11:00: So here we go with Dayton at Xavier. What a rivalry, and what a way to start the day! This is something like the 4,286th meeting between these two schools (OK, actually 115th, I think). Both teams are currently undefeated in the A-10, and this one would REALLY look good on the ol’ NCAA Tournament resume’.
11:10: I’m sitting here wondering what sort of high-flying exploits Dayton’s Chris Wright will have on display. It’s also fun to watch Dayton coach Brian Gregory on the sideline; he’s a high-energy guy, not that Chris Mack’s not. Gregory is one of those coaches where, if you’re just talking basketball with him, you want to ask him, “Hey, are there some lines I can run for you? Could I do a couple of miles out on the track?” In other words, he’s a good motivator.
11:16: Don’t be fooled, here…Xavier has some fine athletes, too, though you hear a lot less about them. The big problem is between the ears, in most cases. They’ve got players, and sometimes these guys want to make the spectacular play instead of the more heady play, and sometimes this abandonment of the offense happens at crunch time. But the other side of that is that sometimes the same player will ask for a tough defensive assignment and get the job done, and of course sometimes they actually DO make the snazzy offensive play. Jordan Crawford is probably the best example of this on the Xavier side.
11:19: We’re only five minutes into this one and already both teams have shown you they are comfortable in either the man or zone defenses. The chess match starts.
11:24: Chris Wright is showing us what he’s capable of. Great block, great hustle to the other end, almost finished with the and-one. Then he comes right back and gets another block at the other end. But now we have a situation where both Jordan Crawford and Wright both have picked up their second fouls.
11:27: Dante Jackson just hit his third three and we’re barely ten minutes into this.
11:34: Man, the pace is quick in this one. Bad news for Xavier — Crawford just picked up #3. Don’t know if I agree with that one. Chris Johnson is the man early for Dayton, hitting 3 of 4 so far.
11:40: Gregory puts Wright back in the lineup and he almost instantaneously gets his third! Both he and XU’s Crawford will hit the pine for the rest of this half and maybe even several minutes into the second.
11:43: NICE move by Chris Johnson. I tell you, I’ve been impressed with that kid all year. He’s averaging 13/7.5 and I don’t think anyone expected that from his this season.
11:48: Chris Johnson already has six boards because he’s working his tail off on the offensive glass. He’s got four offensive rebounds so far and a couple of tips that kept possessions alive that he won’t get credit in the box score for. That board that led to the Rob Lowery three (his second) was pure hustle. Then Dayton outhustles XU for the ball on the defensive end which leads to a foul and ALMOST an and-one at the other end. Great energy from Dayton so far.
11:52: While we have a break, here’s a little bit about how this will work today: I (John) will be here for the early part of the day until about 3:30 or 4:00 ET. We’ll have a break at that point until about 6:30 or 7 ET at which point NVR1983 will be along to continue with some later games. And we’ve got those three RTC Lives I mentioned above. In about four minutes, there are about a million other games that tip off, not that we’re not enjoying this one! This is just a great day of hoops. It’s a good thing I’ve gotten my exercise and done my errands already, today. By the way, Chris Johnson has nine boards and six of them are offensive. He’s already got 8/9. Xavier is staying in this at the FT line, hitting 16-17 so far. Reminiscent of the Crosstown Shootout game against Cincinnati.
12:03: As we enter halftime at Xavier with Dayton up 39-36 in a good one, there is news from Tennessee today that Bruce Pearl has reinstated Melvin Goins and Cameron Tatum for their next game versus Alabama on Sunday. Hmm…seems like they did OK without them, but I guess there’s no way you don’t add them back if they’ve been cleared legally.
12:06: Here we go, now. Over on ESPN now we have, oh, just a little meaningless match-up between #5 Syracuse and #9 West Virginia. And we have Raftery. Most excellent.
12:10: As I look back over at ESPN2, I see Dari Nowkhah, et al, talking about that situation from the Clemson/UNC game from Wednesday in which Roy Williams pulled five of his players at once, replaced them with freshmen, and then turned his back on the game while lecturing the five guys he just removed. I know Roy is pretty much the grand dame of college basketball coaches right now, and he is a legend already (there’s no disputing that) but…I don’t get this. I’m sure it was an effective motivating tool, but every TV talking head that’s talked about this has emoted about how this was such an incredible move by Roy and how they couldn’t believe that he actually — gasp! — turned his back on the game while talking to his players. What a teacher! Um…no. Coaches have been doing this for a long time, the five-for-five substitutions. And coaches turn their backs on actual game play all the time while they lecture/teach players whom they’ve just taken out of a game. I think the experts are trying to make more out of this than there is. I mean, they actually did the picture-in-picture thing during their coverage, where they showed Roy lecturing his players in the small box while showing the regular game coverage on the rest of the screen. When I saw that, I thought…REALLY, ESPN? That’s about as intense, meaningful, and relevant as the Cameron Crazy Cam from a few years back. In other words, it’s not. And with this last paragraph, I’ve just alienated an entire state of people.
12:22: Since Dayton/Xavier is actually the more exciting game right now, I’m staying there for now, and HELLO, KURT HUELSMAN. HOLY cow, that was a finish!! Two hand throwdown and a BIG hang on the rim, but that was impressive. Definitely a highlight tonight. Dayton, though, goes zone on the other end and Jason Love gets an and-one with a quick drive through it. Jason Love is a player I think deserves a little more notoriety. Smooth around the basket, physical when it’s called for, can finish, and is a good floor leader.
12:31: WVU and Syracuse are in a close one, too…19-15 early. Too much hoops goodness right now. And it’s early days yet, folks.
12:35: Getting reeeal interesting at Xavier. With that put-back dunk, Chris Johnson has the double-double at the 13-minute mark of this game. On the other end, Dante Jackson has just hit his FIFTH THREE of the game and has a career-high 19. Terrell Holloway is 10-10 from the line for XU so far. Multiple storylines in a rivalry game…this is great stuff. Oh, and look. another offensive board for Johnson. He’s got 10/12, with EIGHT of those boards offensive. NBA careers are made from this, young man.
12:44: The pace of WVU/Syracuse is still pretty slow, so XU/UD is still the better viewing option. Hey, another offensive board for Chris Johnson. Anyone surprised? That’s nine. Does it count as a triple-double if you have ten or more offensive rebounds? Nah, I don’t think so, either. But this is definitely the offensive rebounding performance of the season, in my view. Xavier’s starting to separate just a little…62-57 with 7:33 left. I can’t believe Dayton hasn’t won AT Xavier since January 1981.
12:52: This is a pivotal point for Xavier. Jordan Crawford is so important to that team, yet this is the type of situation where he slinks a little. He’s not having a great day, he’s yapping at refs, he just missed a layup. Will he stay in this game mentally? XU needs him. He oozes with talent. The pace stays quick in this one, though Xavier has their largest lead at 7. 69-62 at the under-4.
1:02: Why are there always clock issues that require stopwatches in games that involve Xavier? This is unreal. They just made a 16-second (?!?) correction to the clock and are considering more. There are less than four minutes left, people! Are these clock operators just falling asleep? Jeeeez…this is the second clock correction of the day that needed a stopwatch.
1:08: This is sad.
1:12: Holloway misses a FT but got the first, now 11-12. Xavier’s up by seven with 1:37 left and are actually looking good…UD looks uncomfortable and too hurried on offense. Meanwhile, WVU has taken a four point lead on the ‘Cuse early in the second half. And that Crawford three from a while ago had to be from about 28 feet. I guess he’s in this mentally.
1:18: Dayton’s Chris Wright gets an and-one after being allowed to catch the ball in the lane on an in-bounds, converts. 74-71 with 30 seconds. What a play by Wright.
1:24: Um…WOW. Jordan Crawford hits a fade-away 20-footer and effectively ends this one. Dayton answers with a three, and makes it a two-point game, but XU has Holloway (a 90% FT shooter) at the line. He gets both and ends it. 78-74 Xavier…and that’s 25 STRAIGHT that Dayton has lost at XU.
1:38: Alert: over on the 360, Louisville has a point lead on Pittsburgh in the second half. We’ll be keeping an eye on that, certainly. Boy, talk about a team that needs a big win…Louisville NEEDS that win. There are a LOT of games like that today, where teams that need big wins happen to find themselves up against ranked opponents. The best game right now is WVU/Syracuse with Raftery on the PBP. Syracuse has come back a little to take a two-point lead; despite the fact that we’re at the under-8 TVTO, there are only two players in double figures, both Orange men (see what I did, there?), Andy Rautins and Brandon Triche, both with 10. Louisville and Pitt are tied with less than five left.
1:51: NICE take by Brandon Triche to the goal there, taking contact, getting the and-one. Syracuse now up by eight, looking better. Raftery liked it too! Then Triche with the follow to put Syracuse up by ten. Big game by that kid. The stories in this game are the play of Triche and the fact that WVU just could not put a dent in the Syracuse zone and couldn’t shoot over it, hitting only 35.2% from the field and 31.8% so far from three.
2:08: Here it comes, people. Louisville is up five with less than 30 seconds left AT PITTSBURGH, and Clemson has blown a large lead and is only up one with a minute left at NC State. Stay tuned…
2:13: Brad Wanamaker for Pitt has hit a three and then two free throws…and Louisville/Pitt will go to OVERTIME. That groaning sound you hear is coming from the central part of the Bluegrass State. It’s on ESPN 360 and it’s a dandy. Louisville should know by now that Samardo Samuels has to touch the ball on each of their possessions, because good things often happen. Clemson held on against NC State, 73-70. And back at WVU/’Cuse, it’s a one-point game after WVU just decided to start hitting late threes. But only 3.1 left.
2:35: A lot going on. Georgia Tech has jumped out on UNC by 18 as the Tar Heels still suffer from Turnover Disease left from the Clemson game. Pittsburgh held off Louisville in the end, and that’s a devastating loss for the Cardinals because it looked like they had it; it could have been a rallying-cry win for them but they just couldn’t finish it. And Syracuse managed to finish off West Virginia by a point, 72-71. On the SEC Network/360, Mississippi is up AT Tennessee 33-28 at the half. I’ve also just found out that we will indeed have coverage here for this version of BGTD when I give up the reins at 3:30 ET, as our boy Zach will make his debut appearance — take it easy on him — until the evening games where NVR will take over. So we’re here all day!
2:51: Georgia Tech finishes the half with a pretty easy lay-in by Iman Shumpert and goes in up by 14, 42-28. Gani Lawal did get away with a foul there, but it’s not the forearm shiver that Roy Williams and Mike Patrick are making it out to be. Carolina has 12 turnovers at half and have played about five straight bad halves. I heard boos as the teams went to the locker rooms…was that at the players, or the refs? I’m thinking the former…
3:03: For commenter Giggity (and for my money, there aren’t enough Family Guy references on this site, heh), I agree. And if WVU had played with similar intensity for the whole game — or even half of it — as they played the last couple of minutes, they’d have won by about 15. But Syracuse had a lot to do with that.
3:14: In a game that I all but ignored because there’s been so much other stuff happening, and because I need about six more eyes and three more TVs, Oklahoma has broken Missouri’s nine-game win streak by winning at home, 66-61 over the Tigers. Mizzou had been knocking on the door for Top 25 consideration and probably deserve it, but this will set them back even though it was at OU. Somewhere, Pat Forde is not happy. Incidentally, Mississippi is up at Tennessee, 49-40, midway through the second half. Andy Kennedy has never beaten a team ranked in the top ten at Ole Miss.
3:18: I gotta tell you this. A while ago I tweeted out a question regarding whether or not the boos at halftime at UNC were directed at the players or the refs. The UNC fans tweeted back and said it was all at the refs. The Duke fans tweeted back and said it was all at the players. Hilarious. Seriously, how fun is this? Anyway, as we start back, UNC is still down 16 after a GREAT tip by GT’s Shumpert who has 21 already.
3:28: UNC is starting to get after it a little, and Brian Oliver just picked up his fourth foul for GT. The Tar Heel crowd is back into it. GT looks nervous, so I don’t know that this Carolina malaise will last much longer. Though I could be wrong. GT still up 12 with 14 remaining.
3:31: That’s it for me today, though I’ll still be manning the Twitter switchboard all evening. May I introduce to you our man Zach, resident bracketologist and Top 25 wrangler, now entering for his debut performance on BGTD. Break him in well, folks…
3:41: Hey everyone! Only mid-afternoon on this busy Saturday and already so many important storylines/finals. Xavier (along with Temple) may have separated themselves from Dayton and others in the A-10 race with a grind-it-out win behind Dante Jackson. Syracuse used their patented zone defense and a big second frame from freshman Brandon Triche to corral a monumental road victory in Morgantown. Pitt also came back against Louisville to continue their shocking undefeated conference run. What we’re watching now: can Georgia Tech pick up wins against Duke and now North Carolina on consecutive weekends and who will emerge victorious in Knoxville between Tennessee and Mississippi?
3:48: Has any sports program been through such a roller coaster ride than Tennessee the last 2+ weeks? The arrests of four of their main rotation players, Tyler Smith’s dismissal, the emotional win over #1 Kansas, Lane Kiffin’s shocking departure, a massive second half to squash Auburn and now a nail-biter against Ole Miss, tied 59-59 with 16 seconds left. And the SEC Network announcer (Mark Gottfried?) is screaming for the Vols to foul during a tie game. Way to be on top of things.
3:53: Ole Miss’ final possession starts VERY late and Chris Warren ends up throwing up an off-balance three that goes begging. Andy Kennedy not thrilled with the shot selection. This could be an enormous game in the SEC. Winner likely has the upper hand in my Monday bracketology for a top-four seed. And yes, that was Mark Gottfried (no wonder he got fired). In the ACC, Carolina has flipped the script in the second half to cut the Georgia Tech lead to five.
4:00: It’s been Iman Shumpert’s strongest game for the Ramblin Wreck this season. 27 points, 6 assists, 3 steals on 10-17 FG, 3-5 3pt and 4-4 FT to lead the way. For the powder blue, Will Graves had nailed a couple of key threes to lead the comeback charge. Larry Drew’s up-and-down season has continued. The good: 8 assists and 7 rebounds. The bad: 1-7 FG and five turnovers. Graves hits another three (his fourth) to give UNC the lead by one. Quite a comeback after (questionably depending on who you ask) being booed off your home floor at the end of the first half.
4:02: What a sequence in the Tennessee-Mississippi game! Southern Illinois transfer Josh Bone hits his first three of the season to give UT a 64-61 lead, but on the other end it’s Terrico White fouled draining a three. He makes the free throw to give the Rebels a one-point advantage. Meanwhile it’s 66-65 in Chapel Hill. Two great finishes on an exciting Saturday afternoon!
4:04: Larry Drew makes the biggest play of the game defensively by stripping a streaking Gani Lawal, sprinting up the floor and finding Will Graves who drains an NBA trey. 69-67 UNC under two minutes.
4:08: Chris Warren just made two huge turnovers. With the shot clock winding down, Josh Bone stripped the junior guard and it resulted in two Tennessee free throws. Then simply dribbling up the floor Warren loses the ball out of bounds and now Tennessee can win this hard-fought contest at the free throw line. Ole Miss is last in the SEC in turnovers committed due to their superior guard play which makes this result very surprising. Louisville couldn’t put the game away earlier today, can the Volunteers? J.P. Prince at the stripe up 70-67 and 6.8 seconds left.
4:14: Absolutely incredible. Fifth year senior Gani Lawal makes a jump hook in the lane, Larry Drew’s scoop layup rims out and Georgia Tech is able to run around the floor a good 10 seconds before UNC can foul. De’Andre Bell at the line with 3.4 left.
4:19: Let’s sum up the last week for Georgia Tech: defeat #5 Duke at home behind the unstoppable post play of Gani Lawal, shoot 27% from the line in a loss to Virginia, then march into Chapel Hill and beat a motivated Tar Heels team behind Iman Shumpert’s 30 points. Makes perfect sense, no? And don’t forget they lost a December home game to Florida State.
4:27: Just when one thinks Cal might run away with the Pac-10, they’re being absolutely demolished in Seattle against Washington. Both Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas have 20+ points and Cal surrendered 50 points in the first half. Guess they severely miss their best perimeter defender in Jorge Gutierrez. It’s pretty stunning that Arizona State may be the favorite in the Pac-10 despite losing James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph. The Sun Devils are first in the nation in PPG allowed at just over 54 per contest.
4:37: Time to give a shout out to Mark Fox and the job he’s done in his first season as Georgia head coach. The Illinois and Georgia Tech wins were exemplary out of conference. The Bulldogs may only be 8-7, but their improvement is extremely evident challenging Kentucky in Rupp Arena, only falling by four at home to a quality Ole Miss team and now leading by eight on the road at SEC West favorite Mississippi State. Trey Thompkins is one of the more underrated players in the nation at 17/8 per game. Remember, this team was expected to do NOTHING and in January they’re competitive against NCAA teams.
4:45: Seth Davis just pointed out a concerning statistic for Bob Huggins’ team. In West Virginia’s three losses this season, the Mountaineers have a combined six fast break points. And despite Syracuse’s 20 turnovers today, West Virginia was only able to score three points on the fast break. Why? It’s simple: WVU lacks any semblance of solid point guard play. While Villanova boasts Scottie Reynolds, Pitt features Ashton Gibbs and Syracuse has the two-headed Jardine/Triche monster, who can Huggins turn to on a fast break? Truth is in the numbers, folks.
4:53: An upset could be in the making in Boulder for three reasons: 1. The Big 12’s dominance at home as a conference, 2. Kansas State possibly looking ahead to #1 Texas on Monday and 3. Colorado has more talent than in previous seasons and did just thrash newly-ranked Baylor at home this week.
5:05: I want to like Mississippi State. I really do. Even garnered some controversy by taking them over Texas in my initial bracket as an 8-1 upset. Varnado can completely control a game inside and their guards are super-athletic and are great at attacking the rim. But man, they jack up a lot of terrible threes. And most of their team (exception: Dee Bost, who I always want with the ball in clutch situations) cannot shoot free throws. Looks like they may complete a tremendous comeback against Georgia at home up 72-69 with 39 seconds left. Their full-court press has keyed the effort.
5:13: “Mississippi State survives. And I mean survives.” That’s the astute call from Brad Nessler after a Georgia three rims out at the end of regulation. The Bulldogs were able to overcome the physicality of a motivated Georgia team behind five second half blocks from Jarvis Varnado to seal the win. Speaking of the SEC, John Wall Watch has him at 7 points and 2 assists at halftime in Auburn. Big Blue leads 39-26.
5:19: Michigan State is clicking on all cylinders against Illinois. Strong point guard play, balanced scoring, getting out in transition and holding the young Illini to 31% from the field. When Mike Tisdale is in foul trouble on the road, Illinois rarely stands a chance against a quality opponent. Looks like the Spartans could be 6-0 heading into the Barn against a solid Minnesota team in early February.
5:26: Two pretty good Big 12 games going on: Baylor leads by 1 just underway in the second half in Waco against Oklahoma State and Colorado hanging around with Kansas State. Oklahoma State sits right around the bubble; with their loss Monday at OU and a defeat today, they’d probably be on the outside looking in on Monday’s projected bracket. Their non-conference resume leaves plenty to be desired.
5:31: The Kentucky freshmen trio just made two consecutive incredible plays to extend their lead over Auburn to nine. Wall stripped a Hargrove three going up, fed Bledsoe on the break who dished to Cousins for a thunderous dunk on the other end. The speed and athleticism of those two guards are just outstanding. As Andy Katz said, you really have to see them live to appreciate it. Auburn not going away, though, and Kentucky could be in for a battle on the road in the SEC, regardless of the Tigers’ struggles this season.
5:36: What I think makes Kentucky so special is not just the stardom of Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins and Patterson, but how their role players all know, understand and appreciate their roles. Daniel Orton comes in for rebounding, interior defense and shot blocking. Darius Miller and Ramon Harris sneak up on you and hit important threes. Darnell Dodson also extends the defense. John Calipari has always been someone who’s encouraged his players to embrace those roles.
(As I say that, Auburn is nailing some huge triples and only trail #2 Kentucky by three and have the basketball).
5:41: 27-15 second half run for Baylor and they’re starting to pull away from Oklahoma State. It would be a nice rebound for them off of the disappointing performance in Boulder. That team can really score in bunches. Meanwhile, Colorado only trails Kansas State by one now. Told you that had the makings!
5:54: How do you pull off a shocking upset? Answer: make threes. Auburn is 9 of 21 behind three big second half treys by Frankie Sullivan (sounds like a 1950s greaser) and the scoring efforts of DeWayne Reed. Auburn is 9-8 and has lost to Central Florida, Troy and Sam Houston State. They trail Kentucky by 4 under four minutes left. I love college basketball. In a related story, John Wall has 9 points and 7 turnovers.
5:59: Some intriguing games right now: UK-Auburn, Baylor-Oklahoma St, ND-Cincinnati, Creighton-Wichita St and Kansas State-Colorado. Also, RTC Live going on as I type this in Eugene and Evanston. jstev will be back here at 7 ET to continue blogging the action here on BGTD.
8:02: Back a little later than we planned, but the big stories that have developed during our intermission are that Northwestern has beaten Purdue (the Boilers’ third straight loss), and Texas A&M LEADS TEXAS BY THREE with two minutes left. Donald Sloan and Bryan Davis have been HUGE for TAMU, and Damion James is the only UT starter to really have shown up today. We’re focusing on ESPN-U, and we’ll be with you until the end of this one…
8:09: What was BJ Holmes thinking there? But Texas gets almost nothing out of the time out…turns it over! With less than 30 seconds it’s TAMU by 2…
8:11: Wow. What a game and what a move by J’Covan Brown. On the ensuing TAMU possession, they don’t even get a shot off and I cannt BELIEVE that ball didn’t go in on the UT end. Overtime.
8:20: I don’t know if I agree with that. Bryan Davis just got run by accumulating a personal foul and then a technical for his 4th and 5th fouls. The T was because he gave (I think) Damion James a little shove after James yelled at him…which was right after Davis got called for a foul on what looked like a clean block. If you’re a ref, unless something is REALLY malicious, don’t you let the players decide it at this point? Still tied at 65 with 1:44…TAMU better learn that you have to hit FTs to win games like this.
8:32: And Texas holds on at the end, with a little controversy. TAMU head coach Mark Turgeon wanted a foul on Damion James on that last TAMU 3-point attempt, but no call came. I understand an official’s desire to not make that call, because it’s marginal at best and if you don’t SEE a foul, don’t ASSUME there’s a foul. The only thing you ask, though, is that the same logic is used when you consider hitting a player, ANY player, with a technical foul late in a game unless you’re sure you saw the whole exchange. You’d like each team to decide their own fates with their full complement of eligible players on the floor. Don’t now if it would changed the outcome very much, though. The big picture: Texas survives, and the undefeateds will last the weekend.
8:40: That, ladies and gents, will do it for another Saturday edition of BGTD. It’s been fun, but what Saturday full of college hoops isn’t?!? We hope you enjoyed our extra Wednesday edition as well. Right now we plan on being back next Saturday for another go at it, but if another awesome night of hoops comes along, who knows, we might throw another one in the middle of next week. Thanks for joining us and following along. We appreciate the comments/tweets/emails and everything. Keep them coming…see ya!
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West Virginia made about 8 straight 3's in the last 2 minutes of the game. That shit was nerve racking