Player Of The Week: John Wall, Fr., G, Kentucky
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Wall ushered himself into Kentucky lore with his game-winning shot to beat Miami (Ohio) 72-70 in his first collegiate game. He finished the game with 19 points, shooting 10-of-14 from the free throw line. But Wall didn't stop there. He scored 21 points in each of Kentucky's next two games -- wins over Sam Houston State and Rider -- including 11 assists in the win over the Broncs.
You could see his game develop over the course of the week, even if Kentucky's defense faded. Wall committed a combined 11 turnovers in his first two games, but had only two in the win over Rider. The Wildcats won all three of their games last week and Wall was a major player in each of them.
The rest of the rotation this week:
DeMarcus Cousins, Fr., F, Kentucky: Yes, one of those other freshmen faces on the Wildcats made himself known this week with 27 points and 18 boards in the Wildcats' close call against Sam Houston State. He followed it up with 18 points, six rebounds and five blocks in UK's win over Rider.
Jeremy Hazell, Jr., G, Seton Hall: The Pirate that doesn't get the pub scored 33 points in Seton Hall's impressive 89-79 road win at Cornell.
Scotty Hopson, So., G, Tennessee: He was supposed to be a big-time shooter last season. It looks like it just took a year. He cooled down a bit against DePaul on Sunday, but Hopson scored 25 points in each of Tennessee's two wins against UNC-Asheville and East Carolina, shooting a combined 10-of-12 on 3s.
Quincy Pondexter, Sr., F, Washington: He is perhaps the Huskies player with the most pressure to produce, and Pondexter hasn't disappointed thus far. The forward scored 30 points and grabbed 15 boards in an 80-70 win over San Jose State.
A.J. Slaughter, Sr., G, Western Kentucky: Slaughter put up 30 points, including five 3s, in the Hilltoppers' 69-65 win over Milwaukee.
Lucca Staiger, Jr., G, Iowa State: Staiger scored 32 points and made 10 3s in a 90-70 win over Drake.
Durrell Summers, Jr., G, Michigan State: He scored 21 points and grabbed 11 boards in the Spartans' gritty 75-71 win over Gonzaga.
Klay Thompson, So., G, Washington State: Flying way under the radar, Thompson scored 37 points on 15-of-20 shooting in Washington State's 89-70 win over IPFW.
Chris Warren, Jr., G, Ole Miss: Back from a knee injury, he scored 27 points in an 86-74 win over Kansas State in Puerto Rico.
Bryce Webster, Jr., C, Cal State Fullerton: Grabbed 14 rebounds in the Titans' 68-65 upset win at UCLA in double overtime.
Rodney Williams, Fr., F, Minnesota: The freshman has already established himself as a key contributor for a Gophers' squad facing off-court issues. Williams scored 17 points, grabbed six boards and had four steals in a 76-51 win over Utah Valley.
Marqus Blakely, Sr., F, Vermont: Despite being sick and sitting out 15 minutes, Blakely still managed to total 17 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and four steals in the Catamounts' 77-71 comeback win at Rutgers on Sunday.
Team Of The Week: Syracuse
Last week: Beat No. 12 Cal 95-73; beat No. 4 North Carolina 87-71.
Syracuse was picked to finish sixth in the Big East, but that shouldn't have been a shocker. The Orange lost Jonny Flynn, the nation's top point guard, to the NBA, along with major contributors Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf. No one knew if Wesley Johnson would have difficulties after sitting a year after transferring from Iowa State or if Scoop Jardine (who didn't play last season due to injury) or Brandon Triche could handle replacing Flynn.
Well, all those questions were answered in New York as Syracuse dominated Cal and North Carolina at the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden. The Orange certainly don't lack for excitement without Flynn. Johnson, who scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds against the Tar Heels, is a star, and the rest of the Orange players are more than capable of making shots, running the break and finishing. But most importantly, the Orange zone is active, long and disruptive, meaning this team can win the Big East this season, let alone make the NCAA tournament.
Missed Opportunity
Northern Iowa: The Panthers lost to DePaul 60-52 in the Virgin Islands at the Paradise Jam tournament, missing out on an opportunity to play Tennessee in the next round. That's significant since UNI needs power-rating points to bolster its profile come March.
Cornell: The Big Red had started the season with great road wins for an Ivy League team at Alabama and UMass. But neither of those teams will be in the NCAA tournament. Seton Hall might be, and the Big Red missed their chance to secure a win over a Big East team when they lost at home to the Pirates, 89-79.
Richmond: The Spiders will have plenty of chances for major wins, with games against SEC teams Mississippi State, South Carolina and Florida coming up. But losing at William & Mary 78-71 makes you pause.
Oregon State: The Beavers now have to mount a PR campaign and win some significant games after losing two games in the first two weeks to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on a neutral court followed by a disastrous loss at home to Sacramento State.
Rider: The Broncs get plenty of points for winning at Mississippi State 88-74 in their season-opener. But they lost some of that mojo by getting blitzed at Virginia, 79-46.
Siena: Look, the Saints can't win every road game. But they may regret their 73-69 loss at Temple. The Owls are a possible NCAA tourney bubble team and would have been a great road win for Siena. The Saints are down to three more significant games outside the MAAC that may get them noticed -- St. John's in Philadelphia and at Georgia Tech and Northern Iowa.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions whiffed twice in Charleston, S.C., with losses to UNC-Wilmington, 80-69, and Tulane, 63-60. Not good for a team that might find itself fighting for a bid come March.
New Names To Remember
D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, Illinois: This stud freshmen duo is going to be the talk of Champaign all season.
Reginald Delk, Louisville: He wasn't discussed much in the offseason but he might be one of the better scorers in the Big East. He scored 20 points in just 22 minutes in the Cardinals' 96-66 win over Arkansas.
Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh: He has more than held his own in replacing Levance Fields. Gibbs averaged 21 points a game in the Panthers' two wins this week and has committed just one turnover through three games this season. He will be the go-to player for the Panthers this season.
Chris Johnson, Dayton: The Flyers aren't just about Chris Wright. Johnson led Dayton with 19 points and seven boards in a 63-59 win over Georgia Tech in Puerto Rico.
Andre Dawkins, Duke: He could still be in high school but arrived at Duke early. He scored 20 points for the Blue Devils in a 104-67 win over Radford, with six 3s. The Blue Devils made 18 3s in the game.
Elliot Williams, Memphis: He's leading the Tigers in scoring at 21 points per game and is doing a wonderful job as a leader on this squad.
Shout-Outs
Miami: The Hurricanes won the Charleston Classic with the win over South Carolina in the final Sunday night. Miami coach Frank Haith said he had a team that could compete at a higher level in the ACC. So far he's proving to be quite prophetic. The addition of Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant and fresh-face frosh Durand Scott will pay off for this squad.
Villanova: The Wildcats won the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic. They were tested quite a bit in three days and came through to show they can be an elite team. Those wins against Dayton and Ole Miss -- maybe even the tight one versus George Mason -- will look just fine in March.
Seattle: Cameron Dollar, in his first season in charge of Seattle in its return to Division I, picked up a nice win over Fresno State at home 85-84 and followed it up with a 91-87 victory over Big Sky favorite Weber State. Elgin Baylor was in the house for the Fresno win. It was the first time he'd seen his alma mater play since his college career ended in a 1958 NCAA title-game loss to Kentucky.
Wesley Johnson has transformed from a lightly regarded recruit who went to prep school and then Iowa State to a star at Syracuse and possible lottery pick who spent Friday dropping 25 points and eight rebounds on North Carolina. Just think, if Johnson had only been adopted by rich white people, then we could've made his story into a major motion picture. As it is, we're left with The Blind Side.
College Basketball Weekly Wrap-Up
www.cbssportsline.com
Best game of the weekend: I'm starting with Villanova's 79-67 win over Ole Miss in the title game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off -- not because it was a great game, per se, but because it was a great performance by the Wildcats. They hung 52 points on the Rebels in the second half Sunday and looked very much like a team capable of returning to the Final Four. They're strong and experienced in the backcourt, solid up front and aided greatly by the addition of Taylor King, the Duke transfer who is an early candidate for the Big East's Sixth Man Award considering he's coming off the bench and averaging 10.8 points and 7.6 rebounds.
Worst game of the weekend: Rider won at Mississippi State on opening night, and suddenly everybody thought an upset at Kentucky might be possible, too. Instead, all we got Saturday was a 92-63 beatdown delivered by the Wildcats. The game was never close, a total letdown for folks who cheer for underdogs. But the good news is that it provided a fresh YouTube entry for John Wall, the freshman point guard who finished with 21 points and 11 assists while demonstrating how a between-the-legs-crossover-dribble at the free throw line can create an easy layup. Click this link and check it out, if you want. It's at the 1:09 mark, and it's ridiculous.
Win to brag about: It's unclear how good Saint Mary's is without Patrick Mills, but I know it's tough to go into McKeon Pavilion and leave with a victory either way, proof being how the Gaels were 32-2 at home the past three years. So Vanderbilt's 72-70 victory at St. Mary's late Friday was impressive, however you look at it. And yes, Vandy fans, I know I'm probably going to regret picking the Commodores fifth in the SEC Eastern Division. Honestly, I'm already regretting it (although Lance Stephenson could make me look less stupid if he somehow leads Cincinnati past the Commodores in the first round of the Maui Invitational).
Loss to hide from: Once upon a time, Jeff Capel signed a contract at VCU that required him to return to the Siegel Center with his new team if he ever left the Rams to coach at another college. On Saturday, Capel made good on that clause and took his Oklahoma Sooners to Richmond. The result was an 82-69 loss in which Willie Warren missed all eight of his 3-point attempts. And now that the terms of that contract have been fulfilled, I'm certain you'll never see Capel coach at VCU again.
Player(s) who deserve improper benefits: Mark Fox left a better team behind at Nevada than the one he inherited at Georgia, and a lot of that is because of the duo of Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt. In Saturday's 112-99 win over Houston , Johnson got 22 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds while Babbitt had 14 points, three assists and 17 rebounds. Graded on the against-Tom-Penders curve, those numbers aren't as mindboggling, I know. But Johnson and Babbitt are probably still the two best players in the WAC, and plenty good enough to start at Georgia.
Player who should lose his scholarship: Edwin Ubiles averaged 12.1 field goal attempts per game last season while leading Siena to 27 wins, and those numbers are connected. The simple formula is Ubiles plus offensive aggressiveness equals victory. So you can imagine my disappointment -- considering I ranked Siena in the preseason while neither the AP nor coaches poll did -- when I realized Ubiles had just six field goal attempts in Saturday's 73-69 loss at Temple. Those numbers are connected, too.
Why I'm smarter than you think: I picked Washington to win the Pac-10 despite California being the overwhelming favorite in the league's official media poll. Obviously, I could still end up wrong. But it's worth noting Friday's loss to Ohio State dropped the Bears to 2-2. And though I'm well aware Theo Robertson's injury has played a role in Cal's struggles, is there any debating that Cal wouldn't again be the overwhelming favorite if the league's official media poll was updated today?
Why I'm dumber than I think: I thought the people who believed Syracuse could somehow be as good or better without Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris were silly. Turns out, I was wrong. This Orange team can absolutely be as good as that Orange team, and it might end up better. All it took to convince me was Friday's 87-71 win over North Carolina in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic.
Three things you should know before you go
1. UCLA starter Nikola Dragovic did not play in Friday's 75-64 victory over Cal State-Bakersfield after he was charged with felony assault for his involvement in an incident last month at a concert in Hollywood. Ben Howland has suspended Dragovic indefinitely, meaning it's unclear whether he'll play in the 76 Classic this week. But it has already been determined that Dragovic will not play Monday night against Pepperdine.
2. Miami notched a nice win over South Carolina in Sunday's championship game of the Charleston Classic, but it came with an asterisk because USC's Dominique Archie injured his right knee (while landing after a dunk) and missed the final 33 minutes. The Gamecocks were ahead by seven points when Archie left; they lost 85-70.
3. Michigan State's 90-60 blowout of Valparaiso on Sunday pushed Tom Izzo into a tie with Jud Heathcote atop the school's all-time list for wins. Both men now have 340. Izzo can pass Heathcote on Friday when the Spartans play Florida in Atlantic City.
On tap: On Monday, the Paradise Jam ends with a championship game between Tennessee and Purdue. On Tuesday, a pair of in-state rivals trying to build at-large resumes battle when Florida State meets Florida. On Wednesday, LSU and Connecticut play in the first game of the NIT Season Tip-off. On Thursday, the first round of the 76 Classic is headlined by Minnesota-Butler.
Final thought: I wrote a column last April explaining how I was less concerned about Stephen Curry's future than Davidson's because history suggests programs typically return to their rightful place when a transcendent player departs. I cited what happened when Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble left Loyola-Marymount, what happened when Doug Christie left Pepperdine, what happened when Keith "Mister" Jennings left East Tennessee State, etc. The point was that though North Carolina, Kansas and other power-league programs can endure losses and simply reload, it's much more difficult to maintain success outside of the BCS for pretty much everybody except Gonzaga, Memphis and Xavier.
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