13 Jan 7 - Pat Down

Volume XVII, No. 10 - 13 Jan 7 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Pat Down

Some straggler out of conference games merit mention.

    
St. Louis, who appears to have refocused on the court (after the loss of coach Rick Majerus in the preseason), handled New Mexico, @60-46; the Billikens were the preseason favorites in the ATLANTIC 10 (along with newcomer Butler) and they look like it for the first time this season. Temple gave Kansas all it could handle in Lawrence, falling 62-@69 (behind 26p1a from gKhalif Wyatt); the Owls shot only 30 percent from the floor but mostly they just missed open shots and they only committed 4 turnovers all game. Gonzaga escaped, 69-@68, at Oklahoma State thanks to a big rebound margin (33-18) and the inside scoring of fKelly Olynyk(21p9r); this year's 'Zags aren't necessarily better than last year's version (but the field out there is definitely worse). Duke had no trouble with Davidson at a neutral site in Charlotte, winning @67-@50 -- it's not a surprising result, but that was Davidson's last chance to make any noise out-of-conference (until BRACKETBUSTERS) and this veteran team seemed capable of much more than they've managed so far.

    
The PATRIOT LEAGUE was poised to make a big splash, but instead it came up short (and worse). Bucknell gave Missouri all it could handle before falling 64-@66 (behind 26p14r4a from cMike Muscala; as pPhil Pressey had 26p5a for the Tigers). Lehigh nearly overcame 21 turnovers and 16 steals by VCU before falling 55-@59. Worse than the loss, bC.J. McCollum (the nation's leading scorer, [26ppg]) fractured his foot and is out 2 months -- (it'll be lucky if he can make it back for any postseason the Mountain Hawks can earn without him). It's a terrible loss -- not only will he miss the bulk of the senior season of his great career, but the league (and college basketball) will miss the final chapter of the four-year rivalry he's had with cMuscala.

Conference play provided some early stumbles, but there's a long way to go.

    
Illinois looked ready to turn back into a pumpkin with a disappointing road loss at Purdue, 61-@68 (as tTerone Johnson had 25p9r4a); but the Illini regrouped and whipped Ohio State, @74-55; it's the Buckeyes who need some magic -- they're not getting enough rebounding from fDeShaun Thomas(24p4r) and pAaron Craft(11p3a) doesn't really scare you as Option No. 2 in the offense. Cincinnati handled Pittsburgh on the road, 70-@61, thanks to its superior guardplay; but the Bearcats fell at home to St. John's, @52-53 (on gD'Angelo Harrison's game-winner). Kansas State (and bRodney McGruder[28p5r]) continued its resurgence with a fine @73-67 win over Oklahoma State. Marquette earned two hard-fought home wins: @82-76 over Connecticut (despite 29p8r from tShabazz Napier) and @49-48 over Georgetown in yet another dreadful game that once again featured the Hoyas.

    
The pieces at Pittsburgh seem better than the sum of the parts; they couldn't handle Cincy at home and then fell on the road at Rutgers as well, 62-@67. Minnesota keeps beating the teams you put in front of them, this time handling Michigan State, @76-63. Arizona escaped two buzzer-beaters: the refs disallowed Colorado's game-winner (after looking at the same replay everyone thinks showed the basket to be good) and the Wildcats went on to win @92-83(OT), and then Utah just plain missed its game-tying shot as they won @60-57. That's four games now that are in the win column for undefeated UofA that could easily have been losses. UCLA continued good form with two solid home wins: @79-65 vs California (as the Bears shot 0-for-13 from three-point land), and @68-60 over Stanford.

    
Much less fanfare surrounded Jim Boeheim's passing Bob Knight for second-place on the all-time career wins list (903 and counting) than the hoopla that surrounded No. 900.

Under the radar, some preseason favorites got off to rocky starts inside their leagues.

    
In the BIG WEST, Long Beach State dropped a 73-@79 decision at Cal Poly-SLO. In the SUN BELT, Western Kentucky fell twice on the road -- 67-@75 at Arkansas(Little Rock) and 61-@75 at Arkansas State. In the ATLANTIC SUN, 1-13 Kennesaw State used a big home crowd (and some homer refs) against its in-state rival to knock off Mercer, @83-75 (thanks to going 38-for-55 on free throws). In the downgraded COLONIAL, Drexel had no trouble winning at Georgia State, 77-@60, but fell @66-69 at home vs Towson. In the SWAC, Southern handled Texas Southern, @63-57. In the GREAT WEST, New Jersey Tech stunned Utah Valley, 57-@52, to take early control of the race.

If N.C. State wants any serious consideration as a Final Four contender, the Wolfpack must find a way to beat Duke at home (Saturday). Minnesota could break the BIG 10 race wide open with a couple of huge road wins: at Illinois (Wednesday)
and at Indiana (Saturday) -- even a split would set the Golden Gophers up quite nicely. Gonzaga's level is well above slumping St. Mary's' at this point, so don't be surprised by a blowout when the Bulldogs host the Gaels (Thursday). It's more "Inside vs Outside" when Notre Dame visits Cincinnati (Monday). The MOUNTAIN WEST WARS get under way with three great clashes: New Mexico vs UNLV, and Wyoming vs Boise State (both Wednesday), and San Diego State vs Colorado State (Saturday). Temple hosts St. Louis (Saturday) in the first of many battles in this year's ATLANTIC 10 WARS.

    
Newcomer Oral Roberts gets its first SOUTHLAND showdown when streaking Stephen F. Austin comes to Tulsa (Saturday).

-- Ron

P.S. Congratulations to this year's co-champions of the PIGSKIN POOL PARTY:

     Ronald Days (for the second-straight year!)
and Neil Norton (who led this year's Pool from start-to-finish!)

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Cincinnati-NotreDame(BG),

Tuesday:

@Georgetown-Pittsburgh, @Drexel-Northeastern,

Wednesday:

Minnesota-@Illinois, @NewMexico-UNLV, @Wyoming-BoiseSt, @VCU-Dayton, @Maryland-FloridaSt, @Memphis-ECarolina, @Akron-WeMichigan, @CharlestonSo-Winthrop(SC),

Thursday:

Arizona-@Oregon, @Gonzaga-StMarys, @NCarolina-MiamiFL, @SDState-Oakland, @Idaho-Denver, @LongIsland-Wagner(NY), @CConnecticutSt-SacredHeart(CT)(CT_6), @NFlorida-Mercer, @SCUpstate-FLGulfCoast, @SoUtah-WeberSt(UT),

Friday:

@LoyolaMD-Fairfield,

Saturday:

Duke-@NCState(NC), Minnesota-@Indiana, Illinois-@Wisconsin, Butler-@Dayton(BG), @Temple-StLouis, @NotreDame-Connecticut, UCLA-@Colorado, @Pittsburgh-Marquette, @SanDiegoSt-ColoradoSt, @Bucknell-Army, @GeorgiaTech-VirginiaTech, @FloridaSt-NCarolina, @WeMichigan-OhioU, @Stanford-Washington, @NDState-Oakland, @LongBeachState-Hawaii, @Pacific-CalPolySLO(CA), @OralRoberts-StephenFAustin, @Quinnipiac-SacredHeart(CT)(CT_6), @Princeton-Penn,

Sunday:

Michigan-@OhioSt, @MiamiFL-Maryland,

Monday week:

@Kansas-Baylor, Louisville-@Connecticut, @GeorgiaSo-Davidson.

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Top 25 - 13 Jan 7 - [] Column

1. Duke (14-0)
   
2. Michigan (14-0)
   
3. Arizona (14-0)
   
4. Kansas (12-1)
   
5. Louisville (13-1)
   
6. Minnesota (14-1)
   
7. Missouri (11-2)
   
8. Florida (10-2)
   
9. Indiana (13-1)
   
10. Syracuse (14-1)
    
11. Illinois (13-2)
    
12. Gonzaga (14-1)
    
13. Kansas State (11-2)
    
14. Creighton (14-1)
    
15. Butler (11-2)
    
16. New Mexico (13-2)
    
17. Cincinnati (13-2)
    
18. Ohio State (10-3)
    
19. Temple (10-3)
    
20. Wichita State (14-1)
    
21. Wyoming (11-0)
    
22. Notre Dame (13-1)
    
23. UCLA (12-3)
    
24. VCU (12-3)
    
25. St. Louis (11-3)
    

Honorable Mention:

Purdue (7-7), Marquette (11-3), St. John's (9-5), Rutgers (10-3).