08 Nov24 - Willin'

Volume XIII, No. 3 - 08 Nov 24 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Willin'

We may have already seen a matchup featuring the two best players in college basketball this season. The highlight of ESPN'S 24-hour wasn't the North Carolina-Kentucky game (where UNC blew out UK @77-58 even without fTyler Hansbrough), it was the second-round NIT SEASON TIP-OFF game between Oklahoma and Davidson. The host Sooners had a 21-point lead midway through the second half, but the visiting Wildcats closed the margin before falling 78-@82. cBlake Griffin had 25p21r6to for OU; gStephen Curry had 44p;14/14ft for DC. (And those two have posted insane stats in every game so far.) cBGriffin is 6-10, strong and can bring the ball up the court on his own -- he could easily have gone pro after his freshman year, but he stayed one more season to play with his older brother fTaylor Griffin; together with freshman pWillie Warren, Oklahoma is a team that can play fast or slow. The move to point guard hasn't hampered pCurry's point production, and he's getting his teammates involved reasonably well. He's every bit as unstoppable as last year, so don't think for a minute Davidson isn't capable of another deep run in the NCAAs.
     fTyler Hansbrough is back on the court for UNC -- that's the good news -- but that bad news is that freshman cTyler Zeller broke his wrist in the Kentucky game and a capable frontcourt backup is now out for the season. The pursuit of a three-peat ACC title and crown, a return to the Final Four, a national championship and the dream of an undefeated season are all a little less likely. These Tar Heels would still rather outscore you than stop you from scoring; that caught up to them last season in the national semis, and it's bound to catch up to them sooner or later this season as well. Another Player of the Year showdown could be in the offing if fHansbrough and North Carolina end up meeting Notre Dame and cLuke Harangody in the finals of the MAUI INVITATIONAL (but Texas and St. Joseph's, among others, stand in the way).

Now that everyone has had at least one game against legitimate Division-I opponents, it appears that there are no Golden Child superfrosh this year on a par with what we've seen the past two seasons. Certainly, no one has hit the scene posting numbers that are first-team All-America calibre and put them in the conversation for Player of the Year. (We'll never know how good pBrandon Jennings would have been -- he was supposedly the top incoming freshman, but he didn't qualify for Arizona and decided to play professionally in Europe, instead.) fSamardo Samuels(Louisville) looks to be off to the best start; tScotty Hopson(Tennessee), bTyreke Evans(Memphis), cB.J. Mullens(Ohio State), fDeMar DeRozan(USC), gJrue Holiday(UCLA) and cGreg Monroe(Georgetown) have looked good and also ordinary in games so far.

We didn't get the hoped-for showdown between UCLA and Duke in the COACHES VS CANCER final. UCLA, which struggled to get past Miami(Ohio) at home the previous week, downright flopped against Michigan in the semifinals this past week, losing 52-55. (The Blue Devils easily handled the Wolverines in the final, 71-56.) The PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF was supposed to give us an exciting clash between Memphis and USC with superfrosh on each side. Instead, USC lost twice: 61-63 to Seton Hall (after leading by 15 points at the half), and 72-83 to Missouri in the 5th-place game (as their backcourt alone committed 13 turnovers between them). Memphis at least made the final, but it was Xavier who took home the crown with an ugly 63-58 win. (The Musketeers won three close games in San Juan, including a halfcourt buzzer-beater in the semis over Virgina Tech.)
     Utah has already clinched the GLENN WILKES crown after going 3-0 in their round-robin games. We also had not one but three Unwelcome Guest winners elsewhere: St. Bonaventure was the surprise winner of the GARDEN STATE CLASSIC round-robin, thanks to a 64-@63(OT) win over host Rutgers; Illinois State won the SMU CLASSIC, 84-@73, over the host Mustangs in the final; and Wofford took the AIR FORCE CLASSIC crown, 71-@67, in the final over the host Falcons.
     Connecticut beat Miami(Florida), 76-63, in the semis of the PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF (behind 19p14r7b from cHasheem Thabeet, who may be the best center in the nation by default); they'll meet Wisconsin in Monday's final after the Badgers blew out fully manned San Diego, 64-49, in the semis.

UAB won at Arizona, 72-@71, in the NIT TIP-OFF with a free throw with no time left thanks to an intentional foul by Arizona's fJamelle Horne. (It's going to be a long season in Tucson.) Rhode Island posted a nice win, @92-86, over visiting VCU (despite 22p8a6r10to from the Rams' pEric Maynor, who has to do too much for his team). Texas Tech posted 167 points over non-Division-I {East Central[Oklahoma]}, putting 10 players in double-figures (but no one more than 20p). (Meanwhile, St. Francis(PA) had no players in double-figures in their 46-@67 loss at American.) Stanford made 40-of-47 free throws in a @103-85 win over Cal State-Northridge.

Hopefully, we'll get some higher profile matchups in this week's tournaments. We might get an Oklahoma-Purdue final in the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF on Friday (if UAB and Boston College don't get in the way in the semis on Wednesday). No matter how it turns out, we're in for several great games Thursday through Sunday in both the OS CLASSIC (Tennessee, Michigan State, Georgetown, Gonzaga and Siena; plus Maryland and Oklahoma State) and the ANAHEIM CLASSIC (St. Mary's, Baylor, Arizona State, Wake Forest and Providence). If we're lucky, we'll get a Villanova-Rhode Island final on Saturday in the PHILLY CLASSIC at the Palestra. At least, the CBE CLASSIC has preset semifinals of Florida-Syracuse and Kansas-Washington on Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Baylor-Jacksonville, @Vanderbilt-MidTennessee(TN),
PARADISE JAM Finals @ St. Thomas,USVI
- (Connecticut-Wisconsin, (3rd):MiamiFL-SanDiego, (5th):SoMississippi-Iona, (7th):LaSalle-Valparaiso),

Monday-Wednesday:

MAUI INVITATIONAL Qtrs @ Lahaina,HI
- (NCarolina-@{Chaminade}, Alabama-Oregon; Texas-StJosephs, Notre Dame-Indiana(IN)),
CBE CLASSIC 3rd/Cons RndRob @ MiamiFL, Ft.MyersFL; 3rd/Semis @ Kansas City,MO
Cons RndRob @ Miami,FL
- (Mon: ClevelandSt-[{StLeo}], @FLInternational-Toledo;
   Tue: ClevelandSt-Toledo(OH), @FLInternational-{WGeorgia};
   Wed: @FLInternational-ClevelandSt, Toledo-{WGeorgia}),
Cons RndRob @ Ft Myers,FL
- (Mon: Bradley-MOKansasCity, @{FLGulfCoast}-Richmond;
   Tue: @{FLGulfCoast}-Bradley, Richmond-MOKansasCity;
   Wed: Bradley-Richmond, @{FLGulfCoast}-MOKansasCity),
Semis @ Kansas City,MO
- (Mon: Florida-Syracuse, Kansas-Washington;
   Tue: (Finals,3rdPlace)),

Monday-Tuesday; Wednesday,Friday:

NIT SEASON TIP-OFF Cons RndRob @ regional sites; Semis @ New York,NY /MSG/
Cons RndRob @ Davidson,NC
- (Mon: @Davidson-FLAtlantic, JamesMadison-LoyolaMD;
   Tue: @Davidson-LoyolaMD, FLAtlantic-JamesMadison),
Cons RndRob @ Athens,GA
- (Mon: (5:45P):Arizona-MSValleySt,
         (8P):@Georgia-SantaClara;
   Tue: (5:45P):Arizona-SantaClara,
        (8P):@Georgia-MSValleySt),
Cons RndRob @ New York,NY
- (Mon: @ StJohns-EaMichigan, @Cornell-LoyolaIL;
   Tue: @StJohns-LoyolaIL, @Cornell-EaMichigan),
Semis @ New York,NY /MSG/
- (Wed: Oklahoma-UAB, Purdue-BostonCol;
   Fri: (Finals,3rdPlace)),

Monday; Friday-Saturday:

GS CLASSIC RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Las Vegas,NV /UNLV/
- (A: @UNLV, @ California, NCA&T, TXPanAmerican,
   B: @Cincinnati, @FloridaSt, WeIllinois, CoCarolina),

Monday-Tuesday; Friday-Saturday:

PHILLY CLASSIC RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Philadelphia,PA /Palestra/
- (A: @Villanova, Towson, Niagara, Monmouth;
   B: @PennSt, RhodeIsland, Hartford, {NJIT}),
LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Las Vegas,NV /OHA/
- (A: @Kentucky, @KansasSt, SEMissouriSt, Longwood;
   B: @WVirginia, @Iowa, Oakland, DelawareSt),

Tuesday:

@SCarolina-GardnerWebb,

Tuesday; Friday-Saturday:

CHICAGO INVITATIONAL CHALLENEGE RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Hoffman Estates,IL
- (A: @Marquette, NoIowa, @ChicagoSt, TexasSo;
   B: @Dayton, Auburn, BethuneCookman, Mercer),
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL RndRob on-campus; Semis @ South Padre Island,TX
- (A: @Illinois, @KentSt, TexasA&MCC, JacksonvilleSt;
   B: @TexasA&M, @Tulsa, UNCWilmington, {NCCentral}),

Tuesday; Friday-Sunday; Friday-Saturday:

LEGENDS CLASSIC RndRob on-campus; 3rd/Cons RndRob @ Teaneck,NJ; 3rd/Semis @ Newark,NJ
- (Semis: Pittsburgh-TexasTech, MississippiSt-WashingtonSt;
   A Cons: Akron, EaKentucky, {IndianaPA}, {ECentralOK}, {Thiel};
   B Cons: @Fairfield, {NAlabama}),

Wednesday:

C CLASSIC 1Off @ Mobile,AL
- (@SAlabama-Arkansas),

Wednesday-Saturday:

GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT @ Anchorage,AK
- (Wed: PortlandSt-NoIllinois, @{AKAnchorage}-Hampton;
   Thu: SanDiegoSt-WeCarolina, LouisianaTech-{Seattle}),

Wednesday; Saturday-Sunday:

CANCUN CHALLENGE RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Cancun,MEXICO
- (A: @Vanderbilt, @Drake, CFlorida, MoreheadSt, {CArkansas};
   B: @NewMexico, @VCU, SanDiegoSt, Grambling, TheCitadel),

Thursday-Friday,Sunday:

OS CLASSIC @ Orlando,FL
- (Tennessee-Siena, Georgetown-WichitaSt; MichiganSt-Maryland, Gonzaga-OklahomaSt),
ANAHEIM CLASSIC @ Anaheim,CA
- (StMarys-UTEP, WakeForest-CalStFullerton; Baylor-Providence, ArizonaSt-Charlotte),

Friday:

@USC-TNMartin,

Friday-Sunday:

LSU INVITATIONAL RndRob @ Baton Rouge,LA
- (@LSU, Troy, @NorthwesternSt, @Centenary, AlcornSt),

Saturday:

@Nebraska-Creighton(NE),
GLENN WILKES RndRob on-campus
@Mississippi-MorganSt,

Saturday, Thursday week-Sunday week, Tue 23 Dec, Sun 28 Dec:

BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES on-campus (Arizona and Stanford play twice)
- (Sat: @Stanford-Colorado;
   Thu week: @Texas-UCLA, @Oklahoma-USC, @Washington-OklahomaSt;
   Fri week: @TexasA&M-Arizona;
   Sat week: @WashingtonSt-Baylor, @IowaSt-OregonSt;
   Sun week: @ArizonaSt-Nebraska, @Oregon-KansasSt, @Missouri-California;
   Tue 23Dec: @Arizona-Kansas(FIESTA_BOWL_CLASSIC);
   Sun 28Dec: @Stanford-TexasTech).

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Top 25 - 08 Nov 24 - [] Column

1. North Carolina (3-0)
2. Louisville (2-0)
3. Connecticut (4-0)
4. Oklahoma (4-0)
5. Davidson (2-1)
6. Duke (5-0) [2v2:COACHES VS CANCER]
7. Tennessee (3-0)
8. Purdue (4-0)
9. Texas (2-0)
10. Michigan State (2-0)
11. Pittsburgh (3-0)
12. Villanova (3-0)
13. Georgetown (2-0)
14. Marquette (2-0)
15. Gonzaga (1-0)
16. St. Mary's (1-0)
17. Notre Dame (1-0)
18. UNLV (4-0)
19. Siena (2-0)
20. Michigan (2-1)
21. UCLA (3-1)
22. Xavier (5-0) [3:PUERTO RICO]
23. Memphis (4-1)
24. Florida (3-0)
25. Syracuse (3-0)

Honorable Mention:

Missouri (4-1), Seton Hall (4-1), Wisconsin (3-0), UAB (4-0), Rhode Island (3-1), St. Bonaventure (3-1) [RR4@GARDEN STATE], Utah (3-1) [RR4:GLENN WILKES], Illinois State (4-0) [2@SMU], Wofford (2-2) [2@AIR FORCE], Texas Tech (4-0).