11:00 pm: Gonzaga @ St. Mary's: On a night with a lot of mediocre great (there's no such thing as mediocre college hoops!) basketball, we get a gem with ESPN's late night game. I have a lot of question marks with both of these teams, but based on early returns both look to be NCAA tournament bound. Gonzaga can probably be considered a lock unless they collapse in the WCC. With Matt Bouldin playing like we expected, and Elias Harris turning into a star, the Zags seemed like they have skipped the rebuilding phase. St. Mary's was supposed to be rebuilding as well, but with a talented group of guards surrounding Omar Samhan inside, the Gaels have retooled on the fly.
The biggest question mark I have had all season about Gonzaga has been Demetri Goodson. He has the tools to be a star - there aren't many players that can get up and down the court like him - but he hasn't proven the ability to be a decision maker at an elite level. WCC are rarely televised nationally, and both of these teams are going to be relevant later on in the season. If you have any plans of winning you NCAA Tournament pool, BIAH strongly suggests you watch this game.
7:00 pm: Seton Hall @ Georgetown: Georgetown looks like they are ready to be considered among the elite on the conference after coming back from 19 down to knock off the UConn Huskies on Saturday. Seton Hall, on the other hand, just beat Cincinnati to pick up their first conference win. The Pirates absolutely on the talent on their roster to be considered for an at-large berth, but until Bobby Gonzalez is able to make that talent work as a cohesive group and win some games, the Pirates look to once again be NIT bound. The Hoyas succeed by running disciplined offense, working to get the team's best shot, as opposed to an individuals best shot. Seton Hall could learn from that.
7:00 pm: Auburn @ Tennessee: It will be interesting to see how the Vols move forward after the win against Kansas. Taking nothing away from that accomplishment, because it was fantastic and one of the best story lines of the season, I can't help but feel that part of it was a result of a renewed focus and increased motivation given the suspensions and dismissals they were dealing with. Can they sustain that level of intensity for the duration of the season? Will they be able to compete at this high of a level with just six scholarship players? It starts tonight.
7:00 pm: Arkansas @ Mississippi State: The Bulldogs are coming off of an impressive win on the road against instate rival, while Arkansas looked to be a much improved team with the return of Courtney Fortson in their loss to Texas. If MSU truly wants to be considered a tournament team, these are the kind of games they have to win. But I get the feeling that the Razorbacks are going to the the proverbial "thorn in the side" quite a bit in SEC play.
9:00 pm: Indiana @ Michigan: Indiana knocked off the Wolverines at home on New Years Day, and Michigan will be looking to exact a measure of revenge. John Beilein's crew has been quite a disappointment this season, but it is not too late for them to salvage a tournament bid with a good run through the conference. But they will need to start that run now, because being swept by a Hoosiers team missing their best scorer is not how you want to impress the tournament committee.
Pac-10: There is no favorite in the Pac-10 anymore. I don't think I'm alone when I say that I have no idea what is going to happen in this league. As far as I'm concerned, anyone can win. As of now, it looks like it is going to be a single bid league, unless someone can put together a solid finish to the season.
Here's tonight's Pac-10 schedule. Your guess is a good as mine:
Other notable games
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thursday's Pregame Beat |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment