USC/Kansas
Nice little ball game tonight.
1. Kansas' bench won this game for them. The Jayhawks' two offensive stars, Brandon Rush and Julian Wright, combined to make just seven of 26 shots from the field, and Darrell Arthur was hampered by foul trouble much of the night. But a couple of less-heralded players stepped in and picked up the slack. Junior forward Darnell Jackson reached double figures for the fifth time this season with 11 points, and freshman guard Sherron Collins chipped in with 11 of his own. Rush and Mario Chalmers led KU with with 13 each, but on a night when their big guns by and large struggled, they still pulled out a victory. We knew Kansas had a lot of talent, but Jackson and Collins were not the guys we expected to hear much from. It makes you wonder a little, actually, how Kansas could have lost to such inferior opponents as Oral Roberts and DePaul; with that much depth, you'd think that they'd find some combination of players that would have worked.
2. Tim Floyd is rebuilding well at Southern Cal. The Trojans went into Allen Fieldhouse and hung with the Jayhawks, despite lacking a true point guard and facing one of the nation's best defensive backcourts. Lodrick Stewart has a very nice shooting stroke, and freshmen Daniel Hackett and Taj Gibson both showed mature mid-range games. Nick Young, the Pac-10's leading returning scorer from last year, struggled tonight, but he's obviously a proven talent.
The team's bigs -- Abdoulaye N'Diaye and RouSean Cromwell -- disappointed, combining for just four points and three rebounds before both fouling out.
Of course, the best is yet to come for USC, as O.J. Mayo, one of the top-ranked players in the 07 high school class, arrives on campus next year along with Davon Jefferson, another prize prospect. Stewart will be gone, but assuming Young comes back, the additions of Mayo and Jefferson will be more than enough to replace his production, and Mayo will be able to handle the point guard duties if need be.
But this isn't bad for a squad that is essentially bridging the gap until Mayo gets there. Gabe Pruitt will become eligible for the second semester, and this Trojan team could challenge Washington and Oregon for third place in the conference.
3. I won't harp on the refereeing too much in this space, but tonight was a picture-perfect example of the idea that it doesn't matter how closely or loosely you call a game, but you must do it consistently. The first half was physical -- not dirty, but a fair amount of banging and grabbing -- and the refs let much of it go. In the second half, they started making those calls, and USC was shooting one-and-one within the first five minutes.
If you want to keep the game free of "ugly" play, you need to nip it in the bud from the beginning. You can't expect players to adjust to two different styles of officiating.
(And 1) I attended all three games of the BB&T Classic this past Sunday. For my brief recaps of Bucknell-George Mason and Notre Dame-Maryland (with an emphasis on the DC-area teams), go here: http://www.dcist.com/archives/2006/12/04/bbt_post_in_pro.php#comments. DCist is a community blog in the Washington area (where I live), and I write about local college basketball for them. I'll use this space to link there as the season progresses.
1. Kansas' bench won this game for them. The Jayhawks' two offensive stars, Brandon Rush and Julian Wright, combined to make just seven of 26 shots from the field, and Darrell Arthur was hampered by foul trouble much of the night. But a couple of less-heralded players stepped in and picked up the slack. Junior forward Darnell Jackson reached double figures for the fifth time this season with 11 points, and freshman guard Sherron Collins chipped in with 11 of his own. Rush and Mario Chalmers led KU with with 13 each, but on a night when their big guns by and large struggled, they still pulled out a victory. We knew Kansas had a lot of talent, but Jackson and Collins were not the guys we expected to hear much from. It makes you wonder a little, actually, how Kansas could have lost to such inferior opponents as Oral Roberts and DePaul; with that much depth, you'd think that they'd find some combination of players that would have worked.
2. Tim Floyd is rebuilding well at Southern Cal. The Trojans went into Allen Fieldhouse and hung with the Jayhawks, despite lacking a true point guard and facing one of the nation's best defensive backcourts. Lodrick Stewart has a very nice shooting stroke, and freshmen Daniel Hackett and Taj Gibson both showed mature mid-range games. Nick Young, the Pac-10's leading returning scorer from last year, struggled tonight, but he's obviously a proven talent.
The team's bigs -- Abdoulaye N'Diaye and RouSean Cromwell -- disappointed, combining for just four points and three rebounds before both fouling out.
Of course, the best is yet to come for USC, as O.J. Mayo, one of the top-ranked players in the 07 high school class, arrives on campus next year along with Davon Jefferson, another prize prospect. Stewart will be gone, but assuming Young comes back, the additions of Mayo and Jefferson will be more than enough to replace his production, and Mayo will be able to handle the point guard duties if need be.
But this isn't bad for a squad that is essentially bridging the gap until Mayo gets there. Gabe Pruitt will become eligible for the second semester, and this Trojan team could challenge Washington and Oregon for third place in the conference.
3. I won't harp on the refereeing too much in this space, but tonight was a picture-perfect example of the idea that it doesn't matter how closely or loosely you call a game, but you must do it consistently. The first half was physical -- not dirty, but a fair amount of banging and grabbing -- and the refs let much of it go. In the second half, they started making those calls, and USC was shooting one-and-one within the first five minutes.
If you want to keep the game free of "ugly" play, you need to nip it in the bud from the beginning. You can't expect players to adjust to two different styles of officiating.
(And 1) I attended all three games of the BB&T Classic this past Sunday. For my brief recaps of Bucknell-George Mason and Notre Dame-Maryland (with an emphasis on the DC-area teams), go here: http://www.dcist.com/archives/2006/12/04/bbt_post_in_pro.php#comments. DCist is a community blog in the Washington area (where I live), and I write about local college basketball for them. I'll use this space to link there as the season progresses.
posted by H.S. Slam, Ph.D at 12:25 AM
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