11 Dec19 - Not So Wonderful

Volume XVI, No. 7 - 11 Dec19 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Not So Wonderful

Life's not so wonderful without your star players. Ohio State and Xavier learned that the easy way and the hard way.
     cJared Sullinger was back in the lineup for the Buckeyes at South Carolina (after missing two games with back spasms) only to have his heel stepped on by a Gamecock player. He left the game (and the facility -- he did return, but was ineffective). He's listed as "day-to-day" after nothing serious showed up on X-ray (but it's yet another worry about a possible chronic injury-filled season for him. His teammates struggled against SCar for a while, but perked up when they got news he was OK and won 74-@66 [behind a career-high 30p from bDeShaun Thomas]).
     pTu Holloway, pMark Lyons and bDezmine Wells all sat suspended for Xavier at home against 8-4 Oral Roberts and watched their teammates be humiliated, 64-@42. bWells will miss the entire trip; pLyons will miss the first game; but pHolloway will play all three games at this week's DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC in Honolulu where the Musketeers are the favorites (ahead of Long Beach State and rising Kansas State). It would take some instant maturity it's not apparent that they have in order for them to take the right lesson from this debacle. Here's hoping they do more than use it to rally behind an "Us vs Them" mentality.

UNLV proved it wasn't just a one-hit/hometown wonder by beating Illinois in Chicago, 64-@48, holding the Illini to 25 percent shooting. 7-1 Kansas State added to slumping Alabama's troubles with a @71-58 win in Kansas City.
     So far, there's enough ball to go around (in the backcourt, at least) for Florida -- the Gators routed Texas A&M in the ORANGE BOWL CLASSSIC behind the triumvirate of gKenny Boynton(22p1a), pErving Walker(16p6a) and freshman gBradley Beal(16p). (If UofF can consistently involve its frontcourt players, we're talking Final Four.) Texas handled Temple, @77-65 -- gJ'Covan Brown (23p6to;10/21fg) is doing his best to have a bKemba Walker-type season to lead his young teammates to a higher level of play. (It's been mixed results so far, though; and the Longhorns have a huge test on the road at North Carolina [Wednesday].) Louisville placed seven players in double-figures in its @95-87 HALL OF FAME SHOWCASE win over Memphis (despite 28p16r from cWill Barton) -- both teams combined for 83 free throws.
     Gonzaga finally beat somebody of note -- a @71-60 win over Arizona behind 25p8r from fElias Harris -- (only five turnovers is great, but the Bulldogs won't get far on 3-for-20 three-point shooting.) The woes continued for the PAC-10 as Oregon lost at home to solid Virginia, @54-67, while Washington managed to get blown out at home, @73-92, at the hands of 7-4 South Dakota State. (Ugh! At least, Oregon State, Stanford and California have come through the preseason with impressive records.)
     Indiana State finally made a splash this season with a road win over underachieving Vanderbilt, 61-@55. (The Commodores have fFestus Ezeli back, but he hasn't made the instand difference they were expecting. They already have three home losses this season.) 5-6 Butler took the first step towards salvaging a bust preseason with a @67-@65 win over Purdue in the CROSSROADS double-header in Indianapolis. (The Bulldogs have it even tougher this week with road games at Gonzaga [Tuesday] and Stanford [Thursday].) Middle Tennessee paid back its earlier double-OT home loss with a @65-62 home win over stumbling Belmont.

Baylor can only damage its reputation if it fails to dominate the LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC (West Virginia, St. Mary's, Missouri State) [Monday, Thursday-Friday]; likewise for Xavier at the DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC (Long Beach State, Kansas State) [Thursday-Friday, Sunday]. Illinois probably isn't ready to deal with Missouri in Thursday's BRAGGIN' RIGHTS game. Georgetown hosting Memphis (Thursday), Creighton hosting Northwestern (Thursday) and UNLV hosting California (Friday) are the kind of games that will have you on the outside looking in come bubble time for the loser.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everybody!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Kansas-Davidson(@KansasCityMO), @Florida-MSValleySt, @Marshall-Belmont, @Vanderbilt-Longwood,

Monday, Thursday-Friday:

LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC RndRob on-campus; Semis @ Las Vegas NV /ORLEANS/
-(A: Baylor, StMarys, BethuneCookman, TexasA&MCC, {PaulQuinn};
  B: WVirginia, MissouriSt, TennesseeTech, KennesawSt),

Tuesday:

@Syracuse-Bucknell, @Louisville-ColofCharleston, @NoIowa-OhioU, @Gonzaga-Butler, @Arizona-Oakland,

Tuesday-Thursday:

AIA CLASSIC RndRob @ Logan UT
-(KentSt, StPeters, TXArlington, @UtahSt),
GS-C SHOWCASE RndRob @ Eugene OR
-(@Oregon, NCCentral, StephenFAustin, PrairieViewA&M),

Wednesday:

@NCarolina-Texas, @AustinPeay-Belmont(TN), @Alabama-Oklahoma St(@BirminghamAL),

Thursday:

@Connecticut-Fairfield(CT), @MichiganSt-Lehigh, @Florida-FloridaSt(FL), @Georgetown-Memphis, @Harvard-FLAtlantic, @Stanford-Butler, @Creighton-Northwestern, @WeberSt-Utah(UT), @CoCarolina-ColofCharleston(SC), @Montana-UTValley,
BRAGGIN' RIGHTS @ St. Louis MO
-(@Missouri-@Illinois),
LAS VEGAS-HOLIDAY CLASSIC 1Off @ Las Vegas NV /SOUTH POINT/
-((2P):SanDiego-SAlabama),

Thursday-Friday, Sunday:

DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC Qtrs @ Honolulu HI
-(Xavier-LongBeachSt, @Hawaii-Auburn, KansasSt-SoIllinois, Clemson-UTEP),

Friday:

@Wisconsin-MSValleySt, @UNLV-California,

Tuesday week:

@NotreDame-Pittsburgh.

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Top 25 - 11 Dec19 - [] Column

1. Indiana (10-0)
2. Kentucky (9-1)
3. Marquette (10-0)
4. North Carolina (9-2)
5. Duke (8-1)
6. Kansas (7-2)
7. Ohio State (10-1)
8. Wisconsin (10-2)
9. Syracuse (11-0)
10. Connecticut (9-1)
11. Baylor (9-0)
12. Missouri (11-0)
13. Michigan State (8-2)
14. Mississippi State (11-1)
15. Florida (8-2)
16. Georgetown (8-1)
17. Murray State (9-0)
18. Harvard (8-1)
19. Louisville (10-0)
20. Wichita State (8-2)
21. UNLV (9-2)
22. Virginia (9-1)
23. Xavier (8-1)
24. Oregon State (8-2)
25. Texas (9-2)

Honorable Mention:

Kansas State (7-1), Butler (5-6), Indiana State (7-2), South Dakota State (7-4).