Notable Results From Saturday, December 17

Syracuse 88, North Carolina State 72
Just a few hours after I had tepidly endorsed Ohio State as the best team in America, the top-ranked Orange made me reconsider that position by ripping off a 23-0 run in Raleigh near the end of the first half. The Wolfpack climbed all the way back into it a the start of the second, but Syracuse won going away. Jim Boeheim's club has a half-dozen guys who can create their own shot, plenty of three-point shooting, and their famous 2-3 zone seems to be creating more turnovers than usual. Scratch what I said earlier -- these guys are my pick.

Butler 67, Purdue 65
Andrew Smith's tip-in with one second left capped a big second-half rally for the Bulldogs, who had struggled with a difficult schedule in the early part of the season. The Boilers went ice-cold from the floor and the free throw line in the second half in blowing their second big second-half lead of the season (they lost to Xavier earlier in the year.)

Baylor 86, BYU 83
Perry Jones III shook off a bruised knee to provide the game-icing putback, the final two of his career-high 28 points. The sixth-ranked Bears trailed by double-digits before pulling out this road win.

Florida 84, Texas A&M 64
The Gators scored 18 of the first 20 points and never looked back, leading by 25 at halftime. Even with Khris Middleton back, the Aggies look no better than the fourth-best team in the Big XII.

Gonzaga 71, Arizona 60
The Bulldogs jumped all over the Wildcats in Seattle, then withstood a late charge. Elias Harris led the Zags with 25.

Louisville 95, Memphis 87
I wish I could have seen this one, but I had Gonzaga-Arizona instead (and ended up watching the Indiana-Notre Dame snoozefest). All seven Cardinals who scored hit double figures, led by Russ Smith's 25. Will Barton led Memphis with 28 points and 16 boards. I suspect that the Tigers, who have been up and down in the early-going, won't be too upset with this performance on the road.

UNLV 64, Illinois 48
The Rebels, who upset then-No. 1 North Carolina with a barrage of three-point shooting, took a different path to victory on Saturday in Chicago, holding the Illini to 25.4 percent shooting and forcing 16 turnovers. Sophomore forward Mike Moser posted his seventh double-double of the year -- he's failed to reach double-figures in rebounds just three times in 13 games this season. Illinois, which jumped into the top 25 by virtue of a win over Gonzaga two weeks ago, lost for the first time this year.

Indiana State 61, Vanderbilt 55
The Sycamores pulled off the day's biggest upset, going on the road to win at Vandy. Now at full strength, this is a disappointing loss for the 6-4 Commodores, who I expected to challenge for the SEC crown.

Georgetown 81, American 55
The Eagles stuck with the Hoyas for a half, which seems to happen every time they play Georgetown.

Iona 73, Vermont 72
UVM scored the first 11 points of the game, but Iona came back behind Michael Glover and Momo Jones. Prior to the tip, UVM retired #45 in honor of Trevor Gaines, a former standout who died in the summer of 2010 while playing a pick-up game in Las Vegas.

Ohio State 74, South Carolina 66

[recap] [box score]

By this time, I usually like to have my national champion picked. Some years, I have a strong feeling about one team; others, I'm more or less guessing by picking one of two or three options.

I'm not doing it this year, though, because there are just too many possibilities and not enough meaningful ways to differentiate among them. I think there are close to ten teams with a legitimate chance to win the title.

But if you forced me to pick one right now, I'd pick Ohio State.

On Today: 12/17/2011

Ohio State at South Carolina (ESPN, noon Eastern)
"The Buckeyes rode Jared Sullinger's 30 points and 19 rebounds to a 79-57 rout of South Carolina last season. Senior forward Malik Cooke fuels coach Darrin Horn's Gamecocks."

Butler vs. Purdue (CBS, 2 p.m. Eastern)
"A rebuilding Butler squad needs big numbers from guard Chrishawn Hopkins, while Purdue counts on the scoring of forward Robbie Hummel. These teams last met in 2006."
(This game is being played at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as part of the Crossroads Classic.)

Temple at Texas (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Owls senior guards Juan Fernandez and Ramone Moore tussle with Texas freshmen Myck Kabongo and Sheldon McClellan. Temple squared the series at 2-2 with a win in the 2001 NCAA tournament."

Arizona vs. Gonzaga (CBS, 4 p.m. Eastern)
"Big men Solomon Hill and Jesse Perry lead the Wildcats against center Robert Sacre and the Zags. These last met in 2008. Arizona leads he series 3-0."
(This one is being played in Seattle. It's also the West Coast game that's part of CBS' regional coverage. Many markets will see Memphis at Louisville.)

Indiana vs. Notre Dame (ESPN2, 4:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Christian Watford and Cody Zeller of the unbeaten Hoosiers collide with forward Jack Cooley of Notre Dame, which bids for its third-straight win in the series after prevailing in 2004 and 2008."
(This game is being played at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as part of the Crossroads Classic.)

Appalachian State at North Carolina (ESPNU, 6 p.m. Eastern)
"UConn transfer Omar Carter leads ASU against John Henson and the rangy Tar Heels."

Syracuse at North Carolina State (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Seniors Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine fuel the Orange against sophomores C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown of State. Syracuse joins the Wolfpack in the ACC next season."

Houston vs. Oklahoma (ESPNU, 8 p.m. Eastern)
"Sophomore forwards Alandise Harris and Tyler Neal are players to watch."
(This game is being played at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City as part of the All-College Basketball Classic.)

Alabama vs. Kansas State (ESPNU, 10 p.m. Eastern)
Tide senior JaMychal Green takes on K-State freshman Thomas Gipson at power forward."
(This game is being played in Kansas City.)

New Mexico vs. Oklahoma State (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Drew Gordon and LeBryan Nash are forwards in this Mountain West-Big 12 matchup."
(This game is being played at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City as part of the All-College Basketball Classic.)

Notable Results From Wednesday, December 14

Iona 88, Richmond 79
The Gaels added to a nice little non-conference resume by beating the Spiders in Richmond. Iona is averaging nearly 88 points per game, in large part thanks to Scott Machado, who many think is the best pure point guard in the country. Machado had 15 assists in this one, bringing his average to 10.9 through the first ten games, a remarkable number in the college game.

Cincinnati 78, Wright State 58
The Bearcats took the first step toward putting last weekend's ugliness behind them by going in to Dayton and hammering the Raiders. Cincy showed no ill effects from being down two starters, jumping out 17-2 on Wright State and never putting the outcome in doubt.

Maryland 65, Florida International 61
Isiah Thomas' Panthers gave Maryland all it could handle in the Comcast Center, but went cold down the stretch and came up just short in their upset bid.

College of Charleston 71, Tennessee 65
The Vols coughed up a 13-point lead on the road.

Ohio State 82, South Carolina-Upstate 58
Throwing this one in here because Jared Sullinger came off the bench to register 12 points and 10 boards in 25 minutes. Sullinger ha missed the last two gamse with back spasms.

On Tonight: 12/14/2011

Cincinnati at Wright State (ESPN2, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"The Bearcats clawed WSU 77-69 last season behind Sean Kilpatrick's season-high 26 points."

Florida International at Maryland (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Senior guard DeJaun Wright leads Isiah Thomas' Golden Panthers into College Park. Sophomore Terrell Stoglin is the go-to scorer for the host Terrapins."

Tennessee at College of Charleston (ESPN2, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Marquette transfer Jeronne Maymon is an inside force for the Vols. Senior Antwaine Wiggins heads a balanced attack for the Cougars."

Notable Results From Tuesday, December 13

Light day. Light week, actually, with final exams and stuff.

Middle Tennessee State 65, Belmont 62
The Bruins beat the Blue Raiders in double overtime on their home floor on November 20. In the return date, MTSU held Belmont scoreless for the final two minutes, enabling them to win the game despite blowing a 13-point lead in the second half.

Wisconsin 60, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 54
The Badgers had a 17-point lead with 15:17 to go, but got everything they could handle from the Panthers the rest of the way.

South Carolina 66, Presbyterian 58
The Blue Hose led by six at halftime, before the Gamecocks exploded for 47 points in the second half.

Metal Monday: Year-End Lists

With the end of the year nearly upon us, the various and sundry metal blogs out there are compiling their annual "best of" lists. I'm not doing one, because I'm not a music critic and don't listen to hundreds upon hundreds of metal albums every year. Maybe next year.

What I am doing, though, is compiling as many of these lists as I can, and posting them there. Everyone seems to be doing at least a top ten, so I'll list the top ten from each and then give you a link to go view the rest.

I haven't heard most of this stuff, so I can't vouch for it. I will be listening to as much of it as I can on Spotify over the next several days, and I'll post on Twitter anything that I think is really good.

Remember, it's not too late to add your favorites to your Christmas list -- or to give the gift of metal to your loved ones this holiday season.

Notable Results from the Weekend

Kansas 78, Ohio State 67
Kentucky wasn't the only top team to lose on Saturday: the second-ranked Buckeyes fell at Allen Fieldhouse. Ohio State had an excuse, though, with Jared Sullinger missing his second straight game due to back spasms.

Syracuse 85, George Washington 50
With losses by Kentucky and Ohio State, the undefeated Orange are likely to be the number one team in the nation when rankings are released on Monday. After Saturday's game in Raleigh against North Carolina State, the Cuse probably won't be tested until Marquette visits the Carrier Dome on January 7.

Michigan State 74, Gonzaga 67
Not too many teams go into Spokane and win. After season-opening losses to Duke and Carolina, the Spartans have ripped off eight wins in a row against a reasonably difficult schedule.

Austin Peay 74, Tennessee 70
The Governors scored the last eight points on the road to get their second win of the season.

St. Joseph's 80, Creighton 71
Nice non-conference win for St. Joe's against a ranked, good, Creighton team.

Duke 86, Washington 80
Washington fought gamely in the second half, but the Devils won this one fairly easily.

Wisconsin 62, UNLV 51
Since hammering then-No. 1 North Carolina on Thanksgiving weekend, the Runnin' Rebels are 2-2, having won at UCSB (in double overtime) and losing at Wichita State and now Wisconsin. That's a tough schedule UNLV is playing.

Northern Iowa 67, Milwaukee 51
The top of the Missouri Valley scores a big win over the top of the Horizon.

Georgia State 96, Rhode Island 64
The Panthers usually aren't a factor in the Colonial, but have now won seven in a row under first-year coach Ron Hunter. This blowout of Rhodey is probably the most impressive win, but it's also their second straight 32-point win: They held William & Mary to just 34 points to open conference play last weekend.

Cleveland State 69, Akron 66
Horizon over MAC.

Ball State 58, Butler 55
MAC over Horizon.

Pittsburgh 74, Oklahoma State 68
The lone blemish on the Panthers' record remains that early loss to Long Beach State, and they've won the last three without Travon Woodall. My sense is that this team isn't as good as its record, but I guess we'll have to wait until Big East play starts to find out.

Temple 78, Villanova 67
Ramone Moore dropped 32 in this Big Five win for the Owls.

St Francis (PA) 66, American 61
The Eagles raced out to a 14-point halftime lead, but couldn't hang on for a ninth straight win. It's a tough loss to take, with Villanova and Georgetown next up before Christmas.

New Mexico 44, USC 41
Scores like this are why I didn't go to many Trojan games when I was in grad school there. It's just not a fun product to watch.

North Carolina 84, Long Beach State 78
The Beach led by five at halftime, but couldn't contain John Henson. The 49ers still have one more opportunity to make a splash out of conference, with a game on the 22nd at Xavier (though X won't have Mark Lyons or Dezmine Wells for that one).

Wichita State 83, Utah State 76
These two teams always seem to be fighting for an at-large bid if they don't win their conference, and so this is a nice home win for the Shockers.

Marshall 82, Iona 63
The Thundering Herd snapped the Gaels' seven game-winning streak behind Damier Pitts and DeAndre Kane.

Murray State 76, Memphis 72
The Racers, now 10-0, get their fifth road win against Division I competition by upsetting the 21st-ranked Tigers.

Indiana 73, Kentucky 72

[box score] [recap]

It looks like the rebuilding process in Bloomington is complete.

When Tom Crean arrived from Marquette to clean up the mess left by Kevin Sampson, he was given a long leash in terms of on-court results. His skills as a recruiter and as a tactician were secondary in importance to his ability to motivate players and his reputation for running a clean ship. Indiana was willing to put up with a lot of losing to get its hoops program back on track long-term.

During Crean's tenure at the school, the Hoosiers have done plenty of losing. In 2008-09, Crean's first, they went 6-21, following that up with 10-21 and 12-20 campaigns. Despite that lack of success in the win column, however, you could always count on Indiana to show up and play hard. In that regard, then, over the last three seasons, Indiana had plenty of "moral victories," if not traditional ones.

Ranking the Villains in the Xavier-Cincy Fight

If you haven't heard, the Crosstown Shootout -- the rivalry game between Xavier and Cincinnati that is annually one of the most intense basketball games of the season -- ended 9.4 seconds early. That's how much time was left when the officials called the game due to a fight that broke out between several players from both schools.

I generally can't help but roll my eyes at all the hand-wringing that follows the rare fights that do occur in college basketball, the same way I tend to roll my eyes at hand-wringing in general. This wasn't a black eye on the game of college basketball: It was a bunch of people, some of them kids, making a bunch of poor decisions in an emotionally charged environment. We're all prone to these types of errors in judgment.

With that said, a lot of dumb people did some dumb stuff, and it's going to cost them and their teams. Here's the order in which I blame the major players, ranked from most culpable to least:

On Today: 12/10/11

Just an incredible slate of games today. No previews necessary -- most of these matchups speak for themselves.

Washington vs. Duke (CBS, Noon Eastern)
Cincinnati at Xavier (ESPN2, 12:30 p.m. Eastern)
Oklahoma State vs. Pittsburgh (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m. Eastern)
Ohio State at Kansas (ESPN, 3:15 p.m. Eastern)
Villanova at Temple (ESPN2, 5 p.m. Eastern)
Kentucky at Indiana (ESPN, 5:15 p.m. Eastern)
Miami (FL) at West Virginia (ESPN2, 7 p.m. Eastern)
Michigan State at Gonzaga (ESPN2, 9 p.m. Eastern)

On Tonight: 12/9/2011

Just one game tonight as we gear up for a Saturday that is jam-packed with good games.

Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth (ESPN2, 8 p.m. Eastern)
"Guards Cedrick Lindsay and Bradford Burgess head the returnees from squads that combined for seven NCAA tourney wins last March."
(Five of those wins, of course, belong to VCU, which emerged from the play-in round to be a surprise Final Four team. This game is for local bragging rights; VCU is located in Richmond.)

On Tonight: 12/8/2011

Harvard at Connecticut (ESPN2, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"Forward Keith Wright powers Tommy Amaker's Ivy contenders against guards Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier of NCAA-champion UConn. Wright had 18 points and seven rebounds in last season's 81-52 loss."

West Virginia at Kansas State (ESPN2, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Former K-State coach Bob Huggins faces his old squad as the Mountaineers battle Wildcats guards Rodney McGruder and Will Spradling."

Notable Results From Wednesday, December 7

Florida 78, Arizona 72 (Overtime)
Score one for the "don't foul up three with just a few seconds left" crowd, esoteric as their views might be. Up three with five seconds left, Florida's Casey Prather tried to foul Solomon Hill on the inbounds pass. Hill threw his arms up in the air, the official bought that he was shooting, and Hill calmly drained all three freebies to send it to the extra frame. Fortunately for Prather and Billy Donovan, the Gators prevailed.

Vanderbilt 87, Davidson 83
Festus Ezeli made his season debut with 15 points, six boards, and two blocks in 21 minutes. Jeffery Taylor dropped 30 to key the win.

Dayton 74, Alabama 62
The Flyers jumped out on the Crimson Tide early, then withstood a second-half rally to pull off the upset. Coming off of consecutive blowout losses to Buffalo and Murray State, a win over a ranked opponent is certainly something of a surprise.

American 74, Hampton 72
My alma mater wins its eighth straight, which is the longest win streak I can remember them going on in some time. Vanderbilt transfer Charles Hinkle has won Patriot League player of the week honors twice already this season, and is gunning for a third award this week with 24 points (including 5-of-9 from deep) against Hampton. The next lamb: St. Francis of Pennsylvania, which is supposed to the the worse of the St. Francis'. Though it should be noted that St. Francis of New York lost by 40 on Saturday at Wagner.

Nebraska 51, Florida Gulf Coast 50
The Huskers needed a late jumper from Dylan Talley to dispatch the 3-6 Eagles. Could be a long first "Big Ten" campaign in Lincoln.

Lafayette 61, Penn State 57
Circle January 11 on your calendars. That's when the Nittany Lions travel to Lincoln to play the Cornhuskers. Both squads are likely to be looking for their first conference win, and it could be a while (say, February 11, the return date at State College) before either squad gets another.

Princeton 59, Rutgers 57
The Tigers won on a layup by Ian Hummer with three seconds left. Doesn't sound like it was a backdoor play, though.

Wichita State 77, Tulsa 67
The Shockers follow up a thrashing of UNLV with an impressive road win over the Golden Hurricane.

Xavier 73, Butler 61
It seems like every time I watch Xavier, they fall asleep during some part of the game. Usually it's the beginning. At Hinkle Fieldhouse, they jumped out big, then let Butler back into it in the second half.

Iona 80, Denver 78 (Overtime)
Randy Dezouvre, averaging just 4.6 ppg this year, hit the game-winning jumper for the Gaels on the road.

And a couple random mid-major scores that I think are worth noting but have nothing to say about:

Ohio 84, Oakland 82

IPFW 85, Valparaiso 76

Previewing Missouri-Kansas, With the Help of Long Beach State

Tuesday night was a real treat for me, as my two pet teams of this season, Missouri and Long Beach State, each played nationally-televised games in opposing time slots. Missouri cruised to a relatively easy win over Villanova at Madison Square Garden, while the Beach got into a big hole early against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse and couldn't quite climb out of it.

Watching the two games, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Tigers and the 49ers. Both teams start four perimeter players, both like to get up and down the court, and both are only about seven players deep. And since Missouri and Kansas are likely to challenge for the Big 12 crown and meet twice this year in the regular season, I thought that we might be able to learn something about Missouri's probability of success against Kansas by seeing how the Beach played the Jayhawks.

On Tonight: 12/7/2011

Arizona at Florida (ESPN, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"Senior guards Kyle Fogg and Erving Walker are key holdovers from squads that made the NCAA Elite Eight last season."
(Walker's got a lot more by way of reinforcements than Fogg.)

Colorado State at Duke (ESPN2, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"The Rams of the Mountain West visit Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Duke has won its last 89 non-conference games. Junior guards Wes Eikmeier (sic?) and Seth Curry square off."
(No clue what this game is doing on TV.)

Central Connecticut State vs. Michigan State (ESPNU, 7:00 p.m. Eastern)
"Michigan native Kyle Vinales heads a high-scoring trio for CCSU. Senior forward Draymond Green keys Tom Izzo's Spartans."
(I was skeptical, but it turns out that CCSU indeed has a "high-scoring trio," with three players who each average better than 20 points per game. Unfortunately, this also means they have a "low-scoring rest of team" -- the other eight Blue Devils who have seen action this year average just 16 points combined. I'm not sure in what capacity Vinales "heads" this group (he averages fewer points than both Ken Horton and Robby Ptacek). but I guess the fact that he's a Michigander -- yep, that's what they're called -- is the hook here.)

Xavier at Butler (ESPN, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Xavier edged the Bulldogs 51-49 last season on late free throws by Mark Lyons. The teams shot a woeful 5-for-36 from beyond the arc."
(Way to sell this one!)

St. Bonaventure at Illinois (ESPN2, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Senior Andrew Nicholson mans the middle for the Bonnies against Illinois junior guards D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul."
(If Xavier-Butler gets out of hand -- and it should, unless X spends the first 30 minutes screwing around, like they usually do -- this could be a good game to switch to. The Bonnies are supposed to have a decent team this year, and Illinois is a surprising 8-0 and climbed into the Top 25 with wins at Maryland and over Gonzaga last week.)

Oklahoma State at Missouri State (ESPNU, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Freshman LeBryan Nash and the Cowboys battle Missouri State seniors Caleb Patterson and Kyle Weems, whose 20 points led the Bears in last season's 84-70 loss."
(The Missouri Valley already has 16 wins -- against just 11 losses -- this season over teams that are above the red line. I think another here is more likely than not.)

Notable Results From Tuesday, December 6

Missouri 81, Villanova 71
Mizzou opened the Jimmy V Classic with an uneven performance against a game but overmatched Villanova squad.

Marquette 79, Washington 77
Missed the nightcap of the Jimmy V because I was watching LBSU-Kansas, but it looked like a good one. Glad I have it waiting for me on my DVR.

Kansas 88, Long Beach State 80
The Beach fell behind early in Allen Fieldhouse and couldn't recover. blog content preview: I'll have more about this game Wednesday afternoon, in a post that covers both of these teams and Missouri. But I need to re-watch this game first.

Syracuse 62, Marshall 56
The Orange remain undefeated through a tough test at the Carrier Dome. Many think the Thundering Herd, which already won at Cincinnati this season, can challenge Memphis for the Conference USA championship.

Northern Iowa 80, Iowa 60
The Panthers establish Hawkeye State supremacy with a resounding win over -- well, over the Hawkeyes. I hope they still do the Interlude Dance during home games in Cedar Falls.

Columbia 46, Holy Cross 45
Nothing says Ivy-Patriot quite like a 91-point game in which the winning team shot just 24.6 percent. Holy Cross scorched the nets, relatively speaking, by shooting 38.3 percent, but had three times as many turnovers (18) as Columbia did (in the spirit of an Ivy-Patriot matchup, I'll leave it to you to figure out how many turnovers the Lions had). Columbia's Marc Cisco -- the only player from either team to score in double figures -- spared the crowd of 539 the pain of overtime by hitting one of two from the line with two seconds left.

Louisiana Tech 94, Northwestern State 93 (Double Overtime)
Both the Bulldogs and Demons scored more points than Columbia and Holy Cross combined for, though they needed an extra ten minutes to do it. This game is what I love about college basketball, by the way. On a Tuesday night, you can walk into a gym in Ruston, Louisiana (should you be so unlucky as to find yourself there) and watch a freshman bank in a running 24-footer at the double overtime buzzer to win it.

On Tonight: 12/6/2011

Missouri vs. Villanova (ESPN, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"Tigers seniors Marcus Denmon and Kim English tackle an experienced 'Nova squad led by point guard Maalik Wayns."
(This is the first game of the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. I'm telling you -- do not miss an opportunity to see Missouri.

Evansville at North Carolina (ESPNU, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"Big guard Colt Ryan leads the Purple Aces into Chapel Hill, looking to avenge last season's 76-49 loss to the Tar Heels. Indiana native Tyler Zeller's 18 points led UNC."
(As I said above, you don't want to miss the chance to see Missouri -- especially to watch this mismatch. North Carolina, losers of two of their last three, will get right against Evansville.)

Marquette vs. Washington (ESPN, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Darius Johnson-Odom and Terrence Ross are backcourt forces. Both teams lost to North Carolina in last season's NCAA tourney."
(This is the second game of the Jimmy V. Don't forget, though -- Jim Valvano's hair-raising speech from the 1993 ESPY awards will be televised, as is traditional, during the break between games.)

Memphis at Miami (ESPN2, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"A matchup of top backcourts led by Will Barton and Malcolm Grant. The Tigers edged Miami 72-68 last season despite Grant's 18 points and seven rebounds."
(Watching Memphis makes my head hurt. I'm only watching this one if the other games become blowouts.)

Long Beach State at Kansas (ESPNU, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Dan Monson's 49ers continue a challenging non-conference slate at Allen Fieldhouse, where junior forward Thomas Robinson stars for Kansas."
(I never miss the Valvano ESPY speech -- never. But if I were going to miss it, another chance to see Casper Ware and the rest of the Long Beach State 49ers go against another of college basketball's royalty would be a compelling reason.)

Notable Results From December 5, 2011

Detroit 69, St. John's 63
The Titans, missing four contributors due to injuries and suspensions, knock off the Red Storm, who were without their head coach. (Steve Lavin's recovery from prostate cancer has dictated that he take occasional games off.) Detroit is now 1-0 on the newly-christened Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall. Vitale went 78-30 in four seasons as Detroit's head coach.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee 87, DePaul 76
Like Detroit over St. John's, this game marked a victory for the Horizon over the Big East, with this one coming on the road. Even with two-time reigning national runner-up Butler struggling to start the season, the Horizon is looking mighty tough.

Austin Peay 86, Arkansas State 82 (Overtime)
The Governors, picked by most to win the Ohio Valley, get their first win of the season -- barely -- in ten tries over a fairly mediocre Arkansas State club. Mediocre may be generous -- the Red Wolves scored just 27 points in a loss to Louisville earlier this season.

Metal Monday: New Lamb of God Track

Despite their massive popularity, I've never really gotten into Lamb of God. I've never been one of those people who is constantly searching for new music -- I am just a tad too old to have taken full advantage of Napster, and I'm more likely to use streaming radio for background music while I do something else, so I'm not sitting there tweaking my stations and feverishly tracking new music to listen to. I'm starting to do that a bit more, for the purposes of this column and for my own personal enjoyment, but throughout most of my life, I've basically been satisfied listening to the same bands year after year after year.

Anyway, when I first heard Lamb of God, it was at a time when I was strongly adverse to the throaty growls that characterize the vocals of so many sub-genres of heavy metal. I really couldn't stand them, and so any band that employed them really have a chance with me.

For whatever reason, my taste has changed, and I don't mind them as much. While I think I'll always prefer the more "normal" singing of most thrash and speed, I listen to my fair share of death and black metal and have come to a certain peace with this vocal style.

I'm glad I have, too, because Lamb of God has some great stuff going on behind the vocals. After checking out the free stream of a new track, "Ghost Walking" (a/s Metalsucks.net), I spent some time this morning listening to Lamb of God's catalog on Spotify -- and came away with plenty of stuff to put into the rotation. I'm now eagerly awaiting the January 24 release of Resolution, the album on which "Ghost Walking" appears.

On Tonight: 12/1/2011

I haven't been able to watch much due to being busy with some life stuff, so no recaps for the last couple days. I'm not sure what I'll be able to get to towards the end of the week, but we're moving from the Big Ten/ACC Challenge to the Big East/SEC version.

Providence at South Carolina (ESPNU, 7 p.m. Eastern)
"Juniors Vincent Council and Lakeem Jackson key these squads."
(I have no idea which teams these guys play for.)

St. John's at Kentucky (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Newcomers litter both lineups, including forwards God'sgift Achiuwa and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Rupp Arena was the site of St. John's last Final Four appearance, in 1985."
(The last thing you want is a lineup littered with newcomers. Unless you're Kentucky, the #1 team in the land.)

Mississippi at DePaul (ESPNU, 9 p.m. Eastern)
"Terrance Henry and Cleveland Melvin are standout forwards."
(I'm sure they are. I know this one, though! Melvin plays for DePaul, so Henry must suit up for Ole Miss.)

Georgetown at Alabama (ESPN2, 9:30 p.m. Eastern)
"Forwards Hollis Thompson and JaMychal Green spark this Big East/SEC Challenge matchup."
(This is really the only interesting game on the docket.)