09 Jan26 - Minor Turnaround

Volume XIII, No. 12 - 09 Jan 26 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Minor Turnaround

Wake Forest finally succumbed, losing @71-78 at home to Virginia Tech, becoming the last of the undefeated teams to fall. (Not a big deal overall -- most all of the top contenders have a loss that is beyond the normal run of form.) Pittsburgh routed Syracuse @78-60 and won at West Virginia 79-@68. Duke handed Maryland its worst head-to-head defeat, @85-44, thanks to a 52-29 rebounding edge. Connecticut snapped Notre Dame's 45-game home win streak with a 69-@61 win (despite 24p15r from cLuke Harangody). Oklahoma routed Baylor, @95-76 (on 20p17r from cBlake Griffin, despite 20p6a6r from pCurtis Jerrells). North Carolina made it 54-0 head-to-head against Clemson in Chapel Hill with a @94-70 win (behind 25p7r from bWayne Ellington).
     Louisville has finally come good on the elite form that was expected from the start of the season with a solid road win at Syracuse, 67-@57. The Cardinals share the Big East lead with Marquette at 6-0.

Michigan State stumbled at home against Northwestern, falling @63-70 as NU's fKevin Coble had 31p. In addition to getting drubbed at home against West Virginia, @58-75, Georgetown compounded that with a 60-@65 loss at lowly Seton Hall. (The Hoyas shot a combined 5-for-38 on three-pointers in two games.)

In the Pac-10, Washington took over first place, sweeping USC (@78-73) and UCLA (@86-75). The Huskies shot 68-for-83 on free throws in two games. Freshman pIsaiah Thomas(17p and 24p) gives gJustin Dentmon much needed scoring help on the perimeter, and the pair take the burden off of workhorse cJon Brockman in the paint, giving this year's squad a more balanced attack. Meanwhile, riding high on the euphoria of Inauguration Week, First Brother-In-Law Craig Robinson's Oregon State Beavers had a road sweep of California (69-@65) and Stanford (77-@62).

Xavier and Memphis kept the SEC down with a couple of out-of-conference road wins. The Musketeers won at LSU, 80-@70, as they continue to roll; while the Tigers won at Tennessee, 54-@52 (as the Volunteers continue to struggle). Florida lost 69-@70 at South Carolina on gZam Fredrick's buzzer-beating layup, but later routed Vanderbilt on the road, 94-@69 (behind 27p8r from fChandler Parsons). Kentucky got an off-court scare when fRamon Harris collapsed at halftime during UK's 61-@51 win at Alabama -- he had an on-court collision in a previous game, but is apparently OK to play in future games.

We've reached the midpoint of conference play in some of the mid-major and 1BC conferences.
     Villanova has already completed its Big 5 schedule undefeated at 4-0 to clinch this year's title.
     Even though this a new set of players and a new coach, Butler hasn't skipped a beat from its great run the past two years. The Bulldogs lead the Horizon at 9-0 with a two-game margin over Wisconsin-Green Bay. Siena wasn't able to make a mark out of conference in the preseason, but they've had no trouble dominating the MAAC at 9-0 with a three-game lead over Rider and Niagara midway through. (They'll still have to win the conference tournament, though, to make the NCAAs.) In the MVC, surprising Northern Iowa is 8-1 and two games up on Illinois State and Bradley -- the Panthers don't have any stars but they're a well matched unit of overachievers. VCU and Northeastern are 8-1, a game ahead of 7-2 George Mason, in the competitive Colonial -- VCU's pEric Maynor is the best player in the league and keyed their @76-71 win over GMU with 28p6a. 7-2 Western Kentucky, 7-2 Arkansas-Little Rock and 6-3 Middle Tennessee haven't sorted out the soft Sun Belt just yet.
     8-1 VMI has a slight lead over of 7-2 Radford in the Big South halfway through. North Dakota State and Oral Roberts are tied at 8-1 at the midpoint of the Summit League schedule. Robert Morris has a two-game lead at 8-1 over the lowly NEC pack. Austin Peay leads the weak OVC at 8-1 as well -- (but 6-3 Tennessee-Martin has the league's best player: future pro bLester Hudson).

Duke and Wake Forest have the first of two showdowns on Wednesday in Winston-Salem. Gonzaga hosts St. Mary's in the first of their two clashes on Thursday. Saturday is a big one with Louisville hosting West Virginia in the Big East, and Arizona State hosting Washington in the Pac-10.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Oklahoma-@OklahomaSt(OK), Marquette-@NotreDame, @Belmont-Mercer, @MorganSt-Hampton,

Tuesday:

Purdue-@Wisconsin, Texas-@Baylor(TX), @Maryland-BostonCol, @Utah-BYU(UT), @VCU-Northeastern, @GeoMason-Delaware, @WeMichigan-Buffalo,

Wednesday:

Pittsburgh-@Villanova, Duke-@WakeForest(NC), NCarolina-@FloridaSt, Syracuse-@Providence, @Cincinnati-Georgetown, @Tennessee-LSU, @SCarolina-Vanderbilt, @OhioSt-Michigan, @Tulsa-UAB, @RhodeIsland-Temple, @NoIowa-IllinoisSt, @VCU-Northeastern, @Navy-American(MD/DC),

Thursday:

Illinois-@Minnesota, @UCLA-California(CA), Clemson-@VirginiaTech, Washington-@Arizona, @Gonzaga-StMarys, @UtahSt-Nevada, @ArkansasSt-WeKentucky, @NDState-Oakland, @ChicagoSt-{UTValley},

Friday:

@Jacksonville-ETennesseeSt,

Saturday:

@Pittsburgh-NotreDame, @Connecticut-Providence, @Louisville-WVirginia, @Marquette-Georgetown, @Xavier-Massachusetts, @Purdue-Michigan, @ArizonaSt-Washington, @Kentucky-SCarolina, @Gonzaga-SanDiego, @Memphis-Houston, @Missouri-Baylor, @USC-California(CA), @LSU-Arkansas, @Tennessee-Florida, @Maryland-MiamiFL, @BostonCol-VirginiaTech, @Northwestern-Wisconsin, @IllinoisSt-Bradley(IL), TexasA&M-OklahomaSt, @UTEP-SoMississippi, @WeKentucky-NTexas, @Liberty-UNCAsheville, @CalStFullerton-UCRiverside(CA), @MurraySt-TNMartin, @MoreheadSt-AustinPeay,

Sunday:

MichiganSt-PennSt, @Villanova-Cincinnati, @Dayton-StJosephs.

---

Top 25 - 09 Jan 26 - [] Column

1. Pittsburgh (17-1)
2. Duke (17-1)
3. Connecticut (17-1)
4. Oklahoma (19-1)
5. Wake Forest (14-1)
6. North Carolina (16-2)
7. Louisville (15-3)
8. Michigan State (16-3)
9. Marquette (15-2)
10. Illinois (17-3)
11. Xavier (17-2)
12. Purdue (15-4)
13. West Virginia (14-5)
14. UCLA (15-4)
15. Syracuse (16-4)
16. Texas (14-4)
17. Clemson (15-2)
18. Arizona State (16-3)
19. Washington (15-4)
20. Minnesota (16-3)
21. Kentucky (16-4)
22. Gonzaga (13-4)
23. Memphis (16-3)
24. Butler (16-1)
25. St. Mary's (15-1)

Honorable Mention:

Virginia Tech (14-5), Northwestern (9-7), Seton Hall (10-9), Oregon State (8-10), Siena (15-5), VCU (15-5), VMI (12-3), Northern Iowa (13-6), Robert Morris (13-7).