Team of the Month: The Duke Blue Devils. Ranked #2 in the nation at 8-0, Duke went into November facing an absolute gauntlet of a schedule. They beat then #3 Kentucky, and in back to back games toppled #2 Louisville and #4 Ohio State. The #1 ranked team, Indiana, has impressed as well, but has only faced one ranked team, a #14 North Carolina squad, who they crushed by 24 points. The rest of the road was not a cake walk for Duke however: they beat now ranked Minnesota, and a tough VCU team. One interesting thing to watch with Duke is the fact that they have yet to play in a true road environment, with four of their eight wins coming on neutral court. They will play two more neutral court games against Temple and Davidson before heading down the road to take on NC State on January 12th. Mark that one on your calender!
Dark Horse of the Month: This was a tough category for me to pick one team, but I went with the 8-1 Bucknell Bison. Bucknell started the year off well with a 15 point road win against Purdue, and has built on that upset with wins against New Mexico State, Columbia, and Kent State. They did lose to a decent Penn State team on the road, but look for Bucknell to turn some heads in the Patriot League and be very dangerous come March and tournament time.
Surprise Team of the Month: Everyone likes surprises. The Virginia Tech Hokies, who entered the season with low expectations and a new coach, like them too. Off-season hire James Johnson has turned this team around in an unbelievable way. At 7-0, the Hokies look like ACC contenders under the leadership of senior guard Erik Green, who is averaging almost 25 points per game. After playing a pretty soft schedule early, Virginia Tech beat Iowa and then upset Oklahoma State (then ranked #15) by ten points. This team still has challenges before conference play starts, like a tough road matchup against West Virginia, but it's time to start believing in the Hokies!
Player of the Month: Many players impressed in November with great stats like Lehigh's C.J. McCollum who averaged 26.3 points per game to lead the nation. But the best player was Duke's Mason Plumlee. The 6 foot 11 inch senior has been the key to Duke's undefeated start, averaging 19.9 points and 11 rebounds per game. The combination of his smart play and size make Mason Plumlee someone to be feared in the ACC this year.
Freshman of the Month: Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State. Smart has led the Cowboys to a 5-0 record in November. He is averaging an incredible 13.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. How good is that? Well, the last freshman to reach those numbers in November was Dwyane Wade in 2001. Smart will try to lead his Cowboys to a championship in what looks like a pretty wide open Big 12 this year.
6th Man of the Month: Just because you don't start doesn't mean you don't have game. Syracuse senior forward James Southerland would agree with that statement. The Bayside, New York product is averaging an extremely efficient 16.7 points off the bench this year in 26 minutes per game. His presence has been felt off the bench, helping Syracuse to an undefeated start.
Shot of the Month: You can always count on Butler for some drama. Brad Stevens' squad was down 2 points late against Marquette in the first round of the Maui Invitational when this happened:
Upset of the Month: Non conference play is always good for some upsets, and we are going to stay in Maui for this one, where Division II host school Chaminade knocked off the Texas Longhorns. It wasn't a fluky upset either. After leading by 4 at the half, Chaminade outpaced the Longhorns in route to a 86-73 victory. Thirty years after upsetting Ralph Samson's #1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers, the Chaminade Silverswords struck once again, and took down another quality opponent in the Maui Invitational.
Game of the Month: With so many tournaments and high powered non conference matchups, it was hard to choose just one, but Duke's nail biting win over Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament final got my vote. Featuring two of the top 5 teams in the country, Duke jumped out to an eight point halftime lead before Louisville clawed their way back, forcing Duke to nail several clutch threes down the stretch to close the deal, 76-71. It looked like a preview of what we might see come tournament time in March.
November was an awesome month for college basketball, and I can't wait to do the December Recap. Here are some great high-powered games that you can't miss for December (rankings are as of December 6) (all times Eastern):
December 8th:
#8 Arizona @ Clemson (8:00 pm), #13 Illinois @ #10 Gonzaga (10:00 pm)
December 15th:
#1 Indiana @ Butler (2:00 pm EST), West Virginia vs #3 Michigan (8:00 pm), #6 Florida @ #8 Arizona (10:00 pm)
December 19th:
Xavier @ #11 Cincinnati (7:00 pm)
December 22nd:
#9 Kansas @ #7 Ohio State (4:00 pm), #13 Illinois @ #12 Missouri (6:00 pm)
December 27th:
#18 New Mexico @ #11 Cincinnati (9:00 pm)
December 29th:
Kentucky @ #5 Louisville (4:00 pm)
December 31st:
#11 Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh (12:00 pm), #19 Michigan State @ #14 Minnesota, #10 Gonzaga @ #23 Oklahoma State (6:00 pm)
There you have it. Happy watching! 'Til next time.
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