Here Comes Chief Illiniwek

Two points are the only thing standing between Illinois and an undefeated season. The difference came in a home loss to Clemson, who is a team looking mighty frisky as they head into ACC Conference play. Illinois hasn’t been at the same level since Bruce Weber started coaching his own recruits instead of Bill Self players. Things may have turned the corner after Illinois’ victory at Purdue last night. Purdue didn’t deserve to win the game, but we’ll get to that in a second.

Senior PG Chester Frazier is Illinois’ engine. He keeps the team’s offense running and is a smart heady player. Center Mike Tisdale has great range for a 7’1” player, but it bothers me that he doesn’t use his height to score inside and pound the glass. Mike Davis is a PF on everyone’s radar, but he needs to be more assertive. Alex Legion has offensive ability from the perimeter, although he needs to rein in his game a little. Surprisingly they were the more composed team in overtime and pulled away from Purdue. A scheduling quirk has them take on Michigan in two of their next three games, which should help indicate more of their March value.

With all that said about Illinois, it was Purdue who gave the game away. Their foul shooting was so bad that Chris Dudley was jealous. We can jump on JuJuan Johnson’s case for bricking the game-winning foul shot with a second left, but Purdue shouldn’t have even been in that position. 55% is not an acceptable percentage for a top ten ranked team. Robbie Hummel needs to be more aggressive. He can’t take just seven shots. Johnson was better, but his touch around the basket was sub-par. I felt it had to be one of those games that Etwan Moore took over. When he was attacking the basket and not settling for the outside shot, he was very effective. This goes down as a highly disappointing loss for Purdue after smacking around Davidson ten days ago.
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Hoyas Stop Tha-Beet

I’m happy that Georgetown beat UConn on Monday night because I hate UConn. It was a close game for the first 25 minutes. Greg Monroe is a beast as you know, although he got himself in some foul trouble. Thompson III basically subbed him in and out as an offensive/defensive situation. Monroe had a really nice sweeping hook, but he had trouble with Hasheem Thabeet’s size. I like Chris Wright a bunch. He likes taking the big shot. He has that confidence already and is going to be big in the tourney. Austin Freeman also had a couple nice dipsy-do layups.

Georgetown’s Princeton offense caused UConn some problems. Monroe came out to the three point line and made a couple. Like with the Gonzaga game, it brought Thabeet out of the paint. Thabeet had a good amount of blocks but was ineffective scoring in the first half. The Huskies weren’t too impressive in general. Any time they made a run, Gtown came back with a big shot. The only person who showed up for UConn was Jeff Adrien. He was the big banger inside as usual.
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New Year, Same Story for Marquette

I was able to catch the second half of Marquette/Tennessee game on Tuesday in the poorly organized SEC/Big East Invitational on Tuesday night. It seems as if Marquette has the same problems they've had the last four years. They have the trio of Dominic James, Jeremy McNeal, and Wesley Matthews. Matthews is my favorite player of the bunch, possibly because his expectations were never as high as the other two. A player I'd take on my team any day, Matthews does all the little things, makes his foul shots, and having decent range. I've never liked James' decision making and his shooting is inconsistent. Jeremy McNeal is a nice slasher who has seemed to improve his outside shot, but he took himself out of the Tennessee game with silly fouls. The team lacks the consistent outside shooter and a real low post option. I wouldn't be too worried about them in March. The Big East Schedule should eat them up.

There wasn't much noticeable on the Tennessee side other than insertion of Bobby Maze to run the offense. It'll be interesting to see how Maze handles himself in the rematch against Gonzaga and the in-state battle against Memphis. Wayne Chism was more offensive minded and showed nice range. The Vols have been guard dominated over the last few years, so Chism needs to step up.
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The Jimmy V Classic - When Curry Goes Cold...

The Jimmy V Classic is the last of the major college basketball events at MSG during the fall. This year’s duo of games pitted Davidson against West Virginia and Texas against Villanova.

Stephen Curry was doing a much better job at running the offense than he'd shown against Oklahoma, but he couldn’t find his shot. Other than some scoring from Andrew Lovedale and tough team defense, Davidson wasn’t bringing much else to the table. West Virginia lost Joe Mazulla to a shoulder injury in the first half and Alex Ruoff wasn't suited up, so they weren't able to take advantage of Curry's poor shooting. The question still boiled on the surface. How can Davidson win when Curry doesn't shoot well??

Somehow Davidson managed to hang around and Curry went off in the last few minutes, making all four shots with three from distance. I don't see that happening against other teams who score more prominently than West Virgina. It's the same problem they would've had in last year's NCAA tournament, but Curry was scorching hot and it wasn't an issue. This would all apply next March as well. Davidson has two more chances to prove themselves on a national stage. They face Purdue, a team known for it's perimeter defence, and Duke. Duke's scoring would be too much to handle if Curry's cold, but they should be able to hang with Purdue. We'll check back in with West Virginia once they have their full complement of players back.

Other than A.J. Abrams, Texas doesn't have much for outside shooters. Damion James was pulling the trigger late in the game and hit his shots, but he was cautious earlier on. I'd definitely try to zone these guys up. Justin Mason had a better handle than I expected him to have, but he's extremely hesitant to shoot from the outside. It would be worth opponents pressing them to see how well Mason can handle it. Dexter Pittman is strong on the inside. He finished well around the rim, but Nova didn't have size to deter him. Gary Johnson is also unafraid to play big inside. His foul shooting is rather mediocre, however, which presents an issue for anyone who constantly attacks the rim. Texas' foul shooting was rather poor all around. They shot 11 of 24 from the charity stripe. Wow! Conor Atchley is a waste without Augustin running the pick and roll. Zero points and rebounds are embarrassing statistics from him. Clint Chapman is a sack of shit and plays like a huge pussy despite his size.

Nova struggled to run their offense. It's nice to see Dante Cunnigham has refined his game and is now the team's best scorer in his senior year. He's become a nice post threat, reminding some of Kurt Thomas, but he might struggle against bigger physical players. Scottie Reynolds was highly disappointing. Corey Fisher was in the game with Reynolds a lot, which should free up Reynolds off the ball, but Jay Wright continued to have Reynolds bring up the ball. Corey Stokes started strong, but faded in the second half. Without Reynolds scoring, someone needed to step off, and Stokes was unable to do so. I could see these guys getting killed by a more physical team because they don't have the all around skill level to overcome that. Their #15 ranking was purely a result of a mediocre schedule.
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Oklahoma Can Be Stopped!

I'm big advocate of the triangle and two when you're facing a team has one good player. USC used this strategy when facing Oklahoma on Thursday night. They straight shut down Blake Griffin. They held him to only 6 rebounds, with only one on offensive end. He had to work really hard in he first half of the game for any points. Oklahoma can get shut down with that defense. Austin Johnson had an amazing first half. Oklahoma got lucky as hell that they were shooting well from the outside, which forced USC to come out of the zone more in the second half. USC started off with some pretty hot shooting. Taj Gibson wasn't as strong on boards as I thought he should be. DeMar DeRozan is ok, but he wasn't impressive. USC ran a nice flex offense. They had a lot of jumpers coming off curl moves. After their disappointing start to the season, it was nice to see them showing a little backbone.


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ACC - Big Ten Challenge

December always pits the Big Ten against the ACC, with the ACC reigning supreme ever year. The Big Ten tried to make it more of a competition this year, but still fell a game short. It didn't help that they got blitzed in the games involving each conference's three best teams. I happened to catch parts of Wisconsin vs. Virginia Tech, Miami vs. Ohio State, Duke vs. Purdue, and North Carolina vs. Michigan State. As we did with Feast Week, here are some quick hit thoughts:

• Wisconsin's offense looked extremely pedestrian at times during the first half. They lack a #1 scoring option and at times are too passive offensively. They might gel a little better as the season progresses and the players get more familiar with their new roles. You know they'll always defend and rebound.
• I still like Marcus Landry as a player. I wish he was a little more aggressive offensively because he has a turnaround move on the baseline and solid jump shot. He does, however, turn the ball over more than a big man should.
• A.D. Vassalo can fill it up and Victor Davila has nice athleticism, but otherwise I don't like that much about Virgnia Tech. I'll evaluate you them more throughout the ACC season
• Ladies and Gentlemen, Jon Diebler has rediscovered his three-point shot. He still has pretty terrible shooting consistency for a guy who has the Ohio state high school scoring record.
• Lance Hurdle is a nice second fiddle to Jack McClinton, but he couldn't take over when McClinton was thrown out.
• As was stated before, Purdue needs to find an inside game and an aggressive penetrator before we take them seriously.
• Duke played pretty well, but let's not crown them just yet. And I absolutely hate they slow the play down in the last ten minutes to let the other team back into the game.
• North Carolina is the best I've seen them play with this group of players. I'm legitimately afraid of them. They have so many productive guys to put on the floor.
• As long as Lawson stays healthy, no one is beating Carolina. The guy is the engine and they've shown what they can do without a healthy Hansborough.

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NIT Season Tip-Off

Yesterday, I headed over to MSG once again for the final of the NIT Season Tip-Off between Purdue and Oklahoma. I’ve already discussed my initial thoughts on Oklahoma, but it’s always good to see teams a few times during the beginning of the season to see if they’re making the necessary adjustments. Blake Griffin is still a man. I’d go as far to say that he’s the best rebounder in the country. He has a great nose for the ball and the athletic ability to ensure the ball is his. I was a little disappointed in his offensive game though, as it seems his jump shot needs work. His brother Taylor Griffin was the real surprise, scoring 19 points and showing off some nice offensive versatility. Willie Warren wasn’t in foul trouble this time and has a knack for driving to the basket, though at times he seemed to force it. He could be a nice secondary scoring compliment to Blake if he matures a little.

I’m not sold on PG Austin Johnson, which doesn’t bode well for their future in the tournament. His decision making seems questionable and he’s got one ugly looking jump shot. Tony Crocker didn’t have it from the outside today, living up to his reputation as a streaky shooter. Purdue was able to bring double teams on the post without being penalized. Cade Davis showed his knack for pressure foul shots, but he should’ve been on the floor instead of Crocker on more offensive sets to limit the double teams. To the Sooners’ credit, they got to the line 46 times compared to only 5 for Purdue. Oklahoma seems a bit vulnerable, specifically with their mediocre point guard play, which means they’re nothing more than a Sweet 16 team come March.

Purdue looked really good offensively for most of the game. They’ve got numerous options on the offensive end, especially from long range. Robbie Hummel was in foul trouble, which proved to be really costly for the Boilermakers. Purdue lacked the same offensive movement and production without him in the final minutes and overtime. E'Twaun Moore is the team’s best scorer other than Hummel and he showed off during a stretch in the second half. JuJuan Johnson provided minimal impact, finding himself in foul trouble as well, which led to Nemanja Calasan receiving serious minutes. Calasan was the butt of many a joke during pregame warm-ups, but he somehow find his best game when it counted. Taking only five foul shots is rather alarming and unacceptable. Usually you get your foul shots from dribble penetration or an inside presence and Purdue didn’t seem to have either working.

Defensive specialist Chris Kramer doesn’t look for his shot at all. Keaton Grant needs to find his offensive game. I liked freshman sparkplug Lewis Jackson, until the point guard showed extremely poor decision making when it mattered. That’s where Purdue lacks it the most. The lack of a true PG seemed to be the biggest negativity when they were unable to produce in their offensive sets towards the end of the game. They have a tough game against Duke next week, which should give me a better assessment of their tournament ability.
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Feast Week

There’s an abundance of college basketball during the Thanksgiving period. I feel like every year they create new tournaments to get teams playing high quality non conference opponents. The sad thing is that a number of these events have sparse crowds. But as long as they keep suiting up to play, I’ll be watching. You always get a few surprises in these tournaments. A supposedly dominant Michigan State team got upset by Maryland. Arizona State never had a chance against an apparently fiesty Baylor team. A lot of people are talking about Baylor as a sleeper team, so I'll have to keep a closer eye on them. Otherwise, here are a few things I’ve noticed so far this week.

• Cameron Tatum was a lights out 3 point shooter for Tennessee against Georgetown. He has great form and got a little luck on one attempt. He also showed nice defense on a steal and breakaway jam.
• Tennessee showed good rebounding without center Wayne Chism, who was in foul trouble. The guards really chipped in and they killed the Hoyas on the offensive glass.
• I didn’t like the Georgetown guard play at all. Jesse Sapp and Austin Freeman looked careless with the ball. Freeman is good offensively, but not when he has to make decisions other than to score.
• Greg Monroe will be good. He needs to assert himself more because he's got all the offensive tools. He could use some work on foul shooting. He reminds me of a young Kevin Garnett.
• DaJuan Summers hasn’t become the player I thought he would become. It’s his junior year and he hasn’t shown much improvement since his freshman year. I expected him to be at Jeff Green levels by now.
• Austin Daye has gotten better for Gonzaga. He looks stronger and shows good poise out there.
• Gonzaga’s got the starting five to match up with anyone in the country. Matt Bouldin can help Jeremy Pargo with the ball handling responsibilities to free him up to score. All five starters can fill it up too.
• Pittsburgh showed some good things against Texas Tech. Freshman Jermaine Dixon, half-brother of Juan Dixon, showed some nice attacking moves as a secondary scoring option.
• Pitt seems to lack a bit of outside shooting now that Ronald Ramon has graduated. Gilbert Brown shoots a decent percentage from out there, but he’s not the pure shooter. I liked his overall energy though.
  
  

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Is Syracuse back?

Syracuse took on Florida in the CBE Classic on Monday night and looked strong. The 2-3 zone for Cuse looked a little weak. It gave up way too many open shots. Florida put up too many points for an inexperienced team and they aren’t the best shooters. They warmed up a little bit in the second half but they were mostly ineffective vs. the zone. Arinze Onuaku is a beast. The team rebounding is pretty good. Paul Harris is a great guard rebounder. If only he was 6’9”. There is a lot of balance on offense. Andy Rautins lit it up in the first half – he was making threes from everywhere. Jonny Flynn is able to run the offense more effectively now since he doesn’t have to be the primary scorer. The main problem is if Onuaku gets hurt or in foul trouble, they aren’t so big off the bench.

They’re offense looked horrible on Tuesday against Kansas . It was completely the opposite of Monday. There was a lot of one on one play. The team was jackin’ up shots and not working the offense. There wasn’t much movement and it ended up being one guy driving too much. Kansas did a good job attacking the 2-3 zone with a man at the foul line, so Syracuse had to switch it up to man defense. Flynn really pressured the ball and forced turnovers. After the win, it looks like Syracuse will be ranked. They’re finally playing people outside of the conference.
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Coaches vs. Cancer Recap

Attending the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden in recent years has been an easy sell given the teams involved and the location. This year was no different as Duke, UCLA, Michigan, and Southern Illinois comprised the field. Duke faced off against So. Illinois in the first game on Thursday night, while Michigan took down UCLA in the second game. Unfortunately Friday’s finale didn’t provide the top 10 showdown I was looking for between Duke and UCLA, but at least it wasn’t Duke who went home packing.

Duke

Duke brings most of its talent back from last year. Generally I’m as hard on Duke as any person out there, but that’s because I expect greatness. This year shows me the continued lack of recruiting elite interior athletes, but we’ll get to that in a minute. We start at the PG position where Nolan Smith has taken over for Greg Paulus, who moved to the bench for the good of the team. Smith is able to push the offense better than Paulus because of his speed and athleticism. We won’t know about his clutch decision-making until he’s down three points at Chapel Hill with 3 minutes to go against the Tar Heels. John Scheyer is the same player as last year. One can only hope he becomes a little more consistent. Gerald Henderson is a monster athlete, but unlike contributor Ravi Singh, I don’t believe he has a good enough jump shot to make it a consistent threat. One has to wonder if he’s ever recovered from his hand troubles during his freshman season.

The key to the team lies with Kyle Singler. He’ll need to raise his level to that of All-American if Duke is going to make the Final Four. He’s got a well rounded offensive game and has put on some muscle. He also drives the ball to the basket more than he did last year. Brian Zoubek has some decent post moves, but he’s still a little soft. Lance Thomas is a complete stiff. And here lies the problem… Duke can still get owned in the paint like it did last year. The incoming freshman consist of Elliot Williams, a flashy SG who isn’t getting enough playing time, Oleg Czyz, a SF who might not see much of the floor, and Miles Plumlee, a C who Coach K talked up before the season and isn’t playing as much now. I don’t think they have enough of an inside presence to deal with better teams. It’s the same issues they’ve had since Carlos Boozer graduated many moons ago. I’ve already spent two paragraphs on this team and I know I will talk about them much more this season, so I’ll spare the rest. They were good enough to pull away in both games while not looking overly dominant.

UCLA

The Bruins were a major disappointment at the Garden. It’s hard to imagine they were projected as the #4 team before the season after losing Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and Russell Westbrook. Their great recruiting class carried the ranking seemingly. If the recruiting class doesn’t play, the team can’t be as impacted, right? Jrue Holliday is going to be a good player, maybe even later this season, but he’s not there yet. He’s got all the tools and he’ll need to become UCLA’s dominant scorer for them to go anywhere. Darren Collison needs to be much more aggressive for this team to be effective. Josh Shipp isn’t as good as he was three years ago. James Keefe and Alfred Aboya are decent role players, but UCLA is back to the guard team without a post presence. The bench has decent depth with Michael Roll and freshman Malcolm Lee. J’Mison Morgan was supposed to be the answer, but the freshman barely played in NYC. This could be a down year for the Pac Ten.

Michigan

Coach Beilein is in his second year at Michigan and is starting to round his team into form. It didn’t seem as if the Wolverines were completely set up in the typical Beilein offense, but they were able to defeat UCLA with the help of a last minute back-door play that resulted in a layup. Sophomore wing player Manny Harris seems to be the most skilled on the Michigan roster, showing offensive versatility on the drive and from the outside. He is a little slender for his height, so he might get beat up by older, stronger players. Stu Douglass is a fan favorite and showed a well rounded game against UCLA. He was completely neutralized by Duke, who put Kyle Singler on him for most of the championship game. There’s not much on the interior to speak of. Junior Deshawn Sims provides some energy, but limited skill as Michigan’s most effective post player. I’ll skip the rest of the supporting cast because no one stood out enough to be mentioned. Michigan will be more competitive and they definitely took advantage of an overhyped UCLA team. After watching Duke trounce them in the final, however, I can’t give them too strong of an endorsement. We’ll see how they handle the Big Ten schedule.

Southern Illinois also partook, but I was more focused on Duke and other than Carlton Fay, who still missed too many shots, no one was memorable. I wouldn’t expect Southern Illinois to do much damage in the MVC this year.
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Stephen Curry = Unstoppable?

#21 Davidson took on #12 Oklahoma in the 2nd round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The game was at Oklahoma because they were the host for their quarter of the bracket. Oklahoma ended up winning the game 82-78 and will head to NYC for the semifinals next Wednesday night at MSG. Here's how the teams shook out:

On Davidson's end, Stephen Curry moved to PG this year and the offense just doesn’t flow as well as it used to. It’s not all his fault though. He’s not able to run off screens like he did in previous years, so he’s forced to create a lot more of his own shots. There are way too many possessions where Curry takes the ball across half-court and drops the ball into the post without it ever coming out. The funny thing is Curry still put up a ridiculous amount of points. He looked tired at periods in the second half, but maybe he'll adjust better as the season moves along. But he never shoul've given up the ball on their final possesion. Andrew Lovedale is the player who keeps getting the ball on the inside, but he’s not the most effective post player. He needs to be stronger with his post moves. Lovedale was continuously owned by Blake Griffin on the boards. The Wildcasts need more continuity and passing on offense going forward.

Oklahoma's Blake Griffin is an absolute monster. He will contend with Hansborough for Player of the Year honors. He’s an athletic big man who always shows effort. He’s always around the rim on both ends of the floor. Griffin is explosive off the dribble and has the ability to take on slower players. Cade Davis and Tony Crocker are legitimate long range shooters that can feed off the attention Griffin sees inside. They’re both a little streaky although I think Davis might be the more consistent of the two. Oklahoma was also very effective from the foul line. Griffin goes to the line a lot because he’s so aggressive, so the shooting percentage is heavily based on his output. Tonight he was able to shoot a lot better than he had in previous games. Willie Warren’s a player I want to see more of during the season because Oklahoma will need him to go anywhere. Oklahoma is missing a guard to stabilize the offense. They way they let the game slip in the final minutes showed a lack of killer instinct.
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RiseandFire.blogspot.com

Rise and Fire

Rise and Fire, named in honor of Gus Johnson, will provide constant college basketball analysis. It will be updated regularly with views on the wide-ranging landscape of college hoops. There will be other contributors, but the majority of the analysis will come from highly renowned Mr. T. The focus is one thing and one thing alone – being prepared for NCAA Tournament pools. Teams will be evaluated on future potential and looming inefficiencies. There will also be a sprinkle of betting tips for those addicts that can’t wait until March.

Mr.T

Anointed a child prodigy after winning an NCAA pool at the age of 9, Mr. T has continued to follow college basketball throughout the years. Publishing Sunday email columns for friends last year allowed him to fulfill his writing urge. The most important part of any college basketball fan’s season is March Madness and that’s exactly what Mr. T gears his analysis around. After winning his own pool three times in the last five years against an average of 100 opponents, it’s pretty evident that he knows his hoops.

The Doctor

Although at times he feels he performs better than half of the players on the court, The Doctoris a true fan of the college game. He’s played the game his whole life and understands the smallest nuances that occur on the court. A lifelong Syracuse fan, The Doctor heavily follows the Big East, although he doesn’t discriminate against the rest of America.


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