Dayton Proves They Belong

#21 Dayton 63, #19 Georgia Tech 59
Most people thought Dayton would be good this season. They were picked to win the Atlantic 10 by most, including myself, and they were put into the Top 25. But you never know until a team gets on the court, and so far in this young season it does seem like Dayton deserves the hype. And this win was impressive because it wasn't even that great of a performance. They shot only 43% from the field and 67% from the line, and their offense was still out of synch with 22 turnovers. But despite Georgia Tech's great size, they hung in there on the boards (they lost 25-to-31) and just found a way to win. As for Georgia Tech, this a tough start for what is a key season for Paul Hewitt and his future with the school. He had his miracle run to the NCAA Championship game six years ago, but otherwise the school has not progressed past the second round. The team is coming off two consecutive below-.500 seasons, but finally has a great set of talent to win with. Superfrosh Derrick Favors joins established stars like Gani Lawal and Iman Shumpert. I named them as a dark horse to win the ACC. This team should win. If Paul Hewitt can't win with this talent then he might be looking for a new job sooner rather than later.

#6 Villanova 69, George Mason 68
Live by the three, die by the three. That seems to be the philosophy for Villanova this season. They fired away and couldn't hit their shots all throughout this game... until their final two in the final minute of the game, which went in and gave them the one point victory. But I caution against drawing too many conclusions from this goofy game. In all, 54 fouls were called. Villanova had four players foul out. George Mason had five players get four fouls or more. Nearly half of the game's points and shots were from the free throw line, and neither team shot well from the field. It was just a weird game. Besides, George Mason is a good, talented young team. They should make a run at the Colonial title, which appears to be between them, VCU and Old Dominion at this point.

UNC-Wilmington 80, Penn State 69
What makes this loss depressing for Penn State is that Talor Battle played well. Battle had 29 points on 23 shots from the field, with only 8 rebounds and only 1 turnover. But he got absolutely no support. The Nittany Lions also have a real problem inside: they had zero blocks and could not outrebound UNC-Wilmington (each team had 30). Jamelle Cornley is sorely missed, for sure. They are going to have to get more support from Battle's teammates, and they're also going to need to get more contributions from the bench (only six Penn State players combined for all but 13 minutes and 2 points in this game) if they're going to make the NCAA Tournament. Right now it's looking more and more like they are 7 good teams in the Big Ten that are separating themselves, and Penn State is getting left behind.