December Madness

Some great college games this past week but one that really caught my eye was the matchup in Boston with Gonzaga vs Connecticut. I was very interested to see how Jim Calhoun's club has developed and how Mark Few's group will match up against the size and speed of the Huskies. I was really looking forward to watching freshman PF Austin Daye but he was really a non-factor with only five points and four rebounds. His stats don't jump out but he hit clutch FT's late in the game that sealed the win for the Zags. What jumped out was the trio of Matt Bouldin, Jeremy Pargo, and Micah Downs off the bench. Pargo took the ball time and time again right at whoever was guarding him and got to the line ten times (however he only made five). His key stats were his four for seven 3 PT shots and his five assists to zero turnovers but above all he showed the leadership you need in March.

For Connecticut I see Hasheem Thabeet and I still don't like him very much. He has the size but he runs with very awkward steps and really has problems being aggressive and jamming it down when in close. Many writers said he could be molded like former UCONN star Emeka Okafor but I don't see the natural ability and athleticism that Okafor had in Thabeet. Okafor had great timing and was able to pick up the game and its nuances very quickly. I don't see Thabeet bolting anytime soon unless he becomes Josh Smith overnight. Jeff Adrien continues his stellar play on the glass and remains one of the better kept secrets of East Coast basketball. The Big East will be very interesting this year with Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Connecticut, and maybe Providence really having good to great teams. (If you don't know Geoff McDermott than find out soon)

The late game was in primetime but only true college basketball fans knew about it. I'm talking about Texas vs UCLA and the juicy matchup of PG's DJ Augustin and Darren Collison. Collison, the defensive wiz, versus the offensive repitoire of Augustin. The Texas sophomore scored 19 huge points and was the most clutch in the last three minutes of the game. Three plays really stick out in my mind for Augustin:
1. Coming out of a timeout with 3 mins left, Augustin makes no move to pass and eyes up Darren Collison for a three that puts the Longhorns up one. He just calmly walked the ball up and drained it.

2. With 1:03 left Augustin ran a pick and pop with F/C Connor Atchley who nailed a big three that tied the game at 61.

3. With the 8 seconds left, Augustin almost falls over but regains enough balance to throw up a wild shot that went over the rim and into the hands of sophomore F Damion James for the big flush and the go ahead bucket.

Speaking of James, this game was a big coming out for him. He had 19 points which matched Augustin for the team lead but more importantly he became the go-to-scorer for Texas when Augustin was not in. He was overshadowed by Augustin and Kevin Durant last season but now is shining because of his expanded role in the offense as well as his own personal confidence.

This season has been full of great freshman but in the last part of this game C Kevin Love was found on the bench, not on the court. He had three early fouls and coach Ben Howland decided on experience with Lorenzo Mata-Real instead of the youthful talent in Love. He did finish with 11 points but he only made it to the charity stripe three times and only took six shots.

The Pac-10 did not lose all its games today because Arizona beat #9 Texas A&M behind Jerryd Bayless(and you guessed it he is a freshman). Bayless had 26 points and six assists. He had only one turnover and was a perfect 10-10 from the line. On the other side, A&M's own stud freshman DeAndre Jordan struggled and had only four points and three rebounds in only fourteen minutes.

I was lucky enough to score tickets to Tuesday's Jimmy V Classic and will be taking a close look at Mike Beasley, the return of Kyle McAlarney, and the great matchups in the nightcap of USC-Memphis. OJ Mayo will be going against either Chris Douglas-Roberts and/or Antonio Anderson while Joey Dorsey will be locked up with Taj Gibson down in the post.
More on those games Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.