1. As it turns out, there is life after
John Shurna in Evanston. When Shurna, the sharpshooting small
forward who lead the Wildcats in scoring each of the last three
seasons, graduated this past spring, Northwestern seemed to have
missed its best chance to earn the program's first ever NCAA Tourney
bid. Enter Louisville-castoff Jared Swopshire. Swopshire is no
Shurna. He's not going to match Shurna's 20 points per game, but he
does give head coach Bill Carmody a shooter with length and, more
importantly, a third option to go along with guard Reggie Hearn and
swingman Drew Crawford.. Swopshire, who provided Louisville's Final
Four team with valuable minutes just a season ago, is currently
averaging 10.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest in just over 25
minutes of playing time. While the Wildcats have yet to beat a team
of note, their 4-0 record includes margins of victory of 30, 13, 27,
and 19. The Big Ten looks to be the nation's most competitive
conference for a second year in a row, and the top six teams
(Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin) all look really strong. However, the bottom four programs
(Purdue, Iowa, Penn State, and Nebraska) are going to struggle. That
leaves Northwestern and an Illinois team that, despite topping Butler
for the Maui Invitational title, has major question marks. While
there are plenty of reasons to think the Wildcats will fall short in
their quest, they are at least in the discussion. A lot of the
optimism surrounding the program has to do with Swopshire. I, for
one, am rooting for the kid. The Louisville program has described
Swopshire's departure with a year of eligibility remaining as being a
mutual decision that will provide Swop the opportunity to see more
minutes. Regardless of spin, Swopshire was discarded by Rick Pitino,
despite being a quality player and student. Fortunately, what is one
program's trash is another program's treasure. And, perhaps
appropriately, it may be the Cardinals, who look like shooting may be their only weakness, that end up regretting showing
Swop the door (or at least encouraging him to walk through it).
2. After Georgetown took Indiana to
overtime before falling short in its upset bid, the Captain commented
that the Hoyas may have reached that level where you just go ahead
and slot them into your preseason Top 25 based on coaching alone. I
had the same thought a night before as they beat up on UCLA. It would be hard for me to describe just how
much I like John Thompson III. I think he is one of the brightest
minds in coaching. If I was a blue chip recruit, Georgetown would be
on my short list based, in large part, on my infatuation with JT3. He was also RBP's
Big East Coach of the Year for the 2011-12 campaign. That being
said, Georgetown has been left out of RBP's Preseason Top 25 for
three seasons running. Prior to the 2010-11 season, I was worried
about Greg Monroe's departure and did not believe Austin Freeman and
Chris Wright could carry the team. Then, before the 2011-12 season,
I was convinced Georgetown was heading for a rebuilding year without
Freeman and Wright. As it turned out, Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and
Hollis Thompson were ready to fill the void, and the Hoyas did not miss a
beat. This year I believed the Hoyas would be at a loss to replace
Clark, Sims, and Thompson. I also doubted the hype surrounding
sophomore forward Otto Porter. Four games into the new season, the
Hoyas appear to have proven me wrong yet again. Porter looks like
the best player in the Big East. Greg Whittington is averaging 12.8
points and 8.5 boards per outing. And Markel Starks is looking about
as explosive as you can look in JT3's modified Princeton offense.
Throw in a really productive supporting cast, and this team looks
like a top ten-type team – which should not surprise anyone, since
the Hoyas have been ranked in the AP top ten at some point in the
season each of the past six years.
3. I am also regretting doubting Jamie
Dixon and his Pittsburgh Panthers. After last year's disappointing
22-17 finish, I was a little gun shy of predicting
much success for the Panthers. After watching Pitt battle a very
talented Michigan squad in the NIT Season Tip-Off before coming up
short in the game's final moments, I am convinced last year was
merely an aberration. The Panthers are back to playing gritty,
grimy basketball. With point guard Tray Woodall back to full health,
this is a Top 25 team with good size and a lot of depth. Looking
forward to watching more rock fights involving Dixon's squad.
4. Staying in the Keystone State, RBP would be remiss not to mention that Penn State senior guard Tim Frazier is out for
the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. As a junior, Frazier averaged 18.8 points, 6.2 assists, 4.7 rebounds,
and 2.4 steals per game for a pretty poor Penn State team. Despite his lackluster supporting cast, he almost
bumped Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe from RBP's preseason All-Big Ten
squad this year. The Nittany Lions plan to apply for a medical
redshirt, but we will all be missing out on the pleasure of watching one of the best guards in the country perform this year.
5. Speaking of injuries and general bad
luck, things could not be going much worse for Providence. This was
supposed to be the year Ed Cooley's Friars contended for a NCAA
Tourney bid. Much of that enthusiasm was generated by Providence's
stellar recruiting class, featuring Ricardo Ledo and Kris Dunn
(Rivals' numbers 6 and 16-rated recruits from the 2012 class). Providence also returned senior point guard (and RBP
preseason first team All-Big East performer) Vincent Council. And
then the bad news hit. Ledo is academically ineligible and will not
suit up for the Friars until next season. Dunn had surgery on his
shoulder and will still be out until late December. Council is out
4-5 weeks with a hamstring injury. While the Friars have managed to
get out to a 3-2 start, Ed Cooley's squad likely has a long year ahead of it.
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