Left Behind
Last year, North Carolina's fTyler Hansbrough was arguably the best returning player in college, only to be eclipsed by the GCs who entered the college landscape (including one on his own team, fBrandan Wright). It may well happen again. The likes of cRoy Hibbert(Georgetown), gChris Lofton(Tennessee), gDrew Neitzel(Michigan State), fD.J. White(Indiana) and gSean Singletary(Virginia) opted to return to college for another season. Some of last year's would-be GCs were left behind as well: gD.J. Augustin(Texas), tChase Budinger(Arizona), fRyan Anderson(California), fBrook Lopez(Stanford), gTy Lawson(UNC) and gWayne Ellington(UNC). In fact, a few of the new GC crop are stepping into even better ready-made situations than tDurant and gOden had to work with: cKevin Love joins a fully stocked UCLA roster coming off of its second straight Final Four; pDerrick Rose gets handed the reins to drive the team at Memphis with everybody back from last year's Elite Eight run; and bEric Gordon has a proven star in fD.J. White waiting for him at Indiana along with talented fellow recruits as well. fKyle Singer(Duke), fPatrick Patterson(Kentucky), gO.J. Mayo(USC) and tMichael Beasley(Kansas State) all face more daunting challenges in that they'll be expected to hit the ground running as leaders of teams with elite aspirations. pJonny Flynn will vie with fDonte Green just to be the best GC on his own team at Syracuse. cAndrew Ogilvy will be hard-pressed to lead Vanderbilt back to another Sweet 16 finish. A winning record and a .500 finish in the tough Pac-10 would be considered success for tJames Harden at Arizona State.
The influx of the GCs last year (all to major conference programs) was supposed to be the death knell for the mid-majors. Instead, we saw Butler knock off four tournament teams to win the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF and then prove that was no fluke by finishing with a run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAAs. Southern Illinois, which edged Butler in the marquee matchup of ESPN's BRACKETBUSTERS event, led a strong contingent of Missouri Valley Conference teams by earning a Sweet 16 spot of its own. Virginia Commonwealth knocked off Duke to make a splash in the name of the Colonial Athletic Association. Winthrop beat Notre Dame to claim the only NCAA win in Big South history. And Davidson of the Southern Conference put a scare into Maryland before losing in the first round. Bradley(MVC) and Marist(Metro Atlantic) each won a round in the NIT as well. Things may not be so rosy this year, though. Butler returns four starters (including gA.J. Graves) but not its coach, and Davidson returns all five (especially gStephen Curry); but the likes of SIU (and the other MVC powers), VCU, Winthrop and Marist all lost key stars. George Mason(Colonial) has all five starters back from a team that just missed the postseason; but other than that, it looks like slim pickings on paper early on for the mid-majors this year.
None of last year's elite teams is ready to instantly take the mantle of preseason favorite without skipping a beat. UCLA lost its best player in bArron Afflalo (but GC cKevin Love is certainly as good a replacement as you could hope for). Georgetown lost fJeff Green (but still has the nation's best center in cRoy Hibbert). Swapping gJeremy Hunt for GC gDerrick Rose should make Memphis better. Kansas lost fJulian Wright but added some young talent. North Carolina lost GC fBrandan Wright but didn't add any significant new players. Likewise, Oregon lost gAaron Brooks but will basically stand pat with the rest of its guard cadre. Tennessee has four starters back (led by gChris Lofton) plus some great new talent (Iowa transfer fTyler Smith [who's immediately eligible without having to sit out a year by special permission due to his father's illness]). Pittsburgh lost cAaron Gray; Texas A&M lost its best player (gAcie Law) and its coach (Billy Gillispie, who took the job at Kentucky). Southern California and Vanderbilt swapped talent for talent: (out tNick Young, in GC gO.J. Mayo at USC; and out tDerrick Byars, in GC cAndrew Ogilvy at Vandy). Ohio State still has a few leftovers in gJamar Butler and tDavid Lighty while only gWalter Hodge remains at Florida; both programs have had great recruiting classes, but don't expect magic instantly from either squad.
Washington State lost one starter from last year's first-round splash team, but the nucleus led by gDerrick Low remains for a second strong run. Michigan State has everybody back (plus more backcourt help for gDrew Neitzel). Louisville's nucleus returns, but it's still unclear whose team that is. Indiana and Kentucky expect a return to elite status on the backs of GCs bEric Gordon and fPatrick Patterson, respectively. Maryland has some talent left, while Wisconsin and Purdue must rely heavily on a bumper crop of freshmen. Xavier hopes to repeat last year's splash and restore the Atlantic 10 to "Seventh Major" status (with the help of St. Joseph's and Dayton).
Marquette, Stanford and Arkansas return their entire starting fives and hope to improve on last year's first-round flameouts. Arizona still has leftover GC tChase Bundinger, as does Villanova with gScottie Reynolds. Gonzaga and Notre Dame hope the return of wayward stars (fJosh Heytvelt and gKyle McAlarney) will counterbalance the loss of important players from a year ago. Syracuse (with the help of GCs gJonny Flynn and fDonte Green), North Carolina State and Clemson all expect to turn success in last year's NIT into NCAA wins this year. And Kansas State (which lost coach Bob Huggins to West Virginia but held onto GC tMichael Beasley and welcomes back fBill Walker from early season injury last year), UAB (with coach Mike Davis' fine crop of transfers eligible this season), South Carolina and Cincinnati look for a return to prominence with lots of fresh talent arriving. Connecticut has everybody back from last year, and the Huskies figure to be more of a factor this time around, especially early on.
The sudden death of coach Skip Prosser over the summer was a terrible blow to the coaching ranks in general. Wake Forest seemed headed for an upturn this season, but now former assistant Dino Gaudio's squad will have more than basketball on their minds all season. Tubby Smith had enough of the pressure at Kentucky and bolted for the vacancy at Minnesota; Billy Gillispie left Texas A&M to take Tubby's spot at UK; Mark Turgeon moved up from Wichita State to TXAM; and Gregg Marshall left Winthrop to coach Wichita State. Tommy Amaker was ousted at Michigan (and wound up at Harvard); John Beilein left West Virginia to coach UMich; and Bob Huggins left Kansas State (after just one year) to take over at his alma mater WVU. Steve Alford left Iowa for New Mexico; and Todd Lickliter left Butler to take the Iowa job. Stan Heath left Arkansas and is now at South Florida, while John Pelphrey moves from South Alabama to Ark; Ronnie Arrow left Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for SBama; and Perry Clark returns to college to take over at TXAM-CC. Reggie Theus (New Mexico State) and Buzz Peterson (Coastal Carolina) left for the NBA; legends Rick Majerus (St. Louis) and Cliff Ellis (Coastal Carolina) return to college. The only place to go is up for new Princeton coach Sydney Johnson '97 after the Tigers finish dead last in the Ivies a year ago. Ex-Mississippi coach Rod Barnes takes over at Georgia State (but will have to wait a year before his crop of transfers become eligible).
The Pac-10 is absolutely loaded with talent from top to bottom (like the ACC used to be before expansion/dilution). The Big East figures to place the most teams in the Top 25 for the bulk of the season. The SEC and Big 10 have big rebuilding jobs at many prominent schools. The Big 12 and the ACC remain young for the most part (but that's not the impediment it used to be in The Age of the Golden Child that we're in for (these next couple of years, at least). Conference USA should be beefed up to a two-team conference again thanks to UAB's resurgence. The Atlantic 10 should continue its upswing from the end of last year. The Mountain West and WAC lost most of the frontline stars from their best teams and may fall back. The Colonial (with George Mason and VCU) has a better shot than the MVC (with only Southern Illinois) at staying out of one-bid conference (1BC) status. The Southern Conference will only avoid 1BC status if Davidson gets upset in the conference tournament. The Mid-Continent Conference has expanded and changed its name to the Summit League (but now that the stars have left Oral Roberts, don't expect to notice any one of these teams this season).
For two years running, ESPN's BRACKETBUSTERS event has featured a marquee matchup between two teams that went on to make the Sweet 16: Wichita State-George Mason in '06, and Southern Illinois-Butler in '07. (Don't expect that trend to continue this year, though.)
We're on the road to San Antonio. (Remember, there's no basement in the Alamo!)
-- Ron
Atlantic (Moment In The) Sun
These aren't world-beater teams, either. Gardner-Webb did its damage behind 6-1 gGrayson Flittner(22p5a) and 6-3 fThomas Sanders(21p10r). G-W bolted to 14-0 lead right out of the blocks and UK played catch-up the entire game. GC fPatrick Patterson had a modest debut, 12p12r. For its part, Mercer was led by 6-1 gJames Florence, who matched Mayo with 30p4a;12/23fg of his own. These kind of shocking results don't necessarily mean much. (Remember, last year, Oral Roberts won at Kansas early in the season, but the Jayhawks still went on to win the Big 12 title and tournament and reach the Elite Eight while that veteran Oral Roberts team did go on to make the NCAAs as the Mid-Continent champs, losing in the first round to Washington State).
fMichael Beasley had a monstrous debut for Kansas State, 32p24r4b8to;12/20fg, as the Wildcats routed Sacramento State @94-63. For the most part, the other GCs were fine. cKevin Love led UCLA with 22p13r in an easy @69-48 win over Portland State. pDerrick Rose averaged 19p3a6r in routs of Tennessee-Martin (@102-71) and Richmond (@80-63) as Memphis advanced to play Maryland in the COLLEGE HOOPS/CVC semis in New York. tKyle Singler (15p8r) was one of seven players in double-figures in Duke's @121-56 laugher over Provisional D-I {UNC-Central}. fAndrew Ogilvy had 18p9r in Vanderbilt's @81-67 win over Austin Peay. Indiana (bEric Gordon) and Syracuse (fDonte Green, gJonny Flynn) get going officially tonight (Monday); Arizona State (tJames Harden) begins next week in MAUI.
San Diego State earned the first Unwelcome Guest win, taking the WV CLASSIC over host Fresno State, 89-@72. The Aztecs figure to be in the mix of a grab bag for the Mountain West title this season. Stanford, which is without cBrook Lopez for the fall quarter, had no trouble winning its own BTI-WEST CLASSIC, @69-48 over UC-Santa Barbara in the final. Even at full strength, the Cardinal will have its hands full every night in the loaded Pac-10. UCSB should find its way to the top of the Big West and earn an NCAA bid come March. Pittsburgh's win in the HISPANIC FUND-EAST CLASSIC didn't mean much, even with a @69-58 win over St. Louis (and coach Rick Majerus) in the final.
Illinois-Chicago struck a blow for the Horizon, upending MVC-contender Bradley, @84-75. Weber State knocked off in-state rival Utah State, @78-71. WSU should be in the mix with Montana for the Big Sky title; the WAC is off to a poor start with USU, Fresno State and New Mexico State (which lost to Ohio U out of the MAC) all figuring to be league favorites, but each already with a loss on the season. UNC-Greensboro figures to play second fiddle to Davidson inside the Southern Conference, but their 84-@73 win at Georgia Tech could be the first step in making the SoCon more than 1BC.
The preseason tournaments don't offer any potential any Top-5 matchups -- Top-10 is about the best we can hope for -- but a few have strong fields to make for several entertaining clashes. The BCS conferences are flexing their muscles. In addition to the ACC-BIG 10 CHALLENGE, we now have a BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES featuring all of the schools (at least once!) and a pair of double-headers in the BIG EAST/SEC INVITATIONAL.
Mostly this week, we're still being teased with warmup rounds of the preseason tournaments, but there are a few nuggets here and there. Duke hosts already struggling New Mexico State on Monday. Miami(Ohio) hosts Xavier on Tuesday. North Carolina faces Davidson (in a battle of superstar sophomore guards) in Charlotte on Wednesday. USC (Southern California) travels to play The Other USC (South Carolina), and St. Joseph's visits BU, both on Saturday.
It's still early yet to get a bead on the season.
-- Ron
"J.V.'s Up!"
Oregon won its three-day showcase WV INVITATIONAL and new-look Florida won the 5-team/4-round showcase BLUE RIBBON CHALLENGE without much trouble. Elsewhere, the "Junior Varsity" squads pulled off unexpected wins in some of the other tournaments. Miami(Florida) was the surprise victor in some ugly ballgames at the PUERTO RICO SHOOTOUT (over the likes of Providence, Arkansas, VCU and Houston). Rhode Island emerged from the 8-team/4-round daisy-chain matchups that comprised the new GLENN WILKES CLASSIC (past disappointing UAB and Florida State). Coach Tim Miles (the architect of shocking upsets the past two seasons from then-Provisional Division I {North Dakota State} over Wisconsin and Marquette on the road) has already made a mark at Colorado State, as the Rams edged Portland State 64-63 to win the weak 8-team TOP OF THE WORLD. In the PARADISE JAM, it's Baylor and Winthrop in the final (instead of Notre Dame and Georgia Tech).
More puzzling upsets of what should have be established teams: New Orleans' gT.J. Worley hit a game-winning three-pointer to upend North Carolina State 65-63 in Raleigh. The Wolfpack's own GC fJ.J. Hickson has had 31p and 22p13r in two games, but ball movement is a problem for this team now without pEngin Atsur to distribute more balanced touches all around. Virginia won at Arizona 75-@72 as pSean Singletary had 24p8a5to while UoA's GC gJerryd Bayless had 21p4a4r. And Siena, which gave Syracuse a decent game last week in the first round of the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF, pulled off its own upset at home over Stanford, @79-67, (as the Cardinal shot 31 three-pointers but only 3 free throws).
North Carolina held off physical Davidson @72-@68 in Charlotte as gWayne Ellington(20p) hit a key jumper in the late-going; gStephen Curry(21p) struggled with his shooting and it now looks like he'll play the entire season with a sprained left wrist that may require surgery. Syracuse held off St. Joseph's @72-69 on GC gJonny Flynn's late jumper to advance to New York in the NIT TIP-OFF; and workhorse fJohn Brockman put up 31p to help Washington advance past Utah @83-77 in the opposite half of the bracket.
This week is stuffed (get it?) with holiday tournaments. For the most part, though, we'll be lucky to get one good matchup per event if there are no upsets before the final. The major exception is the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF on Wednesday and Friday, where any one of Syracuse, Ohio State, Texas A&M or Washington could take it in what should be some compelling games with plenty of star power. North Carolina-Louisville should be the Saturday final in the LAS VEGAS-THANKSGIVING INVITATIONAL (although BYU has started the season very solidly). UCLA figures to have too much height for Michigan State to handle in the expected COLLEGE BASKETBALL EXPERIENCE/(GUARDIANS) final on Tuesday. Tennessee-Texas (LEGENDS, Saturday), Duke-Marquette (MAUI, Wednesday), Gonzaga-Butler (GREAT ALASKA, Saturday), Indiana-Xavier (CHICAGO, Saturday) and Bradley-Vanderbilt (SOUTH PADRE, Saturday) all figure to be the only games worth taking note of in those events. The made-for-TV events, ANAHEIM CLASSIC (Southern Illinois, @USC, Miami(Ohio), South Alabama, Mississippi State, UC-Irvine) and OS CLASSIC (Kansas State, N.C. State, George Mason, Villanova) have solid fields of several teams that have started well.
The real event is still a week away, but (depending on which school you ask), Sunday's Arizona at Kansas game may or may not be the first of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES matchups.
A few "State Title" games should be pretty interesting: young Florida hosting Florida State (Friday), Creighton hosting Nebraska and UNLV hosting Nevada (both Saturday), and Missouri State hosting Rick Majerus' St. Louis team (Wednesday). Yale has a good shot to unseat the 19-year hold that Penn and Princeton have had on the Ivy League title this year; but back-to-back road games at Stanford and then UCLA this week don't figure to bolster their confidence.
A best-of-three "Championship Series" for ... #98!!!??? Are you serious? Apparently, so. The same group that sponsors the CBE/(GUARDIANS) CLASSIC has announced it will also put on a third postseason tournament this year featuring a 16-team draw with on-campus matchups and a two-out-of-three series for the championship. Now that the NCAA also owns the NIT as well, the argument is that "the market needs competition in order to break up the monopoly". I guess they intend to compete with the NIT and give teams that don't make the NCAAs a choice of which tournament they'd rather play in. To me, it's a lousy idea that will saturate the tube with more games than you could possibly care about. We'll see how it unfolds.
-- Ron
Like A Coin In Your Mint
The Top-10 clash between North Carolina and Louisville never happened. Tall and rough BYU spoiled the party by edging the Cardinals 78-76 in the semifinals. Then, the Cougars pushed the Tar Heels for all they were worth before UNC prevailed 73-63 in the final of the LAS VEGAS [THANKSGIVING] INVITATIONAL. The tandem of cTrent Plaisted and tJonathan Tavernari averaged 23p15r and 24p4r, respectively, for the pair of games. Having already gone on two-year missions, some of BYU's players are 24- and 25-years old and that edge in physical maturity shows on the court. This team can get to the Final Four. Michigan State threw a slew of big men at UCLA's cKevin Love and exposed his less-than-elite athletic ability. His skill set, however, makes up for it and he still managed to post 21p11r as the Bruins closed with a 10-0 run to claim the CBE/GUARDIANS final over the Spartans 68-63. (After playing the #1 team so tough, MSU inexplicably barely escaped 75-71 at home later in the week against Oakland(MI).) Duke and Marquette fought tooth and nail down the stretch of the MAUI final with the Blue Devils executing better in the endplay to take a 77-73 win. Duke has a better distribution of talent this year (but their same issue of lacking individual quickness defensively is still the elephant in the room).
N.C. State benefitted from a phantom foul call at the buzzer to sink the game-winning free throws to edge Villanova 69-68 in the final of the OS CLASSIC in Orlando. Earlier in the tournament, it was George Mason who taught young Kansas State a lesson, winning 87-77 (despite an easy 30p10r from KansSt's GC cMichael Beasley). The veteran Patriots appear poised for a return trip to the NCAAs as the favorites to win the Colonial (and they know what to do when they get there). Vanderbilt took SOUTH PADRE ISLAND over Bradley in the final behind 23p from GC cAndrew Ogilvy and 22p7r from veteran bShan Foster. With Tennessee's bubble burst, it may turn out to be the Commodores who are the class of the SEC this year. (The SEC had a bad week: Although, Kentucky has rebounded with blowout wins over scrubs, Tennessee lost to Texas; Alabama fell at home 83-@85 to Belmont of the Atlantic Sun; Florida lost badly at home to Florida State; Wisconsin routed Georgia; and Mississippi State and South Carolina lost twice each in the ANAHEIM and OS tournaments.)
Seton Hall beat Virginia in the final of the first PHILLY CLASSIC. Butler won the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT (in the final over Texas Tech, which had upset Gonzaga in the semis). And Baylor emerged the victor (over Winthrop in the final) of the PARADISE JAM.
We're essentially done with the major preseason tournaments now. Only LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS (Alabama, Purdue, Missouri State), SAN JUAN (Clemson, Mississippi, DePaul) and the RAINBOW CLASSIC (St. Mary's, Georgia, Ohio University, East Tennessee State, Hawaii) remain. None of those figures to affect the Top 25 much. Reports of the demise of the ACC have been greatly exagerated as it took four major crowns (LV-THANKS, MAUI, OS and PUERTO RICO); the Big 12 took three (LEGENDS, NIT TIP-OFF and P-JAM); and the Pac-10 (CBE and ANAHEIM) and surprising Atlantic 10 (CHICAGO and GLENN WILKES) took two each; the Big East (PHILLY) and SEC (SOUTH PADRE) only took one; and the Big 10 was shut out.
Despite Gonzaga's loss in Alaska, the WCC may be on the way up. St. Mary's shocked Oregon @97-88 behind 37 points from gPatrick Mills.
This week, first up we get the annual ACC-BIG 10 CHALLENGE, but it has competition with the even more appealing matchups of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES later in the week. (Next week, the fledgeling BIG EAST/SEC INVITATIONAL gets started as a pair of double-headers only.) Since the Big 10 has eleven teams, it's solid Miami(Florida) who is the odd team out this year for the ACC. The pairings aren't too bad for the Big 10 to hope for its first win (but I'll still take the ACC 6-5). The BIG 12 is already up 1-0 over the PAC-10 thanks to Kansas' @76-72(OT) win over Arizona on Sunday (despite bChase Budinger's 27p6r). The Jayhawks don't get many easy jumpers with pSherrod Collins out until January, but they managed to pull through. Stanford (at Colorado on Sunday and against Texas Tech on Sat 22 Dec in Dallas) and Arizona (at home against Texas A&M on Sunday) are participating twice. (Sunday's Kansas-@USC matchup is a return game from last year and isn't officially part of the SERIES. It says here: Pac-10: 8, Big 12: 4.)
For some reason, George Mason has quite a big conference game on tap Thursday at home against Drexel (which has also started well). Expect North Carolina to wallop Kentucky on Saturday, even in Lexington. Davidson will try for better luck back in Charlotte on Saturday, this time against Duke. The mid-major power teams will be looking to break through on Saturday as well: Butler hosts Ohio State, Southern Illinois hosts Indiana, Miami(Ohio) visits Louisville, and Winthrop visits West Virginia. They all have a legit shot.
(Back to a more normal week of hoops. Thankfully!)
-- Ron
Hustlin' For The Home Folks
The ACC routed the BIG 10 once again (8-3 this time, without the help of 6-0 Miami(Florida)) in their annual CHALLENGE thanks to North Carolina (at Ohio State), Boston College (at Michigan) and Wake Forest (at Iowa) pulling off road wins. For the third time in three big games, tWayne Ellington(23p0a8r) hit a nail-in-the-coffin three-pointer to seal the Tar Heels' 66-@55 win. Meanwhile, Duke crushed Wisconsin @82-58 and Michigan State embarrassed N.C. State @81-58 in two disappointing contests. Clemson had its hands full (without fJames Mays) holding off young Purdue @61-58 and Indiana eventually rallied to an @83-79 victory over Georgia Tech behind GC gEric Gordon's 29p8to. Only one of the marquee matchups, UNC-@OhioSt, was even interesting in this one.
Not so with the new HARDWOOD SERIES between the BIG 12 and PAC-10. We've had 12 pairings, but only 11 were officially part of the SERIES. (Kansas at USC on Sunday wasn't part of the count; Stanford vs Texas Tech in Dallas on Sat 22 Dec will be.) Officially, it's 6-5 PAC-10 and holding until the final matchup. On paper, you'd think Texas' front line wouldn't give it a shot at being a Final Four contender; but the Longhorns bolted to a 30-14 lead at UCLA (with cConnor Atchley beating cKevin Love down the floor on fast breaks). The Bruins rallied in front of their home crowd on all-out hustle to take a 59-55 lead with three minutes to go, but UTx answered and tDamion James'(19p10r) follow/slam proved to be the game-winner in a 63-@61 thriller. Marvel at the talents of the GC superguards; but none of them propels him team to a higher level the way that pD.J. Augustin(19p4a6to) can. Augustin's speed with the ball puts so much pressure on opponents and his cohorts gA.J. Abrams and gJustin Mason (and even tJames) are devastatingly quick on the perimeter and they can all shoot. (This is the Left Behind Season, to be sure; but the "Year After Rule" has proven true again: Texas never made it to #1 last year even with tKevin Durant. Well, here they are!)
Texas A&M looked scary good as they methodically built a 32-12 lead in the first half at Arizona (playing in its second game of the SERIES). But, as talented as the Aggies are, they are being led by a replacement point guard (pDonald Sloan), which complicates their own "Year After" story. The home crowd in the McKale Center spurred a comeback as GC pJerryd Bayless(26p6a) displayed his full talents in rallying the Wildcats to a @78-67 win going away. cMichael Beasley(24p12r) did his part, but Kansas State's youth showed as they gave away a game that should have been theirs (with missed free throws, turnovers and bad shots on key posessions) when Oregon rallied to win in overtime 80-@77. Washington State won the endplay after the things were tied up 60-60 with three minutes left as the Cougars beat host Baylor 67-@64. Elsewhere, USC won its official game @66-55 over Oklahoma; Oklahoma State crushed visiting Washington @96-71; California beat Missouri @86-72; and Stanford (in its first of two games in the SERIES) drubbed host Colorado 67-@43.
It wasn't officially part of the series, but Kansas at USC was plenty good as well. The Trojans' individual talent staked them to a quick 16-4 lead only two minutes into the game. But, the Jayhawks (still without pSherrod Collins) came all the way back to tie things up 16-16 with eight minutes left in the first half. KU even pulled out to a 51-42 lead with six minutes left in the game and survived the endplay, mostly behind big shots from bMario Chalmers(20p0a7r5to). Kansas makes it hard on itself by not being able to score many easy points on open jumpers, but so far they've found a way against USC this week (and Arizona last week).
It was mostly a tough week for the mid-majors trying to keep pace with the BCS powers (who have amped up their own strength of schedule with these interconference specialty events). George Mason pounded Drexel @85-38 in an early Colonial league game, but goofed around and lost to 1-4 East Carolina, @65-68 in the BB&T CLASSIC. VCU beat Maryland @85-@76 at BB&T, but only after losing 55-@64 to in-state rival Hampton. (If the Pirates wind up in the Play-In Game, keep this result in mind.) Miami(Ohio) dropped two more close games, at home @62-63 to Dayton and on the road 44-@47 at Louisville. Southern Illinois couldn't stay with Indiana even at home, falling @51-64. South Alabama gave Vanderbilt a run for its money, but fell just short, 88-@91(2OT). Davidson was close-but-no-cigar once again in Charlotte, this time falling @73-@79 to Duke (and it doesn't get any easier on Saturday with a game against UCLA in the JOHN WOODEN CLASSIC in Anaheim). Belmont was crushed on the road at Xavier, 49-@90. There was a some good news, though. St. Mary's followed up its stunning upset of Oregon with a fine @85-70 win over Seton Hall (and they can keep the ball rolling Saturday with a win over San Diego State at JOHN WOODEN). And Butler actually improved its standing, coming from 10 points down at halftime and turning in a spectacular 45-16 second half performance over Ohio State in its @65-46 win.
The JIMMY V CLASSIC on Tuesday features three of the top Golden Child freshmen: cMichael Beasley of Kansas State (against overmatched Notre Dame), and bO.J. Mayo of USC head-to-head against pDerrick Rose of Memphis. Although it doesn't seem quite ready to win yet against the very top teams, it's USC who may be the only thing that stands in the way between Memphis and an undefeated season. (No one in Conference USA will challenge the Tigers; their other big out-of-conference games are all at home: 12/22-Georgetown, 12/29-Arizona, 1/26-Gonzaga and 2/23-Tennessee(TN) -- not pushovers, to be sure, but the home crowd could easily be the difference in competitive games). The Trojans have plenty of talent and should love the up-tempo style Memphis will enforce, but they haven't shown the maturity yet that is up to the level they'll need to pull this one off.
The SEC will be lucky to win 1-out-of-4 in its pair of INVITATIONAL double-headers with the BIG EAST on Wednesday and Thursday. (Only Auburn in front of a home crowd has much of a a shot, against decent West Virginia.) Can BYU pull off another big win? They won't be able to sneak up on Michigan State like they perhaps did with Louisville. Creighton gets some real opponents at last when it visits Xavier on Wednesday and hosts St. Joseph's on Sunday. GC's bEric Gordon(Indiana) and fPatrick Patterson(Kentucky) meet on Saturday in Indianapolis in the annual bluegrass clash. Some fine "State Title" games are on tap as well: Rhode Island hosts Providence on Tuesday; Washington State visits Gonzaga on Wednesday; and Marquette visits Wisconsin(WI) on Saturday.
-- Ron
Down, But Not Out
The BIG EAST/SEC INVITATIONAL has been set up only as a pair of double-headers each year through 2011 with a rotating selection of teams. It's hard to claim much legitimate bragging rights with only a third (and a fourth) of each league participating. Being home-state hosts in Birmingham didn't help Alabama or Auburn. The Crimson Tide did hold the lead for half the game until Georgetown came back to win 70-@60. Meanwhile, the Tigers couldn't keep pace as West Virginia ran past them 88-@59 behind gAlex Ruoff's 28p. In Philadelphia, South Carolina gave the SEC its only win as pDevan Downey(21p5a) staked the Gamecocks to a 12-point lead only to see Providence almost come all the way back, as USCar held on 68-@67. Young LSU had 15-point lead with three minutes left, but Villanova completed its comeback in front of a hometown crowd to steal a @68-67 win, giving the BIG EAST a 3-1 win.
At the JOHN WOODEN CLASSIC in Anaheim, Davidson (the best team in the country with five losses already) had host UCLA down 32-14 with six minutes left in the first half before a 15-0 run brought the Bruins right back into the game. fLuc-Richard Mbah a Moute(21p8r) led the way, and gDarren Collison(10p1a) is back on court, but it was the two-way game of pRussell Westbrook(14p6a5to) stopping the Wildcats' gStephen Curry(15p;6/19fg) that was the key. In the other game, St. Mary's got a solid win away from home, beating Mountain West-contender San Diego State 69-@64.
Washington State held host Gonzaga to 26% shooting from the floor winning their "State Title" clash 51-@47. BYU had Michigan State down 22-10 midway through the first half, but the Spartans came back to win 68-@61 in Salt Lake City. Arizona confirmed that Lute Olson's leave of absence will extend to the entire season (as he filed for divorce last week), but interim coach Kevin O'Neill guided the Wildcats to yet another down-but-not-out comeback win: this time UofA trailed host Illinois 12-0 at the start but rallied to tie it at 16-16 midway through the first half, and they went on to win 78-@72(OT). Dayton already has four quality road wins: East Tennessee State, Miami(Ohio), Holy Cross and now Louisville as the Flyers came into Freedom Hall and left with a solid 70-@65 win behind bBrian Roberts' 28p3a5r. 10-1 Rhode Island won at Syracuse 91-@89 behind coach's son (and namesake) gJimmy Baron's 21p despite 21p10a from the Orange's GC pJonny Flynn. Even with GC bEric Gordon sitting out with a sore back, Indiana blitzed woeful Kentucky @70-51. (It's not a good week to be Wildcat coach Billy Gillispie: UK is 3-4, Texas A&M [his old school] is 7-1, and even Minnesota [UK's old coach] is 6-1. Yikes.) Clemson got 6 three-pointers from freshman gTerrence Oglesby(22p) as they pounded East Carolina 82-@67 (outrebounding them 50-26 to boot); easy jumpers are the perfect complement to the Tigers' lodero ("mudder") defensive style of play. ECU may only be 4-5, but they've beaten George Mason and North Carolina State the past two weeks.
Butler managed to lose to 3-2 Wright State for the third straight time, 42-@43. Last year, the Bulldogs couldn't be trusted to keep the Horizon a one-bid conference (1BC) as WSU won the automatic bid, and they're doing it again this year (although, in the long run, it may be new league member in-state rival Valparaiso that eventually becomes their main foil). Kent State drubbed suddenly shaky George Mason, @73-55; Charlotte knocked off both Davidson (@75-68) and reeling Southern Illinois (@71-56) to add its name to the conversation in the surging Atlantic 10. Holy Cross added to a list of quality wins by beating St. Joseph's on the road 71-@66.
There's a lot of jockeying for position among the leagues in between the BCS power conferences and the permanent 1BCs. The Atlantic 10 is way up (Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island, Charlotte); the WCC (Gonzaga, St. Mary's) is better; the MAC (Miami(Ohio), Kent State, Ohio University) has beefed up its nonconference preseason schedule; and the lowly Southland (Sam Houston State [with home wins over Texas Tech and Fresno State], and Stephen F. Austin [with a 66-@62 road win at young Oklahoma]) may well make a splash come March. Meanwhile, the WAC (Fresno State, Utah State, New Mexico State) has been awful; and the MVC (Creighton, Bradley, Southern Illinois) and the Colonial (George Mason, VCU) are slipping back to 1BC territory.
People claim that UNC-Duke is "the greatest rivalry in all of sports" because it's such a grudge match between national powers who are such close neighbors. But because there are so many other quality teams in North Carolina, though, it doesn't quite qualify as a definitive "State Title" game. (Years ago, UNC, Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest used to play a preseason tournament called "The Big Four" just for their own bragging rights with those games having no bearing on ACC standings. That's closer to what you want.) It actually detracts from the specialness when both teams are in the same conference. The best pairings are public state school vs private city school, rich relation/poor stepchild, big city/college town where no other school in the state is a real contender. The ultimate in that respect is Kentucky-Louisville (who wouldn't even play each other for years until they were forced to meet in the NCAA tournament). The purest matchups in that respect are Nebraska-Creighton, Rhode Island-Providence, West Virginia-Marshall, Massachusetts-Boston College, South Carolina-Clemson, Nevada-UNLV, Georgia-Georgia Tech and Wisconsin-Marquette (who played an ugly game this week with the Golden Eagles prevailing 81-@76). (If only Ohio State and Cincinnati had a rivalry series!)
The city rivalries have their own charm. Nothing can touch the specialness of Philadelphia's BIG FIVE (Villanova, St. Joseph's, Temple, La Salle, Penn) "conference schedule" and the used-to-be BATTLE OF BALTIMORE tournament (Coppin State, Loyola(Maryland), Morgan State, Maryland(Baltimore County)). Cincinnati's CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT (Cincinnati-Xavier), Georgia-Georgia Tech have long-running success. Illinois-Missouri's BRAGGIN' RIGHTS and the UConn-UMass "U-GAME" are some of the best "border wars". (If only Georgetown-Maryland were one!) Arkansas and Missouri are about to play each other in the Cotton Bowl in a football border war after having already faced off in basketball. (Ark won earlier @94-91.) Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and Notre Dame used to have a bluegrass quartet rivalry where they all faced off every year, but Notre Dame and Louisville are now both in the Big East and ND hardly plays the other two any more.
Memphis and Tennessee with have a close-up look at one another as they share billing as Unwelcome Guests in the SUN BELT CLASSIC double-header in Nashville on Saturday. (Remember, this season could be pointing towards Tennessee at Memphis on Feb 23 as the final obstacle in the Tigers' run for an undefeated season.) The three-pointers will rain down when Butler hosts Florida State as part of the JOHN WOODEN TRADITION in Indianapolis. (The Bulldogs have already dropped 17 three-pointers in a game this year, while the Seminoles just posted 20 three-pointers this past week.)
I've been trying to avoid being an advertising arm for these event sponsors; this week I'm referring to it as the C CLASSIC rather than mention the beer company. (No such luck getting around calling BB&T anything else, though.) Don't confuse last week's 1-off P JAM (Oregon over Utah) with the PARADISE ("P-JAM") JAM tournament (won by Baylor over Winthrop back in November).
-- Ron
P.S. If you're interested, try your luck in the Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's College Football Bowl Season Pool).
Muscle And Flow
The good news near the top of the rankings is the return to form of the missing backcourt stars at Kansas and UCLA. pSherrod Collins isn't completely up to speed yet, but at least he's back on court for the Jayhawks. There was nothing wrong with their offensively flow as KU crushed a pretty decent Ohio University team @88-51. They've already got the muscle (46-27 rebounding advantage). pDarren Collison had a fine day (20p5a6r) as the Bruins routed lowly Idaho State @89-49. He's been back for a while, but North Carolina's pTy Lawson finally looks all the way up to speed now after posting 26p5a6r in the Tar Heels' 93-@71 rout of Rutgers.
Pittsburgh doesn't have the height of those two squads, but 6-7 freshman cDeJuan Blair did post 20p10r in its convincing @85-68 win over up-and-down Oklahoma State. This year's Panthers don't have to walk it up and feed 7' cAaron Gray like they did last year, so they're more up-tempo and can put a very athletic set of five players on the court.
In the JOHN WOODEN TRADITION in Indianapolis, Butler handled Florida State @79-68 without too much trouble (behind 25p;7/11 3s from gA.J. Graves). Purdue, which features the youngest starting five in the country (two sophomores and three freshmen), held on to beat slumping Louisville, @67-59, in the other game.
In the SUN BELT CLASSIC, neither Memphis nor Tennessee looked as completely dominant as they might have liked. The Tigers hung around with Middle Tennessee way too long before putting them away @65-@41 as they struggled from three-point range (shooting 4-for-19). The Vols couldn't separate from Western Kentucky, winning @88-@82, as the Hilltoppers' tCourtney Lee had a fine day: 23p4a8r.
Syracuse shot 70% from the floor (including 15-for-25 on three-pointers) in its @125-75 rout of East Tennessee State, led by tDonte Greene's 25p8r;(5/10 3s). gRobert Vaden had 33p;(7/11 3s) as UAB came back from 14-down in the second half to beat woeful Kentucky 79-@76 at Rupp Arena. South Alabama's tDemetric Bennett had 39p8r as the Jaguars upended Mississippi State, @71-67, in the C CLASSIC in Birmingham.
Some very nice Top-10 matchups are up this week, plus the last three (minor) preseason tournaments. Texas travels to Auburn Hills on Saturday to face host Michigan State in the SPARTAN CLASSIC. (We'll see if UTx can continue to use its quickness to negate the superior size of an elite opponent.) Memphis will need the home crowd to help it keep the dream of an undefeated season alive when it hosts Georgetown on Saturday. Duke's depth may wind up being the deciding factor in its New York showdown with Pittsburgh at the AP CLASSIC on Thursday.
In the concluding game of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES, double-dipping Stanford goes to Dallas to face Texas Tech with the Pac-10 only leading 6-5 after the first 11 official pairings. Clemson should hand surprising Mississippi its first loss while taking home the SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT crown (Wednesday through Saturday). It probably won't be enough to earn a return to the rankings, but St. Mary's should have enough to best Ohio University and host Hawaii to win the RAINBOW CLASSIC (also Wednesday through Saturday). Young Purdue may have learned enough to come through over the likes of Alabama and Missouri State to be able to take the LAS VEGAS [CHRISTMAS] CLASSIC (Monday and Wednesday on-campus; Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas).
-- Ron
P.S. Don't forget: This Thursday 9PM is the deadline to enter the Pigskin Pool Party (Ron's College Football Bowl Season Pool).
Spores
Pittsburgh edged Duke 65-64 in overtime on gLevance Fields(21p4a5to) game-winning three-pointer (but the hard-fought victory also came with a cost, as the Panthers' bMike Cook blew out his knee late in the game). Freshmen cDeJuan Blair(15p20r) of Pitt [a new star in the mold of former LSU great cGlen "Big Baby" Davis] and fKyle Singler(17p5r) had their own mini-war going on. Both teams combined for 7-for-38 shooting on three-pointers in the defensive struggle. Pitt put its name in the hat for #1-seed, but even if they maintain this level in conference play, they'll be viewed as overachievers most of the season. Duke (along with North Carolina) has probably already done enough to secure placement in the Raleigh Pod for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. (Davidson has played itself out of the conversation with close-but-no-cigar losses to UNC, Duke and N.C. State [who edged the Wildcats @66-65 on gGavin Grant(15p)'s game-winning free throws]; N.C. State still has the ACC regular season to possibly nudged its way in, but that doesn't seem likely based on their disappointing season so far.) Beyond the Pod, though, only one of UNC/Duke could wind up as top seed in the Charlotte Regional. [That's right: There's a Raleigh-Charlotte path to the Final Four available to one of those two teams. And the ACC tournament is in Charlotte this year to boot! Ugh!]
Memphis looked like a top seed in breaking open the game with points-off-turnovers from their press as they beat Georgetown @85-71 behind 24p8r from fChris Douglas-Roberts (while cRoy Hibbert only had 6p). The Hoyas are the toughest team (on paper) on the Tigers' schedule so, yes, an undefeated season is definitely a realistic possibility for them. It's no done-deal, to be sure: Arizona comes to town on Saturday to offer another stiff challenge (and a Conference USA road game at Houston might be tougher than expected -- the environment intimated Kentucky in UH's @83-69 win over UK on Tuesday). At this point, Memphis, North Carolina and Kansas already appear to have #1-seeds that are theirs to lose. Michigan State, Texas, UCLA, Pittsburgh, Duke, Washington State, Georgetown, and even Marquette and West Virginia have only lost to each other (if at all) and could conceivably wind up with the fourth top seed.
Stanford edged Texas Tech 62-@61 in Dallas in the final game of the BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES (which the PAC-10 won 7-5 as the Cardinal contributed two wins for the cause). cBrook Lopez(19p) is now eligible and his impact is immediate and immense.
gChris Lofton(9p4r) got Tennessee going right off the bat 9-0 as the Volunteers won at Xavier 82-@75. In a "rematch" of last year's national championship game, Ohio State defeated Florida @62-49. (Only gJamar Butler remains as a starter from either side from a year ago.)
Mississippi stayed undefeated after edging Clemson 85-82 in the final to win the SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT. Coach Andy Kennedy hasn't skipped a beat since Cincinnati didn't want to convert him from interim to head coach after holding that program together following the ouster of Bob Huggins. Ole Miss was the SEC West division leader last year, and they legitimized their 11-0 start this year with a preseason crown. St. Mary's added the RAINBOW CLASSIC crown (70-63 over Ohio University) to establish it's no one-hit wonder. Alabama won going away in the LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC (including 83-68 in the final over Iowa State).
6-6 Oakland, which did provide a stiff challenge at Michigan State earlier in the season, completed the job with a @68-62 upset of visiting Oregon. Likewise, 9-3 Oklahoma knocked of Gonzaga @72-68 in the ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC in Oklahoma City. Utah went on the road to knock off Cal 67-@65. Cardinal-killer Siena cut down visiting Holy Cross @84-77. Bradley [losing 64-@83 at Butler and @64-79 at home against VCU] and Hampton [losing 65-@79 at Virginia and 65-@83 at Maryland(Baltimore County)] had rough weeks.
One more week before most teams begin conference play in earnest. On Saturday, besides Memphis hosting Arizona, Pittsburgh has a tough assignment visiting solid Dayton; and the other two teams who will eventually stand in Memphis' way, Tennesee and Gonzaga, face each other first in the BATTLE IN SEATTLE. Before that, Butler can seal the 1BC status of the MVC with a road win on Friday at slumping Southern Illinois.
-- Ron
V-Taper
Memphis caught a break when Arizona's pJerryd Bayless sat out with a knee injury. Even so, the Tigers didn't completely blow away the Wildcats, winning @76-63. Memphis has come through the preseason without a loss and should have a very good go at undefeated regular season. (Home games against Gonzaga and Tennessee still lay ahead, as well as potentially tricky road games in league play at Houston and UAB; but the games they've already won are at least as tough as those yet to come.)
Just one game after one of the best wins in the history of the program, Pittsburgh's entire season is suddenly in jeopardy. After bMike Cook(ACL) was lost for the season in its overtime win over Duke; pLevance Fields is out at least 8 weeks after fracturing his foot against Dayton. Without two of its starters, and with freshman cDeJuan Blair saddled with fouls, the Panthers were humiliated 55-@80 on the road against the Flyers as pBrian Roberts poured in 31p5a. Dayton, along with Xavier and Rhode Island, plus Massachusetts and even Charlotte, have made a major statement in the preseason for the Atlantic 10. The "Seventh Major" this year is the A-10.
Elsewhere, Boise State emerged as the standard-bearer for the flailing WAC with a @73-70 win over BYU. Oklahoma keeps improving, as shown by their gutty 88-@82(2OT) win in Charleston on the road against West Virginia. Winthrop ended the undefeated run of Miami(Florida), 76-@70, as part of the ORANGE BOWL-BASKETBALL CLASSIC in Miami. Tennessee's intensity was too much for loose Gonzaga to deal with, even in front of a supportive crowd, as the Vols won 82-@72 at the BATTLE IN SEATTLE. bA.J. Graves(10p1a5r) hit the game-winning shot from deep as Butler escaped with a 57-@55 win over host Southern Illinois. The Salukis have stumbled through the preseason at 6-6 and, except for SIU's rout of new power St. Mary's, the entire Missouri Valley Conference went through the preseason without any big wins over name opponents. They may very well wind up with only one NCAA bid come March.
The out-of-conference preseason is essentially over now, as most everyone gets going with regular season conference play this week. The strong showing of the major conferences, taking fourteen of the neutral-site tournament crowns, against only five from the mid-majors (including known-quantity Butler and two from the Atlantic 10) shows how top-heavy the distribution of quality teams is this year. Only newcomer St. Mary's (RAINBOW) and Colorado State (TOP OF THE WORLD) from the is-it-or-isn't-it Mountain West were major tournament winners from non-major conferences. The "waistline" of college hoops' figure this season is quite slim. A few 1BCs broke through: the Atlantic Sun had its moment early on with Mercer winning at undermanned USC, Gardner-Webb being first of what turned out to be many teams that upset woeful Kentucky, and Belmont going on the road to upend host Alabama. Beyond that, Siena surprised Stanford, Oakland beat Oregon, and Appalachian State won at Arkansas.
Here's a rundown of the conferences based on their preseason showing:
-- Ron
Primary Results
In the powerful Pac-10, UCLA got off to a great start with two solid road wins, 76-@67 at Stanford and 70-@58 at California. Likewise, Washington State edged state-rival Washington on the road 56-@52. (Those two meet this Saturday in Round One of the "Game of the Year [Pac-10]".) Oregon, which has been struggling, did manage a road split, losing 54-@62 at young Arizona State [which itself has quietly put together an 11-2/2-0 start], but winning 84-@74 at undermanned Arizona [still without injured pJerryd Bayless] despite 30p7r from bChase Budinger. Young USC was initiated into conference play with two road losses, 82-@92 at California (despite 34p from gO.J. Mayo) and 46-@52 at Stanford.
In the Big East, Notre Dame won impressively, @69-56 over West Virginia (behind 29p16r from bruiser cLuke Harangody) and @73-67 over Connecticut (behind 32p5a from sweet-shooting Prodigal Son pKyle McAlarney). If they can keep that inside-out Tag Team going steady (along with capable support from fRob Kurz and pTory Jackson), this year's Irish may well make some postseason noise. Villanova beat Pittsburgh-lite @64-63 on two free throws from fDante Cunningham(6p9r) -- it remains to be seen how much the Panthers can salvage of the season without pLevance Fields.
Further down, Cal State-Northridge took early control of the Big West with an 88-@84 road win over favorite UC-Santa Barbara. South Alabama got out in front of the Sun Belt race beating rival Western Kentucky at home, @65-61. Akron got the early jump in the muddled MAC, beating Miami(Ohio) @69-54 (after the Zips threw a scare into Atlantic 10 power Dayton earlier in the week, losing 81-@83 in double-overtime). The MVC is churning itself over. It's Drake, Illinois State and Indiana State who have gotten a 3-0 jump on the likes of Creighton, Southern Illinois and Bradley.
Out of conference, Texas whipped St. Mary's 81-62 (behind 30p4a from gD.J. Augustin); Arkansas beat Baylor 85-@78 in Dallas; and Vanderbilt had to use all of its homecrowd support to stay undefeated, coming back to beat tough Massachusetts @97-88 (behind 32p8r from tShan Foster and 25p11r from GC cAndrew Ogilvy).
Xavier already has three losses, but no team was more impressive the past week than the Musketeers, who exploded @103-77 over Kansas State, @108-70 over Virginia, and 80-@57 on the road at Auburn (putting seven players in double-figures ... twice). They don't have size, but they've got plenty of 'tweeners who can step out and nail down a three-pointer, drive the lane, pass to the open man, and scrap for a rebound. Their makeup is reminiscent of the '04 Georgia Tech squad that made it all the way to the national finals. (Of course, they've also lost already 55-@77 at Arizona State; but when they're on, they're way on.)
The GC players who joined elite rosters (cKevin Love at UCLA, pDerrick Rose at Memphis and tKyle Singler at Duke) are all doing fine and their teams are playing well. The GC players who joined established stars (cAndrew Ogilvy joining tShan Foster at Vanderbilt and bEric Gordon joining fD.J. White at Indiana) are likewise in good shape -- Vanderbilt has the drive of staying undefeated fueling them, while Indiana is still a bit unproven as yet. The ones to worry about are the GC who are already the best players on their teams: bO.J. Mayo at USC, cMichael Beasley at Kansas State, gJonny Flynn and tDonte Greene at Syracuse, and now maybe even cDeJuan Blair at Pittsburgh. The one-and-done mindset may whisper in their ears sooner rather than later and have them switching into "playing for the scouts" mode before you know it. USC is already in a hole in the Pac-10 race; in a league that tough, those are going to be "meaningless games" pretty quickly. Kansas State already has an ugly 26-point loss at the hands of Xavier -- a game in which cBeasley only scored 5 points. Syracuse is off to a solid 2-0 start in league play (despite losing gEric Devendorf for the season to a knee injury), so pFlynn and tGreene should remain engaged. There was no prior indication that cBlair was a one-and-done type, but his talent is clearly better than advertized and Pitt's season could go south in a hurry without pLevance Fields around to direct things.
As mentioned earlier, UCLA hosts Washington State on Saturday in the biggest game of the week (and Round One of the biggest Game of the Year in the Pac-10). The first battle of the "Atlantic 10 Wars" -- really? -- gets under way as Dayton hosts Rhode Island on Wednesday. Mississsippi's undefeated record isn't likely to survive a road trip to Tennessee on Wednesday; but Vanderbilt should be able to keep it rolling on the road at Rupp Arena against woeful Kentucky; a road trip at decent Marshall won't be enough to upend the Memphis juggernaut. Marquette hopes its home court will slow down the Notre Dame train, which comes to town on Saturday.
-- Ron
Potholes
Michigan State reverted back to the worrisome form of the exhibition season, barely squeaking by young Purdue at home @78-75 (thanks to 26-for-33 on free throws), and falling to lowly Iowa on the road 36-@43 (no thanks to 1-for-4 on free throws) (Can you say "home court refs"?) Likewise, Texas continued to tumble from its preseason overachievement status, falling 84-@97 on the road at Missouri (despite 27p1a16r from X-factor Damion James).
More understandable were home wins from Marquette over Notre Dame, @92-66 (as the Golden Eagles shot 12-for-24 from the perimeter while holding the Fighting Irish to 4-for-19). Louisville held off West Viriginia @73-64 (as the Cardinals held the Mountaineers to 4-for-17 shooting on 3s). Dayton beat Rhode Island @92-83 (as the home-standing Flyers shot 62% from the floor, led by pBrian Roberts' 23p7a7to). While GC USC is having discipline problems -- coach Tim Floyd benched fDavon Jefferson for the entire Washington State game [a @58-73 Trojan loss] -- GC Kansas State broke through on the road in its first conference game, winning at Oklahoma 84-@82 on the last of cMichael Beasley's 32p11r8to effort. Coach Herb Sendek has young Arizona State out of the gate well in the Pac-10 with three home wins, including @64-59(OT) over visiting (and undermanned) Arizona. AZSt's GC tJames Harden had 26p9r in the Sun Devils' win, but UoA's GC pJerryd Bayless made up for it next game with 33p9a5r;18/20ft in the Wildcats' 85-@71 win at Houston. Oregon kept pace in the Pac-10 with two home wins, @79-70 over California and @71-66 over Stanford.
Young Syracuse got off to a 2-0 start in the Big East last week with two wins, but gave them both back with two road losses, 66-@74 at Cincinnati and 61-@81 at West Virginia. Surprising Cincinnati and DePaul both started 3-1 in the Big East. (After just two weeks, only Georgetown is still without a loss in the conference.)
Coach Rick Majerus' St. Louis squad set an all-time "shot clock era" record for fewest points scored in its 20-@49 loss at George Washington. (Hey, I still remember "Duke 7, UNC 0 at the half.") You want futility? How about N.C. State's stretch from being tied 9-@9 with North Carolina five minutes into the game, and then trailing 11-@41 with two minutes left in the first half (on the way to a sorry 62-@93 loss). How does Wake Forest beat a very good BYU team @79-62 on Monday and then lose 73-@112 at Boston College on Saturday? (Does home court mean that much to some teams? Maybe so, especially the Demon Deacons, who are in the midst of their emotional roller coaster of a season.)
Drake and Illinois State are both 5-0 in the MVC this season (after the Bulldogs whipped 4-1 Indiana State @75-50 on Wednesday); those two meet on Saturday with first place in the conference on the line. Siena knocked off Niagara on the road 94-@84 (despite 31p7r from the nation's leading scorer, bCharron Fisher) to forge a three-way tie at 5-1 atop the Metro Atlantic standings between Siena, Niagara and Marist.
5-1 Butler can take control of the Horizon League with a win over 5-0 Cleveland State on Thursday. In the Colonial, 4-1 VCU tries to catch up when 5-0 Delaware comes to town on Wednesday. 6-0 Davidson clashes with 7-0 Chattanooga on Saturday for first place in the Southern Conference. 5-0 Oral Roberts hosts 5-0 IUPUI on Thursday as well for the outright lead in the Summit League.
-- Ron
Youth Shall Be Served
North Carolina finally lost the game it's been trying to lose for a couple of weeks now. Late heroics saved the Tar Heels on the road at Clemson a couple weeks back. They needed them again this past week, pulling out an 83-@82 win at Georgia Tech on Wednesday. The luck ran out at home on Saturday against Maryland as the Terrapins were able to come into the Dean Dome and leave with an 82-@80 win. At its worst, UNC is a three-man team (cTyler Hansbrough, gWayne Ellington, pTy Lawson) that doesn't play defense and, when pLawson sits, it becomes very shaky at the point. We've seen Roy Williams' teams in the past that had early exits from the NCAA tournament for much the same reason. There aren't a lot of teams that have the individual quickness to do what USC did to UCLA -- (Texas did it in much the same way) -- but there are plenty of teams that can do what Maryland did to UNC: (match them running and win the endplay).
Tennessee continued to roll, beating Vanderbilt @80-60 and handling Ohio State @74-69. The Volunteers force the pace as much as UNC does, but they're much more like Memphis in that they force tempo with full court defensive pressure. They're not even getting a particularly strong performance from gChris Lofton (who was Player of the Year-calibre a season ago), but the addition and immediate eligibility of versatile Iowa transfer fTyler Smith has only enhanced their spread offense and hawking defense.
With only three-fifths of the "A" starting lineup from the beginning of the season, Pittsburgh managed to beat Georgetown in convincing fashion, @69-60, behind 18p4a from gRonald Ramon and 18p from gKeith Benjamin as fDeJuan Blair(15p9r) held his own against the Hoyas' cRoy Hibbert(12p10r). Life in the mega-Big East is rough, though, as the Panthers fell later in the week at 9-9 Cincinnati, 59-@62. The 16-member Big East has gone to an 18-game schedule this season, so there's not much chance to rest on your laurels. Give Villanova credit for being one of the few teams that survived the week with two wins, beating DePaul @76-69 and winning at GC Syracuse 81-@71.
In the Pac-10, Stanford is 4-2 (thanks mostly to four home games) and beat both Arizona (@56-52) and young Arizona State (@67-52). The Cardinal is little more than a one-man team, though, with 7' cBrook Lopez doing almost all of the damage (19p6r5b and 19p16r, respectively). Scoring in the lane is (literally) a tall order against this bunch. Still, fourth place in the nation's best conference deserves a ranking.
The Atlantic 10 earned enough respect in the preseason with multiple teams coming through with name wins, that now a loss doesn't automatically send a team packing from the rankings as it otherwise would have. Xavier (losing 59-@78 at 8-8 Temple) and Dayton (losing @71-82 to visiting Massachusetts) get the benefit of the doubt one more week and stay ranked. Instead, UMass bolts in the rankings itself.
Butler's perimeter weave attack by 'tweeners tPete Campbell, tJulian Betko and tDrew Streicher works a lot better against BCS power forwards (who aren't used to guarding out of the paint) than it does against the undersized mid-major small forwards of the Horizon League. After losing 52-@56 to undefeated Cleveland State, the Bulldogs are now two games off the pace in the conference standings. They're running the risk of losing both the regular season and tournament titles and having to get into the NCAAs on an at-large bid (just like last year), forcing the NCAA to give two bids to the otherwise 1BC Horizon. Davidson, on the other hand, wasn't able to make an impression with its ambitious preseason schedule and now seems to realize an automatic bid from the 1BC Southern Conference is all they can expect. They're 8-0 in conference and they've already drubbed their three strongest rivals: Appalachian State (71-@60), Georgia Southern (@92-67) and Chattanooga (@85-58). But they don't have any margin for error.
VCU is finally atop the Colonial standings, but George Mason isn't far off the pace. (By the way, GMU's bDre Smith shot 10-for-10 on three-pointers for 34p5r against James Madison on Saturday.) Utah State beat Boise State @82-78 to take the lead in the lowly WAC -- there's no way that league will get two teams, so winning the conference tournament is the real prize there. Akron beat Ohio University @55-54 to take the lead in the MAC, but they learned the hard way last year that only a tournament crown will get them into the NCAAs. Despite losing the best tandem in school history to graduation, Oral Roberts is back on top of the (newly renamed) Summit League, thanks to a @64-63 win over IUPUI.
Having beaten Georgetown, Memphis probably already deserves the #1 ranking more than Kansas. But with the Tigers' unlikely to lose during the regular season (thanks to the soft Conference USA schedule), there won't be a chance for Kansas to move up. Kansas' schedule has plenty of opportunity for the Jayhawks to slip up -- and if they don't, they'll deserve to be ranked ahead of Memphis, anyway. Call them 1A and 1B. One of the few test remaining for Memphis comes Saturday when they host Gonzaga. Indiana hosts Connecticut on Saturday in a game that has large implications for the Big 10. How well the Hoosiers do against a middle-high Big East squad will help calibrate the cutoff for at-large bids for Big 10 teams. Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue may fare well inside the league but they don't deserve NCAA bids. If IU beats UConn, though, and later loses to one of those, it'll seem like a bigger victory than it really is.
-- Ron
YounGuns
Two GC-led squads continue their meteoric learning curves. Kansas State is 4-0 in the tough Big 12 after two more blowout wins, 72-@56 at Colorado and @82-57 over Iowa State, thanks to 29p13r and 33p15r from GC cMichael Beasley. If they can take down undefeated Kansas on Wednesday and cBeasley continues to post those kind of stats, we could be headed for our second straight freshman claiming National Player of the Year. Meanwhile, after an 0-3 start, USC has reeled off four straight wins (including three on the road) after beating Oregon State 68-@44 and surviving 95-@86(OT) at Oregon (thanks to 26p6a6r from pDaniel Hackett and 25p8r from GC tO.J. Mayo). The Trojans are now tied for fourth place at 4-3 in the tough Pac-10.
Sitting atop the Pac-10 is still UCLA, which got a couple of Player of the Year-calibre performances from its own GC cKevin Love (26p18r as the Bruins rallied late to win at Oregon 80-@75, and 16p21r in a 85-@62 rout of Oregon State). Better news still, pDarren Collison is all the way back to full health after posting 22p6a and a career-high 33p of his own.
In addition to some air being let out of Wisconsin's sail, the Big 10 suffered another blow when undermanned Connecticut (playing without its best player, bJerome Dyson, who was suspended) came to Bloomington and won 68-@63. (It probably helped inadvertently not having bDyson in the lineup as cHasheem Thabeet, cStanley Robinson and cJeff Adrien all scored double-figures in the paint.) A middle-high Big East team wins on the road against the undefeated Big 10 league-leader. That result is going to have a lasting effect when it comes time to dole out at-large bids. St. Mary's has probably already done enough to secure two bids for the WCC; but unless Butler or Drake screw up inside the Horizon and MVC, no non-BCS league after the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West figures to get any at-large bids. (The WAC and Colonial won't get two teams no matter what; and Davidson is no shoo-in for a bid if it doesn't win the Southern Conference tournament.)
The preseason headliners of the SEC, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi, all lost on the week. Mississippi State, which had five losses in the preseason, is 5-0 after drubbing Ole Miss @88-68 (behind 26p6r from fCharles Rhodes) -- that doesn't make the strength of the teams inside the league look good. Tennessee managed to lose 66-@72 at lowly Kentucky to fall behind Florida in the SEC East. (The one bright spot for the Vols is that gChris Lofton finally seems to be rounding into form. He had 22p in the loss to UK and 27p in a @85-69 rout of Georgia. He had been struggling in the share-the-load blowouts of the preseason, but he's more important in the station-to-station style of conference play. He also became the SEC's all-time career three-points leader, passing Pat Bradley of Arkansas.)
After falling behind 10-0 right off the bat, Gonzaga did a great job coming back in a hostile environment and actually took the lead on Memphis at 32-30 with two minutes left in the first half. From there, though, the Tigers spurted to a halftime lead and held on for an @81-73 win. There's slim pickings left looking for anyone who can still stand in the way of an undefeated season for Memphis. Their toughest road game comes Wednesday when they travel to Houston; after that, there's a Feb 16 road trip to UAB and then the Feb 23 home showdown with state rival Tennessee. It looks like it'll be up to the Vols (but don't count on it).
Xavier asserted itself in the Atlantic 10 with two solid wins over its biggest rivals, @69-43 over Dayton and 77-@65 at Massachusetts. Take away pDrew Lavender from the Musketeers and that team is quite a mess. No point guard this side of Texas' pD.J. Augustin means more to his club. Hats off to Rutgers, which took down Villanova @80-68 and then won at Pittsburgh 77-@64. (Those were the only two conference wins on the season for the 2-6 Scarlet Knights, though, who don't figure to make the Big East tournament.) One way to get some offense out of Texas A&M is to have the Aggies go five overtimes as they did in their 116-@110(5OT) loss to visiting Baylor. The teams combined for 134 rebounds and 106 free throws as BU's pCurtis Jerrels(36p8a) outlasted TXAM's cBrian Davis(30p14r). On the other end of the spectrum, Alabama State (which is on track to make the NCAA tournament as the SWAC champ) combined with Alcorn State for a total of 3 assists between them in BamaSt's 76-@71 win.
Kent State beat Akron @75-69 to take over the lead in the MAC thanks to 12p10r5b5to from versatile tHaminn Quaintance. Likewise, Sam Houston State edged Stephen F. Austin @58-56 thanks to 11p18r6a from do-it-all cRyan Bright. Regrouped Lamar and Texas-Arlington still lead those two in the Southland, though, as TXArl takes them both on this week.
Many of the 1BC conferences have reached the halfway point in the regular season already. Cleveland State lost twice on the week to fall back into a tie at 7-2 with Butler in the Horizon. 9-0 Drake has a two-game lead in the muddled MVC. 8-1 VCU has a two-game margin in the Colonial -- the Rams travel to meet state rival 6-3 George Mason for their only meeting this year on Tuesday. Davidson was two games up at 9-0 and counting at the midway point of the SoCon. 9-0 South Alabama still has a return trip to 8-1 Western Kentucky before things will be sorted out in the Sun Belt. Siena, Rider, Marist (all 7-2) and Loyola(Maryland) and Niagara (both 6-3) still have a ways to go before sorting out the Metro Atlantic. 9-0 Oral Roberts is two games up on IUPUI at the break in the Summit. Wagner had a one-game lead over resurgent Sacred Heart, Robert Morris and Quinnipiac in the weak Northeast. Austin Peay was two games up at 9-1 at the midway point of the lowly OVC.
Wisconsin hosts Indiana on Thursday as one team will continue its slide no matter what. Tennessee will try its luck at Mississippi State on Saturday. UNC-Asheville hosts Winthrop on Saturday, and Austin Peay hosts Murray State on Thursday, both with first place on the line.
-- Ron
Resistible Force
Kansas State came of age, stopping the resistible force, beating undefeated Kansas at home for the first time in 25 years, @84-75, behind 25p6r from legit Player of the Year candidate fMichael Beasley, 22p1a5r from bBill Walker and 20p from gJacob Pullen. With the win, the Wildcats had the inside track to the Big 12 regular season title: Both KSU and KU have the easier "North Division" schedule (only playing the tough TX teams once each); KansSt has already beaten TXAM and they get TX at home whereas Kans must still travel to both TX and TXAM. Alas, cBeasley and Co. gave back their advantage right away, squandering a 15-point lead on the road at depleted Missouri, losing 74-@77. The Jayhawks can pay back the loss when the Wildcats come to Lawrence and regain control of the conference race. Still, message received: The Players are Ready For Prime Time.
Memphis remained irresistible, however, hardly fazed by what was supposed to be its toughest road game in conference play, whipping Houston 89-@77 behind 30p6to from its own PotY candidate, gChris Douglas-Roberts. Only Tennessee stands in the way of an undefeated regular season for the Tigers. (But as we just saw over the weekend, that's still no guarantee of the crowning postseason championship.)
One-Man-Show cBrook Lopez posted 31p13p5to as Stanford won at Washington, 65-@51, and 18p7r5b as the Cardinal won 67-@65(OT) at Washington State. SU is 7-2 at the break in the Pac-10; second place outright (with a two-game lead) in the nation's best conference must be given its proper respect. (But the hard lesson from last year's NCAA tournament still applies: a team that doesn't need to go inside to get its points can just run past the Cardinal and have no trouble, as Louisville did in a first-round rout.) California was able to pull off the same road double as Stanford, beating WashSt 69-@64 and Wash 79-@75 behind 27p1a9r and 33p17r from do-everything tRyan Anderson.
Michigan State fell at depleted Penn State, 76-@85, as gDrew Neitzel only managed 6 points. If the Spartans could somehow get their act together, there's a Detroit Regional just waiting for them in the NCAA tournament; but with their current form, they're most likely to be shipped elsewhere to allow the Big 10 champion to stay "home" (i.e., if the Big 10 champ can even manage a #2 seed). Texas A&M's combination of size and quickness gave Texas all kinds of trouble as the Aggies rolled @80-63 over the Longhorns. Wisconsin and Indiana combined to shoot 6-for-41 on three-pointers as the Badgers' balanced attack overcame 22p17r from the Hoosiers' cD.J. White in UW's @62-49 win. West Virginia shot 20% from the floor (including 1-for-22 on three-pointers) in the Mountaineer's ugly @39-62 home loss to Cincinnati.
Arizona looked great winning 82-@69 on the road at USC in a high-quality game, but was humbled to realize that UCLA is operating on another level beyond that, as the Bruins rolled @82-60 over the Wildcats behind 26p11r from PotY candidate cKevin Love. Much like UofA's Kevin O'Neill, Arkansas coach John Pelphrey may have turned a corner with his squad as the Razorbacks blew out Mississippi State (@78-58) and Florida (@80-61).
At the halfway point, 8-1 is good for the outright lead in the Pac-10 (UCLA), the Big East (Georgetown), and a share of the Big 10 lead (surprising young Purdue and Wisconsin). Kent State, Akron, Ohio University and Western Michigan all share the MAC lead at 6-2. Utah State (which had one game postponed) is 6-1 in the WAC, ahead of 6-2 Boise State. At the break, 6-2 Cal State-Fullerton trailed 7-1 Cal St-Northridge in the Big West (but CSF just won at CSN, 80-@72). 7-0 UNC-Asheville remained unbeaten with a @71-56 thrashing of 5-2 Winthrop in the Big South. Maryland(Baltimore County), Vermont and SUNY-Binghamtom were all 6-2 at the turn in the America East. 5-2 Lafayette leads 4-3 American in the Patriot League. Portland State, Northern Arizona and Weber State were bunched at 6-2 in the Big Sky. 7-1 Jacksonville led Belmont and East Tennessee State (both 6-2) in the Atlantic Sun. 8-1 Wagner and Robert Morris, Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac (all 7-2 at the break) haven't sorted anything out in the Northeast.
Into the second half, second place George Mason beat first place VCU @63-51 (thanks to 21p15r from cWill Thomas) in their only regular season meeting; GMASON may trail in the standings but they're the better team on form. Butler didn't play last week yet gained ground and now leads the Horizon by two games, thanks to a four-game skid from Cleveland State. (This is good news for everyone -- in order for the Horizon to remain 1BC, as it should on form, Butler needs to dominate it and win both the regular season and conference tournament.) Rider broke out of the logjam in the Metro Atlantic with two road wins, 79-@65 at Marist and 89-@75 at Siena, behind 20p9r4a and 23p21r5a from NBA-bound cJason Thompson.
It's the ACC "Game of the Year (Part 1 of 3)" on Wednesday when Duke travels to North Carolina on Wednesday. Forget the "greatest rivalry in all of sports" business -- this year's series has more on the line than usual. Both teams have locked up berths in the first-/second-round showcase Pod in Raleigh, but only one of them will get to stay home for the Regional in Charlotte. The ultimate winner will likely get to meet Georgetown in front a home crowd while the loser has the option of traveling to face Memphis, Kansas or UCLA -- pick your poison. Monday's WCC "Game of the Year (Part 1/3)", St. Mary's vs Gonzaga, has more advance buzz to it than ever. Unless St. Mary's screws up in BRACKETBUSTERS, both teams will likely get NCAA bids no matter who comes out on top between them. Who figured Wisconsin hosting Purdue (on Saturday) would be a battle for first place, but there it is. UCLA vs Washington State (Thursday) and Georgetown at Louisville (Saturday) were supposed to be for first place, but they aren't anymore. Xavier vs St. Joseph's (Sunday) is, though. Both teams were in better form the first time around, but Sunday brings us yet another Charlie-Brown-and-the-football moment as Clemson tries once again to break its 0-for-Chapel-Hill streak, visiting North Carolina.
-- Ron
Terminus
Dick Vitale returned to broadcast the Duke-UNC game after missing most of the season following throat surgery. He's an icon whose done much to help college basketball's popularity increase ... but sometimes you just long for a more objective call of a game. Everybody can't be the greatest thing ever, can they?
The last of the big first-half games didn't hold any surprises. Duke took a strangehold on the ACC regular season title, undefeated with a two-game lead after winning 89-@78 at North Carolina (playing without pTy Lawson[ankle]). UNC still has an outside shot at securing the coveted top seed in the Charlotte Regional, but it would now mean winning at Duke plus winning the ACC tournament. It's "Advantage Duke" by a considerable margin at this point, though. (The Blue Devils' only blemish is a one-point overtime loss to a full-strength Pittsburgh squad.) Tennessee re-established control of the SEC after pulling away from the Florida YounGuns in the second half, @104-82, behind gChris Lofton(26p5s) and tTyler Smith(23p9r6a). Xavier needed the home crowd to help it stave off a strong challenge from St. Joseph's, pulling out a @76-72 win to stay atop the tough Atlantic 10. And St. Mary's outlasted Gonzaga @89-85(OT) behind 23p4a from freshman gPatrick Mills, despite 27p9a5to from pJeremy Pargo -- both teams ended the first half tied at 6-1 and, as long as one of them wins the WCC tournament, the quality of this game assured both of them an NCAA bid next month.
At the terminus of conference play, 7-1 Kansas State held the head-to-head edge on 7-1 Kansas atop the Big 12. Undefeated Memphis (8-0 in conference) was one game up on 7-1 Houston and two up on 6-2 UAB (both of whom the Tigers face this week to start the second half of C-USA play). UNLV lost 73-@81 at Utah to fall back into a first-place tie at 7-1 with BYU midway through the Mountain West season. Lamar (7-1 in conference) led favorites Stephen F. Austin (6-2) and Sam Houston State (5-3) at the break in the Southland. Morgan State (7-1 in league play) has the edge on Hampton (7-1) at the halfway point in the MEAC. 8-1 Alabama State was two games up on the rest of the lowly SWAC. With only the two last-place teams to face to complete the first half, 6-0 Cornell is already two games up on everybody else in the weak Ivy League. (I see a trip to Dayton on a Tuesday night in the future for those last two squads.)
UCLA completed a sweep of Washington State, winning 67-@59, but the Bruins took their eyes off the prize and fell to Washington, 61-@71 on Sunday (thanks to 1-for-16 three-point shooting). The loss dropped UCLA into a tie atop the Pac-10 at 9-2 with Stanford (which crushed Oregon @72-43 Thursday night). The Bruins have already won on the road against the Cardinal, and both teams are now three games up on third place, but they've left themselves more work to do to close the deal in the regular season. Louisville is fully healthy and knocked off Georgetown @59-51 as the Hoyas only shot 4-for-22 on threes and only took 4 free throws for the entire game. The Cardinals have always been better in the NCAA tournament than during the grind of a regular season, so keep an eye on their momentum, not their record. The Purdue YounGuns made it official by beating Wisconsin again, this time 72-@67 behind 21p0a from gRobbie Hummel, (despite being outrebounded 21-43).
Playing North Carolina in Chapel Hill has become one of those mythological tortures for Clemson by this point. This time the Tigers led 60-45 with 11 minutes left -- the biggest lead they've ever had in this situation -- but started playing not to lose instead of continuing to take it to the Tar Heels. UNC never led in regulation and only tied the game late behind two big three-pointers from bDanny Green(14p6r) and a layup from pQuentin Thomas (subbing for injured pTy Lawson). 31p7r from bCliff Hammonds and two big three-pointers in the first overtime from freshman gTerrence Oglesby weren't enough for Clemson to overcome 39p13r from cTyler Hansbrough and 28p5to from gWayne Ellington for North Carolina. Instead of a milestone win for coach Oliver Purnell's tenure at Clemson that surely would have secured an NCAA bid next month, the Tigers must somehow recover from one of the most devastating losses in the history of the program, as they set a new record for road futility against one opponent, losing for the 53rd consecutive time against UNC in Chapel Hill (breaking the 0-52 mark for the Brown-@Princeton series).
Arizona State won 59-@54 at Arizona behind 29p8r from AZSt's fJeff Pendergraph as UoA's gJerryd Bayless' 39p couldn't overcome only 4p from teammate gChase Budinger. All but the top two teams in the tough Pac-10 have at least 5 losses already. Drake remained unbeaten in the MVC with a 73-@70 win at second-place Illinois State. Pacific edged Cal State-Northridge @78-73(OT) (behind 30p from gChad Troyer) to tie the Matadors atop the Big West at 8-2. Siena swept Marist, @76-72 and 97-@88(OT), and tied for first-place in the Metro Atlantic with Rider after beating them 80-@77. (The MAAC is having a great season. Whoever makes the NCAA tournament will be one of the few 1BC teams capable of making a first-round splash upset.) Elsewhere, Belmont took over first in the Atlantic Sun with a @85-78 win over Jacksonville; and Portland State stayed on top of the Big Sky with a 71-@68 win at Northern Arizona.
The pairings for the BRACKETBUSTERS event (Fri-Sun 22-24 Feb) were announced. The past two years, the marquee matchup has featured two teams that wound up making the Sweet 16. It remains to be seen whether that trend can continue. The main theme for this season has been GC vs. LB: the Golden Child one-and-done freshmen who can no longer jump straight from high school to the NBA [cMichael Beasley(Kansas State), cKevin Love(UCLA), pDerrick Rose(Memphis), gEric Gordon(Indiana), gO.J. Mayo(USC), gJonny Flynn, tDonte Greene(Syracuse), cAndrew Ogilvy(Vanderbilt), fPatrick Patterson(Kentucky), gJames Harden(Arizona State)] versus the stars who were Left Behind [cTyler Hansbrough(UNC), cRoy Hibbert(Georgetown), gChris Lofton(Tennessee), gDrew Neitzel(Michigan State), pSean Singletary(Virginia), fD.J. White(Indiana), fChris Douglas-Roberts(Memphis), pDominic James(Marquette), fJon Brockman(Washington); as well as the ex-GC's pD.J. Augustin(Texas), tChase Budinger(Arizona), cBrook Lopez(Stanford), gWayne Ellington, pTy Lawson(UNC), gScottie Reynolds(Villanova), and pStephen Curry(Davidson)]. But the subtext is also about GC vs. MM: does the GC Era spell the end of the Mid-Majors' making a real dent in the NCAA tournament. A trickle of GC players last year didn't prevent it; but will the flood of them this year have a bigger impact? Butler, Drake, St. Mary's (which is the team that handed Drake its only loss) all seem to have the same credentials as those breakthrough teams last year, but has the overall depth of college basketball significantly improved? We'll get @Butler-Drake as the marquee matchup this year (while St. Mary's only draws Kent State out of the MAC). Davidson-@Winthrop isn't what it would have been last year. VCU-@Akron and George Mason-@Ohio University are elimination games for all four of those teams. It will be interesting to see how Rider-@Cal State(Northridge) and Siena-@Boise State fare in limelight road games.
For this week, Michigan State must come through at Purdue (Tuesday) and at Indiana (Saturday) if it wants to entertain any thoughts of getting seeded to stay in the Detroit Regional come tournament time. Kansas' road trip to Texas (Monday) is one of the few tough games on its "North Division" schedule. In addition to MSU, Indiana also has to host Wisconsin (Wednesday). Tennessee hosts surging Arkansas (Wednesday). First place in the Mountain West will be on the line when BYU hosts UNLV (Saturday); Kent State hosts Ohio University (Saturday) in the MAC; Pacific travels to Cal State-Fullerton (Saturday) in the Big West; East Tennessee State visits Belmont (Thursday) in an Atlantic Sun showdown; and first-place Oral Roberts travels to second-place IUPUI on Saturday in the Summit League.
-- Ron
The road out in the first half of conference play is uncharted, so you know you have to put out your best effort every time in order to handle whatever challenge may come along. The road back in the second half takes you on Desperation Trail, which has its own separate challenge. It's filled with teams you've already beaten, teams going nowhere whose season now boils down to the "One Big Game" against you for pride, young teams who finally "get it" and put together some form they haven't shown so far, and solid teams who've made corrections and are poised to peak for the "Final 10 Games" that the NCAA Selection Committee emphasizes when deciding who gets a bid.
The Trail caught some big-name teams this past week: Duke fell on the road at Wake Forest, 73-@86, as freshmen gJeff Teague(26p1a) and cJames Johnson(24p16r7to) led the way. [Wake is 14-1 at home this season (including a rout of BYU) and 16-8 overall while trying to move forward in the aftermath of coach Skip Prosser's death. Coach Dino Gaudio has done as good a job as you could ask in a tough situation: they're fifth in the ACC at 6-5 and could even snag an NCAA bid if they can finish this strong the rest of the way.] Georgetown escaped @55-53 against Villanova (thanks to a terrible touch foul call with less than :01 left in regulation), but later fell 70-@77 to perennial bubble team Syracuse. [The Hoyas have fallen back into a first-place tie with Louisville atop the Big East at 10-3 and LVILLE beat them the first time out. They won't lose out on the cushy Washington, DC first-/second-round Pod in the NCAAs, but they could wind up getting shipped away from the Charlotte Regional if they're not careful.] Stanford salvaged a road split with a 67-@66 win at Arizona (overcoming 31p6a5r;16/16ft from GC pJerryd Bayless) after losing earlier 68-@72(OT) at Arizona State (despite getting 30p6r from fBrook Lopez). [The margin between fourth and ninth in the Pac-10 isn't much, so AZST is one of those DT teams to be feared the most -- they need every win they can steal.] Pat Knight's first win was a big one as Texas Tech knocked off Kansas State @84-75, keeping the Wildcats from assuming first place in the Big 12. Sean Sutton finally got his first road win in Big 12 play as Oklahoma State surprised Texas A&M 59-@54. And Southern Illinois salvaged something from its miserable regular season with a @65-62 win over Drake. [The Drake may have lost its first conference game, but Keno Davis' Bulldogs clinched their first Missouri Valley Conference title in 37 years later on with a 65-@55 win over Northern Iowa. "Can you say 'National Coach of the Year'? I knew you could!"]
Barely surviving the upset bug were North Carolina (a 75-@74 winner at Virginia despite 27p7a6r from LB pSean Singletary), Tennessee (a 74-@71 winner at Georgia despite 23p8a9r from tSundiata Gaines), Xavier (a 62-@60 winner at Charlotte despite 31p0a8r from tLeemire Goldwire), and Connecticut (a 74-@73(OT) winner at South Florida on gCraig Austrie's game-winner despite 26p15t6b from cKentrell Gransberry). [Don't read too much into any of those close games, win or lose. This time of year produces one-off results that don't particularly reflect the overall strength/weakness of the major teams.]
More important were the "fair fight" clashes that meant as much to both teams coming in. Texas re-inserted itself in the conversation for the Big 12 regular season title with a @72-69 win over Kansas and kept it going with a 82-@77 road win at Baylor. UTx, KU and KANSST all have two losses (three better than the rest of the pack). [Nothing will unseat Kansas and Kansas State from first-/second-round Pods in Omaha, but there's the outside chance for Texas to sweep the Big 12 regular season and tournament and get seeded high enough to stay home for the Houston Regional.] UCLA paid back its earlier home loss to USC with a 56-@46 win on the road to stay just ahead of Stanford in the Pac-10 race. [The Bruins should be fine, but the Trojans may still have some work to do to secure a slot in the first-/second-round Anaheim Pod.] Tennessee thumped Arkansas @93-71 behind 32p4a from gJaJuan Smith; Arkansas also fell 74-@80 at Mississippi State, yielding second place in the SEC to the Bulldogs. Connecticut beat Notre Dame @84-73 as part of its 9-game win streak (thanks to 26p9a from pA.J. Price, despite 32p16r from cLuke Harangody) -- [the Huskies are so much a better team now that they don't rely on three-pointers from suspended gJerome Dyson.]
Michigan State lost at Purdue, 54-@60, and was blown out by Indiana, 61-@80. [The Spartans are out of contention now for the Big 10 regular season title, and they can't expect to be seeded high enough to be able to stay home for the Detroit Regional.] Indiana had a tough week on the court, including a buzzer-beater home loss to Wisconsin, @66-68. New allegations of NCAA violations have surfaced surrounding coach Kelvin Sampson, serious enough that he may not even survive the week. If they can somehow keep their focus, though, they actually have a showdown coming Tuesday with arch- in-state rival Purdue with first place in the Big 10 within reach.
Below the BCS, BYU repaid UNLV in kind with a @74-48 drubbing to open a gap in its lead in the Mountain West. (The Cougars' road loss at Wake Forest doesn't look so bad anymore, and their earlier neutral-site win over Louisville looks good again. Welcome back to the rankings, men!) Kent State beat Ohio University @72-62 to maintain its lead in the MAC. IUPUI edged first place Oral Roberts, @69-66, but still remains one game back in the Summit. Belmont beat East Tennessee State 87-@75 to hold onto the lead in the Atlantic Sun.
Rhode Island gets to test its mettle this week with three big home games: against Xavier (Monday), Massachusetts (Thursday), and St. Joseph's (Sunday). Western Kentucky is on top looking down at South Alabama the second time around as the top two teams in the Sun Belt meet on Thursday.
I don't have it rated #1 vs. #2 as the national polls do, but this Saturday's Memphis vs. Tennessee has come to fruition with everything on the line you could hope for. They'll both get the Pods that they want regardless (Little Rock for MEMPH; Birmingham for UTn) and the winner will be the consensus #1 team in next week's poll, for sure. This is probably the most hyped college basketball game in the history of the state of Tennessee -- the ultimate "State Title" game for this season (nevermind Vanderbilt). Credit John Calipari and Bruce Pearl for bringing both programs to these heights, and creating a fever in the state for college hoops like no other time. Although they shouldn't lack for motivation in this one, the one knock on the Volunteers has been that they aren't the same dominant team on the road as they are when playing in front of their home crowd. Will Memphis get the wake-up call after almost blowing it against UAB? This game's got it all: GC (pDerrick Rose) vs. LB (gChris Lofton), a No.1 seed and No.1 ranking up for grabs, a coaching matchup that can produce fireworks. What's not to love? Don't miss it!
The BRACKETBUSTERS event has more clout this year now that there are three levels of bids up for grabs at the end of the season: Gold(NCAA), Silver(NIT) and Bronze(CBI). "Boosting the RPI rating" of teams from perennial 1BC conference never made all that much sense before. Now, though, there really will be some meaningful jockeying for position #113 for the bubble teams trying to get the last invite to the new COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL tournament. The BRACKETBUSTER people have done a pretty good job of matching stronger visiting teams against weaker host teams, which should avoid blowouts as much as can be pre-planned. This year's marquee matchup, Drake at Butler, is on par with the last two seasons (George Mason v Wichita State in 2006 and Butler v Southern Illinois in 2007), both of which featured a pair of teams that made it through to the NCAA Sweet 16. It remains to be seen whether that can happen again this year or whether the GC era will spell the end of that trend. Davidson should have no trouble even on the road at Winthrop. Kent State won't be a match for home-standing St. Mary's. VCU (at Akron) and George Mason (at Ohio University) face a tough challenge as standard-bearers for the declining Colonial. The Metro Atlantic got a tough draw, with four of its five marquee teams on the road -- but look for "Stanford Jr." aka Rider (with its own NBA-ready brother combo, cJason Thompson and tRyan Thompson) against Cal State-Northridge), Niagara (with the nation's leading scorer, gunner bCharron Fisher) against Appalachian State, and Stanford-killer Siena against WAC-leader Boise State to grab some headlines. Nevada, led by LB bMarcelus Kemp, should have too much firepower even for home-standing Southern Illinois.
-- Ron
@NewMexicoSt-LongBeachSt, @SoIllinois-Nevada,
@OldDominion-Bucknell, @William&Mary-LoyolaIL, @LoyolaMD-UCDavis,
@ETennesseeSt-TennesseeTech, @EaKentucky-BallSt,
@Bradley-WIMilwaukee,
@Valparaiso-MiamiOH, @WIGreenBay-WeMichigan, @NoIowa-ILChicago,
@HolyCross-Northeastern,
@UCIrvine-Idaho, @EaMichigan-SEMissouriSt, @MissouriSt-CMichigan,
@FresnoSt-CalPolySLO, @JamesMadison-MoreheadSt, @Manhattan-SUNYB,
@Toledo-Delaware, @Elon-TNMartin, @Towson-HighPoint,
@Iona-Hofstra, @Detroit-BowlingGreen, @Buffalo-YoungstownSt, @Drexel-Fairfield, @LouisianaTech-Samford, @UCRiverside-Hawaii,
@Canisius-Albany, @StPeters-BostonU, @EaIllinois-Evansville,
@JacksonvilleSt-GeorgiaSt)
The Day Of The Year
The off-court mess at Indiana culminated in the negotiated resignation of coach Kelvin Sampson with the agreement that he won't sue the university for wrongful termination (as some other high-profile coaches have done recently, with some success). Former IU player, assistant coach Dan Dakich (aka "The Man Who Shut Down Michael Jordan" -- he guarded MJ when Indiana beat North Carolina in the 1984 NCAA tournament in Jordan's last college game), was named interim coach. Six players (including fD.J. White) promptly skipped his first practice in protest (but they wisely regrouped and all played in Indiana's 85-@82 win at Northwestern). Sampson's alleged violations revolve around excessive phone calls to recruits -- which doesn't seem egregious enough to warrant termination; except that it's exactly the same violation that got him in trouble at Oklahoma and nothing seems to have changed. (Hey, Michigan won the 1989 national championship under interim coach Steve Fisher after A.D. Bo Schembechler fired Bill Freider in March for pre-accepting the job at Arizona State before the current season was over. So all is not lost for the Hoosiers just yet.)
Texas is now alone in first place in the Big 12 after they routed Texas A&M @77-50 and Oklahoma @62-45, while Kansas fell at the buzzer at Oklahoma State 60-@61, and Kansas State lost twice: at Nebraska 64-@71 and at Baylor 86-@92 (despite 44p13r from cMichael Beasley and 31p11r from tBill Walker). If the Longhorns can come through as Big 12 title holder/tournament champ, they can end up with a #2 seed and stay home for the Houston Regional. cBeasley continues to put up monster numbers, but if the Wildcats don't come away with a conference title, he won't be Player Of The Year. (The current frontrunner is "Old Reliable" cTyler Hansbrough(UNC), whose Tar Heels are now back atop the ACC, thanks to another road loss from Duke -- this time at Miami(Florida) 95-@96.)
Xavier won three times on the week: 81-@77 at Rhode Island, @75-48 vs Duquesne, and 57-@51 at Dayton to open up a three-game lead on the rest of the Atlantic 10. The 14-team "A-10" not only has unbalanced scheduling (3 teams twice plus 10 teams once), but they've even enhanced the unbalanced nature of the schedule by arranging for the stronger teams to double-up with each other while the weaker teams double-up among themselves. The object was to bolster the RPI of the best teams in order to get more teams a shot at at-large NCAA bids. What it's also done is muddy the standings with the likes of 13-13 La Salle in third place (7-5) while 17-9 Dayton wallows in twelth place at 5-8. (Right now, only Xavier and St. Joseph's are poised for bids; Massachusetts and Rhode Island have to improve their conference standing in order not to get trapped in the mud.)
Villanova stopped Connecticut's 10-game win streak, @67-65. UAB outlasted Houston @101-99 (despite 41p7a6r from tRobert McKiver). Bradley handed Drake another conference loss, 72-@71, but the Bulldogs have already clinched the regular season MVC title. South Alabama won at Western Kentucky 69-@64 to complete the season sweep.
The main event of the day on Saturday was BRACKETBUSTERS. 14 games are televised nationally, but 100 teams play 50 games all across the nation. It's a good thing that ESPN gets so many teams to commit to leaving that one game on their schedule open. No way to know ahead of time that Drake would be the team you'd want available for the marquee matchup. Butler couldn't shake the other Bulldogs; a close game throughout wound up with an endplay road win for Drake 71-@64. Also winning on the road was Kent State, which shocked St. Mary's 65-@57 behind 28p from gAl Fisher. VCU held on to win at Akron 57-@52; and Davidson won at Winthrop 60-@47. Kent State now joins Butler, VCU and probably Davidson in the dreaded anti-spoiler position. They've built up their case so strongly now that they're assured of an at-large bid, but they come from otherwise 1BC conferences. Traditionally, spoilers are teams who upset the natural order of things by winning games they aren't supposed to. These anti-spoilers are teams that, if they wind up losing a game they aren't supposed to in their conference tournament, will force the NCAA Selection Committee to use an at-large bid on them that otherwise would have gone to a non-1BC school. Normally, the Colonial isn't a part of this scenario, but George Mason's loss at Ohio University means the Patriots can't realistically expect an at-large bid for themselves, so the CAA is back to being 1BC for this year (unless VCU anti-spoils). Conference-wise, the big winner was the Missouri Valley, which went 8-2 (including 5-0 from its power teams). The Metro Atlantic was 6-4 overall (but its power teams were 5-1 with 4 road wins as Siena won big at WAC-leader Boise State 93-@70, and Rider edged out Big West-leader Cal State-Northridge 76-@75). The Colonial (7-5) and MAC (6-5) were only so-so; while the Horizon (4-6), Big West (4-6) and WAC (3-6) were disappointing, all with their leading team going down at home. Most of those games will have no effect on NCAA bids, but they might affect NIT/CBI bids; and if not, at least teams got an "in-season bowl game" to spice up the year.
Michigan State paid back its two non-elite losses, beating Penn State @86-49 and Iowa @66-52. They're two games out of the Big 10 lead; so this week, at Wisconsin (Thursday) and vs Indiana (Sunday), is their last shot at being a factor in the regular season (and their longshot hopes of staying home for the Detroit Regional). Kansas State's title hopes rest on this week as well, vs Texas (Monday) and at Kansas (Saturday). A loss at Vanderbilt (Tuesday) would ruin the buzz in Knoxville if Tennessee doesn't come away with a win. Gonzaga hosts St. Mary's (Saturday) in Round Two of the WCC "Game Of The Year". Winthrop hosts UNC-Asheville (Saturday) for first place in the Big South. First place isn't at issue, but Stanford vs Washington State (Saturday), Arizona vs USC (Thursday), Clemson vs Miami(Florida) (Wednesday), Clemson at Maryland (Sunday) and Illinois State vs Creighton (Wednesday) all will have a big effect on the pecking order for at-large bids in a couple of weeks.
-- Ron
In every major conference there is a significant Gap in the standings separating the elite teams from the rest of the pack (and in some cases there's even a second Gap separating the decent from the struggling). If the standings were smoother, it might be easier to determine the cutoff point for at-large bids. As it is this season, the Selection Committee will have to weigh jumping the Gap in a major conference against going smoothly down the standings in a mid-major. (The good news for the mid-majors is that, if the BCS standings had been smoother this year, the MMs would have been practically shut out.)
UCLA turned in two more solid road wins, 70-@49 at Arizona State and 68-@66 at Arizona (behind cKevin Love's 24p15r). The Bruins can't shake Stanford in the Pac-10 standings, though. (Those two face off on Thursday night with the Cardinal having the chance to tie for the league lead.) Stanford's gap over third-place Washington State is a whopping four games now after rallying to beat the Cougars @60-53 (thanks to 25p6r from fBrook Lopez). The thing is, WSU is very solid; but SU's one-man gang has had the answers all season long.
In the Big East, Louisville, Georgetown, Connecticut and Notre Dame have opened up a two-game gap in the standings. (It fits nicely with the four first-round byes that go along with the conference tournament, actually.) Below them, there's a smooth transition from fifth (Marquette) down to eleventh (Villanova-Seton Hall-Syracuse) -- that's good news for those teams hoping to get an at-large. (The Cardinals visit the Hoyas on Saturday with first place on the line with the loser eliminated from any shot at staying "home" in the Charlotte Regional in the NCAAs.)
Texas and Kansas have opened up a two-game gap over Baylor and Kansas State. KSU had a rough week, losing @65-74 to Texas (as tBill Walker shot 0-for-14 for 1 point) and 74-@88 at Kansas. Both of those clubs are safely in, but the gap does no favors for slumping Oklahoma. In the Big 10, Purdue, Wisconsin and Indiana are two-games up on Michigan State. But despite their 42-@57 loss to the Badgers, the Spartans' @103-74 pasting of the Hoosiers should keep them in good standing. (Was IU's collapse a one-time thing in a difficult road environment, or was it The Beginning of the End for a team that could unravel now that it has lost its coach?) Michigan State is itself three games up on Minnesota and Ohio State, who may be on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday.
North Carolina and Duke meet for Round 2 of the "ACC Game of the Year" on Saturday. Both are tied atop the standings with a three-game gap up on everyone else. It's good for those two, both of whom have a shot at a #1-seed; but the gap is bad news for the league overall in terms of getting multiple bids. Clemson, which came back from 20 points down to beat Maryland 73-@70, has done enough to warrant a bid. Beyond that, no other team has distinguished itself. Teams like Virginia Tech and Maryland have very little margin for error from here on out.
Memphis' three-game gap in Conference USA is to be expected. UAB and Houston have turned in solid seasons in the Tigers' wake. Both teams should be in. (If not, the "Pro Scout Showcase" has already begun: the Cougars' pRobert McIver had 52p5a against Southern Mississippi, while the Blazers' bRobert Vaden had 41p3a6r at UTEP.)
Xavier has played so well in conference that it's four-game gap probably hurts the rest of the Atlantic 10 teams. The likes of St. Joseph's, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Dayton don't really have much of a case over Temple, Richmond, La Salle, Charlotte, St. Louis and Duquesne because of the muddiness of the standings below the Gap.
BYU and UNLV are two games up on New Mexico -- the gap will likely do in the Lobos. Drake's two-game gap over Illinois State and Creighton has made it hard for those teams to get noticed. Butler (which was two games down at one point) finished with a four-game gap in the Horizon -- bad news for Cleveland State and Wright State. VCU finished three games up on George Mason and UNC-Wilmington.
While gaps in the BCS standings are good news for the mid-majors hoping for at-large bids, gaps in the MM standings create the disastrous potential for anti-spoilage. Davidson finished the Southern Conference a perfect 20-0, with a seven-game gap on second place. (I can't recall a wider margin of victory in the regular season standings.) Should they falter in the SoCon tournament, however, an "undeserving" team will snatch away an at-large bid that will have to be used on the Wildcats. Drake and Butler have similar scenarios; but as long as either Gonzaga or St. Mary's wins the WCC, no one will be the worse. In the MAC (Kent State, Akron and Ohio University) and Sun Belt (South Alabama and Western Kentucky), some very good teams figure to miss out because they'll be 1BC, for sure.
Cornell clinched the Ivy League title -- the first time it didn't go to Penn or Princeton in 20 years. UNC-Asheville (with 7-7 cKenny George) completed the sweep of Winthrop 63-@50 to clinch the Big South title (but don't expect the Bulldogs to be able to pull of a first-round splash upset like the Eagles did last year). Robert Morris (NEC) and Portland State (Big Sky) won their conferences by three-game gaps.
It's conference tournament time for all of the 1BC leagues (except the Southland, MEAC and SWAC). Expect Gonzaga and St. Mary's to meet in the WCC final (next Monday). Drake has only had Desperation Trail losses inside the MVC so far. We'll find out Sunday if they can take the conference tourney as well. Butler has "dominated" the Horizon, but many of its games have been close. They're no automatic lock to win it, but we'll have to wait until Tuesday week to find out if they're anti-spoilers. VCU and Davidson absolutely must win their tournaments (both finals on Monday week) for the sake of the draw. Siena earned the top seed in the Metro Atlantic tournament, but Rider and Niagara could easily win it (and any one of those three could spring a first-round splash upset in the NCAAs).
-- Ron
Two Dogs, One Bone
North Carolina led early (and 42-31 at the half) on the road at Duke in the ACC showdown. The Blue Devils eventually tied the game up at 57-57 midway through the second half and took the lead 68-66 with five minutes to go. From there, UNC pitched a 10-0 shutout to win 76-@68 and claim the conference title. pTy Lawson(10p3a) is back playing meaningful minutes now, but it was tDanny Green(18p1a7r7b) who made the difference in this one. The Blue Devils "limited" cTyler Hansbrough to 16p15r by not sending him to the free throw line; but when the Tar Heels have a four-way attack with cHansbrough, gWayne Ellington(16p), pLawson and tGreen, and show some fortitude on defense!?, they are a formidable team playing its best at the right time. North Carolina now has the inside track on a #1-seed and staying home for the Charlotte Regional. (Duke could still get it back, but only if they face UNC in the ACC final and make a statement win there.)
Is UCLA "The Duke of the West"? (Heh.) Well, they trailed for most of both games over the weekend yet came away with two victories both thanks to unquestionably erroneous calls. Stanford bolted out 12-2 and led 30-18 at halftime on the road, but couldn't close out the game for the win. Give the Bruins full credit for coming back (and take note that Stanford is quite vulnerable when things get too athletic up and down the court), but even so it took a phantom foul call on fLawrence Hill to send gDarren Collison(24p) to the line for two free throws to send the game into overtime, where UCLA prevailed @77-67(OT) to claim the Pac-10 title. Against California next time out, gJosh Shipp's game-winning shot from behind the backboard and over the top of it was technically illegal, but the refs counted it and the Bruins escaped with an @81-80 win. Now that gCollison is fully healthy, the Bruins should have no problem living up to their expected #1-seed and reaching their third straight Final Four.
Georgetown and Louisville played a tight game that was decided on gDaJuan Summers' game-winning three-pointer as the Hoyas won @55-52 and claimed the Big East regular season title. GTOWN, which can get caught up playing too much of a finesse game, only shot 5 free throws; and LVILLE struggled from outside (4-for-18 on three-pointers). No other league has as many quality teams all playing well right now, but it will be tough for that to remain the case through this week -- some very solid teams are bound to take some shellack losses in the Big East tournament. (Don't read too much either way into the results from this week.)
Memphis nearly lost at UAB the first time around, but the return game at home was no contest, @94-56. Yes, Conference USA is pretty weak overall, but give the Tigers credit for rolling through an undefeated 16-0 conference season. That's never easy to do, no matter the competition -- only Davidson(20-0 in the SoCon) and Cornell(14-0 in the Ivy League) were able to accomplish that among all 31 conferences this year. The Tigers deserve a #1-seed (probably #1 overall to boot). UAB and Houston should both get into the NCAA field as well (as long as they hold up their end and meet in the C-USA semifinals).
Tennessee's dominance of the SEC along with its signature win at Memphis should be enough to garner the fourth #1 seed. Kansas is probably a stronger team overall, but the Jayhawks wound up in a tie for the Big 12 title with Texas (and are only the #2 seed in the conference tournament due to their head-to-head loss). Duke and Texas have issues with size in the paint; and Wisconsin had the misfortune of playing in a league where its main competition never elevated themselves to elite status. This season has been very deep as far as quality teams at the top, in the middle, and even some veteran 1BC's have returned to the scene as well.
The Anti-Spoilage Report could have been worse. Drake absolutely took care of business, winning the Missouri Valley tournament 79-49 over Illinois State in the final, earning the first NCAA bid in 37 years for the school. The Bulldogs (like Purdue and Butler) don't beat you with individual physical talent; they just execute deliberately and efficiently and everyone can shoot three pointers. (They'll be a tough out in the NCAAs, especially for an impatient opponent.) VCU committed the most egregious faux pas, losing (in front of a hometown crowd in Richmond, no less) to William & Mary, 54-@56 in the Colonial semifinal. Thankfully, George Mason (which still has some key players left from their '06 Final Four run) made the CAA final and had a chance to go out in style with a return to the NCAAs. St. Mary's, which lost a lot of its lustre when it fell at home to Kent State in BRACKETBUSTERS, blew a huge lead in the West Coast semifinal and fell to host [3]San Diego 69-@75(2OT). Gonzaga made the WCC final, though, giving bubble teams everywhere a second chance to keep the order. Both Davidson and Butler rolled into their conference finals looking like they'd be able to take care of business as well, keeping the Southern Conference and Horizon League as 1BCs where they belong this year. Kent State deserves the one-bid that the MAC ought to earn, but if Akron or Ohio U win their way in past the Golden Flashes, that wouldn't be undeserving.
After being swept head-to-head in the regular season, Winthrop looked like it was passing the baton to UNC-Asheville for league supremacy of the Big South. But the veteran Eagles (who made a first-round splash in last year's NCAA tournament) showed their mettle with a runaway 66-@48 win on the road in the conference final (behind 33p;6/9 3s) from gMichael Jenkins. It's their fourth straight NCAA berth and eighth trip in the past 10 years. Belmont has a veteran team as well (which won on the road this year at Alabama and Cincinnati) and came through convincingly to win the Atlantic Sun final @79-61 over Jacksonville. The Bruins are making their third straight trip to the NCAAs themselves. Austin Peay completed its domination of the lowly Ohio Valley, winning 82-@64 over host [6]Tennessee State. (The Governors should avoid the Play-In game; instead, they might wind up facing state "rival" Tennessee in a #1-#16 matchup.)
It's conference tournament time for the Big Boys, and even though all of the top leagues are headed by dominant #1-seeds (and some very good #2-seeds as well), some of them are quite up for grabs. "Who's the best league?" is a perennial question. In the preseason, the ACC looked strong by winning four tournaments and the Atlantic 10 stepped up as "The Seventh Major". Conference play has muddied the reputation of the middle-of-the-pack teams in both of those leagues, however. No one below third-place Clemson seems consistent in the ACC; and the A-10 might even slip to 1BC if the wrong teams advance in the conference tournament. This time of year, one way to assess the relative strengths of the conferences is to look at the seeds in their tournaments. Seeds #2-#4-#8 give you a good read. I'll take the Big East (Louisville-Connecticut-Villanova) barely over the Pac-10 (Stanford-USC-Washington), then the Big 12 (Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas Tech), ACC (Duke-Virginia Tech-Wake Forest), Big 10 (Purdue-Michigan State-Iowa) and SEC (Mississippi State-Arkansas-LSU), in that order.
Not many mid-majors have a shot at an at-large bid this year. Instead it's Oregon (yes) battling the likes of Syracuse (yes), Oklahoma (yes), Ohio State (no), Virginia Tech (no) and Arkansas (no).
-- Ron
P.S. The Hoops Contest is coming soon!!!
Mad Hoops Beyond Thunderdome
OK. Let's try and backtrack and take in everything that happened the past week:
In the holdover finals from the previous week, we had a mixed bag on the Anti-Spoilage front. Gonzaga couldn't do any better than St. Mary's and also lost to host [3]San Diego, 62-@69, in the WCC final. Spin doctors touted "the strength of the WCC" because it garnered three bids, but this result is a sign of weakness, not strength. SDIEGO wouldn't have made the postseason as an at-large -- (that would have been a true sign of league strength) -- while both GONZ and STMARY failed to live up to their tournament seeding. Bad for the league, bad for the NCAA tournament.
George Mason picked up the spare for VCU by beating [5]William & Mary @68-@59 in the Colonial final. The Patriots are a quality team with a few too many close losses to have gotten in at-large, but their presence doesn't tarnish the NCAAs in the least. They're winners -- cWill Thomas and tFolarin Campbell started in the '06 Final Four. Similarly, Western Kentucky (led by bCourtney Lee) bailed out South Alabama's miscue by beating [4]Middle Tennessee State 67-57 in the Sun Belt final. Both South Alabama and VCU blew it in front of hometown support. USA, which took Vanderbilt to double-overtime on the road and beat Mississippi State, still got a bid (and a #10-seed); VCU, which lost to Miami(Florida) and Arkansas, had to settle for the NIT as regular season champs.
Davidson completed its thorough destruction of the Southern Conference, winning 65-49 over [7]Elon in the final (for a tally of 23-0 for the season in league play). Likewise, Butler pulled away from [2]Cleveland State with a @70-55 win in the Horizon League final. Kent State escaped @49-@47 against [5]Miami(Ohio) in the semis and crushed [3]Akron @74-@55 in the final of the MAC. BUTLER, KENT and DAVID join DRAKE as dominant mid-major champs who hit the NCAAs with realistic dreams of making the Sweet 16.
At the first-round splash level, Siena showed how great guards make a great center irrelevant as they rolled past Rider (and cJason Thompson) in the Metro Atlantic final, @74-53. (Don't forget, they beat Stanford in December, albeit when only lesser twin cRobin Lopez was in the lineup.) Oral Roberts held off rival IUPUI, @71-64, in the Summit League final for its third straight NCAA berth. SIENA and ORAL plus veteran squads from WINTHP (four straight NCAAs) and BELMT (three straight NCAAs) are teams who won't have any first-time jitters in the Big Dance.
In BCS land, with a few minor exceptions, most everyone made it through their conference tournaments in pretty good shape. The big winner was Pittsburgh, which won four games on the way to the Big East crown, taking out Louisville 76-69(OT), Marquette 68-61 and Georgetown 74-65. Remember, the Panthers were a Top 10 team at their zenith when they edged Duke in overtime back in December before losing two starters to injury. Now that at least bLevance Fields is back, they've broken through to that level again. Kansas held off resurgent Texas A&M @77-71 and bested Texas @84-74 to win the Big 12 crown (and earn a #1-seed for the NCAA tournament). Form held perfectly in the Pac-10 as UCLA edged USC @57-@54 and Stanford @67-@64 to win the tournament crown and secure their own NCAA #1-seed. (cKevin Love's back problems are a slight worry, though.) In the ACC, Clemson finally broke the psychological barrier to claim an elite win, beating Duke 78-@74 in the semis (breaking a streak of 22-straight losses to the Blue Devils, and reaching the ACC final for the first time since 1962), and played well in the final against North Carolina. UNC looked more than fine, though, as cTyler Hansbrough's jumper sank Virginia Tech @68-66 in the semis before gWayne Ellington led the way in UNC's @86-81 victory in the final. (UNC gained the overall #1-seed in the NCAA tournament to boot.) Wisconsin won the Big 10 tournament, coming back late to beat Michigan State 65-63 in the semis and having an easy time over [10]Illinois 61-48 in the final. Both Indiana (buzzer-beater @58-59 losers to [6]Minnesota) and Purdue (@67-74 losers to the Illini) failed to live up to their seeds.
In the SEC, Vanderbilt couldn't keep pace with Arkansas, losing 75-81, and Alabama got up 40-14 on Florida before cruising to an 80-69 win. Tennessee couldn't shake either opponent, needing a superstar three-pointer from gChris Lofton to beat [E5]South Carolina 89-87 but losing out to Arkansas 91-92 in the semis on cSteven Hill's turnaround jumper. No team in the nation has a bigger contingent of travelling fans than Kentucky. So imagine how strange it was for them to play in front of only a handful of supporters (in their first game of the tournament) against Georgia. [E6]UGA shocked UK 60-56(OT) at 12NOON and then recovered to beat Mississippi State 64-60 at 8:30P on Saturday. At 3:30P on Sunday, the Bulldogs somehow completed their incredible run, beating Arkansas @66-57 as a few more (mostly UGA) fans were allowed in for the final. Without the "Act of God" intervening, it's doubtful things would have unfolded anywhere near the same, so you can pretty much discount all of those results as far as telling you anything meaningful about those teams.
Memphis rolled through the Conference USA tournament with no trouble (as both UAB and Houston failed to reach the semis -- and neither one got an NCAA bid). [2]UNLV drubbed [1]BYU @76-61 in the Mountain West final (on their own home floor). In the Atlantic 10, St. Joseph's beat Xavier 61-53 in the semis before losing to [2]Temple 64-69 in the final. [3]Cal State-Fullerton rolled through the Big West tournament (including a @83-@68 win over [2]Cal State-Northridge). [4]Boise State resolved the four-way tie in the WAC, beating [1]Utah State 88-78 and then outlasting host [2]New Mexico State 107-@102(3OT). (For all their troubles, NMST got no bid whatsoever, no NCAA, no NIT and not even a CBI.)
By the time the dust had settled, there were only some minor quibbles with who got at-large bids for the NCAA tournament and who didn't. For my part, I would have taken Ohio State and Arizona State over Villanova and Kentucky; but neither of those teams did anything in their conference play to improve their standing, while [9]Villanova drubbed [8]Syracuse 82-@63 in the Big East tournament. Kentucky actually lost to Georgia and somehow didn't lose any ground. [4]Virginia Tech lived up to its seed in the ACC tournament and gave North Carolina all it wanted, but was passed over for a bid in favor of [5]Miami(Florida) [which VATECH beat 63-49 in the quarters]. The argument given after the fact was that the NCAA Selection Committee looks at all teams as independents and takes no note of conference play and standings. It's ridiculous. There's no way that every game carries the same import in isolation whether in-conference or out-of-conference.
A surprise that Duke wasn't assigned to the Raleigh pod. The explanation was that, because Georgetown was seeded ahead of them, the Hoyas had first choice. The Washington, DC pod actually qualifies as the Hoyas' home court (so they were never eligible to play there), so the most convenient available pod was Raleigh. That sent the Blue Devils to play in Washington, DC. As far as seeding goes, perhaps Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Miami(Florida) didn't perform as well on the weekend to warrant where they were placed. The teams that seem underseeded, Washington State, Gonzaga, Indiana, BYU, St. Mary's and Baylor, all failed to do anything to improve their reputations.
The Naismith Meteor Shower (the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament) should have lots of highlights. Unfortunately, either GC cMichael Beasley(Kansas State) or GC bO.J. Mayo(USC) only has one college game left as those two meet in the first round on Thursday evening. The other GC-led squad, Syracuse, had to settle for being a top seed in the NIT. Things look a lot better for the MM teams, draw-wise. Drake, Butler, Kent State and Butler all have it pretty good.
Hope you caught ESPN's special BLACK MAGIC, featuring stories about great players and coaches from historically black colleges. There's a bittersweet quality to all of it. HBCU's arose out of necessity because of segregation, and integration is viewed with mixed feelings because more mainstream opportunities drained the talent that use to have no other options. The MEAC and SWAC regularly rate as the two weakest in the entire NCAA, so I wasn't sure why the NCAA never pit those two champs against each other in the Play-In game. After watching this special, I realize that it isn't "political correctness" that's behind it, it's atonement. (In the past, they purposely forced blacks schools to play off against each other to limit the number who got to participate.)
Let the games begin!!!
-- Ron
Product Placement
The NCAA Selection Committee had explained that Duke wasn't placed in the Raleigh Pod (as they expected) because Georgetown was a higher seed (and therefore its preference came first) and couldn't play in Washington, DC because the Verizon Center is its home court. Georgetown's best available option was, in fact, Raleigh. At that point, Duke was too highly seeded to have its pod also placed in Raleigh after UNC and GTOWN had gone before it. That pushed the DUKE pod to Washington, DC. While the top 16 seeds have to fight for the right to get preferred placement in regions and pods, it's apparently a free perq for any teams seeded below that. ([5]Michigan State missed out on being placed in the Midwest Region (Detroit) because Wisconsin was already there and the Committee tries to space out teams from the same conference into different regions, although "everyone is an independent"). With more than four Pac-10 teams, [10]Arizona was able to be placed in the West (Phoenix) Region. [10]South Alabama, which lost its way into the tournament, got to play in Birmingham; [10]Davidson -- which lost to both North Carolina and Duke head-to-head -- was rewarded with a spot in Raleigh after all; [11]Kansas State stayed close to home in Omaha. It's not like Davidson was some 13+ seed that only had a David-and-Goliath's chance at winning a game -- they were nationally ranked in the final regular season polls. Anyway, they got the break and it was a huge factor.
In the first round, [2]Duke had to fight veteran 1BC [15]Belmont and a neutral crowd rooting for the underdog; the Blue Devils barely survived 71-70 thanks to a coast-to-coast drive by bGerald Henderson(21p7r). In Round Two, overlooked [7]West Virginia proved just how deep the Big East really was as Duke couldn't make any jump shots on tired legs in the second half as gJoe Alexander(22p) led the Mountaineers to a 73-67 comeback victory and a berth into the Sweet 16. Meanwhile, over in cozy Raleigh, [10]Davidson trailed for most of the game against [7]Gonzaga until gStephen Curry(40p) exploded in the last five minutes to claim an @82-76 win. Against [2]Georgetown in Round Two, the Wildcats again trailed most of the way until the last segment when 30p more from gCurry again saved the day. Now, a neutral-site crowd would have been pulling for them as underdogs, but that's still not the same as a partisan home crowd rooting for you exclusively from start to finish. So not only do they get the splash win that eluded them last year, but they're this year's Cinderella darlings and so far gCurry is The Player of the Tournament.
It has not been a good tournament for the Golden Child players, by and large. Of the GC-led teams, somebody had to win when cMichael Beasley(23p11r)'s Kansas State beat pO.J. Mayo(20p5a)'s USC @80-67 in Omaha. Oklahoma did beat St. Joseph's in the first round, but it was gDavid Godbold(25p) who led the way, not fBlake Griffin. The GC-LB combo tag teams all flamed out in the first round in games they reasonably expected to win: [10]Arizona [tChase Budinger(23p),pJerryd Bayless] simply couldn't handle [7]West Virginia and gAlex Ruoff(21p), falling 65-75; [8]Indiana [fD.J. White(22p9r),bEric Gordon] couldn't keep pace with [9]Arkansas and tSonny Weems(31p), losing 72-86; and [4]Vanderbilt [cAndrew Ogilvy(18p),bShan Foster] couldn't run with [13]Siena and gKenny Hasbrouck(30p), getting blown out 62-83. Not surprisingly, the GC players who joined already elite rosters fared the best. Both pDerrick Rose (17p7a9r vs [8]Mississippi State) of [1]Memphis and cKevin Love(20p and 19p11r in two games) of [1]UCLA survived through to the Sweet 16.
Of the "Power MM" teams, Drake, Butler, Kent State and Davidson -- all of whom dominated their conferences and entered the tournament on a roll -- only veterans Davidson and Butler fared well. [7]Butler crushed [10]South Alabama 81-@61 in Birmingham behind 20p from tPete Campbell and turned in a stirring effort with a late comeback to send the game with [2]Tennessee into overtime before falling 71-@76(OT). (The Bulldogs have had quite a two-year run, taking their program to a Top-10 ranking in the national polls.) "First-time-in-awhile" jitters were probably at work as [5]Drake trailed by 15 in the second half against [12]Western Kentucky before rallying to send the game into overtime before they fell 99-101(OT) on gTy Rogers' game-winning three-pointer. [9]Kent State trailed 31-10 at halftime against [7]UNLV and never recovered, losing 58-71.
Other than [15]Belmont giving [2]Duke a go, the veteran 1BC schools were no factor: [13]Winthrop could only hang with [4]Washington State for a half before losing 40-71. [13]Oral Roberts never posed any problem to [4]Pittsburgh in its 63-82 loss.
The Anti-Spoilers (who blew it in their own conference tournaments, opening the door for unworthy teams to get into the draw with automatic bids) followed suit with first-round losses as well. [7]Gonzaga played well enough but fell (on the road to [10]Davidson); [10]St. Mary's started well but faded against [7]Miami(Florida) as gJack McClinton poured in 38p; and [10]South Alabama couldn't make use of the home crowd against a superior [7]Butler team. Tournament-savers [12]George Mason couldn't bring any magic this time around as they were blown out by [5]Notre Dame 50-68. But [12]Western Kentucky knocked off [7]Drake and then beat back party-crasher [13]San Diego 72-63 (behind 29p from gCourtney Lee) en route to a berth in the Sweet 16.
[12]Villanova proved itself to be bubblicious after all, as the "last team in" erased a 16-point deficit to beat [5]Clemson 75-69 and squelched the Cinderella hopes of [13]Siena 84-72 (thanks to 21p and 25p5a8r from gScottie Reynolds).
The most impressive teams so far are [1]North Carolina (with pTy Lawson getting healthier by the day), the only team to break 100 points (@113-74 over [17]Mt. St. Mary's and @108-77 over [9]Arkansas); [1]Kansas (@85-61 winners over [16]Portland State and @75-56 winners over [8]UNLV), [3]Louisville (79-61 winners over [14]Boise State and 78-48 winners over [6]Oklahoma), [4]Washington State (71-40 winners over [13]Winthrop and 61-41 winners over [5]Notre Dame) and [3]Wisconsin (who beat [14]Cal St-Fullerton 71-56 and [11]Kansas State 72-@55). [2]Texas looked good blowing out [15]Austin Peay 74-@54 and had a big lead on [7]Miami(Florida) but had to hang to win 75-72.
[1]UCLA struggled on offense and trailed [9]Texas A&M by 10 points before support from the homecrowd pod helped them rally to a @53-49 win. Similarly, [3]Stanford had its hands full with [6]Marquette but survived @82-81(OT) before a supportive Anaheim crowd that was treated to a spectacular duel in overtime between the Cardinal's cBrook Lopez(30p) and the Golden Eagles' bJerel McNeal(30p8r). [1]Memphis overcame 15-for-32 free-throw shooting to escape 77-74 over [8]Missisisppi State (and [2]Tennessee survived in OT against [7]Butler).
[5]Michigan State's neutral-site 65-54 win over [4]Pittsburgh stands alongside [7]West Virginia's win over [10]Duke as the best "unaided" wins of the first two rounds.
The NIT will be down to its Final Eight after Monday night. Only three road teams have been able to break through so far: [6]Akron winning 65-@60(OT) at [3]Florida State, [5]Maryland winning 68-@58 at [4]Minnesota, and [5]UAB winning 80-@77 at [4]VCU (joining the other Anti-Spoilers in a season-ending double-flop).
In the Can't Believe It's-a Tournament, the Final Eight reads like a "Who's Nobody" of this year's season. Only two of its top seeds survived the first round, Virginia and Bradley, while Washington and UTEP managed to lose at home.
As we hit the Sweet 16, UCLA seems to have the easiest path (in Phoenix) to the Final Four from here. North Carolina will have home-crowd support in Charlotte, but faces tough opposition including possbily Tennessee with lots of neighboring support as well. Kansas may have a bit of trouble in Big 10 country (Detroit) against Wisconsin. Memphis has a tough draw including possibly playing a road game against Texas in Houston.
(It's not exactly how I picked them in the Hoops Contest, but right now I like UNC > UCLA + KANS + TX. After seeing Memphis look decidedly mortal, I think homecrowd support can push Texas past them, but a healthy gDarren Collison should make a big difference the second time around for TX-UCLA II, even in San Antonio. You've got to love the Tar Heels' 40-minute mindset this year after letting the Georgetown game slip through their fingers last year.)
-- Ron
Four Aces
[1]Memphis was by far the most impressive, winning its two South Regional games in blowout fashion. [5]Michigan State posed no problem as the Tigers shut down gDrew Neitzel(6p7a), bolting to a 50-20 halftime lead on the way to a 92-74 rout. The lane belonged to [3]Stanford and cBrook Lopez(26p10r), but [2]Texas didn't need to go inside to be effective as pD.J. Augustin(23p7a) led the Longhorns to a second half blowout, closing 30-11 on the way to an @82-62 win. Texas, playing in front of homecrowd support in Houston, was supposed to be the end of the line for Memphis. Instead, the Tigers' tall backcourt 6-4 gDerrick Rose, 6-6 gAntonio Anderson and 6-7 tChris Douglas-Roberts held the Longhorn guards in check (bA.J. Abrams[17p5r3a], gD.J. Augustin[16p3a]) and the mobile frontline limited the Longhorn 'tweeners (xDamion James[8p5r], cConnor Atchley[5p6r]) as UofM rolled 85-@67. Meanwhile, tDouglas-Roberts (25p5r, 25p, 25-for-29 on free throws) and pRose (27p5a and 21p9a6r) turned in two fine performances each. Their supposed weakness, free throw shooting, was not evident in the two blowouts, as the team shot 26-for-35 and 30-for-36.
[1]North Carolina faced two tough opponents in front of homecrowd support in the East Regional in Charlotte. [4]Washington State was able to shut down fTyler Hansbrough in the first half, but tDanny Green(15p5r) stepped up as the Tar Heels led 35-21 at the half; then, fHansbrough(18p9r) broke through in the second half as UNC pulled away to a comfortable @68-47 win. After [9]Arkansas had tried to run with them (and got blown out), WSU tried to slow them down (and got blown out). Style of play doesn't deter this team. Only superior personnel might. [3]Louisville hounded [2]Tennessee, holding cChris Lofton(15p) to 3-for-15 shooting (including 2-for-11 on 3s) and outrebouded the Volunteers 42-24 as the Cardinals broke the game open in the second half, winning 79-@60. Against Louisville, UNC led throughout the first half, and @44-32 at the break; but the Cardinals tied the game at 59-@59 with ten minutes left and were within 64-@68 with five minutes in the game. Every time UofL drew closer, though, cTyler Hansbrough(28p13r) hit a big shot, including stepping out of the paint to drain some mid-range jumpers, leading UNC to an @83-73 win. The Player of the Year would not let his team be denied the Final Four a second straight year.
[1]UCLA opened up a big 41-20 halftime lead on [12]Western Kentucky in the West Regional in Phoenix, but played a sloppy second half as gTyrone Brazelton(31p5a) led the Hilltoppers back to within 59-63 with four minutes left before the Bruins prevailed 88-78. [3]Xavier opened up a 28-10 lead midway through the first half on [7]West Virginia before the Mountaineers came back for a stirring finish. tJosh Duncan(26p) dueled cJoe Alexander(18p10r) down the stretch until cAlexander fouled out with four minutes left in regulation. In overtime, tB.J. Raymond canned two huge three-pointers as the Musketeers prevailed 79-75(OT). Xavier figured to give UCLA problems with its 'tweeners' ability to step outside and hit three-pointers, but the Musketeers only shot 4-for-19 on 3s (including 1-for-6 from tJosh Duncan[11p]) as UCLA methodically pulled away to a 76-57 win. gDarren Collison had 19p against XU while cKevin Love had 29p14r and 19p10r in two games. Halfcourt D has been the best thing about the Bruins in the tournament -- it's allowed them to maintain a working margin even while stumbling through sloppy offensive possessions.
[1]Kansas opened the Midwest Regional in Detroit with a comfortable 72-57 win over upstart [12]Villanova as the Jayhawks limited the Wildcats to 36% shooting from the floor (including 3-for-17 on three-pointers). [12]Davidson proved that homecrowd support in Raleigh wasn't the reason for their wins as they stunned [2]Wisconsin 73-56. gStephen Curry was again unguardable with his quick-release jump shot popping for 33p in the runaway win. The Big 10 champs' station-to-station play can't stand up to a team that can score in quick spurts, but at least they made it through to the Sweet 16 before meeting an opponent good enough to exploit their weakness. Surely Kansas would be the end of the road for the Wildcats, right? gCurry still scored 25p, but KU barely hung on by hounding him into 9-for-25 shooting (including 4-for-16 on 3s). Davidson led 49-45 with nine minutes left and still led 53-52 with six minutes to go before some key defensive stops and just enough offensive execution allowed Kansas to escape with a 59-57 win. gCurry missed two open three-pointers in the late going and failed to get a shot off on the final possession. KU won't face anyone more difficult to guard than gCurry, and they may be able to play a more relaxed game now that they've actually broken through to coach Bill Self's first Final Four.
In the NIT, only [m1]Ohio State was able to make it to New York among the top seeds, beating [m4]California @73-56 and [m3]Dayton @74-63. [s2]Mississippi won @85-75 at home against [s3]Nebraska and then went on the road to upset [s1]Virginia Tech 81-@72. [w2]Florida easily handled host [w1]Arizona State 70-@57. Meanwhile, [e2]Massachusetts came back to beat [e1]Syracuse on the road (for the second time this year), 81-@77. Even on neutral ground, OSU was always the best team in this field that should have made the NCAA tournament.
In the CBI, the host schools all won their quarterfinal rounds: [e1]Virginia beat [e2]Old Dominion @80-76; [m1]Bradley beat [m2]Ohio University @79-73; [s2]Tulsa beat [s4]Utah @69-60; and [w3]Houston beat [w4]Valparaiso @91-67. The surviving teams were re-seeded for the semifinals. [4]Bradley upset host [1]Virginia 96-@85 (behind 27p from gJeremy Crouch); and host [2]Tulsa beat C-USA rival [3]Houston @73-69 (despite 30p5a from pRobert McKiver). The finals will be a best-two-out-of-three home-and-home series between [2]Tulsa and [4]Bradley on Monday, Wednesday (and, if necessary, Friday), starting in Tulsa. Injuries and suspensions hampered what should have been a stronger season for Bradley; perhaps the inaugural CBI crown will be some consolation.
Conference dominance was never quite established -- the Pac-10 elite were the best trio, but the Big East was deeper. The Pac-10(8-5) placed three of its six teams into the Sweet 16 (including one in the Final Four); the Big East(11-8) placed three of its eight teams into the Sweet 16 (but no Final Four); the Big 12 sent two of six to the Sweet 16 (and one to the Final Four); the Big 10 sent two of four to the Sweet 16 (but no further). The SEC(6-0) has two semifinalists in the NIT. Conference USA(5-2) had two semifinalists in the CBI.
Memphis looked mighty impressive in two games. UCLA has a shot if cKevin Love can stay on the floor in the first half, though. If he gets in early foul trouble and the Tigers relax, it will be a rout; but if UCLA can get back in transition and frustrate UM with in the halfcourt, the suspect free-throw shooting may resurface in a tight contest. North Carolina has too much offensive prowess for Kansas to handle, especially if KU continues to struggle shooting from the outside. Whether the opponent is Memphis or UCLA, look for the Tar Heels to cut down the nets in San Antonio as the Player of the Year adds "Most Outstanding Player" to his collection of accolades.
-- Ron
Competitive Balance
[2/S1]Memphis was again able to take full advantage of its height on the perimeter against [3/W1]UCLA, as the Tigers held the Bruins' 6-0 gDarren Collison to 2p4a4r and made it difficult to get the ball inside to cKevin Love(12p9r). Meanwhile, gChris Douglas-Roberts(28p) and bDerrick Rose(25p4a8r) basically had things their way driving the lane without much resistance all game long. UCLA's halfcourt D was able to keep itself within striking distance for most of the way [21-22 midway through the first half, 35-38 at the break, and 45-50 midway through the second half]; but it was its own halfcourt defense, enough free points on breakaways, and 20-for-23 shooting on free throws that allowed Memphis to extend out to a decisive 78-63 final score.
As tight as it played in the Regional Final trying to hold off the upset bid of Davidson the last round, that's how relaxed and free [4/M1]Kansas was able to play against [1/E1]North Carolina in the National Semifinal game. Coach Bill Self's pregame message to the Jayhawks was "Go out there and have fun" and that they did from the start, shocking the Tar Heels (and pretty much everyone who was watching) as they hounded them on the way to a 38-10 lead. With seven minutes to go in the first half, CBS announcer Billy Packer declared, "This game is over!" He was essentially correct, but give UNC credit for plugging on with its natural style of having as many possessions as possible, as it narrowed the gap to "only" 27-44 at the break. KU tightened up during the middle patch of the game as UNC got it as close as 50-54 with 11 minutes left in the second half. From there, though, Kansas regained its composure and returned to feeding the ball point-blank into the post (for which North Carolina never had much defense) and opened things back up. bBrandon Rush(25p6r) led the way outside as KU distributed the wealth inside; UNC's bWayne Ellington(18p6r), fTyler Hansbrough(17p9r) and bDanny Green(15p5r) were good-but-not-great as Kansas won it by a final score of 84-66.
That was about as competitive a National Championship game as we've had in a while. Neither team could really shake the other. Both teams got a little of what they wanted to do accomplished. "It could have gone either way" is too cliché to say, but nothing else is any truer. [4/M1]Kansas got the ball inside on offense, especially to cDarrell Arthur(20p10r). cChris Douglas-Roberts(22p;6/9ft) and pDerrick Rose(18p8a6r5to;3/4ft) led the way for [2/S1]Memphis to seeming victory. The Tigers led 60-51 with less than three minutes to go, and still led 62-56 under two minutes after gCDR sank two free throws. (UM was still 9-for-12 from the line up to that point.) Only at the very end, inside the final minute, did gCDR and pDRose miss 4-of-5 free throws (including the front end of a 1-and-1) to watch the win slip through their fingers as gMario Chalmers(18p; Most Outstanding Player) canned a desperation three-pointer to send the game into overtime at 63-63. From there, the OT was all Kansas (12-5), with the Tigers deflated and cJoey Dorsey on the bench having fouled out, as the Jayhawks somehow plucked victory from defeat 75-68(OT) in one of the most dramatic finishes in recent history.
A Final Four that had four #1-seeds, deserved a game like this one after two blowout scores in the semis. Kansas was one of the most balanced teams we've seen in a while. Good inside, good on the perimeter, good on defense, able to push the pace or work it in the halfcourt. Deep talent without an All-America superstar. (Remember, this is essentially "The Year After" for this team that lost only fJulian Wright from last year's Elite Eight squad.) A deserving champion -- (they tied for their BCS league title and won the tourney, ahead of the best second-place team in the nation, Texas) -- but then, so would Memphis have been. Keep in mind, the Tigers were a handful of possessions away from being undefeated national champions. People will remember the missed free throws, but that's hardly fair for a team that was so good in nearly every way, otherwise. (Wilt Chamberlain was dubbed "a loser who can't win the big one" after his Kansas Jayhawks lost in triple-overtime to North Carolina in 1957. Hopefully, one bad minute won't overshadow 244 great ones in this tournament for gCDR and pDRose.)
The NIT did little more than establish that Ohio State belonged in the NCAA tournament (and probably also that Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Arizona State and Illinois State didn't -- all of those high seeds managed to lose at home). The SEC placed two teams in the semifinals, Florida and Mississippi, but neither got any further. The Atlantic 10 had a finalist in Massachusetts and another quarterfinalist in Dayton. (OSU won the final 92-@85 over UMass in New York.)
The inauguaral CBI tournament indeed went the distance with Tulsa needing all three games in the home-and-home Best-of-3 Championship Series, having to come back at home in the final game to defeat Bradley @70-64. The Golden Hurricane, a 14-13 team at the end of regular season play (and #7-seed in the Conference USA tournament), had an extended run in the postseason and got to call itself a "champion" -- ("We're Number 98!!!") -- at 22-15. Maybe this is just the beginning of a fierce competition for the best teams (from #66 on) between the CBI and NIT. Right now, it was hardly worth it other than to generate some revenue.
At 12-5, the Big 12 had the most solid performance in the NCAA tournament. (The Big East had 11 wins, but also 8 losses.) The Pac-10 (8-6), ACC (6-4), Big 10 (5-3) and SEC (4-5) were muddy at best. Conference USA's 5-1 record was all due to Memphis (but give them some credit for going 7-3 in Tier 3 in the CBI). The SEC (6-2), Atlantic 10 (6-3) and Big 10 (5-1; all Ohio State) were respectable in Tier 2 in the NIT. But it's only the first line that really counts. The Big 12 had the best duo (Kansas, Texas); the Pac-10 the best trio (UCLA, Stanford, Washington State) and the Big East the best quality depth: (Louisville, West Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Marquette all won games.)
The Golden Child influx was inconclusive as to how much of a factor the elite freshmen had in the postseason. Two GC players did make the Final Four -- cKevin Love was UCLA's best player from the get-go; pDerrick Rose shared billing with star tChris Douglas-Roberts, but he was no less important to their success -- but both of those teams were already veteran squads which had made at least the Elite Eight last year. The GC-led teams were a disappointment overall. cMichael Beasley's Kansas State won one game, but it was only at the expense of GC bO.J. Mayo and USC. GC bEric Gordon and senior star fD.J. White couldn't overcome sideline turmoil and get past the first round; neither could GC pJerryd Bayless and LB tChase Budinger of Arizona. If this really was their one-and-done season to make their mark on the NCAA tournament, they didn't.
The Mid-Majors had success due to their numbers. Western Kentucky made the Sweet 16 and Butler made the second round, but their wins only came over other MM teams. (San Diego's upset of Connecticut was mostly owed to pA.J. Price's knee injury early in the game.) Drake and Kent State were big disappointments. 1BC Belmont just missed sending Duke packing in the first round for the second straight year. 1BC Siena was able to do the job, running past Vanderbilt in a first-round rout. The biggest breakthrough (team and player) belonged to Davidson, which (aided in the first two rounds by a pod placement in cozy Raleigh, NC) knocked off three ranked opponents in succession (Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin) and had the last possession for a possible game-winning three-pointer in the Regional Final against eventual national champ Kansas -- mostly (but not all) thanks to the spectacular talents of sophomore star gStephen Curry. The Little Teams That Could still came up with the goods for yet another season. The GC era hasn't swept them aside just yet.
Veteran coaches strong-arming administrations into including nepotism clauses in their contracts on behalf of their sons is a trend that has yielded the last two National Coaches of the Year on the one hand (Washington State's Tony Bennett in '07, and Drake's Keno Davis in '08). On the other hand, at Texas Tech, Bob Knight maneuvered out of his position by "resigning" midseason so that his son, Pat Knight, could get a few "practice games" under his belt before taking over for real to start next season. (Bob Knight may not be done with coaching himself, though. He may have just wanted a higher profile position and wanted to let higher profile administrations know he'd be available.) Meanwhile, at Oklahoma State, coach Sean Sutton is out just two years into his 5-year nepotism deal after taking over when Eddie Sutton was forced out with DUI problems. So there's at least one backlash from administrations to this trend.
If everybody stayed in school, all four Final Four teams are young enough in their star positions for a return trip next year. Will tCDR and pDRose stay just to win one more game? Will fTHansbrough come back after he's already made the Final Four and been named Player of the Year? (Will gWEllington stay if he goes?) Will cKLove return for another season in Westwood? Can bBrandon Rush parlay this season into an NBA career? Frankly, it says here they're likely all gone, for better or for worse. Certainly cMichael Beasley, bO.J. Mayo and bEric Gordon are leaving. Is there a good reason for pD.J. Augustin to stay another year in college? (Both cBrook and Robin Lopez have already declared for the NBA.) The one star who says he's staying is gStephen Curry (but he's losing three senior starters around him.) This season proved to be very much an addendum to last year. All four Final Four teams were Elite Eight or better a year ago and those Left Behind returned to finish their business. Next year upcoming looks much more like a blank slate.
Thanks for reading the HLS columns this year. I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them.
See y'all next year!
-- Ron
(c) 2007-08 Ron McBay
www.ronmcbay.us/HLS
ron@ronmcbay.us