The Preseason NIT is primed for some upsets

The bracket for the Preseason NIT has officially been released.

The field is fairly mediocre. Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, and Stanford will all host pods. What's great about the Preseason NIT is that, unlike many of the other preseason tournaments, the hosts actually have to win two games to advance.


Syracuse as by far the easiest path. They face Manhattan and first-year head coach Steve Masiello -- who takes over a team that won just five games last year -- before advancing to play the winner of Albany and Brown. If the Orange do advance, they will be the overwhelming favorite to win the championship. Not only are they hands down the most talented team in the field, the semifinals and finals will be played at Madison Square Garden, which will be more-or-less a home game for the Orange.

The other brackets could end up getting interesting.

The most intriguing matchup will take place in Virginia Tech's bracket with a potential matchup against George Mason on the horizon. The Patriots could very well be the second best team in the field. Making that game all the more intriguing is that Virginia Tech, who will have to replace Malcolm Delaney, normally shies away from playing in-state opponents. The two teams have played just twice in their history, with both games taking place in the 1991-1992 season.

Colorado State will be playing in this event in the wrong season. Their talented frontcourt of Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin graduated last year, and incoming transfers Colton Iverson (Minnesota), Daniel Bejarano (Arizona), and Cody Mann (Florida) won't be eligible until next season.

While it will take more than four early-season games to get an answer, its going to be interesting to see how Stanford's talented sophomore class will respond this season. The Cardinal lost Jeremy Green during the offseason, but on paper they look like a team that may be able to finish in the top half of the Pac-12 if things break right.

Oral Roberts is also a team that could pull an upset. The Golden Eagles return five of their top six scorers from a team that went 13-5 in Summit League play, while the Cowboys will be trying to replace their front line of Marshall Moses and Matt Pilgrim.
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Duke wins on the strength of their front line

Coming into the season, everyone knew that Duke had size on their roster.

Brian Zoubek is 7'1". Miles Plumlee and Ryan Kelly are 6'10". Kyle Singler and Lance Thomas check in at 6'9". And 6'11" freshman Mason Plumlee, who may actually be the best of the group, has not yet suited up as a result of a wrist injury he suffered in the preseason.

The issue wasn't size, it was experience and ability. Was this group going to be good enough, strong enough, to handle the best front lines in the country?

I think we got the answer tonight.

Duke out-muscled, out-physicaled, and completely outplayed the Huskies front line tonight, winning a battle 68-59.

The biggest reason? Two unheralded seniors.

"I thought Thomas and Zoubek were the difference-makers for us," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game. "I mean, they both had 11 rebounds."

It was more than just the play of those two inside. The Blue Devils as a team played phenomenal defense, controlling the tempo of the game and preventing the high powered UConn transition game from getting into gear.

The game sure didn't start that way, however.

For about the first 10 minutes of basketball, this one had the look of a game that could get into the 80's or 90's. UConn's transition game was in full effect as Duke was struggling to get back on defense, resulting in some easy baskets (including a two-handed windmill from Stanley Robinson that nearly brought the house down).

But Coach K made a change.

Typically, Duke picks up at half court when playing their man-to-man, but Walker kept beating the Duke defenders down the floor.

"What we normally do with a point guard like that is try to corral him at half court," Krzyzewski said, "you know, just to hold him back. So after the first TV time-out, we just said 'Get back. Don't worry about corral. Everybody is responsible for corralling him.'"

It worked.

By slowing down the Huskies, Duke took control of the tempo of the game. By keeping the Huskies from getting easy baskets in transition, the Blue Devils played to their strength and the Huskies weakness - a half court game.

"We knew we shouldn't try to fast break with them," said Krzyzewski.

What made Duke's transition defense all the more impressive was their rebounding numbers; the Blue Devils grabbed 25 offensive boards. Typically, when a team goes to the glass as hard as the Blue Devils were, it leaves them susceptible to leak outs and fast breaks.

Not so, for the Blue Devils.

Why?

Because it was their bigs doing the dirty work. Of their 25 offensive rebounds, only five came from perimeter players, mostly the result of long rebounds or tip outs.

"It's been a problem four out of our five games, for whatever reason," Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said after the game. "You can't leave an 18 year old freshman (Alex Oriakhi) to be the only guy rebounding.

"I'm so appalled by the lack of rebounding by us as a team. You can't beat anybody if they get 25 offensive rebounds."

Stanley Robinson, in particular, faced the wrath of Calhoun.

"For [Robinson] to play 35 minutes and get four rebounds in a game of 87 misses just can't happen."

Playing as poorly as they did offensively and as weak as they did on the glass, UConn still had a chance at this thing late, and it was because of their defense.

Duke opened up a 58-38 lead on a Andre Dawkins free throw with 12:21 left in the game. But over the next 11:29 of game time, Duke managed just four points and one field goal.

UConn failed to capitalize, however. During that same stretch, the Huskies missed a number of lay-ups, including two open lay-ups from Jerome Dyson in transition, and went 4-10 from the foul line. Even with those missed opportunities, the Huskies were able to get the lead down to 62-54 with 52 seconds left.

Would this have another Duke-UConn classic if the Huskies hadn't left those points on the floor?
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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
  

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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
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Duke's win sets up a dream match-up in the NIT Final

For the first time this season, Duke faced a challenge.

Arizona State jumped on the Devils early. Undeterred by the name on the front of the white jerseys, the Sun Devils gave Duke their first real test of the season, jumping out to a 15-7 lead in the first five minutes. Freshman Trent Lockett scored 11 of his 13 points in the run.

"You play four games at home, and you're running and shooting and things are going easy," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game.

"Then all of a sudden, you're in a possession by possession game against a defense that you haven't played against before."

It wasn't just on the offensive end that Duke struggled early.

With just three guards on their roster, Coach K has been forced to use a bigger line-up this season, starting Kyle Singler at the three. Against a team that plays four guards, this provided quite the mismatch.

Early in the game, Duke's four man, 6'8" Lance Thomas, was forced to match-up with Arizona State's Jamelle McMillan, a quick, 6'2" combo guard who is the son of former Sonic and current Trail Blazer's coach Nate McMillan.

As you might imagine, McMillan had a field day in the early going.

"Jamelle really played well. We couldn't keep him in front of us," Coach K said.

So Krzyzewski made an adjustment.

He brought in freshman Andre Dawkins, moving Singler to the four. Not only did Dawkins help to slow down the Sun Devils penetration, he knocked down a couple big early jumpers to get Duke into a rhythm on the offensive end.

"We were in kind of a funk as far as scoring," Coach K said. "It was big for a freshman to come in and [hit those shots]."

Duke really shut down ASU defensively after a sluggish start.
(photo credit: AP)

Once the Devils woke offensively, their defense came around as well. ASU scored 15 points in the first six minutes of play. They managed just 38 points the rest of the way, as Duke's defense held the Sun Devils to 38% shooting on the night.

The Blue Devils broke this game open midway through the second half with a 9-2 spurt.

And it was none other than Kyle Singler that sparked the run.

Mired in a cold shooting night as he missed eight of his first nine shots, Singler scored back to back buckets, the first on a 15 foot elbow jumper and the second on a tough lay-up in traffic. After Scheyer knocked down a jumper of his own, Singler buried a three to give Duke their largest lead of the game up to that point.

Guess who got the assist?

Scheyer.

Playing strictly the point this season, Scheyer, who finished the night with 16 points and 6 assists, has excelled. Not only did he come into this game averaging 16.5 ppg and 5.3 apg, but in 131 minutes of basketball, Scheyer had not committed a turnover.

That streak ended tonight at the 8:02 mark of the first half, as Scheyer stepped out of bounds catching a pass.

Scheyer laughed about it after the game.

"Everybody looked at me when it happened," he joked. "I just wish it could have happened on a cool pass, not stepping on the line. It's something that just happened but I'm blaming everybody on the team because they started talking about the streak after last game."

He finished the game with two turnovers.

It will be quite a task for Scheyer to keep his 13.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio intact on Friday afternoon against the Huskies.

UConn's strength is their defensive pressure, as Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson are as good defending on the ball as anyone back court tandem in the country. Scheyer and his back court mate Nolan Smith, who had 14 points against Arizona State, will have their work cut out for them.

"Jim has won a lot of games doing it the way he's doing it," Coach K quipped after Duke's win. "I'd be shocked if we didn't see a three-quarter court press, a 2-2-1."

While both Duke and UConn will head into Friday's 5PM final feeling confident, one thing that will be ingrained into the minds of both teams over the next 36 hours is that neither has faced this level of competition yet during this young season.

The starting line-up that UConn trotted out tonight went 6'9" (Stanley Robinson), 6'9" (Alex Oriakhi), and 7'0" (Charles Okwandu), with 6'8" Gavin Edwards coming off the bench.

Stanley Robinson and the UConn front line will have a challenge awaiting them on Friday.
(photo credit: ESPN)

That's bigger than the Knicks front line.

But for the first time this season, the Huskies will face a team that can match-up with their altitude. Kyle Singler and Lance Thomas are both 6'8". Ryan Kelly and Miles Plumlee are both 6'10". And Brian Zoubek is a full-fledged 7'1".

Will the energy and aggressiveness that the Huskies front line displayed against a weaker LSU team provide the same lift against the Blue Devils?

Duke will have their own match-up issues.

A huge reason for the Blue Devil's early season success has been the play of Scheyer, Dawkins, and Smith in the back court. But how well are those three going to perform when they have Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson hounding them for 75 feet on every possession?

We find out Friday.

Every time these two programs lock horns, it seems to be a classic on a big stage. In 1990, Christian Laettner's heroics sent Duke to the Final Four. In 1999, it was Khalied El-Amin providing the clutch, late-game buckets that led to the Huskies "shocking the world." And in 2004, UConn went on a 12-0 run at the end of the game to erase an eight point deficit with just over three minutes left in the game.

While this isn't the NCAA tournament, this is Madison Square Garden.

This is ESPN.

And this is Duke-UConn.

So come Friday, find a comfortable spot on your couch, fix a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers, and enjoy the show.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, your '09-'10 UConn Huskies

For the first time this season, the college basketball world saw what the UConn Huskies can be this season.

After struggling through three games where they played mediocre basketball, the Huskies exploded tonight, jumping on a depleted LSU team early.

"We've been waiting since the exhibition season for us to have a breakout a little bit," Huskies head coach Jim Calhoun said after the game. "And quite frankly, it was a different kind of breakout.

"The breakout for us was playing with energy [and] getting back to rebounding."

And defending.

The Huskies this season are going to rely on the defensive pressure they can put on the ball. Playing their typical 2-2-1 press, Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson hounded the Tiger back court, and in the process made getting the ball over the timeline a struggle.

There may not be a better on-the-ball defender in the country than Kemba Walker. He is as quick as a waterbug, hounding opposing ball handlers into taking tough shots off the dribble.

Kemba Walker set the tone for the Huskies defensively tonight.
(photo credit: SI)

See Bo Spencer as a perfect example. Coming into the game, Spencer was averaging over 20 ppg, but the Tiger point guard managed just five points tonight as Walker forced into 2-15 shooting before Spencer came out of the game with an ankle injury.

"He was really good on defense," Calhoun said. "He started putting pressure on [Chris Bass], who was penetrating in the first half, did a great job of adjusting to him."

Walker, who finished the game with 20 points and 3 assists, also was instrumental in leading the UConn break. While he can still stand to improve at running the Huskies half court offense, Walker's end-to-end speed with the ball in his hands and his vision leading the break make him the perfect point guard for Jim Calhoun.

"We love him," Calhoun said, "he has to work on making plays in the half court set. He has to identify open people, but we're not going to trade him."

But it was more than just Walker.

For the first time this season, Calhoun brought Gavin Edwards off the bench, and Edwards responded with 15 points, 7 boards, and 3 blocks, his best game of the season.

Stanley Robinson had a typical Stanley Robinson game, going for 14 points, 11 boards, and two highlight reel blocks. When "Sticks", as he is known to Husky fans, is playing with the kind of energy and aggressiveness he showed tonight, he brings a dimension to this UConn squad that few teams in the country can counter.

The star of this team, however, is Jerome Dyson.

He showed it in the second half.

After a quiet first 20 minutes in which he had just three points and struggled shooting the ball, Dyson took over in the second half, scoring 17 of his 20 points. Most of those points came as he attacked the basket in transition.

Transition basketball has been Jim Calhoun's bread and butter for years. With the athletes he has on this team, especially in the back court, that is where UConn must excel if they want to compete in the Big East.

And it is where they excelled tonight.

Calhoun agrees.

"[Tonight] was the first time that I saw Connecticut play this year."

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Wednesday's Pregame Beat

Just a quick PB today, as I'm currently sitting on a train en route for NYC. Reminder: head over to Rush the Court tonight as BIAH will be hosting a live-chat from Press Row for the Preseason NIT games tonight.

Preseason NIT

• 7:00 pm: LSU vs. UConn: There are some really good match-ups on the perimeter in this one, as Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson will be going up against Bo Spencer and Tasmin Mitchell. This game is going to be determined by the front court: who is going to step up?
• 9:30 pm: ASU vs. Duke: Former Dookie Eric Boateng has been playing some great basketball early this season, but he is going to have his hands full with the Blue Devils front line. Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer are playing like the best backcourt in the country right now. How long can that keep up?

Maui Invitation

• 2:00 pm: Colorado vs. Chaminade: 7th place game. Worth watching because Cory Higgins of the Buffaloes is a future pro.
• 4:30 pm: Maryland vs. Wisconsin: The Terps struggled with the physicality of the Bearcats inside, and while Wisconsin doesn't have the bigs that the Bearcats do, they are still a team that survives on their size and strength. Maryland will have to answer questions all season about whether or not they can handle a physical team inside, and it won't bode well for the Terps if they have a poor showing against the Badgers. Also of note: will Greivis Vasquez show up tonight?
• 7:00 pm: Arizona vs. Vanderbilt: Arizona's youth struggled with the defensive pressure of Wisconsin, but seemed more comfortable playing Colorado. Vandy has not played a tough brand of basketball early this year, but the Wildcats don't have an answer inside for AJ Ogilvy. The Wildcat freshman have looked solid, but if Zona is to win, it will be due to a great performance from Nic Wise.
• 9:30: Gonzaga vs. Cincinnati: Game of the night. These two teams match-up so well. Quick, penetrating point guards. Two big-time scorers on the wings. Big, strong, tough kids inside. I think Cinci pulls this one out. As enamored as I am with Elias Harris and Matt Bouldin, I just think that Yancy Gates is too much for Robert Sacre to handle.

Other notable games tonight:

• 6:00 pm: Sacred Heart @ Penn State
• 7:00 pm: High Point @ Auburn
• 7:00 pm: Virginia vs Cleveland State
• 7:00 pm: Kent State @ South Florida
• 7:30 pm: Florida-Gulf Coast @ Miami FL
• 8:00 pm: Oakland @ Kansas
• 9:30 pm: Stanford vs. Kentucky
• 11:30 pm: Washington State vs. Alaska-Anchorage in the Great Alaska Shootout
• 1:45 am: Oklahoma vs. San Diego in the Great Alaska Shootout

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8/26 - Some Links, Some News

-Remember last week when I wrote about Anthony DiLoretto, the 7 footer that robbed a bank? Well, I think I found someone to top that idiocy. The leading scorer for the University of Buffalo was suspended for the first three games of the season after he posted on Facebook's marketplace application that he would pay $40 or more for someone to write a term paper for him. Really, you post that on the internet? I mean, I don't really condone cheating, but is that really the best way to get away with it? He couldn't just pay someone on his hall or in the class to do it for him?

-Blake Griffin has had what I believe is his first run-in with the law - for peeing on a bush. Apparently, he was waiting for a ride and really had to go. He received a citation for "outraging public decency" (that doesn't sound right to me, shouldn't it be "outraging public indecency" or "disrespecting public decency" or something along those lines).If this is the worst thing that Griffin has done in his Sooner tenure, then I don't think Jeff Capel has much to worry about.

-Kentucky's chances of making the NCAA tournament again just got a huge boost as point guards DeAndre Liggins and Kevin Galloway were deemed eligible. After losing Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford to graduation, and Derrick Jasper to UNLV, Billy Gillespie had a huge hole in his back court that needed to be filled. With Liggins and Galloway (both 6'6", Liggins is more of a point guard while Galloway is more of a scorer) teaming up with Perry Stevenson, the (finally) healthy Jodie Meeks, and arguably the best player in the SEC in Patrick Patterson, UK has a starting five that can match-up with anyone in the country. Their biggest question will be depth, especially if Mark Coury (a starter last year) decides to transfer to a school where he can get a scholarship.

-The preseason NIT bracket has been announced:

• Boston College will host the East Region where they will play Loyola, MD, and Cornell will face-off with St. John's.
• Purdue hosts the North Region where they will play Eastern Michigan and Georgia will face Loyola, IL (how many Loyola's are there).
• Oklahoma hosts the South Region where they take on Mississippi Valley State and Davidson will play James Madison.
• Arizona hosts the West Region and they will play Florida Atlantic whil UAB takes on Santa Clara.

The first and second round games will be played Nov. 17th and 18th, with the winners advancing to Madison Square Garden where the semis will be held Nov. 26th and the finals the 28th.

-Some noteworthy roster shake-ups: A couple of big recruits have not met eligibility requirements: Mark McLaughlin, committed to Nevada (now it looks like he will go to prep school), and J'Covan Brown of Texas. Oklahoma State has reinstated Terrell Harris, their third leading scorer from last season. He was suspended in April for violation of team rules. Former USC point guard Angelo Johnson, who left school after he wasn't guaranteed the starting point guard position, has decided to attend Southern Mississippi. Alabama recruit Tony Mitchell was finally cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse as he attended classes this week, making him eligible for the basketball team. Continue reading...