08 Dec15 - (A)10-Spot

Volume XIII, No. 6 - 08 Dec 15 - [] Top 25 Ballot

(A)10-Spot

The Atlantic 10 was in the spotlight in four big games this past week (and delivered three solid performances and one flop). On Wednesday, Dayton took its undefeated record on the road to visit tough Creighton (already with two squeak road losses), but the Flyers couldn't handle the Bluejays as CU won big @77-59. Next up on Thursday was struggling St. Joseph's (already a loser at home to Creighton itself) traveling to Villanova's home court to conduct the annual "HOLY WAR" matchup with its Big 5 rival. Grudge match games often don't go according to form and here were the Hawks taking it to the favored Wildcats. But a quick spurt to start the second half elminated SJU's working margin and in an endplay St. Joe's couldn't convert the clinching free throws and wound up losing 56-@59 to VU. It wasn't until Saturday that the breakthroughs came. 2-6 Massachusetts somehow was able to take it to Kansas' Replacement Squad and escaped with a 61-@60 win in Kansas City. (Last year's Replacements at Florida weren't able to make it back to the NCAA tournament; North Carolina's Replacements in 2005-06 did manage to make a Round-of-32 splash -- but they had a freshman named cTyler Hansbrough; it's doubtful whether these KU Replacements can get to the Dance.) But the shocker was 5-3 Temple's stunning rout of Tennessee, @88-72, behind 35p;7/14 3s from gDionte Christmas. Yes, UTn's tJ.P. Prince missed the game with a late injury (and he would have matched up well defensively against the 6-5 gChristmas), but a legit Top 10 shouldn't get blown out even on the road to an also-ran.

Texas doesn't have a true point guard or a fulltime center, but they are still playing some outstanding ball with players. UTx's superior physical condition was the difference-maker against Villanova in the JIMMY V CLASSIC as the Longhorns held the Wildcats at bay 67-58 (behind 26p from gA.J. Abrams, despite 23p12r from cDante Cunningham). Last year for Texas, it was tDamion James who stepped up and became a super-'tweener consistently grabbing double-digit rebounds while remaining essentially a finesse player. This year, it's bJustin Mason who has blossomed into a power scoring guard -- not particularly a playmaking passer, but enough ball-handling to allow gAbrams to play off the ball himself and spot up for threes. You still wish they could get 30 solid minutes from a power frontcourt player, but all they are getting right now is about 10 minutes per half from cDexter Pittman. (If cPittman could improve his condition to match those other three, this team could go further than last year's team led by pD.J. Augustin and the previous year's team led by tKevin Durant. If it happens, that would be the ultimate example of Year After Rule.)

Davidson won two more close games, 68-65 over West Virginia as part of the JIMMY V CLASSIC, and @100-95 in a shootout over Southern Conference rival Chattanooga. pStephen Curry(27p10a8to) had a bad shooting night against WVU (9-for-27; 4-for-16 on threes), yet he still scored 13 of their last 14 points to secure the win. On Saturday, he sprang for 41p6a5to, outduelling UTC's gStephen McDowell(31p5r1a). As long as pCurry is on the floor, the Wildcats are a threat to beat any team in the country. (You just wish they could open up a margin and keep it and coast to a comfortable win here and there against ordinary opponents.)

Georgetown and Memphis went into overtime before the host Hoyas prevailed @79-70. GU is an athletic team, but they were outrebounded 36-53 by the Tigers. Memphis still has a big question mark as far as point guard/ball-handling goes, but as long as they can get points off turnovers from their defense and offensive rebounds off missed shots, they can get away with not having the prettiest offensive flow. tTyreke Evans (20p3a7r5to;8/24fg) dominated the ball (for better and for worse); most of cShawn Taggart's 21p11r came on putbacks.

Just when you wanted to believe "This year's Gonzaga team is different", here was more of the same. Arizona was able to pull off the upset, @69-64, in the DESERT CLASSIC in Phoenix. UofA's two quirky one-point losses (to UAB and Texas A&M) can be forgiven now. If fJordan Hill(22p6r) and pNic Wise(21p4a) can consistently contribute on par with tChase Budinger(14p6r), this team can be a contender for sure in the downgraded Pac-10. (Speaking of which, no explanation for Arizona State's narrow escape @59-58(OT) over lowly IUPUI. Yes, bJames Harden is a talent, but what Top 20 team only attempts two free throws for an entire game?)

Well below the radar, Stephen F. Austin pulled the Unwelcome Guest thing and won the DRAKE HV CLASSIC, 66-@64 over host Drake in the final. But that was hardly the story. The Lumberjacks needed a game-winning jumper in the third overtime to beat North Dakota State 112-111(3OT) in the first-round semifinal game. It's safe to say that no one this year will come close to matching NDSU's 5-11 pBen Woodside's box score: 60p 8a 8r ; 14/32 fg , 30/35 ft.

It hasn't happened officially yet, but apparently Syracuse's gEric Devendorf will soon be gone due to disciplinary action for off-court issues. He's still playing for now, but the nice chemistry this year's team had developed is about to be disrupted irreparably.

Upcoming this week, we get the pair of BIG EAST / SEC INVITATIONAL double-headers in Nashville and Cincinnati. The pairings don't seem particularly balanced. The Big East won 3-1 last year and, if Marquette can come up big against host Tennessee, they may well do the same this year.
     A few more showy intersectional matchups come Saturday (Gonzaga hosting Connecticut, Duke-Xavier in New York, Memphis hosting Syracuse, and Purdue hosting Davidson in the JOHN WOODEN TRADITION) and one big early conference game on Sunday: Clemson at Miami(Florida).

-- Ron

P.S. Don't forget: the deadline for this year's Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's free College Football Bowl Season Pool) is THIS SATURDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2008 (11AMet).

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Syracuse-ClevelandSt, @MidTennessee-TNMartin(TN),

Monday-Saturday; Monday week-Tuesday week:

LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC on-campus; @ Las Vegas NV /OHA/
- (A: @Creighton, @FresnoSt, NoColorado, Southern;
   B: @DePaul, @StLouis, Liberty, {SCUpstate}),

Tuesday, Thursday:

BIG EAST / SEC INVITATIONAL DblHdrs @ Nashville TN, @ Cincinnati OH
- (Tue @ NashvilleTN: @Tennessee-Marquette, @Vanderbilt-SFlorida;
   Thu @ CincinnatiOH: @Louisville-Mississippi, @Cincinnati-MississippiSt),

Wednesday:

@Pittsburgh-Siena, @OhioSt-Jacksonville, @Oregon-StMarys, @UNLV-SantaClara, @VCU-Akron,

Wednesday, Friday-Saturday:

JIM THORPE RndRob @ Fayetteville AR
- (@Arkansas, StephenFAustin, AustinPeay),

Saturday:

(PIGSKIN POOL PARTY ENTRY DEADLINE [11AMet]),
NCarolina-@Valparaiso(@ChicagoIL), @Texas-MichiganSt(@HoustonTX), @Georgetown-MtStMarys(MD/DC), Duke-Xavier(@EastRutherfordNJ), Arizona-@UNLV, Syracuse-@Memphis, @Kansas-Temple, @USC-NDState, @BostonCol-Providence, @California-Nevada, @IllinoisSt-ILChicago(IL), @WVirginia-MiamiOH, @Pacific-SantaClara(CA),
BATTLE IN SEATTLE 1Off @ Seattle WA - (Connecticut-@Gonzaga),
ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC DblHdr @ Oklahoma City OK
- (@Oklahoma-VCU, @OklahomaSt-RhodeIsland),
JOHN WOODEN TRADITION DblHdr @ Indianapolis IN
- (@Purdue-Davidson, StMarys-SoIllinois),
STADIUM SHOOTOUT DblHdr @ Phoenix AZ
- (Louisville-Minnesota, @ArizonaSt-BYU),

Saturday-Sunday:

HOLIDAY FESTIVAL 1st/Semis @ New York NY /MSG/
- (@Columbia-VirginiaTech, @StJohns-@Marist),

Sunday:

Pittsburgh-@FloridaSt, @MiamiFL-Clemson.

---

Top 25 - 08 Dec 15 - [] Column

1. North Carolina (8-0)
2. Connecticut (7-0)
3. Oklahoma (10-0)
4. Pittsburgh (9-0)
5. Texas (8-1)
6. Gonzaga (6-1)
7. Tennessee (6-2)
8. Georgetown (7-1)
9. Ohio State (6-0)
10. Notre Dame (5-2)
11. Duke (7-1)
12. Michigan (6-2)
13. Maryland (6-2)
14. Villanova (9-1)
15. Purdue (8-2)
16. Wake Forest (7-0)
17. Xavier (9-0)
18. Arizona (7-2)
19. Syracuse (8-0)
20. Baylor (7-1)
21. Davidson (7-1)
22. Marquette (7-1)
23. UCLA (6-2)
24. Louisville (6-1) [2vMAYBIN]
25. Memphis (5-2)

Honorable Mention:

Temple (5-3), Creighton (7-2), Massachusetts (2-6), Stephen F Austin (3-2) [2@DRAKE HV], North Dakota State (4-3).