Sunday's Pregame

There is a lot of really good basketball to be played today, so if your football team played Thursday, or you happen to hail from Kansas City, you are in luck. Besides, everyone knows the only good game this week is Monday Night.

Here's your Sunday hoops line-up.

Old Spice Classic

• 10:00 am: Creighton vs. Iona: Iona has looked very good through two games, giving both Florida State and Baylor all they could handle. Creighton is a different team, however. Still athletic, the Bluejays get much more out of the guys on their perimeter, even employing a trapping full-court press. Given how well Iona has played in the interior in their first two OSC games, don't be surprised if the Gaels pull out a win so long as they protect the ball.
• 12:30 pm: Baylor vs. Xavier: Xavier had a rough showing in their first game, specifically Jordan Crawford, who finished the opener against Marquette just 4-20 from field. But in game two, Crawford looked like the guy that dunked on LeBron, going for 22 points on 8-12 from the floor and 4-5 from deep. If he shows up again, X has the bigs the match-up with Baylor on the interior and should pull out the win. If you haven't had a chance to see Epke Udoh of Baylor play yet, tune in. He has a chance to be special.
• 5:00 pm: Michigan vs. Alabama: In the third place game, the Crimson Tide are going to have to figure out a way to slow down Manny Harris, who is averaging 21 ppg, 8.5 rpg, and 7.5 apg in the tournament. Bama has some bigs and some athletes, but do they have enough shooting to beat the Wolverines zone?
• 7:30 pm: Marquette vs. Florida State: Marquette once again is a team that is based on spreading the floor offensively, taking advantage of the mismatches created by Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler. But the Seminoles are as big as any team that Marquette has faced this season. Granted, guys like Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton are far from dominating offensive post presences, that length could cause some problems. Will FSU have to go small against Marquette, or will the Noles be able to utilize their mismatches inside? That will decide the game.

76 Classic

• 2:30 pm: Long Beach State vs. UCLA: The Bruins looked much better against Butler, as they made a big comeback and tied the Bulldogs late. UCLA still has a long way to go, but the biggest issue may actually be effort - are these kids going to play hard for 40 minutes? LBSU gave Clemson a fight on Friday, so UCLA is going to need to be prepared. Going 0-3 in this tourney would be quite an embarrassment for the Bruins.
  
• 5:00 pm: Minnesota vs. Texas A&M: There is something to be said for teams that are disciplined and well-coached defensively, and that is the Gophers and the Aggies to a T. A&M was simply out classed against a very good West Virginia team playing wih Devin Ebanks, but the underrated Aggies should have the horses to run with Minnesota. The Gophers were upset by upstart Portland in the second round, and a big reason was their interior play; their bigs just didn't show up. Combine that with cold shooting, and Minnesota just wasn't right offensively. The Gophers are too talented for that to be the norm, and with their defense playing great right now (Portland was over 50% from three on the year before going 8-25 vs Minne), Tubby Smith shouldn't be too worried.
• 7:30 pm: Butler vs. Clemson: The first of two great games out in Anaheim, the uptempo, pressing Tigers take on the more deliberate Bulldogs. Both of the teams rely on their defensive prowess to be successful, but it is two completely different styles. Clemson plays full court, trying to force tempo and create turnovers. Butler is more comfortable in the half court game. Booker-Howard will be a fun match-up to watch, as will Hayward going against the multitude of athletic wings Clemson has, but this game will be decided by how well Butler defends Clemson from behind the arc. That was the question mark for the Tigers coming into the season, and they have struggled from out there in Anaheim.
• 10:00 pm: West Virginia vs. Portland: Portland can shoot, West Virginia can defend and rebound. That right there is going to decide this game. Will WVU's size, strength, and athleticism be an issue for Portland on the glass and on the offensive end? Will they be able to create open looks from three? They struggled a bit with it against Minnesota, and WVU is stronger and more athletic than the Gophers.

Other notable games:

• 2:00 pm: New Orleans @ NC State
• 2:00 pm: Radford @ Duquesne
• 2:00 pm: Niagara @ Akron
• 3:00 pm: South Alabama @ Arkansas
• 4:00 pm: Texas A&M CC @ Ole Miss
• 4:00 pm: Texas @ Rice
• 4:30 pm: Nebraska @ USC
• 5:00 pm: Princeton @ Cal
• 6:45 pm: Nevada @ UNC
• 9:00 pm: Montana @ Washington
• 10:00 pm: Portland State @ Stanford

Continue reading...

Friday's Pregame Beat

Preseason NIT: I'm just going to copy and paste what I wrote for the preview over at Rush the Court. Remember, come join our live-chat today during the games here.

Welcome back to MSG as we take in the third place game and the finals of the Preseason NIT. In the first game, tipping right at 2:30 pm today, LSU takes on Arizona State. The Tigers were run off the court against UConn, as their backcourt was unable to handle the pressure from the Huskies. The Sun Devils come out strong against Duke, but looked lost on the offensive end over the final 30 minutes of the game. A big issue for the Tigers is going to be how they match up with Arizona State defensively. The Tigers are pretty big — Storm Warren and Tasmin Mitchell are the two forwards, but neither is what you would call a “pure” small forward. ASU plays four guards (including Rihards Kuksiks), meaning that Trent Johnson is going to have to decide between dealing with the mismatch or playing zone. At the other end, ASU is going to have their hands full with Warren inside. He had 15 and 6 in limited minutes against a good Husky front line. Eric Boateng (4 points, 4 boards, 9 turnovers) will need to play much better for ASU.

The final is the game everyone will be waiting to see. There are a few certainties in life — gravity exists, turkey puts you to sleep, Dickie V loves Duke — and one of those certainties is that Duke-UConn is going to be a classic. Think back to 1990 and Christian Laettner’s heroics; or the 1999 title game and Trajan Langdan’s travels; or the 2004 national semifinal and the UConn comeback. Whenever these two teams tango, it is an event, and tonight will be no different. Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith have been playing fantastic basketball, but they have yet to face a team that has the athletes that UConn has in the backcourt. Jerome “Slicin’” Dyson (ESPN really needs to stop using that nickname, it is terrible. What’s wrong with Romey?) and Kemba Walker are as good defending on the ball as anyone in the nation, and the ability of the Duke guards to handle the 2-2-1 press (with Romey and Kemba up top) will be a huge determinant in the outcome of this game. That said, the difference between UConn last night and UConn of the first three games was their aggressiveness going to the glass. But for the first time all season, they will play a team that can match up with them size-wise. Will the Huskies still be able to rebound the basketball?

Two things to keep an eye on: 1) Who controls the tempo of this game. UConn is going to want to get this thing going up and down, as Duke does not have the athletes to run with them. But Duke is going to want slow this down, sit back in a packed-in zone, and let the Huskies try to shoot their way to the title. 2) Stanley Robinson vs. Kyle Singler. Singler is the best player on this Duke team, and is the guy they look to for big shots. But Sticks is a phenomenal athlete, and will be counted on to slow down Singler.

Is it 5 pm yet? In the immortal words of Fergie, “Let’s get it started in here."

Old Spice Classic

• 12:00 pm: Marquette vs. Michigan: Manny Harris is coming off a near triple-double as Michigan knocked off an impressive Creighton team. But Marquette not only thoroughly beat Xavier, they held Jordan Crawford to one of the worst night's I've seen a player have in a while. Jameson Fleming, who is courtside in Orlando, said that he thought Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler may actually be better than Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks. They combined for 42 in the first game, let's see what they can muster against a unique Michigan system.
• 2:30 pm: Xavier vs. Creighton: A great mid-major match-up between the traditional powers in the A-10 and MVC. Creighton is a team that is going to press, press, press this season and try and force tempo. That said, Xavier does have some good back court players, and their size inside with Kenny Frease and Jason Love may be too much for the Bluejays. Keep an eye on Justin Carter for Creighton. He had a career high 21 yesterday.
• 5:00 pm: Florida State vs. Alabama: Anthony Grant has gone on record saying that he knows his Alabama team is going to be under-talented in most of their games this season, and thus must outwork teams to survive. If you watched Iona take FSU to wire last night, then you know that FSU could be susceptible to teams out hustling them. Best personal match-up of the day as Solomon Alabi goes up against JaMychal Green.
• 7:30 pm: Iona vs. Baylor: Baylor, in stark contrast to last season's team, is very big and very athletic across their front line. Iona isn't. While it didn't really effect the Gaels against FSU, we shall see if they can continue that play against the Bears.
  

76 Classic

• 2:30 pm: West Virginia vs. Texas A&M: Bob Huggins and Mark Turgeon. What do you think this game is going to be like? Expect a grind it out, physical affair between two of the better defensive coaches in the country. West Virginia is expected to get Devin Ebanks back today (althought technically he was "back" last night, Huggy Bear just chose not to play him). Can the Aggies keep WVU from hitting the glass?
• 5:00 pm: Clemson vs. Long Beach State: After losing like they did last night, there should be no way that LBSU is able to stay with the Tigers today. Let's see in Clemson can get that three point stroke back on track.
• 9:30 pm: Minnesota vs. Portland: If Portland wants to earn an at-large bid, they are going to have to win another game in the 76 Classic, and what better way to do it that the team that just knocked off Butler. Portland will be able to match-up with the Gophers in terms of size, but will have no where near the athleticism of Minnesota. Portland relies on their three point shot to stay in games, but the Gophers held Butler to 3-18 from deep last night. If Portland is hitting their shots, this will be a battle for Minnesota.
• 12:00 am: UCLA vs. Butler: Butler has struggled a bit in the early season, but what better way to get out of a funk than against a UCLA team that is playing very poorly. To be honest, I expect a big game out of the Bruins. They were embarrassed last night, ad at the very least I see them playing all out tonight.
  

8:00 pm: Florida vs. Michigan State: The Gators are coming off of a blowout win over Florida State earlier this week, but the Spartans are one of the few teams everyone thinks can make a Final Four. If you haven't seen freshman Kenny Boynton play for Florida, he's the real deal.

10:30 pm: Utah @ Illinois: The Utes did just lose to Seattle, but this is a Utah team with a solid back court in Carlon Brown and Luka Drca. Illinois has a young and talented back court, but their front line may end up being too much for the Utes to handle.

Other notable games:

• 4:00 pm: Mercer @ Georgia Tech
• 5:30 pm: Rutgers vs. UMass
• 5:30 pm: Siena vs. St. John's
• 6:00 pm: St. Louis vs. Iowa State
• 7:00 pm: Jacksonville @ South Carolina
• 7:00 pm: Charleston @ Tennessee
  
• 7:00 pm: Columbia @ Syracuse
• 7:30 pm: Nevada @ VCU
• 8:00 pm: Bradley @ Oklahoma State
• 8:00 pm: Virginia Tech vs. Temple
• 8:00 pm: Tennessee Tech vs. Kansas
• 8:30 pm: Northwestern vs. Notre Dame
• 8:30 pm: Old Dominion vs. Missouri
• 11:30 pm: Houston vs. San Diego
  

Continue reading...

Turkey Day Round-up

This is all you are getting from us today, as we will be enjoying our turkey. Be sure to check back tomorrow, as we will have a full recap of the first round action from the 76 and Old Spice Classic's before heading back to Madison Square Garden to see the finals of the Preseason NIT.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Preseason NIT: UConn beat LSU 81-55 and Duke held on against Arizona State 64-53. See the write-ups here and here.

Maui Invitational

• Gonzaga 61, Cincinnati 59: Gonzaga always seems to be in a dogfight every game they play in the Maui. If you like tough, defensive basketball, then you were in heaven yesterday as the Zags won the Maui title over Cinci. Gonzaga fought back from a 10 point deficit midway through the 2nd half, eventually tying the game at 47. The teams traded hoops over the final few minutes before the Bulldogs found themselves down 55-53 with under 30 seconds left. But Steven Gray, who was named co-tournament MVP with Matt Bouldin, found Robert Sacre for a short jumper to tie things up. At the other end, Sacre broke up an alley-oop (on what could have been called a foul) from Lance Stephenson to Yancy Gates.
  
  In the OT, the two teams traded free throws before a Robert Sacre dunk gave Gonzaga a 59-57 lead. After two Gonzaga free throws surrounded a Yancy Gates dunk, Cashmere Wright missed a shot and Elias Harris gathered the rebound to end an exciting game. Some personnel notes: Lance Stephenson really has some impressive 1-on-1 moves, and is going to score a lot of points this season; Matt Bouldin struggled against the bigger, stronger, more athletic Cinci guards, but he still managed double digit rebounds and played some tough defense; Yancy Gates needs to realize he isn't a jump shooter and focus on hitting the glass.
• Wisconsin 78, Maryland 69: The Badgers got down 7-0 early in the game, but they responded with a 16-2 run to take a 16-9 lead they would not relinquish. Maryland got within 51-48, but a 14-5 spurt opened a a 65-53 lead, and the Terps never threatened again. Brian Bohannon had 20 points on 4-5 shooting from deep as the Badgers knocked down 10 threes on the day. Jon Leuer had 16 for Wisconsin, while Greivis Vasquez found his shooting stroke a little bit, going for 18 on 6-13 from the floor.
• Vanderbilt 84, Arizona 72: The Commodores shot 69% in the second half as they turned a five point deficit into a 12 point win. AJ Ogilvy had 20 points and 7 boards for Vandy, and Jermaine Beal added 18 and 5 dimes. Solomon Hill led Arizona with 17, while Nic Wise was held to just nine.
• Colorado 73, Chaminade 58: Colorado needed a late 13-2 run to hold off a pesky Chaminade team.

Kentucky 73, Stanford 65 OT: So apparently John Wall is clutch. Not two weeks after he buried a game-winner against Miami OH, Wall hit a 10 foot fadeaway to tie the game with 30 seconds left before knocking down two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to force OT. Wall finished with 23 points and 5 assists, but there are some serious issues with this UK team. Eric Bledsoe turns the ball over too much. DeMarcus Cousins is lazy, and will need to really improve his attitude if he is going to be as good as advertised. Darnell Dodson is in Cal's doghouse, apparently for violating team rules. But the biggest issue is that this group is not very good defensively, and that they are way too selfish on the offensive end of the floor. Until they buy into Coach Cal's system, UK fans are going to have quite a bit of stress this season.

San Diego 76, Oklahoma 64: Brandon Johnson scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half, and when he was slowed by a hammy in the second half, the rest of the Toreros picked up the slack. A 13-4 run early in the half pushed a six point halftime lead to 50-35, and the Toreros eventually extended that to as much as 23. It was the second loss in five days for Oklahoma, who played at VCU, 4,000 miles from Anchorage, on Saturday. Willie Warren has 30 for Oklahoma, but most game after the game was decided. The biggest issue for Oklahoma right now is interior play. They are bigger than San Diego, but were outrebounded by 42-31.

Kansas 89, Oakland 59: Xavier Henry had 19 points, including three thunderous alley-oops, while Marcus Morris added 19 and 11 boards as Kansas ran away with their 44th straight home win, the best streak in the country. More impressive was that Kansas beat a good Oakland team picked to win the Summit by 30 when Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, the resident all-americans, combined for just 13 points.

Other notable scores:

• Miami 77, Florida-Gulf Coast 58: DeQuan Jones led three scorers in double figures with a career-high 16 points to lead the Canes, who are now 6-0.
• Washington State 87, Alaska Anchorage 68: 25 points from Klay Thompson led the Cougars to the win in the Great Alaska Shootout's first round.
• BU 69, Northeastern 64 OT: Corey Lowe scored 18 for the Terriers, including a jumper with 23 seconds left to force OT, where Jame O'Brien gave BU the lead for good with a jumper with 51 seconds left.
• Virginia 76, Cleveland State 65: Virginia got 20 points from Sylvan Landesberg and 18 from Will Sherrill, including 15 in the second half, as the Cavs over came a 10 point halftime deficit.
• South Florida 76, Kent State 54: Jarrid Famous and Gus Gilchrist combined for 35 points and 15 boards as the Bulls improved to 5-1.
• Pacific 71, San Diego State 63: Terrell Smith had 16 points and 5 assists as Pacific improved to 5-0 on the season.

Today's games - a lot of great tournament action today:

Old Spice Classic

• 12:00 pm: Creighton vs. Michigan
• 2:30 pm: Xavier vs. Marquette
• 6:30 pm: Alabama vs. Baylor
• 9:00 pm: Florida State vs. Iona

76 Classic

• 2:00 pm: Long Beach State vs. West Virginia
• 4:30 pm: Texas A&M vs. Clemson
• 8:30 pm: Minnesota vs. Butler
• 11:00 pm: UCLA vs. Portland

11:30 pm: Houston vs. Oklahoma in Anchorage
Continue reading...