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.

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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.


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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 - 3/1/2010

Well that was a pretty good win.  Not good as in pretty, or good as in they finally figured out how to close out a game, but good as in that was a season saver.  I can't really give you the usual brilliant, in-depth analysis you've come to expect because I was watching the game while at a beer bust, but I saw enough to know my prediction of a big gopher lead early, a gopher lead late, and a Illinois comeback and win damn near came true.  That's not the important thing, however.  The important thing is that they did get this win, and now are in ok shape for a tournament bid, even showing up on the "last four out" for Joe Lunardi.  Win at Michigan and beat Iowa here, then win one big ten tournament game and it's very interesting.

If you just compare the Gophers and Illinois quick, they have basically the same record, although Illinois is two games better in conference play.  The Gophers have the better RPI (70 to 74) and better Strength of Schedule (37 to 61).  Both teams have two wins over top 25 RPI teams, while Illinois has a total of four over top 50 teams compared to just three for the Gophers and they have nearly identical records against the top 100.  The Gophers have three bad losses (vs. teams over 100 in the RPI) while Illinois has two.  The Gophers are 4-8 in road/neutral games, while Illinois is 6-8.  The best win by either of the two teams goes to the Gophers with their win over Butler, and both team's have beaten Wisconsin.

I know the bids supposedly don't compare teams within the conference like this and look at the team's as an overall whole, but it's useful to know where the Gophers stand in comparison to the Illini.  It also serves as a depressing reminder that if you reverse almost any loss on the Gopher schedule, they are ahead of Illinois, but as it stands right now they are probably slightly behind.  In any case, it's time to win.  There's no room for error.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Notre Dame.  Bill Simmons' Ewing Theory in full effect?  Seriously, has anybody has as impressive a week all year as Notre Dame had this week?  They beat both Pitt and Georgetown, both by double-digits, and have gone from "probably out" to "probably in" all in a four day span - and they've done it without Luke Harangody.  Since he's been out it's just been a bunch of role-players just used to deferring to him, but maybe we're finding out they aren't role players (even if Tory Jackson has the decision-making skills of a rock).  Ben Hansbrough has stepped up his scoring since Harangody went out, averaging 15 per game (compared to 12), but the guy who has really helped out is junior forward Carleton Scott, who is averaging 9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game since the injury compared to 3.5 of each beforehand.  Basically the Irish have played really well since Luke went down, and now find themselves in good shape for an NCAA bid.  Which means he'll come back next week, they'll lose two, bow out early in the Big East tournament, and find themselves in the NIT again.  

2.  Syracuse.  Wow.  And also, wow.  What an impressive victory over Villanova, the alleged #8 team in the land.  The Orange smoked Scottie Reynolds and the rest of those dorks 95-77 which followed up their road win earlier in the week over Providence.  To go out and annihilate another top ten team like the Wildcats is impressive, and I'm starting to think the Orange are the team to beat in March.  I was pretty clearly wrong about Wes Johnson, who is an absolute stud, and I think Andy Rautins used my criticism of him from last year as a motivational tool because he's somehow become a top flight point guard and he's not even a point guard.  I was talking to a friend who is a Syracuse alum, and he said that this isn't the Cuse's most talented team, but it is their best.  He said usually they have a focal point guy who a lot of times undermines the whole team concept - it worked with Carmelo, didn't with Donte Greene - but this year it's just seven guys who have bought in to the team concept.  Really good team.  Right now, they're probably my #1.

3.  New Mexico.  If you kind of thought New Mexico wasn't anything special and just kept rising in the polls because they were basically just chillin' in the Mountain West, you aren't alone.  If you still think that, you're an idiot.  The Lobos put the word out that they are the real deal, going into Provo and beat BYU 83-81, the Cougars first home loss this year and one of only a handful the last few years.  The win clinches at least a tie for the MWC crown for the Lobos, and brings New Mexico to 6-0 this year against ranked teams.  That's right, 6-0.  They've beaten BYU twice, UNLV, Cal, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M, and also have wins over decent teams like Dayton, Louisiana Tech, and New Mexico State.  Three of this team's top four players are of the 6-5 to 6-8 athletic wing types, and the other dude gives them the strong and experience point play you need in March.  This team is a threat.

4.  Marquette.  Now this is how a bubble team is supposed to respond to a challenge in late March.  Marquette was probably right in the middle of the bubble, but with two wins this week, both on the road, both in overtime, and one over fellow bubble team Seton Hall, they're probably in for sure.  First, the Eagles beat St. John's in their place 63-61 on a Jimmy Butler jumper as time expired in overtime, and then they went to Seton Hall and knocked the Pirates out of NCAA contention 84-83.  I didn't expect much out of Marquette this year, not after losing three starting guards who were basically the whole team, but Lazar Hayward has gotten even better and Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom are very good players.  And Marquette is probably better than the 19-9 record would indicate.  Other than an inexplicable loss to DePaul and an early season loss to NC State every loss on the record has been by single-digits to an NCAA-caliber team. 

5.  Tay Waller.  I know you don't know who this is, but that's why I'm here, to be nerdy enough about college hoops to know who people like Tay Waller are.  And also he's on my fantasy team, which has now made the finals.  Anyway, Waller had a big week but you won't hear about because he plays for crappy Auburn.  The 6-2 senior guard for the Tigers was a top 10 JuCo player back in 2008 coming out of NW Florida Community College, and after being pretty solid for his year and three-quarters (way better than Bostick) he's really hit his stride, scoring more than 26 in each of Auburn's last three games, scoring 29 against Ole Miss in a loss and then 26 to lead the Tigers to a win over LSU this week.  He's not on any NBA radars or anything, but he'll probably end up making a nice living overseas, and he deserves to be recognized even if he plays for the shitbox that is the Auburn Tigers.  Plus, he probably gets to roll around with broads like these all the time.

WHO SUCKED

1.  Wake Forest.  Probably the worst week any team has had in the history of basketball.  No joke.  The Demon Deacons started off the week by losing at ACC bottom-feeder North Carolina State, and then followed that up by getting embarrassed at home by the embarrassing Carolina Tar Heels.  To put this in Big Ten terms, that would be like losing at Indiana and then losing at home to Michigan.  [NOTE:  I just realized what I did there.  hahahahahahahahahaha kill me.]   And I had the misfortune to watch a good chunk of that Carolina game, and holy crap is Wake awful.  I've never seen a team play so lazily and selfishly all at the same time.  It was like watching five Westbrooks.  I refuse to believe this team is 8-6 in the ACC, and was 8-3 at one point.  This is a first-round upset waiting to happen, I don't care if they draw Bethune-Cookman in round one.

2.  John Wall.  Has the phenom hit the proverbial wall?  His raw numbers are ok - 12 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 assists in a 20-point win over South Carolina and 19-5-6 in the loss to Tennessee, but if you look deeper he had a pretty sub-par week.  He shot just 10-31 overall and was 0-7 from three-point range, and he turned the ball over 11 times in the two games - yes, that's more turnovers than field goals made this week.  And although he has always been a bit of a turnover machine (averaging 4.0 per game) his shooting is what would really concern me - he hasn't shot better than 50% in a game since February 2nd.  Maybe it's just a simple fluctuation of his numbers, but if I was a Kentucky fan I'd be pretty concerned that he seems to be struggling a bit at this time of the year.  In any case, there's no way a team this young (three of the top four players are freshmen) and this volatile (both Cousins and Wall are crazy) with that coach is going to the final four.  You go ahead and pick them there, but they're going to get knocked off by some seven seed.  Just watch.

3.  Virginia Tech.  When your hopes for an at-large bid are best described as "little margin for error and only in decent shape because of an impressive ACC record" one thing you really shouldn't do is go out the next week and drop two ACC games - one at home (to Maryland) and one to a bottom-tier team (Boston College).  The Hokies are still 21-7 overall and 8-6 in conference play, but there's not a whole lot to be impressed with.  They have a win over Clemson, one over Wake, and a non-conference win over Seton Hall, and that's it.  Everything else is against a bottom tier team.  I don't know what to think about their chances, they're a super confusing team.  You could make a pretty good argument spanning anywhere from "they should be easily in" to "they have no chance."  Take your pick.

4.  The Atlantic 10.  Going into this week there were seven teams in the A-10 that had a shot at getting an at-large bid to the tournament, but things are not breaking the right way and it's starting to look more and more likely that the conference will end up with three teams going (Temple, Xavier, and Richmond are all basically locks).  Dayton is probably fourth on the list, but at 8-6 in the conference might not have enough juice, and they had a huge chance to knock of Temple this week and whiffed.  Another team that had a chance at a big upset and missed out was St. Louis, who has a nice 10-4 conference record but is lacking big wins, which makes their loss to Xavier this week even more damaging.  Charlotte and Rhode Island both looked to have an inside track at a bid earlier this year, but both have faded coming down the stretch and both knocked themselves out of bid contention with losses they couldn't have this weekend - Charlotte lost to George Washington, Rhode Island to St. Bonaventure.  So the A-10 will likely have just three teams dancing, maybe four if Dayton gets it together, which isn't bad, but isn't as lofty as it could have been.  Also, Richmond and Temple are going down quickly, Xavier is the only team here that can make a run.  Mark it down.

5.  Purdue.  Ruh roh.  You kind of had to wonder just how the Boilers would respond with Robbie Hummel out.  They still have E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson which still gives them one of the better 1-2 punches in the country, but Hummel was kind of the glue guy, along with being a top scorer.  They certainly didn't have any time to ease into, welcoming Michigan State to Keady Court right off the bat, and the results weren't pretty.  The only managed 44 points, shot just 30%, and were out-rebounded 44-16 as the Spartans won 53-44.  Yes by the way, those numbers are correct they were out-rebounded 44-16.  I think they'll end up being a lot better without Hummel than they showed on Sunday, and they have games against Penn State and Indiana this coming week to work on some things, but this has to be a pretty big concern for Boiler Nation.


I guess there was also some kind of big whoopity-doo hockey game between the Americans and the Commies or something, but I didn't really pay attention.  I heard the commies won, so I expect Canada to start taking over Red Dawn style anytime now.  WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (but not on Tuesday)



BUBBLE GAMES OF NOTE:

Fresno State @ Utah State.  I've written about them before, but the beat rolls on.  USU needs to win and keep winning.  Even at 23-6 they can't really afford a loss because, outside of a win over BYU, there's not much there in the non-conference profile.  They would probably be ok if they lost in the WAC final to either New Mexico State or Louisiana Tech, but any loss short of that will keep likely knock them out of at-large consideration

Week in Review - 2/15/2010

If you came here to talk Gophers you came to the wrong place.  Sorry.  I know we bill ourselves here as a Gopher/Twins blog, but we are officially switching over to a Twins/Ohio State blog.  I just don't see the need to cover a team anymore who, over and over again, plays well and can control the game until they suddenly realize they have the lead and go into complete panic/shutdown mode.  It's not particularly fun.  The rest of you chowder heads can continue to torture yourself by watching this abortion of a team.  I'm out.



Until Thursday against Wisconsin.  God I'm such a masochist. 


WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Purdue.  The win over Iowa on Saturday is no big deal, but the throttling of Michigan State in East Lansing was like whoa.  The Boilers thoroughly beat the Spartans 76-64 and outplayed them all the way around in their own house.  They raked Sparty's defense for 57% shooting and 43% from three, and out-rebounded a damn good rebounding team.  All three of the Boilers' triplets lit the place up, but the big gun on Tuesday was E'Twaun Moore who hit big shot after big shot.  Every time MSU started to make a run, Moore would hit a big shot to start a run right back for Purdue.  This was a huge win, and a big statement.  I'm not quite convinced that Purdue is a Final Four team, but I'm warming up to the idea.

2.  Richmond.  I don't know that anybody had a better week than Richmond, and now they're near a lock for an at-large bid.  The Spiders picked up a monster win at Rhode Island, tipping the Rams 69-67, and then avoided a letdown at St. Bonaventure, picking up the 68-49 victory.  Richmond now stands atop the A-10 standings at 9-2, is 20-6 overall with wins over Florida and Missouri, and with an RPI of 26 it would take an epic skid to knock them out of the tournament at this point.  The A-10 is looking pretty set with Richmond, Temple, and Xavier near locks, Charlotte and Rhode Island squarely on the bubble, and Dayton struggling mightily and looking more like an NIT team.  Ha-ha Dayton, you suck.  Maybe your hippy fans can all go have a good cry together.  I wonder if that Dayton bar in Chicago will be all crowded for their NIT games?

3.  Cal.  It's about time somebody started separating themselves from the pack of Pac-10 mediocrity, and Cal looks like they're the team after sweeping through Washington with wins over both schools this week.  The win over Washington State isn't necessarily a big whoopty-doo, but beating Washington by double-digits is since the Huskies are the only other halfway decent team in the conference (sorry Arizona State, I know you're 8-5 but you still suck).  It's hard to really get a read on Cal.  I mean the Pac-10 sucks worse than the Gophers and Cal hasn't exactly run the table at 9-4, and their best non-conference win was over Iowa State.  On the other hand Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, and Theo Robertson are one of the most talented backcourts in the country, and guards win championships.  I'm not really sure what to think, but I'm pretty sure whatever I ended up deciding to do with them in my bracket they'll do the opposite.  

4.  Louisville.  The win over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Sunday was very important for the Cardinals not just because of the signature win-ness of it, but also because it cancels out their loss at St. Johns's earlier in the week, not to mention giving them their first win of the year over an RPI Top-25 team and probably taking them from the middle of to the good side of it.  Louisville is a really interesting team this year.  Thanks to Terrence Jennings's complete refusal to improve and try to become the next Earl Clark/Terrence Williams type player, they're basically Samardo Samuels and a whole bunch of guards. 

5.  Ohio State.  I actually had this spot all reserved and typed up for Illinois since their win over Wisconsin in the Kohl Center was the exact huge signature win they really needed, but then they followed that up by getting so blown out by Ohio State in Champaign that I had the give the propers to the Buckeyes.  Seriously you guys, I'm totally not exaggerating when I say that this team is absolutely loaded and playing out of their minds right now.  They've won six in a row after winning two road games this week (Indiana and Illinois), have won nine straight Big 10 games, and are now in a tie for first a top the Big Ten.  They are absolutely a final four contender, and hopefully you listened to me and slapped some cash down on them when they were 75-1 to win the whole thing, because they've moved to 20-1 now.  And man, if I had ever said something like "Ohio State isn't a top 100 team this year" I'd probably like, stop talking.  And not just about sports, I'd just stop talking all together.  I'd feel like I owed the world that much, you know what I mean?  Like, it would just be the right thing to do.


WHO SUCKED

1.  Texas.  In a wide open season it's been difficult to figure out your final four teams.  Kansas is pretty much the only team I'd call a "lock" right now, mainly because I don't trust how young Kentucky is.  One team I had penciled in was Texas even during their recent skid, but after Monday night's embarrassing loss against Kansas it's painfully obvious that this Longhorn team isn't nearly as good as I thought.  I was ignoring the losses at Oklahoma and Kansas State and even the loss to Baylor at home, but this loss was unignorable in it's ugliness - kind of like Sarah Jessica Parker.  And it's not ugly because they lost to the #1 team by 12 at home, but it was the way they lost - absolutely Gopher-esque.  Terrible decisions with the ball, poor defensive effort, not getting back in transition, and missing open shots were the story of the day.  When the #1 team comes into your house and you're supposed to be a Final Four contender you can't turn the ball over 17 times and shoot 37% - you just can't.  I still think they have talent - Damion James is one of the best players in the country - but they are looking like more of a "ripe for a first round upset" team right now than a "sleeper final four team."  And no, beating Nebraska by 40 on Saturday does nothing to change my mind.

2.  West Virginia.  As long as we're talking about teams I had in the Final Four who had shaky weeks, we might as well throw the Mountaineers in here too.  They started the week out by losing at home to Villanova (allowing the Wildcats to shoot 57%), and then they dropped a road game at Pitt in which they led by seven with 43 seconds left, only to end up losing in triple-overtime.  Neither loss by itself is necessarily a huge red flag, but the combination of the two and the poor defense and late game meltdown are pretty telling, and actually remind me of how Huggy Bear's Cincinnati teams nearly always underperformed their seed.  Like Texas, there is still a lot to like with this team and they are still in the Final Four discussion, but now my faith is shaken.  And can a team without a real point guard get to the Final Four?  Jesus, at this rate I'm just going to pick random teams, everybody sucks this year.

3.  Rhode Island.  I mentioned above that Rhode Island is still probably in good shape to grab an NCAA bid - and they are - but they whiffed on a couple of big chances this week.  First, they had Richmond come in to their place and walk out with a two point victory, and then on Saturday they went into Temple and got their asses completely handed to them 78-56 in a game where Temple shot 68.6% - a Temple school record.  I say the Rams are in good shape because they have a good record and a nice RPI, but what they are really missing is any kind of signature win.  They have a couple nice wins - one over Dayton and one over Oklahoma State - but those are the team's only victories over RPI top 50 opponents and winning either of their games this week would have given them another.  With just one more crack at a top 50 team this year (Charlotte), it will be interesting to see how the committee treats them.  Good numbers, but is the profile too empty?    

4.  UNLV.  I don't know if it's the DWG Jinx or just some kind of natural let-down, but just one week after making a huge statement by whooping some Mormon ass they whiffed on two more opportunities to take down their top MWC competitors.  First, New Mexico came to Vegas and beat the Rebels 76-66, and then the Rebs traveled to San Diego to take on SDSU and lost that one as well, 68-58.  Neither of those are bad losses, and UNLV should be able to win their last five to finish out at 12-4 in the MWC and 24-6 overall so they'll be ok, but pretty much a huge letdown week following up that monster win. 

5.  Siena.  Unlike the other four teams on the suck list this week, the Saints might have actually lost their at-large bid with their play over the weekend, in this case a loss to Niagara by the count of 87-74.  What really hurts is that Niagara isn't the good Niagara they've been the last few years - they're under .500 in the MAAC and have an RPI in the 150s.  Although it's just Siena's first conference loss, that might be all it takes to eliminate them from at-large consideration.  They don't have any wins over the RPI top 50 and they whiffed on every opportunity they had in the non-conference schedule to get a big win.  Next weekend is Bracket Busters, and the Saints were lucky enough to draw Butler, but unfortunately they have to go on the road.  No matter, this game has gone from a "would be a really good idea to win" to an "absolutely must-have win" for the Saints.  In any case, at least they aren't the Gophers.  That would really suck for them.


What also sucked was the All-Star H.O.R.S.E. event.  A really good idea, but they've commercialized it and regulated it to the point that it just sucks to watch.  There's like a 30 second break between every shot so Barkley and the TNT crew can yuck it up, so there's no flow to the game at all.  I wondered why they only had three people, and it's because they take so many breaks and there is so much "witty banter" that there's really only about one shot per minute.

Great idea, terrible execution.  Like the exact opposite of the last Indiana Jones movie, which had a terrible script that was executed well.  Neither one works.  Much like this edition of Gopher basketball, which is a terrible idea executed terribly.  Seriously.  This year's team is like that Paris Hilton movie "The Hottie and the Nottie" - just a horrid idea that was awful in its execution.  Jesus, I just compared the Gophers to that movie and I don't think that's being harsh enough.  Remind me why I'm going to the game on Thursday?  Oh, right.  I'm really stupid.    

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

Weekend Review ( + Gopher talk)

Since the Gopher hoops squad definitely didn’t suck this weekend, but didn’t impress me enough to put in the “Awesome” pile, I’m going to use the intro here as my opportunity to run down their play over the weekend.

The first two games, wins over Concordia and Bowling Green, were kind of disappointments. These were not good teams, and the Gophers didn’t look overly impressive. Sure they beat Concordia by 25, but it felt like it probably should have been more, and it definitely should have been more against Bowling Green, a terrible team missing three of it’s top players and whose basic offensive strategy seemed to be to give the ball to Darryl Clements and let him chuck, even though he shot just 37% last season. They finally picked it up in game 3 vs. Georgia State, and even though the final margin was only 60-52, the Panthers were also the best team by far in this thing other than the Gophers and I thought they looked best in this game out of the three..

As far as individual players go, Al Nolen and Lawrence Westbrook have looked absolutely amazing – like all big 10 type players so far. No, they won’t both be on the All-Big 10 team, but they’ve looked that good and both seem to have their confidence at an incredibly high level. Shamala is another one whose confidence seems very high, but confidence doesn’t mean he magically learned how to play defense. Neither did Hoffarber, and his shot has been way off so far this year. In the exhibition games he looked like he might have added the dribble drive to his game, but it seemed to disappear this weekend.

For the new guys, Devoe Joseph absolutely looks like a player despite inexplicably playing just 9 minutes against Bowling Green. Tubby seems to be using him at the point a lot, which is ok, but I hope they find ways to let him play the 2. He can shoot and he can drive, and he's going to be a lot of fun to watch the next four years. Iverson also impressed me. He's raw still on offense, but is an excellent defender already (9 blocks against BGSU) and is physical. He'll have to play a big role right away and looks ready. After being very luke warm on Ralph Sampson early he's winning me over. He displayed some very nice offensive moves against Georgia State on Sunday, and is rounding into shape nicely. Paul Carter is still struggling with his shot, but shows some very good athleticism. I've projecting a Tavarus Bennett type: excellent defense at the top of the zone and point of the press, with an offensive game that kind of comes and goes. As for Bostick, I really don't know what to think. He seems to be getting a bit more comfortable, but still hasn't shown what I was hoping to see. I'm not ready to completely drop my expectations just yet. I'm counting on Tubby to work some magic here.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend with the team going 3-0 to win the tournament, if you want to call a round-robin a tournament. This was about the right level of competition they needed to get tested, but also to work on some things and figure out who fits where. I know I was in the minority when the schedule initially came out, but I'm still very wary of the upcoming road game at Colorado State. The Rams aren't expected to be anything special, but they did beat a Montana team that is supposed to contend for the Big Sky crown by 30 on Saturday. They have a big (6-8, 240) transfer from Ole Miss in Andy Ogide who really made his presence known with 20 points and 14 rebounds. It will be very interesting to see how Iverson and Sampson handle him. I never thought I'd say this, but I wish Jon Williams was available.

And Travis Busch really needs to settle the F down. On to the usual waste of time...


WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Florida Football. I keep mentioning them, but they just keep stomping people to death. This week they won 56-6 over the 24th ranked team in the country in South Carolina. That’s the impressive thing about the Gators right now, they aren’t just beating up on the bottom feeders of the conference, they’re beating nationally ranked teams and beating them badly, as shown by their 51-21 win over then #4 LSU and 49-10 win over then #8 Georgia. They can kill you on the ground or through the air, and if I had to pick a team to be ranked #1 right now, I’d go with Florida. And now they play The Citadel next week. They may hang 100 on them. By halftime. And speaking of the Gators……..

2. Dan Werner. I hadn’t heard of him either, so don’t worry, but look out for this guy. He’s a 6-8 junior forward for Florida, and after getting a chance to watch him play a couple of times this weekend I’m impressed. He was actually a decent contributor last season, playing almost 30 minutes a game and averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game. With Florida kind of falling off the radar last season, and most of the press going towards Calathes, Speights, and Jai Lucas you never really heard about him. Even this year, Calathes “gambling”, Lucas transferring, and high profile freshmen took all the focus away from Werner. The Gators played halfway decent teams this weekend and beat both Toledo and Bradley handily with Werner leading the team in scoring in both games with 17 against Bradley and 19 against Toledo. He can score inside with his back to the basket and has a good touch from the perimeter. Remember this guy.

3. UNLV Basketball. There was really only one truly meaningful game this weekend in college hoops and that was UNLV welcoming San Diego to Vegas in a matchup of first round NCAA tournament winners from last season. The Rebels came out on top, 65-60 behind Wink Adams’ 19 points. I’m not entirely certain what to make out of UNLV, but since Lon Kruger got there the program has taken major strides. This season, the Rebels are set up to do some damage, losing just one player from the team that knocked off Kent State in the first round last year, and adding a couple of impact newcomers including transfer from Memphis Tre'Von Willis. The should win the Mountain West, and should end up in decent shape for an at-large if they fall in the conference tournament. This was a good start.

4. Kurt Warner. Won’t someone please stop Kurt Warner and the Cardinals? My lord, they’re throwing it around like the 98 Vikings right now, with Anquan Boldin playing the role of Randy Moss. Yesterday, Warner threw for 395 yards and was at 250 before halftime. Since the team’s bye in week 7, he’s thrown for 381, 343, 328, and now 395 with Boldin getting 186 of that in Sundays game, a win over Seattle. It’s phenomenal, just when I thought Warner’s run was over and done with, he makes a new deal with the devil is having an incredible season. And he looks great, too, especially for 37. I guess when you’re boring and god loving and don’t do drugs and drink and all that you don’t age quite as hard. What a loser.

5. Jimmy Baron. Rhode Island’s guard who had one of the most incredible shooting performances I’ve been privileged to witness in the Rams 82-79 loss at Duke . He scored 24 points on 8-15 shooting, including 8-10 from three. And the Dukies weren’t leaving him open, not by any means. He hit two fadeaway threes with a dude in his face, one shot fake and then duck under the defender type shot, and one from about 30 feet, Jake Sullivan style. Baron is relatively unknown, but he is consider one of the best shooters in the NCAAs, hitting over 40% of his three point attempts the last two seasons, including 48% two years ago. The Rams aren't expected to be much of a factor in a very good Atlantic 10 this season especially losing a couple of very good player off last year's squad, but this game showed they can be deadly on the right night.


WHO SUCKED

1. Kentucky Basketball. There are a lot of Gopher fans out there who enjoy seeing bad things happen to the Wildcats, I think because of the treatment of our new golden god Tubby Smith by the fans of that program. Although I can see their point, I am not one of those fans. Even so, it’s hard not to get a little bit interested when an all-time top program and NCAA contender loses to a team picked to finish at the bottom of the Big South, especially by a score of 111-103. The amount of points isn’t all that surprising, since VMI led the nation in scoring last season and was #2 in tempo, following up on the prior year when they were #1 . They are known for scoring points and creating turnovers, which they did against Kentucky. After losing all three main ball handlers from last year’s team, the Wildcats couldn’t handle the hectic style and turned it over 25 times, and lost despite shooting 54%. I’m guessing UK will get it figured out and end up being in the conversation for an NCAA bid, but with their next game at North Carolina, the Cats are staring 0-2 right in the face, as well as a whole bushel of pissed off fans.

2. Gopher football. Not so much for the loss, I mean a three point loss in Madison would have made me happy if you told me about it before the season, but for the complete collapse, mirroring the season to this point. A 21-7 lead at halftime, and then just absolutely getting their doors blown off in the second half. The entire Gopher offense in the second half consisted of penalties, turnovers, and getting sacked, ruining what had been a very impressive game for the team in the first half. I was actually all ready to write up WR Brandon Green as being awesome after he caught a TD in the first half and another deep ball as well that almost went for another score. He really stepped up without Decker in the lineup this week, too bad the team didn’t bother to play the last two quarters. This should have been the last game of the year, it would have put the crappy capper on what has turned out to be a crappy, disappointing season (yes, you are allowed and should change expectations as the season goes on.)

3. Western Michigan basketball. The Broncos were expected to contend for the MAC title this season, but after their performance in the Charleston Classic this weekend I suppose we can go ahead and scratch that. Out of the 8 teams, WMU finished dead last losing all three of their games to such powerhouses as Texas Christian (sans Brandon Smith), Hofstra, and SIU-Edwardsville. Yes, that’s Southern Illinois – Edwardsville. SIU has two D-I teams now, although it’s just the first season for SIU-E, which usually means they are very sucky at sports, but they managed to knock off the Broncos anyway. MAC player of the year contender David Kool played well, going for 22, 24, and 27, but the rest of the team is total garbage.

4. Brad Childress. Not so much for a loss, as a road loss against a good Tampa team isn't anything to be too upset about, but for the completely unforgivable sin of not getting the ball to Adrian Peterson in the second half. According to the radio, and I'm too lazy to go through the play-by-play and count, Peterson only touched the ball four times in the second half. Four! He's not just the best player on the team, he's the best player by several orders of magnitude, and you can only get him the ball four times? Remember last week when he gained something like 65 or the team's 69 yards on the final game-winning drive? Where was that? Down 3 with the ball and 3 minutes left, they run four passes, none to AP, and turn it over on downs. Then down 6 minutes left, they managed to run two plays before Chuck Taylor fumbles. Taylor! A good player no doubt, but a backup to Peterson for a reason. He proved he can catch and run last week, if not long before, so get him in there and get him the ball. I'm not usually one to rip on coaches, realizing even those that seem kind of dumb (Childress, Tice, Art Shell, etc.) know more about football than I can even come close too, but some things are obvious.

5. South Carolina football. Just watch at about the 30 second mark. Hilarious.

Minnesota 68, Iowa State 58

Wow, what a great win for the Gophers, and a thrilling game as well. While I was watching the game....oh wait, I couldn't watch the game because whoever is the jackass in charge of putting games on tv is a big giant ass. I know, there was that thing where you pay $10 a month and you could have watched it on your computer, but how gay is that? And how does that help the people that have a football game that night and can't be at their computer? Stupid stupid stupid.

Seriously, I can't even comment on the game, because there's no way to watch it. Did the Gophers win because they are that good or because ISU was that bad? I don't know. I do know that they only had 8 assists to 10 turnovers, which scares me, but they outrebounded a team, and I'm not sure that ever happened in the last five years. And I'd love to know how often Dan Coleman was guarding ISU's Brackins, who finished with 23 points on 11-16 shooting. Does this mean Coleman didn't learn how to play defense yet? Or was there something else? I'll never know because of captain McDickholeguy who won't let me watch the game.

The best I can say is to check out From the Barn's Recap. It sounds like he got suckered into paying the $10 to watch the game, and he has a pretty solid recap and writes things that make me laugh.

Also, I just want to point out again that tonight is Rico Tucker vs. Dan Monson. Jesus vs. Devil, if you will. These teams are both struggling - well, they're terrible really - but Pepperdine should handle them. Especially if the Waves coach will let poor Rico run free. I don't know what he did to him, but the last game Rico managed to turn the ball over six times in only fifteen minutes of play. That's clearly poor coaching. For the season, Tucker leads the team in assists and steals, and NOT in turnovers. He also is struggling with his shot so far, but it'll come around.

Long Beach has lost by forty against BYU and 18 against Montana State, but does have the only win between these two teams. Pepperdine is an 8 point favorite, and I really, really don't want to bet on this game because these teams are a couple of junkpiles. However, I feel like I must back Good vs. Evil, because if I don't, who will? Who will?

I also want to draw your attention quickly to Rhode Island @ Boston College. If you remember when I was to dumb enough to think I would preview the top fifty teams, I thought Rhode Island could be sneaky good. Well, the Rams are 5-0 right now, after winning the Glenn Wilkes Classic (the what?) by beating South Florida, Stetson, and UAB. This game here at B.C. is a real, true test of how good they are this year. If they knock off the Eagles, there are officially two very good teams in the A-10.

And if you're wondering, we played the best team in our league last night (we're #2), and after scoring on the last play of the game to draw within two, were unable to convert the 2-pt conversion for the tie due to Theory tweaking his knee running his route and being unable to get up for a high pass, losing a heartbreaker 20-18.

St. Louis +6 @ Missouri St (W)
Louisville -5 @ UNLV (W)
Pepperdine -8 vs. LBSU (W)
Ariz State PK vs. LSU (W)
Illinois -5 vs. Okla State (W)
Washington +4 vs. Texas A&M (L)
Syracuse -2.5 vs. Ohio St (L)
Marquette +4.5 vs. Duke (W)
Kansas -29 vs. North Arizona (W)
Michigan +8.5 vs. Butler (L)

Season: 29-25

Also, after another horrendous week at 4-11-1, my NFL record has fallen below .500. Since I don't really feel like doing all the games at once, here are my thanksgiving day picks:

Detroit +3.5 vs. Green Bay
Dallas -14 vs. NYJ
Indy -12 @ Atlanta

Season: 73-75-10

#47 RHODE ISLAND RAMS

#47 RHODE ISLAND RAMS

Last Season: 19-14 (10-6), No postseason
Key Losses: C Darrell Harris (6.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
Key Adds: G Marquis Jones (top 300), F Delroy James (redshirt, 3-star in 2006)

OVERALL:
It may be a bit surprising to see the Rams here, but this is a team I believe can compete this season. After a slow start last season, URI really came together in conference play, going 10-3 to start before a three game skid to close out the regular season. The rams return their top five scorers from last year, and will have seven players back who averaged more than twenty minutes per game last season. One thing that makes the Rams so dangerous is their there three-point shooting, as they lead the A-10 in three point percentage (30th nationally) at 39%.

BACKCOURT:
Leading the way in the shooting barrage is coach's son Jimmy Baron, who Athlon Magazine ranks as the sixth best shooter in all of college basketball. Baron made 97 three-pointers last season while shooting 48% from behind the arc, both numbers beating the previous school records held by Tyson Wheeler.

Another three-point specialist is fellow guard Joe Mbang, whose 48 three's made were exactly half of field goals made for the season. Helping out in the backcourt is senior Parfait Bitee, who is a lock down defender on a team not exactly known for it's defense.

FRONTCOURT:
The frontcourt is where you'll find the Rams top overall player, Will Daniels, who was all-conference first team last season and returns for more. The 6-8 Daniels averaged 17.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season, and showed a nice outside touch, making 51 threes on 42% shooting.

Next to him downlow will be junior Kahiem Seawright, who finished fifth in the league with 7.5 rebounds per game last season. Seawright was named most improved player for the Rams, after doubling his scoring and rebounding averages from the previous season. Depth will come from Keith Cothran, Jon Lucky, Lamonte Ulmer (all averaged more than 16 minutes per game last season), as well as redshirt freshman Delroy James, who was a three-star recruit prior to last season.

OVERALL (pt 2):
It's a long shot that any team out of the A-10 will get an at-large NCAA berth, and Xavier looks to be the strongest team out of the conference, but the Rams could cause some issues for teams. With their outside shooting and up-tempo style of play (22nd in scoring last season) they could make some noise. A decent non-conference schedule (vs. UAB, @ Boston College, vs. Providence, @ Syracuse) will give them the opportunity to be noticed. Xavier should take note right now.