12 Jan16 - Gael Force

Volume XVI, No. 11 - 11 Jan16 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Gael Force

St. Mary's made the most of its home showdown with Gonzaga, thumping the Bulldogs @83-62 behind 26p6a from pMatthew Dellavedova as cRob Jones turned passer (2p11r8a) and freshman cBrad Waldow supplied the inside punch (17p10r). The 6-0 Gaels have already handled new conferencemate BYU (@98-82) as well. Depending on how things play out, they'll either get a BRACKETBUSTERS road game at Creighton or at a still undefeated Murray State. (Gonzaga doesn't have much room for error now if it wants to claim a share of a twelfth straight regular season title -- the 'Zags still have BYU twice plus the return game with SMC.)
     It's only the first game of conference play, but San Diego State won a big one, @69-67, over visiting UNLV as xJamaal Franklin (24p10r) scored the game-winner (foiling tAnthony Marshall's[26p8r] one-man show).
     Mississippi State righted the ship in SEC play with a @56-52 home win over Alabama, thanks to 25p13r from cArnett Moultrie.
     Akron edged Ohio University, @68-63, to open 3-0 in the Mid-American. Iona fell at home, @72-75, to Manhattan but beat Loyola(Maryland), @75-63, to take the early lead in the Metro Atlantic. 6-0 Davidson already has a two-game gap over second-place College of Charleston in the Southern Conference. 6-0 Weber State handled Montana, @80-64, to take control of the Big Sky race. Texas-Arlington won 91-@82 at Lamar to start 4-0 in the Southland.

North Carolina managed to out-flop itself, topping its previous disastrous road loss against UNLV with an even more pitiful performance at Florida State, getting blown out, 57-@90, as gDelvidas Dulkys had 32p on 8-for-10 three-point shooting (while the Tar Heel team shot 4-for-21). UNC's toughness isn't just in question -- it's non-existent (and no amount of blowouts over scrub teams will fix the problem).
     Less humiliating, but also surprising were Michigan State's 74-@81 loss at Northwestern, Indiana's @74-77 loss at home to Minnesota, and Ohio State's 74-@79 loss at Illinois as the Illini shot 60% from the floor and tBrandon Paul had 43p8r7to on another 8-for-10 on three-pointers performance. Slumping Georgetown fell @64-68 at home to Cincinnati; Louisville was pounded 59-@90 at Providence; Michigan was routed 59-@75 at Iowa; Dayton lost 73-@81 at St. Bonaventure as cAndrew Nicholson had 30p13r; and Seton Hall slipped up 55-@56 at South Florida.

Ohio State paid back its earlier road upset by hammering Indiana, @80-63, behind hot shooting from gLenzelle Smith Jr. (28p7r;10/12fg). Baylor stayed unbeaten with a tough 75-@73 road win at Kansas State (despite 30p6r from bRodney McGruder). Duke held off Virginia at home, @61-58. Connecticut regrouped at home to handle West Virginia, @64-57 as tJeremy Lamb had 25p8r (and, more importantly, cAndre Drummond added 20p11r inside).

Syracuse has a better shot at staying undefeated longer than Baylor. The Bears visit Kansas (Monday) and host Missouri (Saturday) [and thanks to the new balanced scheduled in the BIG 12 this year, they'll have to face both of them back-to-back again next month]. The Orange face Pittsburgh at home (Monday) and Notre Dame on the road (Saturday) [and the top BIG EAST teams are all spinning their wheels at the moment]. It'll be a disappointment if Murray State doesn't make it all the way through its OVC schedule until its home BRACKETBUSTERS game in February game (where either Wichita State, St. Mary's or Long Beach State will come calling).
     Vanderbilt finds out if its resurgence is for real at Alabama (Thursday) and vs Mississippi State (Saturday). New Mexico gets both San Diego State (at home, Wednesday) and UNLV (away, Saturday). Washington can take control of the PAC-12 race if it can sweep California (Thursday) and Stanford (Saturday). Kent State has a tough road double: at Ohio University (Wednesday) and at Akron (Saturday). The Battle of West Virginia, WVU vs Marshall at Charleston (Wednesday), has more juice than usual this year.
     In 1BC showdowns, SOUTHERN: Davidson hosts College of Charleston (Thursday); PATRIOT: Lehigh hosts Bucknell (Wednesday); BIG SOUTH: UNC-Asheville hosts Coastal Carolina (Tuesday); NORTHEAST: Wagner hosts Long Island (Saturday); and SWAC: Texas Southern hosts Mississippi Valley State (Saturday).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Baylor-@Kansas, @Syracuse-Pittsburgh, @Missouri-TexasA&M, @Marquette-Louisville, @MSValleySt-Southern,

Tuesday:

MichiganSt-@Michigan(MI), @Purdue-Iowa, @UNCAsheville-CoCarolina,

Wednesday:

Creighton-@MissouriSt, @KansasSt-Texas, SanDiegoSt-@NewMexico, @Connecticut-Cincinnati, @Wisconsin-Northwestern, @WVirginia-@Marshall(WV)(@CharlestonWV), @OhioU-KentSt(OH), @CFlorida-Memphis, @Temple-LaSalle(PhiladelphiaPA), @Lehigh-Bucknell(PA), @TXSanAntonio-NorthwesternSt,

Thursday:

Vanderbilt-@Alabama, California-@Washington, @Gonzaga-SanFrancisco, @CalPolySLO-LongBeachSt(CA), @Davidson-ColofCharleston, @SacredHeart-Quinnipiac(Connecticut_6),

Friday:

Saturday:

@Kentucky-Alabama, @Baylor-Missouri, Syracuse-@NotreDame, @Duke-FloridaSt, Kansas-@Texas, @MichiganSt-Purdue, @Creighton-IndianaSt, @UNLV-NewMexico, @Vanderbilt-MississippiSt, @Florida-LSU, @Cincinnati-WVirginia, @SAlabama-MidTennessee, @Pittsburgh-Louisville, @Arkansas-Michigan, @Washington-Stanford, @SoMississippi-Marshall, @UCSantaBarbara-LongBeachSt(CA), @Dayton-Xavier(OH), @Akron-KentSt(OH), @Penn-@StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(/PALESTRA/)(BIG_5), @VCU-OldDominion(VA), @Bucknell-HolyCross, @Wagner-LongIsland(NY), @SacredHeart-CConnecticutSt(Connecticut_6), @TXArlington-StephenFAustin(TX), @UTValley-{NDaktota}, @TexasSo-MSValleySt,

Sunday:

@Illinois-Wisconsin, @ClevelandSt-Milwaukee, @NoIowa-Drake(IA_BIG_4),

Monday week:

Syracuse-@Cincinnati, @Kansas-TexasA&M, @ETennesseeSt-Belmont(TN).

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Top 25 - 12 Jan16 - [] Column

1. Kentucky (17-1)
2. Baylor (16-0)
3. Syracuse (19-0)
4. Ohio State (16-3)
5. Duke (14-2)
6. Kansas (13-3)
7. Michigan State (14-3)
8. Indiana (15-3)
9. Missouri (16-1)
10. North Carolina (15-3)
11. Creighton (15-2)
12. Wichita State (14-3)
13. Kansas State (12-4)
14. San Diego State (13-2)
15. UNLV (14-3)
16. Vanderbilt (13-4)
17. Murray State (15-0)
18. Virginia (13-2)
19. St. Mary's (15-2)
20. Mississippi State (15-3)
21. Connecticut (14-3)
22. Illinois (14-3)
23. Florida (14-4)
24. California (15-4)
25. Marquette (14-4)

Honorable Mention:

Florida State (11-6), Northwestern (12-5), Minnesota (14-5), Cincinnati (14-4).