09 Dec28 - Independence Day (PRECONFERENCE)

(For VC it was Independence Day. For the earthbound rest of us, life goes on.)

Volume XIV, No. 8 - 09 Dec 28: PRECONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

Independence Day

The Pac-10 showed signs of life this week. California hung around at Kansas, but ultimately fell 69-@84. Washington finally came through with a win over a ranked team, beating Texas A&M @73-64 in the final game of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES. (Final count: BIG 12 won 9-3.) And USC received a second-semester boost from newly eligible pMike Gerrity and took the inaugural DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC crown over Western Michigan (55-51), St. Mary's (60-49) and UNLV (67-56). Maybe there's hope for two bids for the league come tourney time after all.

San Diego State won 76-@73(OT) over Drake to tie up the MVC/MWC CHALLENGE at 4-4. The final game was no contest, though, as host Northern Iowa drubbed visiting Wyoming @72-54 to give the MVC a 5-4 win. Both leagues had strong preseasons with multiple teams having elite records and with multiple NCAA bids likely for each. Both had similar out-of-conference wins -- the MVC over Texas Tech (Wichita State), Illinois (Bradley), Tulsa (Missouri State) and Siena (Northern Iowa); the MWC over Texas A&M (New Mexico), Louisville (UNLV) and Michigan (Utah). The MWC was able to claim a preseason tournament crown, winning the LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC, beating Nebraska 88-66 in the final.

Cornell's senior class, led by the trio of fRyan Wittman, gLouis Dale and cJeff Foote, made its mark, winning the HOLIDAY FESTIVAL at Madison Square Garden in New York, beating St. John's in the final, @71-@66. By winning an in-season tournament, they match the feat done by Princeton '98 (which won a two-round COACHES VS CANCER) in the final season of that cohort's three-year run as Ivy champs. The Big Red have posted an undefeated conference season as sophomores (and, though they're the favorites, it'll be hard to sweep this year's Harvard squad, which is making its own noise this season). The third achievement those former tri-champs pulled off was an NCAA win (and this tourney win will help on that front towards getting them higher than the 14-seed they've had the past two years).
    North Florida, only 1-7 at the start of the week, won three straight (including 53-@46 over the hosts) to take the SOUTHERN MISSSISSIPPI CHRISTMAS crown to claim an Unwelcome Guest win in the name of the Atlantic Sun.

Kansas had trouble separating from California in the first half, but ultimately won comfortably, @84-69. Texas held off Michigan State @79-68. West Virginia had the strongest week, remaining unbeaten with a @76-66 win over Mississippi and then battling to beat a good Seton Hall squad, 90-@84 in overtime in an early conference matchup.
    Florida stumbled at home again, losing @66-67 to 9-4 South Alabama. Even more shocking was New Mexico's road loss at 7-6 Oral Roberts, 66-@75. 8-4 Old Dominion pounced on Charlotte, @81-48.

Looking back on the preseason as a whole, give full props to the performances over the appeal of the talents of individual players. It's Syracuse that has been the best team on the court. They handled North Carolina better than Texas did, and Kansas and especially Kentucky failed to blowout lesser teams. Purdue and Tennessee could just as easily be swapped based on their meeting.
    This season isn't as strong at the top as in year's past, but it may be as deep as it has been for quite some time. There are maybe 50 teams that are playing well enough to win a first-round NCAA game.
    Despite the strength of the BIG 12's top two teams and its thorough dominance of the PAC-10 head-to-head, it was (once again) the BIG EAST (5) and the ACC (4) who won the most preseason tournaments (the best measure of depth of talent among conferences), compared to 3 wins for the BIG 12. The SEC, BIG 10 and PAC-10, along with the WCC, did fine by taking 2 each. The MWC and A-10 (and the IVY) had 1 win apiece; while Northern Colorado (twice) and North Florida brought home Unwelcome Guest trophies for the BIG SKY and A-SUN.

xEvan Turner (Ohio State) was headed for Player of the Year before injuring his back. xDamion James (Texas) and gJon Scheyer (Duke) have been the most consistent upperclassmen who seem headed for first-team All-America so far. Freshman gJohn Wall (Kentucky) might wind up there as well if he finishes the way he has started; bXavier Henry (Kansas), 20-year-old bElias Harris (Gonzaga) and fChris Braswell (Charlotte) have been the most impactful freshmen otherwise in the preseason.
    Kentucky won the 2000th game in the program's history -- the first team to do so. (North Carolina will soon follow, however.)

There are still plenty of good intersectional matchups this week: Kansas at Temple (Saturday), Kentucky vs Louisville (Saturday) [featuring John Calipari vs mentor Rick Pitino], a battle of unbeatens: West Virginia at Purdue (Friday), Tennessee at Memphis (Thursday) and specialty pairings: Gonzaga vs Illinois (at Cancun, MEXICO; Saturday), Gonzaga vs Oklahoma (RMH CLASSIC; Thursday), New Mexico vs Texas Tech (Tuesday), New Mexico vs Dayton (Friday), BYU at Arizona (FIESTA BOWL CLASSIC; Monday), Georgia Tech at Charlotte (Saturday), and Oklahoma State vs Rhode Island (Saturday at Uncasville, CT).
    Some good early conference games are on as well: Duke vs Clemson (Sunday), Georgetown vs St. John's (Thursday), Michigan State at Northwestern (Saturday), Connecticut vs Notre Dame (Saturday), Ohio State at Michigan (Sunday), Northwestern at Illinois (Wednesday), Missouri State at Northern Iowa (Sunday), Missouri State vs Illinois State (Friday), Northern Iowa at Creighton (Tuesday) and Nevada at Louisiana Tech (Saturday).

Here's how the conferences look after the preseason:

1. BIG EAST - Strength in numbers gives this league the slight nod as the best overall. The 2-2 tie in its CHALLENGE with the SEC hardly rates counting. Syracuse [2v2vCOACHES VS CANCER] (fWesley Johnson) was the biggest surprise team of the preseason -- a better collection of athletes than last year; West Virginia [3@ANAHEIM] (fDa'Sean Butler, fDevin Ebanks) has great balance in its attack; Georgetown (cGreg Monroe) has hit its stride the last few weeks; Connecticut (bJerome Dyson, fStanley Robinson) can't dominate the floor like last year, but they're still plenty good; Villanova [3:PUERTO RICO] (pScottie Reynolds) has the nation's best backcourt roster (but not enough size up front to control the boards); St. John's [v2@PHILLY] (pD.J. Kennedy), Seton Hall (bJeremy Hazzell, cHerb Pope), Cincinnati (freshman tLance Stephenson), Marquette (fLazar Hayward) and Pittsburgh have been solid surprises; Notre Dame (cLuke Harangody) continues to be too soft; Louisville [:3vHALL OF FAME-B] has been inconsistent; Providence, Rutgers, DePaul and South Florida were anonymous.
2. BIG 12 - They have a great case for best conference as well, especially after dominating the Pac-10 in their CHALLENGE, 9-3. Texas [2v2:CBE] (xDamion James, fDexter Pittman) has the most talented roster in the country; Kansas [:3vHALL OF FAME-A] (pSherron Collins, freshman bXavier Henry, cCole Aldrich) has the deepest roster in the country; Kansas State (gJacob Pullen, gDenis Clemente) may well have the best backcourt duo in the country; Texas Tech (fMike Singletary) and Texas A&M (gDonald Sloan) had great preseasons; Oklahoma State [2v2:LAS VEGAS-THANX] (tJerome Anderson) won a major crown; Oklahoma flopped under the weight of big expectations; Missouri, Baylor (bCurtis Jerrells), Iowa State (cCraig Brackins) and Nebraska are good enough to spoil; Colorado maybe not.
3. ACC - Although they lost their CHALLENGE with the Big 10, they still turned in a strong preseason all around. Duke [2v2:NIT TIP-OFF] (gJon Scheyer, tKyle Singler) has added height this year; North Carolina (fEd Davis, fDeon Thompson) has the nation's best frontcourt roster (but the backcourt doesn't pass muster); Clemson (fTrevor Booker) still scraps for everything it gets; Florida State [3vORLANDO] (7-1 cSolomon Alabi, fChris Singleton) is huge; Georgia Tech (cGani Lawal, freshman cDerrick Favors, freshman gMfon Udofia) has plenty of pieces but no plan; Wake Forest, Miami(Florida) [3@CHARLESTON] (fDwayne Collins), Virginia Tech (pMalcolm Delaney) and Maryland (tGreivis Vasquez) all have talent enough to spoil; Boston College, N.C. State [10RR4GLENN WILKES] and Virginia (tSylven Landesberg) not so much.
4. BIG 10 - High expectations (and one major injury) made the preseason seem like a failure, but at least they won their CHALLENGE with the ACC for the first time, 6-5. Purdue [3:PARADISE] (fRobbie Hummel, fJaJuan Johnson, gE'Twaun Moore) gets the most out of its grind-it-out style; Michigan State (gKalin Lucas) is a solid squad but couldn't break through against the national elite; Wisconsin (gTrevon Hughes, cJon Leuer) beat Duke to claim the biggest upset of the preseason; Northwestern [2v2vCHICAGO] (fJohn Shurna) overcame a preseason injury and had one of the best surprise campaigns of the year; Ohio State (x-tEvan Turner, tDavid Lighty) lost the nation's best player to injury but is still solid enough; Illinois (pDemetri McCamey) staged a huge comeback win at Clemson; Minnesota beat Butler; Michigan (tManny Harris) desperately needs a quality point guard; Penn State (gTalor Battle) was OK; Indiana and Iowa struggled to rebuild.
5. SEC - Nowhere to go but up after last year's woeful campaign. They'll take a 2-2 tie in their CHALLENGE with the Big East. Kentucky [2v2:CANCUN] (freshman gJohn Wall, fPatrick Patterson, freshman fDeMarcus Cousins, freshman gEric Bledsoe) have the most talented starting five in the nation (but foul trouble in the paint has been a worry); Florida [2v2:LEGENDS] developed ahead of schedule beating Michigan State to take a surprise tourney crown; Mississippi (gChris Warren, gTerrico White, tEniel Polynice) has perimeter players who can handle (but not enough size in the paint); Tennessee (fTyler Smith, tScotty Hopson) relies too much on the press and struggles in the halfcourt; Mississippi State (cJarvis Varnado) is missing something intangible that keeps it from being great -- the pieces are there; South Carolina (5-9 pDevan Downey) won't contend due to injuries but will definitely spoil due to pDD; Vanderbilt (cA.J. Ogilvy) needs muscle to complete the recipe; LSU (fTasmin Mitchell), Alabama, Auburn and Arkansas (gRotnei Clarke, cMichael Washington) are all incomplete; (Georgia [fTrey Thompkins] has a long way to go.)
6. CONFERENCE USA - With the departure of John Calipari to Kentucky, the rest of the league seems to have seized the opportunity and stepped it up. Tulsa (cJerome Jordan, bBen Uzoh) routed Oklahoma State; UAB (fElijah Millsap) beat Butler and routed Cincinnati; Memphis (bElliot Williams) gave Kansas a scare; UTEP (gRandy Culpepper) and Houston (bAubrey Coleman) each beat Oklahoma.
7. ATLANTIC 10 - No league did itself more good in the preseason than this one. Richmond [2v2:SOUTH PADRE] (gKevin Anderson) won a major crown and beat Florida on the road to boot; Temple (gRyan Brooks) handed Villanova its only loss; Charlotte (freshman fChris Braswell) trounced Louisville; Dayton (fChris Wright) beat Georgia Tech; Xavier (gJordan Crawford) won its yearly battle with city-rival Cincinnati; Rhode Island was strong.
8. MOUNTAIN WEST - Despite losing its CHALLENGE with the Missouri Valley 4-5, this league is NCAA-ready with its top squads fully capable of making the Sweet 16. New Mexico (tRoman Martinez) beat Texas A&M on the road and kept California and Siena in their doldrums; Brigham Young [2v2@LAS VEGAS-XMAS] (gJimmer Fredette) brought home a crown; UNLV (gTre'Von Willis) knocked off Louisville; San Diego State was solid (but made no noise); Utah's preseason was all over the map.
9. PAC-10 - A rough first month (including bowing out 3-9 in its CHALLENGE with the mighty BIG 12) almost had this league turning in its BCS card, but December brought some noise-making wins that prevented a total collapse. Washington (fQuincy Pondexter) beat Texas A&M; Washington State [3@GREAT ALASKA] (bKlay Thompson) claimed a crown; USC [3:DIAMOND] (gMike Gerrity) got a needed boost from second-semester eligibility and walloped Tennesee for good measure; California (gJerome Randle) doesn't have a frontcourt to match its perimeter attack; UCLA was (and is) in a shambles.
10. MISSOURI VALLEY - The league accepted the CHALLENGE of the Mountain West and won it 5-4. Several teams had strong preseasons. Missouri State beat Tulsa; Wichita State knocked off Texas Tech; Bradley beat state-rival Illinois; Northern Iowa (7-1 cJordan Eglseder) couldn't meet high expectations but did beat Siena; Indiana State was solid; Illinois State (bOsiris Eldridge) rolled over nobodies; Creighton (gP'Allen Stinnett) struggled against tough opposition.
11. WEST COAST - Gonzaga [3:MAUI] (bMatt Bouldin, 20yo freshman fElias Harris) were good but just short of great; Saint Mary's (cOmar Samhan) was solid but didn't break through; Portland made noise beating Minnesota; San Diego was up and down; Pepperdine [RR3@WVI-WY] mostly struggled but did manage an Unwelcome Guest win.
12. COLONIAL - Old Dominion (fGerald Lee) handed Georgetown its only loss (on the road, no less); William & Mary won at Wake Forest; Virginia Commonwealth (fLarry Sanders) beat Oklahoma and all three teams feasted on the best from the Atlantic 10 (Richmond twice, Charlotte); (Northeastern [bMatt Janning] couldn't rise to the occasion; Georgia State [gJoe Dukes, gTrae Goldston] did well to skirt .500.)
13. HORIZON - Wisconsin-Green Bay (gTroy Cotton) was a surprise, edging state-rival Wisconsin; Butler (tGordon Hayward) was one of the biggest disappointments of the preseason, unable to make a dent against a challenging schedule -- beating Northwestern shouldn't have been their claim to fame.
14. WAC - Louisiana Tech (gKyle Gibson) had a strong preseason; Idaho (gMac Hopson) had a winning record; Utah State (bJared Quayle) knocked off state-rival BYU; Nevada (fLuke Babbitt) whipped Tulsa but was up and down overall.
15. METRO ATLANTIC - Fairfield and Iona had winning preseasons; Rider (tRyan Thompson) made the biggest noise with a road win at Mississippi State; Siena (tEdwin Ubiles) was a major disappointment, especially shooting the 3; Niagara (5-11 bTyrone Lewis) could only skirt .500.
16. BIG WEST - "We beat UCLA!" sounds great, but not when everybody's doing it! Pacific (with an MM win) and UC-Riverside (fKyle Austin) had winning preseasons; both Cal State-Fullerton (gJacques Streeter) and Long Beach State (fT.J. Robinson) beat UCLA; Cal State-Northridge won at Western Kentucky.
17. SOUTHERN - Western Carolina (bHarouna Mutombo) won at Louisville -- 'nuff said; College of Charleston (gAndrew Goudelock) didn't make any noise but is still a solid squad.
18. IVY - Cornell [2@@HOLIDAY] (fRyan Wittman) is going out in style the way seniors should; yet Harvard (gJeremy Lin), which beat Boston College on the road, may not even let the Big Red go dancing.
19. SUN BELT - South Alabama won at nationally ranked Florida; Denver had a winning preseason record (but made no noise); Western Kentucky (gA.J. Slaughter) had its best win against a tough schedule at Vanderbilt.
20. SUMMIT - Oral Roberts (fDominique Morrison) handed nationally ranked New Mexico its first loss and had BCS wins at home and away; IUPUI had a winning record and an MM road win; Oakland (cKeith Benson) could only manage an MM home win.
21. MID-AMERICAN - Eastern Michigan (fBrandon Bowdry) is about the only team that did better than skirt .500; Kent State had a nice MM win at home; Akron (fBrett McKnight) couldn't make anyone take notice.
22. SOUTHLAND - Sam Houston State (gCorey Allmond) had a road BCS win; Southeast Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin and Texas-San Antonio had winning preseasons (but nothing caused a splash).
23. OHIO VALLEY - Murray State (gIsacc Miles) found some wins (but made no noise) in the preseason; Morehead State (cKenneth Faried) struggled to stay .500.
24. BIG SKY - Northern Colorado [RR3@RAINBOW] [2@MINTON] was an Unwelcome Guest tourney winner twice; Weber State (gDamian Lillard) skirted .500 in the preseason.
25. BIG SOUTH - Coastal Carolina (cJoseph Harris) found ways to win in the preseason; Radford (cAri Parakhouski) took its lumps against a killer schedule.
26. ATLANTIC SUN - North Florida [RR3@SO MISS-XMAS] was an Unwelcome Guest; Campbell (fJonathan Rodriguez) and Belmont found ways to win in the preseason; Mercer (gJames Florence) and Kennesaw State skirted .500. (Jacksonville [gBen Smith] was a catastrophe.)
27. AMERICA EAST - The power vacuum provided by SUNY-B (Binghamton)'s implosion only applies inside the league. Out of conference, it's everyone for themselves, anyway. Vermont (fMarqus Blakely) won on the road at a BCS school; Boston University (tJohn Holland) had a BCS win on neutral ground; Stony Brook had wins but made no noise.
28. PATRIOT - Army is the only league team who didn't struggle in the preseason. (Holy Cross [bR.J. Evans] was a holy mess.)
29. MEAC - South Carolina State put together a decent preseason, but Morgan State (bReggie Holmes) managed a road win at a BCS school.
30. NORTHEAST - Mount St. Mary's (5-9 pJeremy Goode) wasn't so terrible outside the league, but got off to an early 0-2 start in conference play, trailing the likes of Robert Morris.
31. GREAT WEST (new) - At least {South Dakota}, Utah Valley and Chicago State (fCarl Montgomery) skirted .500 in the preseason. (New Jersey Tech, {Houston Baptist}, Texas Pan American and {North Dakota} couldn't manage that.)
32. INDEPENDENTS - {Seattle} isn't done with the transition to full D-I status, but they've already got a road win against a MM school. (Longwood [tDana Smith] has a home win against an A-SUN school.)
33. SWAC - Only a couple of teams were anywhere close to .500 out of conference. Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M (fDarnell Hugee) were the least objectionable. (Jackson State [fGrant Maxey] was a completely lost cause.)

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Memphis-IUPUI, @Nevada-Portland, @{SDakota}-MoreheadSt,
FIESTA BOWL CLASSIC @ Tucson, AZ - (BYU-@Arizona),

Tuesday:

Syracuse-@SetonHall, @Duke-LongBeachSt, @NewMexico-TexasTech, @Dayton-BostonU, @Creighton-NoIowa, @IllinoisSt-WichitaSt,

Tuesday-Wednesday:

UCF HOLIDAY CLASSIC 1st/Semis @ Orlando FL
- (@CFlorida-Liberty, @Jacksonville-Buffalo),
CABLE CAR CLASSIC 1st/Semis @ Santa Clara CA
- (@SantaClara-Northeastern, KentSt-Wofford),
DP CLASSIC 1st/Semis @ Chattanooga TN
- (@Chattanooga-LongIsland, EaKentucky-MorganSt),

Wednesday:

Connecticut-@Cincinnati, @Illinois-Northwestern(IL),

Thursday:

@Georgetown-StJohns, @Wisconsin-OhioSt, Tennessee-@Memphis(TN), @WakeForest-Richmond, @Butler-WIGreenBay,
RMH CLASSIC @ Spokane WA - (@Gonzaga-Oklahoma),

Friday (NEW YEAR'S):

@Purdue-WVirginia, @NewMexico-Dayton, @MissouriSt-IllinoisSt,

Saturday:

Kansas-@Temple, @Kentucky-Louisville(KY), MichiganSt-@Northwestern, @Connecticut-NotreDame(@HartfordCT), @Gonzaga-Illinois(@CancunMEXICO), OklahomaSt-@RhodeIsland(@UncasvilleCT), @Charlotte-GeorgiaTech, @California-Stanford(CA), @Portland-Army, @LouisianaTech-Nevada, @Oakland-IUPUI, @WeberSt-Montana, @CoCarolina-Winthrop(SC),

Sunday:

@Duke-Clemson, Florida-@NCState, @KansasSt-{SDakota}, @Michigan-OhioSt.

---

Top 25 - 09 Dec 28: PRECONFERENCE - [] Column

1. Syracuse (12-0) [2v2vCOACHESvCANCER]
2. Texas (11-0) [2v2:CBE]
3. Kansas (11-0) [:3vHALLoFAME-A]
4. Kentucky (13-0) [2v2:CANCUN]
5. Duke (9-1) [2v2:NIT TIP-OFF]
6. West Virginia (10-0) [3@ANAHEIM]
7. Purdue (10-0) [3:PARADISE]
8. Georgetown (9-1)
9. North Carolina (7-3)
10. Michigan State (8-3)
11. Connecticut (9-2)
12. Villanova (11-1) [3:PUERTO RICO]
13. Wisconsin (10-2)
14. Temple (9-2)
15. Florida (8-3) [2v2:LEGENDS]
16. Mississippi (10-2)
17. Kansas State (10-1)
18. Gonzaga (7-3) [3:MAUI]
19. New Mexico (12-1)
20. Texas Tech (10-1)
21. Washington (9-2)
22. Texas A&M (8-3)
23. Clemson (10-2)
24. Brigham Young (12-1) [2v2@LAS VEGAS-XMAS]
25. Tennessee (9-2)

Honorable Mention:

Northwestern (10-1) [2v2vCHICAGO], Cornell (9-2) [2@@HOLIDAY], Florida State (11-2) [3vORLANDO], Oklahoma State (9-1) [2v2:LAS VEGAS-THANKS], St. John's (9-2) [v2@PHILLY], Southern California (8-4) [3:DIAMOND], Richmond (9-3) [2v2@SOUTH PADRE], Washington State (9-2) [3@GREAT ALASKA], Miami(Florida) (8-1) [3@CHARLESTON], Louisville (9-3) [:3vHALLoFAME-B], North Carolina State (8-3) [10RR4:GLENN WILKES], Northern Colorado (9-3) [2@RAINBOW] [2@REGGIE MINTON], Pepperdine (4-7) [RR3@WVI-WY], North Florida (4-7) [RR3@SO MISS XMAS].