11 Jan24 - Self-Spoilage

Volume XV, No. 12 - 11 Jan 24 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Self-Spoilage

Syracuse travelled to Pittsburgh without its best player (tKris Joseph) and was ambushed -- down 19-0 only eight minutes into the game; but the Orange put on a 17-0 run of their to make it a 2-point game with six minutes left in the first half; Pitt had little trouble finding holes in the vaunted 2-3 zone, though, and won @74-66 behind 21p from fNasir Robinson. 'Cuse was at full strength (and got 23p from tJoseph) when Villanova's guards shot over the zone and won 83-@72 in the Carrier Dome behind 21p from gMaalik Wayns.

Having twin power forwards (fMarcus and fMarkieff Morris) is the ultimate redundancy and very definition of depth, which is Kansas' best asset. The Jayhawks crushed Baylor, 85-@65, on the road while manhandling the tallest front line in the nation; and it looked like business as usual when the Jayhawks bolted to an 18-3 lead five minutes into the game against visiting Texas. But the Longhorns' individual stars took over as gJ'Covan Brown (23p) led the way to a stunning 74-@63 upset in Lawrence, snapping KU's 69-game home win streak. UTx's earlier @81-60 drubbing of Texas A&M set it up for sole possession of first place in the Big 12 at 4-0.

27p16r from freshman cJared Sullinger kept Ohio State's undefeated season intact in its 73-@68 road win at Illinois. Meanwhile, Michigan State fell twice on the road: 62-@71 at Illinois, and 76-@86 at Purdue. Washington pulled away from Arizona, @85-68, to stay in control of the Pac-10 race.
     Stumbling against unheralded opponents: Kentucky (66-@68 at Alabama), Louisville (67-@72 at Providence), West Virginia (@71-@75 in its annual State Title game with Marshall in Charleston, WV). UNLV was drubbed at home by Colorado State, @63-78. Colorado's week in the sun faded with two road losses: 67-@79 at Nebraska and 60-@67 at Oklahoma.

At this point, Player of the Year is a two-man race. Do you like gKemba Walker's game-winning tear drop field goal to cap his 24p5a6r performance as Connecticut beat Villanova (@61-59) or gJimmer Fredette's 42p burst in BYU's 94-@85 win at Colorado State? gWalker is arguably doing it against better competition night-in/night-out in the Big East, but the top of the Mountain West is as good as any league (and gFredette tore up the NCAAs last year just the same).

UConn's @72-61 win over Tennessee (with coach Bruce Pearl back on the bench against a non-conference opponent) helps cement the Big East's reputation as the nation's best conference. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt's surprisingly easy @89-70 drubbing of St. Mary's saved face for the SEC and dealt a blow to West Coast teams looking for respect.
     High-profile inter-league matchups are few and far between the rest of the way. The NCAA picked a bad year to expand the tournament. Coincident with the strong year the Big East is having, the Mid-Majors are struggling, in general.
     Two flagship Anti-Spoiler programs, Butler and Gonzaga, are fighting for their lives in conference play. The BU-Bulldogs are tied for third in the Horizon -- they may need to rely on their win at DIAMOND HEAD (Florida State, Washington State) to get an at-large NCAA bid. The GU-Bulldogs (aka 'Zags) are tied for third in the West Coast, two games back of unbeaten St. Mary's (who comes to Spokane on Thursday) -- a win over Baylor is all they have to recommend an at-large bid.
     Memphis escaped with two big road wins, 76-@75 at Southern Mississippi and 76-@73(OT) at UAB, to move into a tie with UTEP for the first place in Conference USA. The Tigers' season could be a whole lot different, though, if not for their 8-0 record in endplay games.

It's the midpoint in conference play already for nearly half of the leagues out there. The Mid-Majors haven't resolved much as whole. A handful of 1BC teams are playing first-round splash-worthy ball (even if they don't quite have the resume to make them can't-miss Anti-Spoilers).
     Missouri State battled its way to first place in the Missouri Valley at the halfway point with its big road games all done; Wichita State's @93-83(3OT) win over Indiana State earned the Shockers a tie for second place with the Sycamores; Northern Iowa and Creighton may still a lot to say in the second half, though.
     Belmont won at second-place East Tennessee State, 72-@62, to complete a dominant first half of its Atlantic Sun campaign (10-0 with a two-game gap). In the Western Athletic, Utah State was undefeated at the break (with a two-game gap). Oakland (which made noise in the preseason) has run away with the Summit League race -- undefeated with a three-game gap at the break. In the Big South, Coastal Carolina was undefeated at the break (with a road win over second-place Liberty in hand).

The Colonial is having a tight race. VCU and Hofstra lead George Mason by a game; but James Madison, Old Dominion and Delaware are all only two games back, tied for fourth. (But as competitive as they are in conference, this is a 1BC league this year.)
     In the Southern Conference, College of Charleston and Wofford led Furman in the South; and Chattanooga led the field by two games in the North. In the Metro Atlantic, Fairfield is in first place at the break (but still has two games to play against second-place Iona). In the Northeast, Long Island is barely ahead of a pack of teams right behind. In the America East, Maine has won at Vermont (which hosts third-place Hartford on Tuesday to close the first half). In the Big Sky, unbeaten Northern Colorado has handled second-place Montana and third-place Montana State easily in two home games. In the Sun Belt, Florida Atlantic is undefeated (with a three-game gap) in the East; Denver leads North Texas by a game in the West. Tennessee State and Austin Peay lead the competitive Ohio Valley with Murray State a game back; Morehead State heads another group one more game back in fourth.

Ohio State's unbeaten record will be tested again Tuesday vs Purdue. It's the Game of the Year (Part I) in the Mountain West on Wednesday when undefeated San Diego State visits once-beaten BYU. It doesn't get any easier for reeling Kansas State (Monday vs Baylor, Saturday at Kansas). Gonzaga gets a chance to get back in the WCC race when it hosts St. Mary's on Thursday -- and the same goes for Butler, who visits Valparaiso on Saturday. Hofstra has a big week in the Colonial (Monday vs James Madison, Thursday at VCU, Saturday vs Drexel).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Pittsburgh-NotreDame, @KansasSt-Baylor, @Hofstra-JamesMadison, @Delaware-GeoMason, @Wofford-Furman(SC),

Tuesday:

@OhioSt-Purdue(BG), Connecticut-@Marquette, Kansas-@Colorado,
Belmont-@Lipscomb(NashvilleTN)(BATTLE_OF_THE_BOULEVARD),
@Georgia-Florida, @Dayton-Richmond, @Vermont-Hartford,

Wednesday:

Texas-@OklahomaSt, @BYU-SanDiegoSt, @Louisville-WVirginia, @Georgetown-StJohns, @Memphis-CFlorida,
@StJosephs-LaSalle(PhiladelphiaPA)/Palestra/(BIG5), @SamHoustonSt-StephenFAustin(TX), @NoIowa-Creighton, @Pacific-LongBeachSt(CA), @Lehigh-Bucknell(PA),

Thursday:

@Duke-BostonCol, @Gonzaga-StMarys, @Arizona-UCLA, @VCU-Hofstra, @BallSt-KentSt, @MoreheadSt-TennesseeSt, @Iona-Rider,

Friday:

@Harvard-Columbia,

Saturday:

@Connecticut-Louisville, @Texas-Missouri, @Villanova-Georgetown, @Kansas-KansasSt(KS), Syracuse-@Marquette, BYU-@NewMexico, @Purdue-Minnesota, @Kentucky-Georgia, @Cincinnati-WVirginia, @Baylor-Colorado, @Richmond-Xavier, @Valparaiso-Butler(IN), @Marshall-Memphis, @SamHoustonSt-TXSanAntonio(TX), @Harvard-Columbia, @Denver-NTexas, @MoreheadSt-AustinPeay, @MontanaSt-Montana(MT), @Longwood-SavannahSt,

Sunday:

Duke-@StJohns, Washington-@WashingtonSt(WA), @MissouriSt-NoIowa, @Duquesne-Dayton,

Monday week:

@TexasA&M-Texas(TX), @Georgetown-Louisville,
(BRACKETBUSTERS PAIRING SELECTION).

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Top 25 - 11 Jan 24 - [] Column

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

Honorable Mention:

Oakland (14-8), Coastal Carolina (13-2), Maine (12-7), Northern Colorado (11-7).