ATB: Inauguration Day Hoops

Obama Has Nothing Else to Do - Why Not Start With College Hoops?

Five Small Requests, Mr. President. As the college hoops journal of record in the United States of America, Sir, we at Rush the Court respectfully request that you enact (through executive order or legislation) the immediate following measures to ensure the popularity and integrity of our game forever more.  Thanks, Mr. President!

1. Make the men’s and women’s three-point lines the same length at 20’9″.  The double-line situation we have now is confusing and ridiculous.
2. Force college basketball to start on the same day each year – let’s call it the Friday of the weekend before Thanksgiving, with no exceptions.
3. Enact a rule that removes Carolina and/or Duke from playing its way to the F4 every year without having to leave their home state of NC through the first four rounds.
4. Make it so that a team must finish at .500 or above in its conference to become eligible for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament – and while we’re at it, either remove that silly Play-in Game altogether, OR make it so that there are four Play-in Games and those teams are a real part of the Dance (brackets and all).
5. And most importantly… officially designate the Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament first round as national holidays (it’s not like any of us are actually working those days anyway).

Game of the Night. Boston College 80, Georgia Tech 76 (OT). Most of the games tonight were average or worse (we suppose ESPN was smart to not combat Obamania), but this ACC contest between two teams fighting to keep their heads above water was a pretty good one.  BC got its second ACC road win (the other was at UNC, in case you’d forgotten), and in so doing, broke a four-game losing streak.  BC now sits at 2-3 in the ACC, with only four of its remaining eleven games against the RPI top 25 – in other words, BC has enough winnable games on its schedule to make a realistic push at an at-large bid.  This is DESPITE the Harvard loss but, looking at their schedule, it’s possible, and that Carolina win will look better and better as we get further along in the season.  What can we say about Georgia Tech?  Paul Hewitt just signed top recruit Derrick Favors, but his teams have become an exercise in sloppiness and low basketball IQ.  Jamelle Horne should transfer to this program.  Tech is now 0-5 in the ACC and essentially out of the NCAA picture for the second straight year (and three of four) with two games against Wake and one game vs. Carolina still to come.  It’s not that Georgia Tech doesn’t have talent – no more than a handful of teams have a more talented trio than Gani Lawal, Alade Aminu and Iman Shumpert, but the Jackets often seem to our untrained eye to be out of control and lacking in consistent effort.  That 2004 title game run seems like eons ago for this program.  As for tonight’s game, Tyrese Rice (who else?) blew up for 24 of his 26 pts in the second half, and BC blew a giant second-half lead, but the Eagles held on to get the key road win against Georgia Tech.  Even with Derrick Favors in tow, Paul Hewitt is going to have to win some games this year in order to get a chance to coach his next one-and-doner

Other Games That Probably Interested You.

• Illinois 67, Ohio St. 49. For an excellent description of how odd the Illini’s offense is, take a look at this post from our correspondent Big Ten Geeks.  The Illini defense forced 20 OSU turnovers as they ran out ahead early and never looked back.   One note from the Buckeye side of things – struggling freshman BJ Mullens has now had five straight double-figure games (14/7).
• Duke 73, NC State 56. Some people are actually starting to believe in this Duke team, based on their statistical profile.   Their top six players are perimeter-oriented, and it wasn’t all that long ago that Duke started off in a similar vein (exactly one year ago, to be precise).  Oh yeah, they woke up in the second half of this one to put NC State back in its place (near the bottom of the ACC).
• Penn St. 73, Michigan 58. PSU has two excellent home wins in the last three days (Minnesota the other).  UM, at 3-4 now, appears to be coming back down to earth based on their talent level – their only true road win was at Indiana in OT.  Not.  Good.
• Tennessee 76, Vanderbilt 63. Most years this is a really great game, but not this year.   This appears to be the worst Vandy team in some time, as the Dores already have three home losses and they usually are damn near unbeatable in their gym.  Tyler Smith had 18/7/5 assts for the Vols in the win.

On Tap Wednesday (all times EST). 59 games, and quite a few worth a look-see while you’re Tivoing LOST.

• Connecticut vs. Villanova (ESPN) – 7pm – Nova has yet to prove it’s an elite Big East team.  Now’s their chance.
• Northeastern vs. George Mason – 7pm – the top of the CAA is at stake in Boston tonight.
• Wake Forest vs. Virginia Tech (ESPN2) – 7pm – how will Wake respond to being voted the nation’s #1 team?
• Louisville @ Rutgers (ESPNU) – 7pm – the RAC is always tough, and Louisville is due for a letdown…
• Florida @ South Carolina (ESPN360) – 7pm – UF struggled at Auburn last week – SC is better at home than Auburn.
• NJIT vs. Bryant – 7pm – this is NJIT’s best chance for a win this season!
• Northern Iowa vs. Bradley – 8pm – the top of the MVC is also in play tonight.
• UNC vs. Clemson (ESPN) – 9pm – yeah, we know the stat – 53-0.  It won’t change this year either.
• Missouri vs. Oklahoma St. (ESPN 360) – 9pm – this is the kind of game that both programs need to reach that second tier of the Big 12 behind KU, UT and OU.
• Arizona St. @ Arizona – 9:30pm – please, please keep Jamelle Horne on the bench for the end of this one (for everyone’s sake).
• BYU vs. UNLV – 10pm – this is a tremendous matchup in the Mountain West.