WASHINGTON — College basketball season officially moved from the bread to the salad course over the holidays (entrees are served in February and dessert comes your way on Selection Sunday) and what a wild weekend we had.
North Carolina and Duke went down the first weekend of ACC play (more on the Blue Devils going the * route below), while a certain Orange alma mater looks like they might turn back the clock to the pre-Dave Bing days — for the record those days were decidedly not awesome. In the middle of returning presents and watching the ball drop, the first set of conference games gave us something more tangible to chew on than Maryland-St. Mary’s or Georgetown-Elon. While the season won’t be won in January…it can definitely be lost.
Maryland (13-2, 1-1 Big Ten) opened conference play with its most complete 40-minute effort this season by routing Illinois…but that was sooo 2016. Sunday’s come-from-ahead, 67-65 loss at home to Nebraska makes one sit up in shock. It ended on a 14-0 Cornhusker run over the final six minutes, where the Terps shot 0-for-9 with three turnovers (and three missed layups). What remains to be seen is whether this Nebraska team is actually for real after also winning on the road at then-#16 Indiana. Closer to home, we’ll have our eye on pivot problems: forwards Ivan Bender and Damonte Dodd combined for 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting over 29 minutes Sunday. It won’t get any easier this week with a trip to Michigan and a home game with the Hoosiers.
Georgetown (8-6, 0-2 Big East) began league play by allowing opposing guards to enjoy career nights. Marquette’s Markus Howard ripped the Hoyas for 23 a few days before Xavier’s Edmond Sumner torched G’town for 28. Defensively the Hoyas have played well, currently leading the conference in field goal percentage defense. The lack of a consistent #3 option outside of L.J. Peak and Rodney Pryor remains a sticking point, and games at Providence and at home against #18 Butler could hand John Thompson III an 0-4 Big East record. The last time Georgetown started 0-4 John Thompson, Jr. retired mid-season.
Virginia (11-2, 1-1 ACC) thought it had escaped a scare at home when Kyle Guy buried a three-pointer with eight seconds left, only to have Florida State’s Dwayne Bacon drill a three of his own with two seconds remaining to give the Seminoles a 60-58 victory. That handed the Hoos a rare home lossafter gritting out an eight-point victory at #6 Louisville earlier in the week. The ACC appears to be a minefield with seven schools in the Top 25. For some reason, Pitt is still flying under the radar despite returning four players from an NCAA Tournament team and an 11-3 start that includes a win at Maryland. The Cavaliers play the Panthers next…I might be watching out for a zone.
#21 Virginia Tech (12-1, 1-0 ACC) basks in a win over Duke…only to be confronted with multiple asterisks. First, the Blue Devils were without All-American guard Grayson Allen, who’s serving an indefinite suspension for tripping his third opposing player in less than a year. Second, coach Mike Krzyzewski is having back surgery so the Blue Devil boosters can use that in their defense (one hopes Jeff Capel fares better than Pete Gaudet). Still, beating Duke is beating Duke — even when it’s in Blacksburg instead of Cameron Indoor. But if there are any lessons to be learned from the Seth Greenberg (who beat Duke from time to time) era, it’s that in order to be taken seriously one has to sustain success. That means playing well at NC State and #12 Florida State before starting a three-game homestand.
George Mason (10-4, 0-1 Atlantic 10) came up short in its conference opener to VCU (the Rams are receiving votes in this week’s rankings) and enter 2017 with the knowledge that things will definitely be better than they were in year one under coach Dave Paulsen. Somebody needs to tell Marquise Moore that he’s only six-foot-two — the senior averages over 10 rebounds a game. The Patriots play three of their next five games away from Fairfax…and after that stretch we’ll have a better idea about the leap made between seasons one and two.
George Washington (8-6, 0-1 Atlantic 10) dropped its conference opener to Saint Joe’s 68-63. It was a loss where the Colonials moved the ball well (18 assists on 22 made baskets), but Tyler Cavanaugh shot just 4-for-20. Should there be cause for concern? The senior’s been held to 29.7 percent shooting since the end of November. But even when Cavanaugh’s not able to get things going offensively, he makes the team better by rebounding (13 boards against the Hawks) and passing (6 assists against Howard last month). Home games over the next week against Davidson (7-5) and Richmond (7-6) will help clarify the cloudy picture in Foggy Bottom.
American (4-9, 1-1 Patriot League) ended a D.C. drought with the first win of the week Monday afternoon. Despite shooting just 13-of-31 from the free throw line, the Eagles came away from Colgate 67-64 overtime winners. Thank goodness for a freshman class that gives coach Mike Brennan inside muscle (Marc Gasperini averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds in conference play while shooting 63 percent) and outside energy (Sa’eed Nelson has played all 85 minutes of AU’s Patriot League season). Bucknell comes to Bender Arena Thursday sporting a 10-5 overall record and an unblemished 2-0 mark in the league.
Howard (3-11) has yet to begin MEAC play, so please don’t let the double-digit losses turn you off from thinking about the Bison as a conference contender. North Carolina Central (9-5) is the only school in the league that currently has a winning record, and the other 12 schools have each lost 10 games. The health of James Daniel III remains the big question as the nation’s returning leading scorer was sidelined with a high ankle sprain but was supposed to be back on the court by now. Would it be better to redshirt the senior? Fellow senior James Miller hasn’t played since leaving the Bison’s game with Maryland with injury. Could the season have ended before it really got underway for coach Kevin Nickelberry?
