1. The Arizona Wildcats do not play until next Wednesday and although they have won their first three games easily, they still have areas to work on before their next game. Sean Miller’s team is allowing opponents to make 39% of their threes so far in this early season and gave up 10 threes to Charleston Southern, nine to Humboldt State, and 14 to Long Beach State. They also are struggling to feed the post and are turning it over more than they would like from the point guard position. Big man Kaleb Tarczewski has only taken 10 total shots and Grant Jerrett is 1-10 on two-point field goals so far. Point guards Mark Lyons and Jordin Mayes have combined for 16 assists and 14 turnovers. Overall, the Wildcats are still a very good team and should improve as the season goes on, but slow starts are never a good thing.
2. Tad Boyle doesn’t care where Colorado is ranked. The Buffaloes were 23rd in this week’s AP poll, but Boyle is stressing to his team that being ranked doesn’t guarantee his team anything. He believes Colorado still has a lot of work to do and that they need to turn the ball over less and play better transition basketball. However, the good news for Colorado Buffalo fans is that the Buffs are 4-0 and ranked and their head coach still believes they have a long way to go.
3. Even though Shabazz Muhammad has only played two games this season, he’s already drawing NBA comparisons. Scouts were all around at the Barclays Center when UCLA played Georgetown and Georgia this past week and Muhammad’s physicality and aggressiveness on the floor were very apparent. What was also apparent was that Muhammad wasn’t attacking off the dribble from the perimeter. But, Muhammad is drawing comparisons to former Kentucky and current Charlotte Bobcat Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Ultimately, Muhammad’s NBA stock should rise and fall as the season goes on, and it’s evident in the first few games in his college career, that he has a place at the next level.
4. Because the Oregon State Beavers were unable to schedule an east coast game into their non-conference schedule, they decided to partake in some unusual Thanksgiving activities this week. They first went to the Capital Food Bank in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to fill out food bags for needy families and then made a trip to visit Craig Robinson’s brother-in-law at the White House yesterday for Thanksgiving. The players took a tour through the White House and also got to shoot on the basketball court. Although the Beavers were unable to get any real basketball in, it was a humbling experience for the team and the next best thing they could have done.
5. Switching to the gridiron briefly, Andrew back here with our weekly update on the pick ‘em contest that Connor and I have engaged in all year long. Entering last week, Connor was down four games on the year and he went all out in an attempt to get back in the game, a strategy that backfired. We differed on four games last week and I won all four of those matchups, giving me an eight game lead with eight games (including the conference championship game) remaining on the schedule. In other words, it’s all over but the shouting. But, as is typical of all the great rivalries around the conference, Connor’s not going to lay down while there is still the slimmest chance of victory. As a result, he’s picking the opposite of everything I pick this week – desperate times calling for desperate measures and all that. Our picks below, with our game of the week, below:
   

   Game	Connor’s Pick	Drew’s Pick
   Utah at Colorado	Colorado	Utah
   Washington at Wash. State	Washington State	Washington
   Arizona State at Arizona	Arizona State	Arizona
   Notre Dame at USC	Notre Dame	USC
   Oregon at Oregon State	Oregon State 37-34	Oregon 52-17
   Stanford at UCLA	UCLA	Stanford

1. Top recruit Aaron Gordon has cut his list down to Washington, Arizona, and Kentucky, but Washington continues to make an appealing case. Gordon’s mother, Shelley-Davis Gordon, is from Seattle and has gotten to know Lorenzo Romar very well, and Gordon’s father, Ed Gordon, grew up in the same area as Romar. Although Gordon would be the focal point of the Washington program if he were to commit there, that’s not something he is unwilling to do. Gordon isn’t going to pick a school anytime soon, and no one puts players in the NBA better than Kentucky coach John Calipari, which is Aaron Gordon’s ultimate goal; still, don’t count out the Huskies just yet.
2. Although Shabazz Muhammad is now finally playing, don’t expect him to have the impact he was supposed to have right away. Muhammad has admitted that it’s been difficult dealing with the eligibility investigation as well as overcoming injuries and some added weight. Muhammad was the leading scorer in UCLA’s victory over Georgia with 21 points, but he said he’s added 10 to 15 pounds and an injured shoulder and an ankle are certainly not easy to deal with for an explosive athlete. However, Muhammad isn’t making excuses and understands the pressure that comes with being a top recruit and going to arguably the most prestigious college basketball school in the country. Whatever happens as the season continues, you can count on Muhammad working to improve and doing the most he can.
3. In this short season, Cal’s Allen Crabbe has certainly stood out. Averaging a fifth best in the nation 26.7 PPG, Crabbe has helped Cal overcome some sluggish starts to games and has put it upon himself this year to be more consistent. He knows he has to be more aggressive and score at will. Crabbe admitted he disappeared in games last year, but with the loss of Pac-12 player of the year Jorge Gutierrez, and the possibility of the NBA looming either this year or the next, Crabbe can no longer afford to be inconsistent. Credit to the Bear junior for understanding that he needs to pick up the slack and he has certainly done so this year by posting a career high 33 points against Pepperdine and also games of 27 and 20 points. Obviously, Crabbe won’t be able to keep up this scoring barrage all season, but if he continues to stay aggressive, he should be able to keep Cal in the Pac-12 hunt all year long.
4. The Arizona Wildcats are in the middle of an eight-day break until its next game, but Sean Miller’s team won’t be doing any resting. Arizona was lucky to have this past Tuesday and yesterday off after their latest victory over Long Beach State, but it’ll be right back to work on Thanksgiving as the Cats will practice in the morning and again on Friday and Saturday, Monday and Tuesday (they’ll take a day off on Sunday). Sean Miller believes this time of the year is crucial and he has the resume to back it up. It was only two years ago that Arizona came one win short of the Final Four and he believes the team’s increased practice early in the year was a big reason for that.
5. USC hasn’t got off to the greatest start as the Trojans finished in sixth in the Maui Invitational, but they’re doing well off the court. USC recently landed the best player in Nevada according to ESPNU in point guard Julian Jacobs. Jacobs is a 6’2″ player who is explosive and can drive to the hoop or hurt you with his great passing. He is now the third guard in the 2013 USC class, adding to Kendal Harris and Kahlil Price. Originally, Jacobs was a Utah commitment, but he changed his mind in August and now has a chance to form a very strong and athletic backcourt at USC in the future.

With the newly eligible Shabazz Muhammad joining the rotation, it was unclear exactly how Ben Howland would fold the highly-regarded freshman into a wing-heavy lineup. Fellow freshman Jordan Adams had established himself in the first three games as the team’s best pure scorer. Sophomore Norman Powell had earned the starting two-guard spot, while last year’s incumbent Tyler Lamb was recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. And then there’s freshman Kyle Anderson, a man without a position who is mostly a point guard (or point forward, or just a point) on the offensive end and some sort of wing player defensively. With David Wear going down with injury at the end of the semifinal game in the Legends Classic against Georgetown, the consolation game against Georgia provided a glimpse into Howland’s estimate of the strengths of his team and where the priorities may lie in his rotation. Would clear interior guys like junior Joshua Smith and freshman Tony Parker slide up the depth chart to fill the departed Wear’s spot, or would Howland find room for all his talented perimeter guys to work together.

With David Wear Out Following An Injury. Ben Howland Was Forced To Tip His Hand On His Rotation

The answer was clearly the latter, although it is open to evolve based on improvement and opposition. While Travis Wear earned 32 minutes of action, Smith and Parker combined for 19 minutes, meaning there were 11 minutes of action where UCLA had a pair of big guys on the floor. Larry Drew II is clearly locked in at the point guard, with his 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and solid defense providing plenty of ammunition for that decision, while Anderson, Muhammad, Powell and Adams are in the mix for the minutes at the two through four spots. It remains likely that Howland will opt for two big guys (meaning some combination of two of the Wears, Smith and Parker) for the majority of minutes, although last night’s game provides some precedent for going with the four-out, one-in model (not that this conglomeration of players would make for the traditional example of that style). The biggest concern brought to light by the results of last night’s game were the rebounding numbers, where Georgia made an impact on the offensive glass, especially in the second half, and the relatively undersized Bruin front line failed to regularly secure defensive rebounds.

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Three thoughts on the Pac-12’s 3-1 Tuesday, where we’ll focus on USC and UCLA’s tight consolation wins in their respective tournaments on opposite sides of the country.

• KO ball prevails in Lahaina. With athletic, talented players that didn’t suit up for SC last season like J.T. Terrell, Jio Fontan, and Eric Wise, Kevin O’Neill will eventually turn to a more aggressive tempo from the deliberate style he’s been known for. But early in the year, classic KO ball did the trick for the Trojans in their 59-53 overtime win against Texas. O’Neill’s guys plodded along in the second half, with both teams going to overtime after scoring just 21 points each in the final 20 minutes. Obviously, this one wasn’t for lovers of offense (maybe those of you should check out this box score); each team hit just two three-pointers a piece in the 45 minutes of action.

There’s Been Many Cringe-Worthy Moments For Howland Early On In 2012-13 (credit: Jamie Squires)

• The Bruins are still working things out, and that’s alright. Often times, teams with as much talent as UCLA has, especially new talent, will struggle early on to play together and find lineups and rotations that fit well together. Take freshman guard Jordan Adams, for instance. Adams had one of the best first 11 days of anyone in the conference, newcomer or vet, but shot an ice-cold one-for-six from the field once Shabazz Muhammad entered the starting lineup this afternoon. So, for the hoops fans up and down the west coast that may be concerned with this four-point victory over a team that has already lost home games to the likes of Youngstown State and Southern Miss, know that the important thing here is the W. UCLA now has 11 days to shore up their lazy defensive play and find rotations that maximize its potential before its showdown with San Diego State in Anaheim. If Ben Howland can’t figure it out by then, worry away. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Johnson is an RTC National Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

Tonight’s Lede. No. 1 Hoosiers Survive First Real Test. The Legends Classic Championship did not feature the matchup we all spotlighted on calendars and hyped up to ridiculous proportions in the preseason. It didn’t come down to a titanic mid-air class of Shabazz Muhammad exploding to the rim and Cody Zeller attempting an acrobatic swat on a final possession. That’s half true because UCLA never made it there. Georgetown took down the vaunted Bruins Monday, and for entertainment purposes, a Hoyas win in all likelihood set up a tougher challenge for No. 1 Indiana than anything UCLA could have mustered at this early stage. The Hoosiers handled said challenge, though not without producing a fair measure of late-game drama. Tuesday night’s Legends Final was the first showcase game for the preseason national championship favorite. The proceedings matched every bit the hype. But Indiana’s spotlight game wasn’t the only major storyline from Tuesday night. Shall we dig in to the rest of college hoops’ biggest developments?

Your Watercooler Moment.  NCAA Scoring Record Snapped.

On a night where Indiana staged its biggest game yet, and Michigan State potentially lost a crucial asset, Thomas’ 138-point game shines through (photo credit: AP Photo).

Say what you will about competition level or defensive effort, throw out any “volume shooter” pejoratives you like, because Jack Taylor’s 138-point game in Division III Grinnell College’s 179-104 win over Faith Baptist Bible is downright impressive any way you slice it. Taylor, a 5’10’’ sophomore cashed 27 three pointers and finished 52-of-108 from the field. This counts as an offensive explosion of the highest order, not just by Taylor, but also by Grinnell.  For those familiar with the program, though, the wow factor must have been tempered somewhat by the Pioneer’s recent track record: before last night’s win, Grinnell combined to score 241 points in its first two games, both wins. I’m a sucker for high-scoring affairs just as much as the next guy, but at what point does a desire to push the pace and execute quickfire offense sacrifice reasonable strategic wisdom? Does the Grinnell playbook just exclude defensive strategy all together? Or is the offense-focused system just some incredible recruiting tool that’s all too popular among players to pass up? There’s playing fast, and then there’s Grinnell. Whatever your level of affinity for pace, it’s hard to quibble with Taylor’s awesome display Tuesday night. No matter how distorted, or how amenable to high-volume shooting and ball-dominating tendencies, Grinnell’s offense gave Taylor a night he will never forget. And no one — not for stylistic eccentrity, not for the inordinate number of shot attempts he took to get there, not for the clear and concerted effort his team made to get Taylor as many shots as possible so he could score as many points as possible — can begrudge him that.

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Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor. He filed this report from UCLA’s victory over Georgia on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center. Follow him on Twitter @botskey.

Three thoughts from UCLA’s close call against Georgia…

1. UCLA defended better, but it wasn’t a consistent effort. After last night’s poor defensive showing, UCLA looked much the same in the first half. Georgia came out and was able to get multiple easy baskets in the paint. That led to a five-point Bulldogs halftime lead but Ben Howland’s Bruins reversed the trend after the break. UCLA held Georgia to 30% shooting and just 26 points in the second half. Howland mixed in some zone but played predominantly man defense tonight. After the game he admitted his team couldn’t stop Georgia in the man defense, but prefers that defense as opposed to zone. UCLA’s on-ball pressure was improved and they rebounded better after halftime. It was a tale of two halves for the Bruins, but the second half eventually won out and UCLA leaves Brooklyn with a split, something Howland acknowledged was very important. He didn’t want that long plane ride home to LA to be for naught. It’s not the way they wanted it to happen but a split is what most people expected.
2. Shabazz had 21 points, but Travis Wear was UCLA’s MVP tonight. Wear posted 10 points and eight rebounds, but it seemed like a lot more. He was everywhere around the rim on both ends of the floor and his rebounding was extremely valuable in the second half when Georgia was missing shots. With his brother David out due to injury, Wear stepped up when others like Josh Smith could only manage four boards. Going up against a strong rebounder in Georgia’s Marcus Thornton is never easy but Wear excelled tonight. Both Wear twins have been described as role players once they transferred from North Carolina but they’re both showing signs of improvement. They will be hugely important players for UCLA because Smith has shown little signs of improvement (or a will to improve) in his time in Westwood.
3. Georgia is 1-4, but it should improve. I’m not sure what happened in the Youngstown State and Southern Miss losses but I have a hard time believing Georgia is as bad as its record indicates. The Bulldogs aren’t the 22 to 25-win team Indiana coach Tom Crean talked about last night but I don’t think they’re a terrible basketball team. Georgia has pieces to build around, especially Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Marcus Thornton. Mark Fox has a very good track record at Nevada and, while it’ll be hard to move up the SEC ladder, Georgia has the potential to do so. The Bulldogs will see their share of rough losses but don’t expect them to be a total doormat for the SEC like, say, Mississippi State.

Georgetown point guard Markel Starks may have led all scorers with 23 points and the UCLA trio of superstar freshmen — Jordan Adams, Shabazz Muhammad, and Kyle Anderson — may have offered tantalizing glimpses at their talent and potential. But when the final horn sounded on the Hoyas’ 78-70 victory over then-No. 11 UCLA, there was little doubt who the best player on the floor was. After exiting early in the team’s season opener after being hit in the head and missing the team’s second game too, Hoyas’ forward Otto Porter returned to the starting lineup and delivered a virtuoso performance that reminded his teammates and his coaching staff just how much they missed him while he was gone. There are few, if any, players in the country who have the athleticism and versatility to deliver the type of line that Porter delivered Monday night.

Sorry To The Rest Of The Big East, But Georgetown’s Otto Porter Ain’t A High-Schooler Anymore.

Eighteen points on 6-of-10 shooting, 11 rebounds, five assists, five blocks, three steals, and just two turnovers is the type of stat-stuffing usually reserved for a created player in a video game, yet Porter did that in 35 minutes of play, while helping hold a lineup full of future NBA players to just 40 percent shooting from the field and adding in two late three-pointers to ice the game for the Hoyas. At first glance, it is easy to assume that Porter will never be able to replicate that sort of performance considering it came early in the season against a young opponent still learning to play together, but we aren’t talking about about an ordinary player who had a fluke performance. We are talking about an athletic freak with a 7’1” wingspan who is poised to take a more central role for Georgetown this season.

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Brian Otskey is a regular contributor for RTC. Every Tuesday during the regular season he’ll be giving his 10 thoughts on the previous week’s action. You can find him on Twitter @botskey

1. As someone who doesn’t watch one minute of college football but loves college basketball to no end, conference realignment frustrates me to no end as you might imagine. It’s actually quite depressing and I hate talking/writing about it. However, it’s a relevant story and must be discussed because of the far-reaching impacts it will have on the sport I love. I realize this is all about “stability,” TV markets and football. It bothers me like nothing else but I accept it. I’m in the minority when it comes to this and the minority holds very little influence in our country. The consequences (both intended and unintended) of realignment for basketball are distressing. The Big East conference, the pre-eminent college basketball league for the last 25 to 30 years, is on life support. The conference I grew up watching, with the best conference tournament of them all, is all but gone. Yes, Connecticut and Louisville are still in the league, but make no mistake, they’ll bolt at the first opportunity they get as we saw this week with Rutgers going to the Big Ten. Once everything shakes out, I find it hard to believe any Big East football program will remain in the league. It simply makes no sense to do so at this point and they’re looking out for themselves in doing so. I don’t blame them. I blame the greedy conference leadership concerned about how many eyeballs the Big Ten Network can draw in New York and New Jersey, the schools who set this in motion (Syracuse and Pittsburgh), and the Big East as a whole for turning down a massive TV deal that could have given the conference a great deal of security. Once the football schools leave, the Big East will be down to seven Catholic basketball-only schools: DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova. As an alumnus and fan of one of those seven schools, this pains me greatly. I could live with Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Notre Dame leaving the league. The real punch to the gut was Syracuse, a Big East founding member, saying it could find long-term stability in the ACC. The final, fatal blow will be Connecticut and/or Louisville bolting, likely in short order. The basketball-only schools have no leverage and must wait and see as everything crashes around them. Hopefully they get together, keep the Big East name and pick up a few other schools like Butler, St. Joe’s and Xavier. That wouldn’t be a bad league and it would get back to the roots of the Big East, basketball and basketball only.
   

   The Big East Needs to Find Its Roots in Basketball

2. How does realignment affect other schools and conferences?  For one, the bottom teams in the ACC may stay there for a very long time. With Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame coming in (and possibly Connecticut/Louisville), how will schools like Wake Forest and Boston College compete? There will be a good five or six programs ahead of them each and every year, plus they have to battle it out with the likes of Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech just to make it into the middle of the pack. It’s a vicious cycle that will keep programs like these as the bottom of their respective conference for many years to come. They always said it was tough to climb up the Big East ladder but now the ACC is effectively the Big East (six of the ACC’s 14 future members, not including Maryland, will be former Big East schools). It’s going to be extraordinarily tough for schools like Boston College to compete in the revamped ACC. Only the strong shall survive in conference realignment, it seems. As for the Big Ten, the impact isn’t as significant. Penn State, Nebraska and Northwestern will always be among the worst programs in the league but the climb to respectability isn’t as difficult. Look at Northwestern. The Wildcats have never made the NCAA Tournament despite knocking on the door in the last few seasons, showing how it isn’t impossible to climb the conference ladder. Now though, the addition of a similarly starved program at Rutgers and a strong program at Maryland makes it more difficult for Northwestern to make a move. It’s uncertain what Rutgers is getting itself into. The Scarlet Knights haven’t made the NCAA Tournament in 22 seasons but have shown signs of progress under Mike Rice. You have to think it can go either way for Rutgers. The new recruiting avenues can help but the school is already situated in the middle of the talent-rich New York City area. That said, road trips to Wisconsin and Michigan State aren’t as simple as heading over to St. John’s or up to Providence. I’d lean towards Rutgers struggling in the Big Ten. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Shabazz Muhammad finally saw his first action as a Bruin and the Georgetown Hoyas ruined his debut. The Bruins fell to John Thompson’s team, 78-70, and while Muhammad did not start, he came off the bench and scored 15 points in 25 minutes of action. He showed off his athleticism and athletic ability from the start, but as expected Muhammad will need time to adjust to college basketball as he was thrown into the fire playing against a very good Georgetown team. Because of this UCLA loss, we will not see the highly anticipated match-up with Indiana, but it’s fair to say with Muhammad now back the Bruins should be a mainstay in the Top 25 and an exciting team to watch all season.
2. Speaking of Top 25, there’s a new team from the Pac-12 this week in the AP Poll. The Charleston Classic champions and 4-0 Colorado Buffaloes are ranked 23rd in this week’s latest poll and are back there for the first time since 1997. With wins over Dayton, Baylor, and Murray State, the Buffaloes made an excellent case for the inclusion this week. Colorado did not show up in the coaches poll this week, but did gather votes to end up at 27th. The Buffaloes will have many chances to show the nation they deserve to be in the Top 25 the rest of the way as the Buffs will travel to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks in December and will have multiple match-ups with Arizona and UCLA in the conference season to showcase themselves.
3. The Arizona Wildcats came in at 10th in this week’s AP poll and had their first test of the season with their victory over Long Beach State 94-72 last night. Many expected the Wildcats to win this game, but the game was unexpectedly out of reach fairly early because Long Beach State didn’t cause any problems for Arizona. The Wildcats were led by freshman Brandon Ashley who put up 20 points and 10 rebounds. Arizona’s freshmen trio of Ashley, Kaleb Tarczewski, and Grant Jerrett are going to be key for the Wildcats all year and this game showed just how much they could impact the season. Tarczewski and Jerrett combined for 12 points, giving the trio a total of 32. If one of the freshmen can step up in every game this year, Arizona will be very hard to stop.
4. The Oregon Ducks were able to beat Jacksonville State handily last night by a score of 67-45 with Tony Woods leading the way with 17 points. This was also transfer Arsalan Kazemi’s second game and Dana Altman thinks with additional playing time, Kazemi could have a real impact for the Ducks. Kazemi was able to pick up seven rebounds and two steals in his first game on Friday and had eight rebounds and five steals last night against Jacksonville State. The 6’7″ Kazemi might not stand out in the box score with points as he gets acclimated to life in Eugene, but he affects the game in many ways defensively and on the glass and certainly makes Dana Altman’s job a lot easier.
5. It’s not easy to be a senior and be content in the sixth man role, but that’s exactly what Arizona State’s Chris Colvin is doing. Colvin helped the Sun Devils to a win on Sunday night against Florida A&M by scoring 15 points on nine shots. With Jahii Carson and Evan Gordon starting at point guard and shooting guard respectively, Colvin fills a vital role coming off the bench because he can play both positions. If Arizona State wants to contend in the top half of the Pac-12 this year, Chris Colvin’s role as sixth man will certainly be a factor.

1. The shockwaves from yesterday’s shift in conference plate tectonics continue to reverberate across the college landscape today, as Rutgers will accept an invitation to the Big Ten during a 3 PM press conference. The announcement marks an abrupt end to a conference affiliation that began in 1991. Piscataway brass hopes to circumvent the 27-month notice stipulated in Big East bylaws by negotiating a higher exit fee in order to join the Big Ten in 2014. While there’s been a lot of speculation floating around about the myriad ways this move will fill Rutgers’ athletic coffers and bolster its football profile, little attention has been paid to the changes awaiting Mike Rice’s basketball program. But one New Jersey journalist claims that both sides are in talks to preserve the Seton Hall-Rutgers rivalry, so there’s that.
2. Although his team is currently struggling with a staggering lack of depth from injuries, Ed Cooley received some measure of relief yesterday when four-star Philadelphia forward Brandon Austin committed to the Friars. Cooley beat out finalists UConn and Texas, though the former Penn State commitment also held offers from Georgetown and UCLA, among others. With the talented 6’6″ wing entering the fold alongside Kris Dunn, LaDontae Hinton, Bryce Cotton, Kadeem Batts and Ricky Ledo (should he decide not to enter the NBA Draft), the stars might finally align for Cooley’s Friars to break out in 2013-14.
3. While Big East teams have turned in several notable early duds, no other team has been as disappointing as South Florida through the first two weeks. After being blown out by UCF in their home opener and suffering an ugly 58-53 defeat at home against Central Michigan on Sunday, USF has matched last season’s total number of losses in the Sun Dome in the first nine days of their schedule. Weeding through the discouraging statistics, several things stand out. Despite their coach’s emphasis on rebounding, USF was outworked on the boards by a wide margin (39-26) by a MAC team. The team ranks 14^th in the Big East in field goal percentage, after shooting 23% in the second half against Central Michigan. And if a career-best 12 assists from Anthony Collins isn’t enough to lift USF above a 10-point underdog at home, Bulls fans might be in for a long season. Stan Heath’s squad, which was predicted to place in the middle of the Big East pack this year coming off a historic top-four finish last season, could accrue quite a few losses before it even enters conference play.
4. In the face of fervent hype surrounding the collegiate debut of UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammad, an unfazed Georgetown squad jaunted up I-95 to Brooklyn and handled its business last night against the 13^th-ranked Bruins, 78-70. The Washington Post’s Liz Clark makes a case that Otto Porter proved himself “the more valuable and versatile man” as he returned from the head injury he suffered in Georgetown’s opener to spoil the inaugural game of the Shabazz era. RTC’s own Brian Otskey suggests that the culture of consistent success John Thompson III has cultivated at Georgetown is “one of the underappreciated stories in college basketball”. While Thompson’s groups haven’t finished in the Big East’s top four since 2008, he has quietly groomed even his least talented rosters into dangerous, fundamentally-sound tournament teams. The Hoyas will try to sustain that discipline as they take on #1 Indiana in the championship game of the Legends Classic tonight.
5. Lastly, reports confirmed last night that Louisville and North Carolina have agreed to join the field of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament next season. They will join Richmond, Holy Cross, and Belmont, among others. It will be the first time the Heels and Cardinals have met on the hardwood since the 2008 Elite Eight. Rick Pitino’s team, which will likely return almost all of this year’s underclassman-laden roster, will have the unique opportunity to play Duke and North Carolina on a neutral floor in back-to-back seasons.