It's time to resume my dream. BACK TO SPORTS WE ARE!
-Last night's action featured a potent matchup against two of the top four teams in the land, pitting Ohio State against a Duke team already having one of the strongest Novembers in recent memory with wins over Louisville, VCU, and UK. This was Duke's fourth game in six days, and it showed in the first half. They looked sluggish, tired, and just overall drained from the recent slew of games as they entered the half down 31-23. But Coach K obviously spoke some magic into those kids, and Duke came out on all cylinders, led by a very strong performance from freshman G Rasheed Sulaimon, who seemed to nail all the clutch shots. Mason Plumlee continued his typical double-double performance, notching some huge boards down the stretch, along with a #SCTop10 play from a one-handed alley-oop from Quinn Cook. Duke took down the Buckeyes 73-68. Sulaimon finished with 17, all in the second half.
-Arizona whooped up on Northern Arizona, getting some more great play from my man Mark Lyons, leading all scorers with 18. Illinois, UNLV, and newly-ranked New Mexico also took care of business.
-A couple of top 15 teams squandered, notably Creighton. Creighton suffered its first November home loss since 1989, at the hands of the hot Boise State Broncos. Their leading scorer, Derrick Marks, put up an insane 35 in the upset. Boise State is 5-1, with their only loss a nailbiter against Michigan State, so this is a team that is on the rise. Speaking of Sparty, they also fell to Miami in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. This is the typical look of an Izzo team; start weak, finish strong. We'll have to see if they pick it up, however.
-This week also saw Boston U pick up its first win against a languishing Coastal Carolina team, and it wasn't just a win; it was a 74-44 beatdown. Long Island Brooklyn also picked up its first W.Ohio U continues its winning ways against the Bonnies, and DJ Cooper is a player that needs to be watched all season long. At this point, there are 27 undefeated teams, and 11 winless teams, most of those coming from the dreaded SWAC.
Hopefully, this sees me returning to form on the writing front. Perhaps I'll be returning to school soon and finally pursuing a sports journalism degree; we'll see.
