15 Nov30 - Stellar Elusions

Volume XX, No. 4 - 15 Nov30 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Stellar Elusions

For Pageant Week, most of the big teams (and stars) avoided each other. On top of the separate vacation schedules, upsets aplenty denied the few high-profile matchups that were possibilities in the draws. As it turned out, we only had two Top-25 matchups on court all week (and one of them -- Little Rock's 64-@60 road win at Tulsa -- wouldn't have been considered one at the start of the season). Only Gonzaga's 73-70 endplay win over Connecticut (for third place at ATLANTIS) would also have been considered Top-25 a month ago. Instead, we got several early-round no-name upsets followed by championship-round dissappointing pairings.

The Mega-ACC won three more crowns (pushing its leading total to 6 overall). Unheraleded Syracuse led the way with its surprise win of the toughest draw, the BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS at Paradise Island, BAHAMAS; favored Gonzaga was edged out by Texas A&M (61-62) in the semifinals while the Orange squeaked by Connecticut (79-76) and then handled the Aggies (74-67) in the final. North Carolina cruised past Northwestern and Kansas State to take the CBE CLASSIC in Kansas City. Louisville rolled past St. Louis in the feature matchup of the BROOKLYN-THANKSGIVING-B INVITATIONAL at the BARCLAYS CENTER.
     The BIG EAST stepped up and took four tourneys (good for second overall). Xavier was best of all, winning the A/ORLANDO INVITATIONAL; favored Wichita State had a dreadful showing, dropping all three of its games (to USC and Alabama in endplays and to Iowa in a rout); meanwhile, the Musketeers pounded state-rival Dayton (90-61) in the final; (1BC Monmouth stirred the waters with a couple of B-Major upsets of Notre Dame and USC). (Despite losing its round-robin home game vs Belmont earlier, Marquette was declared the winner of the LEGENDS CLASSIC thanks to two squeak wins at the BARCLAYS CENTER over favored LSU (81-80; despite 21p20r7a from GC cBen Simmons) and in overtime over Arizona State in the final; LSU finished fourth after falling to N.C. State as well. Villanova wasn't challenged in the downgraded NIT SEASON TIP-OFF, beating Stanford and Georgia Tech at the BARCLAYS CENTER in Brooklyn. Creighton beat Rutgers (behind 28p7r from fCole Huff) and routed Massachusetts to take the LAS VEGAS-MAIN EVENT at the MGM GRAND.
     The BIG 12 won three times (tied for third overall). Kansas won the MAUI INVITATIONAL (including a 92-73 rout of disappointing UCLA and handling Vanderbilt in the final); favored Indiana tripped twice: 78-82 to Wake Forest and 69-72 to UNLV; Wake also took out UCLA (80-77) for third place. West Virignia emerged with the LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL crown after routing downgraded San Diego State (72-50) in the final at ORLEANS; favored California fell twice (58-72 to SDgoSt and then 90-94 to Richmond as cTerry Allen led UR with 34p12r); Little Rock (which earlier won @SDgoSt only played two games in the event). Iowa State routed Virginia Tech and handled Illinois to take the EMERALD COAST CLASSIC in Niceville, FL; disappointing UAB fell twice (to Ill and in overtime to VaTech).
     The BIG 10 won two more (tied for third overall). Michigan State took the crown in the loaded WOODEN LEGACY/ANAHEIM CLASSIC (winning 77-67 over disappointing Boise State behind another Player of the Year turn from tDenzel Valentine[32p6a9r;7/12 3s] and handling Providence despite 21p7a from pKris Dunn in one of the few games so far featuring two of this year's leading players); Arizona fell to Prov in the semis (despite 27p12r from cRyan Anderson) and then beat Boise for the second time this year (68-59); Evansville fell right away to Prov and wound up fifth. 4-0 Maryland was declared the winner of the CANCUN CHALLENGE with an 86-63 rout of Rhode Island (shooting 60 percent from the floor); 4-0 1BC South Dakota State had done all it could with two earlier road wins at TCU and a rout of Illinois State.
     South Carolina gave the SEC its lone win in the PARADISE JAM at St. Thomas, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS beating favored Tulsa (83-75) in the final. The AMERICAN's only moment came as Cincinnati edged giant-killer George Washington (61-56) in the final of the BROOKLYN-THANKSGIVING-A CLASSIC at the BARCLAYS CENTER. Oregon made the PAC-12 proud, completing its win at the GS-A SHOOTOUT (which included its earlier home win over Baylor).
     Despite performing well depth-wise, the MOUNTAIN WEST and ATLANTIC 10 came up empty on tournament crowns. The WEST COAST and MISSOURI VALLEY both had precious few wins overall let alone any crowns.

Among 1BCs, the surprisingly strong SOUTHERN won three tourneys. Mercer went 3-0 to take the round-robin CHALLENGE IN MUSIC CITY in Nashville as disappointing Stephen F. Austin was tripped by Tulane. Samford was the Unwelcome Guest winner of the MEAN GREAN SHOWCASE (including a squeak win over host North Texas). The Citadel has won the PALMETTO STATE SHOOTOUT (including beating host South Carolina Upstate).
     The HORIZON claimed its second win as Valparaiso as Unwelcome at the BEAVER HARDWOOD SHOWCASE (taking out host Oregon State).
     CONFERENCE USA won twice as well. Middle Tennessee emerged from the once-again 8-bracked GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT field as disappointing Loyola(Illinois) fell twice (to Toledo and to UNC-Asheville). UTEP emerged from the nondescript 2x4 CORPUS CHRISTI COASTAL CHALLENGE with a couple of endplay wins over Southern Illinois (despite 25p11r from cSean O'Brien) and in double-overtime over Colorado State (as gLee Moore had 28p4a).
     Weber State claimed a big crown for the BIG SKY, taking the 8-bracket GULF COAST SHOWCASE in Estero, FL; disapppointing Central Michigan dropped three decisions (to Weber, Western Kentucky and Milwaukee) to finish eighth.
     PATRIOT/Navy was Unwelcome at the SPARTAN SHOWCASE (including edging host UNC-Greensboro). OHIO VALLEY/Belmont was the same at the LEGENDS CLASSIC Consolation bracket (including routing host Kennesaw State).

- - - - - -

The BIG 10 has gotten off to a disappointing start overall (38-21 in key interconference matchups), especially compared to the Mega-ACC (44-17). This week's head-to-head challenge could be as bad as 8-4 (or worse) for the ACC as only Michigan State(vLouisville) and Iowa(vFloridaState) seem like sure winners; home court advantage gives the nod to North Carolina over Maryland and Duke over slumping Indiana.
     Cincinnati hosts Butler (Wednesday) is one of the higher profile editions of this clash. Gonzaga hosts Arizona in a regular season rematch of those two NCAA tourney rivals (Saturday) as both have already underperformed this year. Providence hosts a still dangerous Rhode Island (Saturday) in their annual State Title clash. Utah hosts BYU (Wednesday) for bragging rights as the state's best program this year. Don't expect much from disappointing Davidson (Sunday at North Carolina) or from struggling UCLA (Thursday vs Kentucky).

-- Ron

P.S. Look for the Official Invitation for the 9th Annual Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's College Football Bowl Season Pool) shortly.

Key games this week:

Monday:

PALMETTO STATE SHOOTOUT RndRob3/3 on-campus
-(@GeorgiaSo-{BobJones}, @SCUpstate-{ToccoaFalls}),

Monday-Wednesday:

ACC[10-4;2]/BIG 10[4-10;2] CHALLENGE on-campus
[GeorgiaTech does not play.]
-(Mon: @Minnesota-Clemson, @Rutgers-WakeForest;
   Tue: Maryland-@NCarolina, MiamiFL-@Nebraska, Virginia-@OhioSt, @Pittsburgh-Purdue, @NCState-Michigan, @VirginiaTech-Northwestern;
   Wed: @MichiganSt-Louisville, @Syracuse-Wisconsin, @Duke-Indiana, @Illinois-NotreDame, @Iowa-FloridaSt, @BostonCol-PennSt),

Tuesday:

THE HOLY WAR
-(Villanova-@StJosephs[PhiladelphiaPA][BIG5]),
HALL OF FAME-C INVITATIONAL RndRob4/4 on-campus
-(@Memphis-LouisianaTech),

Tuesday, Monday week:

BATTLE OF THE BOULEVARD-I RndRob2 on-campus
-(Tue: @Belmont-Lipscomb[NashvilleTN];
   Mon week: @Lipscomb-Belmont[NashvilleTN]),

Wednesday:

Gonzaga-@WashingtonSt(WA), @Cincinnati-Butler(BG), SMU-@TCU(Dallas/FtWorthTX), UTEP-@NewMexicoSt, @Connecticut-SacredHeart(CT), @Utah-BYU(UT), @Tulsa-OklahomaSt(OK), @LSU-NFlorida, @Buffalo-StBonaventure(NY)(BIG4), @NCA&T-UNCGreensboro(GreensboroNC), @Northeastern-Harvard(BostonMA),
CHARLESTON CLASSIC CoolDown1/1 on-campus
-(@Towson-GeoMason),

Wednesday-Sun 20 Dec:

MWC[2-1;1]/MVC[1-2;1] CHALLENGE on-campus -- MWC leads 3-1
[San Jose State does not play.]
-(Wed: @MissouriSt-UtahSt;
   Wed week: @WichitaSt-UNLV;
   Sat week: @Nevada-Drake;
   Wed 16 Dec: @IndianaSt-Wyoming;
   Sun 20 Dec: @BoiseSt-Bradley, @FresnoSt-Evansville),

Thursday:

Kentucky-@UCLA, @Valparaiso-Belmont,
@LAMonroe-Louisiana(LA),

Friday:

LAS VEGAS-DEC 1Off @ LasVegasNV /MGM/
-(Oregon-UNLV),

Saturday:

@Gonzaga-Arizona, NoIowa-@Richmond, Providence-@RhodeIsland(RI), @BYU-WeberSt(UT), @Dayton-NFlorida, @SanDiegoSt-@SanDiego(SanDiegoCA), @LoyolaIL-Creighton, @StephenFAustin-TexasSo(TX), @LaSalle-Drexel(PhiladelphiaPA), @TheCitadel-ColofCharleston(CharlestonSC), @UTValley-SoUtah(UT), @GardnerWebb-HighPt(NC),
MAYOR'S CUP on-campus
-(@Tulsa-OralRoberts[TulsaOK]),
GARDEN STATE CLASSIC on-campus
-(@Rutgers-SetonHall[NJ]),
HALL OF FAME-D-HOLIDAY SHOWCASE 1Off @ SpringfieldMA
-(@Massachusetts-Mississippi),

Sunday:

@NCarolina-Davidson(NC),
NYC-HOLIDAY FESTIVAL @ NewYorkNY /MSG/
-(@StJohns-@StFrancisNY[NewYorkNY]),

- - - - - -

Monday week:

(new)PEARL HARBOR INVITATIONAL DblHdr @ PearlHarborHI
-(Oklahoma-Villanova, Oregon-@Navy),

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Top 25 - 15 Nov30 - [] Column

1. Kentucky (6-0) [4rrvHOF-A] (@@CHAMPS)
   
2. Michigan State (7-0) [v3:WL/ANAHEIM] (@@CHAMPS)
   
3. Maryland (6-0) [2v2:CANCUN] (vBIGE)
   
4. Oklahoma (3-0)
   
5. Iowa State (5-0) [2v2:EMERALD]
   
6. Syracuse (6-0) [3:ATLANTIS]
   
7. Texas A&M (6-1)
   
8. Oregon (5-0) [rr5vGS-A]
   
9. Gonzaga (4-1)
   
10. Cincinnati (7-0) [2v2:BRK-T-A]
    
11. Northern Iowa (3-1)
    
12. Miami(Florida) (5-1) [3:P.RICO]
    
13. George Washington (6-1)
    
14. Providence (6-1)
    
15. North Carolina (5-1) [2v:@CBE]
    
16. Virginia (5-1) [3:CHARLESTON]
    
17. Duke (6-1) [2v2:2K]
    
18. Kansas (3-1) [3:MAUI]
    
19. Xavier (6-0) [3:A/ORLANDO]
    
20. West Virginia (5-0) [2v2:LVI-T]
    
21. Villanova (6-0) [2v2:NIT.T-O] (vBIG10)
    
22. Little Rock (3-0)
    
23. SMU (4-0)
    
24. South Carolina (6-0) [3:PARADISE]
    
25. UTEP (5-0) [2v2:CORPUS.X]
    

Honorable Mention:

UNLV (4-1)/Wake Forest (4-2), Northeastern (4-1), Southern California (5-2)/Alabama (4-2)/Iowa (4-2), Richmond (4-2), North Carolina State (4-2),

Marquette (4-2) [2v2:LEGENDS],
Weber State (3-2) [3:GULF.COAST],
Valparaiso (4-2) [2@BEAVER],
Creighton (5-1) [2v2:LV-MAIN],
Louisville (5-0) [rr3v:BRK-I-B],
Navy (5-2) [3@SPARTAN],
Mercer (5-1) [rr3:MUSIC],
Middle Tennessee (3-1) [3:GREAT.AK],
Samford (4-2) ,
Belmont (4-3) [2@LEGENDScons].