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 :)