07 Dec17 - Muscle And Flow

Volume XII, No. 7 - 07 Dec 17 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Muscle And Flow

A slow week this past week didn't produce many noteworthy results (and not much of a shakeup in the Top 25). Xavier fell back to earth a bit, struggling to separate from Cincinnati in their annual CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT city clash (winning only @64-59 in its own gym). Worse still, the Musketeers travelled to Arizona State and were thoroughly whipped, 55-@77. The young Sun Devils (who shot 60% from the floor) are starting to find themselves and now stand at 7-2. Oregon went into overtime before falling on the road to Nebraska (now 8-2 itself), 79-@88(OT), despite 29p and 26p from gTajuan Porter and gMalik Hairston, respectively. Even so, it was fAleks Maric(23p7r) and tRyan Anderson(21p9r) who did the damage for the Cornhuskers. (If they weren't in the Pac-10 and Big 12, those big preseason home wins might mean more for teams who'll both likely be at the end of a very long line waiting for at-large bids come March.) Southern Illinois appeared to have righted the ship with a convincing @71-56 win over visiting upstart St. Mary's, but the Salukis gave it all back with a disappointing 51-@56 road loss to coach Rick Majerus' St. Louis team (still only 6-5).

The good news near the top of the rankings is the return to form of the missing backcourt stars at Kansas and UCLA. pSherrod Collins isn't completely up to speed yet, but at least he's back on court for the Jayhawks. There was nothing wrong with their offensively flow as KU crushed a pretty decent Ohio University team @88-51. They've already got the muscle (46-27 rebounding advantage). pDarren Collison had a fine day (20p5a6r) as the Bruins routed lowly Idaho State @89-49. He's been back for a while, but North Carolina's pTy Lawson finally looks all the way up to speed now after posting 26p5a6r in the Tar Heels' 93-@71 rout of Rutgers.

Pittsburgh doesn't have the height of those two squads, but 6-7 freshman cDeJuan Blair did post 20p10r in its convincing @85-68 win over up-and-down Oklahoma State. This year's Panthers don't have to walk it up and feed 7' cAaron Gray like they did last year, so they're more up-tempo and can put a very athletic set of five players on the court.

In the JOHN WOODEN TRADITION in Indianapolis, Butler handled Florida State @79-68 without too much trouble (behind 25p;7/11 3s from gA.J. Graves). Purdue, which features the youngest starting five in the country (two sophomores and three freshmen), held on to beat slumping Louisville, @67-59, in the other game.

In the SUN BELT CLASSIC, neither Memphis nor Tennessee looked as completely dominant as they might have liked. The Tigers hung around with Middle Tennessee way too long before putting them away @65-@41 as they struggled from three-point range (shooting 4-for-19). The Vols couldn't separate from Western Kentucky, winning @88-@82, as the Hilltoppers' tCourtney Lee had a fine day: 23p4a8r.

Syracuse shot 70% from the floor (including 15-for-25 on three-pointers) in its @125-75 rout of East Tennessee State, led by tDonte Greene's 25p8r;(5/10 3s). gRobert Vaden had 33p;(7/11 3s) as UAB came back from 14-down in the second half to beat woeful Kentucky 79-@76 at Rupp Arena. South Alabama's tDemetric Bennett had 39p8r as the Jaguars upended Mississippi State, @71-67, in the C CLASSIC in Birmingham.

Some very nice Top-10 matchups are up this week, plus the last three (minor) preseason tournaments. Texas travels to Auburn Hills on Saturday to face host Michigan State in the SPARTAN CLASSIC. (We'll see if UTx can continue to use its quickness to negate the superior size of an elite opponent.) Memphis will need the home crowd to help it keep the dream of an undefeated season alive when it hosts Georgetown on Saturday. Duke's depth may wind up being the deciding factor in its New York showdown with Pittsburgh at the AP CLASSIC on Thursday.

In the concluding game of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES, double-dipping Stanford goes to Dallas to face Texas Tech with the Pac-10 only leading 6-5 after the first 11 official pairings. Clemson should hand surprising Mississippi its first loss while taking home the SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT crown (Wednesday through Saturday). It probably won't be enough to earn a return to the rankings, but St. Mary's should have enough to best Ohio University and host Hawaii to win the RAINBOW CLASSIC (also Wednesday through Saturday). Young Purdue may have learned enough to come through over the likes of Alabama and Missouri State to be able to take the LAS VEGAS [CHRISTMAS] CLASSIC (Monday and Wednesday on-campus; Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas).

-- Ron

P.S. Don't forget: This Thursday 9PM is the deadline to enter the Pigskin Pool Party ( www.ronmcbay.us/Pigskin - Ron's College Football Bowl Season Pool).

Key games this week:

Monday:

@SantaClara-Montana,

Monday-Tuesday, Saturday-Sunday:

LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob on-campus, Finals @ Las Vegas NV
- (A: Alabama, MissouriSt, TXPanAmerican, BethuneCookman;
-  B: Purdue, IowaSt, Wofford, TexasSo),

Tuesday:

@Houston-Kentucky,

Wednesday:

Memphis-@Cincinnati, @Butler-Bradley, Arizona-@UNLV, Baylor-@SCarolina, @Virginia-Hampton(VA), @NewMexico-NewMexicoSt(NM), @Belmont-AustinPeay(TN),
PETE NEWELL CHALLENGE 1Off @ San Jose CA
- (@Stanford-@SantaClara(CA)),

Wednesday-Saturday:

SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT RndRob @ Guaynabo PR
- (Clemson, Mississippi, DePaul, LaSalle, @{PRMayaguez}),
RAINBOW CLASSIC @ Oahu HI
- (StMarys-Tulane, Georgia-ETennesseeSt, OhioU-StJohns, @Hawaii-LALafayette),

Thursday:

(PIGSKIN POOL PARTY ENTRY DEADLINE),
@Illinois-MiamiOH,
AP CLASSIC 1Off @ New York NY
- (Duke-Pittsburgh),
ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC DblHdr @ Oklahoma City OK
- (Gonzaga-@Oklahoma, @OklahomaSt-@OralRoberts),

Friday:

@NCState-Davidson(NC),

Saturday:

@NCarolina-UCSantaBarbara, @Kansas-MiamiOH, @Memphis-Georgetown, Tennessee-@Xavier, @Arizona-SanDiegoSt, @Dayton-LoyolaMD, @Wisconsin-Valparaiso, @OhioSt-Florida, @California-Utah, HolyCross-@Siena, @Bradley-VCU, @SoIllinois-WeKentucky,
BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES @ Dallas TX (PAC-10 leads 6-5)
- (Stanford-@TexasTech),
SPARTAN CLASH 1Off @ Auburn Hills MI
- (Texas-@Michigan St),
BILLY MINARDI CLASSIC 1Off @ Louisville KY
- (@Louisville-NewMexicoSt),
BRAGGIN' RIGHTS 1Off @ St. Louis MO)
- (@Illinois-@Missouri),

Sunday:

@NCState-Cincinnati, @AustinPeay-EaKentucky.

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Top 25 - 07 Dec 17 - [] Column

1. Texas (9-0)
2. North Carolina (9-0)
3. Kansas (9-0)
4. Memphis (8-0)
5. Duke (8-0)
6. UCLA (8-1)
7. Washington State (9-0)
8. Georgetown (8-0)
9. Pittsburgh (9-0)
10. Michigan State (9-1)
11. BYU (9-2)
12. Texas A&M (9-1)
13. Butler (9-1)
14. Tennessee (8-1)
15. Indiana (8-1)
16. Arizona (6-2)
17. Dayton (8-1)
18. Oregon (8-2)
19. Rhode Island (10-1)
20. Marquette (5-1)
21. Clemson (7-0)
22. Vanderbilt (10-0)
23. West Virginia (7-1)
24. Baylor (6-1)
25. Gonzaga (8-2)

Honorable Mention:

Arizona State (7-2), Nebraska (8-2).