Category: College Basketball (Page 132 of 153)

Move over Colonial Athletic Association (George Mason, VCU, etc…) and the Missouri Valley Conference, here comes the Atlantic Sun. On opening weekend the Atlantic Sun Conference went into the houses of three BCS’s schools and came away with impressive victories. I am not talking about buzzer beating shots. I am talking about double digit wins. My hats off to Mercer for taking down Southern Cal, Belmont for beating Cincinnati and most of all to Gardner Webb for blasting nationally ranked Kentucky. As Billy Gillespie said after the game, “the game wasn’t as close as the final score.” Let’s hope all the David’s out there can keep slaying the Goliaths. It sure would make for an interesting season.

Boston College played their opening game against New Hampshire without the services of two starters. Tyreses Rice and Shamari Spears didn’t suit up. It wasn’t because of injury, violating team poicy, or academic reasons. They were suspended because they played basketball in the summer. That’s right! According to NCAA rules if a player plays in a summer league that they don’t sanction then the player will be penalized. What a croc!! The NCAA rule book is thicker than the New yOrk phone book. Rules are necessary, but when they are put in place to justify someone at the NCAA office having a job, then it becomes absurd. Cut back on the over regulation and staff and send some of that money back to the institutions and players.

St. Louis got their first win last night in the Rick Majerus era. Watching him in practice last week showed me why he is one of the best teachers in the profession. His attention to detail will help this Billiken team overachieve all year long. And just wait until next year when he opens a new arena and gets a full recruiting class under his belt.

Also, he added former Wright State coach Paul Biancardi to his staff. One of the good guys in the business his work ethic and recruiting ability will help supply St. Louis with the talent to be a national contender..

With the talent gap narrowed between the BCS schools and the rest of the Division I teams, it is no surprise that
Belmont won at Cincinnatti
UNC_Greensboro won at Georgia Tech
Cleveland State won at South Florida

I would not call these upsets, but just a case of smaller budgeted schools with more experience being ahead of the learning curve. Having coached on the lower levels of Division I, I can tell you that there is nothing better than going on the road and getting a win and then cashing the guarantee check that came with the road victory. Two of my most memorable games were wins against Nebraska and Kansas State (cha-ching $$).

When you talk about the wildcats in college basketball most people think of Kentucky, but I am here to tell you that the other Wildcats at Kansas State are a team to watch closely. After watching them in practice last week I walked away thinking that this is a team that could be in the hunt come March. New head coach Frank Martin has done a smooth job of transitioning from assistant to the man in charge without changing his style one bit. He had the attention of all the players and after seeing the score from last night’s win against Sacramento State without 3 starters, he demonstrated the ability to adjust on the fly. Of course, Michael Beasley showed why he may be the top freshman in the country.

Setting a school record for rebounds in his first outing Beasley sent notice to the rest of the Big 12 to look out for the WILDCATS.