Friday, January 4, 2008

Coast to Coast...like Tyus Edney against Mizzou


Sorry for the slow start this morning. Still adjusting to the weak eastern time zone. How about them Jayhawks? We'll do a write-up on them later, but props to Mark Mangino and his staff for the greatest season in Kansas Football history after winning the Orange Bowl 24-21 last night.

Should I be worried as a regular, non-Christian or god-fearing American that Mike Huckabee won the Republican Iowa Causus? The good news is that it is just Iowa and we've still got a while to go. Barack Obama took the Caucus on the Democratic side. Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansen was out stumping for Obama in Iowa.

Early candidate for quote of the year: West Virginia Booster and managing partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks Ken Kendrick had the following comment on
West Virginia promoting Bill Stewart to head coach the day after winning the Fiesta Bowl: "He is so overmatched it's not even funny," said Kendrick, managing partner of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. "He's a nice guy and a father figure. But they had a wonderful architecht and they hired the painter to build the next house."

Speaking of West Virginia, our entire flight back east from Phoenix was loaded with geared up Mountaineer fans. Is it just me, or is it strange to still be in full gear the DAY AFTER a game?

Everyone's boy Stephen A. Smith bought furniture
in the third person. Check out the link. What a douche.

A SUNY Geneseo student gets
arrested for selling anti-Isiah t-shirts. True story.

The great Amy Fisher is evidently
a porn star and a DJ.

#15 Vanderbilt 76 Rice 58 - The Commodores are now 14-0 and I'm still not impressed. Memo to Kevin Stallings: anytime you want to play real competition, call us. Shan Foster had 24 points to lead all scorers.

#21 Arizona 76 Oregon State 63 - Playing once again without PG Jerryd Bayless, the Cats overcame a slow start (and a six point halftime deficit) and outscored the Beavers 50-31 in the second half to run away with it. Chase Budinger struggled with his shot (5-14) but finished with 20 points. The most underrated big man in the country, Jordan Hill, also scored 20 to go with 14 rebounds. But it was the huge contribution from PG Nic Wise who is using the Bayless injury to showcase himself in big minutes. Wise went 7-9 from the field including all three of his triples for 17 points and six assists in 39 minutes. Meanwhile, I've been looking to see what former KU Center CJ Giles is doing at Oregon State. He didn't play last night. When I tried to find out why, I found this: Oregon State didn't have starter C.J. Giles, who was benched for disciplinary reasons."We could have used C.J. tonight," coach Jay John said, "but when you show up late for two practices it is a pretty easy call."

#5 UCLA 76 #20 Stanford 67 - These are the tough, grind it out, road wins that will get UCLA the #1 seed in the West. The Bruins went into Maples Pavilion and controlled the game with their physical style. Josh Shipp nailed five threes to lead all scorers with 21. PG Russell Westbrook was moved back to the bench in favor of a bigger lineup and it worked. Westbrook played 35 minutes and went 6-7 from the field for 15 points. Thanks to the defense of Kevin Love, Alfred Aboya, and Lorenzo Mata-Real, the PF-C combination of the Lopez twins shot 9-25 combined. They both also fouled out. "It was a physical game," Love said. "I could go up and maybe get past one Lopez, but then there would be the other one."


#2 Memphis 102 Siena 58 - It's about time the Tigers got to relax and pound someone. They nailed 15-30 from three point land and outrebounded the Saints 56-38. Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 19 in 20 minutes, but it was little used Freshman Guard Jeff Robinson who stole the show. In 12 minutes, he scored 20 points and and grabbed 10 rebounds. In his previous eight games, he scored 28 points.


Depaul 84 #16 Villanova 76 - I believe we called this last week. Once the Wildcats played someone halfway decent, they would go down. Playing essentially six guys, Depaul jumped out 40-28 at the half and never looked back. All six scored in double figures, led by Draelon Burns' 20. Freshman Corey Fisher had 23 in a losing cause for 'Nova. You won't win many games when you shoot 6-26 from deep.


#11 Marquette 96 Providence 67 - These are the kind of games we expected to see from Marquette at the beginning of the season. 10 three pointers, out-rebounding their opponent by 12, and causing 17 turnovers. Even with Jerel McNeal struggling, the Golden Eagles dominated the game, thanks to Dominic James's 21 on the perimeter and Lazar Hayward's 17 in the paint. I also love teams who can shoot 22-25 from the line.

Other Notables:

Notre Dame 69 West Virginia 56 - The Irish are now 11-2 and the Mountaineers have lost two straight. WVU must have been hung over from the Fiesta Bowl the night before.

Connecticut 98 Seton Hall 86 - Like Vandy, wake me up when UConn beats someone worth taking about. The Huskies are now 10-2.

Ohio State 74 Illinois 58 - In Champaign, the Buckeyes took it to Bruce "Wooden" and the Illini. They have now lost two straight at home. The good news for the Illini, at least this loss was to a reputable team. Their last home loss was to that tough Tennessee State team. At what point does Weber start to hear the buzzards surrounding his head? Meanwhile, the Buckeyes picked up a big road win in conference thanks to Jamar Butler's career-high 32.

Xavier 108 Virginia 70 - Sorry to the Stat Guru, it's been a rough couple of days for your Cavaliers. When Xavier hits 16 of their first 22 three pointers and they drop 61 on your in the first half, you have no shot at winning. Seven Musketeers scored in double figures.

Cal 92 USC 82 - Oj Mayo scored 34. I hope he is enjoying his year of being scouted for the NBA, but the college game is a team sport. His team isn't ranked and and now has four losses. Cal meanwhile picked up a big resume builder win and is now 10-2.

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