Duke

College Hoops Saturday: Your Commentary

Raphielle Johnson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:39:13 -0500

This is the time of year when college basketball takes a step back in terms of nationally televised games in favor of college football, but there are some intriguing games on the schedule. Kentucky, who's been lights out offensively but hasn't defended at the level that John Calipari desires, hosts a dangerous Rider team licking its wounds following a 79-46 beating at the hands of Virginia. Duke hosts the defending Big South champions in Radford and big men Artsiom Parakhouski and Joey Lynch-Flohr will look to hang with the deep Blue Devil frontcourt.

Five other ranked teams play on Saturday, including #10 Butler (at Evansville) and #17 Oklahoma (at VCU, where Jeff Capel used to coach). The game of the day: that may be Utah State's visit to Northeastern at noon. Both teams (and their leagues) could use a solid resume-building result at this point in the season.

TV GAMES

Rider @ #5 Kentucky - 1PM - ESPN360
East Tennessee State @ #22 Louisville - 4PM - ESPN360
Presbyterian @ #25 Illinois - 8PM - BTN
Georgia @ UAB - 8PM - CSS

OTHER GAMES

Utah State @ Northeastern - Noon
#20 Georgetown @ Savannah State - 1PM
Radford @ #8 Duke - 3PM
Oral Roberts @ Virginia - 2PM
UCF vs. Niagara - 4PM (in Daytona Beach)
Siena @ Temple - 7PM
Marshall @ Old Dominion - 7PM
Oregon @ Portland - 10PM

ONE PREDICTION

Northeastern over Utah State: I really think this could be the game of the day, with the Huskies winning a close one at home. Manny Adako and Nkem Ojougboh can hold their own inside while perimeter players Matt Janning and Chase Allen are two very dangerous players. Stew Morrill's Aggies usually do a good job in regards to their offensive efficiency, something that usually bodes well in road games. Jared Quayle vs. Janning is one of the better individual matchups as well but look for the Huskies to win by three.

Predictions? Feel free to post them below.

ACC Basketball Preview: 2009-10

CHN — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:46:54 -0500

With UNC rebuilding and Duke lacking depth, the ACC is more wide-open then its been in quite some time. Adding to the intrigue are top-notch prospects like Derrick Favors, Michael Snaer, and John Henson.

Conference Rank: 3rd

10 year average: 1st

ACC Page

All-ACC Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Malcolm Delaney	Virginia Tech	Jr
G	Greivis Vasquez	Maryland	Sr
F	Kyle Singler	Duke	Jr
F	Ed Davis	North Carolina	So
F	Trevor Booker	Clemson	Sr
Second Team
G	Jon Scheyer	Duke	Sr
G	Sylven Landesburg	Virginia	So
F	Gani Lawal	Georgia Tech	Jr
F	Al-Farouq Aminu	Wake Forest	So
D	Derrick Favors	Georgia Tech	Fr

Player of the Year - Greivis Vasquez Freshman of the Year - Derrick Favors
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
CHN All-Americans Kyle Singler (2nd team) Ed Davis (3rd) Derrick Favors (3rd) Greivis Vasquez (3rd) Al-Farouq Aminu Trevor Booker Malcolm Delaney Jon Scheyer All-Freshman Team Derrick Favors (1st Team) John Henson Ryan Kelly Mason Plumlee Durand Scott Michael Snaer Dexter Strickland Mfon Udofia		Points: Malcolm Delaney 18.1 Rebounds: Trevor Booker 9.7 Assists: Greivis Vasquez 5.0 Team: North Carolina 89.9

ACC Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

4	North Carolina	ACC	1	NCAA
8	Duke	ACC	2	NCAA
20	Maryland	ACC	4	NCAA
22	Clemson	ACC	3	NCAA
26	Georgia Tech	ACC	5	NCAA
44	Wake Forest	ACC	6	NCAA
52	Florida St	ACC	7	NIT
64	Virginia Tech	ACC	8	NIT
70	Miami	ACC	9	NIT
78	Virginia	ACC	10	NIT
93	Boston College	ACC	11	CBI/CIT
119	NC State	ACC	12	CBI/CIT

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the ACC?

Other ACC Content

ACC: Top 25 Players

ACC Fantasy Stats Preview

ACC Media Poll & All-Conference Team

ACC 5-Year Ranking

College Basketball Preview - 348 Team Ranking - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

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!

College Basketball: Preseason All-America Team

CHN — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:50:56 -0500

A pair of Kansas Jayhawks lead the CollegeHoops.net 2009-10 Preseason All-America Teams. Guard Sherron Collins is CHN's Preseason Player of the Year, and is joined on the First Team by big man Cole Aldrich. Luke Harangody, a member of our 2009 All-America Team, is the lone returnee. Three freshmen are on the list in John Wall, Derrick Favors, and Avery Bradley. A handful of players from outside the power conferences are included such as Nevada's Luke Babbitt and Butler's Gordon Hayward. Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Purdue, Texas, and West Virginia have multiple players.

CollegeHoops.net Preseason Player of the Year: Sherron Collins (Kansas)

CollegeHoops.net First Team All-American

Sherron Collins	Kansas	SR	G
Kalin Lucas	Michigan State	JR	G
Evan Turner	Ohio State	JR	G/F
Luke Harangody	Notre Dame	SR	F
Cole Aldrich	Kansas	SR	F

CollegeHoops.net Second Team All-American

John Wall	Kentucky	FR	G
Devan Downey	South Carolina	SR	G
Scottie Reynolds	Villanova	SR	G
Kyle Singler	Duke	JR	F
Patrick Patterson	Kentucky	SO	F

CollegeHoops.net Third Team All-American

Willie Warren	Oklahoma	SO	G
Greivis Vasquez	Maryland	SR	G
Manny Harris	Michigan	JR	G
Tyler Smith	Tennessee	JR	F
Derrick Favors	Georgia Tech	FR	F/C

CollegeHoops.net Fourth Team All-American

Jerome Randle	California	SR	G
James Anderson	Oklahoma State	JR	G
Devin Ebanks	West Virginia	SO	F
Craig Brackins	Iowa State	JR	F
Ed Davis	North Carolina	SO	F

Honorable Mention

Al-Farouq Aminu	Wake Forest	SO	F
Luke Babbitt	Nevada	SO	F
Talor Battle	Penn St	JR	G
Trevor Booker	Clemson	JR	G
Avery Bradley	Texas	FR	G
Da'Sean Butler	West Virginia	SR	F
Denis Clemente	Kansas State	SR	G
Malcolm Delaney	Virginia Tech	JR	G
Jimmer Fredette	BYU	JR	G
Gordon Hayward	Butler	SO	G
Robbie Hummel	Purdue	JR	F
Damion James	Texas	SR	F
JaJuan Johnson	Purdue	JR	C
Jerome Jordan	Tulsa	SR	C
Tasmin Mitchell	LSU	SR	F
Greg Monroe	Georgetown	SO	F
AJ Ogilvy	Vanderbilt	SO	F
Larry Sanders	VCU	JR	F
Jon Scheyer	Duke	SR	G
Isaiah Thomas	Washington	SO	G
Jarvis Varnado	Mississippi St	SR	F
Nic Wise	Arizona	SR	G
Terrico White	Ole Miss	SO	G
Chris Wright	Xavier	JR	F

Other CollegeHoops.net Preseason Awards

- Preseason All-Freshman Team

ACC Basketball: Top 25 Players

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

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

Poll: Who Will Win the 2010 National Championship?

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:30:41 -0500

Poll: Who Will be the National Player of the Year?

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:29:02 -0500

Duke Basketball Preview: #8

Joel Welser — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:28:20 -0500

Overall Rank: #8

Conference Rank: #2 Atlantic Coast Conference

2008-09: 30-7, 11-5

2008-09 postseason: NCAA

Coach: Mike Krzyzewski (760-215 at Duke, 833-274 overall)

Duke continues to do what Duke has been doing lately. They finish in the top two in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beat the teams they should beat and lose a couple times to North Carolina. Then they make a run in the conference tournament before bowing out earlier than Blue Devil fans hope in the NCAA Tournament. Expect more of the same this time around.

Key Losses: G Gerald Henderson, F David McClure, G Greg Paulus, G Elliot Williams

Key Newcomers:

The lack of guards in this recruiting class is painful. Andre Dawkins is not the highly touted recruit one would expect to step foot in Cameron Indoor Stadium and make a huge impact. He will have to play some minutes due to lack of options, but he will not be a game changer as a freshman. Power forwards Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee are the highly touted recruits. Kelly is a big man at 6-10 and 220 pounds, but he also is a superb outside shooter who can stretch out the defense. Plumlee is a skilled player, but he might need some time to add some strength before he can effectively battle under the basket in the ACC.

Backcourt:

Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer are the only two returning guards who will make an impact. Unfortunately, neither are point guards. Smith can try, but he almost committed as many turnovers last year as he did assists. While Smith could turn into a decent scorer and is not a bad defender, he is not a point guard. Neither is Scheyer, but at least he can take care of the ball. Last season Scheyer tallied 14.9 points, 2.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest. He may not be as effective of a scorer with the ball in his hands, but if Smith does not get his act together, Coach Krzyzewski will not have much choice.

Frontcourt:

The strength and depth of this team has moved into the frontcourt. Kyle Singler can finally play at the small forward spot and that leaves Brian Zoubek, Miles Plumlee and Lance Thomas to battle it out with the newcomers for playing time under the basket. Zoubek will be the man in the paint after starting 17 games there last season. The 7-1 senior is a massive presence under the basket and, while his numbers may not reflect it, he is an important player on this team. Miles Plumlee, brother of incoming freshman Mason, will at least add some depth, but it is Thomas who could be in for a surprisingly decent senior season if given the opportunity.

Who to Watch:

Singler is the star of this team after averaging 16.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists during his sophomore campaign. Singler was forced to spend most of his time at the power forward position last year due to lack of frontcourt options. The exact opposite is true this year and the 6-8 junior could play some shooting guard in a pinch. But no matter where he plays, Singler has proven that he can score and do everything his team needs him to do to win.

Final Projection:

The lack of depth on the perimeter could be a huge problem for the Blue Devils. After Smith and Scheyer, the pickings are slim. Singler is athletic enough to play the two guard spot and this would suddenly turn into a team that is very large, athletic and has a surprising amount of outside shooting. There are not many shooting guards out there that Singler cannot shoot over. But Scheyer and Singler cannot play 40 minutes per game without tired legs in March. This might be a great team on any given day, but they will rely on the outside shot too much and get tired by the end of the year. That means another early NCAA exit for Duke.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Jon Scheyer, Senior, Guard, 14.9 points per game

Nolan Smith, Junior, Guard, 8.4 points per game

Lance Thomas, Senior, Forward, 5.3 points per game

Kyle Singler, Junior, Forward, 16.5 points per game

Brian Zoubek, Senior, Center, 4.1 points per game

Next Top 144 Teams
9		10		11		12

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