Month: January 2009

Back In The Ivy League, Penn Starts Winning

It was three simple words, buried in the middle of a few comments, but they speak volumes. “Penn teams win.” That came from Penn freshman guard Zack Rosen, who has quickly made an impact on the Quakers. It was certainly evident on Friday night, when Rosen helped lead them to a 66-60 win at Harvard to start off Ivy League play with a win.

Snake-Bitten Virgina Tech Loses Another Close One to BC

Once again, Virginia Tech comes away from a game looking like a team on the verge, but not breaking through to pull off a win. Their 67-66 loss at Boston College is just the latest close loss for a team that’s been a little snake-bitten. Virginia Tech has lost seven games this season. Six of those losses have been by four points or less, with the aberration being their 25-point loss at Duke nearly four weeks ago.

Route 6 Rivalry Renewed

The stage is set for a supreme dogfight between UConn and Providence at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs on Saturday. The No. 2 Huskies have won eight straight following a listless home loss to Georgetown, while the Friars have won four consecutive games at UConn.

Sharaud Curry Is Back for the Friars

A year ago, a game like this must have seemed so far away, so unimaginable for Sharaud Curry. It had to be a pipe dream, something he could only imagine happening at a time when his team was struggling without him, when they needed him. It was a game many imagined happening last year, certainly. There was a time when Curry was well on his way to becoming one of the top point guards in the Big East, emerging nicely as a sophomore. With that, there were high hopes for him as a junior and for his team. But they never materialized, the result of a well-chronicled foot injury that forced him to redshirt after playing just nine minutes last season.

Northeastern Holds Off VCU in Year’s Best Game

It was as if it were a set up in advance for Virginia Commonwealth, with its returning CAA Player of the Year now a senior, leading the league in assists and 5 points ahead of the second best scorer. And as Andy Katz of ESPN has pointed out more than once, it isn’t just in the Big East (and in Big Ten football) that schedules are unbalanced, and often grossly unfair. For the moment the twelve team CAA has determined not to split into two divisions, supposedly because all the Virginia rivals want to play one another twice (yet oddly, VCU and George Mason just play once).

Reggie Jackson Emerges For Boston College

Entering the season, Reggie Jackson projected to be the best of Boston College’s three freshmen. He looked the part early on, as it’s clear he’s a terrific athlete and has some offensive skills that should get better. But you could also tell early on that he was a freshman, and with the way Boston College plays, the learning curve that comes with playing college basketball isn’t always expedited.

Hoop Group Lehigh Valley Showcase Recap

Parkland High School was the site of the 14th annual Lehigh Valley Hoop Group Showcase on Sunday. It consisted of four games, the last two of which came right down to the end. The first game of the day was short on Division I prospects but not long on good shooting by one team. Victorious Emmaus, the alma mater of former Pitt big man Aaron Gray, shot 54 percent from the field and a scorching 10-17 from long range en route to their 84-74 win.