More College Basketball News

College Basketball NewsFlash

By Adam Stanco

basketballwriter@cs.com

February 2nd

College Basketball NewsFlash

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, CHN bringsyou the latest news and commentary from the world of college basketball.  Each NewsFlash will feature three important news stories, and sharp commentary on the relevancy of the story.  Check out old articles in the NewsFlash Archive.

Story: Clemson Topples the Terps

In a league brimming with upsets, Clemson beat Maryland on Tuesday night 88-73. Snatching their second ACC victory, the Tigers are now 11-10 overall, while the Terrapins fall to 13-6 and just 4-4 in league play.

My Take: The ACC is a jumbled mess. There are now six teams in the conference with at least four wins and a .500 mark in league play, including Big East imports Virginia Tech and Miami. Incredibly, N.C. State and Georgia Tech are two of the remaining teams with less than four wins. Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest are the obvious ACC standouts, yet the rest of the league may damage each other enough to bump some stellar teams off the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Story:  Another St. Joe’s – Stanford Season?

Illinois is 22-0. Boston College is 19-0. The undefeated streaks of two very different teams are beginning to resemble those from a season ago.

My Take:  BC’s shocking run is looking more and more like the miraculous journey of St. Joe’s and the Illini are playing beyond their expected potential, just as Stanford did a year ago. The Hawks were led by eventual first round picks Jameer Nelson and Delonte West and now the Eagles’ two-headed California connection, Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, lead four players averaging in double figures. For Boston College to head into the Big East Tournament undefeated, they need to beat Syracuse and Pitt at home and win at Villanova and Rutgers.

The Illinois squad is balanced, yet the backcourt of Luther Head, Dee Brown, and Deron Williams is their strength. The same held true for Stanford with Chris Hernandez, Matt Lottich, and the multi-dimensional Josh Childress leading the troops. With just two stumbling blocks looming on the schedule (at home against Wisconsin and at Iowa), the Illini could easily go unblemished.

Keep in mind, though, that both St. Joe’s and Stanford did not reach the Final Four.

Story: Hill Halted

The most surprising stat from Seton Hall’s 62-55 win over St. John’s on Saturday? Daryll Hill’s 6 points on 3-of-15 shooting. It had almost been a full calendar year since the Red Storm’s star guard was last held under double-digits (he scored 9 against UCLA on January 31^st of 2004).

My Take: The 5’10” Hill pours in points like Tara Reid pours vodka tonics. Before the aberration game, he had scored at least 20 points in six straight games and closed out last season with seven consecutive 20-point games. 

In a theme engulfing college basketball this season, many small in stature guards are playing huge on a nightly basis. NBA scouts mimic schoolchildren trading “Live Strong” bracelets as they giddily exchange stories about Washington’s 5’9” Nate Robinson. Tack Minor (5’11”) of LSU, Oklahoma’s Drew Lavender (5’7”), T.J. Sorrentine (5’11”) of UVM, and Mississippi State’s Gary Ervin (5’11”) all play vital roles and major minutes as point guards for their respective teams. At a mere 5’9”, East Tennessee State standout Tim Smith is the second leading scorer in the Southern Conference and possibly the quickest player in the nation. Another sub-six-footer, Rob Monroe of Quinnipiac, might be the best of the bunch. Monroe is leading the Northeast Conference in scoring, assists, is second in 3-pointers made per game, and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio.