The Weekend that Was

Things have been a bit light in college basketball the past week or two, thanks to finals...ya know, for classes, since these players are "student"-athletes (that's a rant for another time). A quick look at some of the happenings in the college basketball world from this past weekend.

Self probably told Selby to nail a '3' to win the game (KansasCity.com)

-Early Onions Award goes to Josh Selby, the freshman guard from Kansas. After sitting out the first 9 games of the season due to an NCAA violation suspension, Selby nailed a 3 pointer with 26 seconds left to give the Jayhawks the lead in their 2 point win over USC on Saturday. In his first collegiate game Selby also dropped 21 points. Raftery was in Columbus for the Ohio State - South Carolina game, but I'm sure he dropped an "Onions" call when he saw the highlight.

-There were three upsets this weekend....the biggest which happened in the backyard of Daily Onions.  UIC (that's University of Illinois-Chicago) took down the 14th ranked University of Illinois at the United Center. The Illini shot 32% percent from the field, and 23% from 3 pt, and committed 15 turnovers, against a team that came into the game on a four game losing streak.  Illinois has a lot of experience with McCamey, Davis, Tisdale, etc, but they sure did lay an egg in this "neighborhood" rivalry game.

-Gonzaga finally got a quality non-conference win this weekend, as they went to Dallas and beat the 9th ranked Baylor Bears. Good for the Zags, who had one of the toughest early season schedules (along with Butler and Michigan State) in the country.

-Florida (#24) got a nice win at home against 6th ranked Kansas State on Saturday as well. Frank Martin's Wildcats will struggle all season if they shoot 21% in the second half of games like they did against the Gators.  K-State has a ton of athleticism and talent, but have struggled the last two games (a close victory over Loyola and the loss against Florida).  No time to think about it though, as they play UNLV tomorrow night.

-Daily Onions Curse Update: Since I wrote about the Knicks on Wednesday, they've lost 3 straight (Boston, Miami and at Cleveland). Since I wrote about Tennessee last Monday, they've lost two in a row (Oakland and at Charlotte). We gave Oakland some props, and they lost to Michigan. We'll keep making our predictions and hopefully one day our curse will be as popular as Sports Illustrated's.

The Curse of Onions?

After speaking some praise of the Tennessee Volunteers on Monday, the Vols went out and lost at home to Oakland.  The same Oakland team that lost to Michigan State by 1 point on Saturday.
So who is this Oakland team? Here are a few fun facts:

-They are from Rochester Hills, Michigan and play in the Summit League, with the likes of Oral Roberts, IUPUI (the Palindromes), Western Illinois, etc.

Horatio Sans in 'Road Trip'

A slimmer, cleaner cut Greg Kampe (Oakland Press)

-Oakland actually represented the league last year in the NCAA tournament, and lost to Pittsburgh in the first round (Pitt's campus is located in a part of town called Oakland - which is a funny coincidence). -Also, probably the best thing about Oakland, is that their coach was a stunt double for Horatio Sans role as the diner waiter in the movie Road Trip!   

In all seriousness, kudos to Oakland for their tough schedule thus far, playing West Virginia, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State and Tennessee.  Next up for the Golden Grizzlies - at Ann Arbor to take on Michigan this weekend.