Wednesday Night Awards

Big night of action in college basketball between watching games live and following games online. So for the first time ever, I am starting the Wednesday Night Awards. Hey, what else is there to do on a rainy Wednesday night on Long Island.

The John Starks Keep Chucking Until You Get One In Award - Goes to the Siena Saints and in particular guard Clarence Jackson. Yes he led the way with points for Siena but on 3 of 14 shooting from three and 6 of 23 overall. As far as shooting threes, perhaps Clarence should have stopped when he was 2 of 10. I guess with Edwin Ubiles out, Jackson had no choice but to chuck. And Owen Wignot did not help things with his 0 for 6 performance.

Is it little wonder that Siena just couldn't keep up with #23 Georgia Tech with numbers like that. Pretty hard to win when you are 4 of 27 from three.

The Best Team in the CAA Award- William and Mary? The Mary! Yes, they are the best team going in the CAA. They have a big win over Richmond, whose only loss was to the Tribe (and the Spiders beat the likes of Miss. St, Missouri and Old Dominion) and of course, the huge road win over Wake Forest (yes Wake is nowhere near as good as last year but they are still probably middle of the pack in the ACC).

The Bad Night To Have Two of Your Players Suspended for Stealing Pillows in San Juan Award - George Mason - Ryan Pearson and Andre Cornelius, two sophomore starters for the Patriots were suspended one game for violating team rules. Apparently they stole items from their San Juan hotel and if the CAA Zone rumors are correct, it was pillows. Well, hope those pillows are comfy cause your team lost to George Washington by 19 points (and were down 20 plus points for a good part of the second half).

The "What the Bloody Hell Happened Award?!" - Goes to Clemson for blowing a 22 point lead on their home court in the span of eight minutes, which eventually turned a 57-35 lead over Illinois with 16:47 left into a 63-61 deficit with 8:28 left. The Fighting Illini would eventually win 76-74.

Well, I can tell you what happened for Illinois in those eight minutes- The Perfect Storm. You need the right combination of ingredients for the Perfect Storm. Force turnovers on defense. Check. Seven Tigers turnovers in eight minutes. Force bad shooting. Check. Tigers 1 of 5 from the field during that eight minute period. Have home team shoot poorly from charity stripe. Check. Tigers shoot 1 of 4 from the line during that period. Go on hot streak from the field with several three pointers mixed in. Check. 10 0f 14 from the field including four three pointers during the eight minute onslaught. Mix well and you have a 28-4 Illini run.

I Hate to Say I Told You So, But I Told You So Award - Goes to Old Dominion. If you follow this blog, I have stated several times, I am not fond of the Monarchs' outside shooting. They may have started the season 21 of 42 from three in the their first three games. But those games were against Bethune Cookman, Longwood (soon to be listed as a Wed. Night award winner) and Liberty, three patsies. In their last four games, including three losses in a row, ODU is shooting 18 of 63 - 28.5 percent. ODU shot 5 of 21 from outside tonight in a 67-60 loss at Richmond. The Monarchs' best player, preseason co-CAA player of the Year Gerald Lee, was held to six field goal attempts and nine points. Old Dominion guards, especially Darius James and Marsharee Neely to hit their outside shots, or Lee will see similar nights.

The Cupcake to the CAA Award - Goes to Longwood. The independent Lancers have three games with CAA opponents this season. So far, a 98-59 loss to ODU, and tonight an 84-65 loss to the Mary, where the Tribe called off the dogs after being up 28 at one point. There is still a late season game next year vs. James Madison. Bethune Cookman gets honorable mention for their back to back losses to VCU and ODU by 28 and 31 respectively. However, the Cook only get honorable mention because they beat the Lancers by four this season 66-62.

We'll Gladly Take Our Cash For the Road Game And Slink Away Award - Goes to Alcorn State who decided "Why not a get a one nice payout while we get drubbed by #1 Kansas. Now 0-10 Alcorn State actually went out to a 4-0 lead. Perhaps Kansas was just spotting them. The Jayhawks scored the NEXT THIRTY SIX POINTS, one short of the NCAA record for most consecutive points by one team in a game. The score at the half was 53-12. Needless to say the Jayhawks won 98-30. I know this isn't a good indicator of how good the Jayhawks are, but having seen them in person. I am surprised it wasn't 125 points scored.

The Finally After All This Time Award - Goes to the Big Ten as they finally beat the ACC overall for the first time in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Big Ten can thank Illinois for that.