Old Spice Tourney Preview

The 2012 Old Spice Classic is beginning to look quite underwhelming on the national radar. This was not the case just a couple weeks ago, but with West Virginia, Davidson and Vanderbilt having disappointing starts to the season, Gonzaga is now the odds on favorite to win the tournament, and win it pretty easily at that. This is not to say that teams like Clemson or Oklahoma will not pose a challenge, i'm sure both teams will provide more fight than any team the Zags have faced thus far. The tournament schedule looks like this for tomorrow (Eastern Time):

Thursday	NOON	West Virginia vs. Marist	ESPN2
	2:00 PM	Vanderbilt vs. Davidson	ESPN2
	7:00 PM	Texas El Paso vs. Oklahoma	ESPN2
	9:00 PM	Clemson vs. Gonzaga	ESPN2

The Winner of Gonzaga/Clemson will take on the winner of Oklahoma/UTEP while the Winner of Vanderbilt/Davidson will take on the winner of West Virginia/Marist 


Team Previews

NOTE: We are not previewing Marist or UTEP as they are likely not to make it past their first round matchups. We are also not previewing West Virginia as we have already seen them this year and they have not played since that 34 point meltdown in Spokane.


Clemson 2-0

Clemson is an interesting team right now with a plethora of good young talent. Led by the dynamic front court of seniors Milton Jennings and Devin Booker, the tigers have had no issue dispatching both Presbyterian and Furman in the early season thus far. This will be the Tigers first test and lets just say the Zags are heavy favorites.





Leaders 
Points: Devin Booker 13.0 
Boards: Milton Jennings 6.0 
Assists: Rod Hall 5.5


Oklahoma 2-0

To be honest the Sooners may not even make it through a seasoned UTEP team. But Lonny Krugers bunch does have a lot of young talent (Not counting Ryan Spangler who's sitting out this year). This team is led by Senior guard Steven Pledger and Junior forward Amath M'Baye out of France. Beyond that they are pretty young and unproven. They struggled mightily with UT Arlington on friday, dont expect them to be a difficult out.


Leaders
Points: Buddy Hield 13.0
Boards: Amath M'Baye 9.0
Assists: Sam Grooms 3.5



Vanderbilt 1-1

Vanderbilt lost their 5 highest scorers from last year. They struggled mightily with Oregon on friday eventually losing by 26 points. They will most likely not get past a seasoned and hungry Davidson in round 1. There are bright spots in the backcourt with Junior Kyle Fuller and Sophomore Kedren Johnson, but it seems they are destined to struggle though a rough year in Nashville.



Leaders
Points: Kedren Johnson 19.5
Boards: Kevin Bright 8.0
Assists: Kedren Johnson 4.5



Davidson 1-2

Dont let their record fool you, Davidson is deep and poses the biggest risk to the Zags taking home the Old Spice Classic title. They played New Mexico and UW Milwaukee tough (both schools are very good mid major squads) and just couldn't put enough together to take home the victory. Led by Junior forward De'Mon Brooks and Senior guard JP Kuhlman, if the Zags draw Davidson in the finale, i would expect a dog fight to ensue.


Leaders
Points:De'Mon Brooks 20.0
Boards: De'Mon Brooks 6.3
Assists: JP Kuhlman 5.3

To be honest, i'm a little disappointed with this field, i see much more risk than reward for the Zags, but its too late to back out now. If they can handle their business against the likes of Clemson, Oklahoma, and either Davidson or West Virginia...again, then it will be semi helpful to the late season RPI. As always, GO ZAGS!