Thanks to stupid softball I won't be able to watch the draft live (although I am tivo'ing with a hope for a live blog up by Monday) so I was going to do a mock draft. Then I got about 7 picks into it and got really bored. Instead of a whole mock, here are some things to watch for:
- How the Wolves screw up the #2 pick in a 2-player draft. Trade for Roy Hibbert? Trade with Kevin Love for Pau Gasol? Trade for Marcin Gortat? Draft some foreign player? Stay tuned, it's the most intriguing part of the draft.
- Utah to trade the #3 pick. This is a two player draft and the Jazz apparently can't come to a consensus on a player, so it makes sense for them to move backwards. If they don't, look for them to take Kanter.
- If they take Kanter, Toronto will start salivating at getting Knight at #5 since their current starting PG is Jose freaking Calderon. I would also expect Cleveland to get a ton of calls from teams looking to get that #4 pick, knowing the Cavs won't take Knight when they just took Irving. They aren't the T-Wolves for god's sake.
- How far with Jonas Valanciunas slip? I won't pretend to know anything about him, but he's supposed to be the best Euro this year (which, let's be honest, is a little like being the most honorable Lannister - or the least douchiest Blue Devil if you prefer your analogies less nerdy). But Chad Ford has been reporting lately that there are some issues with his buyout from commiesylvania which may cause him to slip. Personally I'm betting, if the pick isn't traded, that the Cavs take him in kind of a "we already have our sure thing in Irving, let's go for the home run" mode. A move I'd applaud if I gave a crap about Cleveland.
- Steals: Kemba Walker (anybody who can carry a team the way he did can adjust his game to make it in the NBA), Tristan Thompson (already can rebound and play defense at an NBA level), Marshon Brooks (one of the best scorers in the draft), Kenneth Faried (will make an impact immediately), Tobias Harris (best chance at becoming an all-star someday out of the late 1st round types), and Trey Thompkins (just needs polish).
- Busts: Kawhi Leonard (way too tweenery, not enough skill to overcome it), Jan Vesesly (girls name), Jimmer Fredette (future And 1 all-star), Iman Shumpert (completely boggled that he's a mid-first round pick, basically a slower T.J. Ford), Nikola Vucevic (yes, let's take the slow, white, 7-footer - that always works out), and Demetri McCamey (wherever he's taken in the NBDL draft it will be too soon).
- My biggest hope for the Wolves - other than they just take Williams at #2 - is that they find a way to trade the #20 pick, either for a future #1, a veteran and not terrible C or SG, or both. The one team I've seen mentioned a couple of times as looking for a pick in the 20s is the Cavaliers, and although they're pretty barren when it comes to SGs they do have a few big men who are probably expendable since they have a bunch of young guys they probably want to give an extensive tryout to - Antawn Jamison (yuck) and Anderson Varejao (I can see this). I feel like Varejao's constantly running motor, fundamental hustle, and excellent defense would fit on this team very well, and on a team as young as the Wolves getting a guy like him might be worth the #20 pick since they don't really have room for any more mediocre young dudes. I don't know how the whole salary thing works and I have no idea if the Cavs would have any interest in trading him, but I'd be down. Assuming he's not hurt or something. I don't pay nearly enough attention to the NBA to know everything.
- Apropos of nothing I'm talking about, but you can never trust a pitcher with a stripper's name, eh Madison Bumgarner?
And a few college hoop notes before I go:
- The early scouting reports and some excellent video shot by gopherhole poster jmag21 are in, and it sounds like Oto Osenieks is going to rank on the white boy scale somewhere between Blake Hoffarber and Dirk Nowitzki. There's no doubt that jumper is silky smooth and looks to be accurate so far, so even if he never learns to play defense or rebound he'll be pretty close to Blake, and at 6-8, 205 lbs. I'm not exactly expecting him to put on a rebounding clinic, but I'm officially intrigued. My only real hope is that he isn't just some tall skinny white dork who hangs out around the three point line all day. I mean, that might be fine during his freshman year, but he needs to progress and get better. Since that's something Tubby has excelled at since his arrival here I feel good about Oto's chances.
- Speaking of white three-point shooters, Ricky Kreklow is transferring from Missouri. There was at least some mutual interest there (like between me and your mom) when he was going through the recruiting process the first time. I don't know if anybody has any interest on either side this time around, but the dude can shoot so I'm interested, and I'd like to go ahead and just throw his name out there so on the off chance he ends up a Gopher I can point out how smart I am.
- Lastly, if you thought it was going to be difficult for the Gophers to sign Tyus Jones things just got more difficult when Jones made the U-16 team as the starting point guard, which vaulted him to #1 PG in his class status, if he wasn't there already. ESPN already ranks him the #1 PG for 2014 and the #9 recruit overall, and he's got Ohio State, North Carolina, Washington, UCLA, Pitt, and Michigan State after him, amongst others, although let's be honest it doesn't really matter - he can basically write his own ticket anywhere. So why would he pick the Gophers? I can't really come up with anything. The best I can do is loyalty, but I think that really only extends to fans and dogs.
We can only hope.and wait at this point. Plus we have a saying around here, "Let Shelbyville handle it."
Showing posts with label Kemba Walker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kemba Walker. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Week in Review - 04.04.2011
The Final Four and opening weekend of baseball at the same time? It's almost too much goodness. If only there was some way to move the Masters up, although I suppose that would be overload a bit. I was a bit bummed by the Final Fours games, only because even though they were close games and entertaining they were kind of boring each time. Game 1 had both underdog cinderellas while game two had both evil superpower cheaters (although Kentucky/Calipari is far worse, obviously). No real good narrative to be written for either game. It's kind of like if Duke played the Yankees, other than rooting for a disaster, natural or otherwise, who would you root for? At least tonight's championship sets up pretty nicely, although I won't be pissed no matter who wins which kind of takes some of the fun out of it. My picks will be given below. I'm hot, baby. 2-0 on game bets and 7-3-1 on player props in the semis. Take notes, kiddos.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Clay Kershaw. Oooh baby. It begins. I've been waiting on Kershaw since I saw him pitch his first ever game a few years ago and maybe this is the year. He's been very good the last two seasons, registering ERAs under three with more than a strikeout per inning both in both years, but still hasn't had that breakthrough, I'm a #1 ace Cy Young candidate and everyone can just get out of the way because I'm unhittable type of season yet. He got off to a good start, assuming that's his goal, on opening day by pitching the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the Tim Lincecum and the World Champion Giants, going 7 shut-out innings with 9 strikeouts and allowing just 4 hits and a walk. He's always been tough to hit and if he can keep his walks down like that he's going to finally win that Cy Young I've been predicting for three years.
2. Kemba Walker. Outside of Shelvin Mack's little solo mini-run of points in the VCU/Butler game no single player really jumped out at me for his performance, but this seems like a nice place to honor the incredible run Walker has been on, particularly since he put up 18 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished 7 assists in UCONN's win over Kentucky and it seemed like an off game for him - that's saying a lot. He just does whatever they need and can will them to victory. If they need him to score, he scores (33 vs. Cincy and 36 vs. San Diego State), but if they need him to play the role of distributor he does that too (12 assists against Bucknell, 7 in each of the last two games). He's also averaging over 5 rebounds per game, has gone 38-42 from the free throw line, and is averaging less than 3 turnovers per game which is pretty amazing when you think about how often he has the ball in his hands. It's truly been a remarkable year for him this entire season, and it wouldn't remotely be offensive to me if he takes down the championship, even if Calhoun is a sleazeball.
3. Baltimore Orioles. Perhaps Baltimore's young pitching is going to pay dividends faster than expected (or perhaps the Rays offense is in serious trouble without Evan Longoria who is out for three weeks after getting sore having sex with so many chicks because he's a machine), but they shut down the Rays this weekend and got the O's off to a 3-0 start for the first time since I'm going to assume the 1970s. First Jeremy Guthrie (who's actually old) pitched 8 scoreless innings in the opener. Then Chris Tillman pitched six hitless innings in game two, and then in the third game of the series Zach Britton made his major league debut and gave up just one run through six, helping complete the O's sweep of Tampa. I don't know if this is more indicative of the strength of Baltimore or the weakness of Tampa, but for now at least I choose to believe maybe Baltimore is back, if only a little bit. The world just seems a little brighter when there's a good team playing in Camden Yards.
4. Nelson Cruz. For a long time I dismissed Nelson Cruz as being any good, mainly because his name is Nelson. Also because he's a Ranger and the Rangers are super lame-o. I think, however, it's time to rethink that stance because he's apparently decided that his new thing is going to be destroying baseballs, which he did three times in three games over the weekend as the Rangers obliterated Red Sox pitching (more on that later) with Cruz and Kinsler becoming the first pair of teammates to ever each homer in the season's first three games. Hard to believe Hrbek and Brunansky never pulled that off, but whatever. It seems like Texas might actually be a good team, which goes against everything I believe in. Like church.
5. Joakim Soria. MEXICUTIONER!!!! Want to know how good this guy is and how dependent on him the KC bullpen is? The Royals have played three games this year and he's pitched in all three of them. He's picked up a win, a save, and given up zero runs. It is a bit curious that he doesn't have a strikeout yet this year in three innings despite having a career average of more than 1 K per inning, but I assume he's either realized strikeouts are fascists and doesn't want to promote an oppressive political ideology or he's bored of dominating for such a crappy team and has just been screwing around out there and may or may not being throwing every third pitch left-handed. In any case this guy is straight dominant, and the fact that he doesn't want to be called the Mexicutioner makes it all the more better to call him that.
WHO SUCKED
1. Minnesota Twins. The 1-2 start doesn't particularly bother me because it was on the road against a pretty good Blue Jay team, and even the dismal offense and subpar pitching performances aren't what's currently grinding my gears. It's the god damn stupid plays, the kind of stuff "Twins Baseball" doesn't consist of if you ask any retarded national journalist or announcer. Where to begin? The obvious Nishioki errors or the inability to get runs home when they're in scoring position with two outs? The lack of hustle by Span in center field which allowed a runner to tag from first to second on a medium deep fly ball and later turned a double into a triple when he loafed after a gapper? Valencia getting thrown out at home by five feet on a play where he had zero reason to even attempt to score? How about the way too many walks to bottom of the order opponents?
And want to move it into the dugout? What the hell was the deal with pinch-running for both Morneau and Kubel in the 8th in Sunday's game? Taking two of your best hitters out of a 1-run game for a speed upgrade and basically guaranteeing yourself a loss if we hit extras? Even worse than that though was letting Drew Butera hit in a 1-run game with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two outs in the 8th when you have Joe Mauer sitting on your bench. Absolutely pathetic. You're telling me that your best player and a guy you pay $23 million a year to can't get off his ass for one at-bat and two innings of playing catcher? Just completely gutless and pathetic, and I don't know if I'm more mad at Mauer or Gardenhire, but every game counts you assholes. Some of these decisions are the kind you'd make if you were actively trying to lose the game. Manager of the year, folks. Manager of the year.
I do not like the way this season is going already. I know it's early, and if I was ranting about the hitting or pitching or a specific players early struggles I'd be an overreacting moron, and I'm sure they're out there. But what I'm saying is there is something off about this team and they are playing stupid and Gardy's managing is worse than usual. I'm afraid we're destined for a third place finish. At least they won't get swept by the Yankees in the playoffs this year.
2. Boston Red Sox. Yikes. I'm not a Boston fan at all, and although I have Lester, Buchholz, and Papelbon in fantasy I also have a wager on them under 95.5 wins so I'm kind of conflicted about their fortunes. Who isn't conflicted is any Texas Ranger hitter, because they battered the shit out of anybody Boston trotted out to the mound. Jon Lester: 5 ips, 5 runs, 3 homers allowed. "Closer of the future" Daniel Bard: allowed 4 runs and got two outs. Jon Lackey: allowed 9 runs and 10 hits in less than 4 innings. Clay Buchholz: gave up four dongs in six innings, and even when they brought in Papelbon to stop the bleeding he gave up a run and was lucky to escape with just that solitary mark against him. This, my friends, was a thorough, thorough ass-whipping, and if I didn't own those three dickfors I'd have thoroughly enjoyed it.
3. Fausto Carmona. When you're a moribund franchise going through a moribund period in your moribund existence and you really only have one or two bright spots, even if the bright side of one of those bright spots is that you might be trading him soon, it really sucks when he gets lit for 11 hits and 10 runs in just three innings. Eleven hits. Ten runs. Three innings. And this is from one of only three players you'd even consider league average (maybe four if you count set up guys - Rafael Perez). You want to know what this baseball season is going to be like in Cleveland? It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's going to last you for the rest of your life. And the Twins will probably go .500 against them.
4. DeAndre Liggins. Ok, so he's a pretty insignificant player overall but he's also a starter on a Final Four team and, if you follow me on Twitter, you know he made me some money this weekend so I'm sticking him here. When they were announcing players in the starting lineup before the game they showed his face and let's just say "deer in headlights" doesn't quite cover it, it was more like had been caught having sex with a tree - a male tree. So I checked the line on him and he was OVER/UNDER 13.5 points+rebounds so I slapped down some money on the under, and bingo - four points (on 1-7 shooting) and 0 rebounds later I had a little extra to blow on booze. So thank you Deadre Liggins, and thank you sportsbook for still accepting prop bets that close to tip off. I'll be paying attention to the announcements tonight, that's for sure.
5. John Axford. This guy may be awesome at having a mustache, but he sucks at pitching (in case you have no idea who this is, he's the closer for Milwaukee with the sweet stache pictured below). Axelford pitched twice this week against the Reds and, possibly because he wanted to fit in with the rest of the Brewers' staff, he got lit up. His first time out was opening day and he entered with the Crew winning 6-3. A couple hits, a sac fly, and a 3-run bomb later and Milwaukee (and Axelrod) was 0-1. Then he got another turn on the hill on Sunday, this time in a game the Brewers were already losing 12-3, and gave up a couple of hits before being lifted for Kameron freaking Loe, some dork who doesn't spell either his first or last name correctly so that can't be good. This is a pretty big deal for Milwaukee since with their lineup and starting pitching their looking to make a run at a division title. If Axnard is just a slimmer, better mustachioed version of Bobby Jenks they're basically screwed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I meant to have some info/report on the McDonald's game, but I didn't have a chance to watch it yet. Still have it on Tivo though, so I'll probably have some notes or something later this week or maybe for next week's Week in Review. Or not. I don't know. I'm tired.
For tonight's big game I'm on Butler +3.5 and the over 128.5, both for 3 units. I don't know who wins this game, but I think it's going to be close so I'm grabbing the points. I also think Brade Stevens is probably the best coach in college basketball so I'm sure he'll figure out how to take Kemba out of the game and make the other guys beat him and I don't think they can. I'm going with the over because 129 is really not that many points and these are two teams that can play pretty efficiently. This just doesn't seem like a game where both teams are going to be in the low-60s.
Unfortunately it doesn't appear player props are up yet, which sucks and is also kind of weird. I will be sure to post what I'm going to play once it pops up, just because I want to make sure you make money. I am so giving sometimes it actually hurts. Now I know what Jesus felt like.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Clay Kershaw. Oooh baby. It begins. I've been waiting on Kershaw since I saw him pitch his first ever game a few years ago and maybe this is the year. He's been very good the last two seasons, registering ERAs under three with more than a strikeout per inning both in both years, but still hasn't had that breakthrough, I'm a #1 ace Cy Young candidate and everyone can just get out of the way because I'm unhittable type of season yet. He got off to a good start, assuming that's his goal, on opening day by pitching the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the Tim Lincecum and the World Champion Giants, going 7 shut-out innings with 9 strikeouts and allowing just 4 hits and a walk. He's always been tough to hit and if he can keep his walks down like that he's going to finally win that Cy Young I've been predicting for three years.
2. Kemba Walker. Outside of Shelvin Mack's little solo mini-run of points in the VCU/Butler game no single player really jumped out at me for his performance, but this seems like a nice place to honor the incredible run Walker has been on, particularly since he put up 18 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished 7 assists in UCONN's win over Kentucky and it seemed like an off game for him - that's saying a lot. He just does whatever they need and can will them to victory. If they need him to score, he scores (33 vs. Cincy and 36 vs. San Diego State), but if they need him to play the role of distributor he does that too (12 assists against Bucknell, 7 in each of the last two games). He's also averaging over 5 rebounds per game, has gone 38-42 from the free throw line, and is averaging less than 3 turnovers per game which is pretty amazing when you think about how often he has the ball in his hands. It's truly been a remarkable year for him this entire season, and it wouldn't remotely be offensive to me if he takes down the championship, even if Calhoun is a sleazeball.
3. Baltimore Orioles. Perhaps Baltimore's young pitching is going to pay dividends faster than expected (or perhaps the Rays offense is in serious trouble without Evan Longoria who is out for three weeks after getting sore having sex with so many chicks because he's a machine), but they shut down the Rays this weekend and got the O's off to a 3-0 start for the first time since I'm going to assume the 1970s. First Jeremy Guthrie (who's actually old) pitched 8 scoreless innings in the opener. Then Chris Tillman pitched six hitless innings in game two, and then in the third game of the series Zach Britton made his major league debut and gave up just one run through six, helping complete the O's sweep of Tampa. I don't know if this is more indicative of the strength of Baltimore or the weakness of Tampa, but for now at least I choose to believe maybe Baltimore is back, if only a little bit. The world just seems a little brighter when there's a good team playing in Camden Yards.
4. Nelson Cruz. For a long time I dismissed Nelson Cruz as being any good, mainly because his name is Nelson. Also because he's a Ranger and the Rangers are super lame-o. I think, however, it's time to rethink that stance because he's apparently decided that his new thing is going to be destroying baseballs, which he did three times in three games over the weekend as the Rangers obliterated Red Sox pitching (more on that later) with Cruz and Kinsler becoming the first pair of teammates to ever each homer in the season's first three games. Hard to believe Hrbek and Brunansky never pulled that off, but whatever. It seems like Texas might actually be a good team, which goes against everything I believe in. Like church.
5. Joakim Soria. MEXICUTIONER!!!! Want to know how good this guy is and how dependent on him the KC bullpen is? The Royals have played three games this year and he's pitched in all three of them. He's picked up a win, a save, and given up zero runs. It is a bit curious that he doesn't have a strikeout yet this year in three innings despite having a career average of more than 1 K per inning, but I assume he's either realized strikeouts are fascists and doesn't want to promote an oppressive political ideology or he's bored of dominating for such a crappy team and has just been screwing around out there and may or may not being throwing every third pitch left-handed. In any case this guy is straight dominant, and the fact that he doesn't want to be called the Mexicutioner makes it all the more better to call him that.
WHO SUCKED
1. Minnesota Twins. The 1-2 start doesn't particularly bother me because it was on the road against a pretty good Blue Jay team, and even the dismal offense and subpar pitching performances aren't what's currently grinding my gears. It's the god damn stupid plays, the kind of stuff "Twins Baseball" doesn't consist of if you ask any retarded national journalist or announcer. Where to begin? The obvious Nishioki errors or the inability to get runs home when they're in scoring position with two outs? The lack of hustle by Span in center field which allowed a runner to tag from first to second on a medium deep fly ball and later turned a double into a triple when he loafed after a gapper? Valencia getting thrown out at home by five feet on a play where he had zero reason to even attempt to score? How about the way too many walks to bottom of the order opponents?
And want to move it into the dugout? What the hell was the deal with pinch-running for both Morneau and Kubel in the 8th in Sunday's game? Taking two of your best hitters out of a 1-run game for a speed upgrade and basically guaranteeing yourself a loss if we hit extras? Even worse than that though was letting Drew Butera hit in a 1-run game with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two outs in the 8th when you have Joe Mauer sitting on your bench. Absolutely pathetic. You're telling me that your best player and a guy you pay $23 million a year to can't get off his ass for one at-bat and two innings of playing catcher? Just completely gutless and pathetic, and I don't know if I'm more mad at Mauer or Gardenhire, but every game counts you assholes. Some of these decisions are the kind you'd make if you were actively trying to lose the game. Manager of the year, folks. Manager of the year.
I do not like the way this season is going already. I know it's early, and if I was ranting about the hitting or pitching or a specific players early struggles I'd be an overreacting moron, and I'm sure they're out there. But what I'm saying is there is something off about this team and they are playing stupid and Gardy's managing is worse than usual. I'm afraid we're destined for a third place finish. At least they won't get swept by the Yankees in the playoffs this year.
2. Boston Red Sox. Yikes. I'm not a Boston fan at all, and although I have Lester, Buchholz, and Papelbon in fantasy I also have a wager on them under 95.5 wins so I'm kind of conflicted about their fortunes. Who isn't conflicted is any Texas Ranger hitter, because they battered the shit out of anybody Boston trotted out to the mound. Jon Lester: 5 ips, 5 runs, 3 homers allowed. "Closer of the future" Daniel Bard: allowed 4 runs and got two outs. Jon Lackey: allowed 9 runs and 10 hits in less than 4 innings. Clay Buchholz: gave up four dongs in six innings, and even when they brought in Papelbon to stop the bleeding he gave up a run and was lucky to escape with just that solitary mark against him. This, my friends, was a thorough, thorough ass-whipping, and if I didn't own those three dickfors I'd have thoroughly enjoyed it.
3. Fausto Carmona. When you're a moribund franchise going through a moribund period in your moribund existence and you really only have one or two bright spots, even if the bright side of one of those bright spots is that you might be trading him soon, it really sucks when he gets lit for 11 hits and 10 runs in just three innings. Eleven hits. Ten runs. Three innings. And this is from one of only three players you'd even consider league average (maybe four if you count set up guys - Rafael Perez). You want to know what this baseball season is going to be like in Cleveland? It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's going to last you for the rest of your life. And the Twins will probably go .500 against them.
4. DeAndre Liggins. Ok, so he's a pretty insignificant player overall but he's also a starter on a Final Four team and, if you follow me on Twitter, you know he made me some money this weekend so I'm sticking him here. When they were announcing players in the starting lineup before the game they showed his face and let's just say "deer in headlights" doesn't quite cover it, it was more like had been caught having sex with a tree - a male tree. So I checked the line on him and he was OVER/UNDER 13.5 points+rebounds so I slapped down some money on the under, and bingo - four points (on 1-7 shooting) and 0 rebounds later I had a little extra to blow on booze. So thank you Deadre Liggins, and thank you sportsbook for still accepting prop bets that close to tip off. I'll be paying attention to the announcements tonight, that's for sure.
5. John Axford. This guy may be awesome at having a mustache, but he sucks at pitching (in case you have no idea who this is, he's the closer for Milwaukee with the sweet stache pictured below). Axelford pitched twice this week against the Reds and, possibly because he wanted to fit in with the rest of the Brewers' staff, he got lit up. His first time out was opening day and he entered with the Crew winning 6-3. A couple hits, a sac fly, and a 3-run bomb later and Milwaukee (and Axelrod) was 0-1. Then he got another turn on the hill on Sunday, this time in a game the Brewers were already losing 12-3, and gave up a couple of hits before being lifted for Kameron freaking Loe, some dork who doesn't spell either his first or last name correctly so that can't be good. This is a pretty big deal for Milwaukee since with their lineup and starting pitching their looking to make a run at a division title. If Axnard is just a slimmer, better mustachioed version of Bobby Jenks they're basically screwed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I meant to have some info/report on the McDonald's game, but I didn't have a chance to watch it yet. Still have it on Tivo though, so I'll probably have some notes or something later this week or maybe for next week's Week in Review. Or not. I don't know. I'm tired.
For tonight's big game I'm on Butler +3.5 and the over 128.5, both for 3 units. I don't know who wins this game, but I think it's going to be close so I'm grabbing the points. I also think Brade Stevens is probably the best coach in college basketball so I'm sure he'll figure out how to take Kemba out of the game and make the other guys beat him and I don't think they can. I'm going with the over because 129 is really not that many points and these are two teams that can play pretty efficiently. This just doesn't seem like a game where both teams are going to be in the low-60s.
Unfortunately it doesn't appear player props are up yet, which sucks and is also kind of weird. I will be sure to post what I'm going to play once it pops up, just because I want to make sure you make money. I am so giving sometimes it actually hurts. Now I know what Jesus felt like.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
NCAA Basketball: Thanksgiving Tournament Wrap
A hell of a lot of good basketball just wrapped up with the pre-Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving tournaments the last two weeks, so much so that it would be easy to miss some of the important stuff, especially with all the drinking and eating and football watching and generally being a complete moron doing really stupid stuff going on. So I'm here to help. Tournament by tournament, here's what you need to know:
PUERTO RICO TIP OFF
Championship: Minnesota Gophers over West Virginia Mountaineers
Biggest positive: Minnesota. I wasn't really sure where they'd fall in the Big Ten pecking order. Somewhere in the middle, likely, but towards the top of that middle or towards the bottom? Well, wins over three potential tournament teams help answer that and push the Gophers towards the top of the conference.
Biggest negative: North Carolina Tar Heels. A year after the worst season for UNC in recent memory, the Tar Heels started this year with a lot of positivity and a lofty #8 ranking the country, but losses to both Minnesota and Vanderbilt show that this team isn't quite there yet. A loss to one or the other could be shrugged off, since both are possible NCAA Tournament teams, but losses to both sends up a bit of a red flag.
Also of note: Davidson 64, Western Kentucky 51. This game, as well as WKU's narrow 2-point win over Hofstra, say that the Hilltoppers aren't going to be making the NCAA Tournament as at at-large.
NIT SEASON TIP OFF
Championship: Tennessee Volunteers over Villanova Wildcats
Biggest positive: Tennessee. All their losses from last season had me convinced they were badly overrated and would be in the NIT at best this year, and then all the Bruce Pearl nonsense solidified that thought for me. Turns out their better than I gave them credit for, and the combination of super freshman Tobias Harris on the inside and dynamic scorers Cameron Tatum and Scotty Hopson on the wings is looking like enough to drive the Vols to success.
Biggest negative: Wake Forest Demon Deacons. "Wait, I didn't see them in New York" is what you might be saying, and you're right, but that's because they got bounced out of the qualifying round - the "gimme" round held on their home floor. Of course they also drew Virginia Commonwealth who was probably the favorite to come out of that region, but it just confirms that this is going to be a dark, dark year in Winston-Salem. If this loss to VCU (by 21, if I didn't mention it) doesn't cement it, the earlier loss to Stetson and subsequent loss to Winthrop (both also at home) are pretty big clues. But the biggest clue? Iowa was favored over them in their ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup tonight, and the game was at Wake.
Also of note: VCU 89, UCLA 85. Not content with just getting to New York, VCU then went ahead and beat UCLA to nab a third-place finish. That's going to go a long way in getting the Colonial multiple bids this year.
COACHES VS CANCER CLASSIC
Championship: Pitt Panthers over Texas Longhorns
Biggest positive: Texas. Last year the Longhorns had all the talent in the world, were ranked #1 at one point, and then death spiraled down and didn't even receive an NCAA bid. This year saw a lot of turnover, and I'm not sure anybody really knew what to expect, as usual with a Rick Barnes team. Beating Illinois and then hanging right with Pitt before losing by two shows they have some talent, it's just a matter of if they put it all together.
Biggest negative: Cory Joseph. In the two games in New York, Joseph shot just 3-13, including 0-4 from three, with 5 assists and 3 turnovers, and threw up a ridiculous shot at the end of the final with the Longhorns down two when he thought he had been fouled in an attempt to get to free throw line. The ref disagreed, and he threw away Texas's chance to win.
Also of note: Maryland Terrapins. They went 0-2 in New York, but they weren't expected to win either game. Losing to Pitt by nine and to Illinois by four bodes well for the Terps' chances in ACC play.
MAUI INVITATIONAL
Championship: Connecticut Huskies over Kentucky Wildcats
Biggest positive: Kemba Walker. Coming into this tournament nobody was really sure what to make of UCONN. Sure, they'd be a middle of the road Big East team most likely, but where would that really put them in the overall pecking order? Well, Walker carried them on his back to the title here with games of 31, 30, and 29 points, and made sure everybody knew that he was good enough, and had enough talent around him, to make the Huskies a threat.
Biggest negative: Oklahoma Sooners. Eesh. The Sooners looked decent in their opener, hanging with Kentucky, but completely fell apart from there. First, they lost by 18 to a terrible Virginia squad who just go rolled by Washington by 40+, then they lost to Chaminade, the little host school who had won just five times in the 26 years prior of the tournament's existence. Not only did they go down, but they went down bickering amongst themselves. This is going to be a long year in Norman.
Also of note: Wichita State goes 2-1, but leaves disappointed after blowing their opening round game against UCONN, a game they led by four with just four minutes to go. It would end up being the only resume-building opportunity the Shockers would get, matching up against Virginia and Chaminade in their final two. That could hurt come Selection Sunday.
CBE CLASSIC
Championship: Duke Blue Devils over Kansas State Wildcats
Biggest positive: Duke. I have no idea how anybody is going to beat this team. Marquette tried to go small to match Duke's quickness and whichever Plumlee it was destroyed them inside, then K-State tried to run with them and Duke ran 'em out of the gym. They are good inside (Plumlees), have great guards (Nolan Smith, the unguardable Kyrie Irving), and have dead-eye shooters who you can't leave to go help (Andre Dawkins, Seth Curry). And that's all without bothering to mention the ACC pre-season player of the year in Kyle Singler. Look out, because they have a chance to go undefeated. No, I'm not crazy.
Biggest negative: Duke. The exact paragraph I just wrote is actually more of a negative because I, and everybody with a soul, hates Duke.
Also of note: Gonzaga 66, Marquette 63. Marquette lost both games in Kansas City, first to Duke by five and then this one to the Zags by 3. Though those are both big missed opportunities, they also signal that for the second straight year a down year in Marquette might not be as down as we think.
OLD SPICE CLASSIC
Championship: Notre Dame Fighting Irish over Wisconsin Badgers
Biggest positive: Notre Dame. The Irish picked up two wins over NCAA caliber teams, beating both the Badgers for the title and Georgia in the opening round. It's very likely Temple and Texas A&M were the only other teams to even pick up one in Orlando.
Biggest negative: Temple. As noted, the Owls did pick up a win over Georgia that looks good, but losses to both Cal and Texas A&M are huge negatives. A&M might be a bubble team, so that one will hurt, and Cal is likely to be a bottom of the barrel Pac-10 team while the Pac-10 is likely to be a bottom of the barrel conference. The Owls were supposed to be the class of the A-10, but they sure didn't play like it.
Also of note: Notre Dame 58, Wisconsin 51. The Badgers came into Orlando with a chance to pick up some nice victories, but Boston College's win over Texas A&M took that game off the board, and Wisconsin blew their chance against the Irish. They come without a high profile win to show-off in March.
CHARLESTON CLASSIC
Championship: Georgetown Hoyas over North Carolina State Wolfpack
Biggest positive: Georgetown. This wasn't exactly a murderer's row of teams, but beating Big South favorite Coastal Carolina by 19, SoCon favorite Wofford by 15, and a very good NC State team by 15 is a pretty nice weekend. The Hoyas will be good, and in an odd-twist, guard dominated - their three top scorers are all guards.
Biggest negative: George Mason Patriots. There's been a lot of early season success out of the Colonial Conference so far this year (VCU, Old Dominion), but George Mason whiffed on their chance to join in by losing to Wofford in the third-place game. It's not an awful loss, but when you're a mid-major you need to win every one of these types of games to have a shot at a bid.
Also of note: Wofford 82, George Mason 79. I already mentioned this above as a negative for GMU, but it's a definite positive for the Terriers. They have a brutal early schedule, but unfortunately missed out on a chance for an even bigger win by losing to Xavier in triple-overtime last week. The 2-5 record also includes a loss to lowly Air Force, so an ambitious schedule goes for naught and Wofford will need to win their way in if they want to play in the NCAAs.
PARADISE JAM
Championship: Old Dominion Monarchs over Xavier Musketeers
Biggest positive: ODU. This is what you need to do if you're a mid-major hoping to be in at-large consideration come March. The Monarchs won the Paradise Jam Championship, beating St. Peter's (doesn't matter), Clemson (possible tournament team), and Xavier (very likely tournament team). That is two huge wins, and assuming they don't falter in a strong Colonial ODU is in great shape.
Biggest negative: Alabama Crimson Tide. From NCAA possibilities to the bottom of the league, the Tide embarrassed themselves, losing to Seton Hall (acceptable), Iowa (not acceptable), and St. Peter's (abominable). Remember in Monson's last year or almost last year when the Gophers went to the Old Spice Classic and went 0-3, including a loss to Montana? This is like that.
Also of note: Clemson 64, Seton Hall 58. Two teams that will likely find themselves in similar spots come year's end, this third place game could mean the difference between NCAA and NIT.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL
Championship: BYU Cougars over St. Mary's Gaels
Biggest positive: BYU. It's questionable how much the two wins BYU picked up will really help them because I'm not sure South Florida or St. Mary's are tournament teams, but the way in which the Cougars won could be valuable in March. The win over South Florida went to double OT before BYU hit a game-winner, and then the win over the Gaels was a one point victory on a 3-pointer by the Jimmer with 10 seconds left. That kind of late game experience could pay-off big.
Biggest negative: Texas Tech. The obvious choice as a downer since they were the team that went 0-2, it's sad for Tech because they have an experienced team with postseason aspirations, but getting blown out by St. Mary's and then blowing the lead against USF late says they suck.
Also of note: Liberty 67, Chicago State 65. This tournament has two brackets, a good one and a crappy one, and Liberty won the crappy one. I can't think of a single reason why that's remotely noteworthy.
76 CLASSIC
Championship: UNLV Runnin' Rebels over Virginia Tech Hokies
Biggest positive: UNLV. Wins over both Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State give the Rebels two quality victories. Since the Mountain West is likely to be very solid again with four very good teams, even if they beat up on each other the Rebels are in good position to nab an NCAA bid once again.
Biggest negative: Murray State Racers. Murray State has been tabbed as this year's Butler - not a bad call considering there stellar play in March last year and that they have essentially that whole team back - but they missed out on a big opportunity here. After beating Stanford in round 1 they lost to both UNLV and Oklahoma State in the next two rounds, and neither game was close. With their earlier loss to Ole Miss and nothing really left on the schedule outside of the Ohio Valley conference games their hopes at an at-large disappeared this weekend.
Also of note: Virginia Tech 56, Oklahoma State 51. The Hokies have missed the tournament the past two years due to weak non-conference scheduling and a lack of quality out-of-conference wins. This at least gives them one good victory - more than they had either of the last two years.
CHICAGO INVITATIONAL CHALLENGE
Championship: Richmond Spiders over Purdue Boilermakers
Biggest positive: Richmond. The Spiders were supposed to be at the top of the Atlantic-10 this year and were considered a very likely NCAA Tournament team. An early loss to Iona, however, had experts like me questioning if this was just another in a long line of A-10 "sleepers" who were actually not very good. This win over Purdue helps put some of that unease to rest.
Biggest negative: Purdue. No surprise here, this was set-up as basically a coronation for Purdue, but Richmond spoiled that, and that's not good for the Boilers.
Also of note: Wright State 82, Oakland 79. Oakland (which is in Michigan) is supposed to be a mid-major sleeper due to the presence of seven-footer Keith Benson, but if you can't even beat Wright State...I mean, come on.
LEGENDS CLASSIC
Championship: Syracuse Orange over Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Biggest positive: Georgia Tech. They aren't going to make the NCAA tournament or anything, but the Yellow Jackets needed some positives after losing to lowly Kennesaw State early this year and looking like they might be nothing more than a big joke this season. Blowing out Albany and Niagara in the early rounds, beating UTEP in the semis, and then losing to the Cuse by just four in the final is a step in the right direction.
Biggest negative: Michigan Wolverines. Michigan started the year playing well, beating up on the cupcakes and then even hung tough with Syracuse in the semis, leading for most of the game before losing by just four. Unfortunately, instead of still salvaging something they ended up losing to UTEP in the third place game instead.
Also of note: Detroit Titans. There was a second, consolation regional held in Michigan, and Detroit won it by beating Albany, Bowling Green, and Niagara in consecutive days. Even if it's not exactly a murderer's row of opponents it's still a nice little run and was highlighted by former Indiana Hoosier Eli Holman who put up a double-double in each game. Detroit is a nice little sleeper in the Horizon.
LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL
Championship: Kansas Jayhawks over Arizona Wildcats
Biggest positive: Kansas. The Jayhawks stomped MAC favorite Ohio, easily handled a very good Arizona team, now rank sixth in the polls and first according to Ken Pomeroy's tempo-free stats (www.kenpom.com). And they've done all this without the services of their top recruit Josh Selby. When he finally starts playing this team is an instant title contender. Of course, some times a high profile freshman disrupts chemistry to a point where the team gets worse, so let's hope for a little Kris Humphries/Stephon Marbury from Selby.
Biggest negative: Nobody, really. Everybody finished where they should, the good teams stomped the bad, and nobody's play stood out as exceptionally poor. If you had to pick one negative, go with Ohio. Last year's upset winner over Georgetown in the first round of the tournament was picked to win their conference again, and losing by 57 to Kansas is certainly not what they had in mind.
Also of note: Solomon Hill. Arizona has one of the best player's in the country in Derrick Williams, but he can't do it himself. If Hill can play like he did against Santa Clara (20 pts) rather than how he did against Kansas (9 pts) more often, Arizona will have a much better chance of getting back to the NCAA Tournament.
GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT
Championship: St. Johns Red Storm over Arizona State Sun Devils
Biggest positive: St. Johns, my Big East sleeper pick, started the season questionably enough, losing to St. Mary's, but handled themselves nicely in Alaska by going 3-0. With no other possible NCAA Tournament teams in this field, the Red Storm basically had to win this tournament. And they did.
Biggest negative: Ball State. Not that Ball State is supposed to be anything (it's been a long time since Theron Smith), but it's never good to lose to non-Division I squad, and the Cardinals were dropped by the host Alaska-Anchorage, and in embarrassing fashion, 62-44.
Also of note: Weber State 82, Drake 81. Weber State won't be an at-large NCAA team, but they are considered the favorites to come out of the Big Sky, and taking third place in Alaska is a solid outing for this team. Plus Mrs. W went to Weber State for a year and I visit Ogden almost yearly, so it's always nice to give them a little pub.
And that should pretty well cover it. There were a few others, but really nobody cares who wins the Cancun Challenge or the Philly Hoop Group Classic because the teams involved are irrelevant, and I think I've typed just about enough for one evening. There are a bunch more of these tournaments coming up around Christmas-time, including a couple involving Big Ten representation (Northwestern in the MSG Holiday Festival and Indiana in the Las Vegas Classic) so I might recap them after the holidays. By then I'm pretty sure there will be nothing left to care about as far as the Gophers are concerned. That team is absolute garbage.
PUERTO RICO TIP OFF
Championship: Minnesota Gophers over West Virginia Mountaineers
Biggest positive: Minnesota. I wasn't really sure where they'd fall in the Big Ten pecking order. Somewhere in the middle, likely, but towards the top of that middle or towards the bottom? Well, wins over three potential tournament teams help answer that and push the Gophers towards the top of the conference.
Biggest negative: North Carolina Tar Heels. A year after the worst season for UNC in recent memory, the Tar Heels started this year with a lot of positivity and a lofty #8 ranking the country, but losses to both Minnesota and Vanderbilt show that this team isn't quite there yet. A loss to one or the other could be shrugged off, since both are possible NCAA Tournament teams, but losses to both sends up a bit of a red flag.
Also of note: Davidson 64, Western Kentucky 51. This game, as well as WKU's narrow 2-point win over Hofstra, say that the Hilltoppers aren't going to be making the NCAA Tournament as at at-large.
NIT SEASON TIP OFF
Championship: Tennessee Volunteers over Villanova Wildcats
Biggest positive: Tennessee. All their losses from last season had me convinced they were badly overrated and would be in the NIT at best this year, and then all the Bruce Pearl nonsense solidified that thought for me. Turns out their better than I gave them credit for, and the combination of super freshman Tobias Harris on the inside and dynamic scorers Cameron Tatum and Scotty Hopson on the wings is looking like enough to drive the Vols to success.
Biggest negative: Wake Forest Demon Deacons. "Wait, I didn't see them in New York" is what you might be saying, and you're right, but that's because they got bounced out of the qualifying round - the "gimme" round held on their home floor. Of course they also drew Virginia Commonwealth who was probably the favorite to come out of that region, but it just confirms that this is going to be a dark, dark year in Winston-Salem. If this loss to VCU (by 21, if I didn't mention it) doesn't cement it, the earlier loss to Stetson and subsequent loss to Winthrop (both also at home) are pretty big clues. But the biggest clue? Iowa was favored over them in their ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup tonight, and the game was at Wake.
Also of note: VCU 89, UCLA 85. Not content with just getting to New York, VCU then went ahead and beat UCLA to nab a third-place finish. That's going to go a long way in getting the Colonial multiple bids this year.
COACHES VS CANCER CLASSIC
Championship: Pitt Panthers over Texas Longhorns
Biggest positive: Texas. Last year the Longhorns had all the talent in the world, were ranked #1 at one point, and then death spiraled down and didn't even receive an NCAA bid. This year saw a lot of turnover, and I'm not sure anybody really knew what to expect, as usual with a Rick Barnes team. Beating Illinois and then hanging right with Pitt before losing by two shows they have some talent, it's just a matter of if they put it all together.
Biggest negative: Cory Joseph. In the two games in New York, Joseph shot just 3-13, including 0-4 from three, with 5 assists and 3 turnovers, and threw up a ridiculous shot at the end of the final with the Longhorns down two when he thought he had been fouled in an attempt to get to free throw line. The ref disagreed, and he threw away Texas's chance to win.
Also of note: Maryland Terrapins. They went 0-2 in New York, but they weren't expected to win either game. Losing to Pitt by nine and to Illinois by four bodes well for the Terps' chances in ACC play.
MAUI INVITATIONAL
Championship: Connecticut Huskies over Kentucky Wildcats
Biggest positive: Kemba Walker. Coming into this tournament nobody was really sure what to make of UCONN. Sure, they'd be a middle of the road Big East team most likely, but where would that really put them in the overall pecking order? Well, Walker carried them on his back to the title here with games of 31, 30, and 29 points, and made sure everybody knew that he was good enough, and had enough talent around him, to make the Huskies a threat.
Biggest negative: Oklahoma Sooners. Eesh. The Sooners looked decent in their opener, hanging with Kentucky, but completely fell apart from there. First, they lost by 18 to a terrible Virginia squad who just go rolled by Washington by 40+, then they lost to Chaminade, the little host school who had won just five times in the 26 years prior of the tournament's existence. Not only did they go down, but they went down bickering amongst themselves. This is going to be a long year in Norman.
Also of note: Wichita State goes 2-1, but leaves disappointed after blowing their opening round game against UCONN, a game they led by four with just four minutes to go. It would end up being the only resume-building opportunity the Shockers would get, matching up against Virginia and Chaminade in their final two. That could hurt come Selection Sunday.
CBE CLASSIC
Championship: Duke Blue Devils over Kansas State Wildcats
Biggest positive: Duke. I have no idea how anybody is going to beat this team. Marquette tried to go small to match Duke's quickness and whichever Plumlee it was destroyed them inside, then K-State tried to run with them and Duke ran 'em out of the gym. They are good inside (Plumlees), have great guards (Nolan Smith, the unguardable Kyrie Irving), and have dead-eye shooters who you can't leave to go help (Andre Dawkins, Seth Curry). And that's all without bothering to mention the ACC pre-season player of the year in Kyle Singler. Look out, because they have a chance to go undefeated. No, I'm not crazy.
Biggest negative: Duke. The exact paragraph I just wrote is actually more of a negative because I, and everybody with a soul, hates Duke.
Also of note: Gonzaga 66, Marquette 63. Marquette lost both games in Kansas City, first to Duke by five and then this one to the Zags by 3. Though those are both big missed opportunities, they also signal that for the second straight year a down year in Marquette might not be as down as we think.
OLD SPICE CLASSIC
Championship: Notre Dame Fighting Irish over Wisconsin Badgers
Biggest positive: Notre Dame. The Irish picked up two wins over NCAA caliber teams, beating both the Badgers for the title and Georgia in the opening round. It's very likely Temple and Texas A&M were the only other teams to even pick up one in Orlando.
Biggest negative: Temple. As noted, the Owls did pick up a win over Georgia that looks good, but losses to both Cal and Texas A&M are huge negatives. A&M might be a bubble team, so that one will hurt, and Cal is likely to be a bottom of the barrel Pac-10 team while the Pac-10 is likely to be a bottom of the barrel conference. The Owls were supposed to be the class of the A-10, but they sure didn't play like it.
Also of note: Notre Dame 58, Wisconsin 51. The Badgers came into Orlando with a chance to pick up some nice victories, but Boston College's win over Texas A&M took that game off the board, and Wisconsin blew their chance against the Irish. They come without a high profile win to show-off in March.
CHARLESTON CLASSIC
Championship: Georgetown Hoyas over North Carolina State Wolfpack
Biggest positive: Georgetown. This wasn't exactly a murderer's row of teams, but beating Big South favorite Coastal Carolina by 19, SoCon favorite Wofford by 15, and a very good NC State team by 15 is a pretty nice weekend. The Hoyas will be good, and in an odd-twist, guard dominated - their three top scorers are all guards.
Biggest negative: George Mason Patriots. There's been a lot of early season success out of the Colonial Conference so far this year (VCU, Old Dominion), but George Mason whiffed on their chance to join in by losing to Wofford in the third-place game. It's not an awful loss, but when you're a mid-major you need to win every one of these types of games to have a shot at a bid.
Also of note: Wofford 82, George Mason 79. I already mentioned this above as a negative for GMU, but it's a definite positive for the Terriers. They have a brutal early schedule, but unfortunately missed out on a chance for an even bigger win by losing to Xavier in triple-overtime last week. The 2-5 record also includes a loss to lowly Air Force, so an ambitious schedule goes for naught and Wofford will need to win their way in if they want to play in the NCAAs.
PARADISE JAM
Championship: Old Dominion Monarchs over Xavier Musketeers
Biggest positive: ODU. This is what you need to do if you're a mid-major hoping to be in at-large consideration come March. The Monarchs won the Paradise Jam Championship, beating St. Peter's (doesn't matter), Clemson (possible tournament team), and Xavier (very likely tournament team). That is two huge wins, and assuming they don't falter in a strong Colonial ODU is in great shape.
Biggest negative: Alabama Crimson Tide. From NCAA possibilities to the bottom of the league, the Tide embarrassed themselves, losing to Seton Hall (acceptable), Iowa (not acceptable), and St. Peter's (abominable). Remember in Monson's last year or almost last year when the Gophers went to the Old Spice Classic and went 0-3, including a loss to Montana? This is like that.
Also of note: Clemson 64, Seton Hall 58. Two teams that will likely find themselves in similar spots come year's end, this third place game could mean the difference between NCAA and NIT.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INVITATIONAL
Championship: BYU Cougars over St. Mary's Gaels
Biggest positive: BYU. It's questionable how much the two wins BYU picked up will really help them because I'm not sure South Florida or St. Mary's are tournament teams, but the way in which the Cougars won could be valuable in March. The win over South Florida went to double OT before BYU hit a game-winner, and then the win over the Gaels was a one point victory on a 3-pointer by the Jimmer with 10 seconds left. That kind of late game experience could pay-off big.
Biggest negative: Texas Tech. The obvious choice as a downer since they were the team that went 0-2, it's sad for Tech because they have an experienced team with postseason aspirations, but getting blown out by St. Mary's and then blowing the lead against USF late says they suck.
Also of note: Liberty 67, Chicago State 65. This tournament has two brackets, a good one and a crappy one, and Liberty won the crappy one. I can't think of a single reason why that's remotely noteworthy.
76 CLASSIC
Championship: UNLV Runnin' Rebels over Virginia Tech Hokies
Biggest positive: UNLV. Wins over both Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State give the Rebels two quality victories. Since the Mountain West is likely to be very solid again with four very good teams, even if they beat up on each other the Rebels are in good position to nab an NCAA bid once again.
Biggest negative: Murray State Racers. Murray State has been tabbed as this year's Butler - not a bad call considering there stellar play in March last year and that they have essentially that whole team back - but they missed out on a big opportunity here. After beating Stanford in round 1 they lost to both UNLV and Oklahoma State in the next two rounds, and neither game was close. With their earlier loss to Ole Miss and nothing really left on the schedule outside of the Ohio Valley conference games their hopes at an at-large disappeared this weekend.
Also of note: Virginia Tech 56, Oklahoma State 51. The Hokies have missed the tournament the past two years due to weak non-conference scheduling and a lack of quality out-of-conference wins. This at least gives them one good victory - more than they had either of the last two years.
CHICAGO INVITATIONAL CHALLENGE
Championship: Richmond Spiders over Purdue Boilermakers
Biggest positive: Richmond. The Spiders were supposed to be at the top of the Atlantic-10 this year and were considered a very likely NCAA Tournament team. An early loss to Iona, however, had experts like me questioning if this was just another in a long line of A-10 "sleepers" who were actually not very good. This win over Purdue helps put some of that unease to rest.
Biggest negative: Purdue. No surprise here, this was set-up as basically a coronation for Purdue, but Richmond spoiled that, and that's not good for the Boilers.
Also of note: Wright State 82, Oakland 79. Oakland (which is in Michigan) is supposed to be a mid-major sleeper due to the presence of seven-footer Keith Benson, but if you can't even beat Wright State...I mean, come on.
LEGENDS CLASSIC
Championship: Syracuse Orange over Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Biggest positive: Georgia Tech. They aren't going to make the NCAA tournament or anything, but the Yellow Jackets needed some positives after losing to lowly Kennesaw State early this year and looking like they might be nothing more than a big joke this season. Blowing out Albany and Niagara in the early rounds, beating UTEP in the semis, and then losing to the Cuse by just four in the final is a step in the right direction.
Biggest negative: Michigan Wolverines. Michigan started the year playing well, beating up on the cupcakes and then even hung tough with Syracuse in the semis, leading for most of the game before losing by just four. Unfortunately, instead of still salvaging something they ended up losing to UTEP in the third place game instead.
Also of note: Detroit Titans. There was a second, consolation regional held in Michigan, and Detroit won it by beating Albany, Bowling Green, and Niagara in consecutive days. Even if it's not exactly a murderer's row of opponents it's still a nice little run and was highlighted by former Indiana Hoosier Eli Holman who put up a double-double in each game. Detroit is a nice little sleeper in the Horizon.
LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL
Championship: Kansas Jayhawks over Arizona Wildcats
Biggest positive: Kansas. The Jayhawks stomped MAC favorite Ohio, easily handled a very good Arizona team, now rank sixth in the polls and first according to Ken Pomeroy's tempo-free stats (www.kenpom.com). And they've done all this without the services of their top recruit Josh Selby. When he finally starts playing this team is an instant title contender. Of course, some times a high profile freshman disrupts chemistry to a point where the team gets worse, so let's hope for a little Kris Humphries/Stephon Marbury from Selby.
Biggest negative: Nobody, really. Everybody finished where they should, the good teams stomped the bad, and nobody's play stood out as exceptionally poor. If you had to pick one negative, go with Ohio. Last year's upset winner over Georgetown in the first round of the tournament was picked to win their conference again, and losing by 57 to Kansas is certainly not what they had in mind.
Also of note: Solomon Hill. Arizona has one of the best player's in the country in Derrick Williams, but he can't do it himself. If Hill can play like he did against Santa Clara (20 pts) rather than how he did against Kansas (9 pts) more often, Arizona will have a much better chance of getting back to the NCAA Tournament.
GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT
Championship: St. Johns Red Storm over Arizona State Sun Devils
Biggest positive: St. Johns, my Big East sleeper pick, started the season questionably enough, losing to St. Mary's, but handled themselves nicely in Alaska by going 3-0. With no other possible NCAA Tournament teams in this field, the Red Storm basically had to win this tournament. And they did.
Biggest negative: Ball State. Not that Ball State is supposed to be anything (it's been a long time since Theron Smith), but it's never good to lose to non-Division I squad, and the Cardinals were dropped by the host Alaska-Anchorage, and in embarrassing fashion, 62-44.
Also of note: Weber State 82, Drake 81. Weber State won't be an at-large NCAA team, but they are considered the favorites to come out of the Big Sky, and taking third place in Alaska is a solid outing for this team. Plus Mrs. W went to Weber State for a year and I visit Ogden almost yearly, so it's always nice to give them a little pub.
And that should pretty well cover it. There were a few others, but really nobody cares who wins the Cancun Challenge or the Philly Hoop Group Classic because the teams involved are irrelevant, and I think I've typed just about enough for one evening. There are a bunch more of these tournaments coming up around Christmas-time, including a couple involving Big Ten representation (Northwestern in the MSG Holiday Festival and Indiana in the Las Vegas Classic) so I might recap them after the holidays. By then I'm pretty sure there will be nothing left to care about as far as the Gophers are concerned. That team is absolute garbage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
