11 Feb7 - The Curd Sinks

Volume XV, No. 14 - 11 Feb 7 - [] Top 25 Ballot

The Curd Sinks

The last major conferences reached the halfway point. There are gaps in some of the division standings, but it isn't so much a case of the cream rising to the top as it is the curd sinking to the bottom that's at the cause of it.
     For sure, 8-0 Texas and 7-1 Kansas are playing well atop the Big 12, but there was a three-game gap down to third place where a logjam of teams were 4-4: (Texas A&M, Baylor, Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado). Preseason favorite Kansas State went 3-5 in the first half and is only still in contention because everyone else struggled. Missouri's pressure defense is a lot more intimidating at home (4-0) than on the road (0-4). Texas A&M's 4-out-5 skid has more to do with a bad schedule (two blowout losses to Texas in five games); the Aggies have it a bit easier in the second half with three games out of eight against Texas Tech and Iowa State. (Still, Texas' toughest remaining game is at Baylor; so look for the Longhorns to roll to the regular season title.)
     In the SEC, the surprise leader at the midpoint is Alabama at 7-1. Yes, they've got it easier in the West, but they're 2-0 against Kentucky and Tennessee after their 65-@60(OT) win over the Volunteers; coach Anthony Grant has turned a corner with the Crimson Tide in his second year since coming over from a successful run at VCU. Young Kentucky had two squeak losses (69-@71 at Mississippi, 68-@70 at Florida) to fall to 4-4 at the break (but there's nothing terribly wrong with the Wildcats, who only play in front of "home-away-from-home" crowds in the postseason, anyway). A @65-61(OT) win over Vanderbilt helped Florida push to 6-2 at the break for first place in the East. Give Tennessee lots of credit for going 5-3 in the first half during the 8-game suspension for coach Bruce Pearl; there's plenty of time (and room) for them to gather momentum in the second half and be a dangerous team on the national stage.
     What else is new? It's Duke and North Carolina tied for the ACC lead at the break at 7-1. UNC is on an upswing since its disatrous blowout loss at Georgia Tech three weeks back. Coach Roy Williams made a change at point guard, sitting junior pLarry Drew II and starting freshman pKendall Marshall. Drew saw the writing on the wall and has since quit the team and made plans to transfer. Meanwhile, it's been "addition by subtraction" as pMarshall has blossomed, culminating with his 16 assist performance in the Tar Heels' @89-69 rout of third place Florida State. [It's a good thing there are 3 extra at-large bids in play this year, especially with 10 bids slated for the Big East. Otherwise, with their poor out-of-conference record this year (including losing the CHALLENGE with the Big 10) would have the ACC also-rans up against it. Even so, the BRACKETBUSTERS event in two weeks might squeeze out the likes of fourth-place Virginia Tech or the fifth-place bunch: Boston College, Maryland and Clemson.]

Princeton's front line wore down Harvard -- [that doesn't even sound right!] -- as the Tigers came back from an early deficit to hold on for @65-61 win, taking the lead in the Ivies (5-0). They've still got a big game hosting 3-1 Penn on Tuesday before they can truly claim the midconference lead.
     The Southland is a muddy mess at the break. No fewer than 9 teams are within one game of first place between 5-3 and 4-4.
     In the Great West, Utah Valley is halfway done at 5-1, but {North Dakota} and New Jersey Tech also only have one loss but haven't reached the midpoint of their schedules yet.

Michigan State, which started the season with five returning starters from a Final Four team, has sunk so far now (after road drubbings at lowly Iowa, 52-@72, and Wisconsin, 59-@82) that the NCAAs are out of the picture all together. (Maybe Georgia Tech '05 was a similar disappointment, recently -- but even that team made the NCAA second round.)
     Washington sank 56-@68 at Oregon State and 76-@81 at Oregon -- its third straight road loss -- and fell to third in the Pac-10 as Arizona and UCLA surged ahead.
     Missouri State sank at Evansville (65-@77) out of first place in the MVC, leaving Wichita State to take over the lead.
     Maine sank 78-@88 at Boston University and @79-84 vs Maryland(Baltimore Count), allowing Vermont to resume the lead in the America East.

Tim Floyd (who left USC after the O.J. Mayo scandal) has landed on his feet at UTEP, now in first place in Conference USA at 6-2. That league may be headed for 1BC territory, though, as it has perennially chosen to skip BRACKETBUSTERS, which may really work against it this season.
     Murray State actually earned back the lead in the OVC with a 67-@58 road win at Austin Peay.

Cleveland State could only manage a split of its two big home games, a @76-65 win over Valparaiso and a disappointing @61-73 loss to Butler. The Vikings are the best overall team in the league, but they still have work to do to sew up the regular season title and an NCAA bid. Things could still go a lot of different ways for the Horizon League teams with the Missouri Valley (smarting from its wipeout loss in its CHALLENGE with the Mountain West) and the powerful Colonial (with its top teams all playing well at the right time) all needing a big showing in BRACKETBUSTERS.

If anyone can stop Ohio State's run at an undefeated season, it'll be Wisconsin at home on Saturday -- (the Buckeyes only have two road games left after that: at Purdue, at Penn State). Pittsburgh has two road games (at West Virginia, Monday; at Villanova, Saturday) threatening its gap lead in the Big East standings. It's a lot to expect for North Carolina's surge to continue with a road game at Duke (but the Tar Heels are actually better in the paint than the Blue Devils). Bruce Pearl hits the ground running on his return (at Tennessee, Tuesday; at Florida, Saturday). Xavier visits Duquesne on Sunday in a showdown for first place in the Atlantic 10.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

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

Tuesday:

@Kentucky-Tennessee, @Clemson-BostonCol, @Princeton-Penn,

Wednesday:

@Duke-NCarolina(NC), @NotreDame-Louisville(BG), Georgetown-@Syracuse, @Drexel-JamesMadison, @BowlingGreen-BallSt(BG), @Bucknell-American, @{Seattle}-UTValley,

Thursday:

Connecticut-@StJohns, StMarys-@SantaClara(CA), Alabama-@Vanderbilt, @Minnesota-Illinois, @Butler-WrightSt(BG), @Denver-FLAtlantic,

Friday:

@ETennesseeSt-Jacksonville, @Columbia-Princeton,

Saturday:

OhioSt-@Wisconsin, @Texas-Baylor(TX), Pittsburgh-@Villanova(PA), SanDiegoSt-@UNLV, @Louisville-Syracuse, Kentucky-@Vanderbilt, @Florida-Tennessee, NCarolina-@Clemson, StMarys-@SanFrancisco(CA), @GeoMason-JamesMadison(VA), @NoIowa-WichitaSt, @ColoradoSt-NewMexico, @VCU-OldDominion(VA), @Memphis-SoMississippi, @Valparaiso-WrightSt(BG), @StephenFAustin-TXSanAntonio(TX), @Oakland-IPFW, @WeKentucky-NTexas, @AustinPeay-TennesseeSt(TN), @Montana-NoColorado, @CalStNorthridge-LongBeachSt(CA), @SavannahSt-Longwood, @JacksonSt-TexasSo,

Sunday:

@Georgetown-Marquette, Purdue-@Illinois, @Cincinnati-StJohns, @Duquesne-Xavier,

Monday week:

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

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Top 25 - 11 Feb 7 - [] Column

1. Ohio State (23-0)
2. Texas (20-3)
3. Kansas (22-1)
4. Pittsburgh (21-2)
5. Duke (21-2)
6. BYU (21-2)
7. San Diego State (21-1)
8. Notre Dame (19-4)
9. Connecticut (18-4)
10. Georgetown (18-5)
11. Villanova (19-4)
12. Syracuse (20-4)
13. Louisville (18-5)
14. Wisconsin (15-5)
15. Arizona (20-4)
16. Kentucky (16-6)
17. Missouri (17-5)
18. Purdue (18-5)
19. Florida (18-5)
20. North Carolina (17-5)
21. Utah State (21-2)
22. St. Mary's (18-4)
23. George Mason (19-5)
24. Alabama (15-7)
25. Wichita State (19-4)

Honorable Mention:

College of Charleston (17-7), Princeton (15-4), Murray State (13-6).