Score another one for the Missouri
Valley Conference.
Missouri State’s 66-64 victory over
Wisconsin Friday was another resounding reminder as to why the MVC is one of the
elite conferences in the country, not just, perhaps, the elite
mid-major conference in the country.
It’s also another example of how
cool the November tournaments are. They provide opportunities to see teams hook
up in neutral settings (in the Missouri State-Wisconsin case, in the South Padre
Island Invitational in Texas), in more or less the same sense that the NCAA
Tournament does.
Bradley’s pasting of Big East
member DePaul (by 20 points), Wichita State’s six-point win at George Mason (the
Shockers will carry the MVC banner into Baton Rouge Saturday night for a game at
LSU) and a down-to-the wire loss by Northern Iowa at Washington have been other
eye-catching moments by MVC teams so far.
Of course, on the debit side was
Creighton’s loss at a Nebraska team that is expected to finish near the bottom
of the Big 12 standings.
Staying on the topic of
“mid-majors”, Butler’s accomplishments so far make it just about the biggest
“story” so far this season.
Regardless of what happens in the
NIT Season Tip-Off final against Gonzaga Friday night in Madison Square Garden,
the Bulldogs’ consecutive victories over Notre Dame, Indiana and Tennessee to
get to that final say a lot about what kind of team Coach Todd Lickliter
has.
And it also speaks volumes about
how strong the Horizon Conference must be if, in fact, the Bulldogs are its
sixth best team, as they were projected to be by most
prognosticators.
BOUNCING AROUND THE
COUNTRY
*Despite its convincing loss to
Gonzaga Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden, don’t make a mistake of haste
and question North Carolina’s ability to be the dominant team in the Atlantic
Coast Conference and to be one of handful of squads with the best opportunity to
play in Atlanta on the final weekend of the season.
Roy Williams is playing only
two upperclassmen (seniors Reyshawn Terry and Wes Miller) and
trying to integrate five freshmen into the world of college basketball, so
defense, offensive patience and execution, not surprisingly, aren’t nearly where
they will be with this team even a couple of weeks from now.
*No one is suggesting that Gonzaga
is a “better” team without Adam Morrison.
But, as evidenced in the Bulldogs’
victories over Eastern Washington, Rice, Baylor, Texas-San Antonio and North
Carolina to open the season (they were scheduled to play Butler Friday night in
the All-Bulldogs’ NIT Preseason Tip-Off final in New York City), Coach Mark
Few’s team is a better defensive team and is much better in the
backcourt.
And, by the way: 6-11 redshirt
sophomore center Josh Heytvelt has helped his NBA stock more than any
other player in the country over the first few weeks of the season.
Look for a heavy, heavy NBA
scouting presence in Austin on Dec. 2 (to see Gonzaga take on Texas) and in
Spokane a week later, when the Bulldogs play host to Washington.
*Marquette provided another example
of why too much shouldn’t be made of what a team does – even at home – during
its first couple of games in the season.
The Golden Eagles struggled against
Div. II program Hillsdale (76-66) and then Idaho State (59-56) in their opening
two games.
Less than two weeks later they
polished off Texas Tech (87-72) and Duke (73-62) on consecutive nights in Kansas
City during the College Basketball Experience Classic.
Sophomore point guard Dominic James (25 points, on nine of 15 from the field, seven assists, three
rebounds and only one turnover in 34 minutes) certainly looked every bit the
part of a potential first-team All-America and national Player of the Year
during the victory over the Blue Devils Tuesday night.
*Any questions anyone might have
had about UCLA’s point guard play following the departure of Jordan Farmar to the NBA after his sophomore season should have had them answered
after the Bruins’ 4-0 start.
Sophomore Darren Collison,
Farmar’s backup last season, has averages of 14.0 points, 7.3 assists, 2.3
steals and 2.5 turnovers and picked up tournament Most Outstanding Player
hardware after UCLA knocked off Chaminade, Kentucky and Georgia Tech on
successive evenings during the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
And freshman Russell Westbrook is more than capable of providing Coach Ben Howland with
the eight to 10 minutes of relief at the point than Collison gave the Bruins
last season.
*Keys to the outcome of the
Kansas-Florida game Saturday night in Las Vegas:
Can the Jayhawks post players
(mostly sophomore Julian Wright and freshman Darrell Arthur) keep
the best 1-2 post combination in the country, Joakim Noah and Al Horford, from mopping up inside?
And can sophomore wing Brandon Rush be as productive as he normally is for Coach Bill Self when
matched against one of the best man-to-man defenders in the country in the
Gators’ Corey Brewer?
It might be a different story come
March or April, but right now I’d say the answer to both questions is
“no”.
*I projected the Mountain West
Conference’s Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, New Mexico and San Diego State as NCAA Tournament teams and nothing that has happened so far has
made be second-guess those projections.
The SDSU Aztecs could be 9-0 when
they play host to the University of Arizona Wildcats on Dec. 9.
The UNM Lobos might be 10-0 when
they face Wichita State in Las Vegas on Dec. 22.
Air Force will take a 6-1 record
into its game in Colorado Springs against Wake Forest on Nov. 29.
And BYU has had comfortable
victories over Idaho State and Portland after leading host UCLA much of the way
before losing (82-69) on Nov. 14.
Inducted into the USBWA Hall of
Fame in April, 2005, Frank Burlison is Scout.com’s national basketball expert and is
also a columnist for the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram. He can be reached at
frank.burlison@presstelegram.com. Read more of Burlison’s pieces at
www.frankhoops.com