10 Nov22 - Old Blood

Volume XV, No. 2(wk3) - 10 Nov 22 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Old Blood

A handful of the new stars have made an instant impact, but for the most part, the first two weeks' major wins have come from veteran leadership from experienced teams.

ESPN's Larry Conley pointed out that, out of 10,000 college basketball games last year, only 12 involved a matchup of Top-10 teams. Hard to believe, but it highlighted the significance of Ohio State's visit to Florida as part of the TIP-OFF MARATHON. Can you lose the Player of the Year and be better? The answer might be "yes". The Buckeyes (with everybody back except tEvan Turner) throttled the Gators (with all five starters back), 93-@75. The replacement starter is freshman 6-9 cJared Sullinger, who may not be better overall than tTurner, but by giving them a real post presence in the paint, it makes the OSU a more balanced team than last year. (Still, winning the Big 10 TiTo with a Sweet 16 finish is no automatic feat for any team.)

Illinois figured to hit the ground running (also with all five starters returning plus some talented additions), but last year's trouble finding easy offense is still a problem at the start of this year. Texas edged them 90-84(OT) in the semis of COACHES VS CANCER in New York and they couldn't put away Maryland (80-76) in the third-place game, either. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's veteran blue-collar squad ground its way to the title, clipping the Longhorns 68-66 in the final (thanks to the inside presence of redshirt freshman 6-9 cTalib Zanna).
     Gonzaga missed the leadership of last year's lead guard bMatt Bouldin, as tSteven Gray has had to do too much in the early going. Veteran San Diego State handled the Bulldogs in Spokane, 79-@76, in a Warmup game for the CBE CLASSIC. Unfortunately, CBE isn't set up as a pure elimination bracket, so Gonzaga gets to play in the pre-set semifinals in Kansas City despite the loss (while the Aztecs are relegated to the consolation round-robin hosted by Miami(Ohio)). (Makes it a lot tougher to keep straight which is the stronger team when the loser advances [and gets to augment its strength of schedule to boot].)
     The issue for Kansas State is how will pJacob Pullen fare without his backcourtmate tDenis Clemente from last year. So far so good (despite the bashing Bob Knight gave him on TV). The Wildcats thrashed veteran Virginia Tech @73-57 in their TIP-OFF MARATHON feature game. KSU is plenty physical inside, but outside shooting may be a problem if pPullen struggles.

Butler couldn't handle a revamped Louisville squad, falling 73-@88. Veteran Murray State couldn't keep last year's magic going, falling badly at Mississippi, 61-@77.

North Carolina is vastly improved at one spot, small forward, with the addition of freshman 6-7 fHarrison Barnes; but Minnesota punished them inside (winning 72-67) and Vanderbilt handled them outside (in a 72-65 win) as they dropped two games in PUERTO RICO. The veteran Golden Gophers went on to win the crown, outlasting West Virginia, 74-70, in the final.
     Georgetown cruised to the CHARLESTON crown, with runaway wins past Coastal Carolina, Wofford and N.C. State. (Their best win, though, was a 62-@59 dogfight on the road at tough Old Dominion.)
     VCU pounded host Wake Forest 90-@69 to earn a spot in New York in the semifinals of the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF.

tLaceDarius Dunn will be back on court for Baylor this week, returning from his suspension for legal problems. Coach Bruce Pearl's problems have only just begun at Tennessee, as the SEC suspended him for the first 8 conference games (after the school barely reprimanded him at all for recruiting violations and covering them up on top of that). (The NCAA's punishment is yet to come, however.)

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

-- Ron

[P.S. Check the Key Games and Scores page on the official HLS website ( http://www.ronmcbay.us/HLS/hoops.scores-frame.html ) for an overview of the season's schedule.

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Top 25 - 10 Nov 22 - [] Column

1. Duke (3-0)
2. Ohio State (3-0)
3. Michigan State (2-0)
4. Kansas State (3-0)
5. Pittsburgh (5-0) [2v2:CVC]
6. Purdue (3-0)
7. Baylor (3-0)
8. Washington (2-0)
9. San Diego State (4-0)
10. Florida (3-1)
11. Kansas (3-0)
12. Kentucky (2-0)
13. Gonzaga (2-1)
14. BYU (3-0)
15. Minnesota (5-0) [3:P.RICO]
16. West Virginia (2-1)
17. Vanderbilt (3-1)
18. UNLV (3-0)
19. Tennessee (3-0)
20. Texas (3-1)
21. Illinois (4-1)
22. Louisville (2-0)
23. Georgetown (5-0) [3:CHARLESTON]
24. Missouri (2-0)
25. Syracuse (4-0)

Honorable Mention:

VCU (3-0), Villanova (4-0), Memphis (4-0).