06Nov27 - Holiday Alterations

Volume XI, No. 4 - 06 Nov 27 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Holiday Alterations

It's rare that you get a game with as much advance hype as Florida-Kansas that actually lives up to its billing. But, boy, the Jayhawks and Gators went at it for all it was worth in the final of the LAS VEGAS [THANKSGIVING] INVITATIONAL. The event has been upgraded (from Valley High School's gym, where LSU played last year in front of a few hundred fans, to Orleans Hotel Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 7000+ mostly pro-Kansas fans). KU fed off the atmosphere and took an 11-2 lead after only two minutes. But UF battled from behind and finally took the lead at 60-58 with three minutes to go. From there, both teams traded big plays and Florida managed to score 4 points in the final ten seconds to send the game into overtime at 70-70. The OT was just as tight and an errant three-point try from tCorey Brewer was the last shot in an @82-80(OT) thrilling Kansas victory. tJulian Wright(21p10r) did everything you want from the forward spot: drive, shoot, pass, rebound, defend. Florida's halfcourt D is a little rusty after nothing but runaway victories in the early going. KU took it to them, but UF didn't play badly. Forget the loss to Oral Roberts. In a week full of real wins over real opponents, no one gets to slip into the #1 ranking on meaningless blowouts of nobodies. Give KU the top spot for the best performance of the year so far.

A couple of stolen victories in front of the home crowd against in-state rivals -- that's all it seemed to be a week ago when Butler slipped past Notre Dame and Indianapolis and into the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF semifinals, right? Guess again. After shaking off the Madison Square Garden nerves (and a 13-point deficit), the BU Bulldogs took Tennessee's heart away and won 56-44 in a surprise. Not to be outdone, Gonzaga came back from a 10-0 deficit at the start to stun vaunted North Carolina 82-74 as fJosh Heytvelt(19p8r) displayed athleticism rarely seen in a 6-11 player. UNC's fTyler Hansbrough(9p9r) only managed to take 5 shots from the floor. In the Battle of the Bulldogs final, Butler led by as many as 17 in the second half before holding on for a 79-71 victory over Gonzaga to take the title. Butler is no fluke. gA.J. Graves(15p, 26p) is a great ball-control guard, they don't turn the ball over, they sink their free throws, and it's hard for opposing big men to extend out to the three-point line and play tight defense against the guards and 'tweeners who weave and screen until someone has an open look. They don't rebound that well and they don't even shoot a fabulous percentage from three-point range -- they can actually get better!

Duke destroyed Air Force 30-10 on the boards and had little trouble winning 71-56 in the CBE CLASSIC semifinal. In the final, though, Marquette's intensity and perimeter quickness ultimately made the difference as the Golden Eagles prevailed 73-62 behind a brilliant performance by gDominic James(25p7a). In the past, the Blue Devils have been caught by teams that could exploit their individual slow-footedness on defense, but this year's team doesn't have an unstoppable scorer like past squads to make that weakness irrelevant.

Less surprising, but no less impressive, was UCLA's run through the MAUI INVITATIONAL field. They handled Kentucky 73-68 and blew out young Georgia Tech, 88-73, in the final. GT's surprise appearance was made possible by a Jekyl-and-Hyde semifinal against Memphis in which the Yellow Jackets trailed by 19 points in the first half, but outscored the Tigers 62-39 in the second half. The Jackets are young, talented and a long way from being able to deliver a consistent effort. Memphis is very solid and a much better unit at this point, but UM just got swept away on a huge tide that they couldn't stop.

Alabama delivered a solid performance in taking the final of the PARADISE JAM, 63-56 over improved Xavier. Arkansas won the inaugural ESPNU/OLD SPICE CLASSIC in Orlando (71-64 over surprising West Virginia). California came out on top of the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT, taking the final 78-70 over Loyola Marymount. Illinois won the CHICAGO CHALLENGE, 75-71 over Bradley. Oklahoma State was the winner of the SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL, 73-70(OT) over Missouri State in the final; but the bigger story was MO State's 66-64 upset of Wisconsin earlier in the round robin. The SEC (Alabama[P-JAM], Arkansas[ESPNU]), Pac-10 (UCLA[MAUI], California[GREAT AK]) and Big 12 (Kansas[LAS VEGAS-THX], Oklahoma State[SOUTH PADRE]) each took two of the eleven major preseason tournaments; with the ACC (Maryland[COLLEGE HOOPS/CVC]), Big East (Marquette[CBE]) and Big 10 (Illinois[CHICAGO]) taking one each; with the mighty Horizon (Butler[NIT TIP-OFF]) and the WAC (Utah State[TOP OF THE WORLD]) breaking through as well. The WCC had two finalists (Gonzaga[NIT TIP-OFF]), Loyola Marymount[GREAT AK]) but no winners. The MVC didn't win anything, but it had two finalists (Missouri State[SOUTH PADRE], Bradley[CHICAGO]), and Southern Illinois was one free throw away from taking out a mid-SEC team(Arkansas) to go along with beating a mid-ACC team(Virginia Tech) and a low-Big 10 team(Minnesota) during its ESPNU run; not to mention Wichita State taking out its second Final Four team on the road (in a 57-@53 upset of LSU) and Creighton's win @58-56 win over George Mason. The Colonial is fading fast while the Atlantic 10 may yet have some surprises left in the preseason (e.g., Dayton's 68-64 win over Louisville).

The ACC-BIG 10 CHALLENGE (Monday through Wednesday) is the big event for this week. The marquee games are Ohio State (w/o gGreg Oden) at North Carolina and Indiana at Duke; but more interesting games will be Maryland at Illinois, Florida State at Wisconsin, and Michigan State at Boston College. There still doesn't seem to be a way that the BIG 10 can win this yet. It says here: ACC 7, Big Ten(Eleven) 4.

On Saturday, the HALL OF FAME CHALLENGE in Phoenix features two great matchups: Gonzaga-Texas and Illinois-Arizona. On Sunday, the PETE NEWELL CHALLENGE in San Jose is slightly lesser with Nevada-California and Texas Tech-Stanford.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Syracuse-HolyCross,

Monday-Wednesday:

ACC-BIG 10 CHALLENGE on-campus
(Mon: @NCState-Michigan,
Tue: Maryland@Illinois, @Duke-Indiana, @Wisconsin-FloridaSt, @GeorgiaTech-PennSt, @Northwestern-MiamiFL,
Wed: OhioSt@NCarolina, MichiganSt@BostonCol, Virginia@Purdue, @VirginiaTech-Iowa, Clemson@Minnesota),

Tuesday:

@UCLA-LongBeachSt, @Arizona-UNLV, OralRoberts@Tulsa, @Kentucky-ColofCharleston, @Samford-OhioU,

Tuesday, Sunday:

BB&T CLASSIC Tue @ Bowling Green KY, Sun @ Washington DC
(Tue: @WeKentucky-UAB,
Sun: @Maryland-NotreDame, @GeoMason-Bucknell, @GeoWashington-VirginiaTech),

Wednesday:

@AirForce-WakeForest(@ColoradoSpringsCO), @Xavier-MiamiOH, @Georgetown-Oregon, @California-KansasSt, @Marist-OldDominion, @LoyolaIL-StLouis, @NoIowa-@IowaSt(@CedarFallsIA),

Saturday:

Kansas@DePaul, @NCarolina-Kentucky, WichitaSt@Syracuse, @Duke-Georgetown, @SoIllinois-StLouis, @Indiana-Charlotte, HolyCross@Dayton, @BostonCol-Massachusetts, @OralRoberts-Akron, NoArizona-UNLV(@StGeorgeUT), MontanaSt-Wyoming(@BillingsMT),
HALL OF FAME CHALLENGE DblHdr @ Phoenix AZ
(Gonzaga-Texas, Illinois@Arizona),

Sunday:

Florida@FloridaSt, @MichiganSt-Bradley,
PETE NEWELL CHALLENGE DblHdr @ San Jose CA
(Nevada@California, @Stanford-TexasTech).

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Top 25 - 06 Nov 27 - [] Column

1. Kansas (5-1)
2. UCLA (3-0)
3. Florida (6-1)
4. Pittsburgh (6-0)
5. Ohio State (6-0)
6. Butler (6-0)
7. Marquette (5-0)
8. Maryland (7-0)
9. Gonzaga (6-1)
10. Alabama (5-0)
11. North Carolina (4-1)
12. Texas A&M (5-0)
13. Wichita State (3-0)
14. Duke (5-1)
15. Louisiana State (2-1)
16. Illinois (7-0)
17. Oklahoma State (7-0)
18. Missouri State (3-1)
19. Arkansas (5-0)
20. Syracuse (6-0)
21. Connecticut (5-0)
22. Wisconsin (5-1)
23. Nevada (4-0)
24. Washington (5-0)
25. Georgia Tech (5-1)

Honorable Mention: - California (4-1), Michigan State (6-1), Dayton (4-1), Providence (3-1).