11 Nov21 - WxSE

Volume XVI, No. 3 - 11 Nov21 - [] Top 25 Ballot

WxSE

What a week for the SEC -- make that "what a week for the SEC West"! Not only did two teams from the same conference's "division" win holiday tournaments -- Alabama(PUERTO RICO) and Mississippi State(2KS-COACHES VS CANCER) -- but three teams claimed the top three spots in the BCS Football Standings -- (LSU, Alabama and Arkansas)!
     The Crimson Tide used a physical defense to rout Maryland(62-42) and hold off Wichita State(70-60) and Purdue(65-56) -- smooth halfcourt offense is still to come, though. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs took full advantage of their pre-set semifinal berth in New York, handling undermanned Texas A&M[playing without injured fKhris Middleton](69-60) and Arizona(67-57) -- [Akron flopped in its consolation games, anyway, falling 59-@62 at Valparaiso and 76-81 to Duquesne.]
     The SEC is off to a great start in the preseason. Kentucky took care of Kansas, 75-65, in its CHAMPIONS CLASSIC pairing, and beat Penn State(85-47) and Old Dominion(62-52) in the feature matches of the HALL OF FAME TIP-OFF in Uncasville, CT (with one more round-robin game to go) -- gDoron Lamb(26p vs the Nittany Lions) is doing the heavy lifting early as the young freshmen haven't quite been instant superstars just yet. Vanderbilt gets a surprise opponent in the LEGENDS final in Oregon State [which knocked off Texas, 100-95(OT), in a superstar shootout between the Ducks' tJared Cunningham(37p9r;20/23ft) and the closest thing to gKemba Walker so far this year, the Longhorns' bJ'Covan Brown(25p9a6r6to)].

Duke's 74-69 win over Michigan State in the CHAMPIONS CLASSIC gave coach MIKE KRZYZEWSKI the record for MOST CAREER WINS ALL-TIME (903 and counting), surpassing his former mentor, Bob Knight. Among the coaching giants at the top of the list, Adolph Rupp(Kentucky) and John Wooden(UCLA) dominated their eras with the best players around and no real comparable rival in their way. Dean Smith(North Carolina) and Bob Knight(Indiana) came in at the tail end and were contemporaries throughout. Mike Krzyzewski had those two at the start and the likes of Jim Calhoun(Connecticut) and Roy Williams(North Carolina) at the end ot contend with. Smith, Calhoun, Williams and most certainly Krzyzewski all had top-flight blue chip players to work with. Knight -- [as much as I don't like his personal style] -- stands apart from all of the others in my mind as having done more with far less talent. How many of his players became NBA stars compared to all of the others?]

Ohio State beat Florida State in the feature game of the GS-A SHOOTOUT for the second year running, @81-74 this time, behind 21p6r from bWilliam Buford; the Buckeyes were outrebounded 25-34 but made their way at the free throw line (27/34 to the Gators' 13/21).
     Long Beach State pulled off a shocker, knocking off Pittsburgh on the road, 86-@76, behind 28p6a from pCasper Ware -- [but the 49ers couldn't keep it going, falling 73-@77(OT) at San Diego State later in the week]. Kent State was a surprise road winner at West Virginia, 70-@60. Still reclassifying {Presbyterian} won at Cincinnati, 56-@54.
     Louisville kept struggling Butler struggling, with a road rout: 69-@52 (even playing without pPeyton Siva[ankle]). Memphis crushed the upset hopes of visiting Belmont, @97-81, as the Bruins couldn't keep pace with the three-guard attack of bWill Barton(23p5r), bWesley Witherspoon(22p5r) and pJoe Jackson(20p7a).

xShabazz Napier had a triple-double (22p13a12r) for Connecticut against Coppin State (but its still gJeremy Lamb[25p1a] who's the No.1 scoring threat). pJ'Covan Brown is trying to do it all for young Texas, (and nearly did against Rhode Island: 35p6a6r). Freshman pKevin Pangos hit 9 three-pointers for Gonzaga against Washington State, finishing with 33p6a in his first start. bJohn Shurna had 37p7r for Northwestern in the CHARLESTON semi vs LSU [and the Wildcats went on to take the crown, 80-73 over Seton Hall (despite 32p8r from fHerb Pope)].

Marquette, paced by bJae Crowder on offense, has routed the field in PARADISE so far. They've already whipped their surprise final opponent, Norfolk State, once on the mainland. MAUI has the deepest field of all of the preseason tournaments (Duke, Memphis, Michigan and Kansas plus UCLA, Georgetown and Tennessee) -- it's no automatic win for the Blue Devils. A supportive crowd should push Syracuse past Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech [and Stanford] in the NIT TIP-OFF; the same should go for Missouri past Notre Dame and California [and Georgia] at CBE in Kansas City. Not even a home crowd will help UNLV upset North Caroilna at LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING (and woeful South Carolina has already lost at home to Tennessee State). No one in CHICAGO should trouble Wisconsin. Illinois (CANCUN-THANKSGIVING) and Providence (SOUTH PADRE) shouldn't have any trouble, either. Villanova should have its way in 76/ANAHEIM, but ATLANTIS (Connecticut, Florida State) and OS/ORLANDO (Indiana State, Minnesota, Fairfield) aren't quite so certain.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Davidson-{Presbyterian},
PARADISE JAM Finals @ StThomasVI
-(Marquette-NorfolkSt, 3rd:Mississippi-TCU, 5th:Virginia-Drake, 7th:Drexel-Winthrop),

Monday; Friday-Sunday:

LEGENDS CLASSIC Finals @ EastRutherfordNJ; 2nd/ConsRndRob @KingstonRI @LewisburgPA
-(OregonSt-Vanderbilt, 3rd:Texas-NCState;
  Cons A: ClevelandSt, @RhodeIsland, Hofstra, BostonU;
  Cons B: @Bucknell, Princeton, MoreheadSt, {WAlabama}),

Monday-Tuesday; Monday-Wednesday:

CBE CLASSIC 3rd/Semis @ KansasCityMO; 2nd/ConsRndRob @BowlingGreenOH @MaconGA
-(Semis: NotreDame-@Missouri, California-Georgia;
  Cons A: GeoWashington, Detroit, AustinPeay, @BowlingGreen;
  Cons B: Niagara, SDState, @Mercer, SamHoustonSt),

Monday-Wednesday:

MAUI INVITATIONAL 2nd/Qtrs @ LahainaHI
-(Duke-Tennessee, Memphis-Michigan, Kansas-Georgetown, UCLA-@{{Chaminade}}),

Monday-Friday:

GS-A SHOOTOUT RndRob on-campus
-(OhioSt, Florida, WrightSt, NFlorida, JacksonSt),
GS-D CLASSIC RndRob on-campus
-(Fri: @Cincinnati-Marshall; AlabamaSt, JacksonvilleSt, NorthwesternSt),
GS-E/DALE HOWARD CLASSIC RndRob on-campus, @ DesMoineIA
-(Iowa, Creighton, Campbell, ChicagoSt, NCA&T),

Monday-Tuesday; Wednesday,Friday:

NIT SEASON TIP-OFF
ConsRndRob @FairfaxVA @TulsaOK @FtCollinsCO; Semis,Finals @NewYorkNY/MSG/:
-(Semis: @Syracuse-VirginiaTech, OklahomaSt-Stanford;
  Cons A: @GeoMason, Brown, Albany, Monmouth;
  Cons B: SMU, FLInternational, @OralRoberts, ARPineBluff;
  Cons C: @ColoradoSt, FresnoSt, Manhattan, TXSanAntonio),

Monday-Sunday:

HOOSIER INVITATIONAL RndRob on-campus, @ ChattanoogaTN
-(Sun: @Indiana-Butler;
  Fri-Sun: @Chattanooga, GardnerWebb, SavannahSt),
UTPA INVITATIONAL RndRob on-campus, @ EdinburgTX
-(Toledo, @TXPanAmerican, SCUpstate, @TexasSt, {VictoryU}),

Tuesday:

@ClevelandSt-KentSt(OH), @Nevada-Longwood,

Tuesday-Wednesday:

CANCUN-THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE 2x4 @ CancunMEXICO
-(Illinois-Richmond, Rutgers-IllinoisSt; Lipscomb-{SIUEdwardsville}, SacredHeart-Hampton),

Tuesday-Friday:

GS-B INVITATIONAL RndRob on-campus
-(Louisville, TNMartin, OhioU, ArkansasSt, Lamar),

Tuesday-Saturday:

SOUTHWEST CLASSIC RndRob on-campus
-(Houston, Arkansas, Oakland, GramblingSt, UTValley),

Tuesday; Friday-Saturday:

LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL 2x4 on-campus, @ LasVegasNV/ORLEANS/
-(A: NCarolina, SCarolina, TennesseeSt, MSValleySt;
  B: @UNLV, USC, MorganSt, CalPolySLO),
CHICAGO INVITATIONAL CHALLENGE 2x4 on-campus, @ HoffmanEstatesIL
-(A: Wisconsin, @Bradley, MOKansasCity, Wofford;
  B: BYU, Nevada, Longwood, PrairieViewA&M),
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL 2x4 on-campus, @SouthPadreIslandTX
-(Fri: Providence-IowaSt, NoIowa-Rice; WeCarolina-NoColorado, Southern-FloridaA&M),

Tuesday-Sunday;

PHILLY CLASSIC RndRob(4) on-campus, @ PhiladelphiaPA/PALESTRA/
-(Sat @PhiladelphiaPA/PALESTRA/: @Penn-Pittsburgh, @LaSalle-RobertMorris(PA), JamesMadison-Rider),

Wednesday:

HALL OF FAME TIP-OFF RndRob3/3 2x4 on-campus
-(@Kentucky-Radford, @OldDominion-Vermont),

Wednesday-Saturday:

GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT 1st/Qtrs @ AnchorageAK
-(SanFrancisco-Dartmouth, MurraySt-@{{AKAnchorage}}, SoMississippi-UCIrvine, NewMexicoSt-CMichigan),

Wednesday-Sunday:

SPARTAN INVITATIONAL RndRob(4) on-campus
-(MichiganSt, Milwaukee, EaMichigan, ARLittleRock, TexasSo, IUPUI),

Thursday-Saturday:

BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS 1st/Qtrs @ ParadiseIslandBAHAMAS
-(Connecticut-UNCAsheville, CFlorida-ColofCharleston, FloridaSt-Massachusetts, Utah-Harvard),

Thursday-Friday, Sunday:

76/ANAHEIM CLASSIC 1st/Qtrs @ AnaheimCA
-(Villanova-@UCRiverside, BostonCol-StLouis, Oklahoma-WashingtonSt, SantaClara-NewMexico),
OS/ORLANDO CLASSIC 1st/Qtrs @ OrlandoFL
-(IndianaSt-TexasTech, Minnesota-DePaul, ArizonaSt-Fairfield, WakeForest-Dayton),

Friday:

@Xavier-Georgia,

Saturday:

@Montana-LongBeachSt, @AustinPeay-MidTennessee(TN),

Sunday:

@Alabama-VCU.

---

Top 25 - 11 Nov21 - [] Column

1. North Carolina (3-0)
2. Ohio State (3-0)
3. Kentucky (4-0)
4. Connecticut (4-0)
5. Syracuse (4-0)
6. Louisville (3-0)
7. Florida (2-1)
8. Marquette (4-0)
9. Wisconsin (3-0)
10. Duke (3-0)
11. Alabama (5-0) [3:P.RICO]
12. Mississippi State (4-1) [2v2:2KS/CVC]
13. Notre Dame (4-0)
14. Memphis (1-0)
15. Missouri (3-0)
16. Xavier (3-0)
17. Gonzaga (3-0)
18. Villanova (3-0)
19. Michigan (2-0)
20. California (3-0)
21. Cleveland State (2-0)
22. Oregon State (3-0)
23. Vanderbilt (3-1)
24. Florida State (4-0)
25. Kansas (1-1)

Honorable Mention:

Long Beach State (2-1), Kent State (2-0), {Presbyterian} (2-2), Northwestern(4-0) [3:CHARLESTON], Norfolk State (2-1).