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.

Top 25 Games

• Marquette 74, #13 UConn 67 (OT): The Huskies lost a tough game at the XL Center that should help Marquette’s NCAA Tournament chances. (The UConn Blog)

Other Games

• Gonzaga 89, St. Mary’s 85 (OT): The Zags’ keys to the game included (1) beating SMC on offense with Sacre, Harris and Dower, (2) limiting SMC’s three-point attempts with skin tight perimeter defense, and (3) forcing SMC to take a higher-than-usual percentage of two-point shots. Aside from the obvious victory — and Zagacious cannot understate the awesomeness of this win! — how did we fare on our checklist?  (Zagacious)

Pre-Game Analysis

• #2 Duke at Virginia Tech: “Program changer.  You don’t get many opportunities at program changing wins, but VT has a shot at one on Saturday.  The whole nation (and world thanks to ESPN America) will be get a big glimpse of what Hokie Nation is like for roundball on Saturday with ESPN College Gameday (basketball) making its first ever trip to the ‘Burg with Rece, Hubert, Digger, and Jay Bilas, airing from 10 AM to Noon.  Then, the big show starts nine hours later with Tech taking on the #1, by God, Duke Blue Devils at 9 PM on ESPN in OUR CASSELL..” (Tech Hoops)

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1. We haven’t talked much about the incident at Holy Family involving head coach John O’Connor that has spread across the Internet like wildfire over the past week. As you know, O’Connor was accused by Matt Kravchuk, one of his (now former) players, of assault related to an incident at a practice on January 25th. Kravchuk reported it to the athletic department that day, but when he felt it was not dealt with appropriately he went to the local authorities on February 11th. Since that time, video from the practice (available in the following link) shows an admittedly out-of-context incident that appears to show a coach attacking a player after a rebounding drill. O’Connor has been widely panned for his actions, but now he is responding with his account of the incident. We won’t add any more commentary, but will let you watch the video, read his explanation, and judge for yourself.
2. Speaking of trouble with the law, Texas forward Alexis Wangmene was arrested early Sunday morning — 4:30 AM, to be exact — on suspicion of drinking under the influence. Wangmene has since been suspended from the team indefinitely. The junior forward/center has played sparingly for the Longhorns this season and averages just 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 9.7 minutes per game this season. Neither the Texas SID nor Rick Barnes has released a formal (informative) statement on Wangmene yet.
3. While most of the attention in Storrs over the past few days has focused on Jim Calhoun‘s deferred three game Big East suspension next year, not much attention has been paid to the fact that Calhoun will not be coaching (and perhaps more importantly not answering post-game press conference questions) Connecticut during tonight’s game against Marquette, as he will be attending funeral services for his sister-in-law. In his place will be his assistant coach George Blaney. Those of you who have followed UConn closely over the years are familiar with Blaney, as he has filled in admirably for Calhoun many times in recent years — including last year’s 14-point win over then #1-ranked Texas — as Calhoun dealt with a variety of health issues.
4. There was some big news out of powerhouse/basketball factory Oak Hill Academy where two of the top players in the country — Ben McLemore and Sidiki Johnson — were thrown off the team for violating unspecified team rules. McLemore, who is currently deciding between Kansas and Missouri, transfered to Christian Life Center in Humble, Texas while Johnson, an Arizona commit, transfered to Wadleigh High School in Harlem, New York. It is unclear if their dismissal will affect their recruitment or eligibility (we are guessing it will not), but it is worth keeping an eye on particularly if any news breaks on why they were thrown off the team.
5. We close out our links today with a little whining. Today’s edition is courtesy of USC head coach Kevin O’Neill who calls Arizona star Derrick Williams “the most protected dude I’ve seen since Michael Jordan.” It is somewhat amusing to note that O’Neill could be coaching Williams in rather simple scenarios: (1) if Lute Olson hadn’t turned on his word and taken the Arizona coaching job back from O’Neill or (2) if Williams had remained committed to USC where he had initially signed. While we disagree with O’Neill’s assessment of the level of protection Williams gets (O’Neill was also effusive in his praise of Williams and most likely trying to wage psychological war with the officials), it is worth noting that Williams leads the nation at an astounding 9.2 free throw attempts per game.

Over the years we have heard a lot of stories about fans (particularly parents of young children at games) and school administrations (even at Duke) getting on the student section for their crude language and poor behavior, but we have never heard about students publicly criticizing other students about their behavior at sporting events (or, “sports games”). As they say, there is a first time for everything, as the editorial staff at The Daily Campus, an independent student paper for Connecticut, published an editorial today criticizing students for “displaying poor sportsmanship and little respect” toward opposing teams and specifically cites fans at the men’s basketball games. Essentially the editors are asking the student section to display the same respect and courtesy afforded to Jim Calhoun and Kemba Walker to the other team no matter what the letters on the front of that uniform say. Judging from the reader comments at the bottom of the article, I don’t think this will go over too well in Storrs.

While I agree that fans occasionally go over the line (and I had multiple discussions with a certain friend in college about this — I will spare you the rather interesting details that he would divulge to the opposing team and crowd), I am having a hard time figuring out what the UConn fans did to deserve a reprimand from their fellow students. I have been to several UConn games over the past few years (both at Storrs and Hartford) and have found the fans to be pretty reasonable. Sure, there may be a choice comment or two from the fans that might offend the opera crowd, but I don’t think anybody can reasonably expect a PBS conversation at a sporting event of this caliber. Now if I hear that sort of stuff at a Little League baseball game, I might be a little more concerned. Quite simply, Gampel and the XL Center have been two of the more pleasant places I have been to watch a game at recently, and no, I am not going to list the places that might be less friendly to a child’s ears. We doubt that this article will generate any real change except to flood the paper’s e-mail inbox, but it is worth a read if only for its naivete.

Within a span of 24 hours the NCAA released a pair of statements that sent shock waves through NCAA coaching circles. The first involving Connecticut and its Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun had been expected since Yahoo! Sports broke the story on the recruitment of Nate Miles in March 2009, while the other involved Tennessee and both its basketball and football programs in an ongoing process, but just came to the media’s attention within the past year. While the verdict on Calhoun and the release of the NCAA’s notice of allegations against Tennessee has created quite a bit of controversy, they also raise a lot of questions.

Calhoun was less than thrilled with the NCAA's ruling

Before we get into the questions, it’s probably best to lay out each of the cases:

Connecticut

The Huskies were cited for the recruitment of Nate Miles that involved the use of a former student-manager-turned-agent Josh Nochimson who reportedly helped direct Miles to Storrs. Nochimson reportedly dealt with two UConn assistants in Patrick Sellars and Beau Archibald, both of whom are no longer with the program. According to the NCAA’s official release “the case includes more than $6,000 in improper recruiting inducements, (150) impermissible phone calls and (190) text messages to prospective student-athletes, failure to monitor and promote an atmosphere for compliance by the head coach, failure to monitor by the university, and unethical conduct by the former operations director, among other violations.”

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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.

Top 25 Games

• #11 Purdue 76, #1 Ohio State 63: “In the last week, Purdue took down Wisconsin and Ohio State…back to back. The number 2 and 10 teams in the nation. Sure, they were at home, but that’s where you must dominate. Ask MSU or Illinois how much they’d like to be unbeaten at home this year and how hard it is to accomplish.” (Boiled Sports or Eleven Warriors)
• Nebraska 70, #2 Texas 67: “The march toward a 16-0 conference mark is over as the No. 2/3 Texas Longhorns fall, 70-67, to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Despite a furious rally in the final three minutes of the game, aided by mindless Nebraska fouls, Texas could never overcome the lead they relinquished early in the second half. The Huskers dominated the glass from start to finish, crippled the Texas defense with dribble penetration, and limited the Texas offense by sagging four or five players in the paint and daring the Longhorns to score from the perimeter. In a game that looked eerily similar to the December loss at Southern Cal, Texas was thoroughly worked physically, especially in the low post. The Nebraska size gave the ‘Horns fits, got most of the Texas frontcourt into foul trouble, and forced Rick Barnes to play some odd lineups, mostly in the first half.” (Burnt Orange Nation)
• #3 Kansas 89, Colorado 63: “Markieff Morris led the Jayhawks with 26 points and 16 rebounds including 9 on the offensive end. It was one of the best performances of his career and Colorado simply had no answer on the interior.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 and Part 2)

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Earlier this month the Basketball Hall of Fame announced its list of ten finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation’s top point guard, and created a minor controversy when it left off Wisconsin star Jordan Taylor. At the time, the ten finalists appeared to be deserving although some might question Jimmer Fredette‘s passing ability/frequency and Demetri McCamey‘s play recently:

• Norris Cole, Cleveland State
• Corey Fisher, Villanova
• Jimmer Fredette, BYU
• DJ Gay, San Diego State
• Brandon Knight, Kentucky
• Demetri McCamey, Illinois
• Mickey McConnell, St. Mary’s
• Nolan Smith, Duke
• Isaiah Thomas, Washington
• Kemba Walker, UConn

The Cousy Award committee eventually came to its senses on Taylor

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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.

Top 25 Games

• #2 Texas 73, Oklahoma State 55: “The Texas Longhorns (23-3, 11-0) stayed perfect in Big 12 play with a 73-55 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys (16-9, 4-7) on Wednesday night in Austin. To put in context how strong a team is this Longhorns squad: I thought the Cowboys played improved basketball from the last time we saw them and that Texas was merely okay, and yet the game was never in doubt and the final spread was 18 points. This is a damn good team, even when it’s not at its best.” (Burnt Orange Nation)
• #11 Purdue 70, #9 Wisconsin 62: “Make no mistake, tonight’s win was a big one, and is yet another sign that this team is coming together. They still have their moments where they slip or make some poor decisions on shot selection, but by and large they’re good enough to overcome those lapses. Wisconsin is a solid opponent and one who just beat the #1 (and undefeated) team in the nation a few days ago. However, Purdue quite simply owns Wisconsin in Mackey, as the Badghuhs are now 2-37 all time in our favorite gym. JJ and E’Twaun wind up 6-2 against Wisconsin, including 4-0 at Mackey.” (Boiled Sports)
• #12 UConn 78, #10 Georgetown 70: “Welcome back, all, to the Kemba Walker Show. Here is the objectivity: 31 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 1 eye-popping self-pass off the backboard for a layup. 13-23 from the field, 12-18 from inside the 3-point line. Two backbreaking buckets to turn a 70-69 deficit into a 73-70 lead with just over a minute to play. Here’s the subjectivity: KEMBA KEMBA YEAH YEAH OH YEAH. Walker turned in a vintage performance tonight, and the Huskies looked once again like the team that blew off Kentucky’s doors and beat Texas in Austin. Not only did tonight’s 78-70 win over Georgetown remind me of the Maui Tournament games, but the positives of tonight’s game have me feeling sky-high looking forward.” (The UConn Blog or Casual Hoya)
• #18Vanderbilt 64, Georgia 56: “After dropping double-digit leads in road games against South Carolina and Tennessee, it was Vanderbilt’s turn to pull off the upset against a team that was unable to find its rhythm in the second half. The Bulldogs went without a field goal over the final 9:54 of the game and allowed Vandy to erase a 14 point deficit to improve to 7-4 in the SEC. Georgia fell to 6-5 in league play and into a tie with Tennessee for third place in the SEC East.” (Anchors of Gold)

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Ohio State remains atop the rankings, but it is no longer the unanimous #1 as Texas picked up two of the votes this week. With its big victory at home against the Buckeyes, Wisconsin made their way into the top 10 coming in at #9.  Some QnD analysis after the jump…

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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.

Top 25 Games

• St. John’s 89, #10 UConn 72: “The Connecticut Huskies were beaten, beasted, basted, knocked around behind a team defensive effort on Kemba Walker (15 points on 16 shots, 7 assists) who looked human once again, even sloppy. The Huskies’ offense wasn’t the real culprit in this loss, though they shot 35% inside the arc. It was the defense that led the Huskies into the wilderness. The Red Storm rebounded and ran on them over and over again, picking up at least 24 fast-break points behind the tenacious outlet passing of D.J. Kennedy (20 points, 11 total rebounds, 5 assists), along with the steady driving and shooting of Dwight Hardy (career-high 33 points, 3 assists). In a 71 possession game, the Storm dropped 89 points, putting up 54 in the second half.” (Rumble in the Garden)
• #23 Vanderbilt 81, Alabama 77: “Few could have predicted a shootout with the Crimson Tide visiting Memorial Gym, but Thursday night’s game turned into a horse race. In the end, the Commodores won by a nose. Vanderbilt snuck past a very tough Alabama team 81-77 behind a solid team effort that saw four ‘Dores in double figures on the night. ‘Bama abused the home team in the paint, but Vandy got the stops they needed late in the second half after the team switched from zone to man defense. Though Anthony Grant’s strategy of running Brad Tinsley through six or seven screens per possession was successful in creating space for his guards, the Tide couldn’t find their range late, leading to Vanderbilt’s fifth SEC win.” (Anchor of Gold)
• Illinois 71, #25 Minnesota 62: “In a game where both teams desperately needed a victory to snap out of their respective funks, Illinois capitalized on Minnesota mistakes and failed opportunities to take home a 71-62 victory in sloppy, grinding contest.” (From the Barn)

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The evening and night games provided us with plenty of memorable moments and two of the best games so far this season.