ATB: Turkey Weekend Wrapup
Posted by rtmsf on December 2nd, 2008
And we’re back… We hope that our fair readers had a luckier Thanksgiving weekend than we did. Due to substantial computer issues, we were unable to keep the site updated over the weekend. But we managed to watch a fair number of the multitude of games this weekend, so rather than recapping what has effectively become stale news, we’ll instead offer our observations.
What We Learned.
Old Spice Classic.
- Maryland is equally as likely to pull a major upset as to lay a gigantic egg (beating Michigan St. by 18, then losing by 22 to Gonzaga and 27 to Georgetown).
- Michigan St. isn’t going anywhere without a healthy Delvon Roe/Goran Suton and learn to make its FTs (49-84, .583 for the tourney).
- A Gonzaga team that actually defends (with a healthy Josh Heytvelt) is a dangerous one. Oklahoma St., Maryland and Tennessee shot 36.7%/29% against the Zags.
- Georgetown is going to be dealt with. With tremendous balance between their inside/outside players, the Hoyas should only get better as the year (and Greg Monroe) progresses.
- Tennessee is far and away the best team in the SEC, and the Bobby Maze experiment at PG appears to be working (so far).
76 Classic.
- Wake Forest has unbelievable athleticism and size, but can they keep defenses honest from outside (10-31 from three)? Oh, and Jeff Teague is a stud (21/4/5 assts), even more than we thought.
- Arizona St. can really score. It’s surprising to see a Herb Sendek team average 83.3 ppg over three games, but when you have a James Harden (27/7/4 assts), why not? Harden dropped 87 pts by himself in the tourney.
- UTEP, led by Stefon Jackson, should be an NCAA Tournament team, but they probably won’t be. They beat St. Mary’s easily and gave Wake all it wanted, but then didn’t show up for Arizona St. (lost by 30).
- St. Mary’s doesn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but they still managed to leave SoCal with a 2-1 record. Patty Mills hasn’t been as impressive as his hype thus far (19/4 on 42% FG).
- Baylor has tremendous offensive firepower but is clearly going to struggle against teams with athletic size.
Preseason NIT.
- UAB should be better than it is. They blew an 8-pt lead to lose to BC in the NIT consolation, allowing Tyrese Rice to explode for 24 second-half points. They also had their uniforms stolen.
- Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin continues his ridiculousness (18/21), but he got some help from Willie Warren (22 pts) and brother Taylor (18/8). Will Jeff Capel burn through his top six players (all averaging 22+ mins)?
ACC/Big 10 Challenge. Wisconsin 74, Virginia Tech 72. The Big 10 got off to a likely shortlived lead when Wisconsin’s Trevon Hughes hit a leaner with 0.9 seconds left to give UW the victory. Va Tech’s AD Vassallo had 30/5 in the losing effort.
Is Hansbrough’s Shin Ok? UNC 116, UNC-Asheville 48. Forget about the score of this game, but we’re wondering if this Hansbrough situation is going to persist throughout the season. He’s missed two of the last four games as a precaution, but if he continues to play and put stress on it, will it ever completely heal? (we don’t know, we’re asking…)
Louisville Isn’t There Yet. W. Kentucky 68, Louisville 54. F4 calibre teams don’t shoot less than 30% in quasi-home games against mid-majors. Pitino teams have a history of these early-season eggs, but the key will be how Louisville’s guards (6-34, .176) respond to this beatdown.
Other Upsets Worth Mentioning.
- Seattle 61, Louisiana Tech 46. Yes, a D2 team thumped a WAC team.
- Charleston 82, South Carolina 80. Is an SEC team losing even an upset anymore?
- Tulsa 67, Texas A&M 56. Tulsa’s Ben Uzoh had 16/9/7 assts in the win.
- Northern Iowa 105, Auburn 93. Another mid-major defeating an SEC team.
- Dayton 89, Marquette 75. Dayton’s bench outscored MU 48-5 – the Flyers are now 6-0.
Other Scores of Mild Interest.
- Washington St. 63, Mississippi St. 52. Wazzu just keeps humming along.
- Dayton 60, Auburn 59 (OT). Ever see a team go 0-24 from three and still win? Dayton did.
- Rhode Island 77, Penn St. 72. Nice win for the A10 over a Big Ten team here.
- Syracuse 73, Virginia 70. Nearly a huge letdown for Cuse here after their wins in KC last week.
- Pittsburgh 80, Texas Tech 67. Dejuan Blair was back with 15/11.
- California 73, UNLV 55. At 5-0, is Monty ahead of schedule?
- Florida St. 58, Cincinnati 47. Is FSU for real or is this another early season mirage?
- Kentucky 74, Kansas St. 72. UK shot an unreal 69% and committed a similarly unreal 31 turnovers.
- Ohio St. 59, Samford 22. Halftime score was 30-6. Yep. Six points in a half.
- Xavier 60, Miami (OH) 53. XU continues to just win, baby.
- Pittsburgh 57, Washington St. 43. Wow, glad we didn’t see this exciting contest.
- Cincinnati 67, UNLV 65. Rough weekend for the Rebels.
- Portland 63, Nevada 61. Portland is starting to look like a team to watch this year in the WCC.
- Florida St. 80, California 77. See above.
- Notre Dame 93, Furman 61. Kyle McAlarney dropped another 9 threes in this one.
- Texas 77, Rice 56. Really nothing to say here.
- Oregon St. 62, Fresno St. 54. OSU gets a win! OSU gets a win!
- Kansas 87, Kent St. 60. Cole Aldrich with 10/13 in the home victory.
- Connecticut 79, Delaware St. 49. Hasheem Thabeet had 10/17 in the easy win.
On Tap Tuesday (all times EST):
- Florida v. Florida A&M (ESPN FC & 360) – 7pm
- Boston College (-8) v. Iowa (ESPNU) – 7pm
- Miami (FL) (-7.5) v. Ohio St. (ESPN & 360) – 7pm
- Illinois (-2) v. Clemson (ESPN2 & 360) – 7:30pm
- LSU (-14) v. Cal St Fullerton (ESPN FC & 360) – 8pm
- Villanova (-13.5) @ Pennsylvania – 8pm
- Marquette (-23.5) v. C. Michigan (ESPN FC & 360) – 8pm
- W. Kentucky (-4.5) v. Georgia (ESPNU) – 9pm
- Purdue (-2) v. Duke (ESPN & 360) – 9pm
- Minnesota (-7) v. Virginia (ESPN2 & 360) – 9:30pm
