The Morning Mix

The Jets and Titans played on Monday Night Football last night. What does this have to do with hoops? it means there were probably more eyes on ESPN2 to watch Jim Boeheim earn his 900th career win.

There are 51 games on the docket tonight. Want to know how bad “Exam Week” was? The most games played on a single weekday night was 20. If there is one game you must watch tonight, it’s Stanford at No. 25 North Carolina State. Josh Huestis is having a breakout year and the Wolfpack are loaded with talent.

Lets hit the links.

Monday’s Top Games:
7:00 p.m. – Winthrop @ No. 7 Ohio State
7:00 p.m. – Richmond @ No.9 Kansas
7:00 p.m. – No. 20 Michigan State @ Bowling Green
7:00 p.m. – Western Kentucky @ Virginia Commonwealth (NBC Sports Network)
7:30 p.m. – Old Dominion @ Charleston
8:00 p.m. – Miami (FL) @ Central Florida
9:00 p.m. – Stanford @ No. 25 North Carolina State
9:00 p.m. – Oral Roberts @ No. 4 Arizona
9:00 p.m. – SMU @ Utah
10:00 p.m. – Holy Cross @ San Francisco
11:00 p.m. – UC Santa Barbara @ California
11:00 p.m. – Long Beach State @ UCLA
 
 
Read(s) of the Day:
Brendan Prunty did a lot of great work detailing just how the seven Catholic members of the Big East decided to and executed their departure from the conference. Make sure you read it. (New Jersey Star-Ledger)
 
 
Top Stories:
- Jim Boeheim gets win No. 900: Syracuse held of a late Titans run in order to seal up the 900th victory of Jim Boeheim’s lengthy career. All 900 of his wins have come at the same institution. He sits by just Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Night on the all-time wins list.

Following his 900th win, Jim Boeheim addresses gun control: During the press conference following his 900th career win, Jim Boeheim spoke about gun control issues that have risen in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.

December needs to be less “cupcake heavy”:Every team needs to pad their schedules during the non-conference portion of the season. But the trickle down effect that forms causes the entire non conference landscape to get saturated with way too many uneventful basketball games.

Providence’s Ed Cooley sounds off on the Big East exit: The second year Friars head coach is excited about the prospects of a new league where basketball is the primary focus.

- Villanova’s Jay Wright believes “Catholic-7″ could be best hoops conference in the country: The head coach of the Wildcats believes the new conference would be, “from top to bottom” the best. Does he forget that the bottom includes the likes of DePaul, Providence, South Florida, etc.?

UConn honors Newtown tragedy victims in pregame ceremony: On Monday night, UConn got their opportunity to honor their fallen in-state citizens as the men’s basketball team held a heart-felt memorial before their game with Maryland-Eastern Shore.
 
 
Hoops Housekeeping
- Wichita State big-man Carl Hall will miss the next month because of surgery he had to fix a broken thumb (Wichita Eagle)

- UConn scholarship honoring Newtown shooting victims gets $80,000 boost from Geno Auriemma (New Haven Register)
 
 
Observations & Insight:
- Jim Boeheim got his 900th career win last night as Syracuse defeated Detroit 72-68. But as Jeff Goodman reminds us, it was just over a year ago when we weren’t exactly sure if Boeheim would make it to No. 900. (Eye on College Basketball)

- Former coach Bruce Pearl provides his thoughts on Jim Boeheim’s 900 wins at Syracuse (ESPN)

- A phenomenal-read about the dwindling hoops culture at Wake Forest and the athletic department’s willingness to allow it to happen. (Blogger so Dear)

- Conference-USA is so bad (How bad are they?) that Jeff Goodman doesn’t even think the conference deserves to have any representatives in March Madness. (Eye on College Basketball)

- Jay Bilas and Chad Forde discuss the top-10 draft picks as of right now. (ESPN Insider)

- Former-Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said that he should take the blame for the conference’s implosion. (ESPN)

- The media practice of critiquing weekly poll voters has become over saturated. I only read one a week, and it’s always Gary Parrish. I recommend you do the same. The “Poll Attacks” is the snarkiest weekly-read in college hoops. But that’s why it’s also one of the best. (Eye on College Basketball)

- Notre Dame seems to be weighing their options following the Big East fallout. The Irish announced their move to the ACC earlier in the Fall, but with the departure of the Catholic-7, Notre Dame could find a home for their basketball program and independent football program. (Sports Illustrated)

- Evansville’s athletic director reiterated that there has been no discussions with the Horizon League (Evansville Courier-Press)

- This has been said before, but it does need to be reiterated: Kyle Wiltjer needs to evolved past just a spot-up shooter (Rush The Court)

- LIU-Brookyln lost their best player, Julian Boyd, to a season-ending ACL injury. But despite the loss,l the Blackbirds are still the favorites to win the NEC. (Big Apple Buckets)
 
 
Odds & Ends:
- Eastern Washington does their best Jack Taylor impression, attempts twice as many 3-pointers as they did field goals. (Big Sky BBall)

Only Casual Hoya could and would document all the crimes and misdemeanors that have taken place under Jim Boeheim’s watch at Syracuse (Casual Hoya)

- A litany of Kentucky-related dunk .gifs. The one at the top is the best. (Kentucky Sports Radio)

- Duke-transfer Michael Gbinijie might be the only person in the history of NCAA basketball to play for two 900-game winners. (Syracuse Post-Standard)
 
 
 Picture of the Day:
UTEP fans show their support for the families involved in the elementary school shootings in Newtown, CT during the Miners 62-60 loss at home against No.21 UNLV. (UTEP Athletics)

 
 
Dunks(s) of the Day:
Doug Anderson finished with 18 points in Detroit’s 62-60 loss to Syracuse last night. 12 of his 18 points came on dunks. Enjoy.
 

 
 
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