Patrick Marshall of White and Blue Review is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley Conference.
Current Records and My Standings (Last Week’s Rank)
Missouri St. (9-0) (1)
Wichita St. (9-1) (2)
Northern Iowa (7-1) (5)
Illinois St. (7-1) (3)
Southern Illinois (5-2) (8)
Bradley (5-3) (4)
Indiana St. (6-3) (6)
Evansville (4-3) (7)
Drake (5-5) (10)
Creighton (3-5) (9)
STORIES OF THE WEEK
Missouri St. wins two more games. The Bears are continuing to win, much to the chagrin of my pre-season rankings. I thought they would have at least 3 losses by now. Home court advantage was probably a help to their early success, but they also have two wins on the road and are in the middle of a three-game road trip. It would be pretty amazing if they finish the non-conference season undefeated by getting road wins at St. Louis and Arkansas, both very winnable games.
Creighton loses on the road again. Creighton is now 0-5 on the road this season and could finish 2009 with a losing record which would be the first time in a long time. This week it was to George Mason as they led most of the game and collapsed in the last few minutes of the game, helped by a technical foul on coach Dana Altman with 18 seconds left in the game with Creighton up by two. Creighton lost the game, 75-72.
Shockers looking pretty good. Other than the loss to Pittsburgh in the CBE Classic, Wichita State is playing some good basketball lately and have gained a lot of confidence with a couple road wins at UMKC and Cleveland State as well as some guarantee games at Koch Arena. They will be a force come conference play.
UNI sweeps Iowa teams. For the first time since 2006-07 season, UNI beat both Iowa and Iowa St. in the annual matchup between the Iowa schools. The Panthers are on a roll as of late and creating quite the resume’ with wins over Iowa, Iowa St., Boston College, and Siena.
To call last week’s slate a light one in the ACC would be like saying Roy Williams is a little bit sensitive — it’s a drastic understatement (more on that in a minute). Only 11 games were played by ACC teams this week, and most were completely uninteresting. But there were two games of note…
ACC POWER RANKINGS (record as of Sunday, Dec. 13)
1. North Carolina (8-2, 0-0)
PAST: The Tar Heels destroyed Presbyterian on Saturday, 103-64. But Roy Williams turned it into a story, anyway, even though he said to “not make it bigger than it is.” More on that later.
FUTURE: UNC travels to Austin, Texas for a showdown with the Longhorns on Saturday. UNC not only sits atop these rankings, but continues to play the most must-watch games in the ACC. It’s not even close.
2. Duke (7-1, 0-0)
PAST: Did not play this week
FUTURE: Duke warms up its week with Gardner-Webb at Cameron on Tuesday, before playing a very good Gonzaga team at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. You better not make any plans on Saturday, with UNC-Texas at 2:00 (ESPN) and Duke-Gonzaga at 4:00 (CBS).
3. Georgia Tech (6-1)
PAST: Did not play this week
FUTURE: The Jackets play a non-traditional ROAD game AT Chattanooga tonight, before hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday.
The Orchestra has finished its recital at Penn a little earlier than expected today, as the Philadelpia Daily News first reported that head coach Glen Miller has been let go by the Quaker program after getting off to a horrendous 0-7 start this year. This was Miller’s fourth season at the school, the third in a row of which appeared headed toward another disappointment, so the school pulled the trigger and placed former Penn star Jerome Allen into the top spot on an interim basis. Allen is an interesting choice, as he has no head coaching experience and only a few games as an assistant under his belt, but he is considered one of the all-time great Penn players (averaged 14/4/5 apg in a four-year career at Penn from 1991-95) and at a minimum should be able to energize the rabid Quaker faithful in the coming months. Anything’s better than oh-fer, right? The Miller firing continues a somewhat troubling collegiate trend of ADs pulling the trigger on coaches midseason – just eleven days ago, Fordham’s Dereck Whittenburg was canned after a spate of transfers and a 1-4 start to the season, while last year Alabama dropped Mark Gottfried in January. We’re not sure that we’re a big fan of this, but we certainly understand the pressures involved at the administrative level of these athletic departments.
We didn’t talk about this in the ATB, but it’s also worth mentioning here. UTEP got the services of the much-maligned and well-traveled Derrick Caracter over the weekend for the first time, and the previously unbeaten Miners immediately dropped their next game, 87-80 to New Mexico State. Caracter only played 12 minutes, and he contributed 2 pts, 2 rebs and 2 assts in his time on the court, but head coach Tony Barbee will work him into the lineup slowly over the next few weeks.
Here’s several good reasons why we should all proceed with caution on anointing Georgetown a top contender in the Big East just yet. It’s all true, but our contention is that Georgetown’s primary two issues were poor team chemistry and acceptance of losing in a loaded conference last year. The snowball effect, if you will. The primary issue the Hoyas appear to face this year will be depth, as JT3 is only playing seven guys so far this season. One injury among the starters could devastate this team.
“The Players Rushed the Fans!” There will be much more written on this game in the next 24 hours — you can count on it — but here’s Pat Forde’s take on the inimitable Crosstown Shootout from last night. Good to have him back from football.
We mentioned this over on the weekend ATB, but it’s too bizarre not to discuss here as well. If you haven’t heard, Roy Williams had a Presbyterian fan thrown out of the Dean Dome on Saturday night for heckling one of his players. So what was the out-of-control foul-mouthed POS guilty of saying? Um, according to a published report, something to the effect of “You’re going to miss it, Deon [Thompson]!” They say that suppression of dissent is one of the first steps toward totalitarianism, and in a showing of power drunkenness that would make even Dick Cheney blush, Roy has taken his standing to show up someone with whom he merely disagrees to an entirely new level. As he put it in the postgame comments, he doesn’t believe that “anybody should yell negative things toward our players (when) you come in on our tickets to watch our game.” EXCUSE ME?? The last time we checked, Roy, a Presbyterian fan has just as much right to purchase a ducat to ‘his’ team’s game as a UNC fan does. And that fan can yell for his players or against the UNC players as much as he likes (standard decency and decorum implied). So we wonder – does the Roy Doctrine now mean that UNC fans are excused from yelling much, much worse at opposing players who visit the Dome just because it’s ‘their’ game? Is he serious with this nonsense? Roy couldn’t have whiffed any harder on this one, and if he has any shred of decency, he’ll reach out to this fan, apologize for his completely ludicrous overreaction and invite the fan back to the Dean Dome to sit in his personal seats. And you know what — it’s perfectly fine if he yells at Deon Thompson to miss a free throw, even then.
In our first college football-free weekend of the season (except for Mark Ingram’s Heisman and ESPN’s phenomenal documentary on “The U”) we had quite a few interesting story lines from the weekend, but one stood out on Sunday — the pair of upset victories by Atlantic 10 teams over highly ranked Big East teams in crosstown rivalry games (Temple against Villanova and Xavier against Cincinnati). Not only does it give those individual programs some bragging rights and a much needed boost on the recruiting trail, but it also gives a huge lift to the national perception of the Atlantic 10 and might cause some consternation amongst the Big East fans who like to promote their conference as the best in the nation for college basketball.
A great night for Xavier and the A-10 (Credit: AP/David Kohl)
The A-10 Rising
Xavier 78, #19 Cincinnati 75 (2 OT). This might not be as shocking to the rest of the nation, but it might go down as the game of the year so far. It had a little bit of everything you could ask for in a game at this point of the season. Bitter rivalry? Check. Physical play? Check. Biting fan chants? Check (Brian Kelly). Big comeback? Check. Buzzer beater? Check (later waved off). National TV audience? Not so much thanks to ESPNU’s sparse national penetration, but RTC Live was there. In the end it was Terrell Holloway‘s 26 points and Jason Love‘s 19 rebounds that were the difference as the Musketeers overcame 22 points from Lance Stephenson in a game where neither team led by more than 4 points during the last 19 minutes of the game and that was only after the Bearcats fouled Xavier in an attempt to get the ball back when Dion Dixon missed a 3-point attempt that could have tied the game with 21 seconds left in the second overtime. To get a really good feel as to how intense this game was, definitely read our accounting from RTC Live above and check the highlight package below.
Temple 75, #3 Villanova 65: The Owls used an 11-0 run to start the 2nd half to overcome a 6-point deficit at halftime to knock off the Wildcats. The story of the game was Juan Fernandez who scored 33 points including 7 of 9 from 3-point range to knock off the highest ranked Big East team coming into the weekend. While the casual basketball fan will consider this a huge upset, those of us who follow college basketball closely knew that this would be a tough game for Jay Wright‘s crew against a team that had only lost by one to Georgetown (still undefeated) and St. John’s (only one loss by nine against Duke). The Wildcats managed to keep it relatively close with 23 from Scottie Reynolds, 16 from Antonio Pena, and 14 from Corey Fisher, but in the end it wasn’t enough to overcome Fernandez, 20 points from Ryan Brooks, and 10 points and 17 rebounds from Lavoy Allen. The loss was just the 2nd loss for Villanova in their last 23 games against one of their Big 5 rivals. After the victory, the fans began chanting, “We want Kansas!” in reference to their upcoming game on January 2nd. We love what the Owls have done so far this season, but the student body might want to be careful what they wish for because they might just get it. One bright spot for Villanova fans: Reggie Redding (think he might have been helpful against Allen today?) will return to action against Fordham on Saturday in his first action since he was suspended ten games for his arrest for possession of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia.
In other action…
Saturday’s Games.
#1 Kansas 90, La Salle 65: The Jayhawks were able to overcame an off-night from Sherron Collins (1/12 FG) thanks to a season-high 31 points from Xavier Henry (the last KU freshman to score 30 points in a game was some guy named Paul Pierce) and a 12-point, 12-rebound effort from Markieff Morris. Cole Aldrich added 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 blocks while Tyshawn Taylor had 10 points and 6 assists with no turnovers. The Jayhawks’ next two games should be a bit more competitive as they face a pair of teams—Michigan (12/19) and California (12/22)—that have failed to live up to preseason expectations, but both have a lot of talent.
For just about any college basketball fan, It’s one of those games that you find on the schedule and immediately circle. If you’re from the Cincinnati area and you’ve got a dog in this fight, then it’s even more important. Since the 1927-28 season, these two teams have come together every year in a tradition known as — say it with me — the Crosstown Shootout. Cincinnati owns a 47-29 lead but Xavier has won seven of the last ten. Jordan Crawford and Jason Love battle in the hopes of getting Xavier into the Top 25 and increase their role on the national stage, while Lance Stephenson, Yancy Gates, and Cashmere Wright try to move the Bearcats up the polls now that they’re back on the scene. There’s no love lost between these two programs and this is certainly a game both of these teams would love to have on the tournament resume. We’ll be there starting at 6:45 pm ET, so tune in the game and join us as well!
Ryan ZumMallen of LBPostSports is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-10 and Big West conferences.
Player of the Week. Nic Wise (Arizona) – The 5-foot-10 warrior has willed the Wildcats to a few victories this season and posted 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists this week with a loss to Oklahoma and a win over 7-2 Louisiana Tech that could point Arizona in the right direction going into a tough stretch of the schedule. Some players score more points, but no player means more to his team than Wise does. He absolutely belongs in the Pac-10’s elite class of point guards with Jerome Randle and Isaiah Thomas.
Power Rankings
#16 Washington (6-2) – The Huskies finally got a double-figure performance from highly touted freshman guard Abdul Gaddy when he scored 11 in a win over Cal State Northridge, but he didn’t do much in a tough 74-66 loss against #13 Georgetown today.
California (6-3) – The preseason favorite to win the conference is still a damn good team, with losses to three quality opponents and one of the few victories in the lopsided Pac-10/Big-12 Challenge. The Golden Bears righted the ship this week with two blowout wins and have ten days between now and their next game, a true challenge on the road against the #1 Jayhawks. The conference’s deepest squad boasts four players in double figures and a likely Pac-10 Player of the Year candidate in point guard Jerome Randle.
Washington State (7-2) – The Cougars rebounded from consecutive losses with a win over Idaho this week. No secret here, but Washington State’s chances almost solely depend on guard Klay Thompson, who is currently balling out loud. The sophomore scores 25.8 per game, but posted just 18.5 in losses to Gonzaga and Kansas State.
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?
It is a place where dreams happen. It is the home of Hoosiers. It is a basketball treasure tucked safely away in the Heartland of America at Butler University in Indianapolis, protected from boosters and alumni who crave a modern arena with all the trappings of money and power. It is Hinkle Fieldhouse: Home of the Butler Bulldogs. Butler will host big-time foe Ohio State Saturday afternoon at the historic old barn, dubbed by some as a venue designed as if God Himself wanted a basketball arena. The Bulldogs seek to move back into the national conversation after several losses in the past few weeks, while Ohio State looks to recover from a devastating injury to National Player of the Year candidate Evan Turner. There’s been talk around the country that the formerly nationally-ranked Bulldogs are in a no-win situation with this game. If they beat the Buckeyes – well, they should have, goes the thinking. After all, they’re at home and OSU is without its superstar, Turner. If they lose to OSU, well, that’s not good either. One thing we can say with assurance is that Butler head coach Brad Stevens is undoubtedly shooting for the first “bad” option over the second one, as right now, Butler needs nonconference Ws any way they can get them. And if Ohio State manages to go into Hinkle and steal a win without the spectacular Turner scoring, rebounding and assisting, then the Buckeyes will be viewed even better by the NCAA Selection Committee when he (hopefully) returns in February. Join us this afternoon at Hinkle for what could fairly be described as an important December game for both of these teams.
Before the season started, the Wooden Classic in Anaheim appeared to feature four probable NCAA Tournament teams in a double-header that oozed with potential — #13 Georgetown vs. #16 Washington in the first game, followed by Mississippi State vs. UCLA. That was before the local draw UCLA crapped the bed in the 76 Classic during their last trip to Anaheim, and Mississippi State lost to the two Rs — Rider and Richmond. Still, the season is only a month old, and there’s reason to believe that both UCLA and MSU will get it together to make a push back toward the Big Dance before it’s too late. UCLA had a solid showing in a loss against #1 Kansas in Westwood last weekend, and there’s enough talent here that it’s just a matter of time before Ben Howland figures out his team and maximizes his personnel. Mississippi State dominated DePaul in their last outing, which may not sound like much, but the Blue Demons had played fellow SEC teams Tennessee and Vanderbilt very tough in two previous losses. There’s one thing we know for sure about this game, though, and that’s the fact that local Fairfax product Renardo Sidney will not be making a homecoming debut for the Bulldogs — which is unfortunate. As for the early game, it will feature Georgetown’s first visit to the west coast in eight years, and the Hoyas will be looking to build on their strong showing at MSG in the Jimmy V Classic earlier this week by feasting on the smaller Huskies’ frontline and shutting down the inside (#3 in FG% defense). Washington, on the other hand, will attempt to save some Pac-10 face within the league’s regional footprint by knocking off an unbeaten Big East foe. This will not be an easy task, as Georgetown is getting superb production from its starters, including the kind of all-american numbers (15/11) from Greg Monroe that everyone expected from the talented center. It should be a fun afternoon on a rainy day in Anaheim (yes, it actually rains in SoCal!), and we hope you’ll take some time out of your weekend to spend it with us.
