http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2232836 Aldridge's long arms save Longhorns By Andy Katz ESPN.com KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- West Virginia coach John Beilein was in mid-sentence ,discussing Mike Gansey's gritty play, when suddenly his thoughts shifted to Texas center LaMarcus Aldridge. "Where did Aldridge come from? He wasn't even in the picture," said Beilein, the memory of West Virginia's final possession flashing through his head. "I thought we were going to win ... and then all of a sudden Aldridge blocked it." Aldridge, arms straight up to ensure he wouldn't be called for violating "the rules of verticality," got a piece of Gansey's seemingly open layup -- as well as a bit of body bumping -- in the final seconds to secure No. 2 Texas' 76-75 victory Monday in the semifinals of the Guardians Classic at the historic Municipal Auditorium. Texas will play Iowa in Tuesday night's final (ESPN2, 10 p.m. ET) after the Hawkeyes upset Kentucky 67-63 later in the evening. "I came in for the block and I was worried about fouling him. But I thought it would be better to foul him than give him a wide-open layup and force him to make the free throws," Aldridge said. "I'm feeling real comfortable right now." Aldridge set up the important block by laying in a bucket at the other end off a tipped rebound from Brad Buckman, which followed an errant Kenton Paulino jumper. Aldridge finished with 15 points and 14 boards, his third straight double-double to start the 2005-06 season. The 6-foot-10 sophomore, who didn't play after Jan. 15 last season due to a hip injury, is fully healed in every sense. His body and game are completely healthy. Texas coach Rick Barnes isn't going to say too much publicly but we can tell you that, privately, he is adamant that Aldridge can end up being the best player in the country. And, it's no surprise that NBA personnel in attendance Monday were already abuzz about Aldridge, not Connecticut's Rudy Gay, as having the potential to be the No. 1 pick in the June draft. Of course, that's for a later discussion, but Barnes doesn't doubt its validity. He knows he's got perhaps the top frontcourt player in the country in his corner. "He's so big and he reminds me of [Bob] McAdoo," Beilein said. "He's got great hands. He's really good." The Longhorns were hardly sharp, committing 24 turnovers and letting Gansey (28 points) and the Mountaineers slice them up at times. Still, ultimately, the difference wasn't point guard Daniel Gibson (20 points, one assist, nine turnovers), or forward P.J. Tucker (19 points). It was Aldridge and will continue to be Aldridge. "He's incredible, a tremendous athlete and I just love watching him play," said Buckman, a senior. " Playing with him is a treat. I look up to the guy and you don't normally look up to younger guys. The injury made him even stronger." Praise for Aldridge is growing exponentially. Barnes said Aldridge's timing is a non-factor because it's already well-tuned. He got rid of the cheap fouls in the preseason. And, if anyone needs to adjust, Barnes said it's Gibson learning to play with Aldridge and Tucker again after forging ahead without them last winter (Tucker was ruled academically ineligible in the second semester and missed the Longhorns' final 14 games). "He does need to get more selfish and start demanding the ball," Barnes said. Aldridge took just 10 shots, making seven. "If you want the touches then you need to go and get them." As for Tuesday night, Iowa can expect to face a completely different Aldridge from the player the Hawkeyes saw a year ago in beating Texas in the Maui Invitational. He's stronger, more refined and clearly more focused. Iowa coach Steve Alford said as much after beating Kentucky. Iowa, however, will be a stern test for the Longhorns, and notably Aldridge, because of their physical play. According to Iowa's Greg Brunner, who is in the mold of the lunch-pail type of Big Ten players like former Purdue forward Brian Cardinal, the Hawkeyes are defined by their rough style of play. Iowa will be able to exert its physicality on Texas if only Aldridge isn't a factor inside. Tucker can match the toughness, but Aldridge's length could be too disruptive. "We needed this now and we better get used to it," Aldridge said of grinding out a win three games into the season against a ranked team (West Virginia entered the game ranked 14th). Iowa, meanwhile, checks in at No. 20, and the Longhorns have games scheduled against top-ranked Duke, Villanova (No. 5), Oklahoma twice, (No. 6), Memphis (No. 12) and Iowa State (No. 25) among a slate of Big 12 teams that could move into the top 25 this season. "The first thing coach told us in the locker room was that this was like a tournament game, and every tournament game goes down to the wire," said Aldridge, who didn't play in the NCAA Tournament last season because of his injury. "It felt so good after the game. I can't wait to get back to the tournament." If Aldridge is this excited in November, look out come March. Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Rondo Can't Rescue 'Cats Tubby Smith looked exasperated. He searched for answers as he addressed the media late Monday night after Kentucky lost 67-63 to Iowa in the semifinals of the Guardians Classic. He simply doesn't have many right now. Here is a sampling: "We're not playing together." ... "We need to be tough, mentally and physically." ... "Our M.O. right now is that we have to be tougher mentally and physically." ... "We're not rebounding well and that started a year ago." ... "I've never had a guard rebound like that." The last line is in reference to Kentucky sophomore point guard Rajon Rondo who had one of the most bizarre lines in recent memory with 19 rebounds, five points, five assists and five turnovers. He had 17 boards before he had his first point. Iowa coach Steve Alford poked fun at forward Greg Brunner after the game that a guard had outrebounded him. Brunner said he had no room to talk since he has never even had 19 boards. But someone had to get them. And Rondo's quickness to the ball allowed him to get to the rim. But that does put a drain on the rest of the team. Smith added that he was searching for combinations, using 11 players and no one really sticking, outside of Rondo. And even Rondo (1 of 9) wasn't clicking. The starting guards -- Rondo, Patrick Sparks (2 of 5) and Joe Crawford (1 of 6) -- had the opportunity to take this game considering Iowa's backcourt was just as off (Jeff Horner 1 of 10 and Adam Haluska 2 of 9). The only Iowa guard that was making shots was Mike Henderson 4 of 9. But the insult came late when Tony Freeman stripped Kentucky's Ramel Bradley at the top of the key in the final 11 seconds when Kentucky had a shot to tie the game with a 3-pointer. When asked what Kentucky's identity should be this season, Smith said he's always had great defensive teams that rebound. But he doesn't have center Randolph Morris for the foreseeable future as the school bickers with the NCAA over his eligibility due to his NBA draft process. And, until then, the rebounding could be left up to Rondo. If that's the case, the Wildcats have issues they may not have an answer to yet. --Andy Katz, ESPN.com
West Virginia gave that game away, but they should have hit their free throws. That was a clean block, the color guy kept trying to say it was close but the WV player initiated the contact. Had UT lost, they would have given it away with all the turnovers.
I love college hoops!! This new pre-season tourny is great! The Maui Invite has been good too (several good teams there with UConn, Gonzago, Maryland and Michigan St), and The Preseaon NIT and Alaskan Shootout have not even begun yet
Kentucky handled WV very well. 80-66 http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=253260277 Kentucky puts West Virginia away with early run KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Patrick Sparks scored 25 points and led an early 20-0 run that carried No. 7 Kentucky past No. 13 West Virginia 80-66 on Tuesday night in the consolation game of the Guardians Classic. Kentucky (3-1) turned an early 9-2 deficit into a 22-9 lead in the first half with Sparks hitting three 3-pointers, and West Virginia (2-2) spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. Twice the Mountaineers cut the lead to three, the last time with 8:23 left when Patrick Beilein and Kevin Pittsnogle hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 56-53. But Ravi Moss answered with a 3 for the Wildcats and a few minutes later Sparks hit his seventh 3-pointer and Rajon Rondo scored for a 68-58 advantage. Rondo had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sparks was 7-for-11 from behind the arc, matching his career-high. He also had six assists. Kentucky was 2-for-8 from the foul line before making its last six free throws in the final 70 seconds to seal the victory. Pittsnogle tied his career-high with 27 points and also had 10 rebounds. The only other Mountaineer in double figures was Mike Gansey with 12 points. The Mountaineers, who earned a preseason ranking for the first time in 43 years, went scoreless for 9:52 during Kentucky's 20-0 run until Pittsnogle made a short jumper in the lane. West Virginia cut the lead to 28-23 on Pittsnogle's 3-pointer with 3:23 left in the first half before Kentucky scored the next five points on Jared Carter's tip-in and three-point play. Frank Young's 3-pointer at the buzzer left the Wildcats with a 33-26 halftime lead. The Mountaineers, who had a school-record 319 3-pointers last season, missed 10 of their first 11 and finished 10-for-37 from behind the arc.
Good game so far. I thought Texas would win this game, but man, they need to rebound the ball better. Iowa is owning them on the glass.
Texas looks good. Not #2 good, but good. Buckman played very well. I'm a little miffed about the officiating in the first half, but that didn't decide the game. Nice win. See you in March!
These past 2 games are great wins for this team. We showed a lot of poise at the end and it also shows how hard you have to play to win games. Turnovers have been a problem so far this season, hopefully we can clean most of it up before Friday.
Texas played very sloppy basketball again. of course, they won again, but i'm not too impressed with their discipline. daniel gibson needs to learn how to PASS the freakin' ball to HIS teammates. this should be a fun season...
Aldridge looks fantastic so far. I thought the last 2 foul calls on him were pretty weak. If we ever clean up our playing, we're going to be a really great team.
The rest of the nation is on notice. The scary thing is that this team is only going to get better with each game that they play. Texas will also be undefeated going into a huge nationally televised game with Duke at the Meadowlands on December 10th. As others have said before Dec. 10 will be a huge day for the Horns with that game and the Heisman Trophy presentation later that night. Hook 'em.
texas needs better guard play from all of the their guards. the turnovers and them not getting the ball down into lamarcus aldridge more, is keeping them from really dominating. i think they fall asleep sometimes on defense. but i trust rick barnes will get that fixed. the frontline is flat out awesome. all three of them are terrific. they need mike williams to step up and play better, this guy was regarded as top 20 player nationally in HS but he hasn't looked like that yet this season. they should have beaten both of those teams by more points, but they can fix the problems they have. they are still are a young as a team, they haven't played a whole lot of games with each other. i'm very optimistic about the season because they came up clutch when they needed to, and got two important wins for when tourney selection comes. both of those teams should be top 20 teams all season.
