Saturday Jan. 17th College basketball viewers guide
Wow. I just woke up and looked at the TV schedule and today is
probably the best basketball day of the season so far. Last weekend we
were on the road and the Saturday games looked like they'd be decent
games (FSU vs. Duke, Kentucky vs. Vandy, Michigan State vs. Kansas,
West Virginia vs. Marquette). They almost all turned out to be
blowouts. FSU made a late run and so did Vandy, but for the most part
even those games weren't really competitive.
Here's what I recommend watching:
12:00 PM: Notre Dame @ Syracuse. ESPN. This should be a good game.
After playing Notre Dame I know that they are a good team and have
talent up and down their roster. With the exception of Luke Harangody
and Tyrone Nash, Notre Dame is more of a finesse team. Their 3 man Ryan
Ayers is 6?7? and can get really hot from behind the 3 point line.
Their 4 man, Luke Zeller can also shoot 3s and has excellent touch.
Their PG Tory Jackson can also shoot and is extremely quick. Syracuse
seems to be the opposite. They try to dominate with their physical play
from pretty much every position on the floor. Devendorf is a great
shooter but only a couple other players on their team shoot much from
the outside. Onuaku has the second best FG percentages in the nation
and let me know if this is powerful enough for you. Jonny Flynn, however, might be the most physical on Syracuse. Don't believe me? I love how Flynn Plays the game. He plays with more heart and emotion than almost anybody in college basketball. Paul Harris is another guy
that can score the basketball with ease. Not much of an outside shooter
but is athletic and can make midrange shots all day.
1:30 PM. Georgetown @ Duke. ABC. Georgetown is coming off of a great
win over Syracuse. Duke most recently took care of Georgia Tech. Its
always fun to watch games at Cameron indoor and this is definitely the
highest profile non-conference home game for the Dukies. My brother was actually supposed to be at this game with some AAU teammates, but his high school team scheduled a game at the last minute.
3:30 PM. Wake Forest @ Clemson. ESPN. Clemson's LittleJohn Coliseum
might be the most underrated place to watch a basketball game in the
nation. I've been there 4 times. 3 times as a spectator, once as a
player. I'd like to forget about that 1 time as a player. I saw them lose to UNC last year on a a buzzer beater, beat BC last year, and take care of Alabama earlier this season.
I don't know much about Wake this year. I played against Aminu in high
school a little bit but thats about it. Clemson seems like they have a
lot of depth from what I saw at the Alabama game. They have shooters
and strength inside, a lethal combo. I also played against Tanner Smith
and if I'm not mistaken, he and Aminu used to be teammates at Wesleyan
before Aminu transferred to Norcross University.
Littlejohn will be an awesome environment for today's matchup. Our
shootaround is from 3-4 with pregame meal following so I won't get a
chance to watch the beginning of it. Keep your eyes out for Tarzan chilling under the basket. He's at every game.
8:00 PM. College of Charleston @ Furman. Comcast Sports. By now you
should be ready to watch some real basketball. College of Charleston
will be looking for some revenge after we beat them on TV at our place
last year. We'll be trying to make it a 2 game home winning streak
against CoC.
Other games of interest:
- 3:00 PM. Davidson @ Georgia Southern. SportsSouth.
- 3:30 PM. Arizona State @ UCLA. ABC.
- 4:00 PM. Illinois @ Michigan State. ESPN.
- 6:00 PM. Pittsburgh @ Louisville. ESPN.
convince you to turn the TV on and enjoy some of the best basketball of
the year.
