College Basketball Weekend Preview
Thursday Stock Watch
Stock Up
Wisconsin- The Badgers won its fifth straight Big 10 game over the slumping Hoosiers 57-50 while only committing four turnovers in the game. Wisconsin is now 6-3 in the conference, just a half game behind conference co-leaders Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State.
Saint Mary’s- The Gaels won at Loyola Marymount for its 11th straight win and SMC now has 20 victories on the season. They are 9-0 in West Coast Conference play, but they’ve put themselves in good position for an at-large bid no matter what.
Wagner/Robert Morris/St. Francis (NY)- It was a very, very good night for the upstarts chasing LIU Brooklyn in the Northeast Conference. Wagner, which fell to LIU last week, took care of business to go to 7-2 in conference play, is now tied with St. Francis (after they beat St. Francis of PA) and Robert Morris, which beat LIU. In simple terms, LIU is now at 8-1 being chased by three teams tied for second. It’s going to be a great race.
Nevada- The Wolfpack separated itself from the rest of the WAC by winning 68-60 at New Mexico State to go to 6-0, two games ahead of everyone else in the conference.
Stock Down
Indiana- What had been a 15-1 start has disintegrated with four losses in five games, including Thursday night’s setback in Madison against Wisconsin. The Hoosiers now sit in seventh place in the Big 10. Their resume will get them into the tournament, but they’re making things difficult.
Ole Miss- After beating Mississippi State a week ago, there was hope for some success for the Rebs. They led Florida by 10 at halftime, but squandered that lead and a great opportunity to beat a very good Gators team. At .500 in the SEC and no signature win, they’ve become an afterthought.
Iowa- The Hawkeyes had a gimme game at home against Nebraska to get back to .500 in the Big 10 and really blew it. At 11-10, tournament dreams may have officially gone by the wayside.
Butler- A loss at UW Milwaukee on Thursday brought the two-time finalists to 6-4 in the Horizon League and 12-10 overall, currently good for fifth in the conference. They’ll need a lot to make the NCAA’s this year.
LIU Brooklyn- That loss to Robert Morris brought the Blackbirds down to a one game lead on three other teams aggressively chasing the NEC lead.
Stock Also Down- Valparaiso, New Mexico State, Washington State.
Weekend Preview
Friday- The Ivy League lead is on the line tonight in New Haven when Harvard visits Yale in this rivalry matchup. Elsewhere, MAAC action heats up with a trio of important games and Boston University plays at Stony Brook (9 p.m. ESPNU) for the America East conference lead.
Saturday’s Top 10 Games
1) Mississippi State @ Florida, 1:30 p.m. ESPN3- The lone ranked battle of the weekend features two of the top four from the SEC and a great individual matchup between Arnett Moultrie and Patric Young.
2) West Virginia @ Syracuse, 1 p.m. ESPNU- With Fab Melo of the Orange out for a while with academic issues, Kevin Jones will be the key to a Mountaineer upset inside in this top four Big East battle.
3) Kansas @ Iowa State, 2 p.m. ESPN- The Cyclones play really well at home with Royce Young leading the charge, they played Missouri tough earlier this season, and the Jayhawks will have a decently tough task to win at Ames.
4) Saint Mary’s @ BYU, 9 p.m. ESPNU- After winning at Virginia Tech this week, the Cougars get a big opportunity for a signature win at home and the chance to significantly boost their at large hopes.
5) Virginia @ NC State, 8 p.m. ESPN2- We can assume that Duke, North Carolina and Florida State are locks to make the Big Dance, but how many more bids do they get? A win in Winston-Salem could really give the Cavaliers a nice win for the selection committee to look at.
6) Texas @ Baylor, 1 p.m. CBS- They played Kansas tough and got a must-win game over Iowa State, but how will the Longhorns play Baylor with the Bears coming off two huge losses last week?
7) Kentucky @ LSU, 4 p.m. ESPN3- It’s the first road game for the top ranked team against an inconsistent Tigers club.
8) Louisville @ Seton Hall, 8 p.m. ESPN3- Both teams are .500 in the Big East but we know they’re better than that. Which team will emerge with the momentum going into the second half of conference play?
9) Washington @ Arizona, 7 p.m. ESPN- While a win for Washington would be enormous as they try to chase down the Pac 12 lead, this could almost be a must-win for the Wildcats as they try to play to its potential and reach the Big Dance.
10) Middle Tennessee State @ Vanderbilt, 2 p.m.- This is a huge opportunity for MTSU, who already has 20 wins, to get a signature win against a vulnerable Commodores team. Will Vandy slip and fall?
Five More- St. Joe’s @ Temple, Valparaiso @ UW Milwaukee, Southern Miss @ UCF, Arkansas @ Alabama, Marshall @ Memphis.
Bonus Four More- Saint Louis @ UMass, VCU @ Georgia State, St. Francis (NY) @ Robert Morris, Denver @ UALR.
Sunday- Michigan @ Ohio State on CBS (1 p.m.) for the Big 10 lead? Yes, please! Indiana must beat Iowa (6 p.m. Big Ten), Notre Dame visits UConn (Noon, ESPN3) and Stanford has a gigantic game at Pac 12 leader Cal.
NHL Panel Power Poll
With the help from SprungOnSports staff writers Adam Davis and Daniel Friedman, today marks the first of a weekly top 10 poll based on a points system used in college basketball and college football polls. A team with a first place vote earns 10 points, second place nine points and so on. The team closest to the maximum 30 point level is ranked first. Here goes:
NHL Power Poll
1) New York Rangers- 27 points- The Rangers earned two first place votes and go into the All-Star break leading the Eastern Conference.
1) Detroit Red Wings- 27 points- Despite losing a 7-2 decision at Montreal, the Red Wings have won seven straight and lead the NHL in points.
3) Boston Bruins- 22 points- The panel was divided on Boston, who got a first place vote but also a seventh. They’ve only won five of their last 10 games.
4) Nashville Predators- 17 points- Despite being fifth in the Western Conference standings, Nashville got two fourth place votes and have won nine of 10.
5) Chicago Blackhawks- 14 points- Ranked high as third and as low as unranked this week, Chicago has also only won five of 10 and just fell to the Predators.
5) Vancouver Canucks- 14 points- The Canucks are on their way back after a slow start and are third in the league in goal differential.
7) Pittsburgh Penguins- 11 points- A huge seven game winning streak led by Evgeni Malkin has them in the top 10, and they even got a third place vote.
7) St. Louis Blues- 11 points- They had been on a roll, but losses in consecutive nights to Detroit and Pittsburgh lowered their stock.
9) San Jose Sharks- 7 points- The Pacific Division leaders are fifth in the league in goals allowed per game and barely earned them a spot this week.
10) Washington Capitals- 6 points- Despite having allowed more goals than they’ve scored, the new Southeast Division leaders got a fifth place vote for all their points.
Also Receiving Votes- Los Angeles Kings (5 points), Philadelphia Flyers (4 points)
Tampa Bay To Hire Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano As Head Coach
After bringing the Rutgers University program up from practically nothing, Greg Schiano will now try to do the same for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Schiano and the Bucs are now finalizing a contract that would make him the team’s new head coach, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Schiano, 45, has been the head coach for the Big East’s Scarlet Knights since 2001 and has compiled a 68-67 record over that span. However, Schiano is highly regarded as a good fit for the pro game and has drawn praise from people like Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Just as he faced challenges with Rutges, he’ll face just as many challenges with Tampa Bay.
The move came just a few days after Oregon coach Chip Kelly reportedly turned down the job.
The Bucs lost their final 10 games of the 2011 season to finish at 4-12 and allowed at least 31 points in their last five contests. The team does have a decent young QB in Josh Freeman, but not much else on the offensive end and an aging defense that finished 30th in the NFL in yards allowed.
Inside The NBA- Thursday 1/26/12
A Rivalry Is Born
It’s possible that we ultimately look back on Wednesday’s Lakers-Clippers game and remember it as the night the Los Angeles rivalry (we need a better name for it, “Staples Showdown” perhaps?) got its start. There were six technical fouls and a couple of skirmishes in the fourth quarter as the Lakers rallied for a 98-91 win and pulled back into a first place tie for the Pacific Division lead.
Kobe Bryant scored half his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Pau Gasol had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Lakers. Then after the game, Gasol patted Clippers star Chris Paul on the head, and Paul did not respond well to that and unofficially fired the first verbal shots in this newly minted rivalry.
“He touched the top of my head, and I didn’t like that,” said Paul. “You know what I mean. I don’t know if Pau’s got kids, but don’t touch my head like I’m one of your kids. I don’t know what his intentions were, like, ‘I’ll treat him like little Chris.’ I don’t know if he’s got kids, but I’m not one of them.”
Gasol said he meant nothing by it, but the heated nature of the fourth quarter ensured that every gesture made by either team was intensified, which is a sign of a quality rivalry itself. Blake Griffin scored a game high 26 points to go with nine rebounds, but downplayed the budding rivalries between two of the Staples Center’s basketball playing occupants.
“It was chippy out there because we both want to win and we both need to win,” Griffin said. “I think they know what we’re going to bring every time, and we know what they’re going to bring. So both teams are going to be ready, but we’re not sitting here trying to call it a rivalry or anything like that. It’s another game on our schedule.”
However, as we all saw from last night’s game, Griffin could not be more wrong. As long as Griffin and Paul are wearing Clippers red, white and blue, there’s going to be an intensified atmosphere when the two rivals from the City of Angels clash.
Indiana’s Confidence Grows With Windy City Win
Indiana rode a 31-20 third quarter run to hand division rival Chicago its first home loss of the season, a 95-90 decision at the United Center. In a battle between two of the three best scoring defenses in the Eastern Conference, it was the Pacers holding the Bulls to 40 percent shooting and making head coach Frank Vogel quite proud.
“They are just thrilled to get the win here,” Vogel said. “The difference between this year’s team and last year’s team, we have confidence that we’ll score at crunch time. We’ll score in the fourth quarter. We didn’t have that last year.”
Danny Granger led six Pacers in double figures with 22 and Roy Hibbert scored 20 for Indiana, who has won seven of 10 and are now tied with Orlando for the third best record in the conference. Discounted last year as an afterthought, the declines of the Celtics and Knicks has allowed for the Pacers to be in the conversation as one of the top four to five teams in the east. Granger has noticed the change in the team’s perception.
“This was a big win for us,” Granger said. “Right now we expect to win… In the third quarter we knew we were going to make a run and we did.”
Thoughts & Theories
-Sometimes statistics defy explanation, and that’s what makes them so interesting. Here’s one example. Portland’s Gerald Wallace is regarded as one of the top rebounding forwards in the game and is putting up numbers consistent with his career averages so far this season. What’s completely abnormal is his field goal percentage. His .489 field goal percentage overall is pretty good, but his field goal percentage is an incredible .638 at home and an equally incredible (for the wrong reasons) .296 away from the Rose Garden. He shot 3-9 in a road loss to Golden State on Wednesday, which actually improved his numbers outside of PDX.
-Though they were without starters Gerald Henderson and DJ Augustin, Charlotte staked a pretty good claim to the worst team in the league by being blown out by Washington 92-75. Randy Wittman won convincingly in his Wizards debut, which wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would indicate. This Charlotte-Washington battle for the league’s worst record will be extremely interesting to watch all the way through the season.
Games To Watch
Thursday- After scoring a franchise low 56 points against Boston on Monday, the two sides play again to begin a TNT doubleheader. Memphis visits the Clippers in the second game after the Grizzlies had their seven-game win streak snapped and the Clips dropped their heated battle with the Lakers.
Friday- Not excited about Friday night’s Knicks-Heat battle on ESPN? New York has lost seven of eight and their woes will be broadcast on the national stage. Boston will try to continue to get back on track against Indiana, with Utah taking on Dallas and San Antonio visiting Minnesota.
Colts Hire Chuck Pagano
Indianapolis opted for a defensive minded coach to guide their franchise into the future under new general manager Ryan Grigson, hiring beloved Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano as head coach, as first reported by ProFootballTalk. He replaces Jim Caldwell.
Pagano spent just one season as Baltimore’s coordinator after three seasons as their secondary coach under John Harbaugh, but the Ravens reached the AFC Championship game and finished third overall in total defense in 2011. Conversely, the Colts finished 25th. Pagano has been praised by his players for his up front style and his wit, which reminded a lot of people of another former Baltimore defensive coordinator who now coaches the Jets in Rex Ryan.
Indianapolis went 2-14 this past season without Peyton Manning and are expected to take QB Andrew Luck with the top overall selection in April’s draft. With the QB position well covered, Indianapolis now has a blueprint in place to improve the defense.
