It’s hard to believe, but we’re almost there. March is creeping up, and the Big Ten regular season is coming to a close. Michigan State has surprised just about everyone outside the walls of Breslin Center in East Lansing, already securing a share of the conference title, but there’s plenty left to shake out in terms of seeding for the 2012 Big Ten Tournament. There are four pairs of teams tied throughout the standings, which means eight squads have plenty left to play for. Here’s an updated look at what the bracket would look like if play ended today, based on the conference standings heading into this week’s games. As usual, the tiebreaker results are explained below.

The Spartans are in line for the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Can they carry their success into Indy? (AP)

• #1 : Michigan State (24-5 overall, 13-3 Big Ten)
• #2: Michigan (21-8, 11-5)*
• #3: Ohio State (23-6, 11-5)*
• #4: Wisconsin (21-8, 10-6)
• #5: Indiana (22-7, 9-7)**
• #6: Purdue (19-10, 9-7)**
• #7: Northwestern (17-11, 7-9)***
• #8: Iowa (15-14, 7-9)***
• #9: Illinois (17-12, 6-10)
• #10: Minnesota (17-12, 5-11)
• #11: Nebraska (12-15, 4-12)****
• #12: Penn State (12-17, 4-12)****

Clark Williams is a Big 12 microsite writer, and a current student at the University of Missouri.

As a Missouri student, nobody needs to ask me how much the most recent Border War hurt. But the intensity of the rivalry this season has done wonders for not only the Border War rivalry as a whole, but the entire Big 12 conference. Unfortunately, this beautiful rivalry is coming to an end because of conference politics realignment. Fans from both Missouri and Kansas are saying that they don’t need each other, and they’re fine with the notion of never seeing their evil conference foe ever again.  How do I sum up my feelings as a Missouri fan about Kansas? At the end of Anchorman, Vince Vaughn utters, “I hate you Ron Burgandy. But damn it, do I respect you!” This should be the general mindset. Hate your rival as you should, but it’s idiotic for any Tiger or Jayhawk fan to be simply complacent with this rivalry ending. In recent years, whether discussing Missouri’s rise in competitiveness in football, or Kansas’s hoops National Championship in 2008, these rivalry games have nearly defined each school’s athletic season. Go 2-10, but beat Kansas/Missouri and the season was a success.

You Won't Find Another Rival That Induces This Much Emotion: Kansas and Missouri

In 2008, I witnessed my first spewing of Kansas hatred. It was during my freshmen orientation, and part of the presentation by the leaders was a skit making fun of the Jayhawks. These orientations are meant to teach incoming freshmen the essentials: how to navigate your way through Missouri’s confusing campus, how to set up your meal plan, and how to hate Kansas with a passion. Only the essentials. I knew of the Border War rivalry, but did not know the history of it, and had never known it to be of an intensity that rivals Ohio State/Michigan and Duke/North Carolina. I asked a fellow peer of mine if the rivalry “was really that big of a deal,” and he just scoffed, immediately knowing I was not from around here. He was right. I was an awkward kid from Texas, already uncomfortable by the different culture presented to me on the campus of Missouri and in the city of Columbia. I had grown up a Longhorn fan, and the only rival I knew of was the Sooners of Oklahoma and those folks in Aggieland. Still, you never truly appreciate a collegiate rivalry until you become a part of the student body. I know this might resonate negatively with some of you, as the schools you cheer for are not always your alma maters. But, it’s true, and I will gladly hear any of your attempts to dissuade me from thinking this.

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1. Craig Robinson will never complain about officiating. Except when he does. Robinson called Oregon State’s loss Sunday night against Oregon a “poorly officiated game,” taking particular exception to a foul called on Eric Moreland during a struggle for a rebound with 10 seconds left and the general lack of fouls called in favor of Jared Cunningham. Robinson called for Cunningham to “get treated like one of the best players,” seemingly meaning that his star player should get calls that other players in the league don’t necessarily get. We all know that this type of subjective officiating goes on, and we know that coaches certainly want their players to get calls whenever possible, but the idea of a coach calling for referees to adjust their officiating to reward a star player? Please. Leave that nonsense to the NBA.
2. Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena is a gleaming new state-of-the-art facility that makes an already appealing Oregon basketball program that much more of a force in the Pac-12. That doesn’t mean that everything is going along without a hitch in Eugene. A report issued on Monday showed that financial revenue projections for the arena have been drastically cut, dropping by as much as 30% in some revenue categories, and that the athletic department will likely show annual net deficits for as many as five years beginning in 2013. As is usually the case with these types of projects, the revenue projections may have been purposefully inflated in order to increase the appeal of the building, and now that the project is complete, those projections are free to return to reality. Case in point, while the revenue for men’s basketball ticketing looks like it will hit about $2.4 million for this year, that number is down $400,000 from previous projections.
3. Arizona State guard Trent Lockett may be a junior in terms of eligibility, but in terms of academic performance, he’s already a senior well on his way to becoming a graduate. Lockett began taking courses at ASU even before officially graduating from high school and is currently taking 23 credits this semester while still being a team leader on the basketball team. He’s got a 3.3 cumulative GPA and should earn a degree in business communication. All in all, a great story for a Sun Devil program that is in need of great stories right now. Here’s hoping, for Herb Sendek’s sake, this story doesn’t turn into something like this. Other fanbases are already beginning such speculation.
4. Most of the talk around the conference Coach of the Year award has centered around names like Tad Boyle, Mike Montgomery and even Dana Altman – all fine choices, to be sure. But what about Lorenzo Romar? He’s taken a team that was projected to finish fourth in the conference prior to the season and turned them into a team on the verge of a regular season title with a 22-8 overall record that features close losses to Duke and Marquette along with some other less palatable losses. He’s taken a team that had some chemistry problems early in the year and built a coherent squad that has significantly improved as the year has gone on. For me, it comes down to Romar or Boyle, and while I agree that Romar’s coaching job is looking better and better by the week, I’m still blown away by Boyle’s success in his first year in the conference.
5. The flip side of the COY discussion is the hot seat discussion, and The Husky Haul took a crack at that yesterday, ranking Kevin O’Neill, Herb Sendek, Craig Robinson, Johnny Dawkins and Larry Krystkowiak as the five most likely to be swept aside. There are serious problems with this list, beginning with the inclusion of Krystkowiak here; if anything, the Utes have overachieved this season given the dearth of talent in Salt Lake City. Sendek and Dawkins have both recently received contract extensions as well, and seem unlikely to be going anywhere (although their seats are both definitely warming), while USC athletic director Pat Haden has made it very clear that O’Neill will get a pass for this season’s failures. And while Oregon State’s season will go down as a disappointment, it seems like Robinson at least has his team moving in the right direction. Odds are, none of those schools will be looking for new coaches this offseason. In fact, if there was to be a coaching change this year, Ben Howland at UCLA or Ken Bone at Washington State would be more likely to be relieved of their duties than any of the five on this list. In the end, my guess is that we’ll have the same 12 coaches back in this conference next season.

Jesse Baumgartner is an RTC columnist. His Love/Hate column will publish each week throughout the season. In this piece he’ll review the five things he loved and hated about the previous seven days of college basketball.

Five Things I Loved This Week

I LOVED….Kansas and Missouri making a play for Game of the Year. I still think you can’t top the North Carolina/Duke game, but for momentum swings and quality, Saturday’s game in Lawrence was right up there. I don’t know if I’m more impressed with how well Missouri played in a ridiculously hostile environment, or that Kansas found a way to win after getting down big. Either way, I think I like both teams’ Final Four prospects better after that one.

I LOVED….Pat Knight’s rant. No, it probably wasn’t the best choice of words or the most thought-out statement. But you have to love when coaches just say what’s on their mind and don’t give the usual coach-speak BS. Fans love getting an unfiltered view, and Pat did his dad proud with that sound-off.

I LOVED….trying to figure out what UConn can even do to make the NCAA Tournament. They’re 17-11 and 7-9 in the Big East, with games against Providence and Pittsburgh left. They’ve beaten Florida State, Harvard, St. John’s and Notre Dame as far as OK wins go. Outside of winning the Big East Tourney, obviously (which started last season’s title run), I’d say Jim Calhoun’s underachieving group has to win out and win two games in MSG – maybe three. Any guesses?

I LOVED….wondering if Georgetown has found its happy place. I seriously haven’t thought about the Hoyas for more than five seconds all year, and it usually consists of – “Is it February yet? OK, they’re finished.” But here they are with just six losses and in the Top 10 as we get set to enter into March. Perhaps GU has lowered our late-season expectations so much that they’ve finally stopped pressing?

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1. As if life weren’t complicated enough in Columbia with this weekend’s loss to rival Kansas, Missouri learned this week they will now need to hear about another NCAA probe involving head coach Frank Haith‘s days at Miami. This time, the NCAA has ruled Hurricanes’ center Reggie Johnson ineligible because his family received improper travel benefits from a member of Haith’s coaching staff. The incident is unrelated to the Nevin Shapiro accusations that surfaced last summer, so it’s another problem to keep an eye on for Haith. He said he will cooperate with the investigation.
2. Once again, Kansas is your Big 12 champion. The Jayhawks wrapped up the regular season league title with a win Monday night over Oklahoma State, a victory not nearly as enthralling as Saturday’s comeback in Lawrence. Still, as Bill Self has done over and over again, his team took care of business and did not let the critics get into its head this winter. Way back in the fall, even Self said he had concerns about this year’s team. He wasn’t alone. But this is Kansas. This program wins Big 12 titles, and this year was no different.
3. Senior Night is always special and important, especially when a player like Keiton Page is involved. Page, such an important piece to Oklahoma State for four years running, finished with 29 points in his final game at Gallagher-Iba in the loss to Kansas. Criticize him all you want — and there’s certainly parts of his game deserving of such criticism — but this guy never quits. He’s a senior in every sense of the word.
4. Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy channeled his inner-Pat Knight by ripping his team and questioning their scholarship money, all in response to a loss this weekend to Oklahoma State. Much like Knight famously criticized his seniors at Lamar last week, Kennedy said his Aggies “were cheating on the job.” The loss dropped A&M to 4-12 in Big 12 play, a fairly amazing statistic considering yours truly predicted it to win the Big 12 in the preseason. Whoops.
5. Baylor had no trouble with Texas Tech last night in Waco, rolling to a 77-48 victory. The Senior Day win was important for this graduating class, which has won the most games in school history. Made up of Quincy Acy, Fred Ellis, and Anthony Jones, the senior class has won 95 games since arriving on campus and is likely to crack 100 before they’re finished as Bears.

1. At the season’s onset, Ohio State was an easy choice for the Big Ten title, a likely Final Four participant and a trendy choice to be cutting down the nets in New Orleans. It was practically national title or bust for Thad Matta, who is yet to win the big one. Now, things are slipping away in front of our eyes. You can’t help but get a sense that the Buckeyes are close to implosion, particularly after Matta uncharacteristically practically threw his players under the bus after a Senior Day loss to Wisconsin on Sunday. Weeks ago, we were wondering if Ohio State could run the table in the conference. At this rate, we might be wondering just how many more they can win.
2. Many left Purdue for dead when Matt Painter made the widely-publicized decision to kick Kelsey Barlow off the team prior to the Michigan State game earlier this month, but the Boilermakers have responded like few expected they would. Other conference teams seem to have benefited from “addition by subtraction” in recent memory (looking at you, Michigan State). Could this be the case with the Boilermakers? They have won four of their last five, with a great shot to make it five of six with a home meeting against Penn State up next. Robbie Hummel clearly does not intend on ending his career at Purdue quietly. Does anyone want to play the Boilermakers in the Big Ten Tournament?
3. To fully realize just how unselfish this Michigan State team can be, you need look no further than the inside play of Derrick Nix. Tom Izzo likes to call his junior center “Tragic Johnson” — a play on the former Michigan State superstar point guard’s nickname — for Nix’s desire to pass the ball. At times, Nix would be almost better off just going up for the basket rather than looking for the extra pass. But that unselfishness is what brought the Spartans to this surprising share of the Big Ten title, the Detroit Free Press‘ Michael Rosenberg writes. “We always talk to him about that,” senior captain Draymond Green said of Nix. “He’s so unselfish. But how can you get mad at somebody for being unselfish?”
4. Bruce Weber probably feels like he’s on an island right now, with his Fighting Illini having lost nine of their last 11 games. It’s all but certain that this will be his last season in Champaign, but Weber has the support of Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.  “I’ve known Bruce a long time. I think the world of him as a person,” McCaffery said Tuesday. “I think he’s done a terrific job there. He’s had phenomenal success. I feel for him. I wish nobody in our business would have to go through it.”
5. Speaking of Illinois, can we talk about the basketball program without focusing on the head coach’s job security? (Certainly, Bruce Weber would appreciate it.) In honor of the Assembly Hall’s 50th birthday, the News-Gazette‘s Paul Klee pens a nice tribute to the Fighting Illini’s home digs. And it’s not just the Illini that have called it home. Frank Sinatra, Garth Brooks, Prince, Elvis and more have all called the place home, if only for a day or two. With an important home game against Michigan up next for Illinois, maybe the facility can deliver the team a present of its own.

1. Kentucky’s Anthony Davis was named SEC Player of the Week for his demonstrative performances against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. Davis averaged 20.5 points, 11 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, and two steals including a career-high 28 points to go with 11 rebounds against the Commodores. Kentucky’s freshmen swept the awards this week as Wildcat Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. Kidd-Gilchrist averaged 13 points, nine rebounds, two assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.5 steals. He scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Kentucky’s win in Starkville.
2. Despite the loss on Saturday, Vanderbilt was encouraged with its play against the #1 team in the land, the Kentucky Wildcats. “We got down 10 and I thought our guys really showed some courage coming back and getting the game back to where it was,” Commodores coach Kevin Stallings said. While winning is the measure of any good team, Vanderbilt has to feel good about playing tough in Rupp Arena where the Cats have won 51 straight. “They’ve had their way with most people in here,” Stallings said. “We lost but the game was a game for 38 or 39 of the 40 minutes.” Vanderbilt’s experience in a hostile environment in Rupp, albeit during a loss, could give the ‘Dores the confidence they need going into March that they can play with anyone in the country.
3. Tennessee freshman Jarnell Stokes is still adjusting to the college game, after he became eligible for the Volunteers during mid-season. Vols coach Cuonzo Martin, for one, is impressed with Stokes’ progress. “Jarnell has a good pace to his game; he doesn’t rush, he does a good job reading the defense, and for his size, he has good footwork and quickness,” Martin said. “You’re asking a kid that should still be in high school kid to come in and play at the SEC level against great competition without a preseason or the 14 games before league play.” As good as Stokes has been for Tennessee this season, even mid-season form is a scary thought for Vols’ opponents.
4. Without the physical nature of forward Will Yeguete, Florida struggled on the defensive end in its loss to Georgia on Saturday. “We got hung up on screens and did not do a great job defensively at all,” coach Billy Donovan said. The Gators let the Bulldogs shoot 52.9 percent from the field, while being outscored by Georgia 38-26 in the paint. “There is an immaturity in understanding the other team’s guys are on scholarship. The other team’s guys are preparing hard,” Donovan said. Field goal percentage defense has been an especially important measure for Donovan’s Gators. Florida has given up over 50% shooting three times this season (at Tennessee, at Kentucky, and at Georgia), and all three games ended up as losses for the Gators.
5. Mississippi State Bulldogs has been unraveling late in conference play. After appearing to be one of the surprise teams of the season with their solid play throughout the early going, the Bulldogs are on an alarming five game losing streak. “It’s real disappointing because I just see our season slipping away right in front of our eyes,” forward Arnett Moultrie said. “All we need is one win. I believe we’ll be able to get on a winning streak.” The players, obviously, aren’t taking this situation lightly.  “It’s real disappointing,” point guard Dee Bost said. “It isn’t fun. It’s not exciting.” Luckily for the Dogs, postseason success is most often the standard for which teams are measured and Mississippi State still has time to turn this season around.

1. Augusta Free Press: I don’t know how a StateFansNation post ended up on a newspaper’s website, but oh my does Chris Graham go off on the ACC here. Seriously, I’ve read my fair share of bitter editorials on message boards, Twitter or just personal conversations, but the conspiracy theorists rarely make it past “[Duke or North Carolina] got the benefit of several 50/50 calls” in newspapers. Apparently, Graham got tired of it after watching his home-state Virginia and Virginia Tech teams cheated out of a second half lead and “runaway,” respectively. There’s no doubt that it’s frustrating to be a fan of ACC teams outside of Duke and North Carolina: The two have historically dominated the league and the media coverage. But to say the ACC is a “stacked deck” is a little extreme. I’ll leave you with Graham’s closing thoughts:
   

   But we never really do anything that will actually have an impact – like, I don’t know, boycott en masse the season tickets of our favorite schools, to send a message with our wallets and pocketbooks that if the ACC is going to keep shoving the same crap down our throats and telling us to like it, well, then, eff you, we don’t like it.

   We’ll keep filling up our arenas and root like hell when we play each other, because at least then we’re on equal terms, and then when Duke and UNC come to town, we’ll fill the seats up then, too, on the off-chance that the refs won’t foul us out down to our walk-ons if we get a big lead, and we can rush the court in celebration of a win over the hegemons of Tobacco Road. [emphasis added]

   As long as we keep acting like the sheep that we are, change in the ACC ain’t never gonna happen.

2. Raleigh News & Observer: Speaking of “the hegemons of Tobacco Road,” Bubba Cunningham (North Carolina’s new athletic director) is in favor of a 128-team NCAA tournament. I hate the idea not because it will destroy the Big Dance like some critics say (it won’t; but it will dilute the value of winning a bid and possibly destroy the lesser postseason tournaments). My problem is that you’re adding an unnecessary round of games. That’s more travel; that’s more blowouts; that’s more fatigue. The Tournament would survive, but would the couple of upsets be worth an extra round of games? Every year we decry the bubble as the worst in years. Nearly every team is given an fair shake. Why add a round?
3. Gobbler Country: Below is a screenshot of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo. Take note of the first four chapters: The first starts innocently enough “On this perfect day…” The next three though? Not so much.
   

   Nietzsche Wrote The Definitive Philosophy. Gobbler Country Wrote The Definitive Case For Seth Greenberg. (photo credit: Amazon.com)

   That level of confidence was the feeling I got reading the title “The Definitive Case For Seth Greenberg.” Jokes about the title aside, I totally agree with Gobbler Country here. Greenberg shouldn’t be fired. He shouldn’t be on the hot seat. He made Virginia Tech basketball far more relevant than in the years before him. He’s done it with class and the program appears to be improving. Last year he brought in a Top 25 recruiting class. Things are trending upward even if this year is a rebuilding year.

4. Fayetteville Observer: Bret Strelow took a shot at his All-ACC Team entering the final week of conference play. He also dropped some very valuable advice for voters: “[The All-ACC Team is] going to have a Carolina blue tint, and I’m fine with that, as long as voters don’t go overboard. And overboard means including four North Carolina players.” Skill-wise, North Carolina might have four of the five best players in the ACC. But all-conference implies a level of importance or dominance that can’t come from a team that may not even finish first.
5. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Carroll Rogers does a great job profiling Paul Hewitt, who is still judging himself by the same standards he did at Georgia Tech. Now he’s trying to make the Big Dance at George Mason. Hewitt sounds content with his new gig, though that $7.2 million dollar buyout certainly makes the new job sweeter.

1. It appears that Nerlens Noel, the #1 recruit in the class of 2012, has cut his list of finalists from seven to five, resulting in two Big East schools left wanting. Noel was interviewed as part of a WCVB 5 Boston segment on him and his Tilton School teammates. In the interview Noel stated he has “narrowed it down” to Kentucky, Syracuse, Florida, Georgetown, and North Carolina. Omitted from Noel’s original list of seven were Connecticut and Providence.  Noel made similar news recently in a radio interview when he seemingly cut his list only to quickly clarify via Twitter that his list had not changed. Fans of Connecticut and Providence will hold out hope of an inadvertent omission once again, but all had been quiet in the Noel camp as of late Monday evening. In a related story, Jim Calhoun and Ed Cooley have retained Ryan Braun’s lawyers because they believe the WCVB 5 news feed was tampered with in post-production.
2. Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun underwent successful back surgery yesterday according to a statement issued by the school. Calhoun has been away from coaching since February 3 due to a painful condition called spinal stenosis. As part of the two-hour procedure conducted at New York’s Beth Israel Medical Center, doctors removed a “large extruded disk fragment” which was believed to be contributing heavily to Calhoun’s discomfort. Recovery time is not expected to be extensive and Calhoun could be back on the sideline for Connecticut’s regular season finale against Pittsburgh on March 3. George Blaney will continue to coach the team until Calhoun returns. The Huskies play a road contest versus Providence tonight.
3. For the first time this season the Big East has a back-to-back Player of the Week as Marquette’s Jae Crowder has once again claimed the crown. Crowder, who may be the front runner for Big East Player of the Year, did it all for the Golden Eagles as usual in a 2-0 week posting averages of 26.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and, 2.5 blocks per game. St. John’s had an impressive two-win week, including an upset of then red hot Notre Dame. Much of the Red Storm’s success had to do with the Big East Rookie of the Week, Moe Harkless. Harkless played every minute in both games and nearly averaged a double-double at 18.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Last week’s Rookie of the Week, Anthony Collins begins this week’s Big East Honor Roll.  Collins made two huge free throws to give the Bulls an important win over Cincinnati, and averaged 13.0 points and 7.5 assists in a 1-1 week.  Other Honor Roll recipients were: Providence’s LaDontae Henton who put up a career-high 29 points against DePaul, with the most important two coming with 1.7 seconds left in the game to give the Friars the 73-71 win. Henton also had 15 rebounds; Connecticut’s Jeremy Lamb who also notched a career-high with 32 points in a win over Villanova and averaged 25.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in a 1-1 week; Syracuse’s Kris Joseph kept the Orange rolling, averaging 16.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in victories over South Florida and Connecticut; Seton Hall’s Jordan Theodore had a, guess what…career-high 29 points in the Pirates’ upset of Georgetown and averaged 23.0 points and 7.0 assists on the week.
4. It’s late February which means you can either toil over who your favorite baseball team’s left-handed setup man will be or you can check out the college basketball rankings as you gear up for conference and NCAA tournament play. We actually love baseball here at RTC Big East so why not make it this week’s corny poll theme? Syracuse (29-1, 16-1) is the Big East’s version of a five-tool player and remains in the two-hole after holding off Connecticut on Saturday.  We don’t know if it was chicken and beer in the club house or not but Marquette (24-5, 13-3) weathered in-game suspensions to three key players and pulled out a road win at West Virginia as Buzz Williams and his Golden Eagles waltzed ahead two spots to #8. Georgetown (22-6, 12-5) does it the old fashioned way with pitching and defense but their setback against Seton Hall knocked the Hoyas down two notches to #11. Louisville and their Tony LaRussa-like tactician, Rick Pitino could not pull the right strings in a tough environment at Cincinnati and as a result of their loss to the Bearcats, Louisville also slipped two spots to #19.  Notre Dame (20-10, 12-5) has that ‘Moneyball’ look about them and the Irish held serve to remain at #20 this week despite a setback to St. John’s, which has now turned into a two-game losing streak on the heels of the Irish’s Monday night loss to Georgetown.
5. The potential loss of Nerlens Noel notwithstanding, Providence head coach Ed Cooley has made plenty of noise on the recruiting trail in his brief time at Providence. While incoming players have made all the headlines, Cooley’s first recruiting coup may have been the luring of Andre LaFleur away from conference rival Connecticut to join his staff as associate head coach. When Connecticut visits Providence tonight it will be a reunion of sorts as it marks the first time the two teams meet since LaFleur’s departure. There has been speculation since LaFleur, who was an assistant coach at Connecticut, came to Providence around his reasons for leaving. One prevailing theory is the rising star that is Kevin Ollie provided more writing on the wall than LaFleur could stomach leading to somewhat of a mutual departure. Many believe Ollie is being groomed as Calhoun’s heir apparent. LaFleur dispelled that idea yesterday in an interview with the New Haven Register, saying he felt the increased responsibilities associated with the move to Providence would best help him build toward his goal of being a head coach.

1. In an interesting twist, Mississippi State had been relatively quiet for a few weeks. Sure, their team was falling apart on the court, but at least they were not imploding off of it like they have done quite frequently recently. That all changed yesterday when star forward Arnett Moultrie told a reporter that he did not think that the team was tough enough to bounce back from their five-game losing streak. While we tend to agree with Moultrie’s assessment it is shocking that Moultrie would come out and say that publicly although maybe we should not be so surprised when none of his teammates have come out and challenged that assertion even anonymously.
2. While most of the nation (or at least the college basketball-watching part) watched the last regular season Border War game for the foreseeable, former Kansas star Marcus Morris watched the game in Lawrence. Following the Jayhawks remarkable comeback, Morris reportedly went to a local Lawrence bar where he was cited for his involvement in a fight well after midnight. The fight reportedly involved another man at the bar and an employee, who was punched at least twice. The details on what actually occurred are hard to find right now, but Morris will be due back in a Lawrence court on March 20, which will fall on the Tuesday in between the opening and second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
3. Gregg Doyel is known for going after hot-button topics and yesterday he took on another one as he defended the coaching ability of John Calipari. It might sound like a ridiculous topic to even discuss and some might even argue that Doyel is essentially building up a straw man just to knock him down, but apparently there are a handful of people out there who think that Calipari is just a great recruiter/salesman and not an excellent coach. While we might agree that Calipari’s ability on the recruiting trail might exceed his X-and-O capacity, that is not meant as much as a slight as it is a reflection of how he is the best recruiter in the game right now. The fact is that there are plenty of coaches who get great recruits to come to their school, but fail to back it up with results on the court and John Calipari is not one of those coaches.
4. Looking for scatter plots with regression analyses to try to figure out which teams are going to do well in March? If the answer is yes (or if you just want the latter part to figure out who will do well in March), John Ezekowitz may have the answer for you. The actual conclusion probably is not groundbreaking for most fans, but the actual analysis and the fact that it may give you flashbacks to statistics class is certainly worth a look. Of course, since the results fit what we already suspected we are always more willing to buy into what he is selling.
5. In this week’s edition of Hoop Thoughts, Seth Davis takes a look at Marquette, a top 10 team from the Big East that nobody is talking about as a national title contender. While Seth is not willing to call them that yet, he does note how strong the program has become under Buzz Williams, who is just his fourth year as head coach at the school. To Davis the story with Marquette is not just what they have done this season, which is remarkable in its own right, but instead what they have become as a program and what the future holds for a program led by a coach who is not even 40 yet.