2006-2007 season college basketball thread

[TooTall]

Taking a look at this week's current Top 10 (coaches), only Ohio State, Pittsburgh, UCLA, Alabama and Texas A&M survived the week without a loss.

As far as moving up goes, one knock on OSU is that we haven't played ANYONE, and both Florida and UNC lost to Top 25 teams.

However, I am going to take a slight issue with 27 here. Yes, hoops polls don't work like football, but last week Kansas got dumped nine spots, from #3 to #12, for their loss to Oral Roberts. So it's possible that OSU could get elevated to #1. Of course, it's also possible that voters thought that Kansas was already a weak #3, and think that we're a weak #3 also.

The only other Top 10 teams to lose thus far are G-Town (dropped from #8 to #16 this week) and Arizona (dropped from #10 to #16 last week).

One thing to look at is the voting point totals. We're 99 points behind Florida, and 63 behind UNC. That means that we have to move several spots on a LOT of ballots. The average ballot has us two slots behind UNC and three behind Florida, roughly. We must be splitting places with UCLA, Pittsburgh and others on quite a few ballots.

Don't discount UCLA passing both us and Pitt. UCLA had a good week, with two solid wins over ranked teams. They've got the best resume so far this season.

What I DON'T see is how you dump Florida below UNC for losing in OT to Kansas. Florida played well and looked good, whereas UNC didn't, and lost to a much lower ranked team.

Either way, it's best for us if those teams don't drop too far, if at all. They certainly will be two of the top teams in the country this season, and it would be a shame if we played them at their lowest ranked points.

We shouldn't be #1 (yet), and I think that smart fans shouldn't want to see us with that bullseye on our backs at this point.

They only reason they'd drop Florida below UNC is hype for Wednesday's game... It's not like Florida will stay at #3, they'll automatically move back up with the result of the OSU/UNC game.

 

[MaxBuck]

I know the arguments. This team is very good without Oden, but we probably aren't the #1 team in the country yet. We haven't played anyone of real substance. North Carolina is tough at home.

Won't bother me at all if we lose a close one but I think we could win it.

I completely agree. I have no expectation of our beating UNC, and I wouldn't be distraught if we were to lose by 20; we are just too thin (remember - only 8 scholarship players!).

With that being said, when Oden gets onto the court watch out.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

I completely agree. I have no expectation of our beating UNC, and I wouldn't be distraught if we were to lose by 20; we are just too thin (remember - only 8 scholarship players!).

With that being said, when Oden gets onto the court watch out.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but lets give some respect to Matta and Ohio State, they are talented and they have more than just a "chance" to beat UNC.

Dispatch

No. 8 Marquette 65, Valparaiso 62

Dominic James hit a three-pointer with three seconds left to give Marquette (7-0) a win over host Valparaiso (3-2).
James scored 15 of his 22 points in the final 6:23, including a three-pointer with 37 seconds left that gave Marquette a 62-59 lead.

No. 9 Texas A &M 75, Arkansas-Little Rock 35

Acie Law scored 17 points and Joseph Jones 16 to help Texas A &M (6-0) rout visiting Arkansas-Little Rock (4-3).
Rashad Jones-Jennings had 10 points for the Trojans.

No. 15 Syracuse 72, Holy Cross 64

Demetris Nichols scored 21 points, Paul Harris had 14 and Syracuse (7-0) raced to a 23-7 lead before holding on to beat visiting Holy Cross (5-1).
Keith Simmons led the Crusaders with 22 points, 16 in the second half.

No. 18 Georgetown 69, Ball State 54

John Thompson III beat up on kid brother Ronny Thompson, guiding Georgetown (4-1) to a victory over Ball State (2-4) in the first meeting between the coaching sons of the Hall of Fame coach.
Jeff Green paced the Hoyas with 14 points. Micah Rollin and Anthony Newell scored 10 points each to lead the Cardinals.

Buffalo 64, Temple 62

Eric Moore scored 21 points and hit 5 of 10 three-pointers to lead Buffalo (5-2) past Temple (0-2) in Philadelphia.

 

[MaxBuck]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but lets give some respect to Matta and Ohio State, they are talented and they have more than just a "chance" to beat UNC.

Trust me on this, Junkie, I have the utmost respect for Coach Matta and his excellent young charges.

With that being said, the depth that UNC has trumps (IMO) the better front-end talent that the Buckeyes have (everywhere but center; we have nobody who appears to match up very well with Hansbrough, who is superb). My concerns relate primarily to our lack of depth and the apparent post-play advantage held by UNC. Cohesiveness, defensive intensity, outside shooting and athleticism I see as being advantage Buckeyes.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Matta will use 4 guards and try to control the tempo. Do not get me wrong, they have the advantage inside, but I see this game as a legitimate toss up. UNC has not been playing well....period. They lack team defense and they do not rotate well. They have the advantage inside, but we have the advantage outside, we will see who takes advantage. Our balanced scoring will be key, we have 5-6 guys who can score in double figures, that makes it extremely hard to focus on just one guy. Take a look at UNC's schedule, they struggled against Winthrop and Gonzaga but handled what seems like an overrated Tennessee squad, not very impressive in the early going, they are still trying to find their identity.

They have 4 guys in double figures and another averaging 8.8, after that no one is averaging more than 4 points a game off the bench.....where is this depth? So far it hasn't shown up. They are no deeper than we are, they play 7-8 guys basically. We play 8 guys and they all can play. Do not be suprised if Ohio State goes into zone for periods against UNC to try to limit their inside touches.

 

[LitlBuck]

This gamewill all depend on whether we keep hitting our outside shots. I think defensively we will be okay. While UNC only plays 8-9 guys they keep on pushing the ball up the court which could take its toll on us.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOP 25
Three-pointers rally DePaul over Kansas

Sunday, December 03, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS

</IMG> JEFF ROBERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS DePaul?s Karron Clarke celebrates as Kansas? Darrell Arthur walks off the court after the Blue Demons? 64-57 win.


DePaul 64, No . 5 Kansas 57 ? Sammy Mejia hit tying and go-ahead three-pointers in the final three minutes and DePaul rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit yesterday to stun Kansas in Rosemont, Ill.
DePaul (3-4) trailed 53-45 with 4:39 to go before Mejia brought the Blue Demons back during a 14-0 run.
His three-pointer tied it at 53 with 3:02 left, and after a missed free throw by Brandon Rush, Mejia hit another three-pointer to give DePaul a 56-53 lead with 2:10 to go.
After a Jayhawks miss, the Blue Demons ran the shot clock down and Mejia sank a jumper from the baseline, giving the Blue Demons a 58-53 lead with 1:18 left.
Mejia totaled 23 points to lead DePaul. Mario Chalmers had 15 for Kansas (6-2), which shot only 35 percent from the field in the second half. DePaul shot 54 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes after shooting 26 percent in the first half.
No . 6 Alabama 78, Tennessee St . 60 ? Jermareo Davidson had 22 points to lead Alabama (7-0) over Tennessee State (2-3) in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Ronald Steele, who sat out the past two games because of tendinitis in his right knee, had 12 points and five assists.
Mykal Riley added 14 points and made 4 of 6 three-point shots for the Tide, which was 9 of 15 from three-point range.
Clarence Matthews led Tennessee State with 17 points.
No . 9 Texas A &M 74, Pacific 62 ? Joseph Jones had 24 points and Antanas Kavaliauskas 23 to lead Texas A &M (7-0) past Pacific (3-4) in College Station, Texas.
Jones and Kavaliauskas scored 30 of the Aggies? 39 first-half points.
Anthony Brown had 19 points and Anthony Esparaza 13 for Pacific.
No . 10 LSU 74, Tulane 67 ? Glen Davis had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Garrett Temple added 18 points to help LSU (4-1) overcome a slow start against Tulane (4-3) in New Orleans.
After falling behind by 11, LSU closed to six at halftime and then scored 15 straight points in the second half to take the lead for good with a little under 12 minutes left.
Dameon Mason had 12 points and Tasmin Mitchell 11 for LSU.
No . 11 Duke 61, No . 18 Georgetown 52 ? Greg Paulus scored 13 points and Jon Scheyer had nine ? all in the second half ? and Duke (7-1) played some impressive defense in the final 11 1 /2 against Georgetown (4-3) in Durham, N.C.
Georgetown shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first half and led 34-27 but shot 26.1 percent (6 of 23) in the second half.
No . 14 Memphis 77, Manhattan 59 ? Robert Dozier had 19 points and nine rebounds, helping Memphis (5-1) beat visiting Manhattan (2-5).
Devon Austin led Manhattan with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
No . 17 Wichita State 64, No . 15 Syracuse 61 ? Kyle Wilson scored 17 points, Sean Ogirri added 16 and Wichita State (6-0), which led by 23 points in the first half, held off host Syracuse (7-1).
Wichita State used a 27-1 run in the first half to take a 35-12 lead.
Terrence Roberts had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Syracuse.
No . 19 Butler 70, Cleveland St . 45 ? Mike Green scored 16 points and A.J. Graves had 14, leading Butler (9-0, 1-0) to a Horizon League win over Cleveland State (5-4, 0-1) in Indianapolis.
J?Nathan Bullock and Kevin Francis had 11 points apiece for the Vikings.
No . 22 Gonzaga 87, Texas 77 ? Derek Raivio made seven three-pointers and totaled 27 points as Gonzaga (7-1) beat Texas (5-2) in the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge in Phoenix.
Raivio fell two short of the school record of nine threes set twice by Dan Dickau. Jeremy Pargo added 18 points and Josh Heytvelt had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Freshman Kevin Durant matched his season high with 29 points and had nine rebounds for Texas. Another freshman, Justin Mason, had 17 points.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

NO. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 75 KENTUCKY 63
Tar Heels respond to benching by Williams

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Joedy McCreary
ASSOCIATED PRESS




CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? North Carolina was sloppy and slow and allowed Kentucky to snatch a loose ball in a tight situation. It was the perfect time for coach Roy Williams to bench his starters and give his young players a scare.
"He pulled us off and showed us how important it was to get on the floor for loose balls," freshman Wayne Ellington said of the secondhalf benching.
He and the rest of the Tar Heels got the message. Ellington scored 17 points, fellow freshman Brandan Wright added 16 and No. 7 North Carolina went on to rout the Wildcats 75-63 yesterday in a game between college basketball?s winningest schools.
Reyshawn Terry also scored 16 points and capped the Tar Heels? decisive run with two three-pointers.
"I felt like early on, I got the rhythm going, got some defensive stops, got some assists and it just opened up a lot of things and I got in the flow," Terry said.
North Carolina (6-1) never trailed and won its second high-profile game of the week. The Tar Heels beat Ohio State 98-89 on Wednesday.
North Carolina overcame Randolph Morris? 23 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the field. The Tar Heels are 41 behind the Wildcats? 1,930 wins.
Williams pulled his five starters with 17:16 left, upset that they allowed Kentucky to make its first three shots from the field in the second half, close to 36-33 and get to one loose ball in particular.
"The basketball was rolling on the floor and we?re tiptoeing through the freaking tulips," Williams said. "We?re going to dive after the ball. ? If it?s on the floor, it says North Carolina basketball ,and if you?re not going to get it, I?ll get somebody else who will."
Moments after Wright started an 11-2 run with a hook shot, he and the other starters were benched for about 2 1 /2 minutes while they caught grief from their coach.
When they returned, Terry got hot. He made two threepointers 26 seconds apart to push the Tar Heels? lead to 47-35 with just over 13 minutes left. Kentucky never got closer than nine the rest of the way. Joe Crawford had 16 points and Bobby Perry 12 for the Wildcats (4-3), who outrebounded the Tar Heels 42-36.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Well Florida losses another one against FSU...

Pitt struggled to hang on to beat Auburn today...

UCLA rolled over riverside...

At this point I really wonder if some of these teams have much emotion in these early season games.

I would think with Kansas losing to Depaul and Florida losing again that we would rank behind UCLA, Pitt, and UNC.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

with the football team now set to play the gators for the national championship, the hype for the 23rd should go into overload a week or so before the game. personally, i want to see oden block the ball so hard back into noah's face that it makes him even more ugly, which would be a tremendously difficult feat.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

I would think with Kansas losing to Depaul and Florida losing again that we would rank behind UCLA, Pitt, and UNC.

obviously, it's very early, but this season is shaping up to be one of the most wide open in a very long time.

all of these teams have an almost equal shot of winning, with the asterisks being my final four teams (again, very early; bear with me):

ohio state*
ucla*
north carolina
kansas
florida*
texas a&m*

texas a&m is my sleeper, though they're not in that much of a deep sleep. they play at lsu on tuesday and at ucla on saturday. they will beat lsu by over ten, and the game against ucla will be too close to call.

everyone talks about oden; but my thought is that with harris becoming an impact offensive and defensive player and with hunter showing signs of scoring with strength, ohio state is most definitely a legit title contender. there are way too many scoring threats on this team now. the defensive presence is coming along. ohio state can become a shutdown zone team. i would really like to see matta implement a 2-3 this saturday.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

I really like what the Zags have this year. They have the inside outside game and can play with anyone in the country. I think they are a team to keep an eye on.

A couple other West coast schools I am interested in seeing are Washington and Zona. I want to see Hawes/Dawes Can't remember what his last name is, the big guy for Washington and Chase Budinger from Zona.

Also havent seen Cuse or Memphis...

I think a sleeper team as much as I hate to say it could be Dook. If Paulus returns to form with him and McRoberts and a couple of them freshmen they could put togehter a nice team as well...

I can't wait for the match up against UC and then on to Florida. Should be a great week of bball for the bucks leading up to christmas...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

No. 12 Kansas 72, USC 62

Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush had 13 points each, and Kansas (7-2) rebounded from its second loss of the season with a victory over Southern California (5-2) in Lawrence, Kan.
The Jayhawks, coming off a 64-57 loss at DePaul on Saturday, won despite shooting 38 percent (24 of 63) from the field.
Lodrick Stewart, whose twin brother Rodrick is a reserve guard for the Jayhawks, had 23 points for Southern California.

No. 16 Memphis 78, Marshall 59

Robert Dozier scored 16 points and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 14 to lead host Memphis (6-1) over visiting Marshall (2-6) in the Conference USA opener for both teams.
Tre Whited led Marshall with 14 points.

No. 13 Washington 87, Southern Utah 72

Ryan Appleby scored a career-high 24 points and freshman Spencer Hawes added a season-high 21, leading Washington (7-0) over Southern Utah (6-3) in Seattle.

Bowling Green 81, Arkansas State 72

Martin Samarco scored 29 points, including five three-pointers, leading Bowling Green (4-2) over visiting Arkansas State (4-7). Erik Marschall had 14 points for the Falcons. Arkansas State?s Arkansas State?s Adrian Banks led all scorers with 32 points.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Not sure if anyone watched Arizona last nite but Chase Budinger can ball...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

TOP 25/BIG TEN MEN
No. 9 LSU drops Texas A &M from unbeaten ranks

Wednesday, December 06, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS

</IMG> Forward Carl Landry, looking for a shot while being guarded by Loyola of Chicago?s Darrin Williams, paced Purdue with 22 points.


No . 9 LSU 64, No . 6 Texas A &M 52 ?

Glen Davis had 24 points and 10 rebounds to help Louisiana State beat Texas A &M last night in Baton Rouge, La.
The first loss of the season for the Aggies (7-1) also came against their first ranked opponent. Texas A &M had won 14 straight regular-season games and had not lost since being eliminated by LSU in the second round of last season?s NCAA Tournament.
Tasmin Mitchell had 15 points and nine rebounds for LSU (5-1), which led throughout the second half.
Antanas Kavaliauskas led the Aggies with 18 points. Joseph Jones had 12 before fouling out late in the game.

No . 1 UCLA 78, Cal State Fullerton 54 ?

Arron Afflalo scored 20 points and Josh Shipp had 16 to help UCLA pull away from Cal State Fullerton in Los Angeles.
The Bruins (7-0) defeated their third consecutive Big West opponent, but this one wasn?t as lopsided like the games against Long Beach State and UC Riverside.
Darren Collison had 15 points and Lorezno Mata had a careerhigh 16 rebounds for UCLA, which improved to 9-0 against Fullerton, winning every game on the Bruins? home court.
Bobby Brown scored 18 points and Scott Cutley 11 for the Titans (5-2).

No . 14 Arizona 72, Louisville 65 ?

Ivan Radenovic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Arizona, which overcame a terrible-shooting second half for a victory over Louisville in the Jimmy V Classic in New York.
The Wildcats (6-1) had a 44-35 halftime lead and then missed 17 of their first 18 shots from the field as they lost, then retook the lead. Chase Budinger hit Arizona?s first shot of the second half for an 11-point lead, then after 17 consecutive misses, Mustafa Shakur hit a threepointer with 9:40 left to give the Wildcats a 54-50 advantage.
Juan Palacios had 15 points for the Cardinals (2-2), who managed to take a 50-49 lead with 13:18 left on a drive by Terrence Williams.

No . 17 Marquette 65, Dela ware State 48 ?

Jerel McNeal scored 16 points to help Marquette beat Delaware State in Milwaukee.
Four Marquette starters scored in double digits as the Golden Eagles bounced back from their loss to unranked North Dakota State at home Saturday, but it wasn?t easy. Delaware State hung close well into the second half as Marquette struggled to score.
Roy Bright scored 16 to lead Delaware State.
It was the 150 th career victory for coach Tom Crean, in his eighth season at Marquette.

Washington State 77, No . 18 Gonzaga 67 ?

Derrick Low scored 22 points to help Washington State upset Gonzaga in Pullman, Wash.
Daven Harmeling had 20 points for Washington State (8-1), off to its best start since the 1996-97 season under new coach Tony Bennett. The Cougars overcame poor free throw shooting to break a seven-game losing streak to Gonzaga. Gonzaga (8-2) was led by Josh Heytvelt?s 22 points.