Tuesday's Shootaround: Two upsets and a buzzer-beater

Davidson 80, No. 11 Kansas 74: See here.

LSU 67, No. 10 Marquette 59: See here.

Southern Miss 64, Arizona State 61: The Golden Eagles did everything they could to hand this game to Arizona State.

USM dug themselves a 30-21 hole in the first half by missing seemingly every shot they took. After battling back to take the lead, they got Torye Pelham -- who had nine offensive rebounds in the game -- ejected for fighting with Ruslan Pateev. Then after rebounding to build up a double-digit lead with just 1:33 left on the clock, USM decided to miss free throws and turn the ball over, allowing Arizona State to tie the game with 5.0 seconds left. Luckily, Darnell Dodson was there to bail them out:
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Ladies and Gentlemen, your '09-'10 UConn Huskies

For the first time this season, the college basketball world saw what the UConn Huskies can be this season.

After struggling through three games where they played mediocre basketball, the Huskies exploded tonight, jumping on a depleted LSU team early.

"We've been waiting since the exhibition season for us to have a breakout a little bit," Huskies head coach Jim Calhoun said after the game. "And quite frankly, it was a different kind of breakout.

"The breakout for us was playing with energy [and] getting back to rebounding."

And defending.

The Huskies this season are going to rely on the defensive pressure they can put on the ball. Playing their typical 2-2-1 press, Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson hounded the Tiger back court, and in the process made getting the ball over the timeline a struggle.

There may not be a better on-the-ball defender in the country than Kemba Walker. He is as quick as a waterbug, hounding opposing ball handlers into taking tough shots off the dribble.

Kemba Walker set the tone for the Huskies defensively tonight.
(photo credit: SI)

See Bo Spencer as a perfect example. Coming into the game, Spencer was averaging over 20 ppg, but the Tiger point guard managed just five points tonight as Walker forced into 2-15 shooting before Spencer came out of the game with an ankle injury.

"He was really good on defense," Calhoun said. "He started putting pressure on [Chris Bass], who was penetrating in the first half, did a great job of adjusting to him."

Walker, who finished the game with 20 points and 3 assists, also was instrumental in leading the UConn break. While he can still stand to improve at running the Huskies half court offense, Walker's end-to-end speed with the ball in his hands and his vision leading the break make him the perfect point guard for Jim Calhoun.

"We love him," Calhoun said, "he has to work on making plays in the half court set. He has to identify open people, but we're not going to trade him."

But it was more than just Walker.

For the first time this season, Calhoun brought Gavin Edwards off the bench, and Edwards responded with 15 points, 7 boards, and 3 blocks, his best game of the season.

Stanley Robinson had a typical Stanley Robinson game, going for 14 points, 11 boards, and two highlight reel blocks. When "Sticks", as he is known to Husky fans, is playing with the kind of energy and aggressiveness he showed tonight, he brings a dimension to this UConn squad that few teams in the country can counter.

The star of this team, however, is Jerome Dyson.

He showed it in the second half.

After a quiet first 20 minutes in which he had just three points and struggled shooting the ball, Dyson took over in the second half, scoring 17 of his 20 points. Most of those points came as he attacked the basket in transition.

Transition basketball has been Jim Calhoun's bread and butter for years. With the athletes he has on this team, especially in the back court, that is where UConn must excel if they want to compete in the Big East.

And it is where they excelled tonight.

Calhoun agrees.

"[Tonight] was the first time that I saw Connecticut play this year."

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College Basketball Week In Review: Life on the Bubble

With just a week left in the regular season for most teams, let's take a look at who can help themselves the most over these next seven days:

• Virginia Tech 17-11, 7-7, 59 (RPI), 36 (SOS): The Hokies have been the most snakebitten team in the country this season (more on this later today), but still have a chance to reach the dance because they play UNC (home) and Florida State (away) to close out the season. They may need to win both if they want to lock up a bid.
• Maryland 18-10, 7-7, 58, 22: The Terps have a couple really nice wins (@ UNC, Michigan State), but a terrible loss (Morgan State) and a 2-5 road record. While a win at UVA helps bolster the road record, they may need to beat Wake Forest at home if they want a chance to dance.

• Providence 17-11, 10-7, 71, 38: The Friars have one game left on their schedule - at Villanova. At this point, they probably need to win that game for a shot at making the dance. If they lose, the committee can easily turn down a 12 loss team, but can they reject a team that went 11-7 in the Big East this year, with a win over Pitt and a win at Villanova?
• The Middle of the Big Ten: Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan State are dancing, but there are five teams within a game and a half of each other in the Big Ten standings that still can end up in the field of 65:
  
  - Wisconsin (18-10, 9-7, 32, 5): @ Minnesota, Indiana
  - Penn State (20-9, 9-7, 64, 92): Illinois, @ Iowa
  - Minnesota (20-8, 8-8, 37, 47): Wisconsin, Michigan
  - Ohio State (18-9, 8-8, 41, 24): @ Iowa, Northwestern
  - Michigan (17-12, 8-9, 47, 10): @ Minnesota
  
  Penn State and Ohio State probably need to win out to reach the dance (Penn State needs the wins, Ohio State can't afford the losses). Depending on how the games play out, two of Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin should be dancing as well.
• Oklahoma State 19-9, 8-6, 31, 13: See below.
• Florida 21-8, 8-6, 42, 93; Kentucky 18-10, 8-6, 66, 64: The Gators go to Mississippi State on Wednesday and the Wildcats get Georgia at home. Assuming both teams win those games (far from a sure thing, especially for Florida, who is 2-6 in true road games), on Saturday Kentucky heads to Gainesville in what will most likely be a play-in game. Does a 9-7 SEC team go dancing?
• Dayton 24-5, 10-4, 27, 105: Dayton has a great record and a great RPI, but probably needs to sweep this week (@ Xavier, Duquense) if they want to ensure an at-large bid. The wins against Marquette and Xavier are nice, but an SOS in the 100's and losses to St. Louis (113), UMass (162), and Charlotte (183) are not good.
  

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Sherron Collins, Kansas Jayhawks
Much has been written about how young the Jayhawks are this year and how much they lost to graduation/NBA paychecks after winning the national title. But come March of 2009, the Baby Jayhawks are now all alone in first place in the Big XII, needing only to win at Texas Tech and to beat Texas at home to lock up a fifth straight conference title. This past week was huge, as KU knocked off both Oklahoma and Missouri. And as has been the case all season long, Sherron Collins was the best player on the floor for KU. Against Oklahoma, Collins shook off a bit of a slow start as he knocked down three huge three's late in the game, which helped to hold off a 20 point rally by the Blake Griffin-less Sooners. On Sunday, Collins scored 25 points and had 6 assists as Kansas jumped all over Mizzou early, winning the battle for first place 90-65. All told, Collins averaged 25.5 ppg, 4.5 apg, and 3.5 rpg, while shooting 50% from the field, 14-18 from the line, and 9-14 from deep.

Sherron Collins was on fire in two games last week.
(photo credit: Orlin Wagner/AP)

TEAMS OF THE WEEK:
Oklahoma State and LSU
OK State was not expected to be much of anything this year, especially not after their only legitimate post threat, Ibrahima Thomas, was kicked off of the team early in the season. Things looked bleak as the Cowboys lost six of eight early in the conference season, but they have responded admirably by winning five in a row, including two games this week - at Colorado and at home against Texas. The win against Texas was the most important win of the season, as it finally gave OK State a marquee win. The Cowboys are far from a lock at this point despite their very strong computer profile (31 RPI, 13 SOS), mainly because they haven't had all that much success against a very tough schedule (3-8 vs. top 50, 7-9 vs. top 100). But they still have games against Kansas State and Oklahoma. Winning one of those should get the Cowboys in, while winning both would guarantee a trip to the dance. For the week, the vastly underrated James Anderson led the Cowboys with 23 ppg, including a 30 and 10 board performance against Colorado. Marshall Moses averaged 11.5 ppg and 12.5 rpg this week.

LSU is leading the SEC with an impressive 25-4 record, 13-1 in the league. But they are far from getting the credit that record would deserve for two reasons: the general consensus is that the SEC is down quite a bit this year; but more so it is the fact that LSU has not been all that impressive on the road. They lost their first three games away from Baton Rouge (Texas A&M on a neutral court, at Utah by 30, and at Alabama). They have been much better on the road of late, winning, amongst others, at Tennessee, at Mississippi State, and at Arkansas (who, if you remember, beat Texas and Oklahoma in Fayetteville). If that still wasn't enough to convince you that LSU is for real this year, then maybe this week did. Not only did they beat Florida, but they won in Rupp, coming back from a ten point deficit to beat the Wildcats on a Tasmin Mitchell three pointer with less than 10 seconds left. The bottom-line, for me anyway, is that LSU passes the smell test - watching them play (I saw most of the two games this week, the first two I have seen the Tigers play this year, thank you very much Raycom Sports), they look like a team deserving of a top four seed.

Marcus Thornton hit five three's in a row in the first half against Florida
en route to 32 points in the Tiger's win.
(photo credit: Bill Feig/AP)

Marcus Thornton, when he is a hot, can put up points with the best of them (he averaged 27.5 ppg on the week). Garrett Temple ranks up there with Chris Kramer, Jerel McNeal, and Travis Walton as the best perimeter defenders in the nation. Tasmin Mitchell is a load on the block. Chris Johnson is an excellent shot blocker that will be a lottery pick once he can put on some muscle. Bo Spencer has turned into a good point guard that can protect the ball, make plays on both ends, and knock down a jump shot for you. The biggest problem? That is it for the Tigers. They might as well go just five deep, because there is not too much on their bench. They end with Vanderbilt and Auburn. If they win both, they will be 15-1 in the SEC. The league may be down this year, but 15-1 in any conference is impressive.

MATCH-UPS OF THE WEEK:
3/3 - Florida State @ Duke: Duke tends to struggle against bigger, more athletic teams. What is FSU? Bigger, and more athletic than just about every team in the country.

3/4 - Marquette @ Pitt: Marquette was at a serious disadvantage size wise before they had to replace 5'11" Dominic James with 5'7" Mo Acker.

3/4 - Oklahoma @ Missouri: ESPN really blew this one. Two clashes of top ten teams on a Wednesday night, and neither lands on the worldwide leader (Pitt-Marquette is ESPN 2, while Oklahoma-Mizzou is not even on the family of networks).

3/5 - Dayton @ Xavier: Xavier looks to get revenge after Dayton smacked X in Dayton back in January.

3/6 - The WCC and CAA tournaments start on Friday.

The last weekend of the regular season ends with an absolutely fantastic line-up of games, headlined by UConn heading to Pitt to play for the Big East crown, while UNC hosts Duke for the ACC title. More on this weekend's games on Friday. Continue reading...

Wednesday Morning Shootaround: Providence Upsets Top-Seeded Pitt

On their senior night, the Providence Friars may have punched their ticket to the dance with an upset win over the Pitt Panthers 81-73. PC opened up a 20 point lead, and was up by double digits for most of the second half. It really was a great team effort by the Friars, who put five guys into double figures, led by Weyinmi Efejuku's 16. The key to this one was turnover's. Pitt is normally a good team taking care of the ball, but Providence was able to get their hands on a lot of balls and force Pitt to turn it over (the Panthers had 18 turnovers, and PC had 11 steals). This was as poor of a performance as I have seen out of DeJuan Blair this season. Granted, he finished with 17 points and 8 boards, but he also had 5 turnovers and, most importantly, 5 fouls.

If I am a Panthers fan, I don't get too worried about this game. They lost because they didn't dominate the glass like they usually do (the Panthers won the battle of the boards 31-24, mostly because of some late offensive rebounds), they turned the ball over, and they allowed Providence to penetrate whenever they wanted. That isn't Pitt basketball, and don't expect the Panthers to have too many performances like that. The bigger issue is DeJuan Blair. The big fella was once again in foul trouble. To win the Big East or NCAA tournaments, Pitt is going to need to win a number of games in a row, but I'm not convinced that Blair can stay out of foul trouble for that long. Here's why:



Go to the :40 second mark and watch the post up by Blair. You see how he moves Adrien up the lane? That isn't going to get called in the Big East, but when whistles start getting tighter in the postseason, that may become a foul. While it is a great seal, one thing coaches have complained about all year long is that Blair dislodges a defender and moves them, which technically could be called an offensive foul.

How good is Pitt without their big man? Not as good as with him, that's for sure. I think Blair should be ok as long as he can avoid the "nickel-dimers".

A lot of other good basketball was played last night:

• LSU 81, Florida 75: The Tigers used a late 14-2 run to hold off the Gators at home. Marcus Thornton had 32 points, including putting on a show midway through the first half as he knocked down five straight three's, and Garrett Temple added a season-high 21. I'll tell you what, the Tigers have the look of a team that can make some noise in the NCAA's. They are big and athletic at every spot on the floor, and are pretty good at getting out and defending (although not great, but it is hard to judge against a transition team like Florida). Marcus Thornton is a helluva scorer. They have a couple big shot blockers on the front line, and guys like Tasmin Mitchell, Garrett Temple, and Bo Spencer are solid players that can do a number of things for you.
  
  The biggest issue I have with the Tigers right now is that they are a team that seems like they feed off the energy of the crowd. Yes, they are 24-4, but 19 of those wins have come at home and 3 of their losses on the road (including a 30 point blow out when they had to go across the country to Utah). So my question is, how good is this team going to be when they go to a half-to-three-quarter filled NBA Arena in the NCAA tournament where they don't have their rabid home crowd behind them (and if you saw that game last night, then you know that LSU's fans really get into it)?
  
  One last note - Marcus Thornton looks like an NBA player to me. He can score, he has range, he is a good athlete, he isn't a great defensive player yet (but they don't play D in the league anyway), and he is an excellent passer.
• Ohio State 73, Penn State 59: OSU jumped out to a 19-2 lead before PSU went on a huge run to tie it back up. It went back and forth for a while, but the Buckeyes closed the game on a 25-10 run. Jeremie Simmons, the Buckeyes freshman PG who was coming off the bench for the first time all season, finished with a career-high 14 points. PJ Hill, getting his first start of the year, scored a career-high 13 points (maybe you stay with that, Thad). Quick: define clusterfuck - the middle of the Big Ten. There are four teams tied for fourth place (remember, fourth and fifth get a first round by in the Big Ten tourney) and a team one game back of those four. Of those five teams, I'm saying only three make the dance.
  
• Syracuse 87, St. John's 58: The Orange jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back. Jonny Flynn had 21 and 8 dimes.
• Creighton 65, Missouri state 59: The Bluejays remained tied atop the MVC with NIU because...
  
• Northern Iowa 69, Illinois State 67 2OT: Adam Koch had 25 points, including a tip-in with a second left in the second OT to win the game. Illinois State missed shots at the buzzer of regulation and the first OT that would have won the game.
• Boston College 72, Florida State 67: Chalk up BC as one of the nation's greatest conundrums. Win at UNC, then lose to Harvard and three more in a row after that. Beat Duke, lost to Miami. Now, they beat Florida State, in a game where star point guard Tyrese Rice was held to 11 points, scoreless in the first half. Joe Trapani led the Eagles with 19, and he and Rice hit some big shots down the stretch, the biggest a three by Rice with BC up one and under a minute left. With games left against Georgia Tech and NC State, BC might have just sealed up a trip to the Dance.
• BYU 69, SDSU 59: The Cougars got 20 of Jimmer Fredette's 28 in the second half as they overcame a 14 point deficit. Fredette keyed a 15-0 run late that turned a 55-49 deficit with seven minutes left into a 64-55 lead. BYU moved a game up on SDSU in the rugged MWC.
• New Mexico 76, TCU 62: New Mexico kept pace with BYU for second in the MWC.
  

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Tuesday Lay-up Lines: LSU hosting Florida highlights an interesting night

LSU (23-4, 11-1) hosts Florida (21-6, 8-4) in one of the more intriguing match-ups this week. LSU remains largely a mystery to everyone outside of Baton Rouge. Playing in a joke of a weak SEC West, the Tigers best wins are against Washington State, South Carolina, and at Tennessee, all of which (except probably the win in Knoxville) are highly debatable as "quality" wins. But facts are facts, and the Tigers are, in fact, sitting at 23-4 with a three game lead over the pack in a power conference. This should be a fun one to watch. Florida likes to get out and run the floor, while LSU has a number of athletes capable of becoming youtube legends. I think LSU's size and athleticism will be too much for the Gators.

The rest of the tonight's hoops:

• 7:00 PM: Penn State (19-8, 8-6) @ Ohio State (17-8, 7-7): This game has huge implications both for the two team's bubble prospects and for rankings in the Big Ten tournament. Right now, PSU is in fourth and OSU is in seventh, but a Buckeye win would create a four-way tie for fourth in the Big Ten. Why is that interesting? Because the top five teams get a bye in the first round.
• 7:00 PM: Pitt (25-2, 12-2) @ Providence (16-11, 8-7): This may be the last chance for Providence, who has dropped five of seven after starting out the year 6-2 in the Big East. Tough match-up here, as the Friars, who are a jump shooting team don't play much defense, will be going against one of the toughest defensive teams in the country.
• 7:30 PM: Syracuse (19-8, 7-7) @ St. John's (13-14, 4-10): The Orange could really use this win after losing seven of their last ten. Right now, they are tied with Cincinnati for the eighth in the Big East. For those that don't know, the top eight get a bye in the Big East tourney.
• 8:05 PM: Northern Iowa (18-10, 12-4) @ Illinois State (22-6, 11-5); Creighton (23-6, 12-4) @ Missouri State (11-17, 3-13): First place in the MVC is on the line.
• 9:00 PM: Florida State (21-8, 8-4) @ Boston College (19-9, 7-6): Florida State might have all but locked up a NCAA tourney bid, but BC still needs to pick up a couple of wins to feel comfortable. Should be fun to watch Toney Douglas go up against Tyrese Rice.
  
• 10:30 PM: BYU (20-6, 8-4) @ SDSU (18-7, 8-4): These two teams are right on the bubble, and also tied for second place in the MWC.
  

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College Basketball Week In Review: Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet, please come the front of the class

What We Learned This Week: There may only be three teams playing for the national title this year: UNC, UConn, and Oklahoma.

Why?

You can't slow down UNC, but they are starting to play some defense. You can't score on UConn, but they are starting to look more efficient offensively. Oklahoma has Blake Griffin, as well as a supporting cast that gets deeper and better every day.

Beyond that, I don't really see too many teams with all the tools to contend for a title. Pitt is too inconsistent offensively. Wake Forest has a tendency to not show-up every other game. Michigan State has been impressive, but they have yet to play with a squad at full strength this year. Duke? Ehh. Louisville? Maybe. Marquette or Memphis? Please.

Along those same lines, the list for player of the year candidates should really be shrinking as well. Blake Griffin is your pick right now, and there shouldn't really be too much of an argument. I mean the numbers speak for themselves (averages of 23 and 15, 22 double-doubles, not to mention the 40 and 23 he put on Texas Tech the other night).

Thabeet's numbers are not quite as impressive on the season, but it is because he is a different player. UConn is winning because of the way that they play defense, and the way that they play defense is a direct result of Thabeet's presence. Don't believe me? Check out his numbers over the last five: 15.8 ppg, 14.0 rpg, 7.2 bpg. Sound POY worthy?

So if that is two of the all-american first-teamers, who are the other three? I would put Stephen Curry, Jerel McNeal, and James Harden, although leaving guys like Jodie Meeks and Luke Harangody off that list is going to be difficult.

The Pac-10 is wide open this year.

Wide open.

There are five teams within two games of first. Washington, who is sitting atop the standings at 10-3 in the league, doesn't exactly strike fear in the heart of opponent's. Arizona has gone from Pac-10 also-ran to one of the hottest teams (and one of the best stories or 2009) with a seven game winning streak and, most recently, and shellacking of UCLA on Saturday. UCLA is not the same UCLA as the last three years, but they still are a Ben Howland coached team. Cal, when they are hot, can run with just about anyone in the league.

But my pick to win this is Arizona State. Not only do they have the best player on the west coast on their roster, but they have a solid, in unspectacular, supporting cast (Derek Glasser, Jeff Pendergraph, Rihard Kuksiks) and an excellent coach in Herb Sendek.

But like I said, the Pac-10 is wide open. A week ago, I would've put money on the fact that UCLA was getting ready to run away with the title. There is only one thing I am sure about in the Pac-10:

Russ Pennell needs to get rid of that goatee.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU

Mitchell had one of the most dominating performances of the season this week as he went for 41 points, 11 boards, and 5 assists against Mississippi State. Mitchell also went 12-15 from the field, 15-18 from the line, and had 2 steals, 2 blocks, and 0 turnovers. LSU would go on to win 97-94 in 2OT, and it was Mitchell who scored the biggest basket, an and-1 lay-up with less than a minute left to give LSU the lead for good. Mitchell followed that up with a 20 points, 9 rebound performance in a win over Ole Miss, which combined with another MSU loss put the Tigers up three games in the joke of a conference that is the weak SEC West.

TEAM OF THE WEEK:
Arizona

Is there anyone playing better basketball right now that the Arizona Wildcats? Three weeks ago, they were 11-8, 2-5 in the league, and down big to Houston at home. But then Aubrey Coleman stepped on Chase Budinger's face, the Wildcats made a comeback, and have since reeled off seven straight wins, sliding into fifth in the Pac-10 and into the NCAA tournament discussion. The biggest reason for the improvement has been the play of Nic Wise. During the winning streak, the most under-appreciated of Arizona's big three has averaged 20.3 ppg, 4.3 apg, and 1.9 spg. This past week, 'Zona swept USC and UCLA at home, the latter coming in a game that was in the high teens and low twenties for most of the contest. (WARNING: If you are an Arizona fan, do not read this next sentence) Seeing how the Wildcats have been playing, can you imagine how good they would be if Jerryd Bayless, Brandon Jennings, Emmanuel Negedu, and Jeff Withey were playing?

MATCH-UPS OF THE WEEK:
2/16 - Pitt @ UConn: Anyone that doesn't appreciate watching DeJuan Blair go against Hasheem Thabeet is not a true basketball fan.

2/17 - Michigan State @ Purdue: Neither team is at 100% as Raymar Morgan is battling pneumonia and Robbie Hummel is dealing with a hairline fracture in his back.

2/19 - Washington @ UCLA: Watching the senior Darren Collison going against freshman Isaiah Thomas should be fun.

2/21 - Oklahoma @ Texas: This game has lost a lot of luster since Texas has fallen off, but it is still the Red River Rivalry.

2/21 - Butler @ Davidson: The headline of Saturday's BracketBusters. Full schedule here.

Great line-up of games on Sunday:

• Wake Forest @ Duke
• Wisconsin @ Michigan State
• Villanova @ Syracuse
• Arizona @ Arizona State
• Illinois @ Ohio State
  

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Sunday Roundup

I got a chance to see three games yesterday, none of which were all too exciting. The day started with Washington State losing at LSU 64-52. The Tigers were down 47-40 with eight minutes to play, but finished the game on a 24-5 run, getting a lot of east buckets off of Cougar turnovers. LSU put the game away when Marcus Thornton hit a three, then on the next possession Bo Spencer made a steal and got an and-1 lay-up at the other end to put LSU up 60-52 with under two left. To be honest, I was not impressed by either team, especially Washington State. The Cougars, as always, as a tough defensive team, but they look lost and timid on the offensive end. I can't tell you how many bad passes were picked off by Tiger defenders (crazy stat of the day: LSU had 13 steals in the game, led by Garrett Temple with six, while Wazzu had exacty zero).

LSU looked a little bit better. Trent Edwards definitely has some talent to play with. Their starting five (Tasmin Mitchell, Garrett Temple, Bo Spencer, Chris Johnson, and Marcus Thornton) is not all that big, but they are quick, athletic, and they play hard. I'm not completely sold on them being a tournament team just yet - they don't have much depth - but they play in a very weak SEC, and if they can make a run through the league and finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-6, they are going to get a long look from the committee. Winning this game will only help their cause.

The second game that I got to see was Louisville knocking off UAB at home 82-62. This is the fourth time I've had a chance to see the Cardinals play, and this was probably their best performance. I know UAB has just six scholarship players (nine total), but they still have their big three of Robert Vaden, Lawrence Kinnard, and Paul Delaney. While it will be a mini-miracle if they reach the tourney, this is still a decent UAB team, and Louisville beat them by 20.

Pitino shook things up yesterday. He started freshman Jared Swopshire over Earl Clark and sophomore Preston Knowles over senior Andre McGee. He said it was because he wanted to make sure Swopshire and Knowles had experience playing big minutes in case a starter was in foul trouble, but more likely he was trying to send a message to his team. Louisville is a top 10 team in terms of talent, but they have not played up to their potential. Pitino has said before that Earl Clark is a great player in games, but not in practice, so what better way to send a wake up call than to revoke a starting role.

Regardless of why he was doing it, the move worked. Swopshire was really effective in his 14 minutes, finishing with 8 points and 4 boards. The same goes for Knowles, who had 8 points and 5 boards. Coming off the bench, Clark has 12, 4 boards, 3 assists, and 4 blocks while McGee finished with 13 and hit 3 three's.

The biggest reason for this Louisville victory was the play of Terrence Williams, who proved why he is one of the best all-around players in the Big East. Williams finished with 21, 10 boards, 7 dimes, and 3 blocks and hit 5-8 from deep. Williams has struggled a bit offensively this year, especially with his shooting. He still took some ill-advised shots yesterday, but since he forced the UAB defenders to respect his jump shot, it was much easier for him to get into the lane.

Louisville really shot the ball well yesterday, finishing 11-27 from deep. The Cardinals rely so much on the three-ball this year, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Jerry Smith and Preston Knowles are both hitting well over 40% on their three's, while Terrence Williams and Andre McGee both are streaky, but have shown an ability to knock down two or three in a row. The question becomes how they get their three's. Louisville has a tendency to get lazy on offense, settling for contested three's after swinging the ball on the perimeter. They are much better, however, when they get the ball into the paint, whether via penetration or a post touch, and then kick it out to open shooters. The problem this year is that Samardo Samuels is no where near the passer that David Padgett was. But Samuels was effective getting rid of the ball when he got doubled yesterday, which opened up a lot of good looks for the Cardinal shooters. Samuels finished with 17 and 11 boards.

The last game I got to see yesterday was West Virginia at Ohio State, where the Mountaineers blew out the Buckeyes 76-48. OSU just never showed up. They looked listless the entire game, and just never got into a rhythm. They finished with only three assists on 18 field goals.

The game had a weird feeling to it. West Virginia never really seemed like they were playing all that well themselves. Alex Ruoff was just 6-15 from the field (17 points) and Da'Sean Butler finished with 16, but picked up his fourth foul with 14 minutes left up 45-36. The Mountaineers proceeded to make a huge run, outscoring OSU 31-8 over the next 13 minutes of play (the majority of which was done with Butler on the bench), eventually leading by as much as 32.

WVU did it with defense. They just simply did not allow Ohio State anything easy. OSU only turned the ball over 12 times, but they shot a miserable 31% from the field and 2-18 from deep. West Virginia, on the other hand, finished the game shooting 47% from the field. They shot 55% in the second half, and during the 31-8 run, it seemed like they were hitting everything. Like I said, it had a really weird feel to it. It wasn't like West Virginia was forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets. For that 13 minute span, all they did was get a stop, come down and score in their half court offense. On a side note, I couldn't tell if the Mountaineer offense looked so good because they were playing well or if it was because the Buckeyes were not playing any defense. West Virginia was moving the ball beautifully against the OSU zone, routinely getting wide open jumpers and easy lay-ups.

The bottom line is that West Virginia was just the tougher team yesterday. Huggins had his guys ready to play, especially on the defensive end, and Ohio State just did not have an answer.

The rest of the action from Saturday:

• Miami FL 70, St. John's 56: Jack McClinton led the Hurricanes with 20 points, 6 boards, and 4 dimes and hit 5-7 from deep.
• Kentucky 76, Florida Atlantic 69: Patrick Patterson had 27 and 14 as the Wildcats held off a pesky FAU team. The biggest stat of note for this game is that UK only had seven turnovers on the game.
  
• UMass 64, IUPUI 57: Ricky Harris had 23, 7 boards, and 4 dimes and Tony Gaffney added 11, 11, 5 blocks, and 3 steals as the Minutemen won their fourth in a row.
• Missouri 107, SIU-Edwardsville 57
• Michigan State 82, Oakland 66
• St. Mary's 87, San Jose State 78: The Gaels are now 11-1 and seem to be flying a bit under the radar. Patty Mills (19.7 ppg), Omar Samhan (14.9 ppg, 9.6 rpg) and Diamon Simpson (12.6 ppg, 12.1 rpg) are as good as anyone out west.
  

Sunday's games:

• 2:00 PM: Presbyterian (5-7) @ Marquette (10-2)
• 2:00 PM: Eastern Michigan (2-9) @ Illinois (11-1)
• 3:00 PM: Louisiana Tech (6-6) @ UCLA (9-2)
• 4:00 PM: Western Kentucky (7-3) @ Florida State (11-2)
• 4:00 PM: Valparaiso (3-8) @ Purdue (10-2)
• 5:30 PM: Virginia (5-4) @ Georgia Tech (7-3)
• 6:00 PM: Iowa State (7-4) @ Houston (7-1)
• 6:30 PM: Winthrop (1-9) @ Florida (9-2)
• 7:00 PM: High Point (4-7) @ Minnesota (11-0)
• 7:00 PM: Siena (6-4) @ St. Joe's (5-5)
• 7:45 PM: Rutgers (9-3) @ North Carolina (11-0): Crazy fact of the day: Rutgers next three games are difficult, to say the least. They head to Chapel Hill today to play #1 UNC, host #3 Pitt on Wednesday, and then head up to Storrs to play #2 UConn on Saturday.
  
• 10:00 PM: Texas Tech (9-3) @ Stanford (9-0)

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