NCAA Basketball Preview - The Atlantic 10

Here's what you're going to want to do - watch "New Girl" from Fox.  It debuted on Tuesday night and I think me and the missus laughed more than we've ever laughed at the first episode of anything, and that includes Parks and Rec.  It stars one of my big crushes, Zooey Deschanel, and although she's always been quirky funny she really, truly can carry a show as the funny lead and she knocks it out of the park here.  Then there's three dumb guys who she moves in with who I've never heard of but actually do an adequate job.

So watch it.  It's on every Tuesday at 8pm, and they're replaying the pilot on Saturday October 1st so do it.  If you've ever trusted my judgement about anything, watch this show.  But also know that I have dibs on Zooey.  I've been into her since her Almost Famous and The Good Girl, so back off.  I have dibs on her sister too.

I have a lot of dibs.  Anyways, here comes the A-10!!!!!

1.  XAVIER MUSKETEERS.  Tu Holloway (who sounded cooler when he was going by Terrell) is back after nearly jumping to the NBA so that pretty much automatically makes Xavier the favorite because he's so retardedly good, but he's got plenty of help.  Mark Lyons joins him in the backcourt and nearly doubled his scoring average last year all the way up to 13.6, and Kenny Frease is back to man the middle.  All of which means X has their top three scorers back.   They're also adding three top 140 recruits including Dezmine Wells, a SF who ranked #76 on Rivals list and is all but guaranteed to be the next Musketeer superstar.  They also imported Travis Taylor who is not a crappy receiver from Florida but is in fact a power forward who transferred from Monmouth where he lit it up for nearly 18 points per game.  I'm comfortable at this point saying Xavier doesn't rebuild, they just reload.

2.  TEMPLE OWLS.  If the back court is what really makes good teams good then Temple is off to a good start despite losing power forward Lavoy Allen who averaged 12 and 9 last year.  Back is SG Ramone Moore, last year's leading scorer at over 15 per game, as well as Juan Fernandez.  You remember Fernandez as the hipster pot head looking guy who killed Talor Battle with his off-balance miracle shot in the NCAA Tournament.  He's super annoying to look at, really irritating to watch, and really his numbers aren't even that great and he can't really shoot, but somehow he has that annoying knack for making the plays when they're needed. 

3.  ST LOUIS BILLIKENS.  I suppose it didn't make sense to think Rick Majerus would turn St. Louis around super fastly but I did because I love that fat-ass.  But after a good year two seasons ago (11-5 A-10) they regressed hard last year, finishing at 6-10 last year, not in small part because their two best players - Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell - missed all of last season because of sexual assault charges.  Both were cleared - Reed bolted for the NBA (undrafted, nice job genius), but getting Mitchell back is huge for a Billiken team that returns all five starters and their 8 top scorers from last season.  If this isn't the year St. Louis makes the NCAA Tournament it's probably time to just end the program all together.  Maybe all the other A-10 coaches could have fun little luau where they roast Majerus for food and invite A.C. Slater and it would be fun for all.  Except Majerus.

4.  GEORGE WASHINGTON COLONIALS.  GW went an impressive 10-6 in the A-10 last season.  Unfortunately that didn't remotely get them in the conversation for an NCAA bid because they didn't even come close to playing anybody in the non-conference slate and didn't beat any of the league's good teams during conference play.  Still it's a good jumping off point for this season, and with only one starter gone from last year's team and getting back Lasan Kromah, who was second on the team in scoring two years ago as a freshman before missing last year with a foot injury, GW might be in contention to reach the NCAA Tournament.  Tony Taylor is a player of the year candidate, and with a tougher schedule that includes games against Cal, Syracuse, and VCU, they have a shot.

5.  CHARLOTTE 49ERS.  The 49ers return four starters from last year's squad, but I'm not sure that's a good thing.  Last year they couldn't shoot, turned the ball over like crazy, never registered assists, and couldn't play defense.  All that led to a 10-20 record with just 2 conference wins.  There is, however, reason to have some hope because three of those 10 wins came over Xavier, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech, so when things do come together for Charlotte they can play well, it just didn't happen with any regularity last year.  Of those returners, three scored in double figures last year, including their top two assist and steal guys.  If they can shoot a little better, take care of the ball a little better, and play better defense they could be dangerous.  Yes, that's a lot of ifs and I don't know why I believe they'll be better.  Maybe I just like green uniforms.

6.  ST JOE'S HAWKS.   I've seen St. Joe's referenced as a potential A-10 sleeper, but I'm not sure I really see it.  Yes, they only lost one starter and not a very good one at that, but this is also a team that was beaten by the Gophers at home last year so how good can they be?  Still, they have a couple of good guards including Carl Jones who is the third leading returning scorer in the conference with 17 per game, along with sophomore center C.J. Aiken who was ranked the #8 incoming freshman center in the country last season.  Although Aiken is a bit of a project on offense he's already a killer on defense and averaged 3.5 blocks per game last season which led the conference and was second nationally.  So I guess they do have some talent.  But still, the Gophers.

7.  DAYTON FLYERS.  I've spent plenty of time in other A-10 previews talking about how Dayton has terrible fans so I won't rehash that here, especially since this year is going to be a toughie for the Flyers.  Not only did they lose their coach, but they also lost leading scorer Chris Wright to graduation and freshman point guard Juwan Staten, who led the A-10 in assists, decided to transfer after realizing how much Dayton sucked.  They still have Chris Johnson, a guy I really like who is an all-around kind of guy and superior athlete, and PG Kevin Dillard, a transfer from So Ill, led the MVC in assists his sophomore year so he's not a monster step down from Staten, but the talent level has definitely waned in Dayton.  Gregory got out at the right time.

8.  ST BONAVENTURE BONNIES.  What St. Bonnie's has going for them is maybe the best player in the conference in Andrew Nicholson.  What they don't have going for them is everything else.  Nicholson is now a senior, and has gone from a 2-star center from Canada whose only D-I Scholarship offer came from St. Bonnie's to a guy who led the conference in scoring at 22 per game last year.  All he needs is a little help and there's a couple of other returners who averaged in double-figures, but let's be honest St. Bonnie's has never been on tv so who am I kidding trying to write about them?

9.  UMASS MINUTEMEN.  They lose their best player and top scorer in Anthony Gurley, but return everybody else.  The problem is that nobody besides Gurley averaged more than 8.5 points per game, so what you're left with is nine different players who averaged between 4.3 and 8.5 points per game last year, and I have no idea how that's going to shake itself out.  If multiple players step up their game and become double digit scorers and all-conference types they could finish significantly higher than this.  On the other hand, if nobody takes a leap and improves from last season they could be bottom dwellers.  Obviously, I think neither of those things will happen and they'll just float here at #9.  Go me!

10.  DUQUESNE DUKES.  The Dukes chance to shine was last year, but they came up a bit short.  After starting the conference season 8-0, Duquesne limped to the finish at 2-6 and then were dropped in the first round of the A-10 tourney by crappy St. Joe's and ended up in the CBI since their non-conference resume was basically non-existent.  Now both Damian Saunders and Bill Clark, two of the best players in Duquesne history, are gone and although there's still some talent here they certainly aren't in the same class they were in (or could have been in) last year.  They return three pretty good guards, including A-10 rookie of the year T.J. McConnell, and since they play an extreme uptempo style that's a good start and they should end up ok, but they definitely whiffed on a big opportunity last season. 

11.  RICHMOND SPIDERS.  After reaching the sweet 16 last year and setting a school record for victories, the Spiders have been massacred by graduations, losing four starters who accounted for nearly 70% of the team's scoring last year and over half of their rebounds and assists, including Kevin Anderson and Justin Harper who were both All A-10 first team selections last year.  So yeah, they have a lot of uncertainty going on.  Richmond has begun to establish itself as one of the elite basketball schools in the conference, but it's going to take some big years from unexpected places to keep them there.

12.  FORDHAM RAMS.  The sad thing about Fordham, other than the fact that their win totals have been three, two, and seven the past three years (and those are total wins, not conference wins), is that they actually have one of the best players in the conference in power forward Chris Gaston, who was the only A-10 player to average a double-double at 15.9 points and 11.3 rebounds (4th in the nation).  The problem is he has zero help, so defenses really do nothing other than throw double and triple teams at him and it works because they are terrible at everything, and there's really no reason to think they're going to be much better.  They lose their second leading scorer, but return two other double digit scorers in Branden Frazier (from Dudley Do-Right) and Alberto Estwick.  If either of those guys can take some pressure of Gaston, maybe they could get to a CIT bid.  Aim high.

13.  RHODE ISLAND RAMS.  Remember Jimmy Baron?  The coaches son who played for the Rams a couple of years ago and rained down 8 three-pointers in Cameron and almost single-handedly beat Duke?  He's been gone now for a couple of years, but little brother Billy just transferred in from Virginia and he profiles as a similar player.  Which is good, because most of the excitement left Rhodey after last year with three of their top four scorers, including second team A-10 selection Delroy James.  Joining Baron will be a couple returnees who are also excellent outside shooters and any time a team has a couple of outside threats they can also manage an upset or two, but that's about all the Rams will be good for this year.  

14.  LASALLE EXPLORERS.  When Aaric Murray,  who was ranked as the #35 overall recruit and #5 center in the country coming into school in 2009, it was a huge, huge deal.  Here was a hometown kid from just outside Philly who was going to return the Explorers to the glory days of Lionel Simmons.  Well.  Insert fart sound.  LaSalle went 4-12 and 6-10 in A-10 games the last two years, and although Murray put up good numbers he was also benched for poor effort last season and has now transferred to West Virgina with nary a post-season berth on the record.  With two other double-digit scorers lost to graduation LaSalle finds itself in a position similar to the Minnesota Twins - no hope and no prospects, and one of the worst teams in the country.

Other Previews:
Big 12
ACC

Atlantic 10 College Basketball 2010 Preview

1.  Xavier Musketeers.  Take note, Dayton dorks, because this is what you call a dynasty.  I remember last year, I think I picked the Musketeers fourth in the A-10 because of who was graduating, and they went ahead and won the conference, again, and made a nice run in the tournament, again.  This year, they once again look like they might be down with Jordan Crawford off to the NBA, but Terrell Holloway is back and I love that little guy.  His development from out of control spaz as a freshman (think Kevin Clark, any year) to stone cold killer has been fun to see, and now in his junior year this is clearly his team and I can't wait to see if he'll be better than Jake Pullen, or merely as good.  With two other starters back, Mark Lyons and a slimmed down Kenny Frease ready to step in and start, and top25-type recruiting class coming in it wouldn't be a shock at all to see them in the sweet 16 for the fourth straight year.

2.  Temple Owls.  On paper this team is probably better than Xavier, but I learned my lesson last year about doubting the Musketeers.  That said, Temple should easily hit their fourth straight NCAA Tournament, and they are certainly back to a perenially good program now under Fran Dunphy.   The Owls lose leading scorer Ryan Brooks, but have enough pieces in place that it shouldn't hurt them.  Juan Fernandez is an oustanding point guard who I really want to compare to Pepe Sanchez, but that's lazy since they're both hispanic so instead I'll say he reminds me a lot of Greivis Vasquez.  With Lavoy Allen also back to dominate the inside, and last year's A-10 sixth man of the year Ramone Moore ready to slide in for Brooks, they're in great shape.

3.  Richmond Spiders.  Of all the graduating players in the conference, nobody is going to miss their guy more than the Spiders will miss David Gonzalvez.  They still have point guard and A-10 player of the year Kevin Anderson back, but he and Gonzalvez formed a nearly unstoppable backcourt duo, averaging 32.4 points between the two of them - 46% of the team's scoring - and were the top two assist and steal guys to boot.  Beyond finding someone to fill in for Gonzalvez, the big key for the season is the continued improvement of PF Justin Harper, who is suddenly getting "potential NBA pick" buzz, as well as if Dan Geriot can get back to close to what he was before he hurt his knee.  He was a double-digit scorer and a beast inside before the injury, but averaged less the 7 points per game last year.  If he is recoverd in year 2 post-surgery, this team goes from a good team to a great team.

4.  St. Louis Billikens.  Majerus's team was one of the youngest in the country last year, but came together and closed strong, finishing 11-5 in the A-10 and denied an NCAA berth due to a very weak non-conference schedule.   This year the schedule has been upgraded along with the expectations, because with their top six scorers back - all of whom were unerclassmen last year - they are in position to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.  Kwamain Mitchell (16 points, 3 rebs, 3 assists per game), Willie Reed (12 pts, 8 rebs, 2 blks), and Cody Ellis (11 pts, 5 rebs) are a dynamic trio, and the Billikens were one of the toughest defensive teams in the country last year.  Pay attention to their game November 20th vs. Georgia - the result of that one will help give a gauge on how "for real" this team is.  [NOTE:  I have since been informed that Mitchell and Reed have been suspended due to some chick framing them for some kind of sex allegation.  This obviously means that they're screwed.]   

5.  Dayton Flyers.  I've talked about this on here before, but is there a more overrated program than the Flyers?  They continually get praised as if they've accomplished something, but they've only made one NCAA Tournament in the last six years, and they continually underachieve.  Once again this year they'll be built around an overrated power forward who can't stay healthy and a bunch of guards with gigantic question marks surrounded them .  Either way I still have a special place in my heart for Dayton fans, who are almost identical to Packer fans.  They have the same mix of delusion, overconfidence, and entitlement, mixed with a dash of overconfidence and a sprinkle of questionable personal hygiene and mental problems.

6.  Charlotte 49ers.  Interesting team here.  They were cruising towards an NCAA berth last year at 18-5 and 8-1 in conference play before a 1-7 close to the season,  including losses to G. Washington and UMass, left them out of postseason play altogether.  Last year's point guard (Dijuan Harris) is gone and there's some concern about if anybody on the roster can replac ehim, but they return most of last year's team, including the dynamic inside duo of Shamari Spears (16 ppg/6 rpg last year) and Chris Braswell (10 and 9).  New coach Alan Major has a reputation for getting the most out of post players, so this sounds like a good combo to me.  Not like those pizzeria pretzel combos.  Seriously, who thought that one up?  Gross.

7.  Rhode Island Rams.  The Rams might not make the NCAA  Tournament all that often, but they are always a tough, tough, tough matchup, and there's no reason for that not to be the case again this year.  They lose two double-digit scorers from last year's team, but that doesn't mean they aren't still in good shape.  The three returning starters are all good players and give you an excellent balance of a ball-handler (Marquis Jones - 4.1 assists per game, third in A-10), an athletic wing (Delroy James - 13.2ppg, and second on team in 3-pointers despite being 6-8), and a big man in seven-footer Will Martell (8pts, 5 rebs).  Martell needs to improve because his rebounds and blocks are low for a seven-footer and he's the man down low this year.     

 
8.  Duquesne Dukes.  The Dukes return one of the best players you've never heard of in Damian Saunders, a double-double machine who doesn't mind blocking your shot right back in your stupid face if you were dumb enough to bring it to his house.  With four other big-time contributors back, including #2 leading scorer in guard Bill Clark and point guard Eric Evans, this will probably be the best Duquesne team in 30 years, not that it's exactly a huge feat, but you gotta start somewhere.  The Dukes made the NIT two years ago but dropped back into the CBI last season - their first back-to-back postseasons since 1980-1981.  Time to take that next step, boy-os.  Do it for Mike James.

10.  UMass Minutemen.  Leading scorer Ricky Harris is gone and UMass won just twelve games last year, but there is some reason to be optimistic based on what's coming back.   Anthony Gurley, Terrell Vinson, and Freddie Riley are all good all-around wing types who averaged over or close to double-digits in scoring last year and all showed at different times that they are capable of taking over a game against a quality opponent - they just all have to bring that A game at the same time.  If they can find some consistent point guard play (overall UMass had more turnovers than assists) they could finish higher than this.  You could almost call them a sleeper, except they aren't quite good enough.

10.  George Washington Colonials.  GW has ten of last year's twelve contributors back, but one of the guys who is missing is last seasons leading scorer, Damian Hollis, and they weren't exactly world beaters last year, going just 16-13 (6-10 in A10), and it was an empty 16 wins without a single good victory in there anywhere that I could find.  So how do you rate experience coming back, but save a couple of guys, subpar talent?  10th, apparently.

11.  LaSalle Explorers.  If you ever want proof that I'm an idiot, you can look at my picking this team to be one of the top teams in the A-10 last year - probably my biggest whiff ever.  Rodney Green was a superstar and Aaric Murray was a top recruit and I thought they'd surprise.  Well, they did.  They surprised the hell out of me by being a bunch of worthless sucks who sucked.  Now Green is gone, Murray is overrated, and I'll never trust these guys again.  At least until Lionel Simmons II comes to town.

12.  St. Joseph's Hawks.  I don't believe it would be possible to pick a worse time to have a home-and-home with the Hawks, because they were brutal last year and this year ain't fixin' to get much better.  Remember these guys last year?  The team the Gophers beat 97-74 and won just five conference games?  Well, it's basically the same team as last year, except their two best players graduated.  Actually, there is reason for optimism and a good reason to look forward to watching them play, and that's freshman center C.J. Aiken, who was ranked by Rivals as the #8 center who should play immediately.  They also added a couple other solidly ranked, athletic freshman to give them one of the better classes in the conference, that just won't make much of a difference this year.

13.  St. Bonaventure Bonnies.  The good news is that stud big man Andrew Nicholson is back, and last year as a sophomore he was good enough to average 16 points and 7 rebounds per game while shooting 56% from the field.  Pretty awesome.  The bad news is that Jonathan Hall and Chris Matthews (no relation to Eric and Cory) graduated and took over 25% of the team's scoring with them (nearly 50% of the non-Nicholson points) and starting point guard Malcolm Eleby is gone after getting into a fight on-campus.  Why that couldn't have happened to Lawrence Westbrook I'll never know.

14.  Fordham Rams.  This is familiar.  Two years ago Fordham was terrible, but Jio Fontan had a huge year and was the only bright spot.  Then he transferred.  Last year, the Rams were again terrible, but Chris Gaston was a monster, notching 19 double-doubles, and going 30 & 10 three times.  No, he hasn't transferred, but Fordham promises to be awful once again, so he'd have every right to in my book.  Loyalty is admirable, but who wants to play for at team that's won five games the last two season combined.  Yes, combined.  And I mean five total wins, not five conference wins.  It ain't easy being one of the worst offensive and worst defensive teams in the country, Fordham just makes it look easy.


Other Previews:

Other Previews:
Pac-10 College Basketball 2010 Preview
ACC College Basketball 2010 Preview
Big 12 College Basketball 2010 Preview
Big East College Basketball 2010 Preview

Week in Review - 2/8/2010

You cretins probably don't realize how difficult it is to run a blog, especially when you do a critically acclaimed and widely recognized Week in Review every Monday with an Awesome and Sucks section.  Like, what am I supposed to do about this Gopher basketball game?

They won a road game on a last-second shot:  Awesome.  But it was against Penn State:  Sucks.  They played well enough to essentially dominate the game:  Awesome.  But a serious of mistakes in the final minutes almost let the game slip away:  Sucks.  Huge shot by Westbrook to win the game:  Awesome.  But it wouldn't have come to that if Westbrook hadn't made maybe the biggest of the mistakes down the stretch:  Sucks.

Seriously, I didn't feel any excitement at all after he hit that shot, it was something closer to relief mixed with exasperation.  About the only good thing about this game was Ralph turning into a monster.  Snake once told me I expected too much out of Ralph too soon, and I think he was right.  I was looking for this monster to emerge too early in his career, but I can see the career arch I had envisioned beginning to take shape.  I'm starting to think two Big Ten Player of the Year awards was a bit too optimistic, but one is practically a given - assuming he stays two more years.

Anyway, I think the best strategy is just to ignore this game.  It really means nothing other than now we have to watch a few more games before we can give up on this team.  I'm still looking forward to a few NIT games.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Gonzaga.  The Zags dropped a WCC game to San Francisco two weeks ago, ending their nine game win streak, but if you thought it was some kind of indication that they weren't awesome you are sadly mistaken my buddy friend.  They started out this week with a complete drubbing of one of this season's pretenders to the WCC crown - Portland (Gopher fan:  *cry*), waxing the Pilots 76-49, and then picked up a nice win on Saturday, beating Memphis at the FedEx Forum (that's in Memphis, genius).  Beating the Tigers isn't quite the same feather in your cap it used to be the last few years, but beating a good team, and a good home team, in their place is always a good indication of a tough team.  I don't love Matt Bouldin (GrandSlam's favorite player, FYI) but he can light it up when he needs to.  Stephen Gray is the next Jeremy Pargo, Elias Harris is the next Austin Daye, and Robert Sacre is the most athletic center I can remember Gonzaga having.  I don't think they're a final four threat, but they're closer to that than some of the versions we've seen of the Bulldogs before who were just ripe for a first round upset. 

2.  UNLV.  Right now the Mountain West has probably two guaranteed bids - BYU and New Mexico - and there is probably room for one other team, either UNLV or San Diego State.  The Rebels just took a huge stride towards grabbing that bid, blowing out BYU in Las Vegas in a game that was much less close than the 88-74 score would indicate.  UNLV jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game and led 47-18 at one point before letting the foot off the gas.  Former Memphis transfer Tre'Von Willis led the way with 33 points, 8 assists, and five rebounds, following up his 15-8-8 effort earlier in the week against Wyoming.  The Rebels already have wins over Louisville, Arizona, and Nevada in the non-conference season and have already beaten New Mexico and San Diego State to go along with that win over BYU, so assuming there are no major hiccups they are in pretty good shape to grab a bid.  Just don't lose to teams like Air Force or Colorado State or anything. 

3.  New Orleans Saints.  I'm actually pretty bummed about this despite betting on the Saints.  First, because I'm kind of a half-assed Colts fan and it sucks to keep watching the greatest QB of all-time (yeah, I said it) keep losing in the playoffs due to other people's mistakes.  Secondly, the whole "Saints are destined to win to make up for Katrina" crap is mind-blowingly retarded.  Seriously, how stupid are you people?  A Super Bowl is going to make up for eighty-bajillion dollars in damages and a kajillion deaths?  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure God still owes New Orleans a whole lot.  And then he goes and has Chris Paul get hurt?  Nice guy, your god.  Anyway, congrats to the Saints.  Sean Payton outcoached Jim Caldwell to infinity, Drew Brees executed perfectly, and that onside kick to start the 2nd half might have been the ballsiest call in history.  This was probably the first Super Bowl in history where I didn't hate at least one of the teams, so I'm happy either way.  But I would have been way happier if the Colts won.  Also the Sidler is probably on suicide watch (he's from Indiana).  Yes, again.

4.  Steve Stricker.  I haven't written a word about golf since the season started back in January, mainly because all the tournaments thus far have had less than thrilling player fields, but this week I have to give props to Stricker.  After two good rounds, Stricker was in a tie with Dustin Johnson at ten under heading into the weekend, both three shots clear of the third place golfer.  Rather than sit back, Stricker got after it again on Saturday, posting a five under 66, the second-best round of the day, which staked him to a huge lead going into the final round, a lead that let him simply coast to the championship with a 70.  It was a very impressive and convincing win over a pretty good field that included Phil Mickelson, Paddy Harrington, Hunter Mahan, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, and notorious homo Stew Cink, among others.  It seems strange to say Stricker is the #2 golfer in the world, but it's now official - he is.

5.  Bracket Busters.  The matchups for Bracket Busters were announced this week, and for once they managed not to screw it up.  Of course, as usual there are a ton of matchups and a lot of them include teams like Presbyterian (RPI 318), UT-Martin (RPI 335), and Marist (RPI 337), but the eleven tv matchups are pretty intriguing with 19 of the 22 teams having an RPI under 100.  The highlight is Siena at Butler, with Butler probably ok either way but Siena really needing this win to get an at-large, but there are six other games involving ten other teams that have NCAA At-Large bid ramifications (at-large hopefuls in bold):  Old Dominion at Northern Iowa, William & Mary at Iona, Louisiana Tech at Northeastern, Akron at Virginia Commonwealth, Charleston at George Mason, and Wichita State at Utah State - although both W&M and GMU lost this week, probably ending their chances.  In year's past there was usually one, maybe two games worth watching, but this year there are at least seven.  The only thing really missing is a couple of Ivy League squads in Cornell and Harvard, but I guess the nerds have to nerd it up in their precious library and can't come out and play.  Way to go, Poindexter!  Enjoy your English Lit degree when you're serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
 


WHO SUCKED

1.  Michigan.  If it's frustrating to be a Gopher fan this basketball season, and it most certainly is, try to imagine being a Michigan fan.  Picked by most analysts to be a NCAA Tournament team and in the top five or so in the conference this season has been a huge struggle.  A tough schedule and some poor play led to the Wolverines coming into conference play with a 6-5 record, but with a very good RPI and SOS they had a pretty good chance at a bid if they just played well against conference teams.  However they dropped the opener to Indiana and have been faltering ever since.  I win over UCONN two weeks ago could have been a rallying point for a late season push, but since then Michigan has gone 2-5, culminating this week in a blowout loss at Northwestern and then a blowout at home against Wisconsin, dropping them to 4-7 in the Big Ten and 11-12 overall, aka not even eligible for the NIT.  This is what happens when a coach (Beilien) tries to force the players on his team to play in his stupid everybody bomb three-pointers at all times system when those players can't shoot.  It's like a team of Paul Carters out there just bombing away.

2.  LSU.  Maybe it isn't exactly fair to call out LSU this week since they did play Tennessee and Kentucky, but they had them both at home, lost both, were completely embarrassed by Kentucky (lost 81-55), and it has become impossible to ignore the fact that the Tigers are now sitting at 0-9 in SEC play.  Ouch.  They were just in the Final four in 2006, and made the tournament last year and stretched eventual champ UNC into a damn good game.  What happened?  They still have Tasmin Mitchell, who is one of the best overall players in the NCAA, but everybody else is gone from last year, and the new guys all suck.  Bo Spencer, a three-point specialist last year who shot 40% behind the line, has been unable to move into a more prominent role and is shooting just 28% from three this year.  It's just depressing.  I like my LSU teams to be hyper-athletic and capable of beating anybody at any time.  Not on nine-game losing streaks with a win over Rice as their best of the year.  And did I mention that Kentucky was winning 42-14 at half on Saturday?  Yuck. 

3.  LaSalle.  If you ever want proof that I'm an idiot, you can ring up my preseason LaSalle prediction as your latest in a long, long, line of evidence.  I was blinded in the preseason by a returning super-stud scoring machine (Rodney Green) and a super fancy brand new freshman center (Aaric Murray) and picked them to finish second in the A-10.  Well it turns out they suck, and this week eliminates any doubt.  They had two home games - the first a nice chance to pick off a top team with Rhode Island coming in, the second a simple win over St. Louis - and obviously they lost them both or I wouldn't be here typing this right now.  LaSalle is now 3-6 in the conference, tied for 8th with crap factory Duquesne, and is at 11-12 overall.  Like Michigan, they are now not even eligible to make the NIT since they are under .500.  Sounds like a killer CBI match-up.  Between this and my pimping of Cincinnati it's pretty clear my eye for talent is worse than someone who thought Troy Williamson would be a super star (bogart).  Ohio State better come through for me.

4.  Cincinnati.  Oh yeah, Cincinnati.  The team I pimped as a final four sleeper this year.  Whoops.  They might still make the tournament and all, currently sitting at 5-6 in the Big East with a couple of really good non-conference wins already on the resume, but you can go ahead and forget about them making any kind of run barring Lance Stephenson turning into Carmelo Anthony in the next month.  This week was a pretty good barometer of what type of team we have here.  Good teams beat bad teams on the road and beat other good teams at home.  This week the Bearcats played Notre Dame on the road and Syracuse at home - they went 0-2 and neither game was even close, which tells me this isn't any kind of special team whatsoever, just another lame-o team like so many out there.  Deonta Vaughn has taken about twenty steps backwards, Stephenson has been just ok, Ibrahima Thomas hasn't made much of an impact, and everybody else here is just meh.  I'm so disappointed. 

5.  Reggie Wayne.  If you're looking for a goat for the game, don't bother with Peyton or Caldwell, look to Wayne.  Targeted eleven times he came up with just five catches for 46 yards.  He let a perfect pass go right through his hands at the end of the game which would have been a touchdown (also we could maybe look hard at Pierre Garcon here if we're talking dropping passes).  Most importantly, he slipped on the big Peyton INT that Porter returned for a TD.  If he doesn't slip, that's either a catch or, at worst, an incompletion.  Instead, he slips and can't get back for the ball, and you know the rest.  Yeah.  It's not Manning this time, it's Wayne.  And with Garcon and Collie on board and Gonzalez coming back from injury, it's probably time to trade him while his value is high.  Maybe to like, the Vikings or something.  I don't know, just brain storming here.

Seriously though, I am happy for the Saints.  They're almost impossible to hate, other than the whole "team of destiny" crap and the fact that Reggie Bush is a big piece of crap yet Bogart loves him.  Seriously, he totaled 25 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards in the game.  You know what's even worse?  He covered the OVER with both of those.  Seriously.  Dude sucks.  He's the next Dave Meggett. But he does have Kim Kardashian, so who am I to argue?

And if you aren't excited now, you should start getting excited because it's RIVALRY WEEK on ESPN!  Woo!  What does that mean?  Well, like every other year, it pretty much just means North Carolina and Duke play this week, and then they pretend that a bunch of non-rivalries are rivalries so they can call it a "week."  Whoopy.

Week In Review: 1/4/2009

God how bad does it suck to be back at work?  This is the worst day of the year, every year.  At least we had a great week for sports.  Basketball teams are kicking off conference play, and we get an awesome string of bowl games including Ohio State finally standing up for itself and winning a BCS game, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden winning bowl games on the same day, and one of the most entertaining football games I can ever remember seeing in a the Outback Bowl.  Very cool stuff.  Well, except for the Sugar Bowl.  That was so bad I can't even bring myself to list Cincinnati as a team that sucked.  I'm going to give them a pass since their coach ripped their collective heart out - that and the fact they had no chance walking in, totally different talent levels.  Like Minnesota vs. Iowa in basketball (or football, but reversed).

And speaking of the Gophers, that was a good win on Saturday.  They jumped out to a big lead against an inferior team, and although their were a couple of times they almost let the Hawks drift back into it, once they did they put the throttle down again and just never let Iowa (or the crowed, sparse as it was) believe they had a chance.  Obviously it would have been better to just blow them out by thirty, but I have no real complaints.  Good start to the season, but I will feel better once we get to see them play a good team.

I also want to take a minute to mention Devan Bawinkel, who might be the most fascinating player I have seen play since Reggie Holmes.  Did you know that Bawinkel ?  How does that happen?  Don't you have to accidentally get a layup once in a while?  And it's not like this is new.  Last year he attempted 144 shots, 139 of which were from three, and his freshman year he attempted 40, 37 from three.  That means in his career, out of shots, he's only attempted a shot inside the three point line 8 times.  That's amazing.  How do you do that?  Does he ever cross the three-point line on offense?  Ever?  What if there was a rebound that came bouncing to him, but to get it he would have to step forward and cross the line?  Would he do it, or just sit and wait behind the line even if it meant an opponent was going to get the board?  So bizarre.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Freddie Barnes.  Bowling Green lost the Humanitarian Bowl to Idaho by one in a hell of a game, but who cares?  Let's talk Barnes instead, who had an insane game (17 catches for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns) which gave him the record for catches in a single-season in D-I college football with 155 this year (previous record holder was some donk who played for Houston with 142).  You may be thinking, like me, that 155 catches in a season is ridiculous since they only play like 13 games, and you're right - it is completely insane.  It includes a 22 catch performance against Kent State, a 17 catch outing against Marshall, and a 15 grab day against Troy.  Seriously, suddenly the whole "Weber to Decker" thing doesn't seem as ridiculous.  You're probably, again like me, wondering what his pro prospects look like.  According to what I'm seeing, he is projected to go around the fifth round with third round upside due to his size and projection as a slot receiver.  I don't know, I feel like somebody is going to get a steal here.

2.  New Mexico.  I ripped these guys last week for choking on their high ranking and dropping a game to Oral Roberts, but they bounced back in a big way this week with two very good wins - over Dayton and over Texas Tech.  Even though Tech is starting to look a tad overrated and Dayton may always have been, these are still very good wins that are going to shine come selection sunday.  Now at 14-1 with those two wins plus wins over Cal and Texas A&M, New Mexico is nearly a lock for the NCAA Tournament.  If they win their home games in conference and beat crappy teams like Wyoming, Air Force, and TCU on the road, that puts them at 11-5 in the MWC and 25-6 overall - like I said, a lock.  And I finally got to watch them play - this team could make some noise in March, don't sleep on them.

3.  Cincinnati.  You should know by now I am following Cincinnati closely (now at to win the whole thing) so you're going to get frequent updates when things go well or fall apart, and this week was a very good week for the Bearcats.  On Wednesday they pulled out a very nice upset win over UCONN on two free-throws by Lance Stephenson with less than a second left, and they followed it up on Saturday with a win at Rutgers, never an easy place to play.  I've said it here before and I'll say it again - this a good team with a nice inside/outside balance, a lot of depth, a go-to shooter, and a freshman in Stephenson who could be this year's Carmelo Anthony.  If the point guard play works itself out (whether it's Deonta Vaughn sliding over from the two or freshman Cashmere Wright) they are going to be a huge threat in March.     

4.  Oregon.  It pretty much goes against everything I believe in to praise a Pac-10 team, but the Ducks deserve it after going into Washington and sweeping the two schools this week.  The win over Washington State is good, but the win over Washington is great.  The Huskies were ranked 16th and considered the favorite to win the Pac-10, and Oregon came in there and didn't just win, they completely controlled the game and blew the doors off the Huskies.  The inside/outside attack with guards Tajuan Porter and Malcolm Armstead and center Michael Dunigan is working really well right now, even though it will inevitably fall apart because Porter is far too much of a chucker.  Maybe this will be the third place team in the Pac.  Who knows, they all suck but somebody has to finish third. 

5.  William & Mary.  The Tribe has now won ten straight, and this might have been their best week yet with a win at Maryland and then following it up with a road win at league title contender Hofstra.  This now gives W&M wins over not only Maryland, but also Richmond and Wake Forest, and their only losses are to UCONN and a pretty good Harvard squad.  I don't know how many games they'll need to win in the Colonial, but their out of conference resume reads like an NCAA squad.  If you want more info (and some fluff) about these guys and their boring ass Princeton offense, Andy Katz has a piece on the Tribe here.


WHO SUCKED

1.  Case Keenum.  I've resisted putting Keenum in the "awesome" category week after week because despite games like his 536 yard 5-TD performance against UTEP and his 559 and 5 game versus Southern Miss (or any of his other three 500+ yard days or two other five touchdown days) it was easy to dismiss because he plays for Houston.  Houston, if you recall, is the team that runs a system that made David Klingler and Andre Ware stat monsters, so who knows if Keenum was legit, especially since the Cougars didn't really play any top-level opponents outside of a game vs. Oklahoma State (where Keenum put up a more legit 366-3).  Enter Air Force, Houston's opponent in Armed Forces Bowl, and it would appear that Keenum has been figured out and he might just fall in line with that proud tradition of Houston QBs.  In the Bowl (a 47-20 Air Force win), he threw for a season low 222 yards, completing a season low 58.5% of his passes, and tied a bowl record with 6 interceptions after throwing just nine all season.  The good news for Houston fans is that he's only a junior, so he'll be back to rape a bunch of inferior opponents and put up ridiculous video game numbers for another year.

2.  LaSalle.  Whoa did I overrate these guys this year.  I think I picked them at #2 in the Atlantic 10, and they've rewarded my faith by becoming the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked.  Really, in a year where the A-10 is coming up absolutely huge they've done a damn thing, losing every meaningful game and this week bottoming out with an 0-2 week with losses to Cornell (not that bad) and Binghampton (maybe the most embarrassing loss ever).  That was just the Bearcats fifth win this season against ten losses, with two of those wins over non D-I teams and another over 1-11 Maris.  Truly awful.  The Explorers are going to get steamrolled in conference.

3.  Houston.  I believe the Cougars were supposed to be one of a group of team's vying to become the first team to win Conference USA since Memphis's incredible cheating-fueled run, but they have done nothing but torpedo their chances, and this week may have been the straw that broke Tom Penders's back.  Just a real bang-up job this week, losing all three games they played.  The loss to Iowa State is no big whoop, but the loss to Louisiana Tech is kind of an eyebrow raiser and the loss to UT-San Antonio is completely unacceptable.  They've basically eliminated any chance they had of an at-large, short of running the C-USA table, by being a terrible, terrible defensive team (327th in the nation in defending two point field goals).  They do have two big time scorers, including leading D-I scorer Aubrey Coleman at 25.5 per game, and as a team they have a good 1.6 Assist/Turnover ratio, but unless they start playing some defense the CBI is the best they can hope for.

4.  Seton Hall.  Oh, the Hall, such a trendy pick to contend in the Big East (not by me though, you'll see I said they were bad).  They started out 9-1, but had no quality wins and were basically the definition of a paper tiger.  They started out the conference slate with two home games and had chances to win both, but let West Virginia and Syracuse escape with victories, and then followed that up by blowing a good chance to get a quality non-conference victory by losing to Virginia Tech (and giving up 103 points in the process, including 23 in overtime).  They aren't completely horrible, but in a better than expected Big East they're going to have to win every game they should and a few they shouldn't if they're going to get a bid.  As it stands now their best win (and only win vs. a top 100 team) is against Cornell.

5.  College Kickers.  Holy crap are some of these guys awful.  I watched the kicker from Northwestern miss three field goals and the kicker from ECU miss four.  No wonder there are so few good kickers in the NFL - they have nothing to choose from.  Is it really that hard?  It can't be, considering I have no kicking in my background and yet was able to make a 40-yard field goal at the Rose Bowl a couple of years ago.  Yes, that's right, I made a 40 yard field goal at the Rose Bowl.  I still have eligibility.  Brewster -> call me.   


It was quite tough to narrow down the field to just five entities that sucked this week, honorable mentions go to Texas Tech for almost losing to McNeese State and for the whole Leach debacle, Syracuse for losing to a crappy Pitt team, Cincinnati football for getting their big shot and just getting destroyed, Nothern Illinois for getting rolled by South Florida and extending the MAC's bowl losing streak to something like 15, Boston College for losing to Maine (Maine!), Tennessee for having four hoop players arrested for stealing cars with guns and drugs or something (I didn't really read the story), Arizona State and USC for combining to barely score 100 points combined (and USC for being cheaters), Ryan Mallet for being the worst QB ever, Ohio State for failing to beat a bad, bad Michigan team when all they need to do is win the games they are supposed to and wait for Evan Turner to come back, and finally the gopher football team just for existing.

That was depressing.  To cheer you up here is the video of Tiny Gallon exploding the backboard at Gonzaga.  I was watching this live and this was quite unexpected to say the least.

NCAA Basketball Preview: Atlantic 10

Just a fascinating conference, which always seems to have one elite team (Xavier for while, St. Joe's before them, GW before them), a handful of decent teams, and some serious dead weight at the bottom.  The problem is that the good teams always beat up on each other while the bottom dwellers drag the overall conference profile down, and the A-10 never gets as many bids as it probably should.


1.  DAYTON.  It looks like it's time for a change at the top, with Xavier taking a step back and the Flyers moving on up.  They have everybody back from the team that beat West Virginia in the first round of the NCAAs last year, which I remember vividly because I had to sit and watch that game in a Dayton bar in Chicago that was packed to the rafters with hippy Dayton fans who were worse than Gopher fans when it comes to the constant ref cheating conspiracy theories and are basically complete hipster doofus morons.  Anyway, they're fortunate because Chris Wright is back and is probably the best player in the A-10 as well as being an absolute beast inside, along with something like 95% of the team's scoring from last year.  If they improve their outside shooting (11th in 3 pt. FG % in the A-10, which has 14 teams) they could make some national noise.

2.  LASALLE.  If Chris Wright isn't the best player in the A-10, it might be LaSalle slasher Rodney Green, who is the second highest returning scorer in the conference at 17.8 ppg last season.  Green isn't a great outside shooter, but he's been remarkably consistent, improving both his three-point shooting as well as his scoring average all three seasons in his career.  He's also not one to disapper in games, as he scored in double-digits in the Explorer's last 26 games in 2008-2009.  He'll be helped by not only three other returning starters, but also by the top ranked incoming recruit in the conference in 6-10 center Aaric Murray, who is #35 on the Rivals Top 150 and the top ranked recruit to play for a non-BCS school this season.  That signing, and a good chance at an NCAA bid this year, mean LaSalle might be relevant for the first time since Lionel Simmons.

3.  RICHMOND.  It seems like Richmond has been the pesky A-10 team for the last couple of years, but not the good kind of pesky because they have nothing but two invitations to the CBI to show for it.  This year things are set up for a run at an NCAA bid.  Their top three scorers are back, including the entire starting backcourt, but more importantly center Dan Geriot returns from a knee injury that caused him to miss all last season.  Geriot led the spiders in both scoring and rebounding two years ago when he was all Atlantic 10.  If he's fully recovered, and with a very tough non-conference schedule, Richmond is set up well for a postseason berth. 

4.  XAVIER.   A new coach and losing boatloads of talent - including over 50% of last year's scoring - means that this will be the toughest year for the Musketeers in a while.  They still have talent coming back.  Guards Terrell Holloway and Mark Lyons and center Kenny Frease were all top 150 recruits when they came out last year, and they add Indiana transfer Jordan Crawford (and if you aren't already sick of the "Crawford dunked on Lebron" story, expect it to get much worse during college basketball season.  They're still talented, but their step back combined with other teams improving means they'll have work to do to win another A-10 crown.

5.  UMASS.  The Minutemen are hurt by departing talent, including A-10 defensive player of the year Tony Gaffney and starting point guard and last year's A-10 second leading assist man Chris Lowe, but the combination of talent returning and new talent should keep them competitive.  The returning talent includes bring back shooting guard Ricky Harris, the leading returning scorer in the conference at 18.2 ppg, as well as fellow double-digit scorer Anthony Gurley, who was originally the #79 recruit on Rivals 150 for 2006 when he comitted to Wake Forest before transferring back.  Joining them is a class universally praised as the best of the Atlantic 10 this season, highlighted by combo forward Terrell Vinson, the #90 prospect this year, as well as four other three-star players.

6.  DUQUENSE.   It's tough to know what to make of the Dukes this season.  On the one hand, they made a run to the A-10 title game last year, finished with a winning conference record for the first time since 1991, made the postseason (NIT) for the first time since 1993, and have everyone coming back with the exception of one guy.  On the other hand, that one guy was guard Aaron Jackson, who led the team in scoring and assists and was second in rebounding and steals.  They were a very efficient offensive team last year (tops in the A-10), and have four guys returning who averaged 9.8 points per game or better, but must get better on defense (13th in the A-10) if they want to gain their first NCAA bid in 33 years.

7. CHARLOTTE.  The 49ers are another team hit hard by graduation, losing top player Lamont Mack among others, but have a very nice influx of talent joining up this year.  Start with dead-eye shooter Shamarr Bowden, an original commit of Virgina Tech who led Charlotte in scoring last offseason during through Canada before getting injured and being forced to redshirt last season.  He'll be back and looking to play off little 5-9 point guard DiJuan Harris who led the conference in assists last season.  Also incoming are #83 prospect PF Chris Braswell and transfer from B.C. Shamari Spears.  Adding these guys to a solid group of returnees means the 49ers could make a little noise this season.

8.  RHODE ISLAND.  Yet another team hit by graduation, the Rams lose their top two scorers from last season, and while they don't have the incoming talent of Charlotte, they do have a good group coming back.  Keith Cothran can't shoot like the departing Jimmy Baron, but he can score in bunches, and Delroy James has similar size, similar numbers, and a similar game to Kahiem Seawright.  Point guard should be fine in the hands of either returning starter Marquis Jones or incoming frosh Akeem Richmond, and if somebody can step up and become the third scorer the Rams will be in good shape.

9.  TEMPLE.  I've seen some previews that have Temple as a league champion contender, but I'm just not seeing it.  They are losing three players, including superstar Dionte Christmas, who led the A-10 in scoring three consecutive seasons and was probably the A-10 player of the year but for the love of god I can't find this information anywhere to confirm or deny.  With no major freshmen influx of talent, they will need somebody to become the go to guy with Christmas gone.  Forward Lavoy Allen seems most likely.  He's their leading returning scorer and was a top 150 talent when he comitted to the Owls. 

10.  ST BONNIE'S.  The Bonnies were in a complete shambles not all that long ago but are starting to get near respectability, going 15-15 last season, their first time with double-digit victories since 2002-2003.  This year could be even more of an improvement, with three double-figure scorers back including last year's A-10 Rookie of the Year in 6-9 Andrew Nicholson.  The Bonnies were one of the fastest teams last season (#22 Tempo), but played scattershot, ending up as one of the least efficient offensive teams (#238) due to poor shooting (#285 in 3pt pct) and horrendous ball control (#305 in turnovers).  If they are going to keep improving, that needs to be addressed.

11.  ST LOUIS.  This Rick Majerus turn-around is taking longer than expected, and might not get started quite yet again this year with the Billikens losing their starting backcourt, Tommie Liddell and Kevin Lisch, who both averaged double-figures in scoring for four straight years and have been the top-2 Billiken scorers for the last three.  Majerus has been stockpiling some talent, at least, including two players from Australia this season which I think is a good sign - foreign players were a hallmark of his excellent teams at Utah, who will join last year's class of four 4-star players.  Notable from that class are PG Kwamain Mitchell, the team's only returning double-figure scorer and leading assist man, and center Brett Thompson, who was ranked #107 by Rivals two years ago but must step up [ED. NOTE:  Fine, I get it.  I'm an idiot.  He's not on SLU any more]. 

12.  SAINT JOE'S.  Free fall.  The Hawks lose their top two players, Ahmad Nivens and Tasheed Carr, who accounted for nearly half of the teams points and rebounds a third of their assists, and there ain't much in the hopper.  Shooting guard Darrin Govens is the leading returning scorer and he's a chucker extraordinaire, flinging up 208 three-point attempts (6th in the A-10, first on the team by nearly 100) despite hitting under 35%.  With no other scorers on the team, we could reach Robert Vaden levels of chuckitude.  Help is on the way, however, with the Hawks having already gained comittments from two top 120 recruits for 2010.

13.  GEORGE WASHINGTON.  It was just four seasons ago the Colonials were loaded and finished the season 27-3, but they have fallen hard and it might be tough to duplicate even last season's 4-12 conference record.  GW loses three of it's top four scorers, and is going to be leaning heavily on it's six newcomers, none of whom are real standouts.  Senior forward Damian Hollis will be the main man and did score 20-plus in two of the team's last four games, but he's no Pops Mensah-Bonsu, that's for sure. 

14.  FORDHAM.  There isn't an OOF big enough to describe what is going on at Fordham.  For starters, they were just 3-25 last year (NOTE:  not a typo), and last in the conference in essentially every statistical category.  Secondly, three of their top four players either transferred or graduated.  Finally, and most bizarre, their best player and former Rivals 150 guy Jio Fontan attempted to transfer, but in something that I can't recall every hearing happen, the school refused to give him his release so now he's stuck.  I have no idea how that is even possible or legal, but apparently it is, so Jio is stuck with an even worse team than last year.  I'm sure he will give his top effort all season long and not become a locker room problem at all. 


Other Previews:
Conference USA