10 Feb 8 - Ten ... Four ... Out

Volume XIV, No. 14 - 10 Feb 8 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Ten ... Four ... Out

The Big Ten has now had Four key players Out due to injury who have directly affected the regular season conference race. Purdue started the season without 5-9 pLewis Jackson (now back); Ohio State lost tEvan Turner (now back); and Wisconsin lost cJon Leuer (still out). As a result, halfway through conference play, it was Michigan State alone in first place at 8-0 with a three-game gap lead. MSU lost pKalin Lucas during its 49-@67 blowout defeat at Wisconsin and then lost 73-@78 at Illinois without him. All of a sudden, the Spartans are only one game ahead of a three-way tie for second place (Wisconsin, Ohio State and Illinois) with Purdue just one game back in the loss column.

Unheralded South Florida knocked off Georgetown 72-@64 behind 29p8r from tDominique Jones, but the Bulls' run was ended by Notre Dame @65-63. The Hoyas regrouped to turn in yet another impressive performance against a top-tier team, handing Villanova its first conference loss @103-90 with Gtown shooting 39-for-50 on free throws as gAustin Freeman(25p) and gJason Clark(24p5to;6/7 3s) matched pScottie Reynolds(24p6a) and gCorey Fisher(24p) with fGreg Monroe(19p8r6a) providing the difference. West Virginia pounded Pitt @70-51 and opened a two-game gap between third and fourth place in the Big East (behind Syracuse and Villanova).

Texas continued to stumble, managing only to split Oklahoma State (72-@60) and Oklahoma (71-@80). Among many issues (e.g., terrible foul shooting -- 10-for-27 at OU), the SuperFrosh have not blended well with the established upperclassmen. Freshman tJordan Hamilton had 27p;11/16fg;5/8 3s against OSU (but only 8p1a;3/15fg at OU) while freshman gAvery Bradley had 21p at OU -- meanwhile, senior fDamion James had just 14p6r and 12p9r, respectively. Texas A&M ended Missouri's 32-game home win streak 77-@74 and then beat Baylor @78-71 to pull into a tie for second place in the Big 12 along with Kansas State 6-3, three games behind undefeated Kansas.

Pesky Georgia surprised another SEC power at home, beating Vanderbilt @72-58, knocking the Commodores out of first place. Kentucky leads at the halfway point at 7-1; Tennessee and Vandy are second; Florida is fourth overall. Second place in the SEC East should mean a ticket to the NCAA tournament since you'd be guaranteed not to face the Wildcats until the finals of the conference tournament.

Duke paid back Georgia Tech with interest, @86-67, led by bKyle Singler(30p5r;8/10 3s), as fGani Lawal(9p6r) and freshman fDerrick Favors(8p7r) were no factor the second time around. Maryland tied Duke for the midconference lead at 6-2 with a 71-@67 win at Florida State and a @92-71 pasting of North Carolina (as tGreivis Vasquez averaged 25p9a6r for both games). At 13-10, not only is an NCAA bid out of the cards for UNC, but they might not even rate an NIT bid the way they're headed. (Can you imagine the Tar Heels being invited to the CBI? Would they even accept?) Wake Forest edged Virginia 64-@61(OT) to move up to third place at 6-3.

UNLV beat BYU @88-74 behind 33p8a5r from pTre'Von Willis to forge a three-way tie for the Mountain West lead (along with New Mexico) at 7-2. (All three teams are having excellent seasons and should be locks for NCAA bids.)
    In the Atlantic 10, nothing has been sorted out (except a three-game gap between the top seven teams and the rest of the pack). No.6 Dayton pounded No.2 Xavier @90-65 and No.3a Richmond thumped No.3b Temple @71-54 while No.1 Charlotte and No.3c Rhode Island each went 2-0 on the week.
    In similar fashion, the top four in Conference USA have opened a two-game gap lead on the rest of the league. No.1 UTEP beat No.2b Tulsa @73-59 while No.4 Memphis beat No.2a UAB @85-75 (as gWesley Witherspoon and pElliot Williams combined for 54p).
    (In the muddy Pac-10, first-place Cal is 7-4 while five teams are tied for second at 6-5.)

Kent State and Central Michigan managed to be 6-2 in the first half of the mess that is the MAC. Sam Houston State was undefeated, two-up in the Southland. Morgan State was also 8-0, two-up in the MEAC. Midway through the SWAC, Jackson State led a trio of teams one game back.

In the preseason, Monday's Kansas at Texas was looking like the Game of the Year, #1 vs #2. Now that it's here, it's not even the Game of the Night -- Villanova at West Virginia figures to be the higher profile matchup. Tennessee has its toughest week ahead: at Vanderbilt (Tuesday) and at Kentucky (Saturday). Michigan State will try to hold onto first place when it hosts Purdue (Tuesday) while Wisconsin is hosting Illinois. Sounds strange to say, but Duke should have an easier time Wednesday at North Carolina than Saturday at home against Maryland. St. Mary's has its last chance at a name win when it visits Gonzaga on Wednesday. Cornell's toughest obstacle to an undefeated conference season could come Saturday at 4-0 Princeton.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Kansas-@Texas, Villanova-@WVirginia, @Pittsburgh-RobertMorris(PA), @Siena-Fairfield, @NewMexicoSt-LouisianaTech, @MorganSt-BethuneCookman,

Tuesday:

Purdue-@MichiganSt, @Wisconsin-Illinois, Tennessee-@Vanderbilt(TN), @CMichigan-Akron, @BostonU-Vermont,

Wednesday:

@Syracuse-Connecticut, Duke-@NCarolina(NC), @UNLV-NewMexico, @Clemson-FloridaSt, @Dayton-Charlotte, @RhodeIsland-Richmond, @GeoMason-VCU(VA), @StonyBrook-Maine,

Thursday:

@Gonzaga-StMarys, @MississippiSt-Mississippi(MS), @California-Washington, @{SDakota}-ChicagoSt,

Friday:

WVirginia-@Pittsburgh,

Saturday:

@Kentucky-Tennessee, @Duke-Maryland, Missouri-@Baylor, @WakeForest-GeorgiaTech, @OklahomaSt-Oklahoma(OK), @Florida-Xavier, @Tulsa-Memphis, @Temple-RhodeIsland, @SanDiegoSt-UNLV, @OldDominion-GeoMason(VA), @UAB-Marshall, @Portland-StMarys, @William&Mary-Northeastern, @Princeton-Cornell, @OralRoberts-IUPUI, @SamHoustonSt-TexasA&MCC(TX), @WeberSt-NoColorado, @Radford-CoCarolina, @{NCCentral}-Longwood, @PrairieViewA&M-JacksonSt,

Sunday:

@Syracuse-Louisville, OhioSt-@Illinois,

Monday week:

Kansas-@TexasA&M, @Villanova-Connecticut, @MorganSt-SCState, @TexasSo-JacksonSt.

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Top 25 - 10 Feb 8 - [] Column

1. Syracuse (23-1)
2. Kansas (22-1)
3. Kentucky (22-1)
4. Georgetown (17-5)
5. Purdue (18-3)
6. Villanova (20-2)
7. Wisconsin (18-5)
8. Duke (19-4)
9. Kansas State (18-4)
10. West Virginia (19-3)
11. Michigan State (18-5)
12. Ohio State (17-6)
13. Tennessee (18-4)
14. Missouri (17-6)
15. Texas (19-4)
16. Pittsburgh (17-6)
17. Gonzaga (18-4)
18. Texas A&M (15-6)
19. Nevada-Las Vegas (17-4)
20. New Mexico (21-3)
21. Brigham Young (21-3)
22. Cornell (17-3)
23. Butler (20-4)
24. Northern Iowa (20-2)
25. Siena (20-4)

Honorable Mention:

South Florida (15-8), Illinois (14-8), Oklahoma (13-9), Texas Tech (15-7), Georgia (9-15), Texas-El Paso (15-7), Maryland (16-6), Richmond (18-6).