So I made it! All 25 or 26 or whatever hours the Tip-Off Marathon, from the tip in Memphis (well, technically, we started with Monday's 7:00 pm games) to the final whistle out in LA.
And since I'm sure no one is going to go through and reread all of our thoughts from the live-blog -- we went for 30 hours, that is a lot of typing -- I figured the best way to wrap up the marathon and offer my commentary on everything that happened yesterday was to put together a recap post.
So without further ado...
Yeah, so about those Buckeyes: Ohio State looked absolutely terrific yesterday. Florida is not the greatest defensive team (more on this in a second), but the Buckeyes absolutely shredded their defense, getting whatever shot they wanted offensively. Jared Sullinger proved that he is, in fact, a monster, finishing with 26 points and 10 boards. But we expected that, just like we expected the wing trio of Jon Diebler, William Buford, and David Lighty to do what they did -- knock down open shots, slash to the rim when a lane opens up, and to more or less provide leadership and experience for this team. Combined, the three had 56 points and 15 assists (to just 2 turnovers) while hitting 8-15 from deep.
Maybe the most important thing to take out of yesterday's game? Aaron Craft is ready to play at this level. Ohio State's freshman point guard played 29 minutes off the bench (it looks like Matta's best lineup is Sullinger, Craft, and the three wings), finishing with 7 points, 5 assists, and 3 turnovers. Jumping to conclusions after one game is generally a mistake, but the Buckeyes look like they are, at worst, the third best team in the country. What's almost certain at this point is that they belong in the national championship discussion.
Same ole Gators: Florida doesn't have a true point guard. That's their biggest issue. The Gators controlled the first half when they were getting the ball to their big men on the block. Unlike years past, it appears Florida actually has some legitimate scoring options inside. But the second half turned into the Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton show, the ball stopped going inside, and the Buckeyes pulled away. Florida quit after Ohio State made their run. They didn't have anyone to slow things down, take control of the offense, and say "we aren't out of it yet, let's run a play for Vernon Macklin."
The point has been made already, I know, but this is the same Gators team as last season. They may be better individually, but this team has the same flaws. Can it be solved? Yes, is Scottie Wilbekin is ready to become a full-time point guard.
San Diego State is for real: Gonzaga doesn't lose at home. I take that back, they do. Since 2004, they have lost all of five times at The Kennel. Including last night. So keep that in mind when you think about the Aztec's victory. SDSU was exactly what he expected them to be. Tough defensively, aggressive going to the offensive glass, and loaded with talented scorers on their front line. Billy White was tremendous, finishing with 30 points and 9 boards, while Kawhi Leonard poured in 18 points, including two huge free throws at the end, and 12 boards. As many have predicted throughout the preseason, SDSU looks like they could very well be the best team on the West Coast.
Gonzaga fans shouldn't panic: Sure, it would have been nice to win this game, but keep in mind that you lost to a team that is severely underrated right now (seriously, how are they not ranked?) that got a career game from one of their players while your best player, Elias Harris, was slowed with a shoulder injury. Gonzaga will be fine. Steven Gray, who had 35 points last night and is playing like an all-american, seems like he understands he needs to be a slasher this season. Robert Sacre finished with a double-double. The rest of the roster is young, but showed some heart last night, especially Kelly Olynyk. When Harris gets to 100%, the Zags are still a top 15-20 team.
Kansas State and Virginia Tech disappoints: This was easily the most disappointing game of the day. The refs called the game super-tight, Jacob Pullen barely played, Virginia Tech never got into a rhythm, and Kansas State ran away in the second half. Kansas State looked pretty impressive. They were winning at the half despite not having Pullen or Curtis Kelly, who is still suspended. In the second half, their defense picked up, they started getting to the offensive glass, and the buried some timley threes to break the game open. But K-State has a ways to go. Their back court also missed a huge number of jumpers and the front court needs a healthy dose of toughness around the rim.
Tech played pretty badly. They got into foul trouble on the road, they were cold early, and they showed some terrible decision making. Malcolm Delaney had 22 points, but also 8 turnovers and 6-18 shooting. Dorenzo Hudson couldn't get anything going offensively. No one could, really. Virginia Tech is not the bad.
Louisville runs; Butler struggles: The Cardinals really looked terrific at times last night against Butler. As we should be used to by now with Ric Pitino's team, the Cardinals have a ton of athletes, a bunch of kids that can shoot, and a number of big bodies inside. If you aren't ready to handle the press that they bring, you will get run out of the gym. Like Butler did. And to think, they smacked Butler last night and Jared Swopshire wasn't even in the lineup.
As far as Butler goes, I think they will be ok. I think, more than anything, they walked into a buzzsaw last night. With everything that happened to Louisville during the offseason combined with a primetime game on ESPN for the opening of their new arena turned this into a massacre waiting to happen. Louisville is better than we all thought, and Butler probably isn't a top 20 team right now, but neither extreme is what either team is going to be. Remember, people dropped the Bulldogs early last season as well.
UCLA and VCU are headed to MSG: UCLA handled Pacific pretty easily -- even without the injured Malcolm Lee -- and will be headed to the Garden next week to play in the finals of the preseason NIT. VCU smacked Wake Forest by 21 on the road to earn the right to head to New York. Tennessee plays Missouri State and Villanova gets BU for the right to advance.
Miami will be better, Memphis showed promise: Early in the season, the talk coming from the Hurricanes was that they believed they were a top five team in the ACC. Yesteday did nothing to change that potential. Miami has two terrific guards in Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant, a blossoming star in center Reggie Johnson, and some size and athletes to surround those three. Decision making, shot selection, and leader ship will determine how far this team goes.
Memphis is an interesting team this season. Last night, Joe Jackson was really their only big name that played well. Will Barton saw limited minutes due to a bum ankle and Will Coleman and Angel Garcia both struggled while Jackson was on his way to 17 points and 4 assists. That said, the rest of the Memphis freshmen were quite impressive, making big plays (Chris Crawford's late three to give the Tigers the lead, Antonio Barton's hot start on both ends of the floor, Tarik Black's work inside) to help win this game.
Michigan State's tale of two halves: The Spartans played great for the first 20 minutes, jumping out to a 42-25 lead on the back of Durrell Summers. But the second half, Sparty started turning the ball over and missing free throws, which allowed the Gamecocks to climb back in it. They never really were in danger of losing the game, but it was not the way Tom Izzo would have like to close out the game. Summers, like I said, was fantastic, finishing with 22 points that he scored in a variety of ways, Draymond Green added 18 points and 12 boards, and Delvon Roe, whose knee looked very active, finished with 15 points.
Baylor's point guard concerns: The Bears have an enormous back line on their 2-3 zone when Perry Jones, Quincy Acy, and Anthony Jones are in the game. Those three also combine for one of the best offensive rebounding trios in the country. Throw in the versatility of both Jones' and LaceDarius Dunn's perimeter shooting when he returns, and Baylor has the makings for a good team. But one question I have about the Bears is at the point -- they had 22 turnovers against La Salle yesterday. AJ Walton had seven in 32 minutes and Stargell had three in 16 minutes.
Syracuse's slow starts: The Orange are 3-0 this season, and its difficult to complain about 3-0. But the Cuse have a long way to go before they are competing for the top of the Big East. Fab Melo, the star freshman center, and 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 13 fouls on the season. Kris Joseph is averaging just 9.0 ppg. The Orange don't exactly seem to have any shooter of the wings, either. Perhaps the most frustrating for Boeheim? His team's slow starts. Syracuse has won all three games by double figures, but all three looked like potential upsets at halftime.
The Best of the Marathon
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tip-Off Marathon: The Recap |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment