Friday's Pregame Beat

Its a hectic day over here at BIAH, so today's pregame beat is going to be relatively short.

Coaches vs. Cancer finals: (Like yesterday's post, I'm cribbing off of what I wrote for RTC for their RTC Live preview.)

5:00 pm: No. 16 Illinois vs. Maryland: After an entertaining day of hoops, we head into Friday night with a couple of terrific matchups. It starts with Maryland and Illinois. The Terps got much better play out of their back court on Thursday night, as Adrian Bowie and Terrell Stoglin were able to handle the pressure put on them by Pitt's tenacious defense. The issue for Maryland last night was their inability to get the ball to Jordan Williams in the post. When he got it, he was near unstoppable, but he didn't get enough touches. One guy to keep an eye on for Maryland is Cliff Tucker. He's played terrific basketball here early in the season. The guy sitting next to me last night runs an NBA Draft website, and he was raving about how good Tucker looked. Illinois, on the other hand, was a bit disappointing. Not because they lost to Texas -- that will happen; Texas was better last night -- but because they seemingly have the same issues they had last season in regards to leadership and execution down the stretch.

7:00 pm: No. 4 Pitt vs. No. 22 Texas: Texas and Pitt will be one of the best games of this young season. Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson have really been terrific for the Horns here early in the season, and Thompson in particular shined last night. He'll have his hands full against a very good Pitt front court tonight. The question I have is, like with Maryland, how the Texas back court will handle being defended by Pitt. The Panthers are a very deep, very balanced basketball team. They can go 11 deep, and last night proved that they don't need a great game out of Ashton Gibbs or Brad Wanamaker to be victorious. Talib Zanna is ready to become a household name in the Big East.


Puerto Rico Tip-Off

12:00 pm: Vanderbilt vs. West Virginia: Vanderbilt's John Jenkins is proving that the predictions many made of him developing into one of the best scorers in the SEC are true. West Virginia is much bigger than the Commodores, so it will be interesting to see how guys like Jeff Taylor, Fetsus Ezeli, and Steve Tchiengang handle Kevin Jones, Denis Kilicli, and company.

3:00 pm: Nebraska vs. Davidson

6:00 pm: Hofstra vs. Western Kentucky: This game features two of the best mid-major guards in the country in Stephffan Pettigrew and Charles Jenkins.

8:30 pm: Minnesota vs. No. 8 North Carolina: Minnesota's first real test of the season comes in the form of Harrison Barnes and the Tar Heels. Minnesota has been quite impressive this season, especially in the front court where Ralph Sampson III and Trevor Mbakwe have been dominating, to say the least. North Carolina doesn't have a great front court, but their perimeter is much more talented than the Gopher's.


Charleston Classic

12:00 pm: USC Upstate vs. Coastal Carolina

2:30 pm: No. 21 Georgetown vs. Wofford: For the third time this season, Wofford will be matching up with a major conference opponent. Georgetown is the best of the bunch (Minnesota, Clemson) and it will be interesting to see if the Terriers can handle the Hoya's back court.

6:00 pm: George Mason vs. NC State: The big question here is whether or not Tracy Smith will take the floor (UPDATE: He's done for the weekend.), as he played just six minutes last night after hurting his knee. If he does, Mason could be in trouble as they don't have the size to matchup with Smith and CJ Leslie. If he doesn't, this will be quite an entertaining game. Mason has a couple of talented, versatile, and athletic perimeter players in Luke Hancock and Cam Long.

8:30 pm: East Carolina vs. Charlotte


Paradise Jam

1:00 pm: St. Peter's vs. Old Dominion: St. Peter's could be in trouble here. Old Dominion is a tough, physical defensive minded basketball team.

3:30 pm: Long Beach State vs. Clemson: Clemson is flying under the radar a little bit right now. They have a talented perimeter and a couple of big, athletic forwards.

6:00 pm: Alabama vs. Seton Hall: Alabama is a sleeper in the SEC West, but Seton Hall is a team many expect to make the tournament. The Pirates have already lost to Temple this season. They could really use a good performance in this tournament.

8:30 pm: Iowa vs. Xavier: Xavier was a favorite to win the A-10. But after two underwhelming wins over Western Michigan and IPFW, many have questioned that prediction. Like Seton Hall, they could really use a good performance this weekend.


Other Notables Games

• 8:30 pm: Colgate @ No. 1 Duke
• 8:00 pm: North Texas @ No. 6 Kansas
  
• 10:30 pm: No. 13 Kentucky @ Portland
  
• 4:30 pm: Rhode Island @ Charleston
  
• 8:00 pm: Missouri State @ Tulsa