NCAA Week Rewind

For those of you who are like me, waiting for this weekend was tough but totally worth it. The excitement of college basketball is here and boy was there some things to cheer about (and boo actually). Here is my recap of the opening weekend:

Opening Weekend Winners

Game in German Aircraft Carrier: This exciting game featured MSU and UCONN and was played in Germany in an aircraft carrier full of present day vets. Very cool!

Kevin Ollie – Connecticut: In that game, Kevin Ollie made his debut and inspired his “down” team to a big upset over MSU. The school needs to hire him officially.

The “Orange Hush” – Illinois: New coach John Groce is a proud alum of Taylor University (yes, Greg and my alma mater). Taylor boasts one of the best traditions in college b-ball: “Silent Night” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbnZiPI6W2I). The Illinois fans followed suit and chose to do the “Orange Hush” to start the season. Here is their video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQblfY8vbU.

Trevor Lacey – Alabama: Alabama played host to pesky South Dakota State and came back from a big first half deficit. Trevor Lacey was the hero at the end as he hit a game winning 3 at the buzzer. Alabama also won on Sunday.

Bucknell: Bucknell went into Mackey Arena (Purdue) and came away with a season opening win. That win will be a nice boost to their resume in case they don’t win their conference tourney this spring.

Creighton: In a matchup with another dangerous mid-major (North Texas), McDermott and company dominated. The Bluejays showed though that they are much more than just Dougie.

St. Louis, Colorado State, and Kent State: These schools all won in mid-major showdowns. Quality wins were earned over USC Upstate, Montana, and Drexel respectively.

Mike Bruesewitz – Wisconsin: Mike is a vital piece to a team trying to cope with the loss of Jordan Taylor (graduation) and Josh Gasser (injury). He was supposed to be out himself for quite a while but made an appearance this weekend in their first game. It’s an encouraging sign to see him out there for the Badgers (10 points).

Opening Weekend Losers

Aircraft Carrier Games: Out of three scheduled marquee games on aircraft carriers, only one was played and that was after it was pushed back two days. The other two were cancelled on Friday due to compensation on the court. It worked last year but these games may now need to be scrapped.

Florida State: The Seminoles looked ugly losing to South Alabama to open their year. The normally good defense was nowhere as they allowed 76 points.

Shabazz Muhammad – UCLA: The highly touted freshman was ruled ineligible for an unknown amount of time on Friday. He missed their first contest and will continue to miss until told otherwise. This is a big blow for the program and for him personally.

South Florida: For a team that had thoughts of finishing in the top few teams in the Big East, they didn’t look the part as they got pounded by Central Florida over the weekend.

Kentucky’s Rebounding: The Wildcats survived a scare from Maryland to open the year, but they let the Terrapins in it by not giving an effort on the glass. For having all the size a team could ask for (talking about you Noel, Cauley-Stein, Wiltjer, etc.), they gave up 23 offensive rebounds. That needs to change.

Injuries: Otto Porter and Vincent Council, two of the best Big East players, both fell victim to opening weekend injuries. Let’s hope they don’t turn out to be serious and they can get back on the court soon.

My Impressive Starting Five

F          Ryan Anderson – Boston College: 29 points and 17 rebounds in an opening win against FIU.

F          James Michael McAdoo – UNC: Averaged 22.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in two weekend wins.

C          Alex Len – Maryland: Almost single handedly beat the mighty Kentucky Wildcats and manhandled them inside. He ended with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

G          CJ McCollum – Lehigh, Nate Wolters – South Dakota State: Both scored over 30 points against quality teams Baylor and Alabama. Both lost though.

G          Ahmad Starks – Oregon State: 25.5 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in two wins in the 2K Sports Classic.

My Disappointing Starting Five

           

F          Josh Smith – UCLA: Still wanting more from this talent wasting big man. Only five points and five boards despite his team getting an easy win.

F          Kaleb Tarczewski and Grant Jerrett – Arizona: These “stud” freshmen combined for only 7 points and 7 rebounds in a closer than expected win

C          Adreian Payne – Michigan State: Only put up 6 points and 2 rebounds against an undersized UCONN team in a losing effort.

G          Michael Snaer – Florida State: 2-11 from the field and 0-6 from deep in their opening loss to South Alabama

G          Ryan Harrow – Kentucky: Supposedly the next great Kentucky point guard, the transfer scored 0 points and only 2 assists (1 turnover) in their opening game win. He was replaced by walk-on Polson for most of the game. To his defense he was a little sick, but I would expect better production from him.

What to Watch this Week

Tonight kicks off the 24-hour college basketball marathon (midnight). Tons of great matchups include West Virginia vs. Gonzaga, Davidson vs. New Mexico, Harvard vs. Massachusetts, Temple vs. Kent State, Butler vs. Xavier, Wichita State vs. VCU, and Detroit vs. St. Johns.

Apart of this is also the State Farm Champions Classic in Atlanta: Michigan State vs. Kansas and Duke vs. Kentucky. Those are some big time teams and those contests will tell us a lot early about which teams are legit contenders.

Wednesday features a nice matchup between Wisconsin and Florida. Equally good but not as highly touted is Oregon State vs. Alabama.

Upsets could be in store with Friday games of UNC vs. Long Beach State, Notre Dame vs. St. Joe’s, and Florida State vs. BYU.

Enjoy this week in college basketball!

By: Andrew Miller