Thoughts from last night's games

Watched significant parts of 4 games last night and here are some quick, random thoughts on the players and teams:

• James Anderson was impressive. Texas A&M is a smart, well-coached team and they defended Anderson well from the start. Anderson did what a player of his stature needed to do in such a situation. He drove the ball and got to the line for 11 FTAs. He found open teammates, dishing out a season-high 7 assists. He led his team to a hard-fought victory in what is looking more and more like the nation's best conference.
• The Big Ten is not an easy place to excel. This point is basically about Evan Turner. He checked in with another impressive game last night on his way to most college POY honors. That he can put up such impressive numbers playing this type of game just adds to my already-high opinion of him. The Big Ten game is slow, methodical and focused on defense. It isn't surprising that the conference is slowly sliding further behind the other majors in overall quality. Slow defensive play just isn't going to attract the top HS stars.
• Bruce Weber still hasn't shown he can recruit with the best. Since taking players recruited by predecessor Bill Self to the championship game, Illinois coach Bruce Weber has struggled to get the program back to elite status. That was supposed to change this year or next with back-to-back top 20 classes. So far though it has been more of the same as the Illini remain a bubble team.
• Duke is a legit national title contender. Forget the talk that this team is unathletic, or a bunch of chokers. The early tournament exits of recent seasons were due to one thing: lack of any inside game. The Devils are suddenly stocked on the inside, with 3 players over 6'10" capable of giving the team quality minutes.
• Florida State is a team to watch. The Seminoles have as much size and athleticism as any team. They have some issues with finishing, but this team is young and things could come together quickly for them.
• If Chris Singleton ever figures things out on the offensive end, he'll be a top 10 draft pick.

As always is the case with any thoughts I have while watching games it is important to point out that I'm not a scout who analyzes talent by watching games, but a stathead who is much better at gleaning info from the boxscore and stat lines. That said watching a game, with the sound turned down very low, is just part of the information-gathering process that I do.