11 Feb14 - Thanks From The Gods

Volume XV, No. 15 - 11 Feb 14 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Thanks From The Gods

[... that Justin Bieber didn't win "Best New Artist".]

I got to be a "guest expert" by phone on a talk radio sports show out of Tampa, Florida co-hosted by Mark Schreiber. Great fun -- (Thanks, Mark!) -- and it may be a regular gig for the rest of the season. If I'm on again, it would be a little after 10AM on Sundays. You should be able to listen online at tampa.cbslocal.com/station/1010-sports/.

The Basketball Gods owe a debt of thanks to Wisconsin for its comeback home win to beat Ohio State, @71-67, handing the Buckeyes their first loss. OhSU is still the most talented team in the country, but its undefeated run owed more to this being a down year for College Basketball than all-time greatness from this squad. They may well still win it all, but no way was this team special enough to have belonged on a short list of Undefeated National Champions. (There are only seven, and it's been 35 years since the last one.) Ohio State led 47-32 in the second half, but a 15-0 run keyed by pJordan Taylor(27p7a) tied things up in the knick of time and the home crowd carried on the surge from there.
     Even without injured gAshton Gibbs, Pittsburgh managed two tough road wins (71-@66 at West Virginia; 57-@54 at Villanova behind 22p from gBrad Wanamaker) to maintain its two-game gap lead in the Big East. They're 11-1 in the roughest league in the land. Give 'em some love.
     Surprising North Carolina led by 14 points at the half in Cameron Indoor Stadium against Duke behind cTyler Zeller(24p13r) and cJohn Henson(14p12r) inside, but gNolan Smith(34p) and pSeth Curry(22p5a6r) saved the day as the Blue Devils put up a 50-30 second half to win @79-73 in the battle for first place in the ACC; (tKyle Singler[10p8r] struggled mightily on 3-for-17 shooting).

Vanderbilt posted duplicate @81-77 squeak home wins over SEC West-leading Alabama and Kentucky (thanks to 52p from gJohn Jenkins in two games); Bruce Pearl's return to the Tennessee bench bore witness to two road losses: 61-@73 at Kentucky and 60-@61 at SEC East-leading Florida.
     St. John's routed Connecticut @89-72 behind 33p from gDwight Hardy and 20p11r5a from cD.J. Kennedy; (pKemba Walker(15p7a)'s shooting slump continued with a 4-for-16 performance). After edging Cincinnati 57-@55, the Red Storm is now tied for fifth place in the Big East [single-bye territory for the upcoming conference tournament]. Meanwhile, Syracuse lost at home to Georgetown (@56-64) and on the road at Louisville (69-@73) to drop to ninth place in the standings [five-day terrority].
     In a game with Bubble implications, Colorado State earned a split with New Mexico, @68-62, and opened a gap on fourth-place UNLV in the Mountain West.

Xavier's 71-@63 win (on 20p7r from bTu Holloway) at Duquesne gave the Musketeers the outright lead in the Atlantic 10, (but the Dukes, along with Richmond and Temple, are all still only a game back with a gap on the rest of the field).
     Cleveland State fell out of first place in the Horizon in a 78-@81 loss at Detroit -- but that's not the big news of the week for this team. In its @86-76 win over Youngstown State, 6-2 xNorris Cole turned in a 41 point, 20 rebound, 9 assist performance. (Only Oklahoma's cBlake Griffin had posted 40p20r in the past 15 years.) The Vikings' loss was Valparaiso's gain -- they're the new league leaders.

Squeak wins continued to shape the Ivy standings: 7-0 Princeton led at the midconference break after edging Penn @62-59(OT) and Cornell 57-@55; meanwhile, Harvard opened a gap on third-place Yale by winning @78-75. (But PU has it tougher in the second half, having to go on the road against its top two rivals.)
     Vermont is loaming over second-place Boston University in America East with a two-game gap with two games left. Fairfield is in the same position in the Metro Atlantic, up three with three to play on a group in second place. (But both teams are only NIT-bound if they don't win their conference tourneys.)
     Montana (behind 22p13r from cBrian Qvale) returned the favor, beating Northern Colorado @55-42 (despite 22p from gDevon Beitzel), to tie things up in the Big Sky with three games to go.
     Bucknell opened a gap in the Patriot standings by completing the sweep of second-place American, @66-60, behind 21p10r from cMike Muscala. Same story in the SWAC for Texas Southern over Jackson State, 70-@67, thanks to 22p13r from cTravele Jones.

Purdue has a big week ahead, hosting Wisconsin (Wednesday) and Ohio State (Sunday). Arizona's push for the Pac-10 title is on the line with home games against Washington State (Thursday) and Washington (Saturday). Louisville hosts Connecticut in an oddly scheduled Friday night clash.

With three extra at-large bids up for grabs this year, BRACKETBUSTERS gains more importance than ever. St. Mary's, Utah State and George Mason have probably done enough to be Anti-Spoilers who could survive both a BB loss and a loss in their conference tourney and still get into the expanded NCAAs. For everybody else, this figures to be a knockout game -- especially for the upper eschelon in the Colonial (VCU, Old Dominion, Hofstra), Horizon (Valparaiso, Cleveland State, Butler) and Missouri Valley (Wichita State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa). [We're probably down to 20 or so teams vying for 10 soft bids at this point.]
     Half of those teams will rise in esteem while the likes of Gonzaga and the top of the Atlantic 10 (Xavier, Richmond, Temple, Duquesne) and Conference USA (UTEP, UAB, Memphis, Southern Mississippi) all stand still. [In particular, C-USA could wind up being squeezed down to 1BC while the BB-participating leagues expand to muliple bids.]
     Belmont, Coastal Carolina, Princeton/Harvard, Oakland and East Tennessee State all could have used the exposure (if not to earn an NCAA bid, to at least build the reputation of their leagues -- don't forget, there are 4 postseason tournaments now!)

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Kansas-@KansasSt(KS), @Syracuse-WVirginia, @McNeeseSt-SamHoustonSt,

Tuesday:

@OhioSt-MichiganSt, GeoMason-@VCU(VA), @Marquette-StJohns, @VirginiaTech-Maryland,

Wednesday:

@SanDiegoSt-NewMexico, Georgetown-@Connecticut, Wisconsin-@Purdue, Louisville-@Cincinnati,
(7P):Vanderbilt-@Georgia,
@SoMississippi-UTEP, @WrightSt-ClevelandSt(OH), @Memphis-UAB, @TXSanAntonio-McNeeseSt, @Maine-Vermont,

Thursday:

@Arizona-WashingtonSt, @Belmont-ETennesseeSt(TN), @Temple-Richmond, @UTValley-{SDakota},

Friday:

@Louisville-Connecticut, @Yale-Princeton,

Friday-Sunday:

BRACKETBUSTERS on-campus [114 teams/57 games]

(Fri:

@WichitaSt-VCU(TV), @Drexel-Kent St(TV);

 Sat:

@StMarys-UtahSt(TV), Geo Mason-@NoIowa(TV),

@Fairfield-AustinPeay(TV),

@Valparaiso-MissouriSt(TV),

@LongBeachSt-Montana(TV), @ColofCharleston-Vermont(TV), @Liberty-Iona(TV), @WrightSt-Hofstra(TV), @MurraySt-Evansville(BG), @Buffalo-WIMilwaukee, @Rider-Delaware, @JamesMadison-MiamiOH, @Akron-Creighton, @UCSantaBarbara-BoiseSt, @LoyolaIL-StPeters,

@Wofford-BallSt, @NewMexicoSt-NoColorado, @IndianaSt-MoreheadSt(BG), @MorganSt-VMI, @TennesseeSt-DelawareSt, @TennesseeTech-GardnerWebb, @MontanaSt-Idaho, @CalPolySLO-NoArizona, @Winthrop-OhioU, @WeMichigan-IllinoisSt, @{Presbyterian}-Davidson, @PortlandSt-LoyolaMarymount, @UNCAsheville-Northeastern, @UNCWilmington-CharlestonSo, @SanJoseSt-WeberSt, @SoIllinois-WIGreenBay, @LouisianaTech-GeorgiaSt,

@Siena-Maine, @OralRoberts-Pacific, @UCDavis-Hawaii, @Nevada-UCIrvine, @BostonU-Canisius, @WeCarolina-EaKentucky, @EaWashington-CalStNorthridge, @NoIllinois-{Seattle}, @StonyBrook-Manhattan(NY), @HighPt-AppalachianSt(NC), @FresnoSt-UCRiverside(CA), @Drake-Detroit, @TNMartin-Bradley,

@SEMissouriSt-SacramentoSt, @YoungstownSt-BowlingGreen(OH), @IdahoSt-CalStFullerton, @Toledo-EaIllinois, @Marist-NewHampshire, @William&Mary-Radford(VA), @EaMichigan-JacksonvilleSt, @Niagara-CMichigan, @Towson-LoyolaMD(MD);

 Sun:

@OldDominion-ClevelandSt(TV)),

Saturday:

Pittsburgh-@StJohns, NotreDame-@WVirginia, @Arizona-Washington, @MichiganSt-Illinois, @ColoradoSt-UNLV, @Tennessee-Georgia, @StephenFAustin-TexasSt(TX), @McNeeseSt-NorthwesternSt(LA), @Wagner-LongIsland(NY), @Lipscomb-ETennesseeSt(TN), @Hampton-BethuneCookman, @Longwood-CalStBakersfield, @UTValley-{NDakota},

Sunday:

OhioSt-@Purdue(BG), @Temple-StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5),

Monday week:

@Kansas-OklahomaSt, @Villanova-Syracuse, @Chattanooga-Furman, @WeMichigan-KentSt, @TexasSo-MSValleySt.

---

Top 25 - 11 Feb 14 - [] Column

1. Texas (22-3)
2. Pittsburgh (23-2)
3. Ohio State (23-1)
4. Kansas (24-1)
5. Duke (23-2)
6. BYU (23-2)
7. San Diego State (23-1)
8. Notre Dame (21-4)
9. Georgetown (20-5)
10. Wisconsin (17-5)
11. Louisville (19-6)
12. Connecticut (19-5)
13. Syracuse (20-6)
14. Villanova (19-6)
15. Arizona (21-4)
16. Purdue (20-5)
17. Florida (20-5)
18. Vanderbilt (18-6)
19. Kentucky (17-7)
20. Missouri (18-6)
21. North Carolina (18-6)
22. St. Mary's (20-4)
23. George Mason (21-5)
24. Xavier (18-6)
25. Utah State (22-3)

Honorable Mention:

St. John's (15-9), Montana (16-7), Texas Southern (12-10).