Hoop, Line And Sinker

A weekly column on men's college basketball.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

13 Dec23 - Squeaksville

Volume XVIII, No. 8 - 13 Dec23 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Squeaksville


We're nearly to the end of the preseason -- (only a couple of major matchups left this week) -- and no real dominant team has emerged. In fact, close games were the rule, not the exception, this past week.

Connecticut added to its string of last-possession results, but came up short for the first time as visiting Stanford escaped Hartford with a 53-@51 road win.

    
Nobody has three bigger wins than North Carolina (at Michigan State, neutral vs Louisville, home vs Kentucky), but the Tar Heels continue to turn in completely ordinary results as well. More terrible free-throw shooting (24-for-47) saw them come up short at home vs a better-than-expected Texas team, @83-86; and they had to go to overtime to beat a surprisingly bad Davidson team, @97-85(OT).

    
The JIMMY V CLASSIC featured two more squeak results. Both Florida and Memphis looked good as they went down to the wire with the Gators' prevailing, 77-75. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh did not as the Bearcats eeked out an ugly 44-43 win. At the LAS VEGAS-SHOWCASE at the MGM GRAND, Oklahoma State's balanced attack held off Colorado's, 78-73, while disappointing New Mexico handled disappointing Marquette, 75-68. The annual split-crowd BRAGGIN' RIGHTS game in St. Louis between Illinois and Missouri went down to the last play as well, with the Illini's emerging @65-@64 victors.

    
Florida State had a big week, starting with a surprising @106-62 pasting of slumping Charlotte, and ending with a lodero struggle against Massachusetts, @60-55,
in the ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC.

xJabari Parker starred (23p10r5a) as Duke routed UCLA, @80-63,
in the Blue Devils' "home-away-from-home/recruiting magnet" game in the CQAP CLASSIC in New York City; Bruin xKyle Anderson's stat line (16p7a10r5s6to) looked fine but he's not in the same class. Ohio State turned defeat into victory with a last-minute flurry to steal a win over Notre Dame, 64-61, in the feature matchup of the GOTHAM CLASSIC in New York City; even worse news for the Fighting Irish: pJerian Grant has left school
due to academic issues.

    
Oregon had to go to overtime to shake off BYU, @100-96(OT). New Mexico State gained a split against state-rival New Mexico with its own payback road win, 67-@61.

    
St. Louis' @83-66 rout of Indiana State means the MISSOURI VALLEY is likely headed
for Anti-Spoiler/1BC status (for Wichita State) rather than mulit-bid Mid-Major.

    
Creighton dumped California, @68-54. Rising LSU ripped slumping UAB, @86-63. Miami(Florida) kept La Salle from regaining any of last year's glory, @71-58. Florida Gulf Coast thought it had tied the game up at South Florida to send things into triple-overtime on a catch-and-shoot basket that beat the :00.3 buzzer, but it was disallowed because, by rule, only tip-ins are allowed when there is less than :00.4 on the clock, so USF won @68-66(2OT). Yikes.

- - - - - -

Not much left on the schedule for the rest of the preseason. UNLV won't get much bounce from beating Mississippi State in the LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC final (Monday; but at least the Rebels are on the rise). St. Mary's blew its shot at making any more noise with a first-round loss at the DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC, but an Iowa State-Boise State final is still a possibility (Wednesday). The last two high-profile matchups come Saturday: Syracuse hosts Villanova in an old BIG EAST meeting while Kentucky hosts Louisville in their latest Bluegrass clash.

Happy Holidays, everybody! Hope you're having a Merry Christmas.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Virginia-NorfolkSt(VA),

LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC 2x4 Finals @ LasVegasNV/ORLEANS/

-(@UNLV-MississippiSt, 3rd:SFlorida-SantaClara, 5th:FLGulfCoast-Radford, 7th:SacredHeart-FloridaA&M),


Tuesday:

(None).

Monday, Wednesday:

DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC Semis @ HonoluluHI/Hawaii/

-(IowaSt-Akron, BoiseSt-SCarolina;

   Cons: @Hawaii-StMarys, OregonSt-GeoMason;

   Sat: @SCarolina-Akron),


Wednesday (CHRISTMAS)

(None).

Thursday:

(None).

Friday:

(None).

Saturday:

@Syracuse-Villanova, @Colorado-Georgia, Louisville-@Kentucky(KY), @Massachusetts-Providence, @IndianaSt-Belmont,

BROOKLYN-WINTER FESTIVAL TrplHdr @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/

-(VCU-BostonCol, KansasSt-Tulane, @StJohns-@Columbia[NewYorkNY]),


Saturday-Sunday:

DON HASKINS/SUN BOWL INVITATIONAL RndRob(2) @ ElPasoTX/UTEP/

-(@UTEP, WeIllinois, Denver, AlcornSt),


Sunday:

@TheCitadel-ColofCharleston(CharlestonSC),


Sunday-Monday week:

DP CLASSIC Semis @ ChattanoogaTN/Chattanooga/

-(MidTennessee-Maine, @Chattanooga-{GrandCanyon}),


- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Kansas-Toledo, @WeKentucky-Mississippi.




Top 25 - 13 Dec23 - [] Column

  1. Arizona (12-0) [2v2:NIT.T-O]
  2. Wisconsin (12-0) [2v2:CANCUN] (@ACC)
  3. Syracuse (11-0) [3:MAUI] (vBIG10)
  4. Iowa State (9-0) [IOWA4] (vSEC)
  5. Wichita State (11-0) [2v2vCBE]
  6. Ohio State (12-0) [rr4GOTHAM] (vACC)
  7. Villanova (11-0) [3:ATLANTIS]
  8. Connecticut (10-1) [2v2:2KS]
  9. Florida (9-2) [rr4vGS-A.CH] (:JIMMY.V) (vBIG12)
  10. Oklahoma State (11-1) (:LV-SH) (vSEC)
  11. Memphis (8-2) [3:OS/ORLANDO]
  12. North Carolina (8-3) [2v2:HOF.T-O] (@BIG10)
  13. Michigan State (10-1) (@@CHAMPS) [2v2:CVC]
  14. Baylor (8-1) (@@SEC)
  15. Colorado (10-2) [rr4vGS-B.ME]
  16. Kansas (8-3) (@@CHAMPS)
  17. San Diego State (8-1) [3:WL/ANAHEIM]
  18. Duke (9-2) (vCQAP) (vBIG10)
  19. Louisville (11-1)
  20. Oregon (11-0)
  21. Iowa (9-2) (vACC) (@@IOWA4)
  22. Kentucky (8-3) [rr4vKEIGHTLY]
  23. Florida State (8-3) (vORANGE)
  24. Massachusetts (10-1) [3:CHARLESTON]
  25. Illinois (10-2) [rr4vGS-D.I] (@@BRAGGIN')

Honorable Mention:

Stanford (8-3), Texas (10-2), Cincinnati (8-2) (:JIMMY.V).

posted by Ron @ Tuesday, December 24, 2013