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.
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.
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