Selection Sunday is just 15 days away. 15 days! That means the Pickin’ Splinters coverage of the Atlantic 10 tournament begins in … let me see here … in 10 days. “Meet me tonight in Atlantic City.” Get all your A10 coverage here at Pickin’ Splinters. Smitty and myself will be courtside at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey taking in all the action and bringing it to you.
But before then, we have today. Who is in? Who is out? What are the seeds? Games taking place today could weigh heavily when answering all of those questions.
BYU travels to San Diego State for a 2 p.m. tipoff. Wait, that means that game is being played at 11 a.m. local time. It’s basketball brunch Mountain West style.
Comparing the Stats — BYU vs. San Diego State
Season Averages Overall BYU SDSU
Points Scored/Game 83.0 72.4
Points Allowed/Game 66.5 58.6
FG Percentage .456 .471
FG Percentage Defense .405 .393
3FG Percentage .370 .353
3FG/Game 8.4 6.2
3FG Percentage Defense .312 .310
FT Percentage .754 .683
Rebounds/Game 39.8 37.4
Rebounds Allowed/Game 35.4 30.6
Assists/Game 15.0 13.7
Turnovers 11.3 10.9
Steals/Game 8.1 5.9
Blocks/Game 4.1 4.8
BYU leads the all-time series against San Diego State, 47-22. The teams have split the series 17-17 in San Diego.
Other games on tap:
Noon Syracuse at Georgetown
1 p.m. Wichita State at Missouri State
2 p.m. St. John’s at Villanova
4 p.m. Florida at Kentucky
Plus much, much more!
Take your spot on the Pine. Post your insights here.
An Alonzo Mourning sighting!!
Ha! Where?
Duh! Forget I just asked that question. 🙂
Made an appearance at the G’town/ SU game..
The Orange has lost control of the game and they are in trouble..
Pretty simple equation for the Orange now. Hit free throws in the last 41 seconds and win the game.
Ooops they are last in the Big East in free throw shooting.
The Orange hold on!! Man.. .Georgetown had a hard time scoring and they looked like they missed Chris Wright’s presence on the floor.
Just when the Orange looked like they were going belly up, they turn around and win two on the road. WOW!
Where is the statistical column for decision making? Oh wait, that must be assists. Fredette getting his teammates going.
Does anyone else get the impression that John Thompson III MIGHT be clueless? He usually has pieces to beat a team like Syracuse but seems to never close the deal. I thought his guys started attacking ‘Cuse’s zone perfectly with the high-low combo. By always having that middle guy occupied, it left a lot open in the short corner. Then they started just shooting from deep every possession. He has big men that can pass the ball really well and they don’t utilize them as mnuch as they should.
Clueless is a strong word. Let’s say too guard oriented.
Rey- You might be on to something. Since their appearance in the F4 a few years ago, the Hoyas have lost quite a few games where they had more talent than the opponent.
Maybe that’s why the Rivers kid left and went to Indiana. And he’s a guard.
Texas blew a lead with that defense?? A 22 point to Colorado no less.
There are 2 minutes left in the first half and Virginia Tech hasn’t subbed.
Talk about a short bench!
And Villanova lost at home…again.
Bonaventure lost to St. Joe’s. Duquesne is losing by 6 to St. Louis with 2:26 remaining.
Remember when Texas faded at the end of last year?
Whoa! Arizona lost their second in a row. This one by 22?
Malcolm Delaney has a sweet looking shot.
15:00 remaining – Duke and Va Tech have combined for just 4 turnovers.
Did Dickie V. just mention something about danger?
Delaney does have a sweet looking shot. Unfortunately not too sweet with Nolan Smith all over him though.
Haha – that is for sure. I am trying to imagine the Hokies with all the guys they lost to injury.
Whoa – last 3 Duke possessions have looked like forced shots. Singler forcing it in against zone and losing it. Smith driving into traffic and looking like he wants a foul. Plumlee #21 has killed them on putbacks tonight. He’s missed at least 2 because he has tried to hammer them down. Just lay it in big fella!
Good time for a timeout.
Is it me or has Duke rushed their last 15 possessions? No ball reversals, poor shot selection, and I swear they barely eat up 10 seconds of the shot clock.
14 of the last 15 possessions. The possession after the timeout they ran offense.
True.
Nice win for the Hokies.
Just goes to show that even an experienced college team can fail to execute down the wire.
I get this feeling from Duke sometimes: their senoirs actually hurt them at times. It seems like Singler and Smith feel entitled to take 99% of the shots. EVERY TIME Singler touched the ball it went up in the 2nd half. Smith dribbles in circles sometimes.
But, like you said when talking about Smith at point, if not them then who? The others struggled late.
I guess so. I didn’t expect them to turn into the 2006-07 Phoneix Suns this fast though.
Haha – true.
Nine ranked teams lost today.
And to think the Hokies needed overtime to beat St. Bonaventure earlier this season. Come to think of it, the Bonnies beat St. John’s AT Madison Square Garden.
I’d hate to be #1 at this point. I think it goes to show how basketball is a game of streaks. Teams that gel at the right time can make a run. St. John’s is doing it right now. Carolina has figured some things out. Arizona and Texas seem to have peaked a bit early. But then again, it isn’t Texas’ fault. Rick Barnes is still their coach so who really expected them to maintain such a high level of play.
Hahaha.
Gelling at the right time and/or figuring it out at the right time. 13 months did anyone think Duke was capable of winning 6 in a row in March…and early April? Maybe this is a rationalization, but I was thinking during last night’s game that Coach K was letting his guys run the show to teach them a lesson. They take a timeout and run great offense on the next possession and then, as Rey said, they become the 06-07 Suns. When they watch film of the game, Krzyzewski will be reminding them about the limit on timeouts with a few adjectives sprinkled in for good measure. Singler and Smith are very good players who contributed to a championship team, but they don’t have it figured out yet. Shows how truly important Scheyer was to last year’s team – not to mention the roles played by Zoubek and Thomas.
Anyone else noticed that Michigan State has quietly won 3 of 4? And their only loss in there was at Columbus. Purdue at East Lansing today 1 p.m.
Nice work boys! Very happy to be back on the mainland now and I’ve pretty much had a run through the week that was here on the Pine. And what a day of hoops! The Big Dance is gonna be so wide open. This is the year that a 5 seed might win it all.
Happy Sunday. 🙂
Xavier and its defense dominated for the 1st half.. But Dayton has opened the 2nd half on fire!
Interesting stat.. Dayton is average 13 turnovers a game. They had 13 in the first half.
Many thanks Smitty!
After getting the lead back down 6, Dayton has run into the stabilizer..
Aka – Tu Holloway!
Casey, you jinked the Spartans. They are down 20 to Purdue with 2 minutes to play.
hahaha – I was thinking the same thing.
Dayton refuses to go away.. down 4 with 2:48 to play.
Flyers tie it at 59 with a 1:26 to play, but a silly reach in foul puts Holloway on the line.
Automatic. 61-59..
Holloway with the dagger!!!
Holloway has played all 40 minutes for 5 of the last 7 Xavier games. You would have to think that the minutes will take their toll in March.
Smitty – this a HELMET STICKER effort on your part.
Louisvile and Pitt are playing a knock ’em down Big East game!
Finally had a chance to watch Jared Sullinger today. He has great vision in the post. Double teaming him is basically useless.
His vision is his strongest attribute. The book on Sullinger is to make him defend someone 15″-19″ from the baskt and hope to create foul trouble for him.