08 Jan28 - YounGuns

Volume XII, No. 13 - 08 Jan 28 - [] Top 25 Ballot
YounGuns
Not every freshman star is a Golden Child ready to bolt to the NBA at season's end. Two of the youngest, freshmen-led teams out there have the good fortune of being in the two weakest BCS conferences. Purdue, which starts three freshmen and two sophomores, knocked off Wisconsin @60-56, pulling into a three-way tie for second place (with the Badgers and Michigan State at 6-1) in the Big 10 behind first-place Indiana. Florida, completed revamped after losing all five starters from the two-time national champion squad, starts two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. The Gators, led by tNick Calathes' 15p10a7r, blew out Vanderbilt @86-64 to claim second place outright in the SEC. Both teams had figured to be solid by season's end, but these two leagues are so thin that the YounGuns are even able to contend for the regular season title.

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 the BU' 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

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Connecticut-Louisville, @Hampton-MorganSt,
(BRACKETBUSTERS PAIRING SELECTION) [102 teams/51 games],

Tuesday:

Tennessee-@Alabama, @GeoMason-VCU(VA),

Wednesday:

Kansas-@KansasSt(KS), Memphis-@Houston, Texas-@TexasA&M(TX), @Pittsburgh-Villanova(PA), MississippiSt-@Arkansas, @Drake-Creighton, @Mississippi-Vanderbilt, @RhodeIsland-Richmond, @Dayton-StLouis, @SamHoustonSt-TXArlington, @Marist-Rider,

Thursday:

@Duke-NCState(NC), @UCLA-ArizonaSt, @NCarolina-BostonCol, @WashingtonSt-California, Stanford-@Washington, @Wisconsin-Indiana, @USC-Arizona, @NotreDame-Providence, @Chattanooga-GeorgiaSo, @Oakland-{NDState}, @Austin Peay-MurraySt,

Friday:

@Niagara-LoyolaMD,

Saturday:

@Duke-MiamiFL, @UCLA-Arizona, @Georgetown-SetonHall, @WashingtonSt-Stanford, @Texas-Baylor, Tennessee-@MississippiSt, @USC-ArizonaSt, Pittsburgh-@Connecticut, WVirginia-@Providence, Butler-@Valparaiso(IN), @TexasA&M-Oklahoma, @Cincinnati-Marquette, @RhodeIsland-Dayton, @Arkansas-Florida, @Clemson-BostonCol, @Villanova-Syracuse, Massachusetts-@StLouis, @UNLV-NewMexico, @Washington-California, Davidson-@Chattanooga, @Charlotte-Richmond, @TXArlington-StephenFAustin(TX), @UNCAsheville-Winthrop, @Siena-Rider, @MtStMarys-RobertMorris, @Yale-Cornell,

Sunday:

NCarolina-@FloridaSt.

---

Top 25 - 08 Jan 28 - [] Column

1. Kansas (19-0)
2. Memphis (19-0)
3. Duke (16-1)
4. UCLA (17-2)
5. North Carolina (19-1)
6. Georgetown (16-2)
7. Washington State (17-2)
8. Michigan State (18-2)
9. Texas (15-3)
10. Tennessee (16-2)
11. Xavier (17-4)
12. Kansas State (12-4)
13. Stanford (16-3)
14. Wisconsin (16-3)
15. USC (13-6)
16. Arizona (13-6)
17. Notre Dame (13-4)
18. Pittsburgh (15-4)
19. West Virginia (13-5)
20. Mississippi State (14-5)
21. St. Mary's (15-2)
22. Connecticut (14-5)
23. Indiana (16-2)
24. Butler (18-2)
25. Drake (15-1)

Honorable Mention:

Kentucky (9-9), Purdue (15-5), Rutgers (10-11), Florida (15-3), Kent State (15-4), Sam Houston State (11-3).