College basketball 2009-10 running thread No. 1

Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but Tony Bennett is 1-0 in the ACC after a win over the conference's other bottom feeder, N.C. State (although BC might be down there with them this year). He's on pace to never lose a conference game!

 

This Duke team might be the least athletic team they have had in a long time.

I sure don't see Hill or Brand or Williams or Maggette or Henderson on that bench.

 

State tops Ole Miss 80-75
2-time SEC def. player of year and national shot block leader Varnado had 9 pts., 12 rebs and 6 rejections
Dee Bost, sophomore PG, had 25 pts.

Also:
Vandy topped Florida
SCarolina topped Auburn
No. 15 Wisconsin topped No. 4 Purdue
Ga. Tech leading Duke by a bucket late

 

Scheyer is probably shooting three if this game was played in NC.

 

Didn't see a second of it (stupid work), but Mizzou beat K-State by six in Columbia. They could be a top 10 team if they never had to leave. Unfortunately, I see some road beatings in store in conference play (and more frustrating, road losses against inferior teams). Still, they've got the second-longest home-court winning streak in the country (behind the beakers). Nothing to sneeze at.

Edit: 55 combined fouls. Sounds like the game flowed like frozen molasses.

 

Slowest 40 minutes in the history of basketball. Here's the way it went: Turnover, turnover, turnover, foul, missed free throw, made free throw, foul on the rebound....

I hate playing in Columbia. Glad my Wildcats got this one out of the way early in the season and we can build on this.

 

Why is Mizzou so much tougher at home when a lot of night's there are 10-13,000 empty seats in that arena? Sure, I'm a KU alum getting in a little dig here, but it's also a serious question.

I know the fans bring it for KU and some other conference games, but I was really surprised yesterday when I read the Tigers had the second-longest home streak.

 

It sure must suck to be Georgia Tech and know that every time something good happens to you, a loss to Georgia taints it.

 

Disagree. This Duke team can bump and bang a lot more. The officials let both teams play - not a complaint, but an observation. This Duke team isn't going to hoist up dozen of 3-point shot attempts, but they need to make better use of the size and bulk. For example, like Georgia Tech did with Lawal and Derrick Favors. This team can run a little given its increased size, but it's up to Duke to see that this team wasn't born to run, but to play a little better half-court game and endure the banging going on for 40 minutes like it did against the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech reminds me of Florida State last year, which had a lot of length, played a lot of defense and could muck things up against teams with clearly more skill and desire to push the tempo. Lucky for Paul Hewitt that, unlike Leonard Hamilton, he has a couple more scoring options than just Toney Douglas.

And N.C. State's fall to the cellar begins. Now 0-2 after getting dumped at home by the Cavaliers. Little doubt that Tony Bennett will bring brighter days to Charlottesville, but that dark cloud won't go away in Raleigh.

 

Personally I'm kinda disappointed that fans aren't showing up more. They were reticent early in Anderson's tenure, just because of the Quin/Clemons/Paige Laurie fiascos, which was really one big fiasco.

But if people don't start showing up consistently now, dont' know that they ever will. MU plays an exciting, unselfish style. Anderson just led them to one of their top 3 seasons in school history. And they play balls out at home. Anderson deserves better, that's for sure. He's been nothing short of fantastic, both in on-court performance and the integrity he's installed in the program.

 

The crowd did look good in the bit of the game I saw today, but it definitely needs to be better consistently.

 

WVU's struggles at Notre Dame continue ... the Mountaineers are down 23-4 to start the game.

Oy.