Ok. Let’s get the “yeah, but…” out of the way. Yeah, UCLA dominated. But, it was just James Madison, the last team to get its 2012-13 season underway. I could tell you about how the Dukes were starting four seniors after an injury-plagued year last season, and I could tell you about the how this team has a chance to make some noise in CAA play later this year, but, yeah, it’s just James Madison. Yeah, this was only the third time UCLA has hit the century mark in the Ben Howland era. But yeah, this was just James Madison.

Jordan Adams Became The First UCLA Freshman To Score 20 Or More Points In Three Consecutive Games (Jeff Gross, Getty Images)

But, way back in April when Howland was putting the finishing touches on the nation’s #1 rated class, this is the kind of game that Bruin fans and college basketball aficionados had in mind. Led by point guards Larry Drew II and Kyle Anderson, the Bruins were out in transition early and often, with players such as Norman Powell and the history-making Jordan Adams running the wings and alternately knocking down threes or slamming home tomahawk jams on the break. When it came to the halfcourt game, the Wear Twins and big guys Joshua Smith and Tony Parker dominated the smaller JMU team, scoring in the paint and causing trouble on the defensive end. Not only were the Bruins playing very effective basketball, but they were doing it in a very exciting manner. Really, there was very little to nitpick about the UCLA performance in the first half. And, by halftime it was all but over. But, let’s pick out a handful of Bruins (apologies to Drew, the Wears and Parker for the omission) and break down the mostly good and little bit of bad tonight, with a heavy emphasis on the dominating first half.

• Kyle Anderson: Let’s start with the one Bruin who struggled a bit offensively tonight. Sure, Anderson wound up with 12 boards and four assists, but he had his struggles from the field. On multiple occasions, Anderson made great moves to worm his way into the lane, only to put up weak attempts at the hoop. The fact that he plays mostly below the rim and is not adept at using his body to get separation from defenders is going to be a detriment to him in traffic throughout the year. He’s got excellent body control (in fact, the one first half field goal he made was on a beautiful double-clutch up-and-under layup) and great instincts, but he’s got a find a way to start making the point-blank looks in traffic. Beyond that, wow, is he good. He’s got a nose for the ball and an innate court vision that cannot be taught. Read the rest of this entry »

Will Tucker is an RTC correspondent and a Big East microsite writer. He filed this report after Thursday night’s Louisville-Samford game.

Louisville overwhelmed Samford in all facets of the game tonight, 80-54, to advance to 2-0 and defend their #2 ranking. The box score and postgame highlights will depict a dominant display befitting of an elite team, replete with a 53-28 rebounding margin, a punishing 38 points in the paint, and numerically terrifying double-doubles from Chane Behanan and Gorgui Dieng. But any Louisville fan that watched the game and knows a lick about basketball (read: almost all of them) will temper the glowing conclusions you’d reach from a brief recap. Their team shot 1-8 from three in the first half, but elected to judiciously move the ball into the paint more often than jack up threes. When Samford finally packed the paint with a zone defense and served up wide open looks from beyond the arc in the second half, the Cards took the bait and went 6-23, finishing at a 23% that elicited increasingly frustrated collective groans from the 20,016 on hand at the KFC Yum! Center with each successive brick.

Louisville needs to utilize Chane Behanan to score more efficiently

Despite all the things this Louisville team does well (and several things they already do great), their first two games of the 2012-13 season have exposed just how badly they lack a reliable three-point threat. Tonight’s contest refuted any notion that this Louisville team may achieve even average outside shooting. Rick Pitino had displayed uncharacteristic concern over his wings’ jump shots in his postgame press conference last Sunday, after former McDonald’s All-American Wayne Blackshear and transfer Luke Hancock combined to shoot 3-14 from beyond the arc against Manhattan. Tonight, they delivered a dismal 2-18 (11%) performance from outside, while streaky shooter Russ Smith (4-7 3FG) was the only one who salvaged Louisville’s team stat of 7-31 from long range. Blackshear and Hancock, both billed as capable jump shooters, have looked noticeably frustrated in the first two games of the year. Pitino tonight related Hancock to a hitter in a slump, forcing his shot in a fruitless effort “to make contact.” Blackshear, for his part, seems headed in the right direction, appearing much more assertive and confident as he built a somewhat inefficient stat line of 13 points and five rebounds tonight.

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It’s not basketball season until the first Pac-12 non-conference loss. Um, thanks Washington? Anyway, every team has their own philosophy when it comes to scheduling and below we’ll discuss which program did the best job assembling its non-conference slate this season.

“Which program has the best non-conference schedule for their needs?

Parker Baruh: The Stanford Cardinal set up a very interesting non-conference schedule for themselves. It hasn’t started out too difficult, but that’s a good thing for Johnny Dawkins and company. The Cardinal struggled a bit against inferior opponents USF and Cal State Fullerton, but came out with victories and look like they are on the verge of putting it all together. The Cardinal will take on Belmont before they head to the Bahamas to take place in the loaded Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, which should be good preparation for them. In the opener, Stanford will square off against Missouri, which will be their first tough test of the season. The rest of the tournament field consists of Louisville, VCU, Duke, Northern Iowa, Minnesota, and Memphis, so regardless of how the bracket falls, Stanford will have three intense games in the Bahamas. Later, Stanford plays a very challenging road game at NC State and again on the road against Northwestern. The schedule is well-suited for Stanford because they do have some easy opponents like Seattle University, UC Davis, and Lafayette that will help the Cardinal build confidence for conference play and improve their record, but they also have a couple of games against opponents that could be feathers in their cap come Selection Sunday. The Cardinal will be underdogs to Missouri and NC State, but those games will help them when they have to play UCLA, Arizona, and Colorado on the road. Overall, I like what Stanford has set up this season on the non-conference slate. They don’t have the hardest schedule, but it shouldn’t hurt them come Selection Sunday.

Andrew Murawa: What can I say? I’m a sucker for Kevin O’Neill’s scheduling. I’m sure I’ve talked about it before here, but USC’s schedule is brutal. Aside from opening with a solid challenge from a game Coppin State team and December back-to-back games against smaller teams from the southern California area (UC Riverside and UC Irvine, although the latter is looking more appealing after the Anteaters’ performance on Tuesday night), the schedule is loaded with tough challenges and major conference opponents. They played Long Beach State the other night (another team that would probably schedule the Lakers if invited) and next week they head to Maui, where an opening-round game against Illinois will either land them Texas in the semifinal round or Chaminade in the consolation bracket, certainly a case where an opening round loss would add insult to injury. If they keep on the good side of that bracket, they could see North Carolina or Marquette later on in the tourney. When they get back home San Diego State visits, just before a pair of road games over the course of three days at Nebraska and New Mexico. While the Cornhuskers aren’t much to write home about, roadies to any major conference team are no joke. Then, towards the back end of December, there’s another visit to an athletic Georgia team followed by tough mid-major Dayton visiting the Galen Center. While teams like Utah and Arizona State have gone out of their way to soften up the schedule following last year’s disasters, O’Neill has done no such thing. He expects his team to be significantly better and he expects them to prove it from day one; dumbing down the schedule would be akin to him admitting that expectations for this team should be lowered. Say what you want about O’Neill’s offense or his demeanor, but as he proves year in and year out with his schedule, you need never question his commitment to getting the best out of his team. And, just like in 2011 when his team earned an at-large bid to the NCAAs with a 19-15 record, if this team can score a few scalps in the non-conference slate, O’Neill’s scheduling will have put them in great shape to earn another invite this year.

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The numbers are in: Texas without Myck Kabongo is a bit of, well, a disaster. The Longhorns, playing without their star point guard while the NCAA determines his eligibility due to a relationship with an agent, narrowly escaped a test from Fresno State in their opener and then beat down Coppin State by 23 earlier this week. Their offensive output during those two games was frightening, and by frightening, we mean the sort of offense that would make Bob Knight or any basketball coach from church league to the NBA cringe. Rick Barnes has a freshman in Javan Felix running the point, and without Kabongo, everything’s falling apart. That’s putting it nicely. Quickly, let’s run down the statistics for you in Texas’ first two games:

No Kabongo (left) Means Big Trouble for Texas

vs. Fresno State (11/9)

• Three team assists, 13 turnovers
• 37 percent from the floor, 1-13 from three-point land
• Felix: 5-15 (10 points), one assist, three turnovers

vs. Coppin State (11/12)

• 26 team turnovers (14 assists)
• 7-20 from three
• Felix: zero points, nine assists, eight turnovers

These are pretty simple statistics. No Nate Silver sabermetrics here, just simple turnover, assist and field goal percentage numbers. And, as you can see from the box scores, even if you don’t receive The Longhorn Network and couldn’t see a single minute of either game, it’s evident this team could really, really, really use Myck Kabongo back in the lineup. Felix, in time, will likely grow into a solid point guard. He played very well in the first half of that Fresno State game and finished with 10 points (and, extraordinarily, nine rebounds, close to a double-double), but this team wasn’t built for a freshman. It was built for Kabongo. Without him, these Longhorns hardly look recognizable. A 26-turnover performance against Coppin State is inexcusable, and three total assists against Fresno State may actually be more inexcusable. So forgive Barnes for counting down the days until he gets his star point guard back.

No surprise here: Tim Frazier leads all Big Ten scorers through Wednesday’s games. (Photo credit: theschoolphilly.com)

• Illinois (2-0) — It may not be much — wins against St. Francis (NY) and Colgate — but the John Groce era got off on the right foot. The interesting thing (and it could be a good sign) is that the Illini have found ways to win without shooting the ball particularly well. They’ve shot 44 percent from the field and 56 percent from the free throw line in their first two games, but have shot well from three, defended well, and kept their turnovers down in a way that they were unable to during most of exhibition play. 
• No. 1 Indiana (2-0) — So far, so good for the top-ranked Hoosiers. It’s disappointing that Tom Crean doesn’t have a better non-conference slate scheduled for us to get a real good grasp on the talent level of his group. Georgia on November 19 may be the first relatively tough game for the Hoosiers before a November 27 meeting with No. 14 North Carolina. Other than that, a December 15 meeting against a rebuilding Butler group might be the only other litmus test. Don’t expect the Hoosiers to really have their backs up against the wall until well after the New Year.

The beginning of the early signing period is a beautiful time for nervous fans and coaches. When a recruit signs that official letter of intent, everything feels a little more real than the mere assurances of a player’s word. On the other hand, in practice, for a lot of players and schools, the signing is just a formality; a bit of paperwork that simply emphasizes a decision that may have been truly made months (or years) ago. For the ACC, signing day brought few surprises this year. Most of the big names who signed had already committed in advance, while the numerous undecided players stayed undecided.

Consensus No. 1 Prospect Andrew Wiggins Makes Move to 2013 Official

The Charlotte Observer put together a nice, comprehensive list of those who followed through on their previous verbal commitments by putting pen to paper. The more interesting part of this story, however, lays with those who have yet to commit. These top undecided prospects could have big impacts for four teams in the ACC that already have very strong incoming recruiting classes.

• Florida State: The Seminoles have already put together a great recruiting class with Jarquez Smith and Xavier Rathan-Mayes. The question for Leonard Hamilton’s team is whether it can turn this great recruiting class into a truly legendary category. Since the reclassification of Andrew Wiggins to this class and the commitment of Wiggins’ longtime friend and teammate Rathan-Mayes, Florida State may have the inside track on landing potentially one of the brightest overall talents in years. Still, to land Wiggins, Florida State is going to have to beat out John Calipari and Kentucky, no easy task. As icing on the cake (or perhaps as consolation), Florida State also has a shot at point guard Stevie Clark, and a longer shot at sensational scoring guard Keith Frazier.
• North Carolina State:  For the second year in a row, Mark Gottfried is scheduled to have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, even with some expected recruits still outstanding. Center BeeJay Anya is likely to make the Wolfpack his choice in the next couple days (especially considering that there doesn’t seem to be any other schools in play) and Julius Randle, one of the top talents in the class seems excited to visit Raleigh to watch NC State play against North Carolina in late January. Obviously that likely means that Randle’s decision is months off, but the signs are encouraging for the Wolfpack.
• Duke:  The Blue Devils only have one piece outstanding and they know they are going to have to wait. Jabari Parker is their man and he has made it clear that he won’t make his decision during the early period. Still, with or without Parker, Duke has a nice pair of incoming players with Semi Ojeleye and Matt Jones.
• North Carolina: The Tar Heels have a solid pair in Nate Britt and Isiah Hicks, but they have two outstanding and uncommitted prospects. Kennedy Meeks, a big center from Charlotte has narrowed his choices down to UNC or Georgetown, but it’s unclear which way he is leaning and when his decision will come. While at least one reputable analyst thinks UNC has the edge, this is far from done deal, though an answer seems more likely to come sooner than later. The other outstanding piece for North Carolina? None other than Andrew Wiggins. For Roy Williams, landing Wiggins is probably a long shot, but North Carolina is still on the top prospect’s short list.

Three preseason tournaments get under way today, so we thought it might be worth a minute to review the brackets to see if any of these games are worth anyone’s time. Here’s a brief primer on each:

Charleston Classic – Charleston, SC

• When: Thursday, Friday, and Sunday
• Should Win: Baylor
• Could Win: Murray State
• Sleeper: Colorado
• Key Match-ups (actual and potential): Murray State vs. Auburn; Baylor vs. Colorado; Murray State vs. Baylor
• Players to Watch: Isaiah Canaan, Cory Jefferson, Andre Roberson, D’Angelo Harrison, Frankie Sullivan, Pierre Jackson

Puerto Rico Tip-Off – San Juan, PR

• When: Thursday, Friday, and Sunday
• Should Win: NC State
• Could Win: Tennessee
• Sleeper: Oklahoma State
• Key Match-ups (actual and potential): Providence vs. Massachusetts; Tennessee vs. Oklahoma State; Tennessee vs. NC State
• Players to Watch: Tim Frazier, Marcus Smart, Lorenzo Brown, CJ Leslie, Jarnell Stokes Read the rest of this entry »

1. Wednesday marked the beginning of the early signing period for basketball recruits to sign a national letter of intent, and “officially” officially, Oregon State, Colorado, Utah and Washington State have announced whom they have signed thus far. None of the guys from these schools are going to be McDonald’s All-Americans or anything close to it, but not surprisingly, each coach is thrilled about the guys he has brought in. A couple of players to keep an eye on out of this group are soon-to-be Beaver Cheikh N’Diaye and future Ute Delon Wright. N’Diaye is a 7’0’’ center from Senegal who shows off a decent back to the basket game with the ability to hit a fadeaway (though why he’d ever need to shoot a fadeaway in high school, I’ll never know). Wright has had a solid stint at City College of San Francisco and is also the younger brother of current Philadelphia 76er Dorell Wright. At the very least, the JuCo transfer has a good pedigree.
2. As expected earlier but now confirmed by his mother, Jabari Parker isn’t going to sign during the November period. It may just be empty words, but Parker’s mother says he hasn’t ruled out any of the five remaining schools on his list, which includes Stanford, BYU, Florida, Michigan State and Duke. Having already made visits to those last three schools, Parker will visit BYU over Thanksgiving weekend and Stanford sometime in December, so Johnny Dawkins will have the chance to make a final impression on the No. 2 overall recruit in the Class of 2013. While many don’t consider Stanford to be a frontrunner, the Cardinal have their advantages: a player-friendly coach, top-notch academics and a Mormon assistant coach who happened to go to a Final Four at Stanford and won a couple of NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.
3. A bit of sour news on the recruiting front for Washington, as five-star shooting guard Isaac Hamilton has left the Huskies off his final list of three, which is comprised of Baylor, UNLV and UTEP. While the Huskies expect to get their first early signing period recruits since 2010 with four-star guys Darin Johnson and Nigel Williams-Goss, Hamilton would have been a huge get for Washington, which is still in the running for top 10 overall recruit Aaron Gordon out of San Jose. The Huskies have a lot of competition for the services of Gordon, and missing out on Hamilton just compounds on what has been a disappointing week for Washington after losing a heartbreaker to Albany at home.
4. Speaking of which, the Huskies’ loss to the Great Danes didn’t go unnoticed by the national media, as Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo! Sports writes in his column that the Pac-12’s first loss wasn’t a good one. Adam Butler has discussed the situation already for the Pac-12 microsite, but it bears repeating that these are the types of losses that harm the conference’s national reputation, even if Scott Suggs went out with a concussion after two minutes. If the Huskies can make up for the defeat with a win over Ohio State on the back end of the Tip-Off Hall of Fame Classic, or a win nearing that caliber, the Albany game will be written off as early-season cobwebs. If not, the Huskies better hope the rest of the conference steps up to provide Washington with a multitude of quality win opportunities in Pac-12 play. Otherwise, it might be another trip to the NIT, which was what many probably expected in the first place.
5. We’ll end today with an update on the Shabazz Muhammad epic: UCLA has officially filed an appeal to the NCAA regarding Muhammad’s ineligibility and hopes to get a response shortly after Friday, the day on which the appeal will be heard. If the NCAA doesn’t side with UCLA on the appeal, then UCLA would have to request reinstatement for Muhammad. As this case has drawn on, Muhammad has received a lot of support, especially from his fellow UCLA freshmen Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams and Tony Parker, each of whom wore “Free Shabazz” t-shirts during warm-ups before UCLA’s nail-biting overtime victory over UC Irvine Tuesday night. Though it is merely conjecture, I have a feeling Muhammad will be suiting up for the Bruins this year, and sooner rather than later (remember that the LA Times reported earlier this week that requesting reinstatement could mean Muhammad would miss about 10 games). In any case, the Bruins could surely use his presence on the floor if the UC Irvine game result is any indication.

Iowa is expecting junior guard Devyn Marble to shoulder the load this season, but Wednesday afternoon the Hawkeyes signed the guy they hope can replace him. Three-star small forward Peter Jok was the lone player to sign with the Hawkeyes on signing day, and will join Wisconsin transfer Jarrod Uthoff as one of two new Hawkeyes joining the team next season.

Peter Jok

Jok’s path to becoming a Hawkeye, which was described by Rick Brown in a terrific piece in the Des Moines Register, was anything but typical. He was born in Sudan, lost his father when he was three, and moved to Des Moines with his mother when he was nine. He was initially a soccer player, but eventually gave basketball a try. After all, Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng is his cousin and NBA legend Manute Bol is his uncle. Jok quickly rose to national prominence through the AAU ranks, specifically after playing against the Chicago schools, and ranked in the top 10 nationally as a high school freshman. However, a tear of his patella tendon dropped his recruiting stock, and he lost a step in his game. Now, he’s back to full speed, but he’s still flying under the radar, choosing Iowa over Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas State and Drake.

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The non-conference tournaments get under way in earnest this week, and our Pac-12 microsite game of the week takes us to South Carolina for the Charleston Classic, where Colorado will play Dayton in a first round game Thursday afternoon.

Why It’s Important: Get used to this phrase for the next couple of moments, but this is the ultimate RPI boost game for Colorado. Take a look at the bracket for this tournament: If Colorado wins, it will most likely face some two-game combination of Baylor, St. John’s and Murray State. If Colorado loses, then likely dates with Boston College, Charleston and Auburn are on the ledger. Notice the difference in level of competition? Again, the Pac-12, more than any conference, needs as many opportunities to play high-RPI teams as it can get. Going 1-2 in Charleston with a win over Dayton and losses to Baylor and either St. John’s or Murray State is a whole lot better than going 2-1 with a loss to Dayton and wins over Boston College and Charleston or Auburn. Last year, the Buffaloes went 1-2 in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, but that win didn’t come until the seventh place game in which they beat Western Michigan after losing to Wichita State and Maryland.

Colorado Player to Watch- André Roberson: An obvious choice, but maybe not for a reason that would be considered obvious going into the season. The only player to average a double-double in the Pac-12 last year, Roberson struggled in the season-opening victory against Wofford, scoring just seven points to go along with six rebounds on 2-8 shooting from the field. After the fact, Roberson agreed with Tad Boyle’s assessment that he didn’t play with enough energy. Never a good thing to hear after the first game of the season, and Roberson can ill afford to give a subpar effort against an Atlantic 10 team that is more than capable of beating the Buffs.

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