Gopher Basketball
The Golden Gophers
*Crickets chirping. . .crickets chirping. . .crickets chirping*
The Big Ten
* Quite an entertaining ballgame down in Columbus today with the Buckeyes prevailing late on a Mike Conley Jr. runner in the lane. Hard to believe after watching Conley’s electric play that some highly reputed basketball minds claimed he was riding the Greg Oden wave into a scholarship with the Buckeyes and wasn’t a Big Ten player. As for Wisconsin, you may choose to hate our neighbors to the east, but they’re not going away even with Alando Tucker and Kam Taylor as seniors. Watching Jason Bohannon light it up today, in combination with previously impressive efforts from Marcus Landry makes me think the Badgers will have the players ready to step in and keep them a legitimate contender in the Big Ten. Sorry to say, fellow Gopher fans.
* Speaking of Bohannon, pretty interesting tidbit that his father was a starting quarterback for the Hawkeyes back in the early ’80s. We may lament losing Joe Krabbenhoft to the Badgers, but how must Iowa fans feel about losing Bohannon to Bucky? I’m sure it just extends the love-hate relationship with Steve Alford for the Iowa fans.
National Scene
* Earlier this week, Snoop did an interesting analysis on top recruits and where they end up going to nationally-one of the anomalies being Herb Pope a top 20 small forward from Pennslyvania who committed to New Mexico State. Why would such a talented kid head to the remote WAC conference to play? Well, it appears that Reggie Theus is looking to fashion the next renegade program on the college basketball scene. If you look at the current roster for the Aggies, it is largely constructed of transfers from other programs, some of those transfers carrying considerable baggage, such as PG Elijah Ingram who transferred from St. John’s after being involved in the scandal involving a curfew violation at a strip club, with alleged charges of gang rape against several St. John’s players which were found to be false charges, but nonetheless scarred the St. John’s program. The leading scorer from last year, Tyrone Nelson was indicted this fall for allegations that he robbed a pizza delivery man, charges he denies, yet he continues to play for the Aggies.
What does this have to do with Pope? Well, from all indications Pope is another questionable character guy coming to Las Cruces. He’s of the Trevor Mbawke school for bouncing between high schools, he was sent home from an AAU tournament this past summer because of misconduct, and perhaps most damning, is the fact that Memphis and Kansas State curbed their enthusiasm for Pope on the recruiting trail. Let me say that again-Memphis and Kansas State curbed their enthuiasm for Pope! When those programs are backing off, you have to wonder.
So, what exactly is Reggie Theus up to in Las Cruces? Perhaps nothing more than giving players second chances, and there are respected programs out there who do this regularly (Oklahoma State comes to mind). Perhaps, but things do seem a bit fishy. Will the NCAA and media begin scrutinizing the Aggies if/when they begin to win? Will Theus still be around or will he be chasing NBA aspirations as a coach?
A couple other interesting side items on this topic-do you recall where Theus played his college ball? He suited up for Coach Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV. I find that interesting. Want something more interesting? The athletic director at New Mexico State is McKinley Boston. After the mess he found himself in at the “U”, you would figure that Boston would distance himself as far as possible from any such controversy again. You would figure that, but who knows?
* Speaking of Oklahoma State, earlier this year, I saw a potential Final Four sleeper. Now, I see a team on the outside looking in for a NCAA tournament berth. What happened with this squad? I’m not quite sure. They have a nice inside outside combination in Mario Boggan and JamesOn Curry, a lockdown defender in Marcus Dove, and other nice role players. It appears their overall team defense is their biggest downfall, which is pretty shocking when you consider that was the hallmark of Oklahoma State under Eddie Sutton.
* When you look to your NCAA bracket in a couple weeks, you might be swayed to pick an early round upset by some upstart playing Kansas. It could happen, but their freshman point guard Sherron Collins is beginning to make me have some confidence in the Jayhawks. He’s a dynamic player, both scoring and distributing the ball, and as his minutes have increased, it appears his confidence has also. Having the ball in the hand of a guard who can score or dish in the crucial waning minutes is a pretty big deal-the Jayhawks look to have that with Collins.
* Maryland, welcome back to the NCAA’s. After a two year hiatus, it was appearing a couple weeks ago as if the Terrapins might miss the tournament once again, but their win against North Carolina today should have cemented a berth for them in the tourney.
* I don’t know if anyone else caught the high school game showcased on ESPN this past Thursday that showcased O.J. Mayo’s team. I watched it briefly and one thought kept coming to mind-how tough of a job Tim Floyd is going to have next year meshing Mayo with his veteran team. Mayo has a top twenty teammate in power forward Patrick Patterson, but during this game Patterson had only taken something along the line of four shots deep into the game, while Mayo was lighting up the scoreboard. If everyone returns, how will supreme talents like Nick Young, Gabe Pruitt, and Taj Gibson adjust to the freshman Mayo? This isn’t even touching upon the considerable baggage and ego that Mayo will bring to the Los Angeles campus, as he attempts to be the basketball version of Reggie Bush. I already predict this will be the most intriguing storyline for college basketball, 2007-08.
Games of the Week
Monday
Georgetown vs. Syracuse-The Hoyas moved past Pitt for the Big East lead this weekend, and will try to main sole possession against the Orange, who with a win here could go a long ways toward moving off the bubble in the right direction.
runner up
Kansas vs. Oklahoma-Not much for match-ups tonight, but I’ll go with this as the runner-up, as the Jayhawks try to move towards a #1 seed and Oklahoma tries to make itself a tournament contender.
Tuesday
BYU vs. Air Force-This match-up lost some luster with Air Force losing to TCU on Saturday, but it still should be a pretty competitive matchup between two NCAA bound teams from the Mountain West Conference.
runner up
Florida vs. Tennessee-Florida might want to get out of this little funk they are in, before they fritter away a #1 seed. Tennessee is, of course, on the bubble and a win here might help their cause a bit.
Wednesday
Texas A&M vs. Texas-The game in College Station a couple weeks ago ended up a blowout, but was pretty entertaining through about thirty minutes. Perhaps we’ll get a full forty minutes of tense action in Austin.
runner up
Maryland vs. Duke-I cringe to put this game down, as I can see a Duke lovefest being foisted upon us, as the commentators tell us how resilient these Duke players are. This has become one of the most heated rivalries in college basketball, hopefully we’ll see a spirited contest tonight.
Thursday
UCLA vs. Washington State-Quite a showdown in Pullman-whoever thought that a game featuring the Cougars in March would be so compelling?
runner up
Virginia Tech vs. Virginia-Just curious if this will become a heated rivalry in ACC country.
Friday
Time to catch the Oscar nominated or winning films that you missed in the theatres that are now out on DVD.
Saturday
Texas vs. Kansas-Kevin Durant at Allen Field House, what more do you want?
runner up
Pitt vs. Marquette-Two slumping Big East teams try to get back on track against one another.
Sunday
Duke vs. North Carolina-Who’s feeling a sweep for the Tar Heels?
runner up
Boston College vs. Georgia Tech-Two more bubble teams vie to pump up their resume.
Alright everyone, it’s barely past 8 p.m. and my eyelids are drooping. I promise more vim and vigor next Sunday, until then, have a good week and keep in mind, this nightmare of a season is close to being over!