20 Dec 7 - Minus Six

Volume XXV, No. 3 - 20 Dec 7 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Minus Six

Without their usual Sixth Man support for their home crowds (the "Cameron Crazies" in Durham,NC; home state support in Asheville,NC; or "home-away-from-home" support from the travelling Big Blue Nation), the three "young-but-GC-talented" teams (Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky) all showed their youth more than their GC-talent in losses this past week.
     The CHAMPIONS CLASSIC was originally slated to take place at the UNITED CENTER in Chicago,IL. That got changed to Indianapolis,IN. Then, it was decided it was best to split the double-header into two separate locations. So Duke hosted Michigan State at Cameron Indoor Stadium; but without no crowd, the MS-Spartans earned coach Tom Izzo's first-ever road win against the D-Blue Devils (75-@69). Meanwhile, Kansas showed poise to edge Kentucky (65-62 as the K-Wildcats only shot 3-for-21 on threes). Young North Carolina was the paper-favorite to win the MAUI INVITATIONAL (relocated from Lahaina,HI to Asheville,NC). Instead, the Tar Heels tripped in the final against Texas (@67-69 on Matt Coleman III's game-winner).

This year, the JIMMY V CLASSIC (also in Indianapolis,IN) had a better lineup than CHAMPIONS. Baylor was impressive in handling a strong Illinois team (82-69). Gonzaga got its strongest challenge so far in the young season, but outlasted a very good West Virginia team (87-82).
     The State Title showdown between Wisconsin and Marquette came down to a last-second free throw attempt, which was missed but put back at the buzzer by fJustin Lewis to give the M-Golden Eagles the @67-65 win over the Badgers. Kentucky lost its second game of the week in a disatrous "road" rout to lowly Georgia Tech (62-@79) as part of the HOLIDAY HOOPSGIVING event at STATE FARM ARENA in Atlanta,GA. Oregon played a couple of games in Omaha,NE (parlaying coach Dana Altman's connection from his previous stint at Creighton). Although they did beat Seton Hall (83-70), they fell to unheralded Missouri (75-83 despite 31p11r from xEugene Omoruyi).

Despite high hopes for this season, some Splaahworthy teams failed some early tests.
     Western Kentucky has started well, but it was the same-old same-old against "Big Brother" Louisville in this year's matchup as the L-Cardinals routed the Hilltoppers (@75-54). USC tripped against Connecticut (58-@61) inside the LEGENDS CLASSIC at the MOHEGAN SUN ARENA in Uncasville,CT. SUNB/Little Rock tripped against BIGS/Winthrop (75-80 despite 25p10a from 5-7 pMarkquis Nowell) inside the Louisville,KY "BUBBLE".

The BIG EAST/BIG 12 BATTLE got three matchups in - - all three were road "upsets". West Virginia won at Georgetown (80-@71); Villanova edged Texas (68-@64); and Oklahoma State upended Marquette (70-@62).
     In the one SEC/AMERICAN ALLIANCE matchup that was actually played, Houston handled South Carolina (@77-67).

"Baby Brother" Mercer followed up its Week One road win over "Big Brother" Georgia Tech (83-@78) with a Week Two (home) rout win over "Little Brother" Georgia State (@86-69). ("Elder Brother" Georgia wants no part of the M-Bears this year.)
     Little Rock edged rival Central Arkansas (@86-84 as pNowell[19p13a5r] starred) to retain the GOVERNOR'S I-40 CUP.

For the most part, the few round-robin tournaments that got in enough games to feel complete all ended with the host team winning a showcase. Only OVC/Jacksonville State pulled off the Unwelcome Guest win at the [SUNB/South Alabama]JAGUAR CLASSIC. In early conference play, Bowling Green took the lead in the MID-AMERICAN with a home win over Buffalo (@86-76 as gJustin Turner[33p3a] starred).

- - - - - -

The BIG EAST might yet salvage a 4-3 win over the BIG 12 despite Kansas' handling Creighton (Tuesday) if Xavier(over Oklahoma; Wednesday) and Butler(over Kansas State; Friday) both take care of business at home and Providence can come through with a road win at TCU (Wednesday).
     It could be 9-5 (or worse) for the BIG 10 over the ACC in this year's CHALLENGE (Tuesday-Wednesday) with expected road wins for Illinois over Duke and Michigan State over Virginia as well as Ohio State over Bluegrass-rival Notre Dame, and Maryland over Clemson with only Georgia Tech over Nebraska and Boston College over Minnesota to counter. Florida State hosting Indiana is no gimme. For pure entertainment, don't miss Iowa(cLuka Garza) hosting North Carolina(cGarrison Brooks) on Tuesday.
     (Now's not the year, but will we ever see a top-to-bottom MEAC/SWAC CHALLENGE? Somebody, please make this happen!)

I love to see local schools codifying regional rivalries. We need more associations like the Philadelphia Big Five. I know this year's, tough. We are still getting the CROSSROADS CLASSIC (Indiana/Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler) in two weeks; but the [IOWA] BIG FOUR CLASSIC double-header (Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa/Drake), the BEEHIVE CLASSIC double-header (four among BYU, Utah, Weber State/Southern Utah, Utah Valley/and now {Dixie State}), the NEO[NorthEast Ohio] CLASSIC double-header (Akron/Kent, Cleveland State/Youngstown State), and the CONNECTICUT SIX triple-header (Yale, Hartford, Fairfield/Quinnipiac, Central Connecticut State/Sacred Heart) all should be never-cancelled annual events.
     Bring back the [BLUEGRASS] BIG FOUR CLASSIC double-header (Indiana, Louisville/Notre Dame, Kentucky) or, better yet, make sure all four teams play each other every year. Bring back the ALL-MILITARY CLASSIC double-header (among Army-West Point/Navy, Air Force, VMI/The Citadel). How about a [WESTERN] NEW YORK BIG FOUR CLASSIC (Buffalo, St. Bonaventure, Canisius/Niagara).
     (Oh, how I wish they'd establish a "Baltimore Five" City Series [with Loyola{Maryland}, Maryland-Baltimore County, Towson, and Coppin State/Morgan State].)
     Good news is we are getting a brand new DAKOTA SHOWCASE round-robin event (Thursday-Saturday; among BIG SKY conferencemates, no less) with South Dakota State, South Dakota, North Dakota and North Dakota State all getting together at the SANFORD PENTAGON in Sioux Falls,SD. (Remember in the 1960s when Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest all would get together for their own BIG FOUR CLASSIC tournament before ACC play started for the year?)
     More, please!

Arizona State will have its hands full at home against still-impressive San Diego State (Thursday).
     Richmond is off to a hot start, but a tough week could cool it down: hosting Northern Iowa (Wednesday) and visiting West Virginia (Sunday).
     Iowa should have it all over arch-rival Iowa in this year's edition of the CY-HAWK series (Friday). Creighton should handle Nebraska at home in this year's State Title showdown (Friday). UCLA needs to regroup, but won't have it easy even at home against surprising Marquette (Friday).
     Kentucky could use a win against anybody at this point, but Bluegrass rival Notre Dame might not cooperate (Saturday). Illinois won't find host Missouri so inviting in this year's BRAGGIN' RIGHTS clash (Saturday). Expect Florida State to handle arch-rival Florida (Saturday). Tennessee's season finally gets going against Cincinnati (Saturday; although this doesn't officially count as part of the SEC/AMERICAN ALLIANCE).
     . . Even at home, the MAYOR'S CUP showdown with city-rival Tulsa won't be easy for host Oral Roberts (Saturday).

Some big conference matchups are in December this year.
     Baylor hosts tough Texas (Sunday).
     The OVC Wars get under way with Murray State hosts Austin Peay (Tuesday).

-- Ron

P.S. Look for the Official Invitation for the 14TH ANNUAL Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's College Football Bowl Season Pool) shortly. (DEADLINE: SATURDAY, 19-DECEMBER [7Pet].)

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Oregon-EaWashington,
BATTLE OF THE BAY 1Off on-campus
-(@NorfolkSt-Hampton[VA]),

Tuesday:

@MurraySt-AustinPeay, @Colorado-ColoradoSt(CO),

Tuesday-Wednesday:

ACC?[12-5;3]?/BIG 10?[5-12;3]? CHALLENGE on-campus)
[Wake Forest does not play. ; ]
-(Tue: @Iowa-NCarolina, Illinois-@Duke, @VirginiaTech-PennSt, @NotreDame-OhioSt(BG), @Minnesota-BostonCol, @MiamiFL-Purdue, @Rutgers-Syracuse;
   Wed: MichiganSt-@Virginia, Louisville-@Wisconsin, @FloridaSt-Indiana, @Michigan-NCState, @Nebraska-GeorgiaTech, @Northwestern-Pittsburgh, @Clemson-Maryland),

Tuesday-Thursday:

[J]DOLPHIN CLASSIC RndRob3 @ JacksonvilleFL/Jacksonville/
-(NewOrleans, @Jacksonville, Campbell, @{FLNational}),

Tuesday-Friday:

BIG 12[?-?]/BIG EAST[?-?] BATTLE on-campus - - BIG 12 leads 2-1
[; Connecticut does not play.]
-(@SetonHall-Baylor, @TexasTech-StJohns, @IowaSt-DePaul;
Villanova-@Texas, WVirginia-@Georgetown, @Marquette-OklahomaSt;
   Tue: @Kansas-Creighton;
   Wed: @Xavier-Oklahoma, @TCU-Providence;
   Fri: @Butler-KansasSt),

Tuesday-Saturday:

[D]BLUE DEVIL CLASSIC RndRob2 on-campus
-(@Duke, Elon, CharlestonSo, Howard, {Bellarmine}),

Tuesday-Sat 2 Jan:

(SEC[?0-0?]/AMERICAN[?0-0?] ALLIANCE on-campus - - AMERICAN leads 1-0
-(Houston-@SCarolina;
   Tue: @SMU-Vanderbilt;
   Tue 2 Jan: @WichitaSt-MississippiSt),

Wednesday:

@Richmond-NoIowa, @Washington-Seattle(SeattleWA), @UTValley-SoUtah(UT),

Thursday:

@ArizonaSt-SanDiegoSt,

Thursday-Saturday:

(new)SD-C DAKOTA SHOWCASE RndRob3 @ SiouxFallsSD/PENTAGON/
-(@SDState, @SDakota, NDakota, NDState),

Friday:

@Creighton-Nebraska(NE), @UCLA-Marquette, @Siena-StPeters, @SacredHeart-Hartford(CT)(CT6),
CY-HAWK SERIES 1Off on-campus
-(@Iowa-IowaSt[IA][BIG4]),

Saturday:

@Houston-Rice(HoustonTX), @Tennessee-Cincinnati, @FloridaSt-Florida(FL), @Kentucky-NotreDame(BG)(BIG4), @BYU-Utah(UT), @WeberSt-UtahSt(UT), @StJosephs-Temple(PhiladelphiaPA)(?BIG5?), @Drexel-LaSalle(PhiladelphiaPA), @SCUpstate-Winthrop(SC),
BRAGGIN' RIGHTS 1Off on-campus
-(Illinois-@Missouri),
(new)HOLIDAY HOOPSGIVING TrplHdr @ AtlantaGA/STATE_FARM/
-(LSU-SFlorida;
   Memphis-Auburn, MississippiSt-Dayton, Wofford-SFlorida),
BATTLE OF THE BOULEVARD 1Off on-campus
-(@Lipscomb-Belmont[NashvilleTN]),
[IC]FLAMES INVITAITONAL CoolDown1/1 RndRob2 on-campus
-(@CMichigan-Valparaiso; @ILChicago),
MAYOR'S CUP 1Off on-campus
-(@OralRoberts-Tulsa[TulsaOK]),

Sunday:

@Baylor-Texas(TX), Richmond-@WVirginia, @ILChicago-LoyolaIL(ChicagoIL), @BowlingGreen-WrightSt(OH), @CoppinSt-MDBaltimoreCo(BaltimoreMD), @SCUpstate-Winthrop(SC),

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Creighton-Marquette.

---

Top 25 - 20 Dec 7 - [] Column

[P.S. Don't forget: the PIGSKIN deadline is SAT 19-DEC (7Pet)!]

1. Gonzaga (3-0) [rr2:FT.MYERS] (:JIMMY.V)
2. Baylor (3-0) (:JIMMY.V)
3. Michigan State (5-0) (@CHAMPS)
4. Iowa (3-0)
5. Kansas (3-1) (:CHAMPS)
6. Villanova (4-1) [2:2K.E] (@BIG.E)
7. Illinois (3-1)
8. Duke (1-1)
9. Virginia (3-1)
10. Creighton (3-0)
11. Richmond (2-0) [rr2@K-W/BLUEGRASS]
12. Virginia Tech (4-0)
13. St. Louis (3-0) [rr2vSL/BILLKEN]
14. West Virginia (4-1) [3:nXOVER] (@BIG.E)
15. Houston (4-0) [rr2:SOUTHWEST] (vSEC)
16. Texas (4-1) [3@MAUI]
17. Louisville (4-0)
18. North Carolina (3-1)
19. Wisconsin (3-1)
20. Tennessee
21. Florida State (1-0)
22. Arizona State (3-1)
23. LSU (3-1)
24. Texas Tech (4-1)
25. San Diego State (3-0)

Honorable Mention:

Marquette (3-1) (vWI), Georgia Tech (1-2) (vHOOPSGVNG), Missouri (3-0),

Bowling Green (3-1),

Jacksonville State (3-2) [rr3@SA/JAGUAR].