09 Dec14 - Blue Print

Volume XIV, No. 6 - 09 Dec 14 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Blue Print

Who needs Madison Square Garden? Syracuse took its act on the road down to Tampa in the BIG EAST/SEC INVITATIONAL and solidly beat Florida 85-@73. cRick Jackson(21p11r) scored at will point blank in the paint and the Gators could do nothing about it. The Orange can put five quality athletes on the floor this year, which greatly helps the effectiveness of their zone and, what's more, multiple players can get their own shot on offense. CVC was no home fluke. (Meanwhile, Mississippi State routed DePaul @76-45.)
    Back in New York, Kentucky continued its pattern of streaks of greatness mixed in with lapses that allow opponents back in the game. Against Connecticut, the Wildcats started with a thrilling 12-0 start in the first 4 minutes, only to have the Huskies eventually tie the game up at 16, and lead 26-18 with 5 minutes left in the half. This one turned into an endplay yet again for UK. For some reason, Jim Calhoun decided to have 6-9 fStanley Robinson attempt to guard 6-4 bJohn Wall(25p6r7to) on the crucial possession -- an insane mismatch in quickness/speed for UK. A pick and a blur later, bWall was completing a three-point play at the foul line to key a 64-@61 win. (St. John's beat Georgia @66-56 as the conferences split 2-2 overall for the second straight year.) Waiting for Superman to save you in the nick of time makes for great drama, but it's a worrisome pattern for UK that has "shocking NCAA upset" written all over it. Veteran teams are starting to hit their stride now in terms of putting away opponents with defensive stops down the stretch; but the young Wildcats are still in the immature mode of winning games with offensive heroics.

Purdue and Georgetown, for example, turned in impressive performances this week. The Boilermakers had the tough task of playing on the road at Alabama moments after the news broke that Crimson Tide rbMark Ingram had won the Heisman Trophy. UofA played inspired ball and lead by 16 points in the second half before fRobbie Hummel(23p) took control and Purdue won 73-@65.
    Georgetown continued the woes of Butler, handling the Bulldogs 72-65 at the JIMMY V CLASSIC in NYC as cGreg Monroe(24p15r) completed dominated fMatt Howard(9p6r;1/9fg). Later at the JOHN WOODEN CLASSIC in Anaheim, the Hoyas turned it on in the second half to beat Washington 74-66 (despite 23p6r5s from fQuincy Pondexter).

Playing Small-Ball finally caught up to Villanova. Temple's guards gJuan Fernandez(33p4a;7/9 3s) and bRyan Brooks(20p5r) had the better of it against the Wildcats' bScottie Reynolds(23p7r) and pCorey Fisher(14p7a) while cLavoy Allen controlled the boards to the tune of 17 rebounds. 'Nova is due to get 6-6 bReggie Redding back with the start of the new semester, but it's unclear whether freshman starter 6-9 cMouphtaou Yarou can return from illness. You can actually be a more dynamic team with an overload of guards if you have some 'tweeners who can defend/rebound enough inside on defense and shoot from the outside on offense to cause havoc -- (think Georgia Tech '04) -- but the Wildcat forwards don't quite have enough versatility to make that work. (All props to the Owls for handing the 'Cats just their second loss in their last 22 Big 5 clashes -- going back 6 years.)
    Undefeated New Mexico got the signature win it lacked with an 84-@81 squeaker over Texas A&M in Houston (despite 29p5to from the Aggies' gDonald Sloan). Kansas State's backcourt of bJacob Pullen and pDenis Clemente racked up 50 points between them as the Wildcats handed host UNLV its first loss, 95-@80.

Wisconsin-Green Bay put all it had into its state rival grudge match with big brother Wisconsin, prevailing @88-84 in overtime (despite 27p5a6r from pTrevon Hughes and 26p10r from cJon Leuer). But the Phoenix apparently had nothing left when they travelled to Oakland and were blitzed 52-@76. VCU beat city rival Richmond @65-@57 in their annual BLACK & BLUE CLASSIC. Meanwhile, Northern Iowa seems to have righted the ship with its convincing @82-65 win over reeling Siena.

Elsewhere, it was teams from the Bluegrass states (Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky) that left their imprint on the week. Notre Dame found a way to lose to 4-7 Loyola Marymount at home, @85-87 -- the addition of transfer bBen Hansbrough (ex-Mississippi State) hasn't' been enough to toughen up the Irish (and Purdue transfer fScott Martin never made it on court after a season-ending knee injury). Louisville lost at home again, this time to 10-1 Western Carolina @83-91. The Cardinals aren't deep talent-wise (and maybe also the distraction of Rick Pitino's off-court troubles are taking a toll). Butler did manage to salvage something from an otherwise disappointing preseason, beating depleted Ohio State @74-66 -- (tGordon Hayward had 24p8r in both the Gtown and OhioSt games.) The annual CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT between Cincinnati and Xavier nearly came to that literally as the physical play got excessive in XU's @83-79(OT) home win. Dayton isn't quite displaying Top-25 form, but its @58-50 win over Old Dominion is at least a sign it can keep its favorite status in the suddenly upgraded Atlantic 10.

The SEC split its unofficial challenge in the SUN BELT CLASSIC double-header in Nashville. Tennessee handled Middle Tennessee @75-@54, but Western Kentucky upset host Vanderbilt 76-@69 behind 27p from gA.J. Slaughter.
    The Big 12 already has an insurmountable 8-2 lead on the Pac-10 in their HARDWOOD SERIES with two road games left: Oklahoma State at Stanford (Wednesday), and Texas A&M at Washington (Tuesday week). Nothing says they can't sweep those two on the road, either.
    Home court has held form so far in the MVC/MWC CHALLENGE (with the Missouri Valley up 3-2 so far). Don't expect Creighton to pull off the road win at solid New Mexico, but Illinois State has a good shot to beat host Utah (both Saturday). Expect host Drake to fall to San Diego State (Tuesday week) for a 4-4 tie, and then host Northern Iowa should bring the title home with a win over visiting Wyoming.

Last year, it was Ford Field in Detroit against Michigan State. This year, it's the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas against Texas for the ultimate draw North Carolina Tar Heels (Saturday). Gonzaga gets another shot at an elite win when plays a "road" game in NYC against Duke at the annual AP CLASSIC (Saturday)

-- 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, 19 DECEMBER 2009 (4PMet).

Key games this week:

Tuesday:

@LouisianaTech-MurraySt,

Wednesday:

@SCarolina-Richmond,

Wednesday, Tuesday week:

BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES on-campus; (USC and Washington play twice); BIG 12 leads 8-2
- (Wed: @Stanford-OklahomaSt;
   Tue week: @Washington-TexasA&M),

Thursday:

@UNLV-WeberSt,

Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday week-Wednesday week:

LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Las Vegas NV /OHA/
- (A: Tulsa, Nebraska, ChicagoSt, JacksonSt;
   B: BYU, Nevada, Wagner, EaWashington),

Saturday:

(PIGSKIN POOL PARTY ENTRY DEADLINE [4PMet]),
@Kansas-Michigan, @Texas-NCarolina(@DallasTX/COWBOYS/), @Georgetown-OldDominion, Temple-@SetonHall, Villanova-@Fordham(@EastRutherfordNJ), @Clemson-ColofCharleston(SC), @Northwestern-Stanford, @Butler-Xavier(BG), @Washington-Portland, @Oklahoma-NoColorado, @NotreDame-UCLA, @Campbell-Jacksonville,
JOHN WOODEN TRADITION 1Off @ Indianapolis IN - (@Purdue-@BallSt(IN)),
JOHN McLENDON CLASSIC 1Off @ Cleveland OH - (WVirginia-@ClevelandSt),
AP CLASSIC 1Off @ New York NY /MSG/ - (@Duke-Gonzaga),
ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC DblHdr @ Miami(Sunrise) FL
- (@Florida-Richmond, @MiamiFL-@FLAtlantic(FL)),
C CLASSIC DblHdr @ Mobile AL
- (KansasSt-@Alabama, @SAlabama-@UAB(AL)),
BILLY MINARDI CLASSIC 1Off @ Louisville KY - (@Louisville-WeKentucky(KY)),

Saturday-Wednesday week:

MVC/MWC CHALLENGE on-campus; (Evansville doesn't play); MVC leads 3-2
- (Sat: @NewMexico-Creighton, @Utah-IllinoisSt;
   Tue week: @Drake-SanDiegoSt;
   Wed week: @NoIowa-Wyoming),

Sunday:

(5:30P):@GeorgiaTech-FloridaSt,
@WakeForest-NCState(NC),

Sunday-Monday week:

HOLIDAY FESTIVAL 1st/Semis @ New York NY /MSG/
- (@StJohns-@Hofstra, Cornell-Davidson).

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Top 25 - 09 Dec 14 - [] Column

1. Kansas (9-0)
2. Syracuse (10-0)
3. Texas (8-0)
4. Kentucky (10-0)
5. Purdue (9-0)
6. Georgetown (8-0)
7. West Virginia (7-0)
8. Duke (7-1)
9. Florida (8-1)
10. North Carolina (6-2)
11. Michigan State (7-2)
12. Tennessee (7-1)
13. Memphis (7-1)
14. Gonzaga (7-2)
15. St. John's (8-1)
16. Temple (8-2)
17. Villanova (9-1)
18. Connecticut (6-2)
19. New Mexico (10-0)
20. Wisconsin (7-2)
21. Mississippi (8-1)
22. Kansas State (8-1)
23. Charlotte (7-1)
24. Missouri State (9-0)
25. Tulsa (6-1)

Honorable Mention:

Wisconsin-Green Bay (6-3), VCU (6-2), Loyola Marymount (4-7), Western Carolina (10-1), Northern Iowa (7-1), Butler (7-3), Xavier (6-3), Dayton (7-2).