College Basketball is Back with a Vengance!!!

Sitting in a dead Tuscaloosa on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, it was quite obvious what the night would entail: sports on television.

There were basically two choices from ESPN tonight: Basketball or Football.

Considering it is a Tuesday, I sided with basketball, and was not disappointed.

If you haven't noticed yet, this week and next week are full of great games, but tonight was a phenomenal night.

First, Notre Dame vs. Texas, number seven vs. eight, was an incredible game out in Maui. Despite AJ Abrams best effort, Notre Dame still came out on top and will face number one North Carolina tomorrow night.

For anyone wondering, that's must see TV. It's two top ten teams and two player of the year candidates going head to head tomorrow night with Tyler Hansbrough of UNC against Luke Harangody of the Irish.

The night cap, which actually just ended, was Syracuse vs. Kansas, a rematch of the 2003 National Championship Game. Syracuse managed to win in overtime in Kansas City over the Jayhawks. It was the first time since 1983 that Kansas lost in the regular season in Kansas City.

Between those two games, one major theme stood out: The Big East is going to be unbelievable.

If you don't believe me, just take a look at the BCS conferences' records against each other so far this season. Remember, the season just started November 14th.

• Big East 8-2
• ACC 5-2
• Big XII 2-2
• Big Ten 2-3
• SEC 1-4
• Pac-10 1-6

Overall, the Big East is 57-5 on the season. That equals a 92% win percentage to start the season, easily the best of the major six conferences. Even more impressive is their record against the other five conferences, as stated above.

Just a fair warning two weeks into the season: When the Big East gets ten teams into the Big Dance, don't say I didn't warn you. That would be a record for most entries from one conference, but the 2008-09 Big East may be the best conference ever.

Now, how bout we finally catch up with the Auburn "love" here?

After a week and a half of pictures, it's time to turn to a video for once.

Don't ask me how I came across this one, but i found it quite entertaining.

So, Who is Oregon, Anyways?

The Alabama Crimson Tide are about six hours from tipoff for their first of three games in the Maui Invitational, where their first opponent is the Oregon Ducks.

Of course most of us are aware of Alabama's situation this season, but what about Alabama's first major conference foe of the season?

First off, the Ducks have six new members to their basketball team this season, good enough to have the No. 16 class in the country last year. The gem of the class is Michael Dunigan, a 6-9 center from Chicago.

Dunigan has started his first three games for the Ducks, averaging 13 points a game and eight rebounds. His real weakness, however, is the charity stripe, where he is only shooting 43% so far.

Both freshmen Matthew Humphrey and Garrett Sim have started at the guard position this season for Oregon and have seen substantial time on the floor, as well as Josh Crittle, however none of these three have proven to be a real scoring threat.

As for the returners for Oregon, there is a real dual threat from the Ducks' guards Tajuan Porter and LeKendric Longmire. Both players are averaging 15 points a game this season, but are extremely scary from behind the arc.

Longmire is 6-8 this season from downtown while Porter is shooting 43% from range so far. As a team, Oregon is shooting 42% from distance.

To pair with Dunigan in the frontcourt is sophomore Joevan Catron. Catron averages nine points and just over eight rebounds so far this year, as well as an impressive 80% from the free throw line this year. He is second on the team only to Porter (95%).

As a team, though, Oregon seems to be a fair match for the Crimson Tide. Aside from the impressive numbers from three point range, the Ducks shoot a decent 40% from the field as a team, but a sad 65% from the free throw line.

As for their season, Oregon is currently 2-1 with wins over Northern Colorado (66-64) and UC-Irvine (84-77) and an 82-79 loss to Oakland(MI) sandwiched in between.

Now, for match ups, look for Ron Steele to be assigned Porter whether Porter is at the one or two position. Senario Hillman will have the job of keeping Longmire away from the three point line. Green and Knox should alternate between guarding Dunigan and Catron, but the biggest goal for Alabama down low will be to get rebounds on either side of the floor. Alonzo Gee will be matched against either Humphrey or Sim, whoever gets the start, and should do his best to take advantage of their young age.

For a full breakdown of the entire tournament, Jay Bilas was kind enough to enlighten the masses with his knowledge.

Now time for everyone's favorite portion of the ITNOT blog during Iron Bowl week, its more Auburn "love."

Shout out two of three for the day will come to us from Tommy Tuberville's webcam. We all know Tubbs is such a lazy recruiter when compared to Saban, so you won't see his massive ears online. Instead, it will look something like this...

Pass or Fail, Week of Nov. 19

With a good portion of the SEC off between last Saturday and this Saturday, the weekly Pass or Fail segment will expand a little this week to not only more major college football, but also a peek into basketball.

Head of the Class: Vanderbilt Commodores

For the first time since 1982, the Vanderbilt Commodores will be visiting the postseason.

With a 31-24 victory at Kentucky, the 'Dores are now 6-4 on the season and 4-3 in the SEC. With a win over Tennessee Saturday, Vanderbilt will have five conference wins for the first time since 1935. Vandy gets Tennessee in Nashville and will be looking at a much better bowl with seven victories on the season.

Pass: Alabama's Javier Arenas

Every week it seems there is an Alabama player in the pass column.

Well, for starters, this is a blog by an Alabama student who gets to watch their games in entirety each week, but Alabama is also undefeated.

This week's honor falls on the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week Javier Arenas who set a school record with 153 punt return yards against Mississippi State. Arenas also set the career school mark for punts returned for touchdowns with his fifth career return against the Bulldogs.

Fail: The Deep South's Oldest Rivarly

Not only did this game kick at 11:30 on regional television, being overlooked for Alabama-Mississippi State, but it wasn't suppose to be that great of a game. It wasn't that great of a game, but for other reasons.

Auburn has struggled all season, sure, but Georgia looked absolutely pathetic after their first field goal attempt was blocked by the Tigers. The game then turned into an absolute battle of ineptitude that the Bulldogs eventually won 17-13. Tuberville could have won the game had he kicked a field goal on previous drives in the fourth quarter, but opted for fourth down offensive attempts which failed.

Pass: Tennessee Basketball

If anyone was wondering who would win the SEC this season, look no further than Knoxville.

The Vols are simply too strong in a conference full of horribly underachieving teams and Florida. The Gators will provide the biggest competition to the Vols, but everything else should be easy sailing this season.

Bruce Pearl not only has some great returning players from last season, they also have Diaper Dandy Scotty Hopson, who will be posterizing an All-SEC player near you in the coming months.

Fail: SEC Basketball

I have been on this topic as late as yesterday, but last night didn't make any matters better.

Between Georgia's dominant one-point win over Eastern Michigan and Kentucky's 28-turnover beauty against North Carolina on national television. These games have UK at 0-2 and Georgia is 1-1 with a points differential on the season of -20.

SEC fans can at least hold on to the last few breaths of football season, and the jump straight into baseball.

Pass: ACC Football

They may not be the best or have any powerhouse team this season, but the ACC has been the most fun conference to watch this year.

Why you may ask?

Parity. Each week, a new team in the ACC joins the Top 25 just to go on the road and lose, fall out of the Top 25, win at home, and start the process over.

Each team has at least two losses right now. The only two teams who have yet to dropped a third game are Miami, who travels to Georgia Tech and North Carolina State to finish the season, and Maryland, who hosts Florida State and visits Boston College.

I'm going to make a quick prediction that each team in the ACC will finish with three losses, but anyone else who wants to take time out of their lives to sort out the tie breakers for these situations, knock yourself out.

Fail: Rich Rodriguez

It is bad enough to be the first man in Michigan history, the winningest program in college football history, to take the team to they historic low of eight losses in one season.

Things don't get better when you take time out of your schedule of coaching said program to respond to media members who are roasting you like chestnuts over an open fire.

Too bad that Rich Rod has already done that this week (Ohio State week for those of you who didn't know since ESPN is shoving that game down our throats for once) by telling media members to "Get a life" after multiple outlets have questioned his first season in Ann Arbor.

Rich, some quick advice, you are no longer the native son, so you might need to grow a spine...and fast.

Epic Fail: The Apple Cup

There are no two teams in FBS college football right now who are worse than Washington and Washington State.

The Huskies are currently 0-10 on the season. Ty Willingham has been fired already and are losing by the average score of 40-14.

The Cougars have benefitted from being able to look across the state and see Washington at 0-10 because WAZU is 1-10 themselves.

The only win for the Cougars came against FCS Portland State, who is currently 3-7 themselves. They have been shut out three out of their past four games and are limping to the finish line against Washington.

In other words, something has to give.

I would look for Washington State to come out on top for two reasons: They have the game at home and, sadly, they at least know how to win.

So, now with that out of the way, it is now time for the customary Auburn "love" that will be gracing this blog over the next week and a half.

For tonight, we are gonna hit the way back machine and go all the way back to...January of 2007. Basically, it was when Tubbs started shaking in his boots and was out to continue the downward spiral that is Auburn Football as we know it today.

Where have you gone, SEC Basketball?

Ok, just to start things off today, I want to comment on the now lack of Tampa Bay Rays hats found on campus after last night's clincher in Philly. About this time last week, there were more Rays hats than Bama hats around here.

Money well spent? Not so much.

Ok, anyways, in other news, the first poll of the college basketball season was relased today by USAToday, and the Crimson Tide are...no where. Not one single vote landed in the Tide's favor to start off the season. In fact, the SEC has only two representatives in the Top 25 to begin the season: Tennessee, the defending East and regular season champions, start off at number 13 and Florida will start the season at number 19 after missing the NCAA tournament all together, thanks in part to a big Bama victory in Atlanta last March.

None the less, here is the top 5 to start the season.

1. North Carolina
2. Connecticut
3. Louisville
4. UCLA
5. Duke

For the first time in the poll's history, the number one team recieved every first place vote. Safe to say, if the Tar Heels come up short this season, it will not be pretty in Chapel Hill.

But back to the SEC and their sudden drop in basketball abilities.

Sure, the Big East, ACC, and Pac-10 have taken over the college basketball landscape recently, but the drop of the SEC has been sudden. The SEC used to get record number of teams in the Big Dance. Now, from the pre-season outlook, six SEC squads would be a great year. Just look at the major (BCS) conference breakdown of the Top 25.

• ACC: 4
• Big East: 7
• Big 10: 3
• Big XII: 3
• Pac-10: 3
• SEC: 2

Major ouch. Traditional power Kentucky is in one of their roughest patches in their storied history. LSU, a Final Four team just a few seasons ago, just picked to finish second in the West and has a new coach. Mississippi State had a big fallout of graduates and transfers this off-season. Vanderbilt is a toatl unknown and doesn't have the big name shooters that everyone in the conference should fear. Alabama is coming off of two straight disappointing seasons.

In summation, the SEC is about as down as you can get right now, but there are plenty of chances to gain respect as the season moves on, and the Tide has the first big chance in the Maui Invitational.

The Tide will get a chance to potentially face North Carolina, Notre Dame, or Oklahoma and start off against 2008 tournament team Oregon. A couple wins here and the SEC, and the Tide, will get a lot of national respect heading into December.