November 18, 2009 –
by Brendon
In retrospect, it was bad planning that I chose Arkansas-Louisville rather than the game that followed it, Memphis-Kansas, as the first game of the new season on which to take possession-by-possession notes. Still, there’s nothing as useful as taking possession data by hand to give me a good sense of a team and its players.
As it turned out, Arkansas’ lack of depth caught up with it in the game’s final 15 minutes, and Louisville’s 3-point shooting and ball-hawking defense ended the competitive phase of this game. The 96-66 Louisville victory, while lacking the last-second drama of the nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader, still left plenty of interesting conclusions to glean.
Let’s start with the basic tempo-free team box:
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Arkansas |
76 |
0.87 |
0.422 |
0.211 |
0.262 |
0.293 |
| Louisville |
75 |
1.26 |
0.568 |
0.132 |
0.390 |
0.178 |
For a team with just six scholarship players thanks to a bevy of suspensions, Arkansas did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball against Louisville’s zone press. Julysses Nobles had just two turnovers in 38 minutes as the point guard facing most of the heat from the Cardinals’ seemingly endless depth of aggressive guards. It was big man Mike Washington’s careless play — six turnovers — in just 28 minutes — that accounted for more than a third of the team total (16). The senior center was called for three travels and had two shots blocked in Arkansas’ first 21 possessions. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Game of the Night, SEC
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Tagged Alcorn State, Appalachian State, Arkansas, Big East, Earl Clark, Edgar Sosa, Jared Swopshire, Jerry Smith, John Pelphrey, Julysses Nobles, Kansas, Kentucky, Kyle Kuric, Louisville, Marshawn Powell, Memphis, Mike Washington, Preston Knowles, Reginald Delk, Rick Pitino, Rotnei Clarke, Samardo Samuels, SEC, Stefan Welsh, Terrence Jennings, Terrence Williams, UNLV, USF, Western Kentucky, Yinka Dare
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March 27, 2009 –
by Brendon
Not much time to wax today, but I did want to put electronic pen to paper before Friday’s games and the Elite Eight. I’ll breakdown all of Thursday’s games and give a glimpse at Friday and Saturday’s matchups herein.
West Region: In my West Region preview, I noted two keys to the Missouri-Memphis game — Memphis’ turnovers and Missouri’s 2-point shooting. Memphis had 14 turnovers, probably a couple more than John Calipari would have liked but nothing out of the norm — Antonio Anderson did duplicate his six-turnover performance from the win over Cal State-Northridge. The other key — Missouri’s 2-point shooting — was the difference. The Tigers hit 58.7 percent of their 2-point attempts, including far too many layups with several difficult 18-footers mixed in. Read More »
Posted in National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged A.J. Price, Arizona, Blake Griffin, Chase Budinger, Connecticut, Dante Cunningham, DeJuan Blair, Duke, East Region, Gerald Henderson, Gonzaga, Hasheem Thabeet, J.T. Tiller, Jerry Smith, Jon Sheyer, Jordan Hill, Kansas, Levance Fields, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan State, Midwest Region, Missouri, Nic Wise, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Sam Young, South Region, Syracuse, Terrence Williams, Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyreke Evans, Villanova, West Region, Willie Warren, Xavier
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March 18, 2009 –
by Brendon
Let me start off my first regional preview with a preface.
I’m not big into brackets. People always ask me who my Final Four is and who I have going far and what upsets I picked and when I’m going to come out with my bracket. And I understand why — this is the point at which the casual or non-fan relates to college basketball.
But I find that, when I am really into my brackets, I start rooting for teams I don’t like.
“Hey, Brendon, why are you rooting for Ohio State to beat Xavier? Wouldn’t that be a great upset?”
“Oh, it would — it’s true, and I would normally prefer Xavier, but I have OSU in the national final in my bracket.”
Aaargh!
No longer. I will pick a bracket and not get too attached to it. I will continue to root for the teams I want to root for and not worry about whether my bracket is ruined — and not get annoyed when people ask me how bracket is doing, as if it’s a newborn baby or a 401K. Read More »
Posted in National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Alex Ruoff, Andre McGee, Arizona, Bob Huggins, Boston College, Cleveland State, Cole Aldrich, Da'Sean Butler, Darryl Bryant, Dayton, DeMar DeRozen, Devin Ebanks, Evan Turner, Fran McCaffery, Jerry Smith, Jon Diebler, Kalin Lucas, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Mike Tranghese, Ohio State, Preston Knowles, Raymar Morgan, Rob Lowery, Sherron Colling, Siena, Southern Cal, Taj Gibson, Terrence Williams, Tim Floyd, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Williams Buford
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March 15, 2009 –
by Brendon
NEW YORK — In any other Big East Tournament, the story on Saturday night would have been the coronation. The Big East regular-season champion came to New York and took home the tournament championship, winning all three games by double-digits and capping each of the last two games with emphatic second halves.
But, despite Louisville’s 76-66 win over Syracuse on Saturday night, one in which the Cardinals overcame a 38-30 halftime deficit, everyone who watched this event will come away remembering Syracuse. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Game of the Night
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Tagged Andre McGee, Andy Rautins, Big East, Big East Tournament, Earl Clark, Eric Devendorf, Jim Boeheim, Jonny Flynn, Louisville, Rick Pitino, Samardo Samuels, Syracuse, Terrence Williams
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March 14, 2009 –
by Brendon
NEW YORK — Fans and members of the media like to construct a basketball team’s character around its ability to play defense. Good defensive teams “try harder,” have “more heart” and “want it more” than their opponents. That may be true in hackneyed leads and on messageboard threads, but, on a basketball floor, defense is built on talent and coaching just as much if not more than offense is.
There isn’t a team more talented or coached better defensively than Louisville, and the Cards proved it again in a 69-55 win over Villanova in Friday’s first Big East Tournament semifinal at Madison Square Garden. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Game of the Night
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Tagged Andre McGee, Big East, Big East Tournament, Corey Fisher, Dante Cunningham, Earl Clark, Jay Wright, Jerry Smith, Louisville, Preston Knowles, Rick Pitino, Scottie Reynolds, Terrence Jennings, Terrence Williams, Villanova
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January 27, 2009 –
by Brendon
I had written most of a full on article on the Marquette-Notre Dame, but I realized I didn’t have that many new or interesting things to say about it, especially about the Irish. So, instead, I’m going to do one of those lazy, bullet-point-itemed pieces — one that will include topics beyond Marquette-Notre Dame, the kind of stories that get the worn-out baseball beat writer through the dog days of summer (not that I’m worn out).
• I’m not sure that fans around the country realize how dire a situation Notre Dame is in. The Coaches Poll still assigned a little number next to the Irish this week despite a third straight loss on Saturday to Connecticut, which indicates to most that NDU has nothing to worry about. Most prognosticators — you can see BaselineStats.com’s projection listed under “Base” — still had the Irish in the field entering Monday’s matchup with Marquette, and five projectors who put who new brackets on Monday even had Notre Dame at a No. 6 seed or higher. I think they’re wrong. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Bracket Project, Buzz Williams, Connecticut, Earl Clark, Fran McCaffery, Iona, James Anderson, Jay Bilas, Kevin McAlarney, Louisville, Marquette, Mike Brey, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Providence, Ryan Ayers, Sean McDonough, Siena, Syracuse, Terrence Williams, Travis Ford, Villanova, West Virginia
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January 22, 2009 –
by Brendon
Fatigued after a long night of basketball-watching and writing, I’ll try to keep tonight’s edition of “The Nights in Hoops” brief despite a full slate of action.
The biggest story of the night was the fall of the last of the unbeatens. Virginia Tech went to Winston-Salem and knocked off Wake Forest, 78-71, built primarily around good 2-point shooting (19-for-29, 65 percent) and 37 free-throw attempts. Despite making just 22 of those freebies, the Hokies were able to come away with the victory. The 2-point performance was especially notable against Demon Deacons team that entered the game 10th in the nation at 2-point defense (40.4 percent). Read More »
Posted in Reviews/Previews
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Tagged A.J. Price, ACC, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Atlantic-10, Auburn, Baylor, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Blake Griffin, Brigham Young, Butler, Clemson, Colonial, Connecticut, Danny Green, Darrin Horne, Deon Thompson, Duquesne, Florida, Florida State, Frank Haith, George Mason, Georgetown, Horizon, Illinois State, Iowa, James Harden, Jarvis Varnado, Jeff Pendergraph, Jodie Meeks, Jonathan Kale, Kansas State, Keno Davis, Kentucky, LaceDarius Dunn, Louisville, LSU, Marcus Thornton, Matt Janning, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Missouri Valley, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northeastern, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oliver Purnell, Pac-10, Providence, Randall Hanke, Rhode Island, Richmond, Russ Pennell, Rutgers, Saint Joseph's, SEC, Seth Greenberg, Seton Hall, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Tasmin Mitchell, Terrence Williams, Travis Ford, Trent Johnson, Tyler Hansbrough, UNLV, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, Wayne Ellington, West Virginia, Wichita State, Wink Adams, Wisconsin, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Zam Frederick
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January 16, 2009 –
by Brendon
Pittsburgh at Louisville (6 p.m.): The Pittsburgh Panthers are one of just three remaining undefeated teams, and they will put that unblemished record and No. 1 national ranking on the line at Freedom Hall on Saturday evening. Louisville is coming off a thrilling, overtime victory over Notre Dame in a game where Terrence Williams scored, rebounded, passed off and defended in a 87-73 victory.
Jamie Dixon’s team has put its perfect record in jeopardy in two previous road tests but emerged with an eight-point victory at Florida State and a brilliant 16-point decision at Georgetown. In each of the last two seasons, Pittsburgh has lost regular-season home games to the Cardinals before topping them in the Big East Tournament. In fact, Pitt has knocked Louisville out in all three of the Cards’ conference tournament appearances.
Despite the persistent perception that Pittsburgh is a defensive, grind-it-out team, the Panthers actually have one of the nation’s best offenses. No team rebounds more of its own misses than Pittsburgh does, led by DeJuan Blair who often grabs as many or more offensive rebounds than the other team put together.
|
|
Offensive Rebounds
|
| Date |
Opponent |
Blair |
Opp. Total |
| Nov. 14 |
Fairleigh Dickinson |
7 |
5 |
| Nov. 21 |
Akron |
8 |
5 |
| Nov. 28 |
Texas Tech |
5 |
5 |
| Dec. 17 |
Siena |
8 |
8 |
| Jan. 3 |
Georgetown |
7 |
4 |
| Jan. 14 |
South Florida |
9 |
8 |
And Blair was within a rebound or two of his opponent’s total on several other occasions, as well. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Al Nolen, DeJuan Blair, Earl Clark, Jamie Dixon, Levance Fields, Nick Calathes, offensive rebounding, Sam Young, Samardo Samuels, Terrence Williams, Tory Jackson, Tyrese Rice
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