The early signing period starts today and runs through November 21st. Bob Gibbons of Scout confirms the J’Covan Brown whispers that have been swirling, saying he would not be surprised if the Memorial High star signs with Texas this week. Other UT targets — Tyreke Evans, Wesley Witherspoon, and Jeff Taylor, Jr. — are all expected to wait until spring to sign. Texas A&M looked solid in their opening round game of the Preseason NIT, dispatching Oral Roberts, 67-53. Freshman stud DeAndre Jordan looked like a manchild among boys, grabbing seemingly every offensive rebound in his 23 minutes on the floor and then flushing it with authority. Chinemelu Elonu had a great game off the bench and provided the announcers a great five-minute diversion while they discussed the merits of a nickname for the guy. But to be completely honest, the kid who caught my eye was senior Beau Muhlbach. He only played 11 minutes off the bench, but seemed to have an endless motor and a passion for the game. He’s the kind of guy you like to watch because you can tell the game is fun for him. It’s a shame he didn’t see more minutes under Billy Clyde Gillispie. Remember Mercer, the Atlantic Sun squad that took out USC on the road last week? The Hollywood storyline ended far too soon, as they lost at home to Alabama, 90-83. Keep an eye on them in conference play come 2008, though. They were picked to finish fifth in the ASC by the media, but who wouldn’t love to see them rewrite the ending and earn that auto-bid to the Big Dance? The preseason tournaments roll on, with Washington hosting Utah in second-round Preseason NIT action on ESPN at 9:30 PM CST. In other second-round action, Texas A&M hosts UTEP — the school they plucked Gillispie from — at 8 PM CST on ESPNU. But before all that, North Carolina and Tyler Hansbrough open the season at 6 PM CST on the Worldwide Leader. |
4 Responses to “Wednesday morning Fast Break”
on 14 Nov 2007 at 10:10 pm # caradoc
A&M solid? Hee, hee, hee.
on 14 Nov 2007 at 10:52 pm # Ryan
Despite the close outcome, I think they are still a solid program. Their Achilles heel at this point is obviously poor free throw shooting, as the Ags were only 23-of-39 from the line. Make even half of those misses, and this game isn’t close.
Also, UTEP is not a bad team. They are an experienced squad that started four upperclassmen….and one freshman who made the bulk of the stupid mistakes down the stretch. Culpepper (said freshman) jacked up three ill-advised three-pointers early in possessions in the final 6 minutes of the game, when the Miners should’ve been working the defense for quality looks.
I’ll say this right now — if the Horns don’t establish some kind of inside presence before conference play, I won’t want to watch the defense getting abused by A&M’s quality inside-out attack.
on 15 Nov 2007 at 12:39 am # Andrew
Hey fellows, thanks for the link, I’ll add you too. You all are recruiting Wesley Witherspoon too huh? Should be interesting. Our only hope is that he wants to stick around the area, which is supposedly one of the reasons his brother Wynton transferred to GW.
on 15 Nov 2007 at 12:46 am # caradoc
I’m with you on that last point. And we have an even worse inside problem on offense, which is to say no inside game at all. I am really sick of the three guard offense and would love to have a true power forward at 2 and a true small forward at 3.
I guess I’m one of the few who did not like the way Gillispie ran that team. Too much pouting and whining, not enough coaching. But they indeed have some good players still and should give us some good games. I was impressed by their athleticism tonight, but not by their skills or system, especially on defense. I got the impression that this was a team you could run into serious foul trouble.