Not every NCAA tournament has a Cinderella and if you ask the Cornell Big Red, this year’s tournament doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, they realize they are a #12 seed (lowest remaining seed in the field) and had to beat 2 good teams (Temple and Purdue) just to advance to this point. Cornell realizes how special this is, but make no mistake about it; Cornell is here to win.

I was first exposed to this year’s Cornell team when they nearly upset #1 and then undefeated Kansas at Allen Field House. I remember the hearing after the game that Kansas All-American guard told Cornell forward Ryan Wittman that he was a great player during the game right out on the court. Also, Kansas coach Bill Self asked Cornell coach Steve Donahue during their post game hand shake if Donahue thought his team played well. Donahue responded with a simple “Yes”. Self replied with ”Good, because I thought we played well, too”. That’s when I figured this Cornell team might be for real.

Here are some stats for you:

Notice both teams take pretty good care of the ball and shoot a good percentage. Cornell has an advantage in eFG (effective field goal percentage) but they will be tested against this long and athletic Kentucky team. Kentucky gets to the free throw line more often which is a result of the John Calipari dribble drive offensive. Take away the team names in this graphic and it looks to be a pretty competitive game. Insert Cornell and Kentucky back into the graphic and the general public will say Cornell doesn’t stand a chance.

Cornell is a senior led experienced basketball team. Kentucky is led by 3 talented freshmen (Wall, Cousins and Bledsoe). Kentucky coach John Calipari has been quoted saying “In March, I’ll take talent over experience”. That theory will be put to the test Thursday night.

I was really impressed with Georgia for about the first 35 minutes of the game.  They had a game plan and executed it very good.  I had to check their record twice because they didn’t look like a .500 ball club.  Then the last 5 minutes of the game came.  I saw why they’ve lost as many games as they’ve won this year.  Mississippi State turned up the pressure on defense and put on the full court press.  Georgia lost their composure and looked like a middle school basketball team trying to break the press.  Mississippi State erased a 13 point deficit and held on to a 3 point advantage (their largest lead of the game) for the win.

Georgia now has a record of 8-8, but they sure looked like a team that could compete to win the SEC for most of this game.  They played within themselves pounding the basketball inside and scoring with consistency.  Georgia isn’t a strong perimeter shooting team and they know that.  They took high percentage shots and attacked a very good defensive team in Mississippi State.  If they could have figured out how to break a full court press, they would have won this game…rather easily.  Georgia is a fairly young team with their two leading scoring being sophomores (Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie).  They will continue to get better but I see a NIT bid at best for this team.

Mississippi State is a very good defensive team.  This is no secret just check the stats.  They feature the country’s best shot blocker in Jarvis Varnado who finished with 6 blocks to go along with his 14 points and 14 rebounds.  Their defense was really tested by Georgia because Georgia didn’t settle for many outside shots.  They attacked the rim almost every single possession.  Give Mississippi State a lot of credit for battling back in this one after a poor shooting first half.  With a 3-0 SEC record (15-3 overall) I think Mississippi State has the talent to compete with the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt for the SEC title.  They should be a NCAA tournament team come March.

52 teams to go….59 days until Selection Sunday!

Kentucky impressed me with a 89-77 road SEC win over Florida.  Florida started fast and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead.  The Gators were energized from the home crowd and played Kentucky tough most of the first half.  Florida trailed by double digits with under 10 minutes left in the game and found a way to fight back.  They started making threes and took the lead 73-72 with 5 minutes remaining in the game.  Then Kentucky hit the accelerator and outscored Florida 16-6 in the final 5 minutes of the game.  A great job of finishing the game by a great young basketball team.

Kentucky and John Wall have been getting lots of press to this point in the season and rightfully so.  After all they are 17-0 and John Wall is averaging 17 points and better than 7 assists per game.  Let me tell you Kentucky is better than the numbers show.  (even though the numbers are good!)  Just watch them when you get the chance.  In a tough environment at Florida, Kentucky responded to every run Florida through at them.  To me, that’s a sign of a great team.  I don’t know if they go undefeated but I think they have the talent to get a #1 seed and a DEEP tournament run is a STRONG possibility.  They are truly a treat to watch.

Florida came in to this game with the mind set to push the tempo and force Kentucky into turnovers.  Problem was Kentucky excelled at that quick tempo and kinda beat Florida at their own game.  However, Florida has the ability to get hot from outside the arc which makes them a very dangerous team.  Their hot shooting got them back into the game when it looked like Kentucky was going to cruise to victory.  Florida really needs to improve on their half court offense.  Some of their problems were probably the tough defense from Kentucky but a lot of it was poor execution and shot selection.  Florida will have their work cut of for them to make the big dance, but I think they have the talent to do it.  It will be a matter of getting better each game and playing their best basketball at the end of the season.

56 teams to go….63 days until Selection Sunday!

I really enjoyed watching Texas at Arkansas.  Texas survived a inspired Arkansas team that welcomed back their star guard Courtney Fortson from suspension and their coach, John Pelphrey, sported a red blazer which he only wears against Texas.  The final score was 96-85 so there wasn’t much defense being played by either team.  Texas will need to improve in that area as they get into the Big 12 schedule.  However, it sure made for an exciting game to watch!

Arkansas can definitely score in bunches and Texas had a difficult time slowing them down.  Their dynamic duo of sophomore guards, Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clark should make the Razorbacks very competitive in the SEC.  Don’t let their 7-8 record fool you.  They have had injuries and suspension to this point in the season and now are getting back to full strength.  Clark (24 points) can flat out shoot the three and Fortson (19 points) attacks off the dribble and puts a lot of pressure on the opposing defense.  Given the slow start they will have their work cut out for them to get a post season birth whether that is NCAA or NIT.  Regardless, they are a fun group to watch.

Texas struggled in their first true road “test” of the season (at Rice doesn’t count!).  Give some of the credit to Arkansas as they played a heck of a game.  However, Texas can be better than they showed tonight and they need to be to win on the road in the Big 12.  I can’t get on them too much though, despite not playing their best game they still scored 96 points.  I’m willing to bet that 96 will get them a win on most nights.  However, Arkansas played a lot of zone…a lot of bad zone I should  say.  Texas will see much tougher defense in conference play so they need to be ready for it.  I was really impressed with Longhorn big man Dexter Pittman, who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.  He couldn’t be stopped in the paint tonight.  That’s a great weapon to have in case of a “off” night shooting.  Their star Damion James finished with 20 points and 9 rebounds despite battling foul trouble.  The Longhorns are a legitimate candidate for a #1 seed in March.  Long way to go, but they have the team to make a deep run in the tournament.

60 teams to go….70 days until Selection Sunday!