What I Want for Christmas: A Ramtastic Rematch

You may have noticed that Rhode Island and North Carolina both wear light blue. You may also have picked up on the fact that they both use a curly-horned ram as their mascot. You have definitely noticed that both teams are doing well this season.

So here's what I want for Christmas - a tournament game between UNC and RI in which Rhody and Rameses can go toe-to-toe, and there's so much light blue in the stands you think you're asleep and dreaming of the cloudless summer sky.

According to my research, the Rams and Tarheels have met just once in March: a 112-67 rout in 1993's second round, as the 1-seed led by Dean Smith advanced over a #8 seed Rams team.

If the tempo established by both teams persists into March, UNC will still have that 1 seed, but Rhody will probably have a 3 or 4. So we'd be talking about a more meaningful game if this comes to pass.

So let's all cross our fingers and pull for this matchup to actually occur. I'm willing to defer until March, Santa.

Here's hoping all of you college hoops maniacs get whatever you asked for this season - whether you've been naughty or nice.

A Turbulent Season at Syracuse

It's been an interesting start to the season for the Syracuse Orange: upsets, ACL injuries and sensational freshmen. To make sense of this, we asked loyal STF reader Jameson Fleming to help explain what is going in the land of 200 inches of snow.

Fleming is a sophomore broadcast-journalism student at Syracuse University. He’s worked at WTKZ and WEEX ESPN radio in the Lehigh Valley, PA and at CitrusTV at Syracuse University. He’s the main writer for the Otto’s Army blog, which is the student section’s blog at Syracuse University. He can be reached at jsflemin@syr.edu.


The Syracuse basketball team has faced its fair share of adversity during the first eleven games of the season. Jim Boeheim’s squad entered the 2007-2008 season with high expectations after three straight seasons of not advancing past the first round of the NCAA tournament. Boeheim brought in one of the most talented freshman classes in the country and school history.

In terms of victories, this season has had its ups and downs. S.U. finally got a road win over a power conference team in Virginia, but has losses to Ohio State, UMASS, and Rhode Island, all of which are potential field of 64 teams. Those losses aren’t the worst the team has suffered.

The Orange lost stud three point shooter junior Andy Rautins to a torn ACL suffered while playing for Team Canada in the FIBA World Championships. The lone senior on the squad, Josh Wright, was expected to back up freshman Jonny Flynn at point guard, but injuries, academic troubles, and personal problems has kept Wright out of action for most the year. The Syracuse Post Standard reported Wright probably has played his last games for the Orange.

In a 125-75 blowout of East Tennessee State, the ‘Cuse set records for field goal percentage shooting, but lost junior shooting guard Eric Devendorf to an ACL injury. Devendorf who made the preseason all Big East team collapsed into the bench in pain. This left the Orange with just seven active scholarship players: Freshman Jonny Flynn, Donte Green, Scoop Jardine, Rick Jacson, sophomore Paul Harris, and juniors Arinze Onuaku and Kristof Ongenaet. Freshman Sean Williams and his 7’9’’ wing span was expected to red-shirt, but the injuries forced him into action Tuesday against Colgate.

In addition to Sean Williams seeing playing time, Jim Boeheim has looked to two other players to fill minutes. Junior walk-on Justin Thomas saw minutes against Colgate as a guard. The other walk-on expected to get some playing time is not at Syracuse to play basketball. Wide receiver for the Syracuse football team, Mike Williams walked onto the basketball team a few weeks ago. He’s already set school receiving records as a sophomore; he caught a touchdown pass in nine straight games to end the season.

Syracuse stands at 8-3 with two non conference games left against Cornell and Northeastern. They stand 20th in the RPI. Donte Green leads the team in points at 19.5, 6’5” Paul Harris is the top rebounder at 9.5 a game, and Jonny Flynn leads the team in assists with 6.3 a game.

Thanks, Jameson. If you'd like to rant about your team - good or bad - get in touch with us at stormingthefloor@gmail.com. Nobody knows your team better than you do.

Singler Fades Into The White Background

I know Duke certainly has their fair share of white basketball players, but Kyle Singler just may be the whitest of them all. That dude's skin looked friggin' transparent on television last night.

Japan is Exporting Guards

The following is a guest post I did for the excellent sports blog With Malice. Don Landrigan, who runs the site, is an Australian living in Japan, so I wanted to do a post about Aussies in the NCAA. Since then, everyone and their brother has done that article, so I decided to go a different, and ultimately more esoteric, direction. Which suits me more than fine.


I won't lie, this post is going to be significantly less majestic than the one I had planned. Back when Don first asked me if I wanted to guest post, I thought it might be fun to look into the sudden surge of Australian players in the U.S., and their ties to the Australian Institute of Sport.

Well, all of a sudden Aussie freshmen Patrick Mills at St. Mary's and A.J. Ogilvy at Vanderbilt start playing like future NBA draft picks and everyone under the sun, including ESPN, is covering the story. So rather than look like a coat-tail ridin' son of a bitch, I figured I'd use some other information I gleaned while perusing rosters.

Since Don lives in Japan, I also happened to notice the names of native Japanese who are playing NCAA basketball. It's a shorter list, but the fact that any Japanese players had come over and played DI at all came as a surprise to me. Are they the precursor to a vast wave of Japanese players? Doubtful. I think we'll see baseball players in the NCAA en masse before we'll see a sudden rash of 5'10" Nipponese point guards. But it's still interesting to look at these unexpected visitors to our shores, so let's do that:

K.J. Matsui, 6'2" Junior Guard (Columbia, Ivy League) - K.J. is billed as the first Japanese player in DI. Matsui is - get this - a great shooter. He's torching the nets, hitting 56% of his three-point tries this season.

Matsui played some high school ball in the U.S., starring at a prep school called Montrose Christian, located in Maryland. Nonetheless, Columbia coach Joe Jones showed serious interest in Matsui by traveling to Tokyo to meet his parents, and garnered a commitment to the top-notch academic institution that does not offer athletic scholarships.

The Lions are 4-6, but that doesn't mean much in a league that serves as cannon-fodder for basketball factories across the nation in November and December. It's the Ivy season - starting January 19th for Columbia - that will tell all.

Matsui has generally provided quick point production off of the bench for the Lions of Manhattan, picking up 15-20 minutes per game in his first two seasons. Over the past three games, however, his game time went from single digits to a season-high 32 minutes in a double-digit win over St. Francis of New York. With a game at powerful Villanova on Saturday the 22nd, we'll see if these longer outings for Matsui are a mirage, or if he's really worked his way into the rotation for good.

(My favorite part of this Matsui photo - the opposing player gnashing his teeth in the background as K.J. lofts his shot)

Taishi Ito, 6'0" Sophomore Guard (Portland, West Coast Conference) - If K.J. was the first Japanese player in DI, Ito was not far behind. And guess where he went to school. Well, lordy be, it's Montrose Christian. Ito was starting point guard for Montrose, and played for a team that defeated prep juggernaut Oak Hill Academy in 2006. The Washington Post made note of the teammates in a 2004 article:

In his 28-year career, (Montrose coach) Vetter has coached players from all over the world, but he said he never thought that a series of clinics for Nike in the Far East five years ago would pay this kind of dividend.

"You just get a general sense that people are surprised [about Matsui and Ito], obviously because it is somewhat unique," said Vetter, whose team has started the season 6-0. "There aren't many Japanese players in this country. But it doesn't take people long to realize that they're very talented."

[Washington Post]

Ito recently missed a few of Portland's games when his father died from a brain tumor, and he flew back to Japan to attend services. Upon his return to action on December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day... oh, the irony) Ito resumed his pace-setting role for the Pilots, putting in a steady 34 minutes per game at the point.

Ito doesn't score much - just 7.1 points per game. He has shown that he can, with identical 13 point, 4 assist outings in losses to Pac-10 teams Oregon and Washington this year (he chipped in four steals vs. the Huskies). So far, however, his shot selection has been deplorable. His career shooting percentage of 33% can attest to that.

Obviously, the Pilots value Ito's services, and he's going to be in the starting lineup for the next two years. It will be interesting to see if he can improve his game.

So those are your Japanese basketball players in DI. A quick look at the current Montrose roster shows no obvious Asian names, so I guess the run has come to an end unless someone else has picked up the thread. Still, I'm geeky enough about college ball that I'll probably keep an eye out for more.

Thanks for the space, Don! Hope you're having a great holiday trip.

Don't forget to visit With Malice for international sports flavor. Don and his regular contributors cover the NBA, MLB, cricket, rugby, and even sumo from time to time.

Breakfast of Champions 12/21: Game of the Young Season

Game of the Night/Year

Pittsburgh 65 Duke 64 (OT)

Once again, general rule for this site: if we make fun of team, expect great things in coming days. I've been one of Pitt's biggest critics, calling them "boring", "overrated" and "lucky" over the past few years (seriously though, take a look at some of the teams they had to beat reach all those Sweet 16s). So yeah, I'm pretty surprised that a game involving Pitt could easily be the most exciting game of the early season. Levance Fields (guessing all that taser action gave him ice cold veins) hit a three pointer from the top of the key with 4.7 seconds remaining to give the Panthers the 65-64 win over the Dukies.

I'll admit that I missed the first half of the game thanks to some last minute Christmas shopping that needed to be finished, so I didn't really get to see how Duke dominated this game in the first half. What I did see was Pittsburgh's double-digit comeback in the final 10 minutes. The Panthers crawled back in typical Pitt fashion: by straight out-muscling Duke and and holding on to the basketball. Same boring Pitt, right? I noticed two major differences: Fields is a true leader on the court who I knew could make that final shot and freshmen DeJuan Blair is a beast in the paint (15 pts and 20 rebounds) and yes, an exciting player from Pitt.

Also discovered a new drinking game watching this one. Everytime that someone describes Pittsburgh as "tough" or "gritty" during a telecast, take a sip. You'll be Huggins-drunk by half.

Also Intriguing
Miami (OH) 61 Illinois 58 (OT)

Leitch hit it right on the nose when describing the Illini: they have no one who seems to score consistently and are looking around for someone to lead this team . While the Redhawks are a legitimate tournament contender (and possibly playing the toughest schedule in America), a team expecting to finish in the top tier of the Big Ten can't lose a game like this at home.


Upset of the Evening Oral Roberts 74 Oklahoma State 59

The battle of Sutton Bothers ends with a victory for older brother Scott. Looks like Sean is going to be sitting at the kid's table for Christmas dinner.


Other Scores

Oklahoma 72 Gonzaga 68

Ole Miss 69 DePaul 63

Saint Mary's 64 Tulane 57

Dick Vitale's Replacement - Gus Johnson

I'm pretty sure that it was the combination of thinking about Vitale's surgery, AA's interview with Gus Johnson, and Arizona announcing that Kevin O'Neill would be Lute Olson's successor that got me thinking about this amazingly awesome idea during one of my 45-minute Kramer style showers.....

With Dick Vitale's declining health and age, now would be the perfect time for him to tab a successor for ESPN college basketball. His successor...........a man named Gus Johnson.

This makes way to much sense. While we expect Vitale to make full recovery, the man is 68 years-old. He won't be calling games forever. And wouldn't Gus be the perfect energy guy to fill the passionate Vitale's role on ESPN? He's clearly one of the most popular and under-appreciated announcers around, and he's currently being wasted by CBS, pretty much calling the entire 2007 Houston Texans season. Why not make the move to ESPN once Vitale steps aside? Sure, that means he'll be off of the NCAA Tournament, but I'm willing to drop one weekend of Gus for an entire season. And it's not like he was going to calling any Final Fours in the near future, as all of the evidence seems to indicate that Billy Packer is not human.

Sure, I'm aware that Gus Johnson is a play-by-play guy and Vitale is color. That's why we'll tab Johnson as the "energy guy" for ESPN college basketball. Doesn't matter where the energy is coming from in the booth, just as long as it's there. I'm sure that there are several color guys who don't scream that you can place next to Johnson. The only one I can see getting burned in this deal is Dan Shulman.

While I know this would ever happen, I guarantee this move would be applauded by 95% of college basketball fans. Because if the Gus move doesn't happen, get ready for a whole lotta Jay Bilas in the future. Think about that...

Hoop Night: 12/20/2007

Hoop Night is your daily preview of televised NCAA action. When Marco and I make fun of a team in this space, that team wins. So pony up some cash, mid-major fans, and we can make sure you'll be dancing in March.


Don't Miss

#9 Pitt vs. #7 Duke - 7pm, ESPN (in New York)
This is a tough one for us here at STF. We actually kind of despise both teams. However, we know a thrilling on-paper matchup when we see one, so this one gets top prize. Pitt is scoring more points than they used to, so this might actually be fun to watch. The Panthers sport a balanced scoring attack, led by Sam Young's 18ppg and 7rpg. Duke provides ample evidence of their back-alley deals with Satan, with five players averaging double figs, and another bevy of AWJSs.


Watch if you Ever Gave your Brother a Noogie

Oral Roberts vs. Oklahoma State - 7pm, ESPN2 (in Oklahoma City)
Some people might feel bad for Scott Sutton. He couldn't wait dad out, so he took a second-rate job in the same state. Well, big bro has taken his Golden Eagles to the big dance two years running, pulled off some big upsets, and was in the running for national coach of the year along with fellow scions JTIII and Tony Bennett last year. Little bro Sean, on the other hand, sat through the indignity of having his coaching feats count toward his dad's record, a 6-10 conference record in his rookie season, and a first-round NIT loss to Marist. Plus, he has to wear that ungodly shade of orange. Who got the better deal here?


Tivo it and Watch the Wofford/Purdue upset you Tivo'd Last Night

#20 Gonzaga at Oklahoma - 9:30pm, ESPN2
I don't know what to make of the Sooners this year. They're 8-3, with reasonable losses to Memphis and USC. It's that home loss to Stephen F. Austin that rankles. This game is the centerpiece of a profile-building trio, however. The first leg was a win over Arkansas at home, and it ends with a trip to West Virginia, where they're also having a hard time attracting national attention. Gonzaga has been handling dey business on the road, however, and the early word is that Josh Heytvelt will play tonight. If OU wins, it will be a telling statement of worth, indeed.

Wofford's Coach In His All-Tan Glory

Couldn't find any pictures of Wofford coach Mike Young's gameday outfit from the Bill Belichick/Bob Huggins line at JC Penny's, but you can see it here about halfway through this video from ESPN (I'm not embedding it becasue if I did, then it would turn-on every time you would load the page just like that god damn Sportscenter update on ESPN.com)

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3162313&n8pe6c=2

The announcers go on for about a minute for no apparent reason, but you can see the all-tan masterpiece after Wofford hits the game winner. If you can't tell by now, I'm a huge proponent of coaches looking professional on sidelines. And I don't want to here any cries of poverty since it's a mid-major, they have perfectly fine suit coats at Men's Wearhouse that I'm sure Coach Young can afford. If you are coaching DI basketball, there is no excuse to look like you just walked out of Old Country Buffet.

The Wheels Have Fallen Off At Cincy

Although they may have played their best game of the season against Memphis last evening, things are not even close to right at Cincinnati. Need an example? A ten-point victory by Memphis, a school that could have been described as the perfect comparison to the Bearctas as close as three season ago, was considered the Tigers worst game of the season, while it was the moral victory of the season for the Bearcats. Yes, it's a rough time to be a Cincinnati Bearcats fan. They are currently 4-6, with losses to Belmont, UAB, Bowling Green and Illinois State. Even their wins have been anything but impressive, beating Western Carolina and Fairfield by a combined seven points.

What is amazing about this is not just how far they have fallen off, but how quickly it all happened. The decline began after Bob Huggins was let go after driving while obliterated. While the Huggins era was full of shady accusations and questionable junior college transfers, you can't argue with the Bearcats success on the court. During the Huggins era, the Bearcats were a national power, making 14 consecutive tournament appearances, a Final Four trip, and was breeding ground for prominent NBA players such as Nick Van Exel and Kenyon Martin.

Once Huggins was dismissed, two significant moves have the Bearcats where they are today. First, long-time assistant Andy Kennedy, who was named interim coach for departed for the 2005 season, was let go after only one season. In Kennedy's only season at Cincy, he delicately handled the departure of Huggins, retaining the respect of his team and leading the Bearcats to a 21-13 record, but the Bearcats missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1992. That was apparently enough to dismiss Kennedy, who was replaced by Murray State coach Mick Cronin. Should be noted that Kennedy has since moved on to Ole Miss, which is currently 9-0 . On the other hand , Cronin has seen almost all of the Kennedy/Huggins players transfer (including South Carolina's Devan Downey) and has struggled mightily. He is 13-25 in two season and the Bearcats have yet to win a true road game in his tenure.

The other significant move has been the move to the Big East for the 2005 season. Simply put, Cincy moved to the Big East at the worst possible time. Instead of rebuilding in Conference USA, the Bearcats moved on to the Big East, where they are 10-23, including a 2-9 campaign last season. This season does not promise to be much better. If the Bearcats were still in Conference USA, a quick turnover for the rebuilding would be a possibility. But in the Big East, a complete overhaul of a program can take years upon years. Just ask St. John's.

But it's not all gloom and doom for Cincy. They have a passionate fanbase, the national reputation, the recruiting base and the proper resources to make this team a winner again. So is still hope that the Bearcats can turn this around, but don't expect it to be soon. This team has zero playmakers on the current roster, and with the brutal upcoming Big East schedule, it's going to make for long, long winter in Cincinnati.

STF Conference Reports: The Missouri Valley

Well. I don't think anyone saw this coming. I certainly didn't. In a league filled with turnover and turmoil, the Southern Illinois Salukis were the easy choice for preseason top team, and even made our STF top 30 before any games were played.

Where are they now? Dead last in the MVC, tied with lowly Evansville and Indiana State at 4-5 on the season. Granted, the Salukis have challenged themselves, playing at USC and Indiana, but they've also lost games we expect a top-25 contender to win - at Charlotte, St. Louis, and last night's fateful game at Western Michigan.

Creighton has been as good as we expected, sitting at 7-1, and Illinois State has justified their selection as my sleeper in the conference, but it's the state of Iowa that's riding high against all logic. Drake is an amazing 9-1 with a new coach, and Northern Iowa has played well enough to come in third at 7-2.

So let's take stock of the early going:

Team of the Month - Clearly the Drake Bulldogs. Keno Davis has taken over for his legendary father, Tom, and done so in fine fashion. Following an early loss at St. Mary's, Drake has taken care of Duquesne from the Atlantic 10, Iowa State from the Big 12, and then took the fight to Iowa, winning 56-51 last Friday. Guards Josh Young and Leonard Houston are playing lights-out, and 6'8" forward Jonathan Cox is crashing the boards to the tune of almost 9 per game.

Player of the Month - Daniel Ruffin. The 5'10" senior Guard from Peoria is not an easy choice, because a lot has happened this month. But his efforts - for a Bradley team that has played some big games - has been excellent. He started the season with 14 points and 14 assists in a loss to Illinois-Chicago, then put up a season-high 24 with 5 steals and 7 assists vs. Iowa. He chipped in 6 boards in a neutral-court loss to Vandy, and nearly led his team to an upset of Michigan State. In brief, Ruffin will do anything his team needs him to do.

Team with the Worst Month - Southern Illinois. They're killing their at-large profile, which they might need if they can't right the ship and dominate Valley play. The Salukis started out 3-0, but fell off the rails in December, losing to Indiana, Charlotte, St. Louis, and Western Michigan. Worst of all, opponents are running up the score on a team that was renowned for their tough-as-nails defense last season. It doesn't get any better, either - they face 8-3 Western Kentucky and 9-1 Butler before finally diving into MVC play.

Games to Watch

Butler at Southern Illinois - December 28, ESPNU
Wichita State at Missouri State - January 8, ESPN2
Bradley at Southern Illinois - January 8, ESPNU
Creighton at Northern Iowa - January 15, ESPN2

Breakfast of Champions 12/20: Wofford Wins

Game of The Night

Wofford 69 Purdue 66

We've had our share of upsets early in the basketball season, but this is one of those fall-off-my chair games. Purdue, fresh off it's best win of the season against a free falling Louisville squad, must have had their minds on Christmas ham instead of the Wofford Terriers. Purdue may not be an elite team and Wofford may come from the respectable SoCon conference, but don't kid yourself into thinking this wasn't a major upset. Wofford has the second smallest enrollment in all of Division I basketball, ranks 331st in overall basketball expenses, and their coach was wearing a tan cotton polo shirt from Wal-Mart or Target on the sidelines last night. Apparently, he went to the Bob Huggins school of sideline fashion (Can't find any pictures of this after seeing it on Sportscenter, will seriously pay someone with real money for a picture).


Also Intriguing

North Carolina 88 Nicholls State 78

General rule of thumb: anytime that we make fun of a team during Hoopnight, throw some cash at them that evening. After I took some shots at Nicholls State for getting the leftover players from the Australian Institute, they go out and hit 14 three pointers and shoot 47% from the field, never making it easy for the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. Thank God Tyler Hansbrough came back for this one, scoring 27 points, or we may have been talking about the biggest upset of the season.

Arizona 52 UNLV 49

Through the Lute Olson coaching controversy and all of these tough early season games, I'm really starting to like the make-up of this Arizona team. Seriously. Unlike the Zona teams of the past few seasons, this team actually seems to believe in teamwork and they appear to have the testicular fortitude to win the close games when things aren't going right. Against UNLV, the Cats only got four fields goals from Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger, but they rallied from down eight in the final 10 minutes behind Jordan Hill's 16 points and 19 rebounds. Remember these games come March.


Other Scores


Memphis 79 Cincinnati 69

Michigan State 85 San Jose State 45

Butler 83 Bradley 6
Baylor 92 South Carolina 84

The Links

Ranking all of the remaining unbeaten teams, completely calling out Ole Miss as a fraud (Grant Wahl, SI).

Some love for the Wofford upset of Purdue (Friends of Crazy Joe Davola).

Wait, so Dave Odom is still coaching South Carolina? (Charles Rich, AOL Fanhouse).

Hoop Night: 12/19/2007

Hoop Night is your daily preview of televised NCAA hoops action. We have no idea where the remote is - check under the couch.


Don't Miss

#2 Memphis at Cincinnati - 7pm, ESPN2
Cincy will likely provide no challenge at all for Memphis, but it is my duty to inform you that this game will be televised in the largest number of cable-subscribing households this evening.


Watch if you Love the Land Down Under

Nicholls State at #1 North Carolina - 9pm, ESPNU
From the nation that brought you Nicole Kidman, Foster's Lager, and AC/DC, it's your Nicholls State Colonels! The little school in Thibodaux, Louisiana sports an NCAA-leading five Aussies on their roster, including leading scorers Michael Czepil (11ppg, 3apg) and Ryan Bathie (11.5ppg). Prepare yourselves for a full-throated unison cry of "Crikey!" when Tyler Hansbrough goes hard to the rack time and time again.


Tivo it and Watch Paint Dry

Wofford at Purdue - 7pm, ESPNU
Wofford doesn't list a Center on their entire roster of players 6'9" and under. At 4-4, they've beaten the likes of Lees McRae, Virginia at Wise, and Toccoa. Purdue, on the other hand, has an inspiring roster of young players who just notched a signature victory over a ranked Louisville squad. This is one of their last tune-up games before the Big Ten season begins in earnest on January 5th.

Get Better Dickie V

I'm sure by now that everyone knows about Dickie V's surgery , but I just wanted to take the time to wish him a speedy recovery from his throat surgery. It's really going to feel weird watching ACC Wednesday night basketball without him until February at the earliest, almost like the first New Year's without Dick Clark.

Vitale's got his share of critics out there, but don't count me as one of them. The thing that I admire most amount the man is that he obviously has a passion for the game of college basketball that is almost unbridled. You can feel how much the game means to him, which is saying something considering he is on television, not speaking to you in your living room. And passion for college basketball is one of the main principles on which Storming the Floor was created If we didn't have a tremoundous passion for everything in the college basketball universe, Extra P and myself wouldn't be spending the few free hours of the day that we have to constantly update this blog for free.

Does Dickie V hurt my ear drums on occasion? Yes. Does his love affair with Duke get on my nerves? Sure, just like everyone else. Still, you always know that it is a big game when Dickie V is in the house and you know he would be out there for free if he had to. So get better Dickie V, it's going to be weird without you.

STF Q&A;: John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus

From time to time, we here at STF like to talk to college basketball writers who know much, much more about basketball than we do. Today, we talk to John Gasaway, writer for the brand new Basketball Prospectus and formerly of the amazing The Big Ten Wonk. We were able to exchange a few emails with John, one of the pioneers of college basketball blogging. Enjoy!

Q&A with John Gasaway

STF: You started Big Ten Wonk way back in 2004, when not many people had even heard of a blog. What was your original inspiration and were some of the challenges in gaining an audience back then?


JG:You definitely have the "way back" part right. In blog time, mastodons roamed the earth in 2004. My first post appeared a few hours after Bush defeated Kerry and the weird thing is I didn't even have the awareness or heft or something to do a "here I am" inaugural post. I was curious about how this whole "blog" thing worked and so I just started in writing about college hoops. And as for building an audience, I was clueless so I didn't know I didn't have one. Now that I'm a little less clueless I know that you're always building an audience.

STF: You're possibly best known for your tempo-free stats. Can you please explain these stats for an uneducated audience? Was this something you had always been doing, or something that developed on while working on the Wonk?


JG: Well, of course, they're not particularly "my" tempo-free stats. It's true I cook up my own stats for conference games in about seven or eight conferences but even in that endeavor I stand on the shoulders of nerdy giants like Dean Oliver and Ken Pomeroy. The good news is these stats are easy to explain to any audience, educated or otherwise: this ain't rocket science. Any worthwhile stat in any sport measures how well a player or a team does per opportunity. If I say "John Gasaway hit four home runs," it matters whether we're talking about a game or a season. In basketball, it turns out using per-game stats is close to meaningless, due to teams' differing paces and players' differing minutes. Per possession is the way to go.



And no, an English major like me didn't bring tempo-free stats pre-packaged and ready to go to blogging, at least not at the start. Ken, for one, got here before I did. But pretty much the day I was aware this stuff was out there I jumped in with both feet and was already creating labels like "points per weighted shot" when the blog was about a month old. Then for about two years I was mystified that the rest of the world was taking so long. Now I think maybe we've finally turned that corner.

STF: You've recently moved to the all-new Basketball Prospectus. How has the move been so far? Has your audience followed to BP? Do you and Ken ever get into mental stat-battles with the baseball guys?

JG: Baseball Prospectus pretty much laid down the template as far as posting enlightening and groundbreaking sports analysis on the web. I was delighted to take that baton, along with Ken, and see if we could be in on the ground floor as far as starting the same kind of site for college hoops.



As for "my" audience, they're now reading alongside Ken's and John Perrotto's, not to mention alongside NBA fans who read Kevin Pelton and Bradford Doolittle. The audience is bigger but of course it's not just "my" audience anymore. I've gone from the solo artist to the supergroup. Anyway, it's cool.



And, yes, Ken and I totally dominate the baseball guys at lunch in the Prospectus cafeteria. It's like I'm Nelson Muntz, Ken is Jimbo Jones, and the baseball guys collectively are Millhouse. We give them wedgies and steal their milk money on a daily basis. I like it a lot.


STF: Was it difficult to finally end Big Ten Wonk?


JG: No doubt. It was absolutely the right thing to do but that doesn't mean it was easy. I'd done it for three full seasons and I didn't want to write about teams a fourth time that maybe weren't intrinsically interesting to me but that happened to share a conference affiliation with my blog title. Not to mention a close read of the final year shows I was already straying promiscuously. Still, I loved that blog. I loved doing it and I loved the variegated and fun group of people that spontaneously gathered around it. Big Ten Wonk was the first of what I intend to be several sweet rides.

STF: What is the "hot stat" for 2007-08?

JG: I think tempo-free stats qua tempo-free stats will be "the hot stat" this year. Maybe their time has come at last. They've come to rule the blogosphere, certainly, and I'm seeing them pop up in more and more MSM settings. Even more significantly, references to archaic and meaningless husks like "points allowed per game" and "rebounding margin" actually seem to be subsiding dramatically. Or maybe I'm just too optimistic. Who knows.

STF: I know that you touched on this at Big Ten Wonk and I've got my own personal opinions, but why do you think there is lack of quality college basketball blogs?


JG: It ain't for lack of talent, goodness knows. I hear from bright, perceptive and interesting bloggers almost daily. I think it's the form. Most blogs are team-based and that presents obstacles to a college basketball blog that are well nigh insuperable. It's infinitely easier to have a great team-based blog about college football than it is to have one about college basketball. In football there are only about 12 games and they occur weekly. The season itself imposes a rational and maybe even elegant structure on your blog. But if you're doing a team-based blog about college hoops, you've signed on to write about 30+ games that pop up whenever they pop up. If I were doing a blog about a team, I'd just try to incorporate the games into what I want to do instead of being driven by them. I've got five months to write about my view on this team and this year nationally. Go.


STF: The Big Ten has been heavily criticized of late, with many calling it "boring" and "overrated". Do these complaints have any merit or is the Big Ten just getting a bad rap?


JG: I can't believe anyone would call the Big Ten overrated right now. Clearly the bottom of the conference is absolutely horrible this year and just as clearly everyone knows it. It seems to me the Big Ten is being rated pretty accurately, just like a plane crash is rated pretty accurately. Now, boring? It's true the slower pace is not my cup of tea. Then again Georgetown didn't draw too many complaints about their style last year and they were slower than every Big Ten team except Northwestern. If you're good, people forgive you your style. If you're bad, it doesn't really matter if you run up and down the court. What matters is success.

STF: Final (loaded) question; all-time favorite venue, team and player in Big Ten history?

JG: Venue: I'm going to stray outside the Big Ten on this one because Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler is in a class by itself. Most people know it's where the final scenes of "Hoosiers" were shot. That's nice, but to actually see a game there when there's a capacity crowd is a basketball sacrament. Hinkle is the Chartres Cathedral of hoops. Team: Michigan State, 2000. Player: Tim Doyle, Northwestern, 2004-07. If all of us exceeded our potential the way he did, we'd be comparing our Nobel Prizes instead of flat screens.

STF Conference Report: Ivy League 12/19

A baseball writer by trade, Patrick Gordon has studied and covered Big 5 basketball for several publications for the past six years. Patrick has also covered the Philadelphia high school circuit, working as a freelance writer and unveiling the triumphs of those in the Catholic & Public Leagues.

Patrick can be reached at pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com

Team of the Week: Dartmouth

The Big Green is off to its best start since the 2001-2002 season at 5-4, thanks in part to a 36-point victory on Saturday over Daniel Webster College.

“Coming off an 11-day layoff you really don’t know what to expect,” said Big Green coach Terry Dunn. “You just want guys to come out, play hard, defend well, execute and play with enthusiasm, and I thought for the most part we did that tonight.”

Through the first nine games forward Alex Barnett leads the Big Green in points, averaging 16 with nearly seven rebounds per contest.


Player of the Week: Eric Flato, Yale

Flato averaged 17.5 points over his past two games, one of which was a 10-point victory over Vermont.

The senior guard leads the Bulldogs in points per game, minutes played and free-throw percentage.

To Watch:

12/22 Columbia at Villanova
12/22 Cornell at Syracuse
12/29 Brown at Notre Dame
12/29 Yale at Kansas

Hedging the Ivy:

• Thus far, no Ivy League school has stood out and looked head-and-shoulders above the rest. With final examinations happening at most of the schools in the conference, the time from now until New Years will be anything other than exciting. However, a few intriguing matchups, as noted above, may at least make the next two weeks a bit interesting.

• Cornell, the preseason favorite to win the conference, has shown signs of strength but has also shown signs of absolute disarray (see 102-89 loss to Ohio on 11/17). The Big Red remain, however, the team to beat in the conference.

Breakfast of Champions 12/19: Phi Slamma Jamma II

Game of the Night

Houston 83 Kentucky 69

Hardly the upset it may appear at first, the long-dormant Houston Cougars took over this one late in the first half and never turned back. The Cougars got double figures from three players and limited basically all of UK's scoring to Joe Crawford and Jodie Meeks. Signature win for Cougars (the name still reads "Kentucky" even if the team plays like Oregon State) that will certainly help come tournament time. Meanwhile, Memphis is pissed off that will not be able rest their players and just picks fans from the crowd to play the entire CUSA schedule.

Also Intriguing

Kansas 71 Georgia Tech 66

The Jayhakws looked lights out over the weekend, so how would they respond playing a few days later across the country? With a lackluster performance (notably on the defensive end) against a bottom tier ACC squad, that's how. Jayhawks defeat Georgia Tech 71-66, but it was never easy. The Jayhawks were pretty much in control for the second half, but the Yellow Jackets actually cut the lead down to one with only :09 seconds remaing. Nice game from Russell Robinson, who led the team with 17 points.

Texas 66 Oral Roberts 56

Was the entire Big 12 in a pre-Christmas distraction zone? The Longhorns (looking extremely flat according to reader Luke) needed a strong second half from DJ Augustin just to get by ORU in Austin.

Mid-Major Spotlight

Western Michigan 57 Southern Illinois 41

Finally, the preseason mid-major darlings from Kalamazoo won a game of significance. Kyle mentioned last week on the Mid-Majority that no team's success was as dependent on their shooting as SIU. Last night? 27% from the field. That's can't-throw-it-in-the-ocean bad. And very quietly the Salukies have fallen under .500.

The Links

We are sure you have heard about Dick Vitale's throat surgery by now. Just want to say rest up and get better big guy. More on this later in the day (Dick Vitale, ESPN)

Ever wonder what the NCAA' s rules for live-blogging for basketball are? Here they are, and they still make no sense (via David Scott of CSTV)

Memphis hasn't exactly been shooting the lights out this season (Dan Wolken, Memphis Commercial Appeal)

Hoop Night: 12/18/2007

Hoop Night is your daily look at nationally televised NCAA hoops action. Here's to good friends, tonight is kind of special.


Don't Miss

#3 Kansas at Georgia Tech - 7pm, ESPN
Georgia Tech is 4-4 on the season, but their only really horrible loss was a season opening home clanker to UNC-Greensboro. Kansas is in pure juggernaut form, with three solid post players and guards sitting on the bench who would be starting anywhere else. Tech really spreads the minutes around - only Freshman Lance Storrs is averaging under 10 per contest.


Watch if You Can Squint and Pretend It's 1984

Kentucky at Houston - 9pm, ESPN
Yep, back in the short-shorts era, this would have been one hell of a matchup. And to think they almost met in that 1984 Championship game. But back to reality... In tonight's duel, Houston might have the upper hand: Senior Guard Rob McKiver is averaging 20 ppg and getting a fair amount of help from his friends. Kentucky has a slightly longer bench, but the home crowd will weigh in favor of the Cougars.


Tivo it and Watch Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Marshall at Louisville - 7pm, MASN
Can Pitino get #500? At home, vs. Marshall.... this might be his night. One bright spot for the Thundering Herd: the wonderfully-named Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes is back on the floor after sitting out four games. The Montreal native doesn't score, but he drops the rock like it's hot, averaging 4.6 assists per game. If Pitino loses again, it's all-aboard the schadenfreude express.

STF Top 25 + 10 Week 5

Each week, we'll give you the STF Top 25 (submitted weekly to the College Basketball Blogpoll) as well as another Top 10 from around the world of college basketball.
(Poll is submitted on Tuesday).

STF Top 25

1. North Carolina (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Memphis (3)
4. Kansas (4)
5. Duke (5)
6. Washington State (6)
7. Georgetown (7)
8. UCLA (8)
9. Marquette (9)
10. Clemson (10)
11. Texas A&M (11)
12. Michigan State (12)
13. Butler (13)
14. Miami (FL) (16)
15. Indiana (15)
16. Pitt (17)
17. Tennessee (18)
18. Vanderbilt (20)
19. Rhode Island (22)
20. Villanova (23)
21. Gonzaga (24)
22. Arizona (NR)
23. Oregon (14)
24. Ole Miss (NR)
25. Dayton (25)

Close: Xavier, BYU, Stanford, UMass,


The +10: Second Bananas

Other guys on their team may get the pub, but these guys are doing plenty without the spotlight.

1. Bill Walker, Kansas State (13.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
2. Jordan Crawford, Indiana (14.6 ppg)
3. JaJuan Smith, Tennessee (15.0 ppg)
4. Connor Atchley, Texas (12.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg)
5. Davon Jefferson, USC (14.0 ppg)
6. Danny Green, North Carolina (13.8 ppg)
7. Adrian Joseph, Virginia (12.0 ppg)
8. Russell Westbrook, UCLA (12.0 ppg)
9. Shane Clark, Villanova (12.8 ppg)
10. Jason Richards, Davidson (12.8 ppg)

Remember My Name: Raising Arizona

I don't really know what to make of Arizona Reid. I imagine he'd say that's my problem, because he knows what to make of himself. Reid is a 6'5" Forward for the High Point Panthers of the Big South conference. He's averaging nearly 25 ppg, which is impressive enough on its own. But when you add in the 10 rebounds per game, Reid's mentality becomes clearer - he's a power forward trapped in a big guard's body.

Nobody else on his team even gets close to a loose ball - even 6'11" Center Cruz Daniels is averaging an unspectacular 4.6 rpg, which is good for second on the team scorecard. Reid seems to be willing himself to be unstoppable. Last year he was voted the Big South player of the year, based on a season that included thirteen double-doubles and an incredible 32/25 outing against a high-tempo VMI team. Unfortunately, that same VMI team took revenge on Reid and the 22-win Panthers in March, knocking them out of the Big South tournament and denying them a shot at the auto-bid. In fact, the Panthers have never played in the NCAAs.

#30 hopes to change that statistic this year. Typical conference power Winthrop has been up-and-down since coach Gregg Marshall moved on to Wichita State, and UNC-Asheville is leading the conference based on the play of Kenny George and his balky knees. High Point stands in second at 5-4 after the early going, with five other members of the Big South hovering around .500 and Radford bringing up the rear at 4-8. Throw all of that out once conference play starts, because the auto-bid is anyone's to win, and each team will be aware of that throughout the next three months.

Reid and his mates inexplicably play an in-season home-and-home with Savannah State (tonight and Thursday) before making a trip to Florida the day after New Year. Winthrop comes to town on the 12th to start the second season in High Point.

You probably won't need to remember AZ's name until early March, because there are no televised games in the Big South. But when the time comes for this eight-team league to play for the championship of each other, look out for a little big man with flying dreadlocks, pulling down everything that fails to drop through the net.

Vote For The Mid-Major, End Boston D-Baggery

Every month or so, it seems as if someone is holding some kind "Best Blog Ever!" contest in order to receive lots of hits. After awhile, you just tend to ignore them. But this latest one by the fine gentlemen at Blown Coverage caught my eye for several reasons.....

- It's based on a 64-team bracket. As might imagine at a college basketball website, we have a thing for brackets. And none of that play-in game BS.

- STF is a #12 seed in the West region. A #12 seed! I could not have asked for anything better! Everyone's favorite upset seed. I also love that this makes STF a mid-major, which I truly believe we are next to the big money sites.

- And best of all, the competition. Our first round opponent, the typically "overrated" #5 seed, is Extra Bases, the Red Sox blog from Boston.com. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate the Red Sox and Boston sports teams with every ounce of my body. This is the perfect opponent for STF. Nothing against the fine men behind Extra Bases (I actually know the Boston.com bloggers for the Pats and Celtics), but I want to smash their faces in. I think they can handle not winning something for once. And don't even get my started on a possible second round match-up with Curt Schilling's blog. Seriously, I can't even process how much I hate that assbag right now...

So yeah, vote for Storming the Floor!

A vote for Storming The Floor is a vote for the college basketball mid major and a vote against Boston D-Baggery. It's that simple. Think about that for a moment. And while you're at it, vote for Channel Four members Signal To Noise and AwfulAnnouncing.

Breakfast of Champions 12/18: Albany Craps Their Pants

Game of the Night

Duke 111 Albany 70

This is what I like to call a "Crap Game". Albany walked onto the floor, realized shortly after tip-off that they were actually at Cameron Indoor playing Duke, and collectively crapped their pants all at once. They had not shot at breaking Duke's full court pressure from the start.


Also Intriguing


Kansas State 87 Florida A&M 60

It really says something about Michael Beasley's talent when I look at the box score, see "24 points, 10 rounds" and think "Ho-hum game for Michael".


Gonzaga 77 Northern Colorado 57

Noco (I like that) made this a game for awhile, only trailing by 6 with under a minute left in the first, before the Zags pulled away in the second half. And if you can't tell by now, it was a super shitty night for college basketball.


The Links

High praise for Michael Beasley at Basketball Prospectus (John Gasaway, BP)

All Mac basketball team from 1990s on (Mid-America Nattering)

Strong criticism of Rick Pitino's handling of the Caracter situation (Gregg Doyle, CBS Sportsline)

Arizona State bandwagon...yes, we'll be hoping on that (Pitchfork Nation)

From a week ago, but it's still awesome. Did a brief radio interview for reader Jameson's class at Syracuse about the relationship between the major media and bloggers. Very cool topic, also includes fellow bloggers from Deadspin, Big Lead, Troy Nunes and KSK (Link to the audio)

And, last but not least - to think we knew him back when he was interviewing himself. Awful Announcing interviews the best announcer in college basketball, Gus Johnson. (Awful Announcing)

Hoop Night 12/17/07

Finals Week is over, but still not much hoops on television tonight. With a solid week/weekend ahead, use this night to tie up any last second shopping you need to do.


Don't Miss If You Enjoy Watching White Men Shoot Jumpers

Albany at Duke - 7 pm, ESPN2

This game will almost be like an elevated shoot around for Duke's AWJSs as they prepare for Thursday's showdown with Pitt. The Great Danes of Albany have made it to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and even gave UConn a scare as #16 seed two years ago, but not many are expecting similar results tonight.


Watch If You Can't Get Enough Freshmen

Texas Southern vs. Purdue - 7pm, ESPNU

Caught up in all this freshmen madness this season? How about a team that is made up almost entirely of freshmen? The Boilermakers, fresh off a victory over Louisville, usually start four freshmen. And those freshmen include leading scorer Scott Martin (11.8 ppg), leading rebounder Robbie Hummel (5.4 rpg) and leading swatter JaJuan Johnson (1.0 bpg). Damn youngsters everywhere. So much for TSU's plan of getting the whole Purdue team drunk the night before the game.


Watch If You Are Tied Into The Poinsettia Bowl

Navy at San Diego State - 10 pm, CSTV

Think that the folks at Navy were expected to be playing in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego this year? The bowl game has a Navy tie-in as long and the Middies are bowl eligible, and this basketball game takes place a mere three days before the bowl game takes place. Not that I would be complaining about a trip to San Diego in December.

Checking In: Florida Gators

Don't look now, kids, but the rebuilding project is chugging right along in Gainesville. After sending all of their big guns to the NBA (even, temporarily, their coach), the Gators looked like roadkill in a revamped SEC East. Kentucky was expected to regain ground under new coach Billy Gillespie, but the Wildcats anchor league standings at 4-4, while Billy Donovan (could we get some more Billys in here? Thanks.) has his young team at 10-1, and building confidence every day.

Of course, they're building confidence the same way the football team does - by grinding up smaller programs. Following a season-opening home victory against North Dakota State, the Gators have welcomed a parade of directionals, Techs, and directional-state-techs, losing only to ACC also-ran Florida State. Over the weekend, they beat one of our mid-major surprises - the Georgia Southern Eagles - in a 52-49 knuckle-dragger that was uglier than Joakim Noah's dashiki.

The bright spots on this team are freshman G/F Nick Calathes (kid brother of Pat Calathes, who is leading a struggling St. Joe's team up in Philly), and bruising sophomore F/C Marreese Speights. Sophomore Forward Dan Werner is wildly inconsistent, but shows flashes of brilliance (2pts, 4rebs vs. FSU; 20 and 14 vs. Georgia Southern).

Donovan is coaching a funky-looking roster, so if he makes it work, he may truly be a genius. After Speights, the next tallest player is 6'9" frosh Chandler Parsons, who is a relative beanpole at barely 200 pounds. The team is loaded with tweeners, as the frequent appearance of the / above would indicate. But Florida is the speed capital of the collegiate world, so bulk is probably not required to run the Billy D. game plan.

Looking ahead, the defending champs are still looking to cruise into the conference season, with a roadie at wishy-washy Ohio State the only potential stumbling block before a nationally-televised SEC opener at Alabama on January 8th. Vandy and Tennessee still look to be the powers in the East, and Ole Miss is the only constant in the West right now, so there might be room for the Gators in the national conversation again soon. I wouldn't lay money on that three-peat, but anyone expecting this club to fold up the tents and lay low in March might want to re-evaluate.

And you know, without Noah around, I almost don't mind.

Orange Crushed

New York Post style headline aside, two of the nation's top college basketball programs (and major reasons for adult males wear orange) suffered devastating injuries over the weekend.

First, Syracuse lost their top guard and senior leader when Eric Devendorf tore his ACL, ending his season and possible career for the Orange. And you thought this team was freshmen oriented before? We'll really get to see what freshmen Donte Green and Jonny Flynn are made of with Big East play around the corner. Hey, at least it's not the A10, Cuse seem to be struggling with them lately.

Also, Tennessee has lost forward Duke Crews indefinitely with a heart ailment. You may remember that Crews was suspended by the team to start the season, but had since been reinstated. Tough break for the Vols, who will surely miss Crews' rebounding and interior defense against the like Oglivy in the SEC.

Monday Madness 12/17: Celebrating The End of Finals

Welcome to STF's Monday Madness, all that you need to know about the week that was in college basketball.


Super Awesome Team of the Week

Nebraska Cornhuskers



This is my friend Chuck (don’t be alarmed, he only looks like Serbian terrorist). He lived next door to me in Boston this summer. He’s from Nebraska and attends the University of Nebraska. Actually, he’s even one of the basketball play-by-play guys for the Nebraska student radio station. Chuck would like you to know that you should keep your eye on the Huskers for the rest of the season. Why should I listen to this terrorist, you say? Well, the Huskers pulled off their biggest victory in over decade with an 88-79 overtime upset of #16 Oregon. The Huskers are also 8-2, with both losses coming to excellent mid-majors Western Kentucky and Creighton. They have a go-to NBA Prospect and latest Aussie sensation in 6’10 Aleks Maric. And in a slightly down Big 12, have a good shot at raking up wins and stealing an at-large birth. If you need anymore reason, think of Chuck….the kid needs it after the Husker football season.

Close: Kansas (One of most impressive performances of the young season vs Ohio), Miami (FL) (signature road win at Miss State), Arizona State (upset over Xavier, rebuilding quickly), Umass (another quality win vs BC)


Bad, Bad Week

Bluegrass Combo: Kentucky, Louisville

Does anyone have bragging rights if both teams suck? They sure love their basketball in the Bluegrass State, but neither team has provided much to cheer about this season.

The Billy Gillespie era continues to stay in neutral, as the Cats blew a 14 point second half lead to UAB, dropping the Wildcats to 4-4 on the season . Throw in the Alex Legion mess and the Gardner-Webb disaster, and who've got yourself a nightmare season in Lexington.

As for the Cardinals, they appear to be imploding before our eyes. A week after getting upset by Dayton, they lose to a freshmen-heavy Purdue team. They also have indefinitely suspended Derrick Caracter for about 15th team in the past three seasons. A trendy Final Four pick (even by this clown), the Cardinals have no identity on the floor and appear to be severely lacking in any leadership. The loss of Scott Padgett and the disappearance of Edgar Sosa will do that to you.

Close: Mississippi State (losses to Miami and South Alabama suddenly have them at 5-5), Miami (OH) (These close losses will kill them come March), Western Michigan (losing to teams like IUPUI are why the MAC gets one bid), Maryland (bad home loss to Ohio), Xavier (back to back poor shooting nights vs Cincy and Arizona State), Michigan (I'm out of words to describe how bad they are).


Mid-Majority Spotlight

Team USA (better known as South Alabama)



Unlike the more famous Team USA, this one will not get thrown under the bus for some close losses. This Team USA is 7-3 and can contend with Western Kentucky and New Orleans in the highly underrated Sun Belt. The Jaguars only blemishes come to unbeatens Ole Miss and Vandy (in OT) as well as Miami (OH). They also sport recent impressive wins over Southern Mississippi and Mississippi State. Even more impressive, their top four scorer’s first names all begin with the letter “D” (DeAndre, Domonic, Daon, Demetric). Let’s see Andy Katz come up with that one.


Upset of the Week

Illinois-Chicago 85 DePaul 80

While many focus on the overall terribleness of Cincinnati basketball in the Big East, I chose this upset to highlight the equally craptastic play of fellow midwestern Big East school DePaul. Competitive losses to Vandy and Kansas aside, the Blue Demons are now 2-5 with losses to North Carolina A&T and Illinois-Chicago.

Close: Ohio 61 Maryland 55, Arizona State 77 Xavier 55, Tennessee Tech 79 Oregon State 62, Central Michigan 78 Michigan 67.


Coach Who May Be Burned at The Stake By His Fanbase

Billy Gillespie, Kentucky

A back-to-back winner….not good. That blown lead against UAB just about summed up Billy’s first two months on the job. The unforgiving UK fanbase will be patient for bit longer (maybe), but drop a few to Auburn or South Carolina in a month and their might be full fledged revolt led by Kige. My advice to Gillespie; keep an eye on your fellow SEC football coaches (Saban, Petrino, Nutt). If things get out of hand come late February, just cut and run.


Close: Gary Williams, Maryland (How many years since they won that National Championship?)


Player I'd Like To Party With

Each week, I’ll pick a player that I think it would be fun to party with. As part of the gimmick, I’ll also ask them to be friends on Facebook. And maybe someday, I will actually get to party with them.

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland

Hell with the party, I want him to give me a damn haircut....




Look at that precious! Can’t get that done at Mastercuts, not even on half-price Tuesdays.



The Jonny Flynn Campus Legend of the Week

Brandon Rush, Kansas

Jayhawk fans weren't sure what to expect from their leading scoring after he torn his ACL over the summer. Even the most optimistic fan couldn't’t have expected what Rush’s return to the starting lineup would have done to the Jayhwaks. He came out on firing against Ohio on Saturday, hitting three treys in a matter of minutes to put the game away early. You may want to talk to Jayhawk expert Extra P about this, but they offense just seemed to flow with Rush in the lineup. He only finished with 13 in limited action, but that was thanks to the blowout. But if Rush plays that good all season, the Jayhawks become a very, very dangerous team.



Student Section of the Week

Nebraska


By far the most impressive floor stormin’ of the early season. +1 for floor stormin’ the biggest win in a decade. +10 for doing it on a neutral court (in Omaha).


Freshmen of the Week

Jerryd Bayless, Arizona

I’ll admit, I goofed when I didn’t include Bayless in my +10 freshmen. My bad. Bayless has been as impressive as anyone this season, scoring 20 ppg and dishing out 4.7 apg. And he may have pulled in his best game on Sunday, scoring 21 for the third time this season against Fresno State. So yeah, sorry about that Jerryd. Sue you didn't lose any sleep over it.


Any ideas or stories for Monday Madness? Send them to stormingthefloor@gmail.com

STF Conference Reports: SEC 12/17

How do, folks? Chris here again with another look at the SEC Basketball conference. This past week was a slower week for the SEC with only 11 games, but there were a few worth noticing. The upcoming week promises a lot more games with school being out and teams are gearing up for conference play. And with that, let's get to our preview/review. Enjoy.

Team of the Week - Vanderbilt
That's right, the Commodores are making their second straight appearance here and with a sterling come-from-behind against DePaul earlier in the week, they certainly deserve it. Playing on the road, the Dores were trailing by 12 at halftime and fought back to take the game to overtime. From there, Vandy secured their undefeated start by beating the Blue Demons, 91-85. Kevin Stallings team is now 10-0 and have a great chance to begin SEC Conference play undefeated.

Player of the Week - Dan Werner, Florida Gators
Werner had 20 points and 14 boards to lead the defending National Champs over a 7-2 Georgia Southern team. Because of the lack of SEC games this week, the Florida sophomore almost wins the award by default. Without Werner's contributions, the Gators would have been upset by the Eagles. Instead, they find themselves sitting at 10-1.

Team with the Worst Week - Mississippi State
This award could have easily gone to UK for a second week in a row after they lost their third straight with a choke-worthy performance against UAB on Saturday. However, the Rick Stansbury's team lost 2 in a row this past week, 64-58 to the Hurricanes of Miami -- in Starkville -- and 71-67 to South Alabama. With these losses, Mississippi State is 5-5.

Games to Watch:
12/18 Kentucky at Houston - can UK stop their losing streak with a tough road game?
12/19 Baylor at South Carolina
12/19 LSU at Wichita State
12/20 Ole Miss at DePaul
12/22 Tennessee at Xavier
12/22 Oregon State at LSU
12/22 College of Charleston at South Carolina
12/22 Florida at Ohio State
12/22 Ole Miss vs. Clemson

Alright folks, that's about it for me. There are plenty of SEC games on the docket this week and we'll learn a lot more about the make-up of this conference. Is it down like some are suggesting (looks that way) or can the SEC field a competitive team or two when March rolls around? See you next week.