Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC conferences, and was in attendance at the Monmouth at St. Peter’s game during ESPN’s 24 Hour Marathon.
To steal from a favorite Elton John song, “It’s four o’clock in the morning, damn it…”
Actually the mood when the alarm sounds is not anger but eager anticipation. Monmouth-St. Peter’s, 6 AM at the Yanitelli Center. The day, or morning, is here.
4:50 – College ChalkTalk colleague George Rodecker arrives and we make the eight mile trip from my Lyndhurst home to Jersey City.
5:10 – Easy parking and walking from the car. The St. Peter’s campus is quiet. As we near Yanitelli Center the sound builds.
On entering the center for our press credential, we find St. Peter’s students coming from a night of all-night games and organized activities in the “Yanitelli bubble” to the court to get their seats. The students — with faces painted, some carrying signs — are energized and ready.
Welcome back to RTC Live, and tonight is arguably the best night of the new season thus far. Tuesday was pretty good with Michigan State – Gonzaga and Kansas – Memphis, but tonight we’ll be privileged to bring you four top 25 teams, all of whom have serious Final Four aspirations this season. Plus, it’s the Garden! The self-proclaimed “Mecca of College Basketball,” site of countless amazing games over the years. In the first tilt, California will travel the 3000 miles to face Syracuse in an interesting contrast of strengths and weaknesses for each team. If Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher dial in from long range, it could be a long night for the Orange; alternatively, if the Cuse defense is harassing them into rushed shots, then Cal could quickly get exposed as a one-dimensional team again. In the nightcap, we’ll have Evan Turner’s multi-dimensional skill set taking on North Carolina, a team that hasn’t looked great so far this season, but we know has talent at every position across the lineup. How will OSU counter all of the Heels’ size and what does Roy Williams plan on doing to slow Turner (19/17/7 assts) down? It should be a great night in New York City and we hope to see you around over the course of the evening.
Sometimes the NCAA’s policies, procedures and processes are so difficult, convoluted and nonsensical that it’s difficult to even begin to explain why they don’t make much sense. It took a little while, but we think we have a grasp on the latest chapter in NCAA idiocy covered. It all comes down to transparency (or the NCAA’s lack thereof). Quite possibly the biggest complaint that fans of schools investigated (or not investigated) by the NCAA is that the whole process — from how schools are targeted and chosen for investigation, reviewed, and ultimately adjudicated, is shrouded in a veil of secrecy. Sometimes college sports fans must feel like the NCAA is actually a poorly-functioning arm of the NSA given the way they operate. Some of the more notorious examples of what we’re talking about from the last few years are no surprise to anyone. For example:
How does Corey Maggette not get Duke into hot water after the fact, but Derrick Rose does for Memphis?
John Wall and Ryan Kelly, anyone?
Eddie Sutton took down Kentucky over payoffs but Kelvin Sampson is banned for five years over phone calls?
Why are some legal doctrines (strict liability) selectively used in some situations but not in others?
Can anyone, anyone at all, explain Reggie Bush/USC?
There are many others, but those are a few off the top of the dome. Why do things seem so inconsistent? How does the NCAA decide to investigate, and when they do so, what are the criteria they use to make their findings? Do they use generally agreed upon principles of auditing, quasi-legal doctrine, administrative law, or something else they make up as they go along? How are penalties assessed and what are the mitigating factors that they consider in making those decisions? Is every single case a uniquely-judged “case-by-case” situation, making it all but impossible to draw generalizations about how the NCAA rules enforcement folks will act in a given situation? Or is that ultimately the point — to make it so confusing and inconsistent that any school can get in serious trouble for nearly anything (or the perception that you can)? Now that we think about it, we already go through this seemingly every year in terms of what the NCAA Selection Committee wants to see on NCAA Tournament bubble teams’ resumes — it shouldn’t surprise us that things out of this shop often seem wildly arbitrary and inconsistent.
So here’s the point of this post. Memphis announced today that it had learned what the NCAA’s response to its appeal in the Derrick Rose SAT scandal was, but according to some bylaw borrowed straight from the Soviet playbook, the school is not allowed to make the response public nor can it/will it (?) discuss these findings. Memphis is undoubtedly doing some grandstanding here, but it doesn’t change the absurdity of the NCAA’s rule keeping their logic and reasoning secret. So we now sit in Act III of theater of the absurd while we wait for someone at Memphis to leak the information contained within the document (which can only be viewed on a secret, read-only website administered by the NCAA — sadly, this is not a joke), or for an enterprising news organization to force the NCAA to release the document under open records laws in Tennessee (as recently occurred in a Florida State cheating scandal).
Does the NCAA not understand that operating in this manner in no way engenders public trust and faith in the fairness and equitable nature of the system? Do they not see that, regardless of the strength of their argument on the merits, John Q. Fan reads this and can only conclude that the NCAA is hiding the ball so as to get its way in the end? Are they too dense to realize that a simple and consistent application of rules and policies are the first step toward removing much of the thinly-veiled cynicism that those still following big-time college sports have for it?
RTC Applauds RC Johnson's Audacity
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic. Kudos go to Memphis Athletic Director RC Johnson for telling the world that the NCAA has responded to his appeal, but sorry, we’re not allowed to tell you what they said or the logic they use for agreeing/disagreeing with it. That’s incredibly rich, and it gets exactly the right message across. Memphis is going to pay for this anyway — the NCAA has already cornered itself on the strict liability argument — but at least they’ll go down lobbing shots across the bow at the absurdity of it all.
The holidays are approaching and lucky for us, Karen Sypher truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Ms. Sypher was charged today by a Louisville grand jury with the federal crime of retaliation against a witness for accusing Rick Pitino of raping her. In plain english, this means that the grand jury found no reason to believe her claim that Pitino raped her (same as the police). Yep, just tack that one onto all the others — extortion, perjury, etc. — if she keeps it up, she might just end up doing some serious time over all this nonsense.
The SI guys (Seth Davis, Grant Wahl and Luke Winn) give us their preseason selections for various categories in bite-sized form, but isn’t it a week late for this, fellas? (ed. note – ok, got it — it was for the magazine)
This is a nice piece by Alexander Wolff on the precocious career of Josh Pastner at Memphis. Gary Parrish also has something to say about this year’s scrappy Memphis team. We’re a little late to Pastner’s bandwagon, but after what we saw last night in terms of strategy, energy and fight, this guy is going to be around for a very long time.
This was an interesting study done by professors at Indiana (where else?) that looks at the incidence of fouls called on college basketball teams over the course of a season. The findings were compelling, but commonsensical: a) aggressive teams are rewarded by physical play by officials’ (unconscious?) tendencies to “keep it even” in terms of foul calls over the course of a game; b) home court advantage is a clear predictor of foul differential (+7%); and c) the greater the foul differential, the more likely it is that the next foul will be called on the team with fewer fouls. We haven’t vetted the data or methodology but most everything sounds reasonable at first blush. The smart coaches have known this for years, and even the not-so-bright ones know that teams that clutch, hold and grab on every possession can’t get called for everything. The only possibly confounding factor not accounted for would be if the teams that are behind in the game get more aggressive through the course of play, which explains why there’s a greater likelihood of the team with fewer fouls getting whistled more often in this situations. Interesting study.
Former FIU star and RTC Impact PlayerFreddy Asprilla has committed to Kansas State as a juco — another great get for Frank Martin, who is putting together a nice program there in the Little Apple.
A quiet day following the storm of the 24-hour marathon and on the eve of two tremendous CvC semifinal matchups tomorrow night in New York City…
Story of the Day. Butler Passes Its First Non-Conference Test. #10 Butler 67, Northwestern 54. It was a balanced effort last night for the Bulldogs who shook off a sluggish opener against Davidson to down the shorthanded Wildcats. Northwestern could have used leading scorer and rebounder Kevin Coble along with senior forward Jeff Ryan (both out with season-ending injuries) against a deeper Butler squad that saw five players notch nine points or better. The effort was led by sophomore point guard Shelvin Mack’s 15 points and eight assists while Gordon Hayward chipped in with 14 of his own. Butler was able to win despite shooting a lackluster 8-16 from the charity stripe, a statistic I’m sure coach Brad Stevens won’t ignore. Butler now has a road date with Evansville before departing for Anaheim next week. For mor e details from this one, our RTC Live post is on it.
Longhorn Domination (or Was It?). #3 Texas 73, Western Carolina 41. Dominating win for the Longhorns against weak competition, but 21 turnovers and 18-31 from the free throw line have to be concerning numbers for Rick Barnes. A balanced scoring effort last night with some highlights including Damion James ’18/7/2 on 4-9 FG, 2-3 3pt and 8-10 FT, Gary Johnson with 10 points on 4-4 FG and potential starting point guard J’Covan Brown with 10 points on 3-3 FG. Remember: the Longhorns still don’t have Jai Lucas eligible. This is still the second-best team in the nation in my humble estimation.
RTC Live makes its first trip to the pit (and we mean that in a good way) known as the Huntsman Center on the campus of the University of Utah tonight. The Utes are coming off a surprising home opener loss to Idaho last week, but Huntsman isn’t a place where many teams leave with a win. In-state rival Utah State has won 101 games in the last four seasons, and the battles between the two schools have been epic over that period. Three of the last four games came down to the last possession, and there’s no reason to believe this year’s tilt shall be any different. Jared Quayle and Tai Wesley represent the core that returns from a 30-win NCAA team for USU, while Utah returns three starters from an NCAA team but will rely heavily on a couple of talented freshmen as well this year. It should be a tremendous battle in the Beehive state tonight; we hope you’ll join us.
Welcome back to RTC Live as we continue our coast-to-coast coverage of key games of national interest. Tonight we’re coming to you from the campus of Northwestern University, along the shore of Lake Michigan, as the Wildcats take on #10 Butler in an interesting game between the Big Ten and the Horizon League. As I’m sure you’re well aware, Northwestern has been hit with a string of bad news lately, losing star forward Kevin Coble to a foot injury for the season and reserve Jeff Ryan to an ACL tear. Butler returns at full strength with stars Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, but as we saw on Saturday afternoon, they struggled for a good portion of the game before finally putting away Davidson in a battle of mid-majors. Both teams will need to have this win on their resumes for March – Butler to have a quality road win over a Big Ten foe and Northwestern to have a win over a ranked team. Our correspondent John Templon will be onsite tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena, and we invite you to join him tonight with your questions and comments.
Minnesota freshman Royce White might be looking to plead out of his legal problems arising out of an incident with a security guard at the Mall of America. What this means for his future with Tubby Smith’s team? Status unclear.
These comments were never going to end well for Mississippi State junior forward Kodi Augustus. The repentant player will miss Thursday’s game against SE Louisiana and Saturday’s game against Bethune-Cookman. Surely MSU will be ok.
Purdue’s incumbent point guard, Lewis Jackson, who was already suspended for a variety of reasons, injured his foot last week and had surgery to repair the problem today. He’s officially listed as out indefinitely but Boiled Sports believes it will be for a month or more.
Your Big West Championship is moving across Anaheim from the Convention Center to the Honda Center. Get your tickets now.
Isiah Thomas got his first collegiate win at FIU last night. Yes, it was against NAIA school Florida Memorial, and yes it was only by six points (88-82), but a win is a win, and as Isiah said afterwards, “you start wondering if you’re ever going to win a game. I told the guys at halftime, ‘I don’t care how we win. I just want to win the game, go home, rub my dog, wake up in the morning and see the sun.” Mmm-hmmmmmm.
An After the Buzzer recap for your liking as you catch up on some much-needed sleep…
What We Learned. It’s very simple. Often we get all jazzed over those little numbers we put in front of each team’s name, but the line between top-ranked teams like Kansas/Michigan State and Memphis/Gonzaga is finer than any of us would like to admit. Teams are good; teams have players; and teams can perform. There’s no dominant team in college basketball, and we shouldn’t be surprised if we see a steady rotation of #1s throughout the year, just like last season.
Game of the Marathon.#2 Michigan State 75, Gonzaga 71. You rarely see such intensity, tenaciousness and pure effort this early in the season, but the battle between Michigan State and Gonzaga surely provided all three and more. Tom Izzo has to be pleased after his team showed toughness and poise coming back from double digits in the second half against a Gonzaga squad that should be ranked in the Top 25 next Monday. Durrell Summers and Kalin Lucas were the stars – Summers going for 21/11 on 8-9 shooting (plenty of foot-on-the-line long shots) and hitting the biggest three of the game to give the Spartans the lead with just over three minutes to play, and Lucas displaying his usual leadership throughout the second half, finishing with 19 points and five assists in a solid all-around effort. Raymar Morgan sunk 10-11 from the stripe and appeared to come back at 100% later in the game after rolling his right ankle and writhing in pain on the floor. Concern for Tom Izzo: the success in the paint for Gonzaga forwards Robert Sacre and Elias Harris. Lack of post production both offensively and defensively (Delvon Roe was a no-show last night) could be their downfall. Even in defeat, Mark Few has to be thrilled. Sacre (17 pts, 7-12 FG) looks incredibly improved, Elias Harris (17/9 on 6-16 FG) is a future star with a great inside/outside game and they nearly knocked off the #2 team in the nation on the road in November with plenty of overhaul on the roster and their starting point guard, Demetri Goodson, laying an egg. This was a thrilling game to watch from start to finish.
#1 Kansas 57, Memphis 55. ESPN got a perfect prime-time matchup to crescendo its 24 hours of hoops coverage tonight. Although Kansas never trailed after Memphis led 7-6 in the early moments of the game, the Jayhawks could never quite put the Tigers away either. After literally scratching and clawing and biting its way back to within one possession in the waning minutes, Memphis caught a break when the usually-reliable Sherron Collins (80% last year) missed one of two at the line to leave the door open with a 2-pt KU lead. Josh Pastner told his team to go for the win, and the Duke transfer/soon-to-be star of Memphis Elliot Williams (21/6) took a contested three on the wing that looked pretty good in the air but ultimately missed, meaning that there would be no Elliot Miracle as a slight payback for Kansas’ heartbreaker in 2008. In the media interviews afterwards, Bill Self was clearly not happy with his team’s performance, especially on the offensive end, where it seemed the only play they ran was to try to throw the ball into Cole Aldrich (18/11/5 blks) and let him go to work. Twenty-one turnovers, many of the careless variety, seemed to really chafe Self’s craw. Josh Pastner, on the other hand, seemed happy with his team’s performance, and why not? Memphis took the nation’s #1 team to the wire on a night where they didn’t shoot the ball well (35% FG, 24% 3FG) and in the process, probably gave his team more confidence than a string of wins over UALR and the like ever would. Our final thought on this game is that Elliot Williams is a lot better than anyone seems to have known – he didn’t shoot lights-out tonight (6-18 FG, 3-11 3FG), but he seemed comfortable with the role of becoming the Tiger go-to guy, and several of his shots and finishes were nothing short of spectacular.
#22 Louisville 96, Arkansas 66. This game was a game of runs; it’s just that Louisville seemed to be the team that had all of them. That’s not completely true, of course, but depending on who you ask, this was an expected result. Rick Pitino said that Arkansas’ suspensions have left them shorthanded (true), and that they wore down in the second half because they simply didn’t have enough bodies (questionable). John Pelphrey said that his team simply didn’t compete at a high enough level that you must do so to beat a team like Louisville (possibly). Here’s what we saw. We saw an Arkansas team that competed in the first half. The Cards got hot from three in the last several minutes of the half to run out to a 48-31 lead, but Arkansas then countered after the half with significant energy and movement to go on a 13-0 run of their own to cut the lead down to six. Then Louisville got hot again (especially Reginald Delk, who had 20/5), drained a bunch more threes (15 for the game) and Arkansas began to noticeably lose its motivation. By the last five minutes of the game, we actually wondered where all this “compete” stuff that we kept hearing about was coming from. Because we weren’t seeing it. The Cards placed six players in double figures, and Peyton Siva looked like a keeper with some of his defensive intensity and drives to the hole. Arkansas was led by Rotnei Clarke, who cooled off from 51 to only 16 this time around.
Bruce Pearl’s 100th win at UT unforgettable. #11 Tennessee 124, UNC-Asheville 49. Where do I start recapping this otherworldly performance for the Volunteers against a Division-I opponent? Tennessee set a school record for points (124), held Asheville to two field goals in the first half (2-26 FG, 7.7%) and 16:50 without a field goal, scored 49 points off 29 Asheville turnovers, started the game on a 20-0 run and finished with a 66-14 one and led at one point, 119-39. I’m not a math major, but I believe that’s an 80-point Tennessee lead! The Vols shot 60% as a team with sophomore Scotty Hopson notching his most impressive game in orange with 25/4/5 on 8-11 FG and 6-7 3pt. Someone hose down Rocky Top.
We are currently in the midst of ESPN’s second annual college hoops tip-off marathon, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the college hoops world comes to a halt. Tonight at 7 pm, the Maryland Terrapins will host the Fairfield Stags, and we will be there to provide you with any and all minutiae that happens to get lost in your ESPN Gamecast. The Stags are 2-0 on the season, but this is a team that is far from 100%. Greg Nero, their best returning player, has yet to suit up after undergoing sinus surgery during the off-season, while junior forward Warren Edney, a starter that averaged 9.1 ppg last season, is still suffering from an ankle injury. But that doesn’t mean the Stags are coming in empty handed. Senior forward Anthony Johnson, a 6’8, 235 lb forward, is finally healthy after battling blood clots in his lungs. He’s averaged 15.5 ppg and 10.0 rpg thus far. Shimeek Johnson (11.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg) and Ryan Olander (8.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg) provide size inside. But the star thus far has been 5’11 freshman Derek Needham, as he comes into this game with averages of 16.5 ppg, 5.0 apg, and 3.0 spg. Maryland, on the other hand, has a chance to be really good this season. For starters, they bring back arguably the most entertaining player in college basketball in Greivis Vasquez. Not only does Vasquez fill the stat sheet, but he is liable to do just about anything on a basketball court, including curse out his own fans. Maryland has a solid group of perimeter guys, including Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne, and Adrian Bowie, but the key to their season will be how freshmen Jordan Williams and James Padgett handle D1 basketball. Join us tonight for another exciting RTC Live, this time from College Park.
