Texas Proves Mettle

December 23rd, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Texas basketball is playing at a level they never even could have expected. This year, the team started out without a major expectation of playing at the top level. But so far they’re undefeated and winning decisively against a bunch of different amazing teams. Last night they beat Michigan State by 11 points. Earlier this week, they beat out the North Carolina Tarheels. With Texas holding onto a Top 5 position and the Kansas Jayhawks possibly dropping a bit, the NCAA Basketball situation is changing. And with two of last year’s Final Four teams falling to Texas in the last few days, it looks like Texas will remain in the top positions for the next little while.

Kansas Slipping?

December 21st, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

According to the BleacherReport, the Kansas Jayhawks are slipping in the rankings. While they are undefeated, having no losses doesn’t count for as much as it used to. At the same time, the Jayhawks have been unable to make convincing wins during the difficult schedule that they have. It’s going to be a big year for the team, that seems clear. After all, how far can you fall over the course of the next two months or so? They will likely not drop out of the tournament. But how far can they get in the tournamnent itself? It depends on if they can get those big wins, like those that have eluded them over the last few weeks. Against the California Bears, it was a good game with a decent win, but their games against UCLA and Michigan just didn’t work out the way one might have hoped from such a good team.

Duquesne

December 18th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

When the Duquesne shootings happened in 2006, there were some major concerns about the welfare of the victims. One of them, Sam Ashaolu hasn’t been able to get on the basketball court much over the last few years. He had a head injury that caused him lots of pain and major headaches all the time. He also suffered seizures. An operation to repair the nerves on the back of his head helped relieve the headaches but the seizures are still there. Now, he’s graduated. It took so much work though. He’s 26 now, but right after the shooting, he wasn’t able to speak properly and getting around was practically impossible. Whereas at the time he was a celebrated player with a possible pro future, his coordination isn’t as good as it was. But that’s a huge accomplishment to graduate college after all those problems that he had immediately following the event.

The Women’s Side of the Game

December 14th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

It always feels like we give women’s college basketball short shrift and it’s not because we think it’s any less. But there’s always a lot of news being generated on the men’s side and so we end up watching that part of things even more closely. One of the things that does this is that the women’s rankings don’t change nearly so often. The UConn Huskies are still at the number 1 spot, since they have a 7-0 record right now. Meanwhile Stanford is still at number two, with a nice record as well. Tennessee and Notre Dame are essentially splitting the 3 and 4 spot based on two polls that are available. These are the usual top teams and it hasn’t seemed to change greatly. But when these particular teams play one another, it’s going to be extra exciting. Stay tuned to this group of teams!

No Surprise There

December 10th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

The number 1 team in college basketball at the moment is Kansas, in all three main polls. People really enjoy watching this team because they are so talented and will be able to ward off most of the other teams in the sport. If they come up against Villanova or Texas, it might be a really big battle. We might not get to see it happen until March, but it might be about to happen. Meanwhile, for Texas, it’s a great year. They are ranked at #2 in basketball and are headed to the BCS National Championship in football. Texans are always so proud of their state, and this year they certainly seem to have reason to. Villanova has been a strong team for several years as well, having made it to the Sweet 16 and the Final Four in the last two seasons. They have good recruiting in motion, so we shouldn’t be too surprised about them being at the top either.

Wisconsin

December 8th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Wisconsin has rejoined the world of the Top 25. Every year they seem to be able to beat expectations and end up somewhere in the rankings. As we mentioned before, they beat Duke the other day and they also beat Maryland and Arizona in recent games. The season is still young, but the Badgers’ coach Bo Ryan has been able to get his team into great position. Each year, he seems to be able to get his team into a great position and win some big games. There are some tough games coming up, but the Badgers seem to have quality players and a team that appears to make the tournament on a regular basis. Keep an eye on this team because it’s often one of the most fun to watch!

Duke Surprised

December 4th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Losing only 5 turnovers all night, the Wisconsin Badgers were able to shock one of the top teams in the country, the Duke Blue Devils. One of the things that we have been excited to see is whether someone will be able to unseat Duke this year, because they are projected to be near the top again. Before this game, they weren’t beaten at all in Big Ten/ACC play. But now they have been surprised, by about 6 points, by a team that was primed for a big performance. Were you able to watch the big game last night? It was a fantastic meeting of teams that have become tougher competitors with one another. Wisconsin, in fact, has been getting better scouting and more impressive players for the last couple of years, so expect to hear more about them in the upcoming weeks and months as they take down some other top ranked teams.

UCLA Loses

November 30th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Local foes UCLA and Long Beach State have always played tough games against one another. But never before has Long Beach State actually won a game as they did this weekend. Their top players, like TJ Robinson, had the best games of their playing years, leading the team to a 79-68 win. This continues a tough slide for the Bruins, though, as they are 2-4 early in the season. This game was for the 7th place in that particular tournament, and they weren’t able to get it. This has been a rough year so far for them and basketball watchers are expecting it to remain that way for most of the season. UCLA losing to that local team is an embarrassment that they had hoped to avoid, but they’ll have to wait for their revenge.

Michigan Wins, Barely

November 27th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

It was a surprise. The Michigan Wolverines were supposed to win without any kind of difficulty. They were playing Creighton, a small school which might not even be Division I. Their Thanksgiving game might well have been a complete blowout. But instead, it took all of regulation and an overtime period to finally win the game by 7 points. Only 7 points. Michigan is ranked 15 in the nation, but it will be interesting to see if a close game against Creighton will make any difference on that basis. There are lots of possibilities on that level. It also doesn’t mean that Michigan is playing badly in general; maybe they just had an off day because of the holiday. Maybe less practice or less focus.

It’s Unanimous

November 23rd, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

While we don’t talk about Women’s basketball too much here on the blog, from time to time, it’s important to bring it up. This way, we don’t forget that there are other important games going on. And have we got news for you. The UConn Huskies have been voted number one with all 40 first place votes. It’s unanimous. And it’s well-earned, even though the season is still so young. They were immensely successful last year and have started out this year fully undefeated. There is, of course, a long way to go, but we are expecting that the team will bring out some good plays and keep developing as time moves on. For the moment, it doesn’t look like much of anything can stand in their way!

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