08 Jan 7 - Primary Results

Volume XII, No. 10 - 08 Jan 7 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Primary Results

It's way early in conference play, but already there are some primary results that have teams off to a great start with key wins. After playing a brilliant road game out of conference beating improved Alabama 87-@61, Clemson was poised to play one of its best games against visiting North Carolina on Sunday night. The Tigers' brutal lodero physical defensive style limited the Tar Heels' cTyler Hansbrough to 12p14r; and whenever pTy Lawson(16p8a6r5to) went to the bench, Clemson was able to press UNC and reveal the vulnerability of its now-thin backcourt. But they didn't have an answer for gWayne Ellington, who scored a career-high 36p (including the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer in overtime), as UNC pulled out a dramatic 90-@88(OT) win. Freshman gTerence Oglesby, who had 17p on 5-for-9 three-point shooting against Alabama, could only manage 1-for-8 on 3s against North Carolina, and without those easy jumpers, Clemson couldn't keep a lead against UNC.

In the powerful Pac-10, UCLA got off to a great start with two solid road wins, 76-@67 at Stanford and 70-@58 at California. Likewise, Washington State edged state-rival Washington on the road 56-@52. (Those two meet this Saturday in Round One of the "Game of the Year [Pac-10]".) Oregon, which has been struggling, did manage a road split, losing 54-@62 at young Arizona State [which itself has quietly put together an 11-2/2-0 start], but winning 84-@74 at undermanned Arizona [still without injured pJerryd Bayless] despite 30p7r from bChase Budinger. Young USC was initiated into conference play with two road losses, 82-@92 at California (despite 34p from gO.J. Mayo) and 46-@52 at Stanford.

In the Big East, Notre Dame won impressively, @69-56 over West Virginia (behind 29p16r from bruiser cLuke Harangody) and @73-67 over Connecticut (behind 32p5a from sweet-shooting Prodigal Son pKyle McAlarney). If they can keep that inside-out Tag Team going steady (along with capable support from fRob Kurz and pTory Jackson), this year's Irish may well make some postseason noise. Villanova beat Pittsburgh-lite @64-63 on two free throws from fDante Cunningham(6p9r) -- it remains to be seen how much the Panthers can salvage of the season without pLevance Fields.

Further down, Cal State-Northridge took early control of the Big West with an 88-@84 road win over favorite UC-Santa Barbara. South Alabama got out in front of the Sun Belt race beating rival Western Kentucky at home, @65-61. Akron got the early jump in the muddled MAC, beating Miami(Ohio) @69-54 (after the Zips threw a scare into Atlantic 10 power Dayton earlier in the week, losing 81-@83 in double-overtime). The MVC is churning itself over. It's Drake, Illinois State and Indiana State who have gotten a 3-0 jump on the likes of Creighton, Southern Illinois and Bradley.

Out of conference, Texas whipped St. Mary's 81-62 (behind 30p4a from gD.J. Augustin); Arkansas beat Baylor 85-@78 in Dallas; and Vanderbilt had to use all of its homecrowd support to stay undefeated, coming back to beat tough Massachusetts @97-88 (behind 32p8r from tShan Foster and 25p11r from GC cAndrew Ogilvy).

Xavier already has three losses, but no team was more impressive the past week than the Musketeers, who exploded @103-77 over Kansas State, @108-70 over Virginia, and 80-@57 on the road at Auburn (putting seven players in double-figures ... twice). They don't have size, but they've got plenty of 'tweeners who can step out and nail down a three-pointer, drive the lane, pass to the open man, and scrap for a rebound. Their makeup is reminiscent of the '04 Georgia Tech squad that made it all the way to the national finals. (Of course, they've also lost already 55-@77 at Arizona State; but when they're on, they're way on.)

The GC players who joined elite rosters (cKevin Love at UCLA, pDerrick Rose at Memphis and tKyle Singler at Duke) are all doing fine and their teams are playing well. The GC players who joined established stars (bAndrew Ogilvy joining tShan Foster at Vanderbilt and bEric Gordon joining fD.J. White at Indiana) are likewise in good shape -- Vanderbilt has the drive of staying undefeated fueling them, while Indiana is still a bit unproven as yet. The ones to worry about are the GC who are already the best players on their teams: bO.J. Mayo at USC, cMichael Beasley at Kansas State, gJonny Flynn and tDonte Greene at Syracuse, and now maybe even cDeJuan Blair at Pittsburgh. The one-and-done mindset may whisper in their ears sooner rather than later and have them switching into "playing for the scouts" mode before you know it. USC is already in a hole in the Pac-10 race; in a league that tough, those are going to be "meaningless games" pretty quickly. Kansas State already has an ugly 26-point loss at the hands of Xavier -- a game in which cBeasley only scored 5 points. Syracuse is off to a solid 2-0 start in league play (despite losing gEric Devendorf for the season to a knee injury), so pFlynn and tGreene should remain engaged. There was no prior indication that cBlair was a one-and-done type, but his talent is clearly better than advertized and Pitt's season could go south in a hurry without pLevance Fields around to direct things.

As mentioned earlier, UCLA hosts Washington State on Saturday in the biggest game of the week (and Round One of the biggest Game of the Year in the Pac-10). The first battle of the "Atlantic 10 Wars" -- really? -- gets under way as Dayton hosts Rhode Island on Wednesday. Mississsippi's undefeated record isn't likely to survive a road trip to Tennessee on Wednesday; but Vanderbilt should be able to keep it rolling on the road at Rupp Arena against woeful Kentucky; a road trip at decent Marshall won't be enough to upend the Memphis juggernaut. Marquette hopes its home court will slow down the Notre Dame train, which comes to town on Saturday.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Oklahoma-MtStMarys, @BostonCol-RobertMorris,

Tuesday:

@MichiganSt-Purdue, @Marquette-SetonHall, StMarys-@FresnoSt, @Alabama-Florida, @IllinoisSt-NoIowa, @SoIllinois-Bradley(IL),

Wednesday:

@NCarolina-UNCAsheville, @Tennessee-Mississippi, @Dayton-RhodeIsland, Clemson-Charlotte, @ArizonaSt-Arizona, @Massachusetts-StJosephs, @Drake-IndianaSt,

Thursday:

@UCLA-Washington, WashingtonSt-@USC, WVirginia-@Louisville, @Oregon-California, @BoiseSt-NewMexicoSt,

Friday:

@Niagara-Siena,

Saturday:

@NCarolina-NCState(NC), Kansas-@Nebraska, Memphis-@Marshall, @UCLA-WashingtonSt, Vanderbilt-@Kentucky, @Georgetown-Connecticut, @Marquette-NotreDame, @Pittsburgh-SetonHall, @Oklahoma-KansasSt, @Clemson-FloridaSt, Arizona-@Houston, OhioSt-@Purdue, @USC-Washington, @MiamiFL-GeorgiaTech, @StMarys-SantaClara(CA), SanDiegoSt-@NewMexico, @VCU-Hofstra, SAlabama-@NewOrleans, @OhioU-MiamiOH(OH), @UtahSt-NewMexicoSt, @AustinPeay-SEMissouriSt,

Sunday:

@Duke-Virginia, @WVirginia-Syracuse, @RhodeIsland-Duquesne, @Oregon-Stanford, @Arkansas-Alabama, @RobertMorris-SacredHeart.

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Top 25 - 08 Jan 7 - [] Column

1. North Carolina (15-0)
2. Kansas (13-0)
3. Memphis (13-0)
4. UCLA (13-1)
5. Michigan State (13-1)
6. Duke (10-1)
7. Washington State (13-0)
8. Texas (12-2)
9. Texas A&M (13-1)
10. Wisconsin (12-2)
11. Tennessee (11-1)
12. Butler (12-1)
13. Xavier (12-3)
14. Vanderbilt (15-0)
15. Dayton (12-1)
16. Georgetown (11-1)
17. Marquette (9-2)
18. Pittsburgh (11-2)
19. Oklahoma (11-3)
20. Notre Dame (11-2)
21. West Virginia (10-3)
22. Indiana (11-1)
23. Rhode Island (14-1)
24. Mississippi (13-0)
25. Clemson (10-2)

Honorable Mention:

Villanova (11-2), Arkansas (11-3), Stanford (12-2), California (9-3), Oregon (10-4), Arizona State (11-2), Cal State-Northridge (10-3), South Alabama (10-3), Akron (11-3), Drake (12-1), Illinois State (11-3), Indiana State (8-5).