12 Jan30 - Guard-Happy (MIDCONFERENCE)

Volume XVI, No. 13 - 12 Jan30 : MIDCONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

Guard-Happy

Florida handled Mississippi State, @69-57, to stay in contact with Kentucky in the SEC. The Gators lead the nation, making 11 three-pointers per game and were spot-on their average (11-for-24); but they were outrebounded 25-30 and only shot 4-for-7 on free throws. Vanderbilt, by contrast, shot 24-for-30 from the line in its @84-77 handling of upstart Middle Tennessee.
     Wisconsin kept Indiana on its downward slide, winning @57-50, as the deliberate Badgers only committed 4 turnovers while the Hoosiers only managed 4 assists.
     Syracuse escaped with a @63-61 win over West Virginia, thanks to game-winning free throws from gBrandon Triche(18p) (and a missed goal-tending call in their favor). Ohio State routed Michigan, @64-49; and Baylor held off Texas, @76-71, thanks to 27-for-34 on free throws (and despite 32p5a from pJ'Covan Brown).

Point-forward pfRoyce White(18p9r5a) controlled things well enough for Iowa State to hand Kansas a @72-64 defeat -- it may not come together completely this year, but the Cyclones could be something quite special with him as the focus. 25p12r from cRicardo Ratliffe wasn't enough as Missouri stumbled on the road at Oklahoma State, 72-@79, thanks to 27p from freshman tLeBryan Nash. Kansas State was tripped up at home by Oklahoma, @60-63, thanks to 30p from gSteven Pledger. Wichita State fell out of first place in the MVC, losing 86-@93(3OT) at Drake. San Diego State fell back into a tie for first place in the MWC after getting blown out at Colorado State, 60-@77.

Massachusetts claimed a share of the A-10 lead with a @72-59 win over St. Louis. Likewise, Southern Mississippi co-leads C-USA after handling Central Florida, @78-65.
     And pause to give a hand to Towson, which ended its D-I record 41-game losing streak with a @66-61 win over UNC-Wilmington.

More conferences made it the midpoint of the regular season. Ohio State and Michigan State led the BIG 10 (with two head-to-head clashes yet to come); Michigan and Wisconsin were tied for third; Purdue was fifth. Syracuse led the BIG EAST with Marquette alone in second; Notre Dame, Georgetown and South Florida were all tied for third; West Virginia, Louisville and Cincinnati tied for sixth place. California and Washington shared the PAC-12 lead; Oregon and upstart Colorado tied for third; UCLA, Stanford and Arizona hung in, all tied for fifth.
     In the SUN BELT, Middle Tennessee made it through undefeated with a two-game gap. In the WCC, St. Mary's was unbeaten ahead of Gonzaga. Davidson had been undefeated with a THREE-GAME GAP in the SOUTHERN, (but gave one back with a 74-@77 loss at Samford).
     Bucknell's @67-61 win over American made it undefeated with a two-game gap in the PATRIOT. Likewise, unbeaten Nevada had a two-game gap lead in the WAC. In the ATLANTIC SUN, Belmont and Mercer shared first place. Norfolk State led the MEAC, undefeated with a gap.

Ohio State has a tough trip on the road at Wisconsin (Saturday). Kansas visits Missouri (Saturday) with first place in the BIG 12 on the line. Florida State gets another chance to prove it's really the best ACC team when Virginia comes to visit (Saturday). Florida hosts Vanderbilt (Saturday) in a battle to hang on to second place in the SEC. Memphis hosting Xavier (Saturday) looked a lot better on paper when the season started than it does now that the game is upon us. Southern Mississippi looks for payback against visiting Memphis (Wednesday) in a showdown for first place in C-USA. Only the winner remains in first place in the METRO ATLANTIC when Manhattan hosts Iona (Saturday). Texas-Arlington hosts Texas-San Antonio (Wednesday) in the first of two meetings with first place in the SOUTHLAND at stake.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

Missouri-@Texas, @WVirginia-Pittsburgh, @NorfolkSt-CoppinSt,
(BRACKETBUSTERS PAIRING SELECTION) [142 teams/71 games],

Tuesday:

MichiganSt-@Illinois, Vanderbilt-@Arkansas, @IowaSt-KansasSt,

Wednesday:

@UNLV-ColoradoSt, Indiana-@Michigan, @Georgetown-Connecticut, @StLouis-StBonaventure, @SoMississippi-Memphis, @Northeastern-Drexel, @TXArlington-TXSanAntonio(TX), @BostonU-Vermont,

Thursday:

@MurraySt-SEMissouri, @California-Arizona, Gonzaga-@BYU, @NTexas-MidTennessee, @Washington-UCLA, @SDState-OralRoberts, @Campbell-CharlestonSo,

Friday:

BATTLE OF THE BOULEVARD II -(@Lipscomb-Belmont(TN)),

Saturday:

OhioSt-@Wisconsin, Kansas-@Missouri, @FloridaSt-Virginia, UNLV-@Wyoming, @Florida-Vanderbilt, Marquette-@NotreDame, Indiana-@Purdue(IN), @Georgetown-SFlorida, @StLouis-Dayton, @Denver-MidTennessee, @Memphis-Xavier, @Alabama-Mississippi, @Connecticut-SetonHall, @GeoMason-OldDominion(VA), @Tulsa-Marshall, @LaSalle-@StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(/PALESTRA/)(BIG_5), @Colorado-Oregon, @Stanford-Arizona, @Akron-EaMichigan, @Manhattan-Iona(NY), @NDState-OralRoberts, @VCU-Northeastern, @CoCarolina-CharlestonSo, @LongIsland-CConnecticutSt, @Wagner-RobertMorris, @MontanaSt-Montana(MT), @Mercer-SCUpstate, @MorganSt-CoppinSt(BaltimoreMD), @Albany-StonyBrook(NY),

Sunday:

@MichiganSt-Michigan(MI),

Monday week:

@Louisville-Connecticut, @TexasA&M-Texas(TX), @Davidson-Wofford,

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Top 25 - 12 Jan30 : MIDCONFERENCE - [] Column

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

Honorable Mention:

Iowa State (15-6), Oklahoma State (10-11), Drake (13-9), Oklahoma (13-7), Colorado State (14-6), Middle Tennessee (19-3), Davidson (13-5), Bucknell (16-6), Nevada (16-3), Belmont (14-7), Norfolk State (16-5).