Tbp Posts

On paper, Wazzu's 51-47 win over Gonzaga looks like a top-10 beating a top-20 team. Good win, but nothing special. But what isn't quite as clear from the box score, is just how hard it is to win at Gonzaga.

The Cougs' victory is the first time that the Zags have lost at home while ranked, and I believe it's only the third home loss in 66 games.

GU could be considered the toughest place to play in the country and WSU went in there, played their style game and really shut down a good Gonzaga team.

Wazzu held GU's leading scorer, Matt Bouldin, to 0 points on 0 for 9 shooting and GU shot just 26% for the game.

The Cougs, 8-0, should jump in to the top-5 in next week's rankings if they can handle Portland State Sunday. This solid defense has Final Four written all over it.

I don't really think that Cal's win over Jackson State solidifies the Bears as a top team, but the victory makes Cal 6-0 and, man, the Bears are scoring points.

Cal had 57 points at halftime (haltime! That's like a full game for Washington State) and went on to destroy the Tigers 117-74.

Patrick Christopher had 17 at the break and went on to score a game-high 26. Ryan Anderson added 23 for the Bears, who had five players with 14+ points.

In Tempe, Ariz., the Sun Devils made short work of Deleware State, stinging the Hornets 77-38.

James Harden scored 24 points and the Sun Devils held Deleware State to under 21% shooting. That's pretty awful.

ASU's supposed to be the Pac-10 doormat along with Oregon State, but at 5-2 and playing Herb Sendek-style basketball, Arizona State could end up surprising some people.

Rank gave a very thorough preview of tonight's big Northwest game between No. 8 Washington State and No. 17 Gonzaga. It's easily the best match up in college hoops today.

But not too many people are going to see it.

The game starts 8:00 Pacific time, so that eliminates just about anyone who matters anyway, as the East Coast will be getting tucked in to bed.

But the game isn't being televised on ESPN or ESPN2. Fox Sports isn't even messing around with it. So West Coasters are screwed too.

Instead, the game will be televised on ESPNU, which is sorta like the NFL Network in that I haven't met anyone who actually has it. It's like one of those phantom channels that only exists in sports bars.

That's pretty weak. Rather, ESPN is rather showing Sportscenter and ESPN2 has a killer schedule with the back end of West Virginia vs. Auburn hoops, Baseball Tonight at 8:30, followed by a re-run of Varsity Inc. at 9. Awesome lineup.To get a re-run instead of a top-notch basketball game is really pretty special.

I'd highly recommend re-arranging your night so you can invite some friends over, make some cocktails, pop some popcorn and enjoy an hour of repeated high-school sports drama. Special night. Varsity Inc. bonds people.

So yeah, don't go to a bar to catch the WSU-Gonzaga game. Watch some quality programming instead. Or just stare at a wall for a few hours.

USC slowed the pace, got the game where they wanted it, held down Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts, had a chance to win the game at the free throw line, and, well, Memphis still won, 62-58.

Up one point with about 10 seconds left, Memphis' Douglas-Roberts missed the front end of a one and one. On the rebound, USC's Daniel Hackett was fouled and went to the line for two. He made the first (tying the game), missed the second, and after Memphis missed an 18-footer at the buzzer, we had free basketball.

In OT, Rose, the sensational freshman, made three free throws as the No. 2 Tigers outscored the Trojans 8-4.

Rose and USC's stud frosh O.J. Mayo were on display in New York on National TV and both struggled. Rose scored just nine (he came in averaging 17) and Mayo had a game-high 16 points, but shot 6-19 from the floor.

While USC has been playing solid basketball, this goes down as another tough loss to a top-5 team. The Trojans lost Sunday to Kansas by four points. Losing close games is better obviously than getting stomped, but come seeding time for the NCAAs, close losses aren't anything compared to quality wins. And the Trojans just missed two huge victories.

That's Oregon Ducks coach Ernie Kent, apparently throwing some bows.

The Pac-10 had a chance to do something of a similar nature in the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Series that went from Thursday through Sunday. The West Coasters had a chance to establish itself as the dominant conference in the country by taking out the pretty decent Big 12.

The Pac-10 won six games to the Big 12's four, but that's not exactly dominant.

Oregon, USC (over Oklahoma, the Kansas game wasn't part of this series), Cal, Washington State, Arizona (over A&M, not Kansas) and Stanford were all winners.

Washington, UCLA, Oregon State and Arizona State did not help the conference's reputation.

What did we learn from all of this?

-Arizona is good. An impressive come-from-a-lot-behind victory over a good Texas A&M team will look great come seeding time.
-UCLA isn't No. 1. Give Texas all the credit in the world for going to LA and taking out the Bruins, who were with Darren Collison, back from injury.
-The Pac-10 isn't as strong as some thought. Winning the series 6-4 is fine, but Oregon, Wazzu and Arizona barely won. The Big 12 could have easily turned things around and gone 7-3.

Nevertheless, it was a fun set of games. (If you root for one of the winning teams, otherwise it sorta blew.) It'll be fun to see some Pac-10/Big 12 match ups come when things really matter, like in March.

Darnell Jackson > O.J. Mayo. Sorta.

From the Kansas City Star via The Big Lead:

To KU forward Darnell Jackson, Mayo's game was almost pedestrian.

"He's just a regular guy to me," Jackson said. "I don't see anything impressive about him."

Well, then. If Darnell Jackson doesn't think OJ Mayo is impressive, that's that. I'm pretty sure that Darnell Jackson is the final word when it comes to evaluating talent.

It's true that Mayo wasn't spectacular in the Trojan's 59-55 loss to the Jayhawks.
He was 6 of 21 shooting for 19 points. He had five turnovers.

I haven't seen USC a ton yet, but from what I have seen, Mayo's looked like a guy who would've been a top-10 pick had he been able to turn pro. He's ultra talented and -- so far -- he hasn't brought a lot of the distractions to LA that many thought he might. He's made some freshman-like plays, but if we're talking in terms of "impressive" or "talent," Mayo would be among the best in the country.

I was really convinced that UCLA was the best team in the country. The Bruins have all the parts of a championship team. And maybe they still do. But you then have to throw Texas in to that same conversation.

The Longhorns made a big statement Sunday, beating the Bruins 63-61 in Los Angeles.

Early on it was all Texas, which led by as much as 16. But the Bruins erased the deficit and went up by as many as four. Much like the Arizona/A&M game, it seemed the home team rallying from a big deficit would really be too much for the visitors. Momentum is huge in college hoops and momentum at home can be enough to win a ball game.

But credit Texas' poise, coaching and, damn, D.J. Augistin is good. He and Damion James -- who had the game-winning dunk -- both had a game-high 19. Who needs Kevin Durant? The seventh-ranked, 7-0 Longhorns are going to jump in to the top-5 this week. Texas and Kansas could end up duking it out for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney.

UCLA had four players in double figures. The Bruins shot 44 percent, but were just 6 of 21 from long range. UCLA is now 7-1.

This was the finale of the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Series. The Pac-10 squeaked out a 6-4 victory...but who's keeping score? Oh. Right.

The Cardinal is 8-1 and Brook Lopez has yet to play. The Tree should be feeling pretty good.

Stanford's latest win is a 67-43 romp over Colorado in Boulder. The Buffaloes aren't a powerhouse, but they're a legit team, from a legit conference, with a legit scorer in Richard Roby.

And the Cardinal rolled 'em up and smoked 'em by 24 points. That's a good win.

Lawrence Hill and Anthony Goods both dumped in 15 for the Cardinal and the stingy defense held Roby to just seven points. Marcus Hall led CU with 16.

Get to know the name Jerryd Bayless. He's Arizona's stud freshman guard and he's not in to self-promotion one bit. No, no way. He just has his own website to get the honeys.

Bayless was huge in Arizona's 78-67 win over Texas A&M. The Wildcats erased a 20-point first-half deficit, but stormed back mightily in the second half behind the play of Bayless.

He finished with a game-high 26 points on a 10-10 free throw shooting and 7-12 shooting from the floor. Chase Budinger chipped in 19 for UofA. The Aggies, who could possibly have some road woes this season, were led by Josh Carter's 17 points.

Meanwhile, Arizona State looked more or less like a last place team, getting aced by Nebraska, 62-47. The Sun Devils, now 4-2, didn't have a player score in double figures. Nebraska had three guys in double digits, led by the 15 points of Ade Dagunduro. The Huskers also have a player named Cookie Miller. I bet that's his real name. I really do. His parents are probably Keebler elves.

As of this post, the Pac-10 leads the Big 12 5-3 in the Hardwood Series.

f there was any doubt in your mind that Kansas wasn't a top-5 team or Mario Chalmers wasn't a complete stud, I point you towards the Jayhawks' 59-55 win over USC at the Galen Center in LA.

Chalmers had 20 points, 17 in the second half, and none bigger than a deep three-pointer he drilled with KU leading by two with about 20 seconds left. That gave the Jayhawks a five-point lead and for all intents and purposes, the victory.

USC has nothing to hang its head about. The Trojans are young, but ultra talented. They played for 39 minutes and 40 seconds with one of the best teams in the country. O.J. Mayo -- surprise, surprise -- led USC with 19 points.

Don't think this was part of the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Series. USC beat Oklahoma on Thursday as part of the series. This was just a fun, non-conference game. KU, though, now has wins in consecutive weekends against Arizona and USC. C'mon, Bill Self. Schedule UCLA. Then we'll see who's really tops.