Team of the Day

Team of the Week: NC State

Raphielle Johnson — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 22:07:36 -0800

NC State (13-8, 3-5 ACC)
RPI: 102 (kenpom.com)
Strength of Schedule: 65 (overall), 235 (non-conference)
Games last week: W 70-59 @ then-#18 Virginia Tech, W 83-79 vs. then-#3 North Carolina

Given the process that the North Carolina State program went through in finding their new basketball coach this past off-season, along with the opinion of some that Herb Sendek didn’t get enough respect from the people in Raleigh, many expected the Wolfpack to be the doormat of the ACC. Well, with a thin roster consisting of six scholarship players and a first-time college head coach in Sidney Lowe, NC State has found a way to compete in the ACC. To get an idea for this team’s lack of depth look no further than the scoring breakdown. Five players average double digits in scoring, led by freshman forward Brandon Costner, and the sixth is all the way down at 5.4 points per game (Dennis Horner).

Given the talent that North Carolina has this season, it would be easy to say that the win over the Heels was the more impressive of the two results. However, getting the win in Blacksburg, which ended the Hokies’ ten-game home winning streak, was huge given the fact that five of their last eight are on the road. The chances of State making the NCAAs are slim, but look out for this team in the ACC Tournament, especially with the return of guard Engin Atsur.

Honorable Mention: Duquesne (wins over Xavier and St. Bonaventure put the Dukes two games out of first place in the Atlantic 10); Texas A&M (win at Kansas puts the Aggies atop the Big 12 standings); Iona (Gaels get their first win in a 79-67 triumph over Rider); Yale (sweep of Princeton and Penn put the Bulldogs atop the Ivy League.. guess I shouldn’t have been so eager to name the Quakers the class of the league)

Previous Week: Stanford

Team of the Week: Stanford

Raphielle Johnson — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 07:55:09 -0800

Stanford (14-5, 6-3 Pac-10)
RPI: 30 (kenpom.com)
Strength of Schedule: 15 (overall), 99 (non-conference)
Games last week: W 65-50 vs. then-#25 (AP) USC, W 75-68 vs. then-#3 (AP)/#2 (Coaches) UCLA

Early in the season it looked like the Cardinal were destined to make another trip to the NIT, especially after the 79-45 beating they took from Air Force early in the season. Talk of who would get a sixth NCAA berth from the Pac-10 usually didn’t include this young team, but that all has changed in the past week. Of course, the impressive blowout of USC and the comeback victory over the Bruins on Sunday night are the reasons why Stanford is the team of the week, but the resurgence can be traced back to a 76-75 win at Virginia January 7th. Including that win, clinched by a Lawrence Hill floater with 0.9 seconds remaining, Stanford has won six of their last seven games with the only defeat being a hard-fought 66-59 decision at Oregon.

On Thursday night, Brook Lopez put up an 18-point, 11-rebound, 12-block triple-double, and no one knows for sure whether or not there are any other triple-doubles in school history. Sunday saw both Lawrence Hill (22) and Anthony Goods (20) put up at least twenty points as Stanford stormed back from a seventeen point deficit to knock off UCLA. With their next two games at home (Gonzaga, California), Stanford can do even more for their NCAA Tournament prospects.

Honorable Mention: Arkansas (became the first SEC West team to win a conference road game in their win over Alabama);George Washington (beat St. Joseph’s and Rhode Island to move into first place in the Atlantic 10); Virginia Tech (road wins over Miami and Georgia Tech gave the Hokies sole possession of first place in the ACC); East Tennessee State (road wins over Belmont and Lipscomb gave the Bucs a two-game lead in the Atlantic Sun); Georgia (Home wins over Kentucky and LSU put the Bulldogs into the NCAA Tournament conversation).

Team of the Week: Villanova

Raphielle Johnson — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 10:54:09 -0800

Villanova (13-5, 2-3 Big East)
RPI: 21 (kenpom.com)
CHN Power 50: 32
Strength of Schedule: 8 (overall), 38 (non-conference)
Games last week: W 102-87 vs. then #20 Notre Dame, W 76-69 vs. then #21 Texas

Villanova gets the nod as the team of the week due to their two wins over ranked opponents. They truly needed these home wins in order to improve their NCAA Tournament resume. If you had to pick a player of the week for the Wildcats, it would be freshman guard Scottie Reynolds, who averaged 26.5 points and 5.0 assists per game in the two wins. Reynolds has improved dramatically in the past couple of weeks, a product of head coach Jay Wright imploring him to be more aggressive on the offensive end. After the offensive explosion in the win over the Fighting Irish (‘Nova had failed to score more than 65 points in any of their previous Big East games), the Wildcats held Longhorn freshman Kevin Durant to twelve points Saturday afternoon without the services of senior forward Curtis Sumpter. Sumpter has been battling a nagging hamstring injury, as well as a bone bruise suffered in the Notre Dame win.

Villanova now hits the road for games against Providence and Notre Dame before returning home to take on first place Pittsburgh.

Honorable Mention: Rhode Island (pair of league wins), Virginia Commonwealth (7th and 8th wins in a row), Northern Iowa (Regains MVC lead), Sacred Heart (two big road wins), Vanderbilt (beat #8 Alabama, and road win at Kentucky).