It was a relatively quiet day of college basketball yesterday with most of the nation eating themselves into a food coma, but things will be picking up this weekend. If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com.
Recaps
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California 57, Temple 50: “Temple could not limit turnovers and costly mistakes against California in the first round of the Old Spice Classic. At times it seemed as if these guys didn’t want it as much as the Golden Bears did, and that’s exactly what ended up happening. We look back on TU’s first loss of the year.” (Owlified)
Pre-Game Analysis
- Quick Look at Maryland-Elon: ” Today, Terrapin fans feasted on turkey. Tomorrow, Terrapins will feast on Elon. That, or something will have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Remember that awful Wake Forest team, the one that lost to Stetson (who has since lost to Bethune-Cookman by 12) and Winthrop (who has since lost to Hampton)? Yeah, they beat Elon by 19. I’m not saying that the Phoenix are a bad team, and they’re certainly better than Maryland’s last opponent, Delaware State, but they are another opponent lined up in the midst of cupcake season, and there’s a reason for that.” (Testudo Times)
- Mini-Preview: Virginia Tech (3-1) vs. Oklahoma State (4-0): “Tech needs to come out and expect to win. Play hard for 40 minutes, something VT hasn’t done yet this year, and the Hokies can prevail if they force turnovers and limit second chance points. This is a chance against a quality program that was in the NCAA Tournament last year and would good on VT’s tourney resume this season. Tech has to cash in these opportunities.” (Tech Hoops)
- Owls Will Try to Bounce Back Against Georgia Today: “The Owls did not come back from their 11-day break strong, falling to California in the first round of the Old Spice Classic. Temple will get right back into play later today against Georgia, who lost to Notre Dame in a heartbreaking and tiring double OT. Both teams are now part of the loser’s bracket of the OSC.We will take some time to get to know our opponents for tomorrow, the GEorgia Bulldogs.” (Owlified)
Commentary
- Where will UConn be ranked on Monday?: “If you’re looking for history, the highest a team has ever jumped into the polls is Kansas’ 1989 squad. The defending-champion Jayhawks were unranked before beating the No.1, No. 2 and No. 25 ranked teams in the perseason NIT. The next week they came in at No. 4. In 2001, Arizona entered at the No. 8 spot after beating No. 2, No.7 and No. 23, and last year, Syracuse went from unranked to No. 10 in the poll after beating Cal and North Carolina. I doubt UConn will be able to match Kansas’ mark, but they should come in pretty high. My gut says the Huskies will come in around No. 8, so I’ll go with that.” (The UConn Blog)
- The 2010 NIT Tip-Off — A log5 Look at the Last Day: “The semi-final games have decided the match-ups for the last round in the 2010 Tip-Off Tournament. Pythagoras may have prevailed with absolute accuracy, but the exact route was not as predictable (and nevertheless very interesting), as Ray Floriani reported in the previous post. Looking ahead to the Third Place and Championship games…” (Villanova by the Numbers)