Woo! Go Buffs (who got beat soundly by Grambling State on Friday)
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Bobby Hurley and Arizona State got a good win over VCU last night in the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center 63-59. VCU was without starting PG Ace Baldwin who has a broken bone in his wrist. He was first team All-A10 this preseason. Tonight, ASU will play Michigan and VCU will play Jeff Capel, III and Pitt.
I have seen a lot of teams struggling with shooting this year. Virginia Tech is not one of those teams. They have some guys that can flat out fill it up. Cattoor, Pedulla, Maddox, and Basile could all shoot over 40% from 3. Love the toughness of Cattoor and Pedulla also. Defensive limitations could be an issue but the Hokies are a darkhorse for winning the ACC if they stay healthy (not a deep team).
How about Hurley's own devils laying 25 on the overrated Juwan's crew?!
Excited for all the games today! I’ve got a light work day and will definitely have the TV on in the background.
Feel like it's only fair that I pop in to take lumps on this one, haha. MAN did Michigan look bad last night, after looking stellar against Pitt just a night before.
Two big problems popped up last night for Michigan. The first is an over-reliance on the three... Michigan shouldn't be shooting 22 from deep when Dickinson is their strength, if for no other reason than its a lot harder to offensive rebound deep threes. The second is that Jaelyn Llewellyn, a grad transfer from Princeton that everyone was very excited about (he was a former Top 100 recruit, and averaged 15 points on 38% shooting from 3 last year) has looked a bit lost. Now, that's happened early in the season for a couple other Michigan grad transfer PGs the past two years who ended up being very solid players come February/March/April, but it'll be interesting to see if freshman Dug McDaniel starts getting more time at the point. He's small (listed VERY generously at 5'11) but has the insane quickness that can be devastating in the college game and has also shown much more playmaking ability than Llewellyn.
Should be interesting to watch develop, because given how dominant Dickinson is at the college level if Michigan can find the right combo around him they're a team that people would want to avoid in March given the chances that one dominant player can trigger an upset.
I was definitely thinking of you last night, Scott, and was sad to see Michigan lose for you because I value your contributions and insights here tremendously!
But as a Duke fan since 1992 and someone who's followed Bobby's entire career since then, I was thrilled to see him get such a resume-building (and hopefully job-security) win! After all that ASU has been through the past few seasons, to get a win against a ranked opponent (and a Power 5 conference one at that) and do it in such commanding fashion (and be totally unexpected by everyone) was huge! And of course watching Bobby Hurley STILL own Michigan after 30 years was gratifying to see, too.
(In fairness, I shouldn't still lump every Michigan team in with the trash-talking Fab 5 -- even with Juwan as the coach -- and Bobby did beat them three times as a player -- but I still do anyway. LOL!)
But here's to hoping Michigan has a great season the rest of the way and we have a lot of Joey Baker contributions to talk about!
Texas played the felony defense we’ve come to expect from Chris Beard-coached teams, and thoroughly discombobulated Gonzaga.
The new Moody Center seems to be engendering some home-court advantage that was mostly missing at Erwin.
Basketball school?
Went to the UT-Gonzaga game. The place is MUCH better than the Erwin center and much better thought out as an entertainment venue that can last decades. That said, they left a lot of low hanging fruit. The student section down low across once side is great, but it's a good 15 feet away from the court. They should have had the students behind the press on one side as on top of the court as can be allowed, then have the big $$ donors on the side behind the benches. But it is going to be much more fun to go to games in Austin, even for bad games. It's only 11K or so for basketball, which allows for smaller crowds to not look so small.
Texas was super impressive in that spanking of Gonzaga. Rarely see the Zags get blown out in any game, and the Horns -- with what seemed to me to be an excellent crowd -- just took em to the woodshed. Maybe the most surprising result for a highly regarded team so far this year.
Although Michigan getting pummeled by ASU was pretty much just as bad. Jett Howard is a good shooter, and hopefully an upgrade over what Caleb Houstan gave them last year, but other than that I don't see Michigan as being all that different from the pretty disappointing squad they were last year until they had a nice NCAAT win over Tennessee to get them into the Sweet 16.
I agree with that. The Zags do seem like they're missing a piece this year. Strawther is good -- probably an NBA player, but guys like Nolan Hickman and Hunter Sallis have thus far underwhelmed in their time in Spokane. If those guys pick it up, this Zags team can be very good, but seems like Coach Few has some work to do with this group.
Maybe Colorado should be in the SEC. They have wins over ranked Tennessee (78-66 last Sunday) and Texas A&M (103-75 today).
Or maybe Colorado should be in the ACC. They have losses to Grambling (83-74) and UMass (66-63).
Duke win hangover hitting the Jayhawks hard - up 1 on Southern Utah with under 4 minutes to go at home
Baylor and UCLA in a high quality game.
Gonzaga badly outplaying a lackluster Kentucky team 41-25 at the half. Game is in Spokane at least but UK looks like it missed the flight.
where have I been???
just figured out that we could be playing Gonzaga next Sunday.
I thought Strawther looked impressive last night and Timme was well, Timme. I'm always a little surprised when he makes a shot, but somehow he just keeps doing it!
Agreed on Timme. He is awkward but can be effective. Essentially when the refs allow him to recklessly bang in the lane and get most calls, then big men get in foul trouble allowing him to score on smaller/weaker players. The refs fouled out both MSU big guys and Tshiewbe got in foul trouble too. He has some skill but plays like a hyper kid.