1. Entering yesterday’s action 32 conferences had at least two losses. One – the ACC – didn’t have any. The ACC was a perfect 26-0. Well, that’s no more. First, in Puerto Rico, Maryland got rolled by Alabama. In a crawling 61 possession game the Terps lost 62-42. Maryland was 2-12 from beyond the arc, and is now 2-21 (9.5%) on the season. Under Gary Williams the Terps rarely shot 3s (three schools in the country attempted fewer last season) and now that the players are free to shoot them they can’t make them. It’s like getting your driver’s liscense and then not being able to figure out a stick shift.
Next up for the ACC was Georgia Tech vs Saint Joseph’s. This was another game which illustrated the new tempo of the ACC (59 possessions!) Georgia Tech was beaten soundly 66-53. Tech’s five point halftime lead disappeared six possessions into the 2nd half, and ended in a rout. During the ACC’s 26-0 start, only one team (Winthrop v Virginia) scored more than a point per possession (1.02). Yesterday Bama (1.02) and Saint Joe’s (1.19) both did.
2. How do you score a bunch of points in route to a double-double? It helps if you take 21 shots. West Virginia’s Kevin Jones did just that, scoring 29 points. Not a terrible efficient night, but not bad either. Taking 29% of their team’s shots isn’t going to endear anyone to their teammates, unless they did what Kevin did – grab 10 offensive rebounds. If you’re laying in other people’s missed shots, then hey, they like you. The Mountaineers beat Alcorn State 97-62.
Campbell’s Darren White also put up 21 shots (33% of his team’s shots), though he was more efficient than Kevin Jones and scored 33 points. White was also a force on the boards, grabbing 7 on the offensive end. Campbell beat NC A&T 94-66.
3. Mississippi State did the SEC’s reputation a favor by knocking off Texas A&M in a game in which neither team could muster a point per possession. Both teams shot 40.7% from the floor and both teams made six 3-pointers. New A&M coach Billy Kennedy’s Murray State teams were never good at taking care of the ball, and this was one of the a problems yesterday (coughed it up on 22.5% of their possessions vs a stingy 16.9% by the Bulldogs). Texas A&M also extended only seven possessions with offensive rebounds (vs 11 for Miss St), and got to the line 17 fewer times than their opponent. This should be a lesson to every college basketball player – do well at the intangibles and you’ll win these types of games.
4. Last season UNC Greesboro never won a game out of conference (much to the chagrin of the ACC’s RPI as six ACC teams played them), and in the two years prior they won one ooc game each season. Three games into the season and they’ve already matched their season high for the past three years. Sure, it wasn’t a Division I team, but a win is a win (well, not really) so UNC Greensboro should be celebrating their 71-58 takedown of UNC Pembroke. Now they just have to win one more and the future will be looking bright. UNC Greensboro fans are circling the date November, 28th on their calendar, as they’ll face North Carolina A&T, which has lost their first three games by an average of 25.3 points.
5. Michigan is 3-0! First they smoked Ferris State (a Division II team – if it counts for UNC Greensboro it counts for Michigan), then they handled a horrible Towson team, and last night they held on to beat Western Illinois, 59-55. Western Illinois – if you didn’t know – is a bottom end Summit League team. Doing the math it appears that John Beilein’s squad is averaging a measly 1.01 points per possessions against what should be severely overmatched defenses. Sure, Michigan is ranked 17th in the country, but they shouldn’t be. The early problems are 3-point shooting (28.9%) and FT shooting (57.9%). So not only are the Michigan faithful treated to mind-numbingly slow basketball, but’s it’s also been bad basketball. We’ll know a lot more about the Wolverines next week as they’re on their way to Hawaii. There, they’ll get started with Memphis, and then play either Duke or Tennessee. Following an unknown third game, they’ll travel to Virginia for the ACC/B10 Challenge.
