2008-2009 College Basketball Thread......
 

It's that time of the year again. First official practices commence this Friday evening, October 17th. No polls out just yet, but here's a pretty good site that previews many of the major and mid-major conference teams for those that are interested if you want to get a feel for each team.

2008 College Basketball Preview: 2008-2009 NCAA College Basketball Previews

Very excited about our young team this year. Returning almost nobody of note, all new team, very young. Major ups and downs, but a lot of talent and a fun system to play in. Really looking forward to seeing Rotnei Clarke and Courtney Fortson play. Should have outstanding guard play at some point this season, if not right off the bat.

Saw a pretty good article with a lot of Pelphrey comments the other day. He admits that they're facing a rebuilding year, but hopes to still perform well......

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...g-at-arkansas/

Here's a Top 25 ranking from Andy Katz......

ESPN - Tar Heels on top as season sets to begin - Men's College Basketball

Sounds like North Carolina and Texas are working out a deal to play a game at the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...10cf9e370.html

I'm excited for year two under Bieline. He has some recruits that fit his system, plus Laval Lucas-Perry, who transfered from Arizona, is eligible in December, giving us a lot more depth then we had last year.

I think we'll get back to the NIT this year, and then next year finally make a move to the tournament.

West Virginia got a huge commitment today in 6'9" Turkish PF Deniz Kilicli. He had offers from UCLA, UConn, Kentucky and others. Rivals only has him as a 3 star for now, but a UCLA assistant called him "more skilled than Kevin Love" so I expect him to go up. I believe he's just arrived in the states and is playing at Mountain State Academy in Beckley, WV this year.

As far as this season, WVU could be really good, but we'll be depending on 3 freshman for a lot of minutes. We're lacking a true center, and we'll miss Joe Alexander. I still think we'll make the tournament.

No assistant really said that, it was more of a paraphrased off the mark comment by an assistant. Otherwise UCLA would be in hot water! But I doubt he's really as skilled as Kevin Love since Love was a once in a generation college player :)

UCLA is looking to make their fourth straight final four with more success this year then in years past. The PAC-10 looks to be really weak

I am still not over last season and probably never will be.

From a newspaper article 3 or 4 weeks ago:

When trying to find out exactly what kind of player Mountain State Academy’s Deniz Kilicli was, a UCLA assistant coach told the tale of the talent from Turkey.

“He is more skilled than Kevin Love,” the Bruins assistant said Friday after MSU’s practice at Van Meter Gymnasium. “They’re different type players, but he is more skilled than Kevin.”

The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia - ‘More skilled than Kevin Love’

Texas gets a huge commitment from Jordan Hamilton, out of Compton, CA. Rivals has him #5 and Scout has him #13. The Horns have been working on landing him for the last two seasons, and were in a fierce battle with USC.

That Texas fanbase has to be one of the most puzzling situations I've ever seen. All Rick Barnes does is bring in star recruits, finish in the top 2 in conference, and make the NCAA tourney just about every year. Despite all of that, the arena is rarely full except for the biggest games of the year. If they dropped that kind of talent in Columbia, MO, there wouldn't be a seat in the house all year long.

Even so, they still had the 22nd best home attendance figure out of all 300+ Division 1 teams, averaging 12,700 with a capacity of 16,700. (2006-2007 figures). There are a LOT of bad seats at Erwin Center, and that plays pretty heavily into it.

2006-2007 Men’s College Basketball Top 25 Attendance « BrandDunk

Really looking forward to the Miners season. Senior SG Stephon Jackson should become the Miners all time leading scorer, and the first Miner to ever score over 2000 points. He'll be leading a young team, but most of the youngsters got valuable playing time as freshmen last year. Memphis transfer Kareem Cooper has apparently been VERY impressive in practice and looks to be a monster in the paint.

We're hoping for a top two or three finish in CUSA and hopefully an NCAA bid...

Fitting to see this thread today.

The Coach turned a spry and chipper 98 today. Here's to another 98, Coach Wooden.

Looking forward to seeing how Aussies Patty Mills (St. Mary's) and Ater Majok (UConn - Aussie by way of Africa, at least) do this year. I'm predicting a big year from Mills in particular given his performance at the Olympics.

MJ4H are you going to the Red/White game?

Pretty sure I have to be at a high school football game that night. If not, I will definitely try.

Matt - been meaning to ask you.

Any opinions/thoughts on Sean McCurdy? He starts this year for my W&M Tribe after sitting out his transfer year last year.

Oh cool. Forgot about him. He is a good kid but not quite the level of talent we needed at the time. There were a few that thought he was the future at guard and we weren't developing him by giving him enough PT, but I think most of us realized he didn't have what it takes at the SEC level. That said, he was pretty good at distributing while he was here, just turnover prone. No idea what his upside is, but he could definitely be a nice addition for your team.

I could be more vague if you'd like. :)

Dayton Flyers, baby! Coming back with the most talented player in the A-10, Chris Wright, and one of the best recruiting classes UD has had in years. Looking forward to a fun year in the Atlantic Ten... because the OOC schedule is complete shit, frankly.

I mean really, if there were even a few people that thought he could be the future at Guard at an SEC school that's good news for us. We are a team that has consistently fell in the bottom 1/3 of a league that is a 1 bid, sometimes 2 bid, league. Yeah, we've had some high profile teams with upsets (with George Mason of course being the poster child), but again - bottom 1/3.

We had a breakout year last year (went to the conference final) and only lost one major contributor. What was one of our biggest problems? No true PG. If McCurdy could step into our offense and distribute, that is pretty huge for us. Frees up our best shooter from having to be the distributor.


Anyway - for me.

I'm very excited about the CAA season this year. There's a lot of young talent and some traditional doormats (like W&M) are trying to make a move this year. It's always a fun league to follow imo as the talent is quite good, even though not Major level. You can always get a good seat and we have 4 schools in VA so going to away games is very manageable. I generally go to all W&M home games and 3 or 4 away games a year - and then spend the entire weekend in Richmond, VA for the conference tournament.

It is very possible that you will be pleased with McCurdy. Hopefully he does well with his chance.

UNC has been preseason #1 before, but I don't think my personal expectations have ever been higher than they are for this team.

Forget baseball season already? Be aware...

I know the article, but he wasn't quoted. It's been debated at length on a few boards to see if UCLA actually created a violation

He's an interesting kid, but UCLA told him no thanks :) I'm not sure if he's even qualified yet?

Rutgers has a pair of nice recruits coming in in the form of SG Mike Rosario (Rutgers' 1st Men's McDonalds All-American) and C Greg Echenique. There's a good chance both guys start from day 1, especially with the suspension of Forward JR Inman to start the season.

I think Rutgers could be over .500 this year.

As much as it pains me to deal with UNC as they are this year, they are the team to beat. This also is a great chance for Roy to cement his legacy and actually one-up Dean a bit. Dean had many teams that rated #1 in preseason, but they rarely followed through with an NCAA championship, leaving a somewhat dim assessment of Dean's legacy to me. Yes, he won a freightload of games and was consistently a great coach with a great team, but the NCAAs were always a problem with him. Given his relatively consistent level of top ACC finishes, he should have won more than two national championships.

Roy, on the other hand, hasn't really had a team like this since he came to UNC. He's had the burden when at Kansas a couple of times, but never like this at UNC. Dean struggled to win it all with this kind of talent. Can Roy do better?

Midnight madness practices are tonight! Exciting stuff.

Thought I'd pass on some pretty funny stuff from the kickoff luncheon for the Coaches vs. Cancer project that was held in KC last week. Coaches Norm Stewart, Mike Anderson, Bill Self, and Frank Martin were all in attendance.

Manny Harris is the best player in the Big 10, and is going to average 19 ppg, and UM will beat MSU at least once this year.

I said it.

Sounds like Lute Olson is stepping down for good this time:

ESPN - Source: Lute Olson to step down as Universtity of Arizona coach

Arizona is denying it but it sounds pretty certain he is done.

Not gonna be a good season for me, as I have lower expectations for my two favorite teams. First, I expected Memphis to win the national championship last year, and they nearly did it, of course. They'll still be very good, I'm sure, but I think asking for another title game appearance is a bit much.

As for my alma mater, New Orleans probably doesn't stand a chance of competing for the Sun Belt title. Bo McCalebb, the best player in recent school history, exhausted his eligibility and is now playing in Turkey. I like the guys who are returning, but they'll never replace Bo. Seriously, Bo was such a great college player, and it's a shame that very few people got to watch him play. He had the ability to take over a game and win it for the Privateers all by himself. That's a lot to ask from anyone else on that team.

Maybe I should start following Division II basketball. Go Seton Hill, I guess?

I was going to post this earlier, but forgot to do so. Yahoo Sports is doing an insider series about the Memphis Tigers as they prepare for the upcoming season. The first set of videos was just posted. 10 episodes in all will be produced. The video about their backup center and his contract with Coach Cal to lose 70 lbs is pretty good stuff............

College Basketball on Rivals.com – Full Court Press

I'm interested in seeing how Coach Purnell can handle the our team this year without Mays.

I will be very disappointed if we finish out of the top 25 though

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully this is not a health issue. IIRC Kevin O'Neil was designated as Lute's successor last year but got the boot when Olson said he was coming back and he did not want O'Neil around. Now they don't have Olson OR O'Neil.

True, we won't win a title, but I also think UNO will out-perform the last place finish being predicted in every publication/poll I've seen so far. Big emotional lift this year with our return to Lakefront Arena. You just have no idea. I swore I would never set foot in the Chamber of Horrors again after last season (I broke my promise to see roller derby a couple weeks ago, but still...).

Think the Saints' return to the Superdome on a much lesser scale. I like UNO to be semi-respectable this year, although I am not looking forward to re-opening the Arena with NC State, with 11 new players, with the Pack wanting revenge for last season, and ZERO exhibition games to prepare... even Sidney Lowe shouldn't be able to screw this one up.

I'm not sure whether to be upset at this or not. :D

O'Neill was a disaster. Half the players were either going to go pro or transfer if he stayed on.

As to Lute, he had missed three events for "health reasons" earlier in the week (Ast coach Reggie Geary had filled in for him). I have a feeling there's some health-related issues at play here.

AZ football coach Mike Stoops said this tonight: ""I just hope and pray he's in good health and happy with his decision. "

All signs point to a health issue and that would be real unfortunate. Lute put Arizona on the map and has been a gentleman his entire career. Back when I covered the team for the school paper, he would stay after press conferences to do one-on-ones with us all the time - something no other major coach would do in any sport.

I'm 100% sure that this is true, you being the most reasonable, non-homer on Earth.

I think MBBF is going to pop in next to tell us that Sony said no thanks to Halo.

Just curious, though, did UCLA tell him no thanks before he fell in love with Texas as a sophomore, or after?

Hey, Jessica Alba! No thanks! That sure showed her.

I'm interested in seeing Ohio State's newest big guy, BJ Mullens. He's got an Oden body but has offensive skills, not as dominate defensively though.

It should be interesting to see how things go without Butler running the point too.

So, I just want to make sure I have this right. You, of all people, are accusing MrBug of homerism? You. I mean, it's really you, right? Not some normal, reasonable non-super-Hookemhorns-homer who managed to find your account login, but you as we have known you, bleeding orange and one of the biggest homers around ever. That's you, isn't it?

Okay, got it.

I think Memphis will be better than what the expectations are, but I am a homer in every since of the word. I bleed reflex blue and medium gray, so take my opinion with a big grain of salt please.

Dude, how about Lot's wife. :D

I think Memphis is going to be fine. Calipari always brings in top recruits, and they are still the class of Conference USA.

Vitale mentioned health issues every time I heard him yesterday.

Not every A-10 game should be fun.

So, after ESPN and most major news outlets ripped Lute for retiring (even though many knew there were health reasons), we now know that he had a stroke and that's why he's retiring:

ESPN - Doctor: Former Arizona Wildcats coach Lute Olson had stroke within last year

ESPN - North Carolina Tarheels star Tyler Hansbrough sidelined with shin injury


Oh dear.

UCLA is only practicing 8 players right now :)

The lineup is Aboya, Keefe, Shipp, Holiday, and Collison.

What does being a homer have to do with anything? He's had such academic problems where he had to be reclassified as class of 2009 instead of being in the class of 2008. But sure, UCLA isn't even going to offer a top 25 kid 20 minutes from their campus at a position where they needed someone athletic.

Homer indeed!

Hey IMTG, Jordan Hamilton is ineligible for all sports this academic year...

After watching the Hogs' exhibition game with MJ4H, I've reached the following conclusions about Arkansas's basketball team this year.

1. We're going to get killed by teams who have size inside
Our tallest guys are 6'9 and they're not exactly the bruiser type. We really need to develop some kind of post game or teams will just blanket the hell out of our perimeter game and we'll be in trouble. Michael Washington really knows how to draw a charge and has some nice inside moves, but he's not a true five. Unfortunately, we don't have any big men, so he's it.

2. This is a very young, very exciting team that should score a ton of points.
Yes it was an exhibition game and against a podunk opponent at that, but Rotnei Clarke is going to light up the scoreboard game after game. I'll go on record right now as saying he'll get strong consideration for SEC Freshman of the Year and maybe even receive some national attention. The kid can flat out shoot and what's better, he hustles his ass on the floor. I'm going to love watching his first two years.

Courtney Fortson, our freshman PG, has some serious game, but in my opinion, right now he drives too often. I'm sure that'll change once he realizes that's not going to cut it as much as he likes to do it, but he's got the moves and it's just a matter of maturation and adapting to the Division I college game.

Overall, I noticed this is a very fast, very athletic team with a ton of talent and potential. This is also a team that runs its ass off and has a lot of guys that show great hustle. But with only three guys on the squad who logged any minutes at all in a Razorback uniform, there's going to be a period of adjustment and chemistry building. How quickly they develop that rapport and sense of cohesion, is, I think, going to be a key indicator of how this season goes. The future looks fantastic, though, especially if we can pick up a legit big man to bang around in the post.

3. Michael Sanchez should see the court as little as possible.
He was one of the starters in tonight's lineup, which went:

PG Courtney Fortson (FR)
SG Rotnei Clarke (FR)
3G Stefan Welsh (JR)
PF Michael Sanchez (RS FR)
C Michael Washington (JR)

Sanchez is ox-slow, has a permanently dazed look on his face and just doesn't have the skills on offense -or- defense, particularly in this system. He tries hard, but he simply can't cut it.

Personally, I really like Jason Henry (FR) from what I saw of him. He can pass, shoot, defend and rebound, but on the other hand, perhaps his versatility as a G/F would best be served to come off the bench. Then again, Montrell McDonald (JR/Juco Transfer) is a G/F as well. I'd personally hesitate to put Andre Clark (FR) in as the starter, because then the only guy with any size we have on the bench is Brandon Moore (FR). Both Clark and Moore are 6'9, as is Washington. So on second thought, I'll go back to the suggested lineup of:

PG Fortson
SG Clarke
3G Welsh
PF Henry
C Washington

Depending on how quickly they gel, I think the Razorbacks can surprise some people this season and end up with an at-large NCAA bid or at the very least an NIT invite.

Oh yeah... #4.

4. We have some seriously hot cheerleaders this year

:D

Size is overrated in the college game. Most teams have a true four playing the five position and a physical wing player as their PF

That's not true. Size is overrated in the PRO game. Roy Hibbert would have played 10 minutes a game if he were 6'8". Tim Young would have been d-II if he were 6'8".

Hahaha very well done Izulde and a-freaking men to #4. I think we will be ok with Washington inside for awhile and I think Andre Clark will develop for the spot, too. The rest of what you said is pretty spot on, but I'm not as concerned about Fortson driving as you are. There were only a couple of times when I thought it didn't work out well. I think he finished with 11 assists or something like that. Haven't seen a guard like this at Arkansas since Kareem Reid at least and this guy makes Kareem Reid look terrible (of course, he was).

Mizzou had their first exhibition game last night. On the positive side, the defense looked great and forced 38(!) turnovers. On the down side, we gave up 22 turnovers. There were 7 new players playing their first game at Mizzou, so it probably shouldn't be too surprising that they were a bit sloppy on the offensive end. One good thing about the new players is that the energy level was extremely high, which is something Mizzou has been missing at times in the past couple of seasons.

One more exhibition game and then Mizzou heads off to Puerto Rico to face Xavier in the opening round possibly followed by Virginia Tech and Memphis.

There's a lot of coaches that now subscribe to 'arm height' when recruiting players. They're much less interested in their actual height. What they measure now is the height of a player from the floor to the tip of their fingers extended over their head. There's a lot of 6'8-6'9 players that have extremely long arms and can run and jump much better than a 7'0 player with a similar arm height.

Cousin of yours? Wife? Both? :D

BTW.....it sucks that Arkansas didn't want to renew the Mizzou series. Always thought it was a lot of fun.

Izulde and I are unbelieveable close to being in this picture. Literally feet away out of the frame on the left. Grrrr

SIT DOWN BRIDGES!

Yep, we're -just- out of that picture. :(

Some may say it's only a D2 opponent. Some will say it doesn't count for our RPI or even their record. Some will say our biggest weakness (rebounding/interior play in general) wasn't answered considering we were tied in rebounds. I say, screw it, we're 1-0 and face Southern Illinois tomorrow night for the right to play Duke at MSG. UMass 90-71 over Arkansas-Monticello.

Fall Signing period is today. UCLA inked some solid talent, about a Top 10 class or so and are waiting on whether or not they can get Mike Moser to verbal still.

UCLA also won fairly easily tonight. The defense needs work, but 5 freshmen playing some solid minutes will do that for Howland

It was an UNBELIEVABLE game tonight. Gaffney came out in warmups trying to act all cocky towards the crowd, and when he was walking back to the lockeroom, he pointed up to the student section. He then proceeded to dunk a put-back in and screamed towards the student section. After that, he was singled out and it was great. We had pretty loud chants of "Gaffney sucks" going the entire game.

Scary situation when one of our big men took a tumble, and fell into the knee of one of your big men (can't remember the name, big white dude with a beard) and he came out with crutches and a lot of ice around his knee.

The officiating was terrible, seemed like SIU was getting called for any sort of touch, and the refs called an intentional foul on a layup when it was plainly obvious he was going for the ball. Then they didn't call one, when our big man just leveled a guard on a layup. Don't know if he realized he fucked up the first call and was just giving it away, but I couldn't believe it, I mean he just used his entire body and flung it at the guy in mid-air.

Dillard looks like he's going to be something special once he gets the mental part of the game down and doesn't telegraph his passes so bad. He came up with some huge baskets though in the second half. Towards the end, Gaffney wouldn't even look up at us.

But UMass looked really good, the guards were hitting some unbelievable shots, I mean, hand-in-the-face fadeaway type shit. They were out and running the entire first half and were penetrating very nicely. Great game, great atmosphere, and UMass played really well in a place that's not easy to play in.

Michigan is gonna play UCLA next Thursday .. While we won't win I still think we'll show up for most of the game but UCLA is going to be too much.

Your coach owns our coach though

William and Mary signed two quality recruits from North Carolina. No one anyone here would know I wouldn't think, but good gets for the level of program we are. Kyle Gaillard and Matt Rum for anyone that cares.

If anyone on any of the recruiting sites has info, i'd love to hear it ;). Apparently Gaillard had serious interest (maybe an offer) from Michigan.

lol...Matt Rum?

I'll have to follow this young man's career, I think.

That's weird about Gaffney - he was basically a recruited walk-on who became a hustle guy and earned a scholarship. He was always excitable, but I'm not sure why he'd talk shit - he can't shoot anything other than a lay-up. Looking at the box score, you'd think he had a fantastic game 6/9 with 7 blocks and 2 steals.

The big guy is Luke Bonner, Matt Bonner's younger, more awkward brother. He might be done for the season, and while I feel bad for him (he's a hilarious, nice kid by all accounts), I don't think we'd lose that much. He just can't run with the other players and doesn't fit the styles we've played. We'll definitely take our lumps now with essentially only freshmen up front after Gaffney, but I think we'll be a better team by conference play.

Our guards are absolutely legit. Harris and Gurley are straight ballers shooting the rock, and sounded like both played well. Chris Lowe might be the best of the bunch, and there is talk of him being A-10 PoY candidate, which is why your pg/gameplan has to be absolutely commended. 0 assists and 10 turnovers? That's the worst game of his career and probably his life, and I would have loved to see the game so I could see if it was your pg's defense or what that caused it.

Overall, I didn't expect a win going into SIU (you've lost what, 3 games in 6 years there or something?) so I'm not really bothered by this loss. It's gonna take the team some time to adjust to the DDM, and while I'm not entirely sure it's a better fit for our current personnel than Ford's offense was (Lowe needs to be in fast breaks more - there's no guard quicker in the open court than him - and Kellogg has them running much less in practice which may have hurt our stamine at the end there (hard to say without watching)) it's certainly helping recruiting and UMass' profile. Now go beat Duke.

Oh yeah, your guards are 100% legit. I mean, everytime they had an open look the entire stadium was groaning. I was holding my head and closing my eyes when they had an open three. It was seriously gross how they would just knock shit down.

SIU's game it seems since I've gotten here has been how they hit the three point bucket. If they hit it, it's all good (like the 2nd half), if they don't, it's awful (like the first half). Our freshman PG looks like he'll be amazing in 2 or 3 years, but as a freshman he's telegraphing so bad. He's got a crossover that reminded me of AI, so I'm hopeful that once he gets more experience he's gonna be just amazing for our program, same with the rest of our freshman.

But if college basketball gave out an MVP based on just how valuable a player is to a team, Bryan Mullins would win it hands down. He is so important to this team, they would not win a game without him. I saw him when he was waiting to get in the game by the scorers table, and he was coaching everyone from there. He really is just an amazing kid, I've met him, he's dating a girl that I know, he is just the definition of a great college basketball leader, I could not run out of compliments for him.

Boy, UCLA had a helluva time last night against Miami (OH). Ended up only winning by 5.

Miami does that to everyone. They rarely get blown out because of the style they play.

Miami played some good D and UCLA's freshmen have struggled with the offense so far

Be ready for the Manny Harris experience!

I honestly think he'll be the best player on the court, ahead of Collison. Harris does it all and has really matured over last year. He is finally using his body to make plays and is showing faith in his teammates.

Kid will be a first rounder, sadly however, it'll probably be after this year.

Mizzou fans are watering at the mouth about this news. DeMarcus Cousins is refusing to sign with UAB unless they include a release clause if there is a coaching change. PLEASE tell me that the UAB AD is dumb enough to stick to his guns. I'm sure the AD at Mizzou would be more than happy to give him that clause.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/recru...s_N.htm?csp=34

VMI beats Kentucky at Rupp 111-103. Bet that seat Billy Gillespie's sitting on just went from lukewarm to volcanic.

Blake Griffin with 25 pts, 18 reb in the first game of the season. Oklahoma beat up a pretty decent American team (NCAA tourney team returning its four top scorers). Looking forward to Tuesday's potential matchup with Davidson in the Preseason NIT in Norman.

I didn't get a chance to go to the game because I couldn't get tickets in time, but Arkansas beat Southeastern Louisiana 91-87 in OT. It's a little worrying that we needed overtime to beat the Lions, but I suppose it's still gelling.

I'm annoyed to note that Sanchez got the start. He crimps our style badly and needs to be limited to an end-bench role. And WTF did Henry only get 10 minutes?

Looking at the box score, Washington absolutely owned with 30 points, 14 rebounds and a block. Forston grabbed 18 points, 7 assists and a steal, but also turned the ball over 6 times. MJ4H, were you at the game and if so, how did the TOs happen? Was he being stupid and driving too much?

Clarke finished with 17 points including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Man this kid's career is going to be awesome to watch.

Nope, had a high school football playoff game last night north of Tulsa. We were getting updates throughout via cell phone, though. Didn't look good for most of the game. Nice to see Washington play like that. I think that is actually encouraging. SELA is a veteran team with some talent on offense. It wasn't too surprising to struggle, and I was glad to see the fight. I think the problems can be cleaned up. I mean, I hope.

DOLA

Yeah and I second the WTF on Sanchez. I have a feeling this is going to start pissing me off soon.

UNC opens the season at home vs Penn. It was close for about 15 minutes, UNC went on a solid run to end the first half and led by 15-18 most of the second half. They got very sloppy and complacent for awhile in the 2nd half and let Penn get it down to 10 with 5 minutes left, but got it together and finished the game off.

With Hansbrough and Ginyard out with injuries, Freshmen Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller saw lots of action. Zeller scored 18 but only managed 1 rebound, he did get to the line for 10 FT attempts though. Davis impressed me more with 10 points/14 rebounds.

It was great seeing Bobby Frasor back out on the floor.

Final was 86-71, the speed on offense really wasn't there today, but it was a fine performance for an opening game.

I saw the initial part of the game and was a little surprised that Penn hung as well as they did with UNC. Do you think the lack of Hansborough makes that much of a difference to Carolina or was it something else?

#13 Tennessee avoids a repeat of last year's close game against UTC (76-70) and routs the Mocs 114-75.

Doesn't Penn run the same slowdown offense that everyone in the Ivy seems to run? I would guess the same thing happened here as to UCLA on Thursday--just a disciplined system-based team facing a talented squad that probably didn't take them as seriously as they could have. And even so, UNC led by more than 10 for most of it.

Lack of Hansbrough certainly has something to do with it but I think mainly its just having three freshmen playing their first game fairly heavily in the rotation, and Frasor hasn't played a game in a year. When UNC doesn't come out of the gate running on every possession they don't blow people out early/easily.


Penn is picked 2nd in the Ivy League too and they really aren't bad. UNC played them last year and the game went about the same IIRC.

They are definitely disciplined but they don't' really run a Princeton style offense. They seemed more than happy to look for open shots early'ish in the shot clock, and to take them if they were there. There were a couple 3 point shooters that looked to have the green light any time.

Penn has never played the "Princeton" system. In fact, they prefer to be an uptempo team as their coach used to be an assistant under Jim Calhoun.

Radii is right they played last year. While Penn started well for the first 5 minutes they lost by 35 and only 15 this year. Penn is very young starting 1 Freshman and 2 sophomores. Most of the Penn fans are very happy with the performance of the team and should be much better than last year's down year and make a strong run for the NCAA bid.

The key when Penn kept it close for the first 13 minutes was very good 3 point shooting. For the last 7 minutes, Penn went a bit cold and the overall size of UNC took over.

I dunno, Darren COllison has his good and bad moments, but the kid still has a 17/15 performance as well as a game where he lit up a team for 37 points

Oh I agree. Collison is a beast, but Harris (albeit not vs the best opponents) was electric in Ann Arbor. His game was Northeastern, with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists from the 3 was insane.

That said, I am not sure the other guys will be able to hit the shots so early. It's still a young team who relies on the outside jumpers and if it gets ugly early, UM won't probably ever recover.

Clemson starts 2-0 plays in the final of some season opening tournament today against Temple.
And has a top 20 rated class coming in.

Coach Purnell is doing the right things, even if behind the scenes.

For our west coast and night owl brethren, I get my first chance to see UMass tonight (Monday), 11:59PM eastern at Memphis on ESPN. I don't know whether it will be close or a blowout, as they dominate us size-wise, but we've got guards who can shoot and there are a ton of storylines between Calipari's history here, Kellogg's time as an assistant at Memphis and both teams running the up-tempo DDM.

Solid neutral court win over Temple in the Charleston tourney final. Good omen for the Tigers. Two road games against Charlotte and Illinois pose the biggest test during the run-up to conference play now for Clemson.

Dayton with a squeaker over Wofford to open the season, 52-49. Lots of nervous freshmen on the floor for Dayton. Wofford visits Clemson this week, so let's see how good/bad a performance this was for the Flyers.

Xavier Henry will announce he is playing at Memphis tomorrow.

That opens the door for a couple of guards to sign at Kansas. I'm sure we'll see the dominoes start to fall.

Any Niagara fans? As of this morning, they are the #1 team in the RPI rankings. Salute!

RealTimeRPI.com Men's College Basketball Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ratings - A leading sports ratings and resources community on the Internet

I stayed up last night to watch Memphis play last night. We did not shoot the ball particularly well, but once again our length and athleticism will wear folks down. Tyreke Evans had a good game but the freshman I am most excited about is Wesley Witherspoon. He reminds me of a young Penny. He glides down the court and has a good outside shot and can handle the ball. He is a 6'8 PG. The kid is a baller.

Wow, that was not fun at all. I would say my worst fears about the offense were proven true - other than Harris and the freshmen, our personnel doesn't fit it well (Lowe is phenomenal on fast breaks, but we don't seem to get any of those anymore and Gurley is a spot-up shooter who we're asking to beat guys off the dribble and pull up) but really, the offense is about being more athletic 1v1 than the man guarding you and there isn't a more athletic team in the country than Memphis. I mean, other than Kemp do you guys have a player shorter than 6'6 with a huge wingspan? Other than the 400-pd guy do you have anyone who can't run a 4.5 40 or jump 40"+? We turned the ball over 15 more times than we could afford to (it seemed 80% of your points first half were breakaway dunks) but that full-court press you guys were throwing out there was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. You guys even have the better looking Calipari daughter attending your school.

There were some bright spots. Ricky Harris continues to look great this year and in the offense, and you have to love seeing an ex-walk on who I played against (and lost badly to) in intramurals (Gaffney) throwing up 16pts 19reb with 5 blocks and 3 steals. Tyrell Lynch didn't look bad before foul trouble got him

I also wasn't a huge fan of the officials - too many ticky-tack fouls and carries/travels being called. I know they make it a point of emphasis early in the year and it falls off by conference play every year, but it's still annoying. Also, when it's still within 10 points in the second half or UMass is winning in the first, I'd appreciate the announcers paid a little attention to the game actually happening than talking about their All-American teams or games happening the next day.

Oklahoma is beating the Davidson Currys. Oklahoma up like 4, but Curry with 17 so far in the half. Watching him this season should be as fun as watching Adam Morrison was during his last year at Gonzaga

Wisconsin is looking like a completely different team this year. A new look for Bo Ryan. The big players underneath are gone and Wisconsin has gone with a really fast team, which I am liking very much so far. Leuer looks great as does Landry. The Guards will be great, too, I believe.