09 Dec21 - Reverse Jenga

Volume XIV, No. 7 - 09 Dec 21 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Reverse Jenga

Ranking teams in the preseason -- (at least, the way I do it) -- is sort of a Reverse game of Jenga. Instead of taking away pieces from a stack hoping it doesn't fall, it's more like squeezing slivers into a stack that has nowhere to expand. There's only so much "A beat B; B beat C; so it's A-B-C" that you can do before it all blows up in your face.
    With the overall quality down this year from last year, the top teams have been more within the reach of Mid-Majors than might have been expected. (Take a good look at the MM teams that made any noise this preseason, because their regular season schedules won't give them many opportunities to return to the rankings after next week's reshuffle.)

Kansas blew out to a 20-point lead in the first half against Michigan in THE GREEN GAME in Lawrence; but once the Wolverines switched into their 1-3-1 zone defense, it was pretty even after that as KU prevailed @75-64 -- cMarcus Morris had 23p10r for the Jayhawks.
    They didn't set an attendance record, but Texas and North Carolina put on quite a show in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The game was close for the first 15 minutes, but a late surge at the end of the first half gave the Longhorns a 10-point lead and the Tar Heels could never close the margin under double-digits in the second half as UTx won @103-90. Both teams wanted to run and neither team bothered to do much about stopping the other. Impressively, Texas had four players score 20+ points: seniors xDamion James(25p15r) and cDexter Pittman(23p15r), and freshmen bJ'Covan Brown(21p5r3a) and gAvery Bradley(20p). Only fEd Davis(21p9r) managed as much for UNC. Texas dominated the boards 56-36 with athleticism, not height. (In fact, despite being only 6-7, xJames is on pace to become the Big 12's all-time leading rebounder by season's end.) Texas has better individual offensive talent than even Kansas, but KU is deeper by far and is much the better defensive team. (Those two only meet once in the regular season -- Feb 8 in Austin. Mark it down.)
    Duke and Gonzaga played an ugly first half in the AP CLASSIC in New York. It was only 6-6 eight minutes into the game. The Blue Devils eventually found some smooth offense, but the Bulldogs never did. It wound up being an embarrassing rout: @76-41 for DU. pJon Scheyer(20p8a5r) led the way. (No one made double-figures for Gonzaga.)

Old Dominion upset Georgetown (61-@57) in a shocker, and Richmond beat Florida 56-@53 in the ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC. ODU, (with five starters back from last year's inaugural CIT champs) couldn't break through earlier at SOUTH PADRE against Missouri and Mississippi State, but they beat the Hoyas on the road without any special performances. Richmond won SOUTH PADRE (beating Mizzou and MissSt) and also beat ODU separately to boot. Earlier in the week, they had South Carolina tied up 52-52 with eight minutes left, but collapsed down the stretch to lose 58-@76. Meanwhile, A-10 conferencemate Massachusetts (6-5) finally knocked pretender Memphis from the unbeated ranks, @73-72.
    Most shocking was Tennessee utter flop loss, 55-@77, on the road to 5-4 USC. The Trojans dominated the boards 42-17 while the Volunteers shot a woeful 2-for-22 on three-pointers trying to get back in the game. Despite looking good on paper, UTn went nowhere in the postseason last year, and things are starting to look much the same this year as well.

9-2 Temple keeps playing like it belongs in the rankings, handing Seton Hall its first loss, 71-@65, behind 24p3a from gRyan Brooks. Elsewhere, 10-1 Wichita State gave Texas Tech its first defeat, 85-@83 in Lubbock. UAB is 10-1 as well after beating talented Cincinnati @64-47 and then blowing out state rival South Alabama 72-@54 at the C CLASSIC in Mobile.

Oklahoma State opened up a 15-point lead on the road and then held on to beat Stanford 71-@70 to give the BIG 12 a 9-2 lead in its HARDWOOD SERIES against the PAC-10. The final game is Texas A&M at Washington (Tuesday) and the home team has its work cut out for it.
    New Mexico held off Creighton @66-61, but Illinois State was able to win on the road, 73-@62, against Utah to gain a split on the week for the MVC, which now leads 4-3 against the MWC in their inaugural challenge. All that remains is Tuesday's San Diego State at Drake -- (advantage MWC), and Wednesday's Wyoming at Northern Iowa -- (game, set, match for the upstart MVC). If they pull this off and do well in BRACKETBUSTERS in February, the Missouri Valley could possibly get three teams into the NCAA tournament this year.

The Mountain West has a good shot at redemption this week in the final two preseason tournaments. Look for a BYU-Tulsa final on Wednesday in the LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC; and UNLV should face either USC or St. Mary's in the final of the new DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC in Honolulu on Friday.

Kansas should have no trouble with visiting California (Tuesday). Michigan State will try its luck at slowing down Texas at home (also Tuesday). West Virginia has a tough week ahead: at home against Mississippi (Wednesday), and an early league game at Seton Hall (Saturday).

Happy Holidays, everybody!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

HOLIDAY FESTIVAL Finals @ New York NY /MSG/
- (@StJohns-Cornell, 3rd:@Hofstra-Davidson),
ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC DblHdr @ Oklahoma City OK
- (@OklahomaSt-LaSalle, @Oklahoma-UTEP),

Monday-Wednesday:

BT INVITATIONAL RndRob @ Logan UT /Utah St/
- (@UtahSt, CalStFullerton, @WeberSt, MoreheadSt),

Tuesday:

@Kansas-California, @Syracuse-Oakland, @Texas-MichiganSt, @Florida-SAlabama, @Clemson-WeCarolina(SC), Butler-@UAB, @WeKentucky-MurraySt(KY), @Radford-William&Mary(VA), @MorganSt-Towson(?Baltimore?MD), @BostonU-MtStMarys, @Longwood-Campbell,
BIG 12[0-1;1]/PAC-10[1-0;1] HARDWOOD SERIES Day7/7 on-campus -- BIG 12 leads 9-2
[USC and Washington play twice.]
- (TexasA&M-@Washington),

Tuesday-Wednesday:

MVC/MWC CHALLENGE Day7/8 on-campus -- MVC leads 4-3
[Evansville doesn't play.]
- (Tue: @Drake-SanDiegoSt,
   Wed: @NoIowa-Wyoming),
LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC Semis @ Las Vegas NV
- (Tulsa-Nebraska, BYU-Nevada;
   Cons: Wagner-JacksonSt, ChicagoSt-EaWashington),

Tuesday-Wednesday, Friday:

DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC 1st/Qtrs @ Honolulu HI
- (UNLV-SMU, @Hawaii-ColofCharleston; USC-WeMichigan, StMarys-Northeastern),

Wednesday:

@Kentucky-LongBeachSt, @WVirginia-Mississippi, Charlotte-@OldDominion, @Siena-Rider, @BostonCol-HolyCross(MA), @Georgia-FLAtlantic,
BRAGGIN' RIGHTS @ St. Louis MO - (@Illinois-@Missouri),

Saturday:

WVirginia-@SetonHall,

Sunday:

@Louisville-Radford.

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Top 25 - 09 Dec 21 - [] Column

1. Kansas (10-0)
2. Syracuse (11-0)
3. Texas (10-0)
4. Kentucky (11-0)
5. Duke (9-1)
6. Purdue (10-0)
7. West Virginia (8-0)
8. North Carolina (6-3)
9. Michigan State (8-2)
10. Gonzaga (7-3)
11. St. John's (9-1)
12. Florida (8-2)
13. Georgetown (8-1)
14. Temple (9-2)
15. Villanova (10-1)
16. New Mexico (12-0)
17. Connecticut (7-2)
18. Wisconsin (8-2)
19. Mississippi (10-1)
20. Kansas State (9-1)
21. Texas A&M (8-2)
22. Tennessee (8-2)
23. Charlotte (8-1)
24. Missouri State (10-0)
25. Tulsa (8-1)

Honorable Mention:

Old Dominion (7-4), Richmond (8-3), Southern California (5-4), Massachusetts (6-5), Wichita State (10-1), UAB (10-1).