\n<\/strong>Each team is, by my account<\/a>, a legitimate title contender.\u00a0 This game showed why.\u00a0 However, this game–maybe because of the opposition–also showed some flaws in the two teams.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.semissourian.com\/photos\/10\/74\/70\/1074709-S.jpg\")
First of all, Memphis looked really, REALLY good.\u00a0 They are so athletic; they played incredible, hard-nosed, pressure defense; and, they controlled the offensive glass.\u00a0 They would have beaten anyone in the country today.\u00a0 Plus, as hyped as Roy Hibbert, DaJuan Summers, Derrick Rose and Joey Dorsey are, the underappreciated, Chris Douglas-Roberts, was easily the best player on the floor today.\u00a0 Easily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are two serious flaws that were on display today for the Tigers, however.\u00a0 One, they are a really bad free-throw shooting team.\u00a0 Second, they lack discipline.\u00a0 They went down early and started looking at each other.\u00a0 This team is good enough to win most of their games without any adversity, but the few games that they are challenged, it will be interesting to see how they respond.\u00a0 They responded well today, so they passed test #1.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/media3.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/photo\/2006\/01\/24\/PH2006012401572.jpg\")
On the other side, the Hoyas may have displayed more serious flaws in this game.\u00a0 Granted it was only one game, and it was on the road at the #2 team in the country, but without Jeff Green, they truly lack a go-to guy.\u00a0 Roy Hibbert will be a lottery pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.\u00a0 He is a first-team pre-season All-American and may well be a first-teamer at the end of the season.\u00a0 But, he is not a go-to, put-his-team-on-his-back kind of player.\u00a0 That was obvious today.\u00a0 Furthermore, the Hoyas, whose style is not one which will ever blow anyone out, will need to win close games.\u00a0 They showed today that they really struggle on the free-throw line.\u00a0 A combination of poor free-throw shooting and lack of a go-to guy will probably lead to a team that struggles to close out close games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The good news for Hoya fans, though, is that they have Jonathan Wallace and DaJuan Summers.\u00a0 They also play incredibe defense and are one of the best coached teams in the country.\u00a0 They showed today how disciplined they are on both ends of the floor.\u00a0 They had effective possessions, on both ends, coming out of timeouts and their guards are terrific.\u00a0 Plus, the future is incredibly bright for this team because of the freshman backcourt of Chris Wright and Austin Freeman.\u00a0 They are both special players that will\u00a0step right\u00a0in for Wallace and Jesse Sapp when they graduate.<\/p>\n
Overall, though it is not time to overreact to one December game, but I think we did learn that Memphis is extraordinarily talented and a true threat to win the title.\u00a0 I also think that we learned that Georgetown is going to be in the discussion and will probably improve with every game they play.\u00a0 This is the first of a 4-year agreement between these two teams to play non-conference games, so this matchup should be fun for the rest of the decade.<\/p>\n
Okay, Game 2 is on.\u00a0 I’ll be back with a Xavier-Tennessee recap…<\/p>\n
GAME 2:\u00a0 Tennessee 82, Xavier 75 What this game showed is that, while both are extremely important, there is a distinct difference between balance and depth.\u00a0 Xavier is an incredibly balanced team.\u00a0\u00a0The five starters\u00a0plus 6th-man\u00a0C.J. Anderson all average in double-figures.\u00a0 They have a lot of talent with Drew Lavender, Josh Duncan and Stanley Burrell.\u00a0 You need five good defenders on the floor at all times to stop the X’s offense.\u00a0 However, today, it was Tennessee’s depth that overcame Xavier’s balance.<\/p>\n Both of these teams have immense talent and each should be considered the favorites to win their respective conferences.\u00a0 They each have the potential to be second-week participants in the big tournament in March.\u00a0 They are that good.<\/p>\n Okay, on to Texas Tech versus Stanford…<\/p>\n GAME 3:\u00a0 Stanford 63, Texas Tech 61 Sorry I didn’t see the whole game (remember I don’t get paid for this stuff), but at least I’m done my shopping.\u00a0 Ya, get jealous.\u00a0 Another great one is on now–Michigan St. versus Texas…<\/p>\n GAME 4:\u00a0 Michigan St. 78, Texas 72 Texas should not be too discouraged by this loss.\u00a0 They have had a dream start to this season, with wins over Tennessee on a neutral court and UCLA on the road, en route to their 11-0 start, triggering\u00a0Andy Glockner (probably my favorite\u00a0college hoops analyst)\u00a0to talk about them being better without Kevin Expect both of these teams to be playing into the second week (maybe even the second weekend<\/em>) of the tournament in March.<\/p>\n Okay, after almost 9 hours of hoops, Ina insists on watching something else.\u00a0 Fortunately, she has reminded me why I asked her to marry me\u00a0with her insistence on watching the football game.\u00a0 Sacrifices–they are tough.\u00a0 So, I will have to bail on assessing the Missouri-Illinois game (a game that I actually think is going to be a terrific game).<\/p>\n After a long, great Saturday of hoops, we saw some really, really good teams.\u00a0 Throw in the great Pitt-Duke game from Thursday night, we have seen\u00a0a half dozen teams that will be very difficult outs come March.\u00a0 This is going to be a GREAT season of college hoops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, as of Wednesday night, my semester is over.\u00a0 With all this newfound time, I was worried that I would not be able to find something to do to keep me busy on a lazy Saturday (you know, other than … Continue reading
\n<\/strong>Other than my Temple Owls, my two favorite teams to watch in\u00a0the 2007-08 college basketball season squared off in Cincinnati last afternoon.\u00a0 It was an incredibly exciting game between two immensely talented teams.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/p\/ap\/20071216\/capt.51eb1515016e4a99809943dc740efe49.western_kentucky_tennessee_basketball_tnwp107.jpg\")
As I described<\/a> in choosing Tennessee as the sleeper of this college hoops season, they have so much talent it is scary.\u00a0 And, in choosing them as “my favorite,” I did not even know that J.P. Prince was such an impact player.\u00a0 Prince, who has sat out the past 2 seasons because of injuries and transferring from Arizona,\u00a0scored 21 points off the bench today in only his 3rd game as a Volunteer.\u00a0 Prince’s 21, coupled with 12 from Wayne Chism, was enough to overcome the relative struggles of leading scorers Chris Lofton and\u00a0JaJuan Smith.\u00a0 And, this is all not even mentioning the star power of point guard Ramar Smith and Iowa transfer, Tyler Smith.\u00a0 Tennessee’s depth clearly wore down the Musketeers today, as they ended the game on a 13-2 run, turning a 73-69 deficit into\u00a0a 82-75 victory.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Okay, I have to admit, I was Christmas shopping during\u00a0a lot\u00a0of this one, but I do have to say that this g.ame was between two tournament-caliber teams.\u00a0 The Lopez twins, especially Brook, are phenomenal for Stanford, and Bobby Knight will flat-out coach the “Tech-sters” to the tournament because, well, he’s the best.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>![](\"http:\/\/images.sportsnetwork.com\/cbask\/getty\/big10\/michigan_st\/2005\/izzo_tom2.jpg\")
We saw today (and have been seeing all year) why Tom Izzo is\u00a0indubitably the best coach in the country whose name does not start with k-r-z, as his\u00a0Michigan St. Spartans took it to the previously-unbeaten Texas Longhorns.\u00a0 Izzo’s teams are perenially the best inch-for-inch rebounders in the country and this year is no exception.\u00a0 Though they do not have outlandish size, this team averages one offensive rebound in every two offensive possessions.\u00a0 In fact, over 47% of their missed shots are rebounded by their offensive rebounders.\u00a0 That is absolutely unbelievable; and, that is coaching.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.deseretnews.com\/photos\/3920034.jpg\")
Above in the recap of the second game of the day, we talked about the difference between depth and balance.\u00a0 Well, Michigan St. has both, and they proved that today.\u00a0 They have pre-season All-American Drew Neitzel and highly-touted freshman Kalin Lucas (who had a breakout game with his 18-point career high today).\u00a0 They also have solid point guard Travis Walton and a pair of big men that can range from “solid” to “exceptional” in Drew Naymick and the much-improved Goran Suton.\u00a0 But, what people do not realize is that the best player on this team, in my opinion, is Raymar Morgan.\u00a0 Morgan had 18 quiet points today and is averaging almost 17 points and 8 rebounds per game this year, while shooting almost 60% from the floor.\u00a0 This team is loaded and they showed it today.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.draftexpress.com\/headshots\/d.j.augustin.jpg\")
Durant<\/a>.\u00a0 Now, this is a somewhat ridiculous opinion because (as Glockner freely acknowleges) it is not because Durant is gone, but because guys like D.J. Augustin and Damion James are a year older.\u00a0 Either way, though, this Texas team continues to impress and surprise people with how good they are, and I do not think that today’s game in Detroit against a true Final Four contender is any step backwards.\u00a0 Oh, by the way, did you know that Rick Barnes has made 12 consecutive NCAA tournaments?\u00a0 The last time he missed the tournament was his first year at Clemson when he had an over-.500 record and NIT appearance with a team called by some as “the worst team in the history of the ACC.”\u00a0 Can we officially say that Barnes is one of the 10 best coaches in the country?\u00a0 I think so.<\/p>\n