15 Jan12 - Uneasy Wears The Crown

Volume XIX, No. 10 - 15 Jan12 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Uneasy Wears The Crown

Just when you thought we were headed for a (dull) regular season with an untouchable top-ranked team (or two) cruising its way through, the juggernauts looked not so juggernauty.
     Kentucky's start to conference play was very shaky. First, the Wildcats escaped in overtime at home against a solid Mississippi team, @89-86(OT) (as 26p;5/9 3s from gAaron Harrison matched 25p;5/7 3s from 5-10 gStefan Moody but 28-for-40 on free throws saved UK). Then, Kentucky got out of an even worse jam, 70-@64(2OT) at 9-5 Texas A&M. (For all of its "two-deep in All-Americas at every position" greatness, only 5 can be on the floor at any one time; so, yes, there's no real key player who can be neutralized by foul trouble, but a zone defense and some lucky bounces can still give this squad a scare.) Meanwhile, Duke's wunderkind looked like scared freshmen for once, falling 75-@87 at surging 12-5 N.C. State. Elsewhere, Arizona tripped at 11-4 Oregon State (56-@58) and Wisconsin faltered at lowly 10-7 Rutgers (62-@67). (Losing those winnable games could be costly in their league races for all three of those Final Four contenders.)

The upper echelon of the Mega-ACC didn't disappoint with three high-quality matchups. Spurred on to extra hustle by the home crowd in the Dean Dome, North Carolina earned a split of two endplay games. The Tar Heels fell just short against the multiple offensive weapons of Notre Dame, @70-71; but gMarcus Paige's game-winning drive saved the day against Louisville, @72-71 (despite 25p5a5r;10/21fg from pTerry Rozier). Later, Virginia spoiled ND's bid to go 2-for-2 with a clutch 62-@56 road win (despite 21p8r from versatile tPat Connaughton).
     Having multiple ball-handlers and playmakers stood Iowa State in good stead against West Virginia's pressing defense as it was the visiting Cyclones who shot 50 percent (while the host Mountaineers only managed 32%) in winning the toughest game on their schedule (on the road at WVa), 74-@72.
     The return of pIsaiah Taylor was supposed to improve the offensive flow for Texas, but so far it's only made things worse as the BIG 12 preseason favorite Longhorns dropped two -- thumped at home by Oklahoma (@49-70 thanks to 30% shooting) and handled on the road at Oklahoma State (58-@69; only improving to 34%). Conference play brought upstart South Carolina back down to earth as the Gamecocks fell vs Florida (@68-72) and then tanked at Mississippi (49-@65) as "the other USC" managed only one double-figure scorer each time. Washington fell to 0-3 in PAC-12 play after a disappointing home loss to lowly 8-7 Washington State (@77-80 as 30p6a from pNigel Williams-Goss still wasn't enough).

After a tough 0-3 start on the road, Illinois got its first BIG 10 win, at home vs Maryland (@64-57; as bMalcom Hill had 28p7r). No one is safe in the BIG EAST Wars, as Seton Hall found out on the road at 11-4 Xavier, falling 58-@69. Oklahoma couldn't keep its momentum rolling, tripping at home vs 9-7 Kansas State, @63-66(OT) (as 31p from Buddy Hield wasn't enough). George Washington was the first ATLANTIC 10 power to blink, falling 50-@63 at lowly 9-7 La Salle.

It took until conference play before Michigan State was able to notch any quality wins, but a 3-0 week (including a @70-50 rout of Indiana and a 75-@61 win at Iowa) has the Spartans well in the mix atop the BIG 10. UCLA bounced back at home, sweeping Stanford (@86-81[2OT]) and California (@73-54 as the Bears also tanked at USC, 57-@71).
     Despite its 13-0 start, TCU fell to 0-3 in the BIG 12 (and 0-for-its-last-21 league games after going winless in conference last year)), falling 53-@58 at Kansas State and dropping a @59-66(OT) heartbreaker at home to 12-3 Baylor. Georgia's big week to make its mark in the SEC race was a flop as the Bulldogs fell at home (@75-79) to talented Arkansas and then again in double-overtime on the road at LSU (84-@87[2OT] thanks to 27p5a5r5to;6/10 3s from pTim Quarterman). Minnesota dropped to 0-4 in BIG 10 play, losing two more squeakers, @72-74(OT) vs Ohio State (as pD'Angelo Russell had 27p5a5to;5/6 3s) and 57-@62 at 3-1 Michigan.

Wyoming's big 60-@54 road win at Colorado State staked it to a 4-0 start to take early control of the MOUNTAIN WEST race. Meanwhile, 8-5 Tulsa made it 3-0 in-conference in the AMERICAN after a big 63-@56 road win at Temple.
     While its (hopefully) not headed for quad-title champs again this year, a strong foursome has emerged in CONFERENCE USA after 10-5 Western Kentucky knocked off Old Dominion (@72-65) and Louisiana Tech handled host UTEP (58-@45). Tourney champ Louisiana topped title champ Georgia State (@84-80; thanks to 31/38 on free throws, despite 27p6a;5/9 3s from pR.J. Hunter) to take control of the SUN BELT race. Wofford's 3-0 week (including a 68-@64 road win at Chattanooga) have given the Terriers early control of the SOUTHERN CONFERENCE race.

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In another ACC gem, Louisville hosts Duke (Saturday). Arizona hosts Utah in the PAC-12 Game of the Year/Part I (Saturday). Iowa State's bid to unseat Kansas in the BIG 12 hinges on Saturday's matchup in Ames.
     N.C. State looks to complete the home sweep of the old BIG 4 (Wednesday vs North Carolina). Oklahoma State has it rough on the road (Tuesday at Kansas, Saturday at arch-/state-rival Oklahoma). West Virginia's week ain't much easier (Tuesday vs Oklahoma, Saturday at Texas). Newcomer Maryland goes for the sweep of BIG 10 stalwart Michigan State (Saturday) in College Park. In the BIG EAST Wars, Seton Hall hosts Butler (Tuesday), Villanova hosts Xavier (Wednesday) and Providence hosts St. John's (Wednesday). Mississippi's bid to be a factor in the SEC race is up this week (Wednesday vs LSU, Saturday at Arkansas). San Diego State hopes to pull host Wyoming back to the pack in the MOUNTAIN WEST (Wednesday). In the scrappy AMERICAN, Temple is on the clock (Wednesday vs SMU, Saturday at Cincinnati) while Tulsa hosts Connecticut (Tuesday).
     In the first of two showdowns in the COLONIAL, 11-5 Northeastern hosts 13-4 Hofstra (Wednesday). 3-0 league teams square off in the MEAC when Norfolk State hosts North Carolina Central (Saturday).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

(None),

Tuesday:

@Duke-MiamiFL, @Kansas-OklahomaSt, @WVirginia-Oklahoma, @SetonHall-Butler, VCU-@RhodeIsland, @Minnesota-Iowa, @Tulsa-Connecticut, @Lipscomb-SCUpstate,

Wednesday:

@Villanova-Xavier, IowaSt-@Baylor, NCarolina-@NCState(NC), Stanford-@California(CA), @Wyoming-SanDiegoSt, @Providence-StJohns, @Temple-SMU, @Mississippi-LSU, @BostonCol-Harvard(BostonMA), @Northeastern-Hofstra, @NFlorida-FLGulfCoast(FL),

Thursday:

Gonzaga-@Pepperdine, @Arizona-Colorado, @MurraySt-Belmont,

Friday:

@RobertMorris-StFrancisNY,

Saturday:

Villanova-@Penn(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG5)(/PALESTRA/), Duke-@Louisville, Utah-@Arizona, @IowaSt-Kansas, @NotreDame-MiamiFL, WVirginia-@Texas, @Maryland-MichiganSt, @Oklahoma-OklahomaSt(OK), WichitaSt-@Evansville, @Arkansas-Mississippi, @Stanford-Connecticut, @Iowa-OhioSt, @Georgetown-Butler, @Georgia-Florida, @Cincinnati-Temple, @StMarys-BYU, @Toledo-WeMichigan, @Akron-CMichigan, @WrightSt-Valparaiso(BG), @Yale-Brown, @LongIsland-MtStMarys(@BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/), @Winthrop-Radford, @NorfolkSt-NCCentral, @Seattle-NewMexicoSt, @SacramentoSt-EaWashington, @SoUtah-WeberSt(UT),

Sunday:

@Illinois-Indiana,

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Monday week:

@Georgetown-Villanova, @TCU-Texas(TX), @Kansas-Oklahoma, @StonyBrook-Albany(NY), @Hampton-NCCentral,

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Top 25 - 15 Jan12 - [] Column

1. Kentucky (14-0)
   
2. Virginia (15-0)
   
3. Gonzaga (15-1)
   
4. Villanova (15-1)
   
5. Duke (14-1)
   
6. Utah (12-2)
   
7. Louisville (14-2)
   
8. Wisconsin (14-2)
   
9. Arizona (14-2)
   
10. Iowa State (12-2)
    
11. Notre Dame (15-2)
    
12. North Carolina (12-4)
    
13. Kansas (13-2)
    
14. West Virginia (13-2)
    
15. Maryland (15-2)
    
16. Oklahoma (11-4)
    
17. Wichita State (13-2)
    
18. Seton Hall (13-3)
    
19. Michigan State (12-4)
    
20. Arkansas (13-2)
    
21. VCU (13-3)
    
22. Stanford (11-4)
    
23. Oklahoma State (11-3)
    
24. Texas (12-4)
    
25. Wyoming (12-2)
    

Honorable Mention:

N.C. State (12-5), Oregon State (11-4), Rutgers (10-7), Xavier (11-5), Kansas State (9-7), La Salle (9-7), UCLA (10-7), Washington State (8-7), Western Kentucky (8-5), Florida (9-6), Mississippi (10-5).