Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Coach K Sets Wins Record, Baylor Beats San Diego State

#6 Duke 74, Michigan State 69
I think that even Duke haters are glad that Coach K got his 903rd win. We'd all seen enough interviews of Bob Knight and Coach K talking about it, and just wanted it over with. And I'm saying that as somebody who respects the Duke program more than just about anybody in the country that's not actually a Duke fan. This game actually wasn't competitive most of the way, as Duke led by 19 with eight minutes to go. A 19-7 run by Michigan State did force Duke fans to stress a bit in the final minute, but Duke's strong free throw shooting (7-for-8 in the final minute) put the game away.

Austin Rivers struggled more here than he did against Belmont, finishing 1-for-7 from the field with one assist. Andre Dawkins stepped up his place, hitting 6-for-10 behind the arc and scoring 26 points. For Michigan State, the most encouraging development of this game was the performance of Keith Appling, who is expected to fill the point guard position vacated by Kalin Lucas, and who had struggled badly in the opener against North Carolina (he fouled out with five points, 0 assists and four turnovers). He was the best Michigan State player on the floor against Duke, scoring 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting... though again finishing with zero assists. To be fair, Tom Izzo doesn't always need to run his offense through his guards - it was only a few years ago that he let Goran Suton run the offense from the top of the key, and Draymond Green has the ability to play a similar role - but I'm sure Izzo will hope that Appling can continue becoming more of a playmaker.

Michigan State is now 0-2, though nobody is going to begrudge them losing against North Carolina and Duke. They get to lick their wounds now against a couple of cupcakes before having to play a serious opponent again. Their next quality opponent is probably Florida State, on November 30th. Duke will play Davidson on Friday, and then heads off to Maui. In Maui they'll open on Monday with Tennessee. Their next game will be Tuesday, against either Michigan or Memphis.

#12 Baylor 77, San Diego State 67
Baylor had an offensive explosion in this game, by their standards, finishing with a 54.8 eFG%, including 52.9% behind the arc (for comparison, they hit 35% on threes last season). But as good as they shot the ball, I think they have plenty in common with what Memphis did against Belmont. Memphis is another team that plays like an AAU squad, but happened to get hot shooting the ball for one game. Baylor, despite their shooting still committed 21 turnovers (compared to 24 shots made from the field). As well as they shot, they still only scored 1.01 points per possession. The biggest issue for Baylor, as we knew it would be, is point guard. Both AJ Walton and Brady Heslip showed flashes of being competent passers and creators, but both have a long way to go.

Baylor is now 3-0 as they head off to Cupcake City, where they won't reemerge until heading to Northwestern for a game on December 3rd. As for San Diego State, it's to be expected that they're off to a slow start after losing so much from last year's team. It seems like Steve Fisher still can't figure out what his best lineup is, and he went with a ten man rotation in this game that will probably get pared down as the season goes along. Not getting the win in this game is a lost opportunity, but they won't be penalized in March for losing a road game at Baylor. They get a chance to bounce right back tomorrow when they play USC. They'll then play a very dangerous Long Beach State team on Saturday, in what might be a trap game before they play at Arizona next Wednesday.

Texas 100, Rhode Island 90
J'Covan Brown is turning into a star for Texas, but half the story in this game is the fact that this feisty Rhode Island team has now gone down swinging in both of their games so far on the road against quality opponents. It never felt like Rhode Island had a chance to win this game, but it didn't look like they were out-classed either. This was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Rhode Island, and I still don't see them getting too close to the Tournament Bubble, but they're definitely better than most people thought.

Meanwhile, Longhorns fans have to be happy that Myck Kabongo looks to be living up to the hype. The most important question for them, in my opinion, was whether he could be the new Dogus Balbay. Rick Barnes teams need a quality point guard, without which they tend to degenerate into stagnant, one-on-one offenses. Kabongo only hit 3-for-10 from the field, but he had nine assists and seven rebounds, and earned 17 free throw attempts. Texas now heads off to the IZOD Center to play the Legends Classic. They'll open on Saturday with Oregon State, and then on Monday they'll play either Vanderbilt or NC State. Rhode Island, after close road losses to George Mason and Texas, isn't taking a breather. Their next game is Sunday, on the road at Nebraska.

1 comment:

Chris said...

For URI, it seems to be a theme with the "they're definitely better than most people thought" mantra. It seems like each year they do better than predicted (not counting last yr). I guess that is why Jim Baron wins A-10 coach of the year awards without ever making it to the big dance.

2009/10 Predicted 8 Finished 5
2008/09 Predicted 9 Finished 3
2006/07 Predicted 11 Finished 5

This year they are predicted to finish in 10th. I see them finishing around 6th.