The last time Kentucky and Duke met on the basketball court was December 18, 2001, almost 11 years ago. Over a decade has passed since the rivals duked it out (no pun intended) in the Meadowlands at the Jimmy V Classic, and it’s been even longer since the Wildcats actually beat the Blue Devils (March 22, 1998, to be exact!). Kentucky and its natural geographic rival, Louisville, have played each other 12 times during that time period, and the Wildcats have beaten the Cards eight of those times. UK has met up with conference foe Florida 28 times since December 2001, winning 18 of those. If Kentucky loses to Florida, well, there is always a next time around the corner. A loss to Louisville is a bit more difficult to swallow, but another chance will come next season. A loss to Duke, though, like the overtime heart-breaker in 2001, could take more than 10 years to avenge. And tonight Kentucky finally has its next chance.

Kentucky looks for its shot at redemption.

Kentucky and Duke have played just 19 times, but one game in particular created the modern rivalry. With the Final Four on the line, Christian Laettner‘s fake and subsequent turnaround shot over two Wildcat defenders (Deron Feldhaus and John Pelphrey) is the frozen image that encapsulates college basketball at its best. Though in the end the spotlight was on Duke, every Kentucky fan can tell you exactly where they were on March 28, 1992.For UK fans, this game represented a tragic moment of community that defines its fanbase. And the shot was a dagger in their heart of unbridled hope.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Joe Rexrode of The Detroit Free Press seems to think Michigan State will have problems with Kansas‘ frontcourt tonight when the teams meet up in Atlanta in the Champions Classic. That could be, but I think Kansas will have just as many problems against Tom Izzo‘s defense. The Jayhawks struggled for a good portion of their 74-55 victory of Southeast Missouri State last Friday, going 2-21 from three-point range. With five freshmen in the rotation, the offense looked lost at times. Elijah Johnson is still getting used to running the point and Jeff Withey has never been the #1 scoring option down low in college. Until those issues get sorted out, it’s hard to predict a convincing win over a team like Michigan State even if they are overrated to this point. Both defenses were impressive last week and we should see a low scoring affair tonight in Atlanta. Don’t be surprised if neither team cracks 65.
2. Yesterday, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf had 24 questions for today’s 24-hour hoops marathon. Here’s what I think about his five questions regarding the Big 12: Will Michigan State Open With Two Losses Again? No. Will Gonzaga Beat The Big 12? (The Zags play Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor after beating West Virginia last night 84-50) I think they go 3-1 with that slate, the lone defeat coming against Baylor. Are Kansas State And West Virginia Underrated? Not at all. The Mountaineers don’t have enough experienced scoring and Bruce Weber is still Bruce Weber. Is Kansas ready for Michigan State? Similar to the first question, the Jayhawks could struggle against that Spartan defense. Who Will Win the Marathon’s Biggest Matchups? (Medcalf might have run out of questions by the end of this thing) Kentucky and Michigan State, but I wouldn’t bet on the Michigan State/Kansas game.
3. Yesterday, Doug Gottlieb posted an article about the four impressions he had during the first weekend of action. Oklahoma State grabbed his attention and not in a good way. The Cowboys beat UC-Davis 73-65 on Friday, an unimpressive debut for a team that’s been talked up for much of the off-season. Le’Bryan Nash and Marcus Smart were highly-touted recruits, but the freshman-sophomore duo have a long way to go to live up to expectations. Smart should be a solid distributor, but as Gottlieb noted there might not be enough scoring options for the Cowboys to win consistently this season. If that’s the case, head coach Travis Ford could be looking for a job next spring.
4. Yahoo!’s Pat Forde gave us his 25 best non-conference games in November and December, and four Big 12 teams made the list. Kansas’ meeting with Michigan State tonight is 13th, but it’s not the best Kansas game according to Forde. That goes to next month’s showdown with Ohio State in Columbus. The Jayhawks defeated the Buckeyes twice last season, once in Lawrence (78-67) and again at the Final Four (64-62). A potential Texas/North Carolina championship game in the Maui Invitational came in at #16, but those games might not be as good as the 22nd best game, Baylor at Gonzaga. After Gonzaga’s shellacking of West Virginia last night, the Kennel in Spokane will be nothing short of insane when the Bears come to town December 28.
5. After speculation that class of 2013 Center Joel Embiid would announce his college decision on Thursday, Embiid’s high school coach Justin Harden told TheShiver.com on Monday that Embiid’s announcement is coming today. He will apparently sign his Letter of Intent on Thursday, and he has narrowed his choices down to Kansas, Texas, and Florida. All three schools have visited Embiid at the Rock School in Gainesville recently in hopes of landing the four-star center, and his recruitment has been void of any big rumors up to this point. All three schools have been hot on the recruiting trail lately and all three have obvious upsides. Kansas has been putting big men in the NBA on a regular basis under Bill Self. Florida is the hometown team, and Texas is, well, in Austin. Check back later if/when Embiid makes the announcement.

1. Michigan State guard Travis Trice is questionable for the Spartans’ game tonight against Kansas due to “concussion symptoms.” Trice played 18 minutes against Connecticut and had to leave the game after getting hit on the head. The Spartans flew back from Germany to Atlanta and may not have one of their experienced guards ready for tonight’s game against the top 10 Jayhawks. Brandon Kearney played only seven minutes in the first game and is still recovering from a sickness as well. Freshman guard Denzel Valentine will have to step up with the likelihood of increased playing time. Tom Izzo will need whatever he can get from the younger guards to avoid another 0-2 start for the season (recall that MSU started with the same record last season).
2. Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan is very impressed with freshman wing Sam Dekker after the home opener. The Badgers led 43-17 but during his halftime speech, Ryan asked Dekker if he knew the score of the game. Dekker replied “zero-zero” which caught his head coach by surprise in a positive way. Dekker is a 6’8″ wing who perfectly fits in Ryan’s offense and will have plenty of opportunities to shine as Ryan tries to fill in the shoes of Jordan Taylor and Josh Gasser. Dekker scored eight points in just 17 minutes of his collegiate debut but will play an integral role in the offense as the season progresses.
3. Michigan fans are extremely happy to see forward Jon Horford return from a foot injury. The fans gave him an ovation when he entered the game against Slippery Rock after missing most of last season with the December injury. Horford, a 6’10” junior forward, will back up Jordan Morgan and Mitch McGary to provide much-needed depth for John Beilein’s frontcourt. McGary can find himself in foul trouble once conference play begins and Beilein needs Horford to provide some additional size off the bench. Horford played eight minutes against Slippery Rock and five minutes against IUPUI last night but should see increased playing time as he returns to game shape.
4. Minnesota assistant coach Saul Smith pleaded guilty for his DWI charges and has been sentenced to 40 hours of community service by a judge. Smith is supposed to re-join the Gophers today after being suspended by the athletic director following the arrest about a month ago. He registered a 0.18 blood alcohol level while driving on October 20 in Minneapolis. Tubby Smith should be glad to get all of his program’s off-court troubles in the past as the Gophers begin their campaign to contend for the conference title and make a run at the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers beat Toledo 82-56 last night at home.
5. Illinois head coach John Groce has the Illini off to a 2-0 start and continues to lock up quality talent for next season. Another top 100 recruit, Austin Colbert, verbally committed to the Illini on Monday. Colbert is ranked in the top 100 by ESPN and is a 6’9″ forward who also considered Villanova and Miami. Groce has put together a class that will likely be ranked in the top 30 or 40 next season. Guards Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill will join Colbert in Champaign along with another big man, Maverick Morgan. In addition to the freshmen, Groce will also add wing Rayvonte Rice, a transfer from Drake.

1. In recognition of their stellar opening performances, the SEC named Kentucky forward Kyle Wiltjer as the conference’s Player of the Week, while South Carolina forward Michael Carrera earned Freshman of the Week honors. As his team’s only returning contributor, Wiltjer’s 19 points, six boards and three blocks were invaluable in Kentucky’s nail-biter win over Maryland. The Oregon native has a reputation as a soft big man, but he showed signs that he may have made considerable strides in his defense and rebounding. Carrera’s stat line in his debut performance was shocking. The undersized forward displayed a nonstop motor in contributing 17 points and 15 rebounds in the Gamecocks’ overtime victory against Milwaukee-Wisconsin. He’ll need to maintain that aggression for South Carolina to compete on the glass in SEC play.
2. The Johnny Jones era at LSU began with a win, but with forward Johnny O’Bryant III going down with an injury, we doubt the new coach could fully celebrate. O’Bryant headed to the locker room only 11 minutes into the Tigers’ opener against UCSB, and his status remains in doubt moving forward. The Tigers are another SEC team that lacks much inside punch, and O’Bryant was expected to handle the bulk of the frontcourt’s production. Fortunately, Anthony Hickey realizes that adjustments are necessary. “All five of us have to rebound,” the sophomore point guard told reporters, “We’re all crashing the boards hard.”
3. The history of the Duke-Kentucky rivalry isn’t a long one, but it certainly doesn’t lack for highlights. The 1992 East Regional Final is the most notable, as any NCAA Tournament pre-game highlight montage would have you know. However, Kentucky fans are quick to point to the 17-point second half comeback from Tubby Smith’s 1998 national champions against Duke in the Elite Eight as another highlight. In the last match-up between the two bluebloods in 2001, the defending national champion Blue Devils were taken to overtime by a Rashaad Carruth-led Kentucky squad. Tonight’s match-up in Atlanta features two top teams who employ very different styles, and should provide some very compelling basketball. One bold prediction: The announcers will inform the audience, without noting which team is responsible for two-thirds of them, that Duke and Kentucky have combined for 12 national titles.
4. Tennessee fans received bad news on Monday, with the school revealing that forward Jeronne Maymon will likely remain sidelined through the end of November as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. The senior forward had a breakout junior season and is projected to form one of the conference’s most potent frontcourts with Jarnell Stokes inside. The Volunteers barely missed a beat without him in their opening win against Kennesaw State, but with possible games against NC State, Oklahoma State, and a match-up at Georgetown before the end of the month, the competition will get tougher. Kenny Hall is a quality deputy for Maymon, while Yemi Makanjuola could provide a rebounding boost against bigger lineups.
5. If a mediocre Horizon League foe blows out an SEC team on its home floor, and no one was there to see it, did it really happen? Well, yes. as Georgia fell to 1-1 with a 68-56 loss to Youngstown State on Monday. The Bulldogs were outrebounded 42-31, and shot a dreadful 3-24 from the field in the first half. Coach Mark Fox didn’t mince words in the post-game press conference, admitting that his team “set the game back 10 years” with its putrid offensive performance. An embarrassingly small and lifeless crowd only contributed to an evening that the Bulldogs hope will be the low point of their season. As a meeting with top-ranked Indiana looms just a week away, Georgia will need to make drastic improvements to keep that game respectable.

1. Not that there have been too many games to base these decisions on, but the first ACC player of the week for the season is Maryland forward Alex Len. The Ukrainian sophomore tallied a career high 23 points and 12 rebounds in Maryland’s close loss to Kentucky on Friday night in the Barclays Center. If Len can continue to play like that, he has a chance to move into the grouping of elite ACC big men that includes Mason Plumlee, James Michael McAdoo, and Reggie Johnson, among others. NC State guard Rodney Purvis took Rookie of the Week honors after leading his team in scoring against Miami (Ohio).
2. Keeping it Heel: Roy Williams is obviously a great coach with two national titles to his credit. But with this year’s team not of his typical mold in Chapel Hill, he has had to change his philosophy somewhat. It has long been a North Carolina tradition not to start freshmen at the beginning of the season when more proven options are available, but  Williams has gone with freshman Marcus Paige this season as the starting point guard. According to Horran Cameron, Williams has realized that the best players need to be on the court regardless of experience. It remains to be seen if Paige can blossom to the level of Williams’ national championship point guards Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson, but it is a good sign for the freshman that he has gotten this level of trust from Day One.
3. Today is ESPN’s 24-hour basketball marathon and it is capped off by one of college basketball’s great traditional match-ups:  Duke vs. Kentucky, this time, as part of the Champions Classic in Atlanta. It is the first time that Coach K and John Calipari have met since Calipari began coaching at Kentucky, and the first time the schools have met since December 2001. The featured matchup of this game will surely be Duke senior forward Mason Plumlee taking on Kentucky freshman sensation Nerlens Noel. While Kentucky may be athletically superior, they are a much younger team than Duke, and Coach K typically has Duke ready to play in these marquee early games. While this match-up will be excessively hyped throughout the day, treat it as an early season litmus test for two teams that have high expectations for this season.
4. Tallahassee Democrat:  Following Florida State’s disappointing opening game defeat to South Alabama, which dropped the team out of this week’s Top 25, Leonard Hamilton has called upon his upperclassmen to play an increased leadership role, especially senior guard Michael Snaer. With seven newcomers on the roster, Hamilton hopes that his upperclassmen can keep the team going while the younger players get acclimated to big-time college basketball. The likelihood of Snaer, Ian Miller, and Okoro White all having subpar games at the same time is pretty slim — although it did happen against South Alabama — so it is clear that these players will need to be on top of their games to avoid more embarrassing losses. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played, so it is good to see Hamilton trying to light a fire under his team after a lackluster opener, and it appeared to pay off considering Florida State’s resounding bounceback victory against Buffalo.
5. The Virginia Cavaliers have not gotten off to the best of starts, particularly with expectations fairly high following the program’s NCAA berth last year. Following a defeat in their opener against George Mason, the Cavaliers struggled to put away Fairfield in their NIT Season Tip-Off first round game in the only close game involving ACC teams last night.  However, with both starting point guard Jontel Evans and backup Malcolm Brogdon out with injuries, Tony Bennett was forced to turn to junior Joe Harris to run the point in crunch time. While they don’t play the same position, it looks as though Harris is going to be relied upon nearly as much as Mike Scott was last year to produce when the Cavaliers need help. While the experiment worked yesterday, Bennett surely hopes that Harris can move back off the ball to his more natural wing position and that his true point guards can return from injury as the competition in this tournament gets tougher (Michigan, Kansas State, and Pittsburgh are the other major conference teams in the event).

1. The last few weeks have unveiled a number of interesting facts about Louisville coach Rick Pitino‘s career. A few weeks ago, we learned that he was originally planning to take the vacant job at Michigan instead of the one at Louisville before being called out by his wife for being “afraid” of working in the same state as his former school, Kentucky. Now we know that 2010-11’s Louisville squad that lost to Morehead State in the NCAA Tournament was almost his last. According to Fox Sports, Pitino heavily considered retirement following that upset.  However, once again, it was his wife Joanne who was one of the major catalysts in his decision:  “My wife told me I would miss it too much. And then all of a sudden three of my closest friends in life go back to work (after retiring). They all went back to work and I called them and said, ‘Why?’ They sad they couldn’t get any better at golf, they were bored as hell and their life wasn’t as meaningful… I learned a valuable lesson from those guys – I would miss it.”  Going out after an upset loss in the tournament would have been quite unbefitting of a coach of Pitino’s stature, and the whole notion probably seems pretty funny now, with another Final Four in his back pocket and a preseason top five team at his disposal this year.
2. The “Battle on the Midway” between Syracuse and San Diego State was a lot of things, but ‘good’ basketball probably wasn’t one of them. The wind had a definite adverse effect on shooting from outside – the teams combined for 2-22 from beyond the arc – causing both squads to pack the defenses in, which turned the game into a series of scrums around the basket.  Post-Standard writer Bud Poliquin argues that the importance of the event itself supercedes the challenges of playing outdoors. It seems like Jim Boeheim agrees: “I’d play in this event again…I think it’s something that every program should experience.” While it wasn’t the prettiest thing to watch on TV, and Aztec fans could make the case that the elements had a more negative effect on them than the incredibly tall, physical Orange team, it is one game and this isn’t college football.  San Diego State will have plenty of room to prove itself going forward, but may never have a chance to play in a setting like the USS Midway again.
3. In the early season, Georgetown‘s lack of experience has reared its ugly head, especially after star forward Otto Porter went out with an eye injury against Duquesne. Porter is the leading returning scorer and rebounder for the Hoyas, and one of the most important cogs in John Thompson III’s Princeton offense.  Without Porter, much of the onus falls on freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who led the team with 19 points against Duquesne.
4. Yesterday, the NCAA announced the sites for 2014 and 2015’s NCAA Tournaments, and a number of Big East and future-Big East towns made the cut. The most notable arena selected is Madison Square Garden, which will host the 2014 East Regional.  The Garden has a major place in NCAA Tournament history, having hosted 71 tournament games in its history but none since 1961.  Memphis will also host a 2014 regional, and both Milwaukee and Orlando will host second and third round games.  In 2015 Syracuse and Houston will host regional games, and both Pittsburgh and Louisville were selected as pods for the second and third rounds.
5. Rutgers’ season didn’t start quite as well as Mike Rice and his team would have hoped, to say the least. After dropping the season opener to St. Peter’s, the Scarlet Knights are looking to move forward and not dwell on one upset loss as the season progresses. Junior Wally Judge summed up the feelings in the Rutgers locker room well: “We took a punch, and it hurt… We have to respond the right way. Now it’s over, and we have to go win the remaining games on our schedule.” Rutgers has a very manageable schedule ahead of them before Big East play, and need to capitalize if they hold out any hopes to make a run at a Tournament berth. Rice emphasized trying to find toughness within his team, and the desperation of this search showed in his substitution patterns during the game, as Rice moved quickly between 11 players on the roster. Rutgers bounced back nicely last night with an 88-62 win over Sacred Heart.

1. Usually the NCAA announcements of future NCAA Tournament sites do not generate much fanfare, but yesterday’s announcement of the 2014 and 2015 sites appears to be an exception. The big direct news is, of course, that the NCAA Tournament will be coming back to Madison Square Garden for the first time since 1961. The big indirect news is that the NCAA did not award New Jersey a single game, which appears to be a continuation of their opposition against the legalization of sports betting within the state. Outside of that the only particularly noteworthy selection is the Carrier Dome for 2015 East Regional because it would eliminate the Orange from the East Region that year.
2. Despite cancellations of two of the three events this weekend (and the third event being played only after a delay) the powers that be have decided to bring back the Carrier Classic in 2013. Citing an engineering solution that will fix the condensation/dew problem (we are imaging something like those anti-condensation water bottles) the organizers plan to keep the event in Charleston, South Carolina, on the USS Yorktown. As we said yesterday in this space if the promoters want to recognize military members there are ways other than playing on a naval ship. Hopefully the organizers will realize that at some point soon.
3. With all the data of one game played for most teams the new polls came out and frankly we don’t particularly care, but what we do care about is the return of Poll Attacks from Gary Parrish, who took the opportunity to pan the rankings submitted by Ron Morris, a journalist from Columbia, South Carolina (his full rankings here). We can’t get too worked up by any rankings this early in the season and Morris is probably more interested in college football right now, but when you leave Syracuse out of your top 25 we have to question whether you are paying attention at all. Our best guess is that he (or his intern) was putting together his Top 25 and simply forgot to include the Orange, but there are nine other teams where he either has them the highest or lowest in the AP poll so either he has very different views on how the season has played out so far or he just has not been paying any attention.
4. We usually do not notice NBA Draft boards this early in the season, but the reaction of several draft analysts to the performance of Alex Len caught our eye. We are not sure how to go back and track previous mock drafts on some sites, but from what we remember Len was a borderline lottery pick coming into the season, which is where DraftExpress had him on their 2013 mock draft from November 1. Now at least two sites — ESPN’s Top 100 (#5) and NBADraft.net (#7) — have placed him up much higher with updates after Len’s opener against Kentucky. We understand Len’s potential — athletic 7-footers are hard to find — we found a few of the comments in Chad Ford’s update amusing (sorry, ESPN Insider so if you don’t have access you will just have to trust us) where he said “Len made himself a lot of money on Friday” while commenting on his inconsistency. He also mentioned in his last update one month ago that if Len improved this season he “has a decent chance of cracking the lottery”. Perhaps Ford and the other NBA Draft analysts are right, but it seems like we would want to see a lot more consistency out of Len before saying he has essentially doubled the value of his rookie contract after one admittedly excellent game.
5. By the time you are reading this we are already several hours into ESPN’s Tip-Off Marathon. You have probably seen several guides telling you how to survive 24 hours of basketball mostly from people who might only be awake that long once a year at most. We are going to give you a little professional advice coming from a place where we are awake working for well over 24 hours on a not infrequent basis: pace yourself (don’t get too worked up over early games), eat small meals (people who stay awake for long periods routinely can get away with eating big meals, but most people will pass out soon after), don’t rely on caffeine (if you rely on it routinely to get through the day then you might need it, but most people should save it for emergencies), and don’t put yourself in a position to sleep (once your head hits that pillow you are done). Good luck and enjoy the games.

Tonight’s Lede. The 24 Hours of Hoops Marathon Returns. If the college hoops calendar consists of a series of holidays, ESPN’s annual Tip-Off marathon measures up with the sport’s best celebratory events. It doesn’t quite provide the suspense of March Madness, or the do-or-die desperation of conference championship week, but the 24 hour-long dose of nonstop hoops action that tipped off at Midnight ET with West Virginia visiting Gonzaga captures the essence of fandom in a way no other sporting event can. This is when the true diehards put their mental fortitude – and their ability to resist somnolent desires – to the test. Even if you can’t make it through the night without sneaking in a few Zs between games, don’t worry. For most, the marathon goes down sweeter in pieces; fortunately this year’s slate offers no shortage of highlights. So if you’ve already hit your saturation point on college hoops viewing, or are still gearing up for tonight’s headliners, enjoy the round-the-clock drama. It is the apex of college basketball’s scheduling ingenuity.

Your Watercooler Moment. Gonzaga Destroys West Virginia Again.

Beard Or No Beard on Kilicli, This is Becoming a Trend ( AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In a rematch of last year’s Second Round NCAA Tournament game between the Zags and Mountaineers, tonight’s result was surprisingly similar to the game played last March — the only major difference was the setting. Last season, after traveling cross-country to face WVU in their backyard (Pittsburgh), the Zags ran out to a quick 27-10 lead and never looked back in a dominating 77-54 win. Tonight, after West Virginia repaid the favor in traveling cross-country to Spokane, the Zags ran out to a 34-12 lead en route to a dominating 84-50 win. It’s actually quite eerie to view the two box scores side by side, given how similarly both games played out. Over the past two games, Gonzaga has outscored the Mountaineers by a ridiculous 57 points, and the vaunted WVU defense has given up better than 50% shooting from both the field and beyond the arc in these two games. After last season’s loss, Bob Huggins said that he’d “never gotten beat like that” — clearly Mark Few’s team has provided the road map for the Big 12 in beating the Mountaineers, because it just happened again.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

• Hoosiers Keep On Rolling. Gleaning meaningful analysis from early season cupcake draws is never easy, so it’s hard to make too much of Indiana’s blistering 2-0 start, which includes a combined 69-point victory margin over Bryant and North Dakota State. But the Hoosiers have done little to shake their preseason perception, which is another way of saying Indiana looks like a #1 team. Cody Zeller finished with 22 points and nine rebounds and sophomore guard Remy Abell added 14 of his own against the Bison, who are expected to challenge the Nate Wolters-led South Dakota Jackrabbits for the Summit League crown.
• Hawkeyes Freshman Continues to Impress. The name most every big Ten fan mentions in Iowa-related hoops discussions is freshman center Adam Woodbury, and for good reason: the Iowa native spurned offers from North Carolina, Ohio State and Wisconsin before deciding to stay in his home state. Woodbury will come around eventually — he’s a legitimate seven-feet, armed with above-average athleticism and a refined offensive game. After two games, though, fellow freshman Mike Gessell looks the more well-rounded product. Gessell notched five points and five assists in the Hawkeyes’ 73-61 victory over Central Michigan Monday night. With a few more performances like that, Gessell, not Woodbury, can assert himself as the Hawkeyes’ best freshman asset.
• Balance Key For Memphis in Season-Opening Win. The notion that Memphis coach Josh Pastner is a better recruiter than coach is a popular one, and at this point in his tenure, probably a fair one. His early recruiting successes could finally pay dividends this season, just in time for the Tigers’ move to the Big East in 2012-13. The Tigers removed the curtain on their immensely-talented roster Monday night with a comfortable 81-66 defeat of North Florida. Forward Tarik Black led all scorers with 18 points, while point guard Joe Jackson added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Memphis gets one more tuneup Saturday with Samford before the Battle 4 Atlantis, far and away the best compilation of top-to-bottom talent of any non-conference tournament on this year’s slate.
• No Rust For New-Look Michigan. There were few teams who polarized the college hoops punditry this preseason as much as Michigan. Various rankings pegged the Wolverines anywhere from outside the Top 25 to a Final Four contender. There’s good reason for this wide difference of opinion. Michigan is replacing a host of capable shooters (Zack Novak, Stu Douglass) with a frontcourt-heavy freshmen class. That kind of personnel turnover and roster dynamic is not, on its face, amenable to John Beilein’s guard-oriented attack. Early season results – the latest a 91-54 rout over IUPUI Monday night – indicate otherwise. Much-hyped freshman Glenn Robinson III submitted 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. As Michigan prepares for its ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup with NC State (November 27), the new pieces are firing on all cylinders.
• Florida State is Going To Be Ok, After All. The most disappointing result of opening weekend was Florida State’s 76-71 home loss to South Alabama. Esteemed guard Michael Snaer finished 2-of-11 from the field, the stingy defense we’ve come to know from Leonard Hamilton’s teams of recent vintage was inexplicably AWOL, and you couldn’t help but walk away thinking the Seminoles didn’t enter the season in a sound mental state. Florida State rebounded from that harsh reality check against Buffalo, with Snaer contributing 19 points and forward Okaro White adding 13. More importantly, the Seminoles brought the defensive intensity that made them such a dangerous team last season. Buffalo turned it over 25 times and hit just six of 17 three-point shots. A note: Lead guard Javon McCrea, the reigning MAC freshman of the year, scored a team-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

And Misses…

• Youngstown State Not Rewarded For Upsetting Georgia. Thanks to predetermined rules that set in stone the semifinal teams of the Legends Classic, Youngstown State cannot advance to the Brooklyn-based semifinal despite knocking off Georgia 68-56 in a game that saw the Bulldogs score just 14 points by halftime and shoot just over 32 percent from the field. The only reason Georgia kept the deficit within a respectable margin was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who finished 10-of-18 from the field for 27 points and six rebounds. The Penguins are steadily improving under head coach Jerry Slocum and are more than capable of competing at the top half of the Horizon League in 2012-13. That said, even for a team as flawed and preponderantly-reliant on one player as Georgia is Caldwell-Pope, this counts as a bad loss, and a major stain on the early non-conference ledger. The Bulldogs clearly have some work to do before they get into SEC play.
• Early Struggles Continue for LIU. Last month brought a very promising development for LIU’s hopes at winning a third consecutive Northeast Conference title. That’s when the Blackbirds learned the fates of four of their best players (including reigning NEC player of the year Julian Boyd and All-NEC forward Jamal Olaswere), all of whom were awaiting word on their status following an on-campus altercation that led to arrests and third-degree assault charges. The players would have to miss two NEC conference games, they learned, and take anger management courses and file community service work… and that’s about it. Their availability apparently has not helped LIU’s early season fortunes. The Blackbirds fell to 0-2 Monday night, the latest loss coming against projected middle-of-the-pack Patriot League member Lafayette. In two games, LIU has scored a combined 168 points, which leads one to believe defense ranks highly on the Blackbirds’ early season checklist. For the most part, An 0-1 start is forgivable. Lose your first two against inferior competition, and there are serious questions to be had about LIU’s mindset and focus level following a tumultuous offseason.
• What’s Wrong with North Texas? People were legitimately peeved about the lack of television arrangements for Friday night’s Creighton-North Texas game. This was two of the nation’s best mid-major teams, or so we thought, featuring two of the nation’s best players in Doug McDermott and Tony Mitchell. What transpired was a disappointment; the Mean Green were outclassed in Omaha as McDermott legitimated his NPOY hype with a sterling 21-point, 11-rebound effort. That wasn’t a huge surprise. Monday night’s Preseason NIT defeat to Division II Alabama-Huntsville in Manhattan, Kansas, merits an entirely different analytical tone. The win by Alabama-Huntsville represents not only the first appearance by a D-II team in the PNIT, but now also the first victory.

Monday’s All-Americans.

• Jackie Carmichael, Illinois State. The Redbirds’ star blew up for 27/10/3 assts in only 24 minutes of action as his team destroyed UC Santa Barbara in its season opener.
• Anthony Bennett, UNLV (NPOY). Quite a debut Monday night for the precocious Bennett, who dropped 22/7/2 blks in a mere 20 minutes of action as UNLV routed Northern Arizona.
• Garrick Sherman, Notre Dame. The reserve big man for the Irish went for 22/9 including six offensive boards in Notre Dame’s crushing win over Monmouth.
• Glenn Robinson III, Michigan. So far, so good for the Big Puppy, as Robinson has only missed three shots in two games this season after his 21/6 night on 8-9 shooting in a win over IUPUI.
• Kadeem Batts, Providence. A 27-point, nine-rebound night for the junior big man looking to break out in a big way this season for Ed Cooley’s Friars.

Dunkdafied. This was from late last week, but it’s worth showing here. Detroit’s Doug Anderson looked a little like Scottie Pippen on this swoop to the hoop…

Is there a saying that a college basketball game is only as good as the venue it’s played in? No? Well there should be, because the Pac-12 has some great ones. The Pac-12 crew decided to rank them all based on three categories (history, aesthetics, and home-court advantage), and the results are below:

1. Pauley Pavilion (UCLA): Aesthetics Average Score – 3.5, History – 1.75, Advantage – 6.5. Pauley opened up in 1965 and has been rocking ever since. Legendary coach John Wooden needed a bigger place to house his back-to-back NCAA Championship Bruins than the 2,000 seat Men’s Gym, so the team moved into the nearly 13,000 seat Pauley Pavilion. With players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Reggie Miller, and Bill Walton (to name a few of plenty) to pass through Los Angeles, it’s no secret as to why Pauley houses some of the best fans in the conference, spurred on by The Den, the school’s student section. Pauley underwent a renovation during the entire 2011-12 season, meaning Friday’s season opener against Indiana State was the first game played in the fancy new digs.

2. McKale Memorial Center (Arizona): Aesthetics – 7, History – 3, Advantage – 2. Right up there with Pauley, when people around the nation think of the meccas of Pac-12 hoops, they think of Lute Olson, Steve Kerr, and the McKale Center. Before rocking the place for two straight hours, this is a fan base that is comfortable tailgating in mid-January before a game, in shirts and shorts, no less. Then, all hyped up from the desert sun, the Zona Zoo gets to cheer on a basketball team that is pretty damn good every season. McKale ranks just behind the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City in terms of capacity.

3. Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmunson Pavilion (Washington): Aesthetics – 5, History – 3.25, Advantage – 4. This one may seem as a surprise at first, but taking into consideration that AA is the oldest venue in the conference (opened in 1927) and is home to one of the top student sections in the league (The Dawg Pack), it makes sense. With the students right on top of the action and the old-school, tight feeling to the place, it almost seems as if it’s Cameron Indoor lite. And for as cool as it looks on the inside, the outside, made completely of brick, looks even better. Nestled into the bay of Montlake, Hec Ed is one of the most scenic venues in the conference, and the look on both the outside and inside makes it an easy choice for number two.

What’d I tell you. Cameron Lite.

4. Maples Pavilion (Stanford): Aesthetics – 4.75, History – 4.25, Advantage – 6.25. The 6th Man may not be as loud or raucous as they were when the Cardinal made 11 straight NCAA Tournaments, but the close, intimate feel that Maples provides has it ranked in the upper third of the conference. Maples may be the size of some Atlantic 10 gyms, but for me, that just adds to the aura of it. Already unique, Maples used to be downright crazy before the renovation in 2004. Up until then, the floor had a very springy feel to it, making players feel that they landed on a different level then what their body sensed when the student body jumped up and down.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

The first full week of the college hoops season provides us several excellent non-conference match-ups between the true blue bloods of the sport, as well as a first glimpse at some of the mid-majors we may be hearing from in March. Let’s get to the breakdowns.

Game of the Week

#2 Kentucky vs. #9 Duke – 9:00 PM EST, 11/13/12 on ESPN HD (*****)

Nerlens Noel needs to step-up his offensive game against the Duke Blue Devils

• Duke took care of business in last Friday’s opening game against Georgia State. Because of the the level of competition, the first game does not give us too much insight into the 2012-13 version of the Blue Devils. Mike Krzyzewski’s squad shot and rebounded well, but they were expected to against the Panthers. Mason Plumlee leads the way for Duke and his match-up against the Kentucky front line should be a key factor on Tuesday. The Wildcats can throw Kyle Wiltjer, Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, and Nerlens Noel at the Duke big man. While Maryland forward Alex Len was able to have a big game against these four, look for Kentucky coach John Calipari to make major adjustments to stop Plumlee. Duke senior Ryan Kelly needs to step-up to help Plumlee, particularly on the offensive glass where Duke struggled a bit in their first game. Also, keep an eye on Duke’s turnover numbers. They turned the ball over on 22% of their possessions against Georgia State. Neither Seth Curry, Tyler Thornton, or Quinn Cook had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in the first game. Continued turnovers will come back to bite the Blue Devils against better competition.
• Kentucky gets its second ACC team of the season, but now it’s the cream of the crop in the Blue Devils. UK’s freshmen performed reasonably well in their first game but need to put together a full 40 minutes of effective basketball. Maryland was down by double figures in the first half of their first game last week but was able to make the game very tight by the end. Freshman guard Archie Goodwin put together a solid game against the Terps with 16 points, but highly touted freshman center Noel looked lost on offense. Pay close attention to how the freshmen play in the second half in this one. Interestingly enough, Kentucky played very good team defense even with so many freshmen. Typically, defensive skills take longer to develop but the Wildcats held Maryland to a 35% eFG, including 3-19 from three-point land. Duke is a three-heavy team, so watch to see how the Blue Devils fare against a tough perimeter defense.
• Kentucky is going to need more of their freshmen to step up on offense, if they want to beat the Blue Devils. Wiltjer carried them in the first game and is as smooth as they come on the offensive end, but they need additional offensive support. Watch to see who among all the rookies is able to provide more offense. If Goodwin can continue to provide punch and they can get double figure points from one other freshman, Kentucky can win this game. Duke needs to limit turnovers and get scoring and rebounding from Ryan Kelly. He is very capable on the offensive end but needs to be more aggressive.

More Great Hoops

#8 Michigan St. vs. #4 Kansas – 7:00 PM EST, 11/13/12 on ESPN HD (*****)

Read the rest of this entry »