Michael Litos is the RTC correspondent for the CAA. You can also find his musings online at caahoops.com or on Twitter @caahoops.

Reader’s Take

The Week That Was

• Welcome Back, Kotter: Several players who will see significant playing time are now eligible—their dreams are their ticket in. Of note, Devon Moore is back running Matt Brady’s Bunch. The star point guard and preseason second team All-CAA pick made an immediate impact in his 33-minute opening act. Old Dominion has received much-needed help and solid play from both Clemson transfer Donte Hill and freshman Richard Ross. The duo has Blaine Taylor pondering a smaller lineup. And last night George Mason welcomed back Andre Cornelius from suspension. Cornelius is one of the best defenders in the conference and a lights-out (but streaky) shooter.
• The Dukes of Hazzard: They’re just two good ol’ boys who don’t mean harm, and were not selected as one of the CAAs top ten players in preseason voting. But James Madison’s Humpty Hitchens and Delaware’s Jamelle Hagins have been the best two players in the Association this year. Hagins has dominated the lane. He is eighth in the CAA in scoring (14.6 PPG), first in rebounding (11.5 RPG), second in field goal percentage (60.9%), 10th in free throw percentage (76.7%), and second in blocked shots (2.5 BPG). Meanwhile, Hitchens has been an inspiring player in Moore’s absence. The numbers are impressive, too–17.0 points per contest, a conference leading five helpers, he ranks fifth in steals, second in three-pointers made and percentage and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio.
• The Facts of Life: VCU senior Bradford Burgess and James Madison senior Julius Wells have each taken the good and taken the bad, and in their fourth seasons carry impressive streaks. Burgess has made 121 consecutive starts, the longest active streak in Division I basketball and tied for the most all-time at VCU. Wells hasn’t had a bad career himself. He’s started 108 straight games, second on the Dukes’ career list.

Andre Cornelius' Return Couldn't Come At A Better Time

Power Rankings

1. VCU (8-3): The Rams are simply devastating opponents with their defense. In the past three games, VCU  has outscored opponents 92-21 in points off turnovers. After a 14-steal night in their Tuesday win over UAB, the Rams now lead the country in opponent’s turnover rate at 29.1% and are second in steal percentage (16.0%).
2. George Mason (7-4): One up, one down. On the night the Patriots got hyper-quick point guard Andre Cornelius back from suspension, they announced reserve big man Paris Bennett was being suspended for two games. You can bet Paul Hewitt is ready for the start of conference season. The Duquesne game represented the end of an 11-day layoff for Mason, and it didn’t go well. Old problems surfaced even with Cornelius’s 11 points. They didn’t defend on inbounds plays and in open court, and were outplayed by Duquesne in an 11-point home loss. It broke an 18-game home winning streak. Read the rest of this entry »

Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter.  See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

Tu Holloway is back from suspension to face Casper Ware and Long Beach State

There are too many three and four star games tonight to count, so in the interest of analyzing a few teams we have not touched on before, we picked three neutral court games that should be great.  Let’s get to the action.

Missouri vs. Illinois – 9:00PM EST on ESPN2 HD (****)

• There are two reasons Missouri is flat-out destroying opponents this season — they shoot lights out and they protect the ball. The Tigers are first in the country in eFG% at 60% and first in the country in offensive turnover rate at 13.6%.  It is very difficult to beat a team that hits a majority of its shots and does not have empty possessions.  The Mizzou offense will be matched up against a solid Illinois defense. The Illini gets on the defensive boards and blocks shots.  Unfortunately, Bruce Weber’s guys are a little soft on their perimeter defense giving up 35.5% from three. Tiger guard Kim English, who shoots a ridiculous 53.2% (33-62) from beyond the arc, could have a field day tonight if not checked.
• Illinois cannot try to outshoot Missouri tonight.  They will get blown off the court if they do.  They must focus on defense if they are to have a chance.  Keep an eye on 7’1” Illini center Meyers Leonard and what impact he has on the game against a small-ish Tigers team.  The tallest Mizzou starter is the 6’8” Ratliffe, who will have to check Meyers.  However, there is still a significant size difference.  Meyers will need to have a career game to lead Illinois to a victory.
• Missouri’s shooting will dictate who wins this game.  If the Tigers shoot their average, they should take the victory.  Expect them to shoot a few more threes than normal against a weak Illini perimeter defense.  If Illinois is to keep this game close, Meyers will have to find a way to dominate on both ends of the floor.  Illinois needs to slow the game down and D.J. Richardson needs to continue to protect the ball against the Tiger press for the guys in orange to have a fighting chance.

Baylor vs. St. Mary’s – 10:30PM EST on ESPN3 (****)

• In Baylor’s last game against a West Coast Conference team, it barely escaped 86-83 at BYU.  Despite being outshot by Baylor by a significant margin, the Cougars kept the game close by dominating the offensive boards.  St. Mary’s is a better offensive rebounding team than BYU, so keep an eye on how many offensive boards the Gaels grab in this game.  With Baylor blocking so many shots and creating steals on 13% of opponents possessions, their long and athletic front line makes scoring on them very difficult. Speaking of front lines, keep an eye on the Bears’ forwards Perry Jones, Quincy Miller, and Quincy Acy on offense as well.  St. Mary’s does not have the same level of athletes to match-up with the trio.
• Baylor is by far the toughest test of the season for Randy Bennett’s team.  Keep an eye on how the Gaels handle the initial Baylor onslaught.  In order for the Gaels to stay in this game, they need to own the boards on both ends.  They are currently one of the top defensive rebounding teams in the country and solid on the offensive boards as well. St. Mary’s guard Matthew Dellavedova is going to have to shoulder the offensive load.  Keep an eye on how he responds to the pressure.
• St. Mary’s appears to be outmanned in this game, so hustle will be the key for them.  The size of the Baylor frontcourt could be too much for the Gaels.  Rebounding will be the key factor.  Baylor shoots the ball very well, but SMC can keep in close if they hit the boards.  Baylor needs to hang on to the ball and take advantage of their athleticism and length to win.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three thoughts about each team I garnered from Wednesday’s game in Chapel Hill. The observations on North Carolina probably hold a little more water, as the team is much more experienced. On the other hand, Texas will probably improve significantly between now and the end of the season.

• Reggie Bullock isn’t just getting love from bloggers for his defense; Roy Williams put the sophomore on Texas’ explosive J’Covan Brown whenever Bullock was in the game. Bullock’s length (he’s 6’7″) was definitely a factor, but he also did a very good job staying in front of Brown on most plays. After the game Williams’ one criticism was that Bullock didn’t box out well. But Bullock has earned the spot as the first substitute to enter the game (for Dexter Strickland), and his offensive skills make North Carolina a much more dangerous team when he’s in the game.

• Texas needs Myck Kabongo and Rick Barnes on the same page. Last night Barnes benched his star point guard for a lack of “discipline” and “purpose” on offense. Without Kabongo, Texas isn’t nearly as dangerous. The forwards in particular really need a facilitator to create play-making opportunities. Kabongo is also lethal in transition. The bottom line is your second-best player can’t be riding the pine in big games.

Reggie Bullock has Earned a Spot in North Carolina's Main Rotation.

• Harrison Barnes played his best game of the year offensively. Frankly, it’s not even close. Barnes scored in nearly every way possible. He scored in catch-and-shoot situations, isolation sets and on put-backs. He only had four offensive rebounds, but watching the game it felt like at least six or eight of his points came off those rebounds. This is the Harrison Barnes people were expecting when they picked him as a NPOY frontrunner.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Let’s start things off with a wrap-up of the latest Shabazz Muhammad buzz. Five Star Basketball reported on Wednesday that he had cut his list to six schools: Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Arizona and UNLV, in the order in which he mentioned them, for those wishing to come up with yet another clue as to his intentions. USC and Texas A&M were among the schools trimmed off the list. Muhammad confirmed that Sean Miller still had the Wildcats in the running, even with (or maybe because of) the already stacked recruiting class headed to Tucson. But if you ask Nerlens Noel (currently the #2 rated recruit in the 2013 class, according to ESPNU) or Brandon Bibbs, either UCLA or Kentucky are the favorites. There had been a report last week from Jerry Meyer that Muhammad was losing interest in UCLA, however, so as always, this story is a long ways from being decided.
2. USC hosts Kansas tonight at the Galen Center, and if recent history is any indication, the Trojans might have a chance. Although the Pac-12 is just 9-37 against ranked teams the last three seasons, USC owns four of those nine wins. And with the Trojans coming off their best offensive performance of the season, and Kansas coming off a loss to Davidson and still working to get point guard Tyshawn Taylor back in the groove after knee surgery, perhaps Kevin O’Neill has his team primed to pull a whopper.
3. Arizona State lost on a late three-pointer for the third time in as many games on Wednesday night, when Fresno State’s Kevin Olekaibe hit a go-ahead three with 30 seconds left to send the Sun Devils to their third straight loss. But ASU head coach Herb Sendek wanted to look beyond the play in the final minute, as the team blew a 17-point lead and played “despicable” defense in the second half. Olekaibe scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half and sparked a 23-4 Bulldog run that put FSU up, prior to ASU responding and taking the lead back. After a Kyle Cain three-point play put the Sun Devils back up, Olekaibe drove the final nail in the ASU coffin, sending them to 4-8 on the year.
4. More good news out of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, as junior guard Glen Dean, just one week removed from brain surgery to repair a ruptured blood vessel, was able to watch Utah practice. Head coach Larry Krystkowiak hopes Dean, a transfer who is sitting out this season, will be able to return to practice fully sometime in early January, and a complete recovery is expected.
5. Lastly, Tony Woods is getting a second chance at a college basketball career at Oregon, after transferring from Wake Forest following a guilty plea to a charge of assault on his girlfriend. While Woods’ game is still raw, head coach Dana Altman is hoping to mold a difference maker out of the 6’11” junior, building his post-up game while keeping on him to give consistent effort on the defensive end. And Woods is buying in and happy, saying that “life is good here.”

In his brief college career, Anthony Davis is better known for his defensive presence as he is still developing his offensive skills. In his power rankings earlier this month, Luke Winn charted Davis’ possessions playing in John Calipari’s offensive sets in the game against North Carolina. A concerning trend emerged that Davis received the ball in the post on just 5.7% of his touches. Winn stated that “one gets the sense that the Wildcats are still figuring out how best to use him on offense, even though he’s shooting 70.9 percent on his two-point attempts.” You may remember we analyzed Kentucky’s use of the post game in a piece just a few days earlier. I believe that Calipari’s use of Davis on the perimeter is done purposely with the intent of opening him up for a cut into the lane to set up the lob pass as you can see in both play #1 and #2 of that post. Davis is not going to overpower opposing big men. His strengths are his quickness and athleticism for a 6’11” center, and it seems like Calipari is setting Davis up to take advantage of slower fives.

Should Calipari Utilize Davis More Often In The Post?

With Terrence Jones out with a dislocated finger, Kentucky’s biggest (and only) post threat was on the sidelines for Tuesday’s warm-up game with Samford. Davis has not been utilized as a post-up player this season, likely because he weighs all of  220 pounds. However, Samford’s center Drew Windler is 6’9″ and 195 pounds. If ever there was a time to post Davis up, Tuesday night would have been the night. It seemed like now would be a good time to do a follow up on Winn’s original work, so I decided to chart each of Anthony Davis’ touches on offense.

This is a play by play of each possession in which Davis touched the ball within the Kentucky offense against Samford:

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Congratulations to five Big 12 players for earning spots on the watch list for the Bob Cousy Award, an honor for the nation’s best point guard. In no particular order, here are the candidates from the league: Michael Dixon (Missouri), Pierre Jackson (Baylor), Myck Kabongo (Texas), Dash Harris (Texas A&M) and Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas). All are fine point guards. Except there’s a problem here. Where’s Phil Pressey? You know, the Missouri’s starting point guard? The guy averaging six assists per game during a breakout sophomore season? We are not saying Pressey is definitively the nation’s best point guard, but he’s got to at least be in the conversation at this point. Most basketball analysts would agree with that statement, and it’s not that much to ask. The fact that the Cousy Award listed 65 other candidates on this list in front of Pressey raises some questions about their credibility.
2. Pressey isn’t the only player having a breakout year. Steven Pledger is a new man at Oklahoma, and he says it’s due to a certain summer activity back home. His hard work is paying off, that’s for sure. He’s shooting more than 50% from three-point range, and he’s been the catalyst for a much-improved Sooners team. With a better point guard in Sam Grooms and an improved frontcourt, don’t expect Pledger’s hot start to fade once Big 12 play begins. He’s the kind of player Lon Kruger can build around in Norman.
3. Kansas State begins play in the Diamond Head Classic this afternoon against Southern Illinois, and the Wildcats are hoping to get back to their roots: defense. Traditionally, that’s what SIU hangs its hat on, too, though the Salukis are hardly the power they were several years ago. Bruce Weber and Matt Painter started the tradition of tough-nosed, chip-on-your-shoulder defense, and current coach Chris Lowery continued that with a run to the Sweet 16 several years ago. During the past few seasons, however, external factors such as massive transfers and roster turnover has kept Lowery’s program in the cellar of the Missouri Valley. This is a game Kansas State should expect to win, but it will need to grind against this group.
4. Bill Self got a some good news this week by landing a commitment from Brannen Greene, a 2013 prospect from Georgia. Greene, a 6’8” wing, is ranked in the top-50 of Rivals.com’s 2013 list and could have played at just about any school in America. Although we’re sure he’s a heck of a basketball player, it’s also nice to see that Greene is a 4.0 student who had an offer to play for Tommy Amaker at Harvard. Yes, the sappy “student-athlete” stories are overdone by the media, and they can seem a little forced, but let’s at least try to recognize a good student when we see one. Brannen, keep up the good work when you get to Kansas.
5. Speaking of Kansas recruiting, here’s a look at how Self’s philosophy has shifted in that department lately. It seems his staff has gotten more aggressive in the recruiting game, hoping to keep up with this cutthroat world. There had been a little talk in the blogosphere (a reliable source, of course) that Self’s recruiting had slipped. Obviously, it hadn’t really slipped, but compared to Kansas standards, Self wasn’t making waves nationally like he used to. With pickups like Greene, though, he’s getting back into the game in a big way.

1. Before Vanderbilt‘s much needed 31-point victory over Lafayette the Commodores were coming off a bad loss to Indiana State. Just how bad? Vanderbilt’s offense was putrid as you can see from these statistics. They scored just 0.83 points per possession, their worst offensive output of the year (tied with Cleveland State game). It was also the worst field goal percentage and three point percentage that Vanderbilt has had since the Cleveland State game at the beginning of the year. How much better did the Commodores play on Wednesday night against Lafayette? A lot better. Sharp shooter John Jenkins scored just 11 points (3-10 FG) against Indiana State, but rebounded against the Leopards for 27 points (9-12 FG). That is more along the lines of what Vanderbilt will need from Jenkins to continue its winning ways.
2. Terrence Jones has not lived up to his preseason hype so far this year. The preseason All-American came back to Kentucky this year to improve his NBA draft status and maybe even win a championship for his Wildcats. Both remain to be seen, but at this point it seems he is more likely to get the latter. Jones is averaging 12.4 points and 6.2 rebounds on 48.4% shooting from the field. Those are not the All-American numbers that were expected from him this year. Jones missed Kentucky’s last game against Samford and is likely to miss today’s game with Loyola. It will be interesting to keep an eye on Jones’ body language even more than his play. Jones looked frustrated and disinterested in a loss to Indiana last week, but he has vowed to silence his critics with positive play once he returns.
3. Tennessee broke out of an early season slump, and they did it the old fashioned way–with tough, hard-nosed defense. Cuonzo Martin‘s club forced North Carolina-Asheville into nine first half turnovers, but were down 35-32 going into the locker room. The Volunteers held the Bulldogs to 37.5% shooting in the second half to eventually secure the victory. Tennessee appears to have more of a scoring by committee approach as the top three scorers on the team are separated by 0.6 points per game. The top scorer in the UNC-Asheville game was  Renaldo Woolridge,  who had a  career-high 17 points. Tennessee needed this win after the Vols had lost their previous four games and six of their last seven.
4. Free throw shooting has been a major factor in determining how Arkansas has done this season. In the Hogs 71-57 victory over Eastern Kentucky, they were 17-18 from the free throw stripe in the first half and finished  29-35 for 82.9% on the night. This was drastically different from the previous game where Arkansas struggled from the line, shooting 11-23 (47.8%). Arkansas narrowly won that game, escaping with a 62-55 win over Southeastern Louisiana. Coach Mike Anderson has required the Razorbacks to shoot 500 free throws a week, and it looks like the hard work may be paying off.
5. Trever Releford willed the unranked Alabama Crimson Tide to victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Wednesday night. Releford scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half while the Tide played without forward JaMychal Green. Three-point shooting had been the achilles heel for Alabama, and the Tide hit six of nine three pointers in the first half (7-15 3FG overall). The 46.7% three-point shooting accuracy was the Tide’s best all season. Several freshmen got additional playing time with Green out of the lineup, which is a good sign that Alabama was still able to secure the victory.

1. Wilmington Star News: North Carolina finally showcased its “championship potential” according to Brett Friedlander in its dominant buzzer-to-buzzer victory over Texas last night. The win also wiped away Roy Williams only winless series (against teams he’s faced multiple times since being in Chapel Hill). I would argue that the Tar Heels performance at Kentucky was nearly as impressive (they didn’t play as well, but it was in a very hostile environment against a much better team). Still, this was the team people expected when they universally picked the Tar Heels atop their preseason polls.
2. Durham Herald-Sun: This season is the first time in Austin Rivers‘ life that he’s been able to play in front of his dad. Unfortunately, he’ll have to readjust to his father’s absence with the NBA starting back up on Christmas Day. But it sounds like both generations enjoyed Doc Rivers‘ chance to watch his son start his career at Duke. It will be interesting to see how many more Duke games the Celtics’ coach will be able to attend this season, if any, with the condensed NBA schedule.
3. Hampton Daily Press: For the first time in a few years, Virginia and Virginia Tech appear to be the rulers of the state in basketball, as both ACC teams check in in the top-50 of the RPI. A down ACC will help the teams’ possibilities of making the Big Dance, but I still doubt the Hokies sneak in as an at-large. Last year, neither team made the NCAA Tournament, but five total schools from Virginia did. This year, one or two others may sneak in, but Virginia is the commonwealth’s best shot at an at-large bid.
4. Pensacola News Journal: Florida State‘s game against in-state rival Florida may not determine the success of a given season (like in football), but you can bet your bottom dollar that the coaches and players on both sides are fired up about the game. For the Seminoles, it’s a chance to touch up three early season mishaps. For both teams it’s a chance at a rival and probable NCAA Tournament team. It’ll be a fascinating match-up: elite offense versus elite defense.
5. Testudo Times: Maryland takes on Radford tomorrow. To be clear, Radford is not good this year. But Maryland fans are looking forward to this game, as it may be their first look at Maryland’s offense with Pe’Shon Howard (MVPe’) back in the line-up since he was forced to the bench with a broken foot in October. Howard’s return should take some of the pressure off Terrell Stoglin to create everything and possibly open up some looks for Nick Faust and Sean Mosley in the process.

1. In honor of the holiday, our good friends at Ballin’ is a Habit put together a Christmas Wish List for Louisville and as is the norm with those guys, there is lots of good analysis to go around. I have no idea who Claire Bennett is because I don’t watch Heroes and personally I would have chosen Wolverine if I was looking for an example of the powers of regeneration, but the point is salient. The Cardinals need to get healthy and stay healthy. But perhaps the most intriguing bit of analysis was about the subtle decline in some of their key players’ three-point shooting percentage. I knew the Cardinals weren’t play as uptempo as last year, but I admit I didn’t realize so many players were struggling from beyond the arc. This is something that can probably be rectified as the season continues, and with the way Louisville plays defense, they will have a chance against whomever they play. But if they want to be considered legitimate title contenders, they will need to find some true scorers and having guys shoot the three-ball better will certainly help.
2. Those same friends also tipped us to the short story of how Connecticut‘s star freshman Andre Drummond basically refused to take a scholarship away from redshirt freshman Michael Bradley when he enrolled early with the Huskies. The story is that, for now, Drummond counts as a walk-on as long as the financial aid he receives is non-institutional, and Bradley is back on scholarship. The school deferred to the wishes of Drummond and his family, who made the classy and selfless move to essentially pay his own way, although, as Ballin’ is a Habit pointed out, his future earnings will mean he probably won’t worry about student loans the same way most regular college students do. In a year where criticism of coddled freshmen and their handlers has run rampant, it is nice to hear that perhaps the most ballyhooed freshman in the entire class is staying grounded and refusing preferential treatment that a teammate so selflessly offered him. So Bradley gets to continue using an athletic scholarship he earned, and a future star who has had everything handed to him is showing maturity beyond his years. Great story all around.
3. This note should cheer up some Villanova fans who are wondering whether their favorite program is on the verge of falling back to mediocrity. The Philadelphia Daily News wrote that despite their struggles this season, the Wildcats can basically pick and choose top local talent much to the dismay of other Big 5 programs like Temple and Saint Joseph’s. The reasons are pretty obvious: recent success, larger fan-base, and national media exposure. None of the other teams in the immediate area can boast of those traits and that’s why the article says the recruiting gap has widened in recent years. There have been rumbles from the fans about whether Jay Wright should be on the hot seat given the team’s last two seasons and to that I say pump the brakes folks. This guy has 12 NCAA Tournament wins since 2005 and his recruiting prowess in both Philadelphia and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic corridor is one of the primary reasons why. That said, the current team is underwhelming to say the least. Check back tomorrow for more in-depth analysis on why.
4. A good quick hitter from the folks at CBS Sports on the development of Louisville sophomore Russ Smith, who helped spark the Cardinals comeback against College of Charleston last night. The most relevant point is hidden near the bottom and it is that star guard Peyton Siva still has not recovered fully from a bone bruise in his ankle and his play this season seems to indicate the bruise is affecting him more than anyone is letting on. Siva was 0-5 from the field last night and is averaging less than 10 points per game on the season, which would be a problem for any other team in the country that has a star suffering through a scoring drought. For Louisville it just means that Rick Pitino gets to look down the bench, find his next unheralded guard, plug him in, and expect consistent and solid play from him. Just like that. Smith was a three-star coming out of high school and now he is a sophomore with a big role on both ends of the floor for one of the ten best teams in the country.
5. Did anyone else notice the building feud between West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and his second-leading rebounder Deniz Kilici? Okay so it isn’t exactly a building feud, it is more of a one-game disagreement between the junior and his coach, but I still love the brutally honest evaluations of his players that we have come to expect from Huggy Bear. It is also telling to see that no matter how badly Huggins lays into Kilici, the big man still loves his coach and wants his approval more than anything. Huggins is extracting the most out of Kilici, who has doubled his scoring average and has become a more consistent and physical interior presence. This only proves that with Huggins tough love is effective.

1. Andre Drummond‘s arrival at Connecticut was met with quite a bit of fanfare, but there was also an element of unhappiness with how it was handled after the school took away a scholarship from another player (Michael Bradley, who literally spent time as a child in an orphanage) and gave it to Drummond citing a NCAA restriction against a recruited player coming in as a walk-on. It turns out that the school misinterpreted the rule and Drummond has been a walk-on since early November as the rule was actually that a player could walk-on as long as any financial aid was non-institutional. Drummond’s status as a walk-on only became public when Drummond mentioned that he was walk-on to the media. One other mildly interesting tidbit from the report is Drummond reportedly telling Bradley, “I’ll pay my way and take a scholarship next year.” We are not ready to buy into the hype that Connecticut fans are giving it as a sign that Drummond is coming back next year, but it is still amusing.
2. Federal prosecutors have set up a phone and an e-mail hotline (both listed in the link) in an attempt to gather more information to build their case against former Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine. We don’t think this says anything about the state of the investigation despite claims by quite a few Syracuse fans (not the majority) that this move reeks of desperation. We have obviously seen this work on countless movies and TV shows, but we are not familiar with any data on its utility in real-life situations. Obviously, doing so allows for anonymous people to come forward with legitimate information that they might not otherwise report, but it also allows for anonymous people to come forward with false information that they might not otherwise report.
3. Shabazz Muhammad, the #1 recruit in the class of 2012, has narrowed his list down to six schools: Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Arizona, and UNLV. In the video interview, Muhammad briefly discusses John Calipari being in the stands at a recent game, Sean Miller going to a practice, support from rabid UNLV fans, UCLA’s losses, and how he would fit into Duke’s system. As former Kentucky legend Rex Chapman notes, this announcement might be a little deceptive in its nature. We still have no idea when Muhammad intends on announcing his top choice, but with that list of schools we are certain that our little corner of the Internet universe will explode when he does announce.
4. Jabari Bird, one of the top recruits in the class of 2013, has also narrowed his list and is reportedly considering just three schools: Arizona, California, and Washington. The latter two schools have apparently been very aggressive in their pursuit of Bird recently. While Bird isn’t quite the caliber of recruit that Muhammad is a commitment from Bird might be a bigger deal at the schools he is considering with the exception of Arizona than a commitment from Muhammad would mean for any of the schools that he is considering. Like Muhammad, Bird has not announced a date so theoretically this could drag on for more than a year before we know where Bird is headed.
5. If there is one team that has been asking Santa for a win as a Christmas gift this holiday season it has to be Towson, who is on the verge of going a full calendar year without winning a game. The Tigers last won a game on December 29, 2010 when they beat La Salle 93-90 in overtime. Since that time they have lost 30 straight games and while they had a few close calls last year they have only had a shot at winning one game this season (a four-point loss to UMBC). To be fair, they did open up this season against an absolutely brutal schedule. At this point they have two games standing between them and 0-for-2011. On Friday, they play at home against Vermont and then the following Friday they head to Virginia for what would be their last shot at a win this season. Unfortunately, we don’t see them winning either of those games. In fact, according to Ken Pomeroy, who ranks the Tigers #343 out of 345 Division I schools, they won’t be favored in any of their remaining games (their best chance is January 11, 2012 at home against William & Mary) and have a 19.4% chance of a winless record this season. If it is any consolation, they are still a long way off New Jersey Institute of Techonology’s magical run, which ended at 51 games. However, if they were to lose all of their remaining games (including one conference tournament game), they would end the year with a 50-game losing streak, which would mean their 2012-13 season opener could be to tie the Division I record for futility.