11 Jan31 - The Fine Print (MIDCONFERENCE)

Volume XV, No. 13 - 11 Jan 31: MIDCONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

The Fine Print

Several teams made major statements to take control of their league races, but the fine print revealed itself when they gave back some of the lustre with bad showings the next time out.
     Ohio State turned in the finest performance by any team all season in its comprehensive thrashing of talented Purdue, @87-64 -- [and it wasn't even that close]. Freshman pAaron Craft is nominally the fifth option on offense, but he broke down the Boilermakers off the dribble (embarrassing tJuJuan Johnson[22p7r] more than once). But the Buckeyes must have read their own press and played a lazy game on the road against undermanned Northwestern (playing without its star fJohn Shurna, out with a concussion) -- the Wildcats had the ball in a tie game but threw it away as OhSU escaped 58-@57 thanks to a game-winning free throw from superfrosh fJared Sullinger(21p8r).
     gJimmer Fredette had another Player of the Year performance with 43 points as Brigham Young handed San Diego State its first loss of the season, @71-58 (despite 22p15r from cKawhi Leonard), in one of the rare Top-10 clashes ever not to involve at least one BCS team. You have to guard him tight because of his deep range, but his handle is so good he makes you pay for that as well with the blow-by, and his teammates do a very good job of spotting up and moving off the ball while he penetrates. But the Cougars succumbed to the hype and were beaten 77-@86 the next time out by New Mexico to fall back into a tie for first place with SnDgoSU.
     St. Mary's had a seminal win at Gonzaga, 73-@71 on a game-winning jumper by pMickey McConnell(27p6a), knocking the 'Zags to fourth place in the West Coast race (putting in major jeopardy GU's quest to extend its streak of 10 straight WCC titles). But the Gaels stumbled the next time out as well, falling 70-@85 at Portland (despite 32p more from gMcConnell).

On the flip side, some teams on their way out of relevance saved their seasons with big wins:
     St. John's -- that's right, eleventh place St. John's -- thrashed Duke @93-78 in Madison Square Garden behind gDwight Hardy(26p) and fJustin Brownlee(20p8r6a). bNolan Smith(32p7r4a) and tKyle Singler(20p) are scoring and it's still not enough. Steve Lavin's combination of smarts and charisma has the Redmen way overacheiving -- it's the same personnel that went 17-16/6-12 last year. Not only is it yet another blow in favor of the Mighty Big East (which has every right to all top 11 teams' receiving bids); but it knocks the Blue Devils out of #1 seed for the NCAAs (for the moment, at least), and it's a blow against the ACC in terms of getting at-large bids. Yikes. (At least, their cushy Charlotte Pod isn't in any danger.)
     The Pac-10 race was slipping away but Washington State's @87-80 win over first-place Washington (paced by 25p from gKlay Thompson) keeps them in the conversation in fourth place (and drops UWa into a first-place tie with Arizona).
     New Mexico's win over BYU brought the Lobos back from the brink of elimination in the Mountain West race. It's a multi-bid league, to be sure, but they've struggled all season and the likes of Colorado State look better for the fourth spot at this point.

Notre Dame doesn't have Top-10 talent, but thanks to the brutal Big East schedule, they've had ample opportunity to pull off major brand-name wins, most notably their 56-@51 road win at Pittsburgh (thanks to 19p7a from pBen Hansbrough) -- one of the best results of the entire season. Coach Mike Brey is pulling the right strings with this squad that's having somewhat of a Year After effect with the departure of all-everything cLuke Harangody.
     Syracuse's early season overachieving may have come to an end. The Orange were crushed, @68-90, by lowly Seton Hall (thanks to 28p9r from tJeremy Hazell) and also fell 70-@76 at scrappy Marquette. The 2-3 zone is great for establishing a lead, but once they get behind and need to switch to man-to-man or a press to catch up, they're in trouble.
     Xavier blew open a close game and went on to rout host Richmond, 85-@62, behind an impressive performancy by bTu Holloway: 33p7r5a (including 17-for-17 free throws). (Still, the Musketeers only share the Atlantic 10 lead at 7-0 with surprising Duquesne. It's still another week away before those two meet.)
     Lipscomb came back from down 18 at home to hand Belmont its first Atlantic Sun loss, @73-64, thanks to 26p from nimble bear cAdnan Hodzic, earning a split in their annual BATTLE OF THE BOULEVARD [Nashville] city series. It's still the BU-Bruins' race (and they can make a first-round splash if they can get to the NCAAs); but the likes of East Tennessee State(tMike Smith), Jacksonville and the LU-Bison are all good enough for the NIT if they don't spoil the party in the A-Sun tournament.

More conferences hit the midpoint of the regular season schedule:
     In the Big East, Pittsburgh lead the way at the break; Louisville was second; Notre Dame was third; Connecticut, Villanova and West Virginia were all tied for fourth; Marquette, Syracuse, Cincinnati and Georgetown were tied for seventh. St. John's struggled to stay in contact in eleventh.
     Ohio State is the last undefeated team (with a two-game gap). Purdue and Wisconsin follow second and third. Scrappy Penn State, Michigan State and Minnesota were all tied for fourth; Illinois hung on in seventh.
     BYU and San Diego State are tied for the MWC lead, with Colorado State and UNLV third and fourth; Air Force, Utah and New Mexico are hanging on, tied for fifth.
     In the Pac-10, Washington and Arizona were tied for first; UCLA was alone in third; California and Washington State were tied for fourth.
     In the West Coast: St. Mary's leads the WCC at the break; San Francisco and Santa Clara are tied for second; Gonzaga (in trouble in its bid for an eleventh straight conference title) and Portland are tied for fourth.
     Utah State is undefeated in the WAC (with a three-game gap).
     In the Atlantic 10, surprising Duquesne and Xavier are tied for first, undefeated (with a two-game gap); Temple, Richmond and Massachusetts are all tied for third.
     In Conference-USA, Memphis, UAB and UTEP were all tied for first place; Southern Mississippi was fourth; Marshall has made noise but is only ninth. Central Florida (which started 14-0 and has since gone 0-6) has been a complete bust in conference play.
     The MAC is a muddy mess with four teams tied for first place at the break: Buffalo, Ball State, Kent State and Bowling Green. Surprising Bethune-Cookman led Hampton and Morgan State by one game each in the MEAC. Bucknell led American by a game in the Patriot. Long Beach State lead the way in the Big West. Texas Southern and Jackson State were tied for lead in the SWAC.

Cleveland State can take control of the Horizon race with two big home wins this week: Valparaiso (Thursday), Butler (Saturday) -- only a road game at Wright State looms after that.
     It's the Game of the Year (Part I) in the Ivies when Princeton hosts Harvard (Friday).
     Coastal Carolina can seal the deal in the Big South (and host the conference tournament) with a home win vs Liberty (Thursday).
     College of Charleston's 64-@75 loss at Davidson dropped them back into a three-way tie for the Southern Conference lead; a couple of wins this week at home against Wofford (Thursday) and Furman (Saturday) could set them up to roll the rest of the way to the league title. (No Anti-Spoilers -- they'll still have to win the SoCon tourney [at Chattanooga] -- but senior bAndrew Goudelock could lead them to a NCAA first-round splash win.)

Gonzaga needs every win it can get at this point, but even a win Saturday vs Memphis (RMHC CLASSIC) may not be enough to warrant at-large consideration. (A loss could squeeze either team out of the picture in The Year of the Big East.)
     North Carolina is filling the void in the ACC and could actually be relevant by week's end if it can sweep at Boston College (Tuesday) and vs Florida State (Sunday).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

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

Tuesday:

Purdue-@Wisconsin, @Florida-Vanderbilt, @IndianaSt-WichitaSt, @BostonCol-NCarolina,

Wednesday:

@Connecticut-Syracuse, SanDiegoSt-@ColoradoSt, @Villanova-Marquette, @UtahSt-Nevada, @GeoMason-Hofstra, @UAB-SoMississippi,

Thursday:

@Jacksonville-Belmont, @ClevelandSt-Valparaiso(BG), @CoCarolina-Liberty, @NTexas-FLAtlantic, @Hartford-Vermont, @ColofCharleston-Wofford(SC), @TennesseeSt-MurraySt,

Friday:

@Princeton-Harvard, @Fairfield-Iona,

Saturday:

@Pittsburgh-Cincinnati, @BYU-UNLV, @Villanova-WVirginia, Kentucky-@Florida, @TexasA&M-Baylor(TX), @UtahSt-BoiseSt, @GeoMason-OldDominion(VA), @MissouriSt-IndianaSt, @Gonzaga-Memphis(RMHC_CLASSIC), @BostonCol-VirginiaTech, @JamesMadison-VCU(VA), @SoMississippi-Marshall, @ClevelandSt-Butler(BG), @StephenFAustin-McNeeseSt, @IUPUI-Oakland, @SanFrancisco-SantaClara(CA), @LongIsland-Quinnipiac, @Jacksonville-Lipscomb, @ColofCharleston-Furman(SC), @BallSt-Buffalo, @AustinPeay-MurraySt, @{SDakota}-{NDakota},

Sunday:

OhioSt-@Minnesota, @Wisconsin-MichiganSt, @NCarolina-FloridaSt, @Fairfield-Rider,

Monday week:

@Kansas-Missouri, @WVirginia-Pittsburgh, @BethuneCookman-MorganSt.

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Top 25 - 11 Jan 31: MIDCONFERENCE - [] Column

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

Honorable Mention:

St. John's (12-8), New Mexico (13-7), Washington State (15-6), Duquesne (13-5), George Mason (17-5).