitt, with wins over middle of the road mid-majors.
Miami is a team receiving top 25 consideration, with wins over VCU, Providence and Saint Johns. I haven't seen them play yet. Beating Virginia alone is not enough to get Gonzo and Seton Hall in the top 25, but Saint Mary's second impressive win in their igloo against a BCS team, along with sharp shooting Patrick Mills should be enough to get them into the top 25.
Also considering for the top 25: Vandy with two road wins at tough mid-majors, Florida mostly based on their play, New Mexico with Steve Alford, Cal who was in the shadows of the other Pac10 teams in the preseason, George Mason (obviously), and many more.
Meanwhile PitinoVille is not looking as good as I had thought, especially given the injure-prone-ness of Juan Diego Tello Palacios and David Padgett.
For quick and easy access to the records of every Division 1 men's college basketball team check the Yahoo Sports standings.
In other Bob Knight news
Sharp-shooter coach Bob Knight leaves a game at the half after feeling ill, but stopping along the way to yell at Centenary fans. Texas Tech lost the game without Bob Knight who was at the hotel recovering. Pat Knight said according to Yahoo Sports that he wasn't feeling well since their return from the Alaska Shootout.
Texas at UCLA
In a rather exciting game, the two time-out-eating coaches faced off, and the "mad scientist" Rick Barnes emerged with a W in his first ever visit as a head coach at Pauly. Kevin Love had his worse game as a college player, which followed his second worse game against GW. Tonight Kevin Love looked more like HBO's Fat Actress than an NBA lottery pick ;-)
Texas almost lost the game falling victim to the "too much too early" theory of ESPN's and Vermont's Tom Brennan, but unlike Texas A&M, they did not fall apart in the second half, and made enough clutch shots to get the big road W. Kevin Durant who???
DJ Augustin, Damian James, Connor Atchley, and the rest of the Longhorns toughed in it out and persevered when the Bruins came out of the gate strong in the second half. Bruins fans may be happy that Josh Shipp hit clutch three pointers, Lorenzo Mata-Real is becoming more and more of a basketball player, and Mike Roll made a brief guest appearance. But without a solid game from Kevin Love, and without a consistent outside shooter, the UCLA team was exposed. While a loss is a loss, this was not a particularly bad loss for UCLA, as the Longhorns had been steamrolling the competition up to now.
Texas A&M at Arizona
A tale of two halves is a good way to describe this game. And as ESPN's Tom Brennan likes to say Texas A&M went up by too many too early. A 32-12 Texas A&M lead, combined with the Lute Olson uncertainly made it look like Arizona was about to have another "North Carolina" game (they got blown out at McKale in 2006-2007 by UNC). The Arizona Meerkats of the first half were replaced by the Arizona Wildcats of the second half (what did Kevin O'Neill put in their gatorade?)
But Texas A&M came down to earth, and Arizona (and the home crowd) woke up, with Bayless leading the way. Bayless and Budinger were the main scoring threats, but the team got some contributions from McClellan (who continues to under-perform), Jordan Hill and Nic "sleek" Wise, and some intangibles from Bret Brielmaier.
A&M looked like a Final Four team in the first team, with a four-pack of serviceable big men, and a variety of guards and wings. Mark Turgeon came into a really great situation, and Kentucky fans can rejoice by looking at what Billy G was able to build at A&M. But we suspect that was not the average performance of A&M, and the second half was a below average performance. So if you average them out, then perhaps we have the average A&M performance. Certainly it is no shame to lose to Arizona at McKale, although the way they lost, going from a 20 point lead to a 10 point loss may raise a few eye-brows. Then again, Arizona does that quite often, so don't blame the Aggies.
The game was announced by the balcony duo from The Muppet Show, Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini (and I say this as a compliment of sorts) :)
Future Talk: Is Bill Self the next Tubby Smith?
On the surface this may seem out of the blue, but pay close attention, not to the differences, but the similarities. Both coaching at a top five college basketball program, both following a big coaching star (Roy Williams, Rick Pitino), both not getting to the Final Four despite being projected to do so at least twice during their tenure.
Tubby Smith's redeeming quality during his long career at Kentucky was the One Ring in 1998. Championship is the panacea in sports and that bought Tubby about an extra five years before the "divorce" this spring.
Bill Self's redeeming quality is all-burger recruiting, with tons of touted and sought after recruits choosing KU. He has brought an impressive list of touted players. And that also buys a coach some time.
Both have Elite 8s to show for, but when you coach at UKKU (UK, KU) you are expected to deliver Final Fours and occasional Rings, not Elite 8s. For example if Tubby Smith has the same record at the TimberGophers as he had at Kentucky, they will build statues for him and probalby name the court after him if he retires there.
Both have asterisks in their records, Bill Self went to the Elite 8 with Roy's players, Tubby Smith won the national championship with Pitino's players. Now, I'm not discounting their achievements during their first seasons, but it is a fact that they both inherited the programs in pretty good shape, Kansas off a Final Four, Kentucky off an overtime National Runner-up.
So if you take the first Elite 8 out, Bill Self has two first round exits, and one Elite 8 to show for. The pipeline of recruits almost automatically silences the complaints, but how long does Bill Self have to deliver a Final Four run before he gets on the hot seat and become the next Tubby Smith?
Kansas at USC
Defense won this game that in contrast to popular belief was not officially part of the Big 12 Pac 10 Hardwood Series Challenge.
USC did better in the first half, the Kansas defense shut off their water in the second half and managed to grab the lead. OJ Mayo has some flashy OJ-Mayo-Mania monents early in the game, but then he resorted to wild perimeter shots at the defense closed in on him.
Devon Jefferson was able to provide some offense, but for the most part of the second half USC forgot that the purpose of the game was to score. Partially of course because of the KU defense. And to rub it in even more to USC fans, the game ended with the notorious "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, K U" - the game was played at USC's new sold out flashy arena with an LA skyline view.
With Brandon Rush still recovering, someone had to step up for Kansas, and the Alaska Assassin, Mario Chalmers, was the one that ended USC's hopes for a comeback. While Kansas is loaded, with Sherron Collins in the pipeline, and Brandon Rush on the recovery path, it feels like there is something missing from this team, just like last year.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Gonzaga vs UConn
The trio of Bilas, Raftery and McDonut (!), picked as the #1 2007-2008 preseason funniest announcer team by this blog, MC'ed a very entertaining game between the Zags and the Calhouns. Infact, these two teams should really play each year. History has shown that their games turn out to be quite entertaining and dramatic too.
Mark Few went "Bobby Knight" on freshman Austin Daye, who had a true freshman deer in headlights game. But he showed "free-throw onions" by making 3 out of 4 when they mattered the most.
Gonzaga returned to mainstream TV after being in the ESPNU witness protection program for the last couple of weeks. This Zags team was a lot more impressive than the ones I saw start the season at home against regional "cupcakes" at homes. The "tough cookie trio" of Pendo, Pargo and Bouldin (sounds like a law firm?) was able to take the UConn punches and punch them back. The big seven footer Sacre is starting to deliver and be effective, which is HUGE for the Zags, because let's face it, Kuso is a high energy guy, but he can't score a layup at the tip of a volcano ;-) He is best suited to be the guy who comes off the bench and provides defense and energy. Even without St. Gray, Mushroomvelt and Theo Davis, the current Zags look like a good team after being tested throughout the northern hemisphere. They will be strongly considered for a top 25 vote when I submit my next vote for the Bloggers Poll Top 25.
UConn has the raw talent, but has yet to forge an identity. Gone are the NBA surefire players, and Calhoun has to do it with team work and depth, which is not a bad recipe given the players he has. But you can't teach experience, and this group is only in their second playing year for the most part. AJ "Laptop" Price, Jerome Slyce-n-Dyson, and Stanley Robinson are the three most likely players to breakout this season.
So what did we learn from this game? That UConn and Gonzaga should play every year, the trio of "tough cookies" make the Zags competitive, Calhoun has a lot of work ahead of him, and the seven footer Sucre would potentially end up being an NBA first rounder by April 2008 if the stars align in his favor.
North Carolina at Kentucky
The first half was mostly nervous and jittery, with lots of whistles and fouls, with Carolina taking the lead. The second half was the Danny Green show, and he was the one that broke the game open for the Tar Heels. Tywon Lawson came back and his presence on the game was felt by both teams. Hansbro once again had a relatively quiet game against Kentucky as he was held to just barely above a modest 10-10.
This game also showed that perhaps Carolina is one forward short, and that the two California forwards are under-performing given their reputation when they came in. While this team is loaded with talent, it just doesn't feel like the 2005 North Carolina team on the court where you knew that they could beat any team they played, regardless of time and score. I just don't see that with this team so far.
And one of my 2007-2008 UNC pet-peeves: why do they play Q-Thomas, Stepheson and Ginyard together? Do they not want to score any points? :)
Growing pains can best describe the Kentucky Wildcats. A new coach, new system, new players, and lots of injuries have derailed Billy G's impressive off-season. He too had some strange defensive line-ups with Harris and Coury both on the floor at the same time. Ramel Bradley is clearly the type you want to have as the first guard off the bench, not your starting point guard. Crawford, just like his HS teammate Malik Hairston, are under-performing based on their reputation. The incoming players need time to figure things out, but they have talent and promise. Patrick Patterson will be huge but not in a flashy way like Beasley or Rose or Gordon or Big Love.
Billy G secretly tried to "Georgetown" a win at the end by slowing the game down, but the real effect was to eat away at the margin and make the W less pleasant for UNC, and the L less unpleasant for the home crowd.
Quick Hitters
And speaking of which, can Jay Bilas please teach the ESPN announcers, play-by-play guys, Sportscenter and news anchors the definition of an upset? Kentucky beating #2 UNC at Rupp arena wouldn't have been an upset. These people are looking at the polls, and if the team with a lower seed loses, they call it an upset. Which makes me wonder who hired them? :) Now if Kentucky beat #2 UNC at the Dean Dome, that would be more of an upset. Gardner-Webb beating Kentucky at Rupp is a good example of an upset.
Meanwhile Vitale would have more credibility in getting people to donate their hard earned money if he wasn't flying around the country in a private jet like a televangelist rock star.
With Ole Roy continuing to pile up wins, and Kentucky entering a new era with Billy G, how long will it take Ole Roy and North Carolina to win 31 games more than UK and become the winningest college basketball program?
Why does Vitale talks about the Yankees, Notre Dame football, and Duke during competitive games? He sure does love the teams people love not to love :)
It looks like Dave O'Brien's ability to work well with Majerus, earned him a spot to "box out" Vitale as well.
Remember this is Jimmy V week, if you want to donate, check jimmyv.org or call 1-800-4-Jimmy-V.
Jimmy Dykes said he doesn't know how to text message during the half time show. I assume he doesn't have a blog either. Perhaps if he spent less time doing dog and pony shows and spelling bees, he would have learned how to use high tech gadgets ;-)
Vermont at Florida
To borrow a phrase from their old coach-turned-TV-analyst, Vermont was the statue in this game, as the young Gators overpowered them with their talent, depth, quickness, occasional defense, and shooting.
While the Gators are obviously not going to three-peat this year, don't be surprised if this foundation class of Billy Donovan ends up winning another NCAA championship before they graduate. They are a young and untested team, but this nine man rotation is among the most versatile in the NCAA. They have it all, a speedy mini-me point guard, a tough combo guard, two very versatile wings in teammates Calathes and Parsons, a very promising big man in M. Speights, and two versatile forwards in Jonathan and Werner. So this team can play big, can play small, can play, and can play very fast.
Of course their growth is not going to be a bed of roses, they are going to have their ups and downs, and the downs may be more than the ups when the SEC conference season begins. Billy "the diva" Donovan did a good job in "shielding" them during the early schedule, and for good season since they are so young and inexperienced in D1 hoops.
Vermont played one of those games that mid-major teams have to play that I call "lambs to the slaughter" games. The good part for mid-majors is that occasionally they get a win, the bad news is that the wins are rare in these type of games.
So what did we learn? Not much about Vermont, but the Florida Gators are talented, versatile and inexperienced.
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