Stanford

GameNight: Air Force at Stanford

Fairway Jay — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:02:17 -0500

Start: Nov 26 2008 - 10:30pm

Preview & Prediction: By Fairway Jay

Air Force (3-1) suffered its first loss of the season at home on Sunday against Wofford, 74-61. The Falcons had a 9 point lead late in the first half and then fell behind by as many as 20 points in the second half. Prior to Air Force’s loss to Wofford the Falcons struggled more than the final score indicated to beat an instate Division II opponent. Air Force head coach Jeff Reynolds was disappointed in his team’s commitment to defend against Wofford. Freshman swingman Taylor Stewart has been a solid addition while averaging 11ppg and over 5rph in 26 minutes off the bench. He was runner-up for Mr. Basketball in Kentucky last year. Three seniors pace the Falcons, as guard Andrew Henke leads the team in scoring and is being counted on much more after coming off the bench last season. Matt Holland and Anwar Johnson both started at forward last season, while sophomore swing man Even Washington leads the team in rebounding thus far. A lack of height and rebounding strength will hinder Air Force when they battle bigger and more physical teams inside. Air Forces half court man-to-man defense must improve and will face a real challenge against Stanford.

Stanford (2-0) has not played since last Tuesday when they beat Cal State Northridge 103-85. New head coach Johnny Dawkins plans to run more up-tempo this season and it showed in their last contest. With the loss of the Lopez brothers to the NBA, Stanford will rely more on their returning guards to push the pace. Shooting guard Anthony Goods is averaging 22.0ppg in two games while point guard Mitch Johnson has scored 25 points and dished out 14 assists. Lawrence Hill will be Stanford’s go-to guy at forward this season, and the senior post player is off to a solid start while scoring 36 points and grabbing 18 boards in two games. Athletic sophomore forward Josh Owens has showed solid improvement from a season ago and will boost Stanford’s projected power loss with the twin towers Lopez brothers gone.

A contrast in styles as Air Force will methodically work the ball around in their Princeton style offense while playing conservative man-to-man defense and trying to force Stanford to settle for more jump shots late in the clock. Stanford coach Dawkins wants to push the pace more, and they may able to dictate that style if they can get out in front of Air Force early in the contest. Watch and see if Air Force can keep this game in the half court and slow down the pace as a big road underdog at Maples Pavilion. Both these teams have improvement and adjustment periods in the early going, and while Stanford has the ability to win this game big if they can run the floor more, I anticipate some sloppy stretches as well facing a more disciplined and determined Air Force team following an unexpected home loss.

Winner: Stanford. Margin: 10+ points.

Pac-10 Coach Raking: Big Ben

Jeff Fox — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:33:40 -0500

Take a wild guess who is ranked as the top coach in the Pac 10? You got it, that guy.

1) Ben Howland – UCLA

Ben Howland is truly the king of the Pac 10. He has the Bruins on course for a fourth-straight Final Four.

2) Mike Montgomery – California

A great hire for Cal – Mike Montgomery has the coaching pedigree to lead the Golden Bears back to their 1990s Jason Kidd-led level.

3) Tim Floyd – USC

There’s a new player in L.A. hoops. Tim Floyd seems to have the recruiting touch and the Trojans are ready to fight back against neighborhood bully UCLA.

4) Herb Sendek – Arizona State

Herb Sendek has the Sun Devils headed towards the upper echelon of the Pac 10 and is now the top coach in the Land of McCain.

5) Tony Bennett – Washington State

There is no way that Washington State should be a player in the Pac 10 every year, yet Tony Bennett has them doing just that.

6) Lorenzo Romar – Washington

The back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances in ’05 and ’06 seem ages ago. At least Lorenzo Romar has Jon Brockman around for his senior season.

7) Ernie Kent – Oregon

Ernie Kent’s Ducks appear to have peaked in 2007 with their appearance in the Elite 8. Don’t expect a repeat performance this season.

8) Johnny Dawkins – Stanford

It should be a long season for first year coach Johnny Dawkins. Couldn’t at least one of those Lopez twins have stuck around for another season?

9) Craig Robinson – Oregon State

It’s debatable who has the tougher task ahead of him – Craig Robinson or his brother-in-law Barack Obama.

10) Russ Pennell – Arizona

Its always hard to follow a legend, but being thrown into the head coaching position at the last minute (and thrown into the middle of a soap opera to boot) makes Russ Pennell’s job even harder.

Pac-10 Basketball: Player Grades

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:21:56 -0500

Pac-10 Player Grades

I've graded each Big 12 starter based on projected stats and overall talent. Along with a bench grade, each team has a potential score of 60.0. Teams are ranked according to the sum of the player grades, but these do not necessarily match my (or the sites) predicted standings. The projected stats are from CHN's Fantasy Stats Preview. . Each team's top graded player is highlighted in red.

1	UCLA
	G Darren Collison - 17, 4, 4	9.5
	G Jrue Holiday - 15, 4, 5	8.5
	G Josh Sipp - 12, 4, 2	6.0
	F James Keefe - 7, 5, 1	5.0
	C J'Mison Morgan - 8, 6, 1	5.5
	Bench	6.5
		41.0
2	ARIZONA STATE
	G Derek Glasser - 8, 2, 4	5.5
	G Ty Abbott - 9, 3, 2	5.0
	G James Harden - 21, 6, 5	9.5
	F Jerren Ship - 7, 4, 1	5.5
	F Jeff Pendergraph - 14, 7, 1	8.0
	Bench	5.5
		39.0
3	USC
	G Daniel Hackett - 9, 4, 4	6.5
	G Dwight Lewis - 13, 3, 2	7.0
	F Demar DeRozan - 15, 6, 3	8.5
	F Kasey Cunningham - 6, 4, 1	4.5
	C Taj Gibson - 12, 9, 1	7.0
	Bench	5.0
		38.5
4	WASHINGTON
	G Venoy Overton - 6, 3, 4	5.5
	G Justin Dentmon - 12, 3, 2	6.0
	F Quincy Pondexter - 12, 6, 2	6.0
	F Matthew Bryan-Amaning - 9, 6, 1	5.0
	F Jon Brockman - 19, 11, 1	8.5
	Bench	6.5
		37.5
5	ARIZONA
	G Nic Wise - 14, 3, 5	7.5
	G Chase Budinger - 20, 5, 3	8.0
	F Jamelle Horne - 8, 5, 1	5.5
	F Jordan Hill - 15, 9, 1	7.5
	F Fendi Onobun - 6, 5, 1	4.5
	Bench	4.0
		37.0
6t	STANFORD
	G Mitch Johnson - 8, 4, 6	6.0
	G Anthony Goods - 14, 3, 2	7.0
	F Landry Fields - 8, 4, 1	5.5
	F Lawrence Hill - 14, 6, 1	7.0
	F Josh Owens - 7, 5, 1	5.0
	Bench	6.0
		36.5
6t	WASHINGTON STATE
	G Taylor Rochestie - 14, 4, 5	7.0
	G Nikola Koprivica - 8, 3, 1	5.0
	G Klay Thompson - 11, 3, 3	7.0
	F Daven Hamerling - 8, 3, 1	5.5
	F Aron Baynes - 13, 8, 1	7.0
	Bench	5.0
		36.5
8t	CALIFORNIA
	G Jerome Randle - 11, 3, 4	6.0
	G Patrick Christopher - 17, 4, 3	7.5
	F Theo Robertson - 11, 5, 2	5.5
	F Harper Kemp - 8, 5, 2	5.0
	F Jamal Boykin - 10, 6, 1	5.5
	Bench	5.0
		34.5
8t	OREGON
	G Kamyron Brown - 8, 3, 5	4.5
	G Tajuan Porter - 17, 3, 3	7.0
	G LeKendric Longmire - 9, 3, 1	5.0
	F Joevan Catron - 12, 7, 2	6.5
	C Michael Dunigan - 9, 6, 1	5.5
	Bench	5.5
		34.0
10	OREGON STATE
	G Josh Tarver - 7, 3, 3	4.5
	G Seth Tarver - 12, 5, 3	5.5
	G Lathen Wallace - 12, 4, 1	5.0
	F Omari Johnson - 9, 6, 1	4.5
	F Daniel Deane - 10, 6, 1	5.0
	Bench	4.0
		28.5

8.0+ Players

9.5 Darren Collison

9.5 James Harden

8.5 Jon Brockman

8.5 Demar DeRozan

8.5 Jrue Holiday

8.0 Chase Budinger

8.0 Jeff Pendergraph

Note: The Bruins sum of 41.0 is slightly lower than other BCS conference leaders (UNC is #1 at 47.5). Oregon State has the lowest sum of any BCS team with 28.5.

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