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[Editor's Note: Since I didn't have the entire Hoops Website updated for the 2001-02 season in time for the first weekend of play, I decided to hold the first issue of Hoop, Line And Sinker until everything was ready to go. So I'm combining the first two columns and including the Preseason Overview together with the Week 1 Summary. -- Ron]
Nowhere will the profile of coaches be higher than in Conference USA. Pitino's presence spices up the rivalry of Louisville with Memphis and John Calipari (himself only one year returned to the college coaching ranks, and whom Pitino recommended for the job at UMass where he made his name). On top of that, Pitino hired away an assistant coach from off of the staff of Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. Throw Billy Tubbs of TCU (which joins Conference USA this year) into the mix in his final season of coaching and the action off the court might be more interesting than on it.
On the court, some of the same powerhouses from last year figure to be in the thick of it again this year. Duke lost all-everything 'T Shane Battier, but in coach Mike Krzyzewski's universal replacement system, he won't be missed as much as you might expect. There's still Player of the Year G Jason Williams and a healthy C Carlos Boozer, plus 'T Mike Dunleavy and G Chris Duhon have more to give than was required from them last year. Stepping into the rotation will be Rutgers transfer 'T Dahntay Jones whose athleticism will ensure he'll be on the receiving end of lots of scoring opportunities. Maryland lost 'T Terence Morris but they won't miss him with C Lonny Baxter, G Juan Dixon and G Steve Blake still around to push the pace. Illinois still has G Frank Williams and all those bruisers to back up F Brian Cook and G Cory Bradford. Michigan State and Arizona were decimated by early jumps to the NBA from star players.
UCLA, Kentucky and USC hope that the late-season surges from last year will carry over to sustained excellence this year. Missouri and Iowa hope they can keep their stars (F Kareem Rush and 'T Luke Recker, respectively) healthy for the entire season this time. St. Joseph's and Boston College look to parlay their guard-oriented attacks into big payoffs for the second straight year. Underachievers from last year, Virginia, Alabama, Wake Forest and Tennessee still have enough talent left to make this year count.
The new power with the most buzz surrounding it has to be the Memphis Tigers. Coach John Calipari took the team as is last year and guided them to a third-place finish in the NIT. That alone would make expectations high enough for this season, but they add to their lineup the national schoolboy Player of the Year, G Dajuan Wagner (the son of former Louisville star, Milt Wagner), who caused a buzz last year by scoring 100 points in a high school game. With the added heat of the coaching clashes in Conference USA, Memphis could be the center of the college basketball universe this season.
Gonzaga has every reason to expect yet another year of postseason success, but in-season respect is still lacking. Don't look, but Butler is another program that no one pays attention to during the regular season; but for the second straight year, they've made a big splash in the NCAA tournament. (In 2000, they took eventual national runner-up Florida to overtime before losing; last year, they bounced Wake Forest from the tournament in the first round.) Wyoming has all 5 starters back from a team that had a strong regular season only to bow out quickly come tournament time. Western Kentucky features the nation's best post player, 7-1 C Chris Marcus, but no one notices because they play in the lowly Sun Belt.
There was a lot of conference-hopping in the off-season. 4 teams left the America East Conference and joined the Colonial Athletic Association. Hey, if Denver can be in the Sun Belt, why can't Louisiana Tech be in the WAC, right? Two conferences changed their names: the Trans America Athletic Conference (Georgia State) is now the Atlantic Sun. The Midwestern Collegiate Conference (Butler, Detroit) is now the Horizon League. After an 11-year hiatus, the Pac-10 has revived its conference tournament. Will it help? Let's see ... last year, 5 teams got NCAA bids and 4 made the Sweet 16. Think they'll be able to repeat that kind of success this season?
Puerto Rico is out, Las Vegas is in. 3 holiday tournaments plus a specialty doubleheader will be held there. The schedule is so crowd that two events will be held on the same day: on December 22nd, the LAS VEGAS SHOWDOWN (Stanford-BYU, Texas@UNLV) will be at Thomas & Mack Arena while the finals of the 8-team LAS VEGAS CHRISTMAS CLASSIC (Cincinnati) will be going on at Valley High School. In addition, the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING CLASSIC (16-21 November; Oklahoma State, Providence) and the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL (19-24 November; Illinois, Iowa State, Georgia Tech) feature one day of round-robin games at the participants' home campuses, two days of round-robin games in Las Vegas and one day of finals with pairings based on the round-robin results. Confused? We've still got the traditional PRESEASON NIT (12-23 November; USC, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Wyoming, Syracuse, Fresno State) with its 16-team field that features two rounds of on-campus pairings and then semis and finals in New York. Well, move over and make room for the new NABC GUARDIANS CLASSIC (13-21 November; Missouri, Iowa, Memphis, Alabama) which features four 4-team showcase regionals hosted by the 4 seeded teams with the winners advancing to semis and finals in Kansas City.
The first week, the schedule is light with only the COACHES V CANCER CLASSIC on tap. Look for veteran Maryland to roll past an Arizona team that only has G Jason Gardner left from the starting 5 for last year's NCAA title game. Florida (without G Teddy Dupay, who was dismissed in the off-season for gambling) will look to pay back Temple, who ousted the Gators from last year's NCAA tournament. It's the Terps who have the fewest questions to answer starting the season, so look for them to triumph this early on.
Double takes: SUNY-B (aka Binghamton) is now a Division 1 school (in the America East Conference). Morris Brown (which is also officially Division 1) has 7 home games and 21 road games -- no wonder they went 6-22 last year! Georgia Southern HOOPS? (Is Georgia on the verge of becoming the fourth-best team in the state? Georgia State might be even better than last year by season's end, and at least the vibe at Georgia Tech is positive and hopeful. Jim Harrick's Dawgs don't seem too promising.)
This year's Final Four is in Atlanta. -- I NEED TICKETS!!!
P.S. It's not business as usual in the world anymore, and it likely never will be again; but that doesn't mean you give up the pursuit of joy. Don't lose sight of the things are really important in this life. College basketball isn't one of them. -- Ron
Don't read too much into these two wins, though. Yes, UofA warrants a Top-10 ranking based on these results, but it doesn't make them the favorite for the Pac-10 title all of a sudden. They won't have the element of surprise going for them against opponents the rest of the year. It does demonstrate some damn good coaching by Lute Olson getting such a new group of players to execute so well right out of the blocks. Temple, by comparison, also had some talented new players in its rotation, but they were still struggling with the occasion and learning how to fit into John Chaney's system. Don't fret too much for Maryland or Florida, either. The Gators showed off several new contributors (G Justin Hamilton had one very good game; F James White, F David Lee and G Orien Greene all showed promise as well), but G Brett Nelson had two poor shooting games. The Terrapins mostly lacked intensity and desire, but more worrisome was that often they didn't look like more than a 3-man team (G Juan Dixon, C Lonny Baxter and G Steve Blake); there wasn't as much help apparent from their supporting cast.
Most everyone gets underway this week as the Thanksgiving tournaments start up. The first two (on-campus) rounds take place in the PRESEASON NIT (USC, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Wyoming, Fresno State, Syracuse, Oklahoma, Arkansas); Look for the Trojans, Demon Deacons, Spartans and Orangemen to advance to The Garden. Compare how well MSU coach Tom ("H" to the) Izzo meshes G Marcus Taylor with talented freshmen G Kelvin Torbert and 'T Alan Anderson after what we've just seen Lute Olson do with Arizona.
The new NABC GUARDIANS CLASSIC starts up; this week's games are only the 4-team showcase regional tournaments that will qualify the semifinalists for next week in Kansas City. The 4 regional hosts (Missouri, Iowa, Memphis, Alabama) should have an easy time of it (but it'll be our first look at Memphis freshman phenom G Dajuan Wagner).
Don't miss probably the only chance to see 7-1 C Chris Marcus when Western Kentucky visits Kentucky in the NABC CLASSIC in Lexington. St. Joseph's will likely claim the first Unwelcome Guest title in the Berkeley BCA CLASSIC (Princeton, @California). The first of the LAS VEGAS tournaments (the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING CLASSIC: Oklahoma State, Providence) begins with on-campus round-robin games this weekend (and then moves to Las Vegas next week). Butler has the chance to make a name for itself in the TOP OF THE WORLD CLASSIC (Mississippi, Bowling Green). Morris Brown's world tour starts in the Virgin Islands (PARADISE JAM).
This early in the season, conditioning can be a big factor in the outcome of games. All last year, Duke's G Jason Williams made play after play just by being physically stronger than the people trying to guard him. This past week, Illinois was too physical for Gonzaga in the Illini's easy home rout of the Bulldogs. Cincinnati players were bouncing off the rock-hard bodies of Oklahoma State whenever rebounds and loose balls were up for grabs. In a close game like that -- OSU won @69-62 -- that advantage alone can be enough to determine the outcome. Bob Knight's Texas Tech team looked fine in their opening games, but the General was upstaged by the debut of Rick Pitino's Louisville squad. The Cardinal started their game with South Alabama with a 19-0 run and led 45-17 at the half on the way to a 54-point win. The Jaguars were already whipped by the first 4-minute media timeout. You don't need highly skilled individuals when you're scoring layups off of turnovers. (These same Cardinal players lost to USA last year.) The wild physicality of USC unsettled Wyoming in their PRESEASON NIT first round game, but Fresno State matched the Trojans error for error in Round 2 and came away with the win at home. St. Joseph's' three-guard finesse attack was tripped up by Eastern Washington in the BCA CLASSIC in Berkeley (won by host California after all). NC State won the BCA INVITATIONAL at home in Raleigh over a nondescript field -- too soon to tell how good the new freshmen there really are (but they're off to a better start than North Carolina which lost its home opener to Hampton).
It's the biggest week of the season coming up with no fewer than 8 major holiday tournaments. Final Four-calibre teams headline the MAUI INVITATIONAL (Duke, UCLA, Kansas plus South Carolina, Seton Hall -- if 'T Dahntay Jones doesn't have stage fright, the Blue Devils should prevail) and the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL (Illinois plus Georgia Tech, Iowa State -- merely a showcase for the Illini). Elite Eight-level competition will be on display in the championship rounds of the new NABC GUARDIANS CLASSIC (Alabama@Missouri, Memphis-Iowa -- in-state, Mizzou should outlast Memphis). Sweet 16-quality teams fill the championship bracket at the PRESEASON NIT (Syracuse-Michigan State, Wake Forest-Fresno State -- execution should win it for the Orangemen), make up the field at the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT (Gonzaga, Texas, Tennessee, Indiana -- if freshman G T.J. Ford is healthy, the Longhorns will challenge the 'Zags for the title) and dot the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING CLASSIC (Oklahoma State plus Providence, TCU -- the Cowboys should roll). Splash teams will contend to make some noise in the UNIVERSITY HOOPS CLASSIC (Illinois State-UC-Irvine, Kent State, South Florida, Hofstra). Non-scrub status is all that's on the line in the conclusion of the PARADISE JAM (Miami-FL, UAB, Morris Brown).
We'll find out a lot about a lot of teams this week, so take notice of these early clashes.
In the supposed showcase for Final Four contender Illinois, the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL, the Illini had to rally from behind in two separate games: against Pennsylvania and Southern Illinois. G Frank Williams still leads them to victory when things get tight, although they don't have the depth from last year. Duke is probably more spectacular offensively than last year with the presence of 'T Dahntay Jones, but their interior defense isn't as tough. (So those two flip-flop at the top of the rankings this week.)
Oklahoma State is playing better than mere Sweet 16-level basketball. They won five games in six nights (winning the LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING CLASSIC along the way) and actually looked stronger at the end of their run rather than tired out as might be expected. They're playing intense, tight basketball (maybe too well too soon, actually). We already knew that Missouri and Iowa play to a standstill when they are matched up -- last year they went into double-overtime -- so what we learned from the NABC GUARDIANS CLASSIC (won by the Tigers 78-77 over the Hawkeyes) was that Memphis isn't ready to win top-level clashes just yet. Yes, freshman G Dajuan Wagner can score against college competition, but he's taking 20 shots a game with no assists to go with it. There doesn't seem to be a point guard available who can rein in Wagner's attempts (and make sure that F Kelly Wise gets enough touches); so, for right now, Wagner looks a lot like Tennessee's Tony Harris and Wake Forest's Robert O'Kelley. Those two never did successively transform themselves from shooting guard to scoring point guard. But it's so early in the season (and in Wagner's career) that we just don't know how much he can do or learn to do.
Syracuse has another Sweet 16-calibre squad that won't beat itself. They finished strong in tight games with Michigan State in the semis and Wake Forest in the final of the PRESEASON NIT. Wake is still adjusting to the all-out press style of coach Skip Prosser; if G Broderick Hicks can hold up to the task of being the only guard (with 3 'tweeners and a center) in the starting lineup, they may have something as the season progresses. MSU may have a long season of disappointment ahead; G Marcus Taylor isn't the kind of point guard who can make good players better which is a problem because he's not surrounded by the overwhelming talent of last year. The team may not be complete at Fresno State but 'T Chris Jeffries showed bits and pieces of being one of the most complete individual players in the country.
Marquette was the surprise winner of the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT; they decisioned Gonzaga in the final after nipping steady Indiana in the semis. At 6-4, MU's redshirt freshman G Dwayne Wade doesn't quite qualify as a true 'tweener, but he's a strong rebounder at the guard spot (much like Oklahoma State's Maurice Baker). Freshman G T.J. Ford at Texas continues to register double-digits in assists (even as the Longhorns fell to 1-3) -- can you say "Omar Cook"? Still, coach Rick Barnes has lots to work with (and plenty of time) to mold that team into a contender by conference play.
South Florida won the UNIVERSITY HOOPS CLASSIC without facing the other preseason splash teams in the field (Illinois State, UC-Irvine and Kent State; thanks to the likes of Pittsburgh and Hofstra). (The Conference USA race suddenly looks a lot more jumbled than a two-team race between Memphis and Cincinnati, even as Louisville was blown out on the road at Oregon).
Flying below the radar, Pennsylvania looked impressive in spots: winning at Georgia Tech and taking it to Illinois for a while in Las Vegas. Miami(Florida) squeaked its way to the PARADISE JAM title over a nondescript field.
Things slow down a bit this week after so much action over Thanksgiving. The biggest event is the two-day ACC-BIG 10 CHALLENGE on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are way more ACC teams who are playing well at this point than there are in the Big 10, so the final tally could be 6-3 or even 7-2 after its all done. Virginia (hosting Michigan State), Wake Forest (hosting Minnesota) and NC State (visiting Ohio State) should all have it pretty easy for the ACC. Only Indiana figures to be a solid favorite (on the road at 0-2 North Carlina) for the Big 10. We're finally guaranteed our first Final Four-calibre clash when Illinois visits Maryland -- look for the home crowd to make the difference for the Terps. Duke plays Iowa at a "neutral site" (Chicago) in a great matchup of two of the best 'tweeners in the country, Luke Recker and Mike Dunleavy; Recker should win the battle but with G Jason Williams and G Chris Duhon in the backcourt, Duke will win the war.
After being nipped at the buzzer by one giant-killer (Ball State), Kansas travels to play the other one (Arizona) on Saturday. The conditions should be a lot better for the Jayhawks this time around but the outcome won't be: AZ's guards can easily duplicate what BSU's guards did. Stanford still has 'T Casey Jacobsen and that should be enough to hold off still-learning Texas in the CLASSIC FOR KIDS on Saturday. Don't expect Connecticut (and certainly not Princeton) to pull off an unwelcome guest surprise at the BB&T CLASSIC (hosted by Maryland).
Five showcase tournaments are on tap for the weekend; the only news there will be if the home teams fail to win in a rout. Ball State can only hurt its reputation in the FIRST MERCHANT CLASSIC; ditto for Iowa (HAWKEYE CHALLENGE) and Marquette (BLUE AND GOLD CLASSIC). Fresno State (McCAFFREY CLASSIC) and Michigan State (SPARTAN CLASSIC) could use the work but aren't shaky enough to actually lose their games.
We've got a lot more information about the mid-range teams than usual at this point in the season and precious little at the very top. It may have to wait until the Christmas tournaments before there's a clear pecking order among the Final Four-calibre teams.
Island Of The Misfit Teams
F Chris Wilcox was a force inside for Maryland at home against Illinois. The Terrapins' Big 3 (G Juan Dixon, C Lonny Baxter and G Steve Blake) got lots of help from their supporting cast this time around in a big game; that's what they need consistently in order to make it back to the Final Four. The Illini, who last year had depth to spare in the frontcourt, are only 3-deep now. They're no longer a win-by-attrition team that can foul at will because there's always another capable substitute on the bench, but someone forgot to tell C Robert Archibald and F Brian Cook who spent too much time on the sidelines in foul trouble with only F Damir Krupalija left to defend the paint. Foul-prone up front and off-the-mark in back -- G Frank Robinson and G Cory Bradford shot 7-for-30 for the game -- isn't a winning formula.
At least Virginia and Michigan State escaped any serious injuries in their game in Richmond Colliseum (which was suspended 5 minutes into the second half because moisture on the court was too hazardous to continue). G Roger Mason is not cutting it at the point for the Cavaliers (who almost lost to Virginia Tech at home later in the week). Thanks to comebacks by Georgia Tech (from 20 points down to Wisconsin) and Wake Forest (against Minnesota), the ACC came away with a 5-3 overall victory over the Big 10.
Arizona's first 5 games this season are: Maryland, Florida, at Texas, Kansas and Illinois (this Saturday). So far, they're 3-1. The Jayhawks handed the Wildcats their first loss 105-@97 with a well distributed attack; 5 KU players scored in double-figures while G Jason Gardner was practically a one-man show with 34 points in defeat for UofA. Kansas doesn't have any one player who can dominate a game, but they're the closest thing to a win-by-attrition squad out there this season. You're going to have to make them play halfcourt in order to beat them and Arizona couldn't (or didn't want) to do that.
Texas outlasted Stanford in overtime in a sloppy game in the CLASSIC FOR KIDS in Chicago. Longhorn freshman G T.J. Ford is only 5-10, but he grabbed 11 rebounds in the game; even more impressive: none of his teammates is a particularly good shooter yet he still managed to dish out 12 assists. 'T Royal Ivey is an effective scorer, but he's not the open jump-shooter than Ford needs ideally to receive his passes. The Texas lineup is GTFFF, led by F Chris Owens, a brute up front who eventually gets the job done on the second and third effort. This team is such a mess that their lodero style not only clogs up things on the defensive end but it also clogs up things on their offensive end as well. Ford isn't much of a scorer, so he has to give the ball up to his teammates for points but close your eyes when the ball leaves his hands. Stanford, has another blend of athletes and stiffs that don't fit together, either. G Julius Barnes wants to run up and down the court but that leaves C Curtis Borchardt out of the flow. Freshman 'T Josh Childress might eventually be a nice small forward complement to 'T Casey Jacbosen's big guard game but things don't flow very well for the Cardinal at the moment (in other words, they don't have a decent point guard to make sure everyone plays their role).
Western Kentucky's 7-1 C Chris Marcus' ankle injury (out for at least a month) has derailed the golden season the Hilltoppers seemed to be building. They'll still be the favorites in the Sun Belt without him but -- as two straight losses showed -- they won't be in the Top 25. UCLA's 6-6 freshman G Cedric Bozeman's knee injury will sideline him for at least a month as well so the Bruins are in for yet another season of chaos.
Ball State properly crushed scrub opponents in winning the showcase FIRST MERCHANTS CLASSIC (and their Cinderella story might add yet another chapter when they visit Indiana on Saturday). Marquette rolled its way to a showcase victory in the BLUE AND GOLD CLASSIC as well. Fresno State routed its guests in winning its own McCAFFREY CLASSIC showcase; next up for the Bulldogs: a neutral court match with fellow Sweet 16 power Gonzaga in the FAB FOUR doubleheader. Only Iowa (which sputtered to victory in the HAWKEYE CHALLENGE) and Michigan State (which still managed to win the SPARTAN CHALLENGE) failed to be duly impressive in their showcase events. Butler is making a habit of beating Big 10 teams on the road -- this time it was Purdue. The pieces at South Florida don't really fit (on paper), but it's sure working on the court. 'T B.B. Waldon and 'T Altron Jackson are making their senior year a memorable one so far. G Reggie Kohn can't get up and down the court like the rest of the team wants to do but at least his crisp passing creates lots of breakaway opportunities for his teammates; Kohn is an excellent deep range shooter when he has time to get his shot off. (Remember Stan Bonewicz and Texas Tech from a few years back? The Bulls are a more effective version of that misfit Red Raider squad.) USF is playing excellent ball but they probably don't have enough height in order to pull off the monster upset of Florida on Saturday (but don't be too surprised if they do). Southern Illinois, which almost beat Illinois in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving, finally earned a win over a ranked opponent for the first time in over a decade when they beat a tired Indiana team. Give the Salukis their props now because they won't have another opportunity to make a national splash when they hit the MVC conference schedule.
My kingdom for a starting five that actually flows well together.
The Three Most Important Things In Real Estate*
With that in mind, Florida wound up with a "moral loss" at home against Michigan State after blowing a 20-point lead to "only" win by 4 at the end. But they more than made up for it with a mightily impressive road blowout of a solid South Florida team that had been pointing to that game to put them on the map. The Gators' frontcourt attack of F Matt Bonner, C Udonis Haslem, freshman F David Lee and freshman F James White is a revolving door of point-blank scoring.
Iowa is still 9-1, "morally", after a 2-point loss at Northern Iowa (to go along with their earlier loss to Missouri in Kansas City in the final of the GUARDIANS CLASSIC). The Hawkeyes get a do-over for that second game when they face the Tigers on their real home court in Columbia on Saturday. Western Kentucky, with only two squeak road losses against it, can still be considered "morally undefeated"; whereas Boston College already has two squeak home wins among its 7 victories so far. (At the other end of the spectrum, Morris Brown (1-7) is "morally winless" with only a 1-point home win over David Lipscomb to its credit.)
Alabama, although much improved in the backcourt with the addition of G Maurice Williams, still has all kinds of trouble competing in front of a hostile crowd. They only shot 30% against UCLA in Anaheim in the JOHN WOODEN CLASSIC and lost by 22 points. (The Bruins got away with using 'T Jason Kapono at the point in place of injured freshman G Cedric Bozeman.) A team like Gonzaga can't get any name teams to come play them in Spokane, so instead their record gets blemished with an 18-point loss at Illinois; but on neutral ground, the 'Zags have beaten Fresno State and Texas (while losing to still-impressive Marquette). Give Arkansas (vs. Illinois in Chicago) and Memphis (on the road at Mississippi) credit for moral victories (despite official losses) in two action-packed games over the weekend that went down to the final seconds. But don't buy Ball State's claim of a moral victory in their 13-point road loss to Indiana. (Lesser-regarded Notre Dame only lost by 1 point to the Hoosiers in Bloomington earlier in the week.) The BSU Cardinals shot worse from 2-point range than they did from 3-point range against IU; a barrage of 3-pointers can pull off the biggest of upsets (as we saw them do in the MAUI INVITATIONAL at the start of the season over Kansas and UCLA), but over the long haul you need a more balanced attack. The MAUI bubble may have burst.
NC State was able to come into the Carrier Dome and hold back the Orangemen thanks to a 26-point effort from G Anthony Grundy (and despite 29p from 'T Preston Shumpert and 20p from G DeShaun Williams); but the key factor was that it was the second straight game that coach Jim Boeheim has missed on the sidelines while tending to medical problems. He'll be out at least another week. C Melvin Ely played in Fresno State's loss to Gonzaga in the FAB FOUR in Inglewood, CA (which was moved from Las Vegas because of concern about appearances over playing a college basketball game on the grounds of a casino); but he is being held out indefinitely (including the loss at San Diego State) while an investigation of possible violations is underway.
The week ahead features a light schedule as we enter the second holiday break. The "U-Game" (U Conn at U Mass) takes place on Tuesday. Xavier tries to make it three in a row over Cincinnati in the CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT on Thursday. Arizona will continue to make believers out of its next opponent, Michigan State. Tennessee (at Memphis) and UC-Irvine (at UCLA) have tougher tasks to make their first splashes on the national scene this year. The most high-profile matchup this week is Iowa at Missouri, but it's déjà vu since they've already played each other in the final of the GUARDIANS CLASSIC. (Iowa led most of the way, but Missouri came back to win it in a squeaker at the end.)
Finding Their Form
Cincinnati is gelling behind the star power of G Steve Logan. There's lots of talent around him and they appear to be finding their form after being shellshocked to start the season on the road against Oklahoma State. Gonzaga is starting to make blowout wins look routine; what's more, Marquette's continued excellent form makes that earlier loss by the 'Zags less worrisome as the true calibre of more teams becomes clearer.
It's less clear whether Michigan State's solid win over Arizona is a turning point to a permanently higher plateau for the new cast or just a one-time effort buoyed by the emotion of the crowd spurring them on to their 50th straight win at home. MSU's no-name frontcourt outplayed AZ's no-name bunch, but that was mostly hustle and desire. G Marcus Taylor had a great game, combining the need for him to score with the need to set up his teammates expertly well. UofA's G Jason Gardner turned in a 3-for-14 shooting performance that looked a lot like last year. Arizona has played the toughest preseason schedule of anyone in the country, though; so you can't bail on them for just one lemon of a performance.
We still have a couple more weeks of holiday tournaments and specialty events before conference play gets under way in January. There's still time to for fine-tuning for those teams who still haven't worked out all the kinks (e.g., Illinois, Memphis, UCLA, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee).
Only one Top-10 matchup is on tap for this week (when Illinois and Missouri meet in front of a split crowd for the annual BRAGGIN' RIGHTS clash in St. Louis). Duke vs. Kentucky in the JIMMY V CLASSIC on Tuesday should give us one of the best head-to-head 'tweener matchups all year with 'T Mike Dunleavy and 'T Tayshaun Prince facing off. Temple has a big week in store: first meeting Alabama in the JIMMY V CLASSIC on Tuesday and then hosting Memphis on Thursday (and playing DePaul on Saturday to boot). Virginia and Georgetown finally get to prove their worth against a quality opponent when they meet in the JOHN THOMPSON CHRISTMAS CLASSIC on Thursday. Do not overlook the result of the huge intra-splash showdown when Butler visits Ball State on Wednesday. We'll see how much the loss to Florida took out of South Florida when they go on the road against Syracuse (who are playing terrible ball at the moment without coach Jim Boeheim on the sidelines). Don't expect much from the LAS VEGAS CHRISTMAS CLASSIC (where only Mississippi State figures to give Cincinnati a game) or the RAINBOW CLASSIC (where Boston College's backcourt savvy should outwit Georgia). St. Joseph's should emerge as the least disappointing team at the misnamed TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (Georgia State, College of Charleston, @North Carolina). The final specialty event scheduled for Las Vegas (that is, until the Mountain West tournament in March) is the very missable LAS VEGAS SHOWDOWN (Stanford-BYU, Texas@UNLV) on Saturday. If Mississippi fails to come away with an unwelcome guest title at the SUN BOWL CLASSIC (@UTEP), turn your attention to Mississippi State and Arkansas in the SEC West.
Star Power
Duke trailed Kentucky by 8 points midway through the second half of their JIMMY V CLASSIC matchup. The Wildcats were dominating the boards and getting great play from unheralded backcourt players. A UK victory wasn't a certainty at that point by any means, but they were starting to pull away. Then, Jason Williams went into a zone of concentration and took the game over, scoring with 3-pointers (on 7-for-10 shooting) and driving to the basket on the way to a career-high 38 points. 'T Tayshaun Prince was great and nearly matched his heroics as the game wound up tied in regulation. In the overtime, 'T Mike Dunleavy joined in to eek out a victory for the Blue Devils in the most entertaining game of the season. Not even the staunchest Duke-hater could fail to appreciate what Williams did -- you'd have to be a hoops-hater not to enjoy that performance.
Frank Williams' performance in the BRAGGIN' RIGHTS matchup between Illinois and Missouri was much less spectacular but no less heroic. This bruising annual match is always hard-fought. Williams scored 16 points in the second half and scored on slashing pro-style drives to the basket weaving in between defenders trying to block his shot or draw a charge. Williams has the pro mentality of making sure he gets nothing less than free throws on every possession in the late-going of a tight game. Too many college teams fire up desperation 3-point shots way too soon before things are out of reach. For the second straight big game, the Tigers' star scorers 'T Kareem Rush and G Clarence Gilbert had horrendous shooting nights (a combined 9-for-27). Missouri has Final Four talent, but they've hit a ceiling far short of that level executing in big games so far.
Cincinnati continues to play dominant basketball, winning the LAS VEGAS CHRISTMAS CLASSIC with ease. It was a mediocre field, but they made mediocre teams look like patsies. They beat previously undefeated Mississippi State by 34 (while G Steve Logan popped for 40 points all by himself). Their only loss is the first game of the season at (still-undefeated) Oklahoma State, who continues to play great basketball themselves. The Cowboys came back from a 20-turnover first half in which they trailed 32-10 to win on the road against feisty Arkansas.
Butler doesn't have any big-name wins (yet), but they're still undefeated themselves and they soundly beat back four-runner Ball State on the road. (The Bulldogs get to see if they can better the Cardinals in another way when they attempt to beat Indiana on the road this week at the HOOSIER CLASSIC in Indianapolis.)
Oklahoma thrashed Maryland at home as they hounded the Terrapin backcourt into 3-for-23 shooting. The Sooners are an athletic, up-tempo bunch, but with the Big 12 as loaded as it is this year, they may have trouble surviving conference play with their psyche intact. Oregon's 3 losses this year are all on the road by a combined total of 8 points (so they're morally 11-0 right now). Their 30-point blowout of tumbling Arizona makes the Pac-10 picture even less clear. The Ducks are probably playing the best ball of any team in the conference right now -- all the other name teams are struggling.
The College of Charleston won the TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS in Charlotte with stingy perimeter defense. Georgia State looked brilliant for the first 10 minutes of their game with St. Joseph's as they lead 18-1 and 34-9 while shooting 10-for-17 on 3-pointers; but GSU lacks a dominant backcourt and they gave almost the entire lead back right away and only led 44-41 at the half. Hawaii won the RAINBOW CLASSIC on its home court with three less-than-dominant performances. Don't read very much into that (except that they'll at least be upbeat when they play Fresno State on Thursday in a key early matchup in WAC conference play).
Much to South Florida's chagrin, Jim Boeheim returned to the sidelines ahead of schedule for Syracuse and the Orangemen responded with a sound running of the Bulls.
This is the last week of holiday specialty events and showcase tournaments before conference play gets into full swing in January. No Top-10 clashes are on tap, but several teams with uneven preseason performances so far get one last chance at getting it right. Don't expect Oklahoma State to overlook Ball State in the ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC. The freshmen are playing like freshmen now at Arizona, so the FIESTA BOWL CLASSIC (Pepperdine, West Virginia) isn't the lock that you might think. Stanford's weak backcourt play could be its undoing again when Michigan State comes west to meet them in the PETE NEWELL CHALLENGE. The timing is perfect for NC State to catch a vulnerable Maryland team in their first ACC conference game on Sunday.
Non-Cooperative Games
C Curtis Borchardt played like the best center in the country (with Chris Marcus of Western Kentucky still injured) as he dominated the paint in Stanford's big win against Michigan State in the PETE NEWELL CHALLENGE. Better yet, the Cardinal won without much help from 'T Casey Jacobsen; it was the athletic subs off the bench who stepped up and made major contributions. Give them credit for the win, but don't read too much into it until you see the same effort on a consistent basis away from a partisan crowd cheering them on. MSU (and G Marcus Taylor, in particular) looked pretty good themselves, especially in the first half; the Spartans have found a nice chemistry ahead of schedule.
Former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino was lustily booed when he returned to Rupp Arena with Louisville, which was duly routed by Kentucky. Their soft nonconference schedule had allowed the illusion that the Cardinals were an elite team, but they hit a wall of reality in Lexington. (Meanwhile, Bob Knight's Texas Tech team is still in Fantasy Land, entertaining the notion that it will be a factor in conference play. It won't.)
During the preseason, your conferencemates are actually helping you out the more they win. With strength of schedule being a factor in being chosen for the NCAA tournament, the more wins you post as a conference, the better it makes everyone look at selection time. Now the cooperative factor is out the window. The regular season of conference play is here and it's every team for itself. More teams are playing well this year at this point than we've seen in the past. The very top teams are not so untouchable and more than a few conferences are loaded with teams that are looking positive right now. In terms of the calibre of competition (and depth of quality teams), here's how the major conferences rank:
Regular season play gets fully under way this week. Miami(Florida) has two big road games right off the bat (at Georgetown and at Connecticut). Their lodero style is the perfect antidote to those two teams that want to run at all costs; the Hurricanes could snatch control of the Big East East Division right out of the blocks with two big efforts. In order to make room on the schedule for its revived postseason conference tournament, the Pac-10 started early and already has rematches on tap. Arizona gets to avenge their 30-point loss to Oregon at home on Friday; Stanford and California play their grudge match games back-to-back on Friday and then again on Sunday. (That can't be good.)
Beauty Marks
It only took one week of conference play to strike all 5 remaining teams from the ranks of the undefeated. Florida State took the lane (and the boards) away from Duke and led by 12 points in the second half. As he did against Kentucky, G Jason Williams once again led the Blue Devils back (with 8-for-12 shooting from 3-point range), but this time his poor free throw-shooting (0-for-6) cost them the game at the end. (It was only a one-point win for the Seminoles on their home floor, but there are plenty of more talented teams out there who can execute the same gameplan with even greater success.) With G Maurice Baker well below par with a groin injury, Oklahoma State fell at home to Texas; give UT credit for the win, but don't count it too much against OSU. (This game was marred by an incident at the end: When Texas G T.J. Ford accidentally collided out of bounds with a pregnant spectator, her husband attacked him and a fight broke out between the Oklahoma State fans and the Texas players. The woman went to the hospital but was released.) Butler went down in double-overtime at home to Wright State -- no undefeated season for the Bulldogs, and no more Top-25 ranking (but don't forget about this team in March). N.C. State burst Virginia's bubble in Charlottesville; if the Wolfpack were in another conference, a win like this could be a turning point, but in the ACC, they'll need a lot of maturity to go along with their talent in order to stay positive. Connecticut squeaked by Miami(Florida) at home; UConn still has its work cut out for it, though, with so many Big East teams playing well right now.
Oregon was up by 22 points in their rematch at Arizona before settling for a 10-point win. The Wildcats have been without 'T Luke Walton for 3 games and that has left G Jason Gardner as the lone player in the rotation with any experience prior to this season; the 'Cats are just too young and if Walton doesn't come back soon, they may fall out of contention in the Pac-10 race. The Ducks looked great, especially G Luke Ridnour shooting from 3-point range and F Luke Jackson driving to the basket (but they gave back a lot of their edge by losing at Arizona State two nights later). Here's a couple of examples of how much the home court advantage means between talented teams: OSU won by 30 over UofA at home and (only) won by 10 in the return game on the road; Stanford looked great beating California by 20 at home on Friday night, but lost by 14 two nights later to the same Cal team on the road. The Cardinal actually seems better when the focus isn't on 'T Casey Jacobsen: his individual stats are in direct opposition to the results of those two games.
Mississippi State finally got a quality win (in overtime over Kentucky) to go with their sterling record (14-1). Pittsburgh's win at Boston College isn't quite of the same calibre, but their record (14-1) looks pretty good, too, considering they've already won at Ohio State. The Buckeyes sunk their teeth into the Big 10 schedule with a solid home win over Iowa. Kent State had one week that was better than their entire preseason put together: they beat a good St. Bonaventure team, destroyed Ball State, and then won at Marshall to take early control in the MAC.
G Marcus Taylor sat out Michigan State's loss at Minnesota with back spasms and may not be ready to play against Indiana on Tuesday. Much like Arizona's Jason Gardner, Taylor is crucial to the Spartan lineup with so many young players who aren't proven in conference play yet.
Mississippi State has two tough road games this week (at Arkansas and at Mississippi); they're mostly a bunch of hustling athletes moreso than gifted players, but that'll still get you pretty far. UCLA can get back into the rankings with games against USC and Kansas. Indiana gets their chance to make a mark in the conference standings when they host Michigan State and then travel to Iowa. If this is really a turning point in the program at Oregon, they need to win both games this week (against California and Stanford) to stay in the hunt for the regular season title.
Pac Men
The biggest win (on paper) last week was UCLA's 87-77 victory over Kansas. The Bruins were clearly superior to the #1-ranked Jayhawks; but they're probably not even the best team inside their own conference. On Thursday, USC dominated the boards against UCLA (including 24 offensive rebounds). But it says here that the best team in the Pac-10 is the Oregon Ducks. G Luke Ridnour has unlimited range on his jumper, 6-7 'T Luke Jackson is excellent at scoring off the dribble leaning into the defender, and 7-2 Chris Christoffersen is a huge presence in the paint. Oregon went to 5-1 in the league with their 87-79 win over Stanford. The Cardinal got a career-high 32 points from 'T Casey Jacobsen in that game, but it wasn't enough; the pattern continues that this year's Stanford team is better off when the offensive focus isn't so much on Jacobsen. The Pac-10 is currently playing the best basketball in the country. (Arizona falls out of the Top 25 this week only because they aren't winning handily enough.)
Indiana put its act together in conference play after an up-and-down preseason. F Jared Jeffries turned in the most complete performance by a big man this season with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks and 7 assists in IU's dismantling of Michigan State. G Tom Coverdale rediscovered his shooting stroke with 22 points against MSU and then 15 points and 8 assists in the Hoosiers win at Iowa. In that game, neither 'T Luke Recker (12p) nor L Reggie Evans (7p,9r) could get anything going for the Hawkeyes. IU, unranked a week ago, is suddenly 4-0 and in the driver's seat in the Big 10 race.
Georgia won in a shootout against Kentucky in Lexington for the first time since 1985 (and for only the third time ever). There's not a lot of great point guard play in the SEC; most of the teams are of the "throw it up and go get it" variety. As a result, most every team is good-but-not-great and most every game goes down to the wire. (Not even mighty Florida has any rout victories in league play yet.) It's very early in league play, but no team has shown itself to be head-and-shoulders above the rest so far (not even the Gators).
The previous week, several teams lost their bids for undefeated regular seasons. This past week, it was the home court win streaks that bit the dust. Wisconsin ended the longest home win streak in the nation at 53 games when they beat Michigan State 64-63. MSU G Kelvin Torbert's catch-and-shoot basket off an out-of-bounds play with only 0.2 seconds left was ruled invalid after the referees reviewed the tape and decided the scorekeeper hadn't started the clock on contact. G Jerry Green drove the length of the floor for UC-Irvine and buried a hanging jump shot with no time left to end Utah State's home win streak at 31 games. Jacksonville took over first place in the Atlantic Sun while stopping Georgia State's home win streak at 25 games. Top honors now belong to Detroit, which beat Butler last week to keep its home win streak alive (and still going at 37 games now).
Some of the best showdowns conference play has to offer are on tap this week. For those leagues that still have a complete home-and-home schedule (Pac-10 and ACC) it's only Round 1; but for the rest of the leagues with unbalanced schedules, this week is the only time some of these teams will meet in the regular season. Kansas has its biggest week of the season coming up with games at Oklahoma State on Tuesday and then at home against Oklahoma on Saturday. Duke hosts Maryland on Thursday and Wake Forest on Saturday. Arizona needs to win both home games this week against USC and UCLA to stay in the hunt. Indiana travels to Ohio State on Saturday. Meanwhile, Mississippi has two big road games (at Kentucky and at Arkansas).
Separatists And Lingerers
You know, there's a kid that plays for Duke who's not bad -- Williams, I think his name is. Ho hum: G Jason Williams turned in two more great performances in big games last week. The first 30 minutes of the Duke-Maryland game was as good as any we've seen. But then, with the score 73-70, the Blue Devils separated themselves (thanks to 'T Mike Dunleavy) and won in a rout 99-78. (Only the finish of the Duke-Kentucky game earlier this year was better than this one.) Better yet, in their (close for a half) rout of Wake Forest, Duke's 'T Dahntay Jones stepped it up offensively (after having clamped down on Maryland's G Juan Dixon in the previous game) with 22 points. If he contributes at that level on a consistent basis, no one else need apply for the national championship title this year.
Kansas turned in two focused performances and blew out tumbling Oklahoma State on the road and separated from Oklahoma at home before the Sooners came back behind 'T Ebi Ere to make the score more reasonable at the finish. It turns out that a trip to Lubbock, TX isn't a cakewalk after all for the top Big 12 teams. After taking Texas into overtime before succubming; Bob Knight's Texas Tech Red Raiders blew away Oklahoma State on Saturday. (Oklahoma gets to try their luck this week.)
There are two categories you can divide the good teams into: the "separatists" and the "lingerers". Separatists can turn in focused stretches of defense and offense and separate themselves even from a good opponent and win big. Lingerers rarely win big, but they also rarely lose big even to the best teams. Lingerers are good for an upset, but they can't go very many games without being upset themselves. It's the separatists that eventually go a long way in tournament play because, when it matters, they can summon that focus and put a game out of reach.
The biggest weakness of Arizona, despite all the wins against highly ranked teams, was that they fell in the "lingerer" category for most of the season. Their average margin of victory is still only 3.1 points per game (as compared to 19.7 ppg for Florida, whom they beat early on). But this past week, they turned into separatists, thanks in large part to two great all-around performances by 'T Luke Walton (who turned in a triple-double in their home rout of USC and who keyed a 27-2 run and a 43-13 close to bring them from 20 points down at home against +5.1 ppg UCLA). (That said, until proven otherwise, it's the Oregon Ducks that are the best team in the best conference, the Pac-10.)
In contrast, the best of the lingerers at this point appears to be the
Georgia Bulldogs. They had already won an 88-84 shootout at
Kentucky the previous week. This past week, after two players
were suspended (and one dismissed) from the team due to criminal allegations, they lost at home
in an endplay to Alabama, but followed that up with a huge
win at Florida, 84-79. The Gators led by 12 but couldn't put
them away and some key plays at the end went the Dawgs' way. In fact, the entire
SEC is full of lingerer teams:
Mississippi, Arkansas,
Mississippi St, LSU and
Tennessee (a lingerer team who keeps losing
most of their endplay games while Georgia is winning most of theirs; but the Vols beat
Syracuse this week, 66-62. In fact, the
Big East has been full of lingering results in conference
play this season as well.)
Stanford faces its toughest week of the season when it gets to play road games against UCLA and USC. The Cardinal haven't shown yet that they properly belong in the conversation among ranked teams; here's their chance to offer some proof. Oklahoma hosts Missouri before travelling to Texas Tech. With Ohio State winning all of its "supposed to" games, Illinois has no margin for error left in the Big 10 race and needs to come up with a win in Bloomington at Indiana on Sunday.
Splitsville
The top 4 teams (Duke, Kansas, Cincinnati and Maryland) continued to roll along last week with solid wins at home and on the road. Conference play has not particularly slowed their pace. But below those four, 13 of the next 14 teams in the rankings did no better than split their games for the week.
In particular, Florida has been dragged down by all of the lingering play inside the SEC. All of those close games require solid guardplay and G Brett Nelson has been in Gator coach Billy Donovan's doghouse recently. By contrast, the team that seems to be handling things the best so far is Alabama. Last year, the Crimson Tide's biggest problem was winning on the road, but this year they've won at Georgia and just won at Kentucky on Saturday. It's the backcourt of G Maurice Williams, G Terrance Meade and (former walk-on) G Antoine Pettway that made the difference against the Wildcats. 'Bama shot 21-for-29 on free throws while UK was shooting 7-for-30 on 3-pointers. If 'T Rod Grizzard (3-for-15 against Kentucky) can improve his shot selection, this year's squad might really go places.
Connecticut's overtime win at Arizona validated their season. The Huskies won-loss record (14-3) was always fine, but until now their best win was a 1-point home victory over Miami(Florida). Because of unbalanced scheduling, they've avoided playing most of the tough teams in the Big East so far, but this interconference win boosts the profile of the entire league. That said, the best team in the conference is clearly Pittsburgh, who has already played everyone else of note in the league (including a rout of Syracuse last week) and still stands at 6-2 in league play.
When they're at home and the 3s are falling, Indiana sure looks great (witness their 30-point blowout of Illinois on Saturday). Likewise, Bob Knight's Texas Tech got revenge on Oklahoma with a home victory over the Sooners (that almost makes up for the road blowout they suffered earlier in the season). Give Stanford credit for a split on the road in the Pac-10 (winning at UCLA before losing at USC).
Below the radar, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors have quietly taken control of the balanced WAC. When was the last time N.C. State finished third in the ACC? It could happen. Xavier is winning as it should in the weak Atlantic 10 (which now has 12 members). In the always chaotic MAC, Kent State (ahead of Ball State) has established itself as the class of the league.
Maryland can keep pace with Duke in the ACC with wins at Virginia and at home against N.C. State. Oregon can stake its claim (and get the national attention it deserves) as the best team in the Pac-10 when it hosts UCLA and USC. Florida and Kentucky meet Tuesday just trying to stay in the regular season conference race in the SEC East Division. N.C. State can burst into the national conversation if it pulls off two wins this week (at home against Wake Forest and at Maryland). Butler needs two wins (at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and at Wright State) just to get back in the local conversation atop the Horizon League.
One thing about "parity": there are plenty of interesting games on tap worth watching.
How High Is Up?
How can Kansas have turned in two rout wins of its own and dropped two places in the rankings? Yes, their 32-point victory (31 points of which came in the second half alone) over talented Missouri was definitely impressive. Certainly, the Jayhawks are probably less vulnerable to upset than the Ducks. But, there's that nagging loss to UCLA in which the Bruins' individual athletic talent was decisive. 'T Matt Barnes had 27 points against Kansas; he had 2 points against Oregon. That four-runner loss to Ball State to start the season now looks like it can be chalked up almost entirely to the cramping factor; but there are more teams that can play Kansas the way Ball State did than there are teams that can play Oregon the way USC did. What's more, Maryland may not be winning by 30 points, but they are pulling off impressive gut-check wins over teams who are giving them their best shot. The Terrapins made 25 of 26 free throws to come from behind at Virginia and won going away against an N.C. State team playing very well. It's better for teams to be able to win tough games when both teams are playing well than it is for them to be able to win big against teams that lay down once the rout is on.
Marquette's slow and steady game is winning the race in Conference USA (so far). The Golden Eagles knocked the wind out of Cincinnati's sails with a solid 74-60 win. G Steve Logan, who had been unstoppable previously, only had 15 points in their biggest game of the season. The Bearcats need to (and should) recover right away: their next opponent, Charlotte, is no pushover and then they have to visit Wake Forest, which beat Marquette when they came calling.
Butler has paid back its two home losses (to Wright State and to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with whom the Bulldogs swapped one-point road wins). This week they get the chance to pay back the third loss when Detroit (who now owns the longest home winning streak in the nation at 39 games) comes to visit. 7' C Chris Marcus is back in action for Western Kentucky, which was able to stay in control of the weak Sun Belt conference race even without him; there's still time to regain the momentum from that early season shocker over Kentucky at suddenly friendly Rupp Arena. Kent State has beaten all of its rivals inside the MAC and now looks ready to stretch its legs and pour it on for the stretch run. Southern Illinois's road win over Creighton put them on top of the MVC.
Below the top of the standings, Minnesota is finding its form. The Golden Gophers have beaten both Ohio State and Indiana convincingly at home as freshman F Rick Rickert and senior F Dusty Rychart are becoming a formidable tandem. Rutgers beat Connecticut and Syracuse back-to-back in the treacherous Big East; so many teams are playing well in that league that there's sure to be some big upsets in the conference tournament that wind up knocking out some deserving teams from the NCAA tournament; none of those teams is a lock to get a bid yet any one that gets in could make the Sweet 16. Lowly Kansas State beat both Texas and slumping Oklahoma State at home (but don't expect the trifecta over Kansas on Monday night). Xavier and Hawaii keep on winning, but their conferences aren't quite strong enough to merit a ranking. As much as they're the team everybody loves to love, Gonzaga is not even in first place in its own league. (They lost at Pepperdine, who leads the WCC.) Don't lose sight of the results with teams that you want to be better than they really are.
Over Hill And Underhill
Oregon lost in OT at Stanford and then in double-OT at California. In a league as tough as the Pac-10, overtime road losses aren't such a blight. The Ducks are young and the minor adversity of these near misses will likely only spur them to reach a higher level of competitiveness. The Cardinal, meanwhile, are surging. 'T Casey Jacobsen is in a groove scoringwise these days and C Curtis Borchardt remains the most productive true-center in the country; (as long as those two don't forget to let the rest of their teammates into the offensive flow, things are great in Palo Alto). UCLA's G Billy Knight sank a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to snatch victory from a choke defeat against USC, but he couldn't do it two games running as he missed two shots at the end of the game on the road at Villanova.
Ohio State fell out of the top spot in the Big 10 race on the road after an OT loss at spoiler Wisconsin and a squeak loss at Michigan State. Indiana rolled at home twice against has-been Iowa in-conference and bluegrass rival Louisville out-of-conference. In third place in the standings is Minnesota at 7-3 (having beaten both of those teams ahead of them at home); coach Dan Monson (ex-Gonzaga) seems to have turned a corner in his resurrection of the Golden Gopher program (thanks to the forward combination of senior Rusty Dychart and freshman Rick Rickert).
Monson's former team, Gonzaga, is getting closer to gaining the top spot in the "tough" WCC. The 'Zags got a big win (77-@76) last week over conference power San Diego (12-11 overall). Saturday comes the showdown with league-leading Pepperdine (to whom they've already lost). Don't lose sight of the actual results on paper with this team. Yes, G Dan Dickau posts big scoring numbers and, yes, F Cory Violette has good skills for such a young player; but the biggest wins on this year's record are Texas, St. John's and St. Joseph's with losses to Marquette and Illinois -- those aren't Top 10 credentials.
Notre Dame won in 4 OTs at Georgetown, 116-@111. The Fighting Irish have swept Pittsburgh this season, but even with a 7-3 conference record, it's tough to get noticed in the crowded pack inside the Big East.
Cincinnati rebounded from its loss to Marquette with two solid road wins at Charlotte and at Wake Forest (where the Golden Eagles lost earlier this year), but no one above them in the rankings did anything egregious enough to warrant any move back up the rankings. Butler did beat Detroit the second time around and is finally on top in the Horizon League standings (but even so they're still only tied for the lead with Wisconsin-Milwaukee). N.C. State has held up to the rigours of conference play in the ACC but, nationally, their reputation has been made at the hands of Virginia (whom they swept) and Syracuse. (It depends on how you look at it.) When no one was looking, Yale swept Penn and Princeton and sits alone atop the Ivy League.
The biggest of the big games is on tap this week: Duke plays at Maryland on Sunday. Arizona tries its hand with the toughest week in Pac-10 conference play: at UCLA and then at USC; (Stanford was able to split this road trip earlier). Georgia hosts Florida and Kentucky back-to-back. Xavier and St. Joseph's finally have their Atlantic 10 showdown on Saturday.
Ascension
The win doesn't quite mean the Emperor in Durham has no clothes, though -- after all, there are precious few teams out there with the right combination of strengths to beat Duke -- but the blueprint for victory is clear. Kentucky used much the same formula in their OT loss to the Blue Devils, but only Maryland faces Duke often enough not to be afraid to win against them. This win does finally signal that a new era has taken root in the ACC. Since Dean Smith left North Carolina, the Duke-UNC era was inevitably on its way out (and it's officially over now after the Tar Heels' disastrous collapse this season); but a new era couldn't be declared until another program ascended to the standard set in Durham. The Terrapins now should break the Blue Devils 5-year run of regular season titles and might have enough self-confidence to break through in the big rematches this time around.
Gonzaga took it to Pepperdine in front of its rabid home crowd the second time around and finally shares the lead with the Waves in the WCC race. The 'Zags have lots of muscle up front, push the pace and can shoot from outside as well. They shouldn't lose again the rest of the way, so they'll be everybody's darling pick come tournament time (but this year there are a lot of teams capable of making Sweet 16; so they won't be able to sneak through past anyone).
Mississippi slowed the tempo on Florida (holding an ill G Brett Nelson to 0 points on 0-for-9 shooting) and showed that that formula still works against the Gators. (Remember that Mississippi shut down the Gators in last year's SEC tournament and then Temple did the same in the NCAA tournament.) But there are precious few lodero teams this year who are playing well (maybe only Pittsburgh, Marquette, Miami(Florida) and maybe Butler even partially qualify); run-and-shoot is the name of the game this year (Maryland, Kansas, Duke and all of the top teams in the Pac-10 give up 70+ points per game.)
Oklahoma State pulled out an OT win (in front of their
raucous home crowd) over Oklahoma (without G Maurice Baker),
but Texas fell in OT at home against
Kansas. The return of madman 'T Lucas Johnson to the
Illinois lineup (after having ACL surgery in October) has
restored a bit of order to their chaotic play, so all may not be totally lost for the Illini (as
it clearly is for the Iowa Hawkeyes).
Wisconsin nipped Indiana in Bloomington, further muddying the picture in the Big 10. Tulsa is now leading the WAC ... for the moment. Rutgers continues to be a spoiler at home in the Big East -- (they knocked off Miami(Florida) last week). Creighton is on top in the MVC and Utah State sits atop the Big West.
Wake Forest's reward for routing Virginia last week is a home game with Duke on Thursday and a road trip to Maryland on Sunday. It's Stanford's turn to host both USC and UCLA this week. Texas hosts Oklahoma State on Wednesday and then travels to Oklahoma on Saturday. Alabama can stake an undisputed claim as the SEC's best team if they can beat Florida on Saturday. Marquette gets to pay back one of its losses when Charlotte comes to visit on Tuesday, but the rematch at revenge-seeking Cincinnati looms on Friday night. Ohio State travels to Indiana on Wednesday for their first-place showdown in the Big 10.
Cincinnati nipped Marquette 63-62 in a bruising rematch. The Bearcats led 20-4 after 8 minutes behind the most stifling interior defense (led by C Donald Little) that any team has shown this season. There's probably not another team around that wouldn't have folded on the road in such a hostile environment, but the Golden Eagles had already beaten UC earlier in the year and they clamped down on the defensive end themselves (behind two-way-G Dwayne Wade) and after another 8 minutes, the score was tied at 22-22. The two teams traded spurts and an endplay allowed Cincy to score the last 5 points of the game to escape with the win behind G Steve Logan's key 3-pointer. It was the best display of defense by two teams all season.
Florida's C Udonis Haslem was getting the better of Alabama's F Erwin Dudley in their battle in the paint in Tuscaloosa; but the home crowd spurred the Crimson Tide to stay in contact with the Gators and Bama's G Earnest Shelton found G Antoine Pettway for a layup at the buzzer to steal the win 65-64. Once again guardplay made the difference for Alabama who is now 11-3 in the SEC, 5-1 against the league's power teams, and 3-0 in endplays vs. Florida, Georgia and Kentucky. By contrast, the Gators are 9-5, 2-4 against the SEC elite teams, and 1-3 (with 3 endplay losses) vs. Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky. G Brett Nelson gets flak from Gator coach Billy Donovan, but the problem is that he doesn't have any pure guard help in the backcourt. It isn't all roses for 'Bama, though: the guards (and the home crowd) are saving the day, but 'T Rod Grizzard continues to fail to lead the way while remaining in coach Mark Gottfried's doghouse; the Tide is good without him but they can only be great with him at the forefront.
Indiana won at home in their first-place showdown with Ohio State. They were even handling Michigan State on the road early until F Jared Jeffries sat down with foul trouble. When Jeffries leaves the floor, he takes 3 things with him: the IU interior defense, interior offense and his absence also means the Hoosier 3-point shooters have to get open off the dribble -- not their strength -- rather than from inside-out passing. The Spartans used their home crowd to spur themselves back to victory; that leaves the Big 10 conference race unsettled. MSU is one of those teams that is so much more effective at home than on the road; the 50-game home win streak is over, but the effect of "The Izzone" on the outcome of home games isn't diminished. Bob Knight's Texas Tech team is another one that's a world-beater when it plays in Lubbock.
The one team that came up empty in two big home games last week was Stanford. USC blew away the Cardinal 77-58 on Thursday and then UCLA was up by 20 with 8 minutes left before hanging on for a 95-92 road win. Conversely, California played those same two teams last week and came away with two home blowouts: 69-51 over UCLA and then 83-64 over USC. The Golden Bears are 17-1 at home this year, are now tied for second in the Pac-10 at 11-5 and are 5-4 among the elite league teams. (Only league-leading Oregon is better at 12-4, 6-2 among the elite Pac-10 teams with the two losses coming in OT on the road.) Meanwhile, Stanford is tied for third at 10-6 (but only 3-6 among the conference elite).
There is only one week left in the regular season for the major conferences now; the last few showdowns are on tap. Maryland lucked out when Wake Forest's 'T Josh Howard called a timeout the Demon Deacons didn't have and UM won 90-89 thanks to a free throw for the technical foul. The Terrapins can win the ACC outright with wins at Florida State and at home against Virginia. Kansas narrowly escaped a four-runner defeat on the road at hot-shooting Nebraska this past Sunday and can close out an undefeated regular season in conference play in the Big 12 with a win at home against Kansas State and then on the road at Missouri. Oregon can do the unthinkable -- win the Pac-10 outright -- if it can come up big on the road at USC and at UCLA this week. Memphis (which never had to play Marquette at all) finally gets to see what they're made of with a trip to Cincinnati on Sunday. If ever Clemson had a shot to break its 0-for-47 losing streak in Chapel Hill, it's this year: the Tigers visit the Dean Dome to play 7-18 North Carolina on Wednesday.
The lesser conferences have their tournaments this week. Only Gonzaga figures to get an NCAA tournament bid without winning their conference tournament. Even teams like Butler (which looks like a great team to the naked eye, but has 4 losses in regular season play inside the weak Horizon League) and Western Kentucky (which probably can't live off that early season win at Kentucky alone just for dominating the weak Sun Belt) might get squeezed out by the also-rans from deep major conferences like the Pac-10, SEC, Big East and Big 10 if either of those two doesn't get the automatic bid that go to its conference tournament champion.
'Tweeners aren't the only kind of inside-outside player -- at 6-4 200lb,
Oregon's Jones is in the mold of an emerging breed of
"Baby Bull" guards: they still have the range to hit 3-pointers, but they're strong enough to
take the ball inside and finish with power. These are not finesse players (as the 'tweeners
usually are). Frank Williams (Illinois) routinely takes the
game over in the late-going by driving the lane making sure he gets no worse than free throws on
key possessions. Dajuan Wagner (Memphis) and
Dwayne Wade (Marquette) also have enough size that lets them
do damage in the lane. Jason Williams (Duke) and
Steve Logan (Cincinnati) aren't as big as those others,
but they have enough body strength to be included as "Honorary bbGs". The
Georgia-Tennessee
game featured a head-to-head matchup between the Dawgs' bbG Jarvis Hayes and
the Vols 'T Vincent Yarborough with the SEC scoring title on
the line. (The Vols won the game in OT; Hayes won the scoring title.)
Illinois put things together well enough in the second half of conference play to earn a share of first place in the Big 10 race (which wound up in a four-way tie). The Illini never were as good as last year's model, but this year's version is still probably capable of making the Sweet 16. Meanwhile, Michigan State has gotten the most out of its personnel and competes as well as anybody else inside the conference.
Memphis lost in overtime at Cincinnati, but led for most of the game. Cincy's strength is its interior defense and that took away most of what C Kelly Wise and bbG Dajuan Wagner like to do best (and they still almost won, anyway). The Bearcats' offense consists of bbG Steve Logan going one-on-one, points off of turnovers, and offensive putbacks of missed jumpers. Against a team that doesn't need to go inside the paint to score its points, they'll have a tough time keeping pace in a high-scoring contest.
Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson went on a
tirade in a press conference at the beginning of the week complaining about being judged on a
different standard -- (he's the only black head coach at the school). One .500 season after 15+
years of excellence got him the boot before the week was over. Richardson is from a generation
of black coaches that had it way tougher than the likes of
Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson or
Oregon's Ernie Kent (and certainly tougher than anything the
likes of us have seen); it's hard for a guy like that not to be bitter and resentful and you're
still not allowed to voice such feelings without reproach. Arkansas didn't see fit to let him
finish the season yet the likes of Steve Alford of
Iowa (who has done the worst
coaching job of a team with lots of talent) and Matt Doherty at
North Carolina are still at the helm.
Butler managed to lose to the 8th-seed in the first round of the Horizon League tournament. Tennessee Tech lost one game all year in conference but fell to Murray State for the second time in the OVC final. Georgia State spent the entire regular season giving away games to lesser opponents inside the Atlantic Sun, so the loss in the final shouldn't have come as a surprise. N-I-T!!! N-I-T!!!
Gonzaga and Pepperdine play the rubber match in the final of the WCC tonight (Monday). Whoever wins the MVC final between Southern Illinois and Creighton should be able to make a splash in the first round of the NCAA tournament. If Princeton can beat Penn on the road (at The Palestra) on Tuesday, they'll win the Ivy League title outright; if Penn wins, there'll be a three-way tie between Penn, Princeton and Yale. If that happens -- (and Penn won 62-38 the first time around) -- then Princeton and Yale will have to play each other (Thursday) and the winner will play Penn (Saturday) for the right to go to the NCAA tournament. (There's no conference tournament, so this is the plan in lieu of just using a tiebreaker to declare the league champion.)
The major conference tournaments are all that we have left before the NCAA tournament draw is
selected this coming Sunday. Maryland has the confidence now
to beat Duke in the ACC.
Kansas won't have any trouble in the
Big 12 tournament after going undefeated in league play.
Arizona has the best draw in the revived
Pac-10 tournament.
Memphis may be able to win in Cincinnati the second time
around at the Conference USA tournament.
Connecticut has the easiest path to victory in the loaded
Big East tournament. There is no clear favorite in the
SEC tournament (which might mean
Kentucky wins again in front of their travelling "home"
crowd). Home-state advantage might be enough for Indiana to
take the Big 10 tournament (in Indianapolis).
Western Kentucky has run roughshod over the
Sun Belt all season (so why stop now?); likewise, with
Kent State in the
MAC. Hawaii is the best
team in the WAC; Wyoming
is (barely) the best in the Mountain West; the best team in
the Atlantic 10 is
15-13 Temple (not
22-5 Xavier); Utah State is best team in the
Big West (but UC-Irvine
has the best player -- G Jerry Green) -- but none of these league champs figure to do any damage
in the NCAA tournament.
Sleep deprivation phase begins ... now!!!
Pod People
Gonzaga handled Pepperdine in the their rubber match showdown in the final of the WCC tournament. They looked good but, on paper, all they have to show is a squeak win over Texas; hence their #6 seed (and a pod to be determined later -- see below). Creighton executed brilliantly (the third time around) to beat Southern Illinois for the first time this season and earn the MVC's automatic NCAA bid (but SIU made it, too). Western Kentucky barely survived the Sun Belt semifinal with a buzzer-beater; but in the final, C Chris Marcus (24p,11r,6b) took over down the stretch -- he affected the play on every possession (offensively and defensively); you rarely see a big man these days who is that active. Kent State and G Trevor Huffman went out in style, rolling through the MAC tournament much the same as they had done in the regular season (17-1). The brother vs. brother clash between Illinois-Chicago and Loyola(Illinois) in the Horizon final was fun to watch: Loyola's G David Bailey won the battle (35p), but younger brother G Martell Bailey won the war for UIC, making big plays in overtime to send the Flames dancing.
The path cleared for Xavier in the
Atlantic 10 tournament as both
Temple and
St. Joseph's fell in front of hometown crowds.
The reason we have 65 teams now is because, a couple of years back, some teams split off from
the WAC and formed the
Mountain West; with one more automatic bid to hand out, the
NCAA decided to force two teams from the lowest conferences to meet in an "Opening Round" game
rather than reduce the number of precious at-large bids. Thanks to San Diego State, who played
their way to the WAC's automatic bid, there are 5 teams from those two conferences that
made it into the tournament: Hawaii and Tulsa from the WAC,
and Wyoming, Utah and
SDSU from the Mountain West. (I wouldn't have wasted one at-large bid on either of these
conferences.) It took two playoff games for the Ivy League
to award its automatic bid to Penn. (Head-to-head in the regular season, Penn was 3-1, Yale was
2-2 and Princeton was 1-3, so the obvious tiebreaker would
have produced the same result.)
Playing his last college games in his home state, former "Mr. Basketball" 'T Luke Recker hit two buzzer-beaters to knock off Wisconsin and then Indiana, his old school, to make the Big 10 final; but Ohio State prevented the Hawkeyes from pulling off the 4-day title run for the second year in the row. Connecticut and Pittsburgh, the two best teams in the Big East, met for the first time in the tournament final -- (gotta love those unbalanced regular season schedules, don't you?) The Huskies won in double-overtime after Pitt's G Brandin Knight left the game with a sprained knee. Knight talked coach Ben Howland into putting him back in at the very end so he could take a shot to win; he almost made it, but it was painful to watch; (he apparently doesn't have any serious damage and hopes to play through the pain in their NCAA first-round game on Friday.)
The SEC regular season had been an endless series of endplay
games, so it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that several games turned on key plays
in the closing moments; too bad horrendous officiating determined the outcome more often than
the efforts of the players. The most egregious (among many) incidents came in the
Alabama-South Carolina semifinal: (the other) USC was trying
to run some clock when their guard tripped over an Alabama player and both of them fell to the
ground; no charge or block was called and Alabama picked up the free ball and threw it downcourt
to G Antoine Pettway, who missed the layup but was fouled on the play -- at least, one ref blew
his whistle and was ready to call the foul on Carolina; Alabama's F Kenny Walker made a follow
slam of Pettway's miss and a second ref whistled another Carolina foul over the back of Walker.
After a conference, the refs decided that, even though the play was dead after the first
whistle, Walker's basket was counted and he made a free throw to boot and 'Bama won the
game. Unbelievable, and, yep, Andre Patillo (whom some of us know) was in the middle of
that awful decision. Despite losing to the free-playing athletes of
Mississippi State in the final, Alabama looked very good:
their guards kept them in the close games and, when 'T Rod Grizzard hit six 3-pointers and
scored 27 points in the first half against
Tennessee, the rout was on.
(The other?) USC turned the dogs loose with a relentless press that showcased its depth and routed Stanford in the quarters of the Pac-10 tournament; in the semifinal, Oregon didn't mind the frenetic pace and held its own for 30 minutes before fatigue set in and the 3's stopped falling; in the final, the same formula worked for a half against Arizona as the Trojans led by 9, but 'T Luke Walton and G Salim Stoudamire turned things around to give the Wildcats the win, 81-71. Maryland turned in two lazy performances in the ACC tournament: they escaped against lowly Florida State, but N.C. State kept up their hot shooting and the Terps went down before getting a chance to meet up with eventual champ Duke. Playing on their home floor, Cincinnati rolled to the Conference USA title, including a convincing win over rival Marquette in the final. Playing "away" in Kansas City, Oklahoma manhandled high-scoring Kansas 64-55 in the Big 12 final.
So you'd think that, after their impressive win over Kansas, having beaten Maryland during the regular season, and with the Terrapins' failing to even make it to their own conference final, that Oklahoma would have a #1-seed locked up, right? Wrong. The Sooners' reward is a #2-seed in the West Regional behind Cincinnati, while the Terps get the #1-seed in the East with Connecticut (a team Oklahoma has also beaten) as the #2-seed. It's not so much that The Fix was in, but you can blame it on "the Pod People".
The NCAA got lots of complains from alumni and supporters last year that too many teams were being forced to play far away from their home location for the first set of games. It's a valid complaint, but the solution they chose presents its own set of problems. Previously, they have treated the first- and second-round host sites as "sub-regionals", where the 8 teams that play there are all part of the same section of the overall bracket. The NCAA still starts with the old plan by seeding the overall tournament using the 16-team "S curve" system: 1) determine the top 4 seeds and place them in the regional bracket closest geographically; 2) distribute seeds 5 though 16 in a winding "S curve" below the top seeds so that each region is "balanced": 1-8-9-16, 2-7-10-15, 3-6-11-14 and 4-5-12-13. With the new plan, from there they break up the bracket in to "pods" (sets of 4 teams who will play each other in the first two rounds) and place each pod independently at the host site most convenient for each set of four (with first preference going to the highest seed in the pod). So Maryland gets to play its first two games in Washington, DC; Illinois gets to play in Chicago; Pittsburgh gets to play in Pittsburgh. In the past, all three of those teams would have been moved for failing to win their conference tournament. Especially screwed by its poor seeding is Gonzaga: had it been the top seed in its pod, it would have been able to play in Sacramento; instead, it has to play in Albuquerque, the preferred site of its podmate, Arizona. More than ever, location is going to have a big effect on the outcome of these games because so many of the power schools will have huge crowds supporting them (like Duke and North Carolina have long gotten, playing year-in and year-out in Greensboro and Charlotte the first two rounds).
Not to be outdone, the NIT has expanded from 32 teams to 40. Some teams will have to play "Opening Round" games on Tuesday and Wednesday before advancing the "1st Round" games. Even more confusing is that some Opening Round and First Round games will be played on the same night, so it'll be quite a task trying to figure out where things are in that bracket. (I've tried to sort out the first couple of rounds below, but you can go directly to the NIT website, www.nit.org, and look at the full draw.)
(For those of you in the Hoops Contest, everything seems ready to go.)
All Things Considered . . .
We're down to the Sweet 16 and only one of the first-line contenders, Cincinnati, didn't make it through (and even in their case, they fell to a proven giant-killer). UCLA, which had beaten #1-ranked Kansas during the regular season, again pulled off an upset, beating the top-seeded Bearcats in double-overtime. In the first half, Cincy cleaned up on the offensive boards and scored on put-backs of everything G Leonard Stokes didn't make the first time around. C Dan Gadzuric was great all game long for the Bruins. In the second half, UCLA still couldn't stop Stokes (who wound up with 39 points) but they did box out a whole lot better, didn't turn the ball over to give UC easy points and 'T Jason Kapono showed up just in time to pull all the late-game heroics they needed.
Unheralded, but impressive, Kent State rolled into the Sweet 16 with two solid wins over nationally ranked teams from glamour conferences. Make no mistake, the Golden Flashes belong right where they are: they dominated the MAC with a 17-1 regular season, won their conference tournament and are riding a 20-game winning streak, the longest in the nation. They're a senior-laden squad that beat Indiana in the first round of last year's NCAA tournament, so they were neither in awe of The Big Stage nor their opponents, Oklahoma State and Alabama. The way they've looked in two straight games, you have to say that it's no upset for KSU to be in the Sweet 16 -- and, for sure, they don't think so -- and they're probably not done yet, either. They have such outstanding perimeter ball-handling and poise that their win over SEC champ Alabama was almost routine; G Trevor Huffman is another "Body Rock" player (like Duke's Jason Williams): his physical conditioning is a big factor in his effectiveness -- he ducks his head and maneuvers his way past the defender, has enough upper body strength to drive the lane and ward off a blocked shot, and he's got a great bounce off the floor on his jumpshot from outside; (it's too bad he's only 6-1 or else he'd have a real shot at making it big in the NBA).
Missouri, which looked like a Top 10 team in the preseason only to fall into disarray when it hit the tough Big 12 schedule, played uninhibited baketball and ran past the likes of lodero Miami(Florida) and ball-controlling Ohio State. The surprise isn't so much that the Tigers made the Sweet 16; the surprise is that it came as a surprise at all.
Thanks to the "pod" system, Southern Illinois got to play two East Regional games in Chicago, in front of supportive "home" crowds; likewise, Texas used the support of the Dallas crowd to race past and then hold on against Mississippi State. Although they were likely strong enough to have beaten their two opponents at neutral sites, anyway, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Illinois each benefitted from playing "home" games despite none of their having won their conference tournaments. (Is the pod system better than forcing fans/family to pay big travel costs to watch their teams play? Hard to say. Does the pod system's unevenly granting "home" crowds to some teams affect the outcome? Undoubtedly.)
Notre Dame had the right combination to give Duke a scare: a strong inside presence to occupy C Carlos Boozer and then take your chances on the Blue Devils' missing 3s and free throws -- it almost worked. 'T Tayshaun Prince made it look so easy for him to score 41 points against Tulsa that it frustrates you wondering why he doesn't show up like that every night. Oregon's Big Three (bbG Frederick Jones, G Luke Ridnour and 'T Luke Jackson) scored 81 out of their 92 points against Wake Forest; 'T Craig Dawson's shoulder injury with 7 minutes left was huge -- the Demon Deacons's frontcourt and 'tweeners were much quicker than the Ducks' lumbering trees.
After all their grousing about being underseeded, Gonzaga let Wyoming (and Josh Davis) take the game to them and the 'Zags are history. Pepperdine's reputation was made on Gonzaga and USC, and all 3 teams are out in the first round. When they're not pressing, USC's defense is porous and when they managed to turn a humiliating rout defeat at the hands of UNC-Wilmington into an endplay, they didn't have the poise to take a good shot (C Sam Clancy shooting a 3-pointer isn't what you want.) Even part of Marquette's rep had come from beating Gonzaga in the finals of the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT. Florida (which was well on its way to self-destruction, anyway) succumbed to Creighton's mercy killing.
The NCAA tournament is a mad scramble -- lodero teams, which over the long haul of the regular season can snatch a win here and their steady play from more loose-minded rivals, don't seem to cut it come tourney time: Miami(Florida) was done for once they got too far behind Missouri; Marquette couldn't generate enough offense to separate from Tulsa -- (but Pittsburgh had the hometown pod factor going for it).
For the second year in a row, the "Opening Round" (read "Play-In") game was competitive and entertaining. The bottom 17 seeds went to champions of "must carry" conferences (i.e., whose champs would never normally be seeded higher than any at-large team) plus San Diego State, the upset #5-seed winners of the Mountain West tournament. Only the very highest seeded of the bunch, #13-seeded UNC-Wilmington, was able to pull off the first-round upset. By contrast, the lowest seeded at-large team, Utah, lost big to Indiana. Eliminate the Play-In, don't invite Utah, and USC faces SDSU in the first round (and likely would still be playing).
Big time (and lesser known) players came up with the goods: Kentucky's 'T Tayshaun Prince (41p vs. Tulsa), Connecticut's 'T Caron Butler (34p vs. NC State), Cincinnati's G Leonard Stokes (39p in defeat vs. UCLA), Alabama's G Maurice Williams (33p10r6a vs. Florida Atlantic) and Ohio State's G Brian Brown (33p v Davidson); F Aaron McGhee (Oklahoma) has been great in two games, likewise G Luke Ridnour (Oregon) and G Trevor Huffman (Kent State); Wyoming's F Josh Davis intimidated Gonzaga all by himself, Creighton's G Terrell Taylor took over the end of the game against Florida, and Siena's 'T Prosper Karangwa looked way better than his team's second-best player in their Play-In win over Alcorn State.
The Big 12 snagged 4 Sweet 16 spots (Kans, OK, @TX, Mizzou) and an 8-2 record overall; the Pac-10 went 8-3 with 3 teams still alive (Ore, AZ, UCLA); the ACC (Duke, @MD) went 6-2 and the Big 10 (@Ill, IU) went 6-3. The Big East (UConn, @Pitt) was a mixed bag at 5-4 while the highly touted SEC (UK) was 5-5. C-USA (none) 1-2 and the WCC (none) 0-2 went bust. 5 bids went to the WAC (1-2) and Mountain West (1-3) with no Sweet 16s to show for it; meanwhile, the MAC (KentSt; 2-0) and MVC (@So Ill; 3-1) never seem to get their due (and Memphis, Butler and Ball State all won their first-round NIT games as well).
We Know We Belong To The Land . . .
Maryland and Connecticut staged the best played game of the tournament so far. A couple of "Excuse me" 3-pointers made all the difference in the world. At the end of the first half, F Tahj Holden's buzzer-beater capped an 8-0 run to give the Terrapins a 7-point lead at the break which provided a working margin to start the second half. Then, after 'T Caron Butler's bravura performance (32p) led the Huskies to a 75-72 lead with 5 minutes left in the game, the Terrapins closed with a 14-5 stretch, capped by G Steve Blake's 3-point shot when UC forgot to guard him on a key possession that sealed the victory. Forget the sorry showing in the ACC tournament when their minds were looking ahead. They decisioned Kentucky in fine fashion. These are the real Terps: able to win in a rout if you can't match their scoring output, but also experienced and poised enough to win in the clutch when The Big One is on the line. They have the best balance, depth and star power of any of the teams that have advanced to Atlanta.
Kansas and Oregon both wanted to run, but KU's talent is more spread out whereas UofO needs production from each of its Big Three (bbG Frederick Jones -- who delivered with 32 points, and 'T Luke Jackson and G Luke Ridnour -- who didn't). The Jayhawks' frontcourt players were much quicker inside than the Ducks and the rebounding margin (61-31) reflects the rout. On top of that, playing a team which could push the pace even better and more persistently than even they could tired out the outside shooting on which Oregon relies so heavily. Kansas held off Illinois thanks to its depth -- the Illini played well in that game. Roy Williams is back in the Final Four (and for the first time with a #1-seeded Jayhawk team). This season is the reward (to him and to Kansas) for his decision to stay in Lawrence rather than succeed Dean Smith/(Bill Guthridge) at North Carolina.
Individually, the players for Oklahoma don't seem all that imposing -- I'm not sure any of them will make it at the next level -- but, collectively, they are so effective, and so quick. Missouri had to play at such a fast pace just to match the intensity. Playing a familiar conference opponent helped. Those two really took it to each other. The Tigers did a great job getting the Sooners in foul trouble, but it almost wasn't worth it because they couldn't make their free throws. Oklahoma played as well as anybody has in the tournament with their strangling win over Arizona -- a big game.
If Indiana shoots 3s like they did against Kent State for two more games, they're national champs. The Golden Flashes did well to scramble just to get it back inside of 10 points with 7 minutes to go, but they had nothing left for the finish. IU's G Tom Coverdale hounded KSU's G Trevor Huffman into a meek performance, but KSU's Antonio Gates' ball-handling ability from the forward spot was wonderful to watch.
G Frederick Jones beat Texas on yet another game-winning drive; the super sophs (the two Lukes) will be back again, but come next year, don't forget how important Jones was to the success of this season. When two teams with questions at point guard play each other, it's a free-for-all -- the Missouri-UCLA game was like watching kids playing hooky: "Let's just keep going until someone tells us to stop."
Kansas-Maryland was the big game that loomed from the start; now here it is. There's something about the Terps.
After placing two teams in the Final Four (and three in the Elite Eight and four in the Sweet 16), the Big 12 indisputably gets the nod as the top conference this year. Big 12 teams directly eliminated 4 teams from the Pac-10. The SEC (officially, the highest rated conference in the regular season) failed to place a team past the second round. The Big East (with the best out-of-conference won-loss percentage) had one Elite Eight team, but that's it.
It's also down to the last four teams in the NIT, with the semifinals on Tuesday and finals on
Thursday. Memphis got to play 3 home games to qualify for
New York while Syracuse and South Carolina both played two
out of three of their games at home. Only
Temple played away twice and survived.
None of the teams who had to play in the extra "Opening Round" (of 64) was able to win 4
games and advance to Madison Square Garden. John Chaney and John Calipari renew their rivalry
from Atlantic 10 days in the first semifinal.
WILL WORK FOR FINAL FOUR TICKETS
Volume VI, No. 22 - Apr 3: Redemption
(c) 2001-02 Ron McBay
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usul@mindspring.com