19 Dec 9 - Solid Ten

Volume XXIV, No. 6 - 19 Dec 9 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Solid Ten

The BIG 10 beat the ACC 8-6 in this year's head-to-head CHALLENGE (with a good Virginia Tech team sitting out). Three road wins for Ohio State dumping North Carolina (74-@49 only allowing one double-figure scorer), Northwestern thumping pumpkin Boston College (82-@64) and Iowa handling Syracuse (68-@54) were only countered twice by Duke's handling Michigan State (87-@75 as GC cVernon Carey Jr[26p11r] and pTre Jones[20p12a] both starred) and Miami(Florida) edging Illinois (81-@79). (All of the BIG 10's wins were solid; but it was nearly 9-5 if not for MiaFL>@Ill.) The best win of all belonged to the ACC as Louisville dumped Michigan (@58-43) while Purdue avenged last year's NCAA loss, dumping Virginia (@69-40) and Indiana thumped Florida State (@80-64 on bDevonte Green[30p6r]'s star turn). N.C. State handled slumping Wisconsin (@68-54).

The BIG EAST went up 4-1 in its new head-to-head CHALLENGE with the BIG 12 thanks to road wins by Marquette at Kansas State (73-@65) and Georgetown at Oklahoma State (81-@74 as Mac McClung[33p] dueled 29p6a6r from pLindy Waters III). DePaul edged Texas Tech in overtime (@65-60[OT]).
     Houston's road-rout at South Carolina put the AMERICAN up 1-0 over the SEC in their new fledgling head-to-head CHALLENGE.
     Three more home wins put the BIG SKY up 3-1 head-to-head against the SUMMIT.

At the HALL OF FAME/JERRY COLANGELO CLASSIC triple-header at TALKING STICK in Phoenix,AZ, Dayton knocked off St. Mary's (78-68), Liberty beat host Grand Canyon (70-@61) and St. Louis thumped Tulane (86-62 shooting 17-for-28 on three-pointers led by xHasahn French[18p11r5a]).
     Xavier won this year's CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT over Cincinnati (@73-66 as tNaji Marshall[31p8r] starred).
     Texas beat Texas A&M (@60-@50 only allowing one double-figure scorer) at LONE STAR SHOWDOWN in FtWorth,TX.
     Belmont edged Lipscomb (@80-75) to complete the sweep in this year's BATTLE OF THE BOULEVARD series.

St. Bonaventure gave the ATLANTIC 10 its fifth tournament win, claiming the BOCA RATON BEACH CLASSIC, taking out Florida Atlantic (71-@64) in the final (and dumping Hofstra [@73-45] in the cool-down).

In State Title grudge matches, Gonzaga beat host Washington (83-@76), host Rhode Island handled slumping Providence (@75-61 on pFatts Russell[28p8a5r]'s star turn) and Creighton thumped Nebraska (@95-76 on tMarcus Zegarowski[30p6a9r]'s star turn).
     New Mexico State earned a split with UTEP (@59-56) in their Border War series.

Elsewhere, the BIG 12 won two big games against PAC-12 opponents as Baylor edged Arizona (@63-58 only allowing 27 percent shooting) and Kansas handled Colorado (@72-58 only allowing one double-figure scorer). As expected, giant-killer Stephen F. Austin turned back into a pumpkin, falling at 4-4 Alabama (68-@78).
     Temple fell at home to Missouri (@54-64) while Florida fell at Butler (62-@76). SUMMIT/North Dakota State scored a big (home) win over SOCON/East Tennessee State (@78-68 despite 23p9r2a from tBo Hodges); disappointing BIG.W/UC-Irvine fell at home to still reclassifying WAC/{California Baptist} (@60-68 as fMilan Acquaah[26p7r] starred) and HORIZ/Wright State edged C-USA/Western Kentucky (@76-74 on Cole Gentry's game-winner).
     Cincinnati beat Vermont (@82-73 despite 16p11r7a from xAnthony Lamb).

- - - - - -

In early conference play, Virginia kept North Carolina in a funk, winning (@56-47). Michigan bounced back to outrun Iowa (@103-91 as six double-figure scorers countered 44p8r from fLuka Garza) while Duke handled nemesis Virginia Tech on the road (77-@63).

- - - - - -

The PAC-12 has two more Top-25 showdowns this week (this time at home) as Oregon hosts Michigan and Arizona hosts Gonzaga (both Saturday). Tennessee's State Title grudge match with visiting Memphis has a Top-25 sheen this year.
     Look for Louisville (over Texas Tech) and Indiana (over Connecticut) to win in the JIMMY V CLASSIC at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN in New York,NY. UC-Irvine should come out on top at the DON HASKIN/SUN BOWL INVITATIONAL past Kent State and host UTEP (Monday week-Tuesday week).
     Iowa has a shot on the road at Iowa State in this year's CY-HAWK SERIES matchup (Thursday). Baylor should win at home against a good Butler team (Tuesday) inside BIG 12/BIG EAST. Colorado has a shot on the road at Colorado State in their State Title showdown (Friday).
     Look for New Mexico State to pull off the road win at Denver (Tuesday) to tie up SUMMIT/WAC.

-- Ron

P.S. Don't forget: the deadline for this year's Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's free College Football Bowl Season Pool) is FRIDAY 20-DECEMBER (2Pet)!]

Key games this week:

Monday:

(None),

Tuesday:

@Temple-StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5), @Towson-MDBaltimoreCo(BaltimoreMD),
NYC-C JIMMY V CLASSIC DblHdr @ NewYorkNY /MSG/
-(Louisville-TexasTech, Indiana-Connecticut),

Tuesday, Sunday, Tuesday week:

SUMMIT[0-1]/WAC[1-0] CHALLENGE on-campus - - SUMMIT leads 3-2
[North Dakota does not play;
Seattle does not play.]
-(@NDState-UTValley, @GrandCanyon-PurdueFW, @CalStBakersfield-SDState, @{CalBaptist}-SDakota, @KansasCity-WeIllinois;
   Tue: @Denver-NewMexicoSt;
   Sun: @Omaha-TXRGValley;
   Tue week: @ChicagoSt-OralRoberts),

Tuesday, Tuesday week-Sunday week:

(new)BIG 12[0-0]/BIG EAST[0-0] BATTLE on-campus - - BIG EAST leads 4-1
-(@KansasSt-Marquette, @DePaul-TexasTech, @IowaSt-SetonHall, @StJohns-WVirginia, @OklahomaSt-Georgetown;
   Tue: @Baylor-Butler;
   Tue week: @Creighton-Oklahoma;
   Sat week: @Villanova-Kansas, @Providence-Texas;
   Sun week: @TCU-Xavier),

Wednesday:

(None),

Thursday:

CY-HAWK SERIES 1Off on-campus
-(@IowaSt-Iowa[IA][BIG4]),

Friday:

Colorado-@ColoradoSt(CO),

Saturday:

@Michigan-Oregon, @Kansas-@KansasCity(@ KansasCityMO /SPRINT/), Gonzaga-@Arizona, @Kentucky-GeorgiaTech, @Tennessee-Memphis(TN), @MichiganSt-@Oakland(MI), @NewMexico-NewMexicoSt(NM), @Cincinnati-Colgate, @Georgetown-Syracuse, Duquesne-Radford(@AkronOH), @Rice-HoustonBaptist(HoustonTX), @IUPUI-PurdueFW(IN),
BEEHIVE CLASSIC DblHdr @ SaltLakeCityUT /Utah/
-(@UtahSt-@BYU[UT], @Utah-@WeberSt[UT]),
MIKE SLIVE INVITATIONAL 1Off @ BirminghamAL
-(@Auburn-StLouis),
NEVER FORGET TRIBUTE CLASSIC DblHdr @ NewarkNJ /PRUDENTIAL/
-(Villanova-Delaware, KansasSt-MississippiSt),
SKIP PROSSER CLASSIC 1Off on-campus
-(@WakeForest-Xavier),
GARDEN STATE HARDWOOD CLASSIC 1Off on-campus
-(@Rutgers-SetonHall[NJ]),

Sunday:

@VCU-MissouriSt, @MDBaltimoreCo-CoppinSt(BaltimoreMD),

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Delaware-@DelawareSt(@WilmingtonDE),

Monday week-Tuesday week:

DON HASKINS/SUN BOWL INVITATIONAL Semis @ ElPasoTX /UTEP/
-(UCIrvine-KentSt, @UTEP-NCA&T),

Monday week-Saturday week:

SUMMIT[0-0;1]/BIG SKY[0-0;1] CHALLENGE on-campus - - BIG SKY leads 3-1
[Denver, Oral Roberts, Purdue-Ft. Wayne, South Dakota and Western Illinois all do not play;
Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah and Weber State all do not play.]
-(@Montana-NDakota, @EaWashington-NDakota, @MontanaSt-SDState, @Idaho-NDState;
   Mon week: @NDState-MontanaSt;
   Tue week: @EaWashington-Omaha;
   Sat week: @SDState-Idaho @Omaha-Montana).

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Top 25 - 19 Dec 9 - [] Column

[P.S. The PIGSKIN deadline is FRIDAY 20-DEC (2Pet)!]

1. Louisville (9-0) (vBIG10) [4rrvG.S]
2. Ohio State (9-0) (vOH) (vBIG.E) (@ACC) [3rrvBUCKEYE]
3. Maryland (10-0) (vACC) [v3:ORLANDO]
4. Michigan (8-1) (vBIG.E) [v3:ATLANTIS]
5. Duke (9-1) (@@CHAMPS) (@BIG10) [2v2:2K.E]
6. Kansas (6-1) [v3:MAUI]
7. Baylor (7-1) [3:MYRTLE.BCH]
8. Gonzaga (10-1) (@WA)
9. Dayton (7-1) (:HOF-F-AZ)
10. Indiana (7-1) (vACC) [4rrvI/HOOSIER]
11. Florida State (8-2) (@FL) [2v2vEMERALD]
12. Oregon (7-2) (vP.KNIGHT)
13. St. Mary's (8-2) [@@SACMTO]
14. Utah State (9-1) [v2:JAMAICA]
15. Kentucky (7-1) (@@CHAMPS) [4rrvK/W BBN]
16. Tennessee (7-1) (:HOF-B-CAN)
17. Washington (7-2) (:ARMED.F)
18. Marquette (7-2) (vBIG10) (@BIG12)
19. San Diego State (10-0) [2v2:LV-THANX]
20. Auburn (8-0) (:VETERANS) [2v2:LEGENDS]
21. Colorado (7-1) (@@P12.CHINA) [v2:LV-MAIN]
22. Arizona (9-1) [v3:WL/ANAHEIM]
23. Purdue (6-3) (vACC)
24. Virginia (8-1) [2v2:HALL.FAME]
25. Memphis (8-1) [:3rrvBROOK-T]

Honorable Mention:

Alabama (4-4),

St. Bonaventure (5-4) [2v2:BOCA.RATON].