Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Iowa State Thumpin' / Colorado Tonight! 8:00 ESPN-U

Colorado Preview
Hey guys – a quick note about tonight’s game at Colorado, the Wednesday night “DO NOT SCREW THIS UP” special – live from Boulder at 8:00 on ESPN-U and ESPN360.com.

The Aggies will be looking to keep their streak toward March Madness alive with a trap-game in Boulder tonight against the 9-19 Colorado Buffaloes. The Buffs are sporting a league worst 1-13 conference record and have lost 9 in a row. (Would I be setting up a good JINX situation if I told you that they have not lost 10 in a row since losing 17 straight to end the 1985-86 season?) Don’t shoot me, I am just giving you some facts.

One thing to keep an eye on tonight is Colorado’s starting point guard, freshman Nate Tomlinson. He has missed the last 2 games (OSU and Baylor) with concussion symptoms. It is uncertain if he is going to play tonight. Before missing 2 straight, Tomlinson had started every game this year for Jeff Bzdelik’s group.

The Aggies will be looking to make it 5 in a row and will need for Josh Carter to stay red-hot if they hope to go up to Colorado and handle their business. Carter has made 14 of his last 19 three point attempts and will be starting his 100th game in an Aggie uniform.

Don’t for one second think that the Aggies can just waltz into the Coors Event Center and show up and win. CU has taken both K-State (*77-75 loss) and Texas (*85-76 loss) to overtime in that building. Six of Colorado’s 13 league losses are by 5 points or less, or in overtime. The Buffs are led by sophomore guard Cory Higgins (17.3 ppg) and junior guard Dwight Thorne II (12.3 ppg). Thorne, who is Acie Law’s cousin, is also one of the league’s best three point shooters making 44% of his three point attempts.

The Aggie Hoops Report Score Prediction:
Texas A&M 68

Colorado 59

Iowa State Recap
OK – I also want to take just a second to talk about last Saturday’s impressive win over Iowa State. It was only the 4th or 5th time this year where the Aggies came out and played 40 minutes of basketball. Josh Carter was simply outstanding as the senior guard scored a career high 29 points including making 7 of his 10 attempts from behind-the-arc. When it was all said and done, the Aggies put up a “as it should have been” 87-69 victory.

Big Chin was also pretty awesome on Saturday adding 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds – for his 9th double/double of the year.

Elonu, Roland and Sloan were all on the bench to start the game as they were late for a team meeting.

Finally, the Aggies did a fairly decent job slowing down Iowa State superstar Craig Brackins. The big Sophomore had 20 points on 9-of-20 shooting but only had 5 rebounds. Brackins also had 18 of his 20 points in the 1st half – Turgeon and his staff did a great job forcing the big guy to change his game in the 2nd frame. The crazy thing about Brackins, I had no idea that his game was so good facing the basket. If he’s a legitimate 6’10” (he didn’t look that tall) and can play facing the basket like that, there are going to be quite a few NBA General Managers interested in talking Mr. Brackins into coming out of school.

OK – That’s all. I am however going to say it one more time. Don’t give up on this group of guys just yet – the fat lady remains warmed up, but she ain’t singin’ yet. Hang with ‘em!!!

Carry on.
-sb

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home