7:02 pm ET: JStev here at RTC’s Southern Compound, and we’re starting off with Wake at UNC, but we’ve got quite a selection already. So I guess this game is one of those announcer-trade things. ESPN’s NBA announcers are calling this one. I don’t know if I’m liking this. We might get to Pitt/G’town earlier than expected…
7:16: …AND, we’re there. Faster pace, two ranked teams, and fewer people get the U so this will actually help more folks tuning in. See? We’re all about helping people at RTC. Boy, Georgetown looks comfortable early. That last move by Greg Monroe was quite tasty. NBA quality drop step and lay-in, wow. Up six early.
7:24: Just flashed over to Wake/UNC and L.D. Williams just THREW DOWN an alley-oop, following a three and a previous dunk by Al-Farouq Aminu. I know it’s mid-first half, but has UNC lost their mystique? Teams just look more confident against them this year, steadier. Back on G’town/Pitt, Gilbert Brown was going out of bounds and threw the ball off of Jerelle Benimon, and hit him right in the misters. Looks OK, though.
7:33: No sooner do I type how G’town looks comfortable than Pitt shows up to play, with two Ashton Gibbs treys and two straight dunks for Gary McGhee and his hair. Wake is up by seven AT CAROLINA. I’ve also got Cincinnati up on South Florida by three with John Saunders on the call on ESPN2. Seriously, someone tell me why I don’t have five TVs lined up here like the SportsNation videowall? I don’t know where to go…my eyes…
7:44: Halftime at Pittsburgh and they’re tied with Georgetown, 31-31. GU is 5-7 from three (71.4%), but Pitt’s mini-comeback was keyed by good shot selection and making the extra pass. They have 11 assists on 12 field goals. At UNC, it’s Wake up by three. Similarly, Wake has their lead by taking good shots, nothing crazy; 20 of their 25 FG attempts have been twos and most of them pretty close, which is why they’re shooting over 50%. Ish Smith already has 10/3/4 asst on 5-7 shooting and hasn’t tried a three. Heady player. Very impressed.
7:54: Wait a minute…is that a bit of a faux-hawk on Jimmy Dykes? Is he going to Gary Parrish’s barber?!? I actually really like Dykes either as a studio guy or doing color — in fact I think he’s one of the best. Over on the U, Lowell Galindo has grown on me throughout the year as far as how he runs the studio. I was a little down on him after that anemic midnight madness show he had to pilot, but that’s not his fault. But MAN, that is one big Windsor knot. That’s a mega-Windsor. But hey, whatever works. Anyway, back to hoops…
8:02: Gilbert Brown has hit a three and three straight shots for Pitt, and Georgetown has busted a two and a three to start the half. This is exactly how the first half began — both teams on fire, then the defense was cranked up on both sides. Enjoyable game…and as I type that, the sides trade old-fashioned three point plays. You need to turn this on if you have the U. But of course don’t turn your computer off, heh heh.
8:16: Well, hello, CBS College Sports! Stepping up with Memphis vs UTEP! By the way — and no, we’re not affiliated at all — the new Seth Davis show called Courtside that airs Monday nights on CBS-CS is now required college hoops viewing. GREAT round-table segment that’s more than just the usual timed platitudes; you get actual real analysis. You’re welcome. I thought of that since I had switched to that channel. If you have it, Arnett Moultrie is a fine forward for UTEP whose name you need to know. He’ll play at the next level. This Derek Caracter story is always interesting, and of course Memphis has won 435 straight conference games. So this game is fairly compelling. Honestly, though…five TVs. How I need you.
8:24: Wake has hit a three and a two and the lead is ten in Chapel Hill. That question I asked earlier about mystique will be answered starting at about the 8-minute mark. This is the time when, in the past, when UNC (or Duke) was down, the other team would just start making unforced errors on top of their forced ones, and UNC would salvage a win on their home court. As I’m typing, they’ve already taken two points off the lead, so we’ll see. At Pitt, it’s a one-point game and Gilbert Brown just threw down a HUGE two-handed jam.
8:34: C.J. Harris with a three for Wake. Up to 12. Then another. Up to 15. And Carolina is 3-18 (16.7) from three point range. Pitt tied with Georgetown at 56. We’re past the under-8 TVTO in both. On ESPN2 Cincinnati’s lead is six with four minutes to play against South Florida. Memphis only up five against UTEP on CBS-CS.
8:42: Going up the floor, a referee had to tell Roy Williams to calm down and stop complaining. I don’t know what he’s got to complain about in this one, because his team’s just getting beaten. I’ve seen no gross officiating deficiencies. An Ish Smith three for Wake, and it’s an 18-POINT LEAD for Wake. Did I mention…this is at UNC? Wake Forest’s defense has been excellent. And they’ve played so intelligently this evening. Roy Williams is on the verge of losing this team for this season.
8:49: ESPN-U color guy Tim Welsh — who’s VERY good tonight, by the way — just beat me to it…Greg Monroe shows you why he’s the best passing big man in the game. EXCELLENT pass to Julian Vaughn for an old-fashioned three, and G’town is up six AT PITTSBURGH.
8:53: It’s hovering around 14-16 at Wake/UNC and under two minutes. Assuming UNC drops it, that’ll be three losses in a row, and four of their last five games. 1-3 in the ACC. Hands up, who predicted that early in the year? Yeah, same people who predicted Pittsburgh doing so well….though right now, they’re down eight on their home floor to Georgetown with 31 seconds left. Quite a win for JT3 and his boys, this.
9:00: There is a chant of “Wake! Forest!” happening as we strike the top of the hour, and UNC/Wake goes final…82-69. Georgetown has beaten Pitt, 74-66, to give them their first Big East loss this season. You know what helps you beat excellent opponents on their own floor? GOING 7-10 FROM THREE, like G’town did. Cincinnati will take out South Florida, 78-70. Memphis-UTEP is a 34-33 game early in the second half on CBS-CS.
9:09: Now that rtmsf’s done with his five-hour lunch break, I’m handing off to him. Enjoy the second flight of games, folks, and thanks for joining! Certainly been fun so far…
9:22: Ok, taking over here, and I’m trying to decide what games I’m going to keep an eye on in this second half of the night. Obviously, Kansas-Baylor (KU currently up three) is on one tv… I’ve also got Duke/NCSU on the 360 viewer, and am keeping my eye on a few others, including WVU vs. Marshall and Memphis-UTEP.
9:25: Speaking of those games, WVU is up two early on the 15-2 Marshall Thundering Herd, who is having a great season with Hassan Whiteside as an impact player (seven points already). Memphis leads UTEP by one point with 12 minutes to go in the second half, and according to one of our sources, UTEP’s Jeremy Williams is making the airspace above the rim his personal dunking zone.
9:30: Not sure what the hell Quincy Acy was thinking on that one, speaking of dunks. LaceDarius Dunn’s floater was probably going to drop, but Acy grabbed it and threw it home like playing on the eight-foot rims back home. Guess he got a little too excited with being that open underneath.
9:32: Dunn has a set shot, but it’s awfully pure (41% on the year). Some other ranked teams are playing right now as well, with Villanova taking a dookie on Rutgers, BYU handling Wyoming, and Ole Miss up 13 early on South Carolina. And remember, over on RTC Live, we have the Michigan-Wisconsin game, with the Wolverines hanging onto a 2-point lead early in the second half.
9:38: Just looked in on the Duke-NCSU game in time to see State hit a big three to go up 26-19. Upset night on Tobacco Road? I’m not counting on that, but it’s definitely worth continuing to check in on.
9:40: NC State’s Horner just hit another three, and the Pack is now up 29-19 in Raleigh. NC State is hitting 61% so far. That is unlikely to continue.
9:42: Back on the KU-Baylor game and the Bears just tied it on a putback off the break. From what I’ve seen, Baylor is every bit as athletic as Kansas. Bill Self doesn’t look very happy.
9:48: Score check. UTEP still up six at Memphis, Michigan up five at Wisconsin and WVU up three at Marshall. After Wake and Georgetown’s wins on the road, is this the night of the visiting team?
9:51: Jason don’t call me Jay Williams and Ron Franklin are chuckling about a non-call on a travel by a Baylor player just a minute ago. Not sure who it was, but the player basically bobbled the ball for 25 feet down the sideline before catching it cleanly. The ref said no travel because he didn’t have control of the ball. I’ve always wondered about that, though — isn’t it therefore possible for a player to keep tipping/bobbling the ball all the way downcourt so long as he made it look unintentional?
9:55: KU’s Markieff Morris with a huge putback dunk on a Sherron Collins’ foray to the lane to tie the game at 30-all going into the half. Over in Raleigh, Nolan Smith just hit a ridiculous three with 1.0 second remaining by catching and shooting in the same motion from behind the 3-pt line. What could have been a six-point lead is three now. Great momentum builder for Duke going into the half.
10:00: CUSA is interesting tonight. We mentioned Marshall playing WVU, but Tulsa is in a crosstown battle with Oral Roberts and UTEP is up only three on Memphis now.
10:05: Over on RTC Live and the BTN, Wisconsin is on the verge of tying the game going into the final few minutes in Madison. UTEP has a three-point lead with five seconds remaining in Memphis, and Tulsa held on against ORU.
10:09: The streak has ended! Memphis’ 64-game CUSA winning streak will not reach 65, as the UTEP Miners rode Jeremy Williams for 18/12 and Christian Polk added 17 off the bench to get the big win at the FedEx Forum. We all knew this was likely to happen this year, right, but not sure that we saw it coming in a home game.
10:14: Moving into the second half of our two primary games now, both Baylor and NC State have come out strong again, with Baylor 4-0 and NCSU 9-3 to start the half.
10:17: Tracy Smith for NC State is murdering the Blue Devil defense inside. He’s 9-10 for 18 pts so far, and Duke is playing the matador just about every time he takes it to the hole. Smith is a really effective player when he gets it going, and tonight he’s got it going!
10:21: Wisconsin is about to put Michigan away in Madison. That’s what they do — they keep it close enough and then they just own the last five minutes there. Baylor-KU continue to go back and forth. The way I figure it, Baylor only has a realistic shot to win this game if they can take an 8-10 point lead in the last eight minutes. Jay Williams just called out Xavier Henry for his lack of aggressiveness. Could he be thinking League already?
10:24: Duke’s Brian Zoubek looks like he’s trying out the Jacob Pullen beard with his facial hair situation. As for the rest of the Devils, their defense is allowing NC State to hit a ridiculous 65% of their shots so far in this game.
10:30: NC State is just doing everythig right, up fourteen now, 63-49. Scott Wood just dropped a three from the right wing that looked like it may have been Kobe shooting it, that’s how confident he seemed upon the release. The phenomenon of bad/average teams getting “up” to compete with really good teams like Duke never fails to amaze me.
10:36: NC State is now up SEVENTEEN points on Duke. They just can’t miss. Still at 64% for the game. Duke is getting production from their guards, but almost nothing tonight from the corps of big men.
10:43: So if UNC and Duke both lose tonight, it’s the first time since 2003, and UNC was darn near losing to just about anyone with a pair of sneaks in those days, so that’s not too surprising.
10:47: Some life in Duke with an 8-1 run to cut it back to ten points. There’s enough time for Duke to pull this off (6 mins) and it’s not like we haven’t seen this before. On BOTH sides, actually, with Duke coming back and NC State finding ways to blow it.
10:53: Duke is down to eight now, and there’s plenty of time. If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned Kansas-Baylor, it’s because KU went on a run, but now that I’m concentrating on it again, Baylor is back! Tied 65-all with just over three minutes left. And look at Marshall making the comeback on WVU, down only three late themselves.
11:00: NC State is up nine, but KU is only up two with 1:31 left, so I’m focusing on it for now. Make that five after Sherron Collins nailed a huge three. That might do it after Baylor misses the retort. Collins is just a big-shot dude.
11:04: A 6-0 run here by Kansas pretty much seals this one. Remember what I was saying earlier about Baylor building and holding a lead? That’s why, haha. And now the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant has started, although stranger things have happened…
11:06: I really like this KU team as a national title contender, but I don’t love them. At least not yet. I loved that 08 team, on the other hand.
11:08: From the what does it take department… Baylor hits 53%, drops ten threes, and outrebounds KU in Lawrence, and still can’t win there. Turnovers are the big difference – 20 for the Bears, only 8 for Kansas.
11:10: On the other game, Duke is finished. Prep for an NC State RTC here… And there will be no debate about this one. NC State is a prime candidate for an RTC with this win tonight.
11:12: And there it is! NC State finishes off the Devils for Sidney’s Lowe’s marquee win of the year, and the students RTC (a little early for a few of them). Tracy Smith and Dennis Horner were awesome, both with 20 or more, and the Pack shreds the Duke defense for 58% from the field tonight. The ACC is a little nutty this year – just call it the Pac-10 East (ok, not that nutty).
11:16: Closing up shop here… WVU finished off Marshall late, 68-60, but they got all they wanted from the Herd tonight. That’s a pretty good team they’ve got down there in H-town. BYU, Villanova and Ole Miss all won comfortably, and we’ll cover the rest of the night’s games on tonight’s ATB.
11:18: Thanks for stopping by on another edition of Boom Goes the Dynamite, weeknight style, and we hope to see you back here on Saturday as we navigate our way through another action-packed day of games (around 140, I believe).