B.I.A.H Not Top Ten

Every week, a plethora of writers, publications, media outlets and bloggers issue their Top-25 rankings for the past seven days worth of action. A majority of the time, everybody has virtually same opinion of all the teams, save a few upsets here or there.

If you want to find this week's top-25 rankings, you've come to the wrong place.

Here you will find our rankings for the 10 worst team performances of the week. This list isn't just home to the winless mid-major bottom-feeders. No, here you will find the biggest underachievers, slumpers and teams in a funk. We'll provide detail on the worst weekly performers, and the teams that just plain suck. Now, there will be teams on this list that are better than teams not on this list. But come on people, we are trying to be creative, just work with us here.

After the jump, you will find our list of the ten most screwed-up teams in the country. It's going to get ugly.

1. Boston College (2-3)

The Eagles Are woefully bad. Sure they have nine freshman on the roster, and they didn't return any real production from last year's squad.. But their two wins have come against New Hampshire (by 3) and UC-Riverside (In overtime by 4). Their three losses have come to Holy Cross, UMass and Saint Louis, by a combine 69 points. Even the worst BCS-conference team should be able avoid getting smacked by Holy Cross by 22-points. According to KenPom, the Eagles are the worst BCS-conference team in the country. the Eagles look like a team that may not win a single ACC game this season. In fact, they look like a team that might lose to North Carolina by triple-digits.


2. UCLA (1-4)

Where, oh where to begin. Well, first, they have yet to log a win against a D-I opponent. They sport ugly, double-digit losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee. The team's best player, Reeves Nelson, was suspended for three days because of attitude problems. A day after his suspension was lifted, he missed the team flight to Hawaii. To follow this up, Ben Howland benched Nelson for just one half.

Then there is Josh Smith, the team's massive center. The 310lb-behemoth refuses to lose weight and work on his endurance, and has only logged 20+ minutes in two games. Plus the Bruins are the worst team in the country in defending the 3-pointer, with their opponents making 61% of their shots from behind the arc. If things weren't already bizarre-enough, Travis Wear injured his foot while on a snorkeling trip over the weekend. Yup, that's right, he injured his foot while snorkeling. This team is toast.


3. Utah (1-4)

I often struggle to understand why exactly the Pac-12 decided to bring in Utah. They stink at football and they are absolutely dreadful at basketball. The Utes have lost five straight since their first and only win of the season, against non-DI San Diego Christian who they only beat by 3-points. Sure, you could argue that all the teams they lost to (Boise State by 21, Montana State by 6, 28 to Harvard, UMass by 14, and UNC-Ashville by 22) are better than people expected. But still, all five of those losses came to mid and low major schools. This team probably won't win a single conference game, which says a lot since the Pac-12 is in such a state of disarray already.


4. Notre Dame (4-2)

Nobody expected Notre Dame to be great this season. Sure, Tim Abromaitis would be an All-Conference player, and they have some quality players, but nobody thought they would be world-beaters. But I don't think anybody thought they would go out and get run off the floor by Missouri. A loss to Missouri isn't bad, but a 29-point loss isn't exactly good either. Then they followed that up with a ugly four point loss to a not-so-good Georgia team.

But the biggest blow came during practice last week, when Abromaitis tore his ACL, and will miss the rest of the season. This team looks to be on it's last legs.


5. Cincinnati (3-2)

The Bearcats were predicted to be one of the best teams in the Big East. Their non-conference schedule is riddled with cupcakes and this was supposed to set them up to enter the Big East conference season with very few blemishes on their record. But that's before they lost in the upset of the year to Presbyterian, a school that has been in Divison-I for less than five years. The Bearcats blew a 21-point led en route to a humiliation loss to the Blue Hose. But then they followed that up with an overtime loss to Marshall, the only opponent that could have provided the program with a good non-conference win. (Ed. Note: Other than Xavier, obviously. Whoops.)


6. Hawaii (2-2)

Maybe this was my fault. I was pretty sure Hawaii had the talent, skill, and experience to become the best team in the WAC. But through the first four games, they have looked more like a middling mid-major than the conference powerhouse I expected them to be. Not many teams in the country allow their opponents to shoot more foul shots than the Warriors. Their opponents are currently shooting 79% against them. The 19-point loss to Gonzaga on a "neutral court" in Canada is one thing, but losing to Eastern Washington by 15 at home isn't.


7. South Carolina (2-4)

There is only one BCS-conference team with worse 3-point defense than South Carolina, and that team is ranked #2 on this very list. The bottom of the SEC is pretty bad, but I'm positive that LSU and Auburn are going to be better than the 'Cocks. How on earth Darrin Horne still has a job is beyond me, but he probably has to write quarterly checks to Devan Downey.

Two of SC's losses have been to Elon and Tennessee State. Woof. SC's wins have come against Mississippi Valley State and Western Carolina. Double-woof. The 'Cocks leading scorer averages just 11.8-ppg and is the only player on the team to average double-digits. Triple-woof.


8. Grambling State (0-5)

The SWAC is not a good place to be in mid-November and early-December. All ten teams are below .500 and Grambling State is yet to taste victory. Sure, the university is making money from these "guarantee games" but the Tigers have played at home just once, and they won't play another home game until 2012. The Tigers have lost all five games by a combined 178-points, or roughly 36-ppg. But on the plus side, they did lose three consecutive games by 30-points. That's pretty cool, right? But seriously, their leading scorer is averaging 7.8-ppg. That's brutal.


9. UAB (1-4)

The Blazers were picked to finish in the top half of the C-USA this season. But after five games, I see a team that looks like they won't win a single conference game. Sure, Cameron Moore
is averaging a double-double per contest, and Ovie Soko is just shy of averaging a double-double as well.

But, I mean, the Blazers are averaging just eight rebounds per game. Just eight. That's deplorable. Did it ever occur to Mike Davis that he might want to find a successor to all-conference point guard Aaron Johnson? Plus, the Blazers lost to UT-Martin, whose only win was against a non-DI school.


10. Towson (0-5)

The Tigers are losing by roughly 28-ppg. In fact, they've lost two games by exactly 46-points each. On top of that, the Tigers are averaging just seven assists a game. Only four players are averaging more than five points per game. Pat Skerry, the new Towson head coach has a lot of work ahead of him.







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What expansion did to Conference USA

For those that have been ignoring the possibility of the Big Ten expanding to 16 teams, take a look at Conference USA.

I know that doesn't make much sense on the surface, but stay with me here.

Back in the early 2000's, Conference USA was all but considered a major conference, especially in basketball. With teams like Memphis, Cincinnati, Marquette, Louisville, and DePaul, there was legacy, there was talent, there was great coaching, and they annually had success in the NCAA Tournament.

That was before Miami got fed up with playing football in the Big East.


As the Hurricanes pushed harder and harder to join the ACC, the ACC pushed harder to get three Big East schools to join their ranks. They initially wanted Syracuse and Boston College, but after quite a bit of politicking and negotiating, in 2005 it was Virginia Tech, and not the Orange, that switched conferences.

This left the Big East in a tough situation. Already a league known more for their basketball than their football -- and we all know football is the real moneymaker -- they were left with just four schools that had D1 football teams. UConn decided to bump their football program up from D1-AA, but the Big East still needed to add three more football programs to their conference to remain in the BCS.

So they raided Conference USA.

Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, and South Florida all went to the Big East, giving them three football playing schools (Louisville, Cinci, USF) and two basketball-only schools in untapped markets -- DePaul in Chicago and Marquette in Milwaukee. Charlotte and St. Louis both decided that with all the defections, they would be better off in the Atlantic 10.

Conference USA was left with Memphis ... and not much else. Houston, East Carolina, Tulane, UAB, and Southern Miss. To combat their defections, the league added Marshall, Central Florida, Rice, Tulsa, UTEP, and SMU.

Not exactly a murderer's row.

We all know what happened after that. Memphis dominated the league for four seasons under John Calipari. But when Cal bolted for Kentucky, Josh Pastner was left with a depleted roster and an NIT team. Gone was the league's shining star, replaced atop the conference by a UTEP that went 15-1 during the regular season. To get a feel for how strong the conference was this year, that UTEP team was a 12 seed, barely sneaking into the NCAA Tournament.

UAB beat Butler, Cincinnati, Georgia, and Arkansas, climbed to as high as 20th in the RPI before league play started, and after going 11-5 in the conference, the Blazers missed the NCAA's altogether. So did Memphis and Tulsa. Conference USA got two bids for the first time since 2006 for the simple fact that, with Memphis having a down year, someone was able to pull an upset in the conference tournament.

Elijah Millsap and UAB missed the tournament this season.
(photo credit: The Birmingham News)

Dan Wolken, a fantastic reporter for the Memphis Commercial-Appeal who has been extremely vocal (well, on twitter) the problems with this league, penned a great article on Sunday detailing precisely how bad things have gotten for Conference USA:

A year ago, UAB put together perhaps the most impressive non-conference resume (outside of Memphis) since the league reorganized in 2005 with victories over Cincinnati, Georgia, Arkansas and Butler. The Blazers entered conference play with a 12-2 record and an RPI of 20. After playing (and beating) East Carolina, Tulane and SMU to start the league schedule, UAB's RPI dropped to 35. When UAB played Tulane for a second time in late February, its RPI dropped from 32 to 37.
...
With poor performances in the non-conference season, teams like SMU (208), ECU (231), Tulane (282) and Rice (311) have created a power-ratings drain on the league's top teams, to the point that RPI guru Jerry Palm came to Florida last week and told the coaches that UAB and Memphis would have likely been in the NCAA Tournament if the bottom of the conference wasn't so bad.

Those are pretty staggering numbers for a league that just six years ago was routinely considered on a par with the six power conferences. To get an idea of just how far this conference has fallen, Wolken lists four teams from the league (a third of their membership) that were ranked outside of the top-200 in the RPI. The six power conferences, combined, had four teams ranked outside of the top-200 -- DePaul, Iowa, Indiana, and LSU.

All four of those teams were truly horrific this season. None of them play in the Pac-10, either.

How does the league plan on fighting this problem? Wolken explains:

There's not much C-USA can do about the quality of teams in its league; that's on coaches to go out and recruit and players to go play.

But what it plans to do, if last week's meetings are any indication, is clamp down on how its teams are scheduling in the non-conference season. In an attempt to manipulate the RPI to its advantage, the league is telling its coaches to build schedules for which they can win 70 percent of their non-conference games.

For ECU, that means don't schedule almost-certain losses to Wake Forest, Tennessee, Northern Iowa, Charlotte, Clemson and Virginia Commonwealth, as the Pirates did last season.

To enforce, or at least encourage, better scheduling, Banowsky said C-USA has created a formula to distribute its postseason revenue on the basis of winning percentage. The more Division 1 non-conference games a team wins, the more money it gets from the league.

Moreover, the league is going to review all non-conference games and give feedback on whether schools are scheduling at the appropriate level. If the directives are ignored -- for instance, if an athletic director at a bottom-tier program starts taking multiple paydays at power-conference schools just to help balance the budget -- C-USA may seek even more control.

Wait, what?

The conference is paying schools that load up on teams like East West State University for the Deaf and Blind?

I'm not exactly sure that makes a whole lot of sense.

For starters, the way quite a few of the schools -- especially the ones near the bottom of the league, the schools that the league is trying to get to turnaround -- fund their athletic program is by cashing in on the paydays from high-majors. Are they really going to scrap the high-five, low-six figure payout they get to let a Duke beat them by 50? If they don't, than doesn't this new rule only make the rich get richer? Won't a school like Memphis, who rarely is going to finish with a non-conference winning percentage below 70%, be the school that benefits from this rule?

The other problem is that these teams aren't guaranteed to win these games. What happens in ECU goes 3-9 against teams like Arkansas-Pine Bluff and High Point? What does that do to the conference RPI?

I understand what Conference USA is trying to do. Improving the competitive balance between the best teams and the bottom teams is one way to boost the conference RPI. But trying to get teams to play weak schedules to make the league look better is like putting a band aid on a stab wound.

It doesn't fix the problem. It doesn't make SMU or Tulane more competitive. Its not going to actually make Conference USA any better. And until the bottom of Conference USA actually does get better, they are going to continue to have these same problems.

Would the league have been in this position if it didn't lose all of their best teams to the Big East and Atlantic 10?

That right there is the problem with expansion.

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Games outside the Big Six will have a lot of influence on Saturday

There are 148 games to be played on Saturday.

21 of them involve top 25 teams.

Seven of them involved top ten teams. One of those games features two top ten teams.

And while you will want to keep an eye on all of them, the most important and intriguing games of the day don't take place in the major conferences. They will be played in the MWC, in the A-10, and in C-USA.

Like its been for the last few years, the bubble is weak this season. The difference this year is that with the Pac-10 being down, the SEC West approaching Pac-10 territory, and the middle of the Big East looking weaker by the loss, the number of bids available for mid-major schools is higher than usual, and certainly will be more than the four at-larges they received last season.

Its to the point that there is a real possibility more than one of the aforementioned leagues could get four (or more) teams in. The results from Saturday may go along way towards deciding who celebrates on Selection Sunday and who is banished to the dead man walking tournament NIT.


Conference USA: There are only four teams that really have a chance of still getting an at-large bid this year - Memphis, UTEP, Tulsa, and UAB.

3:00 pm: UAB @ Rice: UAB probably has the best non-conference resume in the league, as they picked up wins over Cincinnati, Butler, and Georgia as well as winning at Kent State and surprising Arkansas. But the Blazers have lost their last two games, with both coming to teams they are currently competing with for the C-USA title and the at-large bids. The Blazers cannot afford to lose three games in a row, especially when the third is against cellar dweller Rice, even in it is on the road.

4:00 pm: Gonzaga @ Memphis: Gonzaga could use this win, but Memphis needs this win. They are 16-6 on the season, but their RPI is sitting at an unimpressive 68th and they have two losses to teams with RPI's around the 200's (UMass and SMU). Their best win came against UAB at home, and after that ... Oakland? Marshall? There is not much on this resume, and Gonzaga is a team in the RPI top 30. A loss here would come very close to ensuring the Tigers need to win the C-USA tournament.

10:00 pm: Tulsa @ UTEP: The Golden Hurricane and the Miners are currently sitting in a tie for first place in the league, which gives this game even more meaning. Tulsa is in pretty bad shape in terms on an at-large bid. They do have a 21 point win over Oklahoma State, but they've only played four other games against teams with top 100 RPI's, with their lone win coming against Marshall on Wednesday. UTEP is in a similar situation, and while their RPI is a bit lower than Tulsa's (72nd vs. 55th), they have some nice wins. They won at Memphis, at UAB, and at New Mexico State as well as picking up a neutral court win over Oklahoma.


Atlantic-10

12:00 pm: Xavier @ Dayton: The Muskies are all but in at this point. They have no bad losses (the worst loss is a neutral court loss to Marquette, who is not as bad as their 61st RPI indicates) and own a win over Cincinnati, Charlotte, Dayton, and Rhode Island. Xavier is 23rd in the RPI right now, and barring a collapse, a team with that RPI is not going to miss the tournament. Dayton, on the other hand, has some work to do. Wins over Old Dominion and Georgia Tech are nice, but with an RPI in the low 30's, they can't afford a swoon. A loss to Xavier, who has already beaten Dayton this year, would drop the Flyers to 4-4 in the league. Can the A-10 really send a team that ends up in fifth or sixth? Its too early to call it a must win, but its a we-really-need-this win.

2:00 pm: Temple @ Richmond: The Owls are basically in. A win over Villanova and no glaring losses will do that for you. But Richmond has some work to do. They've put together some nice wins (Mississippi State, Missouri, Old Dominion, Florida), but they've lost a couple games they could have won (South Carolina, William & Mary, VCU). Richmond doesn't have a great win, and still plays each of the other top six A-10 teams. They will have their chances to improve their resume, but they need to win those games in order to actually improve it.


Mountain West: The great thing about the MWC this weekend is that the four teams with a shot at an at-large bid play each other. If you get the Mountain station, tune in. Or at least TiVo it.

4:00 pm: BYU @ UNLV: BYU is in, and may actually be the best team out west. UNLV, however, still needs to pad their resume a bit. They did beat Louisville and Arizona out of conference, but those wins are not as impressive today as they would have been five years ago. They have also picked up a couple quality wins in conference play (at New Mexico, SDSU), but they probably need to do more. UNLV will make or break their bid in the next three games, as they play BYU, UNM, and SDSU in the next eight days.

6:00 pm: SDSU @ New Mexico: New Mexico ensured their bid by taking care of business out of conference (wins over Cal, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Dayton) and beating BYU last week. SDSU is in a much more dire situation. They do own a win over New Mexico already, but their only other win of significance is against Arizona. The Aztecs will get some chances to secure a bid, and this is by no means a make-or-break game, especially considering this game is played at the Pit and SDSU has already beaten UNM. But it is safe to say that SDSU really needs this game.
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Imagine if UAB landed DeMarcus Cousins

Unlike the past four or five seasons, Conference USA does not have a national title contender amongst its ranks.

But that doesn't mean that the conference isn't competitive. In fact, there are four teams in the league that still have a real shot at playing their way into the dance. There are potential lottery picks, potential all-americans, and even the nation's leading scorer among the C-USA ranks.

Anytime a non-BCS league can make those claims, they are having a good season.

Fans of the C-USA will be smiling, until they think about how good the league could have been.

Everyone knows about Coach Cal and what the Memphis program lost when he left. What a lot of people won't remember is that DeMarcus Cousins was ready to sign an LOI with UAB first. But he wanted a clause in the LOI saying that if Mike Davis left the school for whatever reason than Cousins' LOI would be vacated.

Obviously, Davis hasn't gone anywhere.

Which means that UAB was just one clause away from landing a guy that may have overtaken John Wall as the best freshman in the country.

Don't believe me?

Watch this interview.

Cousins compares himself to Shaq, and reporters don't even bat an eye.



Comparing Cousins to the Big Aristotle at this point in his career is a bit extreme. But that doesn't mean that he isn't one of the best players in the country. His combination of length, strength, and size make him an unstoppable force around the rim at this level. He can establish deep position anytime he pleases, and his big hands and feathery touch make him nearly automatic around the rim. If you force him out 10-12 feet, he has the quick feet and the footwork to make a move to the rim (his spin move may be the single best 1-on-1 move of any player in the country). Get him to 18 feet out, and he'll knock down a jumper over you.

Like I said, UAB definitely has talent on their roster this season. Elijah Millsap might be the best player in C-USA right now, and he may not even the Blazers most talented wing with Jamarr Sanders on the roster. Aaron Johnson is a heady leader at the point, and the Blazer bench has some quality role players on it.

You don't think Cousins would fit into the middle of that line-up perfectly?

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Thursday's Shootaround: Lance Stephenson proves he's ready for the Big East, N'Western and UAB lose

Cincinnati 71, UConn 69: Cincinnati was in the lead for most of this game, twice taking double digit leads. But Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson wouldn't quit, both times leading the Huskies back. With just under eight minutes to play, Cinci took a 12 point lead, but the Huskies slowly chipped away, eventually cutting it to one on a Stanley Robinson lay-up with 29 seconds left. But UConn didn't foul on the ensuing possession, giving up a dunk to Ibrahima Thomas instead. The Huskies got the ball out quickly, as Dyson sprinted the other direction. He got into the paint and found a wide-open Kemba Walker, who buried a three to tie the game.

After the three, Lance Stephenson took the ball and went the other direction. He drove past Dyson and into Gavin Edwards and Alex Oriakhi. Referee John Cahill blew his whistle, giving Lance Stephenson two free throws to win the game with just 0.7 seconds left on the clock. Take a look. Was it a foul?



Jerome Dyson was clearly the best player on the floor, as he routinely knifed his way through traffic, finishing tough lay-ups in the lane. He had 24 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists, while Robinson added 22 points, 7 boards, and 3 steals. Stephenson led Cinci with 21 in his first Big East game, and I think he more than proved himself capable of handling the pressure. Deonta Vaughn, who has been struggling this season, got into a bit of a rhythm, scoring eight early points as Cinci pulled ahead, and finishing with 17.

Virginia 72, UAB 63: UAB was one of the hottest teams in the country coming into Charlottesville, and looked to be on their way to beating another power conference team as they took a 50-43 lead midway through the second half. But the Cavs responded with a 16-3 run and made the plays down the stretch to win. Sylvan Landesberg had 19 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists and was charged with being the playmaker down the stretch for UVA. Elijah Millsaps had a career high 27 points and 11 boards, but the Blazers missed 10 of their last 15 free throws. Tough to win doing that.

Illinois 89, Northwestern 83 OT: Northwestern started this game on fire, hitting their first four threes and 11-23 overall in the first half. But the Illini's defense tightened up in the second half, and they began to pick apart the Wildcat's 1-3-1 zone. In the first 16:27 of the second half, Illinois outscored Northwestern 35-20, taking a 69-63 lead with 3:33 remaining. The Wildcats would fight back, as John Shurna capped a 9-3 run with a lay-up with 45 seconds left. After two Mike Tisdales free throws, Luka Mirkovic forced overtime as he tipped in his second attempt with 17 seconds on the clock.

But in the extra frame, Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis, who went for a combined 51 points and 28 boards, scored all eight points in an 8-2 spurt, and the Illini never looked back.

William & Mary 83, Maryland 77: The Tribe may end up having more ACC road wins that the Terps when the season done. After beating Wake Forest in Winston-Salem earlier this year, W&M went into College Park and knocked off Maryland despite 26 points and 6 assists from Greivis Vasquez. Quinn McDowell had 28, Danny Sumner had 17, and the Tribe spread the floor against the Terps, opening up driving lanes and open threes.

Vanderbilt 86, Manhattan 48: The Commodores blew out Manhattan in a game that was never really in doubt. Why should you care? Because Kevin Laue, the 6'11" Jasper center who has just one arm, scored his first career point with three minutes left on a free throw. He also grabbed eight boads in 17 minutes.

Baylor 70, Arkansas 47: After Kansas and Texas, the rest of the Big XII is fairly open, and Baylor looks like they may be staking claim to that third spot. LaceDarius Dunn scored 19 points and Ekpe Udoh added 8 points, 15 boards, and 8 blocks as the Bears pulled away in the second half.

Boston College 85, South Carolina 76: BC opened up a 48-27 lead at halftime as the Gamecocks were unable to slow down the Eagles at the offensive end. But in the second half, Darrin Horn turned up the defensive pressure, and South Carolina used a 26-8 run to get that lead down to 56-53. USC would never go away, but without Mike Holmes and Dominique Archie, they clearly ran out of gas as BC was able to gain some separation late. Devan Downey had 29 points and 7 assists for the Gamecocks, but he did it on 28 shots, many of which were tough, quick three pointers or ill-advised forays into the lane. He did spark the comeback, but a comeback may not have been needed if he didn't start the game 5-17. Rakim Sanders had 22 to lead BC.

Other notable games:

• UNC 87, Albany 70: This game was not as close as the final score indicates, thanks to a 25-2 run from the Great Danes to close it out. Ed Davis had 18 points and 8 boards.
  
• Michigan State 87, UT-Arlington 68: The Spartans got 16 points from Kalin Lucas, who didn't come off the bench until the 10 minutes mark, and Durrell Summers and Draymond Green added 20 and 19, respectively.
  
• Temple 70, Northern Illinois 60: The Owls didn't play their best, but avoided dropping an obvious trap game as they get Kansas at home next. Ryan Brooks led the way with 19 points, 8 boards, and 4 assists while Juan Fernandez scored 26.
  
• Virginia Tech 85, Longwood 50: The only news here: Malcolm Delaney sprained his ankle just over a minute into the game.
• Western Carolina 87, UNC-Asheville 76: Jake Robinson scored 25 points and hit six threes as the Catamounts won.
• Harvard 66, George Washington 53: Jeremy Lin scord 17 points and added 8 boards, 7 steals, and 5 assists to lead Harvard.
• Old Dominion 63, Duquesne 54: Gerald Lee had 24 points, 6 boards, and 3 blocks as the Monarchs broke open a tight games with a 7-2 spurt to put them up double digits early in the second half. Duquesne was never really close the rest of the way.
• Louisville 73, South Florida 52: Louisville used a 15-0 run early in the second half to put this one away. Edgar Sosa had 16 to lead Louisville, but don't count out the Bulls just yet. Gus Gilchrist didn't play and Dominique Jones was in foul trouble the whole game, picking up his fifth with 13 minutes left.
• Florida 79, Presbyterian 38: Chandler Parsons scored 21 points to lead the Gators to a much needed win.
• St. Mary's 94, Howard 46: Omar Samhan was one block away from a triple-double, posting 23 points, 11 boards, and a school-record 9 blocks.
• Notre Dame 93, Providence 78: Tim Abromaitis and Jonathon Peoples combined for 45 points and 10 threes as the Irish jumped all over the Friars early. A 13-1 run cut it to 54-45 to start the second half, but the Irish responded and PC never got it to single digits again.
• Alabama 77, Tennessee State 65: JaMychal Green had 19 points and 8 boards, but the Crimson Tide didn't pull away until a 12-3 run with just over three minutes left put them up double digits.
• Missouri 91, UMKC 57: Missouri missed their first nine shots and didn't score for five minutes, but after a line change the Tigers went on a 14-0 run and never looked back.
• Miami 73, Bethune-Cookman 52: A 13-2 spurt midway through the first half gave the Canes a 33-21 lead.
  

Wednesday's Best:

• Artsiom Parakhouski scored 34 points and added 12 boards as Radford smacked George Mason.
• Mike Tisdale scord a career-high 31 points and added 11 boards, which included a number of big plays at the end of regulation and in overtime, as the Illini picked up a much-needed win against Northwestern. Mike Davis added 20 points and 17 boards.
• Omar Samhan is a name you need to remember. He had 23 points, 11 boards, and 9 blocks last night.
• Buffalo's Rodney Pierce scored 31 points in a win over Liberty.
• Otis Polk went for 17 points and 16 boards and had the game-clinching steal as Bowling Green knocked off Towson.
• Our first Marqus Blakely sighting here at BIAH. He went for 26 points, 11 boards, 4 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocks in a win at Mt. St. Mary's.
• Ty Patterson led Chattanooga with 22 points and 11 boards in a win over Eastern Kentucky.
  

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Early Season Surprises

USC Trojans: After starting the season 2-4, the Trojans have reeled off six straight wins, four of them with transfer Mike Gerrity running the show. Three of the four wins Gerrity has been a part of: 77-55 over Tennessee, 60-49 over St. Mary's, and a 67-56 win over UNLV on Christmas Day. USC has done it with defense, allowing just 50 ppg and 34% shooting from the field over the six win. No team out west in playing as well as the Trojans right now. Could this team win the Pac-10?


Wichita State Shockers and Missouri State Bears: In the preseason, just about everyone pegged Northern Iowa as the favorite in the MVC. In fact, neither the Shockers or the Bears were voted into the top four of the MVC preseason poll, but both could very well give the Panthers a run in a competitive Valley this season. Wichita State is 11-1 on the year, with their lone loss coming to Pitt, while Missouri State is 10-1 coming off of a loss at Arkansas. While neither team has much of a resume at this point, Missouri State has beaten Tulsa while Wichita State notched a win over Texas Tech a week and a half ago.


Syracuse: The rise of the Orange has been well documented this season. They began the year with blow out wins over UNC and Cal in NYC during the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, notched wins over Cornell and Florida, and now head into Big East play at 12-0 on the season. All this after the Orange lost to Le Moyne, a DII team, in their last preseason game and coming off of an off-season where Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris all jumped ship and went pro. I doubt that even the most die-hard, disillusioned Syracuse fan could have hoped for this good of a start to the season.


William & Mary: The Tribe lost their first two games of the season, but they have bounced back nicely, winning eight in a row. They haven't just beaten cupcakes either; that eight game winning streak includes victories over Richmond and VCU, at Wake Forest, and best of all, they beat my alma mater Vassar College. The two losses to start the season aren't too shabby either - they lost road dates with UConn (by nine) and Harvard (in triple overtime on a half court prayer). The CAA looks to be pretty good this season, and William & Mary may very well be the best team in the league.


New Mexico: The Lobos are now 12-1 are losing on the road to a tough Oral Roberts team, but that shouldn't diminish how good New Mexico's start to the season has been. The Lobos won their first 12 games, which included wins over Texas A&M, Cal, and Creighton, while climbing to 12th in the polls. The combination of Darington Hobson and Roman Martinez up front is one of the best out west.


UAB: The Blazers have bounced back nicely from an early season loss to Kent State. They've won 10 straight games, which includes impressive victories over Cincinnati and Butler. UAB's best player early in the season has been Elijan Millsaps, a 6'6" guard nearly averaging a double double (15.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg). C-USA is wide open this season, with UTEP, Tulsa, and Houston all being mentioned as possible successors to Memphis. But thus far in the season, the Blazers may be the favorite to win the league.


Temple: The Owls returned to the top 25 for the first time since 2001 after beating both Villanova and Seton Hall, who were at the time undefeated. Temple has two losses on the season- a one point setback in DC to Georgetown and a seven point loss to St. John's. The Owls have done it with defense, holding their opponents to 37.3% shooting from the field and 23.9% shooting from deep.


St. John's: St. John's basketball has fallen far from their glory days, but Norm Roberts has led the Johnnies to a bit of a resurgence this season. The Red Storm is sitting at 10-2 on the season, with their only losses coming to Duke and Cornell while having beaten Temple, Siena, and Georgia already this season. DJ Kennedy (16.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.3 apg) is playing as well as anyone in the conference, and Dwight Hardy has caught fire in the last couple of week, averaging 17.3 ppg in the last three games. The most impressive part: St. John's is still waiting for Justin Burrell and Anthony Mason, Jr., to get healthy.


Kevin Jones, West Virginia: West Virginia has started the season out 10-0, and the biggest reason may be Jones. The athletic, 6'8" forward has averaged 15.5 ppg and 8.1 rpg while shooting 10-29 from three. West Virginia bases their team around stingy defense and aggression on the offensive glass, and Jones is perfect for that system.


Jacob Pullen, Kansas State: The Wildcats have shot up the rankings the last few weeks, and the biggest reason for that has been Pullen. In KSU's 11-1 start, Pullen is averaging 20.0 ppg and 3.5 apg while shooting 43.6% from deep. KSU has had some impressive wins this year, beating Dayton, Washington State, Xavier, UNLV, and Alabama. In those five games, Pullen averaged 24.2 ppg. He looks to be the early season favorite for Big XII player of the year.


Tim Abromaitis, Notre Dame: Many people wrote Notre Dame off this season after Scott Martin tore his acl, but Abromaitis has more than filled that void. Abromaitis is averaging 15.8 ppg while shooting a ridiculous 50.7% from beyond the arc. His emergence alongside Luke Harangody as a second scoring option has been a big reason the Fighting Irish have a shot at reaching the dance this season.


Quincy Pondexter, Washington: Pondexter was a top 50 player coming out of high school, but was overshadowed by the likes of Jon Brockman and Isaiah Thomas during his first three seasons. But this year, it has been Pondexter's team. Pondexter has averaged 21.9 ppg and 8.7 rpg, and is one of the bright spots for a Washington team still not playing up to its potential.


Ekpe Udoh, Baylor: Udoh had two mediocre seasons playing in Ann Arbor before deciding to transfer to Baylor. After sitting out a season, Udoh has had a phenomenal start to the '09-'10 season, especially on the offensive end. His scoring (14.6 from 6.0), rebounding (9.8 from 5.0), and assist (2.8 from 0.9) numbers have all made marked improvements, while he is also averaging 3.9 bpg and shooting 60.2% from the floor.


Antonio Pena, Villanova: The biggest question mark for Villanova coming into the season was how they would fill the void Dante Cunningham left inside, which became a much bigger issue when Mouph Yarou was diagnosed with Hepatitis. But Pena has done his best to answer those questions, averaging 13.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg thus far in the season.

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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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UAB Basketball: When Team's Implode

Coming into the season, the Blazers were expected to make a push for the NCAA tournament this year. After struggling to a 5-3 start, UAB has all but sealed the fact that they will need to win the C-USA tournament to reach the tourney.

Those hopes took a huge blow Monday as they found out that four of their players are leaving the program. Armon Bassett, who is sitting out this year after transferring from Indiana, has decided to leave the program. So has Terrence Roderick, who was averaging 5.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg in 21 mpg. Ed Berrios (12 mpg) and Jeremy Mayfield (ineligible this semester, but expected to make important contributions when he got back) have both been ruled academically ineligible.

UAB still will have their top three players in Robert Vaden, Lawrence Kinnard, and Paul Delaney, who are all averaging over 17 ppg. But they are left with just eight players on their roster, only six of whom are on scholarship.

So all hope is not lost for UAB. The biggest issue isn't going to be during the games. Teams have been relatively successful going with six and seven man rotations (see Syracuse, Arizona, and Texas last year). It is going to be in practice. I mean, even if the two walk-ons are preferred walk-ons, that still leaves you with eight guys, two short of being able to scrimmage in practice.

Another worry for Mike Davis should be the commitment of DeMarcus Cousins, a consensus top 10 recruit. Cousins made noise about a month ago when he said he wouldn't sign a letter of intent unless it had a clause that said he could withdraw his LOI if Mike Davis was no longer coaching there.

It really is too bad, because Davis had done a good job making UAB one of the top programs in C-USA. Continue reading...