This idea has been batted around for some time now, but it looks like it’s going to come to fruition. North Carolina and Michigan State are finalizing a deal to play each other next Veteran’s Day (November 11) on an aircraft carrier in San Diego Harbor. At first, we wondered why an eastern team and a midwestern team would travel so far to play when they have perfectly good aircraft carriers in their half of the country (Norfolk, Virginia, for example). And then we realized that the game will occur in November, and well, the game will be outside. San Diego’s rather predictable weather makes for a safer bet, and a deal should be announced soon for what will make for a rather interesting gimmick game. Let’s just hope that they properly adjust for the wind coming in off the water.
In advance of tonight’s blockbuster game in Provo, Luke Winn breaks down Jimmer Fredette’sfour worst performances of the season for some clues that San Diego State may use to try to contain him. It was interesting to hear South Florida’s Stan Heath discussing how his team defended both UConn’s Kemba Walker and Fredette, ultimately concluding that Fredette was the tougher cover because “his shooting range is a little more extended [and] while Kemba is quicker and more explosive, Fredette’s changes-of-speed, plus his hops and step-back moves, make him better. And when he elevates to shoot, he really gets up in the air.” Great stuff.
This commentary by the Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls discusses the gargantuan difference in team chemistry between last year’s Texas team and this year’s edition. It’s clear that even the locals around Austin are sensing a little something special about the group that Rick Barnes has at his disposal this time around. For our money, we’d agree; nobody in the country has more upside than this team. And if Jordan Hamilton can get his Glen Rice on in March, don’t be shocked to see UT playing in Houston in April.
Conference realignment ain’t over. The Mountain West Conference is meeting in Las Vegas this week and is prepared to offer current WAC school Utah State membership to replace the losses of Salt Lake City-area schools Utah (Pac-12) and BYU (independent + WCC). Last year USU turned down the MWC when it appeared that BYU was planning on leaving the conference for the WAC, causing the league to enact an end-around and effectively blow up the WAC by poaching several of its schools.
With Ohio State’s win over Purdue last night and SDSU on the chopping block tonight at BYU, the talk of unbeaten regular seasons is ramping up. We’re still a long way from serious consideration of that achievement by one of the final two unbeatens, but Mike DeCourcy harkened back to the 27-0 2003-04 St. Joseph’s team in discussing how the pressure builds with each passing game. It certainly makes things more interesting for us journo-bloggers out there, eh?
Get ready college hoops fanatics. Get ready for the stampede of casual fans that are about to crash the sports bars once the NFL season comes to a close. They’ll have to find something for their sports fix and they’ll turn to college basketball. So be prepared for people asking things like, “Who’s that big guy for Ohio State? He looks pretty good.” Or “San Diego State’s in the top five? Really?!?” Just try to smile and nod at those fools. No need to let them ruin the season’s stretch run.
What We Learned
TWTW Loves Jimmer and Kawhi, But Prefers E'Twaun and the Boilers Traveling to Columbus This Week
Even with SDSU and BYU squaring off on Wednesday, TWTW feels that if there’s only one game you watch this week, make sure it’s Purdue at Ohio State, tonight at 9pm ET. Matt Painter’s squad is one of our favorites and TWTW thinks they’re a good bet to pull off the upset. Purdue rebounded from back-to-back losses at Minnesota and West Virginia to grind out a win over a plucky Penn State squad and then took care of business against reeling Michigan State. It would have been easy for the Boilermakers to fold at the first sign of trouble this season. They have the built-in excuse of Robbie Hummel’s injury, and no one really believed they could sustain their early-season success once they hit the meat of their schedule, but seniors JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore wouldn’t let that two-game losing streak turn into a prolonged swoon. Johnson scored 25 points in the win over PSU, while Moore poured in 26 against the Spartans.
For the Big 12, it was a week to start sorting out the contenders, the pretenders and a week where one team finally emerged as the conference favorite.
The week kicked off with a Big Monday doubleheader, the first match featuring Kansas State and Missouri both sitting at 1-2 as they squared off in Columbia. While it might be too early to call this one a must-win, a 1-3 start in the conference is a lot different than a 2-2 start Missouri kept their hopes of a Big 12 title in their sights with a win while the Wildcats’ slow descent to a possible NIT bid continued.
The second game was a head-to-head matchup of across-the-board NBA talent. Thirty-five NBA scouts and 10 NBA GMs took in Kansas against Baylor in Waco and they didn’t leave disappointed. Kansas looked as good for 40 minutes as they had all year and the Morris twins dominated in an impressive offensive performance.
On Tuesday night, the surging ColoradoBuffaloes would find themselves exposed on the road against Doc Sadler’s hard-nosed Nebraska squad as the Husker defense shut down the Colorado offense and secured an 11-point win. The loss was the first in conference play for Tad Boyle and the Buffs, but it wouldn’t be the last or the worst.
Wednesday night was highlighted by a matchup in Austin between two top 15 Texas schools and bitter rivals, the Aggies squaring off against the Longhorns. Texas took an early step toward the conference title with a very impressive 21-point win over MarkTurgeon and the Aggies, snapping A&M’s 13-game winning streak.
And as usual, the Big 12 took center stage on Saturday, starting with a top-25 win by the Aggies over the Wildcats in College Station. The win kept A&M in the hunt and further moved Kansas State to the back with a now 1-4 conference record. A far cry from expectations for this team and things just aren’t pretty in Manhattan.
The story of the day though would end up being the Texas Longhorns. Kansas hosted Texas in Lawrence, where RickBarnes and the Horns had an overall 0-9 all-time record. Kansas set out the way they left off in Waco, building an 18-3 lead to start the game. Texas stormed back behind J’Covan Brown and JordanHamilton before securing an 11-point win in this one. The game snapped a 69-game home court winning streak for Kansas, the longest then-active streak in D-I men’s basketball, and put Texas in sole possession of first place in the Big 12.
Elsewhere, Colorado would drop its second on the week in Norman. The loss brings expectations in Boulder crashing back down to earth. Missouri dominated Iowa State and looks like a juggernaut at home once again. Baylor crushed Oklahoma State to get back on track, and last but not least, TexasTech finally snagged a conference win over visiting Nebraska.
Power Rankings
Note: Power rankings are not meant to be a poll. They are meant to reflect who is playing the best basketball at a given time.
Texas(16-3, 4-0) – Sole possession of first place belongs to the Longhorns after a HUGE win in Lawrence on Saturday. Texas played tough physical basketball and despite a pretty horrendous first half claimed a victory. Of course, that was its second top 15 win of the week, having already beaten A&M on Wednesday. Texas has earned the top spot without a doubt.
Kansas(18-1, 3-1) – One game, Kansas looked like an unstoppable force, the next they fell apart a bit. In their defense, the Jayhawks received news of the death of forward Thomas Robinson’s mother late the night before the game against Texas, so the distraction is certainly understood. Nonetheless, the Jayhawks are playing catch-up to a very good Longhorn basketball team.
Texas A&M (17-2, 4-1) – A&M dropped one on the road against Texas. There’s no shame in that. The Aggies are still a good team and do get a chance to return the favor when the Longhorns come to College Station.
Missouri (17-3, 3-2) – Two home games, two impressive wins for Missouri. This team is one of Mike Anderson’s best and despite the two losses, anyone counting them out would be wrong. The Tigers are a juggernaut at home and have the athletes and depth to make life difficult for anyone.
Baylor (13-5, 3-2) – For awhile, this looked like a very balanced league. That might still be the case, but the drop-off from the top four to the next eight might be bigger than originally thought. Baylor sits at five, but it’s not because they were overly impressive. Just not as bad as everyone else on any given night.
Oklahoma State(14-5, 2-3) – The Cowboys got a tough win at home against the Cyclones but couldn’t stay with Baylor on Saturday. Again, this is a mediocre team at the moment and they have some work to do between now and March.
Colorado(14-6, 3-2) – Colorado fell off a cliff a bit this week. Road losses to Nebraska and Oklahoma aren’t good losses this year. It’s still a talented team, but these two games put expectations back in perspective. The Buffs host Kansas on Tuesday.
Kansas State (13-7, 1-4) – K-State is more talented than some of the teams at this level, but the wheels seem to have fallen off and they are also in the midst of a very difficult stretch of Big 12 play. The biggest problem is that by the time they get done with Baylor and Kansas this week, it might be too late to salvage any outside shot at a day one bye in the Big 12 tourney.
Oklahoma (10-9, 2-3) – Yes, it’s borderline shocking, but Oklahoma won back-toback games in the conference and moved to ninth in this week’s power rankings. There are glimmers of hope in Norman as the Sooners get a win over Tech and Colorado in the same week and for the first time in a while have a little positive momentum on their side. Hat tip to Jeff Capel.
Nebraska (14-5, 2-3) – The Huskers get a win over Colorado, which is a solid victory, but then go on the road and lose to a pretty abysmal Tech squad. Not good for the momentum.
Iowa State (14-6, 1-4) – A loss to Oklahoma State on the road is acceptable, and a loss to Missouri is certainly expected in Columbia. But not showing the ability to compete isn’t going to get it done. Perhaps the real Iowa State is starting to emerge.
Texas Tech (9-11, 1-4) – Tech is on the board with a win over the Huskers. Further proof that perhaps this is a top heavy conference with 6 or 7 mediocre teams at best providing the floor.
A Look Ahead
Another week with no shortage of marquee matchups across the conference as things kick off Monday in Manhattan with a matchup between Baylor and Kansas State. Both teams are in need of a win to boost their position, with K-State perhaps the most desperate for anything positive to grab hold of and turn the tide.
Tuesday night, the Jayhawks will look to get back on track in Boulder against a Colorado team looking to do the same. It’s a tricky game for Kansas, as Colorado has done some damage at home this season and Kansas is coming off an emotional weekend and a tough loss to Texas.
Two games are on the docket for Wednesday, as Texas Tech and Iowa State square off to decide the last place spot in the conference and Texas goes on the road against a pesky Oklahoma State squad that will play as physical as the Longhorns.
Saturday, all 12 teams return to the court. Kansas welcomes ESPN’s College Gameday to Lawrence for a game that was expected to be a matchup of top 10 teams between K-State and Kansas.
Perhaps the game of the day, though, will take place in Austin, where two nationally ranked teams face off in Missouri and Texas. The Tigers have been very good at home, but not always on the road. Texas will present a big challenge for Mike Anderson once again and Texas will look to get another marquee win in the conference and take one more step toward the Big 12 title.
Elsewhere, Colorado heads to Waco to take on Baylor. Oklahoma looks to avoid a subdued Hilton Magic against Iowa State. Texas A&M goes on the road against a sometimes tricky Nebraska, and Oklahoma State looks to take advantage of a game in Lubbock to secure a conference road win.
Player of the Year Watch
Power Ranking Style and Based on Conference Play
Jordan Hamilton, Texas – (19.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG) Trending Up: Hamilton led his team to wins over Texas A&M and Kansas in a single week. That’s deserving of top billing for player of the year at the moment.
Marcus Morris, Kansas – (22.5 PPG, 9 RPG) Trending Down: It was hard to imagine Morris could sustain his week one pace, but factor in the fact that he struggled against the physical play of Texas and Morris takes a bit of a dip this week.
Khris Middleton, Texas A&M – (17.4 PPG, 3.4 APG, 2.2 SPG) Trending Up: Middleton is the player to watch when Texas A&M takes the court. The team struggled in Austin, but Middleton and the Aggies rebounded nicely against K-State.
Marcus Denmon, Missouri – (17.4 PPG, 45% 3PFG) Trending Up: Sure, Denmon’s numbers have taken a hit since the start of conference play, but that might have more to do with the emergence of other players for Missouri. Denmon still is a difference-maker for the Tigers; he just isn’t left carrying as much weight on his shoulders in the backcourt as maybe he did a month ago.
Alec Burks, Colorado – (21.0 PPG, 8.6 RPG) Trending Down: Statistically, he’s a very strong candidate. From a wins and losses standpoint, two bad losses this week don’t help the cause. A player of the year has to find a way to do more and lead his team in road games against Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Jacob Pullen, Kansas State – (20 PPG, 2.8 APG) Trending Down: Preseason All American, preseason POY candidate. It’s hard to imagine that can carry over to any postseason recognition based on the struggles in Manhattan.
***** – 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.
Almost all of the action is on Saturday but what a day it will be. A couple of huge games start us off right away at noon but the rest of the day will not disappoint. It’s very unfortunate but #21 St. Mary’s @ #23 Vanderbilt is not on television and neither is Belmont at East Tennessee State on Sunday, a battle for first in the Atlantic Sun. You obviously won’t be able to watch those games unless you’re attending but definitely check and see how they play out. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.
#1 Ohio State @ #18 Illinois – 12 pm Saturday on CBS (****)
Sylvester and the Buckeyes Had the Last Laugh When Illinois Was #1 in 2005
It should be a crazy environment in Champaign on Saturday when the #1 team in the land pays a visit. Illinois is having a good year but probably not as good as some of the more optimistic Illini fans would have hoped. That can change in a big way with a marquee win over the Buckeyes. You’ll recall what happened almost six years ago in Columbus. Illinois was #1 at 29-0 on the last day of the regular season and lost on a Matt Sylvester three with five seconds to play as the unranked Buckeyes knocked off the eventual national runner up. By the way: Gus Johnson was working that one in 2005 and he’ll be in Champaign on Saturday if you even needed another reason to tune in.
***** – 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.
Three interesting contests headline tonight’s schedule, including NC State’s endeavor to pull a shocker of its own over now-#4 Duke. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.
A few weeks ago we reintroduced out BCS rankings that tried to figure out what college basketball would look like if it adopted a system similar to what college football presently has. We also listened to our readers and incorporated many of their suggestions for potential computer rankings to reconfigure our rankings. We now have five computer polls included and were able to throw out the highest and lowest computer rankings for each team. We wanted to go to six computer polls to mirror the BCS, but neither Colley nor the Bradley-Terry rankings were out by noon and frankly by the time they were updated another set of games would probably have been played. The human polls are all from Monday and the computer polls are all from today. For the human polls were used the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. For the computer polls we used the following polls:
We used the same basic rules as we had listed in our reintroduction post with the exception of adding more computers allowing us to drop the highest and lowest scores.
RTC is interested in learning how to improve our Checking In On… series in each conference. Let us know in the below poll where we can improve this weekly piece (feel free to add specific comments). Thanks.
A Look Back
This week signaled the beginning of conference play in the Big 12 as ten of the league’s 12 teams tipped things off on Saturday, with Kansas and Texas as exceptions.
All in all, it wasn’t a good day to be a favorite. The Kansas State Wildcats, the preseason pick to win the conference, were the first to fall. Frank Martin took his team into Gallagher-Iba Arena to take on Oklahoma State and after a close game for much of the contest, the Wildcats went cold down the stretch and the Cowboys managed a solid victory over Kansas State.
It wouldn’t take long for the next, and possibly biggest, upset of the day to occur as Missouri would stumble in Boulder against a Colorado team that certainly opened some eyes on Saturday. The Tigers were behind by a hefty margin for most of this one before closing it to eight at one point late. In the end, Colorado would ride a 36-point effort from Alec Burks to a comfortable win over the number eight team in the country.
The win was a coming out party on the year for Burks, a statement win for head coach Tad Boyle and Colorado once again looks like a team that will be playing for a spot in the Tournament if they can maintain Saturday’s level of play. As for Missouri, the press did little to trouble the Buffs for the majority of the contest and once again, the halfcourt offense left plenty to be desired.
Elsewhere in the league, the favorites held serve as TexasA&M handled Oklahoma with relative ease and despite a tight game early in the second half, Baylor proved too much for Texas Tech.
One game that didn’t receive much fanfare, but might have been a bit surprising to a few, occurred in Lincoln. The Cyclones of Iowa State took on the Huskers and both teams had shown solid starts to the year without too much in the way of competition. In a lot of ways, Iowa State passed the eyeball test and was more of a surprise this year, while Nebraska looked like the same old Nebraska year after year. Turns out Nebraska walked away with a one-point win and showed the ability to hang their hat on defense once again.
All in all, the lesson of the day is that parity is alive and well in the conference and the Big 12 looks to be one of the deepest and most competitive in the country once again. Road wins will come at a premium and there are easily eight or nine teams that can realistically point to the NCAA Tournament as a goal right now. They won’t all make it, but it’s there if any given team can find a way to win the games in front of them.
Outside of conference play, there were two more games of note. Saturday, Texas dropped one at home to the ninth ranked Connecticut Huskies late in overtime by just a point. Right now, the sense is that the Longhorns have solved the concerns from a year ago, but this Longhorn team actually sits at a worse record than the team that collapsed so epically last season.
Lastly, on Sunday, Kansas went to Michigan and prevailed over a Big 10 opponent, though not without some difficulty. Michigan isn’t expected to be particularly competitive in the Big 10 this year, so the result was not expected. Both Texas and Kansas will tip conference play on Wednesday night.
Power Rankings
Note: Power rankings are are meant to reflect who is playing the best basketball at a given time. Early conference play can and did create quite a shakeup based on some telling head-to-heads, but things tend to balance out as the games add up.
Kansas(15-0) – Kansas continues to flirt with a loss, and after looking to have things rolling in the right direction, they took a small step back with a nailbiter in Ann Arbor against a young Michigan team. The title still looks to run through Lawrence, but it’s far from a given for the Jayhawks this year.
Texas A&M (14-1, 1-0 Big 12) – A&M was the one ranked Big 12 team that took care of business in conference play on the opening weekend. MarkTurgeon and the Aggies also appear to have the attention of the college basketball world as they should continue to move up the top 25 rankings.
Texas (12-3) – Texas lost to the 9th-ranked team in the country in overtime – that’s not a bad loss. They continue to look like a solid team, and despite the hiccup this week, Rick Barnes still has the group playing good basketball
Colorado(12-4, 1-0 Big 12) – It’s a power ranking and this week at this moment, Colorado looks as good as anyone. The Buffs handed it to Missouri at home, and Tad Boyle has the team playing well since a few early season losses. Will CU finish this high? Probably not, but a power ranking is meant to be a judge of who’s playing the best basketball at a given moment, so hats off to Colorado.
Missouri (14-2, 0-1 Big 12) – Missouri stumbled a bit, and more than anything, they ran into a buzzsaw in Colorado. The Tigers are still a very good team, but they’ll need to find a way to dial up the pressure earlier and some sense of a half court offense is a must.
Oklahoma State (13-2, 1-0 Big 12) – Oklahoma State upset the Wildcats of Kansas State in a Gallagher-Iba Arena with plenty of empty seats. This is a tournament caliber team that beats you by outworking you and the Cowboy fans need to take notice.
Baylor (11-3, 1-0 Big 12) – Baylor opens conference play with a win in Lubbock. The game was close briefly, but Baylor showed glimpses of why many expected them to compete for the conference crown. Throw in LaceDariusDunn’s string of success and this is going to be a team in the mix.
Kansas State (12-4, 0-1 Big 12) – Kansas State has Jacob Pullen back, but they still have some issues to address. The loss to Oklahoma State is just another example of how difficult life on the road in this conference is, but K-State needs to get things going in the very near future.
Nebraska(13-2, 1-0 Big 12) – The Huskers got a big win for them in the early going and did it with their staple, which is defense. Things get a little tougher this week with a matchup against the Missouri Tigers, but maybe, just maybe, DocSadler can make some waves this year.
Iowa State (13-3, 0-1 Big 12) – On paper, there wasn’t much differentiating Iowa State and Nebraska, but the return of Fred Hoiberg and an overachieving nature early led to some goodwill in the rankings department for the Cyclones where the Huskers struggled. A one-point loss in Lincoln isn’t all that bad in reality, but it’s a loss to give Nebraska the edge.
Texas Tech (8-8, 0-1 Big 12) – Tech almost provided some nervous moments for Baylor Bear fans but continue to find plenty of struggles on the offensive end. It’s a team that’s better than Oklahoma, but that’s about all that can be said.
Oklahoma(8-8, 0-1 Big 12) – Oklahoma loses the opener against the Aggies and things don’t get any easier from here on out. It’s exactly what was expected from the Sooners and the morale behind and confidence in Jeff Capel has to be hurting.
A Look Ahead
Twelve conference games on the docket this week and every single one will be important considering the parity that showed this week.
Tuesday night, the Big 12 South is the feature as Texas takes on Texas Tech and Baylor welcomes Oklahoma.
Wednesday features four games across the league, with Kansas opening play against Iowa State and Nebraska heading into Columbia, where the Tigers will look to rebound from their opening game loss.
The two games that look to be the most interesting on the night are Colorado at Kansas State and Oklahoma State at Texas A&M. Both Colorado and OSU are coming off statement wins in their respective openers and both head on the road against a ranked opponent (if K-State remains ranked) with a chance to cement themselves as a potential NCAA tournament representative for the Big 12. A loss doesn’t hurt either team all that much, but a win does wonders. Furthermore, Kansas State is in a situation where they almost have to feel like Colorado is a must-win in order to get things back on track.
Jumping ahead to Saturday, all 12 teams across the conference are in action. The highlight of the day has to be Missouri heading into College Station to take on the Aggies. This represents the first real head-to-head for two conference “contenders” and both teams stand to make an early statement in that hunt with a win.
Another game to watch is once again in Boulder, as Oklahoma State takes on the Buffaloes. These two teams fall into the must-watch category because both teams made some noise on the opening weekend, and when push comes to shove come March, these could be two teams in very similar situations in terms of tournament hopes.
Elsewhere, Kansas hosts Nebraska, Oklahoma heads to Texas, Iowa State takes on Baylor at home, and Texas Tech heads into Manhattan for a game against the Wildcats.
Player of the Year Watch (no particular order)
Power Ranking Style and Conference Statistics Consideration Beginning Next Week
Jacob Pullen – (17.4 PPG, 3.8 APG, 43% FG) Trending Up: Pullen is back on the court and stepping up his game for the Wildcats. Something still seems to be missing, but it’s more in the way of chemistry and the supporting components than Pullen.
Marcus Morris – (15.2 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 61% FG) Even: Morris continues to be extremely efficient and leads the #3 Jayhawks. Now he needs to step up in the leadership department and start playing smarter as a player in order to take the Jayhawks and his chances at the POY to the next level.
Alec Burks – (20.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 51% FG) Trending Up: Monster opening weekend for Burks with a 36-point, eight-rebound effort in an upset win over #8 Missouri. Based on one game, which is way too early, he’s the leader.
Jordan Hamilton – (19.6 PPG, 7.1 RPG) Even: After the loss to UConn, conference play begins Tuesday for the Horns, and that’s where Hamilton will need to lead his team in order to win this award.
LaceDarius Dunn – (23.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.4 APG, 44% FG) Trending Up: Dunn seems to be hitting his stride after the early season suspension. A 43-point output in the non conference finale was the highlight of the week.
Marcus Denmon – (17.2 PPG, 2 SPG, 50% 3P%) Trending Down: If you handed out the award for play in the nonconference, Denmon might just win it. So far in the one conference game, both Denmon and the Tigers struggled.
Khris Middleton – (15.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.8 APG) **New**: It’s really a team effort in College Station, but right now Middleton is the leader on arguably the second best team in the league. Actually, the team in the league with the most Top 25 wins. A&M deserves a representative in the conversation.
Some mid-afternoon thoughts on today’s games filling the heart of the day…
Alex Oriakhi hits the boards. Kemba Walker may get all of the post-game hype after his great finish in UConn‘s big road win at Texas, but for our money the player of the game and the one that we think Jim Calhoun will credit most for the win will be Alex Oriakhi. Calhoun has been all over Oriakhi lately for his lack of rebounding (seven straight games with single-digit rebounds including just one rebound in their loss at Pittsburgh). When I spoke with Calhoun after the Huskies’ New Year’s Eve victory over USF all I had to say was “Alex” before he cut me off and went on a rant about Oriakhi’s lack of rebounding. He was quick to note that Alex was working hard, but that he thought he might have been pressing. After speaking with Calhoun I went back to Alex and asked him about it and he essentially told me that he couldn’t really do anything about rebounding because it wasn’t something that he could do anything about, which I disagree with completely, but he seemed like such a nice kid and seemed troubled enough about it that I didn’t want to tell him that he was wrong (especially since my 5’10” frame and lack of a vertical has been a major hindrance in the progress of my basketball career). He followed it up with an even worse game against Notre Dame where he failed to score a point and only had six rebounds. I wasn’t at the game, but I imagine that Calhoun was very critical of him after that game. Fast forward a few days to today against a Texas team that came in to the game ranked 3rd in the nation in rebounds and one that was expected to dominate the Huskies on the inside with Jordan Hamilton, Tristan Thompson, and Gary Johnson. Instead of getting dominated on the inside, Oriakhi turned in by far his best game since Maui and nearly matched the Longhorn trio in rebound total (22 to 21). Even though he struggled from the field going 5 of 16, Oriakhi more than made up for it on the boards and was probably the star of the game even if the rest of the media is going to focus on Kemba’s late game heroics. UConn is still a flawed team as it relies too much on Kemba to do what he did in overtime and it has too many young players who are still working on learning their roles playing around Kemba, but if Oriakhi can play like this on a more consistent basis the Huskies could be a team that nobody wants to play in March with Kemba on the outside and Alex on the inside.
Kemba Walker saves the day. Now that we have talked about Alex Oriakhi, we can get to Kemba Walker who shrugged off a rare off-night (going 8-27 from the field even with his late game heroics including the ridiculous heave to beat the shot clock with a little over 2 minutes left in OT). We have to give the Texas guards some credit for their defense on Kemba throughout the game, but we saw at the end of the game that there really isn’t anybody in college who can guard him. Rick Barnes had Dogus Balbay, who for our money is one of the best defensive guards in the nation, on Walker at the end of the game and Walker just brushed him off to him the game-winner with 5 seconds left in overtime. Walker might lose some of his early lead in the National Player of the Year race if UConn struggles in the Big East and he has plenty of competition particularly from Jared Sullinger and Nolan Smith, but the UConn PR department will probably have plenty of moments like late in today’s game to hype Walker’s candidacy if they choose to do so.
Roscoe Smith’s heave. We aren’t even sure where to begin with Roscoe Smith. Although it doesn’t quite rank up there with Jamelle Horne‘s pair of boneheaded plays from 2 years ago Smith’s 75-foot heave with nearly 10 seconds left in regulation is going to be replayed on blooper shows for years to come. We are going to give Smith a little bit of a pass (a very little bit) as I would imagine that the frantic finish and blocked shot by Alex Oriakhi that led to the ball ending up in Smith’s hands would have made it very difficult for anybody to be aware of how much time was left on the clock especially a 6’8″ freshman forward who is probably never asked to touch the ball late in games (and after this probably won’t for some time). I’m not sure words can do justice to just how bad this heave was and we can’t find any video footage of this shot yet, but when we do we will be sure to put it up.
Georgia knocks off Kentucky. It has already been a rough weekend for Kentucky. First there was the Enes Kanter ruling then there was the football team getting blown out by a Pittsburgh team that was playing without its recently hired head coach who had been fired after getting arrested on charges of domestic violence. Now their basketball team drops the SEC opener at Georgia. Before the fan base goes crazy (and we are guessing that based on the 4,573 fans on CatsPause at the time we wrote this that they are going crazy) we should point out that that the Bulldog team that they lost to could be very good. They have flown under the radar after losing two games at the Old Spice Classic to Notre Dame and Temple (two very good teams) in Trey Thompkins first games back after an early-season ankle injury. Since that time the Bulldogs have reeled off nine straight wins against some admittedly uninspiring opponents in somewhat unconvincing fashion (four games decided by three points or less). We are not sure if Georgia is a top 25 team, but we should have a better idea by January 18th as they play at Vanderbilt and at home against Tennessee during a three-game stretch. If they come out of that stretch with a 2-1 record don’t be surprised if this team is near the top of the SEC East standings by the end of the season.
***** – 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.
The first big hoops weekend of 2011 features many important games across the land. Here are five key games followed by a host of others. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.
Cleveland State @ Butler – 7 pm Friday on ESPNU (****)
With Butler’s loss at Milwaukee on Monday, folks in the Horizon League used to the Bulldogs’ dominance are excited that this may be the year someone else takes the title. Cleveland State leads the league by a game over Detroit and Wright State while holding a one and a half game lead over Butler heading into tonight’s game. Should the Vikings win on the road tonight and plow through the rest of their Horizon schedule, expect to see Cleveland State win the league. Obviously we’re a long way off from that but CSU is currently in a nice position. Butler’s problems have been on the defensive end. The Bulldogs have given up an average of 73.6 PPG in their losses while their defensive efficiency has dropped significantly from their top five ranking of a year ago.
The Bulldogs Need Mack Back On Track Tonight, And From Now On
That’s Debatable is back for another year of expert opinions, ridiculous assertions and general know-it-all-itude. Remember, kids, there are no stupid answers, just stupid people. We’ll try to do one of these each week during the season. We’re fairly discerning around here, but if you want to be included, send us an email with your take telling us why at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.
This Week’s Topic: Unbelievably, we’re already halfway through the regular season. Who are your mid-season award winners for POY, COY and FrOY, and who is your surprise team for the second half of the season?
Brian Otskey, RTC contributor
I still have to go with Kemba Walker for POY at this point. The Connecticut guard just about single-handedly won the Maui Invitational for the Huskies and poured in 20+ points in every game from November 17 to December 31. Big East teams undoubtedly are going to defend him better but if the season ended today, he’s my choice. Staying in the Big East, my mid-season COY is Notre Dame’s Mike Brey. The Irish coach, now in his eleventh (!) year in South Bend, has made a contender out of a team picked to finish seventh in the league. Notre Dame has a great chance for a double-bye at MSG in March and has already knocked off Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Georgetown and Connecticut. Freshman of the year has to go to Jared Sullinger and it’s not even close. Sorry, I’m not taking Kyrie Irving who’s missed almost half of Duke’s games (through no fault of his own mind you). I just can’t do it. As for my sleeper, I’m with Seth Davis. Watch out for North Carolina in the second half. Provided they stay healthy, the Tar Heels will roll to second place in the down ACC and get back in the top 25 at some point.
Kellen Carpenter, RTC contributor
Half-way through and I feel like things have barely even started. That said, the season could last until May and I still doubt I would change my mind about Jared Sullinger. I just love watching him get crafty around the basket. He is a rare talent and the clear choice in my mind for Player of the Year, and I guess that means I have to give him Freshman of the Year too. Sorry, Kyrie: just bad luck. As for Coach of the Year, I’d give it to Steve Donahue. Though Boston College’s defense has gotten worse, he has supercharged the offense and when the players are rolling, it is a thing of terrifying and undeniable beauty. Seldom have I seen a team so completely and suddenly transformed. And for the second half of the season, I’d urge everyone to stay up a little bit later than usual and take in some Arizona games. Don’t let the loss to Oregon State fool you: This team is for real. Derrick Williams is a terrific player and I have a feeling that the Wildcats are going to be dangerously underestimated in March.
Matt Patton, RTC contributor
Player of the Year is totally up in the air, but right now I like Jon Leuer from Wisconsin. Without him the Badgers are a low-end Big 10 team with a good point guard (think Penn State with Talor Battle). With him they’re a sleeper contender and top 25 team. I think I’d give Coach of the Year to Mike Brey of Notre Dame with San Diego State’s Steve Fisher coming in a close second. I think Brey has taken a team with very little buzz to a place not many people outside South Bend were expecting. He’s done a terrific job getting the most out of his players so far, and after their win over Georgetown I think the Fighting Irish are for real. Freshman of the Year goes to Jared Sullinger. Kyrie Irving would have a shot if he wasn’t hurt, but with him sidelined and Terrence Jones’ recent struggles I think Sullinger is a no brainer. He makes Ohio State a truly elite team and is arguably the most polished interior force in college basketball.
