Opening Night in the Big East

The Georgetown-Connecticut game marked the opening of ESPN's Monday night Big East coverage, although not technically the beginning of the weekly tripleheaders dubbed these many years Big Monday. The Big East is incredibly deep this year, with eight teams currently ranked in the ESPN/USAToday poll and a ninth -- West Virginia -- just two spots out of it after dismantling previously unbeaten Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday. (The AP poll has seven Big East teams in the top 25, though Marquette and West Virginia are Nos. 26 and 27, respectively). It's just going to be a fantastic season, with ten tournament bids a real possibility.

ESPN's Andy Katz wrote a nice breakdown of the conference, and he makes the point that if the league wants to get ten teams in, it won't be enough for those ten to get to 8-10 by virtue of beating the bottom six teams in the league (likely to be Rutgers, South Florida, Seton Hall, Providence, St. John's, and DePaul) seven or eight times. They'll need at least a couple of wins against each other.

For similar reasons, these non-conference games that are wrapping up (with a few exceptions) this week take on an increased importance in a year where the conference is so stacked. Let's take a look at the ten realistic contenders for tournament bids from the Big East, and see what their non-conference slates look like. I'll take them in the same order Katz did.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats 60-45 loss at Memphis (after the Tigers dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in a few years) hurts, particularly since fellow Big East foes Georgetown and Syracuse have already beaten last year's national runners-up. Losing to Xavier is nothing to be ashamed of, though dropping a game to Florida State hurts. Still, they have wins at UNLV and against Mississippi State and UAB, so they're in decent shape at 3-3 against potential tournament teams from major conferences.

Connecticut: The Huskies will be fine, provided that they don't make their listless performance against Georgetown a habit. Victories over Miami (FL) and Wisconsin on their way to winning Paradise Jam, along with a win over Gonzaga in Seattle gives them a nice non-conference slate. They can get some insurance, not that they'll need it, on February 7, when they host Michigan (and old foe John Beilein, the former head coach at West Virginia).

Georgetown: Beating Maryland and Memphis more than offsets losing to Tennessee in a very hard-fought game at the Old Spice Classic in November. Given that the Hoyas already have a huge conference road win, they're in fine shape. Like UConn, they have one more out-of-conference test, January 17 at Duke.

Louisville: The Cardinals have a couple of really troubling losses, to Western Kentucky and Minnesota. They rebounded a couple of days ago with a convincing win over UAB, but the Blazers are down to something like six scholarship players, so that victory doesn't look as good as it might have at the beginning of the year. They don't have any other good wins, but they do have two more opportunities to make life easier for them once their conference slate starts. They play UNLV on New Year's Eve at 6 p.m. Eastern, and given that Cincinnati has already beaten the Rebels this year, the Ville could very well have to win that one to avoid needing to be better than .500 in Big East play -- which is more doable for them than it is for others, since they have seven games against the league's bottom six and only get the league's true heavies -- Pittsburgh, UConn, and Georgetown -- once each. They've also got Kentucky on January 4, and although the Wildcats beat West Virginia earlier this year, UK might be the kind of team where a loss to them looks worse than a win over them looks good, if you get what I'm saying.

Marquette: The Golden Eagles have a couple of decent wins against Wisconsin and North Carolina State, a good loss against Tennessee, and then kind of a bad loss to Dayton. That's not really anything to be ashamed of, but Marquette is done in non-conference play, and they're right on the fringe of the top 25 right now. What's more, they finish up with a wicked schedule. Check out this five-game stretch to finish up Big East play: at Georgetown, vs. Connecticut, at Louisville, at Pittsburgh, vs. Syracuse. Brutal. Given the emphasis the selection committee seems to put on the way a team is playing heading into the tournament, Marquette may not have done enough out of conference to survive losing four out of five to end the season, followed by an early exit in the Big East tournament. They haven't made things impossible for themselves, but they are going to have to play awfully well to feel comfortable on Selection Sunday. That loss to Dayton could loom large.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish nipped Texas by a point in the Maui semis, lost to Carolina in the final, and slipped up against Ohio State in Indianapolis in Luke Harangody's first game back after missing two with pneumonia. They are fine barring a major collapse in conference play, though a win at UCLA on February 7would certainly help.

Pittsburgh: No one win really jumps out at you. They won at Florida State, but beating the Seminoles, even in Tallahassee, is hardly the kind of win a team hangs it hat on. They beat Texas Tech and Washington State on consecutive nights in November in New Jersey, but I just watched the Cougars play terribly in a loss to LSU, and the Red Raiders lost to Lamar earlier this year and got beat by 45 at Stanford their last time out. Still, they've taken care of business, and honestly should be good enough in the Big East that their non-conference schedule won't matter. Incidentally, they are not quite done with out of conference opponents, as they've oddly scheduled a home date with Robert Morris for February 2.

Syracuse: Losing to Cleveland State at the Carrier Dome wasn't good, but for the first time in a couple of years, the Orange have done quite a lot in the non-conference. Beating Florida and Kansas back-to-back in Kansas City to win the CBE Classic was big, and they added a big win at Memphis on December 20. These teams aren't the same squads that are responsible for the last three national championships (and one national runnerup-ship), but they are good wins over name teams away from home. Syracuse just needs to stay the course in the Big East to get a bid.

Villanova: No bad losses for the Wildcats, their lone blemish being a nine-point defeat at the hands of Texas, then ranked No. 6. No spectacular wins, either. Monday's 62-45 win over Temple looks good if you consider that the Owls beat Tennessee on December 13; it becomes less impressive when you realize that Temple then lost to Long Beach State, and had previously lost to Buffalo and Miami (OH). Katz says that a November 19 triumph over Niagara is 'Nova's most meaningful win, which isn't likely to get too many people that excited about the Wildcats. They're out of non-conference opportunities, but have climbed high enough in the polls that something like .500 in the Big East should get them there.

West Virginia: It would have been nice to beat Kentucky and Davidson, but the aforementioned trouncing of Ohio State in Columbus this weekend makes up for a lot of that. The Mountaineers have two games against each of Louisville and Pittsburgh, which is tough, but it cuts both ways: It can just as easily be seen as two extra opportunities for a big resume win as it can be seen as an extra two automatic losses in conference.

Have a good New Year, all.

Georgetown 74, Connecticut 63

I was expecting a bit better from this one.

Still, the night wasn't a complete bust, as I got my first real look at Georgetown's 6'9" freshman, Greg Monroe. What a player! He thoroughly outplayed his much bigger, much older, much more highly-touted counterpart on the Huskies, Hasheem Thabeet.

Monroe made his impact felt early, scoring or assisting on each of the Hoyas' first six baskets. Consider this sequence from the games opening minutes:

18:10 - Monroe threads a backdoor pass to Austin Freeman for the first two points of the game.
17:09 - After a UConn miss, offensive rebound, and turnover, Monroe hits Freeman backdoor again for a 4-0 lead. He didn't get an assist on this one, but he should have.
16:57 - Monroe rebounds Jeff Adrien's missed free throw.
16:21 - After a Hoya turnover and a Thabeet missed jam, Monroe find DaJuan Summers for a three and a 7-1 lead.
16:08 - Guarding UConn point guard A.J. Price on the perimeter, Monroe pokes the ball free, picks it up, takes it to the bucket...
16:05 - ...and makes the layup while being fouled by Price.
16:05 - Monroe misses the free throw. Hey, no one's perfect.
15:42 - Monroe fights around Thabeet and knocks away an entry pass from Stanley Robinson.
15:24 - Monroe assists on another triple by Summers. 12-1.
15:04 - Robinson misses a jumper. Monroe allows Summers to grab the rebound.
14:46 - Monroe drills a three-pointer from the top of the key off a pass from Summers, staking the Hoyas to a 15-1 lead.

So Monroe, playing his first Big East game, on the road against the undefeated second-ranked team in the country basically took over for three-and-a-half minutes. Granted, he didn't keep up that ridiculous pace, finishing with a rather modest line: 16 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals. Three of those credited assists came in the first six minutes, as did two of the steals, and his rebound numbers are low because he picked up his third foul just 80 seconds into the second half and John Thompson III subbed him out for defense and in for offense for most of the next 12 minutes or so.

Because of Monroe's height, length, and smoothness, and the fact that he shoots with the same hand that Satan does, I suppose comparisons to the Los Angeles Lakers' Lamar Odom are inevitable. But that's who he reminded me of most, particularly when he drove across the lane and threw in a six-foot running hook off the glass over Thabeet. He is a great fit for Georgetown's Princeton-style offense, given that he can pass and hit the jumper, but he also can play with his back to the basket: In the first half, he caught the ball in the lane, threw a quick fake over his left shoulder, then went, without hesitation, to a little baby hook over Thabeet. He's playing center for the Hoyas this year, but at 6'10", he projects more as a four and it looks like he could be mobile enough to play a little three, at least offensively.

I'm really excited to watch this guy for the rest of the year. ESPN has him at noon Eastern this Saturday, January 3, when the Hoyas take on third-ranked (soon to be second-ranked, if they beat Georgetown) Pittsburgh.

Ohio State 73, Miami 68

Nice road win for Ohio State, though it was probably in large part due to Miami's Jack McClinton being ejected midway through the first half for taking an open-handed swing at Buckeye Anthony Crater (video contained in above link).

Big games from Jon Diebler (first one of his I've ever seen) and Evan Turner keyed the victory, but I'm more interested in talking about the Buckeyes' post players. Specifically, B.J. Mullens, the freshman center projected by many to be a top-5 pick in next summer's NBA draft if he leaves school.

Mullens' rep is a big guy with a good shooting touch, and I can see it, though he went just 2-for-6 Tuesday night. He's got good form on his jumper, and I saw a nice little turnaround J.

He needs to get tougher and more assertive, though. The box score has him down for three offensive rebounds, but I only remember two. On the first, he got the board and had a relatively easily putback if he wanted it, but he didn't even turn to look at the basket. (I noticed Dallas Lauderdale and Kyle Madsen do the same thing at least once, too). On the second one, he got the tip-in, but he was boxed out; his superior length allowed him to reach over the Hurricanes player and tap it in. On the third, he was left free underneath due to Miami's defensive rotation or a blown check-out assignment, and missed a one-handed follow-up jam.

Mullens uses his hands too much to try to get position on his opponents, rather than his body. He's a big guy and he's not using that size to his advantage yet. He's strong enough that he probably didn't need to in high school, but college is a different game.

Miami got 15 offensive rebounds in the game. ACC teams are not supposed to push BigTen teams around like that.

On one, he missed a thunderous follow up jam after a missed boxout from Miami. On the other, he got a tip in, but he was out of position; his length allowed him to reach up over a Hurrican and tip it in.

My Take on Kelvin Sampson

Some may remember that I write occasionally for a blog called iVoryTowerz. My latest post there discusses Kelvin Sampson and the sanctions imposed on him by the NCAA. You can read it here.

I Can't Believe We're Still Not Fouling

Virginia Tech down three to Wisconsin at home Monday night, 11 seconds to go. They have the ball, they've just hit a couple three-pointers in the final minute to cut the Badger lead to one, and they have A.D. Vassallo, one of the nation's deadliest three-point shooters. ESPN color analyst Bill Raftery announces that if he was coaching Wisconsin, he'd order his players to foul in this situation. Bo Ryan, Wisconsin's actual head coach, chooses not to.

How are teams STILL not fouling in these situations?

The counter-argument to fouling goes something like this. If you play it straight up and don't foul, the worst you can do is overtime. If you foul, you're risking a loss.

How? Well, the argument goes, if you foul, your opponent could go to the line, make the first, miss the second, tap the rebound out to the three-point line, and sink a three to win.

Seriously?

Honestly, when was the last time you saw that happen? I've never seen it. What I have often seen, is what happened tonight: Vassallo drained a three to tie it up. (Wisconsin got a late bucket from Trevon Hughes to win 74-72.) Not fouling may well have cost Memphis the national championship last year (though Tigers coach John Calipari said his team had orders to foul, but couldn't give it before Mario Chalmers was already in the act of shooting his game-tying three).

It's a tired issue, because every time the situation arises in a game, the color guy makes a point to say that the leading team should foul. In fact, I don't know a single person who isn't a college basketball coach who thinks playing solid D is the correct strategy in this spot. And while it's generally correct to give the benefit of the doubt to give the presumptive experts (the coaches), not fouling simply can't be right.

If you choose not to foul, you're saying that the probability of the other team 1)making the first free throw, 2)missing the second free throw, 3)getting the offensive rebound, and 4)hitting a three-pointer is greater than the probability of the other team 1)hitting a three-pointer and 2)winning in overtime. (That's a bit oversimplified, but it will do for now). There's no way that's true.

As a fan, I actually don't mind it, because shots like the one Chalmers hit in April and Vassallo hit tonight are exciting, and free throws aren't. But it's the great mystery of the game that college coaches are still so skittish about this.

Quick notes from the opening of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge

-I don't remember when I first saw Vassallo, but he certainly wasn't the player then that he is now? When did he get such a complete game?

-I was really impressed with Wisconsin's Marcus Landry, especially early. I always thought of him as a glue guy, an undersized banger. But he had ten points early tonight, on a pair of three-pointers and a couple of nice turnaround jumpers on the baseline where he recognized the double team and turned away from it. I'm actually surprised he hasn't used up his eligibility yet, but he's a guy who has improved every year.

-Great crowd in Blacksburg tonight. Virginia Tech should be a tough place to win for ACC opponents not named North Carolina.