11 Jan10 - Roadsick

Volume XV, No. 10 - 11 Jan 10 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Roadsick

"It's a typical situation in these typical times." We were saying exactly the same thing this time last year -- (last year's column for this week was entitled "Road Worriers") -- so don't read too much into any scores that seemed surprising. The first solid week of conference play always brings "shocking results" with ranked teams losing on the road to unranked opponents who pull off noisy upsets. Some bad losses are more bad than others; some good wins are more meaningful in the long run than others.
     12-2 Georgia beat Kentucky @77-70; the Dogs weren't completely healthy in the preseason (but still managed an elite record); it's the best result so far in the Mark Fox Era, and with two superstar talents (bTravis Leslie and fTrey Thompkins) this year's UGa squad just might have lasting power in conference play and beyond. Colorado beat Missouri @89-76 (behind 36p from bAlec Burks) -- the Big 12 is too tough for the Buffaloes to remain a factor. South Carolina knocked off Vanderbilt @83-75(OT) in a result that won't mean much in the long run. 9-6 Penn State's @66-62 win over Michigan State says more about the Spartans' inability to control winnable games. 12-2 Oklahoma State's @76-62 win over Kansas State says a little about both squads: OkSU can still get things done without the scariest roster in the land, and KSU's chemistry/personnel problems continue to dog a team that had too high expectations at the start of the season.

Cincinnati posted an impressive @66-46 throttling of rival Xavier in its annual CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT before losing for the first time at Villanova, 61-@72; cYancy Gates had been a dominating presence against a weak preseason schedule, but he was no factor against the guard-oriented Wildcats.
     9-6 Houston handed Central Florida its first loss, @76-71; but UCF (led by Michael Jordan's son, 6-3 sophomore gMarcus Jordan) is still the team most likely to knock Memphis out of the top spot in Conference USA.

Notre Dame had a good week with two home wins (@73-70 vs Connecticut, @76-61 over St. John's), but both opponents were just as impressive in other contests: UConn won a thrilling 82-@81(OT) at Texas on Player of the Year-leader gKemba Walker's game-winner; StJnU earlier knocked off suddenly shaky Georgetown @61-58. Gtown also lost at home to West Virginia @59-65.

BYU won a big early road game at UNLV 89-@77 (behind 39p5a from pJimmer Fredette, who enters the conversation for Player of the Year with that performance); the Mountain West is too strong and deep for one win to give them "control" of the race, but they've made the first move.
     Butler was pounded at Wisconsin-Milwaukee 52-@76 but turned around and pasted Cleveland State @79-56 before finishing the week by escaping 6-9 Youngstown State @84-79. Five teams (Butler, Cleveland State, Valparaiso, Wright State and Detroit) are off to strong starts in league play -- the Bulldogs have their hands full trying to maintain their hold on things in their own backyard.
     Missouri State won the two toughest games on its conference schedule, 67-@55 at Creighton and 59-@56 at Wichita State, to take an early stranglehold on the Missouri Valley race.
     Austin Peay is already 5-0 with a two-game gap on the field in the Ohio Valley conference, thanks to an @86-80(OT) win back in December over Morehead State and a 66-@64 win this week at Murray State. Wagner struck an early blow of its own with a 63-@58 win at Quinnipiac, to get a jump in the Northeast (but Long Island is off to a strong start as well). American's @81-75 win over Lehigh gives the Eagles an early edge in the Patriot.

The Colonial looks deeper this year so far; Old Dominion and surprising Georgia State have continued good form from the preseason into conference play while Hofstra and VCU have made their mark (both at the expense of Drexel).
     The Atlantic Sun looks headed for another multi-team Battle Royale as Jacksonville, East Tennessee State and Belmont have continued to look strong in league play (at the expense of Lipscomb).

It's way early, but three #1-seeds are already glaringly obvious: Duke, Ohio State and Kansas (each with cushy "2nd-" and "3rd-"round Pods awaiting them come tourney time [Charlotte, Cleveland and Tulsa]). Whoever comes out of the Big East will be the automatic fourth #1-seed, but that league is so jammed with solid teams this year that the unbalance schedule and a favorable draw will have more to do with who emerges as regular season and tournament champ this year than any clear-cut determination of the best squad -- a non-bye Big East team could easily still be strong enough to reach the Final Four.

San Diego State's undefeated record gets a strong test this week with a home game Wednesday vs UNLV and a road game Saturday at New Mexico. St. John's has two big home games (Wednesday vs Syracuse, Sunday vs Notre Dame) that might finally get a national bandwagon going for them -- (remember coach Steve Lavin is legitimately good and he has his so-so personnel overachieving big time). Tennessee's 8-game stretch without coach Bruce Pearl got off to a rocky start at Arkansas (65-@68), but at least the Volunteers get two games at home this week (Tuesday vs Florida, Saturday vs Vanderbilt).

-- Ron

[P.S. In this year's Pigskin Pool Party, the POINT SPREADS from USA Today wound up doing a better job picking the bowl games than any of the actual contestants -- first time an "expert" entry has outdone everyone in either the PPP or Hoops Contest.
     Yours Truly finished an agonizing second by just one tiebreaker point in the highest scoring Pool of its young 4-year history.]

Key games this week:

Monday:

NotreDame-@Marquette,

Tuesday:

Wisconsin-@MichiganSt, Florida-@Tennessee,

Wednesday:

Syracuse-@StJohns(NY), Pittsburgh-@Georgetown, Louisville-@Villanova, @SanDiegoSt-UNLV, @TexasA&M-OklahomaSt, @Vanderbilt-Georgia, @NewMexico-ColoradoSt, @Xavier-Massachusetts, @LaSalle-Penn(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5),

Thursday:

Washington-@Stanford, Purdue-@Minnesota, @NCarolina-VirginiaTech, @Drexel-OldDominion, @Belmont-Lipscomb(NashvilleTN), @UTValley-{Seattle},

Friday:

@Detroit-Butler,

Saturday:

@Syracuse-Cincinnati, @TexasA&M-Missouri, SanDiegoSt-@NewMexico, Illinois-@Wisconsin, @Tennessee-Vanderbilt(TN), @SoMississippi-CFlorida, @Memphis-Marshall, @Hofstra-OldDominion, @Xavier-Dayton(OH), @Stanford-WashingtonSt, @Jacksonville-ETennesseeSt, @OhioU-KentSt(OH),

Sunday:

NotreDame-@StJohns, Purdue-@WVirginia, @WrightSt-Butler.

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Top 25 - 11 Jan 10 - [] Column

1. Duke (15-0)
2. Ohio State (15-0)
3. Kansas (15-0)
4. Syracuse (16-0)
5. Pittsburgh (15-1)
6. Notre Dame (14-2)
7. Connecticut (12-2)
8. BYU (15-1)
9. Kentucky (12-3)
10. Texas (12-3)
11. Louisville (13-2)
12. Georgetown (12-4)
13. Missouri (13-2)
14. San Diego State (15-0)
15. Texas A&M (13-1)
16. Washington (12-3)
17. Villanova (14-1)
18. Purdue (15-1)
19. UNLV (13-3)
20. Illinois (13-3)
21. Wisconsin (10-3)
22. St. John's (10-4)
23. Florida (12-3)
24. Cincinnati (15-1)
25. West Virginia (10-4)

Honorable Mention:

Georgia (12-2), Colorado (12-4), South Carolina (10-4), Houston (9-6), Penn State (9-6), Oklahoma State (12-2).