07Jan 8 - Power Pac

Volume XI, No. 10 - 07 Jan 8 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Power Pac

No league has more teams playing high-quality ball than the Pac-10 at the moment. Oregon didn't even make it to Saturday's showdown with UCLA with their undefeated record intact (thanks to USC's 84-@82 road win on Thursday). No matter, the Ducks took it to the Bruins as if just as much was on the line and came away with a thrilling @68-66 win to hand UCLA its first loss. Oregon's gAaron Brooks had 31p against the Trojans, and 25p plus the game-winning jumper against the Bruins. Not to be outdone, Arizona and Washington had their own "can-you-top-this" shootout as the Wildcats prevailed 96-@87 in Seattle, (shooting 65% from the floor in the process). Then there's "The Little Team That Could", Washington State: they've already knocked off Gonzaga (no big deal, anymore), they took UCLA to the wire in Pauley Pavilion a week ago, and they just beat Arizona @77-73(OT) on Saturday. Throw in California and Stanford (who just went to Virginia and won on a buzzer-beater, 76-@75) and you've got a high standard of competition every time out. As talented as the youngsters at Washington are, they're already 1-3 inside the league. (6 NCAA bids, minimum.)

A lesser standard of individual talent, maybe, but no less of a competitive spirit in every game is taking place in the MVC. Northern Iowa was the least of the "name" league teams as far as preseason results; but, lo and behold, in The Year After star guard Ben Jacobson departed, his supporting cast is 4-0 atop the league standings. Even so, it's probably Missouri State that's the Best of the Best of this league. The Bears would be 4-0 themselves if not for a late rally by home-standing Creighton in their road opener in a game MO State seemed to have won. A sideline to Missouri State's season is gBlake Ahearn's quest to become the first player ever to lead the NCAAs four straight years in a single statistical category. He's won the free throw title his first three years and his 14-for-14 effort on Sunday has him well on his way to his fourth. Southern Illinois and Creighton are off to a solid 3-1 start; Wichita State managed to salvage one win in three big games and is only 1-3 at this point; it may eventually be Bradley that's the odd team out. This league should get 4 bids for sure, so there will be a scramble for positioning in the regular season standings as well as progressing in the conference tournament as well. (And these guys more than anyone will be rooting for Gonzaga and Butler to win their conference tournaments!)

Texas Tech's 70-68 win over New Mexico on Monday put coach Bob Knight over the top as the all-time leader in career wins at 880 (and counting) ahead of Dean Smith. I've said my piece about Knight before when he was fired from Indiana [Volume V, Special (2000Nov13): Knight Blindness]. I'm not a fan. Things like slapping a player "to get his attention" are absurd. You'd be fired if you did that to a high school player. You'd be Sprewelled if you did that to a professional player. But somehow, in college, there's a nebulous in-between state where you're allowed to treat players like property. I can't stand that mentality. I always hate it when the players' names are not on the back of their jerseys. It's one thing to emphasize "There's no 'I' in 'Team'." It's another thing to have a fundamental lack of respect for individual dignity. The bigger problem with Knight's actions is that it forces other people to defend them out of some misguided sense of loyalty -- the Texas Tech president made a statement saying Knight didn't do anything wrong in his latest slapping incident. In some ways, issuing a statement that it's OK to slap somebody is worse than doing it. I think it does matter how you get there and not just the results. I will say that Dean Smith had many more blue-chip NBA-ready players pass through his tenure than Bob Knight did. In that respect, credit Knight with getting more from less raw material. But I'd much rather be paying homage to a gentlemen than a jerk.

North Carolina handled a very good Florida State team with ease, winning @84-58. The Tar Heels continue to treat decent opponents like just another all-star game where they can score at will without much resistance. Florida, meanwhile (which hung around Georgia for most of the game before extending at the end to a @67-51 win), has settled into a tendency to gamble on defense, willing to trade baskets for pace biding its time until "The Run" comes and they open up a big lead. That's OK in front of the home fans, but that can get you into trouble on the road. Ohio State is getting better, especially defensively. cGreg Oden's mere presence in the paint allows the perimeter defenders to be more aggressive out top and they're not only denying the paint but forcing opponents into poor three-point shooting as well. Illinois shot only 24% overall and 3-for-23 on three-pointers in OSU's 62-@44 road win in Champaign. (Tuesday's showdown at Wisconsin will be interesting. The Badgers have enough size to get Oden in foul trouble the way Florida was able to, but if OSU can take away fAlando Tucker's inside scoring, UW will struggle mightily for points.)

There's only one undefeated team left in the land, and it's the Clemson Tigers???. Yep. And just barely, too. Clemson played well in both of its games, but it still needed a game-winning basket from gCliff Hammonds to beat Florida State on the road, 68-@66, and another game-winner from fJames Mays to beat Georgia Tech at home, @75-74. Arkansas inserted itself back in the conversation with an overwhelming @88-61 drubbing of visiting Alabama. Bama's one-guard offense featuring hobbling gRonald Steele(8p4a) was no match for Ark's three-way perimeter attack of pGary Ervin(18p11a6r), bPatrick Beverly(18p5r) and gSonny Weems(18p). Georgetown looks to be on the mend with a convincing @66-48 pounding of undermanned Notre Dame (who shot only 4-for-22 on threes).

Tuesday's a big day: Wisconsin hosts Ohio State in Round 1 of The Big Ten Showdown. Two big SEC encounters are on tap as well: Florida vs Arkansas, and Alabama vs LSU. And it'll be raining threes in South Bend when Notre Dame hosts West Virginia. On Wednesday, the Big 12 gets going in earnest as Kansas meets Oklahoma State, and Texas faces Missouri. Marquette is off to an 0-2 start in Big East play, and it doesn't get any easier as they travel to Connecticut on Wednesday and then host West Virginia on Saturday. The wind is bound to come out of Tennessee's sails when the Vols have to go on the road to play Ohio State on Saturday. Clemson at Maryland on Saturday could be a huge result at season's end. More MVC Wars: Northern Iowa vs Creighton on Friday, and Missouri State at Southern Illinois on Saturday. The best of the Pac-10 games should be Arizona hosting Oregon on Sunday and UCLA at USC on Saturday.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:
TexasTech@KansasSt, OldDominion@Hofstra,

Tuesday:
@Florida-Arkansas, @Wisconsin-OhioSt, @NotreDame-WVirginia, @Alabama-LSU, @AirForce-NewMexico, @HolyCross-Army,

Wednesday:
@NCarolina-Virginia, Duke@GeorgiaTech, @Kansas-OklahomaSt, @Texas-Missouri, @Connecticut-Marquette, @Indiana-Purdue, SoIllinois@Bradley, @Massachusetts-GeoWashington, LoyolaIL@WrightSt,

Thursday:
WashingtonSt@California, Washington@Stanford, Memphis@Houston, @SacredHeart-Monmouth,

Friday:
@NoIowa-Creighton, @HolyCross-Bucknell, @Belmont-Lipscomb,

Saturday:
NCarolina@VirginiaTech, UCLA@USC, @OhioSt-Tennessee, OklahomaSt@Nebraska, @Pittsburgh-Georgetown, Clemson@Maryland, WashingtonSt@Stanford, WVirginia@Marquette, MissouriSt@SoIllinois, @Missouri-KansasSt, Gonzaga@SantaClara, Washington@California, @GeorgiaTech-FloridaSt, @BostonCol-Virginia, @Purdue-Michigan, @UNLV-BYU, Albany@Vermont,

Sunday:
@Arizona-Oregon, @MichiganSt-Illinois, Akron@BowlingGreen.

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Top 25 - 07 Jan 8 - [] Column

1. North Carolina (14-1)
2. Florida (14-2)
3. UCLA (13-1)
4. Wisconsin (15-1)
5. Ohio State (13-2)
6. Arizona (12-2)
7. Duke (13-2)
8. Kansas (12-2)
9. Butler (13-1)
10. Tennessee (13-2)
11. Oklahoma State (14-1)
12. Pittsburgh (14-2)
13. Clemson (16-0)
14. Washington State (14-2)
15. Oregon (14-1)
16. Arkansas (12-3)
17. Maryland (14-2)
18. Notre Dame (12-2)
19. Alabama (13-2)
20. LSU (11-3)
21. Nevada (12-1)
22. West Virginia (12-1)
23. Air Force (14-1)
24. Texas A&M (13-2)
25. Missouri State (11-3)

Honorable Mention:
- - Virginia Tech (9-4), USC (12-4), Georgetown (10-3), Indiana (10-4), Syracuse (12-4), Northern Iowa (11-2), Texas Tech (11-4).