ESPN College Basketball Marathon: The Highlights

Though it isn't the true tipoff of the college basketball season, nothing serves as a better season opener than ESPN's 24 hour college basketball marathon. In it's third year, the marathon gives some lower division schools a chance at national television and really helps paint a picture of the season to come for anyone who watches even one or two of the games by highlighting some early season stars and up and comers. While I was not able to see all of the games or all of every game, here's some of my completely worthless thoughts from those games I could catch:

Memphis vs. Miami

• Amazing the talent Memphis has had through the years, isn't it? Seeing Penny Hardaway at the game, along with references to recent stars like Derrick Rose, really highlights how strong of a program Memphis has built over the years. Shame Calipari had to sully it.
• Reggie Johnson is gigantic. For 6-10, 295, the Miami center can move, and clears out space exceptionally well. Too bad Angel "The Puerto Rican Deacon" Garcia and Will Coleman block all his shots (Nothing rhymes with Puerto Rican ok?).
• Miami is making incredibly dumb mistakes (see Scott's fastbreak shot/pass) and letting Memphis get away with their slow start. Miami is unravelling under this full court pressure.
• Miami's got a Washington player! Say hello to Ryan Quigtar, graduate of Renton High and a junior with 8 games of experience in 3 years.
• Memphis has missed 9 straight 3s. Told you they had poor shot selection.
• Strong first half, with both teams shooting under 37 percent from the field and under 20 percent from range.
• There's been a huge amount of fouls in this game, but it's been called clean. These guys are just too energized.
• Miami played a much more complete game tonight and I'm really not sure how Memphis pulled this out. Props to them for a solid enough effort to win, though it didn't make sense for them to do so.

St. Marys vs. St. Johns

• Terrible early foul by St. John's. Really no reason for them to throw Rob Jones into the stanchion on a fast break.
• Not a whole lot of defense to be found here, as both teams are committed to running and running every play.
• St. John's is playing a lot rougher than they need to. Tone it down a bit before it really gets out of hand.
• Thank God for that massive rimcheck on St. John's attempted dunk. Hilarious.
• Again, St. Mary's deserves to be winning this game but isn't. This is shaping up to be a strange night.
• That's the St. Mary's we're used to seeing. Around the 5 minute mark in the second half, St. Mary's has just taken over. St. John's looks lost and ready to leave. But hey, a barrage of 3s from Clint Steindl (7 total) will do that to you. Mickey McConnell and Matt Dellevadova have admirably filled Omar Samham's leadership shoes. Yes it takes two people. Samham had big shoes ok?

Hawaii vs. Central Michigan

• Now that is a competitive half. Both these teams are committed to physical play, but I've never seen a team so focused on imposing their will as Central Michigan is. They are running every time they touch the ball and not stopping until there are 2 or 3 bodies on the floor.
• Hawaii stayed physical and got just enough offense in the first half to stay in it, but this looks like Central Michigan will take over later.
• Just woke up, and I guess I was wrong. Hawaii wins 65-62.

Tulsa vs. Oral Roberts

• Came into this one at halftime, and isn't it strange that not a single talking head on a halftime show has even mentioned a Pac-10 school yet? Oh well, at least ESPN admits UW is good. Seth Davis, SI's resident "expert", has them at 25 a week after having them unrated.
• The more he gets the ball, the more Steven Idlet looks like a power inside. He's a huge body and Oral Roberts doesn't have anybody to put on him.
• Funny possession, as Tulsa tried to get to fancy. A fake jumpshot pass saved by a one handed catch, followed immediately by a no-look pass into the stands.
• I spoke too soon. Tulsa is pulling it together and looking like a strong team with a 10-0 run. ORU, on the other hand, seems to be pulling up on bad shots and looking resigned to blocks and bricks.
• For perhaps the first time, an announcer acknowledged that a player got hit in the crotch. Usually it's a "knee injury" or "getting the wind knocked out of them", but not today. Kudos for the honesty.
• Now they're arguing over "joints" as body parts or as drugs. Strange guys.

Kansas St. vs Virginia Tech

• Came in at halftime, and I wish I could say the halfcourt logo for K-State is the most ridiculous I've seen. Thanks a lot, Texas A&M and Oregon.
• K-State really wants to pound it inside (Pullen got some early fouls and hasn't been playing) but Tech is doing a great job cutting off the lanes. Still, dumb passes by K-State are helping the Hokies.
• How do Victor Davila and Terrell Bell (great name) have four fouls just 3 minutes into the second half? Poor management there by Tech.
• Man, Jacob Pullen is great. He only has 10 points with 13 minutes left, but he's 4-4 from the field and just looks unstoppable every drive, even with 3 fouls. Best player in the country?
• As soon as I wrote that, Pullen missed a dumb transition 3. Dammit.
• Rodney McGruder: 1-4 with 3 rebounds, a turnover, and a steal. All on one possession.
• Wow this got out of hand quickly. As soon as Bell fouled out, Tech has unraveled. K-State is flowing and scoring all over the place. That foul trouble at guard for Tech really killed them in this game.

Ohio State vs Florida

• How is Florida ranked 10th? This looks like it should be a blowout, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
• Oh look, an untouched layup straight up the middle of the floor by Ohio St. Well, not untouched, as they got an and-1 out of it. Told you so.
• Teams are shooting a combined 39.5% from the field in this marathon. Erving Walker shoots 33% from the field (on 11 attempts per game) and his game just started. Things are looking up!
• Ohio State called a timeout so David Lighty could adjust his contact lens. I feel this would have to happen more often than it does.
• Had to go early so I missed the second half, but Ohio State proved me right: a 93-75 win over a clearly overrated Florida. On a side note, somehow both teams shot over 60%. Strange indeed.

Louisville vs Butler

• Pitino seems to do a really poor job of stabilizing players. I understand he's an excellent coach, but guys like Peyton Siva, Derrick Caracter, and Edgar Sosa all came in with character and/or consistency problems and never changed at all. On the flip side, Butler does an excellent job pushing a lifestyle on their team. Every member of that team seems to play together as one cohesive unit.
• Shelvin Mack has 10 of Butler's 12 points. They may be great teammates, but boy they can't score.
• Butler has 2 assists at the half. Apparently they forgot about my whole "great teammates" talk. On the flip side, Louisville is destroying them in every aspect.
• No player on Butler has over 2 points other than Mack. Ridiculous. The sheer talent level of Louisville has worn down Butler immensely, especially with all that full court pressure.
• If the score remains anywhere near where it is now (50-26), Louisville is sure to take a huge jump in the polls. With a solid win and their reputation, expect to see them burst into the top 15 if not even higher, thanks to the ridiculousness of voters.
• Dick Vitale knows nothing about baseball: "I don't care about numbers or stats or anything, Felix Hernandez doesn't win enough." 1.) wins are also a number, but apparently are ok and 2.) you're retarded.
• Once Louisville starts feeling it, boy do they ever get cocky. No lead allows you to have your center to take guarded 3s, Pitino.
• Nice to see both sides go deep into their bench early on, as Butler is putting their walk-ons in with 12 minutes left to see what they can do and Pitino is throwing out some of his deeper bench guys just because.

Washington vs Eastern Washington

• Leaving the Louisville game a bit early to get ready for the Husky game, hope that doesn't bother you guys. This should be a fun lovefest for the Huskies, as Eastern Washington really can't do much of anything.
• Abdul Gaddy may have gotten a lot better offensively, but boy his defense still needs work. He hasn't been getting a hand up and so far has continued his dumb fouling ways.
• Play transition defense Huskies! That is all.
• Darnell Gant: 4 turnovers in 4 minutes. Why does he get any minutes at all?
• My friend made an excellent point to me: Can we do something to make sure MBA earns an MBA?
• I feel like Overton and Holiday compete to see who can be more annoying defensively, with Overton getting an early steal and Holiday forcing a 5 second call. Only defensively of course, as Overton is the most annoying man ever at all other times.
• MBA actually has post moves this year, which is a wonderful change from his usual double pump fake travel. MBA really looks improved in every aspect.
• U.W. needs to penetrate way more. Too much relial on the 3 point shot is dangerous for a team with great shooters, and U.W. definitely doesn't have great shooters. Inside play and driving has to be the Husky philosophy.
• I appreciate Terrence Ross' enthusiasm for scoring, but when you airball two 3s in one half, you need to stop shooting for a little bit.
• God I missed watching Overton's defense. Two straight forced TOs, two straight fastbreaks, all created by him.
• MBA has really turned it on for the second half. He's got incredible talent, and when he's playing under control (like today), he's great.
• Abdul Gaddy just forced a charge on ANOTHER PLAYER! I didn't know Gaddy knew that other players were allowed to get charges!
• Not to ride on one player, but Abdul Gaddy is really showing why he was rated so highly last year. Great passing, good shooting, and even some relatively solid defense. Great game so far for the sophmore.
• Lessons of the game: shoot less 3s, play more aggressively. Otherwise strong game. With a bit more effort, the Huskies have a good chance at a strong Maui tournament.