Changing of the Guard

 Zags Go Down

I apologize for not getting this post out sooner; I was occupied with things to do, events to watch, and hours to drive for almost all of my waking energy this weekend. Without further ado, let's get into the game.

Duke edged out the Gonzaga Bulldogs 84-81 this Friday night. I anticipate the Blue Devils will claim the No. 1 ranking in the AP top 25, while Gonzaga falls anywhere between 3rd and 5th.

It was a back and forth contest throughout the entire night, but the ending few sequences exhibited why Duke came out victorious: they clamped down and played some lockdown defense when they had to. They forced the Bulldogs to commit 17 turnovers (5 blocks and 2 steals from Mark Williams alone), and a balanced scoring attacked from Banchero, Williams, and Moore resulted in a Duke win.

On Gonzaga's end, they definitely didn't shoot the three-ball like they normally do, posting a mark of just 6 for 21 (28.6%) from beyond the arc. Drew Timme also missed a couple late shots down low that he usually makes. Had those gone in, the Bulldogs wouldn't have been in a situation where they had no choice but to foul.

Either way, both teams showed that they are elite forces in the realm of college basketball. And one last thing: god damn does Chet Holmgren look like a stick out on the court.

Thanksgiving Weekend Update

Upset of the Year?

Good evening! I hope you all are enjoying Thanksgiving break. While football may have stolen the show on Thursday, let's not forget about the other days of the week. We have some games to talk about:

Wild Finish in Orlando

The ending of Kansas vs. Dayton at the ESPN Events Invitational was genuinely not scriptable. I'm still in utter shock that such a shot could fall. What kind of arc did Mustapha Anzil put on that shot? Regardless, the Flyers showed a lot of grit in this game, albeit aided by some poor free throw shooting from the Kansas Jayhawks (9-20). Not to be overlooked is a well-called timeout by Dayton's coach Anthony Grant. After Kansas went on a 12-2 run to go up 73-70, Grant got his team doing what worked: playing more physical ball and working the paint. Dayton drew a tough offensive foul on Kansas' final possession, leading to the prayer that gave them the victory (Seriously, how did that go in?).

In the meantime, I'm currently watching Gonzaga duke it out with the Blue Devils (definitely an unintended pun), and it's been everything you can ask for in a contest between two bluebloods. Duke is certainly giving the Zags far more of a game than UCLA could provide, and I'll be sure to offer my thoughts on the match tomorrow when it's all said and done.

Power Conference Looking Weak

 Big Tendencies to Lose

In my last post, I already covered Seton Hall's upset victory over the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor. However, the Big Ten's ranked teams haven't stopped losing yet. Today, I'll be discussing three more teams in this conference that suffered unexpected defeats in their recent contests.

#10 Illinois 66 - 67 Marquette

A 12-point lead with just under 10 minutes remaining eventually narrowed down to a wild finish in Milwaukee. With the help of two clutch steals in the final minute by Tyler Kolek (also made the go-ahead layup) and Kur Kuath, the Golden Eagles eked out a one-point victory against the Fighting Illini. This result suggests that Illinois may not be in the same stratosphere as they were last season, but is more so the foundations of conference hierarchy as a whole: the Big East is stronger than the Big Ten. Shaka Smart has also done an impressive job so far in his first year with Marquette, already silencing expectations to finish 9th in the Big East with wins over Illinois and West Virginia. This will be a solid tournament team.

#20 Maryland 66 - 71 George Mason

This game was weird. I can't help but feel like Maryland was controlling the tempo for much of the game (at least in the second half). There were too many possessions where Mark Turgeon's Terps stifled George Mason for almost the entire shot clock for the Patriots to come away with a bucket at the very end. That being said, it was an inefficient night for Eric Ayala (6-17), and Maryland just could not muster up a stop when they needed to. Josh Oduro's experience came in clutch for George Mason time and time again with clutch baskets down low. While Maryland will almost certainly fall out of the top 25, it'll be interesting to see how George Mason and the Atlantic 10 perform down the stretch.

#19 Ohio State 65 - 71 Xavier

Third time's the charm for this Buckeyes squad: as in they lost to the third Ohio opponent they faced. After a nail biter over Akron and a blowout against Bowling Green, it was the Musketeers who finally took Ohio State Down. E.J. Liddell kept them in the game despite playing through 3 fouls for a significant portion of the contest, but Xavier was always a step ahead. While the Musketeers didn't shoot well from beyond the arc (5-24), they spread the floor and were extremely effective at creating shots for the team as a whole. I'm most definitely excited to watch the Big East this season with all the competition that looks to be present in this conference.

A Couple of Notable Upsets

Top Teams Taken Down 

A week of college basketball is officially in the books! With a relatively static first week of the season, last night saw a couple teams stake their claim in the 2021-22 season, building their resume early with some marquee non-conference victories:

Seton Hall

Projected as a bubble team, the Pirates nabbed what is one of the most impressive wins to date for any team: a road win over the 6th-ranked Michigan Wolverines. Seton Hall trailed for much of the second half, but were in a virtual deadlock for the final few minutes. The Pirates found themselves up 2 when Terrance Williams drew a foul with 0.8 left in regulation, but fortunately for Seton Hall, he missed the first free throw and accidentally banked the second in. The theme in this game was bench scoring; while the Wolverines only had 9 points total off the bench, Seton Hall had 37 (including 13 apiece from Tray Johnson and Bryce Aiken). Michigan should be fine. They just need the season to mature with their young squad. Seton Hall, however, has the ability to cement themselves as a Big East contender.

BYU

This team is also seen as a bubble team at the onset of this young season. While their win over the #12 Oregon Ducks in Portland isn't nearly as impressive as going into Ann Arbor and coming out victorious, you cannot overlook that margin of victory. 32 points! The Cougars just shot so much better, netting 59.6% from the field (40.9% from beyond the arc) compared to Oregon's measly 32.1% field goal success rate. Alex Barcello was absolutely fantastic tonight; he shot 9-11 for 25 points and used his agility to the fullest to get clean drives to the rim. This is a veteran BYU team that could finally see itself go deep into the NCAA Tournament this season.

Watching a Bit of Ball

Brief Look at the Trojans Victory

Tonight, I decided to put on some college basketball. I saw that the newly-ranked USC Trojans were in a competitive contest with one of our historical favorite Cinderellas, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Throughout much of the second half, USC seemed a bit off; they were struggling from the floor to say the least. Luckily for them, FGCU wasn't able to capitalize nearly as much as they would've liked, and USC definitely benefitted off the second-chance buckets. It's no wonder that they pulled away later in the game as soon as their shooters got into form.

Opening Night Recap

 College Basketball Season Officially Underway

Hello everyone! I'm just as excited as anyone to finally see some college ball being played while the NFL still dominates Sundays. I've never followed the sport this early on into the season, so seeing teams dramatically change in perception on a game to game basis will take some getting used to. Without further ado, here are some of my thoughts on the opening night of the season:

Battle of Ohio Down to the Wire

Not many people were expecting it, but Akron came just a few ticks away from topping its in-state rival in the Ohio State Buckeyes. I'm not sure if the latter's #17 ranking will hold, but from watching the match, its tightness was more of a testament to how impressive the Zips played rather than a poor performance from Ohio State. Akron was playing some very composed basketball, and if not for a defensive breakdown on their final defensive possession, they'd have walked out of Columbus with a marquee victory. The Buckeyes did the minimum that they had to do last night; walk away with a win. They're going to need to prove themselves against Duke and/or Kentucky in their respective non-conference tilts (we'll talk about these two teams later) For Akron, however, prospects of claiming the automatic bid from the MAC already seem very plausible.

Top 25 Teams Mostly Clean House

While the preseason rankings should be taken with a huge grain of salt, almost of them did end up winning last night. Third-ranked Kansas comfortably defeated the Spartans in East Lansing, spreading the floor extremely well. Michigan State kept it within arms reach for much of the game, but the Jayhawks went on a huge run mid-way through the second half and Michigan State never recovered.

I didn't watch most of the other games, but some teams towards the lower end of the top 25 took some extra time to dispose of their opponent: St. Bonaventure let Siena stay in it for a half, as did Tennessee with UT Martin and Arkansas with Mercer. The Houston Cougars needed overtime to get past the CAA staple of Hofstra, and they would have walked away with an ugly blemish on their resume had Jamal Shead not intercepted an inbounds pass with 30 seconds left en route to a game-tying three.

The one elephant in the room is the 25th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, suffering an unexpected home loss to Navy. They were sloppy with the ball all night long (14 turnovers) and couldn't recover from their early hole. Virginia gets a chance at redemption against the aforementioned Cougars in six days.

Coach K With a Swan Song Squad to Remember

I didn't watch the full game since I was extremely tired, but my god did Duke look good. This game was back and forth during the early portion of the second half, but the Blue Devils simply outpaced Kentucky during the contest and maintained a comfortable lead. While Paolo Banchero was productive despite playing through injury, the real star for Duke was Trevor Keels: with 25 points on 10/18 shooting, Keels dominated with clutch buckets time and time again. He was so effective at driving to the rim that Duke's measly 7.7% 3-point shooting percentage was hardly noticeable in this victory against the Wildcats. Mike Krzyzewski may have one last run to the final four before calling it quits.