What We Know After This Weekend
By - January 22, 2007
Conclusions drawn from another action-packed weekend of college hoops:
- Aaron Brooks is a National Player of the Year candidate: The Oregon point guard scored 15 of his game-high 22 points after the break as the ninth-ranked Ducks overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to top California, 92-84. The come-from-behind victory lifted the Eugene school’s record to 18-1. The do-everything Seattle native is averaging 18.4 points, 4.7 assists and 3.9 rebounds on the season.
- Ram-tough VCU is for real: With a victory Saturday over intrastate rival Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth finished the first half of its Colonial Athletic Association schedule with a pristine 8-0 record. Only once has a CAA team run the table in conference play: William & Mary in 1983 — the league's first year of inception.
- Anybody can win the Atlantic 10: The reason I can’t remember the A-10 ever being worse is because it never has been. For the first time in over a quarter-century, the conference is without a slam dunk at-large team. St. Joe’s beating Xavier, St. Bonaventure beating Saint Louis, dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria!
- Vandy is a sleeper among sleepers: Most of us “experts” left Vanderbilt for dead when the Nashville school suffered a 70-62 loss to SoCon middler Furman on Nov. 28. But since that setback dropped Vandy’s record to 1-3, the Commodores have won 12 of 15 contests — including their third straight victory over Kentucky and their fourth of the season against a ranked opponent.
- Kevin Durant is just a man: The Texas frosh had averaged 34 points in the four games leading up to Saturday’s out-of-conference showdown against Villanova in South Philly, but Jay Wright’s rotating defense created mismatches that the inexperienced Longhorns were unable to capitalize upon. Durant was mortal during the first half — and straight-up invisible during the second — finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds in a 76-69 setback.
Posted by at 11:53 AM on January 22, 2007
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