The Hoops Junkie

 
I didn’t do the full 24 hour marathon of college hoops on ESPN yesterday, but I did manage to watch quite a bit. And while it is way too early to come to conclusions about teams or players, I did have a few observations from yesterday.

 
• Somehow San Diego State beating Gonzaga last night and now getting hyped as the best team on the west coast is a surprise. I had them at #14 in my preseason rankings and didn’t understand why they weren’t getting more love nationally. They have everybody back from what was a solid team last season, and they even added some perimeter shooting that they needed from transfer James Rahon. The Aztecs strength is their frontcourt though, where they cause matchups problems by basically playing 3 athletic combo forwards across the frontline in Kawhi Leonard, Billy White, and Malcolm Thomas. They could be vulnerable against a team with a good big man who could hurt them in the post, but they take can advantage on the other end with their speed and quickness advantages. The Mountain West looks to be strong again this season with San Diego State, BYU, UNLV, and New Mexico, so it will be interesting to see how things play out there. continue reading »

Since ESPN is calling this ”rivalry week,” and the conference races are starting to shape up, I thought I’d do a preview of what to watch this week in college hoops. The weekdays are loaded with good games, but the weekend doesn’t have quite as many matchups that jump out as me as some of the past few have. It’s NBA All Star Weekend though… and Valentine’s Day on Sunday, so maybe that’s a good thing.

• Villanova at West Virginia (Monday, 7PM ET on ESPN) – This should be a great matchup of two of the best teams in the Big East with contrasting styles. West Virginia will probably try to utilize their size advantage on the wings with Da’Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks, and Kevin Jones. Villanova, on the other hand, will try to use their speed and quickness by having guys like Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Maalik Wayns constantly putting pressure on the defense with their dribble penetration. This game will be important for both teams in terms of seeding for the NCAA tournament. Both are in the mix for potential #1 seeds.
• Kansas at Texas (Monday, 9PM ET on ESPN) – Texas has really struggled lately dropping 4 of their last 6 games since starting out 17-0 and being ranked #1 in the nation. I still think there’s too much talent on this team to completely freak out and bail on them, but this is definitely a big game for them at home. They need to play with confidence, and each player needs to buy into their role. Kansas is undefeated in Big 12 play but needed overtime in 2 of their last 3. Like Texas, they also have so much talent that it can be difficult to get each individual player playing within themself and doing what they need to do to win games. There is loads up NBA talent on both sides here with probably a minimum if 4 future NBA players on each team. continue reading »