Week 7 - Kansas Falls, Army Victorious

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, I have been missing lately. No games to watch, no musings. Not that those things haven't gone on. I just haven't had the chance to write about them.

Well, all that is changed. I am back with a vengeance, and the first thing I have for you in my triumphant return is the review of Week 7.

• Kansas lost to Villanova by a huge margin. I am first shocked that Kansas was playing at full strength. If they were going to lose, you would have thought it would have come when Wayne Simien was out hurt. If it didn't come then, you might have expected that when Keith Langford was hurt with a concussion. Yet, none of these things happened. In fact, they looked better playing without Simien than they have since he has returned. The MRI almost foreshadowed the downfall, consistently marking Kansas down, though in the past two weeks, they had begun to make a run for the top. This week changed that with the big loss. At the same time, you have to admire the play of Villanova this year. They handed West Virginia their first loss of the season by a big margin. This sent the Mountaineers into a downward spiral that included a loss to three win Marshall and they have yet to recover. The Wildcats then lost three of four, which almost made the win streak they were having look like a fluke. In those losses, though, they were in every game. Notre Dame is definitely still a contender, despite the last second loss to Georgetown on Saturday. Boston College is undefeated and Nova came close to upsetting them also. Georgetown turned the tables from the 1985 championship loss and won by the same score as the famous Cinderella game. And now, Nova bounces back with a huge win against a Kansas team which has been in everyone's Final Four. Villanova deserves a great deal of credit for hanging in the tough games this season. If they can add two more big victories to their plate and continue this play, they may well return to the dance.


• While the Big East is all bunched up, they may want to look down the East Coast to the ACC to get a glimpse of what life will be like next year. When the Big East expands, adding Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Marquette, and Depaul, they will become the new basketball powerhouse in America. Sure, they will lose a Boston College team, which over the past few years has been as good or better than both Connecticut and Syracuse. In return, they are adding some of the top teams, and most overlooked teams, in the country. Just look at where Cincinnati and Louisville are in the MRI, both in the Top 15. DePaul is now consistently putting together tournament caliber ball clubs, and Marquette is finding ways to win, even without the talent they once had. Add in that teams like Villanova and Georgetown will get older and even better and scrappier than this year's version and you are looking at a conference which will field at least 8 teams which can compete for the championship. They best watch that ACC though. Virginia Tech and Miami, both picked to finish at the bottom of the standings, are hanging in every game. They are getting wins and finding ways to make the ACC conference appear that every team could be 8-8 at the end. The teams at the top beat each other up, and the teams at the bottom are picking off what they can. No one is safe in the ACC this season, and no one will be safe in the Big East or ACC next year.


• When Illinois takes to the floor tomorrow to face Wisconsin, they will be looking to end the longest home winning streak in the country. Ohio State couldn't do it. They were plagued by cold shooting all game. Michigan State almost did it. Somehow, they thought the game ended about four minutes earlier than it actually did and they gave up the big lead at the end. Now Illinois gets its chance. Don't expect it to be easy, but they may have the best shot so far to do it. The real question will be if some combination of James Augustine and Nick Smith can contain Mike Wilkinson inside while Illinois's guards chip away at the Badgers from the outside. One of the biggest keys may be getting the Wisconsin big man out of the game and hoping that the Wisconsin shooting can't compete with the tough Illini defense. Illinois will need to hope that Badger leading scorer Alando Tucker doesn't return to the form he was displaying before he went down with the injury that kept him out of the Ohio State game. He hasn't been the same since his return and a big game against the #1 team in the country may be just what he needs. Right now, give the Illini a 67.37% chance of staying undefeated and ending the Wisconsin hold on their home court.


• I have already mentioned how Cincinnati and Louisville will take their Conference USA dominance to the Big East next season. Left behind in all the movement is a very good Charlotte team. With each game, the 49ers continue to make their case for a tournament berth by adding wins to their resume. Earlier this week, they were soundly defeated by Cincinnati, but this can be forgiven. On Saturday, they bounced back to win against a ranked Marquette team, who continues to win without the talent of previous seasons. In that win, Charlotte looked nothing like the team that was embarrassed earlier in the week. The loss to Cincinnati ended a nine game win streak which stretched back to their last loss, a one point, three overtime thriller against Alabama. Charlotte has what should be two easy games against TCU and East Carolina before they get a chance at revenge on the Bearcats, this time at home. A win against Cincinnati in the rematch should secure a dance ticket for Charlotte. The rest of their season is such that they only have two potential losses after the Cincinnati game, those coming against DePaul and Louisville. Look for the 49ers to cause some havoc in the conference tournament and then in the big dance that follows.


• Whether Mike Davis gets to keep his job at Indiana beyond this season may depend on the performance of his team over the next two weeks. While the Hoosiers have tuned up against the bottom of the Big Ten, they now face their toughest challenges. This week, they take their show on the road. The first stop is against a surprisingly good Minnesota team which is looking for their first chance at the dance since an academic scandal ended what looked like a return to glory for the Gophers. After that, a trip down the road to Iowa greets them to face a Hawkeye team which almost dethroned Illinois. They get to return home to face Penn State the next week before traveling to Champaign and taking on Illinois. It is not hard to believe that Indiana could go 1-3 through this four game swing. If they can somehow change that into a 3-1 record, Davis might be safe, provided he can at least get Indiana into the NIT. Should anything worse than that find its way into their record books, Mike Davis better start looking for a home buyer in Bloomington.

In other news, I am hard at work on a new look for the site which will allow you to get all of Sitting Courtside, On The Field, and the MRI rankings at one site. Stay tuned, I promise it will be worth it. 
© 7:08 PM by Ben Miraski 1 Comments   

  Games to Watch - January 12th

Performed a little better last night in the predictions. Still, not a grand week so far for the MRI. I have to remain positive though. Conference season is sure to provide a number of games that will prove to be upsets. You have to factor in rivalries which are not as common during the non-conference slate. This will cause more upsets than you would figure. Hopefully after this week, things will even out and the MRI will continue its stellar performance so far this year. Gonna be a short night because of the top games of the year will be tonight, though you can say that about any match-up at the top of the ACC.

Wednesday Night:
MRI Performance yesterday: 12-6, 66.67%
MRI Performance this week: 33-23, 58.93%
MRI Performance for the year: 970-304, 76.14%
MRI Performance all time: 3782-1367, 73.45%

Georgia Tech at North Carolina - When you look at a game between the #2 and #4 team in the MRI, you wouldn't expect there to be this much of an advantage for one team. Still even on paper and through watching both these teams play so far this year, you can see why North Carolina should dominate the game, especially with Georgia Tech lacking the offensive skills of B.J. Elder. When Elder went down in the game against Kansas, Georgia Tech looked like a different team. Jarrett Jack attempted to do what he did when the same thing happened in the NCAA tournament last year. In that game, Jack was the driving force in the victory over the Jayhawks. He was impressive again this year, but wasn't able to quite take the Jackets to the win this time as Kansas and Keith Langford got hot near the end of the game to send it to overtime and to victory. Georgia Tech has been able to bounce back with great wins against Miami and Virginia to keep them undefeated in conference play. The shorthanded Georgia Tech will be taking on the amazing three pronged attack of the Tar Heels. Sean May will be quite a test for Luke Schenscher inside. Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants will have Jack's and Will Bynum's heads spinning as he tries to keep up. With the way that North Carolina was able to pull ahead and then put away Maryland on Saturday, they should be riding a high that it seems unlikely that Georgia Tech can stop. Schenscher will need to turn in the game of the year for his team and keep Sean May out of synch. Most importantly, he will need to move better without the ball, something that he was not doing well in the game against Kansas. Anthony Morrow will again need to be able to shoot well and give the Jackets another option on offense. Last, they will need to generate chances on the break and protect the ball. They don't have a lot of chance to match up well with North Carolina in a set game. They will need to keep running and hope that the Tar Heels get sloppy with the ball while protecting it themselves. MRI Predicts: North Carolina Confidence factor: 77.75%

Kent State at Western Michigan - Tonight's game in the MAC matches the top team in the East with the top team in the West. Seniors Ben Reed and Levy Rost lead a Western Michigan team which is looking to return to the NCAA tournament to avenge their loss to Vanderbilt. Both players have been very consistent. They are the top two players in both scoring and rebounding for the team. Reed hasn't been held under 10 points yet this year and went for a season high of 36 in the Broncos' last game against Akron. Rost is no slouch himself, scoring 31 against a Buffalo team which is also expected to contend in the very difficult MAC. Look for point guard Rickey Willis to feed these two consistently throughout the game. The Kent State Flashes will counter with a very balanced offensive attack including point guard DeAndre Haynes. Helping the all-MAC team candidate will be Kevin Warzynski and Jason Edwins. Both Edwins and Warzynski have been key in the previous two wins for the Flashes when Haynes has not shot as well. This will be a great guard battle between Haynes and Reed, one driving the offense through his ball handling skills, and the other through his dead eye shooting. If you want an advantage, there really isn't any definitive one for either team. The Broncos get the nod at home. MRI Predicts: Western Michigan Confidence factor: 53.37%

UTEP at Nevada - The two top teams in the WAC face off tonight in the first of their two meetings. Given the state of the league, only the winner of the conference tournament may get a chance to dance at the end of the season. Therefore, this game becomes even more important. Should one of these two teams establish itself as the strong leader now and then get upset in the tournament, this game could go a long way towards determining if they will get a shot at a second bid. Don't think that I am counting out Fresno State, Hawaii, and Rice just yet, but currently UTEP and Nevada are the only two teams who have the numbers to get to the dance. Sophomore Nick Fazekas and Kevinn Pinkney lead a strong inside attack for the Nevada Wolfpack. This will be countered by the equally good shooting attack of the Miners. Nevada is not a very good shooting team from beyond the arc. If UTEP gets ahead early, they may have a tough time catching them. If Nevada gets the lead though, look for UTEP to turn to their deep shooters like Miguel Ayala. He is 13-17 in the last three games from deep. This one comes down to which team's game get stopped early, the inside presence of Nevada or the perimeter shooting for UTEP. MRI Predicts: UTEP Confidence factor: 56.83% 
© 3:30 PM by Ben Miraski 1 Comments   

  Wilkinson Badgers Buckeyes

When you win 36 games in a row and 51 out of 53, you have to have some breaks go your way. When Wisconsin took to the floor on Tuesday night, they were hoping for just that. Earlier in the day, it was decided that leading scorer and second leading rebounder Alando Tucker would be sitting out the game against Ohio State after an ankle and foot injury he suffered on Sunday during practice. Without Tucker, they were losing almost a quarter of their offense.

Instead of Alando Tucker, the Badgers had Mike Wilkinson. Wilkinson was the second leading scorer for the team going into the game and left it after scoring 29, a new career high. Wilkinson was repeatedly fed the ball inside and was very effective thanks to the foul trouble by Ohio State's Terence Dials. With Dials on the bench, Matt Marinchick was unable to contain the faster and more aggressive Wilkinson.

Wilkinson added 10 rebounds to his total but by far, the most important board of the game was grabbed by Clayton Hanson with less than a minute remaining in the ball game. On Wisconsin's previous possession, Zach Morley drew a foul, but missed both shots from the free throw line. On the second shot, Hanson grabbed the rebound as Wilkinson blocked out the bigger Dials. Hanson was fouled and went to the line where he hit both shots. The next possession for Ohio State resulted in a turnover as Brandon Fuss-Cheatham threw the ball over the head of the running Dials. Wisconsin made 5 more free throws in the last thirty seconds while Ohio State was only able to counter with one basket of its own.

Despite leading for most of the first half, Ohio State was consistently cold shooting the basketball, especially from three point range. The Buckeyes started the game 2 for 10 from the arc and finished 7 for 23. Tony Stockman, who hit 5 of 7 from three in the Ohio State win against Iowa was especially off from long range and the rest of the floor. He finished 4 for 17 shooting including only 1 of 9 from long distance. Bo Ryan commented after the game that "it was a combination of both" Ohio State missing the open shots they were given and good pressure by the Badger defense.

Still, the best thing that Wisconsin did all night was to take Dials out of the game. He still managed 15 points and 8 rebounds, but it came in only 24 minutes as he repeatedly had to go to the bench, including the last six minutes of the first half when Wisconsin was able to grab the lead from Ohio State and extend it to 5 by the break. Dials picked up his third foul a little over a minute into the second half and was a non-factor on defense especially after he received his next one just 3 minutes later. Without Dials, and given the poor shooting of the Buckeyes, they continued to fall behind. When the shots finally did fall, they were down by 11 and Wisconsin was able to keep ahead just enough to outlast them. J.J. Sullinger and
Matt Sylvester were big in the run that Ohio State tried to make, but it was just not enough.

Not everything Wisconsin did worked. When Wilkinson went out of the game, he was replaced by red shirt freshman Brian Butch. Butch had sat out last season to get stronger and was effective in keeping the Buckeyes in check at the defensive end. Where he still needs to work is in his shot selection. He took two three point shots late in the first half while Dials was sitting on the bench. This was the time when he should have been getting the ball down low as he had the advantage over the Ohio State players. You can be sure that Ryan reminded him of this during a time out after the second shot refused to fall.

With the win, Wisconsin extended its home winning streak to 37 games. Asked about the streak after the game, Ryan was nostalgic for a bit, referring to streaks he had while at Wisconsin-Platteville earlier in his career. Still, Ryan was all business. "I really haven't talked about [the streak]," said Ryan. "This right here, when you have a team coming in the next night...that's all we concentrate on." Ryan will need to have the team concentrating. Their next game is Sunday against Michigan State, who will try and counter Wilkinson with Paul Davis. Wisconsin will be looking to extend the winning streak to an NCAA-leading 38.

Ohio State's next game is a non-conference match against 6-5 LSU. 
© 10:00 AM by Ben Miraski 2 Comments   

  Couch Musings (1-12-05)

I am seriously thinking that I will need to buy two more television sets at some point and place them all in my living room with their own cable boxes. Trying to flip between the Arkansas-Alabama, Missouri-Oklahoma State, and the end of the Villanova-Providence games, was quite a feat. At least when Louisville played like the Globetrotters against Southern Mississippi doing their best Washington Nationals impression, it left me free to watch the Ohio State-Wisconsin game in its entirety. Musings for last night:

• If you are a coach trying to show young kids the importance of making free throws, or even how to make free throws, there were a number of exhibitions put on last night. The best game for them to watch would have been the Missouri-Oklahoma State game. The two teams combined to go 44 of 49 from the free throw line for an unbelievable 90%. This included Joey Graham making all 13 of his attempts and his twin brother Stephen only missing 1 of his 8 attempts. Linas Kleiza, a 66% free throw shooter, matched Joey G's feat by also hitting all 13 of his from the charity stripe. His performance almost willed Missouri to a win in this game but the Graham brothers and John Lucas were too much for the Tigers who didn't get double digit scoring from any other player.


• Tuesday night should have been called the night of the Second Option. Missouri didn't have one and went down. Providence also struggled to find one beyond Ryan Gomes and lost to a Villanova team missing their best player, Curtis Sumpter. In his place, the next best players all stepped up to fill the hole. Allen Ray scored 27 and Jason Fraser, who was averaging a little over 6 points in his previous 10 games, went off for 25 points and also grabbed 13 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end. The big games turned in by Ray and Fraser were key to the Wildcats victory, along with a tenacious pressure defense which pushed the Friars into 29 turnovers.


• Second options might also be called unsung players. One of those plays for Wake Forest. We hear a lot of about Chris Paul and the impact that the sophomore has had on the team. We hear a lot about the disappointment that Vytas Danelius was last year after a great sophomore year. But through all of that one man goes unseen and unsung, Justin Gray. Gray led the Demon Deacons in scoring last season at 17 points a game. While he was a first team all conference selection last year, he didn't get the press that everyone else in the ACC normally does. Maybe he was a little upset at this as, this year, he is back on top at 17.7 points per game. This was helped by his big performance against Maryland on Tuesday. Gray went off for 25 points including 6 of 9 from three point range. Despite Maryland shooting almost 50% from the field, Wake Forest easily cruised to victory by 15. It might have something to do with Maryland shooting only 1 for 14 from beyond the arc. Or it might have something to do with Maryland being terrible getting rebounds. Wake Forest was able to bring down 22 offensive rebounds and no one on Maryland's team had double digit numbers in that area. If Maryland doesn't do better at grabbing boards, they will be in trouble. In the last two games, both of which Maryland was embarrassed in, they have been outrebounded 100-64. Even in their lone conference win against Florida State, they were beat on the glass, 56-44. This was not the way that the Terps wanted to start in the ACC.


• Will the real West Virginia please stand up? If it wasn't bad enough getting their first loss in the Big East opener against Villanova in blow out style, imagine how they feel after last night. Playing Marshall in the battle for the Mountain State in Charleston, you would have thought that West Virginia would have easily handled the two win Herd. Instead, the Herd took down the Mountaineers for their second embarrassing defeat in two weeks and Marshall's third win of the season. Couple this with a close win against a St. John's team which wasn't expected to win very many conference games and you are looking at a team about to crumble to dust after a 10-0 start. West Virginia's next test comes against undefeated Boston College on Sunday.

 
© 8:00 AM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch - January 11th

I will have to look under the couch. I think I dropped the real MRI back there. Last night, the MRI had its worst single day performance of the year. And yet, it had the Oklahoma win over Connecticut correct. Somehow Oklahoma had been under the national radar until this past week, just breaking into the polls this week and they performed like the very good team they had been all year in that win. I can look to the little conferences such as the Southwest Athletic Conference for the blame. Lots of poor playing teams were on the court last night, and some of the them played better than the other bottom feeders. So tonight, I look to turn this around.

Tuesday Night:
Current MRI performance for the year: 958-298, 76.27%
MRI Performance this week: 21-17, 55.26%
MRI Performance all time: 3770-1361, 73.47%

Ohio State at Wisconsin - Wisconsin fell under the bus that has been Indiana lately on Saturday. Shooting just 35% from the field for the game and less than 30% in the half, they went down to the Hoosiers who have now won four of their last five. The Badgers were on a five game win streak at the time and Bo Ryan had them looking like they were the second best team in the Big Ten, not Michigan State. They will look to regroup tonight against a surprising Ohio State team. Wisconsin will count on Alando Tucker to continue his hot shooting. He has averaged 18.8 points per game over his last five and failed to score in double digits only one during that time. What Wisconsin will have to improve over the Indiana game is the third option. Mike Wilkinson down low gives them their second option in the post. Someone will have to contribute from outside so that the Badgers will shoot better than 16.7% from beyond 3 point range. That person had been Sharif Chambliss but he went stone cold on Saturday and scored a goose egg, dooming the Badgers. Kammron Taylor, who came off the bench to score 21 against Indiana will also be expected to contribute, but he is not the three point shooter that Chambliss is. While Wisconsin was losing, Ohio State was shocking everyone by beating Iowa, who had looked very good during non-conference games and has fallen twice now that Big Ten play has begun. The Buckeyes will be looking to keep the run going. Led by Terence Dials and Tony Stockman, Ohio State can continue to hang near the top of the Big Ten standings and frustrate everyone with a win tonight. Dials will need to be strong player he has been all season and it will all depend on them getting him the ball. He leads the team in scoring and rebounds but only had five shots against Illinois. Without him leading the team, Ohio State would struggle. If Wilkinson and the other Badger big men can keep a big body on Dials in Bo Ryan's defense, Wisconsin has a great chance of winning should their shooting improve. MRI Predicts: Ohio State Confidence factor: 50.60% MRI Result: LOSS

Villanova at Providence - It is sad to say that the story of a promising season may have turned on Friday, especially this early in the season, but it may just have. Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter injured his knee on in practice before the Notre Dame game and sat out that game. Without their leading scorer and rebounder, the Wildcats were unable to play like they did against West Virginia a few days earlier when they rolled to hand the Mountaineers their first loss of the season. Now they take their game, missing a large piece against a scrappy Providence team who, despite early season struggles, have rebounded to win 5 of their last seven and gave Boston College a run on Saturday. Ryan Gomes will need more help from his teammates though to help the Friars to a win. Given Villanova's loss, they may have an easier time contributing, especially Dwight Brewington. He needs his shots to fall or else he tends to disappear on the court. Without Nova's main inside threat, Brewington should be able to cut into the lane more like he did against Michigan earlier this season and play better. The winner of this one will continue to be look like a contender in the Big East and a team that could squeak in at the tail end of the tournament selections. The loser will have their work cut out for them, even this early in the conference season. MRI says Villanova, but with Sumpter's injury, this one may be an easy steal for Providence. MRI Predicts: Villanova Confidence factor: 64.44% MRI Result: WIN

Missouri at Oklahoma State - Ok, its so cliche. "Maybe all they needed was a little confidence." It might be true in Missouri's case. After barely playing to a victory against Indiana, the Tigers faced an Illinois team which hadn't won by less than double digit margins all season. They played the Illini tough and almost pulled off what would have been the shock of the year. A loss by 6 points giving confidence? Against Illinois, it sure can. Since that loss, Missouri has looked like a different team on the floor. They have won three in a row, knocking off Gonzaga, American, and Iowa State. They have opened up the offense more and no longer need to run the ball through Linas Kleiza to score now that Jason Conley has found his shot. Tonight they take on Oklahoma State, who was unable to beat Gonzaga and had their troubles with Texas Tech before putting them away. Joey Graham will be looking to continue his amazing offensive output so far this season and he has proven that he can shoot from everywhere on the floor. John Lucas and Daniel Bobik will contribute with him. The Cowboys have tons of weapons and it will most likely be too much for Quin Snyder and the rejuvenated Missouri offense. MRI Predicts: Oklahoma State Confidence factor: 93.82% MRI Result: WIN

Maryland at Wake Forest - After a dismal performance on Saturday against North Carolina, it became apparent that Maryland is nothing without Ekene Ibekwe contributing with rebounds. Maryland is going to need him tonight when they face Wake Forest. He played only 14 minutes in the game against the Tar Heels and will need to stay out of foul trouble tonight. Wake Forest may try and get into his head and have Chris Paul repeatedly feeding their big men inside to see if they can entice Ibekwe into foul trouble again tonight. The Demon Deacons are not a feared inside team but a strong performance by the big men against Clemson may have given them confidence. Wake Forest was originally pegged as one of the favorites for a National Title this season. While playing at a high level, they are not to the height that both the Illini and North Carolina have set the bar at right now. Don't expect a blow out like both these teams saw this weekend, one on the winning end and one on the losing side, but Wake is playing well enough to handle whatever Maryland chooses to bring. MRI Predicts: Wake Forest Confidence factor: 84.76% MRI Result: WIN

Alabama at Arkansas - Alabama, they confuse me. They play well against weak teams, yet struggle to wins against most of the good teams they have played. Lately though, they have been struggling against those good teams. Losses to Wisconsin and Vanderbilt have dropped the SEC title talk that surrounded this team after their amazing performance last year in the tournament when they knocked off Stanford. Arkansas has meanwhile been rolling, albeit against weak competition, until they tripped against Florida this weekend. Neither team has shown me enough to get me to believe that either one deserves to have a ranking next to their name. Bama continues to be ranked in the national polls, while the MRI loves Arkansas, even if they are slightly riding a bubble right now that could pop at any moment. Look for the turnover battle to be key in this one as Alabama has had trouble handling the ball lately. They also have a short bench which could haunt them, much like it has all season when it hasn't produced. MRI Predicts: Arkansas Confidence factor: 84.76% MRI Result: LOSS

Air Force at St. Mary's - Raise your hand if you know who Paul Marigney is. Or how about Daniel Kickert? They play for the St. Mary's Gaels and were the two top scorers for the team when they did something that no one in the conference had done since February, 2003, beat Gonzaga. The Gaels had been hoping for a victory even longer than that, having lost the last 17 to the Zags. The mighty Gonzaga hasn't been as strong this year as they have in the past despite some big name victories earlier this season. The Gaels hope that they begin a trend in the West Coast Conference and more teams will take down Gonzaga. St. Mary's was touted with Santa Clara at the beginning of the season as the two hopes to unseat Gonzaga. The whole conference came out and played well, though some have fallen off recently. St. Mary's hopes to not see any fall-off when they go out of conference tonight to take on Air Force. The Falcons were the talk of the town last season and have yet to play up to what everyone though coming into the year when there were hopes they would repeat as the conference champs. Nick Welsh will lead the Falcons inside, but as the only big man getting minutes on the team, he has big shoes to fill. St. Mary's beat a tougher stronger team in Gonzaga. This one may come down to how well the Gaels can hold onto the ball, something that Air Force should be able to take advantage of. MRI Predicts: St. Mary's Confidence factor: 73.15% MRI Result: WIN 
© 4:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings (1-6-05)

Well, what did we learn last night from seeing 2 of the last 6 undefeated teams take their first loss?

• Texas A&M is apparently as good as their record says. They were able to hang with Kansas through the whole game. Now, Kansas is without Wayne Simien who most likely would have caused some trouble inside for the Aggies. That is not to say that A&M can't make the NCAA tournament out the Big XII, or that they won't compete. From last night's game, it was clear they will be in every game and will challenge some teams on the bubble for the last few spots in March.


• There was an article in USA Today yesterday outlining the West Virginia Mountaineers. The last time that West Virginia was 10-0, they had a guy named Jerry West on their team. In case you didn't know, it is West's picture that makes up the NBA logo, so he might have been a little good. They could have used someone like West last night when they had their hat handed to them by Villanova. Apparently beating up on some mid-caliber teams before Big East play was good for one thing, getting wins. It didn't prepare them to take a big loss to the Wildcats. The MRI had Villanova as favored in that game, which should have told us something about the Mountaineers, as they were the lowest of the unbeaten teams in the MRI. The Wildcats did show that they were here to stay and could be making a run for the tournament themselves.


• Boston College is apparently more than just Craig Smith. With Smith in foul trouble all night against Connecticut, the Eagles still managed to build a ten point lead and hold on for a win on the road. They got a big boost from Jared Dudley who took over the game when Smith went to the bench and kept on leading when Smith came back onto the court. Boston College now takes over the title of lowest ranked undefeated team. They however proved they may have a little more staying power in that "0" next to their name.


• Alcorn State's win earned them their first Division 1 victory and officially got them on the board in the MRI. That leaves three teams without a Division 1 victory: Army, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Savannah State. The Tigers of Savannah State lost again last night to Norfolk State by 31. This puts them to a record of 0-18 and ensures that they will most likely remain in last place in the MRI for the rest of the season as their new MRI total is -120.33


• Apparently South Florida may be more than Terrence Leather and Bily Swift. The Bulls got a boost from freshman Collin Dennis last night to beat East Carolina by 1 on the road. Leather still led the team with 18 points but Dennis contributed with 15 points including 9 of 10 from the free throw line. He hit six in a row during the final moments to ensure the victory for the Bulls. If Dennis can continue to contribute like this, he may no longer be coming off the bench for Robert McCullum's team and we may hear more from the Bulls during the Conference USA season than we originally thought.


• Pittsburgh is now officially not looking so well. Not that a loss to Georgetown is much to be ashamed about but when you are expecting to contend for the Big East title, you are not supposed to lose to Bucknell at home and then follow it with a loss to the Hoyas. With giant killer Rutgers next on the schedule, especially on the road, coach Jamie Dixon has a lot of work to do with his squad or they might drop to 0-2 in the conference. Senior Chevon Troutman, who managed only 5 points in last night's loss is going to have to contribute more as the third scoring option for the Panthers to have any hope of winning on Saturday.

Tonight is a triple header of games on ESPN2 including DePaul-Cincinnati, Memphis-Texas (featuring Dickie V), and Gonzaga-Santa Clara. I am most interested in the bookend games as Texas should easily handle Memphis. Look for some recaps of these games over the weekend, and let's hope that at some point I can finally get those other three games written up and into the log. 
© 1:30 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Couch Musings (1-4-05)

On a night when I chose to pick all bottom MRI teams to feature for the Games to Watch, I had no idea that the system would pick so well in those games and so terrible in all the rest. My thoughts from last night:

• I was shocked to see Alcorn State lose at home to Prairie View, which was the one loss of the night in the highlighted games. In a game where neither team was stellar on paper, the Braves were the better team going in and there is no reason for the loss. Delvin Thompson, the Braves' leading scorer did break double digits again, but he was overshadowed by Phillip Scott from Prairie View who bucketed 26 in the win. I guess Alcorn State will have to wait until it plays another bottom dweller in the conference for its first Division 1 victory. It shouldn't take too long in the SWAC.


• Two other things I did not count on last night: Wichita State losing to Manhattan at home, and UM-Kansas City beating IUPUI on the road. The Shockers were undefeated and the Jaspers had not been playing well, starting the year with a 3-4 record. Wichita State was cold from the floor, shooting at 35% when they normally are 10 points better. Manhattan able to better them by just a bit to get the edge. Wichita State is still 2-0 in the Missouri Valley conference. They will need to not have a repeat of last night if they hope to survive in a very tough year in the Valley. In the other game, it looks like Kansas City just wanted it more. They were led by Quinton Day with 21 points and had three other players score in double figures off the bench. They were almost 50% from three point land too while holding the Jaguars to only 33% shooting. IUPUI isn't the team they were a year ago, but they still have talent. It just didn't come to play on Monday.


• The combined first wins and first losses from last night bring the number of undefeated teams down to 6 and the number of D-1 winless teams to 4. I still have a chance to have my prediction to come true. If only Savannah State had played a little better last night...


• Reggie Love broke a bone in his foot and will be out anywhere from 3-6 weeks depending on how fast he heals. With Shavlik Randolph out suffering from Mono, Love was counted on to fill some of the holes on the inside. His solid play so far had earned him the start against Clemson this past Sunday. Will his injury hurt the Blue Devils? You bet. Can they still win? Yes. This does leave them even thinner inside though and any significant foul trouble by Sheldon Williams will start to make the Duke coaches sweat a little more. As I said earlier, Duke will be in trouble if they are ever in a game against a good big man and their shots aren't going in. This was obviously the case for the first half on Sunday until J.J. Redick got rolling. Now, with the reduced depth, this weakness will be even more apparent. You know Coach K is hoping Love heals quickly.


• I am going to start an All-Bad Hair team. During breaks in the Sugar Bowl, I flipped over to see what I could of the LSU-Utah game. Utah's leading scorer and rebounder, Andrew Bogut, has one of the most plastic looking hair styles I have ever seen. He must have used an entire bottle of something to get his hair into the lacquered helmet-like style that he showed on Monday night. To make it worse, the Aussie is obviously doing it on purpose and this was not a bad hair day. They showed the media picture of him during the game and, in that, he was sporting a long blonde cut. That's a far cry from the short black riot gear he had on Monday. Bogut is therefore my center on the A-BH team. I will also be adding Matt Gibson from Hawaii to this list. In their game against Fresno State last week, he had quite mess working on his head. With a guard and a center so far, I need three more players to round out this fine coiffed group. And with these two, I might be able to field a pretty nice starting five with the right additions. Nominations are always welcome.

Enjoy the football game tonight. 
© 3:30 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch - January 4th

Ok, really people, there is no basketball to watch tonight. Instead everyone will be watching the one game that matters.

The Orange Bowl.

You can read my preview over in On The Field

See you on Wednesday. 
© 2:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments   

  Games to Watch - January 3rd

The new year has dawned and now conference season is upon us. Sure, some teams have played the token conference game here and there before now, but the next two months will be filled with rivalries and hard fought match-ups which should fill this column daily. Of course, I have been missing for the past few days. Not that I haven't been busy. Bowl season had me working hard on previewing football match-ups over at On The Field and my figures can only take so much. As a result, look for a back up of game reviews to appear over the next few days here at Sitting Courtside. Also, for those interested, I am looking at a new format for MRISports.com, Sitting Courtside, and On The Field which may soon allow you to get all of your sports fun in one place. Hopefully, it will work out but I am being careful as I don't want to lose my archives of postings and stats. Look for it sometime near the end of the month of January.

And now, without taking up too much more of this space with my babble, here are the games to watch. There is a very strange feel to today's list of games. Mostly they are all involving teams near the bottom of the MRI and for good reason. I have to hope to make good on my prediction that all teams will win a Division 1 game before all teams have lost a game. And if my luck is with me, tonight should be good for a few of those.

Current MRI statistics for the year: 698-194, 78.25%
MRI Performance last two weeks: 385-99, 79.55%
MRI Performance all time: 3510-1257, 73.63%

Monday Night:
Utah Valley State at High Point - As I pointed out late last week, Utah Valley State has the most wins of any new Division 1 team and this was totally the opposite of what I expected at the beginning of this season. Tonight they go for their 5th Division 1 win of the year when they face a High Point team which is on a little roll of their own. The Panthers have won two of their last three by double digits and the loss sandwiched in the middle was by one. High Point has climbed 50 spots in the MRI since two weeks ago thanks to that performance. Might be a tough test for the Wolverines of Utah Valley State. MRI Predicts: High Point Confidence factor: 56.73% MRI Result: WIN

Bethune-Cookman at Savannah State - Savannah State is at the bottom the MRI rankings and has been since the season began. If there is one team that could derail my predictions, it is them. The Tigers are on their way to not only breaking the record for worst MRI score for a season, but smashing it in the same way that Arkansas-Pine Bluff smashed the old Savannah State record last year. Bethune-Cookman is on Savannah State's schedule twice this season, once tonight in Savannah and then on February 11th at B-C. As the Wildcats are the lowest ranked MRI team left on the Tiger schedule, this may be Savannah State's best chance to win a game all season. Keep your fingers crossed for them. Their "best" loss of the season so far was by only 6 to Jacksonville, who is ranked 300 out of 330 in the MRI, lower than Bethune-Cookman. MRI Predicts: Bethune-Cookman (but hopes to be wrong) Confidence factor: 73.47% MRI Result: Unfortunately, WIN

Illinois-Chicago at Youngstown State - Illinois-Chicago looked like they could duplicate the nice season they had last year under Jimmy Collins. Unfortunately, as we saw in their loss to Duke, and then later to UW-Parkside, they have a long way to go to be a copy of last year's version who went 24-8. Tonight, they take on Youngstown State, who has struggled itself this season, tallying only a single win at the Division 1 level and that came against one of the few teams in the conference worse than both the Penguins and Flames, Loyola-Chicago. A win tonight could cure a lot of ills for UIC. They have begun the conference season 0-2 with losses against
Detroit and UW-Milwaukee. Beating a team like Youngstown State could right the ship and get them running again. The penguins give up an average of 76 points a game against their Division 1 foes. If the shots fall for the Flames, look for them to take this one. MRI Predicts: Illinois-Chicago Confidence factor: 66.48% MRI Result: WIN

Prairie View at Alcorn State - Something has to give in this match-up of winless teams. Unless the lights go out in the arena tonight and they have to cancel the game, one of these teams will pick up their first Division 1 win of the year. The two teams have had their offensive struggles. Between the two teams, there is only one player who is averaging over 10 points a game, Alcorn State's Delvin Thompson. Alcorn State averages 56, Prairie View, 51.3. Neither team is going to be set to light up the scoreboard tonight as they both shoot under 37% from the floor, but you never know. Maybe they are both so bad, that the score will end up 112-110. Or, maybe not. Give the edge to Alcorn State at home in this match-up at the bottom of the pitiful Southwestern Athletic Conference. MRI Predicts: Alcorn State Confidence factor: 78.65% MRI Result: LOSS

Oklahoma State at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - Ah, the one bright spot in my day of cellar dwellers. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi takes on their second ranked team of the season when they face Oklahoma State at home tonight. The Cowboys are coming off a loss against Gonzaga which knocked them from the ranks of the unbeatens. But, they have to travel to face the Islanders who have only suffered one loss at home all season. An upset is always a possibility and Texas AMCC proved they can play with the big boys by staying with Alabama for all of 30 minutes before the game got away from them. The Islanders should give a good fight. Look for them to hang with Oklahoma State for a while, especially being at home. Then watch John Lucas and the Graham twins pull this one out. The Chaminade-type game won't come this year for Texas AMCC. MRI Predicts: Oklahoma State Confidence factor: 66.48% MRI Result: WIN 
© 5:00 PM by Ben Miraski 0 Comments