Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Our man in the US of A, Bob Craven, has plenty for you this Black Friday weekend, with college basketball and some tall stories (about 224cm!) from the pros of the NBA too. And it's all at the discount price! Let's go!!

THERE have been more than the usual amount of top college teams being upset this early in the season.

The women started this trend on opening night of the Hall of Fame series when the defending national champion Louisiana State Tigers were stunned by Colorado. 

Colorado isn't chopped liver - it made the Sweet 16 last year for the first time in 20 years. LSU, on the other hand, became the first top-rated team in the AP poll to lose its opener since 1995.

LSU's team had even been strengthened by the addition of U. of Louisville transfer All-American Hailey Van Lith, a former Washington superstar high schooler who is the state's all-time leading scorer.

In addition to LSU going down, 20th-ranked Southern California knocked off 7th-ranked Ohio State.  USC was led by all-name team nominee, freshman JuJu Watkins who scored 32 points. 

Meanwhile in the first NCAA women's game played in Paris, 6th-ranked South Carolina knocked off 10th-ranked Notre Dame.  A bit of a surprise as South Carolina had lost seven veteran players to graduation, a core group that reached three straight Final Fours and won the 2022 national title.

And former Connecticut star and national POTY, Paige Bueckers, is back on the court after missing all of last season and almost all of the season before due to two separate knee injuries. 

She's starting slowly - Connecticut routed Dayton in its opening game 102-58, with Bueckers playing 21 minutes while scoring eight points, grabbing seven boards and dishing out four dimes. 

Later Connecticut, No. 2 ranked, went down to North Carolina State.  UConn was led by Bueckers who scored 27. UConn was outrebounded 41-29, which greatly displeased head coach Geno Auriemma.

And Iowa phenom, Caitlin Clark, led her 3rd-ranked Hawkeyes to a win over 8th-ranked Virginia Tech, scoring 44 points, two off her career high.  A few days later, Iowa had a big win and Clark became Iowa's career scoring leader. 

She also finished with a line of 24-11-10 for the 12th triple-double of her career.  She joins former U. of Oregon standout Sabrina Ionescu of the NY Liberty as the only D-I women to record triple-doubles in four different seasons.

The very next game, Clark came crashing back to earth and Iowa lost as she and the rest of the team shot poorly.  Iowa was averaging 92 points per game but could only manage 58.  Clark scored 24 points on 9-of-32 from the floor, including just 2-of-16 from deep.

And our Washington State U. Cougars recently announced the signing of former star Queensland junior, Alice Dart, a 178cm guard/wing to a National Letter of Intent to play college hoops.

For the men, 4th-ranked Michigan State lost at home in OT to James Madison U., their first win over a ranked opponent in more than 30 years.

The 12th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, coached by long-time Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd, passed every final minute test in 2nd-ranked Duke's famously hostile home arena to take an important five-point win in a game that definitely had a post-season feel to it. 

The Dookies were outrebounded 45-33, which did not sit well with Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, who complained that "it's all about effort and blocking out ... we're going to find that we just stood around and watched many times."

Top-ranked Kansas had some easy games to start the year, but the easy stuff is over.  The other day, Kansas beat 17th-ranked Kentucky and, starting tomorrow they will be playing in the loaded Maui Invitational in Hawaii. 

The stacked field there contains No. 3 Purdue and its 224cm Chinese-Canadian post player, Zach Edey, No. 5 Marquette, No. 9 Tennessee, and No. 11 Gonzaga.  Then on Dec. 1, No. 6 and defending national champion Connecticut will come visiting.

IN the NBA, both of the very tall rookies everyone is watching (224cm Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs and 216cm Chet Holmgren of the OKC Thunder) have started off a bit slower than anticipated, although their efforts and results have picked up lately.

I would definitely recommend watching some of their highlight videos as the blocks and dunks are often off the charts. Both have lately had multiple high-scoring double-doubles, although both teams are struggling as the tall guys don't have a ton of help on any given night.

And several of the biggest pro stars are already having some sensational games.  The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo, has already had a 54-point game, one off his career high, but his team lost the game by two points as he threw away a pass and was stripped of the ball in the last minute.

Local Seattle boy Zack LaVine of the Chicago Bulls enjoyed a career high recently when he scored 51 in a Bulls' win.  Tyrese Maxey also had a career high 50-point game recently, and super stud Luka Doncic of the Mavs has had multiple 40+ point games. 

Denver's big point centre, Nikola "The Joker" Jokic, has had triple-doubles in at least half his games.  One highlight reel assist had him lining up at mid-court to make an inbounds pass.  As the ref flipped him the ball, he grabbed and threw the ball one-handed to the offensive glass, where a teammate threw a two-handed dunk down on the 13-metre lob pass before the defense was able to react.

Just unheard of stuff!