SI jinx this early in season?

Maybe it's sacreligious to even mention this, kind of like a no-hitter in progress, but I was stunned when I received my Sports Illustrated yesterday and flipped to the College Basketball page where a full-page article featuring a picture of Isma'il dunking on Ben Gordon announced to me that we've arrived on the scene. The article talks about how Isma'il and BJ are roommates and have been since arriving on campus. Evidently, they're tight, but not in that old Christian Laettner-Brian Davis kind of way, Duke fan.

I can't link to the page since you have to be a subscriber, but here's my favorite line:

"I'm always telling B.J. to be more aggressive and drive more, and he tells me I need to take more jump shots," Muhammad says. "If you could combine the two of us into one player, we'd be unstoppable."

Actually, so far the two of you are unstoppable, Isma'il.

So that brings us to tomorrow night's game against 1-3 Tennessee State at home. Are the Jackets primed for an upset against the team that just lost a close one to Fisk College? I don't think so...but I predict that we'll have a slight letdown game and perhaps win by 10 points or so since the team's been up for so many weeks. I don't see this team losing their defensive intensity in games and that's a commodity that shouldn't go cold like the offense can (and probably will) this season.

After this, the boys get a much-deserved week off and before taking on the always-dangerous St. Louis Billikens in Philips Arena. Let's hope that they don't have to spend the week thinking about a monumental upset...

Go Jackets!