NCAA Basketball Preview - The Pac 12

Here's what you need to know about the Pac-12 this year - they're going to be bad again.  Once again, the Pac teams have been hit hard by attrition and although they continue to pull in a good share of stud recruits, the players are leaving more quickly than they can be replaced.  If there was an easy way to look this up without having to straight count it or if there was a page with bids by conference by year, but there's not, so instead I'll just point out how the Pac has struggled even getting 2-3 teams bids in the last few seasons.

They've done so crappy in the non-conference slate that it's hard to build a profile back-up in a conference where seemingly everybody has a bad early loss.  Last year Oregon lost to San Jose State and Idaho, UCLA lost to Montana, USC lost to Rider, Bradley, Nebraska, and TCU, Stanford lost to Tulsa, Oregon State lost to Seattle, Texas Southern, and Utah Valley, and Arizona State lost to New Mexico.  Those are RPI killers and bring down the whole league.  They'll stabilize eventually because of the level of some of the programs, but this might be another rough one.

Oh well, at least they have hot chicks.

1.  CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS.  Unlike the majority of the team's in the Pac-12, Cal managed to avoid getting hit with the big curse of graduations/NBA defections and as such they should be the best team in the conference this year, despite the fact that Justin Cobbs is probably going to be their starting point guard.  And Cobbsy should have plenty of opportunity for assists with Cal bringing back a lot of fire power - Jorge Gutierrez, Harper Kamp, and Allen Crabbe are all back and all averaged over 13 points per game last season.  Of course, Cal was also a pretty terrible defensive team last year and lost their best inside presence, so it's not like they're going to run away with anything here.  And speaking of running.........

2.  UCLA BRUINS.  Just like Washington, UCLA was also hit pretty hard in the losing players department.  Replacing Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt won't be easy, but luckily the Bruins have plenty coming back and a bumper crop of newcomers to help ease the transition.   Interestingly, of the newcomers the only freshman is SG Norman Powell (#69 overall on Rivals), but he's been called a Jrue Holliday type athlete, so he should be pretty damn impressive.  The newcomers most key to the Bruins' season are the Wear twins, 6-10 former McDonald's All-Americans who transferred over from North Carolina.  Despite their identical size, their skill sets put one at the 4 and one at the 3, adding some extra flexibility.  As long as they get quality point guard play from Lazeric Jones they'll be at the top end of the Pac.  And I wrote all that without mentioning their best player, Reeves Nelson, who is like what Brian Cardinal or Dusty Rychart would have been if they had actual talent.  So yeah, UCLA is fairly loaded, much like myself (booze not money).

3.  WASHINGTON HUSKIES.  Washington was hit hard by graduations and early defections, losing their three best players in PG Isaiah "Captain Circus Ball" Thomas, Justin Holiday, and Matthew Bryan-Amaning.  No need to panic however, because with Lorenzo Romar still coaching and Abdul Gaddy still around the sweet Circus Ball days should continue.  And thank god.  Really, if you haven't taken in a Washington basketball game lately you owe it to yourself to.  Two of my favorite memories of the last 2 tournaments are watching them play New Mexico and North Carolina.  The tempo is just out of this world.  Oh, and Washington also signed another fast as hell guard in Tony Wroten, so fire up the band!    

4.  ARIZONA WILDCATS.  This sounds pretty familiar at this point, but Zona is yet another Pac-12 team losing a bunch of talent from last year with not only Derrick Williams but also Lamont Jones gone.  Fortunately they're bringing in an excellent class to help out, highlighted by the backcourt duo of PG Josiah Turner (#2 PG, #11 overall) and SG Nick Johnson (#4 SG, #18 overall).  Turner should keep Arizona's traditional of top PG play alive and I'd bet this is the best incoming backcourt in America, but Arizona's lack of impact returning players will hold them down, and their improvement will be the difference between the NCAA and NIT this year.

5.  STANFORD CARDINAL.  Stanford loses their leading scorer, Jeremy Green, to the NBA Draft even though he's a dummkopf and didn't get drafted, but luckily for them they have Chasson Randle (#78 recruit) coming on and ready to step in to his starting position after choosing the Cardinal over Illinois and Purdue probably because he's a nerd but didn't want to go to Northwestern because they're terrible at everything always.  Everyone else is back from last year's mediocre team, and Stanford will likely end up in the same mediocre position as last season unless somebody shows a vast jump in ability.  The most likely candidate is 6-8 PF Josh Owens, a fifth-year senior whose numbers nearly doubled last year.

6.  OREGON DUCKS.  I don't know if it's the attrition from other teams or improvement on the Ducks' part, but suddenly Oregon is looking a little frisky under second-year coach Dana Altman.  I'm just kidding - it's the attrition.  But things are looking up, starting with the end of last season's championship in the CBI. . What?  It counts.  Anyway, the Ducks lose their leading scorer and rebounder from last year and their starting point guard, but have a bunch of quality adds including guard Jabari Brown, the #19 freshman according to Rivals, and possibly the best incoming shooter on the West Coast who turned down UCONN, Kansas, and Washington to come to Eugene.  Of course, your boyfriend Devoe Joseph becomes eligible after the first semester and will add some scoring pop in a more uptempo system.  Of course, the smart move would have been to sit out this year so he could have played all of next season, when the Ducks will be better and, you know, he'd be eligible for the whole year.  Then again, I suppose Devoe has never been known for thinking things through.

7.  ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS.  There's nothing more fun than watching players from Minnesota light it up for other teams and this might be your best chance outside of Iowa State.  Trent Lockett led the Sun Devils in scoring last season at 13.4 per game, and with the team's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th leading scorers all gone ASU might look to Lockett to be less a part of the offense than the majority of the offense.  He doubled his scoring average from his freshman to sophomore year, so he could be up for the challenge.  The two guys who really need to step up are guard Kaela King and forward Carrick Felix.  King was a much heralded and celebrated get for the Sun Devils as the #26 recruit in the country going into last year, but really had a disappointing year scoring over 10 points in a game just twice.  Felix originally committed to Duke before pulling out and and coming to Tempe, and like King needs to live up to his pedigree if ASU is going to compete for an NCAA bid this year.

8.  WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS.  Losing a guy like Klay Thompson, who did everything for your team and led the conference in scoring, is always going to sting but you can try to prepare because it was pretty obvious odds were better than 50/50 he'd be heading to the NBA.  What makes it worse is when DeAngelo Castro - double-digit scorer, leading rebounder, and second in the conference in FG percentage - bolts as well to head play professionally in Turkey.  They still have some fire power with second leading scorer and noted chucker Faisel Aden returning to throw the ball at the rim, but the key will be to see if he and junior PG Reggie Moore can co-exist.  Moore looked like a future star in his freshman year, but after Aden arrived he regressed with both Aden and Thompson needing the ball constantly.  If Moore can figure out his role that could be the difference between my 9th place prediction and as high as 7th.

9.  OREGON STATE BEAVERS.  I thought last year the Beavers had a shot to return to relevance for the first time since the days of Corey Benjamin, but alas, it was not meant to be, but at least they had the decency to let everyone know right away by losing to Seattle, Texas Southern, and Utah Valley before the season was a month old.  Just like Gary Sinise I won't get fooled again, but it is hard not to like their guards in Roberto Nelson and Jared Cunningham who are about as athletic as can be with Cunningham averaging nearly three steals per game last season, good enough for fifth in the country.  Really though, this was a bad team last year who did almost nothing well (other than steal the ball), last year's leading assist man averaged just 2.4 per game and is a 280 lb. power forward, and they lost one of their best players from last season with nothing real impressive waiting to step in.  So yeah, not a sleeper.

10.  USC TROJANS.  Last year USC made the tournament on the backs of their twin towers Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson and solid guard play from the trio of Jio Fontan, Maurice Jones, and Donte Smith.  Now both of the bigs are gone along with Smith, and Fontan broke his knee off during the team's trip to Brazil, leaving just Jones and 8 other scholarship players (they also have two transfers eating up schollys who won't be eligible until next year and a season-ending shoulder injury to another guy), only one of whom has played in more than 6 games in his career.  Jones will have a little bit of help coming in with former Iowa forward Aaron Fuller becoming eligible this year and a big JuCo center coming in to rave reviews, but the only way USC is going to do much this year is with their usual solid defense, but not even that will be enough to make them post season relevant this year.   

11.  COLORADO BUFFALOES.  Every so often things come together for even the most moribund of programs and unheralded players improve, diamonds in the rough shine, and for one brief year a school that rarely makes its mark on the basketball world has a huge year.  Unfortunately when that happened for Colorado they somehow managed to bumblefuck it up and ended up in the NIT.  Now their four leading scorers are gone, including two of the better players in school history in Alec Burks and Cory Higgins, and Colorado prepares for the basement once again, but at least it's a brand new shiny basement.  Andre Roberson is a great athlete who led the team in rebounding, blocks, and steals last year and that's pretty much where the positives stop.  I heard it's a fun town though.

12.  UTAH UTES.  Remember when Majerus had Utah running along as a major western power?  Well that's not really relevant here.  Utah fired their coach after four straight losing seasons, which then sent four major contributors from last year's team will eligibility remaining heading for the transfer door which, along with graduations, means a terrible Utah team will now be missing 5 of their top 6 scorers from last season.  They do get back #2 leading scorer Josh Watkins at 15 per game and have a couple of assets most teams don't in a pair of 7-footers in David Foster and Josh Washburn.  Neither is particularly athletic or skilled, but you can't teach size so they'll grab rebounds, block shots, and probably make at least 50% of their lay-ups.


Other previews:
Big 12
ACC
Atlantic 10

Week in Review - 01.03.2011

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Purdue Boilermakers.  Robbie Hummel's injury sucked for him and Purdue fans, but fans of every other school, both in the Big Ten and nationally, should be grateful  because this team is incredibly good without him, and might legitimately have been unstoppable with him.   JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore are both stars, and all the role players fit around them perfectly.  White shooter guy?  Ryne Smith.  Athletic wing who can defend well?  Kelsey Barlow.  Next Brian Cardinal/Chris Kramer?  D.J. Byrd.  Lighting quick PG?  Lewis Jackson.  They beat Michigan on the road and Northwestern at home, and while those might not sound like great wins they did it in completely dominating fashion.  When Hummel went down it seems Purdue was written off as a national title contender, but after seeing them play this week I'd put them right back on the list.

2.  Washington Huskies.  If Washington was going to stumble on their way to a nearly inevitable Pac-10 crown this would have been the week.  Going into to Los Angeles to play the two L.A. teams is easily their most difficult road trip, but Washington managed to escape with a 2-0 record by beating USC in overtime and then knocking off UCLA with ease.  The Huskies probably don't have enough size to be a real threat to make the final four, but they play at one of the fastest paces in the country (9th) and combine that with being very efficient on the offensive end (6th), which means they score a ton of points (3rd at 89.1 per game).  That, along with their very good guards, make them a threat to pull off some upsets along the way, and they should cruise to a Pac-10 title, especially after this week's 2-0 start.

3.  St. Johns Red Storm.   I had said St. Johns was a bit of a sleeper in the Big East, and then they sucked.  They lost back-to-back games against crappy Fordham and crappy St. Bonnies, and looked dead in the water.  Well, like Jesus they're back, opening up their Big East schedule with two road wins, and impressive wins at that.  First they beat West Virginia and then followed that up by taking down Providence - not a tournament team, but a team that was 11-3 coming into the game so they aren't exactly a piece of cake.  This team still lines up well to be a sleeper:  good guards, balanced scoring, good depth, senior leadership.  Now they're finally starting to play like it.   

4.  Iowa State Cyclones.  I would like to call your attention to Iowa State, because nobody is paying any attention to them.  After going to Virginia and beating the Cavs this week, the same team that killed the Gophers here don't forget, the Cyclones are now 11-2.  Now, the Virginia win is one of the only decent wins they've had, along with wins over Iowa and Creighton, and neither loss is particularly good (to Northern Iowa and Cal, neither a likely tournament team) so it's not like they're exactly lined up well for an NCAA bid or anything, but after the last few nightmarish seasons in Ames this has got to feel pretty freakin' good for fans of that program.  Hoiberg seemingly has them moving in the right direction.

5.  Stanford chick basketball.  Thank fucking god.  If I had to hear about that UCONN women's team streak one more time I was going to scream.  Nobody cares, stop shoving it down my throat ESPN jerks.  I don't remotely care enough about women's sports to hate a team anywhere near as much as I hated that UCONN team.  Thank god our long national nightmare is finally over. 



WHO SUCKED

1.  Louisville Cardinals.  When you're ranked #20 in the country you're not supposed to get blown out at home, and when you're Louisville, you're not supposed to get blown out at home by Kentucky, so Friday's 78-63 loss to the Wildcats was a nice big double oof.  So what this means is that Louisville is ranked #20 on the strength of two notable wins:  over a Butler team who has been exposed as terribly overrated, and against UNLV, who followed up that game by losing to Santa Barbara.  The other impressive part of Louisville's resume right now is they only have two losses:  this blowout at home and an earlier home loss vs. Drexel.  So I guess what I'm saying is we probably shouldn't start printing up NCAA Tournament tickets for Louisville family and friends just yet.

2.  Mississippi State Bulldogs.  Holy crap is this team bad, and I don't think it has anything to do with Renardo Sidney kicking his teammates asses or getting free cars.  They got smoked this week by St. Mary's, who joins Washington State, Virginia Tech, and Hawaii as teams that have absolutely smoked the Bulldogs, who also have losses to Florida Atlantic and East Tennessee State this year.  They're just awful.  I don't even know why, they were supposed to be the favorite for the SEC East title.  Or West.  Whichever division they're in that I'm not looking up.  Maybe things will turn around when Dee Bost comes off his suspension, but by then Sidney may have already beaten up the entire team.

3.  Siena Saints.  So I know the Saints lost three very good players and their coach off last year's team, but holy crapolavich have they fallen far.  They came into the week at 4-6 with some pretty terrible losses, but may have bottomed out this week by losing to crappy St. Bonaventure and crappier Saint Joseph's.  With two excellent players back - Clarence Jackson and Ryan Rossiter - the Saints were supposed to be a contender for the MAAC crown once again. Instead they're an absolute disaster of gopher football-ish proportions.  Yeah.

4.  Big Ten Football.   You know how there are a bunch of people in the world who always say stuff like "The Big Ten is too slow" and "The Big Ten sucks at football"?  Well, yeah..

5.  Washington State Cougars.  Remember how up above there I was talking about how the LA trip went really well for Washington?  Well the opposite is true for Washington State, who dropped both games.  With their wins over Gonzaga and Baylor and a competitive loss against Kansas State the Cougars were looking like a possible sleeper in the Pac-10.  With one of the best scorers in the country in Klay Thompson and another guard who can light it up from deep in Faisal Aden along with a solid group of big men, WSU looked really good for most of this year.  Well fart on that. 

Pac-10 College Basketball 2010 Preview

Last year was nearly a disaster for the Pac-10, where getting even two teams NCAA bids was looking like it might not happen even late in the year, but this year things should be a little better.  Washington and Arizona should be among the elite teams in the nation, and a number of other teams should be improved.  Of course, that's basically the scouting report from last year, just replace Arizona with Cal, and that was a struggle, so who knows.  These guys play their games so late that nobody is watching anyway.  Except degenerate gamblers.  Hi.

1.  Washington Huskies.  One thing is for certain, the Huskies play an exciting brand of basketball.  I remember being in Chicago for their game against New Mexico, and just being mesmerized by how fast the pace of the game was.  Me, Bogart, and Snacks had all bet the over, so each time little tiny Isaiah Thomas got the ball, sprinted down court past all the Lobos and made a layup we cheered and fell in love with him a little bit more.  The game ended up being a blowout, so the pace slackened and that over never cashed, but the moral of the story is that Washington is awesome.  Quincy Pondexter is gone, but Justin Holiday should step in fine, and their three guard lineup of Thomas, Venoy Overton, and Abdul Gaddy are as good as it gets.  Rather than fighting for a bid like last year, the Huskies should have theirs locked up by January.

2.  Arizona Wildcats.  Arizona's streak of 25 straight NCAA Tournament bids was snapped last season, but they should be back again after losing only the disappointing Nic Wise, who never made the leap they were looking for last season.  Derrick Williams was terrific in his freshman season, averaging 16 pts and 7 boards per game while shooting 57% and looking straight dominant at times, with 23 points or more five times last season.  Williams is surrounded by plenty of other talent, but replacing Wise, who might not have been great but was certainly good, at the point is going to be the real key to the season.  Lamont Jones came in last season with a good pedigree but struggled at times.  If he hasn't improved this prediction is going to look awfully silly.  Might end up being the first prediction I've ever whiffed on - ever.

3.  UCLA Bruins.  Despite what seems to be near constant defections, whether to the NBA or to other programs, over the last few years, UCLA does seem to be on the way back.  Looking at just the stats of the returnees you wouldn't be impressed, but these guys have talent.  Tyler Honeycutt (last year's Rivals #28 overall) is well on his way to becoming a do everything type stud, Malcolm Lee really started to come into his own last year (12 pts, 3 ast per game), and nerdy Reeves Nelson (11pts, 6 rebs as a frosh) is already showing an impressive array of low-post moves. Add to that group Rivals #18 recruiting class and they're looking to be in good shape, assuming people stop transferring.  Plus in the good news department, their top recruit, center Josh Smith (#23 overall) who weighed in at 305 lbs. has reportedly lost a bunch of weight and is in (relatively) great shape.  Plus, don't you just feel better when UCLA is good?  It's just icky otherwise.  

4.  Washington State Cougars.  They're getting an awful lot of press due to Klay Thompson, which makes sense because he's probably the only player in the league who might be better than Derrick Williams from Zona.  His low shooting percentage (41%) and high turnovers (3.4 TO to 2.3 assists) are the only blemishes on his record, but those numbers should improve with better/improved teammates in Pullman this year.  The real question is will he have better teammates, because outside of point guard Reggie Moore everybody is a questions mark.  In a normal year in a normal conference, one great player, one good player, and a bunch of questions wouldn't make you the fourth best team, but the Pac-10 is down once again, so Wazzou should be in play for an NCAA berth.

5.  USC Trojans.  They definitely have a great inside tandem, maybe the best in the conference, with Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stepheson in the paint.  Vucevic was called "the best true center in the conference" in an article I saw, and his numbers bear that out as he averaged nearly a triple double last year (10.7 pts/9.4 rebs per) and blocked more than one shot per game, while Stepheson was one of the highest rated recruits in the country coming out of high school and on his way to North Carolina in 2006.  He hasn't quite put it all together yet, but he's got one last chance.  This team will be especially interesting when Jio Fontan, an outstanding point guard who transferred from Fordham and will be eligible mid-season, joins the team to balance out the inside strength with a perimeter threat.


6.  Stanford Cardinal.  Losing Landry Jones, who led the conference in scoring and was second in rebounding last year, is definitely a bit of a buzzkill, but at least they have Jeremy Green back to soften the blow (16.6 ppg) as well as three other starters, and they're going to need every bit of that experience because everybody else on the roster is either a walk-on, a benchwarmer, or a freshman.  There is certainly some talent mixed up with these freshman - PF Dwight Powell is Rivals #25 overall recruit, while SG Anthony Brown is #65 - so there's certainly some upside here.  If the youngsters are ready to play the Cardinal could move up a few spots.  Plus this conference sucks, so anybody with a pulse could move up a few spots.

7.  Arizona State Sun Devils.  They certainly like to shoot the three, leading the conference last year in attempts by over 100 over the second place team, and they also lost both their penetrating point guard and their only inside presence, and are left with just five scholarship players from last year back this year, two of whom are dandies who only shoot threes.  With your #1 PG and #1 post player gone, how open are those looks going to be?  Now, some of the newcomers have talent and could step in - Keala King is the #8 PG in the country according to rivals and could step in at the point immediately - but there is still a distinct lack of big men that will limit how much ASU can accomplish.  But at least they still have the hottest chicks in the land.  Seriously, check out the internet sometime.

8.  Oregon State Beavers.  They looked to have a little momentum going into last year and were considered a bit of a sleeper in a weak Pac-10, but unfortunately couldn't capitalize, and now nobody cares again.  That center with the weird name is gone, the Tarvers (no relation to Miles) are gone.  Calvin Haynes is apparently a very good offensive player but I wouldn't know because I don't think I've watched an OSU game since the days of Corey Benjamin, partially because they're never on TV and partially because they're usually boring and/or bad.  I have, however, giggled about the nickname Beavers recently.  Because I'm 12.

9.  California Golden Bears.  I'm not sure any team, outside of Kentucky, lost as much from last year as the Bears, and this year is going to be rough.  Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher might have been the two best guards in the conference last season, and they're both gone, as are third-leading scorer Theo Robertson and only viable inside presence (and fourth leading scorer) Jamal Boykin.  But, as Denise Fleming (who is not a tampon) said in Can't Hardly Wait, "Don't look back, you should never look back", so instead let's talk about what the Bears have going for them this year.  It's nothing.

10.  Oregon Ducks.  I'll say this about the Pac, it's easy to pick the last place team because the Ducks are an absolute disaster right now - like Iowa, but worse.  After Ernie Kent was fired there was such a mass exodus of players that I can't even keep up, which is made extra difficult because I don't pay particular attention to Oregon basketball.  Four of the players transferring were bench players with varying degrees of playing time, but Michael Dunigan - who just signed to play in Israel - would have been their top returning post player.  The lack of depth will be exacerbated by de-commits by incoming freshman (I can't find a list anywhere, but I know there have been some) leaving the Ducks with just 9 scholarship players, most of which are pretty mediocre.  New coach Dana Altman has already signed a very good class for 2011, but according to NCAA rules none of those players can play this year.

Other Previews:
ACC
Big 12

NCAA Basketball Preview: The Pac 10

You know what I really dig about this conference, other than the beautiful weather and smoking hot chicks, is that every team is paired up with another from the same area, and they always play the same teams in the same week.  You have UCLA/USC, Arizona/Arizona St, Washington/Wash St., Oregon/Oregon St., and Cal/Stanford, and they always travel together.  So like UCLA would play Arizona on a Thursday and Arizona State on a Saturday, while USC would play Ariz State on the Thursday and Arizona on Saturday.  I don't know why, but I find that very cool and interesting.  Probably because I'm a nerd.

With all the Gopher news, the Gopher game, and the World Series going on this week, not to mention my award-winning interview with Larry and Magic, I haven't had a whole lot of research time, so this will be shorter than usual.  And let's be honest, nobody reads my previews anyway.  I could post bible verses for each team's synopsis and it would go unnoticed unless somebody was searching for "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", but that person would have plenty of other problems anyway.


1.  Washington.  I've been waiting for this team to make a big leap for a few years now, and with the Pac down overall this might be the year they finally pull it off.  The loss of Jon Brockman to graduation leaves them with a huge hole in the paint, but their guards should be top notch with Rivals #13 Abdul Gaddy joining sophomore Isaiah Thomas.  I'm a huge Quincy Pondexter, mainly because he has a funny name, but with those two distributing the ball he should be poised for a breakout year.

2.  California.  Completely unheralded, but with a very solid backcourt with Jerome Randle the penetrator/scorer/distributor and Patrick Christopher the shooter - both were all Pac-10 last season.  PF Jamal Boykin may be the key to them being an NCAA Tournament contender as opposed to just an NCAA Tournament team again.  He was a big time recruit who had signed on with Duke before transferring to Berkeley.  He hasn't exactly lived up to his potential, but he has improved every season thus far.  Now in his senior year, it's his last chance to shine.

3.  UCLA.  In terms of scoring and minutes returning, there's not much, and some communist is their leading returner in both.  In terms of talent, there's plenty here.  Four top 100 recruits this year join four top 50s from last year.  In other words, they are probably going to be very good, but also very inconsistent.  They also needed a three pointer with 16 seconds left to beat an NAIA school earlier this week in an exhibition, so looks like they're starting slow, but should be pretty solid by midseason or so.

4.  Oregon State.  Not a misprint.  The Beavers should be pretty decent this year, but I've never heard of a single player on that team, assuming Wes Washington and Corey Benjamin are gone.  I know that was years ago but come on, Vasquez is still on Maryland and I'm pretty sure his freshman year begin with 19.  They play the Princeton style offense.  Yawn.

5.  Arizona.  It was looking even worse for the Wildcats this year, but Sean Miller made some very big freshman signings in the late signing period, and it will be up to those freshmen how good Arizona will be this year.  They could be first, they could be 8th, but fifth sounds right.  Nic Wise could easily end up leading the conference in both scoring and assists. 

6.  Oregon.  The Ducks lost 23 games last year, in no small part because their point guard, Earl Boykins wannabe Tajuan Porter, shouldn't be a point guard, what with his more turnovers than assists - and just 1.8 assists per game and his aggressive shooting (7th in the conference in FG attempts despite under 40% shooting).  The good news is they are supposed to have some JuCo point guard who can come in and run the show.  Even so, Porter will need to avoid the 6-15 type nights that popped up regularly last year.

7.  USC.  The Trojans lost three players to the NBA draft and, amidst scandal, lost nearly every recruit they signed this offseason, but there is still some talent here.  They get their top scorer back in guard Dwight Lewis, who outscored Taj Gibson, Demar Derozan, and Daniel Hackett last season, as well as Marcus Johnson, a transfer from UCONN.  Power forwad Alex Stepheson was a top fifty player when he signed with North Carolina in 2006 and a minor contributor on the team before deciding to transfer back to L.A. to be closer to his family.  On a team this thin, he'll have every opportunity to justify that rank.

8.  Washington State.  The cougars crazy run of boring everybody to tears and winning when the other team fell asleep should finally come to an end, with three starters and major contributors leaving as well as captain boring Tony Bennett leaving for Virginia.  I did read somewhere that Klay Thompson is projected to be the best NBAer currently in the Pac 10, so if you have a chance to catch one of their games it sounds like that would be a good time.

9.  Arizona State.  I just read something that picked the Sun Devils as fourth in the Pac and I gotta tell ya I don't get it.  Losing James Harden and Jeff Pendergaph is a huge blow, especially to a team with a so-so recruiting class coming in.  Their only double-digit scorer coming back, Rihards Kuksiks, is a three point sniper who led the conference in made 3s while shooting 44%.  The only problem is that 80% of his attempts last year were from behind the arc, and you know what helps get open three point looks?  Playing with James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph.  I don't know man, I just don't see it.

10.  Stanford.  I've always hated this program, I still hate this program, and I hope they stay in last place forever. 



Other Previews
Conference USA
Atlantic 10 
Mountain West 
Atlantic Coast 
Big Twelve
Big East 
SEC

COLLEGE HOOPS PREVIEW: The Pac 10

Yep, another preview of another conference, and if you don't like it you can go straight to hell.

1. UCLA
Losing Westbrook, Love, and Mbah a Moute would cripple most teams, or at least get them to slow down, but UCLA just reloads with the #1 recruiting class in the nation and takes aim at a fourth consecutive Final Four. Darren Collison and Josh Shipp are back, so the back court is solid. If that's not enough, they'll add Jrue Holliday (#2 Rivals 150), Jerime Anderson (#37), and Malcolm Lee (#47) to give them one of the best groups of guards in the country. There are a few questions in the front court, where they have depth in James Keefe, Michael Roll, and Alfred Aboya, but it remains to be seen if any of them have star power. The most likely breakout player in the front court is yet another freshman, either center J'Mison Morgan (#25) or forward Drew Gordon (#45). Even if none of those guys are a major talent, this team is loaded.

2. USC
OJ Mayo is gone to the Wolves Grizzlies, along with Davon Jefferson and Angelo Johnson, who cried when coach Tim Floyd said he couldn't guarantee a starting spot, but they are being replaced by maybe the top freshman in the country in wing Demar DeRozan, who could be the second most athletic player in the country behind Rico Tucker. Daniel Hackett was at times the Trojans best player, and he's back along with force inside Taj Gibson, so they'll be loaded in all areas. Plus, they have little Romeo, so that's nice.

3. Washington
Yes, Washington. The Huskies were a very talented team last year (wins over UCLA and Arizona) but just couldn't quite seem to put forth the consistent effort needed to grab an NCAA berth. With just three point floppy haired jesus Ryan Appleby gone from last season, they're in a great position this year. Jon Brockman is back to own the paint, and guards Quincy Pondexter and Justin Dentmon are top talents just waiting to break out (of course, they've been waiting for two years). One of their biggest weaknesses was point guard play, but incoming freshman Isaiah Thomas (not that one) is a top 100 recruit and should help.

4. Arizona State
It feels weird to put the Sun Devils this high on the list, but they're here for a reason, mainly James Harden deciding to return for his sophomore season. Harden can score from outside or in, and shoots a very high percentage for a guard. One of the best players in the conference. Nearly the entire team is back from last year's bubble reject, highlighted by center Jeff Pendergraph and guard Ty Abbott. If Jerren Shipp can improve to near the level of his brothers, they'll be that much more dangerous.

5. Arizona
First Brandon Jennings heads to Europe, then Lute Olson retires followed by three high level recruits for 2009 dropping out their commitments. It's been a tough offseason for the Wildcats, but they still have enough this season to be in the NCAA conversation, led by Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill. Budinger is an elite scorer, but is a little soft, and Hill is an absolute beast in the paint. The keys this season will be the play of point guard Nic Wise, without Jerryd Bayless to help out, as well as freshman center Jeff Withey (#36 Rivals), the only real big man option beyond Hill.

6. Washington State
I'm only putting them this high because their style of play is maddeningly annoying and will certainly get them a handful of wins against teams that get frustrated, but the Cougars are in a bit of trouble this season after losing Robbie Cowgill, Derrick Low, and Kyle Weaver. Aron Baynes is big and almost as fat as that dude from Santa Clara, but he's effective. Taylor Rochestie is back as well, and will be asked to score more with all that firepower gone from last year. The recruiting class is deep, if not overly talented, with Mychal Thompson's son Clay the only real standout (#51).

7. Cal
How do you replace Ryan Anderson and Devon Hardin? You don't, you mostly just cry. Second leading scorer Patrick Christopher is back, but it will be interesting to see how he does being the #1 guy instead of being back in the back. Point guard Jerome Randle is also back, but his assist/turnover ratio of 1.2 shows he needs a lot of polish. The Golden Bears really need Duke transfer Jamal Boykin to live up to his potential. Freshman guard DJ Seeley (#58) is a scorer.

8. Stanford
The Lopez twins both bolted, even though if he stayed this would have absolutely become Robin's team, and that's pretty much all the Cardinal talent. Guards Anthony Goods and Mitch Johnson are adequate, but that's all they are. Forward Lawrence Hill is probably their best player, but his numbers dropped massively from his sophomore to junior year. He'll need to recapture his form of two years ago for Stanford to be at all relevant.

9. Oregon
Major talent leaving, with Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen, and Bryce Taylor all gone. A very solid recruiting class, highlighted by big man Michael Dunigan and wing Matthew Humphrey gives hope, but the scoring load will fall to little man Tajuan Porter. If you've seen him play, he's only 5-6 but makes up for it by chucking the ball from three every single time he touches it. Without those other scorers and their leadership, expect him to lead the nation in three point attempts and ill advised shots, and probably turnovers too (1.0 A/TO last year) making Scottie Reynolds look under control. Fat Gopher reject Josh Crittle is a freshman here too.

10. Oregon State
Isn't it about time to transfer Oregon State to the Big West or the the WCC or something? You could bring in Gonzaga, except they don't play football so that doesn't work. What about BYU or Boise State? Not coastal enough? I don't know then, but something needs to be done. The Beavers haven't been relevant since Corey Benjamin was there, and I'm not even sure they were relevant then, other than in the McDonald's All-American Dunk Contest, which Benjamin even lost to Lester Earl. This year's team? Um, well, they have two starters with the last name Tarver, Seth and Josh, so let's pretend they're Miles Tarver's brothers. Recruiting class? Ranked dead last in the Pac 10.

Review and what not

I was going to wait until tomorrow to type up tonight's games, but I've been drinking screwdrivers all night (note: that's not gay) and I'm in a typey mood. I didn't even get to start watching the games until after 9 tonight, due to some interestingly scary developments in Project: Baby W. Summary - it looks like she may be on her way early, and thus the W home has been a whirlwind of baby setup activity.

That is neither here nor there. What is here and there, is that we went 4-0 on game bets today. What up? Also went 8-1 on player props. For reals. Dominating the late rounds of the tournament. Like every year. Expect dominance tomorrow. Or a complete collapse to get back towards .500. I don't know. On to the games.

North Carolina 68, Washington State 47: This is the only game where we lost a player prop, as Danny Green outscored Kyle Weaver 15-10. This is also the game I didn't get to see much of, as CBS mercifully switched off this ass-kicking. The interesting thing is that Washington State did the two things that were keys: 1) control tempo and 2) limit Hansbrough. The did both of these in the first half, yet were still down fourteen. The second half saw the dude with one of the worst nicknames ever, "Psycho T" have a better half as the Heels ran away with the game. Seriously that nickname is really just retarded. Also, the dude never, ever closes his mouth. For real. If you say you've seen him with his mouth closed, you're a god damned liar.

Xavier 79, West Virginia 75: This was a fun game, overtime even. After X got out to a big first half lead I was feeling pretty good about myself, but they blew it. The last 8 minutes or so was back and forth for the lead, and was one of the more entertaining basketball games of the year. WVU's Joe Alexander really is a pretty good player, but he's a big time forcer shooter guy. Before tonight's 8-18, he hadn't shot better than 33% in his last three games, but everybody wanted to talk about him like he was jesus because he scores a lot of points. He did play well tonight, but his defense is brutal. On one occasion I saw Josh Duncan get the ball in the post against him and pass up several layups just to continue to make fancy "dreamshakesque" moves and just basically have fun. Alexander is a scorer no doubt, but he plays defense like a Griggs M chick against a drunk dude.

I have a couple other quick comments about that game. One of the more impressive things I've seen in the history of the world was Drew Lavender's defense tonight. Not even talking about the way he handled the perimeter against WVU's guards, I mean one play where Mazzulla for WVU got the ball in the open court and came in 1-on-1 against Lavender, and got turned away. Didn't even get a shot off. Just tremendous closeout defense against a charging opponent. Another thing is that Xavier's best player, Josh Duncan, had four fouls with about 11 minutes left in the game. At one point coach Sean Miller brought him back in, but nobody on the Mountaineers bothered to attack him to try and get a fifth foul. Horrible coaching. Not unlike leaving a 41% three point shooter in BJ Raymond open twice in the last two minutes. West Virginia had this game in the bag with a 6 point lead in OT and let it go. Inexcusable.

One guy I feel bad for in a way that I don't really feel bad at all is WVU's center Jamie Smalligan. Dude came over to WVU from Butler to be the new Pittsnoggle. You know, a seven footer who was more comfortable hanging out around the three point line, a "Rickert" or a "Bogart" if you will. Turns out Huggy-Bear isn't too interested in gays like that, and Smalligan posted career lows in, well, everything. Maybe you should be such a sissy, Rick. I mean Jamie.

Louisville 79, Tennessee 60: The most anticipated game of the night, for me, turned out to be kind of disappointing, as I think both teams turned out to be idiots. I think from the 16 minute time out to the 12 minute time out the teams combined went 1-12. It was very uptempo, but for the most part - well, Tennessee's part, was very stupid. I think the Vols would absolutely win a streetball tournament, and I also think it's very possible Bruce Pearl is a horrible coach. Team is obscenely talented, yet underachieves. Did you also know that some dude who was a bouncer on Jerry Springer has his own show now? The fact that this douchehole makes tons of money and I don't really pisses me off.

Anyway, what the f happened to Chris Lofton? He had 15 tonight, which covered his over/under of 14.5, but it came on 3-15 shooting, 2-11 from three. He made the degenerate gamblers happy, but I can't image Vol fans are too thrilled. His scoring dropped more than five points a game this year, and he's shooting 7.3% worse from the floor. Want to know why? Because every damn shot he throws up there is a fadeaway with the front foot kicking forward. It's not quite chick style shooting, but he's really killing both his future and his teams chances. I mean, I guess he already killed his teams' chances, but I was referring to his NBDL team. They're gonna hate this guy. I also saw him do that stupid thing where when you shoot a three and there's a defender anywhere near you, fall down and try to get the foul. Well, the ref didnt' fall for it and his defender just went streaking down and got hit for a layup - wide open because Lofton was on the floor. I think it's safe to assume chris loften is kind of a homo.

UCLA 88, Western Kentucky 78: Another game we didn't get much of. I'll say that the fact that WKU was able to get all UCLA's guards in foul trouble, Collison out, Shipp and Westbrook with four, is actually fairly irrelevant now that they won. Xavier's guards arent' ooh no there's a snake eating mice babies on the tv now. The snake killed the mom mouse with poison and is now eating the babies since they have no protection dude this is messed up. Wow. Ok, sorry. Xavier doesn't have the quick guards that effed up UCLA tonight, but they have a much better answer inside for your precious Kevin Love who you think is so awesome because he's white and you're a racist son of a bitch. Yeah, I'm calling a Xavier win. I had UCLA as my champ, but they look like total hell right now. They're just waiting for somebody to put them out of their misery at this point.

Oh, and the picture is Sarah Chalke because I wanted it to be. There's no rhyme or reason here. But I did feel I owed people.

Sweet 16 Preview: East Region

Ok, so my picks for the first two rounds haven't exactly been lighting the world on fire, and I cost Bogart $100 with my UCLA/Texas A&M pick. That doesn't mean I'm not still smart. It's not my fault, blame Notre Dame and looking Harangody for not showing up, USC and Arizona for actually being really crappy after tricking me into believing in them, and Marquette and Pitt for choking away games they should have had in the bag. Remember, I picked Siena over Vanderbilt.

Here is your DWG East Region preview, with the other regions yet to come.

North Carolina -7.5 vs. Washington State: Maybe the two most impressive teams in the tournament so far, as neither one has gotten anywhere near a close game. The most impressive win out of these two was Washington State's thorough ass kicking of Notre Dame, holding them to under 25% shooting. A great clash here of offense vs. defense, as the Tarheels have scored 113 and 108 while shooting 61% and 68% while the Cougars have held teams to 40 and 41 and forced 31% and 25% shooting. An old adage says good defense beats good offense and good pitching beats good hitting, but that's football and baseball. I don't see WSU having the athletes or the scheme to hang with the Tarheels. Sure they were able to squash Harangody and the Irish, but there like a poor man's poor man's North Carolina. Go ahead and take away Hansbrough, which may be impossible, the Heels have plenty of other weapons, and play good defense as well. Throw in the fact that the game is in Carolina, and the Heels are the pick to win and cover.

Louisville -2.5 vs. Tennessee: A little surprised to see the Cardinals favored here, with the Vols being the higher seed and all, but I suppose after rolling over Boise State and Oklahoma by 18 and 30 they have to be included as one of the hottest teams in the tournament as well - man, the East Region is stacked. Tennessee has struggled a bit, having problems with American before winning by fifteen and slipping past Butler in overtime, but you can't discount how good they were all year. And don't forget, Butler may have been a seven seed, but they were probably good enough to be a 3 or 4, so that's still a great win. I just don't see how the Vols deal with the size and depth of the Cardinals, too weaknesses of Tennessee. Still, the speed, athleticism, and guard play of the Vols could carry the day. One thing is for sure, this is going to be a great game. It's tempting to take the points, as this one could go down to the wire, but I think the Cardinals take it, and cover in the end.

The Most Boring Team Ever

- Remember how I thought Auburn might be good this year? Well, they lost their leading scorer to injury, but watching this West Virginia/Auburn game, it wouldn't matter. They are just horrible. So far it seems like their offensive consists of two options: 1. Throw the ball out of bounds or 2. throw the ball to the other team. Yuck.

- What's with all the love for Vanderbilt? Not only are the ranked #23 right now, but the announcer in this WVU/Auburn game just said they were his sleeper team for the SEC this year - What the hell? Is it because they're 8-0? This team needed triple overtime to beat Southern Alabama at home. They beat a crappy Wake Forest team at home by 3, and that one was down to the wire. They've beaten some mediocre teams at home and that's it. The beat Georgia Tech, but Tech is also 3-4 and might lose to Georgia State tonight. Trust me, Vandy is not that good. I'm betting against them the rest of the year.

- Wow. Allen Iverson has 49 points through three quarters on 17-23 shooting. I can't decide if I should keep watching him or go over to the Gonzaga/Wash St game. The Lakers are doubling him every time he has the ball passed midcourt right now. And if you're wondering, that 49 is the highest individual total in an entire GAME this season.

- This Gonzaga vs. Wash St game is two of my least favorite programs ever. Gonzaga, because every year they're a top 40 type team, who plays in a crappy conference so they never get exposed, and then gets "upset" in the tournament and the nation mourns the poor little team that could. And Wash State because I hate teams that play that slow down Princeton style crap and Derrick Low looks like girl.

- The announcer just said Low is one of the best guards you've never heard of. Seriously? If Wash St and little girl Low got any more press the last two years, they'd be called Duke.

- And now Mark Few has been called one of the best coaches in the HISTORY of college basketball. This is truly a lovefest by these two clowns. No wonder they're on ESPNU.

- Kenyon Martin is still in the NBA? (I'm flipping. AI has cooled, but we have OVER 221 in this game)

- Low kind of looks like a caveman too. He's like a female cave man. And not the hot kind with the big rack and fur bikini. More like the ugly kind with the stupid pony tail and jay leno jaw. And stupid.

- It's 11-8 WSU, and I'm starting to think it was really stupid to pick Gonzaga here. WSU's stupid Princeton crap has a place, and against a not-very-athletic team with a mediocre coach like Gonzaga, it's probably going to work. Dammit.

- I don't know how this happens, but Long Beach is beating Loy-Marymount by 20 right now. Loyola Marymount must be the worst team in history. They probably couldn't even beat Iowa.

- The NBA really sucks. Only in the NBA can two teams combine to score 176 points in three quarters, only need to score a total of 45 more to cover an over, and end up only getting 42. Dumb. I hate the NBA and I hate all of you.

- WSU leads 28-19 at half in what is a pretty boring game. I predict WSU kills a whole bunch of teams this year, loses to UCLA and USC twice each and once each to Arizona and Oregon, and then gets beat in the NCAA tournament in one of the first two rounds, as soon as they face an athletic ACC or SEC team.

- Gonzaga: 8-30 at half. I will say that yes, WSU plays some very tough defense, but that's embarrassing.

- WSU has a guy named Aron Baynes who is basically just Jeff Hagen if Hagen had better footwork, some actual offensive moves, a better touch on his shot, could make free throws, and was an above average defender.

- There are nine white guys on the floor right now. Well, eight white guys and a cavewoman.

- The worst "best player on his team" in the country has to be Gonzaga's Matt Bouldin. Zero points on 0-8 shooting. If you're a goto guy, you have to at least get to the line if things aren't falling.

- They just called Low the "Pride of Hawaii." I don't know, I'd have to go with El Sid. And we've got ourselves a bar burner here, WSU 45, Gonzaga 43 with 3:32 to go. Both teams kind of suck.

- WSU wins 51-47, and have clearly established themselves as the most boring team in the country. Since they're boring, and I'm sure reading this was boring, here's a video of a little girl getting hit in the face with a soccer ball.


Little Girl Vs Soccer Ball - Watch more free videos