Category: College Basketball (Page 122 of 153)

Nationally ranked Dayton squared off with nationally ranked Rhode Island and came away with a 92-83. Rhode Island made a furious charge in the second half, but Brian Roberts and the Flyers were too much for the Rams. Roberts scored 23 points and made big plays down the stretch. He made a solid pitch for A-10 player of the year tonight…

Meanwhile Charlotte came up with a big win over Clemson. Their first win over a ranked team in three years. (Could this be the Clemson fade we are seeing?)

Down Interstate 75 Xavier continued to be the hottest team in the Atlantic -10. The Muskateers beat St. Bonaventure for their fifth straight win…

Coach Bob Huggins and his West Virginia Mountaineers made a loud statement with this weekend’s win over #11 Marquette. The Mountaineers dominated from start to finish in gaining their first Big East win. The win clearly shows that the Mountaineers have adopted to Huggins philosophy and are well on their way to becoing a force in the conference. (Former coach John Beilein certainly left the cupboard a little more stocked than what he found at Michigan.)

Many of the so called experts in the media questioned whether or not players recruited for the Beilein system would be able to adapt to the more in your face philosophy of Huggins. Or more importantly, would Huggins be able to adapt to the players on hand. Well it just shows you why sports writers write and coaches coach. Huggins has done a combination of both adjusting his style and selling his philosophy.

Offensively, the Mountaineers are a more wide open team than any of Huggins teams in the past. He has built on the teachings of Beilein’s open post offense to creat additional scoring opportunities. Defensively, he has changed them to a man to man team. However, against Marquette he coached rings around Tom Crean with a 1-3-1 zone defense.

Over in Philadelphia, Villanova excaped with a tough fought one point victory over Pittsburgh. Hats off to Jamie Dixon who rallied his troops and gave Villanova everything they wanted and more. It came down to the last possession and the Panthers turned it over. I have to believe that it would have been much different with a healthy Fields or Cook. However, it did show the grit of the Panthers and sent a warning that they are not going to roll over and feel sorry for themselves.

Mike Brey has Notre Dame off to a 2-0 start after beating UConn at home. The big surprise thus far has been Depaul. Jerry Wainwright’s team struggled through a poor non-conference portion of their schedule, but seems to have found a little confidence in getting off to a 2-0 start.

In a game that could determine who makes the conference tournament and who doesn’t. St. John’s beat Cincinatti at home. Norm Roberts team has struggled and he will need to at least make the conference tournament to keep his job. Norm is one of the nicest guys in the business, so here’s hoping he can pull it off.

Bob Knight’s precociousness (or should I say disdain) with the media took a new turn after yesterday’s game with UTEP. Following a game in which he received a technical for losing his shoe while kicking the scorer’s table, he entered the media room to hold his post game press conference carrying his grandson. I thought it was a great touch of him showing his sensitive side. Boy, was I wrong. The first line that came out of his mouth was sarcasm towards the writers. He instructed his grandson to answer all of the intelligent questions. His poor grandson (couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3) stood there with a pacifier in his mouth and looked as frightened as could be.

Then following his open sentence he spiced up his first answer with a lottle bit of vulgarity (bull shit to be exact). I was greatly disappointed that he didn’t tell his grandson to put on earmuffs. (That famous line used by Vince Vaughn in Old School to insctruct his son to cover his ears with his hands so that he could cuss freely). After a few minutes of innane banter, Knight picked up his grandson and left.

I have got to give it to Knight. A week after he was reprimanded by the conference for calling an officials’ call horrendous (which by the way, I saw the tape and the call was horrendous–another official getting off scott free) Knight was able to pull another trick out of his sleeve.

He truly is a master of the media!!!

Coaching college basketball is a tough enough job, but when you have third parties involved and incompetent athletic directors it becomes even tougher. Let me just say that I like and respect Eddie Sutton. I even hope he gets his last two wins so that he can reach 800 as a head coach.

However, what Debra Gore Mann, the athletic director at USF, has done is reprehensible. A Jesuit institution that preaches education and the core values of loyalty, honesty and integrity has sadly missed the mark in this situation. I realize that Jessie Evans was having a tough season and may have even had a losing one if he was allowed to finish it off, but to remove him at mid year is not holding true to your core values. Now, it has surfaced that Dana and David Pump, acted as intermiediaries to get the change pushed along. How much did they get paid? What is their connection to Gore-Mann? More importantly, why are they involved at all?

When an athletic director has to operate outside it’s own athletic department than you can bet that is the first sign of losing control. Bringing Sutton in at mid year is no different than what an NBA team would do. The difference is that one is a professional organization and another is an institution of higher learning.

Right now, I can’t tell which is which. Here’s hoping the Dons get two more wins and allow Coach Sutton to ride off into the sunset. Soon after that you can bet that the Pump Brothers will he hired to help Gore-Mann find another coach. Follow the money trail and you will find something that does not belong in college athletics.

The Kansas Jayhawks showed that they can be every bit as good on the road as they are at home. Blitzing through a non-conference schedule at home against the likes of Yale, UMKC and Washburn is one thing, but when you go on the road and play an ACC opponent that is when you find out what you are made of as a team. Well, Kansas is pretty dam good. With the emergence of Darnell Jackson and the continued scoring of Darrell Arthur the only supposed Jayhawk weekness has been eliminated. In beating Boston College 85-60 today they proved that they just might be the best team in the country. Darnell Jackson dropped 25 on the Eagles in a game that the outcome was decided by halftime. Kansas jumped out to a 47-29 lead at the break and never looked back.

Bill Self has the Jayhawks clicking on all cylinders. With the depth in the backcourt provided by two lottery picks (Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush) and the leadership of senior Russell Robinson the Jayhawks looked poised to take a shot at the national championship. Overcoming ealry season injuries to Rush and Colins made this team deeper and better. And while other teams seem to be experiencing the injury bug (Pittsburgh and North Carolina, most notably), the Jayhawks are getting stronger as they head into conference play.

Leave it to John Calipari to give the ultimate compliment in his team’s victory over Pepperdine. Coach Cal gave Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg much credit for the offense that the Tigers run. That’s great. But when you have three lottery picks in your lineup I don’t think it really matters what type of offense you run. Memphis routed the Waves 90-53 thus proving that it isn’t the offense, but the personnel that is most important. This is one of the deepest teams in the country and certainly has an opportunity to run the table in Conference USA.

Hold your horses Michigan State and Indiana fans. Before you start thinking that it is a two horse race, you better keep an eye on the Badgers of Wisconsin. Coach Bo Ryan has the restocked Badgers on a roll. After beating Iowa today by double digits and collecting their sixth straight win, Wisconsin is starting to feel it oats. Senior Brian Butch has come back healthy and provided a spark to the Badgers. Next weeks game against Indiana should be a dandy. Both teams seem to be hitting their peaks at the right time.