Blog # 17

My Beloved 31 Bloggees:

 

 

Last night was one step forward and five steps back for the SEC (I am ignoring Arkansas's 28-point victory over former Louisville great, Jerry Eaves' North Carolina A & T hoopsters  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290019 ):

 

Vandy defeated Marquette 77 - 76 in the last 4 seconds http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290615 . Good resume-building home win for the 'Dores. However...

 

South Carolina only beat a bad 2 - 12 OVC team, Jacksonville State, 56 - 49. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290525 . They are certain to be SEC East cellar-dwellers.

 

LSU lost to an average Rice team 74 - 68 which was not that close. I tuned in and the Owls had a double figure lead most of the second half. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290486  Rice does have a guy I envy, guard Connor Frizzelle, who shoots free throws at a 92 % clip http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/rae/stats  It makes one miss Taurean Green who was money in the bank at the gift lane during crunch time of the Gator national championship teams.

 

Tennessee struggled with a horrendous 4 - 10 Tennessee-Martin team 68 - 62. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/tae/schedule  Tuesday, on the Big Ten Network I saw Tennessee-Martin lose to Ohio State 100 - 40 and if I recall, they only had 29 points with a few minutes left before garbage time set in.

 

I was shocked to see Auburn win in overtime against Georgia Southern  88 - 84. http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/122910aaa.html  Why? The last score I had seen was in the first half something like Auburn winning 38 - 12. I thought to myself then that Frankie Sullivan returning to the team is finally making an impact (Florida fans know all about Sullivan from last year's SEC tourney when he scored 27 against us in a losing effort http://auburn.rivals.com/bboxscore.asp?game=46661 ) However, their second leading scorer left the team over the Christmas break, Andre Malone and Auburn resorted to playing like this year's 297th ranked (out of 345 Div I schools) Auburn. Ouch.

 

Finally a depleted, dissension-filled Mississippi State squad was soundly beaten by St. Mary's,  94 - 72  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290366  . The 11 - 2 Gaels are solid but SEC teams should not be losing by that margin to any unranked school.  NEXT

 

 

 

Do you ever watch a college hoops game on TV and you look on a team's bench and one of the assistants look familiar. That happened to me Monday night when the Big Ten Network camera spanned the Penn State bench. Then it hit me. Lewis Preston, the former Gator assistant who replaced Anthony Grant when he left for VCU, is a Nittany Lion assistant.  http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/preston_lewis00.html  My guess is that he was nudged out by Florida. Why else would you make such a lateral move especially when Billy's assistants were developing the reputation to be good hires for head coaching jobs (Pelphrey, Grant and Jones....sounds like an accounting firm or a 70's folk rock group). NEXT

 

 

 

Dear Billy Donovan.....please start recruiting this guy...... http://www.komonews.com/home/video/111892554.html  NEXT

 

 

 

Don't forget, Florida travels to Xavier and their 6th rated point guard in the country, Tu Holloway http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/viewcbse.asp , for a revenge game from last year, on Friday at 3:00 Central on ESPN 2. By the way, the following Gator game is Monday against Rhode Island who beat the mighty Big East's 10 - 3 Boston College Eagles last night 67 - 65. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290485  Maybe it will snow in the Northeast and they won't be able to get to Gainesville, a la Fairfield last Tuesday. THAT'S IT

 

 

Enjoy and Happy New Year....I will be celebrating tomorrow afternoon at the big Samford - Eastern Michigan game in a Southern Conference - MAC clash,

 

 

Barry

 

 

P.S. If you have had enough of these Blogs, feel free to reply with "you wore me out" and I will not be insulted at all. I will certainly take you off the list. Otherwise consider spreading the word. The more, the merrier.