Conference play got off to a frenetic start last week, and no team took better advantage of the start of league place than #19 Seton Hall. Playing both conference-opening games on their home court, the Pirates dispatched #16 St. John’s on Wednesday and #8 Villanova on Saturday. The Big East looks to be a little deeper this season than many anticipated, and the emergence of teams like Seton Hall are one of the major reasons why. #13 Oklahoma also did an admirable job of distinguishing itself in its first conference game on Saturday, as the Sooners took care of #21 Baylor, making it clear they will be a force to be reckoned with in Big 12 play. With conference play now in full swing in nearly every league, expect teams to continue to distinguish themselves from the pack in coming weeks. It is going to be a fun couple of months.
This week’s Quick N’ Dirty after the jump….
Quick n’ dirty Analysis.
- Kentucky remains the unanimous #1 for the seventh consecutive week. The Wildcats did not play a game last week, but the Wildcats remained unanimously in the top spot. John Calipari’s squad will begin the new year and SEC play on Tuesday night when it hosts Ole Miss in Lexington. Kentucky also will get its first serving of SEC road action when it travels to Texas A&M on Saturday. The Wildcats figure to be heavy favorites in both games, but we know by now that practically anything can happen in conference play.
- Virginia and Wisconsin continue to fight for #3. Only one-tenth of a point separated the #3 Cavaliers and #4 Badgers in this week’s RTC25, as Virginia may have taken a hit in the minds of a few of our pollsters after its double-overtime escape at Miami on Saturday. Tony Bennett’s squad remains undefeated on the year, but the Cavs have a very tough task on tap Saturday as they travel to South Bend to take on #16 Notre Dame. On the other hand, Wisconsin has been on cruise control since its December 3 home loss to #2 Duke. It has scored wins over Penn State and Northwestern to begin Big Ten play, and all indications suggest that the Badgers are far and away the top team in that conference. Look for a little more clarity between the national status of these two teams in coming weeks.
- Iowa State takes a bit of a tumble. The Cyclones are still a contender to win the Big 12 this season, but they fell eight spots to #17 following a neutral site loss to South Carolina. During Fred Holberg’s tenure in Ames, Iowa State has gained a reputation as a great shooting team. But that was not the case in the loss to the Gamecocks, as the Cyclones shot just 35.1 percent from the field and 5.1 percent from three. Iowa State will have a chance to redeem itself this week with tough games at home versus Oklahoma State on Tuesday and a trip to Morgantown to face off with #18 West Virginia.
- Thirteen other teams also received votes. There is commonly a bit of uncertainty during this time of the season at the bottom of the poll, and that is very much the case this season, as 13 teams (Temple, Washington, St. John’s, Iowa, Indiana, Butler, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Miami (FL), BYU, LSU, Arkansas, and Colorado State) currently outside the RTC25 earned at least one vote this week.
Game of the Week. #6 Louisville vs. #12 North Carolina. In their first season of ACC play, the Cardinals will really experience what the road is like on Saturday when they travel to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels. North Carolina suffered three losses by the early date of December 13, but it seems like the Heels have started to figure things out and are back on the winning track. Other than a December 27 loss to Kentucky, Louisville has remained relatively untested. The individual match-up to watch in this game will be between Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell and North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks. Harrell has the talent advantage, but it will be interesting to see if the bigger Meeks has improved enough in his sophomore season to at least contain Harrell.
Keep Tabs On. #12 North Carolina vs. #16 Notre Dame; #10 Texas vs. #13 Oklahoma; #8 Villanova vs. St. John’s; #14 Kansas vs. #21 Baylor; #22 Ohio State vs. Indiana; #10 Texas vs. Oklahoma State; #17 Iowa State vs. #18 West Virginia; #3 Virginia vs. #16 Notre Dame.
Conference Call. Big 12 (6), ACC (5), Big East (3), Big Ten (3), Pac-12 (2), Missouri Valley (2), Atlantic 10 (2), SEC (1), WCC (1).