Rush The Court

11.08.07

How’s that for a debut? We mentioned last night that we were anxious to see how the debut of Oklahoma 6’10 freshman Blake Griffin would go, and it’s safe to say that it went fetchingly. How does 18 pts (4 flushes), 13 rebs, 2 assts in 29 mins of play sound? Oh, and Oklahoma 71, San Francisco 55. Needless to say (OU was involved, after all), neither team shot the ball worth a damn from outside (6-37 combined). We weren’t really sure what to think of Jeff Capel’s Sooners this year because they just seemed so… average… last year, but with a serious post presence like Griffin now on board, we may need to rethink where we place them in the Big 12 this year.

Connecticut 82, Buffalo 57. UConn had a much easier time tonight even though this was a second round game in the CvC. Buffalo really isn’t a good team, and UConn made that apparent mid-first half when they ran off a 17-0 run to take control of the game. AJ Price finally came out of his shell to hit for 24/3/3 assts/3 stls, while teammate Stanley Robinson had a monstrous game (10/13/6 blks). Most importantly, the Husky defense was equally as good as last night, holding Buffalo to 33% shooting for the night. UConn will meet upstart Gardner-Webb at MSG next Thursday night in the semis of the CvC.

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On Tap Tonight (all times EST). For all intents, tonight is opening night. There are 93 games on the slate, including four ESPN Full Court games and two Fox College Sports games, which means we’ll finally get to evaluate some teams live. Here are some of the games to watch for.

• Saint Louis (NL) v. NC A&T 4:30pm – this should be a competitive first game for Majerus.
  
• Georgia Tech (-17 ) v. UNC-Greensboro 6pm – upset alert if Ga Tech doesn’t come ready to play.
  
• Villanova (NL) v. Stony Brook (FCSP) 7pm – how many times will Scottie Reynolds shoot – we have the o/u at 18.
• George Mason (NL) v. Vermont 7pm – how is this excellent mid-major duel not on Full Court?
• Ohio (-3 ) v. New Mexico St. (ESPN FC) 7pm – the first of Ohio’s nine FC appearances.
  
• Tennessee (-17.5) v. Temple (ESPN FC) 7:30pm – we’re excited to see how Tyler Smith fits into Pearl’s system.
• Alabama (NL ) v. Troy (ESPN FC) 8pm – w/o Steele, we just can’t get excited about Bama.
• Florida (NL) v. North Dakota St. (ESPN FC) 8pm – NDSU is no patsy – we’ll be watching to see the nation’s #1 recruiting class.
• Cincinnati (-8 ) v. Belmont 8pm – upset alert again – UC was horrid last year. Have they improved?
• Kansas (-26.5) v. Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN FC) 9pm – Will the KU of Oral Roberts fame or last Feb/March show up?
• Washington St. (-25.5 ) v. Eastern Washington (FCSP) 9:30pm – a late tilt to see if Tony Bennett still has his magic.
  
• UCLA (-23.5 ) v. Portland St. 10:30pm – how will the Bruins start the season?