12 Feb 6 - Phrases

Volume XVI, No. 14 - 12 Feb 6 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Phrases

tMarcus Denmon's heroics(29p9r;6/9 3s) offset 25p13r from cThomas Robinson in Missouri's @74-71 win over Kansas. It wasn't a full-fledged "statement" -- it only set up a three-way tie for the BIG 12 lead among the Tigers, Jayhawks and Baylor to start the second half of conference play. Florida State's @58-55 escape over Virginia left the Seminoles in a tie with North Carolina for first place in the ACC at the break as Duke stumbled at home, @74-78(OT) to veteran Miami(Florida) (thanks to 27p12r from cReggie Johnson). Florida's @73-65 win opened a gap over third-place Vanderbilt. Ohio State won at Wisconsin, 58-@52 (avenging the loss last year that ended the Buckeyes' undefeated run).
     Michigan State was dreadful (24% from the floor) in a 41-@42 loss at Illinois, but regrouped at home (52%) in a @64-54 win over Michigan. Indiana's slide continued with a 56-@68 loss at Michigan, but ended with a solid 78-@61 road win at Purdue (as tVictor Oladipo led the way with 23p8r4a). Georgetown kept slumping Connecticut on its downward slide, @58-44, and thumped pretender South Florida, @75-45.
     Revamped Notre Dame routed Marquette, @76-59, as freshman xPatrick Connaughton was everywhere (23p11r;5/8 3s). Southern Mississippi claimed first place outright in C-USA with a @75-72 squeaker over Memphis. (But the Tigers struck a more important blow for the conference with a comeback victory, @72-68, over A-10 power Xavier.) Gonzaga's 73-@83 loss at BYU probably means its run of 11 straight WCC titles is over -- even if they manage to beat St. Mary's at home (Thursday), the Bulldogs will still need help elsewhere to reach first place. Arizona's 78-@74 road win at California vaulted Washington into first place in the PAC-12 standings.
     (Syracuse got good news as cFab Melo was reinstated. Connecticut got bad news as coach Jim Calhoun took a leave of absence for medical reasons.)

It's been smooth sailing for undefeated Kentucky through the SEC schedule so far. UNLV's 66-@68 loss at Wyoming left San Diego State alone in first place halfway through the MWC race. In the A-10, Temple and La Salle led at the break, ahead of a four-way tie for third place.
     At midconference, Akron led the MAC East (and overall); Texas-Arlington(SOUTHLAND), Utah Valley(GREAT WEST) and Mississippi Valley State(SWAC) were all undefeated with a two-game gap over the rest of the field.

Kentucky hosts Florida (Tuesday) in a classic battle of bigs vs smalls. Ohio State has the first of two showdowns with Michigan State (at home, Saturday). Syracuse hosts Georgetown (Wednesday). Baylor couldn't handle the Kansas-Missouri double the first time around -- let's see if they've learned anything for the return gigs this week (Wednesday and Saturday). UNC hosts Duke (Wednesday) and Virginia (Saturday). UNLV gets its shot at redemption (and first place) when San Diego State comes to town (Saturday). Creighton gets to open a lead on Wichita State head-to-head (Saturday). Even a win over St. Mary's (Thursday) won't be enough to get Gonzaga back in the WCC race -- the 'Zags need help. Central Florida's best shot to get back in the C-USA race is this week: vs Marshall (Wednesday), at Southern Mississippi (Saturday).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Louisville-Connecticut, @Davidson-Wofford,

Tuesday:

@Kentucky-Florida, @OhioSt-Purdue(BG), @CoCarolina-Campbell,

Wednesday:

@Syracuse-Georgetown, Kansas-@Baylor, @NCarolina-Duke(NC), NotreDame-@WVirginia, @StJosephs-StLouis, @CFlorida-Marshall, @EaMichigan-KentSt, @Massachusetts-StBonaventure, @StFrancisNY-LongIsland(NY), @Quinnipiac-CConnecticutSt(Connecticut_6), @Lamar-NorthwesternSt,

Thursday:

StMarys-@Gonzaga, @Indiana-Illinois, Washington-@Oregon, @ClevelandSt-Valparaiso(BG), @Arizona-Colorado, @UCLA-Stanford(CA), @American-Lehigh, @NJIT-UTValley,

Friday:

@LoyolaMD-Iona,

Saturday:

Kentucky-@Vanderbilt, @OhioSt-MichiganSt, @Syracuse-Connecticut, @Missouri-Baylor, @FloridaSt-MiamiFL(FL), @NCarolina-Virginia, @UNLV-SanDiegoSt, @Creighton-WichitaSt, @Marquette-Cincinnati, @SoMississippi-CFlorida, @LaSalle-StLouis, @NewMexico-Wyoming, @WVirginia-Louisville, @MidTennessee-ARLittleRock, @ClevelandSt-Butler(BG), @EaMichigan-OhioU, @Temple-Xavier, @KentSt-BallSt, @StJosephs-Massachusetts, @OldDominion-VCU(VA), @Longwood-{Seattle},

Sunday:

@Michigan-Illinois, Washington-@OregonSt, @LoyolaMD-Fairfield, @LongIsland-StFrancisNY(NY), @CConnecticutSt-Quinnipiac(Connecticut_6), @Vermont-StonyBrook, @{NEOmaha}-CalStBakersfield,

Monday week:

Syracuse-@Louisville, Kansas-@KansasSt(KS), @Baylor-IowaSt, @Southern-MSValleySt.

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Top 25 - 12 Feb 6 - [] Column

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

Honorable Mention:

Illinois (15-7), Miami(Florida) (14-7), Wyoming (15-5), Northern Iowa (16-9), Arkansas (16-7), Arizona (15-8), BYU (20-6), South Dakota State (19-6), Texas-Arlington (15-5).