Volume XVII, No. 3 - 12 Nov19 - [] Top 25 Ballot

UnPacked

Oklahoma State shocked N.C. State, 76-56, in the final of the PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF. This year's phenom, freshman 6-4 pMarcus Smart(20p7a7r), dominated the game and last year's phenom, fLeBryan Nash(23p8r) reaped the benefits. The Wolfpack looked disinterested and weren't ready for the Cowboys' intensity, especially fC.J. Leslie(2p; fouled out in 17 minutes). NCSt had been elevated to Final Four contender in the offseason mostly on a late run at the end of last year; but it's a big jump from "dark horse" to Hunted "favorite", especially for a program that has struggled mightly before last season's turnaround.

    
Clearly tournament play suits Colorado -- last year's surprise PAC-12 tourney crown, a first-round splash in the NCAAs, and now the CHARLESTON CLASSIC. The Buffaloes ground their way to a Lodero win over Baylor, 60-58 in the semis, and then found some better offensive flow in the final, 81-74 over Murray State (sinking 27-for-36 on free throws). (Now all they have to do is adjust to the drudgery of conference play.)

    
In the second edition of the CHAMPIONS CLASSIC, senior poise (cMason Plumlee, gSeth Curry, tRyan Kelly) pulled out a big win for Duke over young Kentucky, 75-68; but the Blue Devils are thin in the paint -- (both cPlumlee and tKelly sat with foul trouble and 6-2 gCurry spent a lot of minutes guarding 6-8 fAlex Poythress). Don't expect a "can't-miss-Final-Four" season from this year's Wildcats. Yes, last year's NCAA champ/SEC title team had freshmen stars, but it had real talented veterans (fTerrence Jones, gDoron Lamb) as well. Even the 2010 SEC TiTo champs had fPatrick Patterson to go along with freshmen pJohn Wall and cDeMarcus Cousins. fAlex Poythress, cNerlens Noel and gArchie Goodwin have got the goods, but they're going to have to do everything all on their own, first time around. (Sweet 16's a given on talent alone, but the rest isn't automatic.)

    
In the CHAMPIONS undercard, Kansas maintained a slight lead for most of the game with Michigan State -- better halfcourt D with 7-0 cJeff Withey's anchoring the paint -- but the Spartans pulled it out down the stretch, winning 67-64, with smoother O (behind their 3-guard lineup, especially freshman gGary Harris(18p) and gKeith Appling(19p; two big late hoops).

    
Florida had no trouble at home against Wisconsin, winning @74-56 (behind 62% shooting, including 24p8r;10/10fg from fErik Murphy) and outrebounding them 39-21. The Badgers have lost gJosh Gasser for the season (ACL), so it'll take a while for them to develop a new identity/chemistry.

St. Joseph's surprised Notre Dame 79-70(OT) in the semis of the COACHES VS CANCER CLASSIC; but it was pre-set semifinalist Florida State (who lost at home last week to South Alabama in its Warm-Up game) who took the crown, 73-66, in the final.

    
Alabama squeaked by Oregon State, 65-62 in the semis, and then routed Villanova 77-55 in the finals of the 2KS CLASSIC (behind 25p from gTrevor Releford). Nice job (although handling South Dakota State at home in last week's Warm-Up was probably a tougher task).

    
Ohio State cruised to two victories to take the HALL OF FAME TIP-OFF, 69-58 over Rhode Island in the semis, and 77-66 over Washington in the finals as xDeShaun Thomas(25p10r and 31p8r, respectively) turned in the first Player of the Year-calibre performances of the young season.

    
More Unwelcome Guest victors: Western Michigan won the USF INVITATIONAL, taking out host South Florida, 58-@53, in the last of three round-robin games; and Cal State-Northridge won the NUCDF CHALLENGE, knocking off host San Diego (74-@71), Tulsa(92-76) and Siena(68-64) along the way in four round-robin games.

Davidson started off with two end-play road losses, 81-@86 at The Pit in New Mexico and 68-@73 at Milwaukee -- disappointing. (Hopefully, the neutral-site games of OS/ORLANDO will give it a better shot at making noise in the preseason.) Belmont stunned host Stanford, 70-@62. Xavier throttled new conferencemate Butler, @62-47, (but the league match will be at Hinkle).

    
San Diego State bounced back with a comfortable 60-@44 rout of host Missouri State, putting the MOUNTAIN WEST up 1-0 in the first game of its challenge with the MISSOURI VALLEY.

    
Individually, xDeAndre Kane had 33p10a11r in a losing effort, as Marshall fell 100-@103(2OT) at Hofstra in the final of three round-robin games in 2KS CLASSIC Consolation play.

The 16-team NIT SEASON TIP-OFF still has a tradition bracket format. {AL-Huntsville} shocked North Texas, 78-75, and earned the right to play host (3m)Kansas State in the second round (where it lost 27-@86). Even better, (8s)Delaware knocked off host (2s)Virginia, 59-@53, actually earning a trip to New York for the semifinals.

    
On the flip-side, Georgia went 0-2 at home, losing @56-68 to Youngstown State and @60-62(OT) to Southern Mississippi, but still gets a pre-set semifinal berth against Indiana this week in the LEGENDS CLASSIC.

The biggest prize of the entire preseason is the BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS (Thursday through Sunday in the BAHAMAS): Louisville, Duke, Memphis, Missouri, Stanford; with VCU, Minnesota and Northern Iowa thrown in for fun). Potential matchups worth catching: LEGENDS (Tuesday: Indiana-UCLA); NIT SEASON TIP-OFF (Wednesday: Michigan-Pittsburgh;
Friday: MSU/Pitt-Kansas State); LAS VEGAS-THANX (Friday: Creighton-Wisconsin); GS-A (Saturday; @UNLV-Cincinnati).

    
If North Carolina doesn't win MAUI, it'll be the second blow for the ACC; the same for Kansas and the BIG 12 if KU doesn't win CBE. South Carolina will do well to capture HOOPS 4 HOPE for the SEC; same for BIG 12 newcomer TCU in SOUTH PADRE as well as BIG EAST/DePaul in CANCUN; BIG 10/Nebraska should take JOE CIPRIANO.

    
MAC/Ohio University should take care of business at NATION OF COACHES; Gonzaga (OS/ORLANDO) and St. Mary's (DTV/ANAHEIM) have a chance to pull off double crowns for the ascendant WEST COAST; Charlotte, Loyola Marymount, Northeastern and Belmont
each can claim a nice Mid-Major crown at GREAT ALASKA.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Arizona-LongBeachSt,


PARADISE JAM Finals @ StThomasVI

-(Connecticut-NewMexico; 3rd:GeoMason-Quinnipiac; 5th:Iona-ILChicago, 7th:WakeForest-Mercer),

Monday-Wednesday, Monday-Tuesday:

LEGENDS CLASSIC 2nd/Cons @ PittsburghPA HuntsvilleTX, 3rd/Semis @ BrooklynNY /BARCLAYS/

-(Semis: Indiana-Georgia, UCLA-Georgetown;

  A Cons: @Duquesne, YoungstownSt, JamesMadison, NDState;

  B Cons: SoMississippi, UCIrvine, @SamHoustonSt, Liberty),

Monday-Wednesday:

MAUI INVITATIONAL 2nd/Qtrs @ LahainaHI

-(NCarolina-MississippiSt, Butler-Marquette, Illinois-USC, Texas-@{Chaminade}),


COACHES VS CANCER CLASSIC 2nd/B Cons RndRob(3) @ AtlantaGA /Georgia St/

• Monday:
  
• (4P): S Alabama v Tennessee St
  
• (7P): @ Georgia St v Monmouth
  
• Tuesday:
  
• (4P): S Alabama v Monmouth
  
• (7P): @ Georgia St v Tennessee St
  
• Wednesday:
  
• (12N): Tennessee St v Monmouth
  
• (3P): @ Georgia St v S Alabama
  

Monday-Tuesday; Wednesday,Friday:

NIT SEASON TIP-OFF Cons RndRob(2) @ regional sites, Semis/Finals @ NewYorkNY /MSG/

-(Semis: (1n)Michigan-(4e)Pittsburgh, (3m)KansasSt-(8s)Delaware;

  A Cons: @(2s)Virginia, NTexas, IUPUI, Longwood;

  B Cons: @(5e)Lehigh, Fordham, Penn, Fairfield;

  C Cons: @(6e)RobertMorris, BowlingGreen, (7n)ClevelandSt, {ALHuntsville}),

Monday-Friday:

CBE CLASSIC 2nd/Cons @ SantaClaraCA ChattanoogaTN, 3rd/Sems @ KansasCityMO

-(Semis: @Kansas-WashingtonSt, TexasA&M-StLouis;

 A Cons: @SantaClara, SCUpstate, EaWashington, UTValley;

 B Cons: SEMissouriSt, LouisianaTech, Troy, @Chattanooga),

Monday-Saturday:

GS-A CLASSIC RndRob on-campus, @ Las VegasNV /UNLV/

-(A: @UNLV, @Oregon, NoArizona, JacksonvilleSt;

  B: @Cincinnati, @IowaSt, Campbell, NCA&T),

Monday-Sunday week:

HOOPS 4 HOPE CHALLENGE on-campus, @ PuertoVallartaMEXICO

-(A: SCarolina, MissouriSt, Rider, Jacksonville;

  B: SMU, ARLittleRock, Milwaukee, {Malone}).

Tuesday:

@Florida-SavannahSt, @Canisius-Buffalo(BuffaloNY),

Tuesday-Wednesday;

CANCUN CHALLENGE Semis/Finals @ CancunMEXICO

-(Semis: DePaul-WichitaSt, Iowa-WeKentucky;

Cons: AustinPeay-WeCarolina, Howard-GardnerWebb),

Tuesday-Friday:

BC CLASSIC RndRob(4) on-campus

-(Kentucky, Maryland, MoreheadSt, LongIsland, Lafayette),

Tuesday; Friday-Saturday:

LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL on-campus, @ LasVegasNV /ORLEANS/

-(A: Creighton, Wisconsin, Cornell, Presbyterian;

  B: Arkansas, ArizonaSt, FloridaA&M, Longwood),


SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL on-campus, @ SouthPadreIslandTX

-(TCU, Northwestern, Navy, PrairieViewA&M;

  IllinoisSt, UAB, FairleighDickinson, DelawareSt),

Tuesday-Saturday:

JOE CIPRIANO CLASSIC on-campus, @ LincolnNE, @ ValparaisoIN:

-(A: @Nebraska, Tulane, @Valparaiso, ChicagoSt;

  B: KentSt, BethuneCookman, {NEOmaha}),

Tuesday-Sunday:

NATION OF COACHES CLASSIC RnRob(4) on-campus, @ WilmingtonNC

-(OhioU, Richmond, @UNCWilmington, Wofford, Hampton),

Wednesday:

@Syracuse-Princeton, @Denver-ColoradoSt(CO), @Portland-PortlandSt(PortlandOR),

Wednesday-Thursday; Thursday-Saturday:

BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS 3rd/Cons Semis at FtMyersFL, 2nd/Qtrs at ParadiseIslandBAHAMAS

-(Main: Louisville-NoIowa, Missouri-Stanford, Duke-Minnesota, Memphis-VCU;

  Cons: Akron-@FLGulfCoast, Toledo-Samford),

Wednesday,Friday-Saturday:

UTAH-THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT RndRob(3) @ SaltLakeCityUT

-(CMichigan, @Utah, IdahoSt, WrightSt),

Wednesday-Saturday:

GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT Qtrs @ AnchorageAK

-(Charlotte-TexasSt, LoyolaMarymount-OralRoberts, Belmont-@{AKAnchorage}, Northeastern-UCRiverside),

Thursday-Friday,Sunday:

OS/ORLANDO CLASSIC Qtrs @ LakeBuenaVistaFL

-(Gonzaga-Clemson), Oklahoma-UTEP, WVirginia-Marist, Vanderbilt-Davidson),


DTV/ANAHEIM CLASSIC Qtrs @ AnaheimCA, on-campus

-(Main: StMarys-Drexel, Xavier-@Pacific, @California-Drake, GeorgiaTech-Rice;

  Wed 5 Dec: @Drake-StMarys),

Friday:

KELSEY CROOKS -(@NewMexicoSt-Louisiana),

Saturday:

@UtahSt-WeberSt(UT), @Hartford-CConnecticutSt(CT)(CT_6),

Sunday:

@LaSalle-Villanova(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG_5),

Monday week:

@LoyolaMD-Towson(BaltimoreMD).

---

Top 25 - 12 Nov19 - [] Column

1. Louisville (3-0)
   
2. Indiana (3-0)
   
3. Ohio State (3-0) [2v2:HALL.FAME]
   
4. Creighton (3-0)
   
5. Michigan (3-0)
   
6. Duke (3-0) (CHAMPS)
   
7. Oklahoma State (4-0) [3:P.RICO]
   
8. Colorado (4-0) [3:CHARLESTON]
   
9. Florida (3-0)
   
10. Syracuse (2-0)
    
11. Connecticut (4-0)
    
12. Michigan State (2-1) (CHAMPS)
    
13. North Carolina State (3-1)
    
14. Memphis (2-0)
    
15. Ohio University (3-0)
    
16. Kansas State (3-0)
    
17. Gonzaga (3-0)
    
18. Saint Mary's (2-0)
    
19. North Carolina (3-0)
    
20. UNLV (3-0)
    
21. UCLA (3-0)
    
22. Missouri (3-0)
    
23. Arizona (3-0)
    
24. Alabama (4-0) [2v2:2KS]
    
25. Florida State (3-1) [2v2:CVC]
    

Honorable Mention:

New Mexico (3-0), Milwaukee (1-1), Belmont (3-0), Xavier (3-0).