***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Monday was a good night for Pennsylvania as Pittsburgh handed Connecticut its first loss and Penn State knocked off Indiana on the road. Conference play rolls on today with two key Big Ten matchups in the upper Midwest. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.

#11 Purdue @ Michigan – 2 pm on Big Ten Network (***)

Purdue Handled Michigan Last Season (Mich Daily/T. Sharman)

This Tuesday matinee is a great opportunity for Michigan to put itself back on the Big Ten map. The Wolverines are 9-2 against D1 competition and had a very close loss to a top five Syracuse squad. This game pits two guard heavy teams against one another, though Purdue has JaJuan Johnson in the paint. Michigan is vulnerable inside making Jordan Morgan and Evan Smotrycz important players for John Beilein this afternoon. They have to defend Johnson well but more importantly they must grab rebounds. Purdue is not a tremendous rebounding team and neither team shoots all that well so there are going to be plenty of chances for the Wolverines to pick up extra possessions. Michigan is #210 in offensive rebounding percentage and they’ll have to do a much better job than that in order to score inside. As was the case with his West Virginia teams, Beilein loves the three ball. Michigan launches an average of 24 treys per game but connects on just a third of them. Still, the three pointer is the great equalizer in college basketball and when you shoot that often, a lot of shots are going to go through the net. The problem for Michigan is that Purdue ranks #4 in the nation in three point defense and third in defensive efficiency. It’s going to be difficult for the Wolverines to score but Darius Morris will try to make things happen. Michigan’s dynamic guard is averaging 16 PPG and almost eight assists as well while shooting over 50% from the floor. He needs to have a good game and set the table for others like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Zack Novak, a tremendous rebounder for his position and size. Hardaway is shooting just 30% from deep and must get going for Michigan to take the next step up and into the middle of the Big Ten pack. For Purdue, Matt Painter has hinted he’d like to go big but expect a lot of four guard sets with Lewis Jackson and E’Twaun Moore running the show. Outside of Johnson, Purdue’s bigs have averaged just over four PPG and six RPG in 25 minutes of play combined, clearly not getting it done. In order to win, Michigan has to shoot the ball well, control the boards and play solid defense. Beilein loves his 1-3-1 zone and it can work wonders against a team that doesn’t see it often. Expect him to use it in this game and adjust if Johnson does damage underneath the basket. Smotrycz is a key player because he can pull Johnson away from the basket, possessing the capability of knocking down a triple here and there. If the Wolverines can get Johnson into foul trouble early, they’ll have a great chance to pull the upset at home. Purdue is the better team but this should be a very close game today in Ann Arbor.

#13 Minnesota @ #14 Wisconsin – 7 pm on ESPN2 (****)

Read the rest of this entry »

1. The NY Daily News published an exclusive interview with Seton Hall star Jeremy Hazell, who, as you all have heard by now, was shot by a robber on Christmas night near his home in Harlem.  He describes in detail how the robbers approached him and how he pushed one and ran for his life before feeling the piercing bullet enter his side below his armpit and how he waved down a passing FDNY ambulance to get timely treatment from the paramedics.  Talk about the Christmas spirit!  This is a frightening story and we wish Hazell nothing but the best on his recovery, and if that means he doesn’t play again this season, we don’t think anyone would blame him.
2. Marquette freshman guard Reggie Smith is transferring away from Buzz Williams’ program in a bit of a surprising twist, as the young player had started in five of MU’s games this season yet was apparently chafed at a perceived lack of playing time.  He was averaging 1.4 points in just under ten minutes per game, but clearly neither he (nor his stepfather) thought that was enough a mere six weeks into his playing career.  This is also the second year in a row that Marquette has lost a freshman at the semester break — last season Jeronne Maymon transferred to Tennesssee in December.
3. Speaking of midseason transfers, BIAH has a pretty good rundown of who those key players are and how they’re doing thus far since becoming eligible.  The winners so far: Kansas’ Josh Selby, USC’s Jio Fontan and Creighton’s Gregory Echinique.
4. Jeff Goodman does us the service of breaking down the six power conferences heading into the new year.  There’s an awful lot to like and agree with here, but for the sake of contrarianism, we’d probably have gone with Georgetown in the Big East at this point.  RTC is majorly crushing on the Hoyas.
5. Last night’s big Connecticut-Pittsburgh game turned out to be a dud for the most part with the Panthers handling the Huskies (while we’re at it, check out how Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs gets open off of screens), but this little jewel of a memory passed along from the UConn Hoops Blog reminded us when and how the rivalry began between these two basketball powerhouses.  Khalid El-Amin’s mastery (and bombast) was the difference way back in 1998, so c’mon readers, let’s help them out by locating the specific photo of KEA they’re requesting.

If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Other Games of Interest

• Penn State 69, Indiana 60: “Things have gone from bad to worse, my friends. Another game Indiana was favored to win, another loss. In the Big Ten, you need defense, and you need someone to step up and hit shots when it matters. Indiana had neither tonight inside Assembly Hall.” (Inside the Hall: Part 1, Part 2,  Part 3, and Part 4)

Pre-Game Analysis

• #11 Purdue at Michigan: Looking at the match-up through a series of interviews from the Wolverines. (UM Hoops: Part 1 and Part 2)

News/Analysis

• An Early Look At All-Conference Teams: RTC correspondent John Templon takes a look at potential all-conference teams for the Big East, Big Ten, and Horizon League.
• Kentucky Basketball: What UK Can Do To Win Every Game From Here On Out: “Did the lede get you interested? Well, I was only kidding. If I could really produce something that would get us victories every time, I’m sure Coach Cal would be on the line posthaste.  But there is something that all our losses and difficult games have in common.” (A Sea of Blue)
• Recalibrating Expectations: After a strong start fans in Ann Arbor are rethinking what they think the Wolverines could do this season and are wondering just how good their team could be. (UM Hoops)
• UCLA Basketball: Non-Conference Review (Part 1): “As we have finished non-conference play and enter the PAC 10 on Wednesday, over then next two days I will try to tee up for a discussion reviews of all the players so far this year and more importantly, the 2010-11 UCLA Bruins. The important thing is CBH needs to get this Bruins team to the Tournament.” (Bruins Nation)

The Lede.  We hope that everyone came out of the long holiday weekend fully intact, with perhaps an iPad, some Air Jordan XXIs or Final Four tickets under the tree.  This week certainly won’t be as glacially-paced as last week was, but we really won’t move into the heart of the season until after New Year’s day and the interminable bowl season comes to a close.  Still, tonight started off the week with what was on paper a fairly good matchup of two top ten teams, but most of us had an inkling that the UConn Huskies were due for the wheels to come off sooner or later; it was really only a matter of which Pittsburgh team might show up.

Pitt Disassembled the Huskies With Relative Ease Tonight (PPG/M. Freed)

Your Watercooler Moment.  As Suspected, It’s Kemba and Friends.  There’s a reason that everyone who has a Twitter account was on the record over the last few weeks stating that UConn was nowhere near as good as their undefeated record and top five ranking might suggest.  In tonight’s highly-anticipated game between Walker’s Huskies and the Pitt Panthers, it was Jamie Dixon’s team that showed the balance, poise and defense required of an elite team with its eyes on a national championship trophy.  UConn, on the other hand, looked like an exposed team with one star player but not much else to show for its troubles.  Walker ended the game with 31 points, but it was a difficult night shooting for the all-American guard, as he had to take 27 shots to do it.  His ten made field goals accounted for more than half of UConn’s total of 19, and with that fact it is clear that Pitt’s strategy was to limit Walker’s scoring opportunities while shutting everyone else down.  They did just that.  The one player who has the talent to play with Pitt along with Walker is Alex Oriakhi, but as described below, he did his best ostrich impression by putting his head in the sand (8/1)  and drawing the ire of coach Jim Calhoun after the game.  Pitt, on the other hand, looked completely different from the team we saw wilt versus Tennessee a couple of weeks ago; rather, the Panthers looked confident and capable from everywhere on the floor, including a superb 21/7 asst outing from Ashton Gibbs in a true comeback performance for the talented junior.  So what does a late December Big East opener mean for these two teams?  What we took from the game is that Pitt, originally projected to win the Big East, is still at the top of that list along with Georgetown and Syracuse, while UConn is going to continually run into problems in trying to run its entire offense through Kemba Walker night after night.  As talented as he is, he can’t beat everyone by himself.  The teams playing him in Maui were caught somewhat off guard by his abilities, but the Big East has seen what he can do and knows how to neutralize him — other Huskies are going to have to step up if UConn wants to sniff the top ten later this season.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

• Pitino’s Bombino’s, Part Two.  Twenty-one seasons ago Rick Pitino took a mishmash group of Kentuckians and molded them into what became one of the most beloved teams in program history, the Pitino Bombinos.  Using a full-court pressure assault and relentless three-point shooting as the two principles above all else, the Bombinos went 14-14 when many prognosticators didn’t think they had the talent to win half that many games.  Cut to this year’s Louisville team, and the similarities are there — the Cards produce turnovers on over a quarter of their opponents’ possessions and shoot threes at a very high rate (43% of all field goals attempted).  Little was expected of this U of L team but they’re dominating lesser opponents and have catapulted out of the gates with an 11-1 record heading into this weekend’s Bluegrass Battle against Kentucky.  We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a team hit 17 of 23 treys as the Cards did tonight against Morgan State, not even those very Bombinos that Pitino coached in Lexington a generation ago.  We’re excited to see whether the Cards can keep it up.
• Louisville’s Balance.  Preston Knowles went for 31 points and Kyle Kuric 25 tonight, but already this season seven Cards have put up games of fifteen or more points in the scoring column.  It’s still early in the season and Louisville has played a lot of Hostesses, but Pitino has ten players playing double-figure minutes and eight of those guys are contributing at least five points per game.  Given how short his bench has been in recent seasons at Louisville, this is definitely a different looking Cardinal team.
• William Buford’s Breakout Game? Because his Buckeyes have been playing so well this season, not much has been written about how presumptive star wing Buford really hasn’t had the breakthrough year that everyone expected from him.  He’s certainly played well (with season averages of 13/5/4 APG), but his numbers are generally down from last season and there’s been an adjustment for him playing off of Jared Sullinger instead of Evan Turner.  Tonight was the first time all season he showed his complete offensive package, going for a season-high 23/4/5 assts/2 stls on 9-11 shooting against UT-Martin.  If Thad Matta can get star production from his elite wing to go along with Sullinger’s nastiness inside (another 18/11 dub-dub this evening, his sixth of the year), then OSU could be the best team in America come March.

… and Misses.

• Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your post-Christmas Top 25… as always, the QnD analysis is after the jump and we encourage any comments to tell us where you disagree.

Read the rest of this entry »

***** – Quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – Best watched live, but if you must, Tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – Set your Tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – Set your Tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – Don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the Tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Conference play in the Big Ten and Big East opens with one game from each conference with the latter being what should be one of the best games of the year. All rankings from RTC and all times EST.

Penn State @ Indiana – 6:30 pm on Big Ten Network (**)

Each team enters the conference opener having lost two in a row with Penn State coming off a discouraging loss at home to Maine. The Hoosiers had a tough trip to Las Vegas before Christmas, going 0-2. Penn State has the best player on the floor in this game with Talor Battle, but Indiana has quite a few match-ups tilted in their favor. The Nittany Lions struggle shooting the ball and defending the three–two areas Indiana that will look to take advantage of the Nittany Lions.Tom Crean’s team is #14 in the nation in effective field goal percentage buoyed by 38% three point shooting and the #13 ranked two point field goal percentage. Indiana hasn’t knocked off anyone of note but they shoot the ball really well at 50% and have a stud in the post in 6’8″ forward Christian Watford. He’ll go up against PSU’s Jeff Brooks, a solid player in his own right. Brooks averages 12/8 and shoots 53% from the floor. However, he will have his hands full trying to defend Watford as the Hoosier big man can step out an shoot from beyond the arc with some consistency. Pulling Brooks away from the basket will open up the middle for the guard-heavy Hoosiers to drive or pull up and score. Indiana should enjoy a slight advantage rebounding, allowing them to get easy second chance opportunities from close range. The Hoosiers can also shoot it from deep as well with Jordan Hulls(52% from 3) on the perimeter. Battle will have to shoot it well for Penn State to have a realistic shot to win on the road. The Nittany Lions will also have to shoot well as a team (they average a dismal 42%), rebound and count on their senior trio of Battle, Brooks and David Jackson to lead them. Those three players score 65% of Penn State’s points and cannot afford an off game on the road. Penn State is not a deep team but must use their slower tempo to frustrate Indiana and force turnovers. It’s not impossible for PSU to win, but you have to favor the Hoosiers at home in the first Big Ten game of the year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Most people seem to still be on Christmas break so our ATB2 is a little light today. If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Pre-Game Analysis

• Missouri vs. Northern Illinois: Breaking down the match-up that should be a nice post-Christmas present for the Tigers. (Rock M Nation)

News/Analysis

• SEC Basketball: What Happened To The Great Expectations?: Coming into the season many expected the SEC to be much improved, but that has not proven to be the case. (A Sea of Blue)
• Most Valuable Morris?: Taking a look at whether Marcus or Markieff is more valuable for the Jayhawks. (Rock Chalk Talk)
• Defensive efficiency a red flag for UConn: Analyzing the numbers behind Luke Winn’s assertion that UConn’s poor defense may be a limiting factor in their success this season. (The UConn Blog)

1. The big news of the weekend was Ricardo Ledo committing to play for Providence, which might help Keno Davis save his  job. Ledo, widely considered one of the top 10 players in next year’s class, is so highly regarded that some pundits speculated that the ability to recruit Ledo (a native of Puerto Rico who might play for the team) was the primary reason why Rick Pitino agreed to coach the Puerto Rican national basketball team. Now that Ledo has committed to Providence we have to wonder if Pitino will find other commitments that might decrease his ability to coach another team.
2. Speaking of recruits, Kadeem Jack, who left his prep school early to enroll at Rutgers, practiced with the Scarlet Knights for the first time yesterday, but according to coach Mike Rice they will not be using any of Jack’s eligibility this season. Instead, Rice expects Jack to join the team officially in the fall of 2012 along with the rest of a heralded recruiting class. We are interested to see whether Rutgers and St. John’s, another program in the area with a hyped recruiting class, can translate these hauls into wins in the next few years.
3. While most of the college basketball world relaxed and spent time with their friends and family there was also quality basketball being played in Hawaii, the big winner was Butler, who ran off three straight wins knocking off Utah, FSU, and Washington State in succession to win the Diamond Head Classic. After a rough start to the early season, the Bulldogs appear to be rounding into shape and should be a team to be reckoned with despite what Joe Lunardi might have thought (Insider access: Basically an absurd column questioning if Butler and Gonzaga would make the NCAA Tournament).
4. Unfortunately that wasn’t the only noteworthy thing to happen at the Diamond Head Classic. We have already mentioned it and the Twitterverse has been buzzing about it over the holiday weekend, but in case you missed it Renardo Sidney got into a fight with his teammate Elgin Bailey and the two were suspended indefinitely. Although there was an unsubstantiated rumor about Bailey being kicked off the team (since he reportedly started the fight) we have to think if talent weren’t such a mitigating factor in determining punishment that it would be the troubled Sidney who would be getting the boot first.
5. In our opinion it is still early to be thinking about NBA Draft prospects, but Jonathan Giovany has an excellent look at six players who were established stars or at least solid players who have done a lot to help their draft status (assuming there is a NBA Draft this summer). Some of the choices are obvious (like Kemba Walker), but others (like Jon Leuer) are a little more interesting. Either way, we have to say that we agree with all of his selections although we hope that all the players stay in college with the exception of the seniors, whom we wish we could keep anyways.

We first saw the news on Twitter via Adam Zagoria and then saw this report from the New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Brendan Prunty that Seton Hall senior guard Jeremy Hazell was shot four times under the right arm last night. He was in Harlem, his hometown, and suffered only “flesh wounds” per the Star-Ledger account.

Through what must be some kind of miracle, despite taking four slugs, Hazell was treated at a local hospital, released, and is at home resting. There has as of yet been no official statement from the school regarding this incident.

Sounds Like Hazell Is Yet Another Pirate Who's Lucky To Be Alive

Hazell has been sidelined by a broken left wrist he sustained in a mid-November win against Alabama. He led Seton Hall in scoring each of the last two seasons and was again this year before the injury. A report from Mr. Zagoria’s site states that it had not yet been decided if Hazell planned to redshirt this season because of the wrist injury and come back next season, or if he was on course to play again this year, or if he had indeed played his last game at Seton Hall.

Seton Hall lost to Richmond earlier today, 61-69.

Game #81.  RTC Live returns to the Rock for a little post-holiday hoops.

Seton Hall, staggered by their stunning second half collapse and subsequent loss, 69-65, to Dayton on Wednesday has only four days to reflect and regroup. The Pirates host their second Atlantic-10 opponent during Christmas Week — the University of Richmond.  The Spiders make their first trip to the Rock on Sunday, December 26 and, ready or not, the Pirates will have to pull themselves together, put Ferrakohn Hall’s abrupt transfer and Herb Pope’s latest ding behind them as they prepare for the runner-up in the 2010 Atlantic-10 Tournament and #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Seton Hall, laden with senior leadership found itself without an answer Wednesday when the Dayton Flyers shut down junior point guard Jordan Theodore, and Coach Willard, concerned with the rebounding imbalance (Dayton was far ahead) hesitated too long before putting fifth year senior Eniel Polynice back on the court, turning the ball handling responsibilities over to senior Keon Lawrence and allowing Theodore to roam the perimeter and find the seams in the Flyer defense. Richmond features seniors 2010 A-10 Player of the Year senior Kevin Anderson and forward Justin Harper, a long range specialist who will try to find clean looks from the perimeter and center Dan Geriot will face off with Herb Pope. Richmond wants to burnish their Tournament resume, and a road win against a BCS conference opponent will go a long way to offset losses to Iona and Old Dominion. Seton Hall, post season chances dwindling with each game, wants to enter Big East Conference play with a record north of 0.500. Join Rush the Court Sunday at noon (eastern time), as we live blog Richmond at Seton Hall from the Rock in downtown Newark, NJ.

Read the rest of this entry »