Archive - Dec 2011

Ohio State coach Thad Matta said Jared Sullinger "woke up dancing this morning", which apparently is a very good sign for his possibilities of playing on Saturday. #2 Ohio State's leading scorer and rebounder, Sullinger had been having back spasms and missed Ohio State's last win. Matta gives no guarantees that his star forward will be ready and says that we will likely find out game day.

After missing over a month after a surgery to repair torn meniscus, Khris Middleton is set to return for Texas A&M's Saturday meeting with Louisiana-Monroe. The lanky junior wing averaged 14.4 ppg and 5.2 rpg last season and was seen as an intriguing NBA prospect due to his size and scoring ability. A&M has had to win games on defense and are very much looking forward to having a player like Middleton to spread the floor and create some shots. They are 7-1 right now, but had 4 games below 60 points during Middleton's absence.

The Indiana Hoosiers are still not ranked despite being 8-0 on the season, but they will hope to use Assembly Hall to give them a home court edge over #1 Kentucky. Wildcats senior forward Darius Miller has warned the team that Indiana is, “Probably one of the craziest environments we’re going to play in.” After finishing 12-20 last season while losing there last nine games, coach Tom Crean has Hoosiers fans hyped at the teams apparent turnaround.

No, no they can't. But, nice try, Huskies. On a serious note, the Huskies do indeed have the talent to compete with the Blue Devils and should offer an interesting match-up. However, they seem a tad undisciplined in their decision making and the Blue Devils kill teams that make too many mistakes. Former UW star guard Eldridge Recasner believes the Huskies have to have the mindset that they can beat Duke, which is a mantra that hopefully the team buys into.

It's a battle of the Big East versus the Big 12 in the second game of a double header at New York's famed Madison Square Garden. Pittsburgh is 8-1 on the season, their lone blemish at the hands of upset minded Long Beach State. Last year's regular season Big East champs, Pittsburgh have been scoring in bunches this season along with playing their usual brand of tough defense.

December 9, 2011

I know that everyone is hyped over the start of the NBA season and official trades, but David Stern put no hold on the NCAA Basketball action. We had some good games last night and a bunch of great match-ups set for this weekend. So, prepare to be "WoW"-ed (Sorry Chris Paul) as this is your NCAA Daily:

#9 Connecticut First Team To Defeat #25 Harvard

Player of the Week

Rodney WilliamsRodney Williams, Minnesota

If the Golden Gophers go anywhere this season, it will be behind 6-foot-7 forward Rodney Williams and his unparalleled athleticism.

Williams is embracing the challenge. The junior has led the Gophers (9-1) to three wins since double-double machine and team leader Trevor Mbakwe tore his ACL Nov. 27 against Dayton to likely end his Gophers career. Williams took his spot at the No. 4 position and went to work — he’s averaged 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds since Mbakwe was lost. Williams put up just 6.3 and 2.7, respectively, in the Gophers’ first seven. The move down low also helps him use his ‘hops’ to block more shots — he’s had 10 in the past three games after getting just seven to start the year.
“Right now I’m feeling really comfortable at the four position,” Williams told reporters after a 55-40 win against USC on Saturday. “I feel like I’ve got a lot of mismatches because I can use my speed to get around the bigger guys.”

Williams was a consensus four-star recruit out of Robbinsdale Cooper High School in Minneapolis. He came in raw but made strides each season and could be starting to figure things out. He’s shooting 63.5 percent from the field this season (third in the Big Ten) and ranks third in blocks (1.7 per game) and sixth in steals (1.8 per game).