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Baylor vs. Alabama Liveblog

big12hoops — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:21:47 -0000

Senior guard Tweety Carter will make his season debut tonight in Baylor's biggest test of the year against Alabama. Carter was suspended for the first four games of the season for an undisclosed team violation.

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Baylor vs. Alabama liveblog online.
Begins at 5:30pm CST tonight.

Next Game

Alabama Crimson Tide
@ Baylor Bears

Thursday, Nov 26, 2009, 5:30 PM CST
Old Spice Classic - Disney`s Sports Complex, Orlando, FL

Continue For liveblog and full game preview>

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Baylor Bears Basketball News

Alabama (2-1) vs. Baylor (4-0)
(Sports Network) about 8 hours ago.

Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball News

Alabama (2-1) vs. Baylor (4-0)
(Sports Network) about 8 hours ago.
Recap: Alabama vs. Providence
(Sports Network) 5 days ago.
Providence (3-0) at Alabama (1-1)
(Sports Network) 6 days ago.
Recap: Alabama vs. Cornell
(Sports Network) 12 days ago.
Cornell (0-0) at Alabama (0-0)
(Sports Network) 12 days ago.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
BAYLOR	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
LaceDarius Dunn	4	29.3	8.5	17.8	47.9	4.8	10.3	46.3	3.5	3.8	93.3	0.8	2.0	2.8	2.0	1.0	1.3	0.0	1.5	25.3
Ekpe Udoh	4	29.3	6.8	9.3	73.0	0.3	0.5	50.0	2.0	4.5	44.4	3.0	5.8	8.8	1.5	1.5	0.5	3.0	1.0	15.8
Quincy Acy	4	21.0	3.0	4.5	66.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	2.3	55.6	2.5	3.3	5.8	0.3	0.8	0.3	0.8	1.8	7.3
A.J. Walton	4	32.8	2.8	4.8	57.9	0.8	1.0	75.0	0.5	1.8	28.6	1.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	3.0	3.0	0.0	2.5	6.8
Josh Lomers	4	15.5	2.3	3.5	64.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	1.8	71.4	1.5	1.8	3.3	0.5	0.5	0.5	1.3	2.5	5.8
Anthony Jones	4	25.0	2.3	6.8	33.3	0.0	1.3	0.0	0.5	1.8	28.6	2.0	3.8	5.8	3.3	1.0	0.3	0.8	0.3	5.0
Cory Jefferson	3	11.0	1.7	3.7	45.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	2.0	66.7	1.7	1.7	3.3	0.0	0.7	0.7	0.3	0.7	4.7
Nolan Dennis	4	14.5	1.3	3.8	33.3	0.3	1.5	16.7	1.5	3.3	46.2	0.3	0.8	1.0	1.3	2.0	0.8	0.3	1.8	4.3
Dragan Sekelja	3	7.3	1.3	2.0	66.7	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.7	1.3	50.0	0.3	1.7	2.0	0.3	1.0	0.0	1.0	1.3	3.7
Fred Ellis	4	10.0	0.8	1.3	60.0	0.5	0.8	66.7	0.8	1.0	75.0	1.3	1.5	2.8	0.8	1.3	0.5	0.0	1.8	2.8
Givon Crump	3	7.3	0.3	2.7	12.5	0.3	2.3	14.3	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.3	3.0	3.3	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3
Oscar Griffin	3	4.7	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.7	0.7	100.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	1.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.3

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
ALABAMA	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Mikhail Torrance	3	30.7	6.0	11.7	51.4	1.0	2.7	37.5	5.3	6.0	88.9	1.3	3.3	4.7	5.0	1.7	1.0	1.0	1.0	18.3
JaMychal Green	3	26.7	5.0	11.0	45.5	0.0	0.3	0.0	5.0	7.0	71.4	2.7	6.0	8.7	0.7	1.3	1.0	3.3	3.3	15.0
Anthony Brock	1	34.0	5.0	8.0	62.5	3.0	4.0	75.0	2.0	2.0	100.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	3.0	0.0	2.0	15.0
Tony Mitchell	3	19.3	5.3	8.3	64.0	0.0	1.3	0.0	2.3	4.3	53.8	2.0	1.7	3.7	0.7	0.0	1.0	0.3	2.3	13.0
Charvez Davis	3	18.3	2.7	6.3	42.1	2.0	5.0	40.0	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.3	1.3	1.7	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	7.7
Senario Hillman	3	31.7	2.7	8.7	30.8	0.3	2.3	14.3	0.3	1.0	33.3	0.7	1.0	1.7	4.3	3.0	1.3	0.0	3.0	6.0
Justin Knox	3	16.3	0.7	3.7	18.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.3	5.3	81.3	3.0	2.0	5.0	0.7	1.7	0.3	0.0	2.3	5.7
Andrew Steele	3	18.0	1.7	3.0	55.6	0.3	0.7	50.0	1.0	2.7	37.5	2.0	2.0	4.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	4.7
Chris Hines	3	16.3	1.0	1.7	60.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.3	2.3	0.3	1.0	0.7	1.3	3.3	2.0
Ben Eblen	3	11.3	0.3	1.3	25.0	0.0	0.7	0.0	1.0	2.0	50.0	0.0	0.7	0.7	1.3	0.7	0.3	0.0	0.7	1.7

Bears Basketball Schedule

Next 5 Games

Alabama	Thu 11/26	5:30 PM CST
@ Arizona St.	Thu 12/03	9:30 PM CST
Jackson St.	Tue 12/15	7:00 PM CST
Texas-Arlington	Sun 12/20	2:00 PM CST
@ Arkansas	Wed 12/30	8:00 PM CST

Last 5 Games

Hardin-Simmons	Sun 11/22	W 106 - 45
Southern U.	Mon 11/16	W 61 - 45
Hartford	Sun 11/15	W 71 - 69
Norfolk St.	Fri 11/13	W 86 - 58

Crimson Tide Basketball Schedule

Next 5 Games

@ Baylor	Thu 11/26	5:30 PM CST
North Florida	Wed 12/02	7:00 PM CST
Louisiana-Monroe	Sat 12/05	12:00 PM CST
Purdue	Sat 12/12	8:00 PM CST
Samford	Wed 12/16	7:00 PM CST

Last 5 Games

Providence	Fri 11/20	W 84 - 75
Jackson St.	Tue 11/17	W 86 - 69
Cornell	Sat 11/14	L 67 - 71

Baylor Guard Carter Suspended

editor@big12hoops.com — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:07:25 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Penn State's Talor Battle (12) reacts next to Baylor's Tweety Carter (45) during the second half of the NIT championship college basketball game Thursday, April 2, 2009, in New York. Penn State won the game 69-63.

Browse more photos »

Mark Allan Peterson
Managing Editor
editor@big12hoops.com

Baylor Senior point guard Tweety Carter received a four-game suspension to begin to 2009-2010 season, according to head coach Scott Drew.

Drew said Carter was suspended for rules violations, but did not go into details on the nature of the suspension.

The 5-foot-10 Carter will miss Friday's season opener against Norfolk State, as well as games against Hartford, Southern and Hardin-Simmons. Carter is expected to return for Baylor's biggest test to start the season, a Thankgiving Day game against Alabama in the first round of the Old Spice Classic in Florida.

Carter, the only McDonald's American in school history, averaged a career high 10.6 points and 3.2 assists as a junior for the Bears. He is expected to take over for the departed Curtis Jerrells at the starting point guard position.

In his place tonight, Baylor is expected to start freshman A.J. Walton.

BtB 2009-10 Ivy League Preview

Chris Dobbertean — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:00:19 -0000

It was a relatively quiet offseason in the Ivy League, the lone Division I conference that forgoes a postseason tournament and sends its regular season winner to the NCAA Tournament. Cornell begins this season in great position to cement itself as the league's new dynasty. (Well, as cemented as any team with five senior starters can be.) The Big Red have their third straight league crown firmly in their sights, and a non-conference schedule that could help them win their first tournament contest in that span.

Meanwhile, former league bullies Penn and Princeton look to be in position to challenge. The Tigers return all five of their starters from a team that finished last season in a second place tie with Yale. The Bulldogs' eternal rivals, Tommy Amaker-led Harvard, are looking for a breakthrough. Meanwhile, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and the aforementioned Elis appear to be in various stages of rebuilding.

I'll go into more specifics for each Ivy team after the jump.

Let's first take a look at last season's Ivy League standings.

Ivy League Standings

(updated 3.11.2009 at 4:11 AM EDT)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Cornell Big Red	11	3	21	9
Princeton Tigers	8	6	13	14
Yale Bulldogs	8	6	13	15
Columbia Lions	7	7	12	16
Dartmouth Big Green	7	7	9	19
Harvard Crimson	6	8	14	14
Penn Quakers	6	8	10	18
Brown Bears	3	11	9	19

Now, here are my picks for the 2009-10 Ivy League season, presented in reverse order.

Dartmouth (last NCAA: 1959) The Big Green have to begin life without Alex Barnett, last year's ivy League Player of the Year, who averaged almost 20 points per game. With him, Dartmouth only managed a .500 mark in the league and won only two games outside of the league. Without him, the team could struggle mightily. While Jerry Dunn returns a boatload of players, led by PG Jabari Trotter, offense and rebounding are issues. Trotter is the leading returning scorer, and he only averaged 7 points per contest.

Brown (last NCAA: 1986) The Bears return three double-figure scorers from the team that earned the Ivy League's Wooden Spoon last season, senior F Matt Mullery (16.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg), junior F Peter Sullivan (14.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg), and junior G Adrian Williams (11 ppg). Despite this, the Bears offense was more inept than you'd expect a team with three double-digit scorers to be last season, averaging 57.5 ppg in Ivy League contests. That's probably because Jesse Agel's team lacked an established point guard, a situation that hasn't been addressed.

Columbia (last NCAA: 1968) The Lions get two transfers to replace the graduated Jason Miller and Joe Bova in froutcourt, 7-foot C Max Craig from Loyola Marymount and 6-7 F Brian Grimes from LaSalle. Grimes actually would have been eligible last season, but a knee injury cost him the year. who sat out last year with a knee injury. Columbia's backcourt has plenty of experience, as Patrick Foley (10.9 ppg, 2.5 apg), who battled injuries last year, Kevin Bulger (5.3 ppg, 2.1 apg), and Noruwa Agho (9.1 ppg) all return. If the new frontcourt can pack a punch, expect to see the Lions higher in the standings.

Yale (last NCAA: 1962) The Bulldogs will be hard-pressed to repeat their first division finish this season, as they lost three starters: Ross Morin, who averaged 13-plus points and nearly 6 boards a contest, Travis Pinick (10.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg), and PG Chris Andrews (3.1 ppg, 2.8 apg). The good news for the Elis is that SG Alex Zampier and his 13.2 ppg is back. The Bulldogs have a good stable of frontcourt players, including Jordan Gibson, Greg Mangano, Paul Nelson, and Michael Sands. However, none of them averaged more than 4.1 ppg in 2008-09. The Bulldogs could face UConn in the second round of the North Region of the NIT, but they'd have to get by Hofstra in round one first.

Pennsylvania (last NCAA: 2006) Being relatively close to Philly, I made the trip to the Palestra to see a couple of Penn games last season, and I can tell you that Quaker fans weren't happy with Glen Miller in the middle of the season. They can't be any happier after Penn finished with its first losing Ivy record since 1990-91. If the Quakers can stay healthy, they should be improved this season. Miller has a solid backcourt featuring sophomore PG Zack Rosen and junior SG Tyler Bernardini, that should be even better with the return of senior as SG Darren Smith from a knee injury. However, the Quakers biggest health issues last year were in the frontcourt Jack Eggleston (9.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) should receive significant support from Swede Andreas Schreiber (2 ppg, 1 rpg in 08-09, 5.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg in 07-08), who missed all but two games last year with a shoulder injury, along with Larry Loughery (who featured in only seven contests), and Justin Reilly (who played in 11).

Harvard (last NCAA: 1946) Tommy Amaker's team seems to be good for one good non-league win a season (Michigan in '07-'08 and Boston College in '08-'09); however, translating those wins into consistent Ivy success is a different story, as the 6 wins recorded last year will attest. Guard Jeremy Lin (17.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) can do a little bit of everything, and the Crimson will need him to after losing Drew Housman (9.6 ppg, 2.8 apg) and Andrew Pusar (6.4 ppg) from backcourt. Lin should get valuable help from sophomore guard Oliver McNally, who averaged 5.9 points a contest last year and looks to be ready to take on a bigger role this time around. Harvard's frontcourt could be a difference maker as 6-7 Pat Magnarelli and 6-10 Andrew Van Nest return after injuries. They'll join two players who performed admirably last season in their absence, 6-8 Keith Wright (8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and 6-7 Doug Miller (6.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 70.4% from the field).

Princeton (last NCAA: 2004) The Tigers finished second last year (even if it was three games behind Cornell) and look to be back after some lean years. Head coach Sydney Johnson loses no starters from last year's squad. The Tigers will trot out a backcourt featuring the Ivy's highest scoring freshman, Douglas Davis (12.3 ppg), three-point sharpshooter Dan Mavraides (10.3 ppg, 42.6 from outside), and reliable PG Marcus Schroeder (4.9 ppg, 3 rpg, 3 apg). The Princeton frontcourt, meanwhile, returns starting center Pawel Buczak (7.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and forward Kareem Maddox (5 ppg, 3.5 rpg), along with two key reserves, 6-9 C Zach Finley (4.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and swingman Pat Saunders (5.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg)

Cornell (last NCAA: 2009) Like the team that should be their closest rivals, Steve Donahue's Big Red also features five returning starters, all seniors. Ryan Wittman (18.5 ppg, 2.8 apg) and Louis Dale (13 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.6 apg) form a truly formidable starting backcourt, made even moreso by the presence of Chris Wroblewski who average 6.7 ppg off bench, while shooting 44.1% from beyond the arc. The frontcourt is equally strong, as seven-footer Jeff Foote (11.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg), F Alex Tyler (6.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg), G/F Geoff Reeves (9 ppg) are all back. Donahue even has newly eligible transfers Mark Coury, a F/C who started at Kentucky, and G Max Groebe (from Massachusetts) at his disposal. The Big Red will need the help in the non-conference part of the schedule, which features road trips to Syracuse, Massachusetts, and Kansas and a home game against Seton Hall.

So, heading into the season, I am picking the Big Red to take their third straight Ivy League crown. You'll see them in my 2009-10 Final Preseason Bracket on November 9. Now, to wrap up this preview, here is my preseason All-Ivy League team, featuring the best returning players from last season.

Preseason All-Ivy League Team

Player of the Year: Ryan Wittman, 6-6 F, Sr. (Cornell)

Remainder of the Team
Louis Dale, 5-11 G, Sr. (Cornell)
Jeff Foote, 7-0 C, Sr. (Cornell)
Jeremy Lin, 6-3 G, Sr. (Harvard)
Matt Mullery, 6-8 F, Sr. (Brown)

Poll

Which team do you pick to win the Ivy League this season?

Brown

3 votes

Columbia

1 votes

Cornell

10 votes

Dartmouth

0 votes

Harvard

2 votes

Penn

2 votes

Princeton

31 votes

Yale

0 votes

49 votes | Poll has closed

Spreading the Wealth: The Conferences and 2009 Exempt Events

Chris Dobbertean — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:50:53 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Mark Fox's Georgia team is one of the four from a BCS conference who won't participate in an exempt event in 2009-10. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Browse more photos »

You may remember the bad old days. You know, the long forgotten days of the early 21st century. The time when the NCAA, in an ill-fated attempt to get more teams involved in early season events, implemented the "two-in-four" rule. In this dark age, teams were limited to participating in only two multi-team events in a four-year period. (Unless, of course, they had previous contracts. Then they could compete in three in a four-year period.)

Tournament promoters, wanting to stay in business, naturally fought this in court and won. In this Andy Katz ESPN.com story from before the 2003-04 season, there's a telling statistic about how the rule impacted the number of events.

"Last season was the turning point," said Bill Markovits, attorney for the plaintiffs. "The judge was looking to see what would happen and he saw what we predicted, and that was a decrease in output and quality of events."

Markovits said the NCAA certified 28 exempted events for the 2002-03 season, but only 17 were able to go forward. The other 11 events weren't able to fill their fields with eligible teams. As a result, the number of exempt games decreased from 251 in 2001-02 to 144 last season. There were 25 exempted events in the 2001-02 season.

The reason for the decline in events is simple. Schools with bigger fanbases (read, BCS schools) are obviously going to be the main draws for exempt events. As much as I'd like to see more schools from non-BCS leagues in these tournaments, I do understand that if you cut down on the pool of schools that can be invited on an annual basis in half (which is what the two-in-four rule did), you will soon run out of teams that will sell seats at events. Certain events, like the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and CBE (then Guardians) Classic, tweaked their formats to meet the rule and were able to survive. Others weren't so lucky.

Join me after the jump for more about how the market for exempt events is just a little bit different six years after the decision striking down the two-in-four rule and three years past the NCAA's legislated more flexible scheduling rules.

Before we look at exempt events, here's Men's Division I basketball scheduling for Dummies. The NCAA lets teams play 29 regular season games. However, schools can up that number to 30 or 31 by playing in an exempt event (27 single regular season games, plus 3 or 4 in the event).

A team can play in a single exempt event each season., unless it decides to not use this exemption. Nicholls State is actually doing this in 2009-10 to participate in both the Great Alaska Shootout and the round-robin WorldVision Basketball Classic.

On the flip side, a team cannot participate in the same event more than once in five years. ESPN has brilliantly set up five such events (San Juan, Charleston, Disney World, Disneyland, and Honolulu), so a team can have their five separate appearances all occur on the ESPN networks. For example, this year's San Juan field includes three teams (George Mason, Kansas State, and Villanova) that played at Disney World in 2007.

Remember that there were only 17 exempt events in 2002-03, back in the bad old days of the two-in-four rule. This year we have 29 exempt events. There are 20 that feature anywhere from 6 to 16 teams. Some of these are three-game elimination tournaments, others are some sort of round-robin, while still others have games on campus sites, followed by elimination games on neutral sites. There are also 9 tournaments that feature 4 or 5 teams. These are exclusively round-robin to get each team 3 or 4 games.

So, with 12 extra events on the schedule, there should be more opportunities for schools from both BCS schools and mid- and low-major conferences, right?

Let's see what the numbers tell us.

There are 348 teams in Division I this year, including transitional schools. Of these, 212 are participating in an exempt event. That's a shade under 61 percent. Note that the true number of participants is actually 213 because of Nicholls State double-dipping. There's an odd number of participants because the West Coast Classic features 5 teams in its round-robin. Four Division II schools are participating in Division I exempt events this season, with two--Alaska-Anchorage and Chaminade--hosting; however, they aren't included in this analysis.

While 61 percent is a good number, there isn't a ton of equality between the different levels of schools in Division I.

Let's start by looking at the 73 teams in the six BCS conferences. A staggering 94.5 percent of these (69) are going to participate in an exempt event this season. The only four who won't are the ACC's Wake Forest, Georgetown and Seton Hall from the Big East, and Georgia from the SEC. None of the 69 schools are in an event where they haven't been selected to participate in the marquee matchups at the final site. Additionally, only five BCS schools--Oregon, Oregon State, Providence, Texas Tech, Washington--are in round-robin events. The Beavers are the only BCS team who will play in a round-robin event that they aren't hosting.

Next, we'll look at the non-BCS conferences. In terms of grouping these leagues, I've divided them into two tiers. The first tier includes 11 conferences who have dstinguished themselves in the NCAA tournament over the past few years either through obtaining multiple bids or the performance of individual teams. These conferences are the A-10, CAA, C-USA, Horizon, MAAC, MVC, MWC, Southern, Sun Belt, WAC, and West Coast. There are 110 teams in these 11 leagues and 71 of them (64.5%) will participate in exempt events this year.

21 of these 110 teams will take part in tournaments where they're expected to be easy wins for the power conference schools (and not feature in the marquee matchups at the final site--with the exception being the NIT Season Tip-Off). Duquesne, among the preseason favorites in the Atlantic 10, is the most noteworthy of this group. They're participating in the CBE Classic, where they won't have a chance to win the title, even if they win at Iowa in the tournament's early rounds.

Of these 11 conferences, the Mountain West did the best in terms of getting its teams into exempt events. Eight of the nine MWC members will participate in one, with Air Force being the only exception. Other noteworthy teams from these conferences who won't participate in an exempt event this season include New Mexico State, Southern Illinois, UTEP, and VCU.

The 14 15 remaining conferences (need to include the new Great "West") and independents form the third group-- the one least attractive to organizers. These are leagues that--more often than not--don't win games in the NCAA Tournament. There are 156 teams in these leagues and only about 43 percent of them (67) will participate in exempt events this season. A bit more than half of these 67, 39 in fact, will not be able to participate in the marquee games in their events (except for the NIT again). A further 19 of the 67 will participate in a round-robin event. That means only 9 of the 67 participants from this level are in an event where they have a legitimate chance at winning the title. Those lucky schools are Boston University, Brown, Howard, IUPUI, Long Beach State, Nicholls State, South Dakota State, and Western MIchigan--though in the case of the Brown Bears, the strange Philly Hoop Group format may limit their actual chance for the trophy.

In closing, the fact there are only a handful of power conference schools not participating in an event this season means that we've probably reached a saturation point in terms of exempt events. Since organizers are likely to invite at least four name schools to an eight-team event, there's probably only room on the schedule for one, perhaps two more such tournaments. And when you consider how congested sports television is during late November, there may not be the broadcast opportunities needed to make such an event profitable.

I guess we college hoops fans will have to be satisfied with 29 exempt events and not 30 or 31.

Now that I've talked numbers, I'll be back during the weekend with a more in-depth look at this year's major exempt tournaments.