07 Nov19 - "J.V.'s Up!"

Volume XII, No. 3 - 07 Nov 19 - [] Top 25 Ballot

"J.V.'s Up!"

Memphis looked OK in winning the COLLEGE HOOPS/(COACHES VS. CANCER) CLASSIC, beating mediocre Oklahoma 63-53 in the semis and mediocre Connecticut 81-70 in the finals. bChris Douglas-Roberts had 33p against UConn; GC gDerrick Rose averaged 21p6r (but only had 3 assists in two games); and fJoey Dorsey had 12r in each game. It's all fine, but the thing is, this Memphis team has a great shot at going undefeated. Yes, they have a good out-of-conference schedule, but other than USC in New York (JIMMY V CLASSIC), their other big games are all at home: Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga and Tennessee. In Conference USA, there are two "tough" road games, but both Houston and UAB have looked less than stellar already. John Calipari has been there before, taking Massachusetts '96 (Marcus Camby et al.) undefeated all the way through to the final game of the regular season, so he knows what it will be like. You just wish this team seemed more serious about its greatness.

Oregon won its three-day showcase WV INVITATIONAL and new-look Florida won the 5-team/4-round showcase BLUE RIBBON CHALLENGE without much trouble. Elsewhere, the "Junior Varsity" squads pulled off unexpected wins in some of the other tournaments. Miami(Florida) was the surprise victor in some ugly ballgames at the PUERTO RICO SHOOTOUT (over the likes of Providence, Arkansas, VCU and Houston). Rhode Island emerged from the 8-team/4-round daisy-chain matchups that comprised the new GLENN WILKES CLASSIC (past disappointing UAB and Florida State). Coach Tim Miles (the architect of shocking upsets the past two seasons from then-Provisional Division I {North Dakota State} over Wisconsin and Marquette on the road) has already made a mark at Colorado State, as the Rams edged Portland State 64-63 to win the weak 8-team TOP OF THE WORLD. In the PARADISE JAM, it's Baylor and Winthrop in the final (instead of Notre Dame and Georgia Tech).

More puzzling upsets of what should have be established teams: New Orleans' gT.J. Worley hit a game-winning three-pointer to upend North Carolina State 65-63 in Raleigh. The Wolfpack's own GC fJ.J. Hickson has had 31p and 22p13r in two games, but ball movement is a problem for this team now without pEngin Atsur to distribute more balanced touches all around. Virginia won at Arizona 75-@72 as pSean Singletary had 24p8a5to while UoA's GC gJerryd Bayless had 21p4a4r. And Siena, which gave Syracuse a decent game last week in the first round of the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF, pulled off its own upset at home over Stanford, @79-67, (as the Cardinal shot 31 three-pointers but only 3 free throws).

North Carolina held off physical Davidson @72-@68 in Charlotte as gWayne Ellington(20p) hit a key jumper in the late-going; gStephen Curry(21p) struggled with his shooting and it now looks like he'll play the entire season with a sprained left wrist that may require surgery. Syracuse held off St. Joseph's @72-69 on GC gJonny Flynn's late jumper to advance to New York in the NIT TIP-OFF; and workhorse fJohn Brockman put up 31p to help Washington advance past Utah @83-77 in the opposite half of the bracket.

This week is stuffed (get it?) with holiday tournaments. For the most part, though, we'll be lucky to get one good matchup per event if there are no upsets before the final. The major exception is the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF on Wednesday and Friday, where any one of Syracuse, Ohio State, Texas A&M or Washington could take it in what should be some compelling games with plenty of star power. North Carolina-Louisville should be the Saturday final in the LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL (although BYU has started the season very solidly). UCLA figures to have too much height for Michigan State to handle in the expected COLLEGE BASKETBALL EXPERIENCE/(GUARDIANS) final on Tuesday. Tennessee-Texas (LEGENDS, Saturday), Duke-Marquette (MAUI, Wednesday), Gonzaga-Butler (GREAT ALASKA, Saturday), Indiana-Xavier (CHICAGO, Saturday) and Bradley-Vanderbilt (SOUTH PADRE, Saturday) all figure to be the only games worth taking note of in those events. The made-for-TV events, ANAHEIM CLASSIC (Southern Illinois, @USC, Miami(Ohio), South Alabama, Mississippi State, UC-Irvine) and OS CLASSIC (Kansas State, N.C. State, George Mason, Villanova) have solid fields of several teams that have started well.

The real event is still a week away, but (depending on which school you ask), Sunday's Arizona at Kansas game may or may not be the first of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES matchups.

A few "State Title" games should be pretty interesting: young Florida hosting Florida State (Friday), Creighton hosting Nebraska and UNLV hosting Nevada (both Saturday), and Missouri State hosting Rick Majerus' St. Louis team (Wednesday). Yale has a good shot to unseat the 19-year hold that Penn and Princeton have had on the Ivy League title this year; but back-to-back road games at Stanford and then UCLA this week don't figure to bolster their confidence.

A best-of-three "Championship Series" for ... #98!!!??? Are you serious? Apparently, so. The same group that sponsors the CBE/(GUARDIANS) CLASSIC has announced it will also put on a third postseason tournament this year featuring a 16-team draw with on-campus matchups and a two-out-of-three series for the championship. Now that the NCAA also owns the NIT as well, the argument is that "the market needs competition in order to break up the monopoly". I guess they intend to compete with the NIT and give teams that don't make the NCAAs a choice of which tournament they'd rather compete in. To me, it's a lousy idea that will saturate the tube with more games than you could possibly care about. We'll see how it unfolds.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

PARADISE JAM Finals @ St. Thomas VI
(Baylor-Winthrop, 3rd:NotreDame-GeorgiaTech, 5th:Charlotte-Monmouth, 7th:WichitaSt-ILChicago),

Monday-Tuesday:

COLLEGE BASKETBALL EXPERIENCE/(GUARDIANS) CLASSIC Semis @ Kansas City MO
(UCLA-Maryland, MichiganSt-Missouri),

Monday-Wednesday:

MAUI INVITATIONAL 1st/Qtrs @ Lahaina HI
(Duke-Princeton, Marquette-@{Chaminade}, OklahomaSt-LSU, Illinois-ArizonaSt),

Tuesday:

@Stanford-Yale,

Tuesday, Friday-Saturday:

LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL 2x4 RndRob on-campus, Finals @ Las Vegas NV
(A:NCarolina, OldDominion, Iona, SCState;
B:Louisville, BYU, Hartford, JacksonSt),
CHICAGO INVITATIONAL CHALLENGE 2x4 RndRob on-campus, Finals @ Hoffman Estates IL
(A:Indiana, IllinoisSt, UNCWilmington, {Longwood};
B:Xavier, KentSt, CoppinSt, SEMissouriSt),
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL 2x4 RndRob on-campus, Finals @ South Padre Island TX
(A:Bradley, Iowa, MDEaShore, {FLGulfCoast};
B:Vanderbilt, UtahSt, Valparaiso, AustinPeay),
PHILLY CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob on-campus, Finals @ Philadelphia PA
(A:Virginia, LoyolaMD, Howard, @Penn;
B:SetonHall, @Drexel, RobertMorris, Navy),

Wednesday:

Louisville-@UNLV, @MissouriSt-StLouis(MO),

Wednesday, Friday:

NIT SEASON TIP-OFF Semis @ New York NY
(@Syracuse-OhioSt, TexasA&M-Washington),

Wednesday-Saturday:

GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT 1st/Qtrs @ Anchorage, AK
(Gonzaga-WeKentucky, Butler-Michigan, VirginiaTech-EaWashington, TexasTech-@{AKAnchorage}),

Thursday-Friday, Sunday:

ANAHEIM CLASSIC 1st/Qtrs @ Anaheim CA
(SoIllinois-Chattanooga, @USC-@SanDiego, MiamiOH-SAlabama, MississippiSt-UCIrvine),
OS CLASSIC 1st/Qtrs @ Orlando FL
(KansasSt-GeoMason, NCState-Rider, Villanova-CFlorida, PennSt-SCarolina),

Friday:

@UCLA-Yale, @Florida-FloridaSt(FL),

Friday-Saturday:

LEGENDS CLASSIC Semis @ Newark NJ
(Tennessee-WVirginia, Texas-NewMexicoSt),

Friday-Sunday:

HISPANIC COLLEGE FUND-WEST CLASSIC RndRob @ Spokane WA
(@WashingtonSt, Montana, AirForce, MSValleySt),

Saturday:

@Creighton-Nebraska(NE), @UNLV-Nevada(NV), @Houston-Grambling,

Sunday:

???BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES on-campus???
@Kansas-Arizona.

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Top 25 - 07 Nov 19 - [] Column

1. UCLA (2-0)
2. Kansas (2-0)
3. Memphis (4-0) :COLLEGE HOOPS/CVC
4. Georgetown (2-0)
5. North Carolina (2-0)
6. Oregon (4-0) vWV-I
7. Louisville (2-0)
8. Tennessee (2-0)
9. Washington State (2-0)
10. Indiana (1-0)
11. Pittsburgh (3-0)
12. Michigan State (2-0)
13. Syracuse (3-0)
14. Duke (1-0)
15. Texas (2-0)
16. Gonzaga (3-0)
17. Ohio State (2-0)
18. Marquette (1-0)
19. Texas A&M (3-0)
20. Butler (3-0)
21. Clemson (3-0)
22. Southern Illinois (1-0)
23. Brigham Young (3-0)
24. Kansas State (2-0)
25. Florida (2-0) vBLUE RIBBON

Honorable Mention:

New Orleans (2-0), Virginia (3-0), Miami(Florida) (4-0) :PUERTO RICO, Rhode Island (5-0) :GLENN WILKES, Colorado State (3-1) :TOP WORLD, Siena (2-2).