What a good weekend of college basketball that was. Any time a team saves an unbeaten season by rallying from an eight-point deficit with less than a minute to go like Ohio State did on Saturday – at Madison Square Garden no less – you have to get excited. Credit to Michigan State as well for going on the road to Austin and beating a good Texas squad. Adriean Payne stole the show with 33 points and nine rebounds.
Now, it used to be college hoops shut down for a few days during Christmas, but not anymore with everyone and anyone trying to get in games. The Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic is taking place this week at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, and it has four NCAA Tournament teams from last year in Akron, Iowa State, St. Mary’s and Boise State. We have talked about Iowa State a lot already this year, so let’s turn our attention to Saint Mary’s, which started out 9-0. Saint Mary’s is one of four teams nationally to have won at least 25 games in each of the last six seasons and have the fifth-best winning percentage during that time. Randy Bennett is in his 13th season in Moraga (man, how time flies). Saint Mary’s already has a road win against Boise State this year. How big was that win? Think about this… Boise State was the only NCAA Tournament team from last year to return all five starters.
Another sneaky team you can watch on Christmas in Hawaii is Oregon State. Let’s be honest, you have heard 1,000 times Craig Robinson is President Obama’s brother-in-law, but what you probably don’t know is that the Beavers have arguably the best scoring combination in the nation in seniors Roberto Nelson and Devon Collier. Also on this team is senior center Angus Brandt, who redshirted last year with an injury. When you talk about the Pac-12, not many people talk about Oregon State and that is because the program has not been on the map since Gary Payton. Coach Robinson has a very talented group. It has often struggled in November and December, but this team can do damage once conference play opens in the Pac-12. Nelson is shooting near 50 percent and had five 20-point games in his first seven contests. Collier averaged 22.7 points and 10 boards in his first five games. You have to appreciate those numbers.
The championship of this tournament is on ESPN2 at 8:30 Eastern on Christmas. Last year Arizona topped San Diego State as we all watched it after a long day of family and food. This year’s title game is likely to have NCAA Tournament implications as well, so tune in.
By the time you’re done with the leftovers and all the gift wrapping has been recycled, this Saturday will provide you with a post-Christmas gift of some great hardwood matchups. I said it was great to see Syracuse play St. John’s and they are doing the same with another former Big East foe in Villanova. If that isn’t good enough, Louisville and Kentucky meet later in the day, so CBS has you covered. And in some places, it’s already time for conference play to start, as Santa Clara travels to Gonzaga Saturday night. Alabama plays UCLA in a non-conference game that night as well. Coach Alford is doing a nice job as the season gets going with UCLA, which is one of the few jobs in America where you could win a conference title one weekend and lose your job two weekends later, which is what happened to Ben Howland last year. If you ever wonder why I’m now doing games on radio, that’s it right there. The pressure to win is unreal. But watching? That’s easy. So on that note, enjoy the holidays and the hoops. That’s what I will be doing this week.
– 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.
