[The Poet]

There were very few surprises, and no big shocks, in last night's action, so I will limit myself to only a few scores which, for one or another reason, struck me:



Tennessee 104 - Memphis 84 = A Volunteer victory is no surprise, as they are a better team than their recent play has indicated. A Tiger loss is also no surprise, as this young team has had many "growth" problems this season, and should probably consider themselves lucky that this was just their 3rd loss so far, since they posted several narrow wins. However, the margin of victory far exceeded my expectations.

ODU 49 - Northeastern 34 = And the total amount of scoring here is absolutely atrocious. Look at it this way: Had these two collectively been playing that Memphis team above, they together would still have lost by a point.

Harvard 78 - Boston College 69 = The Crimson have not been receiving nearly the amount of press they did last year, when experts thought they'd make the NCAAs for the first time in . . . what, decades? On the other hand, the Eagles have been getting good reviews, with some going so far as to say that, though they were unlikely to challenge Duke in the ACC, they might just challenge all others. That may still be the case, but this Beantown defeat lends little evidence to that. Yet there are other factors to consider too. First, this makes the third straight meeting where Harvard has "upset" BC. And second, BC's new coach is Steve Donahue, late of Cornell, who was the Ivy opponent that had Harvard's number under his tenure there . . . so the revenge element was undoubtedly sweet.


Tonight's slate of games include:


Villanova vs. South Florida = I would not expect 'Nova will be pushed in this one, though it may remain close for a time.

Illinois vs. Northwestern = And pretty much the same story here. It may not be a blowout, but it should be comfortable late in the game for the Illini.

Cincinnati vs. Xavier = The Bearcats come into this at 14-0, but they have not faced much quality opposition yet. The X-men do not seem to have as good a team as some in their past, but they aren't patsies either. This might actually turn into a fairly decent contest.

Charleston vs. Furman = And here too, we have teams that both can play a little. This could go down to the last few possessions.

Washington vs. Oregon = I have yet to see any indication that Washington is really all that good. I have seen a fair amount of evidence that the Ducks suck. I don't think this one will stay in single digits for long.

Washington State vs. Oregon State = But this Northwest Passage matchup could be an entirely different matter. WSU may be 10-4 overall, as opposed to OSU's 7-6, but in conference play they are respectively 0-2 versus 2-0. The Cougars need a conference victory badly, but the Beavers need a win of any sort to remain above .500. If nothing else, the intensity should be there.

California vs. Arizona = The desert Wildcats have played better than the experts predicted they would, but are coming off a disappointing loss to those aforementioned Beavers. The Golden Bears started off quite well with some early wins, most notably to then # 21 Temple, but have been up-and-down since, yoyoing between Ls and Ws. So give the edge to 'Zona, as we can't depend upon the good Bear squad showing up, as opposed to the bad one.


That's my picks for tonight. Enjoy.