Morning News: Columbia Nearly Takes Out Michigan State, Georgia Tech Makes Their Case, Auburn Embarrasses

 

Goodness, Markel Brown. Watch your head.

Columbia Hangs In Against Michigan State The game of the night, without question, was Columbia nearly taking out Michigan State. They led most of the game, and despite not scoring the final 4:27 were only down by 2 with 1:30 to go. They even out-rebounded Michigan State. The final 4 minutes were what the national media saw, though, and Columbia really struggled. They had two dumb shot clock violations, a travel and a missed front end of a 1-and-1. So since that was all most people saw, the media narrative coming out of the game was that Michigan State stunk it up against the team picked by the media to finish last in the Ivy League.

Let me tamp that down for a second. Obviously Michigan State played poorly, but they also probably would have lost this game if the refs hadn't taken over in the second half and given them every close call. And Columbia being picked to finish last in the Ivy League was a joke. They were my sleeper to challenge Harvard preseason. They finished 4-10 in the Ivy League last season, but only because of a staggeringly unlucky 0-8 record in games decided by six points or less. They were wildly underrated last season and have a lot of depth. Harvard is obviously the heavy Ivy League favorite, but they're also a little overrated. Don't be shocked if the Ivy League turns out to be a lot more competitive this season than most expect, and if Columbia is up there challenging for second or third place.

Georgia Tech A Tourney Team? Georgia Tech had an impressive 80-71 road victory over intrastate rival Georgia. And they controlled this game from start to finish, leading by double-digits nearly the entire second half. They were led by Daniel Miller, who continues to haunt Georgia. If you don't remember, the highly recruited big man was originally a Georgia commit who changed his mind to come to Georgia Tech. He went for 14 points and 13 rebounds here. Georgia Tech also got a nice performance from Tennessee transfer Trae Golden (team-high 18 points). Georgia Tech entered this season (in my opinion) on the bubble, and if they keep playing like this it's going to be hard to keep them out of the bracket.

Worst Performance: Auburn Nobody expects much from Auburn. I picked them to finish last in the SEC. But it's one thing to struggle in the SEC, and quite another to lose at home to Northwestern State. And oh, what's that, they gave up 72 points in the second half? Good golly. In all, they allowed 1.31 PPP in this game. I don't even know what else to say. This is just embarrassing.

Shorthanded UNC Struggles It never really seemed like North Carolina was going to lose to Holy Cross - they weren't in the same situation Michigan State was - but they struggled in a big way before winning by 8. They are, of course, without the suspended PJ Hairston and Leslie McDonald. McDonald is a solid player, but Hairston is the one really missing. Marcus Paige is the best player on the active roster, but he's more of a creating point guard than a pure scorer, which puts a lot of pressure on the perpetually overrated James Michael McAdoo. He's not going to carry UNC to an ACC title. They need Hairston back. But with Hairston's continued run-ins with the state of North Carolina's rental car industry, it remains unclear what the timetable is for his return.

Big Day For Duke Recruiting It's always unexpected when top recruits turn down Kentucky, but Duke had a massive haul yesterday. They landed arguably the top recruit in the country (Jahlil Okafor), as well as Tyus Jones, arguably the best point guard in the country. I try not to talk about recruiting too much during the regular season, but you'll definitely be hearing about these two again in my 2014-15 ACC preview in April. Jabari Parker will obviously be a one-and-done player, but if the rest of the roster eschews the NBA then Duke will definitely be a national title contender again next season.

Disturbing Rape Allegations At Oakland Two key Oakland players, Duke Mondy and Dante Williams, were charged with rape yesterday. Later in the day the charges were reportedly dropped, though both players were suspended. It's a disturbing case, and something to keep an eye on. Also, let's hope that if a rape did happen, that the offenders get the proper punishment. There have been too many cases in recent years of badly behaving star athletes intimidating witnesses into silence while school officials look the other way.

Florida Gets One Back The Gators have been playing short-handed with three suspended players. One of them finally comes back - Dorian Finney-Smith. The other two, Scottie Wilbekin and Damontre Harris, remain suspended indefinitely. The thing is, Wilbekin is the one that Florida fans really want back. He's Florida's best point guard, by far, and their offense has really been clogged up at times without his offensive skills on the floor.