10 Jan25 - Travelling All-Stars

Volume XIV, No. 12 - 10 Jan 25 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Travelling All-Stars

Texas had been having such an easy time, it was able to stay in All-Star Mode even into conference play. Coach Rick Barnes was still giving significant minutes to upwards of 10 players and the team was still rolling over opponents. Well, the Travelling Road Show hit a serious snag when the Longhorns first visited Kansas State and then Connecticut. KSU played them straight up and the no-name Wildcat frontcourt players outperformed their marquee counterparts in a @71-62 win as cJamar Samuels had 20p12r and fCurtis Kelley had 17p8r (while fDamion James was held to 9r7r).
    Connecticut played without head coach Jim Calhoun, who has taken an indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons. In spite of that (or because of it), the Huskies played a free and explosive game in running past the Longhorns @88-74 behind 32p from gJerome Dyson and 19p10a6r from pKemba Walker (despite 23p7r from fDamion James).

That leaves the Kentucky Wildcats as the only undefeated team left in the country. They took the challenge to heart with a @101-70 rout of Arkansas in their first game as the de facto #1 team in the nation. The fact that they are so young is probably an asset in the quest to go undefeated since they probably have less of a sense of just how hard it is supposed to be. (Still, even in a subpar SEC, they have a long way to go. They'll likely have to beat Tennessee three times, Vanderbilt twice, and Florida and Mississippi State at least once.)
    And don't forget they have to travel to Georgia. That's no joke. The 9-8 Bulldogs took the Wildcats to an endplay in Rupp Arena and they just pulled off a shocking rout of Tennessee at home, @78-63. New coach Mark Fox (ex-Nevada) has turned on a switch with this squad, which has played five strong games against quality opponents since being routed at Missouri.
    Speaking of inexplicable losses, Duke travelled to Raleigh and dumped at 74-@88 loss at the hands of the 13-7 Wolfpack. Yeah, the road is tough in a BCS league, but what's more disturbing about this loss is that the Big Three (bKyle Singler[22p5r], gJon Scheyer[21p], gNolan Smith[18p]) all had solid games and they still lost by 14!. Yet another big man hurt them inside: fTracy Smith(23p5r).

West Virginia pulled off another important out-of-conference win for the Big East. Ohio State actually led most of the way on the road against the Mountaineers, but OHSt missed several big free throws down the stretch which gave WVU control of the game and a @71-65 win as tDa'Sean Butler had 21p5a8r to tEvan Turner's 18p11r4a.

Overachieving Pittsburgh fell back to earth a bit with a couple of losses: at home to Georgetown (@66-74) and at Seton Hall (61-@64). Kansas State couldn't keep the flow going after its big upset of Texas, falling at home later in the week to Oklahoma State, @69-73 (as OKSt's gJames Anderson had 30p3a).

In the ACC this week, it's Maryland and Virginia tied for the lead at 3-1 (but raise your hand if you think those are the two best teams in this league). Lots of talented-but-incomplete squads are knocking each other off. Georgia Tech and Clemson battled to the wire with GT prevailing @66-64. Then, Florida State and Georgia Tech took things to the final seconds with FSU winning @68-66. At least Duke did regroup and won at Clemson convincingly, 60-@47.

Temple battled Xavier for first place in the Atlantic 10, winning @77-72 behind 22p7r from bRyan Brooks.

UTEP beat Memphis 72-@67, bringing the Tigers' record-setting conference win streaks to an end. They wound up with the outright record for consecutive conference regular season wins (52) and finished in a tie for the record for consecutive conference wins overall (64) (along with Kentucky [SEC 1945-40]). (Again, it's only an unofficial record because the NCAA has vacated all of their wins from the 2007-08 season.)

Some of the MM and 1BC leagues have already reached the midpoint in conference play.
    In the HORIZON: Butler has rolled through the first half of conference play undefeated with a three-game gap on second-place Wisconsin-Green Bay.
    Likewise, in the METRO ATLANTIC: Siena is undefeated also with a three-game gap on Iona, Fairfield and St. Peter's.
    In the MISSOURI VALLEY: Northern Iowa lost at Wichita State, but still has a two-game lead on the second-place Shockers while Illinois State and Missouri State have struggled inside the conference.
    In the COLONIAL: After a disastrously poor preseason, Northeastern has regrouped in conference and is in a three-way tie for the lead at 8-1 (two games up on everybody else) along with preseason favorite Old Dominion and young George Mason.
    In the WAC: Louisiana Tech is one game up on Utah State and New Mexico State (with Nevada struggling to stay within contact of the leaders).
    In the SOUTHERN: UNC-killer College of Charleston is undefeated in the South Division, two games ahead of Louisville-killer Western Carolina in the North.
    It's a muddy mess in the SUN BELT: Arkansas State has a half-game lead at 6-2; but 8 teams are within two games of the top (and the best overall record anybody has is North Texas at 12-7 [5-4]). Yikes!
    In the SUMMIT: 9-0 Oakland edged 8-1 IUPUI at home while Oral Roberts and South Dakota State are two games back.
    In the OHIO VALLEY: Murray State is undefeated, a game ahead of second-place Morehead State (and they won in a rout at home the first time around).
    In the BIG SKY: Weber State lost at Northern Colorado, but still leads NoCo and Montana State by a game.
    In the BIG SOUTH: Despite losing at home to Radford, Coastal Carolina has a two-game lead.
    In the ATLANTIC SUN: Campbell's home rout of Jacksonville has given them a half-game edge, with rebuilt East Tennessee State right behind one game back.
    In AMERICA EAST: Maine, Stony Brook, Boston University and Vermont are all bunched together within one game of first place with not much sorted out as yet.
    In the NORTHEAST: Robert Morris and Quinnipiac are tied at the top, a game ahead of St. Francis(NY) and Long Island while Sacred Heart has struggled to remain in contact with the leaders.

4-0 Vanderbilt has the toughest week ahead: at Tennessee (Wednesday) and then at Kentucky (Saturday). At least Georgetown gets to host Duke (Saturday) after visiting Syracuse (Monday). Kansas hosts Missouri (Monday) and visits Kansas State (Saturday). BYU at New Mexico (Wednesday) is the biggest game of the year in the Mountain West. Conference USA should begin to sort itself out after this week is done. College of Charleston at Western Carolina (Monday) is the biggest game on the schedule in the Southern Conference. Cornell's quest for an undefeated Ivy campaign gets a big test when it hosts Harvard on Saturday.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Kansas-Missouri, @Syracuse-Georgetown, @Penn-v@StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG_5), @WeCarolina-ColofCharleston, @TexasSo-ARPineBluff,

Tuesday:

Kentucky-@SCarolina, MichiganSt-@Michigan(MI), KansasSt-@Baylor, @Minnesota-Northwestern, @UAB-Tulsa, @Marshall-Memphis, @Dayton-RhodeIsland, @NCState-NCarolina, @Washington-{Seattle}(SeattleWA),

Wednesday:

@Texas-TexasTech(TX), @Villanova-NotreDame, @Duke-FloridaSt, @Tennessee-Vanderbilt(TN), Temple-@Charlotte, @OklahomaSt-TexasA&M, BYU-@NewMexico, @WichitaSt-IllinoisSt, @WeMichigan-Akron, @ETennesseeSt-Campbell, @Belmont-Lipscomb(NashvilleTN), @Maine-BostonU,

Thursday:

@Purdue-Wisconsin, @Pittsburgh-StJohns, @GeorgiaTech-WakeForest, @RobertMorris-LongIsland, @IUPUI-Oakland, @{HoustonBaptist}-{SDakota}, @ChicagoSt-UTValley,

Friday:

Butler-@WIGreenBay,

Saturday:

@Kentucky-Vanderbilt, Kansas-@KansasSt(KS), @Texas-Baylor(TX), @MichiganSt-Northwestern, Duke-@Georgetown, @WVirginia-Louisville, @Missouri-OklahomaSt, @Temple-LaSalle(PhiladelphiaPA), @MissouriSt-NoIowa, @TexasA&M-TexasTech(TX), @UAB-UTEP, @Houston-Marshall, @Washington-WashingtonSt(WA), @Northeastern-OldDominion, @Cornell-Harvard, @TexasA&MCC-SamHoustonSt(TX), @Campbell-Belmont, @StonyBrook-BostonU, @TXPanAmerican-{SDakota},

Sunday:

@OhioSt-Minnesota, @Tennessee-Florida, @Clemson-Maryland, @NCarolina-Virginia, @NoColorado-MontanaSt,

Monday week:

Texas-@OklahomaSt, Connecticut-@Louisville, @Campbell-Lipscomb, @ARPineBluff-JacksonSt,
(BRACKETBUSTERS_PAIRING_SELECTION)[98teams/49games].

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Top 25 - 10 Jan 25 - [] Column

1. Kentucky (19-0)
2. Kansas (18-1)
3. Syracuse (19-1)
4. Texas (17-2)
5. Villanova (18-1)
6. Michigan State (16-3)
7. Duke (16-3)
8. Purdue (15-3)
9. Georgetown (15-3)
10. West Virginia (15-3)
11. Kansas State (15-3)
12. Ohio State (13-6)
13. Pittsburgh (15-4)
14. Tennessee (15-3)
15. Connecticut (13-6)
16. Georgia Tech (13-5)
17. Missouri (15-4)
18. Clemson (14-5)
19. Temple (17-3)
20. Gonzaga (15-3)
21. Wisconsin (16-4)
22. Oklahoma State (15-4)
23. Brigham Young (19-1)
24. Butler (16-4)
25. Siena (17-4)

Honorable Mention:

North Carolina State (13-7), Seton Hall (12-6), Georgia (9-8), Florida State (15-4), Wichita State (15-4), Texas-El Paso (13-5), College of Charleston (13-6), Murray State (14-3), Coastal Carolina (13-3).