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November 9, 2006
Two Days In - Two Teams Not to Watch
The college basketball season has started with the Coaches vs. Cancer classic, this year expanded into a very large tournament. One of the teams that will be playing in the semi-finals coming up is Maryland, who took care of their first two opponents, Vermont and Hampton, with less than a concern.
However, there are plenty of concerns for the Terrapins, who last season missed the NCAA tournament last year. The biggest concern I would have is what they have done to address their issues inside. Ekene Ibekwe is good, but he got beat up last season in the ACC and didn't give the Terps the power they needed on the interior. This season, I already see concerns with Maryland on the inside and this was against Vermont and Hampton. They will be overmatched again in ACC play and may struggle to make the tournament for a second straight season.
The other team that concerns me so far? Michigan State. Not much was expected this season for the Spartans, and if the game against Brown was any indication, I don't think much should have been.
Brown held Michigan State to 45 points last night. And it wasn't as if the Spartans shot poorly. They were over 40% from the field. But 45 points over 40 minutes should be very disturbing for Tom Izzo and the boys in green.
Their defense might have saved them. They held Brown under 30% shooting and yet they only won by 11. Had Brown been able to shoot better, I think we would have been seeing a very unhappy East Lansing today.
I am going to go out on a limb here this early in the season. Neither of these teams will be title contenders, and should they make the NCAA tournament, you are looking at two teams ripe for a first round upset.
Sure, projecting that from the first couple of games this season is dangerous, but I think in these two cases, I am safe.
Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted by bmiraski at November 9, 2006 5:00 PM
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