My goal was to get this post up by 10:30 this morning, but thanks to a certain bus company that couldn't get the internet to work, I'm running a bit late. Apologies all around.
Another programming note -- I'll be in NYC for the Coaches vs. Cancer tonight. Looking forward to the games. Excited to see Demetri McCamey, Brad Wanamaker, and Jordan Hamilton, as well as watching Jordan Williams and Pe'Shon Howard played against a real defense.
Two of the early season tournaments kick off at lunch time today: the Charleston Classic and the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Puerto Rico Tip-Off:
11:30 am: Davidson vs. West Virginia: West Virginia hasn't gotten a ton of publicity since Da'Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks, and Wellington Smith moved on, but this is a Mountaineers team that could make some noise in the Big East. They return quite a bit of experience and they have a star-in-the-making with Kevin Jones. Davidson will be competitive in the SoCon, but Steph Curry isn't there anymore.
1:30 pm: Nebraska vs. Vanderbilt: Like West Virginia, Vanderbilt is a team that may be able to sneak up on some people in the SEC East. Tennessee has struggled, Florida looked overrated in their first game, Kentucky lost Enes Kanter, and Georgia is still without Trey Thompkins. Vandy, led by sharpshooter John Jenkins and the athletic Jeff Taylor, as an SEC title contender?
5:00 pm: Hofstra vs. No. 8 UNC: I'm excited about finally getting the opportunity to see Harrison Barnes and UNC take the floor this season, but I caution you, Tar Heel fans. Charles Jenkins, Hofstra's high scoring point guard, is no joke. This season, he has sharpshooting Mike Moore, a transfer from Fordham, to help spread the floor for him. The CAA is a good conference for basketball, and if UNC isn't careful, they may get upset.
7:30 pm: Western Kentucky vs. Minnesota: The Gophers have loaded up on good mid-majors here early in the season. Tubby's boys have already taken out Wofford and Siena, and now turn their sights on the Hilltoppers. The battle that will be fun to watch is in the front court. Minnesota is big. Ralph Sampson, Trevor Mbakwe, and Colton Iverson is about as good as it gets in the Big Ten (save for a certain Sullinger). But WKU has a pretty good set of forwards of their own in Sergio Kerusch and Oklahoma transfer Juan Patillo.
Charleston Classic:
12:00 pm: Coastal Carolina vs. No. 21 Georgetown: Coastal Carolina is a pretty good basketball team as they return a lot from their 28 win squad of a year ago. But today it was announced that Jason Clark (his grandmother passed away) and Julian Vaughn (he had been sick and sat out against Tulane) would be playing this afternoon, and with Mike Holmes not becoming eligible until December, CC faces a challenge in the Hoyas..
2:30 pm: USC Upstate vs. Wofford: If you missed Wofford against Minnesota or Clemson, check them out against USC Upstate. This Terrier team is the favorite in the SoCon. You may want to be informed when they matchup with a three seed come March.
6:00 pm: East Carolina vs. NC State: The Wolfpack have a shot at actually being relevant this season. In fact, with Tracy Smith teaming up with Sidney Lowe's fantastic recruiting class, I think the Wolfpack can make the tournament and finish top four in the ACC. If that's not enough to get you to tune in, East Carolina has a point guard named Brock Young that is one of the best players in C-USA.
8:30 pm: George Mason vs. Charlotte: This will be the most interesting game of the day in Charleston. I've written about them a couple time already, but GMU is one of the best teams in the CAA and a legitimate candidate for an at-large bid. They have some size, they have tremendous athleticism and versatility on their perimeter, and they seem like they are buying into Jim Larrananga's defensive goals. Charlotte looked to be a contender in the A-10 until they lost to Gardner-Webb in the opener. Alan Major has had a tough start to his tenure, dealing with suspensions to some of his best players. But the 49ers are talented. Should be a great game.
Coaches vs. Cancer (I'm feeling lazy, so I'm just pasting in what I wrote for RTC as a preview for RTCLive. Sorry, RTMSF. I guess that's called pulling a John Stevens...)
7:00 pm: No. 4 Pitt vs. Maryland: Maryland may be 3-0 on the season, but there are some serious red flags waving for this team. The issue at hand? Point guard play, or lack thereof early in the season. For the first three games, Gary Williams has been starting senior Adrian Bowie at the point, but Bowie is not a prototypical point guard. He's more of an off-guard that happens to be 6'1". He looked horrible in the opener against Seattle (seven turnovers, 12 minutes), and while he's been better the last two games (eight assists, two turnovers), he's not exactly the facilitator the Terps need. Two freshmen, Pe'Shon Howard (who hit the game-winner against the College of Charleston) and Terrell Stoglin, and both been impressive at times, but had their youth and inexperience shine through as well. The Terps best offense early in the season has been pounding the ball into Jordan Williams or beating their opponent's defense down the floor. Pitt has a much bigger and better front line (headlined by Gary McGhee, which makes for one of the most intriguing one-on-one matchups thus far this season) and a much better defense, so the question heading into this game is "can Maryland actually score"? For Pitt, watch Brad Wanamaker. I know Ashton Gibbs gets the accolades, but Wanamaker is ready to turn into one of the Big East's best.
9:30 pm: No. 16 Illinois vs. No. 22 Texas: Illinois is underrated right now, in my opinion. I think the Illini have a shot of competing for the Big Ten title with Ohio State and Michigan State, that's how good I expect them to be. Demetri McCamey is one of the least talked about superstars at the college level. He's coming off of a season where he led the country in assists. My concern with McCamey? The theory that a knuckehead is always going to be a knucklehead, because heading into last season, McCamey had a reputation as, well, a knucklehead. The rest of Illinois' lineup is talented. They are deep. They have some size, as well, and while that size can be considered "soft", their bigs (the Mikes, Tisdale and Davis) both shoot the ball well enough that it keep the floor spread for McCamey's penetration. Texas, on the other hand, is going to be an interesting team to follow this year. They have a supremely talented 1-2-3 punch in Cory Joseph, Jordan Hamilton, and Tristan Thompson, but those are two freshmen and a sophomore that wasn't exactly known for his maturity or decision making as a freshman. Do the 'Horns have a leader? Will Hamilton be the next Brandon Rush or the next Jeremy Hazell? Can Joseph run this team? Does Thompson have enough "want-to" to be a force on the block?
Other Notable Games:
7:00 pm: South Florida @ Central Florida: Is the fact that its the directional Florida's squaring off not enough? No? Me neither. How about the chance to watch Jordan's son Marcus? Yeah, I only want to watch him ball out in Vegas too. How about the fact that this could be a Big East conference game in the near future (sighs...)?
7:00 pm: Morgan State @ Providence: Morgan State is the favorite in the MEAC, has a high-major forward in Kevin Thompson, and just beat a good LMU team on the road. PC better come to play.
7:00 pm: Richmond @ Iona: Richmond is 2-0 and playing well. Iona is 0-3 and not. But the Gaels were supposed to compete in the MAAC this season. Bounce back?
8:30 pm: New Mexico State @ Arizona: This is going to be a very entertaining and interesting game to watch. NMSU is one of the favorites in the WAC, and while Wendell McKines being out with a foot injury, Troy Gillenwater is still there. He had 30 his last time out. Arizona, on the other hand, is young, but they are probably going the second or third best team in the Pac-10. Both of these teams figure to be on the bubble come March. Will this result play a part in who gets in and who doesn't?
10:00 pm: Virginia @ Stanford: Both UVa and Stanford are trying to rebuild their programs. UVa has had a couple of nice wins this season, but that good will gets erased with a loss to Stanford. I don't care if it is on the road.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday's Pregame Beat: The Charleston Classic and Puerto Rico Tip-Off commence |
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