Throughout the season I would like to take a look at team’s we have beaten and see how they have done since we played them. Clearly, our biggest win so far came against currently 5-3 USC. Not an impressive record for a team that opened in the top 25, but a ranked win is a ranked win.
I hope USC wins the rest of their games. That'd be cool.
USC lost its first game to Seton Hall by 2 points. Seton Hall is by no means a stellar team, but they are currently sitting pretty with a 7-1 record with wins over presumably solid teams Virginia Tech and obviously USC. I would categorize losing by 2 points to a power conference team, early season, with a freshman a crucial role, and in a strange setting like Puerto Rico as “kind-of understandable.”
USC’s other loss besides Mizzou came at Oklahoma by 1 point in a game that they no doubt had many opportunities to win. OU currently checks in at #5 in the country (I personally think that is a bit high), which makes that loss perfectly understandable and in my opinion, encouraging for Mizzou fans.
In the OU game, freshman sensation DeMar DeRozan scored 10 points in 37 minutes. Those number aren’t bad for a freshman, but with his supposed talent I can only assume they will continue to improve over the course of the year. OU already showed it can play with a top 5 team on the road, even without DeRozan playing at the level he very well could be during conference play.
I believe in a rebuilding Pac 10, with only a somewhat disappointing (2 losses already) UCLA being an established power, USC can get 10 or more conference wins. This would surely put them back in the top 25 and in the NCAA tournament.
Come tournament time, if Mizzou (pray they aren’t) is on the bubble, how great would that USC win look. I believe that that win in Puerto Rico was Mike Anderson’s 4th biggest at Mizzou, only behind Texas and K-State last year and Ok-State two years ago.
USC plays a tough non-conference against Georgia Tech on Dec. 22, so that will be a good litmus test to see where they are at. Let’s hope that they have continued to improve.
Filed under: ESPN Brain Farts | Tags: DeMarre Carroll, ESPN, Hubert Davis, J.T. Tiller, Keon Lawrence
Last week I was watching ESPN and happened upon a college basketball show. I’m not sure if it was halftime of a game or what, but Jay Williams and Hubert Davis were picking one team to watch in each conference. To my surprise, Hubert Davis picked Mizzou as his team in the Big 12.
I was having a great time, basking in the praise…until Hubert began to explain why.
He said that he likes Mizzou because they have “Keon Lawrence and Leo Lyons, 6-8 guys who can score and rebound” and then went on to name JT Tiller as one of the best point guards in the Big 12, and a guy who can really control floor.
Hmm…seems to me that Keon Lawrence is a guard who is currently sitting in street clothes for Seton Hall. It seems to me that he meant DeMarre Carroll. It seems to me that JT Tiller (though a good guard) is a defensive shooting guard. Finally, it seems to me that anyone, even a casual fan, who has watched the Tigers even for a half this season, would know that JT is a defensive minded off-guard and that DeMarre is a big 6-8 guy who can score or rebound.
I think it is rational to believe Hubert Davis, a “college basketball expert,” has not watched Mizzou this year and doesn’t know anything about the team. Why he would decide to make a fool out himself and pretend like he knows the team is simply odd.
The two comments he made about Mizzou are completely false, and I would guess he makes false statements about other currently non-spotlight programs, I personally just do not know because I am only fan of Mizzou.
Do your job Hubert. Congratulations, you played basketball at UNC. However, you are clearly not qualified to be an analyst. I find it hard to believe that ESPN can’t find someone better than a 6′5 former Tar Heel and middle of the road NBA player whose analysis consists of misreading an old roster.
Had to get that off my chest. Go Tigers.
-Greg M.
