Best way to relive some of last night's best plays, whether it was a dunk or Onions in the bank, is to see the video...
Let's start with Kansas, who barely escaped Iowa State at home, in overtime (97-89). The Jayhawks were down three in the final seconds, when Ben McLemore hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game. Chaos commences at the Phog.
McLemore finished the game 6-6 from 3, and 10-12 from the field, ending with 33 points. Kansas escaped this one and narrowly defeated Temple at home over the weekend. On the other side, The Mayor, Fred Hoiberg, will second guess his strategy not to foul Kansas, when his Cyclones held a 3 point lead under 5 seconds. The #foulordefend debate is a good on. Check out the hashtag on twitter.
Our old friends down in Morgantown, WV had a big road test last night in the Big 12. At Texas, the Mountaineers led by 3 with just five seconds left. They chose not to foul. Any guesses what happened next? From the corner....
Luckily, WVU ended up winning the game in overtime 57-53, which could have saved their season. A nice road win in conference to hopefully get Huggins' crew back on track.
In the Big Ten, it took only 3 minutes and change for Brandon Paul of Illinois to put Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe on a poster.
Mbakwe and the 8th ranked Gophers had the last laugh though, winning 84-67.
Jamaal Franklin of San Diego State got his Dunk Contest resume tape ready last night, going a little Tracy McGrady, off the backboard to himself.
Other games of note in the Big East: Syracuse got a road win at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, beating Providence 72-66. The Orange rallied from a 9 point first half deficit. Rutgers, who is 2-1 after Daily Onions wrote about Mike Rice, got a nice road win over St. John's, while Villanova won its 7th straight game with a victory at South Florida. Nova heads to the Dome on Saturday to square of with Syracuse, and Daily Onions will be there.
Showing posts with label Villanova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Villanova. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Hometowners: College Hoops Happenings Back East
After spending over a week back in our home state of New Jersey, we thought it'd be important to highlight some of the surprises, both good and bad, for the area college teams in the NJ/Philadelphia area.
Temple: If Temple would have lost to Duke last night, would we be writing this post? Probably not, but whatever it takes to spark an idea. The Owls took down third-ranked Duke last night 78-73 at the CoreStates Center First Union Center Wachovia Center Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Temple has a knack for knocking off Top 10 teams, as they took down tenth-ranked Georgetown last year and third-ranked Villanova two years ago. Temple should challenge Xavier for the top spot in the A-10, behind the leadership of PG Pepe Sanchez Juan Fernandez, who averages 12 ppg and 4 assists (have we overdone the strikethrough text yet?).
Villanova: Not going to lie, as a 'Cuse alum, love seeing the Wildcats struggle. It's been a rough go round for Nova thus far. Cats have already dropped games to St. Louis, Santa Clara, Missouri, Temple, St. Joe's, West Virginia and Marquette. Not saying that any of these games are AWFUL losses, but you are used to seeing Jay Wright's squad win these games. Gone are the two Coreys (Stokes and Fisher, not Feldman and Haim), and bottom line the Cats lack talent. A few years ago, Villanova lost their best recruiter in Fred Hill, who went on to be the head guy at Rutgers but only lasted a few disappointing seasons. Maybe Hill was the guy that was getting the players, maybe Jay Wright is spending too much time on his wardrobe, maybe the Cats will be looking at the NIT this year.
Rutgers: Every time we talk about Rutgers, we'll start with this. Mike Rice needs to chill out a little bit on the sideline. In order to be the savior of RU Hoops, we need to make sure Rice doesn't have a heart attack thanks to his over the top sideline antics. Rice has a VERY young team this season, with 3 of his top 4 scorers being freshmen (the other one is a sophomore). They've gotten a huge boost from freshman Eli Carter (Eli - sounds like a good name for a big time player), who is averaging 23 points in their last 3 games, 10 above his season average. The Scarlet Knights started the season with loses against Illinois State and Princeton at home, but pulled off a huge upset last week defeating Top 10 team Florida. How did Rutgers follow-up the big upset? Two point loss at USF and got blown out at home last night to West Virginia. Growing pains for a young team to say the least. It will take time, but Rice could have Rutgers relevant in the next few years.
Seton Hall: Not too far from Rutgers sits Seton Hall. The Pirates got absolutely smoked last week by top ranked Syracuse by 26 points. We watched pretty much that entire game, and Seton Hall just looked like a really bad basketball team. Well, they aren't. Talk about bouncing back. Three days after getting trounced by the Orange, the Hall put one on West Virginia, beating the Mountaineers by 19. The Pirates proved that win wasn't a fluke by going out in their next game and beating the defending National Champs, UConn by 12. If you are a 'Cuse fan, have to be happy you got them out of the way early.
Monmouth: Huh? How did The Mouth make it in here? Well with one of our loyal readers being a Monmouth man, we figured we'd give the Hawks some love - something they need at this point. The Mouth is bringing new meaning to "Down With the King", as new head coach King Rice is just 2-12 in his first season. Of their 14 games, Monmouth has lost seven of them by at least 20 points. Only two games have been within a ten point spread. I guess its no big deal we won't be catching Monmouth live, like we did last year
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| Temple over Duke: Storm Worthy (pic: The700level.com) |
Villanova: Not going to lie, as a 'Cuse alum, love seeing the Wildcats struggle. It's been a rough go round for Nova thus far. Cats have already dropped games to St. Louis, Santa Clara, Missouri, Temple, St. Joe's, West Virginia and Marquette. Not saying that any of these games are AWFUL losses, but you are used to seeing Jay Wright's squad win these games. Gone are the two Coreys (Stokes and Fisher, not Feldman and Haim), and bottom line the Cats lack talent. A few years ago, Villanova lost their best recruiter in Fred Hill, who went on to be the head guy at Rutgers but only lasted a few disappointing seasons. Maybe Hill was the guy that was getting the players, maybe Jay Wright is spending too much time on his wardrobe, maybe the Cats will be looking at the NIT this year.
Rutgers: Every time we talk about Rutgers, we'll start with this. Mike Rice needs to chill out a little bit on the sideline. In order to be the savior of RU Hoops, we need to make sure Rice doesn't have a heart attack thanks to his over the top sideline antics. Rice has a VERY young team this season, with 3 of his top 4 scorers being freshmen (the other one is a sophomore). They've gotten a huge boost from freshman Eli Carter (Eli - sounds like a good name for a big time player), who is averaging 23 points in their last 3 games, 10 above his season average. The Scarlet Knights started the season with loses against Illinois State and Princeton at home, but pulled off a huge upset last week defeating Top 10 team Florida. How did Rutgers follow-up the big upset? Two point loss at USF and got blown out at home last night to West Virginia. Growing pains for a young team to say the least. It will take time, but Rice could have Rutgers relevant in the next few years.
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| Jordan Theodore's 19 pts helped upset UConn (NY Post) |
Seton Hall: Not too far from Rutgers sits Seton Hall. The Pirates got absolutely smoked last week by top ranked Syracuse by 26 points. We watched pretty much that entire game, and Seton Hall just looked like a really bad basketball team. Well, they aren't. Talk about bouncing back. Three days after getting trounced by the Orange, the Hall put one on West Virginia, beating the Mountaineers by 19. The Pirates proved that win wasn't a fluke by going out in their next game and beating the defending National Champs, UConn by 12. If you are a 'Cuse fan, have to be happy you got them out of the way early.
Monmouth: Huh? How did The Mouth make it in here? Well with one of our loyal readers being a Monmouth man, we figured we'd give the Hawks some love - something they need at this point. The Mouth is bringing new meaning to "Down With the King", as new head coach King Rice is just 2-12 in his first season. Of their 14 games, Monmouth has lost seven of them by at least 20 points. Only two games have been within a ten point spread. I guess its no big deal we won't be catching Monmouth live, like we did last year
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
One time, at Big East Media Day....
If Midnight Madness is the official kickoff of college basketball season, then the conference Media Days are the....end of the first quarter? Hold on, what? Screw the football analogy (we'll get to an interesting analogy in a little bit though), let's just say, Media Day is awesome. We get to see who the coaches pick as the best teams and players in the conference, and you get to see a bunch of college kids look uncomfortable in a shirt and tie.
Today was Big East Basketball Media Day in NYC, which is the home of one of the homes of Syracuse University basketball. The coaches selected Syracuse and UConn as the co-favorites for the league title this year. Next was Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Marquette, West Virginia, Villanova, Notre Dame and Georgetown rounding out the top 10. Jeez, this conference is tough.
On an individual basis, Pitt's Ashton Gibbs (and his undershirt) was selected as the Player of Year, while UConn's Andre Drummond was voted Freshman of the Year. Syracuse has Kris Joseph on the 1st team and Scoop Jardine on the 2nd team. West Virginia's Kevin Jones and Tim Abromitis of Notre Dame, both return for their 8th year of college, and were both voted as preseason 1st Teamers as well.
Daily Onions had the opportunity to attend Big East Media Day back before the 2002-03 season, when we were more Orange than Onion. We thought it'd be fun to reminisce about some of the names we chatted with that day at Madison Square Garden.
Let's check out the preseason 1st All-Big East honors that were handed out that day:
Always a good time to look back at some of the players who came through the Big East. Carmelo Anthony was a freshman in 2002-03, and was picked to be the best Freshman of the Year in the conference, but was left off the 1st and 2nd team. Looks like Melo got the last laugh there.
Speaking of laughs, today at Big East Media Day, Rick Pitino had some choice words about Syracuse and Pitt leaving the conference. Rick, who has been known to compare a tough start to a seasons to... 9/11, added this analogy to his resume:
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| Scoop, in a Suit. (Syracuse.com) |
On an individual basis, Pitt's Ashton Gibbs (and his undershirt) was selected as the Player of Year, while UConn's Andre Drummond was voted Freshman of the Year. Syracuse has Kris Joseph on the 1st team and Scoop Jardine on the 2nd team. West Virginia's Kevin Jones and Tim Abromitis of Notre Dame, both return for their 8th year of college, and were both voted as preseason 1st Teamers as well.
Daily Onions had the opportunity to attend Big East Media Day back before the 2002-03 season, when we were more Orange than Onion. We thought it'd be fun to reminisce about some of the names we chatted with that day at Madison Square Garden.
Let's check out the preseason 1st All-Big East honors that were handed out that day:
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| Probably taken before 1 of Bell's 6 NBA Games |
- Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh - Selected as the preseason conference player of the year in '02-03, you can still find Knight in the Steel City, now as an assistant coach.
- Troy Bell (left), Boston College - This guy could absolutely light it up in college, is BC's all-time leading scorer, and had half a cup of coffee in the NBA.
- Emeka Okafor, Connecticut- Almost 10 years later, its crazy to think there was a debate over who should go #1 in the NBA Draft, Okafor or Dwight Howard. With that said, Okafor did win a National Championship, and has had a serviceable NBA career.
- Mike Sweetney, Georgetown - Undersized, big man for the Hoyas. Didn't have the body for an NBA career.
- Darius Rice, Miami, Jr.- Remember this guy? Freakishly athletic, McDonald's All-American, nephew of Jerry Rice. He ended up staying all 4 years of college, went undrafted and bounced around overseas and the D-League.
- Marcus Hatten, St. John's - Kind of like Bell, a pure scorer. Best memory of Hatten has to be playing for Uncle Phil at St. John's.
Always a good time to look back at some of the players who came through the Big East. Carmelo Anthony was a freshman in 2002-03, and was picked to be the best Freshman of the Year in the conference, but was left off the 1st and 2nd team. Looks like Melo got the last laugh there.
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| Slick Rick: Why Don't You Sit the Next Few Plays Out |
"My problem is not them leaving," he said. "My problem is you did it in
48 hours. Don't run away with a girl after one date when you've been
dating someone else for three or four years. You've been dating this
woman for 30 years, show a little respect."
In case you forgot, Pitino, who has been married to his wife for more than 30 years, once met a woman in a restaurant, had a few drinks, and then proceeded to have sex with her in the bathroom. This occurred in 2003, and in 2009 Pitino admitted to not only having consensual sex, but also paying for an abortion.
Pot, meet kettle. Hope you enjoyed media day.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Day 2 of the Madness: Digital Getdown
With the NCAA tournament playing games in our backyard at the United Center, it was a must that we went to check out the action live and in person. That meant we'd be depending on texts, tweets, and the March Madness On Demand App on iPhones, iPads, etc to stay up to date on the action. With this year's tournament being shown on four channels (thanks to Turner Sports and CBS), ratings are up 22% compared to last year and the highest in 20 years. That is what we call bi-winning. Now let's get to some bite sized thoughts on some action from yesterday.
-Bruce Pearl, it was nice knowing you at Tennessee. We were hoping you and your team would show up for a win or go home situation. Instead it was Coach Beilein and his "do it the right way" program at Michigan that spanked the Vols all the way back to Rocky Top.
-Great to see Texas living up to the inconsistency and squeaking by Oakland, 85-81. Huge matchup for the Longhorns tomorrow against #5 Arizona who needed a Derrick Williams block (again) to save a win against Memphis.
-Big Least: Thank you Villanova and Georgetown for carrying the flag for the Big East. Gross. Nova let up a 10 point lead to lose by four to George Mason. Meanwhile, we watched the Hoyas in person, and it was really never a game. G-town looked tentative and out of sync all game, while VCU was on fire from outside and controlled the tempo of the game with their full-court pressure. Yesterday, CAA > Big East.
-Syracuse took care of the Fighting Larry Birds as expected. Now they face Marquette, who made the Big East look good by dominating Xavier the entire game. Cuse and Marquette met in Milwaukee ("the good land") back in late January the Orange losing by 4. Revenge is a female dog.
-We also got to see Notre Dame and Purdue in action in Chicago. If those two teams end up meeting next weekend in the Sweet 16, it could be one of the best games of the tournament. Lots of Daily Onions love for the Notre Dame team, as well as JaJuan Johnson and the Boilermakers.
Big day of hoops about to get underway. Enjoy! We'll catch up with you on Monday to preview the Sweet 16, and show you everyone's ONIONS!
-Bruce Pearl, it was nice knowing you at Tennessee. We were hoping you and your team would show up for a win or go home situation. Instead it was Coach Beilein and his "do it the right way" program at Michigan that spanked the Vols all the way back to Rocky Top.
-Great to see Texas living up to the inconsistency and squeaking by Oakland, 85-81. Huge matchup for the Longhorns tomorrow against #5 Arizona who needed a Derrick Williams block (again) to save a win against Memphis.
-Big Least: Thank you Villanova and Georgetown for carrying the flag for the Big East. Gross. Nova let up a 10 point lead to lose by four to George Mason. Meanwhile, we watched the Hoyas in person, and it was really never a game. G-town looked tentative and out of sync all game, while VCU was on fire from outside and controlled the tempo of the game with their full-court pressure. Yesterday, CAA > Big East.
-Syracuse took care of the Fighting Larry Birds as expected. Now they face Marquette, who made the Big East look good by dominating Xavier the entire game. Cuse and Marquette met in Milwaukee ("the good land") back in late January the Orange losing by 4. Revenge is a female dog.
-We also got to see Notre Dame and Purdue in action in Chicago. If those two teams end up meeting next weekend in the Sweet 16, it could be one of the best games of the tournament. Lots of Daily Onions love for the Notre Dame team, as well as JaJuan Johnson and the Boilermakers.
Big day of hoops about to get underway. Enjoy! We'll catch up with you on Monday to preview the Sweet 16, and show you everyone's ONIONS!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Big: East Region
We've saved the best for last. In my opinion, and the opinion of many others, the East Region is the toughest out there. Let's dive right in because there is lots to discuss.
'Cuse is in the House: The Orange are taking their talents to Cleveland for Round 1 and will take on the Fighting Larry Birds from Indiana State. If they are able to avoid the upset bid from the #14 seed, they'll either play #6 Xavier (in Cleveland - Thank you selection committee!) or #11 Marquette, a Big East foe that Syracuse lost to in January. Not going to lie, but the second round scares us. Xavier is a sneaky team and they'll have somewhat of a home-court advantage, while Marquette is a team that knows Syracuse, plays them every year, and has a victory against them two months ago. If Cuse can get out of Round 2, we'll feel better about things. The East Region is located in Newark, NJ aka Syracuseville East. Potential Sweet 16 opponent is North Carolina, a match up we kind of like. Hold that thought.
Big East Tournament, Part 2: We know Cuse and Marquette are in this bracket, but there's also #9 Villanova and #5 West Virginia. Nova hasn't won a game in ages, so we are going to go with everyone's favorite flashback Cinderella, #8 George Mason. Meanwhile, Huggie Bear and the boys will actually tip in the first game on Thursday in Tampa, taking on Clemson (a team that just played late Tuesday night in Dayton - Thank you Selection Committee! Love, Clemson). What will definitely be a grind it out, physical game, we are going to take WVU. An added bonus would be Bob Huggins rubbing one of his player's faces, or at least getting nose to nose during a timeout. Potential second round game for WVU puts them against Kentucky, the team they upset last year to go to the Final Four. Huggins also owns Calipari, so while Kentucky looks to have more talent, don't count out the Eers.
You Never Forget Your First: Get your mind out of the gutter. Just about three months ago, Daily Onions made our first Final Four projection of the year. Since then, we've been riding the bandwagon of Sullinger, Diebler, Lighty, Buford, Lauderdale and Craft, aka THE Ohio State University. In case you forgot, this is what we wrote back on December 21 on why OSU would make the Final Four: Dominant Player (Sullinger) + Experience (Lighty played with Havlicek) + Tough, but not too tough of a schedule (Two road losses to the second and third best teams in the conference) = OSU in Final 4. We are sticking to our guns, and Ohio State will be in Houston. It pains me to say, but after taking down Kentucky, OSU will take out Syracuse in the Elite 8 (who would have beat UNC in the Sweet 16) to cut down the nets in Newark.
And then what? Our Final Four includes OSU, Duke, Kansas and Florida. When we first filled out our bracket on Monday, we had OSU beating Duke. Even with new information available and all signs pointing to Duke's Kyrie Irving ready to see some action this week, we are still going to go with OSU. (By the way, the "Chance Irving plays this week" news on Twitter on Tuesday was the equivalent of the public address announcer saying "Daniel LaRusso is going to fight" at the All Valley Karate Championship in 1984. I can only imagine what Twitter would have looked like if people heard what Myagi did in the locker room). OSU will face the Rock Chalk Jayhawk in the National Championship Game, and with a final score of 70-66, Jared Sullinger does his best Carmelo Anthony impression and leads his team to a National Championship as a freshman.
Now that we've gotten that all taken care of, we can watch some basketball! Odds that our picks are even relatively close to what actually happens....no chance. Odds that your picks are close...you tell us! Show us YOUR Onions. Lots of entries came in on Wednesday, so make sure you don't miss out on the fun. I mean who wouldn't want an entire Daily Onions post about them??
'Cuse is in the House: The Orange are taking their talents to Cleveland for Round 1 and will take on the Fighting Larry Birds from Indiana State. If they are able to avoid the upset bid from the #14 seed, they'll either play #6 Xavier (in Cleveland - Thank you selection committee!) or #11 Marquette, a Big East foe that Syracuse lost to in January. Not going to lie, but the second round scares us. Xavier is a sneaky team and they'll have somewhat of a home-court advantage, while Marquette is a team that knows Syracuse, plays them every year, and has a victory against them two months ago. If Cuse can get out of Round 2, we'll feel better about things. The East Region is located in Newark, NJ aka Syracuseville East. Potential Sweet 16 opponent is North Carolina, a match up we kind of like. Hold that thought.
Big East Tournament, Part 2: We know Cuse and Marquette are in this bracket, but there's also #9 Villanova and #5 West Virginia. Nova hasn't won a game in ages, so we are going to go with everyone's favorite flashback Cinderella, #8 George Mason. Meanwhile, Huggie Bear and the boys will actually tip in the first game on Thursday in Tampa, taking on Clemson (a team that just played late Tuesday night in Dayton - Thank you Selection Committee! Love, Clemson). What will definitely be a grind it out, physical game, we are going to take WVU. An added bonus would be Bob Huggins rubbing one of his player's faces, or at least getting nose to nose during a timeout. Potential second round game for WVU puts them against Kentucky, the team they upset last year to go to the Final Four. Huggins also owns Calipari, so while Kentucky looks to have more talent, don't count out the Eers.
You Never Forget Your First: Get your mind out of the gutter. Just about three months ago, Daily Onions made our first Final Four projection of the year. Since then, we've been riding the bandwagon of Sullinger, Diebler, Lighty, Buford, Lauderdale and Craft, aka THE Ohio State University. In case you forgot, this is what we wrote back on December 21 on why OSU would make the Final Four: Dominant Player (Sullinger) + Experience (Lighty played with Havlicek) + Tough, but not too tough of a schedule (Two road losses to the second and third best teams in the conference) = OSU in Final 4. We are sticking to our guns, and Ohio State will be in Houston. It pains me to say, but after taking down Kentucky, OSU will take out Syracuse in the Elite 8 (who would have beat UNC in the Sweet 16) to cut down the nets in Newark.
And then what? Our Final Four includes OSU, Duke, Kansas and Florida. When we first filled out our bracket on Monday, we had OSU beating Duke. Even with new information available and all signs pointing to Duke's Kyrie Irving ready to see some action this week, we are still going to go with OSU. (By the way, the "Chance Irving plays this week" news on Twitter on Tuesday was the equivalent of the public address announcer saying "Daniel LaRusso is going to fight" at the All Valley Karate Championship in 1984. I can only imagine what Twitter would have looked like if people heard what Myagi did in the locker room). OSU will face the Rock Chalk Jayhawk in the National Championship Game, and with a final score of 70-66, Jared Sullinger does his best Carmelo Anthony impression and leads his team to a National Championship as a freshman.
Now that we've gotten that all taken care of, we can watch some basketball! Odds that our picks are even relatively close to what actually happens....no chance. Odds that your picks are close...you tell us! Show us YOUR Onions. Lots of entries came in on Wednesday, so make sure you don't miss out on the fun. I mean who wouldn't want an entire Daily Onions post about them??
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Villa-Nosedive and Other Falls from Grace
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| Things haven't been as easy for Kemba lately (Getty) |
Well apparently there are a few teams out there that don't want their March performances to be something to write home about. Daily Onions will take care of the writing and we'll call out some of those teams that aren't exactly peaking at the right time. Let's start close to home in the Big East.
-Villanova: Jay Wright is all dressed up for the dance but the way his team is playing lately, it looks like his ride will be picking him up for an early exit. The Wildcats have lost five of their last seven, including home games to Syracuse, St. John's and Pitt. They've also lost at Rutgers and got embarrassed Monday night at Notre Dame, when the Irish drained 20 (not a typo) three pointers. There is no doubt that Nova has talent. One of their best players, Corey Stokes missed some time with an injury, but he's been back for the past three games. They'll need some of his hot shooting if they want to end their regular season with a W, at Pitt on Saturday. Good luck with that one. It looks as though, Villanova will be the 11 seed (seriously) in next week's Big East Tournament. If the Cats don't get things back on track quickly, they'll be back in the City of Brotherly Love before the first weekend of the NCAA tournament is even over, just like last year.
-UConn: The Huskies haven't been as bad as Villanova, but the last month of basketball hasn't been that pretty in Storrs. While Kemba Walker has been coming back down to Earth (ahem, told you so), UConn has dropped down the Big East standings as well. Since January 29th, UConn is 4-5. Prior to that, they were 17-2. Things don't get much easier for the Huskies, as they are at West Virginia tonight, which begs the question, if WVU beats #16 UConn, do they storm the court? Kemba and the crew then host the Big East's hottest team, Notre Dame on Saturday. Depending on how they fare, UConn could be in the mix for a double-bye in the Big East tournament, or they could be a 10-11 seed. Those possibilities are on opposites sides of the spectrum, similar to the discrepancy between the beginning and end of the season for the Huskies.
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| Grant and 'Bama still have some work to do |
-Texas: A few March guarantees - St. Patrick's Day, baseball's spring training and grumbling in Texas about the Longhorns tailspin at the end of the season. As we've discussed in the is space before, we aren't confident in Rick Barnes and Texas down the stretch. This year's version of the epidemic includes losing 3 of their last 4 games against unranked teams (at Nebraska, at Colorado and home against a rejuvenated Kansas State) in the last week. We are going to "steer" (athankyou) clear of the Longhorns in the Big Dance not only because of their recent poor track record, but also because of the Daily Onions "Kentucky Corollary," where we stay way from teams that are too young and inexperienced. Four of the top six players for Texas are either freshman or sophomores. One final road test for this squad on Saturday at Baylor. A win would be huge for the youngsters confidence heading into tournament week.
-Alabama: The Crimson Tide will be staying in Sweet Home Alabama if they don't make a run in the SEC tournament. A few weeks ago we were praising 'Bama for being atop the SEC West standings. Well, they will still win the weak West division, but that's no lock to get them in. Back to back losses at Mississippi and Florida (a butt whooping), along with a poor out of conference schedule that included no real quality wins, Bama is now bubbling. Coach Anthony Grant and his perfectly tailored button down shirts need to win against Georgia on Saturday, and then win at least two games in the conference tournament to have a chance to get in to the Big Dance.
-Illinois: The Fighting Illini have a fighter's chance to get into the NCAA tournament. A tough schedule down the stretch hasn't done any favors for Bruce Weber's team. They are 4-7 over their last 11, including loses in 3 of their last 4 (Purdue, OSU, MSU). There is a possibility that Illinois could play Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, which would basically be an elimination game for the loser, with the winner still needing help. Whether Illinois is able to get into the tournament or not, this season has been a bit of a disappointment. With a team full of guys like McCamey, Davis, Tisdale, etc, there is no reason they shouldn't have been just behind OSU and Purdue battling for a Big Ten title.
Coming up in our next post, we'll go the other way around, and look at some of the teams that are starting to peak at the right time.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Things Fall Apart
Shout out to my high school freshman year Honors English class in today's title. A little Chinua Achebe references for the literature buffs. Daily Onions wants to show its more than just basketball. I'd say its 99.9% basketball, and 0.1% of random mentions.
So, what exactly fell apart last night in the college hoops world? Where to start? North Carolina, Villanova, Syracuse?
Let's begin close to our heart. Syracuse and Georgetown. One of the classic rivalries in college basketball. After a back and forth first half, in which Cuse took a two point lead into the locker room, there was more of the same in half number two. Coming down the stretch though, it seemed like the Orange were taking control of the game. The surprise was that they were doing this with Rick Jackson on the bench in foul trouble. Daily Onions favorite CJ Fair did what he does, 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Baye Mousa Keita patrolled the middle of the lane (4 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks) with Jackson out. With about five minutes left, "I'm Sorry" came back into the game with Cuse holding a slim lead. From that point on, it was all Hoyas. G-town ends the game on a 14-3 run (two touchdowns to one field goal), and that's that. It seemed like the game just evaporated before the Orange's eyes. And with the loss, they've dropped three straight at the Carrier Dome.
Less than an hour later, off the NJ Turnpike, the Rutgers-Villanova game was coming to end. With 4:28 left in the game, Nova's Corey Fisher drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 67-54 lead. Time to head for the exits right? Not so fast, my friend (Corso, Lee). Four minutes later, James Bell drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 75-70 lead with 17 seconds left. Let's leave now, beat the traffic, all Nova has to do is make some free throws. Nope. A three by Rutgers made it 75-73 with 11 seconds left. They foul Corey Fisher with 9 seconds left. Fisher, a NJ native and a 79% FT shooter, could seal the game with two makes. He makes one. As a Villanova fan, you have to think, "That's ok, we are still up three with 9 seconds left, there is no way we should lose this game in regulation. At worse, we go to OT." Hmm, not quite. Rutgers makes a three with 0.8 seconds left.....and gets FOULED! Now, when you watch the replay the call is definitely questionable. It looks like there was some contact on the elbow, but that play probably doesn't get called just as much as it does. Jonathan Mitchell makes his free throw, and the Rut pulls off their biggest win of the Mike Rice Era.
Right around that time, down in Durham, North Carolina, arguably the best rivalry in sports was underway, Duke vs. North Carolina. Blue Devils were the preseason favorite, but with an injury to their top player, they've shown they are beatable. UNC has started to turn things around recently, winning 7 of their first 8 conference games. But this game was at Cameron Indoor, so most experts were picking Duke to win this one. Three minutes into the game, the score was 10-2. North Carolina. At the half, UNC led 43-29. Just like everyone expected. Dukies, have no fear because you got two guys by the names of Nolan Smith and Seth Curry. Smith went for 34, and Curry went for 22, as they combined for 21 made buckets. The comeback, granted it was at home, shows that Duke's still got it (even with out Kyrie), and is one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the country.
So what team had the bigger collapse last night? Congratulations, Villanova. No reason you should give up a 13 point lead to Rutgers in the final four minutes, and no reason you should even be close enough to someone shooting a three with two seconds left that the official could mistakenly think you fouled him. I'm sure Jay Wright already has this game in their rear view though. They have Pitt coming to town on Saturday night. Should be a real dog....I mean cat fight.
So, what exactly fell apart last night in the college hoops world? Where to start? North Carolina, Villanova, Syracuse?
Let's begin close to our heart. Syracuse and Georgetown. One of the classic rivalries in college basketball. After a back and forth first half, in which Cuse took a two point lead into the locker room, there was more of the same in half number two. Coming down the stretch though, it seemed like the Orange were taking control of the game. The surprise was that they were doing this with Rick Jackson on the bench in foul trouble. Daily Onions favorite CJ Fair did what he does, 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Baye Mousa Keita patrolled the middle of the lane (4 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks) with Jackson out. With about five minutes left, "I'm Sorry" came back into the game with Cuse holding a slim lead. From that point on, it was all Hoyas. G-town ends the game on a 14-3 run (two touchdowns to one field goal), and that's that. It seemed like the game just evaporated before the Orange's eyes. And with the loss, they've dropped three straight at the Carrier Dome.
Less than an hour later, off the NJ Turnpike, the Rutgers-Villanova game was coming to end. With 4:28 left in the game, Nova's Corey Fisher drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 67-54 lead. Time to head for the exits right? Not so fast, my friend (Corso, Lee). Four minutes later, James Bell drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 75-70 lead with 17 seconds left. Let's leave now, beat the traffic, all Nova has to do is make some free throws. Nope. A three by Rutgers made it 75-73 with 11 seconds left. They foul Corey Fisher with 9 seconds left. Fisher, a NJ native and a 79% FT shooter, could seal the game with two makes. He makes one. As a Villanova fan, you have to think, "That's ok, we are still up three with 9 seconds left, there is no way we should lose this game in regulation. At worse, we go to OT." Hmm, not quite. Rutgers makes a three with 0.8 seconds left.....and gets FOULED! Now, when you watch the replay the call is definitely questionable. It looks like there was some contact on the elbow, but that play probably doesn't get called just as much as it does. Jonathan Mitchell makes his free throw, and the Rut pulls off their biggest win of the Mike Rice Era.
Right around that time, down in Durham, North Carolina, arguably the best rivalry in sports was underway, Duke vs. North Carolina. Blue Devils were the preseason favorite, but with an injury to their top player, they've shown they are beatable. UNC has started to turn things around recently, winning 7 of their first 8 conference games. But this game was at Cameron Indoor, so most experts were picking Duke to win this one. Three minutes into the game, the score was 10-2. North Carolina. At the half, UNC led 43-29. Just like everyone expected. Dukies, have no fear because you got two guys by the names of Nolan Smith and Seth Curry. Smith went for 34, and Curry went for 22, as they combined for 21 made buckets. The comeback, granted it was at home, shows that Duke's still got it (even with out Kyrie), and is one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the country.
So what team had the bigger collapse last night? Congratulations, Villanova. No reason you should give up a 13 point lead to Rutgers in the final four minutes, and no reason you should even be close enough to someone shooting a three with two seconds left that the official could mistakenly think you fouled him. I'm sure Jay Wright already has this game in their rear view though. They have Pitt coming to town on Saturday night. Should be a real dog....I mean cat fight.
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Weekend that Was
I promise to make it through this entire post.....unless an undetectable injury forces me to stop halfway through, and even if you see my standing around, walking around, disinterested, riding a stationary bike, I promise you, I am really hurt.
Road Warriors: Playing away from home on Saturday wasn't that big of a deal, as a couple of road dogs pulled off impressive wins early in the day. Ohio State remained unbeaten and even had to come from behind in the second half to put away Illinois. Daily Onions favorite Jared Sullinger had a ho-hum day at the office with 27 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Despite starting the game on an 18-3 run at home, a place where they've won 69 straight games, #2 Kansas loss for the first time this season to #11 Texas. One concern for the Jayhawks is the inconsistent play of freshman standout Josh Selby. Over the last 6 games, he alternates between scoring right around 15 points, or under 5 points. They'll need him to step it up down the stretch, the Morris brothers can't do it all.
Villanova shot lights out from behind the arc in the first half, which led them to a victory at Syracuse. The Wildcats were 8-13 from 3 in the first 20 minutes of the game and shredded the Cuse zone to own a double-digit lead at the half. The Orange threatened a few times in the second half, but never tied or took the lead. This game brought up the question, what is Jim Boeheim's tipping point to get out of the zone? If shooting 62% and building a 13 point lead doesn't do it, not sure what does. While Nova cooled off from outside in the second half, Syracuse's D still couldn't "stop a nose bleed". Another concern for the Orange had to be the play of Scoop Jardine, who had just 2 points on 1-8 shooting, and looked out of it all game. Despite losing two in a row, Daily Onions doesn't think its time to panic in Boeheimburg. Losing to Pitt and Nova happens in the Big East. Cuse needs to make sure it takes care of business at home against the Hall, and then puts on a show for Daily Onions in person at Marquette next Saturday.
The Jimmer Update: Ninth-ranked BYU won at Colorado State and The Jimmer put up his second 40 point game of the year, dropping 42 on the Rams. Jimmer's 42 consisted of 4 3 pointers, and going 16-17 from the free throw line. Daily Onions "can't wait" to see Wednesday's game when the Cougs host unbeaten and soon to be top 5 team, San Diego State. Now if we only knew what channel CBS College Sports Network was...check your local listings.
Two out of three ain't bad: You can't spell Northwestern without an N or a T, and I guess we'll have to find the I somewhere else. The Wildcats quest for a first-ever NCAA tournament berth has been knocked off track. N'western is already 3-5 in conference play (including a 78-46 loss to Wisconsin yesterday) and has Minnesota, Ohio State and Illinois as its next three. Ouch.
Road Warriors: Playing away from home on Saturday wasn't that big of a deal, as a couple of road dogs pulled off impressive wins early in the day. Ohio State remained unbeaten and even had to come from behind in the second half to put away Illinois. Daily Onions favorite Jared Sullinger had a ho-hum day at the office with 27 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks.
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| KU messed w/ Texas, and lost. |
Villanova shot lights out from behind the arc in the first half, which led them to a victory at Syracuse. The Wildcats were 8-13 from 3 in the first 20 minutes of the game and shredded the Cuse zone to own a double-digit lead at the half. The Orange threatened a few times in the second half, but never tied or took the lead. This game brought up the question, what is Jim Boeheim's tipping point to get out of the zone? If shooting 62% and building a 13 point lead doesn't do it, not sure what does. While Nova cooled off from outside in the second half, Syracuse's D still couldn't "stop a nose bleed". Another concern for the Orange had to be the play of Scoop Jardine, who had just 2 points on 1-8 shooting, and looked out of it all game. Despite losing two in a row, Daily Onions doesn't think its time to panic in Boeheimburg. Losing to Pitt and Nova happens in the Big East. Cuse needs to make sure it takes care of business at home against the Hall, and then puts on a show for Daily Onions in person at Marquette next Saturday.
The Jimmer Update: Ninth-ranked BYU won at Colorado State and The Jimmer put up his second 40 point game of the year, dropping 42 on the Rams. Jimmer's 42 consisted of 4 3 pointers, and going 16-17 from the free throw line. Daily Onions "can't wait" to see Wednesday's game when the Cougs host unbeaten and soon to be top 5 team, San Diego State. Now if we only knew what channel CBS College Sports Network was...check your local listings.
Two out of three ain't bad: You can't spell Northwestern without an N or a T, and I guess we'll have to find the I somewhere else. The Wildcats quest for a first-ever NCAA tournament berth has been knocked off track. N'western is already 3-5 in conference play (including a 78-46 loss to Wisconsin yesterday) and has Minnesota, Ohio State and Illinois as its next three. Ouch.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Coaches Gone....
Daily Onions has been watching lots of hoops lately (obviously), and it seems like the last few days we've seen more and more coaches absolutely BLOW UP on their players on the sideline. We're talkin' in your face, dropping F-bombs, dirty looks...ya know, what you would do to someone that did something unlawful...not make a mistake on the basketball court. With all the coaches gone wild incidents lately, it got us thinking, what else are coaches doing this year?
Coaches Gone....
....Wild The leaders in the clubhouse for this one are John Calipari at Kentucky, who had to apologize publicly for cursing out (view the video from 4:45 - 5:00) freshman Terrence Jones in the final minutes of UK's loss on Tuesday at Alabama. Mike Rice of Rutgers doesn't care if you are one of his players or an official, he's going to give you EVERYTHING he's got, for pretty much the entire game. Not sure how that guy (or his players, for that matter) survives. K-State's Frank Martin can get you two ways, with his screaming and with his scowl. If you had a nickel for every time Frank Martin looked like the scariest man on earth, you'd be rich.
....Casual Bob Huggins of West Virginia has perfected the black pants with the black pullover windbreaker look over the last few years. Um, you know West Virginia's colors are Blue and Gold, right? Ok, just checking. Meanwhile, Pat Knight at Texas Texas goes with just a polo shirt, or spruces things up with the polo shirt/sweater vest combo. I guess when you father is known for his sweater, you need to come up with your own thing.
....Young During Big E Hoops weekend, we saw Bob Morris's Andy Toole (30) roam the sidelines as the youngest coach in Division 1 Basketball. More well-known coaches include Josh Pastner (31) at Memphis, Brad Stevens (34) at Butler, and Jeff Chapel (of Duke fame) at Oklahoma (35). For those of you scoring at home, Jim Boeheim is a spring chicken at 66 years young.
....Lazy This tends to happen at the end of games and more so in the NBA then in the college game. Tie game, 10 seconds left, coach calls timeout to draw up a play. The play consists of getting the ball to your scorer, clearing out and letting them take a few dribbles, pull up from 15 feet and shoot a fall away jumper with a hand in their face. That's the best you could come up with?? At least give me a ball screen.
.....Fancy Which goes to the best dressed man in college basketball, Jay Wright. What is Jay Wright better at doing - recruiting or picking out suits? I say toss-up. Known to have top recruiting classes each season, Wright consistently gets talent from NYC, Philadelphia and NJ. He also consistently rocks three-piece suits and pocket squares. The one of the more unbelievable things about Wright's suits/coaching, is that he never loses the jacket, heck, he never unbuttons the thing. That is impressive. Let's hope the 30,000 plus in the Carrier Dome tomorrow afternoon make things a bit uncomfortable for Mr. Wright, and maybe he has to loosen the tie. Don't bet on it (the tie loosening, that is).
Coaches Gone....
....Wild The leaders in the clubhouse for this one are John Calipari at Kentucky, who had to apologize publicly for cursing out (view the video from 4:45 - 5:00) freshman Terrence Jones in the final minutes of UK's loss on Tuesday at Alabama. Mike Rice of Rutgers doesn't care if you are one of his players or an official, he's going to give you EVERYTHING he's got, for pretty much the entire game. Not sure how that guy (or his players, for that matter) survives. K-State's Frank Martin can get you two ways, with his screaming and with his scowl. If you had a nickel for every time Frank Martin looked like the scariest man on earth, you'd be rich.
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| Huggins' casual look helps him get low (Reuters) |
....Young During Big E Hoops weekend, we saw Bob Morris's Andy Toole (30) roam the sidelines as the youngest coach in Division 1 Basketball. More well-known coaches include Josh Pastner (31) at Memphis, Brad Stevens (34) at Butler, and Jeff Chapel (of Duke fame) at Oklahoma (35). For those of you scoring at home, Jim Boeheim is a spring chicken at 66 years young.
....Lazy This tends to happen at the end of games and more so in the NBA then in the college game. Tie game, 10 seconds left, coach calls timeout to draw up a play. The play consists of getting the ball to your scorer, clearing out and letting them take a few dribbles, pull up from 15 feet and shoot a fall away jumper with a hand in their face. That's the best you could come up with?? At least give me a ball screen.
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| Dress for success Jay Wright (Getty) |
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