UConn wins Paradise Jam

UConn started out the season on the right foot by defeating #25 Wisconsin 76-57 and winning the Virgin Island's Paradise Jam. With the victory, UConn is now 5-0 and takes a 4-day break before playing Bryant University on Saturday. Hasheem Thabeet was the MVP of the tournament - although he had only 3 blocks tonight, he re-directed many errant Wisconsin shots. UConn's defense was extraordinary tonight...countless steals and they just put so much pressure on the Badgers that their fundamentally sound team just could not handle it. AJ Price still does not look like himself, but I expect that to change by mid-season when he gets over the ACL injury mentally. All in all, great victory by UConn and expect to see them in the Top 5 of the PPI next weekend.

Big East Continues Its Domination

Once again, a Big East team knocks down a ranked team. In this case, Syracuse has just upset #18 Florida 89-83. Early on, the Big East has just taken down ranked team after ranked team. In other Big East games, Notre Dame just pasted Tom Crean's Indiana team. Crean will have a lot of work to clean up after former coach Kelvin Sampson left the program amid NCAA violations. Kyle McAlerney, possibly the best 3-point shooter in the Big East, drilled 6 threes in the 38 point blowout.

PPI Top 25: 11/24/08

Here is the preliminary PPI Top 25...note, these won't be official until Dec 8th when the first official PPI gets released.

#1 Duke
#2 Clemson
#3 Xavier
#4 UAB
#5 Memphis
#6 North Carolina
#7 Connecticut
#8 Missouri
#9 Oklahoma
#10 Oklahoma State
#11 Seton Hall
#12 UNLV
#13 Tennessee
#14 Pittsburgh
#15 Illinois
#16 Creighton
#17 Florida
#18 Illinois State
#19 Siena
#20 Temple
#21 Arizona State
#22 Villanova
#23 Florida State
#24 Kent State
#25 Butler