Let’s take a look at the past week of Big East basketball.
#5 Pittsburgh Panthers (6-0)
The Panthers proved that there high ranking was not a fluke by winning the this year’s 2K Classic by defeating Maryland 79-70 and Texas 68-66. Pitt’s gritty style of play was the difference in both games in back-to-back days. The games would have been won by an easier margin if the players hit their free throws. In the win over Texas, Pitt shot 13-24 (.542) from the free throw line.
Those eleven misses could have led to a loss. Hopefully, the team will focus on practicing free throw shooting so that it doesn’t haunt them throughout the season.
#16 Georgetown Hoyas (5-0)
Georgetown continues to defeat awful teams with ease. Their latest victory was a 82-67 win over N.C. State on Sunday. Coming into this season, their weakness appeared to be with interior play. However, the Hoyas outrebounded the Wolfpack 42-33. If the rebounding continues to step up to complement the strong perimeter, then Georgetown will have a good season. Their next biggest test will be next Tuesday when they play at #11 Missouri.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0)
Notre Dame continues to throttle weak opposition. Their last victory was on Monday in a 97-72 victory over Maine. The ability for this team to score plenty of points has been surprising since they have scored over ninety points in three of their four wins. However, the Fighting Irish offense will be tested this Thanksgiving weekend as they are one of the eight teams in the annual Old Spice Classic, which is held every year at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Notre Dame’s first game will be Thursday against Georgia. The game will be sort of a challenge for Notre Dame because Georgia prefers to play at a real slow tempo. If they win that game, then they would play the winner of the Temple/California game on Friday in an even bigger test.
Connecticut Huskies (4-0)
Coach Jim Calhoun is back this year with a vengeance. Yesterday evening at the Maui Invitational semifinals, UConn upset #2 Michigan State 70-67. The Huskies were led by Kemba Walker, who scored 30 points in the game. Center Alex Oriakhi had 15 points and 17 rebounds. What was even more surprising was the defense of UConn.
Usually UConn has a bunch of primadonnas that love to play matador defense. Fortunately, that is not the case this year as they outrebounded Michigan State 36-35 and played in your face defense for the entire night. As of now, Walker has been the best player in the NCAA so far. In their four victories, he has averaged thirty points a game.
Nevertheless, the Huskies cannot celebrate too much because they play #8 Kentucky tonight in the Championship Game.
#7 Villanova Wildcats (4-0)
Villanova has pretty much been coasting in their first four victories as they have won each of their four games by a margin of 16 points or more. The Wildcats first test of the season will occur tonight as they play UCLA in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT. If Villanova wins that game, then they would play the winner of the VCU/Tennessee matchup on Friday.
#9 Syracuse Orangemen (4-0)
We have to find out if this is new Speaker of the House John Boehner’s favorite team. Nevertheless, the Orangemen survived a scare on Sunday as they defeated William & Mary 63-60. Syracuse’s three-point shooting was absolutely atrocious (5-22).
This could be a problem for Syracuse later on when conference play begins because easy shots are few and far between in the Big East. You would think that Syracuse would shoot better than that because they practice against their own zone every day, which would enhance shot-making.
Hopefully, Syracuse let go of all of the bricks in their system in that game because they play Michigan on Friday night.
Louisville Cardinal (3-0)
Cardinal Coach Rick Pitino is making sure that this season’s team will not be aborted as they have cruised in three rather easy victories. It’s surprising that they have not been placed in the Top 25 as of yet after they dismantled Butler last week 88-73. Their most recent win was 106-65 over Chattanooga on Monday. They continue to play cupcakes until they play UNLV on Dec. 11.
Cincinnati Bearcats (3-0)
The Bearcats have clawed their way to three victories based upon their solid defense. Even though they have played teams that are not so great, they have held all three opponents to under 60 points. They should be able to continue this winning streak because their non-conference schedule remains horrible.
Providence Friars (4-1)
Providence lost their first game of the season last night by a score of 84-73 to LaSalle in the opening round of the Cancun Challenge. The Friars will play again tonight in the consolation bracket against Wyoming.
This loss is rather troubling for Providence. If they are losing big to LaSalle, then imagine what happens when Big East play begins. Nevertheless, they are in Cancun, so everything is not too bad at this time.
West Virginia Mountaineers (3-1)
West Virginia lost in their last game, a 74-70 loss to Minnesota in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship. However, the Mountaineers won the first two games in the Tip-Off, a 84-70 win over Davidson and a 74-71 win over Vanderbilt.
Although West Virginia lost to Minnesota, the Mountaineers can be proud that they have found their new go-to guy: Casey Mitchell. Mitchell scored 31 against Vandy and 27 against Minnesota. This type of scoring bodes well for the team for the rest of the season because it has enough scoring depth to weather conference play later on. Also, playing two quality teams in back-to-back days will enhance their seeding when Tournament Time comes around in March because the rest of West Virginia’s nonconference schedule is lackluster.
Rutgers Knights (3-1)
After losing their opening game to Princeton, Rutgers responded well by defeating Fairfield, Miami (FL), and Norfolk State by double digits. That is encouraging for Rutgers because Fairfield is favored to win the MAAC Conference and Miami almost beat Memphis last week.
If Rutgers can continue to play like they have in their past three victories, then this team could surprise a few teams later on during the season.
Marquette Golden Eagles (4-2)
Marquette ended up in fourth place in the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic after two close losses. On Monday, they lost to #1 Duke by a score of 82-77. Yesterday, they lost to number #22 Gonzaga in a 66-63 heartbreaker.
It’s good that these games were played early in the season because the team can now fix the three problems that are now holding this team from becoming elite. The first problem is post defense. In the loss to Duke, Mason Plumlee scored a career-high 26 and also had 12 rebounds. In the loss to Gonzaga, Elias Harris, who is clearly overhyped, had his first good game of the season against Marquette by scoring 19 points and 8 rebounds.
The second problem is rebounding in general. Marquette was outrebounded in both losses. To make matters even worse, against Gonzaga, Marquette allowed Gonzaga’s starting point guard Demetri Goodson, who is 5′ 11″, to have nine rebounds. That is pitiful because Marquette lost to a perennially overhyped team in Gonzaga, which means that the outlook for the Golden Eagles will be NIT unless they start collecting boards properly.
The third problem is the most egregious: starting point guard Darius Johnson-Odom is a ballhog. Watch closely as he plays. Every time he brings the ball up the court, he passes it one time. If the ball gets back to him, then he will shoot the ball. His ball-hogging ways cost them dearly in both losses. In the loss to Duke, Marquette erased a nine point deficit to tie the game up at 57 in a four minute run in the second half when Johnson-Odom was on the bench. When Coach Buzz Williams brought him back into the game, Marquette lost. He forces way too many shots. Against Duke, he was 4-15 and against Gonzaga, he was 4-12. Teach him to become a pass-first point guard, Buzz, or Marquette will definitely be in the NIT.
South Florida Bulls (3-2)
The Bulls lost a close game last Thursday at Central Florida 65-59. Fortunately, South Florida has bounced back by winning the first two games in the South Padre Island Invitational over Georgia Southern and Liberty. Unfortunately, their semifinal opponent on Friday will be #23 BYU. If South Florida somehow pulls off the upset, then they will play the winner of St. Mary’s/Texas Tech. Nevertheless, something tells me that Jimmer Fredette will score about 40 on the Bulls.
DePaul Blue Demons (1-1)
DePaul will begin play in the opening round of the 76 Classic on Thanksgiving against Oklahoma State. Fortunately, there is a consolation round in this tournament because in the Blue Demons last game, they lost to Western Carolina. Ouch!
St. John’s Red Storm (1-1)
St. John’s finally gave new Coach Steve Lavin a victory last Wednesday when they defeated Columbia 79-66. The Red Storm will begin play in the Great Alaska Shootout on Wednesday against Ball State. (Once they are up in Alaska, then they can tell Sarah Palin that they can see Russia from Alaska as well!)
It looks like St. John’s should win this tournament because the other six teams are Southern Utah, Drake, Houston Baptist, Arizona State, Weber State, and Alaska-Anchorage. The only team that I would even give a remote chance of beating St. John’s is Weber State.
Seton Hall Pirates (2-3)
Seton Hall suffered a devastating setback when leading scorer Jeremy Hazell broke his wrist and will be out 4-6 weeks. Nevertheless, the Pirates played valiantly in losing both games at the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. They lost 57-52 to Xavier and 64-58 in OT to Clemson. Hopefully, they can continue to hold on until Hazell is able to play.
