By Paul Gotham
On the lighter side
Leading off with a funny one from the folks over at The Big Lead. Not that Kentucky was caught in a close game with Vanderbilt or anything (The ‘Dores missed a chance to tie the game at the buzzer), but obviously, whatever the sideline reporter was scribbling on her pad was more important to DeMarcus Cousins than what Coach Calipari was discussing.
Darn those omnipresent digital cameras. I am trying to imagine the discussions in the Kentucky clubhouse about this one.
In all fairness, Cousins did lead the Wildcats with 19 points.
Familiarity breeds contempt
Speaking of UK-Vanderbilt, the final score of that tilt was 58-56. Kentucky entered play Saturday averaging 81 per game. Conference play has a way bringing teams down to size. Opponents know tendencies and have seen familiar offensive sets. It all makes for great battles.
Kentucky isn’t the only top team to feel the pressure from a conference opponent. Texas A&M held Kansas to 59. Unfortunately, the Aggies only scored 54. Pittsburgh beat Marquette 58-51. Wisconsin lost to Minnesota 68-52. New Mexico trimmed the Air Force 59-56.
Yeah, nothing comes easy in conference play.
Giving opponents a second chance is never a good idea
Sunday, Pittsburgh upset Villanova 70-65. One statistic stands out as the difference: 21 – as in the number of offensive rebounds the Panthers grabbed. To put this in perspective, Pittsburgh grabbed more offensive rebounds than they made shots (20).
Villanova made more field goals (24). The Wildcats even made more threes, 6-4.
How did the Panthers win?
All that work on the offensive glass gave Pitt a 26-11 advantage at the charity stripe.
It’s never a good idea to give an opponent a second chance.
Player to watch: Damian Saunders – Duquesne
The 6’7″ junior forward averages 15 points and 11.6 rebounds for the Dukes. Saunders has 18 double-doubles this year, including a 16 point, 16 rebound performance at Iowa and 21 point, 11 rebound at Dayton earlier this year. Saunders also grabs nearly three steals per game. The surprising thing about this stat is that Saunders gets many of his steals off the dribble. The 6’7″ forward is lightning quick and can step out on opposing point guards.
Bracketology anyone?
Zach Hayes, over at Rush The Court, puts together his weekly projections. He includes seedings and predictions all the way through title game. Zach’s projections include the A-10 getting five bids with the Mountain West getting three. Conference USA, West Coast, and Colonial all get two spots in Zach’s bracket.
What do you think?
Is this heaven? No, it’s Dayton.
The week break from classes afforded the better half and myself the opportunity to put miles on the Chevrolet. We made our way to southern Ohio where our eldest attends college at Xavier. The Musketeers hosted St. Joe’s.
One day later, we trekked north along I-75 to the wife’s alma mater, Dayton. Yeah, I know it’s crazy. Daughter attends Xavier. Wife graduated from Dayton. They are rivals, but it all works.
The Flyers hosted LaSalle. No disrespect to the Explorers, but they entered play Thursday with a record of 11-13/ 3-7. Attending the game was more about it fitting into the schedule than anything.
I was more than pleasantly surprised. Check that. I was humbled.
Keep in mind LaSalle’s record, and that the game took place during the middle of the week.
Three hours prior to the game, we visited one of the better half’s favorite dining spots. Already there were people in attendance wearing their Flyer gear. One by one and two by two people trickled in. Ninety minutes before the game, there was not an open seat in the restaurant…and everyone was wearing Dayton colors. And everyone was talking hoops. As I walked through the dining area, the discussions focused on the game plan for the night.
I had to pinch myself.
Dayton has never won a national title. The Flyers played in the ’67 title game. They advanced to the Elite Eight in ’84, but their fans LOVE hoops.
The experience obviously continued with the game. Little things made all the difference. People milling around the concession stands before the game talking about rebound margins and shooting percentages. The television screens indicate how many minutes before the game starts or restarts at half. And fans are in their seats when play starts – nearly 13, 000 for a weekday game against a team with a losing record. Dayton fans not only cheer for their team, but they acknowledge a good play by opponents.
After the game, fans stayed in their seats while the cheerleaders gave a quick performance. It’s all part of the experience. Then it was time for Coach Brian Gregory post-game interview – done on the court. When the interview finished, people applauded.
Dayton fans aren’t front runners. They love their basketball.
There is a poster on the wall in the concession area. It has a picture of Andy Katz with a quote from the ESPN analyst. I don’t have it word for word, but it is something like this – when they decided to put the NCAA play-in game at the UD Arena, they picked the right place. Those fans are hoop crazy.
Yeah, it was Dayton. It just felt like hoops heaven.
1st Team All Casey
PG Scottie Reynolds – Villanova
SG Jordan Crawford – Xavier
SF Wesley Johnson – Syracuse
PF Damion James – Texas
C Greg Monroe – Georgetown
2nd Team All Casey
PG – Jon Scheyer – Duke
SG Matt Bouldin – Gonzaga
SF Evan Turner – Ohio State
PF Patrick Patterson – Kentucky
C Cole Aldrich – Kansas
All-freshmen
John Wall – Kentucky
Xavier Henry – Kansas
DeMarcus Cousins – Kentucky
Isaiah Armwood – Villanova
Mason Plumlee – Duke
Got any college hoops splinters? Share them here.
I am happy to see that you finally took out the Seton Hall player from your top 10. His name escapes me now, but he has big ears. He shoots too much and his team is not good. I’m glad to see him out.
Love the addition of Greg Monroe to the starting 5.
I would put Rick Jackson/Arinze Onuaku vs. any other starting center in the nation. Those guys are good. Had to give some Orange love.
How many D1 schools in Dayton? Dayton, Wright State,…I think there’s another one… Cincinatti is not far away either…. Lots of D1 basketball in that area… Help me out here Casey…
Pitt beat ‘Cuse and ‘Nova, 2 of the top 5 teams in the nation, both with no more than 3 losses total. Pitt plays slow, rebounds, plays defense, keeps the game low scoring by controlling the clock. They can beat anyone in the nation on a given night. They could sweep 3 good teams in a row. I can’t say the same about everyone. Pitt’s record might not show it, but they are as good as anyone, not because of skill, but because of coaching strategy, 5 man defense and rebounding.
Things are getting exciting… Great time of year for college hoops!!!
Dan,
Jeremy Hazell averages 21 a game. He has scored 20 or more 14 times this year. He is a shooting guard. His job is to shoot. He dropped 41 on West Virginia and 38 on Syracuse. If I was on his team, I would want him to shoot as much as possible. The guy can hit from 25 feet. His field goal percentage is 43.2. For a shooting guard, that gets defended 25 feet from the basket, that is pretty good. Me dropping him off the team was more out of respect for Crawford and Bouldin than anything.
Seton Hall is 15-10. They split with Pitt and have lost three games in overtime. They are a couple lucky bunches short of being 18-7.
Yes, Pitt is good. I have them ranked 18 which means they could be a sweet sixteen team. I consider that to be good as opposed to mediocre. Most of Pitt’s big wins come at home. They have the one ‘big’ road victory at Syracuse. Don’t forget Pitt has lost to Texas, Indiana and South Florida. The Panthers are good.
Weren’t you saying a couple of weeks ago that Wes Johnson should not be on the first team?
Just out of curiosity – have you seen UTEP, Gonzaga, or Xavier play?
Dayton, Wright State, Xavier, Cincinnati and a few others all within an hour or two of each other.
Good points on Hazell. I did not realize they were doing that well. What’s their record in the Big East?
A couple of bad losses to Indiana and South Florida do hurt Pitt in my opinion. However, of the 2nd tier teams I mentioned the other day, I think most of them have 2 or 3 bad losses. I simply think, after seeing them play a number of times, that they are at the top of the 2nd tier. Of course, I could be wrong, just an opinion.
I did say that about Wes J. He has too many faults in his game for me to crown him a first teamer. He has some major talent but does not always get the most out of it or do everything his team needs him to do to win. I think they could win without Wes J easier than they could win without someone like Rautins, Jackson, or even Joseph, who may be the best player on that team over the last month. Again, just an opinion.
I have not seen UTEP play. I also have not seen any highlights of them really on sportscenter so I guess I probably can’t make too educated an opinion on them. I have seen Gonzaga and Xavier probably twice each. I think Xavier is very athletic and they have some talent, however, I don’t see them having enough of an identity inside offensively or defensively overall to win 3 tough games in the tourney. 2nd teir.
I like Gonzaga, I think they DO have an identity. However, I don’t think they’re the best Gonzaga team of recent success. They are solid, but don’t have the firepower to win 3 games in the tourney against teams like Purdue, Ohio State, and Michigan State out of the Big 10, ‘Cuse, ‘Nova, Pitt, W.V., G’Town, out of the Big East, Duke, Wake, etc. out of the ACC, not to mention Kansas, Kentucky. I don’t see them being able to beat 3 of those types of teams in a row.
That Cincinatti/Dayton area is crazy for basketball obviously.
You’ve made some great points, I do appreciate the clarification. I do defer to you as the College Basketball expert on here. Just some humble opinions…
Keep this in mind with Xavier – over a 7-day period (feb 13 -feb 20) they won three games, two of which were on the road against desperate teams – Florida and Charlotte. Both of those teams were on the bubble and a win over Xavier would have helped their resume. Florida is 19-8. They would be 20-7 if they won at home over X. Instead the Musketeers beat them 12. Charlotte is also on the bubble. The 49ers have two wins against ranked teams. They won at Louisville. Xavier won in Charlotte’s barn by 14. In between those games Xavier rocked St. Joe’s at home. That could have easily been a trap game. X won by 36.
Remember how good Pittsburgh was last year – Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, LeVance Fields? With 1:00 remaining in the regional semi-final, Xavier led that team by one. I am beginning to think this year’s Xavier team is better than last year’s. Xavier had two guys that averaged double figures last year: BJ Raymond, 14.1 and Derrick Brown 13.7. This year, Jordan Crawford leads with 19.7 and two others average double figures: Jason Love 11.4 and Terrell Hollaway 11. That’s not even to mention Jamel McLean who had a double-double against Charlotte and the same against Wake Forest earlier this year.
Wally,
How far is Louisville from Cincinnati?
Maybe about 100 miles … a 90+ minute drive. You going to a game there?
Going to a game there? Yeah, I wish.
I was just considering Louisville part of that hub of basketball around the Dayton/Cincy area.
Having lived there, I can confirm that the whole area is hoops crazy. Add Lexington (UK), Bloomington (IU), Evansville and other southern Indiana ports to “the hub”. You’ve also got the Western KY Hilltoppers nearby. Heck … even Nashville and Vandy are only 3 hours from L’ville.
It’s Hoops Heaven, Baaabeeee!! (Tried to do my best Dickie V there). 🙂