Week in Review - 12/5/2011

There's a preview of Appalachian State, the Gophers next opponent, at the very bottom of this post.  Huzzah!

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Rodney Williams.  I've been waiting forever for some positive feelings about Williams, and now I am finally feeling them.  He seems like a completely different player at the 4.  It's like before he was Mikey in the beginning of Swingers and now he's like Mikey at the end doing the twirly-whirly dance with Heather Graham and hanging up on that manipulative bitch Michelle.  Really though, he's always had the tools like the bear - the big fangs and those fucking claws or whatever - and he just didn't know how to kill the bunny.  Now he knows how to kill the bunny and dunk right on it's stupid head.  Good god, that's the perfect analogy.  Sometimes you people who read this should really be sending me money for that kind of insight.



2. Ohio State Buckeyes.  Nobody cares that the beat UT-Pan American by 30 even without Sullinger because I mean, come on, it's UT-PA, but that win over Duke earlier this week was like woah.  I mean, I did expect the Buckeyes to win and a double-digit win wouldn't shock me, but this was a thoroughly kick their ass from tip to final whistle pick your score kind of game.  I was impressed by OSU after they beat Florida in kind of a grind it out game, but they didn't quite have the look of a National Champion in that one.  Not so against Duke, where they looked like the most complete team in the country.  Really, there's just so much talent here.  Take away their two best players (Sully and Buford) and they're still probably a top 10 team.  Ridiculous.  With Duke and Florida out of the way, only the game at Kansas on Saturday stands in the way of an undefeated non-conference slate.  And hell, they win that one they might very well finish the year unbeaten, because they're far and away better than anybody else in the Big 10.  Which probably means they'll lose to Northwestern or some such nonsense.

3. Xavier Musketeers.  I feel like I talk about Xavier too much but I just really like that program and what they do year after year, and I really really like Tu Holloway (although I liked him better when he went by Terrell).  Their win over Purdue at home on Saturday was more of a ho-hum kind of win, not because it's not a quality victory but because it's what they were supposed to do (although falling behind by 19 in the second half and coming back to win probably says some positive things), but add that in with a very nice win at Vanderbilt that included scoring the final 4 points of the game to send it to OT and then scoring the first 12 points of overtime.  Xavier is a perennial sweet 16 team, and I've kind of been waiting for that big breakthrough squad to get them into the Final Four.  Is this the year?  No.   

4.  Missouri Valley.  For some reason I've always disliked the MVC.  I don't know why since I like all the other smaller conferences.  It's just like a rainbow - nobody can explain why it happens, it just does.  With that being said, however, the MVC is looking tough and annoying again like the old days.  This past week alone Creighton went to San Diego State and got a tough road win (and they stomped Nebraska) and Wichita State beat UNLV by 20 - yes, the same Rebels who beat North Carolina.  Additionally, Northern Iowa has just one loss and Indiana State finished third in the Old Spice Classic.  Things fall off in a hurry after those four teams (sorry Drake guy), but at the very least both Creighton and Wichita should be in the hunt for an NCAA bid, while UNI and Ind State can get in the conversation with a strong run through the league.  All of which means we'll probably have to hear a bunch of annoying crap about how good the MVC always is.  Like this post, which I guess means I'm part of the problem.  Talk about self-loathing.

5.  Oklahoma State Cowboys.  Although part of me feels like I should give Indiana some propers to the Hoosiers for their 8-0 start and tough road win at NC State, I'm going to go with a more wait and see (as in let's see if they can keep it within 20 against Kentucky this weekend) and instead give some props to screwed over Oklahoma State footballers, who stomped the rival Oklahoma Sooners 44-10 in the Big 12 Championship to finish the year at 11-1 and will now have a shot at the National Title against LSU - except not really because the BCS is instead giving everyone a rematch of a game played earlier this year between LSU and Alabama and the Cowboys have to play Stanford in the who cares Bowl instead.  So stupid.  LSU already beat Alabama, so let's say Bama beats LSU - can they really claim to be the best team?  They split.  If LSU plays Okla State it's still not as good as a tournament, but still better than a damn rematch.  Honestly, the end of the year crap is probably reason #1 that I don't get into college football as much as I do college hoops or baseball.  Actually reason #1 is my wife would kill me, but the end of the year stuff is a strong #2.


WHO SUCKED

1.  Dayton Flyers. Jesus Christ, Dayton, could you guys fuck things up any further?  You're a terrible team and a terrible program with terrible fans and no matter you'll never be more than 2nd class in your own conference, but hey, winning the Old Spice Classic, although not against top tier talent, is still some nice momentum.  Then you turn around and lose to Buffalo AT HOME by 30!!  And then lose by 20 at Murray State?!?!?!!  Instead of fighting for an NCAA bid, this team will be lucky to get an invite to the CIT, and they're who beat the Gophers?  This is the shitty shit box team who destroyed Trevor Mbakwe's career and the hopes and dreams of all the children of the world?  Is there any doubt that Dayton = satan?  It even rhymes!  If I go to Chicago again for the NCAA Tournament I'm burning that Dayton bar to the ground.  After I have their tasty wings of course.

2.  Washington Huskies.  Pretty sad considering how much I love the brand of circus ball the Huskies play, but it's becoming clear this just isn't a very good team this year.  Well I suppose I could be overreacting because they are 4-2, but they've only had two opponents who even resemble good teams and they lost to them both - St. Louis a week or so ago and Nevada this weekend.  I suppose it's awfully difficult to replace Captain Circus Ball (Isaiah Thomas) and then keep playing the same kind of circus ball, especially when one of your new main ball handlers is a freshman (Tony Wroten, currently averaging 4.5 turnovers per game) and the other is still trying to work his way all the way back from an ACL tear (Abdul Gaddy).  But the good news is they still play stupid fast and the Pac-10 is awful so they'll probably be back in the NCAA Tournament to thrill us with a couple games that go 190+ combined.  Don't expect too much though, there's little chance they survive the first weekend.  No matter how much I want them to.

4.  Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.  Why, oh why, does Georgia Tech always suck so bad?  I have such fond memories of Lethal Weapon 3 (the original - Anderson, Oliver, Scott - not the stupid imitation shitty South Carolina group who tried to steal the nickname) that I still have some leftover fandom for the Jackets, but they're just terrible this year - again.  They're 4-4 and we aren't even at conference play yet, and the losses are against St. Joe's (bad), LSU (terrible), Northwestern (ok), and Tulane (bad).  If it wasn't for that win over VCU in the Charleston Classic, they'd be in the running for worst BCS Conference team in the country.  I mean not only did they lose to Tulane, but they were actually the underdogs.  Embarrassing.  Freshmen Julian Royal, sophomore Jason Morris, and juniors Mfon Udofia, Glen Rice, and Kammeon Holsey are all top 100 types of recruits.  Talent - yes.  Experience - yes.  Results - emphatically no.  This would be why what's his face got fired.

5.  Houston Cougars.  It's like something out of a book or a movie, isn't it?  Lightly recruited QB out of high school goes to to his hometown school, the only D-I program to even offer him a scholarship.  After redshirting his first year, he's in a big QB competition his second year which he finally wins towards the end of the year, and then dominates his sophomore year, winning the Conference Player of the Year.  After another great season, he goes into his senior year with a chance to break all kinds of NCAA records, but ends up tearing his ACL.  After being granted a sixth year by the NCAA, he breaks those records and goes on to lead his undermanned team to a an undefeated season by directing the top scoring offense in the nation, and puts his team in a position to make a BCS Bowl for the first time I assume.  All that stands in their way is the Conference USA Championship Game at Southern Miss, so the QB takes his heavily favored squad up against the Golden Eagles and THEY GET FUCKING LIT UP like the Vikings in an NFC Championship Game.  Seriously, Houston got destroyed and scored the fewest points they have all year.  Nice job, Keenum.  Enjoy the CFL.


So anyway the Gophers play Appalachian State Tuesday night and yawn.  App State is actually supposed to be one of the best teams in the Southern Conference, but unfortunately this isn't the same SoCon from back when Davidson was Tournament Killer and Charleston was upsetting people all over the place, and the rest of the conference has become cupcake city.  In fact, the SoCon ranks as one of the handful of worst conference in America according to kenpom.com (23rd out of 32), and its best win outside of those two schools is Elon's upset of a terrible South Carolina team.

So yeah, a mid-tier team from a low tier conference.  Great.  The Mountaineers are 4-3 this year, but two of those wins are over non-D1 schools and the other two were versus Tennessee Tech and Greensboro.  Also the best team they've played this year is East Carolina who is awful and they beat Appalachian State by 20.  The only exciting part about the game, other than watching the Gophers of course, is that the Mountaineers do have preseason SoCon Player of the Year candidate Omar Carter, a senior guard whose scoring average so far this year would be his career low since he suddenly can't shoot anymore.  Although he has gone 15-26 shooting the past two games, so maybe he's on his way back.  I could go on and describe several other decent players, but who cares?  Cupcake city, baby.

Gophers 80, Mountaineers 53

Also I had a whole conversation with Bear about the Gophers and how good "Rodney White" has looked recently and he didn't realize until he sent me an email this morning that he had the name wrong lololololol.

NCAA Hoops Preview - The ACC

As much as the idea of Syracuse not being in the Big East kind of churns my stomach, the upside that at least there will be a team in the conference capable of challenging UNC and Duke once in a while.  I know they've traditionally been the best 2 teams, but things have just been ridiculous lately and might be topping (bottoming) out this year because nearly ever team has been killed by graduations and can't reload like those two nancies, so Duke and UNC are Final Four contenders at the same time you can't definitively point to any other ACC squad and say "that's a tournament team."

So I guess there's that.

1.  NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS.  For most teams losing a guy like Leslie McDonald for the season to a knee injury would be a big blow, but not this year's Heels.  That is basically the only loss they suffered from their roster.  Harrison Barnes, last year's #2 recruit and potential top 3 pick in the NBA draft last year, decided to return for another year of seasoning and, after a rough start to his career, began to flourish at the end, scoring 18+ points in 9 of the team's last 10 games.  Tyler Zeller is still there and his offensive game is really turning into a thing of beauty, and the defense of John Henson will be there as well to block more shots than jesus.  They also have their point guard back in Kendall Marshall, who is already turning into one of the best PGs in UNC History (although nobody will ever be better than Ed Cota).  In case you want more, they also bring in a couple of new studs in F James McAdoo (#8 by Rivals) and P.J. Hairston (#13 and called the best shooter in this class), and have a bunch of other former top recruit types from the last couple of years who I haven't even mentioned.  Yes, they're loaded.  There's a reason why they're 3-1 to win the whole thing (sucker bet).

2.  DUKE BLUE DEVILS.  Kyrie Irving, Kyle Singler, and Nolan Smith is a huge amount of production and talent to lose, but you know the drill - unfortunately for every one who doesn't worship Satan, they just replace talent with talent are look to once again be one of the best teams in the nation.  That isn't to say they won't have some weaknesses, however, because I refuse to believe that no matter how many Plumlees you have (and Duke is now up to 3) those aren't the type of bigs who are going to take you to a National Championship.  Not counting, of course, the one they won 2 years ago, but that was really all Brian Zoubek.  The three most interesting story lines to me are whether or not Seth Curry can be a team player and not end up a massive chuck monster like his brother, whether or not Austin Rivers (#1 freshman in the country) can integrate himself into a real (and good) team when his whole high school career has been him having to score 40 to carry a lackluster supporting cast, and just how gay is Duke, anyway?

3.  MIAMI HURRICANES.  The Canes are one of the few teams that were not hit hard by graduations/defections and return a couple of dynamic guards in Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant along with double-double machine Reggie Johnson who pretty much destroyed Duke last year since those pansies can't handle big, strong post players.  And I'm sure you remember Scott and Grant, seeing as how they combined for 36 points against the Gophers two seasons ago in Florida completing the teams 3-game collapse after faltering in Anaheim and completely buzzkilling all the good feelings after they beat Butler.  Yeah, I hate Miami.

4.  VIRGINIA CAVALIERS.  Mike Scott and his 16 and 10 averages are back after red-shirting last year due to an injury, and I like their plan of going with Scott and spreading a bunch of shooters out on the floor.  And no, it's not just because Virginia shot 10-13 from three last year to kill the Gophers, they legitimately have some good shooters (Joe Harris, K.T. Harrell, and Sammy Zeglinski can all shoot it and both incoming freshmen can hit from outside) and Mike Scott is a legitimate beast.  Overall Virginia was 19th in the country in 3-pt percentage and 23rd in % of points coming from behind the line, and that was with Scott only around for 10 games.  I don't know.  Maybe it is my memories of that game coloring my opinion, but I see the Cavs as a dangerous team this year.

5.  FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES.  FSU is likely a near guarantee for an NCAA bid because their defense is always so good it's unlikely they'll completely implode, but you can't quite trust them because they are never offensively a good team and this year they don't have a real PG.  They didn't last year either and things worked out, but last year they had Chris Singleton (most of the year) and Derwin Kitchen, both of whom could actually score once in a while and both of whom are gone.  You know the defense will be there and you know they'll probably beat either UNC or Duke in Tallahassee, but it will be up to the offense whether this is a good team or a very good team.  They're bringing in three top 150 recruits, all of whom are supposedly offensive players, so if any of them can get going right away that'll be a big boost.  Remember the name Antwan Space.  Just do it.

6.  CLEMSON TIGERS.  Not unlike the Seminoles, Clemson was hit hard by graduation, losing Demontez Stitt (leading scorer and assist man) and Jerai Grant (second leading scorer and leading rebounder) but they are such a solid defensive squad under Brad Brownell that they'll still be in the hunt for an NCAA bid, although at this point in the ACC most of these teams could finish anywhere from 5th to 10th.  Still, the Tigers will have some talent including Devin Booker, the younger brother of former Clemson All-ACC performer Trevor.  He hasn't quite made the same splash that Trevor did in his first two years, but the potential is probably there I'd assume.  And speaking of potential, they actually have a McDonald's All-American on their roster in Milton Jennings.  He managed 4 double-doubles last season, which makes Trevor Mbakwe laugh, but he could end up being the x-factor for Clemson.  Whatever that means.  I don't know, I'm just typing, man.

7.  VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES.  The Hokies have a couple huge holes to fill, losing both Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen who basically did everything for them.  Fortunately, the have plenty of options to fill those holes, including two other returning double-digit scorers and a nice big recruiting class that includes some likely future stars - PF C.J. Barksdale, SG Robert Brown, and SF Dorian Finney-Smith are all top 100 on Rivals list with Finney-Smith topping the list at #31.  So yeah, there are some big losses for the Hokies, but they might end up better in the long run.  They had some serious choke jobs the last couple of years, and Delaney was a big part - mainly because he wanted the ball and everybody knew he was getting the ball.  Perhaps a little balance could work in V-Tech's favor?  Whatever it takes so we don't have to listen to Seth Greenberg whine about the selection committee again.  My least favorite spring ritual.

8.  NC STATE WOLFPACK.  Losing Tracy Smith is tough, but losing both your point guards - including emerging star Ryan Harrow (who transferred to Kentucky after the coaching change from Lowe to Gottfried) is going to be tougher.  State still has one of the most exciting players in the conference in PF C.J. Leslie, who was the #14 recruit in the nation his freshman year and averaged 11 & 7, along with a couple of other nice players in SG Lorenzo Brown (#37 last year) and dead-eye shooter Scott Wood so they'll be middle of the road with some chances to surprise people.  If Brown can handle the point - or incoming CS-Bakersfield transfer guy can - they could finish significantly higher than this.  I really love me some C.J. Leslie.

9.  GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS.  Do you think Glen Rice Jr. might have to look at a picture or two of Sarah Palin when Tech travels to Cameron or the Dean Dome or really anywhere?  Hopefully for them he'll be able to block it out, because he's going to be the main offensive weapon on this team and has the talent and situation to potentially blossom into an All-ACC type of player, particularly with Iman Shumpert leaving for the NBA and Brian Oliver transferring to Seton Hall.  Maybe the best news for Tech, however, is that Paul Hewitt is finally gone because even though he was a hell of a recruiter the guy was routinely out coached and over matched.  Brian Gregory turned the garbage dumpster of Dayton into something reasonably mediocre and Tech is a much better program so he'll likely have them turned around sooner rather than later.

10.  MARYLAND TERRAPINS.  Yet another team that got hit hard by graduation, not only did Maryland lose a ton off last year's team but when Gary Williams decided to quit coaching an a pretty inopportune time like some kind of sweaty rhinoceros he didn't do the team any favors because most of the recruits he'd signed, and there were some good ones, jumped ship.  They did manage to hold on to Nick Faust, a hometown kid who is a very good player (#48 rivals) and will make this team's strength - the back court - even stronger.  The biggest questions will be on the interior.  With the beast that was Jordan Williams and his double-double average off to the NBA and no notable additions with size, they'll have to turn to unproven upperclassmen to play in the paint.  That always works well.

11.  WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS.  Wake might have been the worst major conference team in 300 years last season, so they can only get better.  You'd think.  Unfortunately lack of talent continues to meet up with knuckleheadism, with former top 100 recruit J.T. Terrell leaving the team after getting arrested for a DWI and fellow top 100 recruit Melvin Tabb currently suspended indefinitely for some ambiguous reason.  The one big bright spot is SF Travis McKie who led the team in both scoring and rebounding last season.  And this is where I'd write a sentence to tie all of that together, but every time I tried to watch a Wake game last year they were losing by 25 in the first half so I didn't really pay all that much attention.   

12.  BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES.  I don't know that I've ever seen something this dramatic, and it's hard to believe in this conference this year, but the Eagles come into this season with 92% of last year's scoring gone.  92%, yo.  That means I got a 92% chance of embarrassing myself.  I'll roll up on some shorty and be like "whats' up, yo" and she'll be like, "you don't know 20 ways to make me call you big poppa" because I don't, yo.  I just typed that from memory so it might not be dead on but it's definitely close.  Anyway, BC has 9 freshmen this year and I've never heard of any of them and they aren't on any lists so let's be honest, the quote was a much better use of our time.

Other Previews:
Big 12

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.

ACC College Basketball 2010 Preview

 The ACC has been almost been a two team league lately, and it looks like it might stay that way.  Sure, NC State and Virginia Tech are up this year, but Clemson, Georgia Tech, and especially Wake Forest are down.  Even when UNC was bad last year, you knew it wouldn't last, and in Duke's darkest days they recovered.  It seems every other school is on a constant up/down cycle.  Either Duke or UNC has either won outright or tied for the ACC regular season championship the last seven years and 17 of the last 20.  That's lame.  Somebody do something. 

1.  Duke Blue Devils.  I mean, you pretty much have to pick them first, right, no matter how much it burns when you say it?  Scheyer is gone, but they are so loaded with everybody else coming in, and the rumor is that incoming frosh PG Kyrie Irving is the best player on the Duke roster - and Singler is still here.  About the only real issues are with Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas gone there are some questions about Duke's toughness inside since they're all a bunch of dandies down in Durham.  I'll also be curious to see how many games Seth Curry shoots the Devils right out of.

2.  North Carolina Tar Heels.  I hate putting them second since they didn't even bother to make the NCAA Tournament last season, but the talent level is there - at least on paper.  Harrison Barnes is going to be a great one, Kevin Durant II, maybe, and Henson and Zellar are supposed to be star types as well.  The real question, as it was last year, is what of the PG spot?  Larry Drew was a disappointment most of last season, and I've read some are questioning if incoming freshman Kendall Marshall is really ACC material (and of course, the next thing you read says he's the best PG in this class).  Projected starting shooting guard Will Graves was also just dismissed for the ever ubiquitous "violation of team rules" so there's even more uncertainty in the backcourt.  Combine those questions with the thin frontcourt and although they have the talent and I'm picking them at #2 they also have to potential to fall apart for a second consecutive season.  I'm hoping for the second one.

3.  North Carolina State Wolfpack.  This is the team I'll be rooting for out of the ACC this year, and they pretty much deserve to have a nice season.  Sid Lowe hasn't show himself to necessarily be much of a game coach, which we are all pretty familiar with here in Minnesota, but his recruiting efforts are paying off.  The Wolfpack landed one of the best classes in the country (ESPN ranks it as the 7th best) with power forward C.J. Leslie and guards Lorenzo Brown and Ryan Harrow all ranking in the top 37 in the country according to Rivals.  With their All-ACC second team PF Tracy Smith back along with big-time shooter Scott Wood, all the talent is there for NC State to be relevant for the first time since Fire & Ice.  Yes, Fire & Ice.  You know you remember them.

4.  Florida State Seminoles.  There are plenty of question marks, but FSU also has some seriously top flight talent coming back, and this team continues to be a defensive powerhouse year-after-year, which means they always have a chance.  Helping out would be some offensive firepower, and they have two guys with a chance to really bring it:  Chris Singleton, a junior forward who can do it all, and Michael Snaer, a sophomore guard and great athlete who needs to improve his shot.  Also look for Xavier Gibson to try to fill in for Solomon Alabi.  He might end up as the biggest key to FSU's season.  Also, literally since he's 6-11, 240.    

5.  Virginia Tech Hokies.  They were going to be my sleeper and I was going to pick them second in the ACC for this year, but injuries have hurt their depth and although I fear I may be dropping them too far, I also think their depth behind Malcolm Delaney was their biggest strength.  And there's no doubt Delaney is an ACC Player-of-the-Year candidate and a possible All-American, but it will be up to that supporting cast to take VT as far as they are going to go.  The best news for the Hokies, however, is that they finally put together a decent non-conference schedule, so the annual tradition of coach Seth Greenberg bitching that his team deserves an NCAA bid despite not having played anybody out of conference all year should mercifully come to an end. 

6.  Maryland Terrapins.  The Terps lose a ton, with three career 1,000 point scorers on their way out in dirty stud Greivis Vasquez, backcourt mate Eric Hayes, and swingman Landon Milbourne, but Gary Williams still has some good talent and also sweats a lot.  Jordan Williams proved himself to be one of the best rebounders in the conference last year and has a very good all-around game, and Sean Mosley is one of those solid, all-around guards who score when needed, are smart with the ball, and grab too many rebounds for their size; an excellent complementary piece, but they need a star to team with Williams.  The recruiting class is deep, but not exceptional at the top, so expect Maryland to be a solid, yet unspectacular team this year.  Sort of like set-up man extraordinaire Scott Shields.  

7.  Miami Hurricanes.  It's not often a team loses it's highest scoring guard (James Dews) and highest scoring post player (Dwayne Collins) and gets better without an outstanding recruiting class, but that may be the case for the Hurricanes this year thanks to Durand Scott.  Don't forget that although Miami finished last in the ACC at 4-12 (way to go, Gophers) they did have a nice little run going in the ACC tournament beating Wake, Virginia Tech in a game the Hokies needed desperately, and losing by just three to Duke, and the biggest reason for their success in two of those three games was the play of Scott.  He's not much of a shooter (just 29% from three on just 58 attempts), but if he ever adds that piece to his game he could end up an all-league type of player, or get good enough to transfer like Denis Clemente did.

8.  Virginia Cavaliers.  Most of the positive affects of hiring Tony Bennett won't be felt until his recruiting classes have more time to gel, particularly with Sylvan Landesburg no longer being on the team, and last year was pretty meh but I have a hunch this year the Cavaliers are going to be tough and knock off a team or two they shouldn't (please not the Gophers please).  A large and talented class of freshmen, led by guards K.T. Harrell (#30 recruit by Rivals) and Joe Harris (#119) and forwards James Johnson (#108) and Will Regan (#148), will join an established star, if second tier one, in forward Mike Scott and two other returning starters.  That's a lot of talent in Charlottesville, more than we've seen in quite some time.  They probably aren't ready to be truly dangerous yet, but they're going to be pesky.  You watch.  If they don't knock off more than one top 25 team this year I'll send everyone who remembers this prediction a token of my shame as an act of contrition.

9.  Boston College Eagles. Most of the squad is back from last season, with just the transferring Rakim Sanders missing, but the problem is what's left just isn't all that exciting.  Joe Trapani is already an excellent all-around player and should thrive in new coach Steve Donahue's offense, and there are a couple of other decent players but the team is thin, both in bodies and in talent.  Donahue is already paying dividends on the recruiting trail (one site I saw has them with the #17 recruiting class in the country for next year) so things should turn around soon for B.C., just not this year.   

10.  Clemson Tigers.  Nearly everybody is back from last year's NCAA team, but the one guy missing is going to be very difficult to replace in Trevor Booker, who was top 10 last year in the ACC in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage, even if they do have his little brother.  Booker basically carried that team last season, and it may be up to the only other double-digit scorer from last year, point man Demontez Stitt, to carry them this year.  He did score 21 in their NCAA Tournament loss to Missouri, but reached 20 points just two other times last year, and doesn't average many assists for a point guard (just 3.1 apg).  Really there is a lot of blah talent here, and unless somebody takes a big leap forward the Tigers' streak of three straight NCAA Tourny bids will end at three. 

11.  Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.  The Jackets have a lineup of guards that could potentially be as good as any group in the country.  Mfon Udofia, Iman Shumpert, Brian Oliver, and Glen Rice, Jr. was a nice group last year and will be outstanding this year.  Unfortunately, there's nothing in the front court after Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal took off for the NBA and Zack Peacock graduated, so it's going to be awfully difficult to compete.  The only non-freshman over 6'-6" is seven-footer Brad Sheehan whose scored less than a hundred points in his combined three years, and the freshman aren't exactly superstars, with one who redshirted last year because he wasn't ready and another coming off a torn ACL.  It's going to be a rough year in Atlanta (although honestly when isn't it?  Talk about murder-happy people, sheesh), but with the shooting and perimeter skills of the guards they might shock a team here and there.

12.  Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  At least the Jackets have their guards, the Demon Deacons can't even say they have that with the losses of Al-Farouq Aminu, Ishmael Smith, Chas McFarland, and LD Williams, leaving them with just C.J. Harris (9.9 ppg) as their only returning scorer.  There is a good recruiting class coming in to Winston-Salem with four players in Rivals top 100 arriving on campus this year so the future looks bright, but this is going to be a pretty awful team this season.  I mean, like, Dan Monson's Gophers terrible.  Yes, for real.


Other Previews:

The Big 12

Week In Review - 1/11/2010

I have a lot of words to write so let's just get to it.  No time for love, Dr. Jones.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Gopher basketball.  If you are like me and consider the Purdue game not a failure and actually a pretty good effort you have to consider this a pretty good week in Gopher hoops after they spanked Ohio State 73-62.  Although I'm pretty sure I overrated Ohio State by a good margin, I also think a lot of that had to do with the Gopher defense (and the fact that there wasn't a full moon so we got more of a Scott Howard Evan Turner than a Teen Wolf Evan Turner).  I was baffled by Turner.  I have no idea if he just isn't all the way back or what, but I really wasn't impressed.  His 19-8-7 stat line looks great, but he wasn't in control of the game the way I expected and made some really poor decisions (4 turnovers) and basically just seemed completely baffled by the Gophers double-team press thing.  I thought I'd be blown away.  Instead I was disappointed.  I'm guessing it's similar to how Mrs. W felt the first time we were "together."

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about things like that, and you shouldn't be so interested, perv.  Let's talk Gopher awesomeness.  Blake continues to be completely unconscious.  At this point there literally isn't a single shot he could take that would upset me.  He could pull up from 40 feet on a 2-on-1 break and I would applaud.  I've never seen anything quite like this run he's on.  And he only needs the smallest window to get his shot off.  It's hard to not love him at this point.  Plus he's white.  Everybody loves white people.

Speaking of white people, everybody needs to get back on the Ralph Sampson bandwagon with me.  There is a huge difference when he is in there compared to Colton.  I live Colton, but he's no Ralph.  One will end up being a good center, the other is already good and could end up being a star. Join the fan club now folks, we might be all full up by season's end, and you don't want to miss out.

2.  Garrett Gilbert.  It's a horrible name, no doubt, but Gilbert looks like he might end up being a hell of a quarterback down at the U of Texas after getting thrown into his career in the most high pressure way possible.  When Colt McCoy pinched his nerve in the National Championship game and decided not to risk his NFL prospects and sold out his team by not even trying to come back in, it was up to Gilbert to do something.  He was a bit uneven, and ended up throwing four interceptions and completing just 15 of his 40 pass attempts, but there was something there.  He made some excellent throws against a very good defense, and would have had better numbers but Longhorn receivers dropped at least three balls and their running back was directly responsible for one of those picks when he decided not to hold on to a shovel pass.  Don't forget that he also managed to throw a couple of TDs and not only kept Texas in a game they shouldn't have been in but actually had a chance, however slim, to win (a chance derailed by a big time missed block).  If he can do all that as a freshman with only 27 pass attempts coming into the game, I'd look for big things from him next year.

3.  Louisiana Tech.  I've tried to avoid spotlighting these guys because I figured I was a bit too attached after watching them play Utah State in person last year and falling hard for Magnum Rolle as if I was Ben Stiller and Rolle was that one chick in that one movie, but it's probably time to point out that La Tech is dominating fools all over the place.  Ok, dominating fools is maybe a little strong considering they have a loss to Arizona on their record, but they are now 3-0 in the WAC and that includes wins over both league favorites, Nevada and Utah State, and the win over the Aggies was a 22-point massacre earlier this week, mainly thanks to Rolle.  Magnum (tell me that isn't a sweet name) dominated the white guys USU trotted out in the paint to the tune of a 22 point, 14 rebound performance and is now leading the WAC in blocked shots at 2.6 per game.  And he's not alone, guard Kyle Gibson (not the Twins' pitcher) leads the conference in scoring and wing Olu Ashaolu is third in rebounding and put up a 21-board effort earlier this year against Houston.  With that weak non-conference schedule the Bulldogs will probalby have to go pretty damn near undefeated to secure an at-large, but it's suddenly looking like it might be possible.

4.  Wisconsin.  You know what pains me?  Writing this.  But it's time we all step back from our completely justified hatred of the neanderthals who reside in the world's worst state and acknowledge not only that the team is good this year, but also that Bo Ryan might be a really good coach.  I mean, Tubby still owns Bo, but Bo might not be that bad considering this year's version of the Badgers has almost no talent but still managed to beat Purdue this weekend.  The Badgers are now 3-1 in conference play, and have two of the toughest challenges out of the way.  With wins over Maryland, Duke, Marquette, and Purdue in their pocket and a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way, it looks like the gay-ass Badgers will almost certainly be in the tournament once again.  At least Trevon Hughes is fun to watch, because none of these other guys are (and now it sounds like Leuer is hurt pretty badly, so maybe no tournament after all, but I can't bring myself to count Bo Ryan out - unless he's facing Tubby).

5.  Manabu .  First the story:

DANIA BEACH, Fla.—A man was being credited with tying the 77-year-old world record for catching the biggest largemouth bass. The International Game Fish Association announced Friday that it had confirmed the 22-pound, 4-ounce fish caught by Manabu Kurita. The Florida-based group said Kurita caught the fish July 2 on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake.

Kurita's fish tied the record of George Perry, who caught his bass on Georgia's Montgomery Lake on June 2, 1932.  Kurita used 25-pound test line and a live blue gill

And now the picture:

Holy.  Effing.  Crap.

Although using a live blug gill is kind of BS if you ask me. 




WHO SUCKED

1.  Paul Hewitt.  You know, he may be a hell of a recruiter there at Georgia Tech but he sure as hell can't coach.  The level of talent at Tech the last few years has been almost as good as anybody:  Anthony Morrow, Thaddeus Young, Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Will Bynum, and noted gun enthusiast Javaris Crittenton, but his team's have done nothing due to his mismanagement.  Now he might be wasting yet another top level talent in Derrick Favors, who his incredibly talented and is porbably the best player on the team, but is getting just 8 shots a game despite shooting 58% and being the most talented big man in the ACC.  A team with Favors, Iman Shumpert, Gani Lawal, Mfon Udofia, D'Andre Bell should coast to the NCAA Tournament, but instead with Hewitt at the helm they lose to the world's crappiest team (and their in-state rival) Georgia.  Of course after the one year he managed to luck himself into the Final Four he was rewarded with a giant ass contract, so the Jackets are pretty much stuck with him.  Shame.  
[NOTE:  I wrote this before the Jackets picked up a huge win by beating Duke on Saturday.  A more respectable and responsible blogger would probably delete this and type something else up, but I already did a lot of work here so just deal with it.  Once game doesn't mean Hewitt doesn't suck - Favors still only got 6 shots.  And a Georgia Tech fan I know said about that game,  
"They won that game in spite of him.   FT shooting bailed Hewitt out for wasting all our timeouts again. Could have used one with just under a minute left when trapped underneath Duke's basket. Instead give up the easy dunk and put them right back in it.
GT would be just fine if we just played street ball and let the talent determine the results."   

So I'm sticking with "sucks."]

2.  Cincinnati.  Freaking DWG Jinx strikes again, and suddenly the Bearcats are a big ole barrel of suck nation, losing both of their conference games this week to crappy Pitt and terrible Seton Hall to fall to 2-2.  I'm not ready to totally write them off quite yet or anything but I mean, come on guys, what the hell?  Pitt sucks.  Seton Hall sucks.  How are we going to cash in on my 200-1 bet if you dickheads can't even beat bottom middle-tier Big East teams?  And when, exactly, does Lance Stephenson plan on becoming Carmelo Anthony?  Six turnovers against the Pirates isn't going to get it done my friend.  And four points against CS-Bakersfield (a Cincy win sandwiched between the two shameful losses)?  Carmelo would have lit a team like that up for forty.  I'm getting awfully close to dumping them as my second favorite team and jumping on the Ole Miss bandwagon, and lord knows I don't want to do that.  Just beat St Johns and Notre Dame this week and we can all be happy.

3.  Michigan.  We had our first "must-win" game for both teams in Big Ten play this season on Sunday between the Wolverines and Northwestern, and the Wolverines came out on the bottom, 68-62.  Northwestern needed to win because after a great start that included wins over Iowa State, Notre Dame, and Stanford they had started conference play with two losses (including a rout by Michigan State in Evanston) and really needed a win not only to avoid falling to 0-3 but also to get some confidence back.  Michigan was predicted to be an NCAA tournament team and was ranked #15 in the country to start the season but has been awful so far.  They had won back-to-back conference games to get to 2-1 in the Big Ten, and need to win every single game they should win, especially at home, to have the slimmest prayer at a tournament bid.  And, as I said a couple sentences ago, Northwestern won, essentially ending the Wolverines season and it's just early January.  You want to see disaster?  In a ten day span starting January 17th Michigan plays UCONN, Wisconsin, Purdue, and Michigan State.  Ouch.

4.  Washington.  If it seems like a Pac-10 team ends up in this section every week it's probably because they freaking suck, and after a disastrous week by the Huskies it's suddenly gone from a 2-team league to a one teamer and might as well be the WCC at this point.  Washington took a little trip down south to take on the combined 1-4 in the conference Arizona State and Arizona and walked out after getting killed twice.  On Thursday they got beat 68-51 by the Sun Devils after shooting just 36%, totaling just 8 assists, and getting beat on the boards 38-27 and then followed it up by losing to the Wildcats 87-70 after letting Zona shoot nearly 50% from there and getting killed once again on the boards 36-22.  It turns out this really isn't a good team.  I guess when your two best players combine to have a 1-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio and you have zero post presence you aren't going to have much success.  Want a gambling tip?  Fade Washington the rest of the year.  The public is going to keep thinking they are good, keeping the line a point or two further in Washington's favor than it should be.

5.  Kansas City Royals.  I realize it probably seems a bit odd to have a baseball team in this spot, but there are reasons and said reasons are numerous.  Most recently, and this week which is what qualified them for this spot, they signed Scott Podsednik to a $2 million dollar deal with an option for another year at another $2 million, which altogether is about $3 million too much for a guy with a career OPS+ of 87 coming off a best since 2003 OPS+ of 98 thanks to a silly batting average on balls in play of .342 (league average is about .300 which means he had a very, very lucky year).

This follows up other excellent moves such as signing Jason Kendall (last year OPS+ = 72) for 2 years/$6 million (seriously, I'm not making this up) and trading for Yuniesky Betancourt (OSP+ = 67).  In fact, the Royals lineup this year could, very seriously, end up looking like this:

LF Scott Podsednik (2009 OPS+ = 98)
CF Brian Anderson (69)
RF David DeJesus (106)
1B Billy Butler (124)
DH Jose Guillen (80)
3B Alex Gordon (86)
2B Chris Getz (74)
C   Jason Kendall (72)
SS Yuniesky Betancourt (67)

Wow.  Just wow.  That's like four Matt Tolbert's, two Delmon Young's, an Orlando Cabrera, a Jose Morales, and a Mike Cuddyer.

Zack Greinke must want to kill himself.


Finally, I want to leave you with four discussion topics, and if you've read this far you might as well go a step further and comment on one of these:

1.  I watched Jennifer's Body this weekend (which I enjoyed the hell out of by the way), and found Amanda Seyfried far more attractive than Megan Fox.
2.  Dawger claims "Ohio State isn't even one of the top 100 teams in college basketball this year."
3.  Dawger claims "Cedric Benson is more of an MVP candidate than Philip Rivers."
4.  Dawger claims "Alan Trammell deserves to be in the Hall of Fame just much as Cal Ripken."

Thoughts?

College Basketball Preview: ACC

Remember at the end of the Mountain West Review where I said I was going to get less fact, number, and research intensive?  Yeah, I'm still going to keep that going.  It's much easier for me, and probably a better read for you.  Plus, it lessons the chances of me getting attacked by rabid fans of whichever conference I review, and my feelings are already a little bruised after a Dayton fan said I probably live in a trailer.  I'm still trying to get over that one.  Why don't people realize that words hurt?

1.  Duke.  More like Puke, am I right?  Seriously I hate putting these guys first, I just hate it, but I think they're the team to beat while the Heels figure out their new team.  In a bit of a switch, the Devils will be thin in the back court this season, with just Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, and graduated from high school a year early guy and big time recruit Andre Dawkins.  Luckily for them they have a whole bunch of big tall white guys who like to play on the perimeter and are comfortable handling the ball, as usual, so lack of guard depth shouldn't hurt in the half court, at least.  That group includes Kyle Singler, the preseason favorite for ACC Player of the Year.

2.  North Carolina.  Losing Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington, and Green gives the Heels a lot to replace, but as you would expect there's a whole other group here ready to step in.  How good can Ed Davis be?  We'll find out.  I remember last recruiting season it was Ed Davis this and Ed Davis that and blah blah blah.  He will be counted on to be a big part of the offense.  The Heels recruiting class is loaded, with all five guys in the Rivals top 70.  Carolina will be loaded with big guys, with leading returning scorer Deon Thompson back, Davis, and three of the recruits 6-10 or bigger, headlined by John Henson who was described by Athlon as a "game-changing talent."  The key might be PG Larry Drew, the only real PG on the roster and a top recruit two seasons ago who was sheltered behind Lawson.

3.  Georgia Tech.  "Georgia Tech?" is probably what you are saying right now, but you best believe the Jackets are ready to make a run.  They bring in an outstanding recruiting class, including Rivals #3 overall Derrick Favors, a 6-9 center out of Georgia and the next Ralph Sampson III, as well as two guys the Gophers were looking at:  PG Mfon Udofia (#32) and Glen Rice, Jr. (#45).  With Gani Lawal's surprise decision to not enter the NBA draft and Iman Shumpert also back, the Jackets have as much talent as anybody (well, other than UNC or Duke).  Sadly, there is not a point guard from NYC on the roster, but one of the other newcomers this year is named Brian Oliver, so they got that going for them.

4.  Maryland.  Grievis Vasquez is still around?!!?!?!  Guy is on the Wade Lookingbill/Brian Cardinal program apparently - except he's talented.  Very talented, very good all-around player, and a flat-out stud, as shown by his triple-double against North Carolina last year, as well as several other near triple doubles.  The Terps have almost everybody back from last year, but don't have a secondary star to compliment Vasquez.  If one of the returners or top 100 recruit Jordan Williams can elevate their game to help him, Maryland might have a sweet 16 run in them.

5.  Clemson.  It's tough to know what to make of the Tigers.  Losing both K.C. Rivers and his-range-starts-when-he-enters-the-gym-type Terrence Oglesby weakens their perimeter, but they still bring back superstud post player Trevor Booker.  He can not only score, but he's one of the best rebounders in the country.  McDonald's All-American Milton Jennings joins up to help solidify the paint, but, like UNC, point guard play will determine how far Clemson can go.  Hopefully Oglesby enjoys Europe, his loss certainly weakens their hopes.

6.  Florida State.  Toney Douglas is gone.  Wow, how weird is that?  Dude seemed like he had been around forever, but I never got sick of him - now the Seminoles need to start life without him and they have a pretty good base to work from.  As usual they will still have a bunch of athletes, starting with 6-9 wing Chris Singleton and 7-1 beast inside Soloman Alabi.  Perhaps most exciting, however, is #7 recruit in the country Michael Snaer, a combo guard who was the California Player of the Year, will be lacing them up for FSU despite offers from UCLA and Kansas.  He should give Henson and Favors a run for ACC Freshman of the Year, and gives the Seminoles a chance to win on any night.

7.  Virginia Tech.  This is a team that I can see ending up higher than 7th, but right now I'm putting them here because this is where they ended up and I don't feel like cutting and pasting anything right now.  They lose their leading scorer in A.D. Vassallo, but returning guard Malcolm Delaney is a pimp and forward Jeff Allen is a beast down low, giving them an excellent inside-outside tandem.  The Hokies have been an NIT staple the last few years (other than '07), but if those two can get a little help from someone else the NCAA Tournament is certainly within reach.

8.  Wake Forest.  Last year the Demon Deacons raced out to a 16-0 record and a #1 ranking in the polls before coming back to earth and then flaming out in the NCAA tournament with a first round loss to Cleveland State.  This year they will have a tougher road ahead, losing their two leading scorers, James Johnson and Jeff Teague, off to the NBA.  Luckily, they still have hyper athletic and likely lottery pick next year Al-Farouq Aminu to work with.  They should be a very athletic team once again this year, but a mediocre recruiting class on top of losing their two studs means a step back.

9.  Miami.  I'm going to have to be honest with you here - I don't think I've seen a Miami game in two years.  Usually I've seen almost ever team, particularly from the power conferences, at least once or so a year, but somehow I've missed the Canes.  I know they lose Jack McClinton, who was their stud for a couple of years, and that certainly can't help.  The things I'm reading say that they have some pretty talented pieces and might be better than they were last year, but since I've never heard of any of these people I don't really know.  and I assume they'll lose a player or two to some sort of suspension since Miami is full of criminals.  Wow, I should really get to know this team better before they play the Gophers December 2nd.

10.  Boston College.  The Eagles were in a lot of ways a one-man show last season, and with Tyrese Rice now gone, some of those bit parts need to become major cogs.  BC does have two really interesting players, both oversized wing guys who can score inside or out in 6-8 Joe Trapani and 6-5 Rakim Sanders - who was a big part of their upset win of UNC at Chapel Hill last year.  Their issue is with lackluster post play, and with no new signees for this season they'll be relying on the same guys; foul-prone center Josh Southern and undersized PF Corey Raji, whose improvement might be the key for this season. 

11.  Virginia.  Tony Bennett is the new coach in Virginia, so you can expect the Cavaliers to get very slow and very boring in the near future.   For now, Sylvan Landesburg is an incredible player, but he needs a J.R. Reynolds to go with his Sean Singletary, or a Curtis Staples to go with his Harold Deane.  Yes, I'm trying to say he needs help.  Top 100 recruit Tristan Spurlock, a 6-8 wing from Virginia who was recruited hard by Georgetown, could be what he needs, but I don't see much improvement this year.  Bennett will make a difference, as boring as he his, but it will take time.

12.  NC State.  Man, has the this program taken a down turn in the last three years, and with their top three scorers gone to graduation it's not going to get any better this year.  Tracy Smith looks like he's going to end up being a very good player, but there's not much else here to get excited about.  Sid Lowe is still around, and he brings in good size and a couple highly regarded players in PF Richard Howell (Rivals #61) and C DeShawn Painter (#127), but took a big hit when PG Lorenzo Brown (#37) failed to qualify academically and had to go to prep school.  The school seems to believe in Lowe, and with girls like those above I doubt anybody is even paying attention to the court. 


So there you have it.  The ACC is always competitive, always tough, and always one of the best conferences in the nation and it should be the same again last year.  And with that I'm off to Portland for a well-deserved vacation until Wednesday, so I won't be around to either comment on the Twins/Yankees series or defend myself against the inevitable hate mail that will follow from this preview.  Hopefully Dawger, Snake, or Sidler will write a Twins post or two, but those guys are pretty much lazy sacks of crap who are borderline illiterate, so I wouldn't bet on it. 


Other Previews:
Conference USA
Atlantic 10 
Mountain West

Weekend Review

Can't really put Gopher hoops in either category this week. A win over Michigan State to go along with the Ohio State win would have put them in the Awesome column, but they certainly didn't suck. My thoughts on the games are in previous posts, but I'm very wary of this game at Iowa this week. I think this game will go a long way towards telling us what kind of team the Gophers are this year. If they can't win at Iowa, you might as well mark down all road games not against Indiana or Penn State as a loss. More on that later in the week.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Arkansas Hoops. Maybe the most surprising team this season, the Razorbacks are 11-1 with a win over #4 Oklahoma this week and heading into SEC play as a suddenly interesting team. Sure, none of their other 10 wins are against anybody good, but that sounds an awful lot like the Gophers. And why not? Maybe the biggest reason for their fast start (they were picked last in the SEC) is one-time Gopher target point guard Courtney Fortson. If you recall, Fortson was ranked #60 on the Rivals 150, and was their 9th ranked point guard, and chose Arkansas over the Gophers, Tennesse, Florida State, and Missouri. He’s certainly lived up to his high billing, teaming with vastly improved big man Michael Washington (from 4.3 points and 3.9 rebs per game to 15.9 and 10.4) to revitalize the Razorbacks, leading the only Arkansas fan I know to say, “Hawgball is back.” Um, ok. But I do know Fortson is the real deal, as he’s averaging 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game (third in the nation) and nearly put up a triple double in the big win over the Sooners, going for 12 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. His turnovers are a little high at 4 per game, but hell, he’s a freshman whose only 5-11 and he’s putting up those numbers? I’d take it.

2. Utah Football. Well I’m going to go ahead and say that was a pretty big win, stomping all over former #1 team in the country Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl to finish up as the only undefeated D-I team in the country. The Utes used their underrated and underappreciated speed to jump out to a 21-0 nothing lead right out of the gate, and to harass Bama QB John Parker Wilson (dude, just go by J.P.) all night, picking him off twice and sacking him 8 times despite the supposed stronger, faster, and more powerful Crimson Tide offensive line. What I thought was even more impressive was that after falling behind 21-0, Bama scored the next 17 to cut the lead to four. Just when it looked like Utah’s fast start might be wiped out, they shut ‘em down, scoring the next 10 points to get to the final margin. My favorite part was the radio guy whose name I didn’t get I heard ranting the next day about how this was the one time in 100 games where Utah would beat Alabama, how they wouldn’t beat USC in 100 tries, and how the only reason they won was because Bama didn’t care, and he “guaranteed” the Crimson Tide spent their month of practice before the game “working on other things” and “didn’t even prepare for this game.” What? First of all, you’re an idiot. Secondly, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. And lastly, Utah stomped the shit out of Alabama; that’s a very good team right there in Mormonsylvania.

3. Michigan State Hoops. Yep, they get this spot again after a couple of very nice road wins to start the Big Ten season, following up the whoopin’ they gave your beloved Gophers by beating a much improved Northwestern team in Evanston 77-66 on Saturday to move to 2-0 in conference played, tied with Wisconsin at the top. Kalin Lucas, Chris Allen, and Raymar Morgan were once again the catalyst, leading the team with a pair of excellent games a piece. Lucas followed up his 24 point destruction of the Gophers with 17 points and 9 assists, making sure the Wildcats’ Michael Thompson knew he didn’t belong anywhere near the best PG in the Big Ten list. Chris Allen stayed hotter than Valerie Malone, going for four more three pointers and 17 points, and Raymar Morgan’s under the radar double/double against the Gophers (10 & 10) was much more obvious, this time going for 22 & 13. After the first weekend of Big Ten play, it’s very much looking like it’s the Spartans and everyone else. I still think Purdue has a chance to compete with them, but they looked very shaky in their loss to Illinois.

4. Pitt Hoops. I’ve hated the stupid Pitt Panthers every since the Brandin Knight and Carl Krauser days, mostly because those two were queers, but also because they were overrated every year. Every year they would play an essentially worthless non-conference schedule, get ranked in the top 10, play ok in conference, and then get bounced in an upset in the NCAA tournament, but things might be changing. The team is still a bunch of queers, especially Levance Fields, but this might actually be a complete team this season. They made a major statement this week winning both Big East conference games on the road to go to 2-0. First with a win at Rutgers, not a very good team but the RAC is always a tough place to play, and then with a monster win at #11 Georgetown in convincing fashion 70-54, led by monster DeJuan Blair’s 20 points and 17 rebounds. Blair leads the Big East in rebounding at 12.5 per game, and along with forwards Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs gives the Panthers not only a big team but an extremely talented team this year. Pitt has the talent to make a deep run this year, but I’m almost certain Fields will continue the tradition of crappy Pitt point guards and screw it up somehow.

5. Boston College Hoops. This spot was going to go to Wake Forest for their impressive win over BYU in Provo, ending the Cougars 53-game home winning streak, but it’s impossible to ignore BC’s huge win over North Carolina last night, especially because it happened in Chapel Hill in their ACC opener. Naturally, Tyrese Rice led the way for the Eagles with 25 points on 7-13 shooting with 8 assists and five rebounds, and got help from swingman Rakim Sanders who chipped in with 22. BC was able to hold the Tar Heels to just 38% shooting and turned them over 15 times in the win. Ty Lawson (3-13) and Tyler Hansbrough (6-15) both really struggled with their shot, in Hansbrough’s case frequent double teams slowed him down, as well as BC center Josh Southern who did a hell of a job. At least that’s what I read, I really wish I had seen this game so I could form an opinion on just how fluky this result was. Obviously defeating the Heels at home is a huge occurrence, especially for a team who has a loss to St. Louis on their record and whose best win was over Providence before last night. Was this a case of BC turning the corner? Are the Heels vulnerable? Was a UNC weakness uncovered or was this just a weird night? I’LL NEVER KNOW!!!!!!!!!


WHO SUCKED

1. Big Ten Football. God dammit, every year it’s the same “The Big Ten sucks” talk and every year the conference as a whole goes out and proves everybody right, and this year is again no exception. The conference is 1-5 after another embarrassing Rose Bowl loss to USC, this time by Penn State 38-24 in a game that wasn’t nearly that close until the Nittany Lions went on a last quarter rampage and outscored the Trojans 17-7 after USC had given up and put the water boys and cheerleaders in the game. Thankfully Iowa salvaged a modicum of pride by whomping on a horrible South Carolina team 31-10 behind Shonn Greene who it turns out is kind of a pretty big stud. The rest of the conference was pukey. Michigan State lost by 12 to Georgia, Wisconsin got rolled by Florida State by 29, and Kansas thumped our very own Golden Gophers by 21 (btw, you’re kind of an idiot if you didn’t see that coming). Hard to believe Northwestern’s loss was the best non-Iowan result from the bowls, as they lost in OT to Mizzou. Tonight’s game is going to be ugly. I think the spread could be pretty much anything and I’d take Texas over Ohio State. Only the biggest Big Ten homer in the world (Hi Dad) could find anything positive to take out of this bowl season.

2. Gonzaga. Ok, I’ll be honest: I have no idea what is happening here. Going into the season I thought this would legitimately be the Bulldogs best team ever. With Pargo back at the point, Pothead Heytvelt in the post, and Bouldin and Daye on the wing I actually thought this team might be a legit Final Four contender. Instead they’ve lost three straight after losing 66-65 to Utah on Wednesday, and really look more like a bubble team right now. Their only signature win right now is against Tennessee, and with the WCC looking down as St Mary’s and San Diego disappoint, they have two more chances: this week at Tennessee (again, for some reason) and against Memphis mid-season. They should be ok, with a strength of schedule ranked 12th right now, an easy conference, and wins over Oklahoma State and Maryland on the books, an NCAA berth shouldn’t be an issue. Then again, with four losses in the last five games, including against Portland State and Utah, maybe they need to be worried.

3. Minnesota Vikings. I don’t even know what to write, this was incredibly disappointing. Not necessarily because they lost, since it should have been obvious to all that this wasn’t a very good team that basically had no chance to win a Super Bowl or anything, but because it really felt like with a better QB and/or a better coach this game was there for the taking. The defense must be really frustrated right now, since they played an awesome game and were completely undercut by a bad gameplan, poor QB play, and atrocious special teams – all of which can be traced directly back to coaching and Mr. Brad Childress, not to mention the bizarre decision to give the Eagles a field goal by declining a penalty that would have backed them up 10 yards. Of the 26 points the Eagles scored, only the long screen pass to Brian Westbrook TD was really their fault, every other point came about as a result of either an offensive turnover or a long punt return by notorious bonehead DeSean Jackson. Speaking of Jacksons, Tarvaris had a really poor game, even by his standards completing just 15 of 35 passes for 164 yards and one interception, but actually played much worse than that, with several of his incompletions hitting Eagle DBs in the hands and dropping to the ground. Jackson fooled me like many others into thinking he might have figured the game out with a few good outings recently, but I was strongly reminded otherwise by the countless poor throws, bad decisions, and Adam Weber-like staredowns of his #1 options. I’ve never really been a “fire the coach” kind of guy, even giving Mike Tice the benefit of the doubt throughout his tenure, but I’m starting to get on board with the fire Childress brigade, even after a division title (won mostly by default). And they really need to figure out a new solution at QB, whether Cassel, McNabb, or Warner become available or through a trade for Rosenfels or someone. I don't know the answer, but there are a lot of questions.

4. Georgia Tech football. Ok, so I kind of realize that a lot of bowl games are mainly won by the team who is happier to be there or who has more to play for, but some times one team has EVERYTHING going it’s way and they still get rolled, and that’s pretty much what happened with the Yellow Jackets. Playing in the prestigious Chick-Fil-A Bowl essentially in their own backyard in Atlanta against an LSU team that couldn’t have been too excited to be there after a disappointing season where they were ranked #7 to start the year (with a #1 vote) before going 3-5 in the SEC, Georgia Tech got completely whooped on 38-3 by the Tigers, in a game that was 35-3 and basically over by halftime. Tech QB Josh Nesbitt was particularly awesome, completing just 8 of his 24 pass attempts. Seriously, this was a pretty embarrassing performance. I’d rather be a Gopher fan than a Yellow Jacket fan.

5. Notre Dame basketball. If you're a top ten team, you don't lose to St. John's, even on the road. In a very good Big East, wins like that are key and you can't afford to drop that game. And Harangody is overrated.