06 Dec27 - "Maceo! Take It To The Bridge" *

Volume XI, No. 8 - 06 Dec 27 - [] Top 25 Ballot

"Maceo! Take It To The Bridge!" *

In the much anticipated matchup of big men, Florida pulled away from Ohio State, winning easily @86-60 in front of a rabid home crowd. It was the Gators' fAl Horford, however, who guarded the Buckeyes' cGreg Oden, (not cJoakim Noah). Despite a sore ankle, Horford (11p11r3a3b) held his own with Oden (7p6r4b) and whenever Oden sat with foul trouble, UF exploited the lane. The Gators also held the Buckeye perimeter players in check -- (gMike Conley led OhSU with only 13 points). There was never anything terribly wrong in either of Florida's two losses (tight games in front of hostile crowds vs Kansas and Florida State), but now at least they have a signature win on the season that's worthy of a defending champ with everybody back. They're the de facto #1 team, despite UCLA's impressive @92-55 rout of Michigan.)

To watch them play, it certainly appears that this is one of the least talented Duke teams in recent years. Yet, on paper, they have quite a few wins already over teams having solid seasons. The Blue Devils' @61-54 win over Gonzaga in their home-away-from-home game in the AEROPOSTALE CLASSIC in New York was a strong defensive effort (holding GU's fJosh Heytvelt to 10p4r and gDerek Raivio to 4p0a). (Gonzaga's killer preseason still isn't over -- they host Nevada on Saturday in the BATTLE IN SEATTLE.)

Tennessee bolts back into the rankings after a couple of nail-biter wins in front of partisan home crowds. First, it was tDane Bradshaw's game-winner that beat Oklahoma State in Nashville, @79-77. Then, it was bChris Lofton's 35p11r effort that led the way in UTn's @111-105(OT) win over UTx (as Texas' fKevin Durant had 26p8r) in a shootout featuring two likely first team All-America players. Oklahoma State prevented a plunge in its ranking with yet another squeaker of its own, a @95-89 (2OT) win over Pittsburgh in the ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC. It's a measure of how soft the rankings are that Tennessee is in the Top 10 while Texas has fallen all the way out this week. Texas has gone down to the wire with four quality teams already (beating LSU and Arkansas, losing to Michigan State). Oklahoma State won tight games with Syracuse and Missouri State. Any of those results could easily have gone the other way and these teams would be completed reshuffled.

The MVC had a chance to claim two major preseason tournament titles, but it didn't happen. Wichita State waltzed into the LAS VEGAS CHRISTMAS CLASSIC undefeated, with a Top-10 ranking and plenty of travelling supporters in tow, but lost twice in Sin City, @68-71 to New Mexico and @56-60 to USC. The Shockers have a decent team that plays smart basketball, but they were just outmuscled by teams with more physical talent. It was unheralded Kansas State that won the title, mostly because it had the best roster of athletes and played grinding defense on its way to a couple of ugly victories. In the RAINBOW CLASSIC, Creighton did make it to the final, but lost badly 60-@76 to host Hawaii (although the Bluejays did get 25p5r3a from bNate Funk). Missouri State lost a squeaker, 50-@51, to in-state rival St. Louis. Not such a bad result, except that North Carolina came in later the same week and routed the Billikens, 69-@48. Despite their early squeak win over Wisconsin, MoState doesn't belong near the Top 10 (and with everyone bunched up so tightly this week, that one point loss sent them tumbling all the way out of the rankings entirely). It was Drake that actually came away with an Unwelcome Guest win in the SUN BOWL TOURNAMENT over feisty Jackson State. (JSU may well end up in the Play-In game come March, but they have had several good wins for a team from the 1BC-SWAC, including 100-@97 over host UTEP. Remember them.) Playtime is over, though. The MVC WARS start up this week as the regular season gets under way early. (Only 2 of the 10 MVC teams, Evansville and Illinois State, failed to make any noise on the national scene in the preseason.)

Washington's huge frontline gave LSU all kinds of trouble as the Huskies rolled to an easy @88-72 win with UW's cSpencer Hawes(23p12r) and cJon Brockman(19p14r) dominating LSU's fGlen Davis(8p9r). With gSundiata Gaines sitting out with an ankle injury, Georgia's backcourt had trouble handling the ball and handling Georgia Tech's frontline of cThaddeus Young(24p10r) and fRa'Sean Dickey(15p9r) in GT's @78-69 home win. Drexel handed Syracuse yet another home loss this year, winning 84-@79 in the Carrier Dome.

It's been a while since the Southern Conference has made much noise nationally. This may be the year. Appalachian State was the surprise winner of the SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT, beating both Virginia and Vanderbilt along the way. Davidson, featuring freshman gStephen Curry (son of former NBA player Dell Curry), has had a solid season so far and was its own Unwelcome Guest winner of the ASU CLASSIC, beating Ohio University and host Arizona State.

Texas Tech's win over Bucknell tied coach Bob Knight with Dean Smith for #1 on the all-time career wins list at 879. He'll be alone at the top if TxTech can beat a decent UNLV team on Thursday.

A few specialty preseason events remain, but some conference play has already begun. (Boston College beat Maryland weeks ago.) UCLA hosts Washington (Sunday), Missouri State travels to Creighton (Saturday), George Mason visits Drexel (Thursday). Georgia has a tough week ahead, first visiting Clemson on Thursday in a Battle of Pretenders to see if either one of those teams is for real; then, it gets to host very real Wisconsin on Sunday.

"Hit me! Unh!"

-- Ron

[* - Maceo Parker was the lead horn player in James Brown's band.]

Key games this week:

Wednesday:
Bradley@NoIowa,

Wednesday-Friday:
HISPANIC COLLEGE FUND-SOUTH CLASSIC RndRob @ Baton Rouge LA
- (@LSU, Samford, WrightSt, MSValleySt),

Thursday:
@UCLA-WashingtonSt, @Arizona-California, Georgia@Clemson, @TexasTech-UNLV, WeKentucky@MidTennessee, GeoMason@Drexel,

Thursday-Friday:
CABLE CAR CLASSIC @ Santa Clara CA
- (AirForce-GeoWashington, @SantaClara-Colgate),
HOLIDAY FESTIVAL @ New York NY
- (@Hofstra-StJosephs, @StJohns-BostonU),

Friday:
@FloridaSt-Providence(@TampaFL), @Alabama-Lipscomb, Illinois@Xavier, Winthrop@OldDominion,

Friday-Saturday:
MARIST CLASSIC @ Poughkeepsie NY
- (@Marist-NoIllinois, Bucknell-CArkansas),

Saturday:
Connecticut@WVirginia, @WichitaSt-NoIowa, MissouriSt@Creighton, WashingtonSt@USC, Georgetown@Michigan, AppalachianSt@VCU, MississippiSt@GeoMason, @Cincinnati-@OhioU(@ClevelandOH),
ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC DblHdr @ Sunrise FL
- (@Florida-UAB, Nebraska@MiamiFL),
BATTLE IN SEATTLE 1Off @ Seattle WA
- (@Gonzaga-Nevada),

Sunday:
@UCLA-Washington, @NCarolina-Dayton, Wisconsin@Georgia.

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Top 25 - 06 Dec 27 - [] Column

1. UCLA (10-0)
2. Florida (11-2)
3. North Carolina (10-1)
4. Wisconsin (12-1)
5. Duke (11-1)
6. Arizona (9-1)
7. Kansas (9-2)
8. Ohio State (10-2)
9. Butler (11-1)
10. Tennessee (10-2)
11. Oklahoma State (12-1)
12. Pittsburgh (11-2)
13. Florida State (11-2)
14. Gonzaga (9-4)
15. Notre Dame (9-1)
16. Alabama (11-1)
17. Connecticut (10-0)
18. Maryland (11-2)
19. Michigan State (12-2)
20. Washington (10-1)
21. Marquette (11-2)
22. Air Force (10-1)
23. Oregon (11-0)
24. Texas A&M (10-2)
25. Illinois (10-2)

Honorable Mention:
- - Kansas State (9-3), Hawaii (8-4), Appalachian State (7-3), Davidson (10-3), Drake (8-2), Drexel (7-2), Texas Tech (9-3).