Breaking down the best and worst from opening weekend of action
As such, I holed myself up in the Man Cave to watch -- I mean really watch -- as much as I possibly could. Between the TV, the DVR and the laptop, I managed to catch significant chunks of 18 games. It was only a first impression, but what can I tell you -- I was impressed. Here's what I learned:
Baylor 99, Lehigh 77. Though this was the first game of the weekend (and thus the season), when it ended I sensed that I might not see a better team performance. Yes, Baylor was at home, but Lehigh is a very good team with a potential lottery pick in C.J. McCollum. Yet, it was never a game. That led me to conclude that this could very well be the best team Scott Drew has had in Waco.
The main reason I say this is because of 7-foot freshman forward Isaiah Austin, who needed just 17 minutes to score 22 points. Read that sentence again. Austin converted 10 of his 12 shots, including 2-for-4 from three-point range, before leaving the game in the first half with a twisted ankle. (Austin did not play Sunday against Jackson State, but Drew told me he expects him to be back for the Charleston Classic next weekend.) Austin was scoring with such ease, he could have gone for 40 without breaking a sweat.
And what happened after Austin went out? Cory Jefferson, a 6-9 junior forward, took over the post and went for 26 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs. When you consider that the Bears scored 99 points despite shooting 6-for-20 from three-point range, you get a sense of their offensive potential.
Incidentally, make sure you check out McCollum when you get a chance. He scored 36 points (though he did take 32 shots). Maybe it's because he wears the number 3, but he looked a lot like D. Wade out there.
Kentucky 72, Maryland 69. With all of the focus on Kentucky (and the indelible performance of point guard Jarrod Polson, a former walk-on), the Terrapins were an afterthought. That's a mistake. Maryland is legit. Let me rephrase that: Alex Len is legit. The 7-1 Ukrainian sophomore looked like a top-five NBA draft pick by going for 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Say what you will about Kentucky's youth, but the Cats have a great deal of size and defensive talent up front. Yet, Len was unstoppable, which allowed Maryland to stay close even though guards Dez Wells and Nick Faust combined to shoot 3-for-20 from the field.
And what of those Wildcats? Do not panic, BBN. I'm not expecting big things from sophomore point guard Ryan Harrow, but he has been battling the flu and is not nearly as bad as he was Friday night. Freshman guard Archie Goodwin needs to learn to play less than full-throttle all the time, but that will come with time. Kyle Wiltjer looked terrific. The pieces are there. The future is bright, but the road to get there won't always be pretty.
UConn 66, Michigan State 62. This was the weekend's most thrilling game, largely because the setting (Ramstein Air Base in Germany) was so austere, spectacular, and best of all, indoors. It was stunning to watch UConn handle Michigan State with such ease in the early going, but I was even more impressed that the Huskies were able to hold off the surging Spartans down the stretch. That shows me they have character and resolve, even though they're not eligible to play in the postseason.
The best sign for UConn is the dramatic improvement of junior point guard Shabazz Napier. His 25 points were even more impressive on TV than in the box score. Napier's shot selection was spot on. He made all six of his free throws. He quarterbacked both sides of the floor with confidence and aplomb. If Napier is going to play like this all season, UConn might as well give Kevin Ollie his multiyear contract right now.
Conversely, Michigan State had difficulty guarding the Huskies' dribblers in the first half, and offensively the Spartans were throwing the ball all over the court. (They finished with 15 turnovers, many of which were the forehead-smacking variety.) The greater concern, however, was their inability to score in the post. The guards deserve some of the blame, but most of it goes to the starting centers, Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne, who alternated between irrelevant and awful. Payne only lasted 15 minutes. If those two guys were this ineffective against Tyler Olander, it's hard to see them taking Kansas' Jeff Withey and Perry Ellis to school on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
North Carolina 76, Gardner-Webb 59. The Tar Heels are who we thought they were. We knew that James Michael McAdoo was going to thrive as the featured performer in the lineup. He got career highs of 26 points and 14 rebounds in this win (and followed it up with 19 and 11 in the Heels' 24-point drubbing of Florida Atlantic on Sunday). But what I really liked about what I saw from McAdoo was how well he passed the ball, especially from the high post. He had a total of two assists in the two games, but that is not reflective of how well he distributed.
Look, we know North Carolina is going to score. That is never a concern. My main question is whether this team can defend. The only player on the roster taller than 6-9 is Joel James, a 6-10 freshman. He is built like an NFL tight end but he had zero blocks in the two games. North Carolina's guards (except perhaps Dexter Strickland) are finesse scorers who do not strike me as lockdown defenders -- not yet, anyway. Freshman point guard Marcus Paige was underwhelming (he had six assists versus Florida Atlantic but was also 1-for-8 from the floor), but perhaps that's to be expected. All in all, I saw some nice things from North Carolina, but considering the low-caliber competition, I still have more questions than answers.
Florida vs. Georgetown, canceled. Even though this game was called at the end of the first half because of condensation aboard the USS Bataan in Jacksonville, I learned a lot more about the Gators than I did on Sunday, when they throttled Alabama State by 49 points. Florida was playing without suspended point guard Scottie Wilbekin, but it led the Hoyas 27-23 at halftime because of its high-scoring forwards, Erik Murphy and Will Yeguete. The 6-10 Murphy looked like Steve Novak out there, and he really impressed Stan Van Gundy, who was calling the game for NBC Sports Network. On the other hand, 6-9 junior power forward Patric Young still does not look like a fluid scorer. If he hasn't developed those skills by now, it's unlikely he ever will.
Even though Georgetown was trailing at the half, my sense is that the Hoyas would have come back and won. Sophomore forward Otto Porter got off to a slow start, but once he got going he displayed all the polish and versatility I expected. (He had seven points and two assists at intermission.) John Thompson III used an odd, four-forward starting lineup (get used to hearing the word "length" when you watch Hoyas games), but 6-2 junior guard Markel Starks was a real ball hawk on defense. Georgetown is an unusual team that runs a unique system, but it has the type of players who can excel in it. The Hoyas aren't quite good enough to make a run at the Big East title, but they will be firmly entrenched in the league's second tier.
Duke 74, Georgia State 55. It's a near-miracle that Blue Devils senior guard Seth Curry shot 3-for-7 from three-point range and scored 15 points in 20 minutes. Curry has barely practiced because of a nagging lower leg injury that is so mysterious it does not have a name. Mike Krzyzewski has predicted that Curry will not be well this season, but he did not look hurt on Friday night. Then again, he was playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium against a weak team, so it's hardly a representative sample.
Curry's injury means Duke will rely even more heavily on underappreciated 6-1 junior point guard Tyler Thornton. Thornton showed a pretty good long-range touch (3-for-6 from three-point range), but he really excels on the defensive end. I know a lot of people were predicting that sophomore Quinn Cook would be running the show in Durham, but Thornton will be difficult to pry out of the starting lineup. Also, 6-11 senior forward Ryan Kelly (eight points on 2-for-6 shooting) showed a disheartening lack of aggressiveness. Kelly is the most versatile offensive player on this team. I've often wondered why he doesn't understand just how good he is.
Tennessee 76, Kennessaw State 67. The Volunteers looked just OK in this one, which is not all that encouraging considering they were playing at home against an overmatched opponent. Their starting frontline duo of Jarnell Stokes and Kenny Hall combined for 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting, but most of those buckets came on shots that will be much harder to convert against taller defenders. Tennessee will be better in the paint when senior forward Jeronne Maymon gets healthy (hopefully soon), but he's still only 6-7.
Trae Golden is a solid if unspectacular point guard who does a good job setting up Tennessee's three-point marksmen, Skylar McBee and Jordan McRae. Still, this is a program that needs to rebuild, and there are no freshmen of consequence as far as I can see. I'm a big Cuonzo Martin fan and I think Tennessee can make the NCAA tournament, but I would caution Vols fans not to expect really big things. That way, if this team does accomplish a lot, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
UCLA 86, Indiana State 59. I'm not saying Jordan Adams is as good as Shabazz Muhammad, but they do have similar styles. Like Muhammad, Adams, a 6-5 freshman, is a big guard who can score inside and out. Ben Howland seems to enjoy posting him up, which is why Adams scored a game-high 21 points off the bench. Muhammad was informed shortly before tipoff that the NCAA has ruled him ineligible (at least for now; though I suspect he'll be out for a long time), but that did not slow the Bruins down in the newly renovated Pauley Pavilion.
The bad news for UCLA is that 6-10 junior center Josh Smith does not look any slimmer than he did a year ago. It's a shame to see a young man waste all that potential. However, the good news is the Bruins will be less dependent on Smith this season. Though senior point guard Larry Drew II, a transfer from North Carolina, looked steady running the offense, it occurred to me that by giving Drew the ball, Howland is taking it out of the hands of 6-9 freshman Kyle Anderson. Anderson is not a true point guard, but he's not a great athlete, either. He needs the rock. It will be interesting watching Howland manage that situation over the next few months.
Oklahoma State 73, UC Davis 65. There is no more appropriately named player in all of college basketball than Cowboys point guard Marcus Smart. The 6-4, 225-pound freshman lived up to the hype, not just because of his imposing physique and explosiveness, but also (and especially) his vision and court savvy. Smart only shot 1-of-6 from the field, but he was 6-for-7 from the foul line, and he had seven assists to just one turnover. On one exchange, Smart jumped up to catch a long offensive rebound with one hand, and before he hit the ground he fired a dart to Kamari Murphy for a layup. It was the best pass I saw all weekend.
Oklahoma State is not a particularly big team, but it is very athletic and fun to watch. Junior guard Markel Brown is an exciting finisher around the rim, and 6-7 sophomore forward Le'Bryan Nash looks like he's settling in for a nice season. UC Davis hung around for most of the game and Travis Ford only played seven guys, so the Cowboys are not operating on much margin for error. Still, I have to say this was a promising beginning.
Kansas 74, Southeast Missouri State 55. This game was much closer than the final score indicated. The Redhawks stayed close until midway through the second half, largely because Kansas was atrocious from three-point range (2-for-21). Perhaps that's to be expected in the season's first game, but it's of particular concern that Jayhawks guard Travis Releford was 0-for-5 from behind the arc and 3-for-11 overall. Many of those long-range misses were way, way off. Releford is a senior now. If he wants to graduate from Glue Guy school, he's gonna have to develop his J.
Elsewhere, senior center Jeff Withey scored a game-high 17 points, but he still looks awkward trying to make moves in the post. If he's in position and catches the ball in close, he will finish, but he's not going to create a lot of buckets by his onesies.
That's why 6-8 freshman forward Perry Ellis will be such a key for this team. He is a far more natural interior scorer than Withey. And while jumping jack freshman guard Ben McLemore had a few highlight-reel offensive rebound slams, it's safe to say the teams in the Big 12 will do a better job blocking out the defensive boards than Southeast Missouri did.
Missouri 83, SIU-Edwardsville 69. It's a little hard evaluating Missouri right now because the Tigers are down two men -- senior guard Michael Dixon, who is suspended, and freshman guard Jabari Brown, a transfer from Oregon who will be eligible in December. Still, it was easy to see that the Tigers' starting forwards are feeling reborn. Senior forward Laurence Bowers (20 points, 7 rebounds) showed no lingering effects of the knee injury that cost him all of last season. And Alex Oriakhi, the transfer from UConn, attacked the glass with abandon; he had 15 rebounds, including four offensive. My concern with Oriakhi is that people expect him to be a big scorer -- he's not -- but let's just say he looks a lot more confident without Andre Drummond around to steal his minutes.
Frank Haith hasn't said when Dixon is coming back, but it's not a terrible thing that the coach has to give more minutes to guys who wouldn't otherwise have earned them. Missouri got lifts from two freshmen off the bench, 6-7 Negus Webster-Chan and 6-11 Stefan Jankovic, who combined to shoot 5-for-7 from behind the arc. I also think Missouri will get much better shooting performances from Earnest Ross, a chiseled 6-5 junior transfer from Auburn who made just 2-for-10 in this game. Missouri doesn't have as many future lottery picks as Kentucky does, but in the end it may prove to be the better SEC team.
Notre Dame 58, Evansville 49. I tuned in for the start of this one and was immediately treated to a historic moment: Jack Cooley's first career three-pointer! In fact, Cooley scored Notre Dame's first nine points en route to a 19-point, 11-rebound, six-block performance. Irish coach Mike Brey told me afterwards that he did not want his 6-9 senior forward "hunting" for threes this season, but he did expect Cooley to make a few more.
Though Brey has had some success the last few years running his "burn" offense, it was Evansville who came in with the intent to grind things to a halt. (I was impressed, by the way, with Ryan Colt, the Aces' 6-5 senior swingman. He earned his 15 points the hard way. Brey said he thinks Colt is a pro.) Irish forward Scott Martin had a horrible day shooting (1-for-6, six points), but he more than made up for it by snaring 17 rebounds. That's how you get Capone.
One of the best things about watching early games is you get the chance to discover players you didn't know anything about. Case in point: Notre Dame's 6-7 freshman swingman Cameron Biedscheid, who hit two key buckets (including one three-pointer) late in the second half to help the Irish put away a pesky, scrappy team. Biedscheid looked pretty comfortable out there, which leads me to believe he can keep playing this way. The Irish are not going to "wow" you a lot this season, but they are going to win a lot of games.
Boston College 84, Florida International 70. I zoned in on the last 12 minutes of this one because it was 62-60 with a little over 10 minutes left left. That was right before the Eagles went on a 21-7 spurt. Not surprisingly, the Eagles' best offensive weapon was 6-8 sophomore Ryan Anderson. Even though he still only weighs 220 pounds, Anderson is noticeably stronger than he was as a freshman, and he showed both power and finesse while going for 29 points (including 11-for-14 from the foul line) and 17 rebounds.
BC is a very, very young team (the Eagles start three sophs and two freshmen) that is unlikely to make the NCAA tournament, but the underclassmen are a promising mix. They're good enough to be effective, but not good enough to turn pro early. That bodes well for the future of this program.
As for FIU, it was pretty cool to see young Richard Pitino strutting the sidelines for his first game as a head coach. Richard is much cooler on the bench than his old man. He'll need that level head until he gets this program off the ground.
Villanova 80, Marshall 68. This was another game that was closer than the final score. The Thundering Herd put up a good fight -- remember the name D.D. Scarver, a sweet-shooting 6-4 swingman who had 22 points on 5-for-7 three-point shooting -- but the Wildcats got a terrific debut performance from freshman point guard Ryan Arcidiacono. He had 25 points, six assists and two steals. Did I mention this was his first college game?
But my main takeaway from Villanova is how much better 6-7 redshirt sophomore JayVaughn Pinkston looked. He has always battled his weight, a problem that was exacerbated when he was suspended from school his entire freshman year for getting into a fight at a fraternity party. Pinkston looks slimmer, agile and very much in control of his body. He had seven rebounds -- five on the offensive glass -- but the one place where he looked really bad was on the foul line, where made just 6-of-14 attempts. It will be hard for Jay Wright to play Pinkston at the end of games unless he fixes that.
Arizona 82, Charleston Southern 73. Arizona has as much size, length and agility in the frontcourt as any team in America. So it was a little perplexing to see the Wildcats swing the ball around the perimeter and launch 32 three-pointers, often without letting their bigs even touch the ball. That's a huge reason why the Buccaneers were able to keep it close until late in the second half. Down the stretch, Sean Miller went to a smaller, older lineup, with 6-8 freshman Brandon Ashley playing center and 6-6 senior Solomon Hill sliding over to power forward, where he is less effective.
The move worked largely because Mark Lyons, the 6-1 transfer from Xavier, took over the game, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Still, it's a little disconcerting that Arizona does not have a true, pass-first point guard. Jordin Mayes, a 6-2 junior, is the closest, but he comes off the bench. And yet, the Wildcats had 25 assists on 27 made baskets, so passing is not the issue. Like every other team in America, the Wildcats are going to have to figure some things out, but clearly the pieces are in place to make a run not just at a Pac 12 title but a national championship. That includes Kevin Parrom, the 6-6 senior who has been to hell and back and looks poised for a terrific final season in Tucson.
Wisconsin 87, Southeast Louisiana 47. There's obviously not a ton you can learn about a team while it's winning by 40, but my sense is that the Badgers may not miss Josh Gasser as much as many people assume. The 6-3 junior, who was primed to move over from shooting guard to run the point, was lost for the season to a torn ACL. Gasser will be missed defensively, but Bo Ryan's offense has never been overly dependent on playmaking point guards. George Marshall, a 5-11 freshman, started the game at the point, but I actually thought 6-2 sophomore Traevon Jackson (Jim Jackson's son) looked better during his 15 minutes off the bench.
It was also good to see 6-6 senior Mike Bruesewitz back in action. Bruiser had suffered a nasty injury to his leg a few weeks ago in practice, but he looked great in his 13-minute stint, sinking all three of his shots (two from behind the arc). More important, Bruesewitz has grown back most of his shaggy red hair he had shaved off for charity last April.
Elsewhere, much-ballyhooed freshman Sam Dekker had a quiet debut (8 points, one rebound in 17 minutes off the bench). That's not very encouraging considering the game was such a blowout. The announcers mentioned frequently that Bo Ryan has concerns with Dekker's defense. At any rate, it won't matter for a while because 6-10 senior Jared Berggren is going to have an all-Big Ten type of season. He scored on a variety of offensive moves and sank all seven of his free throws en route to a game-high 19 points. Berggren also added eight rebounds and four blocks. Solid, solid beginning.
Louisville 79, Manhattan 51. After watching this game, I was shocked to read the box score and see Louisville only had 12 turnovers. This team only knows two ways to play: fast and faster. At times against the Jaspers, the Cards got way ahead of themselves and made silly mistakes, but as usual, they made it up with defense. Manhattan, which was playing without injured senior guard George Beamon, shot 36 percent and committed 26 turnovers. It's hard to beat the second-ranked team in the country on its home floor playing that way.
Manhattan played a 2-3 zone the entire game. Until the Cardinals prove they can consistently knock down jumpers, they better get used to that. The good news is they won big while getting minimum contribution from 6-5 sophomore swigman Wayne Blackshear (five points in 16 minutes) and 6-6 junior guard Luke Hancock (3-for-10 from the field). Those guys are going to become bigger factors as the season wears on. Starting guards Peyton Siva and Russ Smith led the way scoring-wise for Louisville, but if you're a Cards fan, you have to be especially encouraged by the way forwards Chane Behanan and Montrezl Harrell and center Gorgui Dieng played together. Dieng in particular played a terrific, albeit understated, offensive game. He was limited to 20 minutes because of foul trouble, but he had two real nice assists to go along with nine points. It was a good win, but the Cardinals played sloppier than this score would indicate.
Syracuse 62, San Diego State 49. It's tough to judge San Diego State off this game. The Aztecs are much more dependent on outside shooting than Syracuse, and the conditions aboard the USS Midway (sunny and windy) were horrible for shooting. Hence the Aztecs' woeful 1-for-18 performance from three-point range.
Syracuse, on the other hand, only tried four three-point attempts. The Orange's size, length and athleticism completely overwhelmed the Aztecs. It was quite the impressive display. Junior forward C.J. Fair (17 points, 7-for-15 shooting) showed off a vastly improved outside touch. Guards Brandon Triche and Michael Carter-Williams were brilliant in attacking the rim. I was surprised that heralded freshman center Dajuan Coleman, who started the game, only played nine minutes, but the Orange's frontline is so deep it hardly mattered. Like I said, it's only the opening weekend, but Syracuse was the best team I saw over these three days. There's a long, long way to go this season, and thank goodness for that.
