Hoop, Line And Sinker

A weekly column on men's college basketball.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

10 Dec27 - Big E, Mids (PRECONFERENCE)

Volume XV, No. 8 - 10 Dec 27: PRECONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

Big E, Mids

Mid-Major teams racked up 3 of the last 4 holiday tournaments, bringing their total for the preseason to a whopping 11 (compared to 15 by the BCS schools). That's good enough to share the headline for the year so far with the fantastic performance by the Big East (7 by itself).
     Butler got some of its swagger back by beating Utah (74-62), outmuscling Florida State (67-64), and then manhandling soft Washington State (84-68) to take the second annual DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC. Northern Iowa showed it still has some life left by taking the LAS VEGAS[-CHRISTMAS] CLASSIC crown at Orleans Arena over New Mexico (66-60). Colorado State beat Mississippi (68-61) and Southern Mississippi (63-58) to take the inaugural CANCUN[-CHRISTMAS] GOVERNOR'S CUP. What turned out to be the second annual LAS VEGAS[-HOLIDAY HOOPS] CLASSIC at South Point Arena was only a part of a 13-day "Basketball Central" extravaganza featuring as many as 5 games a day of men's, women's, D-I, D-II, D-III and high school teams. Miami(Florida) won 4 round-robin games among its 6-team "B" group (Rice, Akron, Oral Roberts et al.) while San Diego State won 2 round-robin games among its 3-team "A" group (San Francisco and IUPUI).

Oklahoma State's @79-68 win over Stanford completed an 8-4 win for the Big 12 in its final HARDWOOD SERIES with the Pac-10.

Texas snapped slumping Michigan State's home non-conference win streak with a 67-@55 road win. Tennessee continued its struggles with two more home squeakers: a @64-65 loss to USC, and a @66-65 win over a Belmont team they had beaten by 9 back in November. 7-3 Jacksonville made noise for the Atlantic Sun with a 71-@68(OT) road win at up-and-down Florida. gJacob Pullen and fCurtis Kelly sat out suspensions as Kansas State lost @59-63 to UNLV in Kansas City. Missouri won its annual split-crowd BRAGGIN' RIGHTS showdown with Illinois, @75-@64. Georgetown won going away at Memphis, 86-@69. Syracuse drubbed upstart Drexel @93-65 while Ohio State handled giant-killer Oakland @92-63.

Looking back on the preseason as a whole, gKemba Walker(Connecticut) stands head-and-shoulders above anyone else in Player of the Year consideration so far; cJuJuan Johnson(Purdue) is one of the few other veteran stars who has turned in any kind of POY-calibre performance. It's tough to classify cJared Sullinger(Ohio State), pKyrie Irving(Duke) and bJosh Selby(Kansas) as total GC players since they're all three on teams that are Top-10 even without them.

Here's how the conferences look after the preseason:

  1. BIG EAST - Forget the departed star power. This league had as dominant a preseason as it ever has. The only blemish was losing 1-3 in the INVITATIONAL double-headers with the SEC. Syracuse [2v2:LEGENDS], Connecticut [3:MAUI] (gKemba Walker) and Cincinnati came through undefeated; Pittsburgh [2v2:COACHES VS CANCER], Georgetown (gAustin Freeman) [3:CHARLESTON], Notre Dame [3:ORLANDO], Louisville [RR4G.S-C], Villanova and West Virginia all had just one loss; rejuvenated St. John's (coach Steve Lavin) [3:GREAT ALASKA] made noise as well.
  2. BIG 12 - Won 8-4 in its final HARDWOOD SERIES with the PAC-10. Kansas [2v2:LAS VEGAS.I-THANX] (GC gJosh Selby, fMarcus Morris) was unbeaten; Missouri [2v2:CANCUN.C-THANX], Texas A&M and Oklahoma State lost once; Texas had big wins; Kansas State and Baylor (bLaceDarius Dunn) didn't live up to overhyped expectations; Iowa State [RR4G.S-C/H.V] made noise.
  3. BIG 10 - Won its CHALLENGE with the ACC 6-5 for the second straight year. Ohio State [RR4G.S-A] (GC cJared Sullinger) was unbeaten; Minnesota [3:PUERTO RICO], Purdue (cJuJuan Johnson) and Northwestern had one loss; Illinois (pDemetri McCamey) and Michigan State disappointed; Wisconsin and Michigan were strong as well.
  4. SEC - Won its INVITAIONAL double-headers with the BIG EAST 3-1. Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida were solid; Tennessee [2v2:NIT TIP-OFF] was alternately great and terrible (and faces conference play with coach Bruce Pearl suspended for the first 8 games).
  5. CONFERENCE USA - Unbeaten Central Florida made noise; Memphis [RR4G.S-B], Southern Mississippi, UAB, UTEP and Marshall were impressive against weak schedules.
  6. MOUNTAIN WEST - Crushed the MVC 8-1 in their CHALLENGE. San Diego State was unbeaten; Nevada-Las Vegas [3:ANAHEIM] and Brigham Young [2v2:SOUTH PADRE] (pJimmer Fredette) were great; Colorado State [3:CANCUN.G-XMAS] made noise; New Mexico and Air Force were solid.
  7. COLONIAL - Drexel had a big win; Old Dominion [3:PARADISE JAM] was great; James Madison, George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth were solid.
  8. ACC - Lost 5-6 in its CHALLENGE with the BIG 10. Duke [2v2:CBE] (GC pKyrie Irving, tKyle Singler) was unbeaten; but only Boston College and Florida State were solid; North Carolina and Virginia Tech were disappointments; Miami(Florida) [RR4:LAS VEGAS HOLIDAY-B] made noise.
  9. ATLANTIC 10 - Temple and Richmond [2v2:CHICAGO] made big splashes; Massachusetts [RR4HALLoFAME], Xavier, Dayton and St. Bonaventure were solid; even lowly St. Joseph's [RR3PHILLY] won a tournament.
  10. PAC-10 - Lost 4-8 in its final HARDWOOD SERIES with the BIG 12. Arizona and Washington State were solid; Washington was overhyped but still good; UCLA, California, Arizona State and Southern California were all spoiler-quality.
  11. SOUTHLAND - Stephen F. Austin and Texas-San Antonio had good preseasons; Northwestern State, Sam Houston State and McNeese State showed promise. Nicholls State was a disappointment.
  12. WAC - Utah State and Hawaii were good; San Jose State, Louisiana Tech and Boise State followed close behind. New Mexico State was a bust.
  13. HORIZON - Cleveland State [RR4W.V.C-OHIO] was a surprise; Illinois-Chicago had a splash win; Loyola(Illinois) was solid; Butler [3:DIAMOND] struggled early but came on late.
  14. SUMMIT - Oakland made a splash against a murderous schedule; South Dakota State and Missouri-Kansas City posted good records against much easier competition. Oral Roberts couldn't get it together. Centenary was winless.
  15. WEST COAST - St. Mary's and Portland had good preseasons; Gonzaga was up-and-down against a tough schedule.
  16. MISSOURI VALLEY - Drubbed 1-8 in its CHALLENGE with the MWC. Wichita State was good but made no noise; Northern Iowa [2v2:LAS VEGAS C-XMAS] came through late; Missouri State and Illinois State were solid.
  17. BIG SOUTH - Coastal Carolina was good; Virginia Military was OK.
  18. NORTHEAST - Quinnipiac was quietly very good; Long Island may be its only rival.
  19. ATLANTIC SUN - Jacksonville made a splash; Belmont and Lipscomb were solid; Campbell was OK.
  20. IVY - Harvard was quietly solid; Princeton showed more scoring punch than usual; Penn was a disappointment.
  21. MEAC - Hampton was solid. Morgan State disappointed.
  22. SUN BELT - North Texas was solid. Western Kentucky was a bust.
  23. AMERICA EAST - Vermont was solid. Stony Brook was a bust; Maryland-Balitmore County was winless.
  24. SOUTHERN - College of Charleston was solid; Furman and Samford were good. Davidson was a disappointment. North Carolina-Greensboro was winless.
  25. MID-AMERICAN - Kent State and Buffalo were the best of a sorry bunch. Ohio University was a bust.
  26. OHIO VALLEY - Murray State was sort of OK; Morehead State (cKenneth Faried) is right with them.
  27. BIG SKY - Northern Arizona was good; Montana will challenge.
  28. METRO ATLANTIC - Fairfield led a disappointing preseason for all. Siena was a bust. Marist was winless.
  29. BIG WEST - California-Santa Barbara made noise.
  30. PATRIOT - Lehigh was as good as any among a weak group. Colgate was winless.
  31. INDEPENDENTS - {Seattle} had the closest thing to a real win. Longwood was a bust.
  32. GREAT WEST - Utah Valley was OK at best.
  33. SWAC - Jackson State was the least bad of the worst league. Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff were winless.

-- Ron

P.S. Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Top 25 - 10 Dec 27: PRECONFERENCE - [] Column

  1. Duke (10-0) [2v2:CBE]
  2. Ohio State (11-0) [RR4G.S-A]
  3. Connecticut (10-0) [3:MAUI]
  4. Georgetown (11-1) [3:CHARLESTON]
  5. Pittsburgh (12-1) [2v2:COACHESvCANCER]
  6. Syracuse (13-0) [2v2:LEGENDS]
  7. Kansas (11-0) [2v2:LAS VEGAS-THANX]
  8. San Diego State (13-0)
  9. Missouri (11-1) [2v2:CANCUN.C-THANX]
  10. Kentucky (9-2)
  11. Louisville (10-1) [RR4G.S-C]
  12. Notre Dame (11-1) [3:ORLANDO]
  13. UNLV (11-2) [3:ANAHEIM]
  14. Purdue (11-1)
  15. Minnesota (11-1) [3:PUERTO RICO]
  16. Texas (10-2)
  17. BYU (12-1) [2v2:SOUTH PADRE]
  18. Texas A&M (10-1)
  19. Villanova (10-1)
  20. Temple (9-2)
  21. West Virginia (8-2)
  22. Vanderbilt (9-2)
  23. Central Florida (10-0)
  24. Washington (8-3)
  25. Arizona (11-2)
Honorable Mention:
Richmond (10-3) [2v2:CHICAGO], Tennessee (8-3) [2v2:NIT TIP-OFF], Butler (8-4) [3:DIAMOND HEAD], Northern Iowa (6-3) [2v2:LAS VEGAS C-XMAS], Colorado State (9-3) [3:CANCUN.G-XMAS], St. John's (7-3) [3:GREAT ALASKA], Massachusetts (7-4) [RR4HALLoFAME], Old Dominion (8-2) [3:PARADISE JAM], St. Joseph's (3-8) [RR3PHILLY], Memphis (9-2) [RR4G.S-B], Iowa State (11-2) [RR4G.S-D/H.V], Miami(Florida) (10-3) [v3:LAS VEGAS HOLIDAY-B], Cleveland State (10-1) [RR4W.V.C-OHIO].

posted by Ron @ Tuesday, December 28, 2010