14 Dec 1 - Pageant Week

Volume XIX, No. 4 - 14 Dec 1 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Pageant Week

Thanksgiving Week is typically filled with preseason tournaments each "crowning" its champion -- it's a virtual parade of winners: "Miss MAUI", "Miss CHARLESTON", "Miss ORLANDO", etc. (Let's just rename it "Pageant Week" for our purposes!)

The BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS at Paradise Island, BAHAMAS featured the best lineup of teams (on paper, anyway), but thanks to plenty of upsets we only got one Top 25 matchup (and that was in the Loser's Bracket!) In the quarters, Butler out-toughed soft North Carolina (74-66), veteran Oklahoma handled young UCLA (75-65; despite 16p15r from freshman fKevon Looney) and Georgetown edged undermanned Florida (66-65[OT]); from there, Wisconsin had to scrap to overcome 29p3a from gD'Vauntes Smith-Rivera to edge Georgetown (68-65) in the semis and then shut down Oklahoma (69-56) in the final. (While UW didn't exactly dominate the field, the Badgers did look good getting solid contributions from the likes of fDuje Dukan and gBronson Koenig in support of their established stars.) In consolation, UNC routed UCLA (78-56) and handled Florida (75-64).

    
In MAUI, Arizona squeaked past a struggling Kansas State squad (72-68) in the semis and played San Diego State to a standstill (escaping 61-59; as freshman fStanley Johnson had 18p9r). (Although UofA has plenty of talent up front, unlike last year [when they essentially had two point guards], the offensive doesn't flow as easily and the Wildcats don't have a go-to scorer on the perimeter with just pT.J. McConnell running the show.) SDgoSt had yet another endplay result against a quality opponent in the quarters, edging BYU (92-87[2OT]; despite 26p1a from gTyler Haws); meanwhile, BYU fell in OT yet again to Purdue (85-87[OT]; as 32p from gHaws was matched by fVince Edwards' 25p9r).

    
At the LEGENDS CLASSIC in Brooklyn, NY, Villanova withstood the pressure from VCU and pulled away in the semis (77-53) and then survived against Michigan (60-55; thanks to a huge shot-block late from fJayVaughn Pinkston).

    
Home-standing St. John's' @70-61 semifinal upset of Minnesota prevented the other possible Top 25 tournament clash as Gonzaga went on to beat the Red Storm (73-@66) in the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF final.

Elsewhere, Iowa State couldn't handle Maryland's size or ball-movement as UMd took the CBE final (72-63). Mississippi beat surprising Creighton (75-68) and handled Cincinnati (66-54; behind 26p from gStefan Moody). Eastern Washington stunned host Indiana (88-@86; as gDrew Brandon[27p4a] matched pYogi Ferrell[27p7a]) to share the round-robin HOOSIER SHOWCASE three ways (along with SMU). Oklahoma State crushed state-rival Tulsa (73-58) in the final of the new 2x4 LAS VEGAS-MAIN EVENT at MGM GRAND.

    
Kansas routed decent Rhode Island (76-60) and edged name-brand Michigan State (61-56) to win ORLANDO. Virginia cruised to the BROOKLYN-THANKSGIVING crown (over Rutgers in the final). Northern Iowa crushed Virginia Tech and Northwestern to win the CANCUN CHALLENGE. Seton Hall finished the job, edging Illinois State in the final, to win PARADISE JAM in the BAHAMAS. TCU beat Mississippi State to win the CORPUS CHRISTI COASTAL CHALLENGE. Colorado State emerged as the winner of the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT. Green Bay outclassed Florida Gulf Coast (59-@45) to win the GULF COAST SHOWCASE in Estero, FL. Washington went to the wire with a good UTEP team before winning (68-65) in the WOODEN LEGACY [ANAHEIM] final.

    
More Unwelcome Guests: Detroit took the LEGENDS Consolation Bracket (82-@79) over host Toledo; Georgia State took the CBE A-Consolation Bracket (83-@78 over host Oakland; behind 29p from tR.J. Hunter).

    
Philadelphia has its famous BIG FIVE year-long intra-city league (La Salle, Pennsylvania, St. Joseph's, Temple and Villanova). The CONNECTICUT SIX have a formal season-opening tripleheader (Central Connecticut State, Fairfield, Hartford, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Yale). The term "BIG FOUR" has been reused several times: in the '70s, Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest held an annual BIG FOUR CLASSIC preseason tournament for in-state bragging rights; in the late '80s, the four Bluegrass Quartet teams (Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and Notre Dame) held an annual BIG FOUR CLASSIC double-header; nowadays, the four Iowa schools (Drake, Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa) hold an annual preseason BIG FOUR CLASSIC double-header. This season, four Upstate New York teams (city-rivals Canisius and Buffalo along with Niagara and St. Bonaventure) have co-opted the name for themselves as well with their own BIG FOUR CLASSIC double-header in Buffalo -- (StBon beat Niag @74-@59; Buff beat Canis @72-@57). (Now, we just need the five Baltimore, MD schools [Coppin State, Loyola{Maryland}, Maryland-Baltimore County, Morgan State and Towson] to formalize their in-city rivalry -- it's a natural, just waiting to happen.)

Outside of tournament play, VCU fell 67-@73 at Old Dominion (as 31p from gAaron Bacote matched 34p from gTreveon Graham). Texas stole a win at Connecticut, 55-@54, on tJonathan Holmes' game-winning three-pointer.

    
Seton Hall hung on to edge George Washington (@58-54). Arkansas kept host SMU in a funk with a 78-@72 road win (a both teams shot 70 free throws between them). Wichita State pulled away from reeling Tulsa (@75-55).

UK throttled a good Providence team, @58-38, totally shutting down one of the early stars of the season, tLaDontae Henton (3p3r;1-for-8 shooting). It's already looking very much like we're heading for a repeat of the 1991 season (when a thoroughly dominant UNLV team rolled through the regular season undefeated). That year, overwhelming favorite UNLV was upset in the semis by a veteran Duke team in the National Semifinals when the nerves got to the Rebels who hadn't been in many close games all season. It's an easy parallel to replace UNLV/Duke '91 with UK/Wisconsin '15 -- the Badgers will have the same Final Four payback angle going for them should they clash with the Wildcats in Indianapolis -- but the big difference for this Kentucky team (as with all of them) is that no "neutral-site" crowd will ever root for the underdog upset because the way Big Blue Nation travels to support the Wildcats turns every "neutral-site" into an overwhelming pro-Kentucky (home-away-from-)home game.

- - - - - -

The BIG EAST's preseason prowess (26-1 to start) came back to the pack last week as the BIG 12 caught up to it in overall rating.

    
By rating, the BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE is a mismatch, but head-to-head look for a slim 6-4 win (as only Oklahoma State [over South Carolina], Auburn [over Texas Tech] and Baylor [over Vanderbilt] figure to come through on the road). In particular, Texas has enough size (but maybe not the depth) to deal with Kentucky (Friday), but the bigger problem will be trying to hang in on the perimeter without injured pIsaiah Taylor -- Good Luck! Even at full strength, Florida would have its hands full visiting Kansas (Friday). Iowa State should be strong enough at home to hold off talented Arkansas; and the same goes fore Mississippi hosting TCU.

    
Although the ACC holds a slight edge over the BIG 10 in overall rating, head-to-head it could be 9-5 (or worse) in favor of the BIG 10 (as Virginia [over Maryland], Nebraska [over Florida State], Minnesota [over Wake Forest] and Rutgers [over Clemson] appear to be strong enough to win road games). It's too much to expect young-but-talented Duke to pull off the road win at veteran Wisconsin (Wednesday); and the same goes for young Ohio State visiting powerhouse Louisville (Tuesday). Miami(Florida) has played a stronger schedule and already has quality wins compared to untested Illinois (Tuesday).

    
In one-offs, Wichita State will get its toughest test yet when it visits a solid Utah squad (Wednesday). West Coast bragging rights are up for grabs when Gonzaga meets Arizona (Saturday) -- (the Bulldogs have the better backcourt; the Wildcats are stronger up front). Defensive styles clash when slowpoke Virginia visits state-rival up-tempo VCU (Saturday). Upstart Washington will need its home-crowd support to beat visiting San Diego State (Sunday).

    
Unwelcome Guest Georgia State hosts Pageant winner Green Bay (Thursday).

-- Ron

P.S. Look for the Official Invitation for the 8th Annual Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's College Football Bowl Season Pool) shortly.

Key games this week:

Monday-Wednesday:

ACC/BIG 10 CHALLENGE on-campus

[Boston College does not play.]

(Mon: @FloridaSt-Nebraska, @Clemson-Rutgers;

  Tue: @Louisville-OhioSt(BG), @MiamiFL-Illinois, @Michigan-Syracuse, @WakeForest-Minnesota, @Purdue-NCState, @Indiana-Pittsburgh;

  Wed: @Wisconsin-Duke, Virginia-@Maryland, @NCarolina-Iowa, @NotreDame-MichiganSt, @Northwestern-GeorgiaTech, @PennSt-VirginiaTech).

Tuesday:

@IllinoisSt-VCU, @NorthwesternSt-LouisianaTech(LA), @UtahSt-BYU(UT), @Wyoming-Denver,

LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL CoolDown on-campus

-(@Memphis-StephenFAustin),

Tuesday-Saturday:

(new)BUCKEYE CLASSIC RndRob4 on-campus

-(@OhioSt, JamesMadison, Colgate, Campbell, SacredHeart),

Wednesday:

WichitaSt-@Utah, Villanova-@LaSalle(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5), Butler-@IndianaSt(IN), @Harvard-Northeastern(BostonMA), @Tulsa-Creighton, @StBonaventure-Buffalo(NY)(BIG4), @StJosephs-Temple(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5), @Towson-CoppinSt(BaltimoreMD), @ColoradoSt-UTEP, @NewMexico-NewMexicoSt(NM),

Wednesday-Saturday:

BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE on-campus

[ / Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State and Texas A&M do not play.]

-(Wed: @TexasTech-Auburn;

   Thu: @WVirginia-LSU, Arkansas-@IowaSt, @Mississippi-TCU, @Vanderbilt-Baylor;

   Fri: @Kentucky-Texas, @Kansas-Florida, @Oklahoma-Missouri;

   Sat: @SCarolina-OklahomaSt, @Tennessee-KansasSt),

Thursday:

@SanDiegoSt-SanDiego(SanDiegoCA), @GeorgiaSt-GreenBay,

Friday:

@Connecticut-Yale(CT), @SMU-Wyoming, @Siena-Quinnipiac,

Saturday:

Wisconsin-@Marquette(WI), @Arizona-Gonzaga, Virginia-@VCU(VA), @MiamiFL-GreenBay, @Illinois-American, @Michigan-NJIT, @Temple-@LaSalle(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5)(/PALESTRA/), @TheCitadel-Navy(MIL), @NewMexicoSt-UTEP, @Hartford-CConnecticutSt(CT)(CT6), @Niagara-Canisius(NY)(BIG4), @NorfolkSt-MorganSt,

THE HOLY WAR on-campus

-(@Villanova-StJosephs[PhiladelphiaPA][BIG5]),

GARDEN STATE CLASSIC on-campus

-(@SetonHall-Rutgers[NJ]),

Sunday:

SanDiegoSt-@Washington, Mississippi-@Oregon, @Nebraska-Creighton(NE), @Massachusetts-FLGulfCoast(@SpringfieldMA), @Quinnipiac-Fairfield(CT)(CT6),

BB&T CLASSIC DblHdr @ WashingtonDC

-(@GeoWashington-Charlotte, @Georgetown-@Towson[DC/MD]),

BIG APPLE CLASSIC {DblHdr} @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/

-(Howard-NCCentral, {VirginiaSt}-{VirginiaUnion}[VA]),

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Monday week:

@Providence-@Brown(ProvidenceRI), @Harvard-BostonU(BostonMA), @Florida-Yale, @Hampton-MorganSt,

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Top 25 - 14 Dec 1 - [] Column

1. Kentucky (6-0) (@@CHAMPS) [rr4vLEDFORD]
   
2. Wisconsin (6-0) [v3:ATLANTIS]
   
3. Wichita State (3-0)
   
4. Arizona (6-0) [v3:MAUI]
   
5. Virginia (7-0) [2v2:BROOK-THANX]
   
6. Texas (6-0) [2v2:2KS]
   
7. Louisville (5-0) (@@ARMED) [rr4vGS-A]
   
8. Duke (7-0) (@@CHAMPS) [2v2:CVC]
   
9. Gonzaga (5-0) [2v2:NIT.T-O]
   
10. Villanova (6-0) [2v2:LEGENDS]
    
11. Miami(Florida) (7-0) [3:CHARLESTON]
    
12. West Virginia (7-0) [3:P.RICO]
    
13. Ohio State (4-0)
    
14. Kansas (5-1) [3:ORLANDO]
    
15. San Diego State (5-1)
    
16. Arkansas (6-0)
    
17. Illinois (6-0) [2v2:LVI-THANX]
    
18. Butler (5-1)
    
19. Seton Hall (5-0) [3:PARADISE]
    
20. Maryland (7-0) [2v2:CBE]
    
21. North Carolina (5-1)
    
22. Mississippi (5-1) [2v2:EMERALD]
    
23. Northern Iowa (7-0) [2v2:CANCUN]
    
24. TCU (7-0) [2v2:CORPUS.X]
    
25. Washington (6-0) [3:WL/ANAHEIM]
    

Honorable Mention:

Old Dominion (5-1), Oklahoma (4-2), St. John's (3-1), Purdue (5-1),

Indiana(5-1)/Eastern Washington(3-1)/SMU(4-3) [rr4HOOSIERS],

Oklahoma State (5-0) [2v2:LV-MAIN],

Colorado State (6-0) [v3:GREAT.AK],

Green Bay (3-1) [3:GULF.COAST],

Providence (6-1) [2v2:HALL.FAME],

Yale (3-1) [rr3@MABC],

Boise State (4-2) [2@LION],

Wofford (4-1) [rr3@CVCconsB],

Detroit (3-3) [2@LEGENDScons],

Georgia State (4-2) [rr3@CBEconsA],

Towson (4-1) [rr3@CBEconsB],

High Point (3-1) [rr3@RAINBOW].