13 Feb11 - Lemme Downgrade Ya

Volume XVII, No. 15 - 13 Feb11 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Lemme Downgrade Ya

In case anyone needed a reminder that this is, indeed, a down year for college hoops, last week's Top 4 all lost. Some losses can be chalked up to Desperation Trail and ignored -- Florida looked just fine blowing out Mississippi State, @83-58, after getting ambushed at Arkansas, 69-@80, earlier in the week. Indiana played quite well, leading Illinois by 8 late in the game until the Illini caught fire from deep and stole a @74-72 win on a sublime backdoor cut for a layup at the buzzer by tTyler Griffey. The Hoosiers looked as good as ever handling host Ohio State, 81-@68, behind 26p9r from fVictor Oladipo (their actual best player).

    
Michigan thought it had beaten host Wisconsin on a clutch three-pointer from gTim Hardaway Jr. only to watch tBen Brust's halfcourt heave send the game into overtime where they lost, 62-@65(OT). The Wolverines were able to hold off Ohio State earlier in the week, @76-74(OT), but their greatest strength (pTrey Burke's domination of the ball) is showing signs of being their biggest weakness in that the role players can get frozen out of the game when he tries to do too much all on his own.

    
More serious is the sudden slide (three straight losses) by Kansas, which dropped a 55-@62 decision at 10-12 TCU and a 66-@72 loss at Oklahoma to fall out of first place in the BIG 10. Only two weeks ago, the Jayhawks seemed to be cruising their way towards a #1 seed. Converted point guard gElijah Johnson is taking the brunt of the criticism, but this team struggled mightily on offense early on before bBen McLemore stepped up to lead the way.

For some reason, the Tortoise and Hare matchup of Notre Dame and Louisville has gone into overtime five of the last six times, so who could be surprised by a five-overtime marathon, which the Irish eventually won @104-101(5OT). ESPN's Dick Vitale railed all game about players' being eliminated by committing five fouls, saying "people pay to come see the stars", but role players' stepping up (like cGarrick Sherman[17p6r]} is exactly what made it compelling. (I say leave it to the NBA for that attitude, where Commissioner David Stern fined the San Antonio Spurs for "resting" their star players in a road game at the Miami Heat -- that I can understand; but no-names' stepping up is exactly what makes college hoops great.)

UNLV was able to get back in the conversation with a @64-55 win over New Mexico (but the Lobos still lead MOUNTAIN WEST). Arizona fell at home to California (@69-77) and Oregon was edged at home by Colorado (@47-48), leaving both teams in a three-way tie for the PAC-12 lead with UCLA. Indiana State dumped Creighton, @76-57; CU also lost at home vs Illinois State (@72-75); meanwhile, Wichita State stumbled at Southern Illinois (62-@64), leaving the MISSOURI VALLEY with its own three-way tie among Creigh/WichSt/IndySt.

    
Cincinnati lost twice: 50-@54 at Providence (thanks to fKadeem Batts' 25p9r), and @52-62 vs improving Pittsburgh (as only gSean Kirkpatrick[16p1a5to] reached double-figures). Minnesota is slumping out of contention, playing without fRodney Williams (shoulder injury/?from too many power dunks?): handled 50-@61 at surging Michigan State, and @53-57 at home vs Illinois (on another late run of big threes).

Miami(Florida) looked scary-good blitzing North Carolina, @87-61, thanks to 15-for-26 on three-pointers -- this from a defense-oriented team with powerful inside players and tough guards outside. Duke handed N.C. State a decisive payback defeat, @98-85 in Cameron; but even the Blue Devils found it tough on the road, barely escaping at Boston College, 62-@61. Missouri has yet to win on the road in the SEC, tripping 68-@70 at Texas A&M, but the Tigers paid back Mississippi with a home rout win of their own, @98-79, as cAlex Oriakhi(22p18r) had his best game
of the season.

Southern Mississippi's big week was a bust: the Golden Eagles were edged, 58-@60, at UCF and then were handled at home vs Memphis, @76-89, (as tGeron Johnson[25p7a8r] starred).

    
Murray State kept Belmont from running the table in the OHIO VALLEY with a @79-74 win (but the Bruins still lead). Oral Roberts came up short at Northwestern State (73-@85) and at Stephen F. Austin (67-@77), leaving the SOUTHLAND title race to those two. South Dakota State's gNate Wolters exploded (53p3a;17/28fg,9/14 3s,10/11ft) at IPFW; but it was fourth-place Oakland who shook up the SUMMIT, sweeping North Dakota State (@66-63) and SD State (@88-83; though gTravis Bader[31p] lost the individual shootout with pWolters[36p7a]), leaving Western Illinois alone in first place. Stony Brook stumbled at Hartford (@55-60), allowing Vermont to top AMERICA EAST. Princeton (@65-69 vs Yale) and Harvard (63-@78 at Columbia) both stumbled in the IVY. Coastal Carolina's @73-53 thumping of Charleston Southern allowed UNC-Asheville to top the BIG SOUTH. Arkansas-Pine Bluff's @55-52 win over Southern forged a tie atop the SWAC.

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Kansas needs to win at home against first-place Kansas State (Monday) just to stay in contact in the BIG 12 race; the same goes for Michigan at Michigan State (Tuesday). Kentucky's improvement against the SEC pretenders gets its true test at Florida (Tuesday) with first place on the line. As solidly as Gonzaga has played this season, St. Mary's has managed to keep pace inside the WEST COAST and can tie for the top spot with a home win (Thursday). San Diego State has its roughest week in the MOUNTAIN WEST WARS (at Colorado State, Wednesday; at UNLV, Saturday). La Salle and St. Joseph's clash at the Palestra (Saturday) with the BIG 5 lead on the line.

    
Two big road games for Western Illinois (at North Dakota State, Thursday; at South Dakota State, Saturday) could break open the SUMMIT race. First-place clashes abound: AMERICA EAST/Stony Brook hosts Vermont (Friday); BIG SOUTH/UNC-Asheville hosts Charleston Southern (Saturday); IVY/Harvard hosts Princeton (Saturday).

   
Because of the weird schedule where everybody omits one opponent, there's the real possibility in the MEAC of two teams going undefeated and tying for the regular season title. Both Norfolk State and North Carolina Central have yet to lose -- and they don't play each other. In fact, they only thing standing in the way of this outcome is likely third-place Savannah State, which gets NCCU twice (including at home, Saturday).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Kansas-KansasSt(KS), @Georgetown-Marquette, @CConnecticutSt-Quinnipiac(CT)(CT_6),

Tuesday:

Michigan-@MichiganSt(MI), @Florida-Kentucky, @WrightSt-Valparaiso(BG), @Vermont-BostonU,

Wednesday:

Syracuse-@Connecticut, @Duke-NCarolina(NC), @Butler-Charlotte, @ColoradoSt-SanDiegoSt, @AirForce-UNLV, @Memphis-UCF, @Northeastern-Delaware,

Thursday:

Gonzaga-@StMarys, Wisconsin-@Minnesota, Arizona-@Colorado, @VCU-Massachusetts, @TennesseeSt-Belmont(TN), @ColofCharleston-Davidson, @California-UCLA(CA), @NDState-WeIllinois, @UtahSt-Denver, @LoyolaMD-Canisius, @SCUpstate-Mercer, @WeberSt-Montana,

Friday:

Georgetown-@Cincinnati, @StonyBrook-Vermont,

Saturday:

Duke-@Maryland, Pittsburgh-@Marquette, @NewMexico-BoiseSt, @KansasSt-Baylor, ColoradoSt-@AirForce(CO), @OklahomaSt-Oklahoma(OK), @StLouis-Charlotte, @ARLittleRock-MidTennessee, @Mississippi-Georgia, @UNLV-SanDiegoSt, @Valparaiso-Detroit, @NCarolina-Virginia, @Stanford-UCLA(CA), @Massachusetts-Temple, @LaSalle-@StJosephs(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG_5)(/PALESTRA/), @SDState-WeIllinois, @UtahSt-NewMexicoSt, @UNCAsheville-CharlestonSo, @Harvard-Princeton, @SavannahSt-NCCentral, @TexasSo-ARPineBluff,

Sunday:

@Wisconsin-OhioSt,

Monday week:

@Pittsburgh-NotreDame, @Lehigh-Bucknell(PA).

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Top 25 - 13 Feb11 - [] Column

1. Indiana (21-3)
   
2. Syracuse (20-3)
   
3. Miami(Florida) (19-3)
   
4. Duke (21-2)
   
5. Michigan (20-3)
   
6. Michigan State (19-4)
   
7. Florida (19-3)
   
8. Gonzaga (22-2)
   
9. Pittsburgh (20-5)
   
10. New Mexico (20-4)
    
11. Kansas (19-4)
    
12. Butler (19-4)
    
13. Wisconsin (16-7)
    
14. Louisville (19-5)
    
15. Arizona (20-3)
    
16. Ohio State (16-6)
    
17. Kansas State (18-4)
    
18. Colorado State (17-4)
    
19. Marquette (17-5)
    
20. Georgetown (17-4)
    
21. Oklahoma State (17-5)
    
22. Kentucky (17-6)
    
23. St. Louis (18-5)
    
24. Notre Dame (19-5)
    
25. VCU (19-5)
    

Honorable Mention:

Illinois (16-8), Arkansas (14-9), TCU (10-13), Oklahoma (15-7), UNLV (17-6), California (14-9), Indiana State (16-8), Illinois State (15-10), Colorado (16-7), Providence (12-11), Stephen F. Austin (16-2), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-13).