Temporary Break

I've decided to put this blog on hold. I simply have too much stuff to do, and I really haven't been able to update it a much as would have liked. The blog will return sometime this summer, and I plan on making 2010-2011 an outstanding year for college basketball and blogging alike.

Video: Kevin Coble's Terrific Trick Shot

USC Pulls the Plug on It's Own Season

It is well known that former USC coach Tim Floyd gave money (indirectly) to O.J. Mayo. It is believed that Mayo received up to $30,000 in improper benefits, before he came to USC. These actions led to a NCAA investigation of the program, which is still on going. On Sunday, USC, despite having an 8 game winning streak, a 10-4 record and being tied for first in the Pac-10. Here are the sanctions USC has placed on itself.

-Banned from competing in the Pac-10 and NCAA tournament
-Loss of one scholarship for the next two seasons
-Fewer recruiting days for coaches
-Forfeiting all wins from the 07-08 season
-Returning all the money that the school received from the Pac-10, for its participation in the NCAA tournament.

Basically USC is hoping that, by imposing enough punishment on its own program, the NCAA won't look to inflict any more damage. It was a strange time for USC to announce this though. They where tied for first in the Pac-10, and aside from bringing in coveted Fordam transfer Jio Fontan next season, the class of newcomer is very, very weak. It seams unfair to the seniors who have stuck around, through a scandal that they had nothing to do with. Floyd is with the Hornets as an assistant, and Mayo is playing for the Grizzlies, yet these seniors are the one that suffer. Another question that comes up is, "Does USC have the right to dictate its own punishment." The simple answer is no, but for reasons discussed before, if USC punishes itself first there is a chance the NCAA will won't come down hard on the program. This all brings me back to Mayo's supposed self recruitment to USC. How he called Floyd and said that he wanted to play for USC. How Floyd hadn't pursued Mayo, because he was "out of their league". It's important to protect the integrity of the game, but it's not always the right people that get punished.

We Might be Seeing a Mid-Major Renaissance

Last year at tourney time only four mid-majors received at-large bids to the big dance. Formidable teams such as St. Mary's and Davidson where forced into the NIT, because of failure to win their conference tournaments and the lack of notable non-conference victories. This season mid-majors have handed BCS conference foes and handful of early losses. That, mixed with the fact that the Pac-10 is having a horrible season, could lead to a spike in the number of mid-majors in the dance. Personally I think that this would be great. It is very important to maintain a good balance of teams from the power conferences, and the smaller conferences. Take for example last years first round match-up between 5th seeded Florida St. and 12th seeded Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a nice team, but that upset just was as satisfying as say Western Kentucky's upset over Illinois. Thats not because the Badgers play a methodic, relatively unentertaining and hard for the average fan to appreciate half court offense, but because they where a very successful program from the Big 10, and they wouldn't have even been in the tournament if there was a stronger crop of mid-majors. Small schools are what make the big dance what it is. See Wisconsin probably forgot their win over FSU in a matter of a week, but for schools like WKU winning one game in the tournament is a something that people around the program will remember for at least five years. This years crop of non-BCS teams is pretty strong. Teams at the top of the A-10, C-USA, MWC, and MVC all have a good win, if not several against teams from power conferences. In the tournament it is all about the match-ups, but I wouldn't be surprised to see 4 or 5 teams from these conferences in the sweet sixteen.

Jamel Jackson Has the Most Under-Rated Scoring Performance of the Year

Anyone who follows college basketball closely knows how VMI loves to push the pace. Sometimes it works in their favor, like when they dropped 111 on Kentucky at Rupp last season, but sometimes they end up on the wrong side of a high scoring affair. For example Saturday's game against Seton Hall, in which VMI surrendered 134 points in a 27 point loss to the Pirates. I was scanning the box score, and came across the high scorer for the game, Jamel Jackson. Jackson a native of Brooklyn, and a player I had never heard of before made 12 three's and scored 40 points. Naturally I thought that Jackson must be a high scoring guard, one that won't hesitate to fire away from deep or take a questionable jumper. I turns out that he is primarily a three point specialist, but not a high scorer. In fact he scored only 1 point in Seton Hall's previous win over UMASS, and has had 4 games this season, in which he has scored 4 points or less. Even more strange was the fact that he had only 47 combined points in the Pirates seven previous games. How does a guy score only one point in one game, and then come out and score 40? Well for one VMI has to be on the schedule.

Is Butler Over-Rated?

I've been asking myself this question for a while now, and despite the Bulldogs recent victory over Ohio St. (-Evan Turner at home), I still think the answer is yes. Taking a look back at last season, when Butler had almost the exact same team as it does this year, the Bulldogs really didn't do much to merit any kind of ranking (which they received at the beginning of this season). Butler won only three games against NCAA tournament teams (at Xavier, and Cleveland St. twice), and failed to win the Horizon League tournament. Other than the game they played at Xavier, they played only two other formidable non-conference foes in Northwestern and Ohio State. This season, Butler is 1-3 against ranked opponents, with the only win coming at home against an Ohio St. team playing with out its best player. The Bulldogs barely beat a UCLA team that has been horrendous this season, and overall they have not been very impressive in any of the games that I have watched. I am not saying that Butler is a bad team, but they might just not be as good as everyone thinks. This could be because they are still very young (starting three sophomores), or maybe they were just a bit too ambitious in their non-conference scheduling. What ever the case, Butler has talent, but right now they don't deserve to be a top 25 team.

Could the Best Player in the West be Playing for Seattle?

Washington fans may remember Charles Garcia. The talented big man was originally slated to play from the Huskies, both coming out of high school and when he transferred from Riverside Community College. Unfortunately he didn't qualify academically either time, and is now playing under former Washington assistant Cameron Dollar at the University of Seattle. Now, Washington is wishing that they had him, because Garcia is putting up the best numbers of any big man in the country. Garcia is averaging 26.1 points a game, including a 41 point outburst against Wofford and grabbing 9.4 rebounds a game (with 3 double-double's through 7 games). What's also notable is that he has put up these numbers against pretty decent competition. Through their first 7 games, Seattle has played only one independent (Presbyterian) and has played formidable foes such as Oklahoma St., Portland (5-0), Utah (beat Illinois), Weber St. (Big Sky favorite), and Wofford (beat Georgia, lost to Pitt by 3). Garcia has even caught the eye of ESPN NBA analyst Chad Ford, who says, "If he can clear what looks like a checkered background check, he could find a place in the NBA." This brings us to the question, is Garcia the best player in the west? The Pac-10 has had a pretty horrific start to its season, but Klay Thompson of Washington St. has impressed against meager competition scoring 28 a game as of today. Nevada's Luke Babbit, a combo forward has also looked stellar in the early going, As well as a number of players from the WCC (T.J. Campbell, Omar Samhan and Dior Lowhorn). So far, the 6'9" Garcia has superior stats (except Thompson's scoring numbers) than any of these players, and will get a chance to inflate them against very weak competition in the coming month. Its hard to argue for Garcia, but at the same time its hard to argue against him, I think the deciding factor in this debate will have to be when Seattle travels to play the best team in the Pac-10, Washington on January 26th.

Good Starts, Bad Starts

Good Starts

Syracuse (5-0): No team has achieved as much as Syracuse in the early part of the season. The Orange used strong efforts to blow out Cal and UNC en-route to winning the 2K Sports Classic. Syracuse has 5 players averaging double figures (almost six, Kris Joseph is averaging 9.8 a game), and Wesley Johnson was dominant against UNC.

Cincinnati (4-0): Cincy started slow, struggling in a 69-62 win over Prairie View A&M, but have since won two neutral site games against NCAA tournament caliber competition in Maryland and Vandy. 6' 9" 260 pound sophomore Yancy Gates has been the key, nearly averaging a double double and shooting nearly 60% from the field.

New Mexico (5-0): Although their competition has been fairly weak, the Lobos are are 5-0 and getting outstanding production from JUCO transfer Darington Hobson (17.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.6 apg and shooting 44% from outside. Its a young team, but they could be a force in the MWC.

Gonzaga (4-1): Losing at Michigan State has been the only downside to a strong start for the Zags. Robert Sacre has emerged as a force in the paint, and new comers Elias Harris and Bol Kong has contributed nicely in wins against Wisconsin and Colorado. Now we will see if Gonzaga can match up athletically with Cincinnati in the Maui Invitational Championship.

Florida (5-0): Freshman Kenny Boyton is packing all the scoring punch that people thought Florida might lose with the departure of Nick Calathes. The Gators have won every game by double figures, including a 68-52 stomping of instate rival Florida State.

Bad Starts

Penn St. (3-2): Talor Battle has been pretty much outstanding, but losing to UNC Wilmington and Tulane is not going to help the Nittany Lion's case come March.

Iowa (1-4): To put it plain and simple, Iowa has been pretty horrible this season. The Hawkeyes lost at home to Texas-San Antonio and on a neutral court to Wichita St. They have scored under 60 points in all but one game, and have only one player averaging double figures.

Oregon (3-2): They where the worst team in the Pac-10 last season, and it doesn't seem like thats going to change. Oregon lost @Portland (a decent WCC team I'll give you that), but also at home to Montana. Michael Dunigan had a solid freshman year, but this season he's only averaging 5.7 points a game.

Alcorn St. (0-6): I hate to jump a SWAC team into this group, but Alcorn St. has been in the news too often for the wrong reasons. The braves first gave up a triple double to Evan Turner, then 130 points (51 to Rotnei Clarke) to Arkansas. Alcorn St. hasn't won a game, and could be the worst team in Division I.

UCONN (3-0): The Huskies may be 3-0, but they haven't looked impressive doing it. UCONN has struggled against William and Mary and Hofstra, which has some thinking that they don't deserve the #13 ranking that they have attained.

Rotnei Clarke Has a Shooting Performance for the Ages

Sure Arkansas was playing Alcorn St., one of the worst teams in one of the worst conferences in the country, and sure Clarke probably never would have played the extended minutes he did if Arkansas wasn't limited to seven scholarship players, but none of that should take away from his record breaking performance. Clarke broke the previous SEC record for three's made in a game (12), by nailing 13 from behind the arc, and finished with 51 points on 15-21 shooting. Last season as a freshman, Clarke was solid hitting 39% of his three point tries and scoring just over 12 a game, but I don't think that even he ever imagined scoring 51 in a game. Jeff Goodman of FOX Sports ranked Clarke as the best shooter in the country before this season, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up.

College Basketball Starts Tonight!

Who's ready for some real college hoops! Sure, the match-ups for tonight, and the whole week for that matter aren't really better than the exhibition games we've seen already, but at least these games count. Tonight marks the start of the 2k sports classic with 4 ranked teams (UNC, Ohio St., Cal, Syracuse) taking the floor tonight against inferior competition (Alcorn St., Murry St., FIU, Albany). All I can say is I've been ready for this day for a while, but I am disappointed that I won't be able to see any of the action live, because I don't have ESPNU.

Marcus Jordan Wears Jordans, Costs UCF 3 Million

As you may have heard, Marcus Jordan (you-know-who's son) wore a pair of Air Jordans during an exhibition against St. Leo. By doing so UCF was failing to comply to the terms of a five year agreement with Adidas (the contract was in its final year, but UCF was working on negotiating a new 6 year 3 million dollar agreement). Adidas promptly terminated the contract with UCF. The situation has turned some head and generated some negative backlash. I have found the situation to be particularly interesting, because of the mixed reactions across the board. Many people are calling Marcus, "a spoiled brat" for failing to abide by the same terms as all the other players on the UCF team. Others point the finger at UCF, who apparently promised him the right to wear his fathers brand when he signed with the school. Yet some point the finger at Adidas. Like former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, who said,"What a PR nightmare for adidas. This should have been a no-brainer, It's nothing but a personal thing against Michael Jordan.'' Although Vaccaro's opinion may be a bit biased, he is not the only one that feels the way he does. The UCF Athletics sponsorship released a statement saying that “During Marcus’ recruitment to UCF we received assurances from adidas that he would be permitted to wear his father’s footwear without ending the adidas contract." Right now I, like many have mixed feelings about the ordeal. I understand that Marcus Jordan is sort of basketball royalty, even though he only scored 1 point in 23 minutes of action against St. Leo, but why would adidas make such a big deal about it. UCF is not going to be playing on national TV every week, and its not like anyone is going to think anything of Michael Jordan's son wearing Jordans. On the other hand, I feel like Marcus Jordan should not be allowed to exempt team rules just because he is MJ's son. I mean if anyone else on the UCF basketball team in years past had decided that they wanted to play Nikes, they wouldn't have been allowed to because of the contract with Adidas. All in all I think too much was made of a silly sneaker war.

Video Triple Play... Best Midnight Madness Dunk: Will Coleman vs. Isaiah Thomas vs. Keion Bell

Memphis' Will Coleman

Pepperdine's Keion Bell

Washington's Isaiah Thomas' dunk is in the blog post below.

Video: Isaiah Thomas Has Nate Robinson Ups

At Washington's Midnight Madness, 5'8" Isaiah Thomas showed his incredible leaping ability when he jumped over 6'9" Mattew Bryan-Amaning. Take a look.

Mid-Night Madness: Wildly Unentertaining

Prior to last night, I had never taken the time to watch Mid-Night Madness when the time came. I was more interested in diving into college basketball previews and glossing over last seasons statistics. To be honest, Mid-Night Madness never really interested me, probably, because my home team (Georgia) has never had a program relevant enough to pull such an event off. So, from a fan perspective there really wasn't much of interest for me. The only reason I had any interest in watching "The Madness" this year, was because I, like many have an interest in seeing the best teams in action, even if they are playing themselves. First of all the broadcast team of Adrian Branch, Andy Katz and who ever the other guy was, was horrible. They offered little to no actually insight, just rambling on about the best player on each team. The antics where equally bad, I for one had no interest in seeing UNC's players dress up as elvis, or Tom Izzo ride in on an Indy race car (even though is was a good pun, seeing as the Final Four is in Indy this season). In addition the scrimmages had even less substance that I had envisioned. They where virtually no-contact and jump shots where rarely contested if ever, not to mention the amount of run out dunks, that got the students excited, but just made the game even sloppier. By watching these practices, there is no way to tell if one of these teams is more prepared than the other. Kentucky's Big Blue Madness was probably the most entertaining, seeing as the people in Lexington are completely nuts. Kentucky sold all its tickets to the event in less than 2 hours, and Calapari looked like Obama when he addressed a crowd full of his supporters. It wasn't all bad, there where some nice touches to the program, like when ESPNU went to Fargo, North Dakota to see the Bisons' Mid-Night Madness and some of the dunk contest dunks I saw where pretty exciting. All in all thought it still wasn't satisfying. Sure these universities can get 20 or 22 thousand people to show up for a bunch of cheesy skits and dance numbers, but for the college basketball purists there is not much offered when it comes to Mid-Night Madness.

2009-2010 Midnight Madness Schedule

Everything Will Be On ESPNU, so if you don't have it, you will be stuck with sports center highlights like most of us. I don't really see where North Dakota St. fits in with this, but hey they where a great story last season, making it to their first ever NCAA tournament ever, after just a few years in Division I. 


Connecticut (Gampel Pavilion)- Doug Gottlieb
Duke (Cameron Indoor Stadium)- Jay Williams
Georgetown (McDonough Arena)- Lou Canellis and Bill Raftery
Kansas (Allen Field House)- Dave Armstrong and Fran Fraschilla
Kentucky (Rupp Arena)- Dave LaMont and Jimmy Dykes
Michigan State (Breslin Center)- Stephen Bardo
North Carolina (Dean Smith Center)- Rob Stone and Hubert Davis
North Dakota State (Bison Sports Arena)- Jim Barbar
Washington (Bank of America Arena)- Steve Physioc and Steve Lavin