Games to Watch - December 27th

With three days and only one college basketball game which wasn't televised, it seemed like the world stopped. Sure, I had a single bowl game to keep my attention, or lack of it. The Hawaii Bowl, while high scoring, was not the best football game to watch. In fact, it looked like a junior league football game where there is a lot of offense and then everyone just chases the kid with the ball again and again. So, finally college basketball is back tonight. Unfortunately scheduling today left a little to be desired so there is only one match-up that I can recommend tonight.

Monday Night:
Miami(Ohio) at Cincinnati - No offense to the Longwood Lancers, who Cincinnati will play on Thursday night, but this game is the final test for the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats before they meet Illinois on New Year's Eve. Yes, Longwood could pull off the upset, but more likely, Cincinnati may lose to the Redhawks. These aren't the Miami teams that starred Wally Szczerbiak in the late nineties. Still, the Redhawks are picked to contend in the MAC conference with Kent State and Buffalo. They have Senior forward Danny Horace inside, who has stepped up his production this year, nearly doubling his points per game over last year. Chet Mason will work on getting the ball to him while scoring from around the perimeter. Mason also produces good rebounding numbers for a point guard, grabbing nearly 8 per game. Cincinnati will counter with their normal bruising style of play. Senior Jason Maxiell, a pre-season all conference player, will be a tough test for Horace and the Redhawks. Maxiell is true to form again this year, leading the team in points and second in rebounding. He will be helped on the inside by Eric Hicks and look for Armein Kirkland around the outside to draw the defense away from Maxiell and Hicks. Cincinnati probably won't lose this one at home, so look for them to be undefeated Friday when they rematch the Illinois team that knocked them from the NCAA tournament last year. Chances are, we are in for the same result. MRI Predicts: Cincinnati Confidence factor: 88.86% 
© 10:17 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  You Have Learned Well Grasshopper

Tuesday night was the fourth meeting between Bobby Knight and Steve Alford on the basketball court, and the first triumph for the Alford led team. The Iowa Hawkeyes soundly beat Texas Tech 83-53 at the United Center in Chicago to continue their season with only a single blemish coming against North Carolina. Earlier in the year, I commented on how Alford needed this season to be fantastic if he hoped to continue holding onto his job at Iowa. If Tuesday night was any indication of how Iowa will play in the Big Ten, then Alford's team will not only see the NCAA tournament, they will be in the Sweet 16, and Alford will keep his job. Apparently Alford learned something from Bobby Knight along the way when he was at Indiana. Iowa plays almost the exact same offense that Texas Tech does and many of the principles that Alford uses in his coaching style come from Knight. When it came down to it on Tuesday, Iowa was just better at executing at both ends of the floor.

While Pierre Pierce again had a solid game for the Hawkeyes, he was not the driving force in the win. Without looking around the net, I am sure that 6'11" center Erik Hansen was given big credit for the victory and deservedly so.

Hansen had 6 blocks in the game, and he probably got his hand on at least 5 other shots without getting credit for the deflection. He added 9 points mostly coming in the second half when Iowa was safely in the lead. His biggest contribution on the offensive end was 6 offensive rebounds which let Iowa keep possession of the ball for multiple shot attempts. Obviously, because of the big presence inside, which Texas Tech had no answer for, Hansen was dominant at the defensive end. Together with Greg Brunner, they clogged up the lane using a combination of a strong 2-3 zone and man to man defense. The 2-3 zone was killer for Texas Tech in the first half. They had no way to get the ball inside and time after time down the floor they would be forced to pass around the outside and attempt to stay clear of the big men. This caused an abnormal amount of turnovers for the Red Raider team, many of them coming on traveling calls as Texas Tech players tried to get separation from the tough defense. They ended the first half with 16 turnovers which led to 12 Iowa points and a very red faced head coach.

If you want the driving force on offense, it wasn't Mr. Pierce either. That would be Adam Haluska. Haluska started the offense for the Hawkeyes by grabbing their first 8 points of the game and jetting them to a 10-3 lead on Texas Tech. The first six minutes of the game totally belonged to him. He was able to get free when Pierce was well covered and either dish the ball away or score. Had Haluska not picked up his second foul about nine minutes into the game, Iowa would have put the game away in the first half. It was obvious that the offense just ran slower without him on the floor. Pierce was their sole focus and Texas Tech was able to concentrate on him. It wasn't that there weren't other options on offense. Jeff Horner had some nice drives from the baseline but was terrible shooting from elsewhere on the floor. Brunner also contributed when he could. By far though, Haluska drove the offense and shot 7 for 9 including 3 for 3 beyond the arc. Add in four free throws and he had himself a 21 point night.

My player to watch for future games is Alex Thompson. Thompson came into the game with 7:40 to play in the first half to rebound off some Texas Tech free throws. Thompson looked a little rough around the edges, but that can be expected for a freshman. At 6'9", he will be a force to come for the Hawkeyes inside and if he is ever on the court at the same time as Hansen, opposing teams better hope they have some three point shooters. Thompson needs some work on his passing which was not as crisp as you would want from the big man as he feeds it back outside to the shooters. He did have a nice look boarding the ball and reigned in 5 over his 11 minutes. Coming out of Ames, Iowa, it is amazing that Iowa State didn't get this guy. If Tim Floyd or Larry Eustachy were still the coach for the Cyclones, you know that Thompson would have been wearing red this season and maybe Haluska might not be on the Iowa team.

Sure it is only one game, but this is one game that Texas Tech will want to forget. Despite playing well for most of the game on the defensive end, being competent at keeping Iowa on the outside and shooting from long distance, they did not have the same success at the offensive end. Freshman guard Martin Zeno looked like a freshman on the floor. He had 4 turnovers and only two assists. He constantly was forcing the ball inside and then would get beat back on defense. At the same time, Jarrius Jackson was the only offensive option on the floor for the Red Raiders who could accomplish anything. By the second timeout of the game, it was clear that if he didn't touch the ball, the Texas Tech team was not going to score. It took them 9 minutes to finally get a man solidly in the lane, and he was called for a three second violation.

The highlights for the Red Raiders were few. Devonne Giles outbattled 3 Iowa players to get an offensive rebound at one point. There were times when Ronald Ross's defense was enough to frustrate the taller and faster Pierce. Zeno did throw some nice feeder passes. Jackson did manage a great drive through the middle of the lane to the hoop, but it came in the final minutes when most of Iowa's main players were already on the bench watching the walk ons play. Bobby Knight has a lot of work to do before Wednesday night's game against Georgia State. Maybe he can call Steve Alford and get some tips on running his offense. 
© 1:30 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings (12-24-04)

While seeing only half of the Providence-Memphis game yesterday, a few things caught my eye through the box scores.

• The MRI went 2-1 in the games to watch last night. The one loss was the Providence-Memphis game which had the lowest confidence factor of the three games. Memphis is in a downward spiral and I don't think they are going to find their way out. They just don't look confident on the floor anymore. A few times in the game, they made runs to get close to Providence, but then it seemed that the offense would fall apart and let the Friars run out to another big lead for them to overcome. Providence got a good win here. They needed to get their confidence back and continuously fighting off the Tigers was a nice way to do it.


• With the 2-1 record last night, the MRI was 9-6 for the week in games to watch. Overall, the MRI went 30-7 last night to bring the week's record to 186-31. With only one game being played tonight, there will not be any games to watch today. All teams have the weekend off before resuming play on Monday. With that loss of the weekend, there will be no MRI released this Monday. Look for it to return on January 3rd.


• As I said yesterday, when you watch Southern Illinois, you only need to know one thing: Darren Brooks. Brooks went for 16 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals, in the win over Illinois State last night, 61-49.


• At the beginning of the year, I did a preview of the four new teams that the MRI would be tracking throughout the season. Little did I expect that of the four teams, the one with the most Division 1 wins at this point in the year would be the one that was a community college last season. I didn't expect Utah Valley State to win more than one game this season. Last night, the Wolverines won their fourth game of the year over Montana State, 80-60. They have now won three in a row and only one loss has been by more than 16 points. Their next game is against Oral Roberts on December 28th. This will be one to watch if they can pull an upset on a team which had been playing very well this season until two recent losses out in Hawaii.


• Two more teams got their first Division 1 win of the year last night, Chicago State and Idaho. That leaves us with only 13 winless D1 teams. We also have 13 undefeated teams remaining. I am tempted to say that we will have all the teams win before all the teams lose, but that is asking a lot from Savannah State, currently in the basement of the MRI by a big margin. Still, I will say it. Someone will lose to Savannah State before the last team in Division 1 loses a game.


• Illinois-Chicago wasn't going to let themselves be embarrassed for the second game in a row. They beat Saginaw Valley 79-47 last night to end their losing streak against Non-Division 1 teams. They take on Detroit, the loser in Chicago State's first win, next Thursday night.

 
© 8:56 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Omission Mission

Oops. Leave it to me to forget the one thing I wrote in my notebook last night. Shavlik Randolph, one of the few Duke big men, is out indefinitely with mono. This can not be a good sign for the Blue Devils. While Randolph has not been as effective as Sheldon Williams this season in Duke's games, he was still another inside presence. Without him, Duke is very small. They will have to rely on freshman David McClure who was not the freshman that impressed me so far this season. The shooting of JJ Redick and Daniel Ewing will now be key for Duke if they want to continue winning this season. When the shots stop falling, you will have to wonder what Duke will be able to do. Look for them to lose a few games that they should have won, and would have won with Randolph. The first real test will be NC State on January 13th, but they should not overlook Temple on the 8th. John Chaney may have a way to take down the Blue Devil machine. 
© 1:51 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch - December 23rd

The MRI did much nicer last night though not without a scare in the SC State-South Carolina game. The Bulldogs took South Carolina to overtime before the Gamecocks could finish them off. Like I said yesterday, it seemed that an upset was in the making. It just didn't come true and the MRI finished the day 4-0 in the watch games while it went 53 for 62 overall on the night. That brings the MRI record to 7-5 in the games to watch this week and 125-24 for the week so far. Three games for your viewing pleasure tonight.

Thursday Night:
Richmond at Pittsburgh - The Spiders were able to upset UAB last week to give me a loss. I am not confident that they can do it again. Richmond is now 4-3 against D1 competition but only 1-3 on the road. The Spiders will also be outsized and outboarded by the Panthers. Pitt is currently outrebounding opponents by 12 a game. This one is an easy call for the MRI. MRI Predicts: Pittsburgh Confidence factor: 92.78% MRI Result: WIN

Illinois State at Southern Illinois - This is the battle for control of downstate Illinois. The Missouri Valley Conference has been a surprise this year. Sure, everyone counted on Southern Illinois to be good again. Illinois State, however, was picked to finish in the bottom half of the conference and in some publications, dead last. Still, the Redbirds have gone 7-2 to start the season. They haven't had the best competition, but do hold wins over Mississippi and Penn State. If the Redbirds hope to win this game, their top scoring threat Trey Guidry will need to stay hot. Appropriate for his name, he led the league in 3 point percentage last season and they will have to have some of those to contend with a stronger Southern Illinois team. Illinois State does have 6'10" freshman Levi Dyer, but at 225 pounds, he will be easy to move outside, even if he does have two inches on the tallest Saluki. Lorenzo Gordon, a 6'7" JC transfer has been their biggest scorer this season. If you still need to know anything about Southern Illinois after the last three years, then you have been living in a hole. With their third new coach in three years, they are still a major contender in the Missouri Valley thanks to Senior point guard Darren Brooks. Brooks was the player of the year in the MVC last season and this year is putting up numbers to keep him there for a second straight year. Averaging close to 16 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4 assists a game, Brooks has been a driving force in the 7-2 start for Southern Illinois. Playing at home, the Salukis should win this one, but you never know when you play in the Valley. MRI Predicts: Southern Illinois Confidence factor: 73.45% MRI Result: WIN

Providence at Memphis - Both of these teams are looking for consistency in their season. Memphis has been on a downward spiral lately, losing 3 out of 4, including an embarrassing loss at home to Louisiana Tech and two blowouts. They will need to step it up against Providence tonight to make sure that this does not continue. The Friars, for their part, are still getting great contributions from All Big East Ryan Gomes. His numbers so far this year are close to last year, and will only get better now that he has some help. Sophomore guard Dwight Brewington has stepped up his scoring this season to give Providence a second scoring threat and take some pressure off of Gomes. Providence needs this game to provide themselves some stability in the season before the Big East kicks off. The loss to Winthrop three weeks ago didn't help them, and the loss to Wichita State, while a good team, was a game they needed to win. Memphis will be a test at home which flips this one to the Tigers. MRI Predicts: Memphis Confidence factor: 53.62% MRI Result: LOSS
 
© 11:10 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings (12-23-04)

Last night was the kind of evening when you are glad you have the ESPN Full Court cable television package. Without it, I only could have seen the Illinois-Missouri game, and you probably would have had a recap on it here. But through the wonders of modern television, I was able to attempt to watch 3 games at one time. Flipping between the UW-Milwaukee-Kansas game, the Illinois-Missouri game, and the second half of the UNC-Charlotte-Indiana game, meant that I couldn't cover one game in full but rather will just have to give my impressions on each.

• If any piece of any game so far this season has made the money investment worth it for the cable sports package, it was the ending of the Charlotte-Indiana game. While the rest of the game was a sloppy mess with the most airballs I had ever seen in a college game, the final 4 seconds were well worth tuning into. With the game tied, Indiana had an inbounds pass on the side which went in right to a shooter. The shot was missed but Patrick Ewing came unblocked to tip the miss back into the basket to give Indiana the lead with 0.7 seconds remaining. After a Charlotte timeout, the inbounds pass by the 49ers went to half court, into the hands of Brendan Pavlich. Pavlich had struggled shooting the ball until that point took one dribble and heaved from the time line. The ball sailed through the air as the Indiana players celebrated, believing that the shot was called off. When the ball swished through the net, all celebration in the arena stopped. The referees did a great job of controlling the players and fans while they examined the replay. Clearly, the television showed that Pavlich got the shot away with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock, counting the 3 and giving Charlotte the win. All told, that was an amazing finish to what was a pretty horrible game.


• Without Wayne Simien, Kansas should still be able to win, as they showed last night against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Unfortunately, the Panthers, while a very good mid-major team, are not up to the level of competition that Kansas will see when the Big XII season begins in a week. While Kansas should easily beat the teams in the middle and bottom half of the conference, without Simien, they will struggle against the top tier of teams in Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State. While they should beat the other competition, they will have one problem and that is finishing power. With Simien in the game, he gives Kansas a very strong inside presence which can allow them to put games away early. Case in point is the game against the Panthers last night. While Kansas led comfortably for most of the game thanks to early poor shooting by UW-Milwaukee, they were never able to seal the game away and ride into the comfortable win. The lead would get to 13 points, but then drop back to 5. Back to 13, back down to 7. Each time the lead swung in this manner, the Panther team got more confident. A Big XII opponent will not let the momentum swing go to waste and Kansas will need to be very careful on the road when the crowd will be come a factor, unlike last night in friendly Kemper Arena. Hopefully for the Jayhawks, the Freshmen backups will be able to gain enough confidence in the first two weeks of Simien's absence to make a difference when the time comes.


• Luckily for Illinois, Roger Powell was able to make a difference inside last night against Missouri. With James Augustine in perpetual foul trouble last night, Illinois was heavily relying on the play of its guards around the outside. Luther Head was definitely clutch, getting late baskets when the Illini needed it most. As I have said before, the Illini will not be able to count on Nick Smith as a great inside presence like Augustine has been for them over the first weeks of the season. With Augustine on the bench, Linas Kleiza was able to take advantage and increase his scoring, something that was key throughout the game for Missouri. When Kleiza got the ball in his hands, something good tended to happen for the Tigers, even if he wasn't the one scoring. Illinois will need to do something to address this deficiency sometime before they pay again. When you have a team as good as they are, and without any obvious flaws, they should have no problem fixing this one.


• Texas A&M Corpus Christi lost to Alabama last night, ending their Cinderella-like run through their season so far. They should still continue to be looked at as the favorite in most of their remaining games this year. In addition, they can take heart in the fact that they were very able to play with Alabama until late in the second half when the Tide pulled away. The Islanders have another chance to pull the shocker when they play Oklahoma State on January 3rd.


• Sorry, but I have to say it one more time. "WOW!" to the shot and ending of the Charlotte-Indiana game.

 
© 10:17 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch - December 22nd

The MRI performed a little better last night in the games to watch, going 3-3 in the six matches. For the day, the MRI lost only 7 games, which makes it somewhat humorous that three of them were in the six games I chose to post. The .500 day puts the MRI at 3-5 on the week. Four games tonight for your viewing pleasure. While all are intriguing match-ups for different reasons, they all appear to be certain victories for the home team. Look out for an upset!

Wednesday Night:
Columbia at Hofstra - Columbia isn't the team everyone expected to see at the head of the Ivy league at this point in the season but with only a loss to Stony Brook, that is where they are. The Lions are led by Senior Matt Preston who is averaging a little over 16 points and almost 7 boards a game. Preston provides Columbia with a man who can roam outside and in, scoring almost at will. Tonight they will be looking to knock off the unbeaten Pride of Hofstra. Hofstra is also not the team that was expected to be undefeated at this point in the season, though they haven't played the toughest of schedules so far. They have three main scoring options in Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio, and Aurimas Kieza, meaning that the Lions will have their hands full trying to cover around the floor. However, if Columbia can hold tough on the inside and outboard the Pride, they may have a shot to dethrone the Pride. MRI Predicts: Hofstra Confidence factor: 71.69% MRI Result: WIN

South Carolina State at South Carolina - Why this matchup? Supremacy in the state of South Carolina is on the line. The Gamecocks have the inside track on this one but anything is always possible. Currently, South Carolina State is the only team worth thinking about in the MEAC. The Bulldogs won the conference in the regular season last year, but failed to keep up their run through the conference tournament. South Carolina State will never be an at large bid threat coming from one of the bottom conferences in Division 1, but they do remain an upset threat. They return all 5 starters from last year, plus their sixth man. The Gamecocks are looking for a little respect in the SEC. They are seldom considered one of the top teams but this year may be the exception. Coming off an NCAA tournament appearance last season, South Carolina is looking for a repeat performance with more luck in the conference season. They finished 8-8 after starting 6-2. They will count on a big game from Carlos Powell to drive them to the win. MRI Predicts: South Carolina Confidence factor: 77.99% MRI Result: WIN

Texas A&M Corpus Christi at Alabama - Not much to point out here other than that the Islanders hope to continue their amazing run this season. Unfortunately, they come up against a tough, and ranked, Alabama team. If Texas AMCC can somehow pull off a Chaminade over Virginia type upset, this will look great on a resume for that last at-large berth and a shot at the play-in game. MRI Predicts: Alabama Confidence factor: 77.99% MRI Result: WIN

Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Kansas - The Panthers couldn't pull off the win against Wisconsin last week. This week, they attempt to get that upper tier victory against a very good Kansas team. The Jayhawks are playing without team leader Wayne Simien who is out four to six weeks with a thumb injury suffered in the win against South Carolina. Kansas has enough talent that they should be able to make up for the loss but the 17 points and 12 rebounds will be missed. If Kansas can still control the inside game without Simien, they should have no problem dispatching the UW-Milwaukee. Unfortunately, that may prove harder done than said. MRI Predicts: Kansas Confidence factor: 93.83% MRI Result: WIN 
© 11:21 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings (12-22-04)

A full recap of the Iowa-Texas Tech game will be coming shortly. Being there was definitely an experience and it was nice to finally see a game in person even if a real college stadium would have been a better arena to be in.

• The guy sitting next to me at the Iowa game last night sounded so much like Johnny Red Kerr, the Bulls announcer, that I had to keep looking at him to make sure it wasn't him. He and his son kept up a conversation the whole game. That would have been fine with me if it was about basketball the whole time, but it was about his son losing his glasses for the second time this year, and how his son somehow lost his bicycle. When he did talk about basketball, he sounded very on his game. Tip for the guy next time: Leave your son at home and sit behind Bobby Knight. He could have used you last night.


• I was thankful to be at the game last night. From my seat, it appeared that Jimmy Dykes and Fran Fraschilla were doing the game for ESPN2. I don't mind Dykes, but Fraschilla is not high on my list of guys I want to hear help call a game. He isn't bad in the studio, but for 40 minutes of basketball, he is enough to put you to sleep. At least it wasn't Mike Jarvis.


• If losing to Duke in Cameron by 33 and getting blown out in the second half and then being beaten by Depaul wasn't bad enough for Illinois-Chicago, last night they lost to UW-Parkside, 79-73. The loss drops the Flames to 3-6 overall. Why did they lose to this Division 2 team? You can blame it on Parkside Rangers' player Gareth Malkowski. Malkowski was good for 33 points including 8 three pointers, a record for the UIC Pavillion. In total, the Rangers shot 50% behind the arc, adding 3 more from Freshman Kyle Clark who finished with 13 points. Compare that to the Flames' terrible performance from three point land. They shot just 2-11, both made by Cedrick Banks. The Flames better hope to improve. They have already lost their sole conference game to the team they are hoping to edge out for the Horizon league title, Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Still, the conference is pretty even across the board this year. It is still possible anything could happen, especially in the tournament.


• The Youngstown State Penguins, also of the Horizon league, joined the ranks of the winning by beating Loyola-Chicago last night for their first D-1 win of the season. The victory leaves 16 teams without a Division 1 win this season. And while the Ramblers look to be the doormat of the Horizon this season, they are not one of those teams. They won their opener against Northern Illinois.


• The Delaware Blue Hens better be enjoying their trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, by spending some time on the beaches because they are not having fun in the gym. With today's early morning loss to Middle Tennessee State, they were swept on the island in the San Juan Shootout with the other defeats coming against Auburn and Toledo. Yes, that is the Auburn team that lost to MRI favorite, Wofford. And that is the same Toledo team which was blown out by Duke and was 1-5 going into the game yesterday. And they didn't just lose to Toledo, they got blown out to the tune of 23 points. Delaware wasn't expected to do much this year in the Colonial conference, predicted to finish either 6th or 7th in the league. Still, you would have expected this team to come away with at least one win in the tournament.


• In other Colonial news, the Drexel Dragons lost to Seton Hall last night, 58-54. The Dragons didn't get the normal performance they expects from Senior Phil Goss who shot 3-12 from the field, 2-10 from three, in the loss to the Pirates. Drexel is still hurting without Sean Brooks in the lineup, and it was very evident on Saturday when they lost by 20 to Syracuse. Hurry back Mr. Brooks, Drexel's season depends on it.

 
© 10:13 AM by Ben Miraski 1 Comments   

  Games to Watch - December 21st

Ouch. What looked to be a promising beginning to the week didn't turn out that way as the MRI lost both games yesterday. Still congratulations are in order for Oral Roberts who beat Georgetown by 18 points to keep playing out in Hawaii. Staying perfect isn't easy and doing it on a neutral court miles from home is even tougher. So, with my 0-2 record, we will go to today's games, and we have a big slate today of six. Percentages and predictions are based on numbers through Sunday's games.

Tuesday Night:
Texas Tech vs. Iowa in Chicago - Time for the coach to meet his player face to face once again. Bobby Knight takes his Red Raider team to Chicago after the loss to his alma mater last Thursday. This time he will be facing Steve Alford and Iowa. Pierre Pierce will need to be on tonight to keep his team running on their strong start to this season. Knight will be looking to shut down Pierce and find a way to stop the outside shooting of Adam Haluska who was key for the Hawkeyes in their win over Iowa State. The MRI will be in attendance tonight at the United Center to watch this one. Look for a full report tomorrow. MRI Predicts: Texas Tech Confidence factor: 64.92% MRI Result: LOSS

Manhattan at Arizona - The Jaspers were a few minutes away from an upset last year in the tournament. This year hasn't gone as well for the MAAC team. They will be looking to add a big win to their resume tonight on the road. According to ESPN, Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire will play tonight despite attitude problems which caused him to be benched last week. Without him, Arizona still managed to give Marquette their first loss of the season. Look for him to play a big role tonight as he attempts to lead the team in scoring once again. MRI Predicts: Arizona Confidence factor: 87.97% MRI Result: WIN


UCLA at Michigan State - Paul Davis was shut down against Delaware State, not a team you would expect to shut down the Spartans' inside threat. Tonight will be even tougher for him as he contends with the Bruins' Dijon Thompson and 7'0" center Ryan Hollins. If the Spartans can keep the passing lanes open, they should win this game even ith the tough competition inside for Davis. If that doesn't happen, UCLA will be looking at a Michigan sweep. MRI Predicts: Michigan State Confidence factor: 83.43% MRI Result: WIN


UAB vs. Clemson in Hawaii - UAB let the MRI down last week. This week's game may be even more important as Clemson has only one loss on the season and will be looking to use UAB as a big win for the team. Clemson needs all the help they can get padding their resume before the tough ACC season that is coming for them where they will be looking to hang on to the top half of the league. The Blazers meanwhile are looking to bounce back from the loss to Richmond last week. The Taylor twins will be key to this win on the islands. MRI Predicts: Clemson Confidence factor: 66.03% MRI Result: LOSS

Pacific at Fresno State - Pacific isn't making things easy for themselves. They lost their last game to San Francisco and had close calls against Nevada and new Division 1 team, UC Davis. They need a win against Fresno State to keep the eye looking in their direction for a possible at large bid in the tournament provided they can't top Utah State for the Big West title. Fresno State is looking to exact a little revenge after losing to Oregon by one point last Saturday, ending their perfect season. The Bulldogs could use this win against Pacific as a big boost before the WAC season begins in a week. MRI Predicts: Fresno State Confidence factor: 66.03% MRI Result: LOSS

Inidiana State vs. USC in Hawaii - This is USC's first game since the Rick Majerus craziness became official. There is no telling if it will affect the team considering Majerus did not meet with the players who would potentially be returning next year. Still, the spotlight is now on USC and Jim Saia will have his hands full with Indiana State. The Sycamores are quietly putting together a nice out of conference season despite the loss to Ball State. The loss to Indiana is not looking as nice as it could have with the recent woes of the Hoosiers. Look for Indiana State to try and take it to the Trojans to get that big name win on their resume. MRI Predicts: USC Confidence factor: 53.87% MRI Result: WIN 
© 1:25 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Week 3: Pride of the Illini

Illinois managed to move into the #1 spot this week in the rankings after just missing edging Georgia Tech last week. A big win over Valparaiso on Sunday combined with Gonzaga beating the Yellow Jackets set the Illini firmly on top of the standings. Clemson and Florida join the Top 25 this week, and Texas moved into the Top 10 despite a loss to Wake Forest. Dropping out were Marquette who lost to Arizona, and Wichita State, who is still undefeated. The Shockers played a close game with Tulsa and came out with the win, but it was not enough to keep them in the blue numbers of the Top 25. I was away from sports for the weekend, so this edition of the MRI will just be my...

Quick Hits:

• Joining Texas in the Top 10 is Ohio State, who had a big win for the program by defeating Texas Tech on Thursday last week. Thad Matta has the Buckeyes playing well in non-conference. They haven't had the marquis win yet, but Texas Tech is still a pretty good team to beat to prove you can compete. Ohio State may shock some teams in the Big Ten season and have the authorities at the school wishing they hadn't pulled the team out of tournament possibilities this season.


• Rick Majerus chose to return to ESPN and not take the coaching job at USC on Saturday. This was the same guy who a couple of days earlier was saying he would ride the horse into the football stadium if they needed him to. I don't know why Majerus will be leaving USC, and no one may ever know the true reason but Majerus himself. Rumors have hinted it was a disagreement with current interim coach Jim Saia, that Majerus's health isn't what it should be for him to be coaching, and that Majerus was unhappy with the amount of work that would be needed to get the team to where he thinks it should be. Either way, USC's loss is ESPN's gain. I will continue to enjoy Majerus's broadcasts of college basketball. As I have said before, he is one of the best analysis guys you could have on the microphone but I will always wonder about his decision, just as I to this day wonder about Dan Marino leaving the Dolphins three weeks into his office job.


• As mentioned before, Gonzaga beat Georgia Tech to knock the Yellow Jackets from the #1 spot in the MRI. That leaves Gonzaga with only one loss, that being to Illinois, a team which has proven itself to be better than every opponent by a big margin. Now that Gonzaga has its own marquis wins against Georgia Tech and Washington, it begs the question of who they would have to lose to no longer continue this run as the best team not from a BCS conference. First, they lost their head coach, Dan Monson, to Minnesota a few years ago. Player after player have left, from Casey Calvary and Dan Dickau to Blake Stepp and Cory Violette. Still, the Zags returned a good core of players including Ronny Turiaf, who is one of my favorite big men in basketball. Give Mark Few credit for the work he has been able to do the last 5 years since Monson left in keeping the team on top.


• Perhaps that game against Indiana on Louisville's floor did help Kentucky this weekend. The Wildcats were able to come back from 16 down at halftime to beat Rick Pitino and the Cardinals. This was only the second loss for Pitino when facing one of his old assistants or players, both to Tubby Smith. The Wildcats got a great game from Kentucky native Patrick Sparks, who transfered from Western Kentucky this season. Sparks had 25 points including the three crucial free throws with less than a second remaining when he was fouled on an attempt as the clock wound down.

Enjoy this next week with expanded coverage. 
© 3:30 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch - December 20th

Last week's games to watch didn't go so well for the MRI on Thursday and Friday, which was an anomaly in a week when the MRI got 80% of all games correct. The MRI went 5-3 in all published picks last week. This week, we are going for improvement. We are going to go for it all again this week, with a new post each day because there are so many great games this week because of the holiday on the weekend. We start off with two games without the big focus this week of a ranked team.

Monday Night:
Princeton at Temple - Are there two other teams out there who are known for strong defense and a deliberate offense more than Princeton and Temple. John Chaney coaches his 1000th game and hopes that the great performance against Wake Forest can be used as a springboard for this matchup with the Tigers. Watch, but keep the coffee on high as this game could put you to sleep. MRI Predicts: Princeton Confidence factor: 51.44% MRI Result: LOSS

Oral Roberts vs. Georgetown in Hawaii - Hawaii will be the site of many good games this week and this one will be the first. Oral Roberts is one of the final 14 undefeated teams, but the lowest rated one according to the MRI. A win against a Big East foe on a neutral court could be a big boost for the Golden Eagles going into the Mid-Continent season. MRI Predicts: Georgetown Confidence factor: 64.92% MRI Result: LOSS
 
© 2:51 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  For the Basketball Fan Who Has Everything

It's December 16th. There are, counting today, only 9 shopping days until Christmas. I know you are all done with your shopping like good Santa's helpers. If you have been a bad elf this year, it is time to get cracking.

Kyle Whelliston, who runs a very detailed blog called the Mid-Majority, and is also on a quest to attend 100 College Basketball games this season, offers up a few suggestions.

Personally, I am partial to the stuffed Big Red. 
© 10:41 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings (12-16-04)

Predictions for tonight's Ohio State-Texas Tech game and Friday's games are posted. I am not expecting the predicted winners or the percentage chance to change that much before tomorrow. I only posted Friday's a day early because traveling tonight may preclude me getting the data perfect for the games. Feel free to yell at me if I get them wrong.

• The MRI went 2 for 3 last night, missing the Depaul-Northwestern game. It only gave Depaul a 55% chance of winning going into the game, so this wasn't as big an upset as it seemed on the floor. This was one of only two games the MRI missed last night. As you could see from my recap of the game, it wasn't very exciting to watch. While Northwestern makes you want to root for them, when they play so slow and deliberate, it is hard to really get the motivation going. The challenge game of the night is Ohio State-Texas Tech. Bobby Knight will be looking to exact some hurt on the Buckeyes after they dissed him in the off-season for the head coaching job. Count on the Red Raiders fans helping them to victory.


• Best quote from Rick Majerus's press conference yesterday: "If they want me to go on the horse and throw the spear, I'll do it. The poor horse might not like it."


• Second best quote: "I have had seven bypasses...you know, one for every major food group (crowd laughing)...two from the barbeque division."


• Third best quote: "I want to congratulate Pete Carroll and Matt Leinart and the football team. If they ever need me to suit up and be a suburban, white Gilbert Brown...I can do that.


• Now you see why I will miss this guy calling college basketball games on ESPN. I hope his press conferences continue to be this much fun.

 
© 8:00 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Batman vs. Two Face

Last year, Depaul made the NCAA tournament and defeated Dayton in the first round before being run over by eventual champion Connecticut to the tune of a 27 point loss. The MRI didn't think that Depaul deserved to go to the tournament despite tying for the Conference USA title. Thanks to the tournament committee, Depaul got a friendly match-up against Dayton, another team the MRI didn't think deserved to be there. Anyone who watched the game between those two could see that neither team displayed the type of play that proved they should be there.

This year's Depaul season is beginning to look a lot like last year. A team with a good deal of talent, but when they show up for games, they act like Two Face from the old Batman comics. The good side came out against Notre Dame on Saturday, leading them to a great win on the road. The bad side came out against Northern Illinois and Bradley, two games that Depaul should have won but didn't. The real question going into last night's game at Northwestern was which side of Two Face's coin would show at the opening tip.

Bill Carmody, the Northwestern coach and last year's Big Ten coach of the year, had the perfect item on his Utility Belt to counter the Two Face Depaul, the Princeton game. Before coming to Northwestern 4 years ago, Carmody was either an assistant or head coach at Princeton for 18 years. During that time, he studied and implemented Princeton's patented slow down game. Last night, Northwestern was able to execute to perfection, leaving the final score of the game in the low 50s and frustrating the talented Blue Demons.

Time after time down the court, Depaul struggled to get any rhythm on offense. Several times, drives by Sammy Mejia and Drake Diener were stalled. Depaul was forced to live off of 12 foot jumpers just outside the lane and when they stopped falling in the second half, that was all that Northwestern needed to take the lead, and the win. Diener was also not on with his game last night. After scoring 19 on a 7 of 10 shooting performance, including 3 for 5 from beyond the arc, against Notre Dame, he went cold coming back to Chicago. He could manage only 2 points against the Wildcats. Quemont Greer was the lone bright spot for the Blue Demons, but success with getting the ball inside to him stalled out in the latter part of the game when Northwestern was able to clog the lane and not give him the open look. Greer had one run midway through the second half but stalled out with 20 points and didn't score in the final 8:30.

Northwestern was helped by 6'10" Duke transfer Michael Thompson, appearing in his first game for the Wildcats. The offense ran through him on Wednesday night, leading to a 12 point and 5 rebound performance by the McDonald's All-American. Depaul tried to double Thompson with some success. After the game, Thompson was surprised by the tactic. "I definitely did not expect that my first game back. I didn't think they knew," Thompson said. "They were getting frustrated, though, because if anyone doubles down, Vedran or somebody out top makes them pay for it." Vedran is Vedran Vukusic, who had 4 points in the final 90 seconds to help seal the win and 17 overall. Vukusic and Thompson led the slow deliberate drive to the finish for Northwestern.

Depaul coach Bill Leitao will have a big job over the next few days before the Blue Demons take on the UIC Flames on Saturday at home. "I don't forget about any game, everything has to be analyzed," said Leitao after the loss. We will see Saturday if he found a way to get the good side of the coin to come down for his Two Face team. 
© 6:50 AM by Ben Miraski 1 Comments   

  Leather and Swift strike again

Just in case you thought I missed it last night, Terrence Leather again displayed his shooting skill in South Florida's game against South Carolina. Leather shot 10 for 13 from the floor and scored 24 points for the Bulls in the 72-70 loss. Combined with Brain Swift's 13, together they again generated over half of the South Florida offense. They came very close to getting the win but two shots by Swift in the final moments of the game refused to fall for the Bulls. Leather is quickly making a case for All-Conference honors in a league dominated by great guard play (Think Louisville and Depaul). It is a shame he won't be around one more year to help the Bulls inside against a much bigger and tougher Big East next season. 
© 2:44 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Welcome to my Home

There are several givens in life. We all die. Most of us pay taxes. 16 seeds don't win the first round games in the NCAA tournament. Duke doesn't lose at home against non-conference opponents. Read that last one again. Duke doesn't lose at home against non-conference opponents. Since Mike Krzyzewski took over the program, they are 176-8 against non-conference teams playing at Cameron Indoor Stadium, including 160 of the last 163.

Tuesday night, the latest team to test the Blue Devils at home was Illinois-Chicago. They should have suspected they were in for a long night when the security guard who let them into the visiting team door closed it behind them, locked it, and then walked away with a cackle only heard in horror movies. Still, they took the floor, took their licks, and went out with their head held high.

Watching the first 10 minutes of the game, you wouldn't have expected the final score to be as lopsided as it was. The Flames were able to run with Duke up and down the floor, preventing the Blue Devils from breaking out on more than one transition basket in the first half. Duke struggled to get the ball inside enough to Shelden Williams, and when they did, he was either fouled before the shot or had to pass it back out. UIC was shooting the ball well, and Duke was able to answer with some 3 point shots, but never enough to pull away. Most trips down the court, Duke was only able to manage one shot and a lack of rebounding was hurting them on the scoreboard.

All that changed with a little less than 9 minutes remaining in the half. At that point, Daniel Ewing stole the ball and ran down the court, passing the ball up in the air to himself before dunking it down. Normally you would count on this to start one of the patented Duke runs. Down by six before that basket, they needed a spark to help them get over whatever was plaguing them in the first few minutes. The run came, but not how you would expect. While causing UIC to turn the ball over 5 times in the next three minutes, Duke gave it back three times. They were only able to string 9 points together before the Flames' Jovan Stefanov ended the run with a great inside basket and hit the foul shot to keep the game tied at 25.

By far, the biggest lapse of the first half for the UIC defense happened with just over 4 minutes remaining. Lee Melchionni hit two three point basket within one minute and both times, the UIC defense backed off him. Yes, Melchionni is a forward, and normally forwards don't shoot three pointers. However, any scout for UIC would have told them that last year he shot 36%, which while not the tops on the team, was still pretty good. This season, so far, he had been better, shooting 36.8% on 7-19 shooting. Why then would the UIC players consistently back off of Melchionni as he caught the ball beyond the 3 point arc and assume he would miss? All combined, it served to give Duke a seven point lead at the half.

From my standpoint, the first half MVP was Ewing. He may not have led the team in scoring. He may have been only 3 for 9 from the floor. However, he was the catalyst for everything that Duke did in the final ten minutes of the half. Over the course of the game, Ewing added 5 steals to an already gaudy 18 from the first six games. He also tacked on 5 assists to go with a number of lane driving baskets which helped to spark the offense.

UIC's one bright spot from the first half was Stefanov who scored 15 of their 31 points. As their only offense, he helped to keep the game close. This could be the main reason why in the second half, they lost touch with the Duke team. Stefanov didn't score for the rest of the game and Cedrick Banks, the all-time leading scorer at UIC, wasn't able to even match Stefanov's 15 points from the first half, finishing with 12 points, 7 of which were scored in the first 6 minutes of the game.

Duke just poured it on during the second half, and Williams emerged as the star of the second half. It almost seemed that Ewing tagged him at half time and said, "You are IT!" Williams began the second half with an 8-0 run of his own helping Duke to a 21-0 run over seven minutes spanning the first and second half. UIC was finally able to get on the board with an inside shot by Elliott Poole but by that point, Duke was up for good.

UIC did a nice job of keeping the intensity level up throughout the game despite the score, but it was just too much to overcome. Even though they were overmatched in this game, they still have what it takes to make a run in the Horizon league and take on Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the conference title.

On Duke's side, they had a number of bright spots in the game. Once again, their three point shooting was right on throughout and they finished 9-23 from beyond the arc. They were able to more consistently take the ball inside to Williams and Ewing is starting to resemble a real point guard, creating offense both with the pass and on his own, driving the basket. They had a nice solid contribution from Freshman DeMarcus Nelson who played 22 minutes and scored 9. Nelson was the all-time leading scorer in high school in the state of California, so he can only improve what is already a great shooting team. Last, their pressure defense was enough to wear down a UIC team that normally holds onto the ball very well. They caused 23 turnovers, almost double what UIC was averaging going into the game. The defense also set a Duke record for blocked shots in a game with 18, seven of them by Williams. Overall, a very solid performance by the Blue Devils. They will need to improve on the way they begin games because they will not be able to spot ACC opponents a good lead like they have in their last two games against Toledo and UIC. Other than that, very solid overall.

It may not be as flashy as it once was, but it got the job done. And it continued what is now a common theme in life: Duke does not lose against non-conference foes at home. 
© 1:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings

A full recap and analysis of last night's game between UIC and Duke will be coming but until then a few notes from last night.

• I wrote yesterday's Games to Watch article before surfing over to ESPN to read anything. I picked 9 games to watch before Saturday. Andy Katz picked five, one of which was Monday night. His other four games were all on my list. Granted there are not a lot of games this week, but for us both to choose the Depaul-Northwestern game, well, that was a shocker.


• The MRI correctly predicted the winner in both of the Games to Watch last night. Calling Duke was not hard, but it got the "upset" win in the Boston University-Michigan game. Since there was no official betting line, I can't tell who was the favorite among the odds makers but I have a feeling that Michigan would have been favored by a little since they were playing at home. Michigan definitely isn't playing at the level they were at last season when they took the NIT. They may have to struggle to even make that tournament this year.


• Siena and Youngstown State, two teams in the bottom 30 of the MRI, played 4 Overtime periods last night in their game. That means that the players played 60 minutes of basketball. I guess someone will be sleeping in today. Siena won on a shot in the final seconds of the last overtime period, 79-78.


• Rick Majerus accepted the job at USC after rumors all week pointed in his direction. This is a big downer for me. Majerus was a highlight for me on the telecasts ever since he joined the ESPN team last season. Compared with Steve Lavin, Mike Jarvis, and Fran Fraschilla, Majerus was definitely the best of the bunch. His commentary during games was very insightful and you could see why he was such a great coach in his previous 20 years. Not one of these other coaches could break a team down better and explain it in a way that you could understand. Majerus would give strategy during the broadcasts and then watch as teams failed when they went against what he had said or succeed when their coach agreed. Majerus knows his game, and simply put, Majerus will be missed on microphone. At the same time, this is great for USC, a team which just needs a little bit of push to become one of the premier programs in not only the PAC-10, but also the country. This is no knock on interim coach Jim Saia. Majerus is just a better candidate at this point. In his previous 20 seasons as a head coach, his teams have gone to a post season tournament 19 times. There are very few coaches in the game these days who can claim that level of success for that long. The only negative with Majerus might be his health. He left Utah last season because of health problems and you can only hope that he has improved enough where taking over the job at USC won't cause him to have to leave prematurely once more. Good luck to Majerus next season when he officially takes over the job.

Predictions for tonight's Games to Watch are posted. 
© 7:06 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch this week

Get your TiVo programmer ready. There are a few games you are going to want to watch this week before a great day of Saturday basketball. And if they aren't on television, definitely pay attention to the results.

Tuesday Night:
Boston University at Michigan - Boston University is no South Florida. At 5-2 this season, BU is again expected to compete for the America East title along with Vermont. They should start two 6'8" big men against the Wolverines who are still looking for some consistency in their season. This game could come down to the turnover battle as both teams have excelled this year at taking the ball away from their opponents. MRI Predicts: Boston University Confidence factor: 52.01% MRI Result: WIN

Illinois-Chicago at Duke - Why this game? The closest any team has played the MRI#1 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets all season was the Flames. That game was in Chicago and playing at home is nothing like playing at Cameron Indoor Stadium with the Duke fans shouting about your mother, sister, and ex-girlfriend. The Flames do feature one 6'9" sophomore who could give Sheldon Williams and Shavlik Randolph fits inside. This one will come down to how well UIC can contain the Duke shooters who have been lights out this season. MRI Predicts: Duke Confidence factor: 93.51% MRI Result: WIN

Wednesday Night:
Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Wisconsin - UW-Milwaukee should be one of the 18 teams left without a loss were it not for a last second call against them in their game against Valparaiso. Their schedule to begin the year hasn't been the toughest. The Badgers should provide them a test with their tenacious defense. Coming off a tough loss to Marquette, Wisconsin will be trying to show that they are better than that game. The Panthers need this as a quality win out of conference in case things don't go well for them in their battle with the Flames for the Horizon league title. MRI Predicts: Wisconsin Confidence factor: 71.52% MRI Result: WIN

Depaul at Northwestern - Why? Because it is an in-state rivalry, and you never know what will happen when Northwestern plays at home. Depaul is coming off a big victory over Notre Dame. They had four players score in double digits and will be looking for more of the same domination in this game. Depaul has had multiple personalities so far this season with a loss against Bradley coming before the win on Saturday. Look for the Blue Demons to try and take advantage of superior rebounding to get the ball back out to their shooters and dominate the game that way. MRI Predicts: Depaul Confidence factor: 55.56% MRI Result: LOSS

Western Michigan at IUPUI - IUPUI. Remember that name. They have been to the conference title game in the Mid-Con Conference for three straight years and were the MRI favorite last year before losing to Valpo. This year has not gone as well for the Jaguars and therefore, they need this game to keep Oral Roberts looking over its shoulder. Western Michigan was last year's MAC representative in the tournament and ran up against a tough Vandy team. They will be looking to capitalize on that this season and are off to a great start in a league that is hoping to send more than one team this year. The Broncos need this to keep Kent State on its heels come conference time. MRI Predicts: Western Michigan Confidence factor: 55.56% MRI Result: WIN

Thursday Night:
Ohio State at Texas Tech - Two teams in the MRI Top 25 square off in this match-up. Texas Tech will be looking to show that its early season so far has been for real as they have dominated every opponent except in a very strange loss to TCU in their second game. Turnovers were a big factor that night for Bob Knight's squad. They will be looking to continue their dominance over an Ohio State club just looking for respect. After their administration voted to keep them out of post-season play, you would think the team wouldn't have very much to play for. Still, this team went out on Saturday and dominated against Portland State. A win against the Red Raiders will have the administration questioning a decision to punish a team which did no wrong for the ills of its past, something that the NCAA has backed away from this season. MRI Predicts: Texas Tech Confidence factor: 77.45% MRI Result: LOSS

Friday Night:
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Texas Southern - The independent Islanders have lost one game this season and by the end of the year could boast the best record for campuses with A&M in their name. They won't get a tournament bid, but this team has put up some impressive wins for a small school on an island: TCU, Old Dominion, Baylor, Florida State. Their only loss is against Kent State who current leads the MAC. This game would be more to watch if they can keep their run going and maybe make the tournament committee think twice before ruling out TAMUCC from the play-in game. MRI Predicts: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Confidence factor: 64.51% MRI Result: WIN

UAB at Richmond - Two tournament teams from last year hook up in what should be a close game. Richmond is looking for a good win before they begin conference play in what could be a very down year in the Atlantic 10. Their hopes may rest on beating George Washington in order to be dancing this year. The Blazers hope to continue with the tough defense that has gotten them four wins so far this season and has them looking to contend again in a very balanced Conference USA. UAB should be favored in this game but the Spiders will keep them honest. MRI Predicts: UAB Confidence factor: 64.51% MRI Result: LOSS

That's it. Load 'em up and look for predictions added for the other games as the week continues as the MRI changes each night this week. 
© 1:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Week 2: The Cream Rises to the Top

The top teams in the league were able to pull themselves to the top of the ratings this week in the MRI. Illinois made a big jump with an impressive win over Oregon. This should quiet those who felt that last week's rating was too low for them. However, Illinois does not lead. That honor goes to the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech this week. Many believe that this team is playing better than they were at the end of last season when they went to the championship game.

With 18 teams still without a loss, and 24 teams still without a Division 1 victory, a lot could change on a daily basis in the ratings. A loss or win by any of these 42 teams could change a number of teams' standings. Look for changes to be small over the next few weeks as a number of teams have finals and will not play as often as you would expect. This could lead to many changes in the rankings for those teams who have played a great deal to this point to get in the games they can before taking a break.

Quick Hits:

• Kentucky's game against Indiana took place on Louisville's home floor. This may be Kentucky's way of trying to gain an advantage when they take on the Cardinals on December 18th. Seeing the highlights from the Kentucky-Indiana game, is there a more good looking super-tall man than Sophomore Shagari Alleyne. Alleyne doesn't even need to jump more than 2 inches off the floor to dunk the ball, and he put some powerful baskets home on Saturday. He will be one to watch in SEC play to see if he can keep his power a force inside against opponents with imposing centers of their own.


• Congratulations to both Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Arizona Coach Lute Olson. Coach K reached 700 Division 1 coaching wins on Sunday with a win over MAC conference opponent Toledo, becoming the second youngest to reach the mark. The only one to reach it faster was Krzyzewski's old West Point coach, Robert Montgomery Knight. While this milestone number didn't come in a game with as much meaning as wins #500 (against UNC) and #600 (ACC tournament), it was still an impressive plateau to reach. All that makes Coach Olson's achievement even more amazing. Olson reached 1000 victories at any level with his team's win over Utah on Saturday. Olson's career started at a small high school in Minnesota and has taken him to the big time of the National Championship. Congrats again to both coaches. Not only are they great role models for their players on the court, but also off the court in the way that they run their programs. With all the bad news that goes on in college athletics, think about how you have never heard these two coaches' names associated with it. These guys win the right way, with class making their achievement of these numbers a great thing for college sports.


• The best game I didn't watch this weekend was Utah-Arizona. Utah led the entire way until the last two minutes of the game. As I said, this ended up being Olson's 1000th win which would have been interesting to see. The game was on FOX Sports Net. It is a good thing I didn't know or I would have had three games to flip between early in the day.


• They say you can't go home again. Someone should tell that to Iowa guard Adam Haluska who faced his old team Iowa State on Friday night. Haluska transfered last season after starting for Iowa State as a freshman in 2002-3. He led the Hawkeyes with 20 points and shot 50% from 3 point range to help lead his team to a hard fought victory, 70-63 over the Cyclones. These are the victories that Steve Alford is going to need to get his team where everyone is expecting this season.


• I was going to write something about the UMass player who hit the go ahead basket against Connecticut and then practically ran into the stands with 4 seconds still remaining in the game. However, the subject has been run into the ground this week by the rest of the media, so I will let it go. I just wish that someone on UConn had been able to hit that final three for the win.


• The MRI predicted 178 of 240 games this week for a percentage of 74.17%. It correctly predicted the winner of both games I discussed earlier in the week when responding to the question about George Washington, who incidentally moved into the Top 25 this week at #25. If the MRI can keep up this performance level all season, it will surpass last year's numbers which finished at 72.57%.

Enjoy this week's ratings and mail me if you want to argue. 
© 8:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Saturday Afternoon: Lounging with the Big Ten

Saturday afternoon, two college teams invaded the home stadiums of their closest NBA franchises. One drew a crowd which hadn't packed the stadium since the glory days of the franchise during the mid-90s. For their game, they put on a show belonging in the NBA, with high flying dunks and crisp play. The other team played a tough inside game reminiscent of older teams which used to play in the arena, all the while wearing flashy silver uniforms which seemed to belong in the NBA.

The two teams are Illinois and Michigan State, the consensus #1 and #2 teams in the Big Ten. Unfortunately for Michigan State, there is a wide gulf separating the two which was definitely apparent on court this weekend.

Illinois walked into the United Center in Chicago on Saturday, and played like they belonged in the arena all the time. The senior heavy team has finally adapted to coach Bruce Weber's motion offense and it has given them a spark over their opponents not seen since the Final Four team of 1989. In evidence on Saturday afternoon was also the strength of the defense. Illinois was consistently able to cause turnovers which led to some highlight filled transition baskets causing the crowd, very much clad in orange all around, to go crazy. The main man leading all of this pressure on defense was Dee Brown, whose play has improved by leaps and bounds since last year. Several times he created steals which he was able to push up the floor and create with. The most punishing of these happened with less than a minute to go in the first half. Brown stole the ball with a great play and dished a fabulous alley-oop pass to Luther Head who finished the play. With this, the Illini crowd went nuts and didn't stop screaming until the start of the second half.

Overall, Illinois was impressive. I was most intrigued by the play of James Augustine at center. He has definitely matured since last season. His play is more crisp and he is making more confident passes to his teammates. This has helped him to be more aggressive inside with his shooting and become a real force on defense. His improvement is much needed as I am still not sold on Senior Nick Smith. Smith has displayed that he still doesn't get it. Maybe he was too much of Bill Self's type of player but his attitude just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of his team. This was in evidence on Saturday when, with the game well at hand, Smith was called for a silly foul and in disgust whipped the ball down the court. This led to a technical foul and the immediate benching of Smith. In a closer game, displays like this could cost Illinois and therefore Smith will be one that needs to be watched closely by the coaching staff.

It wasn't all Illinois on Saturday, but at times it seemed that way. One bright spot for Oregon was freshman Malik Hairston. Hairston hails from Detroit and all of the schools in the state of Michigan should be ashamed of themselves for not being able to keep this talent at home. No, he wasn't Mr. Basketball in the state, but he sure seems a lot more poised at his young age that Drew Neitzel has for Michigan State. Hairston showed amazing court vision, shooting, and speed, against the Illini. This was even more impressive when you consider that he was doing it against a very mature and experienced Illinois team. According to Hairston's father, Ernie Kent was able to impress Malik and his mother enough to make him choose Oregon. Tom Izzo and Tommy Amaker could only wish they had made such a good impression.

Izzo's team was the other Big Ten team in action on Saturday at it's nearest NBA home. Sporting a strange set of silver uniforms and cheered on by the "Green Man Group", Michigan State showed off its inside strength against Stanford, a team which has been lacking on the boards this year. The first half was very much in Michigan State's favor as they fed the ball inside to Paul Davis, something that worked very well for them against Duke in the ACC-Big Ten challenge. They went into half time leading by 9, both on the scoreboard and the backboards.

The second half was more of the same though Michigan State started to improve in other aspects of its offensive game. Shannon Brown stepped up with a great drive through the lane six minutes into the half, finishing with a powerful dunk. Two minutes later he followed with another dunk after a baseline drive. Stanford was able to break up an alley-oop attempt by the Spartans soon after, but a rebound and great feeder pass inside to Davis led to him drawing a foul and making the free throws. The varied offensive attack will only help Michigan State getting into conference play as they will not be able to rely on Davis and only Davis all game. At this point, Ager and Brown are the two best candidates to step up and contribute on the offensive end.

Stanford did have some highlights in the game and there is some there for Trent Johnson to work with, especially with another down year in the PAC-10. Stanford was able to get the ball inside a few times against the Spartans and this led to some nice baskets for the Cardinal. Unfortunately, Stanford was not always that patient on offense and this held them back, leading to turnovers and missed rebounding opportunities.

One last note on Neitzel. With a little over four minutes remaining the game and the Spartans leading by 16, Drew Naymick made a great block at the defensive end. Neitzel ended up with the ball in his hands and tried to make a fancy alley-oop play which was broken up easily by the Stanford defense. His better play would have been to bring the ball back outside and slow it down, drawing time off the clock, and looking for the inside pass for an easier basket. As a freshman, this mistake is understandable, but with someone who will be looked upon to provide a lot of early leadership on this team, it was the wrong choice. Izzo told him as much 20 seconds later when he took him out of the game, but did it by teaching, not yelling, something that will only help Neitzel as this season moves on.

Michigan State outrebounded Stanford 28-24, something that was going to be key for them going into the game. Improved shooting helped them to the 25 point win which was definitely missing in their game against Duke where they were definitely outshot from the outside.

While impressive, Michigan State has a bit of ground to make up on Illinois before the two meet on February 1st. They still have too many weaknesses to exploit while Illinois seems a fully formed team. I have no doubt that Illinois will lose a game before February, and the game between them and the Spartans may again come down to the rebounding battle. Right now though, the Spartans would find themselves getting run out of their own gym. 
© 12:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Saturday Morning: Flipping Channels

With the regular season over in football, and most schools either finishing finals or not starting yet, there were close to 100 basketball games on Saturday to match Division 1 teams. With so many games going on though, there were a few match-ups that kept me with my finger on the remote control buttons and switching the channel every few minutes.

The toughest choice on Saturday was the early game. Rick Pitino and a Louisville team with high expectations traveled into Gainesville to take on Pitino's protege, Billy Donovan and his Florida squad. Last years battle saw Louisville roll all over the Gators and help to make sure that a team which had just been named to the #1 position earlier in the week would suffer its second loss of the week, keeping Florida winless all time when they are leading the nation. Neither team was ranked as highly this time, but it doesn't mean the game didn't mean much to both teams. Florida is trying to prove they still have what it takes to compete at the top as they have in the past few years. This year, the talent level is not the same in Gainesville but the expectations are still there. Louisville is still battling back from its opening loss to Iowa out in Maui. They have won every game since and while Pitino thinks the team is still not at its full potential, that doesn't mean they shouldn't play better than they have.

It is conceivable that this game would have been enough to keep me interested, but over on the ESPN Full Court plan was a very close game between South Florida and Michigan. Michigan is coming off a win in the NIT last year and hoping that momentum can carry them into the NCAA tournament this year. However, Michigan was not the story of the game. Rather, that fell to a 6'9" Senior out of Tampa, Florida, named Terrence Leather. Leather towered over the court, leading his team at every opportunity. Every time he touched the ball, he drew the defense to him, and yet, each time he was able to score. He shot inside, laying it off the glass. He would step back and drop in twelve footers over the defenders. He would drive to the basket, playing as hard as he could every minute he played the game.

No one expected Leather to amount to much after his first two years with the team. Something happened to him last year when he averaged 15.5 points a game and became their threat inside. He has carried it over into this season and put on a show in this game. The only thing that kept him from totally dominating, and possibly kept his team from winning, was Leather getting himself into foul trouble. Despite being on the bench for much of the game, with about 15 minutes left in the second half, Leather had 23 of his team's 43 points and they were only down two to Michigan. At that point, Leather got his fourth foul and was sent to the bench. With him out of the game, Michigan was able to take advantage and pull a little further ahead, slowly increasing the lead over the next 5 minutes to 9 points. It would have been worse had South Florida Senior guard Marlyn Bryant not made a massive block inside just before Leather re-entered the game. While he was out, the only player able to do anything for the Bulls was their 5'10" point guard Brian Swift.

Leather coming back into the game was able to provide a small spark and allow the Bulls to once again close the gap as he scored 5 more points. They did not take advantage of him coming back though and feeding him the ball inside did not happen as often as it should have. Instead, South Florida continued to try and live on the outside, a tactic which was not working against Michigan's defense. Down 8, four minutes after returning, Leather fouled out of the game. Once he was out, Swift tried to keep the game close, but he couldn't do it on his own. The Bulls ended up losing by nine. Swift and Leather combined for 41 of the team's 62 points. Not much is expected from South Florida this season after last year winning only one game in Conference USA, but Terrence Leather will definitely put on a show where ever he goes. I know he kept me watching him throughout the game on Saturday.

In between watching Leather's performance, I was taken back in time by watching the Louisville and Florida game. Billy Donovan's clubs have always been known for speed, running their opponents up and down the court and gaining advantages not with superior shooting but penetrating guard play. Rick Pitino wins in a similar way with great guard play, but adds on a pressure defense which is hard for most teams to handle. His attempts to use this in the NBA have never met with much success, but you can't argue with his success on the college level. He seeks to take his third team to the Final Four and this year looks to be the team that can do just that.

Watching both teams on Saturday, I was impressed by how much these teams resembled their teams of the past. Late in the first half, Florida was able to capitalize on their speed and cause turnovers which led to some easy transition baskets. However, you could see the youth of this Florida team, especially Corey Brewer and Taurean Green. Poor shot selection and letting their speed get ahead of them led to a number of turnovers the other direction and allowed wide open shots for the star guards of Louisville, Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean.

Early in the second half, Garcia was well along the way of taking charge of his team. Within 30 seconds, he hit a three pointer, stole the ball twice and followed that up with another basket, all resulting from the tough press defense which Louisville successfully used to keep Florida from running on them.

It wasn't that Florida didn't try to stay in the game. I was very impressed by David Lee, who has lost a great deal of weight from last season. He looks like a totally different player out on the court. His mobility has improved and this has directly led to him becoming a more productive player for the Gators. Down six with ten minutes remaining, Lee drove the basket in transition and was fouled. The foul was questionably called intentional and Lee hit both free throws. Florida scored on the possession and cut the lead to two.

Swings like this are often enough to get a team back into the game. Listening to the crowd in the O'Connell Center, you would have thought that the Gators had taken the lead or extended it and were ready to pull off the win. Unfortunately for the fans, the team was still down and whatever influence they had, it seemed to drive the Louisville guards even more. Garcia and Dean consistently were able to answer Florida runs and silence the crowd. That is just what happened after this sequence, with Garcia scoring on a pass from Dean. 5 minutes later, it was a Dean three pointer which silenced the Gator crowd.

Florida was able to keep the game close throughout, including a sequence in the final minute when sloppy play by Louisville with Garcia out of the game let Florida have a chance to win. Fully expecting the game to be over with a minute left and the Cardinals up five, Florida was able to rebound a bad three pointer by Dean, taken with 25 second left on the shot clock, and turn it into 2 points on the other end after a foul. A turnover on the next possession by the Cardinals was run down the court by Florida. Strangely, David Lee took a three pointer which hit nothing and fell into Louisville's hands. With their top three point shooter, Anthony Roberson, on the floor, there is no reason that Lee, who didn't hit a three all last year or this year, should be taking that shot. That sealed the game for Pitino. Louisville never trailed the entire game, but still has some work to do to make teams worry about players other than Dean and Garcia. Still, those two were able to lead this team to a win again.

There are days that don't have games with this much appeal, and I was able to watch two at the same time with the rest of Saturday still to follow. Still, I feel sorry for the "Last" button on my remote. At least it will get a break the rest of the week.  
© 5:32 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  The Jimmy V Foundation

In case you live in a hole and didn't watch basketball last night, or you were so put off by the first 5 minutes of the Pittsburgh-Memphis game that you didn't stick around or pay attention, last night was the Jimmy V Classic.

I wouldn't normally make this plea, because I am not a big charity drive type of guy. Don't take that the wrong way. I give to a few charities which mean something to me and if someone I knew asked me to contribute, I would definitely put some money forward. I just don't like hitting people up for money. The only time I have was for my first 5K run which was sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation. I asked for money for the charity, but the idea was to support the fact that I had made some major changes in my life to get to that point.

Each year, ESPN puts on the Jimmy V Classic. For those that don't know, Jim Valvano was the coach of North Carolina State back in the 1980s. He was a great friend of a lot of the broadcasters on ESPN and he was a fun coach to watch. He was very animated on the sidelines and when he stopped coaching, he was very animated when he called games. If you have ever watched college basketball, you can't help but remember seeing him run wildly around the court after his team won the National Championship, in 1983, as he looked for someone to hug.

Jimmy V lost his life less than 10 years after that to cancer. During the last few years of his life, he dedicated himself to raising money for cancer research, not to save himself, but to help those that came after him. The Jimmy V foundation was set up to do just that. When he announced the formation of the Foundation, he was accepting the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 1993 ESPY awards. This is probably my favorite speech of all time, at any event, anywhere, and you can read it at the Jimmy V foundation website.

It is rare that there is a charity where 100% of everything you contribute goes to research and the Jimmy V Foundation is about the closest thing you will find. A lot of people I know have been touched by cancer. Some have fought and won, others have fought and lost. I hope for a day when we can eliminate the second group and everyone fights and wins.

It is the Holiday Season and many of us are busy spending on gifts for our loved ones so there is probably not a lot of extra money to go around. If there is, please consider giving some to the Jimmy V Foundation. I gave mine last night.

You can link here to their site. Please do what you can to help this fight. 
© 5:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Defending the MRI #2

Those of you who read my articles in On The Field will recognize the title of this post. This will be one of the series of articles where I answer reader emails which complain about the position of their team in the rankings. I had one email from an Illini alumnus but I am choosing to answer a different email instead in this column.

The question was posed to me where George Washington was in the rankings:

"Let me offer up my first question: where's George Washington? With victories over 2 top 25 MRI teams I'd have guessed them to make it..."

Ok, that is a good question. With their performance so far, George Washington is near the top of the MRI. As of Monday morning, George Washington was 30th. Between them and the Top 25 were Florida, Oregon, Texas, and Arizona. I pointed out to the reader that at this point in the season, with so many undefeated teams, so many teams playing well, and still very few games played, it is not uncommon for a good team to be out of the Top 25, but close to getting in.

That prompted this response:

"Yes, but OBVIOUSLY if Mich St already has 2 losses and GW beat them head to head, then GW is playing better ball than Mich St and should be ranked higher. Who's Mich. St. beaten that has any credibility? GW has only beaten, oh let's see, Mich. St. AND Maryland."

Mind you, this email writer did not attend Michigan State or George Washington.

My response to all this:

There is a rule within the MRI that teams within 9 MRI points of each other are fairly well balanced in terms of skill. On a neutral court, two teams that close in my ranking system would be fairly well matched and the game could easily go in either direction. This 9 point rule was developed using statistics from the past 4 years analyzing the MRI performance in picking the winner of a game. The first question you have to ask yourself then is: "Are Michigan State and George Washington more than 9 points apart in the rankings?" Michigan State had an MRI of 70.21 while George Washington was at 66.12 so that answer is "No", which means that at this point these teams are pretty similar. After taking into account the results of Monday night's games, the two teams were even closer.

Two statistics which are key in the MRI are rebounds and turnovers. Where does Michigan State shine? On the boards. Somehow, they have out-rebounded their opponents by 9 per game. This isn't the best differential in the league, but is above average and puts the Spartans in the 90th percentile range. This should come back to earth as they play more teams with strong big men inside since they can only afford to play one of theirs at a time.

George Washington has meanwhile been average in those categories. Yes, they have beaten two of the Top 25 MRI teams, but what have they done when not playing those foes? They lost to Wake Forest in the first game of the year and that loss was by 21. They beat Morgan State, Fairfield, and Mount St. Mary's. Those are not exactly teams which strike fear into the hearts of the major conference opponents. They should have dominated these games, but did they? No. They may have won on the scoreboard, and in some cases by bigger margins, but in terms of rebounds and turnovers, they were average and didn't distinguish themselves from their opponents in any way.

Meanwhile, in Michigan State's wins, they dominated the other teams, both on the scoreboard and the backboards. It is interesting to note that in Michigan State's two losses, they got out-rebounded both times. This would be an interesting trend to keep up on.

The point is that at this time in the season, there is not much difference between Michigan State and GW based on their MRI numbers. There is also a lot of basketball to be played which should clear things up. Let's see how each performs in their next games. Michigan State plays Stanford at home on Saturday. Stanford is not a good rebounding team so far this year and of all the teams that ended the year in the Top 25, they have fallen the farthest. If the Spartans win the battle of the boards, let's chalk that up as a win, but at the same time, they have to show that they are better than a down Stanford team by a good margin. At the time of writing this, Michigan State should have a 87% chance of the win including their home court advantage. George Washington plays at St. Francis (PA) on Saturday. This is again, a team they should dominate, however, the Red Flash are a pretty decent team this year. They are picked anywhere from 3rd to 5th in the Northeast Conference and feature consensus all-conference guard, Junior Darshan Luckey who was their top scorer last season. Add in that they are playing at home and you have the recipe for an upset. Let's see if George Washington can show they are the better team, something they haven't done other than on the scoreboard against the lesser opponents. Chance of winning: 54% when you include the Red Flash home court advantage. 
© 7:59 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Revenge of the Mid-Majors

The MRI numbers first filtered through the spreadsheet last Thursday which was exciting and scary at the same time. It is always tough to tell what the first numbers will look like before they happen. Part of the reason is that the numbers are based on league averages in certain categories and because of this, I can't even see the league average until everyone has a first game under their belt. The second reason is that so much changes from day to day over the course of the first few weeks of the season that one moment, a team could be destined for the #1 spot and the next they are in 39th place. Still, it is exciting to watch as the blue numbers run down the spreadsheet and the first teams are highlighted for the Top 25.

And yet, it is scary. I am always worried that some team that is clearly undeserving will end up at or near the top. I am always worried that there will be some fluke team who manages to destroy the system I have built the last four years and will continue to work with in the future. It didn't happen this year, but the fear is still there.

The opening #1 team: Boston College. That thump you just heard was all of the Illinois and Kansas fans out throwing a shoe at their monitors. Boston College will have a lot to prove to stay there, but they did make a big stride by beating a previously undefeated UCLA team which may just have what it takes to get the Bruins back to the NCAA tournament. If it makes Illinois fans feel better, one of the teams that was ahead of them, Virginia, lost on Monday night this week and their win against Chicago State moved them up a little more.

The thing I am most excited about in the opening rankings is not who is #1, but rather the number of Mid-Major teams in the opening rank. Three teams -- Old Dominion, Wichita State, and Gonzaga -- all managed rankings within the Top 25. The only other time this happened was 2002-3 which was a big year for Mid-Major teams getting to the tournament. If that trend holds true, we may see a lot of disappointed major teams come March. It is not just the numbers that are supporting these teams. It has been their play on the court which must be witnessed. The gap between the top teams and the next tier is closing. As more and more basketball gets broadcast on television, smaller schools are able to recruit better players because these guys don't feel the need to necessarily go to a Duke, North Carolina, or Kansas. They feel they can get a better experience at a smaller school, starting, and playing with what might be the next up and coming coach. Plus, the exposure of schools like a Gonzaga have shown that it is possible to build a small program into something that can contend with whoever they play. I hope that one of these schools can stay in the rankings and that more join them to be in the Top 25 at the end of the season. Maybe we will find the next Kent State this year.

Before I close this week, I just wanted to point out the official mascot team of the MRI, Wofford, has won two games so far this season and is very close to overtaking Purdue and not being last in the "Other" category. That is a big improvement over previous years. At some point this season, I will buy a Barking Brigade tee-shirt.  
© 10:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Big Ten-ACC Challenge

This post is the recreation of an email discussion I had with a friend of mine. He started this whole thing before last night's game but after the opening game between North Carolina State and Purdue. Going down 1-0 for the Big Ten on opening night didn't bode well for the Big Ten cagers.

"Arguably the biggest game of the year so far: Wake Forest @ Illinois tomorrow night...
Mich St @ Duke could be a really good one as well. Big Ten-ACC is always fun, though I think that ACC is undefeated in the series history" - My friend's email

I will add my email response to that in a moment. I would tend to agree that Wake Forest-Illinois will be the biggest game so far, though the Wake Forest-Arizona match-up could have been prior to tonight. Because North Carolina missed the shot at playing Louisville in the Maui Invitational, we didn't get to see the two teams that a lot of people are touting for the championship this year face off. For a second, think back to what a match-up tonight's UNC versus Indiana game would have been a few years back. It is too bad that Mike Davis's team won't be able to handle the Tar Heels tonight, and you can quote me on that.

"ACC is undefeated though some years they have won 5-4. Usually they win the big games and lose the ones lower down. This year, it may be the opposite but I have the feeling the ACC will dominate again and possibly sweep. Illinois gets no love in this thing. For years, they played Duke and now Wake? The mean people at ESPN who put together this made for TV matchup must really hate the Illini." - Me

Ok, so after last night, it is clear that the ACC won't sweep. Maryland losing to Wisconsin guaranteed that, but the ACC might still go 7-2 which is about as close to a sweep as you get these days in college matchups like this. As for my second comment, well, I got hit for it in his recap of the game from last night.

"What's with the Mich St. players (specifically Ager) constantly slapping the floor at Cameron Indoor? You just can't do that. I'm sorry. And even if you do it, the whole thing about slapping the floor is that you do it once (MAYBE twice) towards the later stage of the game when you really need to pick up the defensive intensity and you sense a momentum change - gets the crowd and the team involved. You don't do it on every friggin' play for 20 minutes straight! Think "Boy who cried wolf" thing.
What do you mean that Illinois gets no love? I'd say it's the opposite. Every year they've tried to match it up with "Best Big 10" against "Best ACC" and so on down the ladder. Illinois has consistently been perceived as one of the better Big 10 teams (a compliment to them), and thus they've had to play Duke (twice, and both were very very good games) and I think Maryland and now Wake. If I were Illinois, I'd rather have to play a tough early season game like this than to have a more cupcake game against, say, Clemson. I'd argue it's much better for them in terms
of setting themselves up for the heart of season and postseason." - My friend's email

All of this was addressed by my points below:

1. This was the classic inside/outside matchup. Duke relied on the outside shot while Michigan State, for the first 13 minutes of the game, constantly tried to push the ball inside. While it didn't work early for the Spartans, they were able to go on a run where it was working and working well. Paul Davis was scoring and scoring at will. Even when he got blocked on one shot, he was able to get his own rebound and take it back strong. Shavlik Randolph and Sheldon Williams had no answer for him. Duke was probably lucky that Michigan State can only play one big man at a time as their team doesn't have the depth to field two. If they could have had two guys inside, they would have won with this strategy...BUT


2. With 7 minutes left in the first half, Davis was called for a charge on a play where he took the ball inside and slammed it down. The defensive player (who I didn't note but I think was Williams) got over just in time to get the charge call. When this happened, Michigan State changed their game and stopped feeding the ball inside to Davis.


3. About the same time, Duke's pressure outside defense started to work better. They prevented passes inside to Davis and they caused a number of quick turnovers in succession which gave them the momentum. These all led to fast break chances which earlier in the game they just weren't getting. The chances were turned into easy lay-up baskets instead of the outside jumpers which they had been living on up until that point. Is it any wonder that J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing had 58 points combined? They were lofting threes and long range jumpers the entire game. Twelve of the first 17 points that Duke scored came via the three.


4. You have to give Michigan State credit. They stayed in the game. Their outside shooting was just good enough to keep up with Duke who didn't get the ball inside enough. I have watched teams live on the outside. It isn't pretty. When Malik Rose graduated from Drexel, they tried to become a shooting team. Your heart sticks in your throat every time they come down the floor because you wonder where the shot is going to come from. Now, granted, Duke has better shooters than Drexel ever did, and according to the broadcast last night, it seems that they have been really working on their shot (including either Sean Dockery or Ewing, though I think it was Dockery, taking 1000 jumpers a day, and Redick improving his conditioning and shooting to where he finally shoots at the top of his jump). You just can't live on a game like that and their inside guys are going to get murdered against teams like North Carolina who have two big men and a great point guard in Raymond Felton who will get the ball inside to them. Now, does Duke get a little lucky? Yes. Why? The ACC doesn't have the big inside man domination that it did starting about 7 years ago and working forward to last year. Most of the star players are the guards so the ACC may be more of a shooting conference this year. However, if North Carolina stays healthy, Georgia Tech's Luke Schenscher stays out of foul trouble, and Wake Forest's Vytas Danelius steps up again this year to his true form, Duke will have a tough time against those teams. Now, is it any wonder they were picked 4th in the league and could fall as far as 6th?


5. When Michigan State went back to feeding the ball inside, it was when Duke was in foul trouble. They just didn't do it enough. They needed to keep the pressure on Williams who was struggling to play any defense at all with 4 fouls.


6. The final dagger was Ewing hitting a 3 pointer with about a minute left in the game. That put Duke up 5 and Michigan State was just dying on the free throw line. They missed 5 free throws within a 90 second span that would have had the game tied. Instead, they were down five and looked dejected every time they ran down to the Duke end.


7. Slapping the floor is annoying. It was cute the first time Wojo did it, but only because the boy is like 3 feet tall and it really got the crowd into it. Now everyone does it. Maurice Ager should not be doing it when playing away though. And what is with coaches doing it now? Quin Snyder did during Missouri's game against Murray State on Saturday. He was so animated, his hair flopping all over the place. I am sorry, but if you need to slap the floor for your team, especially when playing against Murray State at home, your team has issues. My guess for the end of the season, Snyder will be FIRED!


8. As for the no love, yes, Illinois has been consistently one of the best teams in the Big Ten over the past 6 years. However, at the same time, they don't necessarily need the big game at this point in the season. They normally play a decent enough schedule to where another Top 25 game will not be that much of a deal. Plus, a tough game like this one (and a loss most times) can be killer. Look at Michigan State's schedule last season and how trashed they were. They went 6-8 in their non-conference games before going 12-4 in conference (in a very down year for the Big Ten). They were beat up before the conference season and then worn out at the end of conference season. They went into the tournament against a very good Nevada team and only had a 22% chance of winning the game (based on the MRI). Illinois just needs a break. They obviously weren't going to get it this year against the ACC no matter who they played, but every once in a while, a game against the 7th best team like Virginia would be nice. Or maybe even a matchup with North Carolina State which at least would have given the Big Ten a chance to win more than 3 games this year. Honestly, I don't care either way on Illinois as they are not my team. When this was first started, these were the best two conferences in the country, though the Big Ten didn't put its best 9 teams into the event every season. As it has gone forward, the ACC has gone so far beyond the Big Ten that they should change the conference that they play. The ACC should begin taking on the Big East next season and really determine who the best conference is. The Big Ten should have a consolation challenge with the SEC.

Whew. If you are still here after all that, thanks for sticking around. Have fun watching tonight's Wake Forest-Illinois game, called the Brawl in the Hall over at the Big Ten Wonk. I am personally hoping it will give me as much to think about as last night's feature match. 
© 1:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments