Daily Dribble: Monday Report Card

    
February 18th, 2008 by Shawn Siegel
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The Report Card

 

A - Wake Forest

In the last Report Card, I gave Wake some love simply for getting to .500 in league play. But I wrote that .500 would be a distant memory as they faced Duke and UNC next.  Who knew that they'd go on to beat Duke in impressive fashion, responding well after losing the lead and doing just about everything right down the stretch. Watching Cuse/G'Town on Sunday.. so much was said about the youth and inexperience of Syracuse.. using that as an excuse for bonehead plays down the stretch. But here was an equally inexperienced squad that played consistently solid basketball against the country's 2nd ranked team. Suddenly Wake is in the NCAA Tournament conversation.. and they now have more Top 50 wins that teams like Florida, Maryland, Ohio State & Syracuse.

B - Michigan

If you saw their three game winning streak coming, then you have some amazing predictive powers. After dropping to a dismal 5-17 record, the Wolverines have responded with wins over Penn State, Iowa, and Ohio State. Amazingly, Ohio State was the first team in the Top 125 that Michigan's beaten all year. Guess who their previous best win was against? Brown.. back on November 11th. As good as the win was for Coach Beilein and his young squad.. what does it say about OSU? If not for good name recognition and name recognition of the two other mediocre teams they've beaten (Florida & Syracuse), then the Buckeyes would be on the outside of the field looking in.

 

C - USC

I really want to like USC.. hot weather, attractive chearleaders, and cool young talent.. but strip all that away and you have a .500 Pac-10 team that has beaten one sure-fire NCAA Tournament team. Take away the UCLA win.. and you have a bunch of wins over bubble-level teams like Oklahoma, Oregon and Arizona State. I'm not suggesting USC is bad.. its just that I keep expecting more. Maybe I simply need to lower my expectations.

 

D - DJ Augustin

D is usually for Diebler, Ohio State's young shooting guard that has finally pushed his FG% above 30 on the season. Today, D is for DJ though.. as the Longhorns star guard is mired in an epic shooting slump.  He's perhaps my favorite player in college ball today.. but the numbers don't lie: He's only hit 8 of his last 38 threes (21%).. and even worse, just 15 of his last 68 shots (22%).  The only person who would take those numbers are another D.. Doug Gottlieb.

 

F - NJIT

I feel bad about this selection.. as the Highlanders represent my home state, and are an independent in over their heads. But 0-27 speaks for itself, especially now that they've completed their home schedule. Their only remaining games are at Longwood and Utah Valley State.. both probable losses. There is some hope against Longwood as they are the 325th RPI team and NJIT did beat them twice last year. But I'm just being kind, it would take a minor miracle for them to win.

 

The Daily Report Card tells you all you need to know about the day in college hoops. From good to bad and bad to worse, I'll be laying down the law.

 

Previous Best / Worst

February 15th - Oral Roberts / Big Ten Predictions

February 13th - Mike Green / Ed Donato

February 11th - Charron Fisher / Tim Morris

February 8th - Big West / Virginia

February 6th - Chris Lofton / Dick Vitale

February 5th - Bob Knight / Josh Heytvelt

February 4th - New York Giants / Washington State

February 1st - Nevada / Penn

January 31st - Kansas State / St. John's

January 29th - Winthrop  / Dyson & Wiggins

January 28th - Rutgers / Doris Burke

January 25th - Ron Hunter / Princeton Offense

January 23rd - Kentucky / Archbishop Burke

January 22nd - DJ Augustin / Scott Sutton

January 21st - New York Giants / Marquette

January 20th - Maryland / ESPN.com editors

January 18th - Cleveland State / Marquette

January 17th - Drake / HP Laptops

January 14th - Roy Hibbert / Michigan State

January 10th - Tony Bennett / Saint Louis

January 9th - DJ White / CSTV

January 8th - Robert Morris / Schedule Makers

January 7th - Wayne Ellington / Illinois

January 6th - Herb Sendek / Kentucky

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