1. Tubby Smith has had a rough season at Minnesota in just keeping all of his players on the floor.  From Royce White to Devron Bostick to Trevor Mbakwe, the team that Smith thought he’d have coming into the season is a far cry from the one he’s been able to suit up.  Things aren’t improving, as yesterday the NCAA denied point guard Al Nolen’s request for reinstatement as a result of his academic ineligibility, effectively ending his season.  Nolen wasn’t a big scorer for the Gophers, but he was the point man of their defense, and he was leading the Big Ten in SPG (2.3) at the time of his suspension.  With Minnesota already looking bubbly at 13-8 (4-5), this will make it even more difficult for Tubby’s troops to make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament this year.
2. So… when Duke students do things like this, it’s clever and hilarious.  But when West Virginia students do it, it’s classless and over the line?  Got it.
3. Gary Parrish takes the ‘college hoops is big business‘ slant in his latest piece on the rash of mid-season firings this year.  While we have absolutely no quibble with that slant, we still don’t know that it makes much sense to fire coaches mid-stream of a 30-game regular season.  Especially at the places where this is happening — DePaul, Fordham, Penn, UNC-Wilmington, Dartmouth.  Do ADs at those places really believe that new blood is going to turn the season around this year?  They can’t.
4. Vegas Watch takes a look at the KenPom top twenty and concludes that Ohio State — yeah, the Buckeyes — are a team that perhaps everyone is overlooking at this point in the season.
5. To quote Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “wildcard, b$#ches!!!”  That’s what WVU”s Bob Huggins might be thinking as he adds 6’9, 260-lb power forward Deniz Kilicli to his lineup tonight against Pittsburgh.  Luke Winn analyzes the possible impact that the suspended Euro import could have on the Mountaineeers’ fortunes the rest of the way.

Tuesday Night Hoops.  Tonight’s games weren’t all that compelling from the perspective of must-see TV, but we learned a few things.  Such as… don’t ever underestimate a Bo Ryan-coached team (that rings a bell…), John Wall is happy as a clam, and Wes Johnson should save the flips for the Winter X Games coverage.

Bo Ryan Can Coach a Little Bit. #16 Wisconsin 67, #5 Michigan State 49. Could there be a better blueprint for the basketball philosophy of Bo Ryan and the Wisconsin Badgers than this game?  Clock control, care of the basketball, good shot selection, and tough defense.  The Badgers didn’t come with any secret weapons or snazzy new game plans, here.  Just the same recipe for success they’ve employed for years, now.  In fact, they’re still without Jon Leuer and had to play without Trevon Hughes for a big chunk of the first half because of some early foul trouble.  Jason Bohannon (19/4/2) and Jordan Taylor (17/4/4) amped up their games to fill the void, both playing all 40 minutes, and accounting for half of their team’s field goals.  The most impressive number you can take from this one is found in the turnovers column; Wisconsin is the BEST in the nation when it comes to taking care of the basketball, averaging only 9.4 turnovers/game coming into this one.  The Badgers gave it up only five times on Tuesday night (they’re down to 8.4 a game) while forcing MSU into 13 of their own.  Kalin Lucas going down with a pretty ugly sprained ankle in the second half didn’t help on that front, either; more details on that injury after imaging is done on Wednesday.  The win moved Wisconsin to within two games of the Spartans in the Big Ten, and both squads have four home and four away games remaining.  For additional information, RTC Live was at the game tonight.

Wisconsin Punished MSU Tonight in Madison (Steve Apps)

Scary Situation Involving Wesley Johnson. #4 Syracuse 85, Providence 68. Coming into the game most fans viewed this as seemingly inconsequential, but the most important moment of the college basketball season may have happened with 11:56 left in the first half in Syracuse this season when uber-transfer Wesley Johnson went up to throw down an alley-oop, but got flipped by Brian McKenzie who was underneath his flight path. For a second everyone watching both in the Carrier Dome and on television had flashbacks to Travis Roy. Fortunately for Johnson, Jim Boeheim, and college basketball fans everywhere Johnson was able to get that extra half of rotation and land on his back rather than his head.  He talks about it here.  [Ed. Note: This is why we stay on the floor. Or is it our single-digit vertical?] After a rough stretch that saw the Orange struggle to take a 3-point lead into half, Syracuse rebounded behind a strong effort from Kris Joseph (career-high 23 points) and Arinze Onuaku (season-high 20 points) to lead the Orange to their best start (22-1) in school history.

Luckily Wes Johnson Wasn't Injured (Dennis Nett)

How’d the Rest of the Top Ten Do Tonight?

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Steve Moore is the RTC correspondent for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

After a week away from RTC, I just couldn’t help myself, and decided to come back to bring you up to date on the wacky, wild (and mediocre) ACC. Seriously though, the ACC is proving to be relatively unimpressive this year. We worried about that early in the year – at least I wondered that – and it’s starting to come to fruition as we head into February.

ACC POWER RANKINGS (record after games of Monday, Feb. 1)

The rankings will change a little this week, as we try to separate the contenders and pretenders into tiers, based on NCAA Probability: Definite Dancers, Probably Safe, Bubbly, NIT-picking, and CBI-Dreaming:

DEFINITE DANCERS

1. Duke (17-4, 5-2)

RESUME:  Duke is still the best team in the ACC, but they have some serious weaknesses that have shown themselves in recent weeks. First of all, I have always wondered why a big-time program – especially one that is counting on young players as important contributors — would avoid true road games until conference play. And now I have proof. Duke is 1-4 in true road games, posting an impressive win at Clemson while falling at Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, N.C. State and Sunday at Georgetown, where they decided not to play defense at all. The Blue Devils are looking more like a #4 or #5 seed than a #1 or #2.

FUTURE: Duke hosts Georgia Tech Thursday in a revenge game that qualifies as the ACC game of the week. They then visit Boston College Saturday. They should win that one too – but that’s a challenging turnaround and trip, so beware, Dookies.

2. Georgia Tech (16-5, 4-3)

RESUME: Easy wins over Wake Forest and Kentucky State. I didn’t even know there was such a school as Kentucky State. The Jackets hold onto this No. 2 spot, despite the three league losses. But that “impressive” road win at North Carolina a few weeks back isn’t so impressive anymore.

FUTURE: The trip to Cameron on Thursday should tell us a lot about Tech, but possibly more about Duke. A loss there wouldn’t be killer for the Jackets, except that it would be their fourth of the season in the ACC. Yikes.

3. Wake Forest (14-5, 4-3)

RESUME: Three road ACC losses for the Deacons – Miami, Duke, Georgia Tech (last weekend) – and none of them were even close. The win at UNC is looking less impressive by the day, but I still think Wake is definitely in. They could end up seeded anywhere from #3 to #10, but they’re definitely in.

FUTURE: Wake hosts Miami Tuesday and heads to Virginia Saturday. They REALLY could use a 2-0 week to get this thing on the right track.

PROBABLY SAFE (Yes, I know the league will get more than three bids — I’m guessing six. But who those next three teams will be is very much up in the air.)

4. Clemson (16-6, 4-4)

RESUME: That 4-4 league record doesn’t look good, and the Tigers really don’t have many impressive wins (Butler? at Maryland?). But this team has too much talent to not figure things out in the final month of the regular season.

FUTURE: I see at least five wins in the last eight league games, and probably six. A 9-7 league mark and two wins in the ACC tourney should lock up a #7 to #9 seed. Clemson could use a win at Virginia Tech Saturday to get that started, though.

5. Maryland (14-6, 4-2)

RESUME: My preseason pick is showing some signs of life, and should be able to secure a dance ticket. The 9-point loss at Clemson wasn’t great, but recent home wins over NC State and Miami were convincing enough (24 and 22 point margins) to be impressive.

FUTURE: The one issue for Maryland may be its remaining schedule. The Terps still have to play Duke twice, and face some tough road tests, starting Thursday at Florida State.

6. Florida State (16-5, 4-3)

RESUME: Two wins over Georgia Tech, including one on the road, stand out as highlights of the season for the Seminoles so far. While the wins might not be the impressive, FSU’s best attribute right now is a lack of bad losses. A home loss to NC State might be the worst of the bunch, but losses at Florida, Ohio State, Maryland and Duke aren’t anything to worry about.

FUTURE: Three home games out of the next four set up well for FSU, including Maryland on Thursday and Miami on Saturday. FSU needs to stand tall in Tallahassee to stay in this semi-safe tier.

BUBBLY

7. Virginia (13-6, 4-2)

RESUME: Personally, I think the Cavaliers will end up dancing. One of the unimpressive road losses earlier this year – at South Florida – is starting to look respectable, while many of the other losses were by less than three points. And while UNC is definitely down right now, the 15-point blowout win in Chapel Hill is still worth its weight in gold for fans in Charlottesville.

FUTURE: That said, UVA needs to win both of its games this week: home against NC State Wednesday, and home vs. Wake Forest Saturday. I know Wake is a tough game, but if the Cavs can go 2-0 this week, they might jump up a tier into the nearly-definite dancers.

8.  Virginia Tech (16-4, 3-3)

RESUME: I was tempted to only include the Cavaliers on this tier, but I’ll be nice to the Hokies this week. The win at Virginia last week is the only solid road win of the year for Tech (maybe the win at Iowa counts), but a one-point win over struggling BC was a great escape.

FUTURE: This may be the end of Virginia Tech on the bubble, though. The Hokies host UNC and Clemson this week, and I can’t see them winning both. Even one loss (especially if it’s to UNC) could hurt any chance of staying on the bubble.

NIT-PICKING

9. North Carolina (13-8, 2-4)

RESUME: The talking heads on TV are debating whether UNC will miss the dance. I don’t see a debate at all – they are headed to the NIT. The Heels have too much youth, too many blowout home losses, and just too many tough games still to navigate. The wins over Ohio State and Michigan State are nice, as are victories over NC State and Virginia Tech, but the losses are just too hard to ignore. As is the upcoming schedule…

FUTURE: I mean, seriously, if you’ve watched UNC this year, do you really expect them to win more than a few of the remaining games? The Heels still have to go on the road to  Virginia Tech (Thursday), Maryland (Sunday), Georgia Tech, Boston College, Wake Forest and Duke. I see maybe three wins out of those six – if they’re lucky. Plus, they still host Duke, Florida State and Miami. UNC will get an NIT invite, obviously, even if it’s just on name alone. But they need a miracle to make the big dance.

10. Miami (16-5, 2-5)

RESUME: Miami will go to the NIT only because it might reach 20 wins, not because any of them were impressive – at all. Sure, there was Minnesota, Wake Forest, and last week vs. Virginia Tech. But everything else on this resume is a total joke, and the remaining schedule takes the ’Canes away from Miami a few times – meaning nearly definite defeats.

FUTURE: Out of nine remaining ACC games, I’m seeing a real chance at just two wins, despite an imbalance of home games. The remaining slate is brutal. The only game where Miami would be favored is home to NC State. The ’Canes still have road games at Wake Forest (Tuesday night), Florida State (Saturday), Clemson and North Carolina. They still have to host Georgia Tech, Duke, Virginia and Florida State.

CBI-DREAMING

11. NC State (14-8, 2-5)

RESUME: The Wolf Pack have been burned this year by lots of close losses, but as they say, close only matters in horseshoes, hand grenades, and 96-team NCAA Brackets (what a joke). The win over Duke could bump them into the NIT discussion – but only if Duke acts like a top-10 team the rest of the way.

FUTURE: Two road games this week at Virginia (Wednesday) and at Georgia Tech (Saturday), and two likely losses. I really only see two wins out of the remaining nine for NC State (maybe three), which would mean an optimistic final record of 17-14 and 5-11.

12. Boston College (12-10, 3-5)

RESUME: The win over Clemson was followed quickly by a bad home loss to Florida State. BC still hosts Duke and North Carolina, and travels to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. The Eagles hockey team also gets to lost to Boston University in next Monday’s Beanpot final – so there’s that. What’s the Beanpot, you ask? Only the coolest in-season college sports tournament in all the land…

FUTURE: The Eagles welcome Duke to Boston on Saturday.

RAMBLING RANT OF THE WEEK

Making a return for this week only, the rant tackles an issue that everyone on this site seems to hate – so I’m jumping on. Why the hell do we need to mess with perfection? A 96-team Tournament? Really? We already have 7, 8 or even 9 teams from one conference going to the dance, including .500 teams from power conferences. It further minimizes the regular season, and throws even more asterisks into the record books. What if Northwestern finally makes the dance after it expands? Do they still celebrate like they would if they made it this year? And how will you feel when 22nd-seeded North Carolina (in a down year) “shocks” No. 3 Kentucky. You’ll feel empty and unmoved, that’s how you’ll feel.

CRYSTAL BALL TIME…

Considering how topsy-turvy things have been in the ACC this year, my 10-5 mark is quite respectable. But by perfect 3-0 mark in upset picks is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

OVERALL SEASON RECORD: 10-5
UPSET OF THE WEEK: 3-0

LAST WEEK’S CORRECT PICKS

BOSTON COLLEGE at VIRGINIA TECH
My Prediction: Virginia Tech by 4
Result: Virginia Tech by 1

DUKE at CLEMSON
My Prediction: Duke by 3
Result: Duke by 13
 
GEORGIA TECH at FLORIDA STATE (Upset of the Week pick)
My Prediction: Florida State by 2
Result: Florida State by 2

LAST WEEK’S INCORRECT PICK
 
WAKE FOREST at NORTH CAROLINA
My Prediction: UNC by 11
Result: Wake Forest by 13
 
VIRGINIA at WAKE FOREST
My Prediction: Virginia by 2
Result: Wake Forest by 12

THIS WEEK’S PICKS (Upset special in italics)

GEORGIA TECH at DUKE, Thursday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Duke takes care of business at home. Duke by 4.

MARYLAND at FLORIDA STATE, Thursday, 9 p.m.
Maryland picks up a big win away from home to boost its resume. Maryland by 2.

NORTH CAROLINA at VIRGINIA TECH, Thursday, 9 p.m.
I can’t call this an upset, but I see UNC getting this one late. UNC by 3.

DUKE at BOSTON COLLEGE, Saturday, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
A SHOCKING upset special of the week, but I’m just feeling it. Boston College by 2.

NORTH CAROLINA at MARYLAND, Sunday, 2 p.m. (FSN)
Maryland completes the best overall week for an ACC team. Maryland by 6.

BONUS PICK (ON ICE)!

BEANPOT HOCKEY FINAL: BOSTON COLLEGE vs. BOSTON UNIVERSITY, Monday, 8 p.m.
Despite a down year, my alma mater pulls out its 30th Beanpot title in 58 tries. BU 4, BC 2.

Special to RushTheCourt.  Ryan Restivo of the MAAC-based SienaSaintsBlog is the RTC correspondent for the Colonial Athletic Association. SienaSaintsBlog now features exclusive video!

The BracketBuster matchups are out, and as promised, RTC is here with some analysis of some of the top games!  Five Colonial Athletic Association teams lead the pack into these February weekend matchups. The Western Athletic Conference drew four bids and the Missouri Valley drew three.  One problem with the BracketBusters? Five of the television games will be on ESPNU, which of course means they’re not available on ESPN360.  However I’d say there are five games where you must, to quote another piece here, “quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live.”

Friday 2/19  (RPI)

Old Dominion (#46) @ Northern Iowa (#17)  – 7 pm on ESPN2/ESPN360

Get to Know Gerald Lee

The Monarchs will travel to Cedar Rapids to play where the Panthers have won every home game by an average of 14 points per game entering this week. 6’8 UNI senior Adam Koch is a tough-to-contain inside presence, scoring a team high 12.7 points per game. 6’10 ODU senior Gerald Lee will likely be assigned to the task of guarding Koch, an he has been a beast this year for the Monarchs, shooting 53% from the field and leading the team with 14.3 points per game. The matchup to watch in this game will be to see if Old Dominion can defend Koch on the inside while keeping their shooters, junior Kwadzo Ahelegbe (11.1 ppg) and Senior Ali Farokhmanesh (team high 42 3-pointers made), at bay. Both teams are first in their respective conferences in FG percentage defense at eerily similar numbers: Old Dominion’s 39.5% FG-defense is 21st while Northern Iowa’s 39.9% ranks 37th nationally. The Monarchs have had some defensive trouble lately, trying zones at Northeastern on Saturday when facing a team with similar size and offensive weapons as the Panthers, to give up a season high 59.5% field goal percentage. 

Saturday 2/20 (RPI)

Siena (#44) @ Butler (#19) – 11 am on ESPN2/ESPN360

The owner of the nation’s longest winning streak, Siena at thirteen straight, will go into an extremely tough environment at Butler in Saturday’s first Bracketbuster game. The Saints are led by 6’5 senior Edwin Ubiles and his 15.8 points per game as he makes his case for MAAC Player of the Year despite some lingering shoulder issues. Alex Franklin plays bigger than his 6’5 frame to lead the Saints down low with 16.1 points per game. On the other side, Butler’s Gordon Hayward has been a beast for the Bulldogs this year, scoring 16.1 points per game and tying a season-high 25 in Sunday’s comeback win over UW-Milwaukee. Hayward, a sophomore, is already attracting the attention of NBA scouts. Fellow sophomore Shelvin Mack has scored 15 points per game and Matt Howard, when not in foul trouble, scores 11 points per game. Howard has been tough to defend inside, going off for 23 points in Butler’s nine-point loss to Minnesota, but has had issues with foul trouble, getting disqualified in three of the Bulldogs’ four losses. It will be interesting to see how Siena defends Hayward and Howard and how this veteran Saints team led by seniors Ubiles, Franklin and Ronald Moore can contain this explosive offense on the road.

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1. Kentucky                          20-1  (5-1)
2. Vanderbilt                        16-4   (5-1)
3. Tennessee                        16-4  (4-2)
4. Florida                                15-6  (4-3)
5. South Carolina             13-8  (4-3)
6. Georgia                                9-10 (1-5)

1. Mississippi State           16-5  (4-2)
2. Mississippi                        16-5  (4-3)
3. Arkansas                             10-11 (3-3)
4. Alabama                              13-8 (3-4)
5. Auburn                                11-11 (2-5)
6. LSU                                         9-12  (0-7)

TEAM UPDATES (Rankings are AP Top 25 – ESPN/Today polls)

EAST

Kentucky (#4, #3) — Kentucky played nothing like the #1 team in the country as they missed 18 layups and lost a 68-62 game on the road to South Carolina this past Tuesday.  DeMarcus Cousins had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead Kentucky, and John Wall added 19 points.  Those two accounted for 46 of the Wildcats’ 62 points, and that lack of a third scorer was a main reason UK fell. Kentucky bounced back from their loss to South Carolina with a convincing 85-72 win over the hot Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday.  UK jumped out to a 13 point lead 10 minutes into the game and controlled the final 30 minutes, keeping the lead in double digits the entire way. Cousins had another double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds and Darnell Dodson scored 16 points while getting a rare start to lead UK.

Vanderbilt (#18, #20) — Jermaine Beal scored 25 points and Vanderbilt won its 10th straight game with an 85-76 victory over No. 14 Tennessee on Wednesday night. It was Vandy’s first win in Knoxville in five tries and its first win over a ranked opponent this season.  A.J. Ogilvy added 12 points and three other Commodores hit double digits as Vandy shot 50.7% for the game.  Vanderbilt fell behind Kentucky early at Rupp Arena in that Saturday game  and could never regroup, falling 85-72 to the Wildcats.  The Commodores were outrebounded 39-21 by the Wildcats. Beal led the way for Vandy with 19 points and shot 4-8 from beyond the arc.  Ogilvy added 12 for the Commodores.

Tennessee (#14, #14) — J.P Prince scored 22 points on 9-10 shooting but it was not enough for the Volunteers to defend their home court in a 85-76 loss to Vanderbilt.  Scotty Hopson and Bobby Maze added 14 and 12 points, respectively, as the Vols fell to 3-2 in the SEC.  Hopson hit a jumper with :17 remaining to give the Volunteers a thrilling 61-60 win over the Florida Gators on Sunday.  The shot allowed the Vols to notch their sixth straight win over the Gators.  Wayne Chism had 16 points and 11 boards to lead the Vols and help them avoid a three game losing streak.

Florida — Alex Tyus scored 23 points, Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton added 21 apiece, and Florida beat Georgia on Wednesday, 87-71.  The Gators extended their winning streak to four and continued their recent domination in the series. Florida has won 12 of their last 13 meetings versus the Bulldogs. Tyus missed a short jumper with five seconds left and, in a game televised nationally on CBS this past Sunday, the Gators went down to a sixth straight loss in games against Tennessee.  Tyus led the Gators with 18 points, and Chandler Parsons added 14.  Parsons hit a late 3-pointer to give the Gators a lead, and was in a position to hit his third game-winning shot of the year.  A Scotty Hopson jumper dashed those dreams and gave UT the lead for good.

South Carolina — Devan Downey took nearly half his team’s shots and threw in 30 points to lead his Gamecocks to a 68-62 win over Kentucky.  Downey took over the game during the closing minutes and the Wildcats had no answer on covering him.  Brandis Raley-Ross added 17 points and gave the Gamecocks another scoring option they had been lacking recently.  Kentucky was the first #1 team that the  Gamecocks have defeated in eight attempts.  Downey had 33 points, including the driving basket with 50 seconds left, that gave South Carolina a 78-77 victory over Georgia on Saturday.  The Gamecocks trailed 63-54 with less than 10 minutes remaining but then Downey scored 12 out of the Gamecocks’ final 24 points down the stretch.  Sam Muldrow added 19 points and 11 boards for South Carolina.

Georgia —  Ricky McPhee drained five three pointers and scored 21 points on Wednesday, but the Bulldogs were still blown out by the Gators, 87-71.  The Bulldogs were, in effect, a three man team with Trey Thompkins scoring 24 and Travis Leslie adding 11/8/4 in the loss.  The two other players Georgia started scored a total of just eight points and the Bulldogs wasted a 59% shooting night in a 16 point loss.  Georgia’s had it’s share of tough losses this season, but the 78-77 loss at South Carolina on Saturday may have been its toughest.  The Bulldogs became the latest team that could not control Devan Downey down the stretch as he hit the game winner with :50 left.  Leslie and Thompkins had 21 and 18 points, respectively.

WEST

Mississippi State — Ravern Johnson scored 19 points to lead Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs blew an 11 point lead and lost to Arkansas on Thursday night, 67-62.  Barry Stewart and Kodi Augustus respectively scored 11 and 10 points.  Augustus added 10 boards for the double-double and Jarvis Varnado grabbed 14 rebounds.  Three days later, the Bulldogs snapped a two game SEC skid as Mississippi State beat LSU, 67-51. Johnson led the way with 15 points and Varnado had another double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to aid the Bulldogs’ cause.  Phil Turner added 12 points off the bench for Mississippi State.

Mississippi (#25, –) — Chris Warren scored 20 points, Terrico White had 19 and the Rebels weathered Auburn’s 3-point shooting before pulling out an 84-74 victory.  The Rebels shot 57% overall, and scored 46 points in the paint. They got 53 points from their three starting guards, including 14 from Eniel Polynice.  The Rebels won back to back road games in the SEC for the first time in nine seasons.  The Ole Miss Rebels lost a big chance to hold on to first place in the West as they were upset at home by the Arkansas Razorbacks on Sunday. Warren and Polynice had 17 and 15 points, respectively, but White suffered through a 3-14 shooting night.

Arkansas — Courtney Fortson scored a career-high 35 points, carrying Arkansas through the second half as the Razorbacks rallied for a 67-62 win over Mississippi State this past Thursday.  Fortson scored 33 of his points in the second half, repeatedly drawing fouls and converting inside, despite his 5’11 frame. Arkansas trailed 49-38 at one point but came back to earn a much-needed victory.  Stefan Walsh hit three 3-pointers and added 12 points off the bench.   After winning two games in the Southeastern Conference last season, Arkansas is suddenly 3-3 and has notched back-to-back wins over Western Division-leading teams.  The latest upset came at Oxford on Sunday as Arkansas dumped the Ole Miss Rebels, 80-73.  Michael Washington scored 22 points, Marshawn Powell added 19, and Rotnei Clarke posted 18 for the Jekyl-and-Hyde Razorbacks.

Alabama —  The Crimson Tide held the toothless LSU Tigers to just 13 points in the second half on Wednesday and blew LSU out, 57-38.  Charvez Davis scored 15 points off the bench in just 18 minutes to lead the Crimson Tide while Mikhail Torrance and Tony Mitchell both scored 10 points.  Mitchell added 10 boards for a double-double in that one.  Everytime Alabama takes a step forward and seems like a contender in the West, they take a step or two back.  Such was the case in Alabama’s 58-57 loss to Auburn on Saturday. Torrance led the way with 13 points an  added 10 points. Auburn –  The Auburn Tigers hit 11 three-pointers, including five by Tay Waller, but it was not enough to hold off the Ole Miss Rebels on Thursday night.  Waller scored 21 points in the 84-74 loss.  DeWayne Reed had 15 points and Lucas Hargrove 10 as the Tigers dropped a tough one on their home court.  Hargrove hit a free throw with three seconds left on Saturday to lift Auburn to a 58-57 win over Alabama. The Crimson Tide led 55-51 with 2:58 left in the game, but Hargrove, who finished with 14 points, had a dunk and converted a three-point play to cut Alabama’s lead to 57-56. Waller hit 3 3-pointers and scored 20 points, continuing his hot play.

LSU – The Tigers had a dreadful night on Wednesday, shooting just 29.2% from the field and 11.1% from long range as LSU suffered a 57-38 loss to Alabama.  LSU scored just 13 points in the second half.  Tasmin Mitchell and Dennis Harris “led” the Tigers wiwth 8 points each.  LSU suffered through yet another horrid shooting stretch as they suffered a 67-51 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday.  The Tigers shot just 34% from the floor and Mitchell was the only Tiger in double digits with 26 points — more than half his team’s total.

***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Ole Miss @ #3 Kentucky – 7 pm on ESPN (***)

Have John Wall and Coach Calipari gotten over their performance at South Carolina?  It would have appeared so after they defeated a strong Vanderbilt team by 13, but recent comments by Wall quickly put away any ease that was in Lexington.  After initially criticizing the way Calipari handles him, Wall has clarified that their relationship is fine, but more importantly, Wall is not playing his best basketball.  Going back to the end of the Arkansas game, he has made only 10 of his last 30 shots, and was held to only two assists in Columbia.  With 27 and 21-point performances in his last two games, could DeMarcus Cousins be the best player on the team and best freshman in the country?  Calipari would like help from both players against Ole Miss, a team that is tied for first place in the SEC West at 4-2.  This game would have appeared much more dangerous for UK before Ole Miss blew a three-game winning streak with a home loss against a struggling Arkansas team.  The game is in Lexington, where the Wildcats are 14-0, but the Rebels have shown the ability to play tough on the road this year.  They were beating Tennessee by 12 in the latter part of the second half before losing in OT, and only lost to West Virginia by 10.  Kentucky’s offense may rank higher in points per game, efficiency, and rebounds, but Ole Miss has the potential to stay with the Cats throughout.  They don’t have any lottery picks, but they score over 80 points per contest and have five guys who score in double digits.  Kentucky should win this game, but don’t expect the Rebels to get blown out.

Miami (FL) @ Wake Forest – 7 pm on ESPN2 (***)

Miami might be a bad team who just happened to have a good game, and Wake Forest may be a good team who just happened to have a horrible game, but judging by the last performance of both squads, it is tough to tell where these teams are heading.  The RPI would like to confirm that WFU is a vastly superior team, as the Demon Deacons come in at #23 while the Hurricanes rank #86, but both teams have five losses on the year, and Miami has two more wins.  UM started the ACC season 1-5, so it should be interesting to see how they play against the only conference opponent they have beaten this year.  In that game, James Dews connected on a shot with 30 seconds to go to give the Hurricanes a 67-66 victory in Coral Gables.  Dews scored 21 points in Sunday’s win over Virginia Tech, and will have to give his team a similar performance to upset the Deacons for a second time this year.  Wake Forest, on the other hand, is trying to get the taste out of their mouths from a 21-point loss to Georgia Tech.  WFU is one of only two teams in the country to average over 40 rebounds per game, but have been inconsistent offensively in the past few weeks.  Although Miami’s defense is ranked 83d in terms of efficiency, the Hurricanes allow less than 63 points per game, and if they hold Al-Farouq Aminu to nine points like they did last game, they will come out of Winston-Salem with a victory.

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These two teams have perfected the art of wining close games lately, with the Spartans winning back to back road games by one point.  Wisconsin lost a nail biter against Purdue on Thursday, but has had recent comebacks in the closing minutes against Northwestern, Michigan, and Penn State.  The Kohl Center is one of the toughest places to play in all of college basketball.  Wisconsin’s slow style of play does not make for the most exciting games, but if they take the Spartans down to the wire, The Grateful Red will make for quite an atmosphere.  The Badgers have not lost at home this year, but this may be the best team Wisconsin has seen all year.

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Yes, it’s Groundhog Day, but you’ve probably never seen this before, Northwestern is on the NCAA bubble. Tonight’s game starts a stretch of “must wins” for the Wildcats that will take them through this week and quite possibly the rest of the Big Ten regular season. Don’t be tricked into thinking Northwestern isn’t a contender by their 3-6 conference record as this game against Michigan is NU’s 10th straight Big Ten game this season against a team that made the 2009 NCAA Tournament field. (Yup, that’s all of them.) The Wildcats pulled off the upset at Michigan on Sunday, January 10, after trailing by as many as 17 points. The Wolverines have since recovered and are 4-5 in conference and trying to sneak back into the postseason picture if they can pull off some big upsets down the stretch. It should be a good one. John Templon will have all the action from Welsh-Ryan Arena starting 15 minutes before the ridiculously early (made for TV on Big Ten Network) 6 p.m. tip. Join us!

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1. It’s Groundhog Day 2010, and just for a little perspective, let’s look back one year ago.  On February 2, 2009, the nation’s #1 team in the AP poll was UConn (ok), #2 was Oklahoma (alright), #3 was UNC (definitely ok), and #4 was Duke (um, no).  The other two Final Four teams besides the Huskies and Heels — Michigan State and Villanova — were #13 and #17, respectively.  Look at a few of the other names in the top ten… #7 Wake Forest, #8 Marquette, #10 Clemson.  There’s a lot of season left, folks.
2. We always love this… when conference officials admit to a bad call or calls that impact whether a team wins a game by stating there were “procedural and communications errors” without giving specifics as to what those were (as Big East officials did after the Louisville-West Virginia game).  Maybe they should just start going back and disallowing baskets based on the replay, similar to how they vacate wins for using an ineligible player?
3. Jameson Fleming at the Bleacher Report recently interviewed ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb about his somewhat abrasive honest style of analysis, which endears him to few fans other than lonely bloggers who appreciate hearing something beyond Team X is “getting it done” and Player Y has the “total package.”
4. A lot of people are understandably focusing on the small rift that seemed to manifest over the weekend between John Wall and his coach, John Calipari, but the underlying truth of the matter is that Wall’s play has fallen off considerably in 2010.  The question we have is not whether there’s some kind of problem between player and coach, but whether Wall has the ability to bounce back for the last 6-8 weeks of the season.
5. We hope to have an analysis of these up later today, but the Bracketbuster matchups were announced last night, and the obvious choice for the best game on the docket is Siena visiting Butler in Hinkle Fieldhouse.  Some other games of major interest in our book are: 1) Old Dominion @ Northern Iowa; 2) Charleston @ George Mason; and 3) Wichita State @ Utah State.

Knockout Game? Louisville 82, Connecticut 69. Ok, it’s too early to start talking about knockout games in any serious manner, but we shouldn’t gloss over the fact that this game was very important for both of these teams.  Louisville came into tonight’s game having lost four of five, and UConn had dropped five of seven, as both Big East powerhouses were facing uphill climbs to get back into the NCAA Tournament picture this year.  Tonight Louisville managed to keep hope alive by moving to 5-4 in the Big East with a convincing win over the Jim Calhoun-less Huskies.  Edgar Sosa led Louisville with 15/3/8 assts in one of his better performances of the year, as he set his season high in dimes and also continued his consecutive games streak with multiple threes (Sosa hit two tonight, the eighth game in a row he’s hit at least that many).  Three other UL starters hit double-figures tonight, and the Cards hit the halfway point of the Big East schedule with a reasonable shot at getting to ten wins and the commensurate expectation of an NCAA Tournament berth.  We’re not sold on the long-term viability of this Cardinal team, but they can probably win enough games to get back to the Dance this year.  As for UConn, where to begin?  The good news is that the Huskies have played one of the top schedules in the nation so far; the bad news is that they have one quality win (Texas).  Wins over Harvard and William & Mary and Notre Dame are nice, but they alone won’t get you into the Tournament.    Eventually UConn is going to have to win another marquee game, and they’ll have at least four more chances to do so (home games against WVU and Louisville; road games versus Syracuse and Villanova).  Tonight was more of the same for the Huskies, as the last two games  have been their worst defensive performances of the season, allowing 1.16 points per possession vs. Louisville and 1.04 against Marquette on Saturday.  This is especially disconcerting given that the UConn defense has been the primary reason they’ve avoided a complete disaster — it’s the offense that has struggled.  The Husky offense shot 38% from the field, hit only four threes and committed 17 turnovers, and those kinds of numbers have to improve if UConn expects to earn its first true road win sometime this season.  Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker, in particular, continue to have trouble putting the ball in the basket, combining for 11-32 tonight — only a little worse than their season average of ~41%.  We realize that Jim Calhoun IS UConn basketball, but we’re not sure that he can turn things around when he does return later this season.  Winning just the home games will get the Huskies to 7-11 in the Big East, and that means late road games against Rutgers, Notre Dame and USF are extremely important this year.

Louisville Got the Upper Hand Tonight

Jordan Hamilton Says Hello.  #10 Texas 72, Oklahoma State 60.  This game was a tale of two halves in Stillwater tonight.  At halftime, OSU looked the more aggressive team and had built as much as an eleven-point lead behind the habanero-like shooting of James Anderson (8-9 FGs for 24 points in the first half).  Texas managed to crawl back within four at the break, and the ensuing half belonged to the Longhorns.  Rick Barnes’ defense held the scorching Anderson to 2-9 shooting and four points for the rest of the game, and in the meantime, may have found a new offensive option on their own team in the form of Jordan Hamilton.  The freshman from LA came into the game averaging less than 8 PPG, but he made the most of his minutes tonight, drilling five threes and hitting 11-16 FGs for a career-high 27/4.  Eighteen of those points came in the second half, including an 11-point burst in the middle of the half that gave Texas the lead for good.  The core of the UT lineup is experienced, with Damion James, Dexter Pittman, Justin Mason, Dogus Balbay and Gary Johnson all juniors or seniors, but the offensive production that Rick Barnes gets from the talented freshman trio of Hamilton, Avery Bradley and J’Covan Brown will ultimately decide how far the Horns will go this season.  The firepower that those three bring to the table surpasses all but what Damion James can do on a regular basis — Coach Barnes would be wise to unleash their talents a little more as his team heads into the stretch run of the Big 12 regular season race still only two back of #1 Kansas in the standings.

Other Games of National Interest.

Is none an acceptable answer?  We’ll be back tomorrow with a fuller slate of games.