Boom Goes the Dynamite: 12.12.09

Posted by nvr1983 on December 12th, 2009

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We are back with our first Boom Goes The Dynamite of the season (not counting our coverage of ESPN’s 24 Hours of Hoops Marathon). For those of you who are not familiar with this feature, we will be covering all of the important college basketball being played today in a live blog. So for those of you who love college basketball, we invite you to spend part (or all) of the day with us. If you’re still getting back into college basketball after spending the fall following a sport that does not let an undefeated team play for a title, here is a quick rundown of the major games that we will be following throughout the day:

  • Noon: #4 Kentucky at Indiana on CBS
  • Noon: #15 Ohio State at #20 Butler on ESPN and RTC Live
  • 2 PM: #13 Georgetown vs. #16 Washington on FSN and RTC Live
  • 2 PM: La Salle at #1 Kansas on ESPN
  • 4:30 PM: Mississippi State vs. UCLA on FSN and RTC Live
  • 5 PM: Marquette at #23 Wisconsin on ESPN2
  • 6 PM: New Mexico vs. #18 Texas A&M on Fox Sports Southwest
  • 7 PM: Kansas State vs. #17 UNLV on ESPN Full Court
  • 9 PM: #5 Purdue at Alabama on ESPN2

Noon: And we’re live. Like we noted earlier there are 2 big games to watch in this TV session. We’re expecting Kentucky to destroy Indiana, but Ohio State-Butler promises to be much more interesting especially with the absence of Evan Turner.

12:10 PM: Agree with Greg Anthony. DeMarcus Cousins is the key for Kentucky’s title hopes this season. John Wall and Patrick Patterson are almost a given. If Cousins can play consistently (and the Wildcats play a little D), they have a great shot at a NCAA title.

12:12 PM: Phenomenal start for Indiana. Tom Crean could not have asked for anything more than a 12-4 start. Is it possible that Kentucky could have overlooked Indiana. I know the Hoosiers are down, but you have to get up for a trip to Bloomington, right?

12:15 PM: For those who caught that discussion about the relative scoring ability of Matt Howard and Jay Bilas. Here are Jay’s numbers from his time at Duke.

12:20 PM: Kentucky looks really sloppy right now. Have the Wildcats been listening to all the hype?

12:25 PM: Great start for Butler. Up 24-14 midway through the 1st half. William Buford answers a bucket but misses the free throw. Wow. That’s a ridiculous class for Ohio State, but like Bilas mentions how long will they stay there. Gordon Hayward almost converts a ridiculous alley-oop from Shelvin Mack.

12:30 PM: Wow. Bilas thinks Northwestern is still a NCAA Tournament team even without Kevin Coble. I’m not so sure about that. I guess there is a lot of Big 10/11 basketball to be played.

12:32 PM: And Kentucky has taken the lead at 21-19 thanks to a 12-2 run. It figured it would only be a matter of time before they came back, but this is pretty quick. The question is whether the Hoosiers can respond and keep this game tight. If they keep it within 10 at half, the crowd should still be into it.

12:35 PM: Did they just say that Wall has a 3.8 GPA? Has Kentucky’s semester already ended or is that his high school GPA? I have heard it was closer to 2.6 in high school. Is this another Tim Tebow situation?

12:36 PM: Ok. Wall can dunk.

12:45 PM: Ridiculous shooting in Bloomington. Kentucky is 4/8 from 3 and Indiana 5/7 from 3. Hoosiers down by 1 with 2 minutes left in the half.

12:47 PM: Ohio State is on a 16-0 run. Awfully quiet in Hinkle right now (except for the PA guy).

12:48 PM: Gordon Hayward ends the 5:15 drought with a lay-up. Another lay-up and Butler is down by just 2 with less than a minute left in the half. And suddenly it’s very loud in Hinkle.

12:55 PM: Kentucky up by just 1 at the half. Unbelievable shooting by both teams. Kentucky shooting 56.7% FG while Indiana is 63% FG. Ohio State up by 2 at the half. Butler is hanging in there despite shooting a paltry 37.5%. They really struggled after Matt Howard picked up his 2nd foul with 5 minutes to go in the half. Gordon Hayward kept them in the game.

1:00 PM: How long can the Indiana hang around in this game? I don’t think they have a shot at winning, but if they keep hitting 3s they might be able to shock the country.

1:05 PM: Sorry Seth, but we already knew about all of those “hidden gems”. Congrats on the kid though.

1:10 PM: Indiana takes the lead at 48-47 and John Calipari calls a timeout with 17:30 left. Could we have a huge upset brewing here?

1:15 PM: Great response by the Wildcats. An 7-0 run following a putback by Patrick Patterson gives them a 54-48 edge.

1:20 PM: Make that a 13-0 run by Kentucky. Lead is up to a dozen. Danger time for the Hoosiers. Eventually the 3s stop falling and talent takes over.

1:30 PM: Butler has opened up a 6 point lead with less than 9 minutes left in the game. The Hoosiers? Not doing quite as well. They’re down by 15 with 11 minutes left.

1:40 PM: Left-handed layup by Hayward gives Butler a 10 point lead with 7:08. This would be huge for Butler to get a win over a non-conference NCAA tournament team, but I am sure “The Committee” will discount it because of Turner’s absence.

1:45 PM: I was kind of hoping Wall would try a LeBron-style block there.

1:50 PM: Nice effort by the Hoosiers. They hung around for about 30 minutes, but then Kentucky’s talent took over. Great game from Maurice Creek. If he sticks around and Crean can find a few more players to put around him, they could be a NCAA tournament team in a year or two.

1:55 PM: Jon Diebler makes his first shot of the game with 1:35 left to cut the lead to 7. His mom shakes her head in disbelief about how poorly he played today.

2:00 PM: Wow. There goes the 17 point-lead after a 16-2 OSU run. Down to a 3 point lead with 46.2 seconds left after a bad turnover that led to Diebler’s 2nd FG of the day. Haywards calls a timeout.

2:01 PM: Butler got very lucky there. Got away with a carry and an offensive foul ending up at the free throw line. Thad Matta has a reason to be upset right now.

2:05 PM: Two big missed by Dallas Lauderdale. I don’t understand how can you be getting a $30k/yr scholarship and not be better at hitting something so easy.

2:07 PM: A sloppy OSU turnover gives the game to Butler. They got lucky today. Brad Stevens needs to have a talk with Matt Howard about staying out of foul trouble. It kills the Bulldogs.

2:14 PM:  Greetings, folks. John Stevens taking over for NVR. Important win by Butler, there, I think. They had a bit of a rough stretch there and I think people were starting to forget about them or write them off a little, but a win over OSU, despite OSU being sans Turner and even though it was at home, is still a nice win for them. Can’t call it an upset, but they needed it.

2:21 PM:  So now we have Kansas vs LaSalle on ESPN and we have RTC Live happening at the Wooden Classic with #13 Georgetown and #16 Washington.  LaSalle’s in this, actually, about nine minutes in.  Only down a point right now 21-20.  Kansas looks listless and comparatively uninterested, but the problem for LaSalle is that I think they’re playing fairly well at this point. With the athletes Kansas has, you can be tied with them and 45 seconds later they’re up on you by 14 and on a fastbreak.  Kansas has hit two straight threes, now, and LaSalle better watch out.

2:37 PM:  Kind of cheap foul on Rodney Green there.  Looked like two guys just going after the ball. 

2:41 PM:  OK, I have to say something about the Cole Aldrich free throw motion.  Don’t get me wrong, Kansas fans.  He’s an incredible player and still a leading POY candidate.  He can be smooth but he’s also a hard-hat guy.  But that free throw motion is about as graceful as the barrel-throwing gorilla from Donkey Kong.  I know all that matters is if they go in or not (Aldrich is shooting about 70% FT this year).

2:53 PM:  Halftime in Kansas City.  Kansas up 42-27.  That’s what Kansas can do to you.  Seriously, this was a game a few moments ago.  Now it’s on pace for a 30-point blowout. 

3:10 PM:  Xavier Henry starts Kansas with a three, then a big alley-oop, and it’s up to 19.  I get the feeling that Kansas is gonna start clowning, soon.

3:27 PM:  Interesting tweet:  Billy Gillispie is at the Memphis vs UALR game, according to CBS’ Gary Parrish. 

3:34 PM:  Goodness, Markieff Morris is a bull.  And the lane is his china shop.  He’s on double-double watch with 10/8 right now.  I think he’ll get it, heh heh, since there’s over 11 minutes left.

3:39 PM:  This is only 14 right now.  Kansas has forgotten how to guard the three over the last few defensive trips. 

3:45 PM:  Markieff has the double-double, currently 12/10…with about 8 minutes left!!  Guy’s gonna have one impressive stat line by the time this one’s over.  I also want to give Rodney Green some credit — he’s a player.  He has no fear going up against the Kansas bigs.

3:52 PM:  Looks like G’town/Washington is only slightly more competetive right now, with GU leading UW, 62-46.  The story right now in this one is that Kansas’ athleticism is simply too much for LaSalle. 

4:00 PM:  Since we have the time, how smooth is Xavier Henry?  And he’s got a career high today with 29 as of right now.  I’m wondering why the Kansas fellas are still in the game with two minutes left.  Henry, Aldrich, Collins, all still in there up 20.

4:03 PM:  And as soon as I type that, Self pulls his big dogs.  Good move.

4:07 PM:  It’s over — Kansas by 25, 90-65.  Big, big game from Henry and Aldrich (get used to that), but the ESPN graphics people certainly had an appropriate one up near the end of the game, talking of the Kansas balance.  That’s the way it’s gonna be all year long.  In addition to Henry and Aldrich, you had both Morrises and Tyshawn Taylor with big contributions.  For LaSalle, besides Jerrell Williams (21) and Rodney Green (19), the Explorers also got a big game from Yves Mekongo, who had a double-double (10/11). 

4:15 PM:  So what was the more impressive win today?  Kentucky going to Bloomington and winning 90-73, or Kansas beating LaSalle (not a bad club, really) by 25 in Kansas City?  I probably have to go with Kentucky on this particular occasion, since it was Kentucky’s first true road game this year and they had to fight off an early IU run.  But Kansas still looks like the more physically imposing club and deserving of their #1 ranking.

4:21 PM:  This was a truncated version of it, but that puts a cap on this version of Boom Goes The Dynamite.  We’ll be back with the more traditional day-long version of it as the year progresses.  Thanks for joining us!

nvr1983 (1398 Posts)


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