12 Feb27 - Centers Of Attention

Volume XVI, No. 17 - 12 Feb27 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Centers Of Attention

Missouri looked as good as you could ask for, leading by 19 early in the second half at Kansas (and bMarcus Denmon[28p5r] was about to enter his name into Player of the Year consideration); but it's hard to win with just jumpshots and the Jayhawks came all the way back behind cThomas Robinson(28p12r6b) to win @87-86(OT) in a classic that rivaled @UK-UNC as The Game of the Year. (KU and coach Bill Self clinched their EIGHTH STRAIGHT BIG 12 title in the process.)
     Not to be outdone, cAnthony Davis had 28p11r6b of his own (on 10-for-11 shooting) as Kentucky again took Vanderbilt's best shot and won @83-74 to clinch the SEC. (cDavis' had the better game on the day; but he's got way more help than cRobinson does, so Player of the Year is headed to Lawrence.)

Kentucky (Louisville-Atlanta) and BIG EAST titlist Syracuse (Pittsburgh-Boston) have locked up their #1 NCAA seeds -- neither one needs to win its conference tournament. The other two #1 seeds (and, especially, the coveted St. Louis Regional) are still up for grabs among the rest of this year's Elite Eight. (The Phoenix Regional has no pull.) 3-1/Duke has the inside track, having beaten both BIG 12 titlist Kansas and BIG 10 titlist Michigan State as well as North Carolina. 2-3/Kansas also beat 1-2/Ohio State; 1-2/UNC beat 1-2/Michigan State; 1-2/Ohio State did beat 3-1/Duke. 1-1/Missouri would need a lot of help to see St. Louis again this year. (NOTE: Syracuse hasn't played any of the E8 teams all year -- its best out-of-conference win is a home squeaker over Florida.)
     Duke and North Carolina have their usual home-state Pod (Greensboro, this year) clinched. So too for Kansas and Missouri in Omaha. Michigan State gets one Columbus Pod while ineligible Ohio State ships to Louisville. The second slot in Columbus could be quite a prize for one among Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Marquette and Indiana. Georgetown may not get Pittsburgh. Florida and Murray State would love to get Nashville and UNLV would take Albuquerque. Wichita State won't get Omaha but would take Albuquerque. No one wants banishment to Portland.

Wisconsin came back to win on the road at Ohio State, 63-@60 -- just solid individual defending more than anything else. The Buckeyes' fJared Sullinger's production has been down as OSU has become more and more a team where scorers bWilliam Buford and fDeSean Thomas go for individual offense (and sometimes the shots don't fall).
     Florida State couldn't come through in its best chance to earn a first ACC title. The Seminoles couldn't handle Duke, falling at home @66-74, and then collapsing on the road at undermanned Miami(Florida), 62-@78. New Mexico dropped two -- 63-@71 at Colorado State and 64-@83 at TCU -- to turn last week's two-game lead back into this week's three-way tie (with UNLV and San Diego State, again).
     Memphis routed Marshall on the road, 87-@67, in one of the few decisive results inside CONFERENCE USA. Kansas State made it a sweep of Missouri, winning 78-@68; Seton Hall throttled Georgetown, @73-55; Purdue came through on the road at Michigan, 75-@61; Cincinnati tripped up Louisville, @60-56; Iowa edged Wisconsin, @67-66 (behind 33p from gMatt Gatens); Colorado knocked California out of first place, @70-57. Florida fell at Georgia (62-@78); Notre Dame fell at St. Johns (58-@61).
     Harvard fell at home to Penn, @54-55, throwing the Ivy League race back in doubt. The Crimson closes with two road games while Penn has two at home with a Tuesday week grudge game at Princeton that could decide the fate of some Bubble team out there somewhere.

St. Mary's cruised home to clinch the WCC title (ending Gonzaga's 11-year streak). Valparaiso clinched the HORIZON (to seal the end of Butler's 5-year run). Drexel's 73-@72 win at Old Dominion (despite 37p12r from xKent Bazemore) won the COLONIAL regular season title -- it's the Dragon's 17th-straight win (and 23rd out of 24) -- but as dominant as that sounds, they're no lock to win the conference tournament. VCU has turned it on at the right time as well, avenging an earlier squeak loss to George Masonn with an impressive @89-77 win (behind 31p from Bradford Burgess) . . . and the conference tournament is in Richmond.
     Also clinching regular season titles: Long Beach State(BIG WEST), Iona(METRO ATLANTIC), Texas-Arlington(SOUTHLAND), Nevada(WAC), Akron(MID-AMERICAN), Bucknell(PATRIOT), Long Island(NEC), Mississippi Valley State(SWAC) and Utah Valley(GREAT WEST).
     SUNY-B (Binghamton), the last remaining winless team on the season came through (and in a meaningful way) -- by beating Vermont, @57-53, it knocked the Catamounts out of a first-place tie and handed the AMERICA EAST title to Stony Brook.
     Temple earned a share of this year's BIG 5 title with a 80-@79(OT) win at La Salle; but the Owls couldn't take it outright when they fell at St. Joseph's, which earned its share at 3-1 with a @82-72 win. (Too bad/good thing their first A-10 meeting, Temple @78-60, isn't the one that counted for the city series.)

North Carolina has to do it the hard way -- win in Cameron (Saturday) -- in order to salvage an elite season. Ohio State needs help from Indiana (Tuesday) in order to make its Sunday showdown at Michigan State matter. Memphis still has a lot of work to do in C-USA: vs Central Florida (Tuesday) and at Tulsa (Saturday). Temple (Wednesday vs Massachusetts) still has the inside track on St. Louis (Tuesday vs Xavier) for the A-10 title. Washington is on the road to finish the PAC-12 race. New Mexico is at home while UNLV is on the road to finish the MWC.
     Weber State and Montana are tied atop the BIG SKY with a FIVE-GAME GAP on the rest of the field. UM hopes home court will make the difference in the regular season showdown (Tuesday) and the right to host the tournament.

The HORIZON finished with a six-way tie for third place (FIVE GAMES out of second place) -- anyone other than Wichita State or Creighton would be a true Spoiler. Murray State paid back its one loss with an 80-@62 rout at Tennessee State (but it'll likely have to do it one more time as TNSt hosts the OVC tourney this week).
     Jack Dawson Watch: Belmont had already clinched the A-SUN title (a THREE-GAME GAP) when it won 62-@61 at second-place Mercer; but its the MU Bears who are hosting the tourney and that's twice now those two have gone endplay, so there's no gimmie NCAA bid for the BU Bruins. UNC-Asheville won the BIG SOUTH by FOUR-GAMES but didn't dominate the Top 4.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Kansas-@OklahomaSt, NotreDame-@Georgetown, @Baylor-TexasTech(TX), @Gonzaga-Longwood,

Monday, Wednesday-Thursday, Saturday:

BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT Qtrs on-campus, @ #1-seed(UNCAsheville/AshevilleNC), on-campus
- (Wed (2nd/Qtrs): @[1]UNCAsheville, [2]CoCarolina, [3a]@Campbell, [3b]CharlestonSo),

Tuesday:

MichiganSt-@Indiana, Florida-@Vanderbilt, @Memphis-CFlorida, @StLouis-Xavier, @Montana-WeberSt,

Tuesday, Friday-Saturday, Tuesday week:

HORIZON TOURNAMENT on-campus, @ #1-seed(Valparaiso/ValparaisoIN), on-campus
- (Tue (1st/16s on-campus): @[3a]Detroit-[10]LoyolaIL, @[3b]Milwaukee-[9]ILChicago, @[3c]Butler-[8]WrightSt(BG), @[6a]YoungstownSt-[6b]GreenBay;
   Sat (3rd/Semis @ #1-seed(Valparaiso): @[1]Valparaiso, [2]ClevelandSt),

Wednesday:

@Missouri-IowaSt, Marquette-@Cincinnati, @Temple-Massachusetts, @KentSt-OhioU(OH), @Akron-Buffalo, @{Seattle}-Longwood,

Wednesday-Saturday:

OVC TOURNAMENT on-campus, @ Nashville TN (Tennessee St)
- (Thu (2nd/Qtrs): [6a]AustinPeay;
   Fri (3rd/Semis): [1]MurraySt, @[2]TennesseeSt),
A-SUN TOURNAMENT @ Macon GA (Mercer)
- (Wed (1st/Qtrs): [1]Belmont, @[2]Mercer),

Wednesday-Saturday, Monday week:

WCC TOURNAMENT @ Las Vegas NV /OHA/
- (Wed (1st/32s):   [8]Portland-[9]SantaClara;
   Thu (2nd/16s):   [5]SanFrancisco-[8]/[9], [6]SanDiego-[7]Pepperdine(CA);
   Fri (3rd/Qtrs):  [3]BYU-[6]/[7], [4]LoyolaMarymount-[5]//[8]/[9];
   Sat (4th/Semis): [1]StMarys-[4]///[5]//[8]/[9], [2]Gonzaga-[3]//[6]/[7]),

Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday week:

PATRIOT TOURNAMENT on-campus
- (Wed (1st/Qtrs): @[1]Bucknell, @[2]Lehigh),

Thursday:

@Virginia-FloridaSt, @Oregon-Colorado, @Nevada-NewMexicoSt,

Thursday-Sunday:

MVC TOURNAMENT @ St. Louis MO
- (Thu (1st/16s):  [3e]Drake-[10]Bradley, [8]IndianaSt-[9]SoIllinois;
   Fri (2nd/Qtrs): [1]WichitaSt-[8]/[9], [2]Creightont-[3e]/[10], [3a]Evansville-[3d]@MissouriSt, [3b]IllinoisSt-[3c]NoIowa),

Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday week:

NEC TOURNAMENT on-campus
- (Thu (1st/Qtrs): [1]LongIsland, [2]Wagner, [3]RobertMorris, [4]StFrancisNY),

Thursday, Saturday-Sunday, Saturday week:

AMERICA EAST TOURNAMENT @ West Hartford CT (Hartford), Finals on-campus
- (Sat (2nd/Qtrs @ Hartford CT): [1]StonyBrook, [2]Vermont, [3]BostonU-@[5b]Hartford, [4]Albany),

Friday:

@KentSt-Akron(OH), @Princeton-Yale,

Friday-Monday week:

COLONIAL TOURNAMENT @ Richmond VA (VCU)
- (Fri (1st/16s):  [5]Delaware-[12]Towson, [6]GeorgiaSt-[11]Hofstra, [7]Northeastern-[10]@William&Mary, [8a]@JamesMadison-[8b]UNCWilminton;
   Sat (2nd/Qtrs): [1]Drexel-[8a]/[8b], @[2]VCU-[7]/[10], [3]@GeoMason-[6]/[11], [4]@OldDominion-[5]/[12]),
MAAC TOURNAMENT @ Springfield MA
- (Sat (2nd/Qtrs): [1]Iona, [2]LoyolaMD, [3a]Manhattan, [3b]Fairfield),
SOCON TOURNAMENT @ Asheville NC
- (Fri (1st/16s):  [4S]ColOfCharleston;
   Sat (2nd/Qtrs): [1S]@Davidson),

Saturday:

@Syracuse-Louisville, @Duke-NCarolina(NC), Georgetown-@Marquette, Baylor-@IowaSt, Memphis-@Tulsa, @CalStFullerton-LongBeachSt(CA), @Marshall-SoMississippi, @Penn-Yale, @Princeton-Brown, @TXSanAntonio-TXArlington(TX),

Saturday-Tuesday week:

SUN BELT TOURNAMENT @ Hot Springs AR
- (Sat (1st/16s):  [6]SAlabama-[11]Troy(AL), [7]WeKentucky-[10]FLInternational, [8]FLAtlantic-[9]@ArkansasSt;
   Sun (Qtrs): [1/1E]MidTennessee-[8]/[9], [2/1W]@ARLittleRock-[7]/[10], [3]Denver-[6]/[11], [4]Louisiana-[5]NTexas),
SUMMIT TOURNAMENT @ Sioux Falls SD
- (Sat (1st/Qtrs): [1]OralRoberts, [2]@SDState;
   Sun (1st/Qtrs): [3]Oakland),

Saturday, Tuesday week-Wednesday week:

BIG SKY TOURNAMENT on-campus, @ #1-seed(?WeberSt/Montana?)
- (Sat (1st/Qtrs on-campus): WeberSt, Montana),

Sunday:

Kentucky-@Florida, @MichiganSt-OhioSt, @Indiana-Purdue, @Stanford-California(CA),

Monday week, Wednesday week-Saturday week:

MAC TOURNAMENT on-campus, @ Cleveland OH
- (@Akron, @OhioU, Buffalo, @KentSt).

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Top 25 - 12 Feb27 - [] Column

1. Kentucky (28-1) SEC
2. Syracuse (29-1) BIG E
3. Kansas (23-5) BIG 12
4. Duke (24-4)
5. Michigan State (23-5) BIG 10
6. Missouri (25-4)
7. North Carolina (25-4)
8. Wisconsin (21-8)
9. Michigan (20-8)
10. Ohio State (23-6)
11. Wichita State (25-4) MVC
12. UNLV (22-6)
13. Notre Dame (19-9)
14. Georgetown (20-6)
15. Florida (22-7)
16. Marquette (24-5)
17. Baylor (23-5)
18. Louisville (22-7)
19. Murray State (24-1) OVC
20. Vanderbilt (20-9)
21. Indiana (22-7)
22. St. Mary's (23-5) WCC
23. Drexel (25-5) COLON
24. VCU (25-6)
25. Memphis (21-8)

Honorable Mention:

Kansas State (19-9), Seton Hall (19-10), Purdue (19-10), Georgia (13-15), St. John's (13-16), Colorado State (17-10), TCU (17-11), Miami(Florida) (17-10), Cincinnati (20-9), Iowa (15-14), Colorado (17-9), Penn (17-11),
St. Joseph's (19-11) .5BIG 5,
Temple (22-6) .5BIG 5,
Belmont (23-7) A-SUN,
Long Beach State (19-7) BIG W,
Iona (24-6) MAAC,
Texas-Arlington (20-6) SLAND,
Nevada (21-5) WAC,
Akron (19-9) MAC,
Bucknell (20-7) PAT,
Stony Brook (19-8) AMER E,
Long Island (21-8) NEC,
Mississippi Valley State (17-11) SWAC,
Valparaiso (19-10) HORIZ,
Utah Valley (11-10) GREAT W.