11.12.07
Story of the Night. For the life of me I cannot remember, what made us think that we were wise and we’d never compromise, for the life of me I cannot believe, we’d ever die for these sins, we were merely freshmen… (h/t Verve Pipe ca. 1997) Ok, we’re already sick of talking about this year’s freshman class, but GOOD GOD are these youngsters talented or what? The idea that college hoops was somehow “better off” when kids were going preps-to-pros looks a little ridiculous now, doesn’t it? We’re not necessarily fans of one-and-done either, but we have a sneaky feeling that during the next CBA between the NBA Players Assn. and the owners, the rule will change to two years post-HS as to when a player can declare for the draft. We can’t wait to get these guys in college for more than a year.
Things We Saw. So given the SOTN, we’ll start with a game we didn’t actually see, #11 Indiana v. Chattanooga (see below vid). Out of all the frosh, the player we’ve been most excited to see has been E-Giddy – no disrespect to Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley or anyone else, but Eric Gordon has been the guy who seems most likely to make our jaws drop. We still haven’t actually seen him, of course, but look at this debut line – 33/6/4 on 9-15 shooting (7-11 from three). Plus, some of those threes on the highlights were about 6 feet behind the line – kid has mad range. What’s more is that Kelvin Sanctions’ team needed it, because the Hoosiers were down 4 at the half to a game Chattanooga team. DJ White added 17/4/2 blks in the winning effort, and yeah, IU showed some areas for improvement (rebounding), but make no mistake about it, this is probably the best inside/outside tandem in the country and a huge reason why we have Indiana going to the F4 next April (Indiana 99, Chattanooga 79). Moving to games we actually viewed, #14 Duke was impressive tonight – better than we’ve given them credit for. The thing about the Devils (esp. at home) is that they’re absolutely going to terrorize people defensively with their m2m defense and their traps. Traps lead to turnovers, turnovers lead to dunks and threes, dunks and threes lead to an avalanche of points and a rocking CIS, and before New Mexico St. anyone knows it, you’re already down twenty and your players are completely befuddled and rattled. That’s how Duke plays, and therefore, the only way to beat the Devils at home is to treasure possession of the ball and avoid those demoralizing runs. NMSU had 26 turnovers and allowed Duke to hit 13 threes tonight – how do you think that’s going to end for them? We do still wonder about Duke’s lack of interior size, though (Duke 86, New Mexico St. 61). Tonight’s #11 Oregon-W. Michigan game exhibits why we’re so high on the Ducks this year. Four of their five starters (Taylor, Porter, Hairston and Leunen) can lead the scoring column on any given night. Tonight it was Hairston’s turn, as he went for 29 on 9-11 shooting (3-3 from three). Not many teams have that kind of skilled and experienced offensive balance that they can throw at you every night. Now… defense might be their achilles heel. The Ducks did give up 58 pts in the second half tonight, and it’s hard for us to believe a team that gives up that many pts to anyone is a legitimate contender, but maybe Ernie Kent can shore that up as the season progresses (Oregon 97, Western Michigan 88).
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Other games we caught briefly. LSU once again brings out some lineup of five jumping jacks ranging in height from 6’4 to 6’10, and not one of them has the first clue how to play basketball (thanks John Brady!). Another rook who is getting no hype but is in the Stromile Swift/Tyrus Thomas mold is Anthony Randolph. He very nearly put up a trip-dub in his first game as a Tiger (19/13/6 blks) (LSU 72, SE Louisiana 62). We tried to watch some of #13 Texas’ debut w/o Kevin Durant, but the pace put us to sleep. We heard that DJ Augustin led the way with 19/2/4 assts (Texas 58, UT-San Antonio 37). We also watched a little bit of Ohio St.’s first game since the Findlay disaster, and it appeared that the Buckeyes were getting Matta’s message. Even though four players scored in double figures led by David Lighty (17/8/4), we really wonder if OSU has any depth to speak of this year (Ohio St. 91, Wisc-GB 68). #2 UCLA was the nightcap, and even though Kevin Love had good numbers (21/9), there was one second-half series of shot/block/putback/block/putback where K-Love just didn’t look very explosive around the rim. Thick, yes. Strong, yes. Skilled, yes. But explosive? We were hoping he’d power through and dunk on someone like that when he held position to the rim. Didn’t happen (UCLA 83, Youngstown St. 52).
Interesting Scores. Boston College 68, Florida Atlantic 62. BC might be in for a really rough year. Syracuse 97, Siena 89. What is UP with those horrid Cuse unis (see below vid)? Oh, and rook Jonny Flynn (28/5/9 assts) looks like he’ll be a fun one for Boeheim. Maryland 70, Hampton 64. This one didn’t surprise us that it was close – we’re not sure what to expect from the Terps this year, but we know that Hampton is a good team.
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Upset Alert. Another D2 team over a D1 team, albeit a low major (Cal St. San Bernardino 71, Weber St. 59).
On Tap Today (all times EST). 53 games, but not very many interesting ones. The best ones are either not televised (Toledo-Vandy) or on the freakin’ U (TAMU-ORU).
- Michigan St. (NL) v. Chicago St. (ESPNU) 7pm – ho-hum.
- Toledo v. Vanderbilt (-5) 7pm – this is a really interesting game for both teams’ at-large profiles.
- Syracuse (NL) v. St. Joseph’s (ESPN) 7pm – upset alert – Cuse goes down at home.
- Mercer (NL) v. Alabama 7:30pm – Mercer has a chance for another big win at home this time.
- Miami (OH) (NL) v. Xavier 8pm – should be a good southern Ohio battle.
- Gonzaga (-28) v. Idaho (FCSP) 8pm – we want to see if Daye can keep it up.
- Ohio St. (NL) v. Columbia (ESPN) 9pm – an Ivy school not named Penn or Princeton on ESPN?
- Texas A&M (-15.5) v. Oral Roberts (ESPNU) 9pm – upset alert – TAMU could lose this game.
- UC Irvine (NL) v. Nevada 10:30pm – Nevada needs to regroup and win this game.
- UCLA (NL) v. Cal St. San Bernardino (ESPN2) 10:30pm – there won’t be many other D2 teams on ESPN2 this year.
View Comments (10)
That Love sequence really stood out to me, too. I still think he'll be insanely productive as long as he stays in college, but I really don't see much of a high-end NBA future for him. Very anxious to see what he can do against a legit post defender.
That Gordon stepback three was just filthy.
Is it wrong that I'm actually expecting to like watching Duke this year? I guess I shouldn't speak before I see Paulus in action, though.
Syracuse / St. Joseph's is the game of the night for me...
You were so self-righteous that you actually considered the idea that the NCAA game was better without pros? What fantasy camp have you been living in for the past decade? Obviously you aren't old enough to remember pre-Garnett days.
And you don't like the one-and-dones? Absolutely disgraceful. Why can't you just like players for the players they are? Do you not realize that without the pro's, college hoops would be a localized sideshow, similar to softball?
And god forbid we actually have a game that is fun to watch every once in a while...
Boooo:
Actually, no. We didn't think that, but if you look through college hoops msg boards over the last ten yrs, you'll find plenty of folks who did. And we bet there are some who still do.
We're not fans of one-and-done b/c we're selfish and want to see these players in college unis for more than one year. Plus, it's more than a little bit hypocritical for the universities that 'employ' these players for what amts to about 6-8 months. At least w/ a 2 yrs minimum you require them to stay eligible for more than a semester.
But your argument about the localized sideshow is weak anyway. College football was incredibly popular mid-century before the NFL was a blip on anyone's radar screen. March Madness is still more to this very day more popular than the NBA. The pro and college games are completely different animals, and one can be a huge fan of one sports and not the other.
Ty - Duke could be fun to watch this year, no doubt. The broadcasters were saying that K was instituting some of the Phoenix Sun principles that he picked up while coaching Team USA with Mike D'antoni. The only real problem is that Paulus will be running it. Nevertheless, it makes for exciting basketball, and when you have nothing inside, it gives them a great chance to win. Can't imagine it hurts recruiting either.
They aren't completely different animals.
They are joined at the hip.
There would be no good players if not for the fact that the NBA basically requires them to go to college. Even the ones not good enough to go to the NBA would play where NBA players are developed, in an effort to play for pay. This isn't 1950. There's hardly a player in the country who doesn't want to be a pro someday, and the players that make basketball entertaining and relevant on a national level absolutely WILL go to place that allows them to achieve that goal. And that is why you can sit here on your high horse and deride the NBA in every other post you make.
And I find it the absolute definition of hypocrisy to "employ" these kids, rake in millions through TV deals, merchandise sales, and general publicity for your school, and not give a dime to the players, at least not on the up and up. It is ridiculous.
rtmsf,
Your message to Boooo applies to me. I love college hoops with a passion, and I hate the NBA with every fiber of my being...
Brett
Boooo:
Where do we "deride the NBA in every other post?" We like the NBA - see our NBA playoffs preview from last April and our work on the NBA Draft by school/conference/etc. We just happen to like the college game better for a thousand different reasons.
Someone like Brett doesn't like the NBA but he loves college hoops - we're merely pointing out that there are a LOT of those people out there.
As for your "there would be no good players in college" but for the NBA, 4 time world champion and 2 time MVP Tim Duncan says hi.
Yeah, maybe since Tim Duncan stayed all 4 years when he didn't have to, he would have decided to play college hoops against poor competition rather than play in a real basketball league that allows you to develop into a pro. But then Duncan wouldn't be Duncan. Sorry.
The fact that you are even attempting to argue this indisputable fact only proves how biased you are.
Maybe if we knew what the "indisputable fact" actually is, we would respond to it.
You started this by making some absurd comparison of college hoops to softball by linking the necessity of it to the pros. Surely you realize that there are hundreds of thousands of college hoops fans who do not care one bit for the NBA, and this "dependence" you speak of has no more validity than if you said college football (a long and historic enterprise) depends completely on the NFL. If you don't believe us, visit your local msg board and take a poll. Fwiw, and we said this above, we're NOT one of those people, but they DO exist.
You seem to be missing the fact that the one-and-done arrangement is a mutually beneficial deal for both college and the NBA. It allows casual fans to learn who Kevin Durant and Greg Oden are through March Madness, which they can then follow through the pros. Conversely, guys like KG and T-Mac weren't known by casual fans for years in the NBA b/c they played on bad teams and they were never in college.
Our point is that it will be even better if/when the NBA institutes the two-year rule, which is what we believe David Stern wants. That way he gets a well-known relatively seasoned product entering his league, and the colleges get the continuity of knowing their stud recruits will be on campus for two years.