Hoops Links for Monday:
- At FoxSports.com, Jeff Goodman writes on Louisville’s Terrence Williams. Goodman: “Williams said the season turned around prior to the last-second victory at home against Kentucky a few weeks back in which Edgar Sosa hit the game-winner. “We knew something had to change,” he said.
- Courier-Journal columnist Eric Crawford writes from U of L’s win at Syracuse. Crawford: “And this big start should re-focus College Basketball Nation on U of L, if it hadn’t drawn that focus already. In running to a 6-0 Big East start, the Cards have beaten four ranked teams in their past five games, including back-to-back wins over top-10 teams. Duke is playing well right now and will probably be No. 1 today. Connecticut is fantastic and should be No. 1. U of L is playing as well or better than both. And the Cardinals may have more room for improvement than both.”
- Bud Poliquin of the Syracuse Post Standard writes that Orange got stuck in the Big East grinder. Poliquin: ” Let the record show that the 57 points represented the lowest amount scored in any one outing by Syracuse this season; meanwhile, Louisville has come up short of 67 four times thus far in this campaign . . . and, instructively, has lost on three of those occasions. As such, this exercise that pitted two Top 10 outfits coached by two guys (Boeheim and Rick Pitino) packing 1,324 career triumphs between them was to scoring what liverwurst is to dining, what corns are to toe rings, what a washboard is to the symphony.”
- In his Weekly Watch column, ESPN’s Andy Katz throws some love at Oregon State. Katz: “(Craig) Robinson had had no idea the Beavers would be one of the hottest teams in the Pac-10 after an improbable road sweep of Cal and Stanford. He’d had no clue the Beavers would have three Pac-10 victories, including a home win over USC. That’s one more conference win than Arizona, three more than winless rival Oregon, and as many as Stanford and Washington State.”
- In the Cincinnati Enquirer, Shannon Russell writes that Xavier took care of business last week. Russell: “In beating LSU, the Muskies dispatched a second Southeastern Conference opponent this season. They defeated Auburn 81-74 on Dec. 3 at Cintas Center. There were plenty of positives to take away from the road victory, which snapped LSU’s 17-game home winning streak. The Tigers were held without a field goal during a nine-minute second-half stretch and never regained their composure.”
- Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News writes that Duke knows ranking doesn’t mean much. DeCourcy: “Duke may be the best team, though there is reasonable doubt given how coach Mike Krzyzewski must maneuver with three players at center. Duke may be the most accomplished team, although Connecticut’s resume appears to be at least as impressive.”
- In the Raleigh News and Observer, Luke DeCock writes that No. 1 isn’t a matter of fact for Duke. DeCock: “What is new, however, is how the Blue Devils feel about being there. While over the past decade it might have been perceived as a sort of inevitability, Duke won’t be taking it for granted this time around. It has been almost three years since Duke last held the ranking, and after last weekend’s impressive nonconference win over Georgetown, Duke guard Jon Scheyer said something quite revealing about how this team sees itself.”
- SportsIllustrated.com’s Kelli Anderson writes on the legacy of Kay Yow. Anderson: “When I heard the news that North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow lost her long battle with breast cancer this morning, I thought of the first feature story I wrote for SI, back in 1993. The piece was about four sets of identical twins in women’s Division I basketball, and it presented a logistical nightmare: I had to get from New York to Charlottesville, Va., Raleigh, N.C., and Athens, Ga., for interviews — and find someone to send a file from San Diego — all in the space of two and a half days.”
- Steve Yanda of the Washington Post chronicles the worst loss in Gary Willilams’ Maryland tenure. Yanda: “One sequence of events during Duke’s sizable first-half run was emblematic of the entire afternoon. Just more than eight minutes into the game, Blue Devils forward Lance Thomas stole the ball from Maryland guard Sean Mosley and found teammate Greg Paulus heading upcourt. Paulus attempted an alley-oop pass to Blue Devils swingman Gerald Henderson, but the pass was blocked by Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez. This was what the Terrapins (13-6, 2-3 ACC) needed. They had lost momentum, but quickly had a chance to gain it back. But with Vasquez’s teammates trudging back on defense, no Terrapin was around to retrieve the loose ball, which Paulus corralled to give a second chance to Duke (18-1, 5-0). But it would get worse.”
