Fridays are for high school football, movie openings, jeans at the office and all sorts of nice things, but it's the most irrelevant day of the week when it comes to college basketball. There's hardly ever anything worth mentioning that happens on a Friday. So you can imagine my excitement when I looked at the schedule months ago and realized this Friday could produce tournament showdowns featuring UCLA-Duke and Memphis-Southern California.
Dig that.
It was going to be great.
And then guess what happened?
Michigan beat UCLA and Seton Hall beat USC.
So a bad Thursday for those two Los Angeles-based schools has ruined the Friday I anticipated. But because I'm a trooper, I'll proceed the best I can and get on with the Friday Look Ahead, the letdown edition.
Game worth flying to see in person: Don't get me wrong. What Michigan is doing behind Manny Harris is impressive, and I won't be shocked if the Wolverines edge Duke just like they did UCLA. But when you're expecting Duke-UCLA and end up with Duke-Michigan, it's just kind of disappointing, not unlike when you're expecting a new HDTV for Christmas and you open the box only to realize you've been given a glorified computer monitor without HD capabilities. That happened to me last year, by the way, and it was fine. Thought that counts, and all that. But when you expect HD you want HD, and when you expect Duke-UCLA you want Duke-UCLA.
Game worth driving to see in person: John Calipari mentioned many times how "people" had been telling him that a possible matchup with Southern California in the Puerto Rico Tip-off could be the "best non-conference game of the year." Turns out, we'll never know because the Trojans lost to Seton Hall in the quarterfinals, meaning we'll now get Memphis vs. Seton Hall on Friday night, which is good but not quite as good as the Tyreke Evans-DeMar DeRozan showdown that could've been.
Game worth watching on TV: The crowds at the Puerto Rico Tip-off have been awful, like something you might see at a college volleyball match. And not just any volleyball match; I'm talking about a really bad one. So I'd like to take this moment to try to boost attendance and let the natives know that one of their own -- Virginia Tech senior A.D. Vassallo -- will be on display Friday when the Hokies meet Xavier in the semifinals. Vassallo is from Toa Baja, which is like 30 minutes from San Juan. So fill the gym, my Puerto Rican friends. Toa Baja in the house! Represent!
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| James Florence is rather proud that Mercer of the Atlantic Sun is off to an impresssive start. (AP) |
An obvious prediction: Among the nation's 0-3 teams is Morehead State, which specializes in taking paychecks from schools and losing as planned. Next up on the Eagles' journey is Louisville, and so that 0-3 should turn to 0-4 at some point Saturday night.
A crazy prediction (but it might happen anyway): Ah, what the hell? Let's try Michigan over Duke behind a 25-point effort from Harris. If Jimmy Baron almost got the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium then I don't see why Harris can't get them in Madison Square Garden. Unless Rich Rodriguez screws it up, of course.
Player trying to keep rolling: Blake Griffin was the player most questioned when I posted the CBSSports.com All-American teams. Some readers suggested the Oklahoma sophomore's inclusion was based on NBA potential more than what he had actually done, because they swore he hadn't done much. Well, he's certainly done much now. Griffin is averaging 23 points and 19 rebounds through three games, including a 25-point, 21-rebound effort Tuesday against Davidson. So I imagine any preseason doubters have become in-season believers heading into the Sooners' game Saturday with Gardner-Webb, right?
Player trying to get rolling: How did Southern California lose to Seton Hall? There were a lot of factors, obviously, but it didn't help that DeRozan took only four shots, made only one and finished with three points in 20 minutes. That's not the stat line of a star, and the freshman wing needs to be better to ensure USC escapes Puerto Rico without further damage, starting with Friday against Chattanooga and ending with a possible Sunday tilt with Missouri.
Three things you should know before you go
1. Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils will fly home after their game Friday with Michigan and return to the court for a Sunday afternoon game against Montana. That means Duke is in the middle of a four-games-in-eight-days stretch, complete with a trip to New York.
2. The nation's leading scorer is -- surprise, surprise -- Stephen Curry. He's averaging 35.3 points through three games, and he'll return to action Friday night when Davidson hosts Winthrop.
3. Further proof Pat Knight is way different from his father came Thursday when Texas Tech beat East Central 167-115 by presumably using Mike Leach's playbook. The explosive Red Raiders will be back on the court Saturday when they play host to Eastern Kentucky.
Final thought: I'll be spending the weekend in Utah, taking in the Rice-BYU game Friday night and seeing whether the Cougars can extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 50. The smart money has them doing it, and if you're looking for a silver lining in the UCLA and USC losses, it's that there was a part of me that was worried I would be at BYU wishing I was in New York (watching Duke-UCLA) or Puerto Rico (watching Memphis-USC).
But not anymore.
I'll be content in Utah.
And I can't wait to get there.
