How about Belmont and Indiana State? We almost had Columbia in this column too. Welcome to November in college basketball. My first game at Arizona State back in the 1989-90 season was on November 30th. We had teams playing on November 8th this year! There are going to be some weird scores this month.
Belmont beat North Carolina and deserves a ton of credit. The Bruins are always good and UNC didn’t have P.J. Hairston and Leslie McDonald. But let’s be really honest – no one is winning a game going 22-of-48 from the free throw line as North Carolina did. We might have “Hack-a-Heel” in the ACC if that keeps up.
Don’t let the Indiana State win fool you, the Sycamores last year were *this* close to being an NCAA Tournament team and simply took it to Notre Dame on a sleepy Sunday in South Bend. Mike Brey was 48-0 in November at Notre Dame, which is amazing. Meanwhile, both Columbia and Portland gave Michigan State fits, and Coach Izzo’s team is ranked at the top of the Associated Press poll. It reminds me of our 1995 Sweet Sixteen season at Arizona State. We beat Michigan and Joe Smith of Maryland in Maui to go from unranked to No. 12 and felt pretty good about ourselves in December when we hosted Texas-San Antonio. They put 87 on the board and beat us in overtime because we took them lightly. That wakes you up fast. We went on to win six straight and eight of our next nine, went 24-9 and beat five ranked teams that year. We beat Bonzi Wells of Ball State and Fran Fraschilla’s Manhattan squad in the NCAAs. No one remembered the Texas-San Antonio game in March. UNC and Notre Dame can easily put these losses behind them.
Beaver Fever:
What a difference a week makes if you live in Corvallis. Last week, the Beavers lost to Coppin State at home. One week later, Craig Robinson’s squad goes to Maryland and wins. Remember the name Roberto Nelson, he is scoring easily. This team was picked near the bottom of the Pac-12, but is very dangerous and I can tell you Corvallis is tough to get to and a tough place to play.
You Better Hand-Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself:
It still remains to be seen how the new rules changes on hand-checking and charging will affect the game. I predict it could help less athletic, slower teams who may get to the line more. For instance, Creighton and Doug McDermott could benefit from an increase in free throws each game. The knock on McDermott is his lateral quickness, but with the new rule look for him to get to the line more this year. Remember, he shoots 87% from there, so the new rules could help. Also, let’s follow Providence as the Friars have shot 80 free throws in their three wins this year, making 85%. Pay attention to their game with Kentucky coming up on Sunday, December 1st.
– Bill Frieder
Former Michigan and Arizona State head coach Bill Frieder is an analyst for WestwoodOne’s coverage of NCAA Basketball. In his weekly blog Boxed Out, Bill scours the box scores to bring you interesting stories from the world of college basketball.
