12 Dec10 - Ill Will

Volume XVII, No. 6 - 12 Dec10 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Ill Will

Gonzaga barely survived, 71-@69, at STATE TITLE rival Washington State; but not even the home crowd in The Kennel was enough to withstand visiting Illinois. bBrandon Paul pumped in 35p to lead the Illini to an 85-@74 road win. Although this was mostly a one-man show, U-Ill has a potent perimeter attack with gD.J. Richardsn, bJoseph Bertrand and gTracy Adams regularly joining in. One Dennis Rodman-type rebounder would make this team special, but fTyler Griffey and fSam McLaurin don't quite command the boards like that. Kansas pounded Colorado, @90-54, as freshman 6-5 bBen McLemore (24p5r) has emerged as the Jayhawks lead scoring threat -- just what the doctor ordered for a team whose strength is its interior defense.

    
Boise State crashed hard, falling 55-@76 at Utah. Northwestern surprised host Baylor, 74-@70; (but the Wildcats later lost at home to improving Butler, @65-74). Virginia Tech fell, 67-@68, at West Virginia on gJuwan Staten's game-winner (despite 23p10a from pErick Green). Dayton went on the road and knocked off Alabama, 81-@76 (behind 25p6a from pKevin Dillard).

Florida continued to roll, crushing reeling Florida State, 72-@47 -- the Seminoles will be lucky to make it conference play as a relevant squad on the national scene. Memphis stomped Ohio U, @84-58, gaining its first name win after taking it on the chin in ATLANTIS. Marquette beat STATE TITLE rival Wisconsin, @60-50, as the 5-4 Badgers had no one score in double-figures. N.C. State got a name win, coming back to edge Connecticut, 69-65 in the JIMMY V CLASSIC; but the Wolfpack hasn't turned out to be a Final Four-calibre juggernaut in the preseason; being The Hunted hasn't suited them so far. UNLV won at California, 76-@75, on fQuintrell Thomas' game-winner as freshman 6-8 cAnthony Bennett had
25p13r.

    
New Mexico handled Valparaiso, @65-52, (despite 24p7r from bRyan Broekhoff). Undefeated Charlotte edged host Davidson, 73-@69, as the 49ers have kept it going since winning GREAT ALASKA. Creighton won its STATE TITLE showdown at Nebraska, 64-@42, and rolled past Akron at home, @77-61, as bDoug McDermott had 57p in two games.

    
Wyoming clinched the win for the MOUNTAIN WEST (5-3 with one to go) over the MISSOURI VALLEY with a solid 81-@67 victory
at Illinois State.

    
It's the PATRIOT LEAGUE which may break out of 1BC territory this year: Bucknell routed Kent State, @76-60 (behind 27p from cMike Muscala). It's Year Four of the rivalry with Lehigh (bC.J. McCollum): As freshmen, Lehigh went TiTo; as sophomores it was Bucknell's turn to go TiTo; last year Bucknell won the regular season while Lehigh won the tourney and made an NCAA splash. Last time around as seniors, they may both get in.

pMichael Carter-Williams had 16 assists in Syracuse's @106-56 blowout of Monmouth. Pittsburgh continues to outclass no-name opponents, including Duquesne, @66-@45, in the CITY GAME.

    
pNate Wolters missed his homecoming at Minnesota with an ankle injury as the Golden Gophers pounded undermanned visiting South Dakota State, @88-64; but he was back in action to help the Jackrabbits hold off Cal State-Bakersfield, @69-63. Long Beach State had a rough week: dropping a heartbreaker at home, @59-64 to 4-3 Fresno State; then getting thrashed twice: 53-@84 at Syracuse and 55-@89 at Ohio State.

    
Drexel won at Princeton, 64-@57, as 19p7r5a from tIan Hummer wasn't enough for the Tigers. Georgia Tech held off Georgia, @62-54, (despite xKentavious Caldwell-Pope's solo act [16p18r2a]).

Utah State tDanny Berger collapsed in practice and was hospitalized, causing the BYU/USU in-state rivalry game to be postponed. (He was released on Saturday and the game was been rescheduled for February.)

Charlotte tries its luck on the road at Miami(Florida) (Friday) -- a gimpy Michigan State squad couldn't handle coach Jim Larranaga's veteran team there in the BIG 10/ACC CHALLENGE. Butler is on the rise, but probably not enough to knock off mighty Indiana (CROSSROADS, Saturday). Arizona finally gets a real test when mighty Florida comes to Tucson (Saturday). Louisville at Memphis (Saturday) might be more track meet than basketball game. California hopes to prevent a third-straight loss when Creighton comes to town (Saturday). The same goes for Alabama when it goes on the road to visit VCU (Saturday). Kansas State has failed to make an impression on the season so far -- the Wildcats get their chance Saturday when they visit Gonzaga at the BATTLE IN SEATTLE. Western Kentucky hopes to join the national conversation with a road win at in-state rival Murray State (Sunday).

-- Ron

P.S. Don't forget: the deadline for this year's Pigskin Pool Party
(Ron's free College Football Bowl Season Pool) is THIS SATURDAY, 15-DECEMBER (1Pet).

Key games this week:

Monday-Wednesday week; Saturday week-Sunday week;

LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC on-campus, @ LasVegasNV /ORLEANS/

-(A: VirginiaTech, Bradley, GeorgiaSo, MSValleySt;

  B: ColoradoSt, Portland, NFlorida, CalStBakersfield).

Tuesday:

THE HOLY WAR -(@Villanova-StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG_5)),

Wednesday:

@OhioSt-SavannahSt, @Wisconsin-GreenBay(WI), @MDBaltimoreCo-CoppinSt(BaltimoreMD),

Thursday:

WichitaSt-@Tennessee, @Seattle-Washington(SeattleWA),

Friday:

Charlotte-@MiamiFL,

Friday; Saturday week-Sunday week, Tue 25 Dec:

DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC on-campus, @ HonoluluHI /Hawaii/

-(Fri: @MississippiSt-ETennesseeSt;

  Main: Arizona-ETennesseeSt, MiamiFL-@Hawaii, SanDiegoSt-SanFrancisco(CA), MississippiSt-IndianaSt),

Saturday:

(PIGSKIN POOL PARTY ENTRY DEADLINE [1Pet])

Florida-@Arizona, Louisville-@Memphis, Creighton-@California, @NewMexico-NewMexicoSt(NM), @SanDiegoSt-SanDiego(SanDiegoCA), @VCU-Alabama, @Marquette-SavannahSt, @WeberSt-BYU(UT), @Montana-SDState, @UTValley-UtahSt(UT),


BROOKLYN-WINTER FESTIVAL TrplHdr @ BrooklynNY /BARCLAYS/

-(Michigan-WVirginia, @StJohns-@StFrancisNY(NewYorkNY), @Fordham-Princeton),

CROSSROADS CLASSIC DblHdr @ IndianapolisIN

-(@Indiana-@Butler(IN), @NotreDame-@Purdue(IN)),

BATTLE IN SEATTLE 1Off @ SeattleWA

-(@Gonzaga-KansasSt),

ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC 1Off @ OklahomaCityOK

-(@Oklahoma-TexasA&M),

BIG FOUR CLASSIC DblHdr @ DesMoinesIA

-(@Drake-IowaSt(IA)(BIG_4), Iowa-NoIowa(IA)(BIG_4)),

Saturday-Sun 30 Dec:

GOTHAM CLASSIC RndRob(4) on-campus, @ NewYorkNY /MSG/

-(Syracuse, Temple, Canisius, Detroit, AlcornSt),

Sunday:

@MurraySt-WeKentucky(KY).

---

Top 25 - 12 Dec10 - [] Column

1. Duke (9-0) (@@CHAMPS) [3:ATLANTIS] (vBIG10)
   
2. Michigan (8-0) [2v2:NIT.T-O] (vACC)
   
3. Indiana (9-0) [2v2:LEGENDS] (vACC)
   
4. Florida (7-0) (vBIG E)
   
5. Syracuse (8-0) (@SEC)
   
6. Ohio State (5-1) [2v2:HALL.FAME]
   
7. Louisville (8-1)
   
8. Illinois (9-0) [3:MAUI] (vACC)
   
9. Creighton (9-1) [2v2:LVI-THANX]
   
10. Cincinnati (9-0) [2v2:GS-A] (vSEC)
    
11. New Mexico (10-0) [3:PARADISE] (@MVC)
    
12. Minnesota (10-1) (@ACC)
    
13. Kansas (7-1) [2v2vCBE]
    
14. Wyoming (8-0) (@MVC)
    
15. Arizona (7-0)
    
16. Oklahoma State (7-1) [3:P.RICO]
    
17. Notre Dame (8-1) (vSEC)
    
18. UNLV (7-1)
    
19. San Diego State (6-1) (@MVC)
    
20. Missouri (8-1)
    
21. Wichita State (9-0) [2v2:CANCUN] (@MWC)
    
22. Pittsburgh (9-1)
    
23. Charlotte (9-0) [3:GREAT.AK]
    
24. Gonzaga (8-1) [3:OS/ORLANDO]
    
25. Michigan State (8-2) (@@CHAMPS)
    

Honorable Mention:

Utah (6-3), Northwestern (7-3) [2v2:S.PADRE], West Virginia (4-3), Dayton (7-2).