By Paul Casey Gotham
Top off-the-radar performances
“The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s [backside] everyday,” but these performances need to see “a ray of light.”
Kyle Weems/ Missouri State – Weems turned in an efficient effort as the Bears won on the road at Bradley. The 6’6″ junior forward scored 27 on 14 shots. He hit 12 from the field (two from behind the arc) and one at the line to lead Missouri State. He grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists. Weems averages 16.4 and 6.9. The Bears are 7-0 in conference play with four of those coming on the road. Missouri State remains as the only team from the MVC to NOT earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.
D.J. Gay/ San Diego State – The Aztecs are trying on the bulls eye for size, and performances by Gay help the fit. San Diego State went into “The Pit” and came away with an 87-77 triumph. Gay scored a career-high 30 hitting 7-of-11 from behind the arc and 9-of-14 from the free throw line. Gay grabbed three assists and handed out four assists. He averages 12. 4 per game and his assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.18:1. SDSU is 4 and 0 in the MWC and 19 and 0 overall. Depending upon where you look, the MWC is ranked fourth in conference RPI.
Gaby Belardo/Canisius – Dropped 29 as the Golden Griffins rallied from 15 back of Siena to take a late lead at the Times-Union Center. Belardo hit 12 of 20 from the field. His trey with a minute and a half remaining gave Canisius its first lead of the game at 69-68. Belardo scored 18 after the break including the Griffs last eight. The red-shirt sophomore grabbed five rebounds and had five assists with a turnover.
Ryan Rossiter/ Siena – Recorded the 45th double-double of his career as Siena avenged an earlier loss to Canisius. Rossiter went 11 of 18 from the field en route to a 28-point output to go with 10 rebounds. The senior from Staten Island showed how his game is rounding out hitting a variety of shots. Rossiter connected on a baseline jumper along with stand still jumpers from 17′, a turnaround jumper just outside the lane, turnaround jump hook, a baby hook in the lane, he can catch in traffic and finish, and, finally, grab an offensive rebound and put it back for the deuce.
Bill Clark/ Duquesne – Clark was a perfect 10-for-10 from the line and hit five of nine from the field as the Dukes trimmed Temple 78-66 in Atlantic 10 action. The senior small forward averages 16.9 and 6.6 for Ron Everhart’s Duqesne squad. The Dukes are 3 and 0 in conference play.
Marathon man
St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholoson gets plenty of attention around Olean, New York. The junior forward averages 20.9 and 9.9 for the Bonnies. Because Nicholson is on pace to score over 1,800 points and grab more than 800 rebounds, his name gets mentioned with the likes of N.B.A. Hall-of-Famer, Bob Lanier.
Nicholson can add one more attribute to his resume: endurance.
Ten times this season, Nicholson has played 35 or more minutes including three games of 40 or more. In a quadruple overtime win over Ohio University on December 18th, the Mississauga, Ontario native logged all 60 minutes scoring 44 to go with 12 rebounds. Nicholson followed that up five days later putting in 41 minutes as the Bonnies fell to Virginia Tech 76-68. On January 8th, the junior played all 55 minutes of a triple overtime win versus Charlotte.
Jordan Williams, Harrison Barnes, Pittsburgh’s efficiency and Animal House
Rush the Court’s Zach Hayes takes a tour of the college basketball world in his Ten Tuesday Scribbles. I did not realize before this article the striking resemblance between Duke’s Mason Plumlee and Niedermeyer from Animal House.
Numbers, numbers and more numbers
Death to the BCS and the Week of January 17, 2011.
Crime and punishment
SI’s Seth Davis analyzes the curious cases of Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe and Memphis’s Wesley Witherspoon.
Want more links?
Dana and Victory has plenty here.
1st Team All-Casey
PG Kemba Walker – UConn
SG Jimmer Fredette* – BYU
SF Kyle Singler – Duke
PF Marcus Morris – Kansas
C Jared Sullinger – Ohio State
2nd Team All Casey
PG Tu Holloway – Xavier
SG Corey Stokes – Villanova
SF Kahwi Leonard – San Diego State
PF Chris Wright – Dayton
C Gary McGhee – Pittsburgh
Got any college basketball splinters? Share them here.
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