If you are unfamiliar with College Hoops 101, it is a weekly feature here at The Sports Bank that breaks down everything you need to know going on in the world of college basketball. Every Monday I will look back at the previous week’s action, break down what to expect in the week ahead, and most importantly, update you on the obscene amount of games I have watched.
24 hours of college basketball begins tonight and pre-season tournaments tip-off on Thursday. The season is officially in full swing!
Click here in case you missed my 111 team previews in 111 days to check out the in-depth profiles.
The Drive
Games watched in 2008-2009: 275
Games watched in 2009-2010: 327
Games watched in 2010-2011: 341
Games watched this season: 18
Games watched last week: 15
Teams I saw play in 2009-2010: 125
Teams I saw play in 2010-2011: 131
Teams I have seen play this season: 29
(Home teams in CAPS)
OHIO STATE 95, Walsh 49
Jared Sullinger looks to be in terrific shape. He has slimmed down, losing some of that extra weight while also keeping his strength and physicality. Keep an eye on Buckeye freshman wing Sam Thompson. Dude can jump out of the gym.
ST. JOHN’S 74, William & Mary 59
A whole new Red Storm team but they overcame a seven point halftime deficit by doing what they did so well last year; using their athleticism and defensive tenacity to create turnovers and easy transition buckets. Lengthy freshman small forward Moe Harkless really impressed me.
ARIZONA 73, Valparaiso 64
It’s official; Zona freshman Nick Johnson is the Wildcat representative on my “All-Boy Team.” He had 14 points, 6 assists, and 3 boards in his collegiate debut.
ST. JOHN’S 78, Lehigh 73
It was good to see Steve Lavin back on the sidelines after battling prostate cancer this off-season. Same story as the William & Mary game for the Red Storm; get into halftime hole, use defense to force turnovers and get fast break buckets to battle back and ultimately win the game. By the way, Lehigh’s nickname is the Mountain Hawks?
ARIZONA 67, Duquesne 59
With no true go-to player, it is going to be a night by night situation for Zona to see who steps up when needed. On this night, it was Jordin Mayes who knocked down some key triples late in the game.
Akron 68, MISSISSIPPI STATE 58
Uh-oh. Are the Bulldogs in for another year where they have a lot of talent but can’t put it all together? Maybe it’s the Renardo Sidney jinx.
North Carolina 67, Michigan State 55
What an absolutely remarkable college basketball scene. It was truly breath-taking and practically unbelievable to watch a game played on an aircraft carrier. Even President Obama was in the house. Click here if you missed his pre-game speech. The biggest thing I took away from this game was John Henson’s performance. He is so insanely long and can change a game defensively; doing so against the Spartans with nine blocked shots. (I still hate him though for what he did to my Marquette boys in the Sweet 16 last year.)
UCONN 70, Columbia 57
First impression of Andre Drummond; dude’s got a long way to go in his development if he is going to be the top overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. The Husky backcourt of Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb are a lot of fun to watch. Kemba who? Ha.
MARQUETTE 91, Mount St. Mary’s 37
Since this game was such a blow-out, allow me to pontificate on Golden Eagle freshman Juan Anderson being suspended for accepting a ticket to a Brewers playoff game… Dumb, Juan. Really dumb. Even more dumb for whoever gave him the ticket. If Juan asked me for a Skittle, I’d say no just to make sure I didn’t commit a NCAA violation.
DUKE 77, Belmont 76
This score shouldn’t be that surprising since Belmont returns a ton of talent from last year’s 30-win team. It pained me to see Mason Plumlee play as well as he did.
Loyola Marymount 69, UCLA 58
Guard play is the concern for the Bruins and their four guards combined to go 6-23 from the field, 1-10 from three. Josh Smith still looks really large in case you were curious. By the way, the arena was half empty for this game which I found surprising.
WISCONSIN 85, Kennesaw State 31
Get used to hearing the name, Ben Brust. The Badgers sophomore guard is going to be a keep piece of Wisconsin this season due to his ability to score the basketball.
DUKE 96, Presbyterian 55
How’s this for a drinking game, anytime Doc Rivers, Dell Curry, or the Plumlee parents are shown, take a drink. You’ll be hammered by halftime.
Cleveland State 71, VANDERBILT 58
With Festus Ezeli out of the line-up for most, if not all of the non-conference schedule, Vandy cannot afford to have an off night from John Jenkins like they did during this game (just 5-14 FG, 2-8 3PT-FG.) Credit to the Vikings though as they were certainly the aggressor in this one.
ARIZONA 73, Ball State 63
Cardinals were actually in control of this one until midway through the second half. How about this though… stud Wildcat freshman point guard Josiah Turner has gone from starter to being benched in four games. Ball State’s Jarrod Jones definitely helped his NBA Draft stock in this one.
Rewind
TERRIBLE ANNOUNCER LINE OF THE WEEK:
“That would have been a storybook ending for Kevin.”-Corey Williams, FS Pacific after Kevin Parrom missed a three-pointer with 5:30 left in the game. There was 5:30 left in the game, Corey. How would that have been a storybook ending? Get used to reading a lot of dumb quotes from Corey. He is full of them.
RIDICULOUS STAT LINE OF THE WEEK:
Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins vs. Oregon: 24 pts, 8-19 FG, 7-16 3-PT FG. (16 three-point attempts? DAMN GINA!)
DUNK OF THE WEEK:
Fast Forward
Belmont at Memphis, Tuesday 11:00 a.m., ESPN
24 hours of college basketball makes me happy. Very, VERY happy. Belmont nearly knocked off Duke at Chapel Hill and will certainly give Memphis a run for their money.
Duke vs. Michigan State, Tuesday 6:00, ESPN
The Spartans opened with North Carolina and get Duke in their second game. That is what they call a brutal start to the season.
Florida at Ohio State, Tuesday 7:00, ESPN
I’m intrigued to see the Jared Sullinger/Patric Young match-up inside. Both are big boys and love to be physical in the paint. Should be a fun to battle to watch.
Kentucky vs. Kansas, Tuesday 8:00, ESPN
This game lacks the juice it would regularly have since the Jayhawks lose so much from last season’s team. Still, you can’t go wrong with watching two of the most historic college basketball programs of all time go head-to-head.
Pre-Season Tourney Time
The Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Charleston Classic, and 2K Sports Classic start up the pre-season tournaments. Look for in-depth previews later this week.
Louisville at Butler, Saturday 1:00, ESPN3
The Bulldogs were upset by Northern State in an exhibition game so it will be interesting to see how they stack up against a top ten team in the country. The Cardinals will be without sharpshooter/white trash lookalike Mike Marra for the rest of the season after he tore his ACL in Sunday’s game versus Lamar.
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.
You can follow him on Twitter at DavidKay_TSB.
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