Saturday Roundup

Maybe the SEC isn't as bad as everyone is saying they are. On Tuesday, Arkansas upset #4 Oklahoma. Then last night, South Carolina went into Waco and knocked off Baylor 85-84. The Gamecocks were down 10 early in the second half, but Devan Downey led them back. He finished with 19 points in the second half (23 overall), but was also the orchestrator for his team as he had eight assists to just one turnover. South Carolina eventually built a lead as big as 10, but Baylor was able to make a run. Kevin Rogers hit a lay-up with 32.5 seconds left to cut the lead to one, and after a South Carolina turnover, LaceDarius Dunn was fouled after getting an offensive rebound. He would hit both free throws, giving Baylor an 84-83 lead. But on the next possession, Zam Frederick was able to get open at the rim and made the game-winning lay-up.

Frederick finished the game with 19 points as South Carolina put five players in double figures. Baylor was led by 22, 10 assists, and 6 boards from Curtis Jerrells, 14 and 13 boards from Kevin Rogers, and 18 points from Tweety Carter.

I have been really high on Baylor all season, but it has been more based off of their potential than off of their actual performance. Yes, they beat Pac-10 teams Arizona State and Washington State (which is looking less impressive as time passes) and their one loss prior to SC was to Wake Forest, which is far from a bad loss. But they have struggled at times this season with lesser opponents (beating Jacksonville by eight, beating Texas-Arlington by three). So is this a wake-up call for the Bears? Are they really the team that knocked off Arizona State in Anaheim? Maybe South Carolina is just better than I expected and Baylor caught them on the wrong night. Regardless, this was the last non-conference game for Baylor, so we will get a chance to see who they truly are as Big XII play heats up.

The rest of the college hoops action from Friday night:

• Texas 78, Appalachain State 43: The Longhorns battled foul trouble in the first half, but woke up once they realized no one could stop Dexter Pittman. The big fella finished with 21 and 11, but more importantly scored 13 straight points (the last seven of the first half and the first six of the second half) during a 19-2 run that gave Texas control of the game.
• Syracuse 59, South Florida 54: The Orange scored the last 11 points of the first half to take a commanding 35-19 lead at the break, but struggled to score down the stretch as the Bulls slowly came back, cutting the lead to as low as three. But a Jonny Flynn jumper and two Eric Devendorf free throws sealed the win down the stretch. One of the biggest reasons this game was as close as it ended up being was that the Orange (specifically Arinze Onuaku) could not hit free throws. They finished the game 7-18, and Onuaku was just 1-9. Andy Rautins led the Orange with 14, while Onuaku added 13 and 10 despite his foul line struggles.
• UCLA 69, Oregon State 46: Michael Roll and Darren Collison each scored 16 to lead the Bruins in a game that was never close. Just a thought - Josh Shipp injured his thumb a few games ago, which thrust Roll into the starting line-up. Shipp is back and healthy now, but the injury might have been the most important event in the Bruin's season to date. In his last five games (which coincide with the Shipp injury), Roll is averaging 14.8 ppg and shooting a ridiculous 18-24, or 75%, from deep.
• Arizona State 90, Stanford 60: The Sun Devils shot 59% from the field and held Stanford to 38% shooting as they rolled over the Cardinal in both teams Pac-10 openers. Jeff Pendergraph led ASU with 31, 11 boards, and 3 blocks, and James Harden added 17, 10 dimes, and 6 boards.
• USC 83, Oregon 62: The Trojans were down 36-34 after Oregon made the first basket of the second half, but proceed to go on a 12-2 run and never looked back. Dwight Lewis finished with 26 points and Demar Derozan added 14 and 12 boards as USC won the Pac-10 opener for both teams.
• Dayton 77, Toledo 63: Marcus Johnson scored 21 to lead the Flyers.
• Cal 69, Arizona 55: Maybe the Golden Bears are for real this year? Patrick Christopher scored 23 points and held Chase Budinger to nine on just 4-16 shooting. Jerome Randle had 14 points, 5 boards, and 4 assists for Cal. Jordan Hill had 18 and 11 and Nic Wise added 16 points. Arizona's big three (Budinger, Hill, and Wise) are as good as just about any three in the country, but with the Wildcats severe lack of depth, they are not going to win too many games if one of them has an off night.
• St. Mary's 80, Cal. St. Bakersfield 74: Patty Mills scored 21 and Omar Samhan added 20 and 14 as the Gaels improved to 13-1. This team isn't getting a lot of attention this year, but keep an eye on them. They have a few pretty solid wins (Providence, @ Kent State, San Diego State, @ Oregon, @ Southern Illinois) and Mills proved during the Olympics he is as good as any PG in the country.
  

Here is what we are looking at on Saturday as conference play is coming into full swing. Let's start by looking at what is in store in the Big East:

• 12:00 PM: Pitt (13-0, 1-0) @ Georgetown (10-1, 1-0): After Georgetown's beat down of UConn on Monday night, this is shaping up as a match-up of the two best teams in the Big East (and I'll be at the Verizon Center for this one). While Pitt has some decent wins this year, they have yet to play someone as good as the Hoyas. If you like smash mouth, physical, defensive basketball, be sure to tune into this one as we will be lucky if these two teams combine to reach 100. The key to this game is going to be how Georgetown handles the defensive glass. The Hoyas have struggled a bit this year on the boards, giving up too many offensive rebounds, and that is what Pitt does best. They average 16 o-boards per game (with 5.5 of those coming from DeJuan Blair). At this point in the season, Pitt's offense is not all that great as they do not really have a scorer outside of Sam Young. Their best offense is to go get easy buckets off of their defense, and to get easy buckets off of their rebounding. While Georgetown will have a height advantage on this inside, they can come no where near matching up with Pitt in terms of girth and strength. I'm interested to see what the Hoyas will do defensively. They struggle on the glass when they go zone (see the Memphis game, and even against UConn, when they played a match-up zone, the Huskies got the rebound on 14 of their 27 misses), but I don't think the Hoyas can match-up with the Panthers in man. Can Greg Monroe or DaJuan Summers match-up with Blair? Or Austin Freeman with Young? I think the Hoyas best bet is to play the match-up zone they did against the Huskies, pack it in (the Panthers don't have a ton of shooters), and then crash the glass hard. If they can hold their own on the boards, I think the Hoyas pull this one out at home.
• 2:00 PM: Notre Dame (10-2, 1-0) @ St. John's (9-4, 0-1): After starting the season out 9-1, the Johnnies have now lost three in a row after dropping their Big East opener to Providence. It doesn't get any easier for them either as after ND, they get Pitt, UConn, and Villanova (that's the Big East for you). Home, away, neutral court, wherever these two teams play, I don't see St. John's being able to handle Luke Harangody on the block.
• 4:00 PM: West Virginia (10-2) @ Seton Hall (9-4, 0-1): The Pirates started off the season on such a promising note, but they have lost three of their last four, including getting spanked by Syracuse in their Big East opener. There is no question the Pirates have some talent on their roster, but they are not deep enough to handle the Big East this year. Truck Bryant has been really solid for WVU filling in for the injured Joe Mazzulla (the freshman plays just like Levance Fields did as a freshman, not a bad guy to be compared to), and with Alex Ruoff back, I would expect the Mountaineers to roll.
• 7:00 PM: Rutgers (9-5, 0-1) @ UConn (11-1, 0-1): The Scarlett Knights gave Pitt all they could handle earlier this week, leading at halftime and shooting 61.5% in the first half as Pitt tried to play them man. When the Panthers switched to zone, Rutgers went cold. I don't know if Jim Calhoun even knows what a zone is. Regardless, UConn should not have a problem with Rutgers as long as they play with energy and emotion (like they did when they came back from 11 down against Gonzaga). If they don't, they could lose to anyone in the Big East on any night.
• 7:00 PM: DePaul (8-6, 0-1) @ Providence (9-4, 1-0): Both of these teams had fairly high hopes coming into the season, but neither has played all that well. If Providence has any hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament, they need to go at the very least 9-9 in the Big East, which will only happen if they beat the teams they are supposed to beat at home.
  

There is a lot of good basketball on today outside of the Big East as well:

• 12:00 PM: Ohio State (10-1, 1-0) @ Minnesota (12-1, 0-1): The way that these two teams have played this season is a major reason why the Big Ten is considered to be much better than people expected. Ohio State's Evan Turner is one of the best players in the country you don't hear a lot about. He is a smooth slasher that can get to the rim on just about anyone, and his length (6'7") makes it very difficult to defend the shots he gets around the rim. Minnesota is a very balanced team offensively, with no one averaging more than 12.8 ppg. They are also very tough on the defensive end, which could cause a short handed Ohio State team (David Lighty is hurt, Anthony Crater has left the team) to have a lot of problems offensively. I think Minnesota wins this one at home.
• 1:00 PM: Missouri (11-2) @ Georgia (9-4): Georgia has struggled this season and Missouri has one of the best presses in the country. I don't see how Georgia's guards will be able to handle that defensive pressure.
• 1:00 PM: North Carolina Central (0-15) @ Miami FL (9-3)
• 1:30 PM: Coppin State (2-10) @ Oklahoma (12-1)
• 2:00 PM: Akron (8-4) @ Rhode Island (9-3)
• 2:00 PM: Xavier (10-2) @ Virginia (6-4)
• 2:00 PM: Penn State (12-2, 1-0) @ Wisconsin (10-3, 1-0): The Nittany Lions are off to a great start to their season, but have yet to really be tested. While Wisconsin looks like they are down a bit this year, they are still the Badgers. If Penn State can pull out the win, it is a really good sign for where their season and program could be headed.
• 2:00 PM: Samford (5-5, 0-1) @ Davidson (9-2, 2-0)
• 2:00 PM: Tennessee (9-2) @ Kansas (9-3): The first bit of news for this game is that Wayne Chism is, in fact, ok after a scary fall on Monday night where he left the court on a stretcher (he bruised his elbow and spine, but has practiced this week and may suit up for the game). If he doesn't, it will be a huge loss for the Vols because it means they have one less big body to slow down Kansas center Cole Aldrich. Chism is probably their best match-up with Aldrich. The Kansas big man is a true center and has some height on Chism, meaning that he has an advantage on the block. But Chism can knock down three's, and if Aldrich (an excellent shot blocker) is forced to come out and guard him, it opens up the paint for Tennessee penetration. This is going to be a fun one to watch. Both teams could really use the win to boost their resume, and Phog Allen Field House should be rocking for this one.
  
• 4:00 PM: Texas A&M CC (6-7) @ Florida State (12-2)
• 4:00 PM: North Carolina State (9-2) @ Florida (11-2): I haven't had a chance to see the Wolfpack play yet this year, but they are 9-2 with both of their losses (to Davidson and Marquette) coming down the the final minutes. They could be a sleeper in the ACC. They get a good test today against Florida.
  
• 4:00 PM: Charlotte (5-6) @ Maryland (10-2)
• 4:00 PM: East Carolina (8-4) @ Clemson (13-0)
• 4:00 PM: Wyoming (11-3) @ Utah (8-5)
• 4:00 PM: Houston (8-2) @ Mississippi State (8-5)
• 5:00 PM: Vanderbilt (10-3) @ UMass (5-7)
• 6:00 PM: Washington (9-3) @ Washington State (8-4): The Pac-10 opener for both teams. Interesting contrast of styles in this match-up. UW has a bunch of athletes that like to get out and run, while Wazzu wants to slow to a snail's pace and grind you out on both ends of the floor.
• 7:00 PM: Michigan State (10-2) @ Northwestern (8-3)
• 7:00 PM: UNC-Wilmington (3-10, 0-1) @ George Mason (8-3, 1-0)
• 8:00 PM: Southeastern Louisiana (6-6) @ LSU (11-1)
• 8:00 PM: Lamar (9-3) @ Memphis (9-3)
• 8:00 PM: Wake Forest (12-0) @ BYU (11-1): BYU is a good team this year, but they do not have any wins that can prove it (they were about a tenth of a second away from beating Arizona State on a tip-in). Wake does have to travel across the country to play this game, but I don't see BYU having enough athletes to match-up with the Deacs. If you are an NBA fan, however, be sure to tune in. Lee Cummard has a chance to play in the league, and this game could be a good gauge of how well he will do because he will be facing guys that are long and athletic. It should be fun to see him go toe-to-toe with the likes of James Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu, and (most likely the one to cover him) LD Williams.
• 8:05 PM: Creighton (12-2, 2-0) @ Illinois State (13-0, 2-0): It looks like these are going to be the two best teams in the MVC this year. Illinois State is currently undefeated, but their only impressive win came their last time out against Evansville (who they beat by 20). Creighton, on the other hand, has some pretty solid wins (Dayton, @ St. Joe's) and maybe the most improved player in the country in Booker Woodfox. It should be a good one to watch.
• 9:00 PM: McNeese State (5-6) @ Texas A&M (12-1)
• 10:30 PM: New Mexico (8-5) @ UNLV (12-2)