Wrapping up the tournaments

Thanksgiving week is long over and so are most of the early season exempt tournaments. These events are often resume builders for March (see Butler in the 2006 NIT Season Tipoff) so let's look at the winners of each event a little bit more.

NIT Season Tipoff - Texas A&M. I expected the Aggies to take a bit of a step back after losing star Acie Law, but they impressed with big wins in New York over Washington and Ohio State. While super freshman DeAndre Jordan has been super on the boards (14.4 per 40 mins) and from the field (83.3 FG%) upperclassmen Josh Carter, Joseph Jones and Dominique Kirk are the leading scorers. This team is still playing stifling defense so expect to see them in March.

Maui Invitational - Duke. I was one who thought that the Blue Devils might have been a bit overrated with people putting them in their preseason top 10. It's still early, but any top 10 wouldn't be credible without having Duke present at this point. Coach K has his team running more than it did last year, back to Duke basketball. Kyle Singler lived up to his hype in winning the tournament MVP, and if Coach K finally decides to take advantage of his depth this team will be dangerous.

College Basketball Experience Classic - UCLA. When you're a preseason #2, you're expected to win big games early in the season. When you're without two of your top guards, that will hardly be taken into consideration by media and fans. Darren Collison and Michael Roll were missed, but the Bruins still handled Maryland and beat a good Michigan State team in the finals. Another star freshman - this time Kevin Love - has paced the team by averaging a double-double through 7 games. By the way, this team still plays some great defense. Imagine that coming from a Ben Howland coached team.

Great Alaska Shootout - Butler. I don't have to like Butler. And after beating Maryland last March, I'm not going to do it. What you must do, however, is give them their due as a legitimate top 25 team. The Bulldogs win games with a simple formula - slow the tempo, protect the rock like the Hope Diamond, and take lots of threes. Butler doesn't have much size which shows up in their defense and rebounding, but that deadly efficient offense is enough to beat a team when it's running smoothly. Wins over Virginia Tech and Texas Tech in the final two rounds aren't landmark wins, especially compared to what the team did last season, but they are strong wins for Butler early in the year.

Old Spice Classic - North Carolina State. The Pack didn't make it easy with late wins over South Carolina and Villanova in their last two games, but freshman JJ Hickson led them to victory in the second edition of the Orlando based event. NC State has no experience at point guard so expect some growing pains - turnovers have been a problem so far. The talent is there to finish high in the ACC.

US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam - Baylor. The Bears have not been good in a long time. The program is coming off of one of the worst scandals of all-time and has won as many as 6 Big XII games just once this decade. Scott Drew is seeking to change that, and he has laid the groundwork with solid recruiting classes including freshman Lacedarius Dunn and sophomore Demond Carter, both out of Louisiana. Wins over Wichita State, Notre Dame and Winthrop, all recent NCAA Tournament teams is cause for celebration for a team that has beat just one tournament team in the last four seasons. In all liklihood Baylor is still a season or two away from truly competing in the Big XII, but an NIT berth may be in the cards.

Anaheim Classic - USC. Lose to Mercer by double digits on your home court to open the season and you have to prove you deserved that top 25 preseason ranking. The Trojans didn't quite do that in Anaheim, but their championship game thrashing of Southern Illinois showed their potential. The top seven in minutes for USC are all either freshman or sophomore. Star freshman OJ Mayo (59.2 eFG%, 21.8 ppg) has been an offensive force early on despite taking terrible care of the ball, turning it over 4.7 times per game.

South Padre Island Invitational - Vanderbilt. Andrew Ogilvy is the best freshman that no one is hyping. He's an international player that hails from Australia so right now Fran Fraschilla might be the only analyst at the Worldwide Leader that knows who he is, but if he continues to make two-thirds of his shots that will change quickly. Losing Derrick Byars hurts this team, but they can still get back to level they were at last season with Shan Foster and Ogilvy leading the charge.

Puerto Rico Tipoff Classic - Miami. The Hurricanes are still number one in Ken Pomeroy's version of the RPI. Early wins over Marist, VCU and Providence are all solid for this team though they did struggle with Morgan State and Alabama State after returning from the island (albeit without Jack McClinton). McClinton is the star and a returning All-ACC player, but he will need to be even better this season for Miami to contend in the ACC.

Chicago Invitational Challenge - Xavier. This one was most notable for the Musketeers' rout of then-top 10 Indiana. Xavier went to the tournament last season and came excruciatingly close to upending Ohio State. Now with four seniors in their top six, Xavier is the clear favorite in the Atlantic Ten and should make a return trip to the Big Dance.

Las Vegas Invitational - North Carolina. Louisville losing in the semifinals of the championship round took away the made-for-TV top 10 matchup with North Carolina. The Tar Heels didn't roll in the finals, though, fighting off a feisty BYU team deep into the second half. The story early for the Heels is that they look like a top 5 team. No surprise there. UNC has played well offensively and defensively and shows little weakness in its component numbers with only their opponents eFG% (107th) ranking outside the nation's top 100. Watch out for their game against Kentucky at Rupp Arena where they will likely be without Tywon Lawson.

Legends Classic - Texas. In yet another new event, the Longhorns ran Tennessee out of the building in the finals. They're still an offensive force, even without Kevin Durant, but the defense would still seem to need some tweaks, at least in the early going.