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Top 25 Games
- #14 Purdue 67, Indiana 53: “Tonight’s performance reminded us a bit of the Hoosiers of old. Missed shots — 22-of-62 from the field for 35.5 percent, 2-of-13 from three for 15.4 percent. Blocked shots — eight swats for Purdue with JaJuan Johnson notching four of those. Credit is due to Matt Painter’s kids, who entered the game at fourth in the Big Ten in allowing 1.05 points per possession to their opponents. Purdue’s defense — which held the Hoosiers to a season low 24 first-half points and a season low points total in a loss – was perhaps the best these Hoosiers have seen all season. They were physical. They took away the three-point shot. They protected the paint and the rim. They got after an Indiana team that hadn’t played a road contest in over a week, that had been bolstered by a home crowd of late and that is without Christian Watford and Maurice Creek.” (Inside the Hall: Recap and Tom Crean Quotes; Boiled Sports: Recap)
- #18 Kentucky 73, Tennessee 61: “Ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, this was a team that I recognized. I didn’t recognize every player (more on that later), but this was the kind of defense, ball movement and toughness that I remember from the Louisville game, and many other times in the early season. What we saw tonight was Kentucky Wildcats Basketball. The Tennessee Volunteers did not make it easy, and made several runs of the sort that Kentucky has responded poorly to on the road. Tennessee played physical, tough basketball. But in the comfy confines of Rupp Arena, the Wildcats did not succumb to the never-say-die effort of the Vols, and the very large first half lead proved too much for Tennessee, who is somewhat scoring challenged. The Volunteers deserve credit for a good try, but ultimately it wasn’t nearly good enough.” (A Sea of Blue or Rocky Top Talk)
Pre-Game Analysis
- #19 Louisville at #8 Notre Dame: Previewing yet another big match-up in the Big East as the Cardinals head up to South Bend trying to keep up with the rest of the powers in the conference. (Card Chronicle)
- Northwestern at Michigan: Interviewing a few of the Wolverines as they try to get revenge for a loss in Evanston on January 18th. (UM Hoops: Video Part 1 and Part 2)
- Longwood at Maryland: “As if beating up on Wake wasn’t enough, Maryland gets an even easier matchup tomorrow: Longwood. Yeah, for some reason the Terrapins are playing an 8-18 independent among the worst teams in the nation…in early February. While the ACC season rages all around them – including Duke-UNC, the biggest rivalry in college basketball – Maryland is going to get a nice break to coast past the Lancers.” (Testudo Times)
News/Analysis
- CBB Players’ Top 10 Unlikeliest Jobs: Scouring the records to find some of the rather remarkable current jobs that some notable former basketball players hold. (Lost Letterman: #10-6 and #5-1)
- Deja Vu All Over Again | VT and the RPI: Welcome Back to the Bubble: “Last Wednesday in honor of Groundhog Day, Encore ran the Bill Murray movie of the same name all day. I wonder if Seth Greenberg wakes up every February and March and doesn’t wonder if he’s stuck in that film, repeating the same situation year after year.” (Tech Hoops)
- How Would You Finish Out Maryland’s 2011 Class?: Analyzing the potential recruits that the Terrapins are still targeting. (Testudo Times)
- Gonzaga’s Effective Height Problem: “The Zags have the second highest Effective Height in the country. According to the aforementioned Zen Statmaster, effective height is a minutes-weighted average of a team’s height. (For example, if we theoretically never played Sacre, Harris, Dower, or Olynyk our team would have a minuscule Effective Height, despite having several really tall guys on the roster.) Not surprisingly, outside of Block%, a team’s Effective Height is more closely correlated with their two-point FG defense than any other tempo-free stat.” (Zagacious
- Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: While the top 2 in the conference are not controversial the rest of the conference appears to be a mess. (Rock Chalk Talk)