Hoop, Line And Sinker

A weekly column on men's college basketball.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

17 Feb 6 - ... And Then Some!

Volume XXI, No. 14 - 17 Feb 6 - [] Top 25 Ballot

... And Then Some!

Second-half showdowns in conference play produced some resounding results. With the chance to prove their worth in some of the biggest games on their schedules, second-tier teams stepped it up with routs of first-tier opponents. Oregon, Florida and Wichita State were particularly impressive. (If it hasn't been said yet: [Gonzaga aside,] there is no dominant team out there this year in College Basketball.)
     In the one-and-only PACIFIC-12 showdown, Oregon throttled Arizona (@85-58 thanks to 65 percent shooting, including 16-for-25 on three-pointers). We finally saw the form that made the Ducks the Preseason No.1 team -- no other team has this level of experienced talent (yet this same bunch struggled to beat lowly Arizona State just the game before). Meanwhile, Utah fell out of contention, dropping two road games against California (75-@75[2OT] as bJabari Bird[26p7r] led the Bears) and at Stanford as well. Ore and Az were tied for first, two games ahead of UCLA and Cal.
     With first place in the BIG 12 on the line, Kansas edged Baylor (@73-68 thanks to 20-for-27 free-throw shooting compared to 4-for-6 for the Bears) putting the Jayhawks in the driver's seat in their bid to match the all-time record of thirteen-straight conference titles. But Saturday took the steam out of the "Big Three" -- after handling Iowa State on the road (85-@72), [1C]West Virginia fell at home to lowly Oklahoma State; Iowa State bounced back from its home loss to WVU by outlasting [1A]Kansas in overtime on the road (92-@89[OT] thanks dropping 18 three-pointers as tDeonte Burton[29p8r6s;7/9 3s] and pMonte Morris[25p7a] dueled 32p5a6r from pFrank Mason III); after tripping at home in overtime to TCU (@80-86[OT]), Kansas State bounced back with a road win at [1B]Baylor (56-@54 only allowing one double-figure scorer). Elsewhere, Texas Tech tripped on the road at lowly Texas. Kans led Bayl with WVU and IowaSt tied for third.
     Florida got back in the hunt in the SEC race with a resounding win, thumping Kentucky (@88-66 controlling the boards 45-26 led by pKasey Hill[21p6a5r]) -- UK earlier had needed overtime (and 37p from GC gMalik Monk) just to escape at home against lowly Georgia (@91-80[OT]). Arkansas couldn't keep pace with the Big Boys, tripping at lowly Missouri. South Carolina led Fla and UK with Ark and upstart Alabama two more games back in fourth.
     Every time it looks like Virginia might be the class of the ACC, they come up just short and can't separate themselves from the mix of high-quality teams at the top -- after throttling Virginia Tech (@71-48), the Cavaliers tripped on the road at resurgent Syracuse (62-@66). Meanwhile, Notre Dame is in a free fall, having now lost four-straight games (and 5 out of 6): losing at home to regrouping Duke (@74-84 as the Blue Devils sank 23-for-24 free throws led by bGrayson Allen[21p3a5r]) and waiting a day to lose at North Carolina (76-@83 as the Tar Heels controlled the boards 38-22 and posted six players in double-figures). Duke is now back at full strength with fAmile Jefferson back on the court and coach Mike Krzyzewski back on the sidelines. UNC led Florida State, Louisville and UVa all in second with Cuse and Duke fifth while ND, VaTech and Miami(Florida) were all the way back in seventh.
     In the BIG EAST, Creighton got its first quality win since losing pMaurice Watson Jr. for the season (knee) with a road win at Butler (76-@67) as gKhyri Thomas tries to step up his game; but it was two (squeak) victories by Xavier (which itself lost pEdmond Sumner out for the season with a knee injury of his own) that was the story for the week, edging Seton Hall (@72-70) and then Creigh on the road (82-@80) as freshman gQuentin Goodin tries to step into the void. Elsewhere, Marquette fell at lowly St. John's. Villanova led Xav with Creigh and Butler tied for third ahead of Marq in fifth (and Seton sixth).
     In the BIG 10, Purdue continued to impress, dumping upstart Northwestern (@80-59) and then edging untested Maryland on the road (73-@72 led by cCaleb Swanigan[26p10r]). Wisconsin edged Indiana (@65-60). Inconsistent Michigan tripped at home to lowly Ohio State (@66-70 despite 25p3a10r from xDerrick Walton Jr.). Wisc led Md with Purd and Nwn tied for third with regrouping Michigan State fifth, Iowa sixth (with Indiana, Minnesota and Mich all languishing in seventh).

Gonzaga continued its domination of the WEST COAST, handling BYU on the road (85-@75 as bNigel Williams-Goss[33p4a7r] dueled 29p1a from gT.J. Haws). Gonz remained undefeated (inside the league and overall) ahead of St. Mary's with BYU three more games back in third.
     In the AMERICAN, Tulsa's big week against the top two teams was a bust, tripping at home against Cincinnati and tanking at home against SMU. Undefeated Cincy led SMU with Memphis, Houston and Tulsa all three games back tied for third.
     The first leg of this year's BLACK & BLUE CLASSIC doubled as a battle for first place in the ATLANTIC-10 -- host VCU won against arch-/city-rival Richmond (@81-74). VCU and Dayton led second-place Rich and Rhode Island.
     In the competitive MOUNTAIN WEST, Nevada tanked at lowly Utah State. Boise State and Nev led Colorado State with New Mexico, Fresno State and San Diego State all hanging in tied for third.
     Likewise in the competitive SUN BELT, Texas-Arlington tripped at newcomer Coastal Carolina. Meanwhile, Georgia Southern fell on the road at Troy. Arkansas State, Georgia State and Georgia Southern were all tied in first place with TxArl in fourth while Texas State and CoCar hung in tied for fifth.

With payback on its mind, Wichita State got way more than that, dumping Illinois State (@86-45 allowing no double-figure scorers) to claim a share of the MISSOURI VALLEY lead. With its strong individual rating WichSt is now solidly in as an Anti-Spoiler (assured of an At-Large bid come March even if it fails to win the conference tournament). With the weak overall rating of the MVC, it's now IllSt that's up against it -- only winning the tourney (and likely going through WichSt) can get the Redbirds into the NCAAs now. WichSt and IllSt both were four games ahead of the weak rest of the league.
     The College of Charleston made things interesting in the COLONIAL with a road win at UNC-Wilmington (67-@66). UNCW and CofC were tied at the top both three games ahead of a mediocre pack.
     Middle Tennessee tripped at UTEP; but MTenn still led CONFERENCE USA by two games over Louisiana Tech with Old Dominion, UAB and UTEP all tied for third.
     Monmouth escaped in overtime against St. Peter's (@71-70[OT] led by Justin Robinson[29p]). Monmth was two games ahead of second-place Iona with StPete in third.
     Belmont continued to dominate the OHIO VALLEY, dumping Murray State on the road. Undefeated Belmt led Morehead State by three games (in the East and overall) while West-co-leaders Tennessee-Martin and Murray both were four games back.
     Akron edged Northern Illinois on the road (76-@73) but was thumped by Ohio University (70-@85 overwhelmed by xJaaron Simmons[38p5a10r]'s star turn). Still, Akron led the OHIO VALLEY by three games over OhioU (in the East) and Ball State and NoIll (in the West).
     Green Bay thumped Valparaiso (@86-69), but Valpo still led the HORIZON over GBay with Oakland in third.
     Chattanooga dumped UNC-Greensboro (@91-68), but the SOUTHERN remained a jumble with Furman and East Tennessee State both leading Chatt with UNCG in fourth.

Despite dropping two games -- tripping in overtime at IUPUI and falling at home to South Dakota (@66-76), it was North Dakota State still in first place in the SUMMIT ahead of Denver and SDak tied for second.
     With first place in the SOUTHLAND on the line, Sam Houston State beat Stephen F. Austin (@72-63) but then fell at home to still reclassifying {Abilene Christian} (64-@71). SamHs and New Orleans both led SfAus and Lamar in third.
     Only just now getting to its midway point, the IVY race cleared up thanks to Princeton's (squeak) road win at Harvard (57-@56 led by tSpencerCook[19p3a9r]). Undefeated PU led Yale with Harv and Columbia tied for third.
     ATLANTIC SUN/Florida Gulf Coast dumped North Florida (@74-59 as gBrandon Goodwin[29p4a] dueled 20p3a8r from tChris Davenport). Despite tripping at home against Central Connecticut State, NORTHEAST/Mount St. Mary's opened a gap lead thanks to two losses by Fairleigh Dickinson: tripping at home against Sacred Heart (@70-74 led by versatile xQuincy McKnight[18p6a10r]) and falling at home to Wagner (@59-68). Despite tripping at lowly Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, BIG WEST/UC-Davis remained in first place. MEAC/North Carolina Central won the one-and-only showdown on the road at Morgan State (68-@62) to claim sole possession of first place.

Just for fun, Eastern Washington and Portland State went into triple-overtime before EWash survived (@130-124[3OT] as xBogdan Bliznyuk[45p9a10r] and xJake Wiley[45p17r] dueled 35p6r from bDa'Sean Parsons and 30p6r from bDeontae North).

- - - - - -

The NCAA Selection Committee will reveal is "Pre-16" on Saturday. For what it's worth at this point, I'd go with:

WEST
[San Jose]
EAST
[New York]
MIDWEST
[Kansas City]
SOUTH
[Memphis]
1-Gonzaga
(Sacramento)
1-Villanova
(Buffalo)
1-Kansas
(Tulsa)
1-Baylor
(Tulsa)
2-Oregon
(Sacramento)
2-West Virginia
(Buffalo)
2-Louisville
(Indianpolis)
2-Kentucky
(Indianapolis)
3-Creighton
(Orlando)
3-North Carolina
(Greenville)
3-UCLA
(Salt Lake City)
3-Butler
(Greenville)
4-Purdue
(Milwaukee)
4-Wisconsin
(Milwaukee)
4-Florida
(Orlando)
4-Arizona
(Salt Lake City)

(I tried to give geographical preference first-come/first-served, separate conferencemates and avoid rematches from the regular season -- tough to do.) Left out: Cincinnati, Florida State, South Carolina, Duke, Virginia, St. Mary's and SMU as well as Iowa State and Xavier (because none had an elite out-of-conference win).

Gonzaga faces the biggest remaining obstacle to an unbeated season when it visits St. Mary's (Saturday). Villanova visits Xavier (Saturday). Kansas visits Kansas State (Monday) and Texas Tech (Saturday). Oregon has its toughest week -- the L.A. road trip: UCLA (Thursday) and USC (Saturday). West Virginia hosts Kansas State (Saturday). Baylor hosts TCU (Saturday). North Carolina visits arch-rival Duke (Thursday). Cincinnati faces its toughest test, visiting SMU (Sunday). Wisconsin hosts Northwestern (Sunday). Louisville visits Virginia (Monday). Purdue visits arch-rival Indiana (Thursday). Florida State visits Notre Dame (Saturday). Butler visits Marquette (Tuesday). Virginia visits Virginia Tech (Sunday).
     New Mexico State can wrap up the WAC with a road sweep of Cal State-Bakersfield (Thursday) and {Grand Canyon} (Saturday). Dayton visits Rhode Island (Friday).
     In the SUN BELT Wars, Texas-Arlington hosts Arkansas State (Saturday). In the SOCON Wars, Furman hosts Chattanooga (Thursday) and Samford (Saturday).
     SUMMIT/North Dakota State hosts Denver (Saturday). Winthrop visits UNC-Asheville (Thursday) in a BIG SOUTH showdown. The A-SUN title is on the line (Thursday) when Florida Gulf Coast hosts Lipscomb.

-- Ron
Key games this week:

Monday:
Kansas-@KansasSt(KS), Louisville-@Virginia, @Fairfield-Quinnipiac(CT)(CT6), @SavannahSt-NorfolkSt,
Tuesday:
Butler-@Marquette, @TCU-TexasTech(TX), @Memphis-Tulsa, @Akron-BallSt(BG), @Penn-Princeton,
Wednesday:
@Nevada-UNLV(NV),
Thursday:
Oregon-@UCLA, NCarolina-@Duke(NC), Purdue-@Indiana(IN), @CalStBakersfield-New MexicoSt, @MidTennessee-OldDominion, @JacksonvilleSt-Belmont, @Furman-Chattanooga, @UNCAsheville-Winthrop, @FLGulfCoast-Lipscomb, @NDakota-EaWashington,
Friday:
@RhodeIsland-Dayton, @Canisius-Niagara(NY)(BIG4), @Yale-Harvard,
Saturday:
Gonzaga-@StMarys, Villanova-@Xavier, Kansas-@TexasTech, Oregon-@USC, @WVirginia-KansasSt, @Baylor-TCU(TX), @Arizona-California, FloridaSt-@NotreDame, @{GrandCanyon}-NewMexicoSt, @TXArlington-ArkansasSt, @NDState-Denver, @Furman-Samford, @VMI-TheCitadel(MIL), @UAB-OldDominion, @Princeton-Columbia, @LongIsland-FairleighDickinson, @SacredHeart-CConnecticutSt(CT)(CT6),
Sunday:
Cincinnati-@SMU, @Wisconsin-Northwestern, Virginia-@VirginiaTech(VA), @MDBaltimoreCo-Vermont,
- - - - - -
Monday week:
@Kansas-WVirginia, @Syracuse-Louisville, @TexasTech-Baylor(TX), @Siena-Monmouth, @JacksonSt-TexasSo,



Top 25 - 17 Feb 6 - [] Column
  1. Gonzaga (24-0)
  2. Villanova (22-2) [BIG5]
  3. Kansas (20-3) (@SEC)
  4. Oregon (18-3)
  5. West Virginia (18-5) (vSEC)
  6. Baylor (19-3) (@SEC)
  7. North Carolina (20-4)
  8. Cincinnati (21-2) (vXTOWN)
  9. Wisconsin (20-3)
  10. Arizona (21-3)
  11. UCLA (21-3)
  12. Louisville (19-4)
  13. Purdue (19-5)
  14. Florida State (20-4)
  15. Florida (19-5)
  16. Creighton (19-4)
  17. Butler (18-5)
  18. Kentucky (18-5)
  19. South Carolina (18-4)
  20. Duke (18-5)
  21. Iowa State (14-8)
  22. Virginia (17-5)
  23. Xavier (17-6)
  24. St. Mary's (21-2)
  25. SMU (20-4)
Honorable Mention:

Oklahoma State (15-8), Kansas State (16-7), Syracuse (15-9), St. John's (11-14).

Wichita State (20-4),
VCU (18-5),
College of Charleston (18-6),
Princeton (11-6),
North Carolina Central (13-6).