ATB: Shipping Out
Posted by rtmsf on January 4th, 2008
01.03.08
Game We Didn’t Watch (but wish we could have). #5 UCLA 76, Stanford 67. Actually, we very much would have liked watching this game, but NHL hockey got in the way on our local FSN channel. Worthless. Anyway, tonight UCLA very quickly got a significant leg up on the Pac-10 race by winning in Palo Alto – we suspect not many other teams will leave the Bay area with a win there this year, now that the Lopez twins (21/20 – wondertwin power… shape of… Dwight Howard?) are fully activated. Tonight Stanford matched UCLA’s size inside, outrebounding the Bruins 32-28, but Howland’s team responded with superb shooting from beyond the arc (9-16), led by Josh Shipp’s 21 pts (5-8 3FGs).
More Conference Play.
- #10 Marquette 96, Providence 67. Wow, the Friars clearly didn’t make the trip to Milwaukee.
- Depaul 84, #18 Villanova 76. How do you figure the team with the worst nonconf record would beat 11-1 Nova?
- #24 Arizona 76, Oregon St. 63. Nic Wise played well again (17/6 assts) in place of injured Jerryd Bayless.
- Notre Dame 69, West Virginia 56. Jeez, the Big East is going to be wild this year, isn’t it?
- Connecticut 98, Seton Hall 86. Solid road win for the Huskies, but are they legit (10-2 v. the #291 ranked schedule so far)?
- Ohio St. 74, Illinois 58. The Assembly Hall mystique is over (3 home losses already this year).
- Arizona St. 62, Oregon 54. Why is Oregon so bad away from Eugene (2-4 this year).
- California 92, USC 82. Mayo blew up for 34, but Cal’s balanced attack prevailed.
Other Ranked Teams.
- #1 Memphis 102, Siena 58. Memphis had three players with dub-dubs tonight (Dorsey, Dozier, Robinson).
- #16 Vanderbilt 76, Rice 58. Why isn’t Vandy getting more respect from the blogpollers?
Oh, Virginia!
- Xavier 108, Virginia 70. The Muskies appear to be rounding out nicely.
- Richmond 52, Virginia Tech 49. A10 > ACC (on this night).
Eyewitness report from Palo Alto:
Lopez twins were not that good. They missed way too many lay-ups and were basically complete non-factors in the first half. It’s hard to say this was a particularly terrible game for Stanford, though, because they kept it close for a while and couldn’t make lay-ups that they usually make. I agree that they’ll be very tough to beat at home. Need a win Saturday to make this a positive weekend, though.
As for UCLA, jesus they’re something else. I’m not even sure they played that well, but Westbrook and Shipp were just phenomenal. Westbrook in particular impressed me a ton; he’s just made amazing strides. Really like that guy. I’m not sure Collison is close to being back, although he is playing without a brace now.
In other Pac-10 news: Really wish that Cal win existed on television, because I’m starting to get really high on them and would love to see them. And Oregon seems to miss Brooks as much as I thought they would.
Great to have you back, Randy. Hope everything is as good as it can be.
“Why isn’t Vandy getting more respect from the blogpollers?”
Because they have not played anybody. According to Pomeroy, they had the 183rd most difficult non-conference schedule.
Agreed on the Lopez twins not being very impressive (although I only saw the second half on TV), and the lay-ups were ugly. UCLA @ Cal on Saturday should be very good.
VW: how did you get to see it on tv? I’m about 40 miles from Palo Alto and couldn’t find it locally.
re: Vandy, yeah their schedule is mediocre thus far, but how about Wazzu’s – #289 according to Pomeroy, and they seem to be getting respect from the pollsters (#4 overall).
Ty: been meaning to laud you for your work over at FD, but just haven’t been on top of things lately. I enjoyed the last posting that deteriorated into a dialogue on your Jewishness. Maybe I’ll contact you if I can get to a game down there on the Farm this year. Appreciate the report.