SB Nation - Yale Bulldogs

Preseason Mid-Major Top 25 via CollegeInsider.com

aGent37 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:19:23 -0000

Less than one week after being ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press Poll, Butler earns the top spot in the preseason Mid-Major Top 25.

The Bulldogs, who finished last season with a 26-6 record and a No. 4 ranking in the final Mid-Major poll of the season, received 28 of the 31 first place votes. No. 2 ranked Gonzaga received two first place votes and No. 3 ranked Siena received the other. Rounding out the top five are Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky.

Old Dominion, which won the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, headlines the next five, followed by Creighton, Akron, Wright State and Niagara.

The Horizon League, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Missouri Valley Conference each boast two teams among the top 10, while the Colonial Athletic Association leads all conferences with four teams ranked in the first Top 25 of the season.

The MAAC, Missouri Valley and West Coast Conference have three teams in the rankings.

"I'm excited to be a part of the top 25 panel and want to ensure that all the deserving teams are recognized as the season unfolds," says Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating. "With a number of teams already considered among the country's best heading in, this promises to be a great year for teams across the country."

Keating has been named as the chairman of the voting panel, which includes eight new voters. Rick Byrd (Belmont), Anthony Evans (Norfolk State), Mike Gillian (Longwood), Dick Hunsaker (Utah Valley), Eddie Jackson (American), Rick Scruggs (Gardner-Webb), Wayne Tinkle (Montana) and Ernie Zeigler (Central Michigan) will each cast a weekly vote during the 2009-10 season.

Teams considered for the Mid-Major Top 25 come from 23 conferences or leagues including the Great West Conference and the Independents.

		Record	Points	Previous
1.	Butler (28)	0-0	770	-
2.	Gonzaga (2)	0-0	699	-
3.	Siena (1)	0-0	699	-
4.	Northern Iowa	0-0	612	-
5.	Western Kentucky	0-0	585	-
6.	Old Dominion	0-0	580	-
7.	Creighton	0-0	568	-
8.	Akron	0-0	444	-
9.	Wright State	0-0	377	-
10.	Niagara	0-0	366	-
11.	VCU	0-0	313	-
12.	George Mason	0-0	304	-
13.	Northeastern	0-0	298	-
14.	Oakland	0-0	288	-
15.	Portland	0-0	285	-
16.	Illinois State	0-0	236	-
17.	College of Charleston	0-0	230	-
18.	Cornell	0-0	215	-
19.	Rider	0-0	190	-
20.	Long Beach State	0-0	171	-
21.	South Alabama	0-0	166	-
22.	Boston University	0-0	114	-
23.	St. Mary's	0-0	105	-
24.	Davidson	0-0	102	-
25.	Radford	0-0	99	-

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: North Texas 84, Cleveland State 82, Troy 77, Kent State 76, Jacksonville 72, UC Santa Barbara 69, Southern Illinois 64, Morehead State 61, Wichita State 58, Sam Houston State 57, Holy Cross 50, Weber State 50, Buffalo 44, Vermont 44, Morgan State 38, Mount St Mary's 38, Wisconsin Milwaukee 36, Bradley 24, Stephen F Austin 15, American 14, East Tennessee State 14, Denver 13, Murray State 13, North Dakota State 14, Middle Tennessee State 11, UW-Milwaukee 10, Miami 9, Montana State 9, Portland State 9, San Diego 9, UNC Asheville 9, Western Carolina 9, Wisconsin Green-Bay 8, Appalachian State 7, Norfolk State 7, Cal State Northridge 6, Indiana State 6, South Dakota 6, South Carolina State 5, Montana 4, St Peters 4, Belmont 3, Lehigh 3, Arkansas Little Rock 2, Chicago State 2, Princeton 2, Santa Clara 2, SE Louisiana 2, Central Michigan 1, Detroit 1, Jackson State 1, Longwood 1, Quinnipiac 1, Texas A&M CC 1, Texas San Antonio 1, Wofford 1.

VOTING PANEL: Randy Bennett (St. Mary's), Will Brown (Albany), Rick Byrd (Belmont), Dave Calloway (Monmouth), Kermit Davis (Middle Tennessee), Steve Donahue (Cornell), Anthony Evans (Norfolk State), James Fox (Davidson), Mike Gillian (Longwood), Steve Hawkins (Western Michigan), Dick Hunsaker (Utah Valley), Eddie Jackson (American), Kerry Keating (Santa Clara) *, Billy Kennedy (Murray State), Tod Kowalczyk (UW-Green Bay), Jim Larranaga (George Mason), Jim Les (Bradley), Mike Lonergan (Vermont), Bob Marlin (Sam Houston State), Gregg Marshall (Wichita State), Tom Moore (Quinnipiac), Jimmy Patsos (Loyola MD), Tom Pecora (Hofstra), Vann Pettaway (Alabama A&M), Rick Scruggs (Gardner-Webb), John Shulman (Chattanooga), Brad Stevens (Butler), Gary Stewart (UC Davis), Scott Sutton (Oral Roberts), Wayne Tinkle (Montana), Ernie Zeigler (Central Michigan)

* Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating is the chairman of the Top 25 voting panel for the 2008-09 season.

On This Date in Georgia Bulldogs History

T Kyle King — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:00:22 -0000

Today, November 3, is an important date here in Bulldog Nation, as it marks the anniversary of two momentous events in the history of the Georgia football program and a third occurrence which, while lacking the importance of the former two, nevertheless has some small measure of significance in this tiny corner of Red and Black fandom.

Exactly 89 years ago today, on November 3, 1920, the following words from the pen of sportswriter Morgan Blake appeared in The Atlanta Journal:

We now have in the south three teams with the nickname of "Wildcats." They are Kentucky State, Davidson and Georgia. . . . Football teams evidently are stuck on nicknames depicting feline characteristics, for there are many teams with nicknames of "Tigers." In the south we have the Auburn Tigers, the Sewanee Tigers and the Clemson Tigers and maybe some more. I had hoped that Georgia would adopt some original nickname that would stand out. . . . The "Georgia Bulldogs" would sound good, because there is a certain dignity about a bulldog as well as ferocity, and the name is not as common as "Wildcats" and "Tigers." Yale is about the only team I recall right now that has the name.

The following Saturday, Herman Stegeman’s unbeaten Georgia Wildcats tied Virginia in Charlottesville, and Cliff Wheatley referred to the Red and Black eleven as the "Bulldogs" five times in his Atlanta Constitution postgame report. The nickname Blake pinned on the Athenians on this date in 1920 stuck . . . so you Arkansas fans can bite me!

Exactly 64 years ago today, on November 3, 1945, the Georgia Bulldogs, led by returning star Charley Trippi following his discharge from the armed forces after the end of World War II, snapped a two-game losing skid with a 34-7 road win over Chattanooga. The Red and Black followed that up with a 34-0 win over Florida in Jacksonville, a 35-0 win over Auburn in Columbus, and a 33-0 win over Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The victory over Chattanooga on this date in the first postwar season of college football marked the start of a 17-game winning streak, which remains to this day the longest winning streak in the history of Georgia football.

Finally, albeit less significantly, exactly 41 years ago today, on November 3, 1968, I was born.

I want to thank Willie Martinez for his attempt to pay tribute to my birthday last Saturday, when he did his part to allow the Gators to score 41 points on the Bulldogs. I’d like to give our beleaguered defensive coordinator two big thumbs up for that kindhearted gesture, and I hope to return the favor in January, when I send him a going-away gift.

Anyway, I’m taking the day off . . . from blogging, I mean; I’ll be going to work and all. I don’t take my own birthday off from work. It’s not like it’s Herschel’s birthday or anything!

I’ll be back tomorrow to take you around the SEC in the first installment of this week’s "Don’t Bet On It!"

Go ‘Dawgs!

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

Kyle Gets Contrary: Congress, the B.C.S., and the Virtue of Being Elitist

T Kyle King — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:00:18 -0000

It is no secret to anyone that I am staunch in my opposition to a Division I-A college football playoff in any form whatsoever. It is, I hope, also no secret to anyone that I give mid-majors their due when casting my BlogPoll ballot and when welcoming our new Boise State blogger to SB Nation.

In spite of the latter reality, however, my fealty to the former fact has caused me to get contrary once more in response to a recent, and cogent, posting by Year2 at Team Speed Kills.

Year2, one of the growing number of Florida fans who frequently leave insightful comments here at Dawg Sports, regularly engages the weighty issues affecting college football with nuanced analysis and his observations concerning the Bowl Championship Series are no exception.

Year2 poses a simple question with a forthright answer requiring a complex explanation. He asks, "How exclusionary is the B.C.S.?" The short version of his response is, "Very." Part (but only part; I recommend reading the whole thing) of his detailed explanation is as follows:

The NFL is built with parity in mind of course, so it's not surprising to see it have the highest percentage of unique teams (22 of a possible 34). It's somewhat a surprise to see college basketball on the relatively low side, given that the tournament has a reputation for being a random crapshoot. As it turns out, there's a relatively familiar feel at the end.

College football though isn't just last, it's dead last. The dynastic NBA, which has had just eight (!) unique championship teams since 1980, managed to get three more unique teams in the finals than Div. I-A football has. . . .

College football doesn't even average a single unique team a year in the BCS era. If it feels like the same old teams playing for it all every season, it's because they basically are.

Even just a simple seeded plus one would have allowed two additional SEC schools - Georgia (in '02 and '07) and Auburn (in '04) - a chance to take home some hardware. Going back to '92, it would have allowed some of the historical have-nots (Northwestern in '95, Kansas State in '98, Oregon in '01) a chance to get a ring. Not that anyone was beating '95 Nebraska or anything.

The point is, everyone who says the BCS is exclusionary is right. It's not just the BCS though, since it goes back ever farther. Over at least the past 17 years, no other major sport has been as exclusionary as college football and it's not that close.

Leaving aside my uncertainty over the significance of the statement that college football is "dead last" (as opposed to what? just last? living last?), I have two basic responses to Year2’s inescapably correct conclusion. These are they:

1. Which excluded teams would you include and which included teams would you leave out to make room for them? In 1997, the interminably long and soporifically dull "Titanic" was nominated for every Academy Award under the sun, except one. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth occurred among those who care about such things over the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was denied an Oscar nod for best actor.

However, there can be only five nominees per category, so putting DiCaprio in necessarily meant omitting one of the others. The actual best actor nominees that year were Matt Damon for "Good Will Hunting," Robert Duvall for "The Apostle," Peter Fonda for "Ulee’s Gold," Dustin Hoffman for "Wag the Dog," and Jack Nicholson for "As Good as it Gets." It’s not enough merely to say DiCaprio deserved it; you have to say DiCaprio deserved it and Damon, Duvall, Fonda, Hoffman, and/or Nicholson didn’t. To all the Leophiles out there, I said then, and say now, good luck convincing me of Robert Duvall’s, Dustin Hoffman’s, and Jack Nicholson’s deficiencies as actors.

There are plenty of good arguments for the proposition that the B.C.S. got the national championship game pairing wrong in a given year (although there are few compelling arguments for the proposition that the ultimate recipient of the No. 1 ranking was unworthy). What would-be B.C.S. bowl contenders undeservedly were left out of the mix, though? Utah in 2004 and 2008, Boise State in 2006, and Hawaii in 2007 all made the grade, but experience has shown that this list of B.C.S.-bound squads from leagues not receiving automatic bids contains one team too many, not one team too few. Other claimed contenders from major conferences played their way out of any argument on their behalf.

If, as very well might be the case, your argument is that you would exclude the champions of the A.C.C. or the Big East from an automatic seat at the table, be careful before you wish for a playoff to replace the B.C.S., because a playoff, if it comes, will come only with the consent of the major conferences, none of which would agree to change the existing system without a guaranteed bid being reserved for its league champion.

That means your 2008 eight-team playoff field would have had seats reserved in advance for A.C.C. champion Virginia Tech, Big East champion Cincinnati, Big Ten champion Penn State, Big 12 champion Oklahoma, Pac-10 champion Southern California, and S.E.C. champion Florida, while Boise State and Utah would have been fighting for one of the two at-large berths along with Alabama, Ohio State, Texas, and Texas Tech. Anyone who thinks mid-majors would fare better under that system than they do under the current one needs to do the math.

2. Why is it deemed undesirable for a system designed to identify the best teams in college football to be exclusionary? For reasons passing my understanding, we as a society tend to throw around the word "elitist" as though it were a pejorative term, but the alternative to being an elitist is to have no standards of excellence. We may quarrel over what criteria ought to be used in determining the elites, but that is not the same thing as doubting that elites do, or ought to, exist.

If the goal is to put an end to elitism, then postseason bids ought to be handed out by putting the names of all the bowl games in one hat, putting the names of all the Division I-A college football teams in another hat, and pulling one name from the first hat and two from the second hat until all the contests have been paired randomly. If that is to be the new model, those who equate the B.C.S. with communism need to concede that their proposed alternative is socialism . . . and those who disparage elitism from elected positions in the national legislature should hope their constituents do not notice their hypocrisy in the process.

At its best (and I seldom see this point made even appreciably well, particularly not by the politicians who have chosen to make this issue a centerpiece of their purported efforts on behalf of the commonweal), the argument for the Utahs and Boise States of the world essentially is the same argument Thomas Jefferson made on behalf of a natural aristocracy based on virtue and talents rather than an artificial aristocracy based on wealth and birth.

The problem with such a claim on behalf of the virtuous Broncos or the talented Utes against the wealthy Demon Deacons or the high-born Bearcats is that there is no historical evidence to support the notion that college football’s is a fixed aristocracy. Year2’s exegesis goes back to 1992, but look what has happened in the interim:

College football affiliations are far from stagnant. Just in the last decade and a half, we have seen Arkansas and South Carolina added to the Southeastern Conference, Florida State added to the Atlantic Coast Conference, Penn State added to the Big Ten, the Southwest Conference disbanded, four Lone Star State teams added to the former Big Eight, three former Big East teams added to the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the composition of the Big East, the Mountain West, the Western Athletic Conference, and Conference USA reshuffled multiple times.

The club is insular because the dues are high, but the doors are far from closed. In the last three decades, we have witnessed the addition of W.A.C. members Arizona and Arizona State to the Pac-10, the rise in the reputations of Florida State and Miami (Florida) from unimportant independent backwaters in the 1970s to major national powers in the 1980s to B.C.S. conference teams in the 1990s, the 1984 national championship being awarded to B.Y.U., the promotion of such programs as Louisville and South Florida to B.C.S. conference membership, and the invitation of Boise State, Hawaii, and Utah to major bowl games. (Bear in mind that, as recently as 2004, an undefeated conference champion B.S.U. squad was squaring off with a once-beaten conference champion Louisville unit in the Liberty Bowl. Times have changed and they have done so in a hurry.)

We’ve all been there. Alabama is one of the marquee programs in the history of the sport, but the Eastern news media did not give the Crimson Tide their due until the Red Elephants beat mighty Washington in the 1926 Rose Bowl. Georgia acquired national notoriety by going undefeated in 1920 and narrowly missing an unblemished record in 1927, playing the likes of Yale and N.Y.U. on the road throughout the ‘20s and ‘30s, and tying third-ranked Fordham in New York City in 1936, yet still it took the Bulldogs until 1941 to receive their first major bowl bid. You’ll have to pardon me if I somehow manage to remain dry-eyed at the plight of the mid-major. Nine decades ago, my team was a mid-major. We managed to overcome that stigma without getting Congress or the courts involved.

In the meantime, I consider exclusiveness a virtue. The Bowl Championship Series is designed to showcase the country’s top teams, and it is 25 per cent more open than it was just five years ago. College football is more exclusionary than other sports? Good for college football. The fact that other sports are willing to stand there with straight faces while handing out championship trophies to the likes of N.C. State in college basketball, the New York Giants in professional football, and the Florida Marlins in major league baseball while Division I-A college football is not highlights a problem not with college football, but with every other sport.

Maybe Congress should hold hearings on that.

Go ‘Dawgs!

UK Basketball: Alabama, UK's Next Five, and a Congratulations

Ken Howlett — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:51:52 -0000

Alabama

As UK rolls into Tuscaloosa for a Saturday afternoon (3:00 pm EST) tilt with the Crimson Tide (12-6, 2-2), the 'Cats will be looking for win number five in a row overall, and win number three-in-a-row on the road. With the Tide regrettably losing one-time, do-everything point guard Ronald Steele, along with Jarmereo Davidson and Richard Hendrix (over the last two years), they don't seem to be the threat they once were. But of course, it's a road game, and anything can happen when traveling in the SEC.

Let's take a look at the key Tide personnel and how Alabama stacks up statistically within the SEC:

Tide Personnel

Alonzo Gee: 6'6", 219 lb senior guard -- Gee shoots 43.5% from the field, and only 29.4% from the 3-point line. He averages an impressive 7.6 rebounds per game to go along with his 14.3 points per game

Gee is clearly 'Bama's best player, and most athletic performer, but in his last two games versus UK, he's a combined 2-14 from the field, 0-4 from beyond the arc, and has scored seven total points, to go along with four rebounds (in 43 total minutes played). I'm sure he'll be looking to make up for those sub-par performances Saturday.

Senario Hillman: 6'1", 192 lb sophomore guard -- Hillman shoots 44.1% from the floor, and only 17.6% from the 3-point line. He also averages 3.2 rebounds per game and 13.6 points per game.

Hillman should see extensive time at the point Saturday. Last year versus UK he played only eight minutes, making 1-1 shots for two points.

Mikhail Torrance: 6'5", 210 lb junior guard -- Torrance is 'Bama's best 3-point shooter at 42.9% (12-28), and he shoots 52.4% overall. He averages 9.3 points per game in only 16 minutes played per game.

Torrance, like Hillman, played only eight minutes last year versus UK, going 1-2 from the field and 1-2 from the free throw line, for three points.

JaMychal Green: 6'9", 220 lb freshman forward -- The one-time UK target is shooting 53.0% from the field, and he averages 6.9 rebounds per game. He's the Tides fourth leading scorer at 8.8 points per game.

Justin Knox: 6'9", 240 lb sophomore forward -- Knox shoots 54.2% from the field. He also averages 5.2 rebounds per game and 5.7 points per game.

Last year as a freshman Knox played 20 minutes versus UK. He scored six points, going 3-6 from the field, to go along with three rebounds.

Statistical Tide

Scoring -- 72.7 points per game (8th in the SEC)

Scoring Defense -- 66.4 ppg (8th)

Field Goal % -- 44.6 (8th)

Field Goal % Defense -- 40.1 (6th)

3-Point % -- 29.7 (12th)

3-point % Defense -- 31.5 (2nd)

Rebounding Margin -- +3.1 (6th)

Blocks per game -- 4.7 (4th)

Assists per game -- 10.4 (12th)

Steals per game -- 7.3 (7th)

Assist/TO Ratio -- .77- 188 assists/244 turnovers (12th)

Alabama has made 57 more free throws than their opponents.
'Bama is -7 for the season in offensive rebounds. 'Bama has missed 592 shots and gathered in 249 offensive rebounds (42.1%). Their opponents have missed 650 shots and snagged 256 offensive rebounds (39.4%).
Alonzo Gee and JaMychal Green both average 3.1 offensive rebounds per game.
Brandon Hollinger leads Alabama with 48 3-pointers taken. He's shooting a woeful 16.7% from behind the arc.
'Bama shoots 69.2% from the free throw line. Last year, 'Bama lost eight games by seven points or less, while shooting only 62% from the free throw line.
Tide head coach Mark Gottfried plays nine players at least 11 minutes per game.
Ronald Steele's brother, Andrew, is a freshman guard for Alabama.
UK has won six of the last eight games versus Alabama.

New York-Minute Analysis

Alabama will want to pound the ball into the post, offensively, and use their athleticism and length to pressure UK's lead guards into mistakes, defensively. UK must be mindful of the foul situation regarding their big men, Patrick Patterson and Perry Stevenson. If both of those players get into foul trouble, UK could be in trouble.

Gottfried will probably have Gee guard Meeks for a large portion of the game. Gee's size advantage, along with his quickness could pose problems for Meeks. If that scenario comes to fruition, Meeks' teammates will be setting all manner of screens to get "Rhythm" as many open looks as possible.

Frankly, this is a game UK should win if they harbor any hopes of making noise on a national level, and unless 'Bama plays their best game of the year, a Kentucky victory should be in the offing.

The seat of Gottfried's pants are warming up, and I don't see Saturday's game doing anything to cool-off the heat.

Alabama Results

Tide wins of note: (N) St. Josephs (10-8) 54-48, (H) Chattanooga (9-10) 82-63, (H) Yale (7-9) 66-63, (H) Georgia Tech (9-9) 88-77, (H) LSU (15-3) 65-59, (H) Mississippi (10-8) 76-73.

Tide losses: (H) Mercer (10-8) 72-69, (N) Oregon (6-13) 92-69, (H) Texas A&M (15-4) 86-78, (A) Clemson (16-2) 66-59, (A) Mississippi St. (13-6) 83-74, (A) Auburn (11-7) 85-71.

The Importance of the Next Five

With UK's Saturday tilt in Tuscaloosa versus Alabama, the University of Kentucky basketball team finds themselves in an excellent position to solidify a first place finish in the SEC East. No, they can't wrap-up the East with a win over the Tide, but the 'Bama game is the first in a series of five games that UK needs to win in order to set-up the best possible East-clinching scenario.

After Alabama comes a road game @ Ole Miss (10-8, 1-3), and home games against South Carolina (13-4, 2-2), Mississippi State (13-6, 3-1), and Florida (16-3, 3-1). UK will be rightfully favored in all of those contests, but the next seven games will provide UK with a much sterner test: @Arkansas (12-4, 0-3) and Vanderbilt (12-6, 1-3), followed by a home game versus Tennessee (12-5, 3-1), @ South Carolina, at home against LSU (15-3, 3-1) and Georgia (9-9, 0-3), and the regular season finale @ Florida.

If UK can find a way to win five of the final seven games, I feel sure that a 14-2 league mark will be sufficient to grab the SEC East title, as well as the overall SEC regular season championship, especially considering every other SEC team has at least one league loss. And in a year when the SEC is admittedly not what it usually is in terms of experienced talent, a two loss SEC season should be enough to impress the Selection Committee into granting UK a sub-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, as long as the 'Cats don't suffer an opening game loss in the SEC Tournament

Congratulations ...

... to Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie; Coach G has now coached 50 games for the Wildcats. And after a slow start to his tenure, he has UK firmly on the road back to prominence. His record stands at 33-17 (66.7%), which some may find miraculous considering the injuries and defections the UK coach has endured. A victory at Alabama today would represent UK's best record after 20 games since the '05-'06 season.

With the abundance of top tier recruits heading to Lexington, fans certainly have reason to be optimistic with the direction of The Program, and content with the job Gillispie is doing.

So Billy, you can't make us all happy all of the time, but you've most of us happy, most of the time.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks for reading, and Go 'Cats, beat the Tide!

Basketball Preview: Colorado Buffaloes at Stanford Cardinal

irish1611 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:00:07 -0000

	VS.
Colorado Buffaloes		Stanford Cardinal

Who: Colorado Buffaloes at Stanford Cardinal
Where: Maples Pavilion (Stanford, CA)
When: 8:30 pm MT
Line: Stanford by 15

The young Buffs will be on the road for the first time this season after going 3 - 1 in the first four. The Buffs have been exactly what we thought they would be: young and small inside. Colorado has been out-rebounded by a lengthy margin this year, especially on the offensive side end. The Buffs have been holding the oppositions to lower shooting percentages but due to the lack of rebounding, teams have been able to get extra chances against the Buffs. With freshman Toby Veal not ready for collegiate play, according to Jeff Bzdelik, the Buffs don't have a big answer in the middle. The 6'5" guard, Cory Higgins has 6.0 rebounds a game which is tied for the lead. That is a problem especially when the Buffs start Big 12 play.

Their have been a few bright spots this year and it starts on the offensive end of the court. CU has shot 50% from the field against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Harvard and Lafayette. Buffs guard Cory Higgins leads the team in what seems like every major statistical category. Last game, Higgins had a team high and personal career high 24 points but three other players had double digits as well so there is some balance on this team. Back to Higgins, look at the improvement from his freshman year. He has definitely led this team to the record that they currently have. Higgins, the 6'5" guard from Florida, is a sophomore which is considered a veteran on this team. Look for him to continue to get better and better as the Buffs youth grows around him.

Season Averages - Cory Higgins
SEASON	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	TO	A/T	STL	BLK	PF	FG%	FT%	3P%	PPS
2007-2008	33.6	8.3	4.3	2.3	2.1	1.11	1.1	.3	2.1	.459	.680	.333	1.29
2008-2009	36.8	17.8	6.0	3.8	2.8	1.36	2.3	.0	2.0	.528	.732	.231	1.97

Another few positives to this year already in each of the four games the Buffs have played this year, they have had four players in double digits and overall, Colorado is shooting over 50% from the field on the year. For a young team, offense doesn't seem to be the problem. The fans would like to see more on the defensive end nad boards.

The Buffs will get a taste of higher level collegiate basketball tonight as the Stanford was a sweet 16 team last year. Stanford is currently on the "Colorado Tour" as they there last game was against Air Force (W - 76 - 57), Colorado Saturday night and then @ Colorado State in 15 days.

The Cardinal are 3-0 on the season with a pair of home against CSU-Northridge (103-85) and Air Force (76-57), played on Wednesday. Stanford opened the season with a 75-67 winner at Yale. The Cardinal returns seven players and three starters from last year's 28-8 Sweet 16 team. Sounds like a dangerous team right? Well, the two players who are missing are 7-foot twins, Brook and Robin Lopez, both of whom are in the NBA. That has caused first year coach, Johnny Dawkins a long time Duke assistant, to go relatively small this year. The good thing for the Cardinal is that they are led by three seniors, something the Buffs will have to wait a long time to say. Forward Lawrence Hill, who was great as a sophomore then struggled last season, will need to have a big season for the Cardinal to be successful in the PAC 10. Currently, Hill is second on the team in scoring, averaging 18.0 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. The leading scorer is point guard Mitch Johnson, who is the team leader, is averaging an impressive 21.3 points a game. Scoring has not been a problem so far for the Cardinal, averaging 85 a game. This team wants to play on the perimeter. Against Air Force, Stanford hit on 12 of 25 shots from three-point range.

The Buffs are going to have their hands full defending the high flying offense of the Cardinal but the good news for the Buffs is the Lopez twins are gone and Stanford will not be overpowering inside. For the Buffs to be successful tonight, rebounding will be key.

Other Notes:

Colorado is an early 15 point underdog. I would expect that to possibly go up even though this Cardinal team should not be expected to make a lot of noise in the PAC 10 this year
Tonight's tip off is at 8:30 MT
The game will be on Fox Sports Network. The first televised game this year for the Buffs.
For more on tonight's game, check out the rivals yahoo preview of Stanford.

Quick Stat Comparison
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	STK
COLO	3-1	75.3	64.3	3-1	0-0	W2
STAN	3-0	84.7	69.7	2-0	1-0	W3
Team Stat Leaders
	COLORADO			STANFORD
Points	C. Higgins 17.8			A. Goods 21.3
Rebounds	C. Higgins 6.0			L. Hill 7.0
Assists	C. Higgins 3.8			M. Johnson 6.0
Steals	C. Higgins 2.3			A. Goods 2.0
Blocks	J. Jackson-Wilson 1.3			L. Fields 1.0