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State Line Hoops
Rankings© — 12/06/01
THE TOP TEN
1. Duke ... The Blue Devils haven’t shown that focus,
leadership and direction that Shane Battier gave the team last season
but Duke is 7-0 after an 82-57 win over Temple on Wednesday night.
Jason Williams scored 26 points and Mike Dunleavy added 24. Coach Mike
Krzyzewski has moved Chris Duhon to point guard to set up Williams for
more scoring opportunities. Although Duke was out-rebounded by Clemson
on Sunday, the Devils won the battle of the boards against the Owls by
a 37-31 margin. Upcoming tests include a game at Michigan on Saturday
and a visit from Kentucky on Dec. 18.
2. Wake Forest ... The Deacons are 5-2 with losses on
the road to Top 10 teams Kansas (83-76) and Syracuse (74-67) but the
setbacks resulted for different reasons. Wake fell to the Orangemen in
the NIT championship because it didn’t handle the ball well against
Syracuse’s defensive pressure. The Deacons were repeatedly beaten in
transition at Kansas and the Jayhawks went to the free throw line 40
times. New coach Skip Prosser was supposed to bring a faster tempo to
the program but his club is averaging 76.0 points through seven games
compared to 76.5 points for last season’s team.
3. South Carolina ... The Gamecocks are 5-2 under new
coach Dave Odom, who left Wake Forest to take on the challenges in the
Southeastern Conference. The losses have been to ranked teams, Duke
(81-56) and UCLA (89-77). Jamel Bradley (15.0 points per game) and
Aaron Lucas (11.1) have been leading the Gamecocks offensively. Odom’s
new program gets a shot at another ranked team when it hosts
Georgetown, No. 15 in the coaches poll, tonight. That’s followed by a
game at state rival Clemson at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
4. Furman ... The Paladins’ roster looks more like
roll call at the United Nations but the foreign delegation is getting
it done for Coach Larry Davis. Karim Souchu, from France, is the
leading scorer (17.8 ppg). Other averages and nationalities include
Guilherme Da Luz (11.8, Brazil), Maleye Ndoye (6.0, Senegal), Jorge
Seraphim (3.3, Brazil) and Marijan Pojatina (2.0, Croatia). Furman
also has some red-blooded Americans such as Anthony Thomas from
Atlanta, who is averaging 11.1 points. The Paladins face challenges at
Wisconsin on Dec. 15 and at Saint Louis on Dec. 19.
5. College of Charleston ... Jeff Bolton leads the
scoring with a 20.2 average for the 5-0 Cougars of Coach John Kresse,
whose team plays its home games at ... John Kresse Arena. Sort of like
Dean Smith in the Smith Center, only Kresse Arena seats a modest
3,500. The Cougars play at the Smith Center against the Tar Heels on
Dec. 21. A Dec. 15 game at UNC Wilmington will also define the
Carolinas power structure. Thomas Mobley is averaging 10.4 points
while 6-7 freshman Shannon Chambers averages 10.0 points and a
team-high 7.6 rebounds.
6. Clemson ... Chris Hobbs and Ray Henderson weigh a
combined total of 500 pounds. They could fill in on WWF and not look
out of place. Clemson’s rugged inside duo combined for 36 points in a
76-66 home win over Appalachian State on Wednesday night. Hobbs, who
played at East Chapel Hill High but was ignored by UNC recruiters, had
eight points during a 18-4 run that gave the Tigers a 52-44 lead with
11:34 remaining. That avenged a 72-60 loss at Littlejohn Coliseum to
the Mountaineers last season.
7. Charlotte ... Coach Bobby Lutz has been concerned
about his team’s consistency in a 3-3 start. One positive aspect is
that the 49ers are hitting a healthy 41.4 percent of their three-point
attempts but their long-range capability hasn’t been sufficient in
losses to Indiana (65-61), Temple (72-64) or Valparaiso (70-63).
Senior shooting guard Jobey Thomas leads the team in scoring with a
16.4 average while sophomore guard Demon Brown averages15.6. The 49ers
visit ECU in Conference USA play on Jan. 12.
8. N.C. State ... As might be expected, losses to Ohio
State and Massachusetts have produced some rumbling among a fan base
that hasn’t had an NCAA Tournament entry to back since 1991. ECU,
which qualified for the Big Dance in 1993 by winning the Colonial
Athletic Association Tournament, has been since the Wolfpack’s last
apppearance. Anthony Grundy is playing well. The 6-3 guard leads the
team with a 13.6 scoring average and is also grabbing 5.9 rebounds.
Freshmen Julius Hodge and Josh Powell are each scoring over 10 points
per game. State has a huge opportunity at Syracuse on Saturday at 7
p.m.
9. UNC Greensboro ... After a 56-54 win over East
Carolina on Wednesday night, Pirates coach Bill Herrion said the
Spartans, 19-10 last season with a trip to the NCAAs, might be the
best team his club has faced this season. “Not the best talent, but
the best team,” Herrion said. David Schuck had 10 points and 10
rebounds against ECU and teammate Courtney Eldridge scored 12 points.
UNCG’s only loss was at Middle Tennessee State, 74-58. UNCG hosts
Delaware on Saturday and visits Arkansas on Monday.
10. UNC Wilmington ... The Seahawks bounced back from
an 80-54 loss at Ohio State on Sunday to stun another Big Ten team,
Minnesota, 58-50, on Tuesday. Junior Brett Blizzard is averaging 20.7
points and hitting 52.9 percent behind the arc. Ed Williams had 18
points and 11 rebounds as the Seahawks rallied to outscore MInnesota
36-19 in the second half. “We gave in and fell apart at Ohio State,”
said UNCW coach Jerry Wainwright after his team improved to 3-3. “very
seldom do you get the opportunity to go from the outhouse to the
penthouse.”
THE NOT SO SWEET 17
11. Davidson
12. The Citadel
13. Appalachian State
14. East Carolina ... Help is on the way for the
Pirates with sophomore Gabriel Mikulas expected to return to the team
by a Dec. 15 home game with USC-Spartanburg. Mikulas, last year’s
leading scorer with a 15.0 average and the CAA rookie of the year, has
had to sit out while ECU supplies the NCAA with information about
leagues that Mikulas played in back home in Argentina where some
players received payment. Freshman Moussa Badiane played his first
game for the Pirates after being reinstated for similar sanctions at
UNC Greensboro on Wednesday night. Badiane hit five of six shots from
the field for 10 points while grabbing seven rebounds and blocking
three shots in 22 minutes. Erroyl Bing continued to shine for the
Pirates with 14 points and 15 rebounds. The Pirates started out with
wins over Rutgers and Northwestern but have since lost five straight
to fall to 2-5. Teams have adjusted to ECU’s lack of size by playing
man to man defense and pounding the ball inside. Mikulas’ return
should help solve that problem. Bing, who Coach Herrion plans to play
at small forward when his personnel is at full tsrength, has been
doing yeoman’s work, battling bigger players to average 19.7 points
and 7.8 rebounds going into the game with the Spartans. Freshman
forward Jonathan Moore has been an instant contributor with an 11.3
scoring average and 4.7 rebounding rate through six games.
15. Wofford
16. Elon
17. Campbell
18. North Carolina A&T
19. Gardner-Webb
20. North Carolina
21. Coastal Carolina
22. High Point
23. UNC Asheville
24. Charleston Southern
25. South Carolina State
26. Winthrop
27. Western Carolina |
