It’s about that time. The gift of giving. The holiday season. Well, we’re going to play the role of the Grinch and let you know who hasn’t lived up to expectations thus far this college hoops campaign.
Biggest Disappointments
1. Sidney Lowe — The N.C. State head man is in his second season in Raleigh and inherited a talented team from Herb Sendek. If you want proof, check out last year’s ACC tournament (they beat Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech in successive days before running out of gas against UNC). However, Lowe has a team with virtually all of the same pieces and the Wolfpack are just 4-3 with losses to New Orleans and East Carolina — and a blowout at the hands of Michigan State. N.C. State doesn’t appear to be playing with the same purpose as it did late last season and Lowe has made a mistake by cutting Ben McCauley’s minutes so dramatically.
2. Chris Lofton — The Tennessee senior was on everyone’s preseason All-American lists — mine included. He’s the best contested shooter in America, but when he’s not making shots, he’s not doing much else. He’s shooting a mere 36 percent from the field and from long range and while his assist numbers are up (2.9), he’s still one-dimensional.
3. Derrick Caracter — It’s difficult to put the Louisville sophomore big man on any list of disappointments since there are virtually no expectations any more. Cardinals coach Rick Pitino tossed him off the team indefinitely for breaking curfew twice the same day he agreed to a contract with numerous conditions that allowed him to remain on the team. This leaves Louisville with nothing up front. Want proof? Pitino just added football player Josh Chichester.
St. Louis is struggling in Rick Majerus’ first season as coach. (Bill Boyce / FOXSports.com)
4. Rick Majerus — I fully comprehend the fact that the players at St. Louis aren’t his guys, but if Majerus is such a genius, why is he getting his butt handed to him on a regular basis? He got spanked by Kent State by 39 points and barely got past one of the worst teams in D-1 — Long Beach State. I know enough about his team that letting Tommie Liddell loose will result in better than a 6-5 mark. Maybe he should return to television.
5. Maryland coaching staff — The reason the Terps are struggling these days is clearly because of a lack of ACC-caliber talent. Ever since assistant Dave Dickerson left, Gary Williams’ program has started to tumble. Michael Adams was a poor hire and didn’t work out, Williams doesn’t exactly get after it on the recruiting trail and while Lefty’s kid, Chuck Driesell, is a tireless worker, the staff as a whole just isn’t getting it done. They don’t have a single player who can beat you off the dribble.
6. Brandon Costner — Sidney Lowe isn’t the only one who needs to take some blame at N.C. State. There’s plenty to go around. The talented, yet often lazy 6-9 sophomore is shooting a pitiful 31 percent from the floor and has made just 7 of 26 shots from long distance. He finished the season a year ago as one of the most dominant players in the nation (he had 30 points in an ACC tournament win against Duke), but appears to have read too many of his own press clippings or something.
7. Ahmad Nivins — I hate to do this to the talented and versatile St. Joe’s big man, but a fact is a fact — and the fact is the 6-9 junior hasn’t done the job. He was a no-show in a loss to Syracuse with three points in 32 minutes and he’s managed a total of nine points in consecutive losses to Holy Cross and Creighton.
8. Brook Lopez — The disappointment lies in the fact that the skilled 7-foot sophomore at Stanford has yet to take the court. He was suspended for the first semester for academics. We’ll see if he can make up for lost time as he was able to do a year ago when he missed the first few games recovering from a back injury.
9. Byron Eaton — The Oklahoma State junior point guard has always struggled to keep his weight down. This year is no different and with the loss of Mario Boggan and JamesOn Curry, it was time for Eaton to step up. His numbers have actually declined — especially the all-important assist numbers (down from 3.6 to 2.5).
10. Kansas State’s point guards — If Michael Beasley and Bill Walker just had someone to make life easier, the Wildcats could punch their ticket to the Big Dance right now. Unfortunately, it’s going to go down to the wire for Frank Martin’s team whether they are an NIT or NCAA tournament team because the combo of senior Clent Stewart and freshman Jacob Pullen just isn’t getting it done. Pullen has more turnovers than assists and Stewart can’t make a shot from beyond the arc.
11. Taj Gibson — You can forget about the talk of the USC big man going to the NBA after this season. He looks lost offensively and while the athleticism and shot-blocking abilities are still intact, he needs to give the Trojans an inside presence on the offensive end if Tim Floyd’s team is going to make some noise in the Pac-10.
Sonny Weems should be thriving in the Razorbacks’ up-tempo system, but he’s not right now. (April L. Brown / Associated Press)
12. Sonny Weems — For some reason, I expected Arkansas’ athletic wing to have a break-out year under John Pelphrey. The system fits, but Weems may be too much athlete and not enough basketball player. His scoring is down from a year ago (11.8 to 9.4) and he’s turning the ball over far too much at nearly four per contest.
13. Kentucky — Personally, I don’t consider the Wildcats all that much of a disappointment since my expectations weren’t all that high. Sure, the loss to Gardner-Webb was an embarrassment and the loss in Bloomington to an Indiana team without its starting backcourt was, well, embarrassing as well. OK, I’ve convinced myself. Billy Gillispie and the Wildcats have been disappointing.
14. Deon Thompson — I heard all about how the North Carolina big man lost all this weight over the summer and dominated in international competition, but he looks like just another post player right now. Part of it is because he is a poor defender, but he’s certainly not doing what many expected of him on the offensive end.
15. Jon Diebler — Trust me when I tell you this kid can flat-out shoot the ball. When it’s all said and done, the Ohio State freshman will be one of the best perimeter shooters ever to come through Columbus. However, right now he’s laying bricks from downtown. He’s made just 7 of 45 shots from long distance — that’s 16 percent.
16. Southern Illinois — Chris Lowery’s Salukis haven’t had an easy non-conference slate, but I think he’d be the first to admit that the early stretch has been frustrating. Southern Illinois got blown out at USC, lost to Indiana at home and then got tripped up on the road against Charlotte. That’s three losses in the first six games.
17. Quincy Pondexter — After such a strong freshman year, the Washington wing was supposed to be the Huskies’ go-to guy on the perimeter. It hasn’t happened that way. The only consistent player for Lorenzo Romar has been Jon Brockman. Pondexter has only managed to get into double digits in three of the team’s eight games thus far — and he finished with just one field goal in a loss to Texas A&M.
Source: Top 20 NCAA hoops disappointments
