Monday Look Back: Aggies' fine weekend starts with clutch block
Texas A&M used a block at the buzzer to secure a win (and make me look smart), Louisville recorded a notable victory, St. John's recorded (another) terrible loss, and Jimmer Fredette abused Arizona. Again. In other words, it was a wild weekend in college basketball. Let's review the highlights (and lowlights) in the Monday Look Back.
|
|
| Isaiah Thomas' attempt at a game-winner is rejected by the Aggies' David Loubeau. (AP) |
Worst game of the weekend: Syracuse led 46-8 at halftime Saturday and cruised -- and I mean really cruised -- to a 100-43 win over Colgate. The shellacking inspired me to compile a list of things that would've been more competitive against the Orange than Colgate. The list is as follows, and ranked in order: 1) Crest 2) Aquafresh 3) Mentadent 4) Pepsodent 5) Crest Kids Barbie Burstin' Bubblegum Gel.
Win to brag about: Louisville's 7-0 start was easy to discount entering the weekend because the only memorable win was against a Butler team three other schools have since topped. But things became much more difficult to disregard Saturday when the Cardinals improved to 8-0 with a 77-69 victory over a UNLV team that was previously undefeated with wins over Wisconsin and Virginia Tech. Granted, I still can't guarantee Louisville will finish in the top half of the Big East, mostly because the Big East is stacked, but there's no denying the Cards are better than most anticipated, Rick Pitino included. The Hall of Fame coach had previously called this a "bridge" season to the future. After the win over UNLV, he acknowledged "the future can be this year."
Loss to hide from: The one positive about St. John's losing 67-66 last week to the team picked 13th in the Atlantic 10 (St. Bonaventure) was that it really couldn't get any worse for the Red Storm, I figured. But then they lost 84-81 to the team picked 14th in the Atlantic 10 (Fordham) on Saturday, and that's technically worse. So I had things pegged all wrong.
Player who deserves improper benefits: Sean Miller's Arizona Wildcats held Jimmer Fredette to 16 fewer points Saturday than he scored against them last season. That's the good news. The bad news is that Fredette scored 49 against them last season, which means he scored 33 this time around, and that's the biggest reason BYU cruised to an 87-65 win over Arizona in Salt Lake City. Obviously, I have no idea where Fredette, a senior guard, will play next season. But I bet he's in the NBA. And I bet he has a career-high game against the Suns, just because.
Player who does not deserve improper benefits: Whichever Wildcat was responsible for guarding Jimmer Fredette. I mean, put a hand up. Or talk to an assistant coach about taking Fredette out when he runs down the sideline like that Jets assistant did to that Dolphins player Sunday. Something.
Why I'm smarter than you think: Every time I highlight a game in the "guaranteed to be an upset" portion of the Friday Look Ahead I get a slew of e-mails that explain, often with little detail, how there's no way it'll happen. You know, like there's no way Texas A&M can slow Washington's explosive offense (like I predicted the Aggies would), and there's no way Tennessee can beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh (like I predicted the Vols would).
As you know, both of those things happened Saturday (just like I predicted they would). But instead of taking this opportunity to brag about my brilliance, I would rather use it as a teaching tool, and the lesson is this: When the subject is December college basketball, there's a way for just about anything to happen. Almost nothing is out of the question ... except Saint Louis going into Cameron Indoor Stadium and beating top-ranked Duke. Clearly, that was out of the question, but I told you that in the Friday Look Ahead, too. So perhaps the real lesson is to just trust me. (PS: I was on fire this weekend!)
Why I'm dumber than I think: I did a list of the nation's top 25 point guards and combo guards in the preseason. The list did not include Charles Jenkins. Hardly anybody noticed because hardly anybody knows the Hofstra guard. But his 32-point performance (on just 14 field-goal attempts) in Saturday's loss to Florida Atlantic reminded me that I was wrong. It was Jenkins' second consecutive 30-point game (he actually got 40 against Binghamton last week), and he really is having a terrific season. The senior from New York is averaging 25.3 points and 4.2 assists while shooting 59 percent from the field and 48 percent from 3-point range. So I'm not sure where he belonged on that preseason list, but I know he belonged somewhere.
Three things you should know before you go
1. DraftExpress.com's Jonathan Givony updated his 2011 Mock NBA Draft on Friday. The first five college players listed are all freshmen. They are (in order): Kyrie Irving (Duke), Perry Jones (Baylor), Harrison Barnes (North Carolina), Enes Kanter (Kentucky) and Terrence Jones (Kentucky). The highest-rated upperclassman is Kemba Walker (Connecticut).
2. Dinos Trigonis told Scout.com on Sunday that he believes Kentucky, Kansas and Texas are the co-favorites to land Deandre Daniels, a 6-7 forward Trigonis coached last summer. Daniels, arguably the nation's top uncommitted prospect, currently attends IMG Academy in Florida. He's expected to enroll in college somewhere next month, though Trigonis told Scout.com that Daniels will not play college basketball until the 2011-12 season even if he's eligible to play the second semester of this season.
3. Memphis announced late Sunday that Angel Garcia is leaving the program to pursue a professional career overseas. That development, combined with the loss of Wesley Witherspoon (knee surgery), leaves the Tigers with just three healthy and eligible players who were a part of this program last season. The top six healthy scorers (Will Barton, Joe Jackson, Chris Crawford, Charles Carmouche, Tarik Black and Antonio Barton) are all first-year Tigers, which means Memphis is relying on newcomers more than any Top 25 team in the country.
On tap: San Diego State tries to move to 11-0 for the first time in school history Monday when the Aztecs host Cal Poly. Mississippi State plays its fourth game in a four-day span Tuesday, this time against Alabama State. Baylor has its first game in 13 days Wednesday when Bethune-Cookman visits the Ferrell Center. Gonzaga gets a chance to snap its three-game losing streak Thursday when the Zags meet Lewis & Clark State at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Final thought: You might've noticed from the "on tap" portion of the column that this week is going to be terrible. There are no games scheduled between ranked teams until Saturday, and barely any games between good teams because lots of schools are taking finals. So while I don't hate finals week as much now as I hated it when I was college, rest assured, I still hate it. I won't stay up all night studying for it like I used to, and that's great. But I'll be bored until at least the weekend, and that stinks worse than St. John's record against bottom-tier A-10 schools.
