TEE'S TOP 10
by Tee Kane
Here's the updated Top 10, as voted* on by our unique collection of Tee's Weekly staff, vanquished presidential candidates, short story writers, and urban planners. So without further ado, here again for week number two is our Tee's Weekly Top 10.
*Voting tabulation is the same as the one used for College Football's Bowl Championship Series only we added two standard deviations and subtracted three from every other number.
10.) Vanderbilt (747 votes): The Commodores storm into Tee’s Weekly off a perfect non-conference campaign. I’m really enjoying Vandy’s success. A few years ago friends of mine and I went down to Nashville for the first round of the NCAA tournament to see George Washington play. The day before GW played we decided to go over to Vanderbilt for an unofficial tour of the school’s athletic facilities (Tee’s Weekly was not in publication, so I didn’t have my press credentials). Before we committed any class ‘A’ felonies, a head groundskeeper with a Tennessee mullet spotted us. Instead of arresting us for attempting to scale a fence, he offered us a full VIP tour of the university. First he brought us inside the football stadium, then onto the field, and then into the team locker room. Not satisfied, he brought us a to basketball team practice (they were preparing for the NIT), had us meet the assistant chancellor, and gave us all the free Vandy gear we like.d Vandy built up a lot of good karma that day with Tee’s Weekly and it’s finally time to pay them back. Go on the Vandy! Best of luck.
9.) Indiana (828 votes): I’m pretty sure I heard Fran Fraschilla say at the beginning of the season that Eric Gordon might be the best freshman college point guard since Jason Kidd. I don’t have tape of the statement, so I could be wrong, but I think it’s pretty misleading. Gordon is a fantastic freshman, but the Kidd comparison is strange. Kidd averaged 7.7 assists a game as a freshman to Gordon’s 2.2 assists a game (with 3.2 turnovers a game). Gordon is actually much closer to an Allen Iverson. His real value is attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line. Already this season Gordon has taken an astonishing 115 free throws and made an excellent 99 of them. Gordon’s a great player; just don’t expect to see a passing wiz when you turn on the tube for Big Ten play.
8.) Tennessee (1,056 votes) Tennessee took the long plane ride up to Seattle to play Gonzaga and then promptly forced the Zags into a 10-point submission. The Volunteers relentless up-and-down style is reminiscent of Saturdays in SEC football. It's pleasure to see how a variety of styles can flourish in the upper echelons of college basketball. Tune in on January 17 when the Volunteers meet up with instate rival Vanderbilt in Knoxville. It promises to be one of the most up-tempo games of the year.
7.) Washington State (1,285 votes) The Cougars have an enormous week coming up when they play a pair of road games against two of the Pac 10's best teams: USC and and top-five ranked UCLA. It will be a real treat to see if Washington State’s stifling defense can keep USC's O.J. "the green and red of" Mhaigh Eo (in English that's Mayo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo) in check. I've been mildly impressed with the heralded freshman so far, but I think USC's poor shot selection plays right into Washington State’s strengths. Stanford, another Pac-10 team that excels at making teams miss, held Mhaigh Eo to 5-19 from the field for 14 points. It’s entirely possible that Mhaigh Eo could miss 20 shots in that game.
6.) Michigan State (1,328 votes) I have to admit to not particularly liking former Mr. Basketball Drew Neitzel when he started his collegiate career three years ago, but he’s turned into a very capable ball handler and lethal threat from outside. I went back and checked his stats from his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons and it turns out that I actually had pretty good instincts. He’s had decent ball handling seasons and good shooting seasons, but never in the same year. His ability to put it all together has Michigan State rolling into Big Ten play as the favorite.
5.) UCLA (1,493 votes) The top eight teams are unchanged this week, but I think I can start to see the top five teams separating themselves from the pack. I think it’s a good bet that one of these teams is going to win the national championship. I had a discussion with Gee Kane over what college he would attend if he were a big-time high school recruit and could play anywhere (excluding Georgetown). We talked about all the relevant factors you’d consider, including coach, program, weather, female student body, and school atmosphere. No school seemed like an obvious choice. Gee thought of Florida, until we both realized that it’s in Gainsville and you’d be playing second fiddle to the football team. After some moments of consternation, Gee came up with UCLA. Winner winner chicken dinner! Who wouldn’t want to play at UCLA?
4.) Georgetown (1,560 votes) The Hoyas head into Big East play with just the one slip-up against Memphis and are poised for back-to-back Big East regular season championships. It’s unrealistic to think they will able to work through the rigors of Big East conference play with at least one loss, but the title is absolutely theirs for the taking. Freshman Austin Freeman (of DeMatha Catholic High School) has taken over Patrick Ewing’s spot in the starting lineup, signaling that he will likely play an integral role in the Hoyas’ offense for the rest of the season. My younger brother, Crazy Dee, can’t stand Freeman’s success because he roots for Freeman’s rival high school. He instead favors Georgetown’s other Washington, D.C., freshman Chris Wright (St. John’s College High School). Crazy Dee increasingly flimsy and desperate. He recently suggested that Freeman favored a full amnesty plan when he was a junior class representative at DeMatha.
3.) Kansas (1,776 votes) The undefeated Jayhawks enter conference play undefeated. They made a statement against Boston College this Saturday by handing them a 25-point loss in Boston. Kansas is a phenomenal team. Basketball Prospectus, an online gathering place for statistically inclined (dorky) basketball fans, calculated that Kansas forces a turnover on 28 percent of the other team’s possessions. That means teams don’t even get a shot off against Kansas on almost a third of their possessions. It would be hard enough to keep up with Kansas’ high-powered offense if you got to shoot on every possession. Can they bring John Chaney back to coaching just to see how angry he would get if Temple turned it over at that rate against Kansas? I think it’s possible he’d rugby-tackle Mario Chalmers on the open floor.
2.) Memphis (1,896 votes) Memphis continues to pass every test. Everyone knew Memphis was going to be potent on offense, but it’s actually their defensive commitment that’s driven them to perfection this year. The Tigers have stalled in the Elite Eight in the past two years, but they look determined to make the final breakthrough in 2008. For now Memphis will settle in Conference USA and wait for UNC to lose so they can claim the top spot in Tee’s Top 10.
1.) University of North Carolina (1,916 votes) UNC squeaked by Clemson in overtime to stay undefeated and, more importantly, retained their title atop Tee’s Weekly Top 10. In order to accomplish this they needed a three at the buzzer from Ganseybitches winner Wayne Ellington http://teesweekly.com/ganseybitches.html. I only caught the overtime period, but it doesn’t appear that Clemson was able to find a weakness other teams could exploit. If anything, it proves that even the best teams are going to have play well when they find themselves up against a quality in-conference opponent on the road.
Others Receiving Votes (total votes are in parentheses):
George Washington University (2 votes) GW had its worst out-of-conference campaign since 2002. Karl Hobb’s team took a real step back this year and appears to be headed for a pounding in the vastly improved Atlantic 10. Every team in the conference is ready to exact its revenge after three years of GW dominance. It’s not going to be pretty.