14 Dec29 - Blue Plains (PRECONFERENCE)

Volume XIX, No. 8 - 14 Dec29: PRECONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

Blue Plains

In "The Game Of The Year", it was all defense on both sides as Louisville was pretty solid holding down Kentucky; but the Wildcats were better, never giving the Cardinals any easy looks at the basket as Lville took forced and contested shots all game long (26 percent shooting and ONLY ONE ASSIST). UK prevailed 58-@50 in the HALL OF FAME SHOOTOUT in the last legitmate obstacle between it an UNDEFEATED SEASON. (If they lose now, it will be because they don't show up ready to play. No one in the SEC is playing anywhere near strong enough to be able to upset them even in front of a home crowd; and once they get to "neutral-site" tournament play, they may as well be playing in Rupp Arena itself for all of the crowd support they'll get
from the travelling Big Blue Nation.)

Arizona tripped at 8-3 UNLV, 67-@71 (as cChristian Wood had 24p10r for the Rebels). Stanford knocked off Texas on the road, escaping with a 74-@71(OT) win (behind 25p from tAnthony Brown). Washington didn't show up at home, losing @57-62 to 8-6 Stony Brook. "Bad Kansas" reappeared as the Jayhawks didn't show up at 8-4 Temple, getting pounded, 52-@77. Providence (behind 25p from tLaDontae Henton) kept slumping Miami(Florida) in its funk, 76-62, at the BROOKLYN-HOLIDAY FESTIVAL at BARCLAYS CENTER. California turned back into a pumpkin with home losses to Wisconsin (@56-68; understandable) and 3-10 Cal State-Bakersfield (@52-55; inexcusable).

    
UCLA couldn't handle the road (falling 50-@56 at 9-3 Alabama). Neither could Harvard (falling 46-@56 at 8-5 Arizona State).

    
Green Bay paid back its earlier rout loss by winning the return match with Georgia State at home, @78-61.

At the last big tournament, the DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC in Honolulu, George Washington edged Colorado (53-50) in the semis and was more clutch in the late-going than vaunted Wichita State in the final, winning 60-54. Meanwhile, host 10-4 Hawaii had a solid tourney, knocking off struggling Nebraska (@66-58), taking tough Wichita State to the wire (before losing @79-80[OT]), and beating Colorado (@69-66) to boot.

    
10-2 Loyola(Illinois) won the starless LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC at ORLEANS, 48-45, over Boise State in the final. 7-4 Richmond gave the ATLANTIC 10 its second crown (after GW), taking the GOTHAM CLASSIC round-robin (including a 65-63 win over Pepperdine in the Feature matchup at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN in New York).

    
It was a big week for the BIG WEST as 6-5 Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo was an Unwelcome Guest winner of the CABLE CAR CLASSIC (including 69-@58 over host Santa Clara). Also, UC-Irvine claimed the LAS VEGAS-HOLIDAY crown (at SOUTH PORT), 72-70, over Green Bay in the final (on pAlex Young's game-winner).

We've come to the end of the preseason and Kentucky, by far, is the best team in the nation. The BIG 12, by far, is the best conference by many measures (best overall power rating, won the most preseason tournament [5], most Top-25 teams [6 here, 7. elsewhere]). But the league can only claim one elite win -- (Kansas' endplay home win over undermanned Utah); and, in fact, a few teams have made their names from elite wins over BIG 12 teams -- (Maryland over Iowa State in the CBE CLASSIC final, Temple's home rout of Kansas, Creighton's endplay home win over Oklahoma). (The ACC may well be stronger at the very top, though, with three legitimate contenders for No.1 seeds in Duke, Virginia and Louisville.)

    
Fully six leagues appear to qualify for the top "B-Major" category (i.e., multiple NCAA bids with at least one No.4 seed): the BIG 12 (5 tournament crowns), ACC (3), BIG EAST (3), BIG 10 (3.3), PACIFIC-12 (2) and SEC (only 1). Five leagues pass as "Mid-Major"s (multiple bids, but no No.4-seed): ATLANTIC 10 (2), MISSOURI VALLEY (2), MOUNTAIN WEST (2) and AMERICAN (just .3); the WEST COAST (1) is teetering between being a full B-Major (if BYU or St. Mary's can join the postseason party) and just an Anti-Spoiler/1BC (if they don't rate an at-large bid at season's end [which, right now, they don't]). That's 10 (or 11) "major" leagues, leaving 22 1BCs, which is par for the course. The BIG EAST's healthy start and Northern Iowa's pushing the MVC to Mid-Major status are The Good; The Bad is the weakness of the AMERICAN.

    
The "1BC"s claimed a healthy 12.3 tourney crowns overall. No particular 1BC team has declared itself to be can't-miss splashworthy -- (the jury is still out on 10-1 Old Dominion, e.g.), but splashworthy leagues include the BIG WEST (2.5 tourney crowns), MID-AMERICAN (0), CONFERENCE USA (0), HORIZON (2), PATRIOT (0), COLONIAL (1) and the SOUTHLAND (0). "Regular" 1BCs include the AMERICA EAST (0), SUN BELT (1), SUMMIT (1), IVY (1), SOUTHERN (1), OHIO VALLEY (0), BIG SOUTH (1), ATLANTIC SUN (.5) and the METRO ATLANTIC (0). "Low" 1BCs (i.e., candidates for inclusion in the FIRST FOUR Play-In round games) include the NORTHEAST (0), MEAC (0), BIG SKY (.3), WAC (0), SWAC (0) and the lone INDEPENDENT [New Jersey Tech] (0).

This year's Player Of The Year race has been pretty tame. cWillie Cauley-Stein(Kentucky) has come up big in some of the Wildcats' biggest games (but his stats don't scream "POTY"). xFrank Kaminsky(Wisconsin), cMontrezl Harrell(Louisville) and xKyle Wiltjer(Gonzaga) have had some big games against quality opponents as has xLaDontae Henton(Providence).

    
Among the best freshmen so far have been cJahlil Okafor(Duke), fStanley Johnson(Arizona), gJames Blackmon Jr.(Indiana), pTyler Ulis(Kentucky), pD'Angelo Russell(Ohio State), gIsaiah Whitehead(Seton Hall) and bDaniel Hamilton(Connecticut) -- but, for the most part, they have mostly seemed instantly ready for the collegiate level moreso than "better than anyone already there" as we've seen in the past in the Golden Child era.

Associate Larry Davis will serve as interim head coach at Cincinnati for the rest of the season (as Mick Cronin will step back into an advisory role due to health problems).

In early conference play, Gonzaga may well have already wrapped up the WEST COAST with its 87-@80 win at BYU.

--

Here's a detailed look at the conferences after the preseason:

B-MAJOR
1. BIG 12 - Beat SEC 6-4 in CHALLENGE. TCU [2v2:CORPUS.X] (good win) was undefeated; Kansas [3:ORLANDO] (elite win), Texas [2v2:2KS] (good wins), Iowa State (good wins), West Virginia [3:P.RICO] (good win), Oklahoma State [2v2:LV-MAIN] (made noise), Baylor (made noise) and Texas Tech all were excellent; Oklahoma (good wins) starred; Kansas State was a winner.
   
2. ACC - Lost 6-8 to BIG 10 in CHALLENGE. Virginia [2v2:BRK-THANX] (elite wins) and Duke [2v2:CVC] (elite win) both were undefeated; newcomer Louisville [rr4vGS-A] (good wins), Notre Dame (good win) and Georgia Tech (good win) all were excellent; Miami(Florida) [3:CHARLESTON] (good wins), North Carolina (good wins), Pittsburgh and N.C. State all starred; Syracuse (good win) and Clemson (made noise) were winners; Boston College (good win) skirted .500.
   
3. BIG EAST - Villanova [2v2:LEGENDS] (good wins) was undefeated; Seton Hall [3:PARADISE] (elite win) and St. John's (good wins) both were excellent; Providence [2v2:HALL.FAME] (elite win), Butler (elite win), Creighton (elite win), Georgetown (good win) and Xavier (made noise) all starred; Marquette (made noise) was a winner; DePaul (good win) skirted .500.
   
4. BIG 10 - Beat ACC 8-6 in CHALLENGE. Wisconsin [3:ATLANTIS] (elite win), newcomer Maryland [2v2:CBE] (elite win), Penn State (elite win), Indiana [.3rr4vHOOSIERS] (good wins), Minnesota (good win) and Ohio State [rr4vBUCKEYE] all were excellent; Iowa (elite win), Illinois [2v2:LVI-THANX] (good win), Michigan State and Northwestern all starred.; Purdue (good win) was a winner; Michigan (good win), Nebraska (good win) and newcomer Rutgers (made noise) all skirted .500.
   
5. PACIFIC-12 - Washington [3:WL/ANAHEIM] (elite win) was undefeated; Arizona [3:MAUI] (elite win), Utah [rr3vUTE] (elite win) and California (good wins) all were excellent; Stanford (elite win), Oregon (good win), Colorado, UCLA and Oregon State all starred; Arizona State (good win) skirted .500.
   
6. SEC - Lost 4-6 to BIG 12 in CHALLENGE. Kentucky [rr4vLEDFORD] (elite wins) was undefeated; LSU (elite win) and Arkansas [rr4vROUNDBALL] both were excellent; Mississippi [2v2:EMERALD] (good wins), Georgia (good wins), South Carolina (good win), Alabama (good win), Vanderbilt and Texas A&M all starred; Florida (made noise) was a winner; Tennessee (good win) skirted .500. Missouri was a flop.
   
   MID-MAJOR
   
7. ATLANTIC 10 - Dayton and newcomer Davidson were excellent; George Washington [3:DIAMOND] (elite win), VCU (elite win), Rhode Island (made noise), St. Bonaventure and St. Louis all starred; Richmond [3v:GOTHAM] (made noise) was a winner; Massachusetts (made noise) and La Salle (made noise) both skirted .500.
   
8. MISSOURI VALLEY - Northern Iowa [2v2:CANCUN] (good win), Wichita State (good win), Loyola(Illinois) [2v2:LVC-XMAS] and Evansville all were excellent; Illinois State (made noise) was a winner.
   
9. MOUNTAIN WEST - Colorado State [3:GREAT.AK] (good win) was undefeated; Wyoming (good win) and Boise State [2@LION] (made noise) both were excellent; San Diego State (elite win), UNLV (elite win) and New Mexico (made noise) all starrred; Fresno State (made noise) was a flop.
   
10. WEST COAST - (Dangerously close to being only an Anti-Spoiler/1BC.) Gonzaga [2v2:NIT-T.O] (elite win) was excellent; BYU (good win), St. Mary's (good win), Portland (made noise), Pepperdine and Pacific all starred.
    San Francisco skirted .500.
    
11. AMERICAN - Newcomer Tulane was excellent; Temple (elite win), SMU [.3rr4HOOSIERS] (good win) and Cincinnati (good win) all starred; UCF was a winner; Connecticut (good win), Memphis, newcomer Tulsa (good win) and Houston (made noise) all skirted .500.
    
    1BC
    
12. BIG WEST - UC-Davis was excellent; Hawaii (good win) starred; Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo [2@CABLE] (made noise), Cal State-Fullerton [.5rr3:SPARTAN], UC-Irvine [2:LV-HOLIDAY] (made noise) and UC-Santa Barbara all skirted .500; Long Beach State (made noise) was a loser; Cal State-Northridge was a flop.
    
13. MID-AMERICAN - Eastern Michigan [rr3vEAGLE] (made noise) and Central Michigan were excellent; Buffalo, Kent State and Bowling Green all starred; Toledo (made noise), Western Michigan and Akron all were winners.
    
14. CONFERENCE USA - Old Dominion (good win) was excellent; Louisiana Tech [rr3vCVCconsA] (made noise) and UTEP (made noise) both starred; newcomer Western Kentucky (good win), North Texas (good win), Charlotte (made noise), Florida International (made noise) and Middle Tennessee (made noise) all skirted .500.
    
15. HORIZON - Valparaiso (made noise) was excellent; Green Bay [3:GULF.COAST] (good win) and Wright State starred; Detroit [2@LEGEndScons] (made noise) and Cleveland State both skirted .500; Milwaukee was a loser; Oakland (made noise) was a flop.
    
16. PATRIOT - Army (made noise) was excellent; Lafayette (made noise) starred; American was a winner; Holy Cross (good win) skirted .500. Boston University was a flop.
    
17. COLONIAL - Hofstra starred; Northestern was a winner; William & Mary (made noise), Towson [rr3@CBEconsB] and James Madison all skirted .500. (Delaware was winless.)
    
18. SOUTHLAND - {Incarnate Word} (made noise) was excellent; Stephen F. Austin (made noise) starred; Sam Houston State was a winner; Northwestern State skirted .500; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was a loser. (Central Arkansas was winless.)
    
    - - - - - -
    
19. AMERICA EAST - Hartford was a winner; Stony Brook (elite win), Albany (made noise), {MA-Lowell} (made noise) and Vermont (made noise) all skirted .500.
    
20. SUN BELT - Georgia State [rr3@CBEconsA] (made noise), newcomer Georgia Southern and Texas State all starred; Texas-Arlington (made noise), Lafayette and Arkansas-Little Rock all skirted .500. Newcomer Appalachian State (made noise) was a flop.
    
21. SUMMIT - South Dakota State [3@GF/WV] starred; North Dakota State (made noise), IPFW and Denver all skirted .500; newcomer Oral Roberts (made noise) was a loser.
    
22. IVY - Yale [rr3@MABC] (good win) and Harvard (made noise) both starred; Brown (good win), Cornell (made noise) and Columbia all skirted .500.
    
23. SOUTHERN - Wofford [rr3@CVCconsB] (made noise) and newcomer East Tennessee State both starred. Chattanooga and newcomer VMI both skirted .500.
    
24. OHIO VALLEY - Belmont (made noise) and Murray State both starred; Eastern Kentucky (good win), Tennessee Tech and Southeast Missouri State all skirted .500. Morehead State was a flop.
    
25. BIG SOUTH - High Point [rr3@RAINBOW] (good win), Radford (made noise) and Coastal Carolina all starred; Gardner-Webb (made noise) was a winner;
    Charleston Southern (good win) and Winthrop (made noise) skirted .500.
    
26. ATLANTIC SUN - South Carolina Upstate [.5rr3vSPARTAN] (made noise) and Florida Gulf Coast were winners; North Florida, {Northern Kentucky} and Lipscomb all skirted .500.
    
27. METRO ATLANTIC - Iona (made noise) was a winner; Quinnipiac (made noise), Rider (made noise) and St. Peter's all skirted .500; Manhattan and Siena were flops. (Niagara was winless.)
    
    - - - - - -
    
28. NORTHEAST - Sacred Heart (made noise), Long Island (made noise), St. Francis(Pennsylvania), Mount St. Mary's and Bryant all skirted .500; St. Francis(New York) and Robert Morris were losers; Central Connecticut State was a flop.
    
29. MEAC - Norfolk State (made noise), North Carolina Central (made noise), Hampton (made noise), Delaware State (made noise) and Howard all skirted .500; Morgan State (made noise) was a flop. (Florida A&M was winless.)
    
30. BIG SKY - Eastern Washington [.3rr4@HOOSIERS] (made noise) starred; Northern Arizona (made noise) was a flop.
    
31. WAC - Seattle, {Grand Canyon} and Texas Pan American all skirted .500; New Mexico State was a loser; Cal State-Bakersfield (good win) and Utah Valley were flops.
    
32. SWAC - Alabama State skirted .500; Texas Southern (good win), Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Southern, Alcorn State and Prairie View A&M all were flops.
    
33. INDEPENDENT - New Jersey Tech (made noise) skirted .500.
    

- -

Only a handful of out-of-conference matchups remain this week. A rematch from last year's Final Four has lost a lot of lustre in 7 months -- Florida hosts Connecticut (Saturday). Dayton hosts surprising Mississippi (Tuesday).
     Conference play gets under way in earnest for most everyone else. TCU puts its unbeaten record on the line (Saturday vs West Virginia). This year's rough road trip in the PAC-12 is the Bay Area -- Washington gets it this week (Friday at California, Sunday at Stanford). Villanova (at Seton Hall, Saturday; vs Butler, Wednesday) and St. John's (at Seton Hall, Wednesday; vs Butler Saturday) have the same tough start in the BIG EAST Wars. Ohio State never got its signature win in the preseason and is still a bit unproven (vs Illinois, Saturday; vs Iowa, Tuesday). Maryland gets an early baptism in the BIG 10 (vs Minnesota, Saturday; at Michigan State, Tuesday). Virginia hopes to stay undefeated (Saturday at Miami[Florida]).

-- Ron

P.S. Happy New Year, everyone!

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Duke-Toledo, @Oregon-UCIrvine,

Tuesday:

Maryland-@MichiganSt, @OhioSt-Iowa, @Dayton-Mississippi, @FloridaSt-Florida(FL), @SacredHeart-Yale(CT)(CT6), @LaSalle-Penn(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5),

Wednesday:

@Duke-Wofford, @Villanova-Butler, @Wisconsin-PennSt, StJohns-@SetonHall, @ColoradoSt-BoiseSt, @Providence-Creighton, @Connecticut-Temple, @RhodeIsland-Brown(RI), @HighPt-CoCarolina,

Thursday (NEW YEAR'S):

@SacramentoSt-NoArizona,

Friday:

Washington-@California, @Colorado-UCLA, @NTexas-UTEP(TX), @Denver-SDState,

Saturday:

Virginia-@MiamiFL, Villanova-@SetonHall, @TCU-WVirginia, @Maryland-Minnesota, @Oklahoma-Baylor, NCarolina-@Clemson, @StJohns-Butler, @OhioSt-Illinois, @Florida-Connecticut, @Georgetown-Creighton, @Cincinnati-SMU, @NewMexicoSt-UCIrvine, @American-HolyCross, @SamHoustonSt-{IncarnateWord}(TX), @GeorgiaSo-TexasSt, @SCUpstate-Hampton, @Winthrop-HighPt,

BROOKLYN-JAN 1Off @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/

-(IowaSt-SCarolina),

Sunday:

@Utah-UCLA, Washington-@Stanford, @WichitaSt-IllinoisSt, @Charlotte-OldDominion, @Siena-Iona(NY),

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Texas-Oklahoma, @NCarolina-NotreDame, @MichiganSt-Indiana, @GreenBay-WrightSt, @GeorgiaSt-TexasSt, @Chattanooga-Wofford, @StFrancisNY-Bryant, @SacredHeart-CConnecticutSt(CT)(CT6).

---

Top 25 - 14 Dec29: PRECONFERENCE - [] Column

1. Kentucky (12-0) (@@CHAMPS) [rr4vLEDFORD] (vBIG12) (:vSPORTS)
   
2. Duke (10-0) (@@CHAMPS) [2v2:CVC] (@BIG10) (:CQAP)
   
3. Virginia (11-0) [2v2:BRK-THANX] (@BIG10)
   
4. Villanova (12-0) [2v2:LEGENDS] (:JIMMY.V)
   
5. Arizona (12-1) [v3:MAUI]
   
6. Gonzaga (11-1) [2v2:NIT.T-O] (:SEATTLE)
   
7. Wisconsin (11-1) [v3:ATLANTIS]
   
8. Louisville (11-1) (:ARMED) [rr4vGS-A] (vBIG10) (:JIMMY.V)
   
9. Utah (9-2) (@LV-SHOW)
   
10. Texas (10-2) [2v2:2KS]
    
11. TCU (12-0) [2v2:CORPUS.X] (@SEC)
    
12. West Virginia (10-1) [3:P.RICO] (@@CAPITAL) (:GOTHAM)
    
13. Maryland (12-1) [2v2:CBE]
    
14. Iowa State (9-1) (vSEC) (@CY-HAWK) (@@BIG4)
    
15. Kansas (9-2) [3:ORLANDO] (vSEC)
    
16. Washington (11-1) [3:WL/ANAHEIM] (:LV-SHOW)
    
17. Oklahoma (8-3) (vSEC)
    
18. North Carolina (9-3) (:SPORTS)
    
19. George Washington (9-3) [3:DIAMOND]
    
20. St. John's (10-1)
    
21. Wichita State (9-2) (:SANFORD)
    
22. Notre Dame (12-1) (vBIG10) (@@XROADS)
    
23. Northern Iowa (11-1) [2v2:CANCUN] (@@BIG4)
    
24. Colorado State (12-0) [v3:GREAT.AK]
    
25. Stanford (6-3)
    

Honorable Mention:

UNLV (8-3), Stony Brook (8-6), Temple (8-4), Providence (10-3) [2v2:HALL.FAME] (:BRK-HOLIDAY), Cal State-Bakersfield (3-10).

Indiana (10-2)/Eastern Washington (9-4)/SMU (8-3) [rr4v@HOOSIERS],
Mississippi (8-3) [2v2:EMERALD],
Illinois (10-3) [2v2:LVI-THANX] (@@BRAGGIN'),
Oklahoma State (8-2) [v2:LV-MAIN],
Loyola(Illinois) (10-2) [2v2:LVC-XMAS],
Miami(Florida) (9-3) [3:CHARLESTON] (vBIG10),
Green Bay (8-3) [3:GULF.COAST],
South Dakota State (9-3) [3@FG/WV],
Yale (8-4) [rr3@MABC],
UC-Irvine (5-5) [2:LV-HOLIDAY],
Boise State (10-2) [2@LION],
Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (6-5) [2@CABLE],
Richmond (7-4) [:3vGOTHAM],
Detroit (6-6) [2@LEGENDScons],
South Carolina Upstate (9-4)/Cal State-Fullerton (6-7) [rr3vSPARTAN],
High Point (6-3) [rr3@RAINBOW],
Georgia State (6-4) [rr3@CBEconsA],
Wofford (7-3) [rr3@CVCconsB],
Towson (7-5) [rr3@CBEconsB].