College Hoops 101

By David K.

Welcome to a new weekly article at thesportsbank.net where I will give you the 101 on what has happened in the week of college basketball and what is to come in the days ahead.  Feast Week lived up to the hype and put the Top 25 teams a bit into perspective early in the season.

Rewind

-North Carolina proved they are the dominant team in the country by scoring a 15-point victory against Notre Dame in the Maui Invitational title game.  UConn looked like the #2 team overall by taking care of Miami (FL) and Wisconsin in the Paradise Jam Tournament.  Syracuse had my back in picking them as a pre-season sleeper because they beat ranked teams Florida and Kansas on back-to-back nights in Kansas City.  Plus, we saw great tourney tilts between Final Four caliber teams like Oklahoma/Purdue, Texas/Notre Dame, Tennessee/Georgetown, Tennessee/Gonzaga, Maryland pulling off the upset of Michigan State, and Western Kentucky doing the same to #3 Louisville.  Forget the traditional Thanksgiving football; it was all about college hoops this final week in November.

-I did a quadruple-take when I saw that Stephen Curry was held scoreless and attempted just three field goals in a 30-point win against Loyola (MD).  When I read the game recap, it made a lot of sense.  Let the guys from PTI explain:

-For my weekly Marquette homering; I witnessed Dayton break an NCAA record by going 0-24 from three in a two-point overtime win against Auburn at the Chicago Invitational.  The next night the Flyers dominated the Golden Eagles, 89-74 by out-Marquetting Marquette.  I guess MU wasn’t going to be unbeaten anyway, but let’s hope they learned a few things from this loss.

Fast Forward

-The 10th annual Big Ten-ACC Challenge tips-off Monday night.  It will be highlighted by North Carolina’s match-up with Michigan State Wednesday at Ford Field and Duke’s trip to Purdue on Tuesday.  I would be surprised if the ACC doesn’t clean-up once again.

-Another great non-conference game featuring potential Final Four teams will take place Thursday when UCLA visits Texas.  In case you haven’t seen Bruin freshman Jrue Holliday or the Longhorns’ Damion James play yet, this is a great chance to check them out.

-Wisconsin at Marquette on Saturday!  If you don’t live in Wisco, you don’t understand the importance of one of the best non-conference rivalries in the nation.  Look for my in-depth breakdown of this match-up later in the week.

-Also look for my first 2009 NBA Mock Draft to be posted in the next day or two.  Chad Ford’s got NOTHIN’ on me!

The Push to 225

I set an over/under for myself at the beginning of the season.  My goal is watch at least 225 college basketball games this season thanks to the wonder that is DVR.  To clarify, I have to watch the entire game from opening tip to the final whistle, unless it is a blow-out in the later minutes and the scrubs are brought in for garbage time.  Here is my weekly update:

Games watched through 11/30:  36

Games watched this past week: 19
Indiana vs. Notre Dame
Texas vs. St. Joseph’s
Wisconsin vs. UConn
Florida vs. Syracuse
Georgetown vs. Wichita State
Texas vs. Oregon
Purdue vs. Boston College
Wake Forest vs. Cal-State Fullerton
UAB vs. Boston College
Georgetown vs. Tennessee
Dayton vs. Auburn
Marquette vs. Northern Iowa
Arizona State vs. Baylor
Wisconsin vs. UW-Milwaukee
Marquette vs. Dayton
West Virginia vs. Kentucky
Georgetown vs. Maryland
Tennessee vs. Gonzaga
Wake Forest vs. Baylor