Hoop, Line And Sinker

A weekly column on men's college basketball.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

12 Nov26 - Legends, Leaders and Devils

Volume XVII, No. 4 - 12 Nov26 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Legends, Leaders and Devils

It's Duke that came away with the biggest preseason prize, the ATLANTIS crown, with a 76-71 win over Louisville in the final. Even with a thin bench, the Blue Devils handled the pressure of the Cardinals (and VCU as well, 67-58 in the semis). Lots more happen than that, though. Louisville blew out Missouri, 84-61, in the semis; Memphis lost twice (65-78 to VCU and 75-84 to Minnesota), as did Stanford (70-78 to Missouri and 63-66 to Minnesota).

    
New Mexico (who came back the previous week from a big deficit at home to beat Davidson in the TIP-OFF MARATHON) had a more impressive win this week, beating Connecticut, 66-60, to take the PARADISE JAM crown in the St. Thomas, VI.

    
Michigan had more trouble in the semis, escaping 67-62 against talented Pittsburgh, then it did in the final, crushing Kansas State, 71-57, to take the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF. The perimeter attack of pTrey Burke, gTim Hardaway Jr. and freshman 6-7 tGlenn Robinson III is a difficult matchup to defend. (KansSt's bRodney McGruder hasn't gotten off to the superstar start that was needed for the team to be a top contender.)

    
Butler's gRotnei Clarke's fall-away 3-pointer in traffic sank Marquette 72-71 in the quarters at MAUI -- he's a special catch-and-shoot guy, but for some reason coach Brad Stevens has converted him to point guard -- don't get it. (Despite the heroics at the buzzer, he was 4-for-14 on three-pointers and even though he had 27p in the finals, he only had two assists in three games.) In the semis, the refs let the Bulldogs' physical play go and they manhandled North Carolina, leading 60-31 with 13 minutes left before a mad scramble from the Tar Heels cut the deficit all the way down to 6 until BU held on 82-71. But it was surprising Illinois, with its veteran perimeter attack, that took the MAUI crown with three rout wins, including 78-61 over the BU in the final. (Hate to say it, but coach Bruce Weber's new team [KansSt] is playing tight and underachieving, while his old team [Ill] is playing loose and thriving.)

    
Oregon did the dirty work, knocking off host UNLV, 83-@79, in the semis, but it was Cincinnati who took the GS-A crown with a 77-66 win over the Ducks in the final.

    
Young UCLA isn't ready to put all its talent together -- the Bruins fell 70-78 to no-name Georgetown in the semifinal of LEGENDS (behind 23p from gMarkel Starks and 18p11r5a5b from xOtto Porter) [and again, blowing a big lead at home to Cal Poly-SLO, @68-70]. Indiana took home the crown, but it didn't exactly dominate lowly Georgia (66-53) and had to escape to beat the scrappy Hoyas 82-70(OT) in the final.

    
Creighton handled Wisconsin, 84-74 in the semis, and took the LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING crown over Arizona State, 87-73 in the final as CU's fDoug McDermott (59p17r in two games) and ASU's freshman 5-10 pJahil Carson (30p7a in the final) starred.

    
Gonzaga looked sharp winning OS/ORLANDO, including 81-67 over Davidson in the final.

Kansas handled the competition to take CBE in Kansas City, including 73-59 (behind 25p5r7b from 7-0 cJeff Withey) over unworthy finalist St. Louis (who had already lost a home WarmUp game to Santa Clara).

    
Kent State, Valparaiso and Nebraska all went 1-1 with each other to share the JOE CIPRIANO crown.

    
Wichita State beat a weak field in CANCUN, including 75-63 over Iowa in the final. (Gardner-Webb struck a blow for 1BC-land with a 71-@59 win at DePaul in round-robin play.)

    
Charlotte put the ATLANTIC 10 on the board by winning GREAT ALASKA, 67-59 over Northeastern in the final.

    
Ohio University cruised through a no-name round-robin field to take the NATION OF COACHES crown, including a @73-48 win over Richmond.

Northwestern gave the BIG 10 yet another crown, crushing TCU 55-31 in the semis, and escaping 72-69(OT) in the final over Illinois State in SOUTH PADRE.

    
South Carolina handled a weak field in the new HOOPS FOR HOPE in Puerto Vallarta, MEXICO, including 74-62 over Arkansas(Little Rock) in the final (behind 10p15r5a from cLakeem Jackson).

    
More Unwelcome Guests -- North Dakota State won the LEGENDS A Consolation round-robin, including a 57-@43 win over host Duquesne; Southern Mississippi won the LEGENDS B Consolation round-robin, including a 61-@49 win over host Sam Houston State (on top of its 62-@60(OT) WarmUp win at Georgia); Louisiana Tech won the CBE B Consolation round-robin, including 71-@63 over Chattanooga (behind 30p from gRaheem Appleby;
as the host Mocs went 0-3 at home).

    
{Chaminade} knocked off young Texas in MAUI, @86-73 (behind 32p9r from tDeAndre Haskins); {Alaska-Anchorage} beat UC-Riverside (@66-65) and Loyola Marymount (@83-77) at GREAT ALASKA.

Jim Crews has stepped in as interim coach at St. Louis (after Rick Majerus had to step aside for health reasons).

    
Coach Sean Woods shoved one of his players in Morehead State's 70-@81 loss at Kentucky and had to serve 1-game suspension.

The Legends and Leaders of the BIG 10 have already shown their muscle -- 3 teams in the Top 4; 5 teams in the Top 25; and 6 preseason tournament crowns (Mich/NIT.T-O, Ill/MAUI, IU/LEGENDS, OhSt/HALL.FAME, Neb/.3CIPRIANO, Nwn/S.PADRE; with Minnesota taking out Memphis and Stanford at ATLANTIS; not to mention a talented Wisconsin team). The SEC took 3 lesser crowns (2KS/Bama, BC/UK, HOOPS 4 HOPE/SCar). Meanwhile, the ACC won 2 crowns (Duke/ATLANTIS, FlaSt/CVC) but left 2 on the table (PUERTO RICO/xNCSt, MAUI/xUNC). The BIG 12 nabbed 2 (OKSt/PUERTO RICO, Kans/CBE) but left 1 (CHARLESTON/xBayl). The PAC-12 had 2 surprise wins (Colo/CHARLESTON, Cal/ANAHEIM). The MVC took 2 (LVI-T/Creigh, CANCUN/WichSt). The MAC took 2 (Kent/.3CIPRIANO, OhioU/NATION). The MTN WEST stole PARADISE(NM) but gave away GS-A/@UNLV. The BIG EAST backdoored into GS-A/Cincy but lost ATLANTIS/xLville, PARADISE/xUConn, CVC/xND and CANCUN/xDPaul. The WCC took 1 (ORLANDO/Gonz) but not ANAHEIM/xStMary. The A-10 took 1 (Charlt/GREAT.AK). The HORIZON had a share of 1 (Valpo/.3CIPRIANO).

Conference CHALLENGES highlight the week, with a few choice individual games on the side. Look for the BIG 10 to push its win streak to four against the ACC (maybe as much as 8-4). The MOUNTAIN WEST should eventually take the MISSOURI VALLEY (as much as 6-3). Even without Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut, the BIG EAST might still squeak past the SEC (7-5).

    
Don't miss Michigan vs N.C. State (Tuesday), Indiana vs North Carolina (Tuesday), Florida State vs Minnesota (Tuesday); Duke vs Ohio State (Wednesday), Illinois v Georgia Tech (Wednesday); Florida vs Marquette (Thursday), Kentucky at Notre Dame (Thursday); Alabama at Cincinnati (Saturday), Gonzaga vs Pacific (Saturday), Kentucky vs Baylor (Saturday), UCLA vs San Diego State (Saturday), California at Wisconsin (Sunday).

-- Ron


"Jeannie, get back in your bottle!"

R.I.P. L.H.


Key games this week:


Monday:

@LoyolaMD-Towson(BaltimoreMD),


Tuesday:

@Colorado-TexasSo, @SoMississippi-Denver,


Tuesday-Wednesday:

ACC[10-3]/BIG 10[3-10] CHALLENGE on-campus

-(Tue: @Michigan-NCState, @Indiana-NCarolina, @FloridaSt-Minnesota, @Northwestern-Maryland, @WakeForest-Nebraska, @VirginiaTech-Iowa;

  Wed: @Duke-OhioSt, @Illinois-GeorgiaTech, MichiganSt-@MiamiFL, @Wisconsin-Virginia, @Clemson-Purdue, @PennSt-BostonCol),


Wednesday:

@NewMexico-Mercer, @OralRoberts-Oklahoma(OK), @CoppinSt-LoyolaMD(BaltimoreMD),


Wednesday-Wed 19 Dec:

MWC/MVC CHALLENGE on-campus -- (MWC leads 1-0)

[/ Bradley doesn't play.]

-(Wed: @Creighton-BoiseSt, @SoIllinois-FresnoSt;

  Fri: @Nevada-Drake;

  Sat: NewMexico-@IndianaSt, @ColoradoSt-Evansville;

  Sun: WichitaSt-@AirForce;

  Tue 4 Dec: @IllinoisSt-Wyoming;

  Wed 19 Dec: @UNLV-NoIowa),


Thursday-Saturday:

BIG EAST[2-1;2]/SEC[1-2;2] CHALLENGE on-campus

[Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut, do not play.
/ Missouri and Texas A&M do not play.]

-(Thu: @Florida-Marquette, Kentucky-@NotreDame(BG), @StJohns-SCarolina, @LSU-SetonHall;

  Fri: Syracuse-@Arkansas, @Georgetown-Tennessee, @SFlorida-Georgia, @Auburn-DePaul;

  Sat: Alabama-@Cincinnati, @Providence-MississippiSt, @Vanderbilt-Villanova, @Mississippi-Rutgers),


Saturday:

@Gonzaga-Pacific, @Kentucky-Baylor, @StMarys-CalPolySLO(CA), @KentSt-Princeton, @SavannahSt-NorfolkSt, @Siena-Albany(AlbanyNY), @MDBaltimoreCo-Towson(BaltimoreMD),

JOHN WOODEN CLASSIC 1Off @ AnaheimCA

-(@UCLA-SanDiegoSt(CA)),


Sunday:

@FloridaSt-Mercer, California-@Wisconsin, @Stanford-Denver, @SCarolina-Clemson(SC),

BB&T CLASSIC DblHdr @ WashingtonDC /VERIZON/

-(@Maryland-@GeoMason, @GeoWashington-Manhattan),



Monday week:

@SanDiegoSt-TexasSo.




Top 25 - 12 Nov26 - [] Column

  1. Duke (6-0) (CHAMPS) [3:ATLANTIS]
  2. Michigan (4-0) [2v2:NIT.T-O]
  3. Indiana (6-0) [2v2:LEGENDS]
  4. Ohio State (4-0) [2v2:HALL.FAME]
  5. Creighton (5-0) [2v2:LVI-THANX]
  6. Louisville (5-1)
  7. Oklahoma State (5-0) [3:P.RICO]
  8. Colorado (5-0) [3:CHARLESTON]
  9. Florida (5-0)
  10. Syracuse (4-0)
  11. North Carolina State (4-1)
  12. Ohio University (5-0) [rr4vNATION]
  13. New Mexico (6-0) [3:PARADISE]
  14. Gonzaga (6-0) [3:OS/ORLANDO]
  15. Arizona (3-0)
  16. Illinois (6-0) [3:MAUI]
  17. Alabama (5-0) [2v2:2KS]
  18. Florida State (4-1) [2v2:CVC]
  19. Cincinnati (6-0) [2v2:GS-A]
  20. California (6-0) [2v2vDTV/ANAHEIM]
  21. Kentucky (4-1) [rr4BC]
  22. Michigan State (5-1) (CHAMPS)
  23. Missouri (5-1)
  24. Wichita State (6-0) [2v2:CANCUN]
  25. Kansas (4-1) [2v2vCBE]

Honorable Mention:

Minnesota (6-1), VCU (2-3), Pacific (3-3), Georgia Tech (4-1), Butler (3-2), Oregon (4-1), Georgetown (4-1), Cal Poly-SLO (2-2),

Kent State (4-2) [.3rr4CIPRIANO], Valparaiso (5-1) [.3rr4CIPRIANO], Nebraska (5-1) [.3rr4CIPRIANO],

Charlotte (6-0) [3:GREAT.AK],

Southern Mississippi (5-0) [rr3@LEGENDSconsB],

North Dakota State (3-2) [rr3@LEGENDSconsA],

Northwestern (6-0) [2v2:S.PADRE],

South Carolina (5-1) [2v2:H4HOPE],

Louisiana Tech (5-1) [rr3@CBEconsB].

posted by Ron @ Tuesday, November 27, 2012