Winthrop (almost) pulls off the upset (agagin)
We started the week with another near-loss for a Top 10 team at the hands of a mid-major, with Wisconsin needing overtime to take down Winthrop. The Eagles got 31 points from senior wing Torell Martin, who is one of the most deadly scorers in the country when he heats up from beyond the arc. Martins name has begun to pop up a bit in relation to the NBA, and the Eagles have played quite well against high-major competition this year. Winthrop had already beaten Mississippi State and given North Carolina a good fight before taking Wisconsin to the brink.
Kansas bounced back with a home win over the Trojans of USC. Guards Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers locked up Tim Floyds inexperienced backcourt with their physical ball pressure. Trojan freshman Taj Gibson is averaging a double-double on the year, but committed 11 turnovers in this one.
It is hard to call Colorado losing to anybody an upset anymore, but their 78-72 loss at the hands of 1-8 Pepperdine is quite telling in terms of just how bad things have gotten in Boulder at the end of the Ricardo Patton era. Richard Roby bounced back with 32 points and 8 rebounds, but is still shooting just 33% on the season.
12/5
All in the (Sutton) Family...
Sean Sutton is off to a phenomenal start as the head man at Oklahoma State, with his Cowboys now checking in at 11-0 on the year. Tuesday night saw JamesOn Curry (20 points) and Mario Boggan once again lead the Cowboys to an impressive victory at the Carrier Dome against Syracuse. The Orange are clearly still a work in progress, with another furious comeback bid coming up just short. Freshman Paul Harris continues to show flashes of the player he could become, but is still finding his place within Jim Boeheims team concept. Senior SF Demetris Nichols led Syracuse with 26 points, and is now averaging close to 18 ppg on the season.
Rivalries, Radenovic
Three big intrastate rivalry games were played on the night, one being close (UNI 57, Iowa 55), another not (New Mexico State 103, New Mexico 72), and a third providing quite a shock (Washington State 77, Gonzaga 67).
Other high-profile outcomes included LSU successfully defending Baton Rouge with a 64-52 win over Texas A&M, and Arizona hung on to beat a Louisville team that appears to be a bit behind the curve yet again this preseason. Chase Buddinger poured in an impressive 17 points, but it is the early-season play of senior Ivan Radenovic that is newsworthy.
Ivan Radenovic, 6-10, Senior, Power Forward, Arizona
22 points, 13 reb
Jonathan Givony
Arizona head coach Lute Olsen sure doesnt shy away from scheduling high profile matchups to test his team early on in the seasoneven on the roadand its quite likely that at the end of the season, his senior captain Ivan Radenovic will thank him for the opportunity he to had to showcase his wide array of strengths at Madison Square Garden in front of a horde of NBA scouts and a nationally TV audience.
Radenovic had a terrific all-around game, but his performance in the first half was exceptionally noteworthyscoring 16 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in 18 minutes of action. He showed off his entire arsenal of skills, starting with his excellent stroke from the perimeter, moving off the ball beautifully and finding the creases in the defense, and hitting spot-up and pull-up jumpers from mid-range and behind the 3-point line. He was extremely aggressive both on the offensive glass and with his back to the basket, and was rewarded for his effort by getting to the free throw line 10 times. On the other end of the floor, he moved his feet fairly well and went out of his area on a number of occasions to counter the jumbo-sized frontcourt Louisville threw Arizonas way.
Radenovic did a great job setting the tone for his team by facilitating Arizonas offense from the high-post, finding open cutters with his excellent court vision, setting screens, putting the ball on the floor and making his way to the basket when defenders closed off the angle for his shot, even going glass on one occasions after utilizing a nifty pump-fake. One sequence in particular emphasized perfectly what Radenovics importance to his team truly is. With his team up mid-way through the 2nd half, Lute Olsen decided to give his senior a moment to catch his breath on the bench. Arizona responded by looking like they were completely on the verge of falling apart almost immediately as he left the floor, throwing up terrible shots on two consecutive possessions and giving up easy baskets on the other end as their team defense disintegrated. Without thinking twice, Olsen yanked Radenovic off the bench and inserted him right back into the game, giving him a grand total of 30 seconds of rest before having seen enough. He has a calming presence on his team that does not show up in the box-score, but should surely be noted by NBA personnel who are trying to find role-players with a winning attitude to bring off their bench.
Its true that he doesnt run the floor terribly well, is not super explosive getting off his feet to finish around the basket, and surely lacks some strength both with his back to the basket and defending the post, but you arent going to find many more fundamentally sound big guys anywhere in the country. Hes a guy that knows his role and is not going to hurt a team that decides to pick him up as early as the late first round or more likely somewhere in the second.