College Basketball Weekend Preview

Saturday, January 19

Notre Dame at Georgetown
When the Irish face Georgetown today, it could prove to be the defining moment in their season. If they don't come up with a good road effort against the conference's best team, they may find future road games to be difficult to win.

The game will feature a marvelous post battle between 7-foot-3 C Roy Hibbert of Georgetown, the preseason pick as player of the year in the Big East Conference, and 6-9 Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, who has averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds a game, better individual numbers than Hibbert.

But Georgetown's quick defense figures to give the Irish fits. The Hoyas are giving up almost six points a game less than any other team in the conference, allowing fewer than 55 points a game. Especially interesting will be the way they defend Notre Dame's 3-point shooters, the Irish leading the conference in 3-point accuracy and Georgetown the best at defending against the 3.

This game will come down to three point defense on the Hoyas' end and paint defense on the Irish's end.  If Notre Dame can contain Hibbert and keep him from creating plays, they have a chance but that is the ONLY way.  The Hoyas will need to play better perimeter defense than they have been this year because that is ND's specialty.  However, Notre Dame is not even close to the same team on the road and they are very sketchy from beyond the arc when playing away.  Irish fans would love to see the Irish come away with a win, but in a hostile DC environment, Hoyas by 10... maybe worse if the Hoyas shoot lights out like Marquette did last Saturday.  We are looking forward to a physical battle in the post. The Fighting Irish are only 4-3 ATS on the road, while the Hoyas are a perfect 11-0 at home ATS.

Sunday, January 20

Oregon at Washington State
Oregon will again attempt to earn a split of a weekend road series the more difficult way, this time by trying to beat No. 8 Washington State today.

The Ducks put themselves in that situation by losing at Washington on Thursday. It's not unlike two weeks ago, when Oregon lost at Arizona State but came back to knock off Arizona two days later. So it's not impossible. And Oregon does have a 13-game winning streak over the Cougars, meaning neither of the Bennetts, first Dick and now Tony, has beaten Oregon.

It's a definite contrast in styles, which Oregon has often made work in its favor because it has forced the Cougars to play at a faster pace than WSU is used to playing. What the Ducks don't have in this trip to Pullman is Aaron Brooks, who was a particular matchup problem for the Cougars at point guard.

And point guard play is an issue for Oregon, probably not the way a team wants to go into a game against the Cougars. Freshman Kamyron Brown is struggling with turnovers and sophomore Tajuan Porter with his outside shot.

The Ducks have won 14 straight games in the series, including 77-74 in overtime at WSU last season. The good news for WSU: Aaron Brooks, who scored 31 points for Oregon, is gone, but Derrick Low is back for the Cougars, and he had 37 in the contest. Oregon is 4-6 ATS on the road and the Cougars are 9-0 ATS on their home court.

Tuesday, January 22

Wake Forest at Clemson
There's plenty of fixing up to do with Wake Forest, particularly on defense. And there's not much time to do it considering that the Demon Deacons must head off to Clemson.

Wake Forest's 112-73 loss at Boston College ranked as the most lopsided setback for the Demon Deacons in 25 years and the 10th-worst all-time for the program. That was hardly the kind of debut Dino Gaudio was looking for in his first ACC road game as head coach. Gaudio said the Demon Deacons hoped to apply some of the things they might have seen from a defensive standpoint against Boston College to the Maryland game because both opponents use similar flex offenses. The 71-64 victory for Maryland put the Terrapins right about at their season scoring average. If Wake Forest doesn't tighten up on defense, there could be real trouble looming. In its three league games so far, it has yet to face a team among the league's top seven scoring offenses.

The Tigers, who lost their league opener in overtime to North Carolina, had to go two extra periods before getting past Florida State 93-85. It was the first time that an ACC team has ever opened conference play with two overtime games. Terrence Oglesby's three-point barrage finished off the Seminoles after buzzer beaters by Trevor Booker (a trey with three seconds left in regulation) and James Mays (a jumper with one second left in the first OT) kept the Tigers alive.

Oglesby, a freshman backup guard who made only one of his eight attempts from beyond the arc in the loss to the Tar Heels, hit three three-pointers in the second extra period to break the game open. And thus the Tigers avoided losing their first two conference games at home, which could have wrecked what is figured to be a contending run in the ACC even before it began. It also snapped a two-game losing streak as the Tigers, possibly still smarting from the pain of the loss to the Tar Heels, dropped a midweek game to Charlotte. Wake Forest is 1-5 ATS on the road, while Clemson is 9-2 at home ATS.