08 Jan14 - Potholes

Volume XII, No. 11 - 08 Jan 14 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Potholes

Conference games on the road are the toughest task in college basketball. They're tougher than neutral-site preseason tournament mathcups. They're certainly much tougher than home-away-from-home first- and second-round "Invitational Showcase" NCAA Tournament Pods that some of the elite teams already have pre-slotted unless they blow it (UNC and Duke in Raleigh, UCLA in Anaheim, Georgetown in D.C., Kansas in Omaha, Memphis in Little Rock, Tennessee in Birmingham -- you may as well pencil those teams through to the Sweet 16 right now.) Three more unbeaten teams fell by the wayside when they hit the road in conference play. UCLA stunned visiting Washington State with an 11-1 start right out of the gates; the Bruins led 42-24 early in the second half (behind 27p14r4a from GC cKevin Love) before gDerrick Low(24p;6/9 3s) brought the Cougars back to within 74-77, but UCLA prevailed @81-74 to take command in the Pac-10. Tennessee needed its best play to hold off relentless Mississippi, winning @85-83 on pTyler Smith(21p5a6r)'s game-winning jumper; Ole Miss was able to match pace with UTn with freshman gChris Warren(24p1a5to) and tEniel Polynice(20p4a8r) pushing the ball and bruiser cDwayne Curtis(15p13r) posting up in the halfcourt -- the Rebels are for real. Vanderbilt's undefeated streak came to an end in double-overtime at the unlikely hands of host Kentucky, as the Wildcats prevailed @79-73(2OT) behind 23p12r from GC cPatrick Patterson and 20p5a6r6to from pRamel Bradley. (That leaves only the elite triumvirate of North Carolina, Kansas and Memphis still without a loss.)

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

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Kansas-Oklahoma, Georgetown-@Pittsburgh,

Tuesday:

@MichiganSt-OhioSt, @UNLV-BYU, MiamiFL-@BostonCol,

Wednesday:

Duke-@FloridaSt, @Dayton-Massachusetts, @Mississippi-Florida, @SanDiegoSt-Utah, StJosephs-@Charlotte, @VCU-Delaware, @MDBaltimoreCo-Hartford, @UNCAsheville-HighPoint,

Thursday:

@Tennessee-Vanderbilt(TN), Marquette-@Louisville, Butler-@ClevelandSt, Indiana-@Minnesota, ArizonaSt-@California, @Stanford-Arizona, BoiseSt-UtahSt, @MiamiOH-KentSt(OH), @Akron-OhioU(OH), ETennesseeSt-@Belmont(TN), @OralRoberts-IUPUI,

Friday:

Saturday:

Kansas-@Missouri, @UCLA-USC(CA), @Duke-Clemson, @Tennessee-OhioSt, @Georgetown-NotreDame, TexasA&M-@KansasSt, @WashingtonSt-Oregon, ArizonaSt-@Stanford, @Drake-IllinoisSt, Arizona-@California, Baylor-@Nebraska, @Utah-BYU(UT), @Florida-Kentucky, Syracuse-@Villanova, @Massachusetts-Charlotte, @OhioU-KentSt(OH), @Davidson-Chattanooga, @HolyCross-Bucknell,

Sunday:

Marquette-@Connecticut, MichiganSt-@Minnesota.

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Top 25 - 08 Jan 14 - [] Column

1. North Carolina (17-0)
2. Kansas (15-0)
3. Memphis (15-0)
4. UCLA (15-1)
5. Duke (12-1)
6. Tennessee (13-1)
7. Georgetown (13-1)
8. Wisconsin (13-2)
9. Texas A&M (14-1)
10. Xavier (14-3)
11. Dayton (14-1)
12. Washington State (14-1)
13. Marquette (11-2)
14. Michigan State (14-2)
15. Texas (12-3)
16. Pittsburgh (13-2)
17. Butler (15-1)
18. Indiana (13-1)
19. Mississippi (14-1)
20. Arizona State (12-2)
21. St. Mary's (12-2)
22. Oregon (12-4)
23. Kansas State (9-4)
24. Vanderbilt (16-1)
25. Drake (11-1)

Honorable Mention:

- Iowa (8-9), Missouri (11-5), Kentucky (7-7), Charlotte (10-5), Cincinnati (8-8).