09 Jan 5 - Imperial Clothing

Volume XIII, No. 9 - 09 Jan 5 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Imperial Clothing

Three supposed national contenders were shown their Imperial Clothing -- handed the first loss on their previously undefeated seasons. (In the Second Coming of Sam Cassell), pTyrese Rice(25p8a5r6to) took it to "the Wine and Cheese Crowd" at the Dean Dome as Boston College stunned #1 North Carolina, 85-@78. No undefeated season for the Tar Heels. Yeah, maybe it's a good thing with all the distractions surrounding fTyler Hansbrough's record-breaking season. Maybe now they can get back to reality and focus on the task right in front of them: the regular season title race (in which they're now a game behind some talented teams). The thing is, this team still has the same softness that ultimately did them in last year. Can they all of a sudden become tougher people? I'm not so optimistic.
     Georgetown went into Storrs and knocked Connecticut off its pedestal as well. Freshman cGreg Monroe(16p) keyed a 15-1 start as the Hoyas led wire-to-wire in a 74-@63 win. Monroe's ability to step out to the top of the key and run the Princeton offense took away cHasheem Thabeet's effectiveness as a shot-blocker in the paint. When things are rolling, UConn is all swagger; but when things get tough, they break down and the guards go one-on-one and forget about feeding cThabeet in the post. No time to rest on their laurels, though. Georgetown got theirs when undefeated Pittsburgh came to town and throttled the Hoyas 70-@54. This time, cDeJuan Blair(20p17r) dominated cMonroe in the post as the Panthers outrebounded them 43-17.
     Oklahoma had been living a charmed life for quite some time, escaping with several endplay victories against quality opponents while keeping itself undefeated. It finally caught up to them when they travelled to Fayetteville and were run out of the gym by surprising Arkansas, 88-@96. Coach John Pelphrey has essentially an entirely new squad after losing 6 key players from last year's NCAA tournament team. cMichael Washington(24p11r) has emerged as quite a presence in the paint for the Razorbacks. The Sooners did get 35p from freshman gWillie Warren, but trying to outrun the other team in their own gym isn't the best strategy.
     Even at home, losing to Georgetown isn't the worst loss on your resume. Losing (albeit on the road) to no-name Arkansas won't build your credibility as a Final Four contender. Losing at home to a good-but-not-great Boston College team is a much bigger cause for concern.

Showing continuing signs of trouble, Gonzaga keeps finding ways to lose to ordinary teams. This time, the Bulldogs lost 65-@66 on the road at Utah. Tennessee continues to tumble as well. The Volunteers lost at Kansas, 85-@92, and looked a bit lost doing it. Like Memphis, they're fine when they throw on the press and can generate offense off turnovers; but the secret everybody knows is that they don't have a point guard, so executing in the halfcourt becomes quite a problem. Like North Carolina, Notre Dame has the problem of all-O, no-D. cLuke Harangody scored his customary 28p14r4a, but the Fighting Irish found a way to lose on the road at St. John's, 65-@71. As tough as the BIG EAST is this year, no one can afford a loss to bottom-half teams and risk winding up in a first-round game in the 5-day conference tournament. Can they suddenly learn to "be men" like coach Mike Brey wants? They'll have plenty of chances to toughen up or die.

Continuing undefeated into January makes it hard to stay under the radar. Wake Forest had hoped to be the team to hand UNC its first defeat when they host the Tar Heels this Sunday. After snapping BYU's home win streak, 94-@87, they'll have to settle for pushing North Carolina further back in the conference race, if they can. Clemson beat state-rival South Carolina 98-@87, but they didn't know how good a win that was until the Gamecocks turned around and won at Baylor later in the week, 85-@84. Illinois State cruised into conference play without skipping a beat with two crushing wins over its top rivals: @80-50 over Evansville, and @86-64 over Creighton.

With so many big games on the schedule in the BIG EAST, it's hardly worth focusing on any one of them in the middle of the pack. Marquette knocked off Villanova at home this week. California, newly tough under former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, bolted to a 2-0 start in the PAC-10 with two solid home wins: @69-55 over Arizona, and @81-71 over Arizona State. In the BIG 10, the merry-go-round results were Michigan State winning (70-@58 at Minnesota) and Minnesota winning (@68-59 over Ohio State); Wisconsin won (73-@61 at Michigan), but Michigan won (@74-64 over Illinois), while Illinois won (71-@67(OT) at Purdue).

In minor leftover tournament news, Buffalo won the final 8-team bracket RAINBOW CLASSIC (67-53 over Colorado State in the final) -- (the format will be different next year). Meanwhile, Utah State won its three-day round-robin showcase DUEL IN THE DESERT (including a @90-85 win over Wyoming).

A lot of teams -- (too many to rank them all) -- made it through the preseason in pretty solid form. The toughness of conference play could break many of them (especially in the BIG EAST), though. Winning on neutral courts in front of uninvested crowds is one thing; winning true road games in front of hostile fans is an entirely different animal.

West Virginia gets to find out how good it really is this week with a home game against Connecticut (Tuesday) and a road game at Marquette (Saturday). Michigan State hosts Ohio State (Tuesday) and Kansas (Saturday). Tennessee and Gonzaga will each try to keep the other on its downward spiral on Wednesday. Arkansas will likely turn back into a pumpkin when Texas comes to town on Tuesday.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Georgetown-@NotreDame, @Temple-KentSt, @William&Mary-OldDominion(VA), @TNMartin-MurraySt, @MtStMarys-RobertMorris,

Tuesday:

Connecticut-@WVirginia, @MichiganSt-OhioSt, Texas-@Arkansas, @Kansas-Siena, @Dayton-MiamiOH(OH), @Utah-LSU,

Wednesday:

@Duke-Davidson(NC), @NCarolina-ColofCharleston, @Maryland-MorganSt(MD), @Tennessee-Gonzaga, @Cincinnati-Providence, Tulsa-@SoMississippi,

Thursday:

@Washington-Stanford, @Butler-WrightSt(BG), @MidTennessee-FLAtlantic, @LouisianaTech-UtahSt, @ARLittleRock-NTexas, @TNMartin-AustinPeay(TN), @NDState-IUPUI,

Friday:

@StMarys-SantaClara(CA), @Siena-Rider,

Saturday:

@Georgetown-Providence, Duke-@FloridaSt, Connecticut-@Cincinnati, @MichiganSt-Kansas, @Maryland-GeorgiaTech, WVirginia-@Marquette, @BostonCol-MiamiFL, Missouri-@Nebraska, California-Washington, @Villanova-Louisville, @OklahomaSt-TexasA&M, @Kentucky-Vanderbilt, @Massachusetts-Dayton, @StJosephs-RhodeIsland, @Houston-UAB, @ClevelandSt-ILChicago, @SanDiegoSt-Utah, @LouisianaTech-Nevada, @VCU-Hofstra, @Lamar-SELouisiana, @Radford-UNCAsheville, @American-Lehigh, @Pacific-UCRiverside(CA), @UCSantaBarbara-CalStFullerton(CA), @MurraySt-AustinPeay, @MoreheadSt-JacksonvilleSt, @Stetson-ETennesseeSt, @NDState-WeIllinois, @SacredHeart-RobertMorris, @MiamiOH-Akron(OH),

Sunday:

@Pittsburgh-StJohns, NCarolina-@WakeForest(NC), UCLA-@USC(LosAngelesCA), @Purdue-Wisconsin, @SanFrancisco-StMarys(CA), @SantaClara-SanDiego(CA), @OhioU-KentSt(OH).

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Top 25 - 09 Jan 5 - [] Column

1. Pittsburgh (13-0)
2. Georgetown (10-2)
3. Duke (11-1)
4. Connecticut (11-1)
5. North Carolina (12-1)
6. Oklahoma (13-1)
7. Michigan State (11-2)
8. Texas (11-2)
9. Syracuse (13-1)
10. Clemson (12-0)
11. Wake Forest (11-0)
12. Illinois (13-2)
13. Maryland (10-2)
14. West Virginia (11-2)
15. Tennessee (9-3)
16. UCLA (12-2)
17. Boston College (11-2)
18. Arkansas (10-1)
19. Illinois State (12-0)
20. Marquette (11-2)
21. Missouri (11-2)
22. California (13-2)
23. Kansas (9-3)
24. Minnesota (12-1)
25. South Carolina (7-2)

Honorable Mention:

Utah (9-4), Wisconsin (10-3), St. John's (10-4), Buffalo (8-4) [3:RAINBOW], Utah State (9-1) [RR3vDESERT].