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College Hoops Week in Review: Five Thoughts

Roosevelt Jones, J.J. Moore

Butler forward Roosevelt Jones, right, draws the foul from Pittsburgh forward J.J. Moore as times expires in the second half of an NCAA College Basketball Invitational tournament semifinal game in Indianapolis, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Jones missed two free throws with the score tied after the foul. Pittsburgh defeated Butler 68-62 in overtime.(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

AP

1. Roosevelt Jones, Butler’s playmaker?: The Bulldogs notched a win in their opener on Friday, beating Elon 74-59. Rotnei Clarke and Kellen Dunham were as good as advertised, finishing with a combined 39 points while knocking down eight of their 18 threes. The concern for this group heading into the season, however, was at the point guard spot. Clarke, who is technically Butler’s starting point guard, finished with just a single assist, as he simply turned into the guy that brought the ball up the floor for Butler before reverting to sprinting off of off-ball screens. The guy that fill in as Butler’s playmaker ended up being Roosevelt Jones, a bruising, 6-foot-4 small forward. He ended the game with six points, nine boards and six assists.

Could Jones end up playing a role similar to what Draymond Green did at Michigan State?

2. Delaware lost their opener: The Blue Hens were supposed to be Drexel’s biggest challenger in the CAA this season, but their season didn’t exactly get off to a memorable start as Delaware lost at La Salle on Saturday afternoon. Delaware’s vaunted back court or Devon Saddler and Jarvis Threatt finished with just 31 points on 31 shots from the floor, handing out three assists and turning the ball over four times. La Salle is somewhat underrated this season, but that’s still a loss -- and a performance -- that will be tough for UD to swallow.

3. Notable injuries this weekend:


  • Isaiah Austin, Baylor: After scoring 22 points in his debut for the Bears, Austin went down with a sprained ankle midway through the second half against Lehigh. He didn’t play Sunday against Jackson State, but with a trip to a tournament in Charleston kicking off of on Thursday, that was more of a precaution.
  • Otto Porter, Georgetown: Porter caught a nasty-looking, inadvertent elbow early on in Georgetown’s win over Duquesne on Sunday evening. Georgetown classified it as a head injury and said Porter was being held out for precautionary reasons. He only played six minutes on Sunday.
  • Terone Johnson, Purdue: Johnson suffered an ankle injury in practice this week and missed the Bucknell game. He came off the bench on Sunday when Purdue destroyed Hofstra.
  • Vincent Council, Providence: Council injured his hamstring on Saturday in a win over NJIT. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out. “The hamstring is a very tender area and an injury you have to be careful with,” PC coach Ed Cooley said. “We’re all feeling for Vince right now.”

4. Three losses to non-Division I teams: Howard dropped a 68-62 decision to Division II Lincoln (PA) University. Nebraska-Omaha, in their first season in Division I, lost to Saint Mary (not to be confused with St. Mary’s) 96-86. USM is an NAIA Division II team. But the ugliest loss of them all was given to Rice, who lost to NAIA St. Thomas by 13 points. St. Thomas has only had college athletics since 2006.

5. No more games on boats, please: The two that were supposed to be played on the east coast were cancelled due to condensation on the court making it unsafe to use. The one on the west coast had to be rescheduled because of rain on Friday night, and when it was played, the wind was so strong and the sun so bright that it created a situation where shooting from the perimeter was pointless. The game was, frankly, not enjoyable to watch.

Look, I’m all for supporting the troops and raising money and playing games between top 25 teams in exotic locales. I love the creativity. But there are ways to do all of that while playing inside -- see: Michigan State and UConn. There are a lot of creative marketers out there. It’s time to come up with a new idea.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.