08 Feb11 - Terminus

Volume XII, No. 15 - 08 Feb 11 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Terminus

Bob Knight resigned as head coach at Texas Tech last week. It's probably not a retirement, just that he no longer wanted to coach at TXT. He had already set up a nepotism deal that designated his son, Pat Knight, as his successor. Resigning in-season allows Pat to have some "practice games" under his belt before he begins next year (with the full scrutiny of his performance on the line). I'm not a Bob Knight fan -- (see HLS V,Special (00 Nov13): Knight Blindness) -- and, despite the success of Dick->Tony Bennett(Washington State), Tom->Keno Davis(Drake) and Eddie->Sean Sutton(Oklahoma State), I'm no fan of this father-son "heir apparent" stuff. Since when is the head coaching job at a major university considered "the family business" that can be passed down like property? If you're an "ends justify the means" type, Knight is as great as you can claim. I'm not. His fundamental lack of respect for his players and the people he deals with is totally abhorrent to me. [Among many things, I can't stand coaches not "allowing" players to have their names on the back of their jerseys. It's sold as "there's no 'I' in 'TEAM'"; but it's just evidence of a coach's ego getting in the way of the best interest of the student athlete. Even for Knight, only a tiny percentage of his players will make the NBA. For the rest, one of the best opportunities they'll have is the goodwill they build up in the campus community playing for the fans and alumni. The name-recognition of one "I remember you -- I always liked watching how hard you played" moment after their college career is done can mean a life-changing opportunity for some of those kids. There's nothing but arrogance behind denying that to someone.] Anyway, Knight will be back coaching somewhere "better" before it's all said and done.

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 pQuintin 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

Key games this week:

Monday:

Kansas-@Texas, @Georgetown-Villanova, StMarys-@SantaClara(CA), @Nevada-UtahSt, @Quinnipiac-Wagner, AlabamaSt-@ARPineBluff,

Tuesday:

@Purdue-MichiganSt, @Pittsburgh-Providence, Marquette-@SetonHall, @Vanderbilt-Kentucky, @WeMichigan-MiamiOH,

Wednesday:

@Memphis-Houston, @Duke-Maryland, @Tennessee-Arkansas, Xavier-@Charlotte, KansasSt-@TexasTech, NotreDame-@Connecticut, @Indiana-Wisconsin, Drake-@SoIllinois, RhodeIsland-@Temple, Davidson-@UNCGreensboro(NC), @Dayton-Duquesne, @SanDiegoSt-NewMexico, @SamHoustonSt-NorthwesternSt, UNCAsheville-@HighPoint,

Thursday:

Stanford-@ArizonaSt, @Arizona-California, @Oregon-Washington, @BoiseSt-Nevada, @Valparaiso-ClevelandSt, @Lamar-TXArlington(TX), @ETennesseeSt-Belmont(TN), @Wagner-SacredHeart,

Friday:

Pittsburgh-@Marquette,

Saturday:

Memphis-@UAB, Georgetown-@Syracuse, Stanford-@Arizona, WashingtonSt-@Oregon, Louisville-@Providence, @Indiana-MichiganSt, Texas-@Baylor(TX), @Butler-ClevelandSt, Arkansas-@MississippiSt, @Vanderbilt-Florida, @BYU-UNLV, @Utah-SanDiegoSt, Oklahoma-@TexasTech, @KentSt-OhioU(OH), @CalStFullerton-Pacific(CA), @Dayton-Temple, @Bradley-Creighton, @GeoMason-UNCWilmington, @Siena-LoyolaMD, OralRoberts-@IUPUI,

Sunday:

UCLA-@USC(CA), @WVirginia-SetonHall, @Massachusetts-StLouis.

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Top 25 - 08 Feb 11 - [] Column

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

Honorable Mention:

Washington (12-11), Arizona State (14-7), Utah (12-8), Pacific (17-6), Siena (16-8), Belmont (13-8), Portland State (15-8), Cornell (12-5).