Rush The Court

Things have been a little slow in the college basketball world with finals and the Blogosphere has reflected that, but we’re back with another edition of ATB2. If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com.

Top 25 Games

• #2 Ohio State 83, Florida Gulf Coast 55: “It was the Jon Diebler show as the senior sharp shooter tied a school record by making nine three-point baskets. He also scored a career-high 29 points. Diebler was 9-of-13 (all threes) from the field and actually connected on nine consecutive threes. He missed his first two before making the next nine and missing his last three attempts. Jay Burson held the three-point record by himself for 22 years. Burson made nine threes against Florida in 1988 at Madison Square Garden.” (Eleven Warriors)
• #19 Minnesota 66, Akron 58: “Despite a slow start that saw them down 32-27 at halftime against an inferior opponent, the Gophers re-established their inside presence and utilized their athletic ability to take down the Akron Zips 66-58 in their last game before an eight-day finals break.” (From the Barn)

Other Games of Interest

• Gonzaga 103, Lewis-Clark State 61: “Six Gonzaga players scored in double figures tonight as the Bulldogs dominated Lewis-Clark State, an NAIA Division I team.  Elias Harris led all scorers with an efficient 19 points in 19 minutes played.  The German forward only missed on one shot attempt all night.  Rob Sacre, David Stockton, Kelly Olynyk, Mathis Monninghoff, and Sam Dower all hit double figures in the 103-61 victory. The only noteworthy item from tonight’s game is that Steven Gray’s toe injury is not serious and he was merely held out because, well, the opponent was an NAIA team.” (The Slipper Still Fits)

Pre-Game Analysis

• Game Preview: Oakland at Michigan: “Oakland heads to Ann Arbor after pulling off arguably the biggest win in program history on Tuesday night in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Golden Grizzlies knocked off #7 Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena and earned a significant amount of media coverage, national and local, in the days that followed. Coach Kampe and his players knew that they were capable of the upset bid, especially after nearly taking down Michigan State at The Palace last weekend. This weekend, Kampe and Company will play yet another Big Ten team in the Michigan Wolverines.” (Golden Grizzlies Gameplan)
• Tennessee at Charlotte Preview: “This is a game Tennessee should win, and win easily. Honestly, I’d like to see the Vols come out and destroy this team the way a really good team should. If the Vols manhandled Pitt, they should dominate this team…and if a bunch of walk-ons playing together for the first time could beat a better Charlotte team by 17 last year, the Vols should have more than enough to get it done against this Charlotte team tonight.” (Rocky Top Talk)
• Wake Forest-Xavier: Tale of the Tape: A preview of the second annual Skip Prosser Classic. (Pickin Splinters)
• Virginia Tech vs. Mississippi State: The Hokies take on the Bulldogs in what should be Renardo Sidney’s regular season debut for the Bulldogs. (Tech Hoops)

News/Analysis

• Side by Side — Pittsburgh versus Villanova (via Tennessee): “Billed in the pre-season as the “two to beat” for the Big East title, both Villanova and Pittsburgh dropped a game against Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee Volunteers. The time frame is pretty tight — about 16 days separated the two games, so the data should be comparable. Controlling for possessions, how did Villanova’s and Pittsburgh’s offense and defense stack up against Tennessee? And what can that tell us about each team? Looking at the four factors breakdown, the shooting efficiency and point distribution for offense and defense.” (Villanova by the Numbers)
• Kentucky Basketball: A Letter to Santa From John Calipari: “This is my interpretation of what Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipar might say in a letter to Santa Claus” (A Sea of Blue)
• Scoop Jardine Learns The Lessons Of The Twitter: The Syracuse guard has been active sending out a series of provocative messages on Twitter. (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
• KU’s BS (Before Selby) Stats: “With Josh Selby about to make his debut on Saturday, perhaps the most heralded Freshman debut since November 13th, 1998, I thought it would be nice to take a look at how the team and its players have performed, and how that might change with the arrival of Josh Selby.” (Rock Chalk Talk)
• A Champion Returns: “As many of you know by now, Tyus Edney has come back to Westwood and has joined Coach Howland’s staff.” (Bruins Nation)
• Video: First look at 2014 commit Trey Lyles: Some footage of Indiana’s freshman commit. (Inside the Hall)
• When Is Fab Melo’s Achilles Not His Achilles?: Questioning the extent and severity of Melo’s injury. (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
• Dancing In March: It’s What Elite Programs Do: Analyzing the recent performance of some of college basketball’s premier programs. (Bruins Nation)
• Crean talks SIU-Edwardsville, Verdell Jones’ injury, future scheduling: Indiana coach Tom Crean dealing with a variety of topics. (Inside the Hall)
• More bad news for men’s basketball, highly touted freshman T.J. Taylor quits team: Things just keep getting worse for Jeff Capel and Oklahoma. (Crimson and Cream Machine)