Gonzaga at Tennessee

What started as a sluggish game of two desperate-for-a-win team, it turned out into a dramatic game in the second half and in the overtime. GoneZaga visited Tennessee at their home, and for the second time this year, they managed to beat them!

And they beat them twice tonight, because the last play at the end of regulation was a goal-tending goal on a Matt Bouldin layup, which was not called. So GoneZaga should have won the game at the end of regulation.

But the refs didn't call it, and the game went into overtime, when they Zags jumped ahead and never looked back.

Gonzaga badly needed this win, and they got it, but as with all games, one has to lose, and that was a really bad loss for Tennessee as they are now 0-2 against the Zags and lost the chance of a home victory, breaking their non-conference winning streak. They are putting the "U" in unravel!

Few went with a more ball-handling line-up, with Gray inserted and Micah Downs coming off the bench. They also got some serviceable minutes from their 7'5" Will Foster, and with him around, they can't really complain that they don't have Sucre, since they barely play these guys more than backup minutes.

The good news for Tennessee is that all is not lost, because they have the whole SEC conference season ahead of them, and they can pick up plenty of good wins there.

Harvard is better than North Carolina!

Yes basketball fans, Harvard is the best team in the country! Harvard beat Boston College tonight on the road, and Boston College beat #1 North Carolina on the road on Sunday night. Therefore, Harvard is twice as good as North Carolina and Tommy Amaker is the best coach in the world ;-)

Louisville at South Florida recap

The Louisville team that was highly-ranked in the pre-season made a guest-appearance in South Florida, a team that took over the game despite T-Will and Samardo Samuels being in foul trouble. There were contributions from the bench, #23 Jenkins being a monster on defense, Delk being productive and such. Sosa did not have a meltdown this time, which was another plus.

On the South Florida side, Stan Heath is in a rather intriguing position. On one hand, no one can blame him for finishing 16th in the Big East for the next 2-3 years, on the other hand, he has something he wouldn't have had in a smaller conference - opportunity for HUGE in-conference wins. But it is also reasonable that they will likely finish at the bottom of the Mega East for the next 2-3 years. A calculated risk, but the upside is bigger than the downside.

Especially since he has managed to bring in some promising transfers, including the latest Ohio State transfer. And if it wasn't for the Mike Mercer injury...

But perhaps the most important part of the game was the "Big Man Clinic" provided by Len Elmore as he exposed players and coaches alike for their lack of teaching the fundamentals of the game ;-)

Week #6 of the BlogPoll is out!

Metallica joins week #6 of the BlogPoll Top 25 where the Unbeatens are falling left and right - it must be January!

Pitt has taken over the #1 spot. We are usually skeptical of Pitt's annual pre-March success because of their inflated out-of-conference record, however this year they may actually be for real. The reason? The big space-eater inside, DJ Blair is a game-changer, and Pitt had lacked a game-changer like that in past years. DJ Blair may be the player that can push Pitt in the Elite 8 and the Final Four. Hopefully foul-trouble won't be the thing that takes him out of critical games. Because I think the rules need to change. It's 2009 already, time to modernize the "peach basket rules"!

Some other top 25 thoughts: GoneZaga, despite their growing pains, probably has the team that is most capable of making an Elite 8 run again. The talent is oozing, and they do have some tough cookies (Pargo, ChiaPet (Bouldin), Ira Brown), but they also have Ammo-Divas likes Heytvelt, Micah Downs and the super-talented Austin Daye. Can they get their act together by March? The losses and struggles may be a humbling experience that forces the team and coaching staff to refocus and "chemistrize".

Unlike Pitt, Clemson does not have DJ Blair, so their fate (once again) will be signed, sealed and delivered by March 1st. Ouch :(

And while we are on the topic of rules and numbers, A Sea of Blue has performed an interesting analysis of turnovers! How much bite do these pesky TOs have? Read on to find out!

Free week of ESPN Full Court (Pay Per View): January 10 to 17, 2009

Fire up your VCRs and DVRs! ESPN is offering one free week of ESPN Full Court! Full Court is their pay-per-view package that shows extra college basketball games from around the country (usually BCS conference teams) for an annual fee. The one week preview starts on Saturday January 10 and ends on the 17th. Happy New Year with bonus hoops :-)

Even though this is a FREE preview, you still need to have access to those channels on your cable or satellite system. A number of cable systems have these accessible only on digital cable, so you may not be able to get to them if you have analog cable. Check with your local listings and provider to find out if they are available on your system.

Rule change that will not happen but should

If players are "glued" to their university of choice, and they are playing for mere a scholarship, then why are the highly rewarded coaches allowed to come and go as they please? How are they going to "teach" their players loyalty and all the good stuff if they bolt when someone shows them an extra $20?

So here is my suggestion: A coach has to stay at a school for at least four years before being allowed to go to another university. If a coach wants to leave in less than four years, then he will have to "sit out" a year.

If a college student-athlete is "stuck" at a college for four years, then why shouldn't a coach who gets paid in the millions be able to jump from flower to flower?

I can only see one exception to the minimum four-year rule for coaches, if the coaches alma-mater opens up, then the coach should be allowed to go, even if he was at his current school for less than four years.

I highly doubt this would happen, but it only seems fair if student-athletes can't jump from school to school :-)

Steve Lavin is the next Dick Vitale!

Yes, Steve Lavin is officially the next Dick Vitale! Let's not forget, it took Dick Vitale many years before he became the recognizable "Hoops Diva"! Remember the Vitale from 30 years ago with the coke-bottle glasses who actually only talked about the basketball game in a monotonous voice? Who would have thought he would become the "Dookie Vitale"?

So what are the similarities between Lavin and Vitale?
* they both talk about their hair during every game
* they are both average analysts
* they talk off-topic during the game, before a game is decided
* they use on-camera props
* they say silly things that most other ESPN analysts would not be able to get away with saying (or wouldn't dare say for fear of shame or ridicule)

Boston College grabs the Tar Heels by the horns

Good things come to those who prepare, plan and wait. That was the case for the Boston Collage Eagles. And collage this team is - a collage of Al Skinner type players, players the elite David Telep schmoozing coaches won't recruit for one reason or another ;-) BC said no to the McDonald burgers and instead had a nice bowl of clam chowder ;-)

It was a game of destiny (if such a thing exists for basketball), the free throws were not falling, the threes were not falling, the 50-50 players were going BCs way. Unlike last year's BC game, this one did not have any UNC momentum of any sorts.

So how did they beat North Carolina? And how can other teams do it? The recipe is simple:

+ have a faster point guard than Tywon Lawson
+ get Danny Green in foul trouble
+ beg Deon Thompson to have a very very quiet game
+ ask all the UNC three-point shooters to miss
+ beg the UNC team to shoot close to 50% in free throws
+ beg the UNC coaches to fail to count the fouls
+ have a strong, tall, wide and long center who can bear-hug and box Psycho-T

And there you have it, a guaranteed way to beat UNC!

Kentucky at Louisville recap

Unfortunately we are not able to watch as many games this season as we usually do, but of the games we have seen so far, this is one of the "game of the year" nominees. The Kentucky Wildcats refused to go away, and the PitinoVille team failed to lose the game ;-) Literally!

Billy "Clyde" Gillispie could have used Acie Law (or a clone of him) right about now! Patrick Patterson showed why he was a highly ranked player and Perry Stevenson showed why every team needs a player a like him. But ultimately you have to take care of the ball and put the ball in the basket, and without a true point guard, it's not easy.

Pitino managed to squeak by with a victory in this rivarly, which is also a personal rivalry as Gillispie's A&M beat Pitino at Rupp Arena in the NCAA tourney before Gillispie became the next Kentucky head coach.

This is year #8 of the Pitino era at Louisville, but it's certainly nowhere near as close to his year #8 at Kentucky. Things come and go in circles, perhaps Pitino will find himself getting ...Denny Crum'ed!

But with the boatloads of raw talent, can a solid point guard or play maker emerge and make the team click? If yes, Louisville can reach its potential. If not, it will be a loooooooong season with lots of transfers in the spring :)

And of course the spotlight once again falls on Edgar Sosa who showed signs of recovery, at times playing like Sebastian Sosa, at other times he looked like off-court-Telfair Sosa ;-)

North Carolina at Nevada (was: happy new year)

The last game of the year or the first game of the year, depending on which time zone you were had the North Tarolina Carheels (ha!) stomp over the Wolfpack who fought but they simply did not have enough. It looks like OleRoy wants to recruit every single basketball player from the surrounding are, perhaps the second coming of David Padgett? :-)

Nevada looks like they have another player that could develop into a Fazekas-type or if he is lucky he could become a ...Chris Mullin type! Overall, this looks like a good WAC team, but do they have enough juice to make some noise in the NCAA and get Mark Fox a bigger paycheck?

Carolina was Carolina, and when most players are clicking, they are hard to stop, especially with Ginyard back in the rotation giving them more defensive versatility.

Week #5 of the BlogPoll is out!

The year starts with week #5 of the BlogPoll. The remaining undefeated teams are risiing, but how many of them are real and how many of them are Clemson and Pitt (aka smoke and mirrors?). For one thing, with three undefeated teams in the ACC, it is guaranteed that by conference season end, a maximum of one ACC team will be undefeated :)

Happy New Year Basketball Fans! (and a small prediction-question)

Happy New Year Basketball Fans! May all your wishes come true in 2009 and all the evils of 2008 be undone in 2009 :-)

And we have a prediction-question for you: Will Ed Davis be the Marvin Williams of this year's UNC team? He sure does seem to provide a lot of things Marvin provided that destiny-bound team!