Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

Tonight’s Lede. Conference Play Rocks. Analyzing and prognosticating and laying out bold analytical claims about teams is a fun debate this time of year. Teams are assigned permanent labels. Players earn reputations, rightly or wrongly, that stick around far longer than they should. All of this is premature – the best advice in November and December is to reserve judgment. Because once conference play begins, teams’ identities shine through, and many of the perceptions and conclusions we make are rendered useless. Two of the best leagues in the country, the Big Ten and Big East, kicked off their conference slates Monday in grand fashion. And if you got a taste of Pittsburgh-Cincinnati, or Indiana-Iowa, or Michigan State-Minnesota, you can already infer the obvious: conference competition entails a whole new level of competitiveness and intensity. With that, it is now time to get into your first weekday of league play, with a hope that the rest of the reason brings the same if not more entertaining hoops action.

Your Watercooler Moment. Minnesota’s Good; Michigan State’s Almost There. We Knew That Already.

The Big Ten is a cluttered jumble of Tournament hopefuls and championship contenders.What Minnesota showed monday is that its nonconference work was no anomaly (photo credit: AP Photo).

For anyone who watched Minnesota and Michigan State play any portion of their nonconference schedules, this game was a perfect precursor for the type of gritty, hard-nosed, highly-competitive Big Ten showdowns that should play out in high frequency over the next two months. Minnesota’s win also confirmed what most already knew about the Gophers: this team is a serious threat to vie for the Big Ten crown. Loaded and Top-heavy as the Big Ten is this season, Tubby Smith’s team has it all: Andre Hollins is a heady lead guard with a wide arsenal of perimeter scoring skills. Trevor Mbakwe belongs in the NBA today. Rodney Williams is one of the two or three best pure athletes in college basketball. And Austin Hollins is a stingy on-ball defender who’s offensive game isn’t all that far behind. Put it all together, and what you get is Tubby Smith’s best team at Minnesota. The way both teams have looked so far this season, Michigan State taking the Gophers to the wire at the Barn is not an altogether bad outcome. The Spartans are still sorting out their frontcourt rotation, still trying to leverage all of Gary Harris’ creative intuition and still searching for the defense-and-rebounding identity that Tom Izzo’s teams gradually assume over the course of a season. Basically, the Gophers’ win confirmed most every empirical insight we had about both teams coming in. That’s comforting for my basketball brain, if anything.

Your Quick Hits…

• Hoosiers Flaunt Road Chops. The biggest skeptics of Indiana’s preseason No. 1 ranking were fairly unanimous on one perceived flaw: Indiana can’t win on the road. And you know what? They’re weren’t totally off their rockers. The Hoosiers did take their lumps last season when away from cushy Assembly Hall and the enormous home field advantage it awards them – particularly in Big Ten play, where they pulled out just three of nine road tests. There’s no telling how last year’s Indiana team would have responded to Monday’s road date at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where a retooled and vastly improved Iowa squad gave the Hoosiers their best shot. In the end, Indiana’s immensely talented and deep roster overcame Iowa’s very best efforts, and that’s a huge relief if you’re an Indiana fan. If the Hoosiers can go into tough environments like Iowa and win the games they just weren’t ready for last season, there’s nothing standing in the way of a Big Ten regular season title.
• Jim Boeheim Ties Bob Knight On All-Time Wins List. The biggest headline from Syracuse’s win over Central Connecticut State deals not with anything that went on during the 40 minutes of jumping, passing, shooting and scoring that took place on the Carrier Dome Court. The talk of the night is the historical significance of Jim Boeheim’s 902nd career victory, which puts him level with Bob Knight on the all-time wins list behind Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski. Almost Equally encouraging (though not nearly as relevant in the grand scheme) was the precision and coherence exhibited by Syracuse’s offense just two days after a 57-point dud against Alcorn State. The Orange’s offense – which got a huge boost from Michael Carter Williams’ near triple-double (18 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds) and produced 92 points overall – showed signs of regaining the efficiency and explosiveness it displayed before this recent swoon.
• Pete No Match For Cincy. It’s not every day you see Pittsburgh get physically dominated on its home floor. The Panthers hang their hats on being tougher, stronger and nastier than you. That’s the formula that has worked so well during Jamie Dixon’s tenure. Cincinnati didn’t bow to that reputation. The Bearcats used their rugged backcourt and underrated interior defense as a buffer against Pittsburgh’s physicality. They frustrated James Robinson and Trayvon Woodall on the perimeter, limited freshman center Steven Adams to zero points and 24 minutes of ineffectiveness, and flipped the script on Jamie Dixon’s timeless rough-minded mantra. The Bearcats took down a disciplined and extremely well-coached Big East opponent in one of the toughest road environments in the country, and they did it at the perfect time: last week’s home loss to New Mexico prompted doubts about Cincinnati’s prospects as a Big East contender. Consider those doubts erased.
• Gonzaga Cleans Big 12’s Nonconference Clock. The Big 12 should have learned. After four losses against No. 10 Gonzaga, did it really expect to stump Mark Few’s Team on the precipice of WCC play, three days after it ripped through a three-game stretch where it blitzed Kansas State and held off Baylor? And this time, the Big 12 had home court advantage, and one of the nation’s best perimeter scoring duos, and a potential lottery pick (Marcus Smart) orchestrating the offense and infusing newfound toughness and focus, and pretty much everything and anything you could ever want if you’re looking to upset an elite team on your home floor. With everything setting up perfectly for a massive out of league win, Oklahoma State couldn’t do it. It couldn’t handle Kelly Olynyk inside, couldn’t phase Kevin Pangos at the point. And so now it’s official: Gonzaga basically owns the Big 12.
• Wolfpack Chugging Along. The enormous preseason hype did NC State more harm than good. No one’s disputing that basic concept. The Wolfpack weren’t ready to step into the ACC spotlight – not right away, at least. More realistically, the players who showed promise during last season’s storming postseason streak – C.J. Leslie, Lorenzo Brown and Richard Howell – would need time to mesh with a highly touted recruiting class. That process got off to a rocky start, but after early season losses to Oklahoma State and Michigan, and Duke’s simultaneous rise up the national ranks, the Wolfpack are starting to sort out their offensive and defensive parts and jell into a potent two-way unit. Monday night’s 21-point win over UNC Greensboro stretched NC State’s winning streak to seven. Duke is untouchable, for the moment, at the top of the ACC, but it is far too early to quit on Mark Gottfried’s team.

... and Misses.

• Tough Loss for New Mexico, But Not A Huge Surprise. Asking New Mexico to plow through a seven-game streak featuring four really tough opponents – Valparaiso, San Diego State, Cincinnati, Saint Louis and UNLV – was an unrealistic expectation to begin with. Just because the Lobos went to Cincinnati and outmuscled Mick Cronin’s team for 40 minutes didn’t mean they were guaranteed to follow suit at Saint Louis four nights later. The Billikens smother you on the defensive end. They run their sets and execute offensively. And with Kwamain Mitchell back in the fold, this is not the team you want to see in any setting – let alone at Chaifetz Arena, where St. Louis is undefeated since former coach Rick Majerus’ death in early December. The Lobos remain formidable, and will enter the Mountain West portion of their schedule with credible conference championship aspirations. This is but a minor speed bump in New Mexico’s larger maturation process.
• West Coast Conference A Foregone Conclusion. Maybe Saint Mary’s saw Gonzaga topple Oklahoma State on the road and finish off a gaudy nonconference season, realized the league crown is a long lost hope if the Zags continue playing at this level, and laid down against Harvard. If that’s the case – and I’m almost positive it’s not – the Gaels made a horrible decision, because Harvard, despite losing its two senior leaders to a cheating scandal, took down Cal at Haas Pavilion on Saturday and are still prone to a disciplined, coherent, precise brand of basketball as long as Tommy Amaker is pulling strings from the sidelines. The Crimson opened up an 18-point second-half lead and appeared well on their way to another big upset, only to have Saint Mary’s claw back and grind out a one-point win at the buzzer. Credit the Gaels for getting a result, but if they hope to at least make Gonzaga blink before the conference Tournament, there needs to be a considerable uplift in team performance.

Dunkdafied. The crest of NC State’s dunkdafied potential rests in the springy athleticism of NBA-bound forward C.J. Leslie. Tonight, it was point guard Lorenzo Brown rising above UNC Greensboro’s unsuspecting defense on a thunderous tip-slam.

More Notes From Around The Nation. 

• Philadelphia Showdown.  I wish there was some larger analytical thread or insight to be drawn from Saint Joe’s 63-49 win at Drexel. If there is, I can’t figure it out. Neither of these teams has performed as expected so far this season, so perhaps league play will jolt these Philadelphia clubs into mid-season form.
• Oregon State Avoids Disaster. Too close for comfort. Don’t act like you weren’t thinking the same thing when Texas Pan American cut Oregon State’s lead to 11 with just over 14 minutes remaining: This is the same Beavers team that blew a 19-point lead to Towson two nights ago. In the end, the Beavers staved off a repeat meltdown to get back on the winning track before opening up Pac 12 play next week against Oregon. Thank goodness.
• You Don’t Want To Play Iona. If there’s one thing Iona does well, it’s score. The Gaels feature five players with usage rates above 16 percent who produce an average of 100 points or more per 100 possessions – which, for the layman, means something very simple: Iona has a bunch of dudes who get out and score the ball efficiently. The Gaels ran St. Bonaventure Monday night for 93 points in a 19-point road win, and have now scored at least 80 points in their last six games.

Tonight’s All Americans.

• Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse (NPOY) – This is the MCW we know and love. The Orange point guard had managed a modest 18 points and 12 assists over his last two games. Monday’s line: 18 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds.
• Andre Hollins, Minnesota – There are scores of potential candidates for the Big Ten’s player of the year award. Hollins – who had 22 points and six assists and was a constant nuisance for Michigan State’s perimeter attack – is in the conversation.
• Cashmere Wright, Cincinnati – When the Bearcats needed a big bucket to keep Pittsburgh at bay during a heated second half – like a good neighbor, Wright was there. The Bearcats’ senior guard finished with 18 points in the win.
•  C.J. Leslie, NC State – At worst, Leslie is an talented but mercurial frontcourt piece. At best, he is a bona fide first-team All American. He notched 21 points and eight boards for the Wolfpack against UNC Greensboro.
• Victor Oladipo, Indiana – Box score-skimmers will cry aghast, “but, but, Cody Zeller had 19 points and 10 rebounds!”. Those are pretty numbers. I get it.  Here’s the thing: Oladipo was clearly the Hoosiers’ best and most important player in Indiana’s road win at Iowa Monday – he held Iowa’s Roy Marble (a hugely underrated scorer) to 1-of-14 shooting, battled on the low block, sliced Iowa’s perimeter D and injected energy into the Hoosiers’ offense every time he touched the ball – even if his 14 points and 10 rebounds doesn’t quite stand up to Zeller’s double-double.

Tweet of the night. There really is no point in debating the Big Ten’s sheer quality and top-end value. Not only is the league thoroughly stacked from top to bottom, but the contenders are so tightly bunched together, with such minimal differences in between, that it’s nearly impossible to pick a clear frontrunner.

The quality of Michigan State-Minnesota is really impressive when you consider it’s possible neither are top-three Big Ten teams.

— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) December 31, 2012

Chris Johnson (290 Posts)

My name is Chris Johnson and I'm a national columnist here at RTC, the co-founder of Northwestern sports site Insidenu.com and a freelance contributor to SI.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2013 at 5:15 am by Chris Johnson and is filed under after the buzzer, Regular Features. Tagged: cincinnati, gonzaga, harvard, indiana, iowa, michigan state, minnesota, nc state, new mexico, oklahoma state, pittsburgh, saint louis, saint mary\'s, syracuse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.