Hoops Housekeeping: Tim Abromaitis, Trevor Mbakwe with serious knee injuries

Tim Abromaitis has never had knee problems.

Every athlete goes through the typical aches and pains that come with being a college basketball player -- banged knees, twisted ankles, sore backs -- but Abro had never missed time because of knee problems. Which is why, when his right knee gave out has he came to a jump-stop in a 2-on-2 drill in practice on Friday morning, the severity of his injury was shocking. No one saw this coming. And now, one of the best kids is all of college basketball may finish his collegiate career on the bench in street clothes.

"Going on the court [at practice], it felt like one of those first four games where it's just waiting to get back out there," Abromaitis told the South Bend Tribune. "I kind of had to remind myself that it's done for the season.

"I'll eventually come to grips with it, I guess. I don't know if there's any technique to getting used to it."


The injury is a crushing blow for the Irish. Already in a rebuilding year, Notre Dame will now be forced to face the rigors of the Big East schedule without their leading scorer and best player. Abro's minutes will likely end up going to freshman Pat Connaughton, another 6'6" shooter that has played well in the first seven games of his career. Scott Martin and Jerian Grant are going to be expected to boost their scoring, while sophomore point guard Eric Atkins will continue his transition to becoming the star for this team.

If there is a silver lining to the suspension that Abro had to deal with earlier in the year, its that Notre Dame has had to play without Abro.

The question now becomes whether or not Abro will apply for a sixth-year of eligibility. This is his fifth-year in college. He redshirted his sophomore season, a decision that was actually the cause of his four-game suspension earlier this year as he played in two exhibitions games. If Abro, who already has two degrees from Notre Dame, does decide to return for a sixth-season -- which isn't a guarantee at this point -- there is no indication of whether or not the NCAA will actually clear him.

Its a shame to see a great kid and a good player have his college career ended this way. Abro deserved better. Life is just unfair sometimes.

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Trevor Mbakwe tears his acl: We knew this was bad as soon as it happened.

Mbakwe crumpled awkwardly to the ground during the second half of Minnesota's loss to Dayton in the Old Spice Classic finals. He had to be carried off the court and spent the remainder of the game in tears on the bench with his knee wrapped in ice. He even tweeted from the locker room "Lord please get me through this."

All of a sudden, all the depth that Minnesota had in their front court is gone. Colton Iverson transferred to Colorado State, Mo Walker is still battling a knee injury that ended his freshman season and Ralph Sampson is battling a sprained ankle. That leaves redshirt freshman Elliott Eliason up front. I would say that Minnesota will be forced to play at a faster pace now, but they are without a point guard this season thanks to a number of transfers.

One year ago this week, Minnesota was in the top ten after a dominating performance at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament. My, how things have changed.


"My family and I would like to thank everyone for their support," said Mbakwe in a statement.

"Trevor's done everything we've asked him to do in his time here at the University of Minnesota. He's been through an awful lot," said Gopher head coach Tubby Smith. "That says a lot about his toughness to be able to recover from the things he has already endured. He had a knee surgery before (at Marquette) and for it to happen a second time, you hurt for him, but you know he's a guy that has the will power and has been through it before and can recover again."

Michael Eric reinjures his knee: Temple fans will be waiting with baited breath over the next week as the status of their team's starting center is reevaluated.

Eric injured his right patella in practice on Friday. Its the same knee in which Eric fractured his patella in February of last season, an injury that caused him to miss the final ten games of the season. Without Eric, the Owls have almost no interior presence. The 6'11" senior had been averaging 10.5 ppg, 11.3 rpg and 2.0 bpg while replacing Lavoy Allen up front.


Erik Murphy tears his meniscus: Florida's starting power forward suffered the injury last Thursday in practice and sat out the Gator's game against Stetson on Friday. Its unclear how much time he is going to miss, although Billy Donovan has speculated that it can be anywhere from a week or two to a couple of months.

Murphy is a major loss for Florida. His ability to shoot the ball from the four spot really spread the floor for the Gators and opened up the paint. It allowed them to use pick-and-pops in the half court and created space for penetration from Florida's talented back court. No Murphy will be a major blow heading into Friday's trip to Syracuse.


Harrison Barnes is fine: We all saw North Carolina's loss to UNLV in Vegas over the weekend, which means we also all saw the nasty fall that Barnes had in the second half. He rolled his ankle in the process and immediately headed for the bench, where he sat with his head down for the next couple of minutes. He left the arena on crutches, but that appears to have been a cautionary move, as he was off of the crutches when the team left the airport the next day.


Stephen Van Treese reinjures his knee; Rakeem Buckles returns to practice: After being healthy for just two weeks, Van Treese was injured in practice over the weekend. The timing was good, at least. Rakeem Buckles has been cleared to return to practice and should be back on the court within a week or two.


Travis Wear cuts foot while snorkeling: Exactly what it says. He needed five stitches.
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The Emery Board

This weekly column is in honor of BYU's Jackson Emery, who, for two straight seasons, claimed his squad would go undefeated and win the National Championship.

College basketball has not seen a team go undefeated since Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers went 32-0 in 1975-1976. The closest we have seen since then was a Jameer Nelson-led St. Joseph's team that went 27-0 in the 2003-2004 season before losing to Xavier in the Atlantic-10 tournament. Every season a team flirts with the notion of an undefeated season, but every season that notion slowly fades as January turns to February and February turns to March.

The Emery Board: 1st Edition

More than half of the teams featured in this week's AP Top-25 are undefeated. But with a loaded slate of games this week, how many of them will still be on the Emery Board next week? Once teams start eliminating themselves from Emery Board contention, we will provide some in-depth projection on when they might suffer their first loss. But for now, you get just the basics.

No.1 Kentucky (6-0)
Next game: 12/1 vs. St. John's (4-3)
First potential loss: 12/3 vs. No.5 North Carolina

No.2 Ohio State (6-0)
Next game: 11/29 vs. No.3 Duke (7-0)
First potential loss: 11/29 vs. No.3 Duke (7-0)

No.3 Duke (7-0)
Next game: 11/29 at No.2 Ohio State (6-0)
First potential loss: 11/29 at No.2 Ohio State

No.4 Syracuse (6-0)
Next game: 11/29 vs. Eastern Michigan (4-2)
First potential loss: 12/2 vs. No.10 Florida (4-1)

No.6 Louisville (5-0)
Next game: 11/28 vs. Long Beach State (3-2)
First potential loss: 12/8 vs. No.20 Vanderbilt (5-1)

No.7 Baylor (5-0)
Next game: 11/29 vs. Prairie View A&M (2-5)
First potential loss: 12/4 at Northwestern (5-0)

No.9 Wisconsin (6-0)
Next game: 11/30 at No.5 North Carolina (5-1)
First potential loss: 11/30 at No.5 North Carolina (5-1)

No.11 Xavier (4-0)
Next game: 11/28 at No.20 Vanderbilt (5-1)
First potential loss: 11/28 at No.20 Vanderbilt (5-1)

No.12 Alabama (7-0)
Next game: 12/1 vs. Georgetown (4-1)
First potential loss: 12/1 vs. Georgetown (4-1)

No.13 Missouri (6-0)
Next game: 12/2 vs. Northwestern State (3-3)
First potential loss: 12/6 vs. Villanova (4-2)

No.16 Marquette (5-0)
Next game: 11/28 vs. Jacksonville (2-3)
First potential loss: 12/3 at No.9 Wisconsin (6-0)

No.18 UNLV (7-0)
Next game: 11/30 at UC-Santa Barbara (4-1)
First potential loss: 12/10 at No.9 Wisconsin (6-0)

No.19 Gonzaga (4-0)
Next game: 11/30 vs. Notre Dame (5-2)
First potential loss: 11/30 vs. Notre Dame (5-2)

No.23 Saint Louis (6-0)
Next game: 11/29 at Loyola Marymount (3-2)
First potential loss: 12/31 at New Mexico (4-2)

Creighton (5-0)
Next game: 11/30 at San Diego State (7-1)
First potential loss: 11/30 at San Diego State (7-1)

Harvard (6-0)
Next game: 12/1 at Vermont (4-2)
First potential loss: 12/8 at No.8 UConn (6-1)

Illinois (6-0)
Next game: 11/29 at Maryland (3-2)
First potential loss: 12/3 vs. No.19 Gonzaga (4-0)

Indiana (6-0)
Next game: 11/30 at North Carolina State (5-1)
First potential loss: 11/30 at North Carolina State (5-1)

Marshall (5-0)
Next game: 11/30 vs. Ohio (3-1)
First potential loss: 12/6 at No.4 Syracuse (6-0)

Missouri State (4-0)
Next game: 11/30 at Oral Roberts (4-2)
First potential loss: 12/3 at New Mexico (4-2)

Murray State (7-0)
Next game: 12/1 at Western Kentucky (2-5)
First potential loss: 12/4 vs. Dayton (5-1)

North Dakota State (6-0)
Next game: 12/1 at Western Illinois (2-2)
First potential loss: 12/10 at Arizona State (2-4)

Northwestern (5-0)
Next game: 11/29 at Georgia Tech (4-2)
First potential loss: 11/29 at Georgia Tech (4-2)

Tulane (7-0)
Next game: 11/30 vs. Southern (2-4)
First potential loss: 12/3 vs. Georgia Tech (4-2)

Weber State (4-0)
Next game: 11/28 at Saint Mary's (3-1)
First potential loss: 11/28 at Saint Mary's (3-1)



Bottom of the Barrel

Alabama State (0-4)
Next game: 11/29 at Evansville (2-2)
Next real chance to win: 12/30 vs. Reinhardt (Non-D1)

Austin Peay (0-7)
Next game: 11/28 at Lipscomb (3-3)
First real chance to win: 12/5 vs. Arkansas State (1-4)

Binghamton (0-5)
Next game: 12/3 vs. Army (2-4)
First real chance to in: 12/3 vs. Army (2-4)

Chicago State (0-6)
Next game: 11/30 at Illinois State (4-2)
First real chance to win: 12/17 at Loyola (IL) (1-4)

Florida A&M (0-6)
Next game: 12/3 at Bethune-Cookman (2-4)
First real chance to win: 12/3 at Bethune-Cookman (2-4)

Grambling State (0-5)
Next game: 11/30 at Washington State (2-4)
First real chance to win: 1/3 vs. Alabama State (0-4)

Hartford (0-6)
Next game: 11/29 vs. Yale (3-2)
First real chance to win: 1/5 vs. New Hampshire (1-2)

Louisiana-Monroe (0-6)
Next game: 11/28 at Nicholls State (1-5)
First real chance to win: 11/28 at Nicholls State (1-5)

Monmouth (0-6)
Next game: 12/1 at St. Francis (PA) (0-5)
First real chance to win: 12/1 at St. Francis (PA) (0-5)

Morgan State (0-6)
Next game: 12/3 at Ohio (3-1)
First real chance to win: 12/14 at UMBC (0-5)

Northern Illinois (0-5)
Next game: 11/28 at Utah Valley (3-3)
First real chance to win: 12/3 vs. Nebraska-Omaha (2-4)

St. Francis (PA) (0-5)
Next game: 12/1 vs. Monmouth (0-6)
First real chance to win: 12/1 vs. Monmouth (0-6)

SIU-Edwardsville (0-4)
Next game: 11/30 vs. Robert Morris (IL) (Non-D1)
First real chance to win: 11/30 vs. Robert Morris (IL) (Non-D1)

Towson (0-5)
Next game: 11/30 at UMass (5-2)
First real chance to win: 12/10 vs. UMBC (0-5)

UC-Irvine (0-6)
Next game: 12/3 vs. San Diego (4-2)
First real chance to win: 12/10 vs. Vanguard (Non-D1)

UMBC (0-5)
Next game: 11/28 at Rutgers (3-3)
First real chance to win: 12/10 at Towson (0-5)

UNC-Wilmington (0-4)
Next game: 11/30 at Toledo (4-1)
First real chance to win: 12/6 at Liberty (2-5)

Western Michigan (0-6)
Next game: 11/30 vs. Hope (Non-D1)
First real chance to win: 11/30 vs. Hope (Non-D1)



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11/28 College Hoops Week in Review: Mike Moser and Harvard stand out

Player of the Week: Mike Moser, UNLV

Less than three weeks into the season, its already quite apparent who the most influential transfer in the country is. After seven games, Moser is leading the Rebels in scoring, rebounding, blocks and steals. He ranks third in assists. In three games last week -- wins against Cal Poly, USC and No. 1 North Carolina that pushed the Rebels to 7-0 on the season -- Moser averaged 13.3 ppg, 13.0 rpg and 2.7 apg while adding three blocks and four steals. In the win over UNC, he had 16 points and 18 rebounds and helped keep Tyler Zeller and John Henson in check. That should give you a glimpse into Moser's value for this team.

But its more than that. Moser's value is in his versatility at the four spot. What UNLV wants to do is spread the floor and create lanes for penetration from the perimeter. Moser's ability to rebound and defend at the four spot while providing a perimeter threat offensively makes the Rebels a more dangerous and complete team. Moser is probably not the most talented player on this team, but his skill set makes him the most valuable. Now imagine what will happen when he finds a consistent stroke from the perimeter; he's done this much damage while shooting just 2-17 from beyond the arc.


The All-They-Were-Good-Too Team

- G: Evan Roquemore, Santa Clara: Everyone knows about Kevin Foster, but he's not the only talented back court player for the Broncs. Santa Clara went 2-1 in the 76 Classic -- including wins over New Mexico and Villanova -- while averaging 22.7 ppg, 8.0 apg and 3.7 rpg while shooting 12-21 from three and 24-25 from the foul line.

- G: Kevin Dillard, Dayton: Dillard, a transfer from Southern Illinois, led the Flyers to the Old Spice Classic title with wins over Wake Forest, Fairfield and Minnesota. In the three games, he averaged 15.3 ppg, 5.0 apg, 3.7 spg and 2.3 apg while shooting 51.6% from the floor and 4-9 from three.

- F: Eric Griffin, Campbell: Griffin led the Camels to a 2-1 week, including a 16 point win over Iowa, while averaging 23.0 ppg, 12.0 rpg and 3.7 bpg. He shot 75% (24-32) from the floor, 4-5 from three and also added six steals. Griffin went for 23 points, 13 boards and six steals in the win over Iowa, and then had 29 points and 14 boards in a loss to Creighton. Oh, and he did this.

- F: Thomas Robinson, Kansas: The Jayhawks lost the title game of the Maui Invitational to Duke, but Robinson made a statement on the island. He had three straight double-doubles and averaged 17.0 ppg and 12.3 rpg in the three games.

- C: Henry Sims, Georgetown: Sims only averaged 13.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.3 apg and 1.7 bpg in a 2-1 week for the Hoyas. But it was the 24 points, eight boards and five assists that Sims notched in an overtime win over Memphis in the fifth-place game.

- Bench: Griffin Callahan, South Dakota State (18.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 18 3's, 3-1 week); Isaiah Canaan, Murray State (25.3 ppg, 3.3 apg, 5.7 rpg, Great Alaska Shootout champ); Jason Clark, Georgetown (23.0 ppg, 12-20 3's); Reggie Hamilton, Oakland (34 points, five assists, five steals vs. Utah Valley State); Orlando Johnson, UC-Santa Barbara (26.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 4.0 apg); Maurice Jones, USC (28 points, 7-7 3's vs. South Carolina); Velton Jones, Robert Morris (38 points, 10-15 shooting vs. James Madison); Jeronne Maymon, Tennessee (23.0 ppg, 16.0 rpg, including 32 points, 20 boards vs. Memphis); Anthony Miles, Lamar (24.5 ppg, 6.0 apg, 4.5 rpg); Jim Mower, Lafayette (28.0 ppg, including 37 points, 10-13 threes vs. FDU); Jake Odum, Indiana State (10 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists vs. Fairfield); Joel Smith, Northeastern (29 points, 10 boards in win vs. St. John's); Kyle Vinales, Central Conn. (27.0 ppg, 3.5 apg, 20-36 FG, 6-12 3's)


Team of the Week: Harvard Crimson

The Crimson moved to 6-0 on the season as they rolled through the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Harvard didn't get a matchup with UConn, who lost in the semifinals to Central Florida, but they did land a couple of big wins. Harvard destroyed Utah, who may actually be the worst major conference team in the country, and followed that up with an impressive win over a big, physical Florida State team. Throw in their title game victory over UCF, and the Crimson legitimized the preseason speculation that they were one of, if not the best mid-major team in the country.

There is so much to like about this Harvard team. They have a front line that went punch for punch with one of the biggest and most physical front lines in the country in Florida State, keeping the Seminoles off of the offensive glass despite holding them to 36.2% shooting. They have a solid point guard in Brandyn Curry and a slew of jump shooters on their perimeter. They have youthful experience, meaning that their young roster has been together for a couple of seasons. Perhaps most importantly, the Crimson have depth on their roster. They are bringing top 100 recruits off the bench. This team is for real.


Teams that also deserved to be Team of the Week:

Missouri Tigers: I just wrote a 700 word post on Missouri, so I'm not going to go to in depth here about the Tigers, but their start to the season has been nothing short of incredible. What's most impressive is the way that Frank Haith has been able to embrace the principles that Mike Anderson instilled in this group during his tenure. The Tigers play terrific pressure defense on the perimeter and have excelled in transition.

San Diego State: I'll admit it -- I doubted this team. And it looks like that was a mistake. The Aztecs moved to 7-1 after a 2-0 week in which Steve Fisher's club won two games on the road. On Wednesday, they went into the McKale Center and hung on to beat Arizona after opening up the game with a 21-4 run. Then on Saturday, the Aztecs knocked off UC-Santa Barbara in overtime. SDSU has a loaded perimeter attack, but if they can get more performances like the 13 points and nine boards that center Garrett Green had against UCSB, this team gets that much better.

St. Louis Billikens: This group was named BIAH Team of the Week last week after going 3-0 and beating Washington at home. They continued that terrific play this week as they rolled through the 76 Classic, knocked off BC, Villanova and Oklahoma in the span of four nights. What makes this group so intriguing is the way that they play defense and how well they shoot the three ball. That is going to keep them in a lot of games this season. With Temple's Michael Eric banged up, is St. Louis now the second best team in the Atlantic 10?

UNLV Runnin' Rebels: UNLV looked very, very impressive in their win over North Carolina on Saturday night. But the game also brought some concerns to the surface. For example, UNLV caught a break down the stretch in that the Tar Heels were unable to get a defensive rebound or force a turnover, because they made some really sloppy decisions down the stretch. There were three or four possessions in the final three minutes where UNLV shot a three with 25 or 30 seconds left on the shot clock. North Carolina will usually make their opponents pay for rushing shots like that.

Teams deserving a shout out:

DePaul: The Blue Demons are now 4-1 on the season after a 2-1 week down in Orlando for the Old Spice Classic. DePaul knocked off Texas Tech and Arizona State, and while neither of those teams are going to be competing for conference titles, they are wins none-the-less. Those haven't been easy to come by for DePaul the past couple of seasons. Their one point loss to Minnesota might have been their most impressive performance of the week.

Duke: The Blue Devils improved to 7-0 on the season by rolling through Tennessee, Michigan and Kansas to take home the Maui Invitational title. The two best signs of the week for Duke -- Austin Rivers is starting to show signs of understanding how to be a basketball player, and Mason Plumlee's back-to-the-basket game is getting better and better.

Georgetown: Its tough to not be impressed by the performance that the Hoyas had in Maui last week. After nearly knocking off Kansas, Henry Sims and Jason Clark took over as Georgetown knocked off Memphis in overtime in the fifth-place game. With how much the Big East has struggled this year, the Hoyas look like they may be able to finish in the top six.

Indiana: The Hoosiers went 2-0 last week, but it was their 75-59 win over Butler that turned the most heads. The Bulldogs are down this season, but the Hoosiers have been down for the entirety of Tom Crean's tenure. With this win, they, once again, look like the best team in the state. While Cody Zeller has been impressive, its been the play of Will Sheehey that has really sparked IU.

Marshall: The Thundering Herd improved to 5-0 on the season by winning a pair of road games last week. They knocked off UNC-Wilmington by five, and followed that up by going into Cincinnati and beating the Bearcats in overtime.

Michigan: The Wolverines have been one of the bigger surprises of the young season, and much of the credit has to go to Trey Burke. The freshman point guard has valiantly replaced Darius Morris, and while he's not going to put up the same numbers, his leadership and playmaking has been there. As Burke continues to learn the game, he's only going to get better.

Santa Clara: Santa Clara finished in third place at the 76 Classic, but they had a couple of very impressive performances. The Broncs not only knocked off New Mexico in the opening round, they beat Villanova in the third-place game, coming from down seven points in the final minute to win. Kevin Foster is the name that everyone knows of this team, but Evan Roquemore has played like a potential all-WCC player early in the season.

St. Joseph's: The Hawks are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the A-10 this season. After losing a double overtime battle to Iona earlier in the week, St. Joe's went into Happy Valley and scored the first 22 points of the game as they knocked off Penn State. This is a young group with a lot of promise.

Stanford: Its hard not to be impressed with the way that Stanford played in New York over the holidays. They soundly smacked Oklahoma State before giving Syracuse all they could handle in a six-point loss at the Garden, what effectively amounts to a home-game for the Orange. Josh Owens, Aaron Bright and Chasson Randle provide a sold 1-2-3 punch for Johnny Dawkins, but if Dwight Powell ever grows into his potential, this could be a dangerous team late in the year.

Tennessee: They lost both of their meaningful games in Maui, but the Vols deserve some credit. They are a much different team than last season. They play hard, they play smart and they appear to be well-coached. If Jeronne Maymon and Trae Golden can avoid letting their egos get too big for the team, this is a group that will make some noise in the SEC.


Five Thoughts:

- What's going on in the Pac-12?: There have been two impressive teams in the Pac-12 this season: Oregon State and Stanford. What's crazier is that neither of them actually won the preseason tournament that they played in. Its gotten to the point in the Pac-12 where we are impressed when teams are able to beat mediocre competition and simply compete with some of the top teams in the country. That's not a good sign.

I'm not ready to say that either the Beavers or the Cardinals are the favorite in this league just yet. The beatdown that Cal received at the hands of Missouri seems like more of a bad matchup where Cal happened to play poorly and Missouri happened to be on fire. If those two played 10 more times, Cal would win four of them. The same can be said for Washington's performance at St. Louis; the Huskies aren't as bad as they appeared playing a game that was a 9:00 am tip pacific time. Arizona will get better as the season progresses, young teams always do. At the very least, the league will be fun to follow.

The bottom of the Pac-12 is where it gets ugly. Arizona State lost to DePaul. Washington State lost to UC-Riverside. Utah was blown out by Harvard, UNC-Asheville and UMass. USC lost to Cal Poly. That's bad.

- The Big East is down, too: The Pac-12 isn't the only conference dealing with some early-season struggles. The Big East has been anything but impressive this year. UConn lost to Central Florida. Pitt lost to Long Beach State. Villanova went 1-2 in the 76 Classic after needing overtime to beat La Salle. Cincinnati has now lost to Presbyterian and Marshall. West Virginia lost to Kent State. Notre Dame looked terrible at the CBE Classic and lost Tim Abromaitis for the season with a torn acl. St. John's lost to Northeastern. Half of Louisville's roster is injured.

I'd go as far as to say that the only Big East team that has been impressive this season has been Georgetown. Marquette could have been included in that conversation until they struggled to beat Norfolk State.

- North Carolina's loss: There are definite issues with the Tar Heels. They don't defend well enough, they can get beat up in the paint and they struggle when they are forced to play a half court game. Those are major red flags. But remember this: there are not going to be many games that the Tar Heels get such poor performances out of their front line. Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, John Henson and James Michael McAdoo combined to go 12-38 from the floor, 13-24 from the line, score just 37 points and grab only 24 rebounds. Credit UNLV's front line for some of that, but also remember how rare that kind of stat line is going to be.

- What happened to Alex Oriakhi?: UConn's big man played such a vital role in their national title performance last season, anchoring the paint and defending the rim. This year, however, he's struggled to find minutes, and its not because Andre Drummond has been playing great basketball. Against Florida State, Oriakhi played just 10 minutes despite going up against the biggest front line in the country. So what's the issue? Oriakhi's been fouling too much, rebounding too little and done nothing to force Calhoun to keep him on the floor. When he did against Central Florida -- 14 points, 10 boards, 5 blocks -- you saw the results. In those 10 minutes against FSU, he went without a rebound or a shot attempt. Its no wonder he's not playing.

- The Austin Rivers conundrum: Much has been made about the early season performance of Austin Rivers. And, yes, its been less than ideal. But remember, this kid is still a freshmen. He's still learning the game. He's still learning how to be a member of a team as good as Duke is. For his entire high school career, Rivers played a style that was, essentially, "give Austin the ball and let him do what he wants". He's taking fewer bad shots and playing more within the Duke offense.

It also should be noted that you don't want to take away the ability of Rivers to throw up one or two ill-advised shots a game. That aggressiveness is what makes him so dangerous. You can't take away his confidence, but he does need to learn about when the right situation is to attack and when he needs to pull it out and run some offense. He'll get there. Give him time.


Game of the Week: Duke 68, Kansas 61

This really was just a sensational game. Two high-level teams trading haymakers in a raucous environment. There was defense being played, there were battles underneath the rim and there big-time shots being made. The hero? Seldom-used Tyler Thornton, who hit back-to-back threes in the final minute to clinch the win:



Matchups of the Week:

- Mon. 7:00 pm: No. 12 Xavier at No. 22 Vanderbilt
- Mon. 7:00 pm: Long Beach State @ No. 7 Louisville
- Tue. 7:00 pm: No. 15 Michigan @ Virginia
- Tue. 9:30 pm: No. 6 Duke @ No. 3 Ohio State
- Wed. 7:30 pm: No. 20 Florida State @ Michigan State
- Wed. 9:30 pm: No. 11 Wisconsin @ No. 1 North Carolina
- Wed. 10:30 pm: No. 25 Creighton @ San Diego State
- Thu. 9:30 pm: Georgetown @ No. 13 Alabama
- Fri. 7:00 pm: No. 9 Florida @ No. 5 Syracuse
- Fri. 9:00 pm: No. 22 Vanderbilt @ No. 7 Louisville
- Sat. 12:00 pm: No. 1 UNC @ No. 2 Kentucky
- Sat. 3:00 pm: Purdue @ No. 12 Xavier
- Sat. 3:15 pm: No. 19 Gonzaga @ Illinois
- Sun. 5:00 pm: No. 18 Cal @ San Diego State
- Sat. 4:30 pm: No. 17 Marquette @ No. 11 Wisconsin
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B.I.A.H Not Top Ten

Every week, a plethora of writers, publications, media outlets and bloggers issue their Top-25 rankings for the past seven days worth of action. A majority of the time, everybody has virtually same opinion of all the teams, save a few upsets here or there.

If you want to find this week's top-25 rankings, you've come to the wrong place.

Here you will find our rankings for the 10 worst team performances of the week. This list isn't just home to the winless mid-major bottom-feeders. No, here you will find the biggest underachievers, slumpers and teams in a funk. We'll provide detail on the worst weekly performers, and the teams that just plain suck. Now, there will be teams on this list that are better than teams not on this list. But come on people, we are trying to be creative, just work with us here.

After the jump, you will find our list of the ten most screwed-up teams in the country. It's going to get ugly.

1. Boston College (2-3)

The Eagles Are woefully bad. Sure they have nine freshman on the roster, and they didn't return any real production from last year's squad.. But their two wins have come against New Hampshire (by 3) and UC-Riverside (In overtime by 4). Their three losses have come to Holy Cross, UMass and Saint Louis, by a combine 69 points. Even the worst BCS-conference team should be able avoid getting smacked by Holy Cross by 22-points. According to KenPom, the Eagles are the worst BCS-conference team in the country. the Eagles look like a team that may not win a single ACC game this season. In fact, they look like a team that might lose to North Carolina by triple-digits.


2. UCLA (1-4)

Where, oh where to begin. Well, first, they have yet to log a win against a D-I opponent. They sport ugly, double-digit losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee. The team's best player, Reeves Nelson, was suspended for three days because of attitude problems. A day after his suspension was lifted, he missed the team flight to Hawaii. To follow this up, Ben Howland benched Nelson for just one half.

Then there is Josh Smith, the team's massive center. The 310lb-behemoth refuses to lose weight and work on his endurance, and has only logged 20+ minutes in two games. Plus the Bruins are the worst team in the country in defending the 3-pointer, with their opponents making 61% of their shots from behind the arc. If things weren't already bizarre-enough, Travis Wear injured his foot while on a snorkeling trip over the weekend. Yup, that's right, he injured his foot while snorkeling. This team is toast.


3. Utah (1-4)

I often struggle to understand why exactly the Pac-12 decided to bring in Utah. They stink at football and they are absolutely dreadful at basketball. The Utes have lost five straight since their first and only win of the season, against non-DI San Diego Christian who they only beat by 3-points. Sure, you could argue that all the teams they lost to (Boise State by 21, Montana State by 6, 28 to Harvard, UMass by 14, and UNC-Ashville by 22) are better than people expected. But still, all five of those losses came to mid and low major schools. This team probably won't win a single conference game, which says a lot since the Pac-12 is in such a state of disarray already.


4. Notre Dame (4-2)

Nobody expected Notre Dame to be great this season. Sure, Tim Abromaitis would be an All-Conference player, and they have some quality players, but nobody thought they would be world-beaters. But I don't think anybody thought they would go out and get run off the floor by Missouri. A loss to Missouri isn't bad, but a 29-point loss isn't exactly good either. Then they followed that up with a ugly four point loss to a not-so-good Georgia team.

But the biggest blow came during practice last week, when Abromaitis tore his ACL, and will miss the rest of the season. This team looks to be on it's last legs.


5. Cincinnati (3-2)

The Bearcats were predicted to be one of the best teams in the Big East. Their non-conference schedule is riddled with cupcakes and this was supposed to set them up to enter the Big East conference season with very few blemishes on their record. But that's before they lost in the upset of the year to Presbyterian, a school that has been in Divison-I for less than five years. The Bearcats blew a 21-point led en route to a humiliation loss to the Blue Hose. But then they followed that up with an overtime loss to Marshall, the only opponent that could have provided the program with a good non-conference win. (Ed. Note: Other than Xavier, obviously. Whoops.)


6. Hawaii (2-2)

Maybe this was my fault. I was pretty sure Hawaii had the talent, skill, and experience to become the best team in the WAC. But through the first four games, they have looked more like a middling mid-major than the conference powerhouse I expected them to be. Not many teams in the country allow their opponents to shoot more foul shots than the Warriors. Their opponents are currently shooting 79% against them. The 19-point loss to Gonzaga on a "neutral court" in Canada is one thing, but losing to Eastern Washington by 15 at home isn't.


7. South Carolina (2-4)

There is only one BCS-conference team with worse 3-point defense than South Carolina, and that team is ranked #2 on this very list. The bottom of the SEC is pretty bad, but I'm positive that LSU and Auburn are going to be better than the 'Cocks. How on earth Darrin Horne still has a job is beyond me, but he probably has to write quarterly checks to Devan Downey.

Two of SC's losses have been to Elon and Tennessee State. Woof. SC's wins have come against Mississippi Valley State and Western Carolina. Double-woof. The 'Cocks leading scorer averages just 11.8-ppg and is the only player on the team to average double-digits. Triple-woof.


8. Grambling State (0-5)

The SWAC is not a good place to be in mid-November and early-December. All ten teams are below .500 and Grambling State is yet to taste victory. Sure, the university is making money from these "guarantee games" but the Tigers have played at home just once, and they won't play another home game until 2012. The Tigers have lost all five games by a combined 178-points, or roughly 36-ppg. But on the plus side, they did lose three consecutive games by 30-points. That's pretty cool, right? But seriously, their leading scorer is averaging 7.8-ppg. That's brutal.


9. UAB (1-4)

The Blazers were picked to finish in the top half of the C-USA this season. But after five games, I see a team that looks like they won't win a single conference game. Sure, Cameron Moore
is averaging a double-double per contest, and Ovie Soko is just shy of averaging a double-double as well.

But, I mean, the Blazers are averaging just eight rebounds per game. Just eight. That's deplorable. Did it ever occur to Mike Davis that he might want to find a successor to all-conference point guard Aaron Johnson? Plus, the Blazers lost to UT-Martin, whose only win was against a non-DI school.


10. Towson (0-5)

The Tigers are losing by roughly 28-ppg. In fact, they've lost two games by exactly 46-points each. On top of that, the Tigers are averaging just seven assists a game. Only four players are averaging more than five points per game. Pat Skerry, the new Towson head coach has a lot of work ahead of him.







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Monday Morning Dump

Thanksgiving Weekend was rather busy in the world of college hoops. We will try to get you up to speed with all the happenings.

- Latest from the Bernie Fine ivestigation: The long-time assistant coach has been fired from Syracuse University. But don't get it twisted, this case is different than Penn State's

- A nice November recap of the programs and personell that we over/under valued just a bit too much

- Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish provide their updated top-25 rankings

- Andy Katz provides his thoughts on the first two weeks of the season

- Did UNLV reveal the blueprint on how to beat UNC?

- On two occasions in the past week, UConn's Alex Oriakhi has voiced his opinions about playing time and Jim Calhoun on Twitter. But is UConn better off with having the big-man come off the bench?

- Mike DeCourcy dishes on the valuable lessons learned by Kansas, Memphis and Kentucky ealry in the season

- After a bit of procrastination, Matt Norlander gets to the point: Oklahoma State's next few games are brutal

During the 2011-2012 season, we will be working with FanDuel.com to provide you with single-day fantasy college basketball leagues. The leagues, which is completely free to enter, starts on Nov. 15th and features $200 in prizes. Even better, if you beat us (Username: Ballinisahabit), you'll win an extra $5. Winners will be paid out that evening. So see if you can use your college hoops knowledge to win some prize money. The games are heating up this week, and if you sign up (It's Free!) you could walk away with some easy cash. Click here to enter.

- Seth Davis' Hoop Thoughts

- Could UCLA's dreadful start hinder their chances at getting Shabazz Muhammed, arguably the most prized-recruit in the cuntry?. Speaking of UCLA, they have still yet to win a game against a D-I opponent. Did you know that UCLA has the worst 3-point defense in the country. Oh, and Reeves Nelson won't be in the starting lineup any time soon

- I totally forgot to mention that UCLA's Travis Wear got injured on a snorkeling trip. A SNORKELING TRIP!

- Louisville losses another player to injury. Big-man Stephan Van Treese is out indefinitely due a knee injury. But at least the Cardinals got back Rakeem Buckles, who has been cleared to practice

- Temple's Michael Eric sat out of the Owl's loss to Bowling Green on Sunday due to a knee injury

- Minnesota stud forward Trevor Mbakwe injured his knee on Sunday night and could miss a substantial amount of time

- Michael Glover believes his Iona teammate Scott Machado is the next Jason Kidd

- Duke beat Kansas in the Maui Invitational championship game in memorable fashion. With the win, the Blue Devils remain undefeated in the prestigious preseason tournament. But the highly-contested game was the first time we've seen Austin Rivers struggle. So what exactly do we know about Duke following their Maui title

- Does this Duke sqaud resemble to 2010 team that won it all?

- Clemson coach Brad Brownell should use the path taken by Bobby Cremins as a road map for success

- An explanation as to why Rick Majerus backed out on the USC job back in 2004

- Dion Waiters nearly transfered from Syracuse last season, but he stuck it out, and has become a key cog for the Orange thus far this season. Donna Ditota provides more insight on success other Syracuse sophomores. Is Syracuse the deepest team in the country?

- John Calipari has no problem with his players throwing up "the 3-point googles" but he wants all the posing and posturing to stop

- Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis tore his ACL at a practice on Friday and is likely done for the year

- A BYU fan was arrested at a game last week for putting his son in danger

- Despite scoring a career-high 29-points oN Sunday, Missouri's Kim English believes that his team needs to clean up on poor play

- Rutgers is 3-3 and went 0-2 at the Cancun Challenge, but Mike Rice was pleasantly surprised after watching the game-film

- How will Big East commisssioner John Marinatto resolve his conference crisis?

- The New Mexico State Aggies are off to a fast start and have their conditioning coach to thank for it

- We all knew that Long Beach State had a brutal non-conference schedule. But wedged in there was a date with Montana. I'm pretty sure we didn't think that this was the game they were going to lose. But they did

- Arizona freshman Sidiki Johnson has been reinstated to the program, but won't be allowed to practice

- Penn State is off to a solid start. But with a scandal engulfing the university and a young team, new head coach Pat Chambers is in for a challenge

- A pretty neat-read on Navy point guard Jordan Rickman, who spent two years at the Academy before deciding to join the team

- A rather concise listing of all the Feast Week tournament breakdowns

- Former-Washington player Andrew Mortiz died on on Saturday night after battling cancer for three years

- Jabari Brown, the Oregon freshman that left the program last week, has decided to transfer to San Diego State, per a source according to C2C recruiting

- Is the "two and through" the new "one and done"

- Gary Williams doesn't exactly agree with the common conception that he was a poor recruiter

- Things do not look good for the Detroit Titans

- In case you forgot, which you probably did, Harvard is still undefeated

- bet you didn't know that Virginia Tech's strength and conditioning coach used to play SlamBall

- I know this is late, but Hoopniks offers their ten thanks to college basketball fans

- Sometimes, I wish I was smart enough to attend Harvard



Surprise military returns are always really cool




Harrison Barnes suffered a nasty ankle sprain against UNLV on Saturday night




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Recapping what's happened at Syracuse today

Its been an eventful day in upstate New York.

This morning, ESPN published excerpts from a phone call between Bernie Fine's wife and one of the people accusing Fine, an assistant on the Syracuse basketball team at the time, of molesting him. There is plenty of explosive information that comes to light from that phone call, but the most relevant: that Fine's wife, Laurie, seems to confirm the fact that she knew that her husband was abusing more than one kid and that Laurie and Bobby Davis, the accuser, had a sexual relationship.

Umm, whoa.

It gets crazier.

A third accuser has come forward. Zach Tomaselli, a 23 year old man from Maine, said he was abused by Fine in 2002. He also said he was abused by his father around the same time. His dad, who he's estranged from for four years, claims that his son is lying. And if that wasn't enough, Tomaselli is currently facing his own charges of molesting a child.

The result?

Fine was fired this evening. Here is the statement from the Syracuse Chancellor, Nancy Cantor.

The question now becomes whether or not Jim Boeheim is going to be able to keep his job, and he made big strides in the right direction by releasing this statement late on Sunday night:

"The allegations that have come forth today are disturbing and deeply troubling. I am personally very shocked because I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. I believe the university took the appropriate step tonight. What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found. I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse."

I've bolded the key sentences.

Boeheim hasn't been a part of a cover-up that allowed Fine to operate. He lashed out when he believed that a long-time friend of his was being attacked by two people looking for money. And while its still unclear what, exactly, happened in the Fine household, today's reports made it nearly impossible to think Fine is completely innocent.

Boeheim was right to apologize. He had to. He took a huge risk when he emphatically stated that Fine's accusers were doing nothing but looking for a payday. Those statements came back to bite him today.

Its been said before and will be said over and over again in the coming week, but this situation is different that what occurred at Penn State. I doubt that Boeheim will be fired as a result of it, but I do think that today's events will make it significantly less likely that Boeheim will ever coach in the ACC.
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POSTERIZED: Anthony Marshall is a man

There's a reason that I put Anthony Marshall on my all-BIAH team.

And I'll be honest when I tell you its not because I thought he would be able to dunk on the entire North Carolina team.

Before we get to the video, there's a point I have to make -- this one possession is a perfect example of what's wrong with the Tar Heels. Kendall Marshall gets hung up on a mediocre ball-screen, Tyler Zeller is incredibly out of position playing pick-and-roll defense and Dexter Strickland and John Henson are about two steps late in help side defense:



If they don't tighten up that defense, Kentucky is going to have a dozen #POSTERIZED's on Saturday.

But was it as good as these?

Michael Kidd-Glichrist, Kentucky vs. Portland, 11/26/11
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/25/11
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24/11
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26

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UNLV upsets No. 1 UNC: A few quick thoughts

And No. 1 goes down.

North Carolina went into Orleans Arena and got dropped by a hot-shooting UNLV team, 90-80. The Runnin' Rebels shot 13-32 from three point range and made a number of big plays down the stretch -- momentum killing threes, key defensive stops, seemingly every loose ball. Since its late on a Saturday night and I don't have the energy to make this into a well-written, flowing post, we get ... BULLET POINTS!


- Mike Moser's addition to the Rebels might be even greater than we thought. He had 16 points, 17 boards and six assists playing against one of the best front lines in the country. His ability to hit the glass and stretch the floor offensively makes UNLV's offense that much more dangerous.

- Kendall Marshall cannot guard anyone. He's incredible at getting his teammates open looks, but he was absolutely torched by Oscar Bellfield tonight. Bellfield finished with 18 points and nine assists, getting into the paint at will and creating wide open threes for his teammates.

- North Carolina looked flustered when they got down in the second half. They did not respond well to the 14-0 run UNLV went on at the start of the second half. Part of the reason was that UNC was forced to become a half-court team; with UNLV hitting shot after shot, the Heels could not get out and run -- the best way to slow down a fast breaking team is to score. But UNC also made some really bad decisions in the half-court. They forced some shots, they missed some free throws and, frankly, they looked rushed and overwhelmed.

- UNLV wasn't much better down the stretch. They dodged a couple of bullets by getting lucky bounces off the offensive glass down the stretch. There were four or five possessions in the closing minutes where the Rebels fired away on threes way too early in the shot clock. When you are up by ten on the No. 1 team in the country with three minutes left -- particularly when that team is known for their ability to score in bunches -- quick threes are not the smartest way to try and protect the lead.

- You think UNC is worried about Wisconsin on Wednesday and Kentucky next Saturday now?

- Its very, very easy to pick-nits about how this game was played. But the bottom line is this: UNC did not play their best game, but a (large?) part of their struggles can be credited to the play of UNLV. The Rebels threw the first punch in both halves and had enough juice to hang on and win.

I'll have more on this tomorrow and Monday after I get a chance to a) rewatch the game and b) think about this without leftover tryptophan running through my veins.

(Image via bubbaprog. Great to have you back grabbing college hoops screenshots, Tim!
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POSTERIZED: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is no kid, he's a man

Kentucky's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is one of the top freshman in the country. The kid can literally do it all. I'm sure recruiting services don't rate kids based on their dunking skills, but hot-damn, this kid can throw down.

I don't have much else to say because, well, this dunk has me speechless.



When we get a better version of the video, we will get it out to you, because this jam has Dunk of the Year potential

It's ironic that this dunk took place against the Portland Pilots, because Kidd-Gilchrist literally took fight....

But was it as good as these?

Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/15/11
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24/11
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26

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POSTERIZED: "Downtown" Markel Brown

Markel Brown must love the N.I.T. I have no idea why anybody would love the N.I.T., but Brown now has two POSTERIZED appearances, and both of them have occured in the N.I.T.

Last season Brown threw down a mean-mugging in the post-season N.I.T. against Harvard in the quarterfinals.

This season, he took his talents to Madison Square Garden and left his mark at the "World's Most Famous Arena".



It's a shame that there was literally nobody there to see it, but yes, it did happen.

But was it as good as these?

Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24/11
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26


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Central Florida upsets No. 4 UConn

For UConn, it certainly was "Black Friday".

Keith Clanton scored 20 points and UCF closed the game on 35-13 run as the Golden Knights knocked off No. 4 UConn 68-63 in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. Marcus Jordan added 16 points, seven boards and seven assists for UCF.

Its a big win for the Knights, who have enough talent on their roster to compete for the Conference USA crown. The concern coming in was how this group was going to mesh. They started out last season with 14 straight wins, but collapsed during league play. There was some roster turnover, as head coach Donnie Jones also brought in a vaunted crop of transfers, but the memories of UCF's late-season collapse and the cloud cast over the program by the current NCAA investigation the trendy, overrated pick in their league.

One game is not enough to sway the doubters, but this is a win that should put the rest of the conference -- particularly Memphis, who just had a disastrous trip out to Maui -- on notice.

The biggest story here, however, was UConn's play.

With the score 50-33 and 16 minutes remaining, the Golden Knights switched to a zone and it completely flummoxed the Huskies. UConn managed just seven points over the next 13 minutes -- shooting 28.6% from the floor and turning the ball over eight times -- while allowing UCF to score on 16 of their next 22 possessions. Frankly, UConn was utterly clueless against the zone, and those offensive frustrations led to defensive apathy.

There are a number of issues at play here. For starters, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb, who played like the best back court in the country for the first two weeks of the season, need to be more aggressive offensively. They combined to shoot 7-23 from the floor and 2-13 from beyond the arc while turning the ball over ten times, settling for far too many deep threes off the dribble. Jim Calhoun needs one of those to to step-up and be more aggressive when UConn is struggling, zone or no zone.

One of them has to want to be the guy that replaces Kemba Walker as the star of this team, not just as the leading scorer. UConn doesn't have the killer instinct yet. As Calhoun said after the game, in past games "we'd go up 20, but it didn't go to 30, it went to 10. A pattern. Today, got up 17 and it went to a loss."

Another issue is the Husky front court. While Alex Oriakhi and Andre Drummond finally played like the kind of front line we have expected them to be all season long -- they combined for 27 points, 19 boards (11 offensive) and nine blocks -- they also missed a number of point black shots and only got to the line nine times, which isn't enough considering how much time those two spend around the rim.

There is plenty of talent in Storrs, but UConn has a long way to go before they are truly an elite team.

Perhaps this loss is for the best. UConn may have needed a wake-up call. This was it. You think Jim Calhoun will get their attention during their next practice?
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Andrew Zimmermann sports the best beard in college basketball

NEW YORK, NY - There are a lot of reasons that college is one of the greatest times of a young man's life.

You find yourself as person. You discover your calling in life. You figure out what you want to do to earn a living. And that's to say nothing of the acceptability of the rampant alcoholism and utter lack of responsibility that exists between the end of classes on Thursday and the start of class on Monday morning every week.

But the best part? Being able to avoid shaving for three months without having to worry about a condescending bosses or disapproving clients.

Enter Andrew Zimmermann, a 6'8", 230 lb senior forward for the Stanford Cardinal who sports college basketball's most impressive facial follicles:


"Its just something that started before [our trip to] Spain," Zimmermann said while his team was participating in the Preseason NIT Final Four in New York City over Thanksgiving. "It makes me look tougher and they respect me because of that."

Zimmermann started growing the beard in mid-August, before Stanford went on their 11-day tour of Spain. And while he's gotten the beard trimmed once since then, he hasn't yet decided how long he's going to let the beard get; he figures that, eventually, Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins is going to ask him to get a trim.

"I'm worried we're at the point where coach will say 'ehh, its a little too long,'" Zimmermann said.

If Dawkins is superstitious, he won't. Heading into Friday's NIT Final against Syracuse, Stanford is 5-0 on the season and playing well enough be thought of as a potential sleeper in a wide-open Pac-12. Zimmermann's had success from an individual standpoint as well, taking advantage of the minutes made available by the ankle injury suffered by Dwight Powell. Zimmermann has started all five games for the Cardinal, finishing with a season-high seven points in Wednesday's win over Oklahoma State.

"I think if we keep winning and playing well, it will have to stay," Zimmermann said, although he tried to downplay the idea that the beard is a good luck charm. "I think the way we play when we play hard, its luck in itself."

"Its a toughness look, which is something I try to play by and do on the court," Zimmermann said. He's an emotional leader and a glue guy for this Stanford team. Every defensive possession, he can easily be heard calling out screens and talking teammates through their rotations. The beard helps him embody his role.

"This is just a symbol of what we want to do," Zimmermann said. "Not caring what other people think [about how we look], just doing what we gotta do."
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POSTERIZED: Rodney Willams hits the trifecta

Minnesota's Rodney Williams is one of the top-5 best dunkers in the country. I know it and you should all know it too. But despite this declaration, we had yet to see him make an appearance in B.I.A.H POSTERIZED this season.

But on Thanksgiving, Williams showed up and showed off.

3x.

1. You can't lose sight of him




2. Stay out of his way




3. Just give up already



I guess you could say that Rodney was feasting on some "tur-dunk-en"


But was it as good as these?

Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26



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Friday's Shootaround: Where we catch up from Thursday's day off

Seeing as yesterday was Turkey Day, we decided to hold off on doing a Morning Shootaround because, well, we wanted to travel to see our loved ones, too. Just because we're basement-dwelling bloggers doesn't mean that we don't have fellow basement-dwelling bloggers that love us.

Seeing as I'm reasonably sure that you did nothing but watch football, eat and get drunk yesterday, we're throwing in a recap on Wednesday's games in here as well. That's how much we love you.


Preseason NIT

No. 5 Syracuse 69, Virginia Tech 58: See here.

The column I wrote off of this game was on Dion Waiters and Syracuse, but I do want to make a quick note about Virginia Tech: I was very impressed with this team. Syracuse is good and the Garden is a de-facto home game, but the Hokies swung first and swung hard on Wednesday night. They had some trouble beating Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone in the second half and didn't have an answer for Waiters down the stretch, but this is a group that could very well finish fourth in the ACC. Jarell Eddie was quite impressive, going for 17 points and five assists (without a turnover) as the high post option in the zone offense. Dorian Finney-Smith has been a double-double machine through the first couple of weeks of the season. Throw in the back court of Dorenzo Hudson and Erick Green, and Seth Greenberg has plenty of options.

Can we just throw them on the bubble now?

Stanford 82, Oklahoma State 67: See here.


Maui Invitational

No. 6 Duke 68, No. 14 Kansas 61: First and foremost, what a game. It doesn't really get any better than that. Two high-powered programs, a raucous atmosphere, a back-and-forth game and the unlikeliest of heroes. Everything that makes college basketball great, right there.

As far as what happened, I have a lot to say about it, so I'll do it in bullet form:


- Was impressed with Mason Plumlee's back to the basket game. He's gotten better. Now he needs to be more consistent. I was not impressed with Ryan Kelly.

- Jeff Withey has a chance to be an all-Big 12 player. He blocks shots, he's a legit seven-foot and he's got some mobility and athleticism. I love Thomas Robinson as much as anyone because he plays as hard as anyone in the country. But he needs to add more skill to that effort; I don't think his 6-15 performance will be an outlier.

- Austin Rivers looks closer to a finished product every time he steps on the floor. He's got a lot to learn, but you can see him getting better. The terrible shots and dumb turnovers are getting fewer and farther between. When he puts it all together, his ability to create will make Duke a much better team; the rest of their back court has some solid role players.

- Wasn't that the quintessential Tyshawn Taylor? 17 points, four assists, a couple stretches where he looked unstoppable ... and 11 turnovers?

- Duke will give UNC a run for the ACC title, but it will be an upset if they win it. Kansas, on the other hand, should be considered the favorite in the Big 12 still. If nothing else, the mediocrity in that conference pushes them to the top.

- Kansas got one shot from their bench. Not one basket, one shot. As in, their bench was 0-1 from the floor.

Was that as good for you as it was for me?

Georgetown 91, No. 8 Memphis 88 OT: The Tigers are absurdly talented. We all know that. But their collective basketball IQ is atrocious. They take so many bad shots early in the shot clock and have no concept of time-and-score. They had three chances to run the clock and put the game out of reach in the final minute and took a rushed three early in the shot clock, nearly turned the ball over by throwing it out of bounds, and finally turned the ball over when Joe Jackson penetrated and threw into a crowd with 30 seconds on the shot clock and 39 on the game clock. As I tweeted on Wednesday night, "Memphis has the late-game execution of a 12 year old travel team. Josh Pastner couldn't coach that team, either." How long will it be before he admits that hiring two NBA players was a mistake?

As for Georgetown, this team has some promise. The lack of playmaking in their back court is worrisome, but Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson both showed off a knack for being able to score in the clutch. Clark had 26 points and hit a number of big shots. Henry Sims has been the most impressive player on the Hoyas. Against Memphis -- and their sophomore stud Tarik Black -- Sims had 24 points, eight boards and five assists. He can score on the block, he can knock down a 17-footer and he can pass very well, leading the Hoyas with 21 assists in five games. Most importantly, however, is that he is playing with a tremendous amount of confidence. If he remains a poor man's Roy Hibbert all year long, the Hoyas could very well end up being a tournament team this year.


No. 15 Michigan 79, UCLA 63: There isn't much to say about either of these teams that hasn't already been said the past two days, but think about this: we are now past Thanksgiving, and UCLA is still without a Division I win. Hell, they are still without a loss that has been single digits.

Tennessee 86, Chaminade 60: The only note-worthy stat from this game is that Jeronne Maymon only played two minutes because of tightness in his achilles.


The rest of the top 25

No. 2 Kentucky 88, Radford 40: Kentucky was up 29-6 and 45-14. This one was ugly.

No. 3 Ohio State 107, VMI 74: You want to know how you can tell a game is a blowout? Thad Matta uses 12 people for more than seven minutes and ten players for more than 14 minutes.

No. 10 Baylor 75, UT-Arlington 65: The Bears will finally be getting Perry Jones back the next time they take the floor. Its too bad that Jones isn't a point guard, however. AJ Walton went scoreless, and while he handed out seven assists, he also had six turnovers. Pierre Jackson had 16 points, but eight of them came on free throws late and he had just two assists and three turnovers.

No. 13 Alabama 82, Alabama A&M 45: The Crimson Tide were playing without JaMychal Green and lost Tony Mitchell to an ankle injury -- which didn't turn out to be too serious -- and still managed to hold A&M to just 1-17 shooting in the first half. Their defense is scary.

San Diego State 61, No. 23 Arizona 57: I have to give credit to the Aztecs. I've underrated this team. Given the struggles that New Mexico has had this season and the question marks that UNLV still has this year, I think its safe to say that SDSU has a puncher's chance of winning the Mountain West this season. SDSU jumped out to a 21-4 lead on Arizona at the McKale Center, a tough place to get a win, and held on thanks to 17 points from Chase Tapley. SDSU has a strong perimeter attack, but their front court is fairly weak, so it must be pointed out that Arizona's big men are young and/or small as well. But regardless, SDSU appears to be a top 40 team this season, which is more than what I would have said a week ago.


Iona 104, St. Joe's 99 2OT: We may only be two weeks into the season, but I think that we can say with a fair amount of confidence that there aren't five teams in the country more entertaining to watch than the Gaels. After a shootout with Purdue last week, the Gaels hosted a surprising St. Joe's team, and the result was a shootout. The Hawks jumped out to a 13 point lead during the first half, but Iona battled back to cut the lead to just two at the half. The second half went back and forth before Scott Machado found Taaj Ridley for a layup with eight seconds left to force overtime.

Iona opened up a five point lead in overtime, but St. Joe's battled back. Carl Jones hit two free throws to cut the lead to two with a minute left, and after a Momo Jones turnover, Ronald Roberts grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to force a second overtime. Trailing by three at the end of the OT, Langston Galloway missed a three pointer and Machado scored at the other end for the final margin. Machado finished with 33 points, 10 assists, five boards, four steals and just three turnovers in 48 minutes. Michael Glover might have been more impressive, finishing with 34 points and 15 boards, nine offensive.

Denver 70, St. Mary's 58: The Gaels were supposed to be one of the favorites in the WCC, and while losing on the road isn't exactly a bad thing in college hoops, it is when you are a team trying to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The WCC has had a couple less-than-stellar losses early, which makes this hurt even more. That said, Denver is now undefeated at 4-0 with a win over Southern Mississippi. We'll find out soon enough. They travel to Cal and Utah State before the end of the month and host Iona in two weeks.


Battle 4 Atlantis

No. 4 UConn 73, UNC-Asheville 63: Alex Oriakhi has been playing very poorly, so Andre Drummond got the start over him. He wasn't too happy. I don't think Jim Calhoun will be too happy about his tweets. Anyway, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb continued to play like killers, combining for 46 points, nine assists, eight boards and four steals.

No. 20 Florida State 73, UMass 53: Michael Snaer had 18 points and 10 boards and the Seminoles used a 17-1 run that spanned both halves to break open a close game. The Seminoles advance to play Harvard, which will be one of the most entertaining games of the day.

Central Florida 74, Charleston 63: Keith Clanton had 28 and 14 as the Golden Knights notched a nice win against Charleston.

Harvard 75, Utah 47: An Ivy League team beat a Pac-12 team by 28 points and pulled their starters early in the second half. Think about that.


76 Classic

St. Louis 62, Boston College 51: The Billikens shook off a sluggish start and used 20 points and four assists from Kwamain Mitchell to roll past the Eagles.

Villanova 71, UC-Riverside 46: Maalik Wayns had 23 points, seven assists and just one turnover as the Wildcats used a 32-6 to blow this game open. But Wayns was 0-5 from three. They need him to become a more consistent shooter to thrive.

Santa Clara 79, New Mexico 76 OT: In the best game of Turkey Day, Kevin Foster and Evan Roquemore combined for 50 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as the Broncs outlasted New Mexico. Santa Clara did blow a six point lead in the final two minutes as Tony Snell knocked down a couple of threes, but Snell fouled out midway through overtime and the Broncs held on to advance.

While it is a good sign for Santa Clara that they can knock off a team with the talent of New Mexico even without Marc Trasolini healthy, the bigger issue here is New Mexico. The Lobos lost to New Mexico State last week and cannot find a way to get Drew Gordon or Kendall Williams involved in the offense. If this is truly a top 30 team, as many projected in the preseason, they have a long way to grow. The key may end up being Hugh Greenwood sliding over and taking over the point guard spot.

Oklahoma 74, Washington State 59: The team that played harder won. Wazzu looked, frankly, apathetic.


Old Spice Classic

Indiana State 60, Texas Tech 49: Indiana State is a team you need to keep an eye on this season. They are now 5-0 and have one of the best mid-major point guards in the country in Jake Odum.

Minnesota 86, DePaul 85: DePaul played a fantastic game, getting 43 points out of Cleveland Melvin and Brandon Young, but Minnesota was able to pull the win out in the end. More than anything, this was a bad matchup for the Gophers -- DePaul loves to press and Minnesota doesn't have a point guard. Trevor Mbakwe had 16 points and 12 boards.

Dayton 80, Wake Forest 76: Paul Williams scored 18 points and Chris Johnson hit a tiebreaking three in the final minute as Dayton used 15 offensive rebounds to beat Wake Forest.

Fairfield 55, Arizona State 44: Rakim Sanders had 21 points as Fairfield opened a 39-22 lead on the Sun Devils and held on to win. This wasn't much of a surprise, but Arizona State's struggles are still surprising. They had six assists and 22 turnovers, and now have 40 assists and 78 turnovers on the season.


Other notable scores:

- South Florida 66, Georgia Southern 46
- Georgia Tech 72, Siena 44
- Richmond 58, Rutgers 53
- Michigan State 68, Milwaukee 55
- Butler 68, Gardner-Webb 66
- Colorado 76, Air Force 73 OT
- George Washington 77, Bowling Green 56
- Purdue 80, Western Michigan 37
- South Alabama 79, LSU 75 OT
- VCU 68, Western Kentucky 45
- Oregon 83, Nebraska 76
- Colorado 76, Air Force 73 OT
- Illinois 63, Illinois State 59
- Campbell 77, Iowa 61
- Vermont 65, Old Dominion 63 OT


Top performers

Keith Clanton, Central Florida: Clanton had 28 points, 14 boards, three blocks and two steals while helping get Adjehi Baru in foul trouble.

Jason Clark and Henry Sims, Georgetown: Clark had 26 points and hit a number of big shots down the stretch while Sims added 24 points, eight boards and five assists as the Hoyas beat Memphis in overtime.

Tim Frazier, Penn State: Tim Frazier had his third 20-10 game of the season, going for 26 points and 11 assists as the Nittany Lions knocked off Youngstown State.

Michael Glover and Scott Machado, Iona: Glover had 34 points and 15 boards (nine offensive) and Scott Machado went for 33 points, 10 assists, five boards, four steals and just three turnovers in 48 minutes as the Gaels beat St. Joe's in double overtime.

Eric Griffin, Campbell: Griffin had 23 points, 13 boards and six blocks as Campbell beat Iowa by 16. You should recognize the name.

Michael Lyons, Air Force: Lyons had 31 points and seven boards, but the Falcons lost to Colorado in overtime.
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