Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis, and we hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday season.
We begin our podcast by looking back at the championship game in the Diamond Head Classic, which was won by Houston over Washington. The Cougars simply played better in the second half to rally from a deficit and pull out the win, and they made Washington pay for their mistakes. The Cougars are trending upward as conference play beckons.
After that, we go back a few days to a big Saturday, where Ted had a chance to cover the Orange Bowl Classic and its two great games, as well as Villanova and Providence scoring big wins for the well-balanced Big East on the day. In particular, Providence was overdue for a game like that. Following from that, we also discuss the great run St. John’s has had thus far under new head coach Mike Anderson.
Later, we get into Kentucky losing two straight games in Las Vegas last week, and the Wildcats’ struggles at the offensive end in particular. Other than opening night, when they beat Michigan State, the Wildcats’ best win is over Georgia Tech at home, and that isn’t one that’s going to leap out at the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. With Louisville coming to town in the big rivalry game, we don’t know what to make of Kentucky, but we are about to find out.
The last big subject of the night, before we look ahead to some upcoming games of note, is James Wiseman leaving Memphis. The big man’s departure is not entirely shocking, though the timing of it is for reasons mentioned, but it’s unfortunate for the game all he same. Ted cites an excellent column on this from colleague Matt Norlander.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune in again soon for more of our coverage of college basketball.
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