[Volume I, No. 1] - (PRESEASON+) - [] Top 25
Mon 18 Nov 96

Looking for a theme for the 96/97 men's college basketball season? The best players this year are the ones who for one reason or another weren't ready for the jump to the NBA last year. Not enough bulk (Keith Van Horn-UTAH), not enough height (Brevin Knight-STANFORD), not enough stroke (Jacques Vaughn-KANSAS), not enough greed (Tim Duncan-WAKE FOREST) -- they're all reasons these top players stayed in school. What it means is you've got a college game without great big men and without great big guards. What you do have is loads of power forwards and swingmen.

That can make for an interesting style of play because you won't have the lane clogged up with post-up players. You'll have lots of perimeter players who can put the ball on the floor and take it to the basket. Many teams may wind up putting 3 guards and 2 forwards on the floor most of the time. Lots of games will look like pick-up games where everyone wants to shoot and everyone wants to dribble.

Tim Duncan should have an easy time of it this year, but that doesn't mean Wake Forest will advance that far in the tournament. Remember David Robinson's last college game? He scored 50 points yet they were never in the game. Expect a similar exit for Duncan at the end of this season. The power forwards -- the ones who are too short to play power forward in the NBA -- should have a feast in college. Guys like Danny Fortson-CINCINNATI, Danya Abrams-BOSTON COLLEGE, Maurice Taylor-MICHIGAN, Antawn Jamison-NORTH CAROLINA and Harold Jamison-CLEMSON will wreak havoc underneath in many a game.

But the ones who'll have the best time of all are the 'Tweeners, the swingmen who have the shooting range to hit the 3-pointer, the ball-handling to drive to the basket and the height to mix it up inside. Players like Ron Mercer-KENTUCKY, Matt Harpring-GEORGIA TECH, Paul Pierce-KANSAS, Shea Seals-TULSA, Ricky Price-DUKE, Toby Bailey-UCLA, Reggie Freeman-TEXAS and Darnell Burton-CINCINNATI -- these are the ones whose skills allow them to roam all over the court. College basketball used to be about point guards. Nowadays, it's all about 'Tweeners.

And depth. The last 4 national champions all had too much talent and not enough minutes to go around. Their depth made them immune to foul trouble and fatigue. They might not have put the best 5 on the court, but they had the best 10. Cincinnati most resembles the profile this year. They have 3 major talents returning in Danny Fortson, Damon Flint and Darnell Burton, plus a load of JuCo talent coming in this year.

Clemson's win over Kentucky showed they're ready for prime time. In the past, they've looked great in the preseason and they hit a wall once the ACC season started. Can they break through the psychological barrier this time around? Beating UK might just make believers out of themselves.

First, it was the rules (the 3-pointer and the shot clock) which changed the nature of college hoops. Now it's the quick jump to the NBA by the best players. Hopefully, there's enough talent left over to keep up with the fast pace of today's games. Mediocre players playing at a pace that's too fast for their talent level isn't the most enjoyable brand of basketball to watch. Besides, if you want to catch some great hoops, check out an ABL game.

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[Volume I, No. 2] - [] Top 25
11/25/96

Lute Olsen is one of the best coaches at getting a new mix of players to play in sync in a short time. With Miles Simon sitting out, Arizona started 5 new players from last year and yet it was the veteran North Carolina Tar Heels who looked like they'd never played together before. Carolina has a bad mix of players who think they're better than they are and who lack ball-handling skills in a big way. Dean Smith's got his work cut out for him if he hopes to pass Adolph Rupp this season.

With freshman Loren Woods in the lineup, Wake Forest can go 7-1, 6-10, 6-10 across the baseline. In a season of precious few quality big men, that's a fearsome front line. Duke was impressive on the wings with two home blowouts, but center Greg Newton's foul trouble is still a worry. Steve Wojciechowski had a great game against Vanderbilt, but other teams with better guards will be able to take advantage of him. With new frosh making contributions, Duke now has depth that it can use as a weapon. Tulsa beat UCLA and dominated Oklahoma State without particularly good games from star guard Shea Seals. They are much more than a one-man team. Alabama's win in the TOP OF THE WORLD CLASSIS was nice, but it didn't prove much.

Next week features some appetizing match-ups: Kentucky-Syracuse in a rematch of last year's NCAA final; Tulsa-Duke on neutral territory -- it says here the Golden Hurricane will have 3 of the most storied names in college basketball history (UCLA, Duke and Indiana) on its resume of victories by week's end. The MAUI INVITATIONAL and SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT offer possible match-ups among Kansas/UMass/lowa and Clemson/Minnesota before they're done. Stanford may have too many new players to be able to make a noise this early in the season in the GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT (but, then again, they do have the best point guard in the land in Brevin Knight). Arizona @ New Mexico could put an early Seal of Approval on the Lobos' season.

3 ACC teams (Wake, Clemson and Duke) have already impressed. Likewise, the new-look WAC's Mountain Division looks loaded (Utah, Tulsa and New Mexico), but Fresno State will be able to cruise at the top of the Pacific Division without having to play any of those 3 teams even once this season.

Here's hoping that we get more than the usual suspects among the elite teams to keep watch on after this week is done.

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[Volume I, No. 3]
12/ 2 [] Top 25 Ballot

The November holiday tournaments revealed a bit more about how teams stack up against each other. (Unfortunately, the December tournaments don't offer near as many head-to-head possibilities.) Kansas looked good and was able to push the pace even without Jacque Vaughn. Kentucky righted itself and looked like they'll be just fine after all. Minnesota, Indiana and Louisville all won tournaments that weren't locks. The air went out of the sails of Utah and Villanova, which have some proving to do to show they're Top 10 material.

Andrae Patterson/INDIANA (39 points vs. Duke) and Antawn Jamison/NORTH CAROLINA (36 points vs. Pittsburgh) turned in the first two Player of the Year-calibre performances.

There are 2 teams which present such a match-up problem that if you can't deal with them, you've got no chance of even giving them a game. With Wake Forest (the new #1 team, by the way), if you can't reasonably guard the Triple Towers of (6-10 Tim Duncan, 7-1 Loren Woods and 6-10 Ricky Feral, who can nail the 3-pointer to boot), the game's over. Richmond gave North Carolina all they wanted for 3/4 of the game in Chapel Hill yet at home they couldn't make a dent vs. the Demon Deacons. Kentucky's ability to pressure the ball gives them so many extra possessions, cheap baskets and crowd-pleasing jams. If your guards can't hold onto it, you're hosed. The College of Charleston looked great in their win over Stanford -- the best game of the week -- but against the 'Cats they were helpless.

It's a big week for Kansas with Cincinnati and UCLA on the schedule, and without their point guard. If they come away with even one win out of those two, give them tons of credit. Traditional grudge matches Indiana-Kentucky and Duke-Michigan are the games to watch. Two rising programs run into one another this week when New Mexico meets Texas Tech. Both are coming off impressive wins. Make sure you catch the Red Raiders' backcourt of Cory Carr (who can score from anywhere) and Stan Bonewitz (who can score from _beyond_ anywhere) as much as you can. Too bad they don't have a frontcourt to match.

[Volume I, No. 4]
12/ 9 [] Top 25 Ballot

It was [a] big week for Kansas and Kentucky. The Wildcats won more impressively, but the Jayhawks defeated the higher calibre opponents, so they get the nod for now. These two, along with Wake Forest, clearly have Final Four written on them. Their seasons will be failures if they don't make it that far.

How would they fare against each other? Well, the injury to Jacque Vaughn might be a blessing in disguise for Kansas. Ryan Robertson is getting a lot of experience at point guard that will come in handy later should these two clubs meet. Vaughn, Robertson and Jerod Haase might have enough ball-handling skill to choke off Kentucky's lifeblood: points off turnovers. That could allow the KU frontcourt of Raef LaFrentz and Scot Pollard to be the determining factors underneath against the overmatched likes of Jared Prickett and Jamaal Magloire. The Jayhawks could match up Paul Pierce with Ron Mercer pretty well. But there's no one on their roster to guard Derek Anderson. You've gotta like Anderson's advantage over the KU backcourt more than LaFrentz and Pollard's edge over the UK frontcourt. The game goes to Big Blue. (Plus, the truth is, Kansas is much more vulnerable to an upset along the way to such a Final Four meeting than Kentucky.)

Clemson's road win at Virginia was huge, if not pretty. Their great pre-season should carry over into the ACC schedule this time around. Arizona looks like a veteran team already.

Coming up this week: Duke @ Villanova. Get ready for the shower of praise for Wildcat freshman Tim Thomas. He's that good which means he'll be headed for the NBA after only one season in college). Texas has a chance to garner some respect against some real opponents.

[Volume I, No. 5]
12/16 [] Top 25

This season is starting to shape up as a lot more interesting to watch than last year. No team is completely great without flaw, but there are several decent-yet-incomplete squads. Don't think that teams like Kansas and Kentucky are invincible just because they beat up on teams so badly. They are both absolutely beatable.

The Duke-Villanova match-up was great. It's a real pleasure to see a team learn and improve over the course of a season, and you can see it in the Blue Devils. Steve Wojciechowski is putting his stamp on this team. His leadership on the floor (as compared to the lack of leadership for Villanova) was the key to the game. Duke is learning how to use their depth without stepping on egos. It's one of the few games I can remember where both Jeff Capel and Ricky Price made significant contributions without getting in each other's way. In the past, there's been a struggle whether it was Capel's team or Price's, but now it's clearly Wojo's. When they went out to the 10-point lead, you knew they wouldn't let this one slip away like they had done the last time out vs. Michigan. #10 with a bullet. 'Nova has some serious navel-contemplating to do before they're a real contender.

Tulsa vs. Temple was a bruising game with two defense-first-to-a-fault teams. Nothing underneath was easy so it was the ability of players to hit "cheap" outside jumpers (Temple's Rasheed Brokenborough and Tulsa's Shea Seals and Rod Thompson} that made the difference.

By contrast, the offense-first-to-a-fault meeting of Fresno State and Texas was a guilty pleasure. Yeah, they wouldn't know a good shot if their lives depended on it, but games like that make for much better highlight reels 'cause there's so many wild shots that some of them are bound to go in. There are 3 or 4 frenetic teams in the same mold this year that play each other a lot: Texas, Fresno State, Texas Tech and, the best of the bunch: Arizona. The Wildcats play on the brink of being out of control, too, but they've 'got just enough smarts to make it work. Their defensive ability was key in their win over Texas. (Come to think of it, the West has lots of very good teams this year even besides the run-and-gunners. It's the Year of the WAC and the Big 12.)

Except for Tuesday's game of Minnesota @ Rhode Island and Sunday's meeting of North Carolina @ Princeton, all the interesting games this week are on Saturday. Michigan gets a chance to prove the Duke win wasn't a fluke when Arizona comes to town. (Guess again. It says here AZ guard Mike Bibby will exploit the suspect UM backcourt.) Fresno State-Texas Tech will be another run-and-shoot showcase. (Be sure to check out Tech's Cory Carr. He's very reminiscent of Tim Hardaway.) UCLA (@ Illinois) and Utah (vs. Texas) get a shot at rebuilding their credibility, but it wouldn't be surprising to see both of them lose those games. Louisville @ Arkansas could be very interesting.

[Volume I, No. 6]
12/23 [] Top 25

Hope you got to see the magnificent shoot out between Texas Tech's Cory Carr (34 polnts) and Fresno State's Dominic Young (33 points). Too bad nobody played any D. Fresno couldn't catch up with waterbugs Gracen Averil, Deuce Jones and Rayford Young who streaked to the hoop at every opportunity, and they didn't exploit the one matchup advantage they had -- Chris Herren over Stan Bonewitz -- nearly enough.

Michigan showed several good qualities in its win over Arizona. They were able to shut down high-scoring Michael Dickerson while all 3 UM froritcourt players (Robert Traylor, Maceo Baston and Maurice Taylor) contributed with Traylor turning into an unstoppable force at times down low. Plus, they got some nice backcourt play out of Brandon Hughes and Travis Conlan. Arizona still found a way to compete on the road even after guard Mike Bibby fouled out. Jason Terry almost pulled off the win in his stead. Arizona has played all of its ranked opponents tough even in defeat, but they haven't really buried any of them, either.

Winning on the road was supposed to be Minnesota's Achilles' Heel, but not so far. Their ability to clamp down on an opponent and take control of a game is very impressive. Winning at Rhode Island is a good notch on their belt.

Utah's win over the physically talented Texas Longhorns saved their ranking. Keith Van Horn's performance (34 points, 12 rebounds) legitimized his All-America status. Not even Arizona was able to put away Texas as convincingly.

North Carolina seems to be flowing smoothly these days. 25 wins and Adolph Rupp's record just might be a possibility late this season if they can make the Sweet 16 in the NCAAs. But the ACC is tough this year.

Scoonie Penn has returned to the Boston College lineup just in time for their matchup with Louisville this weekend. That's about the only good game during this holiday week. The normally Big-Time Rainbow Classic in Honolulu only offers the possibility of a Michigan-Maryland matchup, which isn't all that intriguing.

Fear not, though, because conference play is just around the corner and this year should be a good one in the ACC, WAC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac-10 and A-10.

[Volume I, No. 7]
12/30 END OF THE PRE-CONFERENCE SEASON [] Top 25

With practically all of the big interconference matchups over with -- NOTE: with the huge exception of Tuesday's KENTUCKY-LOUISVILLE and WAKE FOREST-UTAH games -- it's a good time for a retrospective on the season to date.

The top 3 teams (Kansas, Kentucky and Wake Forest) are obvious and are the same 3 in every poll you'll see. If you just go strictly on the most individual talent, then Cincinnati enters into the mix. But tops in execution, and ultimately the most impressive, are the Minnesota Golden Gophers. If I had any guts, I'd vote them #1 right now. They've played the best brand of team basketball of anybody out there. It's not based on a gimmick specialty. (UK's quickness and defensive pressure in the backcourt gives them tons of easy points. They don't have to play real basketball for more than the first 5 minutes of any game. With Wake Forest, the overwhelming height of their front line never lets most teams in the game. Kansas has two talented big men that most teams this year have no matchup for. It's not like Raef LaFrentz got any better than last year. He's the same, but the competition is thinner against him.) But none of the Top 3 are playing brilliant basic halfcourt basketball. They don't have to because the gimmick advantages win for them. They're winning with talent. No single player on Minnesota scares you and yet they are crushing opponents through execution alone. Do not overlook this quality. (Teams like Maryland and Georgia have it, too.)

The big disappointment has been UCLA, which self-destructed and may never recover. But when a team with no on-court leader loses its off-court leader, what can you expect?

Here's a short list of the most watchable players:

Cory Carr (Texas Tech) -	Attacks the basket like a pro and can sink 3s better than most pros.
Derek Anderson (Kentucky) -	He's so complete you could almost miss how many little things he's good at. You almost wish he played for a losing team just so you could watch him score 50 every night.
Robert Traylor (Michigan) -	Where's Mel Turpin when you really need him? This one is the closest thing to the next Charles Barkley. Bodies fly when he inhales.
Keith Booth (Maryland) -	Complete, but doesn't force the game to come to him. Will be a big deal at the next level.
Chris Herren (Fresno State) -	At this point, his talent is well ahead of his mental game. The 10-game road trip and forcing him to play point will either break him or turn him into the Player of the Year by the time he's a senior.

So far, these are the handful of scores that really made an impression:

11/15   #12 Clemson 79 #3 Kentucky 71 (OT) (@ Indianapolis, IN)
11/22   Arizona 83 #21 North Carolina 72 (@ Springfield, MA)
11/26   Xavier 71 @ #1 Cincinnati 69
11/29   #20 Indiana 85 #16 Duke 69 (PRE-SEASON NIT FINAL)
12/ 1   #12 Minnesota 75 #5 Clemson 65 (SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT FINAL)
12/ 4   #2 Kansas 72 #4 Cincinnati 65 (GREAT EIGHT @ Chicago, IL)
12/ 7   #3 Kentucky 99 #9 Indiana 65 (@ Louisville, KY)
12/ 7   #12 Arizona 69 #21 Utah 61 (@ Anaheim, CA)
12/14   #12 Duke 87 @ #9 Villanova 79

---

Top 25

1. Kansas

Vaughn is back. Will win Big 12 regular season with a hiccup or two, but not the conference tourney. Once again, no Final Four.

2. Kentucky

Will waltz through the SEC regular season and tourney. Won't face a team with enough guards til the Final Four.

3. Wake Forest

Haven't played anybody but will this week (@Utah, UNC). Will plummet in the polls due to tough ACC schedule, but NCAAs will be a breeze.

4. Minnesota

Will lead the Big 10 half-way through. The second half will tell whether they really realize they can win it all.

5. Clemson

1/7 game vs Duke is psychologically huge. Could sweep ACC regular season and tourney (and UNC, too) if they can stay healthy.

6. Cincinnati

An easy conference will hurt them. If they lose to Louisville, they'll be better off in the long run.

7. Michigan

The most talented frontcourt in America. The backcourt comes and goes. Can compete with anyone, but don't know how to put away good teams.

8. Arizona

AZ always looks great early 'coz Lute Olson can coach. May not be so scary by year's end.

9. Indiana

Almost have enough muscle to really scare you. How good can Jason Collier get in one season? The problem is still Neil Reed.

10. Duke

Coach K has seemed to find the key mix this year. Won't be tops inside the ACC, but could sneak to yet another Final Four.

11. New Mexico

A solid club that will stay sharp in the WAC. Sweet 16, but no further.

12. Louisville

Have hit their stride just in time to get blown out by Kentucky. Peeked too soon.

13. Xavier

Quietly blowing away scrubs. The middling A-10 might bring down their intensity and ruin them for the NCAAs.

14. Iowa State

Have yet to beat anyone of note, but had lots of hype entering the season. One of those teams destined to disappoint under tournament pressure.

15. Utah

Won't win the WAC, even though they should. Might beat Wake, though.

16. Texas

If they only knew when to run and when to slow it down, they could make Final Four. Instead, they'll pull off a Sweet 16 upset and then go down in flames. Could win the Big 12 tourney, though.

17. Maryland

Blue-collar team just gets the job done. Will be forgotten after the wars in the ACC. Hope it doesn't ruin them.

18. Villanova

Tim Thomas is as talented as you could want, but this team doesn't put out a consistent effort. Will disappoint in regular season and "redeem" themselves in the post-season.

19. West Virginia

Broke into the poll on the strength of routing Syracuse on the road. That win doesn't impress anymore, but they keep on winning.

20. Boston College

Playing well too soon. The mediocre Big East could water them down by year's end.

21. North Carolina

Have been getting steadily stronger, but aren't ready for the killer ACC schedule ahead of them. Adolph Rupp is a big carrot, though.

22. Stanford

Tim Young is playing great, but it's too soon to expect a win at Arizona this week. Could be scary by year's end.

23. Texas Tech

Fun to watch, but don't quite have enough frontcourt help for Tony Battie to make a real impact.

24. Alabama

Their rep was made on a home win over Minnesota, but flopped in the Cable Car Classic.

25. Virginia

Good balance and ACC competition could make them a sleeper if they make it to the NCAAs.

[Volume I, No. 8]
1 / 6 [] Top 25

Wake Forest finally got a chance to prove its mettle against some real competition. They were more than up to the task. They dominated Utah on the road and North Carolina at home pretty much the same as they had all the other scrub teams they had faced before then. Tim Duncan has no competition on the college level, so it's hard to be completely impressed with his performances. His rebounds and blocked shots come easily and he doesn't have the intensity to score 30 points. But he's the most dominant player on the floor at all times. His presence allows teammates like Jerry Braswell to be the ones who score the back-breaking baskets that seem like the keys to the game. (But all you have to do is look at the seasons that Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla are having at UMass without Marcus Camby backing them up to see who is really causing things to happen.)

Arizona squeaked their way to two big home conference wins against Cal and Stanford. They came up smelllng like roses, but the real point was their inability to take control of those games on their home floor. There's no Pac-10 tournament so these narrow victories will loom like blowouts by year's end. Don't forget later on how easily they could have been 0-2 in conference.

Xavier continues to crush mediocre opponents. And the whole Atlantic-10 is mediocre this year. One of two things can happen: A) they'll continue to blowout A-10 teams and will seem like a better team than they really are at the end of the season, or B) they'll come back to the pack in the A-10 and won't be sharp for the NCAA tournament. Neither scenario bodes well for their post-season prospects.

Maryland looked good even in defeat in the Rainbow classic final and they shook it off to crush Virginia at home. In a league as tough as the ACC, execution can get you a long way. Won't win the ACC regular season or the ACC tourney, but this is a Sweet 16 team.

Georgia was primed to enter the Top 25 with their Rainbow Classic win, but then they went to Oxford and lost in-conference. Ole Miss won at Arkansas this week, too, so they get the spot that would have gone to the Bulldogs. (They've got a tough week coming up, so their stay will be a short one.)

Minnesota can deliver an early knockout punch this week if they win at Indiana and at home against Michigan. It's more likely to happen than not, too.

Duke could take a tumble this week after facing Clemson and Wake Forest. The Clemson game will be a huge one for the Tigers. In recent years, they've come into the ACC schedule with gaudy pre-conference records only to lose to Duke in the first week and see their season take a nosedive. It won't happen this year.

North Carolina needs to win games like Maryland and Virginia this week to have any shot at getting Adolph Rupp's record for Dean Smith this season. It's hard to imagine these Tar Heels not having some stubbed-toe losses along the way, though.

The ACC Wars have begun.

[Volume I, No. 9]
1 /13 [] Top 25

Minnesota seized the day and has the Big Ten title well in sight already. Iowa is also 4-0, but don't be fooled. The Hawkeyes haven't played any of the Big 10 Big Boys as yet.

Mississippi's win over Kentucky does say something about the Rebels validity, but UK just isn't the same team with Derek Anderson not at full strength.

Duke played great basketball, but in the rough-and-tumble ACC they've got an 0-2 week to show for it. Maryland and Boston College just keep winning. Don't let the Stanford's handing UCLA its worst loss in history go unnoticed. Tim Young might be the #2 center in the country behind Tim Duncan before the year is over ... and they've already got the #1 point guard in Brevin Knight. The role players seem to be coming into their own as well.

Georgia breaks into the Top 25, not so much on the strength of this week's win at Vanderbilt, but due to the strong showing of Maryland and Colorado (whom they beat) and Mississippi (who beat them in what doesn't seem like such an upset anymore).

Kansas and Wake Forest have yet to reveal an exploitable weakness. The top 6 teams seem able to beat back even Top 15 opponents. Teams 7 through 15 don't seem vulnerable to unranked upsets. The next 5 can win or lose against ranked teams depending on the personnel matchups. Slots 21-25 will be a revolving door throughout the season depending on whose schedule made them look good that week.

The ACC Wars continue this week. Maryland finds [out] if it's for real when Clemson comes to visit and the Terps go to Wake Forest. Even a split would be quite an accomplishment. Don't forget what a tough league they're in as Wake Forest continues to win.

The upset by Mississippi means Kentucky won't be so ripe for a second one when it travels to Athens to play Georgia. Much depends on the health of Derek Anderson, of course.

Cincinnati-Temple always seems like a meaningful game, but the truth is, no one else plays like Temple, so it's not much of a measuring stick whether you win or lose and Temple's lack of offensive capability prevents them from being much of a threat come tourney time, anyway. Like Kansas, they're a Regular Season Wonder.

[Volume I, No. 10]
1 /20 [] Top 25

Two weeks of conference play have really started to shake things up. Teams like Colorado, South Carolina, UCLA and Iowa, all of whom had rocky, inconsistent pre-seasons, have taken full advantage of the clean slate that conference play provided them. In some cases (Iowa and South Carolina), their early leads are just the result of a favorable schedule early on. Colorado is probably good for the long run. Still can't tell if UCLA has righted itself, or if they'll fade.

The Maryland Terrapins just keep turning in impressive performances. The Clemson-Maryland game was extremely well played and the 27-8 stretch to start the Wake Forest game was great. You want to point out their lack of height, but if they can beat Wake, how much height do they need?

The return of Miles Simon to the Arizona lineup has caused chemistry problems that should be temporary. It might be enough to cost them the league title, though.

Iowa State had a rough week and may not recover til the conference tournament.

Kentucky (and all of college basketball) suffered a huge blow with Derek Anderson's injury which will sideline him for the rest of the season. UK is quite mortal without his presence on the floor.

It's generally a slow week ahead, but the Game of the Year (Round 1) in the ACC comes up on Thursday when Wake Forest visits Clemson. The Tigers get another big psychological game when they go to Chapel Hill on Sunday. If Kansas is going to lose in conference, it might happen Sunday when they visit Colorado.

[Volume I, No. 11]
1 /27 [] Top 25

The injury [to] Kansas' Scot Pollard is the second big blow to college basketball in a week. He'll be out for a month so he should just make it back in time for the last week of Big 12 play. Kansas has enough depth to withstand his loss in the short run -- remember they went undefeated without point guard Jacque Vaughn in the lineup -- but they are no longer a lock for the Final Four. Colorado may not have been able to match up with them, but there are teams out there who can deal with Raef LaFrentz as the only low-post threat.

What was supposed to be Clemson's coming out week and possible ascension to #l turned into a nightmare week that may have revealed exploitable weaknesses in their game. Against Wake Forest, Clemson had more trouble dealing with Wake Forest's height than Maryland did (even though Clemson is bigger and stronger up front than the Terrapins). It was a matchup problem; Clemson's big men are inside post-up players and that game was totally absent against Tim Duncan and his mates underneath. By contrast, Maryland's forwards Keith Booth and Laron Profit have that 'twenner capability that allowed them to go outside and score on the perimeter -- witness Profit's buzzer-almost-beater shot that won the Wake Forest game. Clemson's frontcourt attack was eliminated and they did all they could to stay close thanks to the home crowd. To top it off, Clemson lost at North Carolina for the 43rd straight time in the Tar Heels' best (and only notable) performance of the season. Clemson couldn't hit the side of a barn against Carolina and their lack of explosiveness on offense showed that once they get down by a certain margin, they can't come back. It'll be hard to make the Final Four without being able to shoot your way back into a game.

Add Sam Jacobson to the list of this year's most watchable players. His athletic ability is great, but he never seemed to score more than 15 points in any of Minnesota's games. But he broke out in a big way with 29 against Iowa. A leaper with a jump shot who can drive to the basket as well. He just lacks the will to dominate the game every time out 'cause he has the skills to do so.

The best brand of basketball being played by anyone is by the Maryland Terrapins. The reason they're not #1 is that they don't have the best set of personnel, but they have yet to turn in a weak performance.

Xavier has started to tumble and this week (with games against Rhode Island and at Massachusetts) will either break the fall or ruin their regular season. Conference play hasn't been kind to Texas Tech, either, which has found out that Big 12 teams actually play defense. Cory Carr has had a tough time, in particular. It's too much to ask to expect a win this week against #1 Kansas. Utah can take a strangle hold on the WAC regular season title this week with games against Tulsa and at New Mexico. Fun grudge matches this week include UNC at Duke and Stanford at California. Louisville has two big non-conference matchups vs. Cincinnati and Temple.

Here's a test to see if you've been watching too much college hoops: Can you name the team for each of the following players and rank them according to their talent?

Jackson Julson
Andrius Jurkunas
Marius Janulis
Sarunas Jasikevicius

Is it me, or are Brandy Perryman (Texas) and Nate Erdmann (Oklahoma) the same player?

[Volume I, No. 12]
2 / 3 [] Top 25

With so many teams in the Top 25 losing, there's lots of volatility in this week's rankings. Don't put too much stock in the current poll. It's been one of those weeks where you can have a big loss and move up. Sometimes the best way to move up in a week like this is not to play anybody of consequence and look good by standlng stlll. For example, Duke probably doesn't deserve such a high ranking considering they haven't beaten any of the top 3 elite teams in the ACC, but both Clemson and Maryland faltered (and one will continue to slide as they meet each other this coming week). Xavier probably had the best week of anyone and they had to go into OT against a team with 10 losses (Massachusetts) for one of their wins. Both Louisville and Utah followed big wins with big losses.

What does it mean? Conference play has caused lots of teams to falter, but it may also have yielded a clear cut solid Final Four contenders (Kansas, Wake Forest, Kentucky and Minnesota) who have continued their pre-conference dominant play. In fact, this week's game at Iowa State may be the last real shot anybody has at stopping Kansas' bid for an undefeated season. It's too bad, too, 'cause they don't strike me as a special enough team to be the first ones to do it since Indiana '76. Well, there's always the Big 12 Tournament, which won't be a lock for them to win.

Cincinnati has failed every test against real contenders that it has faced this year. This week they face Tulane and Marquette, not Final Four material, but solid teams having solid years. If the Bearcats can't sweep the likes of these, there's no Final Four in their future for the preseason #1 team. Hey, why don't they schedule Michigan and let the dumber team lose?

If they have their way, four teams could have their official coming out parties this week: South Carolina gets to prove their 9-0 SEC mark isn't fake when Kentucky comes to town on Tuesday. Tulane's 11-game win streak (which coincides with the return of Rayshard Allen joining Jerald Honeycutt) will be put on the line when they visit Cincinnati and Arizona. Even one win among those two will validate their ranking. West Virginia has a chance to emerge from the mess in the Big East with games against Villanova and Providence this week. And UCLA can prove that it has righted the ship with wins against California and Stanford.

Hall of Famer Pete Carril. People just don't know what they missed if they didn't have the chance to experience him. From the outside looking in, it probably seems odd for the basketball coach to have been the most popular figure on campus at Princeton University. But the way he was able to unify a philosophy of life with his approach to coaching was brilliant and as instructive as any academic coursework. Congratulations, Pete.

[Volume I, No. 13]
2 /10 [] Top 25

Shakiness at the top isn't really what it seems. It's too hard to keep winning when everyone is gunning for you unless you're really, really much better than the rest and mentally tough to boot. No one this year quite qualifies (especially with Kansas and Kentucky no longer at full strength). Minnesota has turned in a solid season that's well worth a #1 ranking. It may not last, but they're less upsettable than some of the other elite teams ... and they have a big chip on their shoulder after being snubbed by the NCAA Selection Committee last year.

Duke's win over Wake Forest was great to watch. They stayed away from the post all night long and won it with 3-point shooting by their numerous 'Tweeners. They seem to have their engine firing on all cylinders for the moment. They've got it easy this coming week, too.

South Carolina legitimized their 11-0 SEC mark with a fine effort against Kentucky, but it says here they'll get a reality check when they visit Cincinnati. Cincy isn't as good a team as Kentucky, but in-conference home "upsets" are much easier to pull off than real-live non-conference road upsets. Familiarity eliminates the intimidation factor that can enter into non-conference clashes. (Just ask Villanova about their visit to Rupp Arena.)

Clemson turned in their first Top 10-calibre performance in weeks against Maryland. They seem to have a motivational problem against lesser opponents. That's the kind of flaw that forebodes an early-round upset in the NCAAs. They meet up with Wake Forest for Round 2 this week in Winston-Salem. We'll see if they've learned that you have to win it from the outside against the Demon Deacons.

Arizona has worked Miles Simon back into the lineup and may yet be able to take control in the Pac-10. There's some pretty good ball being played out West this year, but no one team seems to be able to play consistently well in that league. The UCLA-Arizona game this week could solidify things.

Massachusetts has righted itself within the Atlantic 10, but with so many losses already, they can't afford to lose any more. A win over Maryland this week could go along way towards securing an NCAA invitation at season's end.

The traditional Ivy League grudge match between Penn and Princeton gets underway on Tuesday with Round 1 in Philadelphia.

[Volume I, No. 14]
2 /17 [] Top 25

Now that we've hit the second half of conference play, some teams are starting to collapse as they see their dreams of a regular season title slip away. Others are putting on late charges that should carry them into their conference tournaments wlth lots of momentum.

Minnesota's depth, strength and balance has all but sewed up the Big 10 title for them. They've got enough weapons to win it all, but the worry is that they might be vulnerable early on in the NCAAs without any meaningful games left in the regular season and without a conference tournament to give them a wake-up call. But they've been playing with an axe to grind all season after being snubbed by the NCAA Seeding Committee last year, so they'll be playing with a purpose.

Wake Forest plays too many games too closely to be a Final Four lock team. But, then again, the closeness of their games could just be due to conference play. (Witness their recent blowout at Missouri days after Kansas lost to the same team in double overtime.)

South Carolina's win at Cincinnati wasn't quite so shocking as it might seem. The Bearcats haven't beaten any team of note all year, home or away. I don't know if the outside shooting (15 3-pointers) the Gamecocks displayed is a true indication of their ability. If they could shoot like that every time out to go along with their physical style of play, they could be pretty tough.

UMass's three-guard, two-forward offense ripped apart an uninspired Maryland team, which continues to tumble.

Duke is riding a 10-1 streak while playing in the nation's toughest conference. But they finish the year v Clemson, @ UCLA, v Maryland and @ UNC and then hit the ACC tournament. They'll either be a juggernaut not to be denied, or dazed and wondering what hit them. (Likewise, UNC'[s] final f[o]ur games are v Wake Forest, @ Maryland, @ Clemson [a]nd v Duke, [p]lus the ACC tourney. The Tar Heels are less well equipped, though, to rebound from that impending skid.)

I've given up on trying to pick one team from the Big East to rank and have decided to throw in more teams from the Pac-10 and Atlantic 10, which are both leagues featuring a higher calibre of play.

Most of the league regular season titles have been decided (barring upsets from upstarts). What remains now is jockeying for seeding position in conference tournaments and the NCAAs. Better take a snapshot of how teams look right now rather than be swayed too much in the next couple of weeks by upsets made from desperate performances. Conference tourney upsets tend not to carry over into NCAA tourney results.

[Volume I, No. 15] - (LAST WEEK OF REGULAR SEASON) -
2 /24 [] Top 25

Duke had already shown how good it was prior to last week with its big win at Wake Forest. Against the one-dimensional Clemson players, who are either strictly-outside players or strictly-inside players, Duke's 'Tweeners had their way, [(]especially Trajan Langdon) in one of the top performances of the year. The fact that they couldn't exploit UCLA in the same manner isn't a measure of relative strength of the teams, it's a measure of the individual matchups. UCLA is one of the few teams besides Duke that can put as many 'Tweeners on the floor at once as the Blue Devils. Toby Bailey matched up perfectly with Langdon, who was unable to get off and even Duke didn't have anyone who quite matched up with J.R. Henderson. You've gotta give UCLA praise for winning the game, but the Blue Devils are more dangerous in the long run than the Bruins.

Early on in the ACC, it was Wake Forest, Clemson and Maryland who were the killer teams who took no mercy. But the rest of the league has steadily chipped away and all three have come down a bit. Late in the season, it's the old reliables, Duke and North Carolina, who seem to be firing on all cylinders. Carolina has serious inside threats (Antawn Jamison and Serge Swikker), an outside threat {Shammond Williams), decent point guard play (freshman Ed Cota) and a 'Tweener to cause matchup problems (Vince Carter) ... and Dean Smith. Dare they still dream of breaking Adolph Rupp's record _this_ year? The two hottest teams in the league meet in the season finale on Sunday.

Charleston and Princeton are still undefeated in their leagues and the Tigers have already clinched an NCAA berth with essentially the same squad that upset UCLA last year.

Regular season titles aren't up for grabs anymore, but this last week is mostly about jockeying for position for conference tournaments and last-minute bids for an NCAA berth. UNC at Clemson (Wednesday) still has that underlying bad blood that could come to the surface. Minnesota gets to celebrate its first outright Big 10 title with a win on Michigan's home court (Wednesday). UMass has probably recovered enough to assure itself an NCAA bid, but a loss to Temple (Saturday) would not be welcome. Utah gets to avenge a butt-kicking it got earlier at New Mexico when the Lobos come to town (Saturday). Even though they should have proven themselves by now, South Carolina still has to make believers out of many when they face Kentucky in Lexington (Sunday).