The Dribble Drive, Featuring Bill Cowher's Daughter Dating Duke's Ryan Kelly
By Jason McIntyre
1. Jared Sullinger won’t play (back) against Kansas. What does that mean? The Buckeyes opened as 4.5 point favorites – the Jayhawks are almost never underdogs at Phog Allen – but the line has swung and Kansas is the favorite. The real bummer is we won’t get to see Sullinger vs. Thomas Robinson in a battle of Top 10 2012 NBA draft picks.
2. Your game of the day: Kentucky in its first road test of the season, plays unbeaten Indiana (5:15 CBS). Freshman-on-freshman: Zeller vs. Davis. I like what I’ve seen from Indiana so far, and perhaps in a halfcourt game they are able to hang with the Wildcats … for a half. I’ll pick Kentucky 72, Indiana 61.
4. I did a podcast with Matt Norlander. We talked about the media and a lot of nerdy college basketball stuff. You can listen to it here (3rd one down). To be clear, I’m not anti-efficiency stats. I just don’t see why everyone swears by them or what they mean. I asked Norlander for his three most important efficiency stats last weekend prior to the Marquette/Wisconsin game. Wisconsin had the advantage in all three categories. Naturally, Marquette won the game.
5. Reeves Nelson was suspended from UCLA‘s basketball team by Ben Howland in November, then again earlier this week, and Friday, he was booted from the team. The Bruins are a wreck, and if you see recruits starting to de-commit, I think it’s safe to say Ben Howland’s job could possibly be in jeopardy. The Bruins might not make the NIT this year.
7. The leading scorer in Division I? Damian Lillard, a 2-star recruit who is averaging 26.2 ppg for Weber State. Yes, the last time anyone talked about Weber State, Harold “The Show” Arceneaux was a star. And yes, I fondly remember when he led the Wildcats to a 76-74 upset win over the Tar Heels in the NCAA tournament.
9. Bummer: Just looked at the upcoming week’s schedule – there isn’t one matchup of two Top 25 teams. I guess the “student-athletes” are taking “finals” or something. Can’t they get tutors to take them like the football players do? The next Top 25 showdowns are Saturday: Louisville vs. Memphis and Texas A&M vs. Florida.