Around The Blogosphere: December 12, 2010
Posted by nvr1983 on December 12th, 2010
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Top 25 Games
- #11 Tennessee 83, #3 Pittsburgh 76: “Tennessee just DISMANTLED the #3 team in the nation on what was essentially their home court a day after learning a player they were counting on and practicing around wasn’t going to be available. Ho hum. Just another day in the life of Bruce Pearl and the Tennessee Volunteers. Don’t let the score fool you. After Pitt scored the first basket, it was All Vols. For the first eight minutes or so, it was a kind of stealthy ravaging. Up one. Up three. Up six. Eight. And then, with a little over twelve minutes to play in the first half you suddenly noticed that Tennessee was simply having its way with the Panthers and that it wasn’t a fluke. They were just beating them like it was what they were designed to do. And it looked almost effortless.” (Rocky Top Talk)
- #4 Kansas 76, Colorado State 55: “The Jayhawks move to 9-0 tonight and head for a long week off before playing Southern California next Saturday. The game had a few scares but they weren’t provided by the Rams. Marcus Morris missed a large chunk of the first half after rolling his ankle under the basket. Elijah Johnson also missed time due to an injury of some sort, theories included a separated shoulder, a torn tricep, and maybe a hangnail was ripped off. Both players logged significant time in the 2nd half, so neither appears to be very serious at this point. As to the actual game, it was kind of a “we’re better than you, so please quit causing us problems” type of game. Intensity came and went throughout. The Jayhawks had trouble finding their rhythm in the high/low offense and didn’t have Marcus Morris to bail them out. Colorado Sate had the lead cut down to 5 early in the second half and appeared to have raised Bill Self’s blood pressure. The effect of that was for Kansas to go on their typical run and building a 15 point lead for the next several minutes. As time went on, Kansas just continued to build the lead and won by 21.” (Rock Chalk Talk)
- #5 Kansas State 68, Loyola (IL) 60: The Wildcats won a close game in what was Jacob Pullen’s homecoming. (Bring on the Cats)
- #6 Michigan State 77, Oakland 76: Taking a look from the Golden Grizzlies’ perspective about a pair of losses this week to Michigan State and Illinois. (Golden Grizzlies Gameplan)
- #14 Syracuse 100, Colgate 43: “45 years ago, Syracuse and Colgate staged an epic game. Today, Colgate didn’t even score 45 points. Every single player on the Syracuse roster played and the Orange held the Raiders to a mere eight points in the first half as they enjoyed a 100-43 breather after the big Michigan State win. It was a one-sided affair, to say the least.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
- #16 Purdue 77, North Florida 57: “Purdue enjoyed a delicious cupcake at home tonight and played Purdue basketball for one half and then simply put it on cruise control in the second. JaJuan Johnson had 25 for the Boilermakers while E’Twaun Moore had 21 and the rest of the team napped on the bench.” (Boiled Sports)
- #18 Minnesota 71, Eastern Kentucky 58: “Braving blizzard-like conditions and hitting the floor without one of their leaders, the Gophers overcame a slow start against a pesky 1-3-1 zone to take down Eastern Kentucky in game that was expected to be a blowout from the beginning.” (From the Barn and The Daily Gopher)
- #21 Kentucky 82, Indiana 62: “The very best thing I can say about this game is that we won. Let’s be honest, this was not Kentucky’s best game, but I will say that this was the best they have finished a game all year. They were struggling against an inferior but dangerous opponent, and I have seen UK teams fail open in that situation like a burnt-out circuit breaker. But not this team. In the end, the way they finished this tough rivalry game is encouraging. The way Kentucky played 32 of the 40 minutes is a bit disconcerting, but as the old golf saying goes, “It isn’t how, it’s how many.” This team got it done in the end when other teams haven’t in similar situations.” (A Sea of Blue and Inside the Hall)
Other Games of Interest
- UCLA 72, Cal Poly-SLO 61: “The Bruins needed this one badly for more reasons than we can count. Cal Poly hung in tight in the first half, taking advantage of slow interior rotations and some timely outside shooting early to put thoughts of Montana back into the minds of the Bruin faithful. UCLA was able to exploit their considerably size advantage inside to come away with an 8 point halftime lead, but then proceeded to sleepwalk out of the locker room and let the Mustangs back into it. It was a close game until Jerime Anderson of all people hit back to back 3s and followed up with another deep 2 to put Cal Poly in deep trouble. The Bruins rode rather shaky defense and sloppy offense to the final horn by a score of 72-61.” (Bruins Nation)
- Oklahoma 73, Oral Roberts 60: “Again, not a win against a Big 12 caliber opponent but still marked improvement. This was a big win for a team that has struggled through the first 10 games of the season. Not only was it a comfortable win over their strongest home opponent yet but it also raised their season record back to .500 at 5-5. Up next is Cincinnati in the All College Classic.” (Crimson and Cream Machine)
News/Analysis
- Never Nervous Purvis: In addition to their big win over UNLV yesterday the Cardinals also received a commitment from the #1 point guard in the class of 2012. (Card Chronicle)
- Becoming the Villain: “Duke is number one until somebody proves otherwise. But right now, no other team in college basketball has been as impressive as the Vols. Love us or hate us, Tennessee cannot be denied. We play the way we played today, and we’ll become the villain. And the way we handle adversity, that’s more than fine with me.” (Rocky Top Talk)
- Post-Game Press Conferences from Indiana-Kentucky: Jeremiah Rivers and Christian Watford (Link #1); Tom Crean (Link #2)
