Entries Tagged 'College Basketball' ↓

Is there any question who the national player of the year in college basketball is now?

I am a huge UNC fan, always have been and always will be. In my time following the team, there has never been a more likeable player than Tyler Hansbrough, and today was just another example why. He does everything well on the college level, but that isn’t enough for him. Every game he goes out there and works harder than any other player on the floor. If their was a picture in the dictionary next to the phrases “leaves it all on the court” and “plays hard every single possession” you would see Tyler Hansbrough.

Hometown standout Wayne Ellington finally got his shooting stroke going to help UNC get in position to avoid a major upset to Virgina Tech. But it was the feverish hustle on both ends of the court and relentless offensive rebounding by Tyler Hansbrough, capped by the 15-foot jumper that he worked so hard on that won that game for UNC. This kid never ceases to amaze me. And I just wanted to dedicate one short post to say something I have said all year…

Tyler Hansbrough is the unanimous national player of the year in college basketball this season. There is no debate. No ifs, ands or buts about it. He typifies what college basketball is all about. Not only is he a great player on this level, he is a team guy without an ego, an undeniable leader, and by all accounts a great person. What more does he have to do for the ridiculous speculation that Beasley might win to end?

Absolutely Michael Beasley is having an unbelievable individual year. He is easily the best talent and pro prospect in college basketball. But if he wins the player of the year it would be a sin.

I’m done.

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Whew, we can finally take a sigh of relief. The last month of the college basketball season has been filled with uncertainty for the city of Philadelphia and its fans. We have been sweating bullets wondering if the Big 5’s (+ Drexel) NCAA tournament streak would be broken in 2008. If you doubt that insecurity in Philly, read this, this, this and this.

The 31-year streak is in tact. With both Temple and St. Joe’s advancing to the Atlantic 10 Conference Final, we are guaranteed at least one team will represent Philadelphia in the NCAA tournament.

Even before the St. Joe’s/Xavier game Joe Lunardi had the Hawks as one of the last 4 teams in.

That didn’t stop the Hawks from using a sense of desperation to jump all over A10 leader Xavier in the semi-finals. St. Joseph’s took a 10-point lead into the half and never looked back. The Hawks beat Xavier for the 2^nd time in nine days, 61-53. In my opinion that officially locks up an at-large bid for Saint Joseph’s.

Game Note: I give Phil Marteli and the St. Joe’s coach staffing tremendous credit for winning this game because of their game management. If they didn’t have an abundance of timeouts under 2-minutes the outcome very easily could have been different. Xavier was able to cut to the lead to 6 with 1:15 left using their pressure defense. The pressure was clearly causing St. Joe’s problems, and if not for all the timeouts the Hawks may not have been able to get the ball in-bounded or past half court at the end of the game.

Temple on the other hand hasn’t been in the NCAA tourney picture most of the season. Why? They played a really tough out-of-conference schedule (as usual), and their overall record suffered (19-12 before tonight’s game). The owls played Duke, Tennessee, Villanova and Florida, all losses. When you factor in that both Florida and Nova had sub-par seasons and probably would make the field of 65, those losses hurt more than the perceived strength of schedule helped. The biggest win of the season came in the form of a rout over Xavier at home. The only other win against a tournament team was a one-point win over Big 5 rival St. Joe’s.

Lunardi had Temple on the outside looking in as one of his “Next Four Out.” But, after their comfortable win tonight over Charlotte the Owls resume has become a bit stronger.

• 20-12 overall
• 2^nd in the A10 with an 11-5 record
• Reached the A10 tournament final
• Won 9 of their last 12 games
• 45 strength of schedule (better than Arizona State (19-12), a team in Lunardi’s “last 4 in”)
• 70 RPI (again better than Arizona State who is only 5-7 in their last 12 and 4-6 on the road)

Again the only weakness is their lack of a few more quality wins. With that said, it would behoove Temple to go into the A10 final believing they have no chance to get in without a win.

Having not attended either Temple or Saint Joseph’s and not having any friends or relatives on either team, I find myself likely rooting for Temple to win this game. Why? I am 100% confident St. Joe’s is in, regardless of whether they win or lose this game. So that means we would get two Big 5 schools in the dance. What better outcome could I have asked for considering a month ago this ending was nothing but a hoop dream.

So the question remains - who are you rooting for in this all Philly affair, and why?

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Most people associate March Madness with conference tournaments that start in a little over a week and the NCAA tournament. But Saturday was the first day of March, and the madness really starts from day one of the month.

There were some great college basketball games and storylines from the first weekend in March to get the best month of basketball started with a bang.

Top 25 games decided by 6 points or less - 7 out of 21 games

Games & upsets that impact tournament positioning

• #5 Texas falls to Texas Tech by 3 in the most exciting finish on Saturday. The loss for Texas effectively killed their hopes of being a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
• #14 Vandy slips up against Arkansas by 5. The Chris Webber Timeout blunder rears its ugly head for another player in a pressured-filled end-game situation. Forward Ross Neltner called a timeout the Commodores didn’t have with 7.3 seconds remaining, and Vandy only down one. A technical foul was assessed and the miscue helped Arkansas hold on for a 78-73 victory. I thought Vanderbilt was a “smart” school? Either way Arkansas gains a strong win that will likely improve their seed in the tourney. In the loss Vandy’s Shan Foster became the all-time leading scorer in school history. I have targeted him as a 2^nd round draft pick the Sixers should look to go after to address their lack of 3-point shooting after trading Korver. He has NBA range and NBA size. This time we would need to keep the Vandy player we get and not pull another Derrick Byars who I loved in college.
• #10 Georgetown sneaks by (again) #21 Marquette 70-68 in a classic Big East battle that was decided in overtime. The Hoyas and Jonathan Wallace benefited not from another horrendous call by the officials like the Villanova debacle but terrible defensive decision-making on the part of Dominick James. Down three, Wallace brought the ball down the sideline all the way to the deep corner and prepared to hoist a desperation three to tie the game, and James thought it was a good idea to reach for the ball on the shot attempt, DUMB. Another example why the team up by 3 should foul early and not give the other team a chance to even shoot a three or have something like a foul called on a contested three-point attempt. This was the philosophy of my college coach, and I am not sure why more coaches don’t adopt this strategy. James fouled Wallace who calmly nailed all three free throws with 2.8 seconds left. Marquette couldn’t recover in OT and missed a golden opportunity for a big conference victory.
• #24 Kent State goes down to sub .500 Bowling Green. Kent State worked its way into the Top 25 for the first time in school history by winning 9 of their last 10 games. This loss just goes to show how tough it is to win on the road in conference play, regardless if it’s a major conference like the SEC or a mid-major like the MAC.

Big-Time close calls by the ACC powerhouses

Coach K’s 800^th win came in the form of a nail-biting, potential upset at the hands of N.C. State. Sidney Lowe’s squad dominated Duke for about 33 minutes and had an 8-point lead with 5:03 left (81-63). At this point I thought N.C. State needed to keep scoring and get at least 87 points not to lose the game in regulation. Duke proceeded to go on a 14-5 run to end the game. Final score - 87-86 in favor of Duke, and I felt like a prophet.

UNC overcame an 18-point deficit early in the second half and a truly remarkable individual performance from Tyrese Rice to stay at the top of the ACC with the Blue Devils. Rice scored 34 points in the first half breaking his previous career high of 32. He finished with 46 for the game, the 3^rd highest mark hung on UNC ever and the 2^nd most points scored by a Boston College player in school history. UNC went on a 22-3 run over the next 8 minutes and 7 seconds to take a 62-61 lead, proving they can score points fast and in bunches. At that point Roy William’s team had the game in full control. With Tennessee losing 24-hours after being ranked number 1, the Tar Heels are in position to be the #1 ranked team in the country Monday. They also remain as one of the 4 top seeds in most people’s tournament bracket. The stage is set for the best game of the season next Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Missed opportunities and bubbles bursting - Every year there are teams barely in the tournament, on the bubble or outside the bubble looking in. They will all have some opportunities down the stretch against ranked opponents and conference-leading teams to help their cause in the eyes of the selection committee. Here are some teams that blew a chance to solidify their spot in the tournament the first two days of March.

• Villanova - I said in a previous post Nova needed a key victory against either Marquette or Louisville this week. My feeling was the Marquette game at the Wachovia Center on Monday was the more favorable game for the Wildcats to win, and they couldn’t get it done. Today Louisville out worked Nova on the boards, their full court pressure fatigued Nova’s shooters and the Cardinals simply had more talent so the game was never really close. Now Nova will have to win their last two regular games against South Florida and Providence just to stay on the bubble. Then I think they must win at least two Big East Tournament games to be considered for an at-large bid.
• Saint Joseph’s - In a must win game against Big Five-rival Temple, the Hawks lost by one at the Palestra, likely falling completely off the bubble, and are now on the outside looking in. Luckily for them they still have Xavier at home on Thursday, and a win could put them back in contention. Then they have the conference tournament in which they will need to, at worst, make it to the championship game to be considered for an at-large bid. They control their own destiny if they can run the table and win it all. Joe Lunardi currently has two A-10 teams in the tournament (Xavier and Umass) with the Hawks in consideration. Temple is the only team to beat Xavier in conference; they have beaten Umass and Saint Joe’s. If Temple wins their last two against Duquesne and La Salle, I think Temple throws themselves in the mix as well with a strong A-10 tournament run.
• Arizona - Even with a mediocre record of 17-12 and only 7-9 in conference, Zona is probably in on the strength of their out-of-conference schedule and the strength of the Pac-10. A win today against UCLA would have been the clincher. They ended up losing by two but showed they have top flight talent and can compete with the best in the country. But they can’t keep losing just because they are playing tough competition.
• Kentucky - Sweeping the season series against #1 Tennessee would have been a huge win for Kentucky, but they simply ran out of gas late. With a 16-11 overall record and a strong 10-4 in conference the question remains: will key wins at home against Vandy and Tenn be enough to get them in? Right now I think not. And with Patrick Patterson done for the remainder of the season things look real bleak for the Wildcats from Kentucky.
• Kansas State - Michael Beasley found out quickly that talk is cheap, especially in team sports. The 14-point loss to Kansas marks K State’s fourth loss in a row, meaning their bubble is on the verge of bursting right now.
• Syracuse - Why is this team always on the bubble even though they consistently bring in very talented recruits? The Big East is tough but the Cuse clearly has enough talent to do better than they have. The loss to Pitt means they must run through the Big East tournament to get in. And if they don’t win right now chances are they won’t win next season either if Donte Greene declares for the NBA after his freshman year.
• Ohio State - 14-point loss to Minnesota = NIT for OSU

BONUS Madness: The Sixers beat Phoenix on the road - Looking at the schedule I am pretty sure most of us marked this down as a loss. To my surprise, after getting home from seeing Vantage Point Saturday night, I find out the Sixers overachieved again. Granted the Suns are still trying to figure it out after they traded for the Daddy, but that takes nothing away from this hard-fought win. Andre Miller (25 pts, 12 ast, 3 stls, and only 2 turns) attacked Phoenix’s major weakness - Steve Nash’s defense. Ultimately that is why the Suns probably have no chance in the West, not Shaq. Having to go up against one or more of the best PGs in the game in Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Baron Davis, and now Jason Kidd makes Nash’s liability on defense even more apparent. If Miller can go off on him what will those studs do come playoff time?

Biggest takeaways from that game are Maurice Cheeks’s ability to motivate and get these guys to play extremely hard on the second game of a back-to-back. They are 11-1 in the second game of their last 12 back-to-back situations. This is huge to me and shows why Mo deserved that extension. The other, Andre Iguodala showed he can step up and take over a game in stretches against a good team. The Sixers will need much more of that down the stretch. And if he can consistently play that way come playoff time, maybe he can make a believer out me that his deserves a max contract. Not yet though.

LOVE MARCH! The best basketball and my birthday, what more can I ask for.

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Tennessee beats Memphis in a great game that without a doubt lived up to all the hype leading up to tonight. Since I have no ties with either team I figured I’d leave some random thoughts I had while watching the game.

1. Both teams played out of character (to start) - Memphis started the game shooting out of their minds from behind the arc. No one, including John Calipari, could have predicted his team would shoot 7-11 early on in the first half playing at a feverish pace. Memphis did come back to earth shooting a dismal 1-16 the rest of the game. On the other side Tennessee flat out dominated the boards especially on the offensive end. 46-31 on the boards for the Vols and 17 offensive rebounds. That is what kept them in the game during the hot-shooting first half by Memphis.
2. Calipari bad game managment - In the second half Memphis was down to only 1 time out with over 8 and a half minutes left in the game. He is normally very good at managing this aspect of the game but must have felt he needed to use them to keep the game under control while Memphis was down. Bigger issue was with 26-seconds left, Memphis with the ball down one Coach Cal chose not to use that last time-out. That possession led to a forced shot by Antonio Anderson. Not Rose or Douglas-Roberts. Big mistake. That was the situation for some great coaching.
3. Derrick Rose - To take a line for Dicky V. “Mr. Rose was awesome, baby, with a capital A.” Rose had his standout game on the biggest stage of the season. He clearly showed why he is regarded as one of the 5 best freshman in the country and a sure lottery pick. In this game he displayed a strong mid-range game hitting numerous pull-up jumpers down the stretch in the second half.
4. Chris Lofton - BOOOOOO, it’s one thing to have a bad game shooting the ball, it is a completely different problem when you can’t even get a shot and you’re supposed to be the best player on the team. Is it just me or did he look slow, uncomfortable and flat out not very good? He has no handle and is unable to create his own shot against quick defender who are taller than he is. His first field goal didn’t come until midway through the second half. He spent the entire game either jacking up terrible shots with guys right in his grill or standing around while guys like J.P. Prince and Wayne Chism stepped up.
5. Did Joey Dorsey play? - Memphis was supposed to have the advantage inside led by Dorsey. He was a complete non-factor, a major reason Tennessee won the rebounding battle by an unexpectedly large margin. 6 rebounds, 4 fouls and 1 point simply isn’t good enough from your starting center to beat good teams. Dorsey will have to be much more consistent come tournament time for the Tigers to finally get past the Elite 8.
6. It’s about damn time - A coach with a 3-point lead fouls on purpose to eliminate the chance of a desperation three going down. This is an especially great strategy against a team who has proven they are allergic to the charity strip.
7. Achilles Heel - 8 of 16 from the line for Memphis (Rose’s intention miss doesn’t count). Bad free throw shooting finally caught up to the Tigers in a close game verse a good team. When I played ball the first thing my coach would say after a close loss was “We missed x number of free throws, that was the difference in the game.” With so much parity in college basketball, Memphis won’t come close to a Final Four if they continue to shoot like that from the line.

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Episcopal Academy hoops star Wayne Ellington brought out his best game for top-ranked North Carolina against #19 Clemson. With 5 seconds left in overtime and everyone in Littlejohn Coliseum aware of who was going to get the rock, Ellington pulls up for a game-winning 3. Swish - a perfect way to cap off an already outstanding performance. That three left the Tigers with .4 seconds on the clock and all but sealed the win for UNC in their first ACC battle of the season.

Wayne scored 7 of 9 points in overtime for the Tar Heels and finished the game with a career high 36 points on 11-19 shooting from the field, 5-9 from three and a perfect 9-9 from the line. Ellington picked up for All-American Tyler Hansbrough who had an off-game only scoring 12 points on 3-8 shooting. It’s too bad only a few people got to witness this great performance and nail-biting college basketball game.

Having a fantastic start to the season, Wayne is averaging 16.7ppg (6^th in the ACC), 3.9rpg, 1.9apg while only committing 1 turnover per night. Already potent from the perimeter, Ellington has developed his ability to score off the dribble and has arguably the best mid-range game in college basketball.

This game is only a foreshadowing of things to come for Philadelphia’s own Wayne Ellington. I see more big games in his future. Namely against storied rival Duke and his good friend and Episcopal running-mate Gerald Henderson. After UNC and Duke clash twice this season, I will share my take (I’ve played with both) on which Episcopal standout will be a better pro in the NBA.

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Dante Cunningham’s 2 clutch free throws may have sealed the win for Nova, but it was 22 forced turnovers that made the difference for the Wildcats. 10 seconds left and a chance to win the game Pitt went to its bread and butter end-game play (see the win vs. Duke). But without the playmaking ability of Levance Fields and against the quick hands and feet of Villanova, that play ended the same way the entire game played out for Pittsburgh. With a turnover.

This was a great bounce back win for Nova coming off a disappointing loss to DePaul in their Big East opener. The Blue Demons shot 51% in that game, and it was apparent from the start of today’s game that Jay Wright had his team pick up the defensive intensity against Pitt. Full-court pressing and trapping most of the game combined with a depleted back-court for the Panthers resulted in 11 steals and 22 points off turnovers for Nova.

That suffocating defense and 39-7 bench scoring difference was just enough for Villanova to overcome a poor shooting day (33% from the field & 27% from behind the arc) and a sub-par game from leading scorer Scottie Reynolds (1-6 fgs 4pts). With the game on the line, Reynolds did make a great pass that ultimately lead to Cunningham’s game-winning free throws. Freshman Malcolm Grant picked up the scoring load with a career high 22 points on 6-12 from the field while suffering leg cramps late.

“He’s incredible. He’s a freshman but he’s the heart and soul of our team,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said about Grant. “I try to diminish that but I can’t. He’s really energized our team since he’s gotten here.”

Pittsburgh got another monster game inside from freshman DeJuan Blair (12pts & 15 boards) who gave the Panthers their last lead of the game with a fall-away shot after being bumped in the lane.

This was the Wildcats 5^th straight victory over Pitt in the last 5 meetings at the Pavilion. Hopefully Nova, currently ranked 16^th in the country, won’t drop far in the rankings, having redeemed themselves after the DePaul loss against a tough, 13^th-ranked conference foe.

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“I need to make myself more assertive” was the line Roy Hibbert gave after a 6 point, 6 rebound effort (if you can call it that) in a loss to #2 Memphis. That lack of aggressiveness has been the knock on this guy since he entered the college basketball spotlight. At 7′2, 275 pounds that is not what any coach or potential GM wants to hear from their starting center.

In arguably the toughest game on G-Town’s schedule, and for Roy Hibbert his strongest and most physical individual opponent in Joey Dorsey, he succumbed to his natural weakness - passiveness. Only attempting 8 shots, he was a non-factor and while I was watching the game looked invisible on the court. Believe me, NBA scouts were watching and took note of his ineffectiveness vs. a college foe that mirrors his likely competition at the next level.

In Georgetown’s first 9 games of the season Hibbert has been an underachiever at best for a pre-season All-American and prospective top 15 NBA draft pick.

• Only 1 game with 10+ rebounds this season - and it was just 10
• Only 1 game over 17 points (vs. William & Mary, a 2-6 mid-major)
• 26.6% is Hibbert’s 10+ rebounding percentage in 79 games from his sophomore through senior year; for a 7-footer that plays just over 24 minutes per game that’s just not good enough
• 12.2 PPG over those same 79 games - weak!

Considering Hibbert has yet to prove himself as a consistent and dominant big man on the college level; would you draft Roy in the top 15 if you were an NBA GM? Competitive fire and assertiveness are inherent traits developed at a young age for basketball players. And his shortcomings in those areas make him a bigger gamble than most college analysts have yet to recognize and report on.

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