Professor Pac is back again this week with a progress report, but this time we’re going to try something new. Rather than go through all of the teams in one big ol’ honking post, we’re going to split these up into smaller bites: the honor roll (featuring the week’s best students), the solid students (the middle of the Pac), and the delinquents (those pupils that need to put in some extra work). Without further ado, let’s get things started with by checking in with the teacher’s pets.

Arizona – A

The Wildcats earned our team of the week honor by going on the road to Washington and coming away with the rare road sweep. While nothing the ‘Cats did as a team was insanely impressive, coupled with Oregon’s slip-ups in the Bay Area, Sean Miller and company are back into a tie for the conference lead and look like a team that could be about to turn it on.

With The ‘Cats In Need Of An Interior Offensive Presence, “Zeus” Has Stepped Up Of Late (Dean Hare, AP Photo)

Focus on: Kaleb Tarczewski. There has been talk about the need for the Arizona big guys to step up and take on a bigger role, especially offensively. This week Tarczewski was arguably the most effective offensive player for the ‘Cats. On Thursday in a game in which most everybody struggled offensively, “Zeus” had the highest offensive rating (111.0) on his team as he scored 10 points and pulled down eight boards. Against Washington State, he bettered that, posting an ORtg of 131.0 while again scoring 10 points and grabbing four boards. While he’s not exactly polished yet, and he still finds his way into foul trouble more often than not, the big fella is beginning to help take some of the pressure of Arizona’s perimeter players.

Looking ahead: The immediate future could be perilous for the Wildcats, despite a return to the McKale Center. The Bay Area schools come to Tucson and each is capable of causing trouble. Then following that, on Valentine’s Day, they’ll have to visit Boulder and a Colorado team ready to enact revenge for the Debacle in the Desert.

Utah – A

Last we saw the Utes, they were laying an absolute egg in possibly the worst in-conference performance by any team this seasaon in a 31-point loss at Stanford. With a Colorado team coming into the Huntsman Center on something of a roll, expecting the Utes to come away with a win looked to be fantasy territory. But, there they were, three-quarters of the way through their match-up with the Buffs and they held a 22-point lead. Disregard for a second the fact that they seemingly went out of their way to give it all back (they did, after all, hold on for a three-point win) and give credit to a team with any postseason likelihoods long since passed, with their best player watching from the bench with a knee injury and with a locker room experiencing some dissension, for bringing this type of effort.

Focus on: Jeremy Olsen. In the freshman’s first 19 games in a Ute uniform, Olsen never took off his warm-ups in 10 of those. When he did get some run, it was for brief stretches (he played 44 minutes in those nine games) and to little effect (18 points in 44 minutes). But he has played hard and stayed focused and in the midst of the Stanford embarrassment, he kept plugging away even with the game out of reach. Such effort earned him 14 minutes of action against Colorado and he made the most of that time, scoring 12 points on eight field goal attempts and hauling in three boards. That type of performance is likely to earn Olsen a spot in the rotation even with Jordan Loveridge expected back soon.

Looking ahead: With a road stretch ahead, the Utes have a chance to actually turn this one win into a streak, as last place Oregon State is the first stop. And hey, if they get through that, who’s to say that a team that has played a lot of tight games this year couldn’t sneak up and surprise an Oregon team that may still be without freshman point guard Dominic Artis?

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the next two weeks, we’ll break down where each Big 12 bubble team stands in terms of its current NCAA Tournament resume. We begin with a snapshot of Iowa State, a program seeking its second straight trip to the Big Dance under coach Fred Hoiberg.

Iowa State’s Past Two Weeks Have Been Helpful (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Current Record: 15-6, 5-3 Big 12

RPI: 40

SOS: 70

This is the team you’ve forgotten about in the Big 12. Oklahoma State’s roller-coaster of a season caught your attention early. Oklahoma’s rapid improvement did too. But the Iowa State Cyclones have quietly built a case for another NCAA Tournament at-large selection, and it’d look a heck of a lot more impressive if the basketball gods hadn’t guided that Ben McLemore three-pointer off the glass and into the hoop on January 9. Blown chance against Kansas aside, Fred Hoiberg’s team has worked its way back into the at-large conversation by knocking off Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma in a two-week span. Nothing is guaranteed, but Monday night’s flawless victory at home over the Sooners is proof that Hoiberg might have the most dangerous bubble team in the league.

Case For An At-Large

The Cyclones did not fare all that well in non-conference play. They own a solid home victory over BYU, but they lost every other significant game outside of the Big 12. That’s why their 6-3 start in the conference — good for third place so far — has been so important. As stated earlier, the past two weeks have been critical. Iowa State has picked up three victories over the RPI Top 50 in Ames, which means Hoiberg’s squad is now an even 4-4 in that category. Not terrible. Plus, six games remain against the Top 50 in league play, so it’s not as though Iowa State’s opportunities are finished.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @TheMulv on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

With only a month to go in the regular season, the conference pictures are still not 100% clear. Let’s take a look at six match-ups this week that will continue to clear things up as we head towards March. Let’s get to the breakdowns!

#12 Ohio State at #3 Michigan – 9:00 PM EST, Tuesday on ESPN (****)

• If you break games up into ten minute segments as KenPom does in his box scores, Michigan has only played two poor ten minute segments this season. The first ten minutes against Ohio State and the first ten minutes against Indiana. Both games were on the road in very hostile environments. In their last game in Columbus, Ohio State punched the Wolverines in the mouth in those first ten minutes with tenacious defense. Michigan recovered by limiting mistakes and forcing the Buckeyes to execute their half-court offense, which is virtually nonexistent  Don’t expect Michigan to be rattled like they were in Columbus but they still need to be careful with the basketball. If Ohio State wants to win in Ann Arbor, Aaron Craft and Shannon Scott are going to need to be even more disruptive on defense. Also, keep a close eye on Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III for the Wolverines. Stauskas had zero points against the Buckeyes and GRIII was virtually nonexistent in both of Michigan’s losses. If Michigan is going to win the Big Ten and make a deep run in the tournament, these two need to be at their best every night. The addition of those two as scoring threats is what makes Michigan so tough to beat. If the scoring sits squarely on the shoulders of Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan becomes much easier to beat.

Round Two of OSU-Michigan Will Be Another War

#21 Minnesota at #6 Michigan State – 7:00 PM EST, Wednesday on BTN (****)

• After four straight losses, the Gophers have steadied a bit with wins against Nebraska and Iowa. They have avoided an Illinois-like tailspin, which is keeping them in the hunt in the Big Ten. Michigan State is sitting one game back of Indiana and is looking to avenge their New Year’s Eve loss to Minnesota. The difference in that game was offensive rebounding, free throws, and 60% two-point shooting from the Gophers. The Spartans are still having a tough time defending the two, so keep a close eye on the interior defense they get from Adreian Payne, Derrick Nix, and Denzel Valentine. These three players need to lead the way for Michigan State, if they want to win this game. In the last meeting, Nix went 5-15, Payne had 4 points, and Valentine had 5 points. All three players need to be more productive for Michigan State to keep pace not only in this game but the rest of the Big Ten season. For Minnesota, they need to stop turning the ball over and play better defense without fouling. Keep a close eye on turnovers and free throws for the Gophers throughout the game. If they can limit both, they can beat Sparty again.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. The weekly polls were updated on Monday and Indiana climbed to #1 in both the USA Today/Coaches and AP polls after its big win over Michigan on Saturday. Kansas dropped to #5 in both polls after losing to Oklahoma State over the weekend. Kansas State has been climbing up the rankings in recent weeks, and the Wildcats jumped five spots this week to #13 in the AP poll after wins over Texas and Oklahoma last week. Oklahoma State vaulted back into the polls with its win in Lawrence, landing at #22 this week in the AP poll and #24 in the USAT/Coaches.
2. Did anyone guess Kansas State would be sitting at 17-4 and #13 in the country this late in the season? Relative to the talent at each school, Bruce Weber is having a similar season to his first year at Illinois when he took Bill Self’s players to the Sweet Sixteen. Weber has kept Frank Martin’s defense-first mentality on the forefront and the Wildcats have a chance to claim a tie for first place in the Big 12 next week at Kansas. They completed a season sweep of Oklahoma over the weekend after forcing 14 Sooner turnovers and holding them to 38.8% shooting from the field. A similar performance in Allen Fieldhouse next Monday against the offensively-challenged Jayhawks could spur the upset.
3. Speaking of those offensive-challenged Jayhawks, Bill Self publicly defended senior point guard Elijah Johnson on Monday, 48 hours after telling Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star, “We don’t have a point guard.” Johnson was 3-of-14 from the floor with four turnovers in the 85-80 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday. On Monday, Self said he’s sticking with Johnson in the lineup even though he thinks his senior is thinking too much while adjusting to a new position. “But that is the horse that we are gonna ride,” Self added. “And I believe that will be the best for our team.” The vote of confidence is nice, but does Self have much of a choice? If there was a Plan B at point guard, we would have seen it by now. Self’s best bet is to pump up Johnson and hope the additional confidence improves his performance by March.
4. It’s not like Kansas lost to TCU, though. Oklahoma State had previously beaten North Carolina State this season, so there’s definitely talent on the Cowboys’ roster. It will be interesting to see if the big win in Lawrence propels Oklahoma State to reach its potential, as John Klein of the Tulsa World suggests. Freshman point guard Marcus Smart (25 points, nine rebounds, five steals) is one of the best point guards in the country, averaging 14.2 PPG, 4.6 APG, and 5.8 RPG this season. Sophomore guard Le’Bryan Nash is talented and capable of huge offensive nights but inconsistent, and we saw what junior guard Markel Brown can do, scoring 28 points in Saturday’s win.
5. Oklahoma is vastly improved from last season thanks to head coach Lon Kruger and a solid season so far from Wyoming transfer Amath M’Baye (10.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG). But the Sooners’ guard play has been inconsistent at times this season, which led to a 52-50 home loss to Kansas State on Saturday. Senior guard Steven Pledger had 20 points in a win against Baylor but sat out the final eight minutes against Kansas State. Sam Grooms almost singlehandedly gave the Sooners the comeback win over the Wildcats, but he couldn’t find the floor for most of the first half because of defensive struggles. Oklahoma has the coaching and talent to make the NCAA Tournament, but more inconsistency on the perimeter and tough losses like Saturday’s could have them on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday.

With nearly half of the ACC docket gone and Miami continuing to cement its hold on an undefeated league record, now is as good a time as any to continue with the bracket talk.

Miami has an outside shot of getting a #1 seed. Who would have expected that after losing to Florida Gulf Coast? (Asheboro Courier-Tribune)

Definitely IN

Duke (19-2, 6-2):  While Duke is not first in the ACC (and has a 27-point defeat to the team currently leading the conference), the Blue Devils would almost assuredly receive the highest seed of any team in the ACC if the season ended today. (A similar margin of defeat for North Carolina last year against a team from Florida did not cost them a #1 seed).  Wins against Louisville, Minnesota, VCU, and Kentucky have definitely lost some of their luster in recent weeks, but Duke is still #1 in the RPI rankings and is now ranked #4 in the national polls. The Blue Devils put together by far their best performance post-Ryan Kelly in their resounding defeat of Florida State over the weekend. While Kelly’s return is still uncertain, talk is that he could return to action around the end of February. Duke gets its first revenge game on Thursday at home against NC State, and a win there against a snake-bitten NC State team would do wonders to increase Duke’s legitimacy without Kelly playing. Duke will obviously hope to have him back at 100% soon, because potentially huge games loom in Duke’s final four conference games (@Virginia, Miami, Virginia Tech, @UNC). At the moment, Duke would probably be the third or fourth #1 seed, and could possibly gain the overall #1 seed by running the table, or could fall to a #2 seed if they drop two or three more games in league play depending on what happens in the Big Ten, with middling scenarios (one or two additional conference losses and an ACC Tournament championship) likely keeping them about where they are now.

• Seed projection:  #1 (now), could fall to a #2
• Best wins:  Louisville (neutral), Ohio State, VCU, Kentucky (neutral), Minnesota (neutral)
• Worst losses: @Miami (just by the sheer margin)

Miami (17-3, 8-0):  The Hurricanes may be the hottest team in America right now, having won nine games in a row. Their victory on Reggie Johnson’s last second tip-in in Raleigh on Saturday made Miami the heavy favorite to win the ACC’s regular season title, as they hold a two-game lead over the closest opposition, Duke, whom they have already defeated by 27 points. The Hurricanes are also ranked #2 in the RPI (behind only Duke), so all of the computer numbers are going to bat for them, and they have also risen into the top 10 in the AP poll. Miami’s only truly difficult conference game left is against Duke in Cameron, but aside from that, they should be favored in every game and the conference right now is clearly theirs to lose. Miami has a great case for a 2 seed right now with its RPI and resounding defeat of Duke, which could be the most impressive feather in the cap for any team this season. If they run the table in the ACC, they will get a #1 seed, and if they finish 16-2 or 17-1, their chances of a #1 seed are still pretty good, especially if they also win the ACC Tournament. The game against Duke could be a battle for top seed and would put the winner in the driver’s seat headed into the ACC Tournament.

• Read the rest of this entry »

1. The Michigan – Ohio State rivalry is arguably the best in college football but a new generation of basketball players has taken the rivalry to the hardwood as well. Trey Burke and Aaron Craft take the game personally as tonight’s matchup will be the first between the two programs with both teams ranked in the top 10. Burke said, “I love playing against him. He makes me work, and he makes me better,” when asked about his counterpart. The Buckeyes have beaten the Wolverines in three of their last four games so Burke will be looking to avoid a losing skid to keep his team ranked in the top five in the polls.
2. With a healthy Jordan Morgan in the lineup, the Wolverines would feel much more comfortable heading into tonight’s game against Ohio State. But with their center still recovering from a sprained ankle, forwards Mitch McGary and Jon Horford have done a great job filling in for him during the last three games. McGary scored 10 points against the Hoosiers and did an excellent job off the pick-and-roll while trying his best to defend Cody Zeller on the other end. Morgan practiced only a “little bit” and his status is in “doubt” for this evening’s match-up. The Buckeyes’ post pair of Amir Williams and Evan Ravenel don’t look for their shots in the paint very often, so McGary and Horford may manage to stay out of foul trouble, which was not the case against Indiana.
3. Speaking of Indiana, Hoosiers’ head coach Tom Crean is back in Bloomington after a “short night” in New Orleans to support his brothers-in-law – Jim and John Harbaugh – at the Super Bowl on Sunday. Crean was with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when the power went out in the Superdome. When asked about his experience with the commish, Crean replied, “To watch the commissioner of the NFL deal with that with such grace and calmness under pressure was amazing.” The Hoosiers have regained the #1 ranking in America and will visit Champaign to play an Illinois team that badly needs a win to stay in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid.
4. While the Hoosiers had a great weekend on the hardwood, the Illini are hanging by the thinnest of strings after losing to Wisconsin at home on Sunday afternoon. Illinois head coach John Groce believes that most of his team’s issues stem from their defense. The Badgers shot 55.6% in the second half, leading Groce to say, “Right now, our defense has too many holes in it.” Brandon Paul and D.J.Richardson need to do a better job of moving the ball around in the half-court because only 37% of the Illini’s field goals have been a result of an assist in Big Ten play.
5. The Big Ten season tipped off with a Minnesota win over Michigan State on New Year’s Eve, but Spartans head coach Tom Izzo is preparing for the rematch without the availability of guards Travis Trice and Gary Harris. Both players had the weekend off and Trice will be evaluated on Tuesday regarding his status for the game. Harris (41% 3FG) and Trice (40% 3FG) are Izzo’s best shooters this season and both will need to stay healthy if the Spartans plan to make a serious run at the Big Ten title and beyond. Each has missed a couple of games during the non-conference season but have been a key part of Michigan State’s success in league play.

1. Is Florida the nation’s best team? The Gators checked in at number one in the RTC weekly poll, but number two in the AP poll and USA Today/Coaches poll. But NBC Sports‘ Rob Dauster says it doesn’t matter what the rankings say, Florida is the best team. As Dauster points out, “if the season ended today, Florida would be the best defensive team of the past decade, and they do it playing man, zone and pressing, depending on who they’re playing. But Florida also happens to be the nation’s second-most powerful offense, sliding in between Michigan and Indiana. In other words, Florida is what happens when you take Louisville’s defense and Michigan’s offense and put them onto the same team.” Florida’s combination of offensive and defensive efficiency gives it a net difference of +43.3, which would also be the highest mark in the KenPom era. On paper, the Gators certainly have the look of a champion and its defense is becoming more and more impressive as the season goes on.
2. The #2 ranking for Florida is its highest ranking since coming in first in the 2007 AP poll, but of course the Gators are not alluding to the high praise as changing anything in their preparation. “It just means that we’re on the right track,” UF center Patric Young said. “We just need to keep working and improving and not take any games for granted. We can’t lose any games right now.” If the Gators weren’t already circled on the calendar by other SEC teams, they surely are now. “Getting more recognition means that we have to be ready for everybody bringing their best shot at us,” Young said. “We’ve just got to take care of what we can control coming in and trying to get better each and every day.” UF travels to Arkansas on Tuesday, where the Razorbacks have only lost to Syracuse this season at Bud Walton Arena.
3. In their last two losses, the Tennessee Volunteers have amassed over 20 turnovers per game, causing head coach Cuonzo Martin to talk about taking care of the ball. “We have to do a better job of finding shooters and that dribble penetration,” Martin said. “Because eight assists and 20 turnovers – we have to turn that thing around.” It probably didn’t help that UT was without Trae Golden in its most recent loss to Arkansas. Golden was the starting point guard entering the season for the Vols, but he hasn’t started a game since January 9. He has played well coming off the bench, though, and says he will “be back on the court in no time,” (via Twitter).
4. Kentucky coach John Calipari is looking forward to a couple of games at home this week for his road-weary Wildcats. “I was surprised we were at home this week. We’ve been on the road four of five games. I thought we were just a road team. I didn’t think we played home games, but it’s good to be back. We’re playing two scrappy teams. When you watch them, they fight like heck.” Calipari was referring to Frank Martin’s Gamecocks of South Carolina and former Calipari assistant Tony Barbee’s Auburn Tigers. Both teams will likely get physical with the Wildcats, a style of play that has caused Kentucky a fair amount of trouble this season.
5. Calipari explained during Monday’s SEC teleconference that point guard Ryan Harrow may begin to lose playing time once center Willie Cauley-Stein returns from injury. On Cauley-Stein’s return, Cal said, “Well, Kyle (Wiltjer) needs to play and Alex (Poythress) needs to play so it will probably take minutes away from Ryan (Harrow) and probably some minutes away from Archie (Goodwin) because if Alex and Kyle deserve to play more because of how they’re playing, well then who’s not… you’ve got to take somebody else out.” But Calipari seemed frustrated when trying to explain what has happened to Harrow recently. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Just gonna keep working with him.” Harrow has averaged almost three turnovers per game since the start of SEC play, and his 26 percent shooting from beyond the arc certainly isn’t helping his case either.

1. Tar Heel Blog: Here are a few things you’ll learn from looking at an in-depth breakdown of ACC tempo-free stats halfway through the conference season. First and foremost, Miami is really good at defense (as T.H. points out, the Hurricanes are holding opponents to a worse field goal percentage than any of Duke’s teams since 2000 and are rebounding opponents’ misses at a rate higher than any of Roy Williams’ teams the last 10 years). Second, there are three and a half good offensive teams in the ACC (Boston College gets a half because it’s markedly below the top three). Third, NC State is hitting an insane 41.4% of its three point attempts, but shooting fewer threes than anyone in the league!
2. Charlotte Observer: Want to read an article written from the Big 12 perspective on the ominous future some see behind the reported Big 12 – ACC “alliance?” It’s amazing how different perspectives are on conference realignment depending on where you’re living. The ACC media has essentially called realignment dead, hoping Louisville’s addition saves enough face with the football schools to keep everyone happy. But this article paints a picture of a Big 12 itching to get a hold of Florida State and another school (Jimmy Burch mentions Miami, which seems dumb; I’d guess Clemson or Louisville) in order to host a conference championship game. I still think both conferences like where they’re currently at, but Burch is right that the playoff could put pressure on the Big 12 to add members, which would certainly make things more interesting.
3. Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State, despite the class years listed on the team’s roster, is still a very young team. Specifically, the team misses two players from last year. Luke Loucks never got enough credit for his leadership (or high level of play) last season. Michael Snaer hit all the big shots, but Loucks made everything go. Bernard James is the other player, just as a consistent defensive and rebounding presence. This year’s team still needs that cohesion. The talent is there (though it may not be developed yet), but Brendan Bures hits the nail on the head in saying that the Seminoles still need to find an identity or “a calling card.”
4. Columbus Ledger-Enquirer: Georgia Tech’s front line isn’t getting enough press this season. Daniel Miller deserves any and all “most improved” accolades this season (sorry Richard Howell, last year was your big leap), as the junior looks like a totally different player. He’s much more aggressive and appears to be more athletic, albeit slightly; Robert Carter Jr. will eventually be a premier big man in the ACC (once he cuts out the baby fat); and Kammeon Holsey — despite his horrendously hatched post-game — is aggressive and effective off the bench.
5. NC State Technician: Before getting to the point of the article, is Herb Sendek a much more successful Jeff Bzdelik? Probably not, but there’s a similarity in how both failed miserably in handling themselves publicly (both appear detached and robotic). But Mark Gottfried is in an interesting situation. I don’t necessarily think he’s walking a fine line between hating losing or maintaining excitement (those run hand-in-hand). It’s more that he’s got a young team (with its experience with success), and he needs to make sure the team doesn’t get overwhelmed by negativity or its ego. If NC State dips below .500 in conference play (i.e., the Wolfpack lose to Duke and Clemson), it’s going to be very difficult to keep the team’s motivation up the rest of the season.

1. Last night’s game between Syracuse and Notre Dame featured two top-25 teams jostling for position in the conference standings, but it also was the first and maybe the only time the Grant brothers–Jerian and Jerami–will get to play against each other in college. This will be the only meeting between the two teams this season and with Syracuse set to leave for the ACC posthaste,  who knows when the next time these two teams will play unless they meet in the Big East Tournament. The brothers are apparently quite close and Jerami even credits his older brother with making sure he didn’t give up when he wasn’t getting playing time early in the season. Jerami and his Orange repaid the older brother by throttling his Fighting Irish. Jerian may have scored more (15 to 14) but Jerami added six rebounds and two assists as Syracuse cruised to a 63-47 win.
2. Pittsburgh finally got itself a marquee win over the weekend against Syracuse and then avoided the obvious letdown by beating Seton Hall last night for its sixth win in seven games. The Panthers tried their best to let Seton Hall beat them, shooting a season-low 34 percent from the field, but Pirates’ star Fuquan Edwin got hurt in a one-point game and Pitt managed to pull away thanks to its depth and its defense. Seton Hall is headed for a finish near the bottom of the conference, but the win was still huge since the Panthers will play three ranked teams over the course of the next nine days.
3. The end of the James Southerland saga is now in sight according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports who cited a source to say Southerland’s eligibility appeal will be held Friday. Counting the game last night against Notre Dame, Southerland has missed six games and the team has gone 4-2 in his absence but surely Syracuse fans are excited to get one of their most dynamic offensive players back on the floor. Grant and Trevor Cooney were able-bodied replacements but they lack the scoring punch and athleticism of Southerland. The appeal is being heard by the university and assuming it is granted, the Orange could have Southerland back in uniform as soon as Sunday’s game against St. John’s. But few people know the severity of Southerland’s academic transgressions and even fewer will know the nature of the appeal, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.
4. It has been a good past few weeks for Cincinnati and coach Mick Cronin. The Bearcats have won five of their last six and currently sit just a half-game behind Syracuse in the conference standings. They also recently secured one of the more high-profile recruits of the Cronin era when the Bearcats landed New Jersey native and five-star forward Jermaine Lawrence on Sunday. Lawrence is an athletic power forward with plenty of face-up skills and decent range. He will need to add some meat to his bones but he has the frame to add serious muscle and could make an immediate impact in terms of floor-spacing and natural ability. Perhaps more importantly is that it signifies that Cronin can recruit with the big boys and once he is able to do that with consistency, the Bearcats will be a perennial contender no matter what happens to the Big East.
5. Steve Lavin has St. John‘s playing tough basketball, which is why freshman point guard Jamal Branch‘s knee injury and presumed sprained MCL is especially inopportune. Branch has been up and down since becoming eligible,  but recently he has been a spark plug for the Johnnies and the team is 5-1 since being inserted into the starting lineup. The Red Storm don’t really have a true backup for Branch and will likely use a combination of Marc Bourgalt and Phil Greene IV at the point in Branch’s absence. Hopefully Branch isn’t out long because while Lavin’s club doesn’t quite have the look of a tournament team, they are headed in that direction in a hurry.

1. Yesterday the match-ups for the last BracketBusters were announced and given the lack of enthusiasm generated by the announcement we can understand why the event is ending. In the past it seemed like there were at least 3-4 games that we could point to as “can’t miss” games. This year the only game that measures up to that is Creighton at St. Mary’s. The game is bigger for St. Mary’s in terms of getting an at-large bid since most would consider Creighton a near-lock for the NCAA Tournament, but a road win would be a big boost for the Bluejays in terms of their NCAA Tournament seeding. On the other end of the spectrum is Wichita State, who is scheduled to play at home against Detroit in a game that would be huge for the Titans if they could pull out a win, but it could also be potentially devastating for the Shockers if they were to lose at home and might push them on the wrong side of the bubbble on Selection Sunday. Outside of that there are a few moderately interesting game, but nothing that we would plan our day around.
2. We have covered some of the recent legal proceedings in the San Diego sports betting case and now we can provide you with an update on the Toledo point-shaving scandal (a case we first discussed back in 2008). Yesterday, Mitchell “Ed” Karam pleaded guilty to bribing basketball players to shave points in several games played between 2004 and 2006 as well as fixing horse races and defrauding others in Detroit real estate deals. Karam along with his partner, Ghazi “Gary” Manni, bet approximately $331,000 on the basketball games, but as Karam’s attorney claims his client was the unlucky individual who happened to associate himself with Manni. With Manni set to go to trial on March 12 we suspect that his attorney will be telling a vastly different story than Karam’s attorney did.
3. Murray State  guard Zay Jackson, who was suspended from the team for this horrific hit-and-run incident in September, pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree assault and wanton endangerment with a sentence of 60 days in jail of which he still has 49 more days to serve before being on probation for three years. Before the plea deal was reached Jackson was looking at five years in jail before he entered the plea deal. In addition to the jail time and probation Jackson will pay for the victims’ medical expenses. Interestingly, Jackson had originally been sentenced to 30 days in jail by a previous judge who subsequently admitted to having ties to Murray State before recusing himself from the case. While we find it hard to believe it is expected that Jackson will return to the team next season. We are guessing this will be brought up by more than one group of opposing fans.
4. We have all heard plenty of stories about unsavory scouts so it is refreshing to read The New York Times‘ profile on Tom Konchalski, a New York City scout who is well-known in recruiting circles for his HBSI Report which he bought from Howard Garfinkel after initially working for Garfinkel. Konchalski’s knowledge of the high school basketball scene in the New York City metro area and beyond borders on encyclopedic and as the article notes on several occasions Konchalski can recall meeting players and the circumstances of their meeting almost instantaneously when meeting them again even it was over 30 years ago. Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Konchalski is that we have never heard his name mentioned in any scandals (or maybe that fact that we find it refreshing is reflective of the state of scouting). If you are looking for a more in-depth profile on Konchalski check out this 2010 feature from New York Magazine, which is goes into his life and passion in more detail.
5. We focus almost exclusively on men’s college basketball, but on certain occasions we will venture over to the women’ game for particularly notable events. Unfortunately this time the reason is a sad one as Monica Quan, an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, and her boyfriend were killed in their apartment late on Sunday night. As of late Monday night no leads into the double-murder had become public. We don’t know much about Quan or the women’s program at Cal State Fullerton, but we want to send our condolences to the family members of these two individuals and any others who may have known them as this appears to be yet another senseless act of violence.