Time to Get Back to Action

The busy holiday season has forced me to go over two weeks without blogging.  I’m not happy about that.  But in between traveling, eating, drinking, shopping, spending hours to wrap a handful of presents, more traveling, eating and drinking, I’ve found little time to sit down and write.  But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching Big East basketball; because I made sure to get my fill.  Well, in fairness, I watched the games that didn’t involve Alcorn St.

With the non-conference portion of the schedule over with (finally), and with every team getting at least one conference game in the books, it’s time for me to step it up.  With that, let’s go over what happened in the past two-plus weeks during my writing absence.  

Kevin Ollie Received a Contract Extension

It was 12 games into his one-year trial that Kevin Ollie deservingly received a five-year contract extension from the University of Connecticut.  The deal is supposedly worth ~$7 million, but more importantly brings stability to the program.  Recruiting and retaining players should be much easier now that they know who they are playing for.  Ollie has done an excellent job coaching a team that essentially has nothing to play for at the end of the season.  This team could have easily rolled over with no conference tournament or NCAAs in their future, but they have gotten out to a 10-3 start, led by their superb guard play.  Congrats to Ollie and kudos to the Huskies for standing strong.

Boeheim Passes Knight

In Syracuse’s Big East conference opener at home on January 2, the Orange beat Rutgers 78-53 to propel Coach Boeheim to number 2 on the all-time wins list.  Most impressive about the accomplishment is that he achieved every single victory at Syracuse - a feat that we will likely never see again.  He now trails Coach Krzyzewski by 37 wins.  But with Coach K still coaching and thriving at Duke, it will be difficult for Boeheim to cut into the deficit any time soon.  

Dieng Returns and the Cards Beat Kentucky

The Louisville Cardinals had been playing without their center, Gorgui Dieng, since Thanksgiving, when he broke his wrist at the Battle 4 Atlantis.  However, he returned on December 29^th, the day of their much anticipated game with interstate rival Kentucky.  Dieng came off the bench and only played 20 minutes, but he made his presence felt on the defensive end by snatching seven boards and recording two blocks.  KenPom ranks Louisville as the second best defensive team in the country and Dieng will be a key reason why that will continue.  

Syracuse Loses in Their Second Home

Temple had just come off a home loss to Canisius (Go Griffs!); while Syracuse was cruising through their non-conference portion of the schedule looking to enter Big East play undefeated.  But on Saturday, December 22nd in Madison Square Garden, the Owls had different plans.  Khalif Wyatt went off for 33 points, seemingly hitting everything in the second half, while the Orange missed 15 free throws.  Temple attempted two more free throws than Syracuse did (36 vs 34), but they only missed seven.  This proved to be the difference as the Orange fell uncharacteristically in the Garden to a non-conference opponent 83-79.

Todd Mayo Returns for Marquette

Prior to the season kicking off, Todd Mayo was ruled academically ineligible, and it sounded as if his time at Marquette had come to an end.  However, out of nowhere seemingly, he was reinstated as soon as the first semester was complete.  Some find this suspicious as the Golden Eagles were coming off an embarrassing loss at the hands of Green Bay, and feel they were desperate to improve the team, even if that did mean not honoring team discipline practices.  Who knows if that was the case?  Mayo may have propelled himself to becoming Marquette’s most upstanding student in the entire university for all I know.  However, what I do know is that Marquette is 4-0 since his return, including two close but impressive wins at home over UConn and Georgetown to start 2-0 in conference play. 

No Un-Beatens Entered Big East Play

Louisville fell way back in November to Duke (albeit without Dieng on the court), but it looked as if one or two teams would reach Big East play without a blemish on their resume.  As already mentioned, Syracuse fell to Temple on a ‘neutral’ court, but it looked as if Cincinnati might pull it off.  However, the Bearcats lost to New Mexico at home 55-54 in their last non-conference game before Big East play started.  

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac