Rush The Court

Week 6 Blogpoll

CHN — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:41:07 -0500

Here we go (through Mon. night’s games)…

Some very quick analysis:

Hits and Misses. In our ballot, we had Cal, Dayton and St. Mary’s in the lower reaches of the poll in lieu of WVU, Gonzaga and Illinois.
Variance. West Virginia, Syracuse and Gonzaga had the most variability amongst bloggers this week. Guess we’re responsible for some of that by not ranking WVU and GU. Don’t understand no love for the Cuse, though. They look good.
Conference Call. As usual, the Beast of the East leads the way. Big East (8), ACC (5), Big 10 (4), Big 12 (2), Pac-10 (2), A10 (1), Horizon (1), SEC (1), WCC (1).

Set Your Tivos: 01.08.09

CHN — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:35:55 -0500

This’ll be quick one today because our usual writer is busy inviting a bunch of dudes over to his pad for some game involving another collegiate sport tonight. A sport that tends to have trouble deciding who the most worthy teams are for its championship just about every year.   Our opinion of that faux-championship game is below.
When Does Utah Play in the Finals?
As for the rest of your evening, while you’re not watching Oklahoma and Florida throw balls all over the field en route to a 65-63 finish, enjoy a warm post-coital buffet of some college hoops.   There’s a surprisingly tasty slate on tap for tonight, with four games involving Top 25 teams.
7pm
- Wright St. @ Butler on ???. Wright St. appears to be coming out of the fog that enveloped its team during the first two months of the season, as they’ve won 8 of 9 games with the only loss coming at #4 Wake Forest. Butler, on the other hand, continues to roll along, but the Bulldogs have had trouble with WSU, losing seven of their last ten against the Raiders including their last two when ranked. The big question is whether this game’s total will outscore the BCS game’s.
- Minnesota @ Iowa on ESPN2. Iowa hasn’t gotten much publicity this season, but the Hawkeyes are 9-0 in their home arena, a place where Minnesota has lost seven of their last eight visits. Minny’s only other true road test was a one-point win over Colorado St., so we’re a little skeptical about the validity of Tubby’s 13-1 record (best start since 1996-97). Still, if Minnesota can get a road win in a place they traditionally don’t play well, it would go a long way toward establishing itself as one of the upper elite of Big Ten teams this year.
8:30pm
- Oregon @ Arizona on FSN Regional.   This is a battle between teams who were swept in their first Pac-10 tilts last weekend. The difference is that at least Arizona was on the road in the Bay Area when they went 0-2. Oregon plays defense like most teams enjoy suicide sprints; in other words, not at all. Arizona should have a field day of open looks and easy layups for Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and others to take advantage of. They just need to make sure that Jamelle Horne is nowhere near the floor at the end of the game.
10:30pm
- Oregon St. @ Arizona St. on FSN. Arizona St. may be without the services of forward Jeff Pendergraph tonight, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking in on Herb Sendek’s team for a quick glance at possibly the most complete guard in America, James Harden (23/6/5 on 55%/44% shooting). OSU is coming off of its first Pac-10 win in nearly two years vs. USC, but that was at home. Still, OSU has been much more competitive this year.
- Stanford @ Washington on FSN Regional. UW is a team that hasn’t been talked about much this year, and why would we? They’re 10-3, but they’ve lost to nearly every good team they’ve played (Portland, Kansas, Florida). Stanford got its comeuppence last weekend when Arizona St. dominated them in Maples. But the Cardinal did recover to beat Arizona, and UW had a nice win over its in-state rival Wazzu, so this could make for an interesting contest. Both teams have low-grade NCAA aspirations, so they need to win these types of games.
11pm
- Cal St. Fullerton @ Cal Poly on ESPNU. The BCS game should be ending around 12:30am due to all the passing and timeouts, so turn this one on for the last five minutes to see CSF’s Josh Akognon play for the first time in your life. His Titans (6- aren’t very good, so it’s unlikely you’ll see him in March - this might be your last opportunity to see this fantastic collegian while still in school.

Checking in on the… Big 12

CHN — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:53:53 -0500

Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley and Big 12 Conferences.
Current Records and my standings (Last Week)

Texas A&M (13-1) (3)
Oklahoma (13-1) (1)
Texas (11-2) (4)
Baylor (12-2) (2)
Kansas (10-3) (6)
Missouri (12-2) (5)
Kansas St. (10-3) (7)
Oklahoma St. (10-3) (
Texas Tech (10-5) (9)
Iowa St. (10-4) (10)
Nebraska (9-3) (11)
Colorado (7-5) (12)

This week for the Big 12 had some ups and downs. Let’s check in on these teams.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Kansas (2-0 this week)—This young Kansas team is really starting to get it together and have started to win some bigger games. Mario Little finally made his debut for the Jayhawks but almost went out on the court without his shorts on. However, it gets real tough for them before heading into conference play as they take on a hot and hyped Siena team and then hit the road at Michigan St.   Kansas gets a little New Year’s gift by getting Jeff Withey (a transfer from Arizona) to play for them, but won’t be able to until December of this year.
TEAMS DOING WELL THIS WEEK
Texas (1-0 this week)— Texas had a nice warmup game this week against Appalachian St. but Connor Atchley needed 20-30 stitches for his tongue after getting fouled on a reverse layup.   Now they head to Arkansas who have only lost to Missouri St. and are on a 9 game winning streak after beating Oklahoma this week. Texas is in for a big game in Fayetteville.
Missouri (2-0 this week)— Missouri got a huge win at Georgia this week and are having their best start in 10 years.   This is the first road victory against a non-conference team since 2003. This defense is starting to swarm and get turnovers. They are a bit of surprise as things are coming together for Mike Anderson’s team.
Texas Tech (1-0 this week)— Texas Tech got a win over Stephen F. Austin this week. Remember last week how coach Pat Knight took responsibility for the huge loss at Stanford? Well, looks like son is a chip off the old man’s block! In the middle of the SFA game, Knight took a 12-year old fan out of the stands and brought him into the huddle to ask him if he can make layups to point out to his team that if a 12-year old can make layups, they should too. Well, I guess that was the motivation needed to close out that game and for Tech to get the win. Now if he would just take a chair and throw it across the court.
Iowa St. (2-0 this week)—Iowa St. got a couple wins this week, one coming against SIU-Edwardsville currently transferring up to D-1. Every Iowa St. Player scored in that game. They get another new D-1 team in Houston Baptist next week before starting conference play against Texas.
Nebraska (2-0 this week)—Ho hum, Nebraska gets a couple more wins against bottom feeders.   Turning the ball over 3 times is too much for Doc Sadler. Geez. Wake me up on Saturday when they open up conference play against Missouri.
Texas A&M (2-0 this week)— A&M is sort of the sleeping giant of the Big 12 as they are getting hidden from promotion behind the big 4 (Oklahoma, Kansas, Baylor, Texas). Maybe they like it that way. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams are having success for the Aggies this season.
Oklahoma St (2-0 this week)—The Cowboys came back to play well rested and dominated in their two wins this week, though Northwestern St. wasn’t too happy when Okie St. hit the 100 point mark in that victory. The Cowboys eclipsed the 100-point mark with slightly more than seven minutes remaining in the game and a few moments later, Cowboy coach Travis Ford showed some swagger when he and Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy exchanged heated words at mid-court. The two coaches had a second confrontation after the contest. It must have been the showboating at the end of the game that got McConathy’s panties in a bunch.
Kansas St. (2-0 this week)—After some time off over the holidays, Kansas St. continued their dominance over their past 5 opponents winning by at least 20 points in the wins. Two of K-State’s players Luis Colon and Denis Clemente are from Puerto Rico and apparently it isn’t so great there compared to the United States. Chicago St. comes to town before heading to Soonerville on Saturday.
TEAMS THAT ARE STRUGGLING THIS WEEK
Oklahoma (1-1 this week)— Oklahoma got knocked off from the list of unbeatens by suffering their first loss of the season at Arkansas. It does look like Oklahoma has something to work on. They had just been plugging along so well, this loss was probably good for them.
Baylor (2-1 this week)— Baylor won in a couple of snoozers earlier in the week, but then lost on a last second basket by South Carolina to lose their bigger matchup of the week.   This was a great game as it went back and forth, but the Baylor defense didn’t come to play on this day.
Colorado (0-2 this week)— Colorado continues to embarrass the Big 12 by not doing much at the last normal Rainbow Classic tournament in Hawaii. But apparently Coach Bzdelik isn’t too concerned about the performance.   Losing to Buffalo and Vermont are not good signs for this team.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Kansas 92, Tennessee 85 — Kansas rebounded from their loss at Arizona and some time off to beat a ranked Tennessee team.    Led by the veterans Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, Kansas locked things down and just willed their way to victory. A huge win for a young team.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Willie Warren, Oklahoma—The freshman had one of those weeks that you knew he was going to have when he was heralded coming into Oklahoma. He averaged about 25 points in the two games this week including a 35 point performance against Arkansas in Oklahoma’s loss this week. In the Coppin St. game he only had 14 points, but dished 7 assists in the blowout win.
WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH
The last of the big non-conference matchups.

1/6, Texas @ Arkansas (ESPN2)—Will a surprising Arkansas feast on another Big 12 team after beating Oklahoma last week?
1/6, Kansas vs. Siena (ESPN Full Court)—Kansas’ first of 2 tough non-conference games yet to play. Siena has been on fire since going 0-3 at the Old Spice Classic.
1/10, Kansas @ Michigan St. (CBS) –Two storied programs going at it in this made for TV matchup on CBS.
Then conference season starts on Saturday.
1/10, Oklahoma @ Kansas St. (ESPN Full Court)—Kansas St. has been on a roll lately, albeit against lower competition, but this will be a good test to see if Kansas St. wants to make some noise in the conference.
1/10, Baylor vs. Texas Tech. (ESPN Full Court)—How will Pat Knight’s first full conference season be for him? We’ll see as they open against one of the tougher teams in the conference.

ATB: So… Harvard > BC > UNC, right?

CHN — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:02:26 -0500

How is This Humanly Possible? Harvard 82, Boston College 70. In one of the biggest transitive property sequences we’ve ever seen, Harvard, a school who had never in its illustrious basketball history defeated a ranked team, went to BC and knocked off the newly-ranked Eagles a mere 72 hrs after those same Eagles had gone into the nation’s #1 team, North Carolina, and knocked them off. Sure, this kind of scratch-your-head stuff happens every year to a certain extent. But rarely is it in back-to-back games, and even more rarely is the difference in talent so great in the larger of the two upsets (according to Sagarin, BC was #40 in America; Harvard #247). Of course, we know that the transitive property doesn’t work in basketball, but it’s fun to talk about. What’s also fun to talk about is the word “letdown,” and BC may have redefined the word by completely failing to show up for a crosstown rival that its second team should be able to handle (esp. love the cheerleader angle below on the video). Credit is due to Tommy Amaker’s crew, who took advantage of an opportunity to catch an ACC team sleepwalking - the Crimson took the lead 19-17 with 7:32 remaining in the first half, and never lost it again, even extending into the 12-16 pt range deep into the second half. Jeremy Lin was the story, dropping 27/8/6 stls, and perhaps signaling to the rest of the Ivy League that Amaker’s influx of talent will be heard from this season. As for BC, Tyrese Rice, who was outstanding against Carolina, had a quiet 14-pt foul-out game. In the long run, this game won’t hurt BC too terribly much if they reboot and have a good ACC slate (8-8 or better, for example). But if they go 6-10 or even 7-9 in conference, this could end up being a bubble knockout game for the Eagles.

Curry Watch. Duke 79, Davidson 67. This game wasn’t as close as the floor, but we do have a few points to make about this one. First of all, the announcing trio of Tirico/Jackson/Van Gundy was soooooooooooooooooooo much better than it would have been listening to Dickie V. chortle about Curry and K, Duke and Carolina, Roy and Dean, and various other interludes for two hours. Secondly, COMPLETE AGREEMENT with Van Gundy and it took an NBA guy to point it out, but the charge call in the NCAA (perfected by Duke) where a player stands underneath the rim waiting on a driving player to run into him has got to end. College basketball needs the NBA block/charge semi-circle, we’ve been saying it for years - it would put an end to that gimmicky nonsense and avoid penalizing players who make fantastic drives to the rim without running through someone (standing under the basket Battier-style does not qualify). About the game, Stephen Curry was cold early, made some shots late, and turned the ball over a lot (but he still ended with 29/8/6 assts to go with his 7 tos). Davidson isn’t as good as they were last year, but heck, they lost all these type of games in the pre-conference season in 2008 too, so we won’t write them off for a March run just yet. Other than that, we’ll have to respectfully disagree with Mark Jackson’s assessment of Curry’s game as a PG - we’re more in concert with SVG’s thoughts - great shooter who has questionable decisionmaking skills. For Duke, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer had twin 22-pt games.
Overtime Madness. There were two games tonight that went into OT and, in both cases, the home team outplayed the visitor for the majority of the contest, only to be shocked by furious comebacks which led to OT losses for Indiana and Tennessee.

Gonzaga 89, Tennessee 79 (OT). This game probably shouldn’t have gone into overtime, as Matt Bouldin’s final shot in regulation should have counted due to a missed goaltending call where a UT player’s hand went up through the net and into the rim as the ball flew over the goal. Thanks, Jay Bilas. Nevertheless, Tennessee’s porous defense caught up with them tonight and ended their 37-game homecourt winning streak, as they allowed Gonzaga to get off the schneid and pull out a key road victory thanks to 53% shooting and Bouldin’s 26/4/5 assts. Austin Daye added 20/8, but more importantly for the Zags, they held UT to only 36% shooting, their worst home performance since late in the 06-07 season. Does this mean that the Zags we saw a month ago - the ones who played defense - are back? Obviously, it’s uncertain, but at least they appeared to be interested in the concept tonight. Or maybe they just know how to play Tennessee.
Michigan 72, Indiana 66 (OT). We’ll give credit to Tom Crean’s kids - they’re playing extremely hard. They just don’t have the kind of talent to hold good teams down when they wake up and realize they’re down 20 pts to an inferior squad, as Michigan did in the second half tonight. We were sure this was going to be an L for the Wolverines when we saw the early score, but Manny Harris, Laval Lucas-Perry and DeShawn Sims (49 pts combined) didn’t allow that to happen. UM improves to 2-1 in the Big Ten.

Edgar Sosa Watch and Other Interesting Things.

Louisville 71, S. Florida 57. Tonight’s Edgar Sosa Watch: 5-9 for 12 pts. Verdict: not invited to transfer after this road win for the Cards.
Syracuse 85, Depaul 68. Andy Rautins hit five threes to continue his hot streak over the last few games (25-44). Cuse’s main six players all scored between 12-17 pts.
Providence 87, Cincinnati 79. If PC is going to make a run at an at-large, it’s games like this on the road that they have to win. The Friars are now 3-0, but they’ve played three of the four bottom-feeders in the league so far (St. John’s and Depaul in addition to Cincy).
Morgan St. 66, Maryland 65. Horrendous home loss to a MEAC team (albeit probably the best one in that conference). Very rough night for the ACC.
Marquette 81, Rutgers 76. Rutgers is making it known they’ll not be a pushover in the RAC this year. Wes Matthews was perfect from the field (10-10) for 23/6 in a game where MU had to hold on down the stretch despite having a 21-pt lead earlier in the second half.
Wisconsin 74, Northwestern 45. UW moved to 3-0 in the Big 10 in an easy home win over the Wildcats (now 0-3).
UNC 108, Charleston 70. Carolina rebounded from its first loss of the year with a huge second half against Charleston, putting all five starters into double figures (led by TH’s 24/7, of course).

Checking in on the… Big East

CHN — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:30:49 -0500

Rob Dauster of Ballin is a Habit is the RTC correspondent for the Big East Conference.
We are just a week into Big East play, and it is already obvious how much fun this conference is going to be. UConn was supposed to be the best team in the country outside of UNC, but the Huskies lost their Big East opener to Georgetown. At home. And loss isn’t quite the right word. Embarrassed is better. Once everyone was firmly entrenched on the Hoyas jock, they went out and lost back-to-back games to Pitt and Notre Dame. Pitt is the new #1 team in the country, but the Irish were coming off a loss to … St. John’s?
No one is going to make it through this league unscathed. I’d be surprised if anyone finished the season with less than five Ls in league play. If you are one of the nine ranked teams (yes, nine Big East teams are currently ranked), then there are three things you will need to do if your plan on reaching the NCAA tourney:
1) Win your home games. With so many quality teams in the league, defending your home court will guarantee you at least a .500 record in the league. Regardless of your opponent, the top nine teams will almost universally be the favorite when playing at home which leads me to my second point.
2) Beat the teams you are supposed to beat. The top nine (and maybe ten if you include Cincy) are going to beat up on each other all season. I doubt the committee is going to want more than a quarter (8 of 31) of the at-large bids to go to one conference. So if all nine (or ten) want in, they need to take care of business against the South Floridas and DePauls and Rutgers.
3) Pray! Like I said, I doubt that the NCAA wants to have one conference send so many teams to the tourney. If nine Big East teams are going to make it, they will need to catch some breaks during the season. The top four in the ACC need to run through the league (UNC didn’t help on Sunday losing to BC - did anyone else notice that win sent BC from unranked to #17?). The top three in the Big XII need to roll. Likewise for the Pac Ten, Big Ten, and SEC (well, only Tennessee in the SEC). Teams like Davidson, Gonzaga/St. Mary’s, Butler, Xavier, and Memphis need to win their conference tournaments. Essentially, they need to hope that there are as few teams on the bubble as possible.
When it comes down to it, every Big East team is going to have an opportunity to knock off numerous top ten and top twenty teams during the conference play. If any of them finish league play below .500 and without a marquee win in conference, then frankly, they probably are not good enough to deserve a bid.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jerel McNeal, Marquette
McNeal helped lead Marquette to a 2-0 start for the first time since he has been at the school. In a bit of a statement win against Villanova (the other guard heavy Big East team), McNeal had 24 points, 4 boards, and 7 assists to just 2 turnovers, but more importantly he hit a couple crucial shots down the stretch. The biggest one came with just under four minutes left, as he knocked down a three that stretched the lead in what had been a back-and-forth game to 66-58. McNeal continued with that momentum when the Golden Eagles hosted Cincinnati. In what was one of the best shooting nights of the year (for anyone), McNeal had 26 points and was 9-10 from the floor, including (get this) 7-7 from three. He also added 5 boards and 6 assists in the blow out win. I have been a fan of McNeal for a long time (even before people jumped on his bandwagon after he went for 30 against Stanford in the tourney last year), but his knock has always been a questionable shooting ability from the perimeter. This season, he is hitting 47% of his threes (42% before the 7-7 night) while hitting almost 2.5 per game (he already has set a career high for triples in a season with more than 20 games left). If he is knocking down his threes, than you could legitimately make the argument that he is the best all-around guard in the country.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Pitt
The Panthers proved a lot of doubters wrong with their beat down of Georgetown in Washington DC on Saturday. Last week, I said that I thought Georgetown would pick up a victory if they were able to hold their own against the Panthers on the glass. Well, the exact opposite of that happened as Pitt out rebounded the Hoyas 46-21 while collecting 18 offensive rebounds along the way. DeJuan Blair was the best player on the floor that day, as he went for 20 and 17 boards (7 offensive). Georgetown simply had no answer for him on the interior and, to be honest, not many teams will. He is incredibly strong on the block, he is great at establishing position, and anything that touches his hands, he catches (it should be a lot of fun to see him go against Luke Harangody). The performance that should not go overlooked is that of Gilbert Brown. Brown was injured during the early part of the season, and has taken a while to get back into the flow of things. But he has come out strong during Big East play, averaging 10 points and 5 boards in Pitt’s two wins. Brown is an important player for the Panthers, especially if he is able to knock down jumpers (like he did against Georgetown), because he is absurdly athletic and can get out and run the floor (something Jamie Dixon has clearly put an emphasis on this year), but he is very good defensively and can guard multiple positions as well.
Pitt - Georgetown Game
I was at the Georgetown-Pitt game, and it is amazing some of the things that you pick up on when you see a game in person as opposed to on TV. For example, there may not be a player in the country that has more fun than DeJuan Blair. Literally, the entire game he had a huge grin on his face, and genuinely looked like he was having the time of his life on the court. A perfect example came early in the second half. Blair was at the free throw line, and the Georgetown student section was really getting on him, which Blair kind of played up a bit before he got to the line. He missed the first free throw, then knocked down the second with a huge smile on his face as the students got even louder. After hitting the second one, he back pedaled the whole way down the court with his tongue hanging out while clapping his hands (which was pretty clearly directed at the student section).
Power Rankings
CONTENDERS
1. (2) Pitt 14-0, 2-0 (1, 1)
Last Week: 12/31 @ Rutgers 78-72, 1/3 @ Georgetown 70-54
Next Week: 1/11 vs. St. John’s
See Above.
2. (4) UConn 13-1, 2-1 (5, 5)
Last Week: 1/3 vs. Rutgers 80-49, 1/6 @ West Virginia 61-55
Next Week: 1/10 vs. Cincinnati
I’m moving UConn back up not because they won two games and not because they beat West Virginia, but because of how they played in doing so. The Huskies looked apathetic and unmotivated in their loss to Georgetown, but they played like a different team this week, especially against West Virginia. The Mountaineers are a team that hangs their hat on their defense and their hustle, but the Huskies went into Morgantown and beat up on WVU while simply out working them. Jeff Adrien had 17 points (13 of which came in the second half) and Hasheem Thabeet and 13, 13 boards, and 3 blocks, but it was the play of Stanley Robinson that made the difference. Sticks finished the game with 15 boards (6 offensive) and 3 blocks while playing all 40 minutes. That is the dimension he brings the Huskies. It creates such an advantage for UConn when he is on the floor because he can defend any position 1-4, but since he plays the three, it creates all sorts of problems for Husky opponents trying to keep him off the glass. The biggest problem for the Huskies right now is that AJ Price still isn’t right. Kemba Walker plays hard, but he just is not ready to lead a team on this level yet as his offensive skills and his understanding of the game have not caught up with his tremendous athleticism. In two games this week, Price totaled 4 points on 1-13 shooting. He did have 7 assists against Rutgers and only turned it over three times in the two games, but the Huskies don’t need another steady PG when they already have Craig Austrie. They need a lead guard and a go-to scorer that can take pressure off of the interior players by stretching defenses.
3. (3) Syracuse 14-1, 2-0 (11, 9)
Last Week: 1/2 @ South Florida 59-54
Next Week: 1/7 vs. DePaul, 1/10 @ Rutgers
The Orange start off the Big East schedule pretty easily and should be 4-0 heading into their Gauntlet (which is probably the worst in the entire Big East as they play 9 top 25 teams in a span of 10 games). If the ‘Cuse want to come out of that stretch with a shot at winning the Big East regular season title, they are going to need to play much better than they did against South Florida. The Orange got up by as much as 16, but just could not score in the second half. Some of that had to do with the fact that they played without Paul Harris (he had a cut on his finger), and some of it had to do with the fact that Arinze Onuaku, who played so well in the first half (8 of the first 13 Orange points), struggled so mightily from the free throw line (he was 1-9). But the main reason was that Syracuse just seemed to lack some energy down the stretch, which is ironic. The knock on Syracuse this year has been that they are a terrible first half team that struggles out of the gate (against USF, they never trailed and used an 11-0 run to end the first half up 35-19), but dominates in the second half. The last note is that Andy Rautins continued his fantastic play. He went for 14 points on four 3s, and while it is a so-so game compared to his last two (27.5 ppg), each of the three’s he hit came in a big spot.
TOURNEY TEAMS
4. (t Marquette 13-2, 2-0 (18, 15)
Last Week: 1/1 vs. Villanova 79-72, 1/4 vs. Cincinnati 84-50
Next Week: 1/7 @ Rutgers, 1/10 vs. West Virginia
See above.
5. (6) Notre Dame 11-3, 2-1 (13, 13)
Last Week: 12/31 @ DePaul 92-82, 1/3 @ St. John’s 65-71, 1/5 vs. Georgetown 73-67
Next Week: 1/10 vs. Seton Hall, 1/12 @ Louisville
Yes, the Irish lost to St. John’s this week, but regardless of who your opponents are, if you play three games in the span of a week in this conference, with two coming on the road, and come out of it 2-1 with a win over a team like Georgetown, then no one can complain. If you are an Irish fan, what you can complain about is the way your team is rebounding. St. John’s out rebounded them 40-27 while picking up 14 o-boards and Georgetown out rebounded them 37-34 while grabbing 13 offensive rebounds. The Johnnies are not exactly what you would call a good rebounding team, while you might even call the Hoyas down right bad on the glass. The good news for the Irish is that against Georgetown, Kyle McAlarney woke up. He scored 17 points, but hit on 5-11 from deep, including a couple of ridiculous shots (one he hit from about 28 feet, the other was a pull-up, twisting, fade-away three that was literally two inches away from being blocked).
6. (1) Georgetown 10-3, 1-2 (9, 10)
Last Week: 1/3 vs. Pitt 54-70, 1/5 @ Notre Dame 67-73
Next Week: 1/10 vs. Providence
I’m going to give the Hoyas the benefit of the doubt on the Notre Dame loss. The Hoyas had to fly halfway across the country to go play a top 10 team in what is now the hardest place to win as a visiting team (44 straight at home for ND, longest in the nation) with just one day’s rest (which turned into a travel day) after playing Pitt, maybe the most physical team in the nation. Add to that the fact that they only really go about six deep, and you have all the makings for a team with tired legs. That is exactly what happened to the Hoyas in South Bend. Their defense wasn’t as tough, their cuts weren’t as sharp, and their jumpers were short all game. This is the Big East, and every team is going to have days like that. What the Hoya fans should be worried about is how poorly their team rebounded against Pitt. Granted, the Panthers are as good as anyone in the country on the glass, but on a number of the Panthers’ 18 offensive rebounds, it seemed like there were two or three Pitt players there for a tip-in with nary a Hoya to be found. The good news is that Greg Monroe has been getting better and better (he had a phenomenal game against ND, attacking the offensive glass and showing that he can be counted on as a go-to scorer as he finished with 21 and 10 boards). If he can be counted on to get the Hoyas a bucket when they really need one (a la Roy Hibbert), he makes them that much better.
7. (5) West Virginia 11-3, 1-1 (25, 22)
Last Week: 1/3 vs. Seton Hall 92-66, 1/6 vs. UConn 55-61
Next Week: 1/10 @ Marquette
While the loss to UConn hurts (they really could have won it), what hurts more is that the Huskies exposed the Mountaineers’ biggest weakness. Right now, they have no one that can create for them offensively. Their assist leader? Alex Ruoff, who also happens to be their leading scorer and a guy whose strength is to catch and shoot. So much of the Mountaineer offense right now comes from getting second chance points, and when they face a team that is going to rebound with them on the offensive end, they are going to be in trouble.
8. (7) Louisville 9-3, 0-0 (23, 21)
Last Week: 12/31 vs. UNLV 55-56, 1/4 vs. Kentucky 74-71
Next Week: 1/7 @ South Florida, 1/10 @ Villanova, 1/12 vs. Notre Dame
The UNLV loss might have been rock bottom for the Cardinals as the Rebels, a borderline top 25 team at best right now, were playing without star guard Wink Adams. Not only that, but Edgar Sosa had just played the worst two games of his career, and Rick Pitino even told the guard that he should transfer. But all it took was one shot, and it looks like Louisville may have the spark they need to turn their season around. That one shot I’m speaking of is Sosa’s 25-footer with 2.8 seconds left to beat Kentucky. Sosa finished with 18 points, and if you’re a Cardinals fan, you hope that performance will give him a boost in confidence, which he so desperately needs. Almost as important as the confidence boost Sosa will get out of it is the fact that it erased what would have been an epic collapse. Louisville was up 71-64 with under a minute left when they fouled Jodie Meeks on a three and then proceeded to throw away two inbounds passes in the next 15 seconds as Kentucky came back to tie up the score. One alarming note for Louisville is the struggles of Samardo Samuels recently. He has only averaged 9.7 ppg in his last five games. A big reason for that may be foul trouble. Samuels, who is averaging more than three fouls per game, had four games with at least four fouls (he fouled out against Minnesota, played just 11 minutes vs. Kentucky) during that stretch.
9. (t Villanova 13-3, 1-1 (18, 17)
Last Week: 1/1 @ Marquette 72-79, 1/6 @ Seton Hall 89-85 OT
Next Week: 1/10 vs. Louisville
Coming off of a close loss to Marquette, Villanova barely hung on against Seton Hall. The Wildcats needed a big game out of Scottie Reynolds, and they got it as the senior went for 40. The 40 point outburst is a little bit out of character coming from Reynolds this season. He has slid into more of a distributor’s role, running this team more than anything. He has been much less aggressive in attacking to basket this year, as he is shooting almost a full free throw less this year than he did the previous two. That was not the case against Seton Hall, as Reynolds shot 15-16 from the line. As much as Reynolds wants to be able to play a point guard’s role, the Wildcats are going to be a better team this year when he plays as aggressive as he did tonight.
TWO TEAMS ON THE BUBBLE?
10. (11) St. John’s 10-4, 1-1
Last Week: 12/31 @ Providence 54-75, 1/3 vs. Notre Dame 71-65
Next Week: 1/11 @ Pitt
St. John’s? On the bubble? Really? Yes, really. Let’s say St. John’s wins all of their games again teams that are not in the top nine (seven games). Add those seven to the win that the Johnnies already have against the Irish, and that is eight wins in conference play. Let’s say they pull two more upsets (West Virginia and Villanova). That puts the Johnnies at 19-11 and 10-8 in conference play with three quality wins. They at least would have an argument to be let in.
11. (10) Cincinnati 10-4, 0-1
Last Week: 1/4 @ Marquette 50-84
Next Week: 1/7 vs. Providence, 1/10 vs. UConn
After looking horrendous in back-to-back games, I probably should not even have the Bearcats listed this high. Cincy has no offense whatsoever. If Deonta Vaughn does get them a basket, either by scoring himself or by setting up a teammate, the Bearcats only hope for a score is a fast break or an offensive rebound.
12. (12) Providence 10-4, 2-0
Last Week: 12/31 vs. St. John’s 75-54, 1/3 vs. DePaul 62-54
Next Week: 1/7 @ Cincinnati, 1/10 @ Georgetown
The Friars have gotten off to a good start in league play. If they can get the win against Cincinnati Wednesday night, they set themselves up great for a run at a bid.
WHO IS THE FIRST TO GET A WIN IN LEAGUE PLAY?
13. (16) South Florida 5-8, 0-1
Last Week: 1/2 vs. Syracuse 54-59
Next Week: 1/7 vs. Louisville, 1/10 @ DePaul
I’m giving USF credit because they only lost the Orange by five.
14. (14) Rutgers 9-6, 0-2
Last Week: 12/31 vs. Pitt 72-78, 1/3 @ UConn 49-80
Next Week: 1/7 vs. Marquette, 1/10 vs. Syracuse
Rutgers is finally done with their streak of playing top five teams. Next week, they get two games against … top 15 teams?
15. (15) DePaul 8-7, 0-2
Last Week: 12/31 vs. Notre Dame 82-92, 1/3 @ Providence 54-62
Next Week: 1/7 @ Syracuse, 1/10 vs. USF
Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal are both quietly having great seasons.
16. (13) Seton Hall 9-6, 0-3
Last Week: 1/3 vs. West Virginia 66-92, 1/6 vs. Villanova 85-89 OT
Next Week: 1/10 @ Notre Dame
The Pirates lost their first three in Big East play. Two were in embarrassing fashion, and two were at home.

ATB: Woo Pig Sooey Again

CHN — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:54:31 -0500

News & Notes.

Vegas Watch has his Big East preview and odds analysis up.
Oklahoma St. transfer Ibrahima Thomas will resurface at Cincinnati for the second semester next season.
Pitino’s excuse is already prepared for why his team wasn’t focused at South Florida on Wednesday night.
You think the poor economy is hurting your family? Illinois dump hoops arena Assembly Hall says hello.
Hey, that’s just how the kids have fun down in Northridge!

Unbeaten Watch.

Bradley 56, Illinois St. 52. ISU’s undefeated season came to an end in front of a packed house at Bradley behind a balanced attack that saw nine Braves score in this game. Bradley held ISU 24 points below its scoring average by defending their 3-pt attack (6-26, .231), holding the Redbirds well below its typical 40.5% average from long range. ISU made a small run in the second half to close a 14-pt lead down to six, but Bradley hit their FTs (11-13) and took care of the ball enough to secure the upset win.
Clemson 66, Alabama 59. For a while, it appeared that we would be left with only two undefeated teams after tonight, as Alabama was continuing to play well on the road against the unbeaten Tigers. A quick 15-0 run in the mid-second half put an end to that, however, as Bama’s Ronald Steele in particular was held scoreless in the second stanza. Bama appears to be playing much better than they were at the beginning of the season, but the real question we have is whether Clemson will be able to sustain its so-far great season once ACC play begins in earnest. We may not know for sure until a five-game stretch beginning 1/17 where Clemson plays Wake, UNC and Duke in the span of eighteen days.

Upset of the Night. Arkansas 67, Texas 61. For the second time in eight days, the Hawgs knocked off a top ten Big 12 team at home. So we’re pretty clear on Arkansas this year - they’re really good at home. It appeared that Texas had this game under control until an 11-0 run keyed by Michael Washington gave the Hawgs all the momentum and crowd support they needed to pull off another major upset. He then put the game away with a redonkulous and-one dunk with the Hawgs up one and less than 30 seconds remaining (see below). What’s amazing about this Arkansas team is that five of its top seven players are freshmen. Only Washington and guard Stefan Welsh are upperclassmen, so the Hawgs have a tremendous amount of potential. The one concern we have is that they’re completely untested on the road - they lost at Missouri St., and skated by South Alabama and North Texas. Not exactly the SEC (although this year, it could be argued…). As for Texas, the Horns are only as good as AJ Abrams, and tonight, he was bad (3-16 for 7 pts).

Another Upset. Penn St. 67, Purdue 64. Is Penn St. for real? The Nittany Lions held Purdue scoreless for a key eight-minute stretch late in the second half to come from down five to take a five-point lead, holding on for the upset win at home to go 2-1 in the early Big Ten race. PSU’s backcourt of Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle outplayed Purdue’s (who were without the services of Robbie Hummell), and already with 13 wins, Penn St. is on its way to its best season since 2001. How are they doing it? One stat that jumps out is that they don’t turn the ball over (#4 nationally in turnovers/game at 10.5).
Other Scores You Probably Should Be Aware Of.

Kansas 91, Siena 84. KU jumped out to a huge lead early, but Siena fought back to within four with 8 mins to go. The Saints just didn’t have enough down the stretch to pull off the upset. Cole Aldrich had 24/13 in the win.
Northern Iowa 69, Creighton 66. Tough conference loss at home for Creighton.
Utah 91, LSU 61. This was fairly predictable, as LSU had only played (and lost) one road game all season.
Georgia Tech 67, Georgia 62. In a battle of two teams going nowhere fast, Georgia blew a 15-pt lead at home to its archrival.
Michigan St. 67, Ohio St. 58. MSU used a mid-first half 12-2 run to get a quick lead on Ohio St. and never looked back. The Buckeyes have now lost three of four and the schedule isn’t getting any better (IU, then @ Michigan and @ Illinois).
UConn 61, West Virginia 55. In a close game throughout, the Huskies were able to use its dominance on the boards (51-28) - astonishing for a Bob Huggins team - and defense, holding WVU to 30% shooting, to get a tough road win in the Big East.
Dayton 45, Miami (OH) 40. In a local rivalry game that only locals (w/o No-Doz) could love, Dayton extended to 14-1 with a late charge to get the win behind Chris Wright’s 14/6.
Villanova 89, Seton Hall 85 (OT). Jeremy Hazell’s bank-three from 26 feet (see below) tied a game that Villanova probably should have long ago put away. Scottie Reynolds matched his career high with 40 pts on 10-17 FGs and 15-16 FTs.

Thou Shalt Not Tech the Cheerleaders…

CHN — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:14:43 -0500

Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC Conferences. When he’s not writing, he serves as a basketball official in various New Jersey amateur leagues.
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – In the course of my basketball life there is an officiating schedule. It is something I have done for two decades now and enjoy quite a bit. It also gives a different perspective on the game. For instance, before getting into officiating I never watched how a player set a screen while covering a college game. Now, it’s something watched closely courtside as it reveals how fundamentally sound a player may be.
At any rate, Monday night brought an assignment in the North New Jersey Suburban League, a sixth grade boys game between South Orange and West Orange. Entering the gym I noticed the West Orange coach was New Jersey Senator Richard Codey. He was acting governor of the state for a time and may be our next one down the road. Codey also has a passion for basketball and a close friendship with Bobby Gonzalez of Seton Hall. It is known that Codey has spoken to the Seton Hall University president on more than one occasion in support of Gonzalez. Likewise he has conversed with Gonzalez a good number of times.
We get going and early on South Orange gets out to a lead. Codey shows a little of the mentor that works about a half mile down the road by debating a few calls or no calls. Still, he is working hard genuinely teaching and encouraging his kids. On one play I call a three seconds on his player. “His foot wasn’t in the lane,” Codey protests, “Coach it was,” I answer politely,”plus I gave him about five seconds.”

Ray Would Never "T" Up This Crew
During a time out, my partner comes over and tells me Codey wants a Technical on the South Orange cheerleaders. “Why,” I ask. “He said they are too loud and he can’t think” I suggest to my partner let’s just move on.
South Orange is too fast and athletic. The margin is in the thirties the second half. He might not agree with every call but overall Codey isn’t a problem to work with . He’s really in a teaching mode despite the score and at times gives a theatrical arms up in desperation on an unforced turnover. With 13 seconds to go South Orange is up 32 and calls time out to set a play. “Time out with 13 seconds left,” he says to me as if to say why? “Coach, I know what you’re saying,” I answer, “my partner and I commented on it. We agree it’s not right, let’s just get it finished.” The game plays out the final seconds with a home win in the books. Codey commends us but adds, “you really should have ‘T’d’ those cheerleaders.” Provided they do not intentionally interfere with play, curse, or taunt, there is no way to call a technical (which would be assessed to their team) on them. My reply is I’m certain they can’t be ‘T’d’ but (taking a political route) I promise to check the ruling with my association.
“See you tomorrow at the ‘Rock’ (Prudential Center for Seton Hall-Villanova),” I said. “I’ll be there,” he replied.

Checking in on the… Big Ten

CHN — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:48:57 -0500

Josh & Mike of Big Ten Geeks are the RTC correspondents for the Big Ten Conference.
Looking Back
Conference play is underway, and it appears we’re going to be in for a wild one. There were very few blowouts, and two of them involved Minnesota (dishing it out against Ohio State, and taking their lumps against Michigan State). For the most part, the home teams held serve, but there were 3 road victories (2 of them belonging to the Spartans). Even Indiana gave Iowa a scare in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It just isn’t safe to take a night off in this conference.
For our money, Michigan State looks like the early frontrunner. Twelve or thirteen wins might be enough to win this thing, which can be boiled down to the two-step formula of winning at home, and going .500 on the road. MSU stands at 2-0 with both wins being road wins. That means they would need 9 home wins and 4 road victories to seal this up, and assuming they don’t falter at Indiana, they’re very close to winning all the road games they need to.
Illinois’ big road win against Purdue was followed by a letdown at Crisler Arena against the Wolverines. As unforgiving as Illinois’ defense was against the Boilermakers, it was nowhere to be seen against Michigan. And the crazy part was that Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims weren’t having their best games. No, it was the supporting Zack Attack (Gibson and Novak) that led the way. Novak actually had to leave the game for a while after a run-in with Alex Legion’s head:

Tubby’s team rallied after MSU pummeled them at home to defend the court with a bit more vigor against Ohio State, who suddenly looks very vulnerable without David Lighty and Noopy Crater. The glaring weakness has been on defense, which started out the season among the nation’s elite. Now, OSU has let 3 straight opponents average over a point per possession.
Looking Ahead
If you can only watch four games this week, make it this four, for these reasons:

Ohio State @ Michigan State - two upper-tier teams in the conference clash. If MSU wins here, they might start out the conference season at 7-0
Kansas @ Michigan State - perhaps the Big Ten’s last chance for a signature non-conference win (Michigan does battle UConn later)
Indiana @ Illinois - after Eric Gordon and Kelvin Sampson, this rivalry has gone nuclear. It will be interesting to see how the Orange Krush treat Tom Crean and his squad.
Wisconsin @ Purdue - a key matchup for both teams. After dropping a home game against Illinois, this almost becomes a “must win” for the Boilermakers. For Wisconsin, a win here puts them squarely in the conference title discussion.

A Look at the Numbers
You think Big Ten, and you probably think of a slow and bruising style of play that emphasizes defense. Slow is right, bruising might be (see Novak’s picture, above, and remember that this kid re-entered the game after receiving six stitches), but defense is not what’s en vogue this season in the best conference between western Pennsylvania and Iowa. In fact, only two teams so far in the non-conference are holding opponents to less than a point per possession. On the other hand, seven teams are averaging a point or more on offense. Sure, it’s only been a couple of games, but as kj’s chart shows, that offensive story was present in the non-conference as well. The Big Ten can score. The elite teams of the conference will be those that can stop the other team from scoring on occasion.

Vegas Odds: Season Edition Vol. 2

CHN — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:17:56 -0500

John Stevens is a featured columnist for RTC. His columns will appear on Tuesdays throughout the season.
The college basketball world is still dumping the cooler on Boston College after the Eagles’ improbable victory over North Carolina on Sunday night. So, things have changed, right? It looks like the Tar Heels have come back to the pack, yes? The season is a true competition again. Anyone can win. It’s a level playing field.

Sure it is.

You'd Think Losing to BC Would Tighten the Vegas Odds (photo credit: AP/Gerry Broome)
But wait…that win by B.C. meant a lot; it got the Eagles their first Top 25 ranking in about two years. It means that even if UNC wins out, they still can’t be considered for membership into the Greatest Teams Of All Time pantheon. They started their ACC campaign with a big fat ‘L.’ It showed every college basketball team in the nation that the Heels are indeed mortal, that the almost holy image they’d accrued was not valid. Everyone everywhere is talking about how much this Boston College victory was worth.

You know what it was worth in Las Vegas? 45 bucks.

In terms of winning the national championship, that is. If you’re “daring” enough to put your money on North Carolina now that they’ve suffered a loss, compared with those who put their money down before Sunday, you’d win exactly $45 more.
I’m not taking anything away from Boston College’s achievement. The Dean Dome — especially this year — has been considered a virtual venus fly-trap for any team presumptuous enough to actually show up for a game against UNC; Boston College knew that and still went in and got the job done. It’s true, they really did knock this imposing edition of the Tar Heels right out of the running for admission among the greatest college basketball teams of all time (a fact I’m sure UNC fans are tired of hearing about by now), a spectre that had indeed been following them around since Hansbrough, et al, told the NBA draft to stick it last year. B.C. deserves major props, make no mistake.

But I’m looking at this through Vegas’ eyes. And from their viewpoint, this still isn’t even a race.

If we observe the latest odds (refer to the first edition of the odds watch if you forgot how the money line works; in short, the +(x) means you get back $(x + $100) on a $100 bet), we’ll see that even after this home loss, UNC is still at +220, a change of only $45 from the previous +175. The next contender? Connecticut at +1000, and Big East brother Pittsburgh at +1200. But look at the margins between UNC and the closest competitor before AND after the loss. Before the B.C. game, they were $625 ahead of the next team on the list. Now? After this supposedly devastating loss? $780 ahead of UConn. In other words, compared to before the Boston College game, they’re even farther ahead of the closest team(s) in their rearview mirror.

I began thinking about how this could possibly be the case, but it didn’t take much reflection to figure it out. As noted above, UNC has been given a steady diet of “one-of-the-best-of-all-time” talk for about six months now. I don’t know how the coaching staff has handled this — maybe they embraced it and wanted their players to be cocky, or maybe they tried to keep their players more focused on immediate (i.e. game-to-game) goals, who knows. Either way, the players have still been aware of it, no question. But now it’s gone. They’re not playing for immortality. They’re not playing for as big a piece of history as before, but playing for an ACC title, a Final Four, and a national championship is still playing for history. The 2008-09 Tar Heels are parallel to a pitcher who threw four perfect innings with a big lead but just had their perfect game/no-hitter broken up with two out in the fifth. You threw a good first half, but now just worry about getting the win. If you can keep from doing something stupid, you’ll probably get it. If I were a UNC basketball player, I’d be pissed that my team won’t go undefeated and that I probably won’t be on one of those “all-time” teams. But now I can concentrate on the real task at hand, and that’s winning a national title. All that other stuff’s gone. And before the comments pile up accusing me of being too pro-Heel, I’m not. I don’t come from there and I have nothing to do with that program. But I don’t see any other way to look at it. Sometimes a loss like this can bring some clarity. And I think the folks making the odds in Vegas agree.

I’ve got to point out some other values on the new list, though. I still think winning $1200 on a $100 bet is a pretty good deal for the current #1 team in the nation, Pittsburgh. Hell, Vegas will still basically triple your money if you bet on the Tar Heels and they win it. I’m pretty damn surprised that Duke (+1600) hasn’t pulled ahead of Tennessee, Gonzaga, and the freaking FIELD (+1400, +1500, and +1500, respectively). Wake Forest is still extremely attractive at +3300 (previously +5000), and about the farthest I’d go down on this list is Syracuse (+4000, previously +3000), but as I’ve said, I have a Syracuse affliction this year. I can’t put my finger on it, but every time I watch them, I get the feeling that they’re about three seconds away from reeling off about 20 straight wins. I’ll understand if others don’t get that, because I can’t explain it myself. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they got bounced in the first round. I’m still trying to figure that team out.

But the lesson here is at the top, my friends. Boston College (+6000) is to be applauded for going into such a vaunted place and defeating a team that was being groomed for legend. They deserve their shiny new ranking. And sure, they reminded us that anything can certainly happen in a single-elimination scenario. But through the eyes of the Vegas oddsmakers, there isn’t a whole lot of reason to get excited. This is still like Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont. They’re not just better than the competition — even despite a loss, they’re widening the lead.

Pitino to Sosa: “Edgar Sosa is Not Walking Through That Door”

CHN — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:48:26 -0500

Far be it from us to question Louisville head coach Rick Pitino’s motivational techniques with his players. After all, success is a choice, he leads to succeed and all that (not to be confused with his lesser-known tome, Cruise to Lose, favored by Boston-area readers). But even we were a little perplexed with the tactics Coach P employed last week with his emotionally fragile confounding PG, Edgar Sosa. And what makes it even more interesting is that Pitino decided to share the gory details of this alleged conversation with the entire world! From Kentucky.com:
U of L Coach Rick Pitino had a heart-to-heart with Sosa and suggested that the 6-foot-1 junior from New York transfer. Sosa had been playing the worst ball of his career coming into Sunday’s game. He was averaging just five points on 30 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent shooting behind the three-point line. Sosa also struggled on the defensive end to contain dribble penetration. “I basically told him that if I were you I’d transfer, and I wouldn’t wait,” Pitino said. “You could go somewhere and have a year to learn the system. The fans aren’t happy with you, you’re not happy with yourself, and you’re not having fun. We’ll look at some schools that don’t play any defense. There aren’t that many, but I know a few.“
Wow. What a tremendous display of passive-aggressive admonition from coach to player!
SuperSosa! (photo credit: Flickr.com)
What’s even better is how Pitino phrased Sosa’s “decision” after he had a great game against arch-rival Kentucky (18 pts incl. the game-winning three) on Sunday:
“He decided to stay, and I’m happy he made that choice,” Pitino said.
Success is indeed a choice, right? Nevermind that Pitino was the one strongly suggesting Sosa transfer (Sosa made it clear he didn’t want to leave the U of L program), not the other way around. So we’re wondering, which of Pitino’s SIAC rules does this fall under? From a quick perusal, it appears that #3, #5, and #7 are particularly appropriate here. Let’s take a quick glance.
SIAC, Indeed. (photo credit: Amazon.com)
#3. Build a Team Ego. Yep, nothing says building confidence like throwing a player who is struggling with confidence issues under the team bus by strongly suggesting that he to transfer to a school that doesn’t “play any defense.” He might as well have publicly called Sosa “the biggest disappointment of my career” and/or “someone I wouldn’t trust with your ____.”
#5. Act Decisively (cf. with #6. Be Adaptable). Acting decisively would have been to simply quit pussyfooting around and kicked Sosa off the team. Sure, he wasn’t necessarily breaking any team rules (other than sucking), but that hasn’t stopped Pitino before (see: Rodrick Rhodes, Kentucky, 1995). Of course, maybe Coach P was really following the corollary rule #6, and he was being adaptable, allowing Sosa another chance to suck the life out of his backcourt before finally getting booted. (note: of course we realize that Sosa broke out of his slump, but does anyone alive expect that to continue through March?).
# 9. Live for the Future, Not in the Past. Well, it certainly appears that Pitino was dwelling on the past, as in Sosa’s past performance, when he invited Sosa to transfer elsewhere. But we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here, because surely Pitino foresaw that Sosa would have a great game against Kentucky and all of Louisville’s point guard problems would be solved forever more. Right? He’s Nostradomus like that.