Thoughts on College Hoops: NIT Tip-off at the Garden

I'm in New York for Thanksgiving break, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch some College Hoops at Madison Square Garden. The Games were Syracuse vs. Ohio State and Texas A&M vs. Washington.

Thoughts on SU vs. OSU: (79-65 OSU)

* Despite being both very young squads, Ohio State was much more composed. They looked like a well-oiled machine in mid-season form while Syracuse looked like a bunch of reality-TV ballers playing together for the first time. Ohio State's ball movement was terrific, they made few mental mistakes, ran simple sets and played sound defense, especially on the inside. Syracuse played flashy, but made a bunch of bonehead plays (Flynn's botched behind-the-back pass comes to mind), forced shots and looked like they panicked once they went down.

* And once they went down, the offense became forced. When Koufos, Hunter and co. weren't letting anything go inside, Syracuse went for outside shots. When those wouldn't drop, the game was over.

* Compare Kosta Koufos and Jonny Flynn. They play completely different positions, have different playing styles, and look as different as two people could possibly look, but one thing they have in common is that they're both Freshmen. Koufos looked like a Senior out there. Flynn looked like he had just put on the Orange uniform for the first time.

* I thought Flynn had an awful game. The type of game that really helps a young PG improve as a player. He did everything possibly wrong. From not rotating on defense, to charging fouls, to first-pass turnovers. If he's a smart player he'll learn and improve.

* Eric Devendorf is clearly the veteran on this Syracuse team. He cannot be blamed for this lost. Made some nice layups in traffic, hit some big shots, but just wasn't enough. He just looked like an entirely different player than the rest of that team.

* Paul Harris hustles and sees the floor amazingly. He hit Devendorf, Greene and Onuaku with some absurd passes. Also had 11 rebounds. Say what you want about Paul Harris, but the effort is there.

* Donte Greene started off with 12 points - dunks, putbacks, three pointers... he was doing it all. He then disappeared for a good hour before coming back to life late when the game was virtually over. Disappearing when the Orange were starting to slip allowed the game to get out of hand. Greene finished with 21 points, there's a lot of talent in the Freshman. He needs to step up and take some of the scoring responsibility when his team needs him.

* One thing that bothered me was Arinze Onuaku not running the court. This probably wasn't visible on TV, but on numerous transition plays - offense and defense - Onuaku simply remained at the basket. I thought that type of play characterized the lack of discipline that I saw on the court tonight.

On the other side:

* Kosta Koufos is a guy that really isn't ever named among the nation's top freshmen, but he was very impressive in this game. Koufos showed a nice inside game, a pretty baby-hook, a nice touch from deep that I didn't expect and an intimidating force on defense inside. He looked really seasoned and I expect him to get more attention in the future.

* On one play late in the 2nd half, after Devendorf had hit a Three to bring Syracuse back to life, the Buckeyes ran a beautiful play which concluded with David Lighty feeding Jon Diebler baseline in the corner who just snap-passed the ball to Jamar Butler without hesitation who hit the crushing Three. Being a Penn State man I dislike the Buckeyes, but I had to appreciate the perfect execution of that set.

* A lot of Ohio State's success was because the wings got penetration on their man. Syracuse rotated slowly all game and Othello Hunter had a field day with what I like to call Amare Stoudamire points: dunks, layups and easy putbacks. Syracuse got beaten on-the-ball on the perimeter all day and I though a switch to a zone as a primary defense would have been a better choice.

* Ohio State brought a micro-band, a small cheerleading squad and a mascot. Syracuse didn't, but had largely a supportive crowd in the Garden. Yet, I still think that the band playing and the Ohio State cheers going around during timeouts helped take the crowd out of the game.

Thoughts on A&M vs. Washington (77-63 A&M):

* I didn't find this game as interesting as the SU-OSU contest. A&M went down early, but it was mostly due to not hitting easy shots. Washington was giving the Aggies easy looks, and I figured it was only a matter of time before A&M started hitting them and would take control of the game. The Aggies are simply too good to let that porous Washington defense remain unpunished.

* Joseph Jones and DeAndre Jordan are tough to contain on the boards...real tough. I can't think of any frontcourt duo in the nation who's as tenacious on the boards as these two. One one occassion, Jones had missed a free throw, but 4 consecutive offensive rebounds by the Aggies allowed Jones to put the ball in anyway. Jones and Jordan combined for 20 rebounds.

* I was excited to watch Josh Carter in person. I thought he was a guy that really went under the radar last year and was finally getting his due as the Big 12's best shooter. I was disappointed. He just had a cold night, which commonly happens to shooters like Carter. He went 2 for 11, but what impressed me was that the team still managed to win comfortably without his scoring presence.

* Donald Sloan, normally relied on as a defensive stopper, will be asked this year to be more of a scorer. I didn't know if he could do it. He scored 18u points and shut down the Huskies' Super Soph Justin Dentmon.

on the other side:

* Where was Quincy Pondexter? 2 points in 10 minutes? I'd like to know why.

* Jon Brockman is making people remember who the real star of that Husky Frontcourt was last season. Spencer who? Brockman had 21 points and 15 rebounds. Mind you, he was battling Jones and Jordan all night.

* When Washington started to trail midway through the second half the man they relied on was Sophomore backup Center Joe Wolfinger. I'm not joking. Wolfinger actually hit a couple of shots when he came off the bench, so you could say he had the hot hand, but reality hit the Huskies hard when Wolfinger came back down to earth, finishing the night 4 for 12 in 20 minutes.

* The only Husky Guard who impressed me at all was Freshman PG Venoy Overton. 5 rebounds, 6 assissts and 4 points are enormous numbers, but Overton possesses a nice crossover move, is able to keep defenders off-balance and is a very good passer. The Huskies were unimpressive in this game, so a good season from Overton could make or break this season for them.

* I thought this game was basically a case of the better team taking care of business and just plainly beating a team they should beat. I look forward to watching them the Aggies face the Buckeyes on Friday.

It was a good time, saw some good basketball, saw some bad basketball, but enjoyed myself. But if I have to hear one more O-H-I-O chant I'm going to hurt myself.