***** - quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live **** - best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home *** - set your tivo but make sure you watch it later ** - set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012 * - don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game
Florida @ #14 Tennessee – 1 pm on CBS (***)
These football rivals will face each other for the first time this year, and it should be a good one. Tennessee has had a better season overall, but is going in the opposite direction of Florida. After winning seven straight games following the arrest of Tyler Smith and three others, the Volunteers dropped a bad game at Georgia and followed that up with a home loss to Vanderbilt. The Gators, on the other hand, have won four straight games to grab a share for third place in the SEC. They have given up less than 68 points per game in that stretch, and Tennessee has surrendered 78 and 85 points in their last two contests. For the whole year, UT has played better defense, ranking #16 in defensive efficiency, and the Vols average nine steals per game. For UT to get back on the winning side, they are going to have to revert back to their old style of defense against a Florida team that has five players that average double figures. Led by Kenny Boynton, a freshman who scores 15 PPG, the balanced Gator attack puts up over 73 points per game. The game is in Knoxville, but the Gators are 3-1 on the road this year, so this game should go to the wire. To be fair, Florida’s four wins have come against bad SEC teams in LSU, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Georgia, so I expect the Vols to bounce back against a Florida team that may not be as good as their record indicates.
Maryland @ #21 Clemson – 5:30 pm on FSN (****)
Vasquez Hopes to Avoid This Feeling vs. Clemson
Maryland may not know it, but they are fighting for the tournament lives just as much as Clemson is. The Terrapins, who currently sit atop the ACC, are ranked 50th in the RPI (Clemson is #46) and with a couple losses they could be looking at a bubble spot. Clemson, who just three games ago was sitting at 15-3, will now have to defeat the conference leaders to avoid a fourth straight loss. If Clemson loses tonight, they will be 3-5 in the ACC, and due to their recent loss at Boston College, would claim sole possession of 10th place in the conference. There is no way the selection committee will allow a team that plays that poorly in conference to get into the tournament, so Clemson needs to channel what allowed them the hot start to avoid another epic collapse. The key for the Tigers to win this game is to shut down Maryland’s high powered arsenal. The Terrapins rank in the top fifteen in the country in points per game, assists per game, and rank in the top ten in assists to turnover ratio and offensive efficiency. Maryland is led by the fiery Greivis Vasquez, who scores 17.8 points per contest and also ranks 8th in the country at 6.2 assists per game. Clemson has the ability to the ability to shut down powerful offenses, as they have not allowed an opponent to score over 75 points per game since December 2. They are seventh in the country at 10.2 steals per game and ranked ninth in defensive efficiency. Despite playing at home, their recent play cannot be overlooked and look for the Terrapins to further raise the bar in the ACC.
In one of the most surprising games of the day (not counting San Francisco’s shocking win over Gonzaga), Syracuse overcame an 18-point first half deficit at DePaul to keep their chances of being the #1 team in the country alive. The Orange used a 16-0 run late in the first half to cut that lead to 2 before going into half trailing by 4. From that point forward, the two teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle with the Blue Demons leading by 2 with 4:15 when Wesley Johnson happened.
Even though the dunk wasn’t exactly a momentum changer (Syracuse only won by 2), it is about as good of an in-game dunk as you will see. If you don’t believe us, listen to the announcer’s reaction. Even Gus Johnson would be proud of that call.
Hello everyone, and welcome back to RTC Live from the West Coast Conference, where the big bad Gonzaga Bulldogs visit the University of San Francisco Dons tonight. We’ll be interested to see how the Zags respond from their extremely lackluster performance at Santa Clara on Thursday night, where it took a 22-4 run late to finally take control and win the game. Of course, Mark Few’s team is led by the talents of Matt Bouldin (17/4/4 assts) and Elias Harris (16/9), the latter of whom is already being talked about as a first-rounder in the 2010 NBA Draft. USF, on the other hand, is suffering a rough season on the Hill. At 7-14 and 2-4 in the conference, there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about other than the two-time defending WCC scoring champ, Dior Lowhorn. This year he trails St. Mary’s Omar Samhan and Pepperdine’s Keion Bell in that statistic, but we know that he can blow up for 25+ on any given night. Gonzaga is the clear favorite tonight, but they also were on Thursday and they had to have a tremendous second half to get out of Santa Clara with a win, so the same thing could happen again tonight. Join us on RTC Live to find out.
It looks like today’s ridiculous schedule of college basketball games just got a little lighter as the SEC, Arkansas, and Mississippi decided to postpone this afternoon’s game until tomorrow due to inclement weather. The game, which was to be played at 4 PM EST today, has been pushed back to 7 PM EST tomorrow (the article listed CST times). Unfortunately due to the time change the game will not be televised.
***** - quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live **** - best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home *** - set your tivo but make sure you watch it later ** - set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012 * - don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game
#7 Duke @ #11 Georgetown 1:00 CBS (****)
Duke Will Have Its Hands Full in DC
Although John Thompson III has said he does not want to be playing in this out of conference matchup right now, fans have been looking forward to this game for quite some time. In addition to the possibility of President Obama attending the game, this is a matchup between a current #2 seed in the tournament and a #3 or #4 seed in Georgetown. When Duke’s 82.2 ppg offense goes against Georgetown’s 62.0 defensive average, something is going to have to budge. Despite Duke’s top ranking in offensive efficiency, they will certainly not be able to run over the Hoyas. GU held Pitt to 66 points on the road, and held Syracuse, UConn, and Marquette below their season average. Although Duke outscores the Hoyas by over 10 points per contest on average, they also hold opponents to fewer points per game rank higher in defensive efficiency. Nevertheless, the Blue Devils lost their first three road games of the year to Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, and Clemson, none of whom are as dangerous as the Hoyas. GU blew a golden opportunity at the Carrier Dome last week, so look for them to take out some frustration on the Blue Devils. Austin Freeman scored 23 points against the Orange, and the Hoyas will likely depend on him to give Georgetown the win.
Oklahoma St @ Missouri 2:00 ESPN (***)
As George W. Bush once attempted to say, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” Oklahoma State made me look foolish when they beat Texas A&M last week, and Missouri embarrassed me with their performance in Lawrence when they kept up with the Jayhawks for the first five minutes and called it a day. The Cowboys have now won three Big 12 games in a row, while Mizzou has now lost two of their last three contests. OSU showed they could win without a strong performance from James Anderson, who didn’t score the first 18 minutes of the Aggie game. The Aggies do have a couple things going for them as well. They will be playing at home, where they are 12-0 this year, and still rank #12 in the country according to Ken Pomeroy with their sixth ranked defense. Their D didn’t look so impressive last week when they gave up 50 first half points to Kansas, as they let the Jayhawks shoot over 49 percent from the floor and 47 percent from beyond the arc. Senior Obi Muonelo is hot for Oklahoma State right now, and look for him to lead the Cowboys to a fourth consecutive Big 12 win.
Looking for that last piece to complete your winter wardrobe? Maybe you should try a sweater or at least something with long sleeves. But, if you need something to wear UNDER that, look no further. It is with immense pride that we introduce to you… the official RUSH THE COURT t-shirt. It’s got our name on it, a cool slogan, and a shoeprint design on the back along with the site’s URL. That’s pretty much the only ways in which it’s different than every other shirt you own. Oh, and it’s freaking awesome. You can order yours at our CafePress showcase here (priced between $11-$24).
Suffice to say, we’ve got just about every school color combination there is. We don’t do custom orders, but tell us if you want a color combo we don’t offer and if there’s enough demand, we’ll see what we can do. ALSO, because we’ve been inspired by the recent generosity of various basketball programs who have raised aid money for earthquake relief in Haiti, AND by the Mark Titus blog Club Trillion, we’re donating all profits we make to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
But there’s more to this. Even though your coolness factor and college hoops insider status will take off faster than a Jeremy Hazell jumper as you wear your RTC T-shirt, we’re not just doing this so we can use you people as walking billboards for us (though we do appreciate it). We’re going to have a little contest along with our T-shirt promotion. We want to see these things in action. And when we say that we want to SEE them… we’re quite serious.
Here’s the deal — send us a photo of yourself wearing the RTC t-shirt, and we’ll enter you into a lottery for one of two prizes:
First Prize – Two (2) Tickets to a 2010 NCAA First/Second Round Venue of Your Choice
Second Prize — $50 Visa Gift Card
The number of chances you actually GET in the drawing is determined by the situation in which you are wearing your RTC shirt. Our committee of judges will review each photo as it’s received, assigning it a point value which will correspond to the number of chances you get in the drawing. For example: a photo of a person wearing an RTC shirt generates one chance. You take it from there. We’ll assign points based on how creative you get, where you are, what you’re doing, who you’re with, etc. Also, if one of our correspondents or editors sees you anywhere while wearing the shirt (at the supermarket, at the gym, at a game, etc.), you’ll be given an extra ten entries (the correspondent/editor must approach you — do not make a spectacle of yourself). We’ll occasionally post our favorite photos on the site.
Send the photos to RTCShirtPhotos@gmail.com. The drawings will occur on the Monday AFTER Selection Sunday and we’ll announce the results here after we’ve notified the winners. The photos must be sent from the email address from which you want to be contacted if you win one of the prizes or if we need to get in touch with you. Don’t worry… we’re not going to put you on any mailing lists or anything.
One prize per person. No obscene or illegal material, please. Photos of that nature will be discarded without consideration. Contest ends at 12 midnight the MORNING of Selection Sunday. Photos submitted after then will not be considered for the drawings.
So grab a shirt or five, and start racking up points. Most importantly, enjoy the rest of the season. We’ll be looking for you!
(RTC dudes and their relatives aren’t eligible to win. We promise.)
Portland brings a three-game winning streak into Santa Clara’s Leavey Center Saturday night to face a Broncos team coming off an almost-but-no-cigar effort against Gonzaga (L 71-64). Portland lost its own nail-biter to the Zags earlier this year, so won’t have any sympathy for a Santa Clara squad trying to improve its cellar-dwelling 1-5 WCC record. Portland at 4-2 trails Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga in the standings and can’t afford to fall further behind. Join us on RTC Live for another intriguing night in the West Coast Conference.
Welcome to another installment of RTC Live, coming to you courtside from the Verizon Center. We have a doozy on our hands as the Georgetown Hoyas host the Duke Blue Devils. How big of a game is this? President Barack Obama will be in attendance. If our suspicions are correct, it is because he is a big fan of RTC and heard we would be covering the game, but I digress. Duke has had their fair share of struggles of late, but at the end of the day they are still just a game out of first place in the ACC. After dropping a game to NC State on the road, the Devils bounced back nicely with wins over Clemson and Florida State. The one thing box score junkies will have noticed is the rapidly decreasing minutes of freshmen Mason Plumlee and Andre Dawkins. As Coach K makes his annual rotational cuts, it has meant more time for the Blue Devils’ big three. Could weak legs become a factor again this season?
Georgetown has a big three of their own, and with the lack of depth on their roster, it has resulted in heavy minutes for Greg Monroe, Chris Wright, and Austin Freeman as well. The most interesting stat for this year’s Hoyas comes in the form of Mr. Wright. In the Hoyas four losses, he is averaging 6.5 ppg, 6.5 apg, and just 1.3 turnovers. In their 15 wins, those numbers jump to 16.8 ppg, but only 3.5 apg and 2.9 turnovers. With the offense running through Monroe, Georgetown needs Wright and Freeman to be the guys that can score. And thus far, they have done a pretty good job. When its all said and done, this game has no importance other than seeding come tournament time. Duke and Georgetown will both be looking for a two-seed, and a win here could go along way towards that goal for both sides. So sit back, leave a comment, and enjoy what is sure to be a heckuva game.
Welcome back, everyone! Boom Goes the Dynamite returns for the fourth weekend of the year with a blockbuster Saturday of games that are so good that we’re getting them up today as a reminder to join us tomorrow afternoon. With noon-to-night coverage and the fact that most of the country is completely frozen over again, we expect that you’ll be right there with us on the couch, eating a bunch of bad food and breaking down zone offenses. We hope to see you then!
Here are the games we plan on keeping an eye on…
12 PM: La Salle at #15 Temple on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com
12 PM: Marquette at #19 Connecticut on Big East Network HD and ESPN Full Court
12 PM: Louisville at #9 West Virginia on ESPN and ESPN360.com
1 PM: #7 Duke at #11 Georgetown on CBS – RTC Live
2 PM: #4 Syracuse at DePaul on Big East Network and ESPN Full Court
2 PM: Indiana at Illinois on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com
3 PM: FSU at Boston College on Raycom and ESPN Full Court
3 PM: #25 Northern Iowa at Missouri State
4 PM: Baylor at #6 Texas on Big 12 Network and ESPN Full Court
4 PM: #23 Vanderbilt at #1 Kentucky on ESPN and ESPN360.com A 4 PM: Arkansas at #20 Mississippi on SEC Network and ESPN Full Court
6 PM: Notre Dame at Rutgers on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com
6 PM: New Mexico at TCU on CBS College Sports
7 PM: #2 Kansas at #13 Kansas State on ESPN and ESPN360.com
7 PM: Georgia at South Carolina on Fox Sports (regional) and ESPN Full Court
7 PM: Northwestern at #5 Michigan State on Big Ten Network
8 PM: Providence at Cincinnati on ESPN U
9 PM: Utah at #10 BYU on Mountain Network
9:30 PM: #8 Gonzaga at San Francisco on Fox Sports (regional)- RTC Live
We will be dividing the day into three shifts with nvr1983 starting things off then rtmsf will handle the afternoon games before John Stevens takes you into the night with late night coverage of all the day’s big games.
10:50 AM: Apparently ESPN forgot to pay the electricity bill as the lights just went out on Jason Williams. (As a college basketball fan, I refuse to call him Jay. Jason Williams was a great player. Jay Williams crashed his motorcycle.)
11:00 AM: Dear College Students of America, This is how you show up for a College GameDay. I don’t want to call anybody out, but the Kansas State fans are crushing what I saw when I went to GameDay at UNC last year. To be fair, a game against in-state rival Kansas is much, much more important than a disappointing Miami team. This seems more like a College Football GameDay and that’s what we need for the basketball version too. Right now the pressure is on Illinois, Kentucky, Washington, Syracuse, and Duke to match this atmosphere when GameDay comes to town later this year.
11:10 AM: Does anybody have a link to where we can buy one of those Frank Martin t-shirts?
11:15 AM: According to the Kansas State website, the previous record for College Basketball GameDay attendance was 6,700 at Clemson last year before they played Duke. I haven’t heard an official number for today. Bramlage Coliseum holds 12,528 and I would think they are well over half full.
11:20 AM: Is Coach K advocating for abolishing the requirement for players to spend one year in college or wanting them to stay in school for more than one semester, which is all they really have to do to be eligible to play in their freshman year? It sounds more like the former. Jay Bilas is right that this issue is more a NBA/business issue.
11:22 AM: If you’re wondering who Hubert Davis and Digger Phelps are going to pick to win the Kansas-Kansas State game, their clothes might be a pretty good clue. Hubert is wearing a purple shirt and a purple tie. Digger is wearing a purple shirt and a purple tie and he he has a purple highlighter. . .
Today’s completely unsubstantiated rumor is that Kansas will be busing students the 85 miles over to Manhattan, Kansas, for ESPN Gameday on Saturday morning (as K-State tries to set a new record for Gameday attendance). If there’s any truth whatsoever to this, we fear a little for the lives of those young Jayhawks.
Did Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins“cold-cock” a South Carolina student as they were RTCing after the Gamecocks’ big win over Kentucky the other night? Video evidence is inconclusive, but at least one radio broadcaster and a student say they witnessed it. For whatever that’s worth.
Gary Parrish reminds us that in the volatile world of college basketball polling, we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the polls around this time of year because they offer a window into the teams that will be left standing in early April. This is an accurate point to a certain extent, but it’s more fun to take the reverse view and think about which teams in the Top Ten will flame out early in March (best guesses: WVU, Duke, Michigan State).
Finally, UNC-Wilmington fired their head coach last night. Benny Moss, with a record of 41-74 in four years at the school, was coming off a 39-point pasting at the hands of Hofstra on Wednesday night, and his teams were making a habit of regularly getting run out of the gym. Moss is the fifth head coach to lose his job during the season this year, further validating a troubling trend (even at the mid-major level) of ADs impatiently cutting their losses in the middle of the season.
Will the Least Ugly Team Please Stand Up? #12 Purdue 60, #16 Wisconsin 57. This was your typically ugly conference season Big Ten game; you know, the kind that makes you wonder why you started watching the game in the first place. But in a battle for standing as to who will be the team to challenge Michigan State if/when they falter, it was Matt Painter’s Boilermakers who protected their home court tonight against Wisconsin (36-2 at Mackey against the Badgers) and pulled a victory out of the slugfest. Purdue got 20/4 from E’Twaun Moore (including the game-winner with 25 seconds left), 12/13 from Robbie Hummel and was happy to see injured point guard Lewis Jackson back on the court even though he only played twelve minutes and contributed two points. He’s the true PG that Moore and Chris Kramer are not, and it stands to reason that the Boilermakers will be a better team in the long run with Jackson back in action. On the Wisconsin side, Keaton Nankivil blew up for 25/8 on 7-8 shooting from three, almost singlehandedly keeping the Badgers in the game at certain points. Therefore, it was interesting that Trevon Hughes (9/4 on 3-11 FGs) got the ball with Wisconsin down one point and he missed a short runner that would have won the game. Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson was benched for being late, yet he came off the pine to contribute 14/3. As we’ve discussed before, Purdue is a much better team when Johnson is scoring and boarding, so it’s a testament to the quality of the Boilermaker defense that he was kept relatively in check tonight. Both of these teams, along with Ohio State and Illinois, now have three losses in the Big Ten, and while none may catch Michigan State, they’re all vying for position in the #2 through #5 spots. With Purdue and Wisconsin splitting their season series, it may come down to who has the easier schedule over the next four weeks, and from our viewpoint that team is Purdue (Indiana and Penn State twice, as well as Iowa once).
Moore Hits the Game Winner (AP/Michael Conroy)
The Courtney Fortson Show. Arkansas 67, Mississippi State 62. In an otherwise ugly game with about seventeen people in the stands due to inclement weather in NW Arkansas, Courtney Fortson and his braids pulled off their best Devan Downey impression tonight with a 33-point second half that matched the visiting Bulldogs point-for-point. He ended with a career-high 35/7/4 assts and even found time to have a mini-altercation with his coach during the outburst, and this will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of a disappointing season in Fayetteville. Mississippi State couldn’t buy a bucket for much of this one (31% FGs, 19% 3FGs), but they still could have won the game deep into the second half had they merely been able to get a handle on Fortson. They never did, and recently ranked MSU has now lost two in a row and really hasn’t played a strong game in three weeks. You have to wonder if all the hubbub over Renardo Sidney (is he in? is he out?) might be weighing upon them a little bit. Their defense has remained consistently good, but the offense is just not producing enough good shots for talents like Jarvis Varnado and Dee Bost. With the loss by MSU, Vanderbilt and Kentucky remain as the only two teams in the SEC with one loss or fewer in conference play.
Last week, RTC spoke with Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS to talk about a variety of topics on college basketball and a new promotion for Coke Zero. This is not the first time we have spoken with Seth as we interviewed him last March for the launch of his book “When March Went Mad” about the 1979 championship game between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Before the interview officially began, Seth expressed his displeasure about not getting linked every day in the Morning Five. We would give you the transcript of that discussion, but Chinese government regulations prohibit us from doing so.
Ed. Note: This interview took place last week, but due to some transcribing issues we are just putting it up now.
Seth Davis: Man of Intrigue
RTC: I guess we will start with your alma mater. Duke is looking strong again this year, but is different than they usually look as they are not relying on the outside shooting as much as a complete game. A lot of people have been talking up Duke. Do you think this is the year they can make it back to the Final Four?
SD: I do. I think they are legit. It’s kind of funny. Here they are ranked 5th or 6th in the country, putting together a great record, and there is not a lot of buzz about Duke right now. It’s funny to say that because they are so ubiquitous on television, but I think that we have all seen them get off to these great starts the past few years before they fall in the tournament. This team does things that those teams did not primarily defend and rebound. Those things are very important assets to carry into the tournament because at some point you are going to have an “off” shooting night and I think back for example to when they lost in the 2nd round to West Virginia. I think West Virginia was like +16 on the boards. At some point the shots aren’t going to fall. This team has the ability to overcome that so I don’t know from strictly a talent standpoint if I would put them on the Texas, Kentucky, and Kansas level, but do I think of them on a short list of contenders to get to the Final Four? Absolutely. I think by the way they will have a great chance of getting a #1 seed if they win the ACC regular season and then win the [ACC] tournament. I would be surprised if they aren’t a #1 seed.
RTC: Sticking with a US News & World Report College Rankings theme. Another team that has really made a lot of news this year is Cornell with a lot of close losses to very good teams, but that doesn’t impact their RPI and NCAA seeding as much as some people would think. How good is this team? How high do you think they could be seeded and how far could they go in the NCAA tournament?
Did you think we’d forgotten? Oh, no, my friends. This is the biggest weeknight of hoops this week, so here we are again with another mid-week edition of BGTD. Last night brought us a LOT of upsets, and we’re sure some more are in store this evening. We’ll start off by filling our screens with the likes of St. John’s vs Pittsburgh, and of course that huge Big Ten matchup in Wisconsin vs Purdue. and there’s a darn good chance we’ll be enjoying a little Wake Forest vs Georgia Tech to begin, as well. Let’s hear what you’re watching, or what you’re thinking in general in the comments section. We know that refresh-button finger is nice and warmed up, so let’s get this thing going. See you in a few minutes…
7:02 PM ET: Evening everyone…JStev with you for the first part of this, then I’ll hand it off to rtmsf in a bit. But who cares about that right now…the guys on ESPN say that Jajuan Johnson showed up late and won’t start tonight. We all know he’ll be in after a couple of minutes, so I doubt this deserves the emphasis they’re putting on it early. God, look at this…there is NO team whose players move without the ball like Wisconsin. Purdue’s defense is exemplary over the first couple of possessions, but no way they can sustain it for the whole game, or even the whole half. Nobody ever does.
7:12: At the first TVTO at Purdue we can say that we’ve already seen a couple of perfect Wisconsin possessions, despite the tough Purdue defense, especially that three at the last moment before the shot clock expired by Jarred Berggren. Early checks elsewhere: Pitt/SJU tied at seven, Wake up 13-7 early, and we even have Seton Hall vs South Florida (SHU up by a few very early). Lots of good stuff tonight.
Backdoor Cuts is a college basketball discussion between RTC correspondents Dave Zeitlin, Steve Moore, and Mike Walsh. This week the guys wax poetic about the rarest thing in college basketball: the four-year star.
DAVE ZEITLIN: I feel like it happens every year. Whenever a four-year starter has a big game, people start chirping things like “How long has this buy been playing for?” and “Shouldn’t he have graduated by now?” and “I didn’t know seventh-year seniors were allowed to play.” You guys know what I mean, right? The sad truth is that the four-year star player feels like an endangered species — and we’re all victim to that kind of thinking.
Take, for instance, Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds. I remember watching him play in the NCAA tournament as a freshman, and yes while it does feel like that happened some time between the Jurassic Period and the Neolithic Age, my point is, well, my point is it shouldn’t be that way. At the risk of sounding curmudgeonly, I miss the days when guys all stayed three or four years. And while I certainly can’t blame many stars for bolting early to the pros (I know there are typically many factors at play), I feel like too many are missing out on the full college experience. And, seriously, what’s better than college? Maybe bacon-wrapped scallops. And Will Ferrell. That’s about it.
Dave's Mancrush Scottie Reynolds
And all things being equal, having upperclassmen has got to help the teams themselves, right? Let’s just look at two players for a moment. At Villanova, Scottie Reynolds is on the verge of becoming the greatest player in program history — if he isn’t already. At Kentucky, John Wall is on the verge of becoming one of the best freshmen ever — if he isn’t already. Both have their teams in the top three in the latest AP poll. And while Wall will surely be an NBA star, and Reynolds may have a difficult time even cracking an NBA roster, I’d like to think come tournament time the senior will be better prepared to lead his team on a deep run than the freshman. But then again, Carmelo Anthony won a championship in his only year in college and Greg Oden almost did the same… so who knows
Either way, something bugs me about these one-year rent-a-players. I’m actually not bothered by the players themselves because, as we know, they have no choice but to go to college for a year and the true NBA-bound superstars shouldn’t feel obligated to stay longer. I think I’m mostly bothered by the coaches, who say disingenuous things like “So-and-So will help the program even after he leaves” and “I really want So-and-So to test the draft waters.” Please. Just admit you sold your soul for a season of glory and your recruiting pitch went something like this: “Come to our school and you only have to take four college courses in your entire life! And three of them will be about massage therapy! After that, I’ll help you get rich rich rich!” (Yes, I’m looking at you Calipari.)
What’s my point? I’m not sure exactly. Maybe I’m just hoping that when March rolls around, the Wildcat who’s been through it all will get just one more lucky bounce than the Wildcat who’s already planning his wardrobe for Draft Day.
And with that, my ode to Scottie Reynolds comes to a close as I pass the curmudgeon torch to my two pals.
MIKE WALSH: College basketball rosters are a revolving door, it’s sad, but true. Unlike football or hockey, basketball is one of the few sports where 18- and 19-year-olds can hold their own against guys in their 20s. And let’s be honest, what 18-year-old kid is going to be able to pass up the promise of millions of dollars when the majority of his classmates will be thrilled to rake in $30K after graduation? If someone offered me the NBA rookie minimum right now I’d be gone… I wouldn’t even finish this column (Ed. Note: we’re all replaceable, Mike.). But alas, I’m a doughy white guy with bad knees, a worse jump shot, and a bank account that wouldn’t even cover the small blind in an NBA road trip poker game.
Rush The Court Central Command RTC Towers 28 January 2010
Even Duke RTCs Occasionally
Hey. How you doin’ out there? Good, good to hear. You know, it doesn’t seem that long ago (even though it was) that all of us here at RTC were college students. God, those were some sweet times. Lining up for tickets, going to every home game and as many road games as we could, turning a two-hour game into a whole-day event, making signs, coming up with catcalls for our opponents…ah, such wonderful years. The game was ours back then, and we’ve since turned it over to you. And we love what you’ve done with it. Fantastic job, really. It’s a great time to be a fan of the game, especially if you’re a student. Strong work.
One thing we’ve noticed in the past couple of weeks or so, though, is an increase in the number of court rushes, or “RTCs,” after wins. Oh yeah, we know how fun it is. We’ve got a few of those under our belts. But it’s that increase that we wanted to talk to you about. That’s why we’re writing. We want to talk about how it’s being overdone, and not just by a little. All the guys here at RTC, after fourfive a number of years as undergrads, we only had maybe one or two apiece. It should be that rare. Hey, calm down, we’re not trying to ruin your good time. When it’s time to rush, we want you out there. But it’s kind of like when you’re going out at night — we want you to have standards. And, like so many times AFTER going out at night, we definitely don’t want you to wake up the next day, have the memory come flooding back to you, and have that “Oh, God…what have I done?!?” moment. You know, like when you realize someone’s over there, so you roll over, turn off the camera, and…well, never mind. That’s a story for another post. Anyway, let’s get back to how this court-rushing exuberance has gotten out of hand.
Good court coverage. Extra points for usage of blimp.
You know how hard it is for us in particular to say that. But people are talking. Gregg Doyel is talking about you. Seth Davis is talking about you. Other bloggers are talking about you. Every commentator on TV is talking about you. And if you were involved in one of the recent RTCs that was obviously uncalled for, then your families, friends, and neighbors are talking about you. None of it’s flattering. You don’t want that, do you? People are definitely e-mailing and tweeting and commenting, asking us about it because of what we call ourselves around here. Again, we don’t want to spoil the fun. We know that RTCing will always exist. There’s no more chance of it going away than there is of crowds actually taking Bob Knight’s advice and chanting “Great Job!” after victories over rival teams (though we despise the “overrated” chant). It’s just not realistic to think it will ever stop. But like we said — this is all about having standards.
***** - quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live **** - best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home *** - set your tivo but make sure you watch it later ** - set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012 * - don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game
#16 Wisconsin @ #12 Purdue – 7 pm on ESPN (****)
Not For the Faint of Heart Tonight
This game has huge conference and tournament seeding implications. This battle between the second and third best teams in the Big 10 could decide if these teams get a #3 or #4 seed in March Madness. Is Purdue actually back from that recent three-game losing streak? They’ve won their last two games against Illinois and Michigan, but did not excel in either game. Wisconsin has also been winning ugly lately, needing desperate runs in the closing minutes to beat Northwestern, Michigan, and Penn State. When will their slow starts finally catch up with them? If Wisconsin keeps playing fundamentally sound, they can stay in any game no matter how poorly they shoot. The Badgers, who score only 68.7 points per game, commit the least turnovers of anybody in the country right now, and will likely shatter their school record for fewest turnovers in a season. Largely due to the fact they don’t give up fast break points, opponents score only 57 points per game, something Robbie Hummel and the Boilermakers would like to change. They only scored 66 points against Wisconsin when they lost their first game of the season. Jon Leuer’s injury has been a big blow to the Badgers, but he injured his wrist just minutes into the Purdue game and the Badgers found a way to win. Purdue, despite their high ranking, does not rank in the top fifty in either points per game or points given up per game, so look for UW’s stingy defense to once again shut down the Boilermakers.
Wake Forest @ #22 Georgia Tech 7 pm on FSN (****)
Georgia Tech is a ranked team, but they are in danger of playing themselves out of a solid seed for the NCAA Tournament. If they lose tonight, they will be .500 in January, a trend they will need to stop before they find themselves on the bubble come Selection Sunday. With their poor offense (they rank #65 in offensive efficiency) they can cannot continue to turn the ball over 16.2 times per game. Wake Forest, on the other hand, is getting better every day. They have now beaten the top two teams in the conference standings in Maryland and Virginia, and Al-Farouq Aminu continues to be a beast this year at over 11 boards per game. Their defense is solid as well, coming at #13 in Pomeroy’s rankings, and held Virginia to just 57 points in their last game. The major concern for The Demon Deacons is their recent road performances, which include a 20-point loss to Duke and a loss to Miami who has yet to win another ACC game. The Yellow Jackets have two forwards to contain Aminu, but Gani Lawal shot just 1-5 from the floor and 3-8 from the line in their loss to Florida State. Expect WFU to limit Lawal’s total again, and for the Demon Deacons to finally crack the Top 25.
RTC contributor and official bracketologist Zach Hayes will update the bubble scene every week until Madness ensues.
Another week down, another Bubble Watch update, this time a day early…
ACC
Locks:Duke has rebounded nicely from their slip-up in Raleigh last Wednesday with two quality wins at Clemson and vs. Florida State. The Blue Devils appear destined to run the table at home and only have two difficult, yet winnable, road dates remaining at North Carolina and at Maryland. 11-5 in the ACC seems like a worse-case scenario for Duke, and even that record may be enough to win the league and garner a top-three seed in March.
Should be in:Wake Forest’s RPI has slowly but surely climbed into the 20-range heading into tonight’s important game at Georgia Tech. Even with a loss tonight, the Deacons next six ACC games (three road trips are at Virginia, Virginia Tech and NC State) are all very winnable. I wouldn’t completely eliminate Wake from the ACC title race if Ish Smith and Al-Farouq Aminu continue to play so well. Georgia Tech sits at a pedestrian 3-3 in the ACC but did defeat Duke and the Yellow Jackets have a chance to pick up another quality in-conference win tonight against Wake. Paul Hewitt’s team shouldn’t get too comfortable, though, with a challenging road slate still ahead. Florida State plays a crucial game at Boston College on Saturday. It’s a team that Noles should beat, but judging from their loss earlier in ACC play to NC State in Tallahassee and over the course of Leonard Hamilton’s coaching tenure, that doesn’t always equal victory. Lose to the Eagles and Florida State begins to trend towards the bubble.
On the bubble: Clemson still finds themselves on the right side of the bubble picture, but the Tigers are moving closer to the 9/10 seed line than 4/5 with their recent three-game losing skid. Luckily for Clemson, four of their next five are inside the friendly confines of Littlejohn Coliseum with their only road game at Virginia Tech. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Tigers reel off five consecutive in the win column here and firmly establish their bid. Maryland leads the ACC with a 4-1 mark but have benefited from a hospitable schedule. It becomes much more challenging right away for the Terps with two on the road at Clemson and Florida State. Split those two and the Terrapins remain in the field. The most crucial win of the week may have been North Carolina dispatching rival NC State in what could have been a disastrous outcome for the psyche of that basketball team. The Heels welcome Virginia to the Dean Dome next, but check out the next three: @Virginia Tech, @Maryland and vs. Duke. Frankly, neither 3-0 nor 0-3 would totally shock me.
Booker vital for the Tigers NCAA chances
On the fringe:Virginia Tech is going to have to win a lot of basketball games to overcome their #76 RPI and #270 SOS, two stats currently acting as a firm anchor on Tech’s NCAA hopes. Their next two roadies at Virginia and Miami both need to be won for the Hokies to squirm their way back into the field. It won’t be easy, though, as Virginia has knocked off Georgia Tech and Miami has beaten Wake Forest in their respective home buildings. Much like Virginia Tech, those teams desperately need wins and quickly.
Big East
Locks: The five locks at the top of the premiere conference in the land remain firmly entrenched in the field. This pack is led by Villanova at a sparkling 8-0 in the Big East. The reason why I favor Syracuse to win the league in the end is the clear scheduling advantage for the Orange. While the Wildcats have to travel to Georgetown, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, the Orange only must go to D.C. and their next most challenging road games are at fringe-NCAA teams Cincinnati and Louisville. Regardless, both are clearly locks and #1-seed contenders. West Virginia picked up a bounce-back win Saturday over Ohio State and, despite their point guard woes, appear destined for a top-three seed. They have two great opportunities ahead with Pitt and Villanova coming to Morgantown. Despite a two-loss week, Pittsburgh remains safe. After a game at rival West Virginia on February 3, Pitt doesn’t play another NCAA team on the road the rest of the way unless Notre Dame makes it, plus they have that win at Syracuse in their back pocket. Georgetown was thumped at Syracuse Monday, but they’re more than fine. Beating Duke on Saturday would be enormous as far as seeding and portfolios are concerned.
Should be in: Just when you think Connecticut is back, they have the ultimate letdown performance at Providence yesterday where shooting and turnovers woes re-emerged. Still, the Huskies have an RPI in the 20-range and have played the most difficult schedule in the nation. Connecticut also doesn’t have a true road win in their portfolio this season with their next opportunity coming February 1 at Louisville.
Jerome Dyson's maddening inconsistency has drawn the ire of his coach
On the bubble:Louisville beat Cincinnati in an important bubble duel Sunday, but the Bearcats were in my bracket that same night while the Cardinals were left out because Cincy has a better overall resume. In fact, that very win might have been the best to date for Louisville this season. They absolutely must beat Connecticut at home and avoid an upset bid at St. John’s to re-emerge in the bracket. It’s fair to pontificate that Cincinnati peaked at Maui and their collapse at St. John’s certainly stings, but the Bearcats still have a decent chance with a #49 RPI and a #29 SOS. Their rematch at Notre Dame on February 4 looms large. Seton Hall carried home wins over Pitt, Louisville and Cincinnati into the back end of my last bracket. If they can go 1-2 on their upcoming three-game swing through USF, Villanova and Pitt, the Pirates may be able to earn a bid with a favorable schedule the rest of the way.
On the fringe: Could Notre Dame be staring at 9-4 in the Big East when they travel to Louisville on February 17? It’s entirely possible with their next five games at Rutgers, vs. Cincinnati, vs. South Florida, at Seton Hall and vs. St. John’s. Even if they just stand at 8-5, that’s still 8-5 in the #1 RPI conference. Still, they finish with a difficult last five and the quality wins are not there, meaning it’ll be difficult for the Irish to make the tournament.
What was going on up in Seattle on Tuesday night with the ridiculous number of fouls in the Washington vs. Seattle game, which UW won 123-76? Cameron Dollar’s Seattle Redhawks were hit with FORTY-FIVE personal fouls, and actually had to play the last 1:32 of the game with only four players on the floor. Folks, they had more fouls than rebounds. Soooo, let’s put this in perspective… the same team that defeated Oregon State by 51 just lost by 47 to Washington, and both Pac-10 teams are basically sharing space at the bottom of the conference standings.
Jim Boeheim: stand-up comedian. Yeah, everything is funny when you’re 20-1 and ranked in the top five.
As if there was ever any question about this, we noted something a little odd about a television glimpse of Dookie V’s grandson who was attending the Duke-Florida State game at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night. We’ve obscured the little guy’s face to protect the young/innocent, but given this outward display of partisanship by his family, how can Dick Vitale ever again say with a straight face that he’s capable of calling a Blue Devils game fairly?
Wednesday Night of Upsets. Although all four of these games were upsets using the Vegas sense of the word, only UT and UConn were what we’d call significant ones. Still, it’s not often that we see three unranked teams pull wins over ranked teams on a random Wednesday night.
Is Kevin Stallings' Vandy Team the Most Underrated in America? (AP/Wade Payne)
#23 Vanderbilt 85, #14 Tennessee 76. Behold, the value of senior leadership. On a night when A.J. Ogilvy and Jeffrey Taylor could only combine for 22 points on 7-18 shooting, senior Jermaine Beal stepped up to lead Vanderbilt to a message-sending road win in one of the toughest places to play in America. The Commodores earned their tenth straight win behind Beal’s 25 points on 8-12 from the field, which included 4-6 from beyond the arc. Those four treys were half of Vandy’s total of eight, which came on 14 attempts (57.1%). Tennessee, by contrast, could only manage 6-20 (30%) from three, often settling for shots from deep when there were better ones to be had. J.P. Prince led UT with 22/4/3, and Wayne Chism owned the boards in this physical game, pulling down 16 boards in addition to his eight points. Still, Vanderbilt was able to out-rebound the Vols, 37-35 — a major reason why Tennessee just suffered their first home loss of the season. At the start of last night, Kentucky was the only undefeated team in the nation; now, Vanderbilt is the only undefeated team (5-0) in the SEC, a game ahead of UK in the East. Eleven days ago, the Commodores did what Kentucky couldn’t — win at South Carolina — but they’ll visit Lexington this Saturday.
New Mexico 76, #10 BYU 72. The two best teams in the underrated Mountain West Conference faced off tonight with more than just conference pride on the line. BYU came into the game riding a 15-game winning streak, and New Mexico was trying to get its swagger back after starting 0-2 in the conference including an almost unheard-of loss at their home venue, The Pit. The swagger might just be back, as the Lobos endured a horrid shooting night from their star Darington Hobson (5/14 on 1-11 FG) in giving the Cougars their first loss in conference play. Stepping up in his place was Dairese Gary, who scored a career-high 25 points, including nine in the last minute-plus to seal the win. BYU’s star Jimmer Fredette did his part for the visiting team, but the New Mexico defense made him work for it, resulting in an 8-21 shooting night for 27/7 assts. New Mexico has shown this season that they can play with anybody — beating four ranked teams — but losses to Oral Roberts, SDSU and UNLV show that they sometimes lose their focus. Expect to see both of these teams remain at the top of the MWC standings during the next month, with the rematch scheduled for February 27 in Provo.
Charlotte 74, #15 Temple 64. In a great way, the A-10 is a mess. Charlotte’s win over Temple on Wednesday means there are three teams (Temple, Charlotte, and Xavier) at the top of the league with identical 5-1 conference records, Richmond and Rhode Island just a game back at 4-2, and three other teams have three wins apiece. The 49ers’ Derrio Green went nuts for 26 points on 9-15 shooting, including a three (one of his four) with two minutes left that lifted a four point lead up to seven, and quelled a last comeback attempt by the Owls. An under-the-weather Juan Fernandez tallied just 3 points in only 24 minutes for Temple, although Lavoy Allen (12/14/2) and Ryan Brooks (20/3/2) did all they could against a Charlotte zone defense that threw up traps at any possible chance at any location on the floor. Temple was up 32-38 at the half, but just couldn’t decipher that 49er zone which forced The Owls into a poor shooting night (34.8% FG, 31.4% 3FG). Charlotte took their first lead with seven minutes left, lost it for thirty seconds, and never trailed again after regaining it.
Providence 81, #19 Connecticut 66. Someone needs to tell these schools that Connecticut 2010 is not Connecticut 2004 or even 2009, and they don’t need to be RTCing every time they beat the Huskies (see below). Trust us, they’re going to lose several more games this year. According to Gavin Edwards, once the Huskies got a ten-point lead in the first half, they thought the game was won. Providence, however, had other ideas, and used old-fashioned hustle and grit to storm back and dominate the last eight minutes of the game to blow UConn out of the building. Despite PC’s porous defense this season, they were able to hold Connecticut to 39% shooting and 4-18 from three. Kemba Walker (17/8/7 assts) and Stanley Robinson (14/4) were able to get theirs, but Jerome Dyson was poor (3-14 FG) and nobody else stepped up. For Providence, Jamine Peterson had 23/14/4 stls and Sharaud Curry chipped in with 18 points, but this game ultimately came down to the who-wanted-it-more factor, and that team tonight was clearly the Friars. Now, about that RTC…
Clear as Mud. According to an Andy Katz report from earlier today, the answer to the above question is… maybe? It depends on who you’re listening to. Don Jackson, the Sidney family attorney, email blasted the media today with a laundry list of findings of fact that he believes means that Renardo Sidney may be “days away” from becoming eligible to play for Mississippi State this season. The NCAA, however, doesn’t exactly agree with Mr. Jackson’s assessment of the situation:
Mr. Jackson is wrong in his description of Renardo Sidney, Jr’s., initial-eligibility status, and he continues to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the Amateurism Certification Process. The NCAA Division I Amateurism Fact-Finding Committee has only determined what facts will now be analyzed to decide if violations of NCAA legislation have occurred, and if so, what penalties should be assessed. This matter will not be concluded until such final determinations have been made. At this point, it is premature to speculate on a timeframe and an ultimate outcome.
So what’s going to happen? Your guess is as good as ours, although the hard-line stance that the NCAA appears to be taking with respect to Sidney implies again that it’s unlikely we’ll ever see him play college basketball. We’ve been wrong before, though, and we’d certainly welcome him if he miraculously gets to play this year.
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