damn I guess I called the wrong ranked team for ND to upset, I do hate Duke but I'm finding myself with less and less of it anymore since they've had some real good players in the past few years. And not just college good, well you guys know who Kyrie is. Parker is going to be a good pro too, I'd take him over Wiggins 10/10 times and I think the NBA will figure that out by the time the lottery fixes its way into town.
I watched the Kentucky / Louisville game but forgot to comment on it. I like Kentucky on offense, but they have a lot of work to do on defense, Randall especially. He is ready for the NBA on offense right now without a doubt, but he can't even create a presence at the college level defensively. And Im talking like he doesn't even really attempt to contest shots very often. I understand he doesn't want to pick up any more fouls than he has to but at what cost? The other team's knowledge that they can drive right at him without having to adjust their shot much if at all? Because that's how you get beat by inferior teams, when they know you aren't able to play your full game due to one reason or another and therefore gain confidence in their own games even more so. I'm not saying he has to be the main defensive presence, Cauley-Stein is much more suited to that role, but he has to at least make the other team respect him on that end of the floor, or I see them getting upset in the first two rounds. There was one play where Russ Smith drove right down the lane at Randall and just threw it down in his face and you could tell from the second Smith left the floor that Randall wanted no business meeting him halfway. At best, he's Zach Randolph. At worst, he's Glen Davis. Either way, he'll be a productive pro.
Temple is sliding into mediocrity, not gonna lie I've never known the program to not be good. Since I've been watching college hoops they are just always in the tournament and more or less always in the mix to win the Atlantic 10. Now that they're in the American Conference (nice win for Cinci today btw), I don't think they're going to make the tournament at all. Competition is just a little bit steeper and they lost both their top scorers so it was a foreseeable down year. I'm just glad there's like 20 other schools with good college hoop teams around here, Villanova is back in the top 25 so it all evens out really.
speaking of that, Oregon squeaked in at #10 in the nation before the 25th of Dec. They are leading the nation with 89.2 points per game, and their best player is still being worked into the starting lineup. Or at least he was their best player until his replacement became it, good problem to have though. February 6th is looking like a possible top 5 matchup between Arizona and Oregon, I doubt if they'll lose more than 3 games combined until that date.
Unfortunately I'm going to have to put on Fox Sports tomorrow at 5ET to watch the Oregon / Colorado game but I think I'll manage to avoid having my viewing experience ruined by forced one liners for long enough to see how the Ducks show up for the first big conference game of the year after almost dropping one to Utah. I'm feeling a 77-72 Oregon win, but only because I really want to see a 1v2 AZ/Oregon game and I see Colorado beating either one of those teams at least once this year so why not make it Arizona...
