alamo50
12-07-2005, 08:48 AM
Texas should stun No. 1 Devils, beat football team to top of rankings
COMMENTARY
By Mike Miller
College basketball editor
Updated: 5:45 p.m. ET Dec. 6, 2005
No. 2 Texas gets its shot at No. 1 on Saturday. In college basketball.
For the next month or so, there’ll be plenty of stories on Texas and its chance to pull off titles in college football and basketball. For more on the Longhorns’ chances to beat USC in the Rose Bowl, check out our college football section. I’ll stick to the hoops.
Besides, there’s plenty to drool over when Texas plays Duke.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/051205/051205_tex_vmed_9p.widec.jpg
Charlie Riedel / AP
Texas guard Daniel Gibson will be one of the main reasons why the Longhorns hand No. 1 Duke its first loss of the season this Saturday, writes NBCSports.com's Mike Miller.
The Devils (7-0) have beaten two ranked teams (Memphis, Indiana), escaped against a non-conference foe few expected to be tough (Drexel) and needed a 40-foot buzzer-beater to edge ACC foe Virginia Tech on Sunday.
It’s not clear if Duke is merely playing well enough to win or if it’s taking opponents’ best shots and still winning. That difference is unimportant for a team’s bottom line at this point, because coaches only want their teams to improve and peak for the NCAA Tournament. Right now, the Devils’ freshmen need that game time to be effective in March.
The underclassmen’s inexperience forces Duke’s offense to center around its two senior stars, J.J. Redick (22.7 ppg) and Shelden Williams (18.3 ppg). It’s easier for opposing defenses to focus on those two, since no other Devil averages more than eight points a game.
Still, that reliance on the country’s best tandem hasn’t resulted in a loss. Yet.
Texas, on the other hand, is off to its best start since the 1981-82 team won its first 14 games, and has averaged a 32-point victory margin in its last four victories. Before those games, the Longhorns edged ranked foes in Iowa and West Virginia.
They’re deeper and have more balanced scoring. Four players average 13 points a game, led by junior center LaMarcus Aldridge (17.5 ppg). Throw in P.J. Tucker (16.8), Brad Buckman (13.5) and one of the country’s best point guards, Daniel Gibson (13.3), and the Longhorns have the weapons to match Duke.
The thing about Texas is Aldridge hasn’t faced anyone like Williams yet, its outside shooting is suspect and its defense isn’t up to coach Rick Barnes’ usual standards. Yet.
So why care about the game if the Devils are vulnerable and the ’Horns are working out the kinks?
In a word: history. In a sport that features plenty of top 10 games throughout the season, No. 1 vs. No. 2 doesn’t happen that often. Thank Duke’s Sean Dockery for this one.
It’s the first time a No. 1 and No. 2 have met in a regular season game since 1998, when No. 1 Duke lost to UNC. In fact, it's only the 36th time overall (including the postseason) that a 1 and 2 have met since 1949, when the AP started ranking teams. In the last 20 years, it’s usually because of conference showdowns like UNC vs. Duke, Kansas vs. Missouri or Georgetown vs. St. John’s (which actually happened three times in the 1984-85 season). This game, a neutral court affair in East Rutherford, N.J., is an even rarer occurrence.
Want some more nuggets?
* No. 2 has beaten No. 1 the last four times and seven of the last 12.
* Duke is 1-2 as No. 1 in that span.
* Texas has beaten No. 1 once, when the unranked ’Horns beat DePaul 65-63 in 1980.
* And the last time No. 1 and No. 2 faced each other this early in the season, one team ended up in the national title game — No. 1 Georgetown, which was the first of four times the Hoyas played in the No. 1 vs. No. 2 game that season. Yeah, John Thompson’s team had some tests that season.
Sure, none of that really means diddly to Texas or Duke. But when you’re talking about No. 1 vs. No. 2, you pull out all the factoids you can. It’s called hype. I love it.
Besides, it’s a game that should live up to that hype. Barnes is just 2-7 all time against Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and has lost the last six times he’s faced Coach K, including both times his Texas teams have played Duke. He’ll have the ’Horns primed and ready to go. There’s bragging rights on the line, both in college hoops and in Austin.
With their depth and a little extra attention paid to Redick around the perimeter, these ’Horns will be at No. 1 before Mack Brown’s boys even have a shot at it.
Mike Miller is NBCSports.com's college basketball editor. E-mail him at [email protected].
COMMENTARY
By Mike Miller
College basketball editor
Updated: 5:45 p.m. ET Dec. 6, 2005
No. 2 Texas gets its shot at No. 1 on Saturday. In college basketball.
For the next month or so, there’ll be plenty of stories on Texas and its chance to pull off titles in college football and basketball. For more on the Longhorns’ chances to beat USC in the Rose Bowl, check out our college football section. I’ll stick to the hoops.
Besides, there’s plenty to drool over when Texas plays Duke.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/051205/051205_tex_vmed_9p.widec.jpg
Charlie Riedel / AP
Texas guard Daniel Gibson will be one of the main reasons why the Longhorns hand No. 1 Duke its first loss of the season this Saturday, writes NBCSports.com's Mike Miller.
The Devils (7-0) have beaten two ranked teams (Memphis, Indiana), escaped against a non-conference foe few expected to be tough (Drexel) and needed a 40-foot buzzer-beater to edge ACC foe Virginia Tech on Sunday.
It’s not clear if Duke is merely playing well enough to win or if it’s taking opponents’ best shots and still winning. That difference is unimportant for a team’s bottom line at this point, because coaches only want their teams to improve and peak for the NCAA Tournament. Right now, the Devils’ freshmen need that game time to be effective in March.
The underclassmen’s inexperience forces Duke’s offense to center around its two senior stars, J.J. Redick (22.7 ppg) and Shelden Williams (18.3 ppg). It’s easier for opposing defenses to focus on those two, since no other Devil averages more than eight points a game.
Still, that reliance on the country’s best tandem hasn’t resulted in a loss. Yet.
Texas, on the other hand, is off to its best start since the 1981-82 team won its first 14 games, and has averaged a 32-point victory margin in its last four victories. Before those games, the Longhorns edged ranked foes in Iowa and West Virginia.
They’re deeper and have more balanced scoring. Four players average 13 points a game, led by junior center LaMarcus Aldridge (17.5 ppg). Throw in P.J. Tucker (16.8), Brad Buckman (13.5) and one of the country’s best point guards, Daniel Gibson (13.3), and the Longhorns have the weapons to match Duke.
The thing about Texas is Aldridge hasn’t faced anyone like Williams yet, its outside shooting is suspect and its defense isn’t up to coach Rick Barnes’ usual standards. Yet.
So why care about the game if the Devils are vulnerable and the ’Horns are working out the kinks?
In a word: history. In a sport that features plenty of top 10 games throughout the season, No. 1 vs. No. 2 doesn’t happen that often. Thank Duke’s Sean Dockery for this one.
It’s the first time a No. 1 and No. 2 have met in a regular season game since 1998, when No. 1 Duke lost to UNC. In fact, it's only the 36th time overall (including the postseason) that a 1 and 2 have met since 1949, when the AP started ranking teams. In the last 20 years, it’s usually because of conference showdowns like UNC vs. Duke, Kansas vs. Missouri or Georgetown vs. St. John’s (which actually happened three times in the 1984-85 season). This game, a neutral court affair in East Rutherford, N.J., is an even rarer occurrence.
Want some more nuggets?
* No. 2 has beaten No. 1 the last four times and seven of the last 12.
* Duke is 1-2 as No. 1 in that span.
* Texas has beaten No. 1 once, when the unranked ’Horns beat DePaul 65-63 in 1980.
* And the last time No. 1 and No. 2 faced each other this early in the season, one team ended up in the national title game — No. 1 Georgetown, which was the first of four times the Hoyas played in the No. 1 vs. No. 2 game that season. Yeah, John Thompson’s team had some tests that season.
Sure, none of that really means diddly to Texas or Duke. But when you’re talking about No. 1 vs. No. 2, you pull out all the factoids you can. It’s called hype. I love it.
Besides, it’s a game that should live up to that hype. Barnes is just 2-7 all time against Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and has lost the last six times he’s faced Coach K, including both times his Texas teams have played Duke. He’ll have the ’Horns primed and ready to go. There’s bragging rights on the line, both in college hoops and in Austin.
With their depth and a little extra attention paid to Redick around the perimeter, these ’Horns will be at No. 1 before Mack Brown’s boys even have a shot at it.
Mike Miller is NBCSports.com's college basketball editor. E-mail him at [email protected].