Saturday Afternoon Update: Wall Leads UK to Easy Win

Shawn Siegel — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:28:05 -0500

An update of the day's college basketball action so far:

- John Wall filled up the stat sheet in the Wildcats easy 92-63 win over Rider. Wall paced Kentucky with 21 points, 11 assists, 6 boards, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Patrick Patterson added 19 points and 18 boards.

- Big West title contender Long Beach State picked up a nice road win at Green Bay 81-69. The 49ers next face West Virginia and Texas to finish up a tough stretch to start the season.

- George Washington improved to 3-0 after blowing out UMBC 94-51. Freshman Lasan Kromah continues to impress for GW. The 6-5 guard scored 21 points, including 6 of 9 from three in limited action due to the blowout. GW's been struggling the past couple seasons, but perhaps Kromah will help the turnaround.

- Northeastern came back to topple Utah St 64-61 in a good battle between quality mid-major squads.

- American, coming off back to back tournament trips, fell to 0-4 against FAU 81-69. The Eagles are rebuilding after replacing all 5 starters. 3 of their 4 losses have come at home.

- Oklahoma St put away a somewhat pesky North Texas squad, 82-68. James Anderson led all scorers with 25. On the season, he's averaging 25+ ppg and 11+ rpg.

- Mid-way through the 2nd half, Duke is putting a hurting on Radford 75-46. Duke is 15-26 from three, with 12 minutes left.

Any of today's results interest you? Post your commentary below:

College Hoops Monday: Your Commentary

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:41:31 -0500

ESPN's somewhat ridiculous but somewhat awesome 24 hours of college basketball tips off tonight, as we enter the first full week of action. Four Top 20 teams are in action, though none should be tested. Most eyes will be on the young freshmen stars on the likes of Duke & Kentucky, especially the debut of UK's John Wall.

If you will be watching, betting on, paying attention to, or hating on any of the day's games, please feel free to share your thoughts below:

TV GAMES

Coastal Carolina at #8 Duke - 7:00 - ESPNU

Colgate at #14 UCONN - 9:00 - ESPNU

Texas State at Arizona State - 11:00 ESPNU

Fullerton at UCLA - 12:05 AM - ESPN

San Diego State at Saint Mary's - 2:00 AM - ESPN\

No. Colorado at Hawaii - 4:00 AM - ESPN

OTHER BIG GAMES

Miami (OH) at #4 Kentucky - 7:00 - ESPN360

Penn at #6 Villanova - 7:00

Enjoy the games!

Bracketology: Week One!

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:12:21 -0500

The weekly Bracketology field is based on how the tourney looks "as of this moment." (which for week one is only a prediction.) My weekly Bracketology updates are usually released Monday mornings. In late February into March, I release Bracketology updates daily as the season approaches crunch time.

Why should you care what I have to say? Did you know in 2007 & 2008, I was considered to have one of the Top 2 or 3 brackets amongst 53 national experts including Joe Lunardi, Gary Parrish and the like. (Admittedly my 2009 final bracket was rather weak.. not sure what happened.)

Movement:

This is the first update of the season.. hence no changes. Normally, arrows indicate movement by seed. Two arrows equals a change of two seeds, etc..

ONE

Kansas**

TWO

THREE

Butler**

FOUR

Dayton**

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

Siena**

NINE

UCLA

Vanderbilt

Memphis**

Gonzaga**

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

Nevada**

Old Dominion**

Syracuse

Florida

THIRTEEN

Western Kentucky**

Arizona State

Akron**

Cornell**

FOURTEEN

Charleston**

Long Beach St**

Weber State**

Jacksonville**

FIFTEEN

Sam Houston St**

Oakland**

Boston University**

Radford**

SIXTEEN + ONE

Mount St. Mary's**

Holy Cross**

South Carolina St**

Murray State** / Jackson State**

** = Automatic Bid

Bold = Locked Up Tournament Bid (only relevant in March)

League Leaders/Winners (31)

- Leaders throughout the season are merely the first place team in the standings as of the update, and not projected winners. Ties are given to the higher RPI team.

America East - Boston U.

A-10 - Dayton

ACC - North Carolina

Atlantic Sun - Jacksonville

Big 12 - Kansas

Big East - Villanova

Big Sky - Weber State

Big South - Radford

Big Ten - Michigan State

Big West - Long Beach St

CAA - Old Dominion

Conference USA - Memphis

Horizon - Butler

Ivy - Cornell

MAAC - Siena

MAC - Akron

MEAC - South Carolina St

MVC - Creighton

MWC - BYU

Northeast - Mount St. Mary's

Ohio Valley - Murray State

Pac-10 - Washington

Patriot - Holy Cross

SEC - Kentucky

Southern - Charleston

Southland - Sam Houston State

SWAC - Jackon State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Western Kentucky

WAC - Nevada

WCC - Gonzaga

*** = Locked Up Automatic Bid

Last In: Arizona St, Florida, Syracuse, Wisconsin

Last Out: Utah State, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Missouri

Further Four: Boston College, Arizona, Penn State, La Salle

Dropped Out In Latest Update (at-large): NONE

ACC Basketball: Top 25 Players

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:44:10 -0500

In some situations, the bigger challenge is deciding what position to list a player. College basketball is filled with combo guards, wings who can play from the 2 to 4, centers who are really power forwards, and so on.

All of these questions make lists like this fun and debatable.. if you disagree with CHN's rankings, post what you think below.

ACC

PG
1. Greivis Vasquez - Maryland
2. Malcolm Delaney - Virginia Tech
3. Demontez Stitt - Clemson
4. Derwin Kitchen - FSU
5. Dexter Strickland - UNC

SG
1. Jon Scheyer - Duke
2. Sylven Landesberg - Virginia
3. Iman Shumpert - Georgia Tech
4. Michael Snaer - FSU
5. Reggie Jackson - Boston College

- Considering this is the ACC, the guard class in general is rather uninspiring. Amongst PG's, Kitchen is the potential breakout star. Shumpert can play both guard positions, it will be interesting to see whether he loses shots to the likes of Favors & Lawal.

SF
1. Kyle Singler - Duke
2. John Henson - UNC
3. Rakim Sanders - Boston College
4. Chris Singleton - FSU
5. Marcus Ginyard - UNC

PF
1. Derrick Favors - Georgia Tech
2. Ed Davis - UNC
3. Al-Farouq Aminu - Wake Forest
4. Jeff Allen - Virginia Tech
5. Gani Lawal - Georgia Tech

C
1. Trevor Booker - Clemson
2. Solomon Alabi - FSU
3. Joe Trapani - Boston College
4. Dwayne Collins - Miami
5. Deon Thompson - UNC

- The power forward position is stacked, as solid players like Landon Milbourne (Maryland) and Corey Raji (BC) don't make it. Booker is one of the best senior Draft prospects in the country, while Alabi is one of the top 10 sophomore prospects.

-- SEC Top 25 Players

-- Pac-10 Top 25 Players

-- Big Ten Top 25 Players

-- Big East Top 25 Players

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

Big 12 Basketball: Top 25 Players

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:42:19 -0500

All of these questions make lists like this fun and debatable.. if you disagree with CHN's rankings, post what you think below.

BIG 12

PG
1. Sherron Collins - Kansas
2. Denis Clemente - Kansas State
3. Tommy Mason-Griffin - Oklahoma
4. Donald Sloan - Texas A&M
5. John Roberson - Texas Tech

SG
1. James Anderson - Oklahoma State
2. Willie Warren - Oklahoma
3. LaceDarius Dunn - Baylor
4. Cory Higgins - Colorado
5. Avery Bradley - Texas

- This is a talented set of guards overall. Warren might be the best pro prospect of the bunch, but he's still improving. Collins is one of the front-runners for national Player of the Year. Higgins is an underrated performer for Colorado.

SF
1. Damion James - Texas
2. Mike Singletary - Texas Tech
3. Obi Muonelo - Oklahoma State
4. Kim English - Missouri
5. Marqus Gilstrap - Iowa State

PF
1. Craig Brackins - Iowa State
2. Marcus Morris - Kansas
3. Gary Johnson - Texas
4. Keith Gallon - OKlahoma
5. Jamar Samuels - Kansas State

C
1. Cole Aldrich - Kansas
2. Dexter Pittman - Texas
3. Bryan Davis - Texas A&M
4. Ekpe Udoh - Baylor
5. Christopher Niemann - Nebraska

- Compared to some other leagues, the Big 12's big man crop is impressive, though the wing position isn't quite as strong. Freshman Jordan Hamilton of Texas might have more pure talent then any other SF in the league, but it might take him time to become a top-level performer.

-- SEC Top 25 Players

-- Pac-10 Top 25 Players

-- Big Ten Top 25 Players

-- Big East Top 25 Players

Big East Basketball: Top 25 Players

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:38:22 -0500

All of these questions make lists like this fun and debatable.. if you disagree with CHN's rankings, post what you think below.

BIG EAST

PG
1. Scottie Reynolds - Villanova
2. Dominique Jones - South Florida
3. Kemba Walker - UCONN
4. Tory Jackson - Pittsburgh
5. Sharaud Curry - Providence

SG
1. Mike Rosario - Rutgers
2. Jeremy Hazell - Seton Hall
3. Jerome Dyson - UCONN
4. Deonta Vaughn - Cincinnati
5. Corey Stokes - Villanova

- With so many more teams, the Big East is always harder to rank. There is no one dominant player in this group, but many experienced starters. Nova's Corey Fisher was the hardest player to leave off. One newcomer to watch is WVU's Casey Mitchell, a juco shooting guard with high expectations.

SF
1. Devin Ebanks - West Virginia
2. Wesley Johnson - Syracuse
3. Lance Stephenson - Cincinnati
4. Stanley Robinson - UCONN
5. Robert Mitchell - Seton Hall

PF
1. Da'Sean Butler - West Virginia
2. Lazar Hayward - Marquette
3. Anthony Mason Jr - St. John's
4. Herb Pope - Seton Hall
5. Dante Taylor - Pittsburgh

C
1. Luke Harangody - Notre Dame
2. Greg Monroe - Georgetown
3. Samardo Samuels - Louisville
4. Mac Koshwal - DePaul
5. Arinze Onuaku - Syracuse

- Impressive that WVU has the top SF & PF. Herb Pope has surpreme talent, but he might not even start for a deep SHU team. There are a good amount of newcomers on the list, including the likes of Johnson, Stephenson, Pope, etc. One other transfer to watch is Nova's Taylor King, who can light up the score-sheet if given ample minutes.

-- SEC Top 25 Players

-- Pac-10 Top 25 Players

-- Big Ten Top 25 Players

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

SEC Basketball: Top 25 Players

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:19 -0500

All of these questions make lists like this fun and debatable.. if you disagree with CHN's rankings, post what you think below.

SEC

PG
1. Devan Downey - South Carolina
2. John Wall - Kentucky
3. Chris Warren - Ole Miss
4. Courtney Fortson - Arkansas
5. Dee Bost - Mississippi State

SG
1. Terrico White - Ole Miss
2. Kenny Boynton - Florida
3. DeWayne Reed - Auburn
4. Brad Tinsley - Vanderbilt
5. Scotty Hopson - Tennessee

- While Downey is a senior, most of the SEC's top guards are quite young. Wall & Boynton are freshmen, while White, Bost and others are sophomores. Ole Miss has an underrated backcourt now that Warren & Eniel Polynice return from injury to join the improving White.

SF
1. Tyler Smith - Tennessee
2. Jeffrey Taylor - Vanderbilt
3. Dominique Archie - South Carolina
4. Ravern Johnson - Mississippi State
5. Darius Miller - Kentucky

PF
1. Patrick Patterson - Kentucky
2. Tasmin Mitchell - LSU
3. Howard Thompkins - Georgia
4. JaMychal Green - Alabama
5. Michael Washington - Arkansas

C
1. Jarvis Varnado - Mississppi State
2. AJ Ogilvy - Vanderbilt
3. Alex Tyus - Florida
4. Wayne Chism - Tennessee
5. DeMarcus Cousins - Kentucky

- The SEC's big man crop is as good as any league out there. Besides the guys listed, you have the potential inclusion of MSU's Renardo Sidney and UK's Daniel Orton. The SF position isn't quite as strong however.

Pac-10 Basketball: Top 25 Players

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:21:40 -0500

Ranking players is more art then science. How do you compare the potential of freshmen with seniors who have already peaked? How much does physical talent come into play versus intangibles and experience? How big a role do numbers play? All of these questions make lists like this fun and debatable.. if you disagree with CHN's rankings, post what you think below.

PG
1. Jerome Randle - Cal
2. Nic Wise - Arizona
3. Abdul Gaddy - Washington
4. Malcolm Lee - UCLA
5. Derek Glasser - Arizona State

SG
1. Patrick Christopher - Cal
2. Isaiah Thomas - Washington
3. Dwight Lewis - USC
4. Tajuan Porter - Oregon
5. Calvin Haynes - Oregon State

- Impressive that Cal owns the two top spots here, but Washington's backcourt is no joke either. Shooting guard in the Pac-10 is a bit weak compared to the other BCS leagues, even with Thomas included, even though he could have been listed as a PG.

PAC-10

SF
1. Klay Thompson - Washington St
2. Quincy Pondexter - Washington
3. Theo Robertson - Cal
4. Landry Fields - Stanford
5. Rihards Kuksiks - Arizona State

PF
1. Nikola Dragovic - UCLA
2. Tyler Honeycutt - UCLA
3. Matthew Bryan-Amaning - Washington
4. Alex Stepheson - USC
5. Leonard Washington - USC
C
1. Roeland Schaftenaar - Oregon State
2. Drew Gordon - UCLA
3. Kyryl Natyazhko - Arizona
4. Michael Dunigan - Oregon
5. DeAngelo Castro - Washington State

- The frontcourt talent just doesn't come close to matching the other power-conferences. In fact, most of the PF's and C's were secondary players for their teams last year, or are unproven.

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

National Preview Magazines: Consensus Top 25

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:27:42 -0500

Don't like CollegeHoops.net's Top 144 Ranking? Here's what the major annual preview magazines have to say, including a consensus average based on all three.

There are certainly some interesting differences between the publications. Michigan is in the Top 10 in Lindy's but in the others' Top 20. Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, and UCONN are in 2 of 3 Top 15's, but the 3rd doesn't even rank them. West Virginia's wide spread is from 5th in Sporting News to 18th in Lindy's. Vanderbilt only appears in Athlon, and are all the way up at 16th.

SN = Sporting News.

	TEAM	ATHLON	LINDY'S	SN	AVG	vs CHN
1	Kansas	1	1	1	1.0	1
2	Michigan St	2	3	3	2.7	3
3	Texas	3	2	6	3.7	5
4	North Carolina	5	5	4	4.7	4
5	Kentucky	6	8	2	5.3	6
6	Purdue	4	6	7	5.7	10
7	Villanova	7	4	9	6.7	2
8	Tennessee	8	12	12	10.7	9
9t	Butler	12	7	14	11.0	11
9t	West Virginia	10	18	5	11.0	7
11	Duke	18	11	8	12.3	8
12	California	14	10	16	13.3	15
13t	Washington	17	16	13	15.3	12
13t	Mississippi St	15	21	10	15.3	23
15	Michigan	23	9	24	18.7	14
16	Maryland	22	20	20	20.7	20
17	Dayton	25	17	23	21.7	16

-- Below teams only in 2 of 3 rankings --

18	Oklahoma	9	14		7.7	37
19	Georgia Tech	13	13		8.7	13
20	UCONN	11		15	8.7	19
21	Georgetown	21		11	10.7	17
22	Louisville	19	15		11.3	27
23	Ohio St		22	19	13.7	13
24	Clemson	24		17	13.7	22
25	Illinois		25	21	15.3	21

-- Other teams appearig in a magazine Top 25 --

Vanderbilt	16			47
Wake Forest			18	44
Tulsa		19		38
BYU	20			42
Notre Dame			22	60
UCLA		23		29
South Carolina		24		30
Florida St			25	52

-- Teams in CHN's Top 25 but not in any other --

Minnesota	18
Xavier	24
Kansas State	25

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

ACC Basketball: 5-Year Ranking

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:23:02 -0500

ACC 5-YEAR STANDINGS

CHN's annual 5-year ranking answers a simple question is in a simple manner: How do ACC teams stack up over the last five years?

Teams get points for league wins, making the postseason (NIT or NCAA) and winning games in the Big Dance. NIT wins are meaningless here, as are non-conference wins. Also, league tournaments wins are not taken into account. (An original trial-scoring system included points for conference tourney wins. But the flukish nature of these tourney's did more harm than hurt: ie, 2008 Georgia, 2006 Syracuse, and 2004 Maryland ended up getting too much credit despite the reality that they were mediocre to sub-par teams.)

100 total points is set up to be the equivalent of batting .300 in baseball.. anything above and beyond is all-world stuff. 50 points is mediocre and you only start to get bad below 40 points.

Pos.	Was	Team	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Wins	Gms.	Points

1	1	UNC	14	12	11	14	13	64	80	80	Win %
			Champs	NCAA 32	Elite 8	Final 4	Champs			46	Post Pts.
										126

2	2	Duke	11	14	8	13	11	57	80	71	Win %
			Sweet 16	2nd Round	1st Round	2nd Round	Sweet 16			22	Post Pts.
										93

3	3	BC	13	11	10	4	9	47	80	59	Win %
			2nd Round	Sweet 16	2nd Round	X	1st Round			16	Post Pts.
			*Big East							75

4	5	MD	7	8	10	8	7	40	80	50	Win %
			NIT	NIT	2nd Round	NIT	2nd Round			11	Post Pts.
										61

5	7	Wake For.	13	3	5	7	11	39	80	49	Win %
			2nd Round	NIT	X	X	1st Round			7	Post Pts.
										56

6	11	Clemson	5	7	7	10	9	38	80	48	Win %
			NIT	NIT	NIT	1st Round	1st Round			7	Post Pts.
										55

6	8	VA Tech	8	4	10	9	7	38	80	48	Win %
			NIT	X	2nd Round	NIT	NIT			7	Post Pts.
										55

8	10	FSU	4	9	7	7	10	37	80	46	Win %
			X	NIT	NIT	NIT	1st Round			5	Post Pts.
										51

9	6	NC State	7	10	5	4	6	32	80	40	Win %
			Sweet 16	2nd Round	NIT	X	X			11	Post Pts.
										51

10	12	Miami	7	7	4	8	7	33	80	41	Win %
			NIT	NIT	X	2nd Round	NIT			7	Post Pts.
										48

11	9	Virginia	4	7	11	5	4	31	80	39	Win %
			X	NIT	2nd Round	X	X			5	Post Pts.
										44

12	4	GA Tech	8	4	8	7	2	29	80	36	Win %
			2nd Round	X	1st Round	X	X			6	Post Pts.
										42