Georgetown Exposes Duke

So as I woke up this morning tired and trying to figure out what exactly happened last night, I checked my phone and saw a text from my dear friend Shelley Murveit at Georgetown saying she was pissed off at me for texting her in the wee hours of the morning on the East Coast. Obviously, she was probably not angry that, but because she had to wake up super early (7am) to day drink and watch her Hoyas take on those Dukies. Either way, it reminded me that instead of being angry at the world (I also have a midterm in two days) I should watch the top-10 contest between the two schools. As I turned the TV on about half way through the first half, I smiled. Duke was getting owned. Luckily for me, this didn't change until the last minute of the game, but by then, no one cared. Georgetown exposed Duke once again as an over-hyped, crappy, and ultra-vanilla basketball team. Greg "Craig" Monroe destroyed anyone Duke had to offer, including foul machine Lance Thomas (seriously, every game I watch he's in foul trouble, like Alfred Aboya circa 2008). Wright, Georgetown's point guard was terrific in distributing and showing how one of the best Jewish players (Jon Scheyer) in college basketball is probably not as good as Dick Vitale would like you to think he is. Actually he did score 17 points, but on 5-13 shooting, or as UCLA fans call it, a Drago line or kind of like this guy:

While the basketball was obviously the biggest attraction of the game, Barack "Lefty" Obama was courtside with his VP Joe Biden taking the game in. He did not really show any favoritism either way, which I think is smart. As he was being interviewed by the CBS guys, he laughed at his bodyguard Reggie Love, a former Duke player. He also mentioned a few key things, and broke down fellow Lefty Monroe's pretty spin move in the lane (including a right handed finish!). This sideshow however did not distract yours truly from enjoying a Duke team get destroyed. Ironically, Coach K used the "Stanford line-up" (3 white guys) as opposed to the "Duke line-up" (4 white guys) and it still did not help. Probably because Nolan Smith was feeling the home jitters as he was playing in his hometown, but I don't buy it. Of course, those could be the same jitters Duke players felt in 2007-2009 as they failed to move past the sweet-sixteen. But hey, at least we found out from this game that Georgetown is for real (unlike Duke), and could make a serious run at the final four. I guess that VP Biden agrees...

And So It Begins...

College basketball is officially upon us! The season officially started this past Monday, as North Carolina donned some really ugly throwbacks in its rout of FIU. Today many more teams such as Georgetown, Kentucky, and Washington began their quest to reach the NCAA tournament. While all those three teams will end up with a strong seed come March, it would be unfair to overlook the way college basketball actually pans out in the 4.5 months leading up to the Madness. Remember last year's "strong" Big East? Yeah... how'd Notre Dame and the aforementioned Hoyas end up doing? So who knows. I mean, sure you have your sure bets in Michigan State, UNC, and Kansas, but who really knows what will happen? What if Cole Aldrich sprains an ankle and he's out during the meat of the Big-12 season? Or if Zeller/Davis of UNC get injured as they are tall and skinny guys and UNC drops a couple games including one to hated Duke?

The beauty of the basketball season as opposed to the football season (and I'm not even talking about a legitimate determination of a champion) is that it is longer and much more intriguing even though many of the top teams maintain their preseason position, but it is easier for teams to move up and earn strong bids, just ask Kansas circa 2009. As a UCLA student and an avid fan, it could be easy to be slightly discouraged because for the first time in my four years here we are not the favorites to win the Pac-10. However, I see no reason why a Howland coached team with so much promise (how about two top 10 recruiting classes) cannot challenge the likes of Washington and Cal for the top spot. Sure, they have heavy guard play which is exactly what UCLA will lack, but UCLA has a huge height advantage, which could be served as a positive sign. I can go on and speculate and ramble on about what could happen, but the beauty of the basketball season is that we get to see these great match ups not only once like football, but twice! Well, at least in the Pac-10 since it plays a true round robin. Oh basketball, how have I missed you...