College Hoops Tidbits

When I asked my four-year old who his favorite two teams are, he gave the obvious and correct answer: Duke and whoever is playing North Carolina!" So it was with great joy that we watched events unfold as Maryland upset the Tar Hells 82-80 (in Chapel Hill no less), followed by Duke handling a very good Clemson team 93-80 on Saturday.

What does this mean for the Tar Heels? Nothing. They will be just fine. They will still probably win the ACC this year, get a #1 seed and probably get the North Carolina home cooking all the way to the Final 4. But what does it say about the Terps? A lot. Maryland is now 4-3 in its last 7 games against the #1 team in America. All the while, they have really struggled since winning the National Championship six seasons ago. People point to what a great coach Gary Williams is to get all those victories against top teams and rightfully so. But I think the flip side is also important: Maryland has too much talent to be as inconsistent as they have been, and they should never, ever lose home games to teams like Ohio and American, which they have done already this season. Despite the fact that Maryland fans hate Duke so much they can taste it, Duke fans would like to see Maryland do well. It is good for the league, and makes things a lot more interesting in the ACC. Hopefully this win will get the Terps playing more consistent hoops, because even with that win on Saturday, if yesterday were Selection Sunday, I think the Terps are still on the outside looking in.

As requested, Marc Rudofker gave me some quick thoughts on the Villanova Hoops squad. Please note, he sent me these before 'Nova's impressive victory on the road in the Carrier Dome this weekend:

Despite struggling for most of the game vs an underrated DePaul team (line was an absurd 10 points) Nova gained a great deal and snagged a win to boot. What you have to understand about Nova is that they are still trying to figure out what kind of team they will be. After getting crushed on the boards against Cincy, Jay Wright vowed never to play small again. So against Depaul, he played often with one guard along with Stokes, Clark, Cunningham and Pena. Result, they outrebounded DePaul 43-20. Again, this is a work in progress and until Jay figures this out, they will have many ups and downs. In the interim, here is what you need to know and what to look for:

- Pena is emerging as a force and gives Nova a genuine post presence for the first time since Malik Allen
- Reynolds is finding his rookie form
- Stokes beginning to show some of the life that made him a MCD AA
- The Big Fella, Cas Drummond, dressed and played 3 minutes vs DePaul. He recovery from a stress fracture in his ankle is a key story as we head into February.

Pena, Grant, Fisher and Stokes are important but they are Freshman. Watching them grow is half the fun. To expect big things this years is probably unrealistic, but an 8/9 seed in the NCAA tourney is certainly doable.

And the two teams nobody is still talking about: the Drake Bulldogs, 7-0 in the Missouri Valley after beating previously fellow unbeaten Illinois St. The Bulldogs keep winning despite the absence of their leading scorer, and they finally snuck into the Top 25 this week probably for the first time in about 30 years. It would be amazing if the Bulldogs can keep it up Tuesday in a battle of Kyle Korver's little brothers when they visit Omaha and the Blue Jays of Creighton.

Second, Cleveland St is also 7-0 in league play after knocking off Butler and Valpo last week. Not too shabby. The Vikings have not played games this meaningful since Mouse McFadden ran the point over 20 years ago (certainly not when Rollie Massimino was there!) It would be great if the Horizon League could sneak two team into the field this year....

And oh year, the Giants and Patriots won to advance to the Super Bowl. We will be back with more postings this week (some may be short and sweet) so check back often....