Strengths: In his three years in college, Thompson developed into one of the best scorers in the country. His game centers around his jump shot. He has range well beyond the NBA three point line and is capable of getting hot and reeling off three or four deep triples in a row. He is at his best when he gets put into catch-and-shoot situations. Thompson has a terrific motor and understands how to use screens to free himself up, making him quite tiring to try and defend. He needs to improve his ability to create putting the ball on the floor, but he understands how to create separation with the bounce and that, combined with his 6'7" frame and 6'9" wingspan should help make up for the fact that he has below-average athletic tools for a NBA wing. One area of his game that Thompson really expanded as a junior was his ability to create for his teammates. He averaged 3.7 apg, proving to be a capable creator. Weaknesses: The biggest weakness in Thompson's game right now is his ability to defend. He has the length and anticipation to be very effective in the passing lanes -- see his 1.6 spg -- but he lacks the strength and, more importantly, the lateral quickness to be considered a defensive stopper. Its not for a lack of effort. Thompson works hard on that end of the floor and seems to understand defensive rotations, but that doesn't change the fact that NBA perimeter players will be able to beat him off the dribble. Thompson also turns the ball over a bit too much. He's not a great ball-handler and was forced to create his own shot off the dribble quite a bit as a junior. Playing more off the ball in the NBA, that should be less of an issue. Thompson is not great when it comes to slashing to the basket, but he does excel when he is coming off of screens and in close-out situations.
Comparisons:
Best Case Scenario: The easy pick for Klay Thompson is Mike Miller, another tall and lanky jump shooter with obvious question marks on the defensive end of the floor. In his prime, Miller was a very good second or third offensive option with a deadly three point stroke. If Thompson can develop a more expansive offensive repertoire, he may end up one day being a scorer like Kevin Martin, capable of averaging 20 ppg.
Worst Case Scenario: Draft Express uses Marco Bellinili and Swish Scout uses Francisco Garcia, neither of which I really love. That said, the role those two play is what Thompson will be forced into if he can't find the right fit with an NBA team. If his defense doesn't come around and the rest of his offensive arsenal doesn't develop, Thompson will be nothing more than a spot-up shooter at the next level.
Outlook: The key to Thompson's future as an NBA player is going to be his ability to adapt to a new role. At best, he is going to be a third-scoring option, a guy that is run off of screens and used to try and keep the floor spread with the threat of his jump shot. He can be dangerous in this role, as he is a lights-out shooter when he is left open and absolutely sensational at creating space for himself by reading an off-ball screens. If he can embrace this role, there certainly is a spot for him in the NBA, possibly even in a starting lineup. For that too happen, however, Thompson is either going to need to significantly improve his ability to be a one-on-one defender or land on a team that is known for their terrific team defense. Thompson is not a lock to have a long NBA career, but his ability to shoot the basketball will guarantee that he gets plenty of chances to have one.
Another issue that Thompson could end up facing will have to do with his arrest this past season for possession of marijuana. He apologized to the fans at center court prior to the game that he was suspended for and there have been reports that he has been open, honest, and apologetic to NBA teams about what happened. That's a good sign, but the arrest is still something that NBA teams are going to have to look into and do their due diligence on.
Draft Range: Late Lottery to Mid 1st Round
And the experts say...
Chad Ford: "Thompson had one of the most impressive weeks in Chicago. There were a number of great shooters in the combine this weekend, but Thompson had the best shooting performance of any of the prospects on both days. His ability to shoot off the dribble combined with his excellent size (6-7 with a 6-9 wingspan) are going to be very intriguing for a number of teams in need of a shooter. He also handled interviews well. Two NBA teams said Thompson brought up the charges of marijuana possession early in the interview, didn't make excuses for the mistake, and said it would never happen again. While NBA teams will continue to do their due diligence to get a better feel for how big a problem it was or might be in the future, they came away encouraged."
Draft Express: "With his highly developed perimeter skill set and feel for the game, Thompson could contribute early in his career, and probably doesn't have a significant upside beyond what he is now due to his physical limitations. There's no guarantee he seamlessly makes the role to being a lesser scoring option, however, and he will need to stay away from the bad habits he had earlier in his college career, something being drafted onto a winning team with strong coaching would definitely help avoid."
Swish Scout: "Smart, efficient player who is a great shooter with range that extends to anywhere on the court and a much improved play maker with the ball in his hands. Klay must add strength and reduce turnovers, but he has the solid all-around game to be a solid contributor for a team on the NBA level."
Whenever the discussion of whether or not Player X or Player Y should have left school, I make an effort to avoid criticizing the decision.
I don't like saying that the player made the wrong decision or that he was dumb to leave school. We don't know the entire situation. We don't know what that player is dealing with in his personal life. We don't know the ins and outs of why a decision was made. And until you do, it is unfair to criticize.
DeAngelo Casto, the center for Washington State last season, opted to leave school after his junior season and enter the NBA Draft despite the fact that he wasn't a lock to get drafted, let alone get a guaranteed contract in the first round. That decision was met with plenty of internet snark and criticism. But after reading Ryan Feldman's piece on Casto's past, its not hard to understand why the former Wazzu big man wants to be paid to play. Casto was a product of the system. His mother was a drug addict, a prostitute, and dead by the time Casto was seven. His father was a "hustler", or so he says to Feldman. Casto bounced from foster home to foster home, eventually ending up in Spokane, WA, after a family adopted him out of his St. Louis, MO, home. But that situation wasn't much better than what he was dealing with back in St. Louis, so he continued to bounce from home to home and school to school.
Eventually, Casto was able to secure a scholarship to Wazzu. Ten months ago, his girlfriend of four years gave birth to a son, which means that this young man now has a mouth to feed and a child that needs to be taken care of and a family that needs to be supported.
Casto isn't turning professional because he received bad advice or because he has an unrealistic view of his ability as a basketball player. Casto is sacrificing. He's leaving college early -- stepping away from a degree and a chance to develop himself into a first round pick -- because he needs to start making money.
Casto should be commended and supported for his decision. He's taking responsibility. He's trying to raise a family, and basketball is his means to that end. Continue reading...
Wednesday was not a good day for point guards in the Pac-10.
It started with the injury to Abdul Gaddy, who tore his acl and will obviously be out for the season.
His counterpart at Washington State, sophomore Reggie Moore, was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphenalia stemming from an incident on Dec. 12th. Both of the charges that Moore will face are misdemeanors, but both also have mandatory minimum sentences of one day in jail and $250-500 in fines.
"This is a team matter that we take very seriously," Bone said in a statement. "We initially learned about this incident Dec. 12, and at this time we have dealt with, and are still dealing with the issue. We will take further appropriate action if necessary."
Moore has averaged 7.7 ppg and 3.6 apg in the past nine games, but he sat out the first five games of the year with a wrist injury. Ken Bone texted ESPN writer Diamond Leung and told him that Moore would be eligible to play on Thursday against Oregon State.
The Cougars need him. They are coming off of an 0-2 trip to the LA schools, and the Beavers just swept the Arizona schools.
Down in Berkeley, the struggling Cal Bears have lost one of their best scorers in freshman Gary Franklin, who announced his intention to transfer. Franklin recently lost his starting job. While he's averaged 8.2 ppg this season, he's done it shooting an abysmal 29.7% from the floor while notching more turnovers than assists.
Interestingly enough, this is the eighth time in the past five basketball seasons that a player from Mater Dei high school in California has transferred. Taylor King went from Duke to Villanova to Concordia, Mike Gerrity went from Pepperdine to Charlotte to USC, the Wear twins left UNC for UCLA over the summer, and Kamyron Brown left Oregon to head to Nebraska.
Franklins transfer means that Mike Montgomery is now left with just eight scholarship players and a huge void in his back court.
No word on where Franklin is looking, but he considered Arizona State and Baylor and was also committed to USC at one point. He was also a part of George Dohrmann's "Play Their Hearts Out." Continue reading...
7:00 pm: No. 9 Georgetown @ No. 15 Notre Dame: I said it in our Big East conference play primer -- I think that the Hoyas are the best team in the conference. They have a terrific back court, an underrated front court, and are as well-coached -- and as receptive to good coaching -- as any team in the country.
If Georgetown is the best team in the league, Notre Dame may as well be dubbed the Great Unknown. Of the Big East teams that actually have a chance at getting to the NCAA Tournament, the Irish are the team that I am having the most trouble pegging. I love their versatility offensively. They can play big with Tyrone Nash and Jack Cooley up front and Abromaitis at the two. Or they can use Scott Martin and Carleton Scott up front with Ben Hansbrough and Eric Atkins in the back court, allowing them to play more of a five out offense. They still play at more of a deliberate pace than we are used to seeing out of a Mike Brey team; call it the Luke Harangody hangover. But what is this team's identity. Are they a defensive team? Are they a three point shooting team? Are they really as good as they looked in winning the Old Spice Classic, or is the second half against Kentucky (when they scored 18 points) more indicative of this team's potential. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure that out tonight.
9:00 pm: Marquette @ Vanderbilt: This is an interesting matchup between two teams in the middle of the pack of their respective conferences power structure. I don't generally like using the term scrappy to define a team, but its tough to find another adjective that correctly defines Marquette. (Feisty? Pesky?) They are exactly the same as every Marquette team the past five years. Versatile forwards, talented guards, play hard. Vanderbilt is flying a bit under the radar right now. They have size, they have shooting, and they have athleticism, but its never a good sign when your point guard is Brad Tinsley.
9:00 pm: No. 25 Illinois @ Iowa: The Illini kick off their Big Ten season with a trip to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes. Illinois should handle this one easily, but they also should have beaten Illinois-Chicago easily.
10:30 pm: Washington @ USC: USC has been much improved over the past three weeks or so, especially now that they have Jio Fontan on the roster. We get a chance to see them play against Pac-10 favorite Washington tonight. We should get a feel for whether or not this team will actually make any noise in league play.
11:00 pm: Washington State @ UCLA: This is one of the most important games of the Pac-10 season. UCLA has the talent to compete for the league title, but if they are going to, winning home games against the other teams near the top of the league -- the Washington schools -- is vital. UCLA got a boost yesterday when it was announced that the Bruins would have Tyler Honeycutt in uniform.
7:00 pm: St. John's @ West Virginia: The Mountaineers looked awesome early in the season, but as Bobby Huggins tries to get this team to play the way he demands, WVU has slipped a bit. They aren't losing game, but they also are not playing as well as many expected. St. John's is a question mark heading into the Big East season. They lost to Fordham and St. Bonaventure, but they looked awesome in the second half against Northwestern, hitting 16-20 from the floor.
Washington has dropped out of the national top 25. Part of the reason for that is U-Dub once again has started the season slowly, going 8-3 in non-conference play without a marquee win, unless you consider beating Texas Tech or Virginia a marquee win. That said, Washington doesn't have a bad loss year, either. They lost close games to Kentucky and Michigan State in the Maui Invitational before losing by one to Texas A&M, who has climbed all the way into the top 25, on the road. Its enough that Kenpom has the Huskies sitting pretty at fifth in the country. It generally isn't a good idea to argue with Kenpom, either. Washington is deep -- ten guys average at least 13.0 mpg and no one plays more than 27.0 mpg -- and they are balanced -- all ten of those players average at least 5.4 ppg. They have athletes, they have shooters, they have playmakers, and they have defenders. You know about Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning, so I'm going to mention Justin Holiday, Jrue's brother, who has been great thus far in his senior season. He's averaging 12.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg and has been just as good as Venoy Overton on the defensive end of the floor.
Player of the Year: Derrick Williams, Arizona
With all due respect going to Klay Thompson of Washington State, Williams is my early season pick for Pac-10 player of the year. It isn't just because of the numbers he puts up. Williams averages 19.7 ppg and 7.0 rpg while scoring at an insanely high efficiency -- he averages more than two points per shot attempt, as he is knocking down 63.2% from the floor and 68.4% from three. Its the fact that he is putting up these numbers without a true point guard on the floor with him. Williams is much improved at getting his own shot. At 6'8", he has enough athleticism and quickness that he will likely be a combo-forward in the NBA, but his perimeter skills are still dragging a bit behind his tools. He's improved -- his three point shooting percentage proves that, and he was also become adept at driving left from the perimeter -- but he's still a guy that would benefit from a point guard that could get him the ball in better spots to score. Thompson's numbers are better, but so is his supporting cast.
All-Conference Team
G: Isaiah Thomas, Washington: 15.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.8 apg
G: Faisal Aden, Washington State: 16.1 ppg, 41.9% 3PT
C: Nikola Vucevic, USC: 15.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.6 bpg
Biggest Surprise: Washington State
The Cougars finished in last place in the Pac-10 in 2010. Dead last in a conference that many considered to be one of the worst of the decade. With their core basically intact this season, most expected an improvement out of Wazzu, but I doubt many people expected them to become a legitimate contender for the conference crown, a potential tournament team, and a group that is on the edge of cracking the top 25. There are still some concerns that I have -- DeAngelo Casto still isn't much more than a dunker and is a bit of a hot head, Klay Thompson and Faisal Aden are both a bit soft, they don't have much quality depth. Having said that, Thompson's performance in the Diamond Head Classic should help rid him of the "soft" label, and Reggie Moore's return from injury has given this group a big boost. There are not many teams in the country with a perimeter as good as Wazzu's.
Biggest Disappointment: UCLA Bruins
Simply put, there is too much talent on this team for Ben Howland's club to be struggling like this. Their front line, on paper, looks as good as anyone in the country. Joshua Smith is a force on the block when he decides to be, Reeves Nelson is a blue-collar forward that has improved this season, and Tyler Honeycutt has the tools to be a first round pick. Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson are blue-chip recruits. Zeke Jones, Tyler Lamb, and Brendan Lane are all capable players. So why the struggles? This team doesn't defend the way Ben Howland teams should defend. Jones and Anderson -- and the entire back court, for that matter -- have a habit of making the wrong decision in critical junctures. They don't get up for games against lesser competition -- UCLA nearly beat Kansas on the road, then lost to Montana at home, beat BYU, then nearly lost to Montana State and UC Irvine. Can we pin all of that on leadership? Who knows, but with the talent UCLA has, they should be a Pac-10 favorite. Few outside of Westwood currently believe that.
Teams to keep an eye on:
USC: The Trojans have been a different team the last month, and that was true before they added Jio Fontan, who is averaging 16.7 ppg and 3.3 apg, to the mix. They knocked off Texas at home by 17 (without Fontan) and they beat Tennessee on the road after coming up a couple of Josh Selby jumpers short of beating Kansas in the Phog. Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson are big enough to compete with anyone up front, and the tandem of Maurice Jones and Fontan has been tough to handle through three games.
Cal: There are some decent pieces on the Bears. Jorge Gutierrez is good, as is Harper Kamp. A 25 point win over New Mexico is nice, but I think their five point first half against Notre Dame is probably a better indication of how good this team is.
Arizona State: This is charity, because I think Arizona State has some talent. On the perimeter, they are loaded, with guys like Ty Abbott, Rihard Kuksiks, Jamelle McMillan, and Trent Lockett. But up front, they are relying on the undersized Kyle Cain. And that's about it.
Teams to forget about:
Stanford, Oregon, and Oregon State: These are just not good basketball teams.
Missouri is the most exciting team in the country to watch this season. Not just because they play a hectic, up and down style -- its called the "Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball" for a reason -- but because every game they play seems to come down to the wire. This is already this third time this season that we have used a game that the Tiger's have played in as Game of the Week.
Wednesday night's matchup was no different. Illinois jumped out to a 10 point lead early in the first half, but a 17-2 run by Mizzou that spanned the two halves gave the tigers a 35-29 lead early in the second half. Illinois answered with a 12-2 run of their own, and it was on. Both teams made big shot after big shot. It was like a boxing match between two fighters with glass jaws but not all that much skill. Illinois and Mizzou were both landing haymaker after haymaker, waiting for the other team to drop. Eventually, Missouri took a 62-58 lead when Brandon Paul missed two free throws with 48 seconds left. Michael Dixon tracked the ball down, but it was stolen from him in the back court by Mike Davis, setting up an exciting sequence (jump to the 1:30 mark, and don't mind the music in the back ground):
The intentional foul called on Tisdale may have cost Illinois the game, but it was the correct call. Two handed shoves in the back of a player moving at full speed are dangerous, and they are the precise reason that the intentional foul was added to the rulebook.
That sequence is the perfect example of Missouri basketball. A potentially momentum changing three is made off of a turnover, cutting Mizzou's lead to one with 44 seconds left. Most teams hold the ball for one shot in that situation. Missouri threw an inbounds pass to Marcus Denmon, who was already heading up the floor. He took one dribble and passed ahead to Laurence Bowers, who was wide open on a wing. Layup, foul, six point possession, game over.
It deserves to be noted: UAB 68, VCU 65
In a battle of anagrams, VCU took a 19 point with just 13 minutes left in the game. UAB was able to whittle that down to nine at one point, but eventually UAB took a 65-53 lead with just 5:08 left in the game. That's when Jamarr Sanders took over. He hit a three to cut the lead to nine, but neither team scored until Sanders scored four points -- one of two free throws and then a three -- when he picked up a steal on back-to-back possessions, cutting the lead to 65-60 with 1:30 left. After Aaron Johnson picked up a steal, he hit one of two free throws. UAB grabbed the rebound off of the miss and the ball ended up in Sanders' hands. He buried another three, and the lead was now just 65-64 with 1:15 left. VCU had possession, but they turned the ball over again, and with just 10 seconds left in the game, Sanders drove, drew a foul, and hit both free throws to take the lead 66-65. Two more Johnson free throws sealed the win.
All told, Sanders had 12 of his 29 points in the final five minutes. UAB had not been closer than nine points since the 14:50 mark of the first half. That's not quite Jay Williams-vs.-Maryland territory, but Sanders' performance was quite impressive nonetheless.
Player of the Week: Klay Thompson, Washington State
I know that Washington State was beaten pretty handily by Butler in the final of the Diamond Head Classic, but that does nothing to diminish the week that Thompson had. In the three games in Hawaii, he averaged 26.3 ppg, including 31 in the loss to Butler that kept things close. He was 25-46 from the floor and 13-25 from three. It was, without a doubt, an impressive performance, and Thompson's play this week is a huge reason why Wazzu's name is being tossed around as a potential top 25 team and a sleeper in the Pac-10.
What makes this performance by Thompson so impressive is not that he shot the ball well. We've known that Thompson was a good shooter. That is no secret. But, like we said after the win over Gonzaga, Thompson has become an all-around player. He's jumping passing lanes. He's creating for his teammates. Most importantly, however, he's been able to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim while handling physical, one-on-one defense much better than last year. Thompson started out the 2009-2010 season on fire, but once Pac-10 play came around his numbers dropped considerably. He likely will not find defense as physical as Butler's in the Pac-10 this season. He had 31 against Butler and kept the Cougars in the game despite subpar performances from Reggie Moore, DeAngelo Casto, and Faisal Aden.
The All-they-were-good-too team:
G: Darius Morris, Michigan: Granted, it came against Bryant, but Morris had 26 points and 12 assists in his only game of the week. It was the fifth time he's reached double figure assists and his fourth double-double of the season. Morris is now averaging 15.3 ppg and 7.5 apg on the season.
G: Jio Fontan, USC: Fontan averaged 17.0 ppg, 4.0 apg, and 3.5 spg while leading the Trojans to a 2-0 week, including a win at Tennessee, to bounce back from a tough loss to Kansas in Fontan's debut.
G: Doron Lamb, Kentucky: Lamb had 32 points on 11-12 shooting (7-8 from three) as he set the Kentucky freshman scoring record, previously held by Jamal Mashburn, in a win over Winthrop.
F: Travis Franklin, Colorado State: Franklin led the Rams to a win in the Cancun Governer's Cup by averaging 22.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, and 2.0 spg, including a 25-point, 9-rebound performance against Gary Flowers and Southern Miss in the final.
F: Justin Harper, Richmond: Harper averaged 20.5 ppg and 8.0 rpg, leading the Spiders in scoring in both games, as Richmond knocked off UNC-Greensboro and Seton Hall. Harper had 24 points and hit six three against the Hall.
Bench: Jimmer Fredette, BYU; Justin Hurtt, Tulsa; Chris Singleton, Florida State; Matt Howard, Butler
Team of the Week: Butler Bulldogs
Butler may have given life to their chances of earning an at-large bid this season with a win in the Diamond Head Classic out in Hawaii. With wins over Florida State and Washington State, as well as Utah, Butler landed themselves two quality victories against teams that will likely be in the tournament come March. Without much in the way of a resume booster from here on out, the Bulldogs are going to want to win the Horizon Tournament to be safe, but the resume is not what was important coming out of this week.
What's important is that Butler looked like the Butler we expected to see all season long. Matt Howard has really grown as a player in his four season with the Bulldogs. He's now knocking down threes, he's putting the ball on the floor and hitting mid-range shots and fadeaways. He's still a terrific rebounder. He averaged 18.7 ppg and 8.7 rpg this week, upping his averages to 18.1 ppg and 8.2 rpg on the season. Shelvin Mack broke out of his slump this week, scoring 17 points on FSU and 20 on WSU. Andrew Smith looks like he is going to be a force on the block in the Horizon this year. Chase Stigall and Zack Hahn are both knocking down jumpers now. Ronald Nored and Shawn Vanzant are just as pesky and athletic as they were last season. I'm not usually a big believer in the eye test, but this team passed with flying colors this week.
A disappointing week: I don't have an explanation for it.
The only reason I can think of is that teams that aren't as good as they think they are were distracted by the end of the finals and the start of the holiday season.
Regardless, it seemed like every time I looked at the college basketball scoreboard this week, another team had a disappointing performance.
We'll start with the obvious -- Renardo Sidney, Elgin Bailey, and Mississippi State. What else is there to say? These two embarrassed their team and their program and managed to get themselves sent home early from a Christmas trip to Hawaii for fighting in the stands. The Bulldogs are a mess this season.
Then there was Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly, who managed to get themselves suspended for accepting discounts on clothing from a department store. The act itself isn't all that terrible -- the fact that these two are NCAA athletes is the only reason anyone is frowning upon them taking advantage of a hook-up -- but it is just another example of the lack of leadership within the Kansas State program. The Wildcats lost to UNLV on Tuesday due to a lack of talent. It wasn't, however, a lack of effort, as Kansas State, for the first time all season, looked like the Kansas State I expected -- scrappy defense, aggressive to the offensive glass, win with floor burns. Now can they do the same with Pullen in the lineup?
Tennessee may have had their season saved with a jumper from Scotty Hopson against Belmont. Tennessee had lost to USC by one point earlier in the week, their third straight loss, before the Bruins came back to take a late lead on the Vols. Hopson hit a runner with 5.7 seconds left, however, and gave the Vols a win. Right now, the Vol's problem is execution in close games. Their last three games have been decided by one point. Two of them are losses, and both of those games Tennessee had a shot to win the game late. The Vols have three games -- against Tennessee-Martin, the College of Charleston, and Memphis -- to get this thing figured out before Bruce Pearl's eight game suspension kicks in.
How about Virginia Tech's season? They have struggled all year long to find the rhythm many of us expected them to have, and over the holiday break news leaked that Dorenzo Hudson will miss the rest of the season with an injury to his foot. Seton Hall is in the exact same boat, as Jeremy Hazell -- who may be out for the season with a wrist injury -- was shot in an attempted robbery over the holiday break.
All told, 18 teams from the BCS conferences lost to team from outside the BCS conferences. Eight of those upsets occurred on Wednesday night. Don't forget, this was a week when there were essentially no games played on Saturday and Sunday. Usually, there are upwards of 175 games played on the weekend. And those struggles? They don't even count games like UCLA beating UC Irvine by one, or Arizona State losing to North Carolina A&T by 11 in the second half, or Minnesota struggling to knock off South Dakota State.
I feel comfortable saying that after the second half whooping they put on Mississippi State yesterday afternoon.
Wazzu went into the break down 40-39 and, with both Klay Thompson and Faisal Aden getting hot, went on a 36-9 run to open the second half. There are not many one-two scoring punches in the country as potent as Thompson and Aden. Thompson came into this season with the reputation of being a shooter, but he's slowly developing into more of a scorer. What I mean is that he's much better attacking the rim off the dribble, reading screens, and using his ball fake to get into the lane. He's also defending, rebounding, and passing as well as he ever has.
When you throw Aden, a sharp-shooting JuCo transfer that averages 16.9 ppg off the bench, and Reggie Moore out there as well, Wazzu may just have the best perimeter attack on the West Coast. DeAngelo Casto and Marcus Capers anchor what is an underrated front line.
So like I said, this team is legit.
But I also believed this team was going to compete with Washington for the Pac-10 title prior to yesterday.
Because I do not think that Mississippi State is any good.
Look, a large part of their problem right now has to be due to exhaustion. They played five games in five days starting Dec. 11th. Four days after that stretch was finished, they went to the Bahamas to get clobbered by Virginia Tech. Now, they are in Hawaii getting clobbered by Washington State. And to top it off, the guy that this hectic schedule was put together for -- Renardo Sidney, who is finally eligible to play -- showed how thankful he was by getting himself suspended just one game for arguing and fighting with teammates.
Sidney's already proven that, until he gets himself into shape, he is not the answer that Rick Stansbury is looking far.
Dee Bost will provide reinforcements when he becomes eligible to play before the SEC season starts.
But right now, Bost's addition will be like using a band-aid on a sliced artery. Continue reading...
The best part about the early season tournaments is that they allow us to get a feel for some of the best teams in the country against real competition.
For these five participants in the Diamond Head Classic, which kicks off at 3:00 pm this afternoon, the Christmas version of the Maui Invitational is a chance to answer some legitimate concerns: Baylor: The Bears lost to Gonzaga on Saturday in their first loss away from Waco, TX, this season. It also happens to be the only game that Baylor has played away from Waco as well as their only game against real competition unless you consider Arizona State to be real competition. We know about the talent on this team -- from LaceDarius Dunn's golden jump shot to the length of guys like Perry Jones and Quincy Acy -- but if Baylor is truly going to be a contender for things like the Big XII title and the Final Four, they need to prove that they can win away from home. Butler: The Bulldogs, much like last season, have plenty of doubters in regards to their ability to play against high-major competition. That's what happens when Gordon Hayward graduates and your team struggles against the only three tournament teams on your schedule. We know about how good Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard are, and some of Brad Steven's younger guys have played better in recent weeks. But this is still a team that needs to prove it can hang with the big boys. They should have an opportunity to do just that should they get by Utah in the first round.
Florida State: Florida State could very well be the bet defensive team in the country this season. They have size, they have length, they are athletic, and they have Chris Singleton, who is the best defender in the country. But the Noles can't score. I don't mean they have trouble scoring, I mean that when their offense looks the way that Kansas State's has the last two games, Florida State has played well. Personally, I'll be looking to see how Deividas Dulkys performs this week. He's the Noles second leading scorer right now and could end up being the missing piece.
Mississippi State: The questions the Bulldog's have are not going to be answered this week. Dee Bost doesn't return until the New Year. Renardo Sidney, who has been suspended for today's game against Washington State, is enough of a head case that his true impact on this team will not be known for some time. The question we are all waiting to find out is if this is truly a team that can compete for the top spot in the SEC West (which isn't saying much) and potentially a tournament berth. Don't expect any answers this week.
Washington State: Are the Cougars for real this year? Klay Thompson certainly is, as he has seemingly improved his all-around game to become more than strictly a jump shooter. But what about Faisal Aden? Can he keep this scoring rate up? Is Reggie Moore healthy? Will DeAngelo Casto ever develop into his potential? Does Wazzu really have some front court depth this season? This is an intriguing team, and should they beat Mississippi State today, they will be playing three games in four days against tournament caliber competition. Personally, I'm excited to finally try and get a read on this team.
Last week, we talked a little bit about the Washington State-Oregon game in Pullman. If you remember, the refs had called a technical on the Cougars bench with 0.3 seconds left on the clock because the Wazzu bench spilled to far onto the court after DeAngelo Casto scored what would have been the game-winner. TaJuan Porter hit two free throws to tie the game and force a second overtime that Oregon eventually took control of.
On Tuesday, the Pac-10 backed their official's decision.
Ed Bilik, secretary-editor of the rules committee, told The Times from his office in Georgia that "interference" by fans or players off the bench must impact play directly to warrant a technical.
Referring to the end-of-overtime chaos that turned an apparent WSU victory into an Oregon win, Bilik said, "The ball was never even taken out of bounds. So how could it interfere with continuous play? Basically, there was no interference in terms of the ball being put into play." Bilik's comments came in the wake of an "end of the game reminder" he issued this week to NCAA officials and published on the NCAA Web site as a result of the WSU-Oregon controversy.
The first part of that advisory says, "When a delay by a jubilant follower(s) or bench personnel before player activity has been terminated does not prevent the ball from being put in play promptly or does not interfere with continuous play, the delay shall be ignored, order shall be restored and play shall be resumed."
The words "ignored," "restored" and "resumed" were underscored.
In other words, what Bilik is saying is that there better be a damn good reason for a ref to call a technical foul with 0.3 seconds left in a game when said technical will effect the outcome of the game.
Could this open up the door for a Wazzu appeal?
The issue seems to be whether or not this was a judgement call. Are the refs allowed to determine themselves whether or not a technical is deserved in this situation? Or is there a rule in the rulebook that must be broken (i.e. coming on the court while the ball is in play)?
Personally, I doubt the last 0.3 seconds will be replayed, but if it does, it almost assuredly changes the result.
Judging by how jumbled the Pac-10 is, this decision may have a larger than intended effect on the league standings.
Texas Tech 99, Washington 92 OT: Maybe the most exciting game of the year thus far in the season. Washington and Texas Tech were tied with 4.8 seconds left after Elston Turner missed two free throws. Mike Singletary grabbed the rebound, dribbled the length of the court, and hit a 20 foot runner at the buzzer for what looked like a last second win. The fans stormed the court, but after further review, Singletary didn't get the shot off in time.
Texas Tech fans stormed the court twice last night. (photo credit: Examiner)
In the first half, Texas Tech opened up a nine point lead as Washington looked bad defensively. They struggled rotating, they were getting beat off the dribble, and they were allowing open jumpers. The second half was a different story, as the Huskies locked down a little more on the defensive end. After a 10-2 run tied the game at 60, the two teams basically traded baskets until there was under a minute left in the overtime period. After Venoy Overton fell asleep defensively, allowing Nick Okorie to cut back door for a lob, Tech went up 91-89. On the ensuing possession, John Roberson (who finished the game with 25 points) stole the ball and went the distance for a lay-up to take a 93-89 lead with 45 seconds left. After Thomas airballed a three, this one was all but over. While this looks like a disastrous loss for Washington and the Pac-10, keep in mind that this Texas Tech team is still undefeated, and they have the look of a team that can at least make a run at an at-large bid. Roberson is solid at the point, and last night was no different as he went for 25 points and 7 assists. He made a number of big plays down the stretch, including hitting all 13 of his free throws. He severely outplayed U-Dub's duo of Isaiah Thomas and Abdul Gaddy. Mike Singletary is a scorer. He's not really a post player, not really a wing, but he can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim or finish in the mid range. But Singletary, who finished with 16 points and 12 boards, also showed the ability to mix it up under the rim. Combine those two with a couple big bodies, a couple of athletic wings, and a shooter off the bench in Brad Reese, and you have yourself a team.
Quincy Pondexter had 31 points to lead the Huskies.
Baylor 64, Arizona State 61: Tweety Carter took over late for the Bears. He scored 12 in a 13-0 Baylor run that gave the Bears a 52-47 lead with just under six minutes left. Rihard Kuksiks responded by scoring 11 straight ASU points to tie the game at 58. But Epke Udoh found Quincy Acy for a dunk with 49 seconds left, and 35 seconds later Carter hit two free for a 62-58 lead. Ty Abbott hit a three to cut it to one, but Udoh found LaceDarius Dunn for a lay-up for the final score. Carter finished with 27 points for the second straight game, hitting 7-9 from deep.
Texas 69, USC 50: Texas is still looking to put it together offensively, but the Longhorns still can play defense. They held USC into a 30% shooting night as they beat the Trojans in underwhelming fashion. Texas missed a number of easy looks (the one that comes to mind is seeing Dexter Pittman get "sprited" on dunk attempt where he didn't get an inch on the ground) and went 19-34 from the free throw line. Damion James had 19 points and 9 boards, while Dexter Pittman had 7 blocks for the Longhorns.
So in case you didn't notice, the Pac-10 went 0-3 tonight in the Big XII/Pac-10 Series, making them 0-4 on the season (which doesn't include Texas Tech's win over Oregon State earlier in the year). Everywhere you go on the blogs today, you are going to read about the Pac-10's struggles, and as we have already written about it, I'm not going to go into too much depth. But the one thing that intrigues me the most was brought up by Mike DeCourcy: how many first round picks are in that league? Klay Thompson will probably end up being a first round pick, but he needs to improve his strength and his all-around game to be a lottery pick. Malcolm Lee has really disappointed. Abdul Gaddy hasn't played up to his potential yet. Nic Wise, Jerome Randle, and Isaiah Thomas are all diminutive point guards. Maybe Quincy Pondexter or Derrick Williams? Coaching will only get you so far in college hoops. Talent is the great difference maker. Until Pac 10 coaches start recruiting better and bring more NBA level talent into the league, this could only be the start of the fall for the Pac-10.
Newcomers: Steven Bjornstad, Austin Bragg, Anthony Brown, Reggie Moore, Brock Motum, Xavier Thames, RS John Allen, RS James Watson
Klay Thompson will carry the Cougars in his sophomore season. (photo credit: daylife)
Washington State lost a lot last season, as seniors Taylor Rochestie and Aron Baynes graduated and head coach Tony Bennett moved to Virginia. While Wazzu may have some issues replacing the seniors they lost, the biggest change for the Cougars is going to be playing style. By bringing in Ken Bone to replace Bennett, the Cougars will play at a much faster tempo than Bennett did, as Bone's Portland State squad averaged 73.4 ppg on 67.4 possessions (as opposed to 59.2 and 59.6 for Bennett's Cougars last year).
Sophomore Klay Thompson will be the Cougars best player this season. Thompson's game is based almost entirely around his jump shot. His biggest strength is his three-point shooting ability, where he knocked down an impressive 42.1% of his attempts. Thompson is not the best athlete in the world, but standing 6'6" with good length allows him to get his shot up against most defenders on the perimeter.
As I said before, Thompson is not a great athlete - he is slender, has a below-average first step, and is not a great leaper. But with that in mind, Thompson's second biggest attribute as a basketball player is his court sense. As is typical of the son of an NBA player (former Laker star Mychal Thompson), Klay really has a feel for the game on the offensive end; he knows how to score. Thompson has an effective pull-up jumper and can drive going either direction, but he is not yet strong enough to be a consistent finisher around the rim. He's also a bit of a shaky ball handler, especially when driving to the basket, but that should develop with time. With the amount of offense the Cougars graduated and a new, faster paced system, don't be surprised if Thompson puts up 18-20 ppg this year, especially if he is able to develop his ability to drive the ball.
Bone is going to have his work cut out for him with the rest of this Cougar team, which has just one upper classmen on the roster in senior guard Nikola Koprivica. Koprivica started 18 games as a junior. He isn't a big scorer (3.1 ppg in over 20 mpg), but Koprivica is a decent defender that provides Wazzu with experience - he will be the only guy on the roster that has made an NCAA Tournament.
The rest of the Cougars are freshman and sophomores. The only two guys that saw significant playing time last season were guard Marcus Capers and forward DeAngelo Casto. Casto is a big body, standing 6'8", 231lb. He had a solid freshman campaign, averaging 4.4 ppg and 4.0 rpg. With most of the Cougars front court graduating, Bone is going to rely pretty heavily on Casto in the paint. His development will go a long way towards determining how successful Bone's first season is. Capers is a lithe, 6'4" wing. He seemed a bit out of control at times his freshman season, as he shot just 29% from the floor and grabbed more rebounds than he did score points. But in a new, uptempo system, Capers might be able to find success by getting out and running on the wings.
Once you get past those four players, it is going to be wide open in terms of who gets playing time for the Cougars. Between the new system and the inexperience of the roster, my bet would be that Bone starts the season out with a large rotation, and the guys that prove themselves early on in the season will be the ones playing the majority of the minutes by the end of the year. The two most promising players will be two freshmen, forward James Watson and point guard Reggie Moore. Watson is an athletic, 6'7" big man that red-shirted last season. Where Casto is more of a land warrior, Watson will be able to provide the Cougars with energy, athleticism, and an above-the-rim player along their front line. Moore is a bit of a combo-guard coming out of Seattle's famed Rainier Beach high school (he also spent a year at Brewster Academy). He's quick, he's a solid ball handler, and he can knock down an open three. With a young team, having a savvy and poised point guard is extremely important. The Cougars are going to be relying pretty heavily on the freshman to lead their team.
Another kid that will provide some minutes in the back court is freshman Xavier Thames. Thames, who is listed as a point guard on most recruiting websites, is taller (6'3") and a bit more dynamic than Moore. I would expect them to share the back court quite a bit, with Thames spending more time playing off the ball. The rest of the Cougars back court will be filled out by sophomore Michael Harthun and freshmen John Allen and Anthony Brown. The rest of their front court rotation will be filled out by freshman - Brock Motum, Austin Bragg, and Steven Bjornstad.
Outlook: Wazzu is young, inexperienced, and has a new head coach. That is never a good combination. But they return Klay Thompson, who may end up being the Pac-10 player of the year. There is some depth to this team, however, and while they are young, these Cougar's may be able to sneak up on some people playing in Ken Bone's more open offense. If Casto and Watson can prove to be a solid front court tandem, and one of the two talented freshman PG's (Moore and Thames) steps up to run this team, Wazzu has an outside chance of making a run to the NCAA Tournament playing in a weak Pac-10. Continue reading...
UCLA 61, Washington State 59: The Bruins were able to hang on down the stretch after blowing a 15 point second half lead. UCLA jumped out to a big lead early, thanks in large part to the play of Nikola Dragovic, who was 6-7 of three for 18 first half points. In fact, most of the damage UCLA did during this game was done from the perimeter. Wazzu was packing in their defense, seemingly daring the Bruins to shoot, which doesn't really make sense to me considering the Cougars had a big size advantage on the block and UCLA has some very capable shooters.
In the second half, when Wazzu made their run, they started getting out on shooters a little more. It really made a difference, as Dragovic and company were taking contested jumpers instead of wide open looks.
Wazzu made a couple of little runs at UCLA early in the second half, but every time they did, the Bruins would respond by knocking down a big shot. With just under nine minutes left, Alfred Aboya hit a jumper to extend the UCLA lead back to 11, but that's when the Cougars would finally get the game close again. Wazzu scored 11 straight points, the last six by Caleb Forrest (who had a fantastic game, scoring 19 points). But Darren Collison took over, scoring the next six Bruin points, and UCLA hung on for the two point win as they forced Marcus Capers into a tough jumper at the end of the game.
Don't be surprised UCLA won - they haven't lost a conference game on a Thursday night in Collison's tenure.
I don't understand why teams go away from what had been working for them. The perfect example is Dragovic. He was on fire in the first half, hitting four of his three's in the last five minutes. Three of those came off of pick-and-pops (a pick-and-roll, where instead of rolling the big man flares out for a jumper). But in the second half, UCLA stopped running players off of screens from Dragovic. I know that Wazzu probably made an adjustment during halftime, but I can't remember UCLA even trying one screen with Dragovic. I feel like you need to go back to that well at least once, see if it still works.
I was pretty impressed with this Washington State team. Taylor Rochestie is one of the most underrated point guards in the country. Aron Baynes is a solid, yet unspectacular, big man. Klay Thompson is a difference maker for them. He is a long and athletic wing that can do a lot of different things on the floor, but also has a good looking jumper. If Caleb Forrest can play like he did tonight, Wazzu could make some noise this year. How many teams can come back from 15 down in the second half against a team like UCLA?
One last note about this game. I know that both teams are great defensively, but this was one of the most well played games offensively I've seen in a while. Neither team turned the ball over much (11 combined) while shooting the ball very well (Wazzu 48%, UCLA 49%).
Washington 78, USC 73: The difference in this game was the play of Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas in the second half. The two combined for 31 second half points, and Washington pulled away from USC late, eventually taking a 13 point lead. Neither of the Washington guards could get anything going in the first half, as USC played a triangle-and-two against them, with Demar Derozan and Daniel Hackett face guarding them. The difference was taking them off the ball offensively and allowing someone else to initiate the offense. When that happened, Washington was able to get some easy looks and easy buckets for other players. That took some of the focus off of Dentmon and Thomas, who were able to take over in the second half.
The match-up inside between Taj Gibson and Jon Brockman sort of fizzled out as Brockman struggled to get going offensively. Both finished with 13 boards, but Gibson outscored Brockman 15-4. Brockman is more of a bruiser on the inside, and it seemed like he struggled a bit with the length and athleticism of USC.
Daniel Hackett scored 24 points, dropped 4 dimes, and played an excellent game defensively, but USC is going to struggle all year because he is not a point guard. He can be a play maker, but he is much more effective when he can do it from the wing. He just makes poor decisions with the ball, and at times looks like he is just trying to get it out of his hands. He had five turnovers against Washington. Don't get me wrong, I really like his game, he just isn't a point guard, plain and simple.
I really liked what I saw from Washington. They have an excellent back court with Thomas, Dentmon, and Denoy Overton. Brockman is their horse on the block. Quincy Pondexter can make plays from the wing. But I think their x-factor is going to be guys like Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday (Jrue's brother). Bryan-Amaning is an athletic front court player that is very active going to the offensive glass and is a great compliment to Brockman. Holiday is a lanky wing that can get out and run the floor alongside the Husky back court. Good teams have guys that play with energy and can make plays coming off their bench, and that is what the Huskies are going to need from those two.
I don't want to get too ahead of myself, because USC was playing without leading scorer (and only shooter) Dwight Lewis, but if Washington can beat UCLA on Saturday, they will be all alone atop the Pac-10.
Oregon State 69, Cal 65: Up 62-51 with 9:27 left, it looked like Cal was in control of this game. But Oregon State would outscore them 18-3 the rest of the way to win Craig Robinson's first game as the brother-in-law of the new president. Roeland Schaftenaar (22 points) and Calvin Haynes (21 points) would score 17 of the 18 for the Beavers. This loss is a huge blow to Cal. Not only do they fall a game behind UCLA and Washington a top the Pac-10, but in a season where it seems like everyone is destined for the bubble, losing a conference game at home to one of the bottom feeders is a pretty horrendous loss.
Stanford 77, Oregon 55: Anthony Goods scored 20 as the Cardinal jumped out to a 40-18 halftime lead.
The rest of the night's games:
West Virginia 75, Georgetown 58: West Virginia locked the Hoyas down defensively and killed them on the offensive glass as the Mountaineers won in DC. West Virginia got 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 second chance points, and forced 19 Hoya turnovers. Da'Sean Butler was the player of the game, going to 27 points on 11-18 shooting, while Alex Ruoff added 10 points and 9 assists and Truck Bryant poured in 13. The decisive run came midway through the second half as WVU went on a 12-3 spurt that took a two point lead and close game and blew it open.
Purdue 70, Minnesota 62: The Boilermakers are finally getting healthy, and now look like the team that was picked to win the Big Ten. On the strength of 19 points, 8 boards, and 5 blocks from JaJuan Johnson and a defense that held the Gophers to 28% shooting (3-19 from three), Purdue opened up a lead as big as 16 in the second half. Minnesota did have 12 blocks and force 17 turnovers, but the difference was they allowed Purdue to shoot 50% from the floor and get too many good looks at the rim.
Butler 68, Wisconsin Green-Bay 59: The Bulldogs overcame a sluggish start and some foul trouble to knock off the Pheonix and stay undefeated on top of the Horizon League. Matt Howard led Butler with 15 and 8 boards.
St. Mary's 65, San Diego 42: The Gaels started out the game on a 17-4 run and cruised to the win on the strength of 16 and 11 from center Omar Samhan.
Providence 98, Seton Hall 93 OT: Geoff McDermott hit 1-2 free throws for the Friars to send the game into OT, and Weyinmi Efejuku scored seven in overtime as the Friars improved to 5-2 in the league.
Gonzaga 83, Pepperdine: Josh Heytvelt had 25 and Matt Bouldin had 14 and 10 dimes as the 'Zags rolled to the win.
Cincinnati 71, St. John's 60: The Johnnies were up 11 at the half, but their best player, DJ Kennedy, was ejected (along with Rashad Bishop) early in the second half, and Deonta Vaughn took over. He scored 18 of his 23 in the last 17 minutes as the Bearcats won.
Dayton 63, George Washington 61: Wanna hear a tough way to lose? At home against one of the best teams in the conference, you pick up a tech for six guys on the court up one with under 20 seconds left.
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.
I am a creature of habit. I like having a system in my life. I like my time to be organized, and I like when I have a schedule to follow. For example, tonight I knew that Gonzaga-Washington State was scheduled to be on one of the many Fox Sports stations I get. Knowing that the game tipped at 10, and after burning the midnight oil last night (Rush the Court runs a tight ship), I decided my best bet would be to take a nice long nap in the afternoon to get ready for another late night.
Anyway, I wake up from a splendid nap around 8:00, grab some leftovers from the fridge, and turn on the TV to find that Die Hard 2 is on, and its on HBO nonetheless (John McClane isn't John McClane when the F-bombs are edited out). The movie ends at 10:30, which is perfect because it means I can TiVo the start of the game and fast forward through commercials.
So after watching McClane single-handedly save the day, I flip over to Fox Sports to start watching the 'Zags-Wazzu, and what is on? UW-Oshkosh vs. UW-River Falls. A D3 game. Featuring two teams from Wisconsin. Did I mention I live in DC? How does this happen? So not only do I ruin my sleep cycle, I don't get to see Washington State, a possible tourney team from the Pac-10, play for the first time this season, and I don't get to see Gonzaga play a team with a stingy defense for the first time this year.
Seriously, two D3 teams from Wisconsin? They aren't even good teams (one is 2-4, the other is 4-3). I am willing to bet that in the entire city of Washington DC, I was the only person that watched any of that game (I actually did, for like five minutes - some kid from River Falls had a nice dunk too).
So now that is out of the way (bitter much Rob), let's look at the last night's games:
Gonzaga 74, Washington State 52: Wazzu hung around for a while, keeping the score low as they trailed 32-29 at the half. But Josh Heytvelt sparked a 27-2 run with 11 points early in the second half, the 'Zags coasted down the stretch. Heytvelt finished with 22 and Jeremy Pargo added 11 and 10 dimes (and just one turnover). The 'Zags handled the Cougars defense well, turning the ball over just 8 times.
Oklahoma 78, Maine 52: Blake Griffin had another great night (22 on 11-13 from the floor, 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks) to go along with a couple huge dunks and Willie Warren had 19 to break out of his mini-slump. I like that Warren has been deferring to some of the other Oklahoma players, but he is the most talented player and best scorer they have in their back court. Yes, this is Blake Griffin's team, but I think Warren needs to think of himself as a side kick as opposed to a role player.
Xavier 78, Ohio 56: Terrell Holloway returned and played 15 minutes for the Musketeers, giving them a spark off the bench during an 18-2 run late in the first half that blew a close game open. As the only true point guard on this team, Xavier's offense flows much better with Holloway on the court.
Charlotte 70, Mississippi State 64: Not a good sign for the Rebels, as Charlotte was 2-6 heading into this game.
Florida 94, Florida Gulf Coast 60
Vanderbilt 78, Alabama A&M 55
California 72, Utah 69
Illinois 89, Chicago State 50: David Holston was held to 17.
Butler 87, Bradley 75: Butler just keeps on winning. Against Bradley they were led by two freshman - Shelvin Mack (20, 8 boards, 6 dimes) and Gordon Hayward (20, 6 and 4).
Creighton 77, Dayton 59: The Bluejays were on fire, hitting 13-25 from deep as they became the first team to shoot better than 40% against the Flyers. Booker Woodfox led Creighton with 21.
The biggest game of the night takes place in Pullman, WA, as Gonzaga travels to play Washington State. Gonzaga has proven that they are one of the best teams in the country, as they won the Old Spice Classic beating Oklahoma State, Maryland, and Tennessee. But all three of those teams played at a fairly quick pace. Wazzu wants to slow you down and grind out a win in the 50's. This will be a good test for the 'Zags, as Wazzu is always tough at home, even if the Cougars are a little bit down this year.
There are two things Gonzaga needs to do to win tonight. The first is to try and establish the post by getting the ball inside. After Aron Baynes, Wazzu does not have much on the interior, and Baynes is extremely foul prone. Get him saddled with fouls early, and the 'Zags size advantage becomes a lot greater. The other is that Jeremy Pargo needs to play with patience. Last year he had a tendency to rush on the offensive end, especially when things were getting bogged down offensively. But Pargo has been much better this year, and if he can run this team and get them good looks against a stingy Cougar defense, the 'Zags should roll back to Spokane with a win.
The rest of the night's not-so-interesting games:
7:00 PM: Charlotte (2-6) @ Mississippi State (6-2)
7:30 PM: Ohio (4-3) @ Xavier (7-0): If you get a chance to see this game, watch Ohio's Jerome Tillman, who is averaging 20.7 ppg and 10.7 rpg.
8:00 PM: Florida Gulf Coast (2-5) @ Florida (6-2)
8:00 PM: Maine (5-4) @ Oklahoma (8-0)
8:00 PM: Alabama A&M (1-3) @ Vanderbilt (5-3)
8:00 PM: California (6-2) @ Utah (5-2)
8:00 PM: Chicago State (3-4) @ Illinois (8-1): David Holston of Chicago State is one of the most exciting players in the country. Only 5'8", he is averaging 28.3 ppg and 5.0 apg and has already hit 30 points five times this year.
8:05 PM: Butler (7-0) @ Bradley (4-3); 8:05 PM: Dayton (8-0) @ Creighton (5-2): Two great min-major match-ups. There is a real shot that three of these teams (Dayton, Butler, Creighton) will be in the NCAA Tourney come March.
Newcomers: John Allen, Marcus Capers, DeAngelo Casto, Mike Harthun, Klay Thompson, James Watson, James Witherill
While Derrick Low was the leading scorer for the Cougars last year, the loss of Kyle Weaver is probably going to hurt more. Weaver was a great defender who could do a little bit of everything offensively and was very unselfish, the perfect kind of player to fit into the Bennett (Dick or Tony) system. The Cougars also lose start Robbie Cowgill, meaning that Tony Bennett will have a lot of production and minutes to replace.
Wazzu does return a couple talented players and big-time contributors from last year's team. The first is center Aron Baynes, who at 6'10", 270 lb, is as big and strong as anyone in the Pac-10. He has some decent post moves, but struggles to stay on the court (24 mpg because he averaged 3 fouls per game and fouled out 7 times). They also bring back Taylor Rochestie. Rochestie is one of the more underrated point guards in the country. A lefty, Rochestie was the team's best three point shooter (43%), averaged almost 5 assists per game while sporting an 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. 6th man Daven Harmeling is also back.
Wazzu brings in a huge recruiting class this year with seven freshman, and two more red-shirt freshman becoming eligible to play. The best of the bunch is probably Klay Thompson (son of former #1 pick Mychal Thompson). Thompson is a long, athletic, 6'6" wing with a pretty good jumpshot. He's not the playmaker that Weaver was, but he could step in and replace some of his production. Mike Harthun should also be able to contribute right away, as he is a two-guard known for his shooting ability who should be able to slide right in for Derrick Low. The rest of the class is tough to predict as Bennett likes to recruit guys that fly "under-the-radar"; guys that fit into the system he runs. Given his track record, I would expect them to fit pretty well.
Outlook: The Pac-10 lost a lot of talent from last year, including 5 of the first 11 picks and 7 first-rounders total. Washington State is going to be young and inexperienced, especially when it comes to their bench, but Bennett is a very good young coach that has a knack for getting the most out of his players. Probably not a favorite to win the conference, but a win in the NCAA tournament is a very likely scenario.Continue reading...
Got a article we need to read? Want to advertise with us? Have a youtube video we need to see? Think we're morons? Let us know! Send an email to ContactBIAH@gmail.com or hit us up on twitter @RobDauster, @TroyMachir or @BallinisaHabit
Posts
