Adam Glatczak writes the "Wednesday Onions" column for CollegeHoopsnet.  Bookmark the "Wednesday Onions" homepage and come back each week!

Charging Fouls from a short and rather uneventful first week of college basketball:

▪ It’s a good thing the St. Joseph’s-Gonzaga game was as entertaining as it was, because otherwise the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic would have gone down as maybe the worst four-game set of college basketball on TV in quite some time. Most teams’ offenses looked beyond terrible, it’s as if players had no idea what to do if the play didn’t involve dribbling on the perimeter or dumping it into the post. Hopefully, we can chalk up some of it to early-season raggedness, although it could also be that young players are still watching too much NBA.

It sure did look like the Bulldogs and Hawks were far and away the best two teams at MSG, though. In one sense, it’s a shame that both had to play each other and one had to suffer a loss, though that was due in no small part because the other participants were afraid of them. However, both squads will be better for it in the long run, because they both had the toughest competition possible in the event. As far as action, entertainment and a high level of play goes, this was one of the better early season non-conference games of the past several years. The energy level was high, both teams came out very strong, and St. Joe’s got a good start on dispelling the idea that this year’s team will suffer the same fate of the 2001-02 team that struggled with high expectations. Jameer Nelson was superb, and Delonte West is just smooth on smooth. Nelson is one of the nation’s best, but West is almost as good, certainly underrated nationally. Dwayne Jones also was an eraser inside against Gonzaga, and he’ll need to continue that all season for a team that isn’t loaded in the paint.

▪ Speaking of Gonzaga, one must say Mark Few’s team looks like it is going to have all the offense it could possibly want and more. GU already had about 6-7 guys returning who could score, and it looks like they’ve added three or four more. That’s a credit to those players’ ability, and to Few for bringing in so many guys who can light up the scoreboard. There were certainly flashes against St. Joseph’s when Gonzaga looked like it could dominate anyone this year.

This team will present Few with some interesting problems, though. The Zags will need some time to develop and define roles, because not everyone is going to be able to average 15-20 points a game, as so many look capable of. Chemistry isn’t likely to be a problem, at least not in the sense of players hating each other’s guts, but who’s going to play where? And when? There are so many different lineup combinations Few could go with. Last year, GU had more frontcourt players than it was used to, and it took a lot of time for the team to get used to it. This year, the team has more players everywhere than it’s used to. It will be a task to figure out who are the step-up guys and who are the role players, but if Few hits the right combination, this team certainly can be Top 10 material.

▪ Travis Diener is a player who has always annoyed me. I’m not sure why-he’s from my home state and plays for a team I’ve followed since young, but I think it had something to do with him yelling and pumping his fist after making some late free throws in a game once. It’s almost impossible to not like how he plays, though. Even when it doesn’t look like he’s doing much, as it did for quite of bit of Marquette’s game against St. John’s, he still has the 3’s and assists, in addition to handling the ball a bunch. Diener is becoming more and more reminiscent of Jay Burson, the baby-faced, bird-thin Ohio State guard from the late 80s.

▪ Chuck Smith? You played for Alabama last year? Wow…far out.

▪ Incidentally, maybe the best game of the first week was between Hofstra and Marist. Of course, some of us couldn’t watch it on Fox Sports-New York because our mini-dish picture kept freezing up for 40 seconds at a time, but from what was gathered between all the interruptions, this one was neck-and-neck the whole way and was very well-played. Hofstra finally won, 79-74, and earned the right to face Georgia Tech in a second-round preseason NIT game. It was good to see, too, that about 3,000 folks packed the Red Foxes’ gymnasium for the game. That was about twice as many as were on hand for Texas Tech’s home whooping of Davidson, or at least that’s how it looked. Come on, folks of Lubbock, Texas. You’ve got a legendary coach that plays entertaining ball, and as much as I’d love to see it, I don’t think Tech is going to beat Oklahoma Saturday. Terrible attendance.

▪ It looks like the Oakland Golden Grizzlies are already giving notice that they’re the team to beat in the Mid-Continent this year. OU might even be ready for a national splash, considering it beat a very good Illinois-Chicago team in its second game of the season. In their first two games, sniper Mike Helms scored 27 and 31 points, proving that contrary to some preseason info that this team can win with him carrying the load. Helms was held in check by Xavier, but some of it was his fault, as he was forcing things too much. A less-selfish effort may have helped the Grizzle take Xavier to the wire, though rebounding was a major problem. Still, watch this team when it plays the likes of Michigan, Cincinnati, Missouri and Memphis.

▪ Just a thought: don’t more people than me find the term “dribble-drive” annoying? I mean, what other kind of drive are you going to do on the basketball court? 300-yard drive? Maybe I’m too simple minded, but like those college kids who sub in the F-bomb as a noun, verb and adjective in almost every sentence they speak, this just doesn’t seem to be the most economical use of words.

▪ Another TV thought: in these early season games matching teams like Connecticut against non-BCS conference teams, do the announcers even know the school nicknames of the opposition? Unfortunately, I didn’t see much of UConn-Yale (wish I had), but the little I did see all I heard about was what UConn was doing wrong. Maybe Yale is just a pretty decent team. Saw much of the Huskies’ game against Nevada, and same thing-it was all Connecticut, all the time. As usual, ESPN spends too much time hyping; it’s obvious they thought the Yale game was going to be a showcase for the number 1 team in the country to run and dunk all night, similar to when they showed LeBron James’s high school games last year. You don’t think ESPN even had a three-person crew at the game because they were pumped to see Yale’s offense, do you?

▪ It’s early, but it looks like 2003-04 is going to be a long season for San Diego. The Toreros were excellent last season and even made the NCAA Tournament, but this year has already started out dismally. Losses to Oakland, Ohio University and even Coppin State aren’t a complete crime, but they also signify this team isn’t anywhere close to the top 100 level it was last year. San Diego lost a number of players from last year’s team, including starters Jason Keep, Jason Blair and Roy Morris, who accounted for the majority of the team’s scoring. Point guard Travis Smith is out for the year with a leg condition, and then coach Brad Holland lost Corey Belser for the season just a few weeks ago. Belser was being counted on to step up this year, and without him USD is very, very inexperienced. Holland looks like he has quite a job on his hands this year.

▪ Again, seeing how ragged play has been in some of these opening games, don’t take too terribly much out of any of these early season results just yet. The Coaches vs. Cancer games and the BCA final with Oakland and Xavier showed that the opening few games are certainly a feeling out process, and although they looked less-than stellar, teams like Marquette and Pitt should get better. Even Oakland shouldn’t get too excited. Last year, fellow Mid-Con member Oral Roberts had five returning starters and busted out 6-0 and looked great beating Arkansas, Wichita State and SMU, only to finish a quiet 18-10.

▪ Come to think of it, perhaps Connecticut is another of those teams that is getting just a little more hype than they deserve. Never really thought about this up until a few days ago, maybe it was because the Huskies have been such a consensus top team in so many polls. The result from the Yale game (a close 70-60 win) didn’t really change my mind one way or the other. Think about it, though: how much did UConn accomplish last year? A Sweet 16 is nice, but otherwise, Jim Calhoun’s team wasn’t really top 10 material or anything last season. Again, this is a team that received all sorts of accolades in the preseason because it returned almost everyone, not because it had proven so much. History says that an experienced UConn team will usually go a long way, and this should be a top five team, but is it really far and away the best in the land?

▪ On the other hand, Connecticut fans shouldn’t get too freaked by those first two games. The Huskies didn’t get any gimmies, playing probably the toughest two-game set of any team that will make it to the preseason NIT semis. Yale is a team that underachieved last year but two years ago won 20 games, and Nevada is improved from last year’s 18-win outfit. The Wolf Pack whipped a good Vermont team and hung right with UConn. To put Nevada in perspective, Trent Johnson’s team would definitely be good enough to be at least in the middle of the Big East. Don’t be upset that Connecticut beat them by “only” 14…it should have been even closer.

Audibles

All right, this section is hopefully going to be devoted to answering a few questions, clearing up some previous info that maybe wasn’t written well (I won’t profess to being a veritable wordsmith), and absorbing the heat (or maybe praise) that comes with making a prediction. We will do this because 1) it should be known that I have no problem admitting if I am wrong about something and 2) picks, predictions and commentaries are never personal, and that is something many fans seem to forget. We’ve all seen on message boards or writer mailbags how sometimes a writer will say something negative about a team, and then he is promptly blasted by fans of that team as an idiot know-nothing. Although some writers seem to have a bit of a smart-aleck streak in them and might deserve it, usually it’s still unnecessary.

I can only speak for myself, not other writers, but I can guarantee that most of my observations are not just shot from the hip or written to rile people up. I take pride in having opinions that are fairly well thought out. (if I say, “Wake Forest sucks,” I will have reasons for it.) If they aren’t, or if I learn something I didn’t know later, I have no problem admitting it. And honestly, is it really that big a deal if someone says something bad about your team? So what? Are these not just sports, and are not the participants at the college level usually between the ages of 18 and 23? And isn’t a sportswriter’s opinion just one of the thousands out there? Don’t take it personal. If your team is as good as you think they are, they will most definitely prove it at the appropriate time of the season. Besides, disagreements and varying points of view are what make sports so much fun to discuss. In the NFL, some people have said Tampa Bay has a dominant defense, I say they’ve always been overrated. Who’s right? There are good arguments both ways, and I’m perfectly happy to leave it at that.

Thus, I will say in advance a big thanks to those who write in with perfectly logical and levelheaded comments, which for me has usually been pretty much everyone. I have no problems with disagreements, and will certainly not profess to knowing everything. Regarding the preseason “overrateds”, I will say first off that perhaps my title was a bit in error. More accurately, it should have said teams that “could” be overrated. Not really saying that to cover the rear end in the case that any of those teams goes on to win it all so much as because I’m not so sure how convinced I am that all are overrated. The fact is, there aren’t many teams that look like sure things this year. For instance, in the case of St. Joseph’s, one would think Phil Martelli is too good of a coach to let what happened to the Hawks in 2001-02 happen again this year. It’s not that St. Joe’s is overrated now as much as there should be caution in expecting them to be a top 10 team. Truthfully, though, a #18 preseason ranking in the coaches’ poll seems about right.

Michigan State…I knew Spartan fans would be angry to see MSU on that list. Let me just say, though, that Joe Lunardi, a writer on ESPN.com whose opinions I respect, also said many of the same things about this team that I did. I like Mr. Lunardi’s commentary, because I think he comments more on his feel of teams, instead of just being blinded by athletes or coaches. I could be wrong, but that’s the impression I get, and I like it.

I won’t say Michigan State can’t be a great team, I just don’t see how so many unquestioningly put them in the top 5. The Spartans do have some losses from last year and point guard IS a question. I also personally do not put much stock into recruits until they are out on the floor (you can’t expect recruits to push you over the top…you can hope for it), so let’s just see how they play a little before anointing anyone, k? I do give Tom Izzo credit for that schedule; unlike a Butler or Creighton, Michigan State has the power to schedule that well, and they do use it to the fullest. Schedules like the Spartans are what the fans want to see.

Also, thank you to Creighton fan Beth for notifying me that the Omaha, Neb. university is another school that is kind enough to allow students in free to athletic events. That is great news, in fact, probably even more impressive than a Division III school allowing students in for free, because even a mid-Division I program spends a lot more on athletics than a D-III school. High praise to CU for once again showing that it is truly a university, and not a Wall Street business looking to bilk money anywhere with athletics while posing under the cover of a college name. I knew there were more reasons why I’ve warmed to the Jays so much in recent years than just the team’s success.

Finally, Marist grad and Siena fan Andrew thinks Manhattan isn’t quite a top 25 team and says to watch out for the Saints in the Metro Atlantic. He may well be right, the Jaspers do have a few holes to fill from last year. I guess my respect for Luis Flores as one of the country’s best players just runs that high, that I think Manhattan could well be ranked at some point. Besides Niagara, a team that was mentioned last week, do not count out Siena in the MAAC, either. Rob Lanier is assembling a nice talent base there, and the loss of Prosper Karangwa won’t be felt as much as some think if guys like Tommy Mitchell keep improving. And we’re not even mentioning Iona, a team that beat North Carolina last year and has Syracuse transfer DeShaun Williams coming in to join a small-but-feisty squad that doesn’t back down. The MAAC is a fun conference to watch, and with maybe a tad more aggressive scheduling, could be worth of an at-large bid or two in future seasons.

Again, thank you to everyone for reading and for your comments. They are very much appreciated.

Games you can’t or won’t watch but should

The schedule is kind of light this week. Can’t wait for the Temple-Villanova grudge match that will kick off the season Friday, and the Owls will live up to their nickname with the game starting at 12:01 a.m. YES! Glad to see these schools worked out their differences, because Philly Big 5 basketball is an institution that needs to be preserved.

Friday

Wisconsin at Pennsylvania. Penn is a depleted team compared to last year, but this is still a tricky one for the Badgers.

Northeastern at Rhode Island. Huskies are among the favorites in the America East…we’ll see early on how much progress they’ve made from last year.

Dayton at Pepperdine. Nice matchup. Good early season challenge for both teams.

Ohio State at San Francisco. Big 10 Buckeyes play rare non-conference road game…they may wish they hadn’t if USF has some injured players available.

USC at Western Michigan. This is a game the Broncos should almost expect to win. MAC schools need to take advantage of opportunities like this.

Oakland at Michigan. Wolverines should win, since they’re at home, but this will go down to the final 5 minutes. The Go Blue has lost these type of games before, see Central Michigan and Western Michigan in 2002-03, W. Mich. and Bowling Green in 2001-02…

LaSalle vs. Wichita State. Both teams are getting very close to returning to some glory days. Explorers are probably a year away from being close to the top 25.

Gardner-Webb at Clemson. Don’t laugh. The Runnin’ Bulldogs almost beat South Carolina, almost beat Tennessee last year, and have had a lot of almosts against higher profile teams.

Western Kentucky at Auburn. We’ll get an early look at how good the ‘Toppers could be this year. Give Auburn an edge, though, since the Tigers already have some games in.

Eastern Washington at Oklahoma. Sooners open against an Eastern team that often plays tough against the best on its schedule.

Saturday

Southern Illinois at Wyoming. Despite missing Jermaine Dearman, Kent Williams and coach Bruce Weber, don’t count the Salukis out this year. SIU still returns some good talent, and this is a tough-but-winnable road game against a rebuilding Wyoming team.

Akron at Cincinnati. The Zips are receiving a lot of hype, returning the most experienced team in the MAC. Not sure if we’re buying it yet, since Dan Hipsher’s had teams before that weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

Sunday

Boston College vs. Monmouth. Potential trap game for the Eagles.

Quincy at Butler. This is what happens to your sked when the big schools avoid you.

East Tennessee State at Texas Tech. This is a game that should be on ESPN in this non-conference season, instead of another Memphis-Illinois type rerun (we only need to see so many). Take out the exempted tournaments, and games like this are some of the only ones that make Nov.-Dec. interesting anymore. We see enough of the big conferences playing each other during conference season and in the NCAAs, we don’t need to see it dominating the pre-conference schedules, too.

Monday

Nevada at UNLV. The battle for bragging rights in Nevada is always an intense one and usually evenly matched. This year is no exception.

Colorado at Pepperdine. The Buffaloes have been mostly absent in the preseason hype rounds, but don’t count out CU. At the same time, don’t count on a win at Pepperdine as a sure thing, either.

Dayton vs. Central Michigan, San Diego State vs. Ohio State in Maui Classic. While some gripe about this year’s Maui field, I like it. Teams like Dayton, OSU, Hawaii, CMU and SDS are worthy, and winning in this tourney and getting some serious TV exposure will be nice to see for some schools that usually are left out cold.

Northern Illinois at Notre Dame. Huskies are one of many challengers in the MAC this year. If the Irish football team goes 6-6, they’ll likely go bowling while Northern will be stiffed. Wouldn’t it be justice if NIU and ND had to playoff for a bowl berth?

Oakland at Cincinnati. Golden Grizzlies continue their early season education.

Texas-Arlington at New Mexico State. UTA is one of the faves in the Southland, and tough-but-not-suicidal tests like this will work in their favor later.

Tuesday

St. Joseph’s at Boston U. Credit St. Joe’s for not avoiding teams like BU. A good road test, but probably one SJU should eek out.

Stanford at Cal-Irvine. It seems like the last time Stanford left the state of California for a non-conference, non-NCAA game was about 1986. Oh well, at least they’re not ducking a pesky UCI team.

South Florida at Valparaiso. Watch the Crusaders beat a school that, for some reason, not sure why, was invited to the Big East. (Yes, we know: football and Florida pedigree)

Rhode Island vs. Miami (Fla.). Rams very well could be an NCAA team this year, but need to win games like this.

Tulsa at Oklahoma. Funny how the only time the Sooners have the marbles to play the Golden Hurricane is in years when TU has lost four starters…like this year.

Adam Glatczak writes the "Wednesday Onions" column for CollegeHoopsnet.  Bookmark the "Wednesday Onions" homepage and come back each week!