NCAA Week Rewind

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas tomorrow. As for me, all I want for Christmas is the conference season to start in college basketball. But I can nearly smell it so I can hold out another week… Here is my recap of this past week:

This Week’s Winners

Arizona Wildcats – Avoided a set back after their great win last weekend against Florida. They went 3-0 this week including a win over Miami.

UNLV Running Rebels – Now have won eight straight games after three this week. Two of them were decent resume wins too (at UTEP and UNI).

Kansas Jayhawks – Won the biggest game of the week at Ohio State. Ben McLemore looked like the real deal in the win.

Missouri Tigers – They handed Illinois their first loss of the season in the boarder war. Phil Pressey didn’t shoot well until the end when it mattered.

Kansas State – Got a great win for their resume by beating Florida. That will give them some much-needed confidence heading into conference play.

This Week’s Losers

Xavier Musketeers – This week included losses against Cincinnati (understandable) and Wofford (are you kidding me?).

North Carolina Tarheels – We knew they struggled with Indiana teams, but an 18-point loss to Texas this week was a warning sign. No chance they compete for an ACC title.

Syracuse Orangemen – Lost their first game of the season to Temple? The Owls had lost to Canisius three days prior…

New Mexico Lobos – Just like the Orange, they suffered their first loss of the season by losing to South Dakota State. The worst part of this was the game was played at home.

My Impressive Starting Five

F          C.J. Leslie – NC State – Averaged about 25 ppg in two wins this week. His 33 point effort on Saturday was a career high.

C          Derrick Nix – Michigan State – Dominant 25 point and 11-rebound performance in a nice win over Texas.

G          Jesse Morgan – Massachusetts – Scored a week high 35 points in a very solid win over Ohio. That was one of those “under the radar” games that means something going forward for this team.

G          Nate Wolters – South Dakota State: Put up 28 points, 5 boards, and 7 assists in their win at New Mexico.

G          Khalif Wyatt – Temple – 33 points in their win against Syracuse.

What to Watch this Week

The Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic concludes on Christmas Day with a great final: San Diego State vs. Arizona. Who is the best in the west?

New Mexico at Cincinnati on Thursday. The Lobos just lost their first game on Saturday, but can bounce back by handing Cincinnati their first loss here.

Missouri at UCLA, Baylor at Gonzaga. There Friday games feature a ranked team against a team that was supposed to be ranked. Anything can happen though as both will be searching for resume building wins before conference play begins the following week.

UNLV and North Carolina hook up on Saturday. North Carolina suddenly needs this game to prove they are a contender this year.

Kentucky at Louisville… This rivalry game was circled on our calendars since the start of the year. Kentucky may not be ranked highly (or at all) anymore, but the talent is there and this will be fun.

One week from today we will be beginning conference play. It should be fun and I can’t wait. At least there are some good games to keep me company until then.

Enjoy this week in college basketball!

By: Andrew Miller