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

The first weekend in 2013 dives head first into conference season. There are some key match-ups within the Big Ten and Big 12 that will set the tone early for who to watch over the next two months. Let’s get to the breakdowns!

#11 Ohio State at #13 Illinois – 2:15 PM EST, Saturday on BTN (****)

Aaron Craft needs to lock down the perimeter against Illinois (Photo credit: Jeff Hanisch/US Presswire).

• It seems odd to say that these two top 15 teams are in need of a win, but that appears to be the case in this particular match-up. Ohio State is 0-2 in its two big games against Duke and Kansas, leaving the Buckeyes without a marquee victory thus far, while Illinois has lost two of its last three games after starting 12-0. Illinois’ shooting has been quite poor over the last three games: star guard Brandon Paul has gone 5-of-18, 3-of-12, and 4-of-10 in that span. Alongside D.J. Richardson, the Illini guards will face a tough defensive test from OSU guards Aaron Craft, Lenzelle Smith Jr., and Shannon Scott. Paul is always capable of a breakout game, but keep a close eye on his shooting as Illinois typically goes the way he goes. In their two losses this season to Duke and Kansas, the Buckeyes have faced dominant post players. Illinois does not have that asset per se, so that bodes well for the Buckeyes, even in Champaign. Big forward Tyler Griffey is Illinois’ best inside option, but he could have his hands full on defense if he is matched-up against DeShaun Thomas. Craft and the Buckeye perimeter defense is the key to this game and it doesn’t appear that the Illinois defense is strong enough to keep Thomas from scoring. While it will be a raucous home crowd for the Illini, I think OSU pulls off the win.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Now that non-conference play is essentially done Seth Davis decided to release his annual Buy, Sell, and Hold column. Our microsites are in the process of releasing their responses to Seth’s ratings for the team’s within each conference so be on the lookout for those throughout the day. As for our general overview, as Seth notes he is “bullish” on this year’s field going with 19 “Buys”, 13 “Sells”, and nine “Holds”. We are not exactly sure how the three teams widely considered the best in the country right now (Duke, Indiana, and Louisville) are all listed as a “buy” since that theoretically means that all are being undervalued at this time. We are not sure what kind of market Seth believes in, but it sounds like Seth may not be a disciple of the Chicago school, but instead favors a Zimbabwean model. We wonder what Lanny would have to say about that.
2. When John Calipari released a series of posts on Wednesday night mentioning something special on Thursday morning we were expecting something ridiculous like the videos he posted of the housing for Kentucky basketball players several months ago. Instead, he  posted a fairly in-depth article about how closely he is monitoring his players. Although this lacks the “wow” factor that we have come to expect from Calipari’s surprises it is an interesting look at the level of detail top programs tend to go through in training there players (we doubt that Calipari is really as far ahead of other coaches as the media would have you believe outside of his social network wizardry).
3. If you want to see what happens to a coach when his athletic director changes direction on him, check out what happened to Josh Pastner yesterday during his radio interview with Gary Parrish. Recently, Pastner has made multiple comments essentially saying that the rivalry between Memphis and Tennessee was dead and that he didn’t see the need to continue the rivalry. Unfortunately for Pastner, the school and the athletic director had a change of heart and appear to be working on a deal that would extend the rivalry. The result is that Pastner is left having to answer questions for the media about his prior comments. Obviously, Pastner could have handled this much better by simply not being as controversial with his original comments, but it will be interesting to see how Tennessee fans treating him going forward.
4. Jabari Parker may have kept his recruiting under wraps in terms of letting the media know what was going on, but he did not keep it as “in the family” as he and his father originally stated. According to Parker he also talked to Derrick Rose about the recruiting process and Grant Hill about recovering from his foot injury. While both Rose and Hill are/were great players we are not sure that we would have talked to them about those topics unless we wanted to learn from their mistakes (Rose for the SAT fiasco and Hill for the seemingly unending series of setbacks that curtailed a promising career).
5. The NCAA has already handed down its ruling in the Myck Kabongo case and although most people have moved on Burnt Orange Nation has a few questions about the entire saga. As they openly admit Kabongo is far from blameless here, but instead takes a look back at the sequence of events that led to the NCAA deciding to suspend Kabongo for a seemingly arbitrary 23 games. As they note the facts in the case do not appear to add up to a suspension of that length particularly since Kabongo allegedly lied to school officials not NCAA officials. While the article’s parent-police analogy may be stretching it a little, it does provide an interesting basis for the argument and serves to raise interesting questions as to how the NCAA made its decision.

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

Tonight’s Lede. Pac-12 Takes Center Stage. Last season, the Pac-12 made history by becoming the first Big Six conference not to send its regular season champion to the NCAA Tournament via an at-large bid. The downward spiral that lead to this unfortunate circumstance began in non-conference play, where the league squandered nearly all of its big match-ups, which deflated the Pac-12’s RPI and set up a vicious cycle whereby teams had no shot of upward movement on the NCAA bubble shuffling line. This year, the league is marginally better. The high-end quality, starting with UCLA and Arizona, is light year’s ahead of where it was last season, but the league as a whole isn’t all that much improved. Three momentous Pac-12 matchups – Cal at UCLA, Colorado at Arizona and Stanford at USC – highlighted tonight’s slate, each of which allowed for valuable observation and analysis. Without giving away the rest of tonight’s ATB, I’ll reveal this much: the Pac-12 isn’t horrible!; which is to say, the regular season champ, whoever that may be, should be on solid footing come Selection Sunday.

Your Watercooler Moment. Apparent Buzzer-Beater Waved Off To Deny Colorado Huge Road Win At Arizona.

In truth, I’d love to discuss the way Colorado went out and fought Arizona for 40 minutes (and OT), the way Tad Boyle’s team got five players in double figures and played remarkably resilient hoop against the No. 3 team in the country in a tough road environment, the way the Buffaloes proved the Pac-12 race is far from the foregone conclusion many envisioned after the Wildcats’ veritably peerless non-conference work. But I just can’t. The biggest talking point is unavoidable – Sabatino Chen’s buzzer beater that wasn’t. Debate will rage on for days about whether or not Chen’s banked-in three was released before the buzzer, and whether the officials had enough evidence to overturn the initial ruling (a made bucket, a Colorado win). For a closer look, assuming you’re not satisfied with the real-time footage provided above, check out this GIF segmenting Chen’s release into discrete steps. The controversy will intensify if this ultimately leads to Colorado’s NCAA Tournament denial. But seeing as Colorado took the undefeated Wildcats to the absolute brink – and did so without a productive scoring night from star forward Andre Roberson (nine points on 3-of-7 from the floor) – this team looks very capable of making noise in the Pac 12 title chase and earning an at-large bid without sweating Selection Sunday. Besides, an event as controversial and contentious as this often has a galvanizing effect on a team. This could springboard Colorado into a substantial winning streak; the opposite effect – a demoralizing defeat that leads to a downward losing spiral – is a possibility, but I’m not betting on Colorado feeling sorry for itself. Tad Boyle will have his bunch playing inspired basketball when they take the floor at Arizona State in three days. Fairly or unfairly officiated, it’s a total drag to see such a tight game come down to an official’s whistle. When two of the Pac 12’s best teams meet up, I think we can all agree the teams, not the referees, should be the ones settling the final score.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

• Wolverines Dispel B1G Road Game Theory. The common perception about this year’s Big Ten is that every road game, save a few locales, will be a chore. That’s been the look of things so far, with Illinois losing to Purdue Wednesday night, and Indiana just barely hanging on at Iowa on New Year’s Eve. Michigan had no such trouble on its trip to Northwestern. The Wolverines trounced Bill Carmody’s team on the strength of 44 combined points from backcourt duo Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. Burke got anything he wanted, whenever and wherever he wanted it. The Wildcats, already without defensive specialist JerShonn Cobb (suspension) and perimeter weapon Drew Crawford (injury), were without leading scorer Reggie Hearn, which turned an already undermanned lineup into coterie of inexperienced freshmen and marginal role players. Whether or not Northwestern was at full strength, Michigan wasn’t losing this game. In fact, I’m not sure there’s a team in the country that can beat the Wolverines when they shoot 59 percent from beyond the arc and just under 60 percent overall. Read the rest of this entry »

1. After a disappointing two-plus seasons at UCLA ended in his decision to leave the team a little over a month ago Josh Smith has decided to transfer to Georgetown. As we mentioned yesterday Smith could be a huge asset for the Hoyas if he can get his act together and lose the weight he needs to in order to become the player that many expected him to become after an outstanding freshman season. We still are not sure how Smith will fit into Georgetown’s Princeton offense, but Smith is talented enough that if he gets in shape John Thompson III will have to adjust the offense to utilize his unique skills. We are not optimistic that Smith will be able to turn his career around, but a change of scenery is probably the best thing that Smith could have if he wants to succeed.
2. Michigan and Wisconsin are starting Big Ten play tonight, but both teams may be without key pieces in their backcourt. Michigan may be without the services of Tim Hardaway Jr., who is recovering from an ankle injury that forced him to miss the Wolverines’ game last Saturday against Central Michigan and he remains a game-time decision for their game at Northwestern. The status of Wisconsin guard Ben Brust for the Badgers’ home Big Ten opener against Penn State is also unknown after he sustained a lower leg injury during Wednesday’s practice. Very few details have been released about the extent of Brust’s injury, but the general sense that we get from what has been reported is that is not particularly severe, but more information should become available later today.
3. In this week’s installment of Luke Winn’s Power Rankings, he takes a look at a variety of interesting statistics for his top 16 teams including our personal favorites this week–free throws per turnover for team’s that force the greatest percentage of turnover and Michael Carter-Williams’ assist distribution. The Carter-Williams graphic is something that we have seen before in various forms including last season when Winn employed it to look at how North Carolina functioned with Kendall Marshall at the point. The free throws per turnover ratio, which Winn used to point out just how effective Louisville is on defense is something we have not seen before, but at first glance appears to be an interesting stat especially when you are looking at teams that apply similar levels of pressure. As we have said before this is not a widely used stat, but don’t be surprised to see it used in March when we are trying to pick an upset where a great defensive team is facing a young point guard.
4. Hardcore Tennessee fans may remember Tyler Summitt as a seldom used guard on Volunteer teams the past two seasons, but they most likely remember him from being around his mother, the legendary Pat Summitt (the subject of an awesome last sentence in the “Personal” section of his Tennessee player profile). After graduating from Tennessee,  Summitt headed straight into coaching as many would expect a player of his caliber, but with his coaching genes to do. What is slightly more surprising is that he went straight into coaching women’s basketball, which he is coaching at Marquette as an assistant in his first year out of college. Mechelle Voepel of ESPN has a great piece on Summitt and his life’s path that has led him to become a women’s basketball coach. It is unlikely that Tyler will ever approach the success of his mother, but if the Tennessee women’s job becomes open in a couple of years the school’s athletic director could have a very interesting decision to make.
5. And now for our daily legal update… As we mentioned on Monday, the state of Pennsylvania has decided to file a lawsuit against the NCAA challenging the organization’s legal right to impose such severe sanctions against Penn State. Plenty of solid pieces have been written about, but the best summary we have seen comes from Michael McCann, who provides a solid breakdown of the key issues. We have already stated our issues with the NCAA in this case on Twitter and in this space before (essentially that the NCAA is overstepping its authority in dealing with these issues). Meanwhile, the Big East is attempting to move the lawsuit by Rutgers, which is attempting to get out of paying the $10 million exit fee it owes the conference on the basis that the fee has been applied unevenly. The Big East is trying to move the case from a New Jersey state Superior Court, which would presumably be sympathetic to Rutgers, to a US District Court. Rutgers can challenge the move, but the Big East’s motion seems like a perfectly reasonable request to us although that has not stopped lawyers from contesting issues in the past.

*Editor’s Note: This version of the ATB covers games played Tuesday and Wednesday night.

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

Tonight’s Lede. New Year Means New Opportunity.The first day of every new year is dominated by upper-tier college football bowl games. It is a timeless tradition that leaves little room for meaningful basketball. A few games tipped off in the January 1 twilight, and one was about as controversial as they come, but it wasn’t until Wednesday night that a full slate cropped up to lead us out of the Holidays with a hearty portion of hoops consumption. With the calendar flipped, there’s vast opportunity for teams to set new upward or downward trends. Some will wilt under the pressure of conference play. Others will amp up their efforts and springboard into prominent national standing. Nonconference play was just the beginning. Here’s where the Darwinian forces of college basketball weed out the weak links and where the strongest, fittest, most-balanced outfits emerge for the long haul. The NCAA Tournament remains a distant endpoint, but from here on out, the opportunities for improvement grow leaner as the calendar nears March. In the new year, margin for error is minimal. That’s what makes conference play so critical.

Your Watercooler Moment. Officiating Blunder Mars Big East Thriller.

A refereeing blunder dominated the post-game discussion from a hard-fought Big East contest (Photo credit: AP Photo).

The complex sequence of events that denied UConn a basket at the beginning of overtime in the Huskies’ 82-76 loss at Marquette is complex and long-winded. I’m still trying to figure out exactly where the officials went wrong. From what I can glean, it boils down to this: UConn was robbed two points for the referees’ failure to reorient each team to the proper scoring goal following erroneous tipoff positioning; players lined up facing the wrong direction at the tip, and officials botched a potential goaltending call, in which UConn should have been awarded two-points. The Huskies had plenty of opportunity to make up for whatever the officials may or may not have unfairly revoked, but when you lose a valuable possession at the beginning of overtime, it’s a devastating blow not only for momentum purposes. It effectively negates one of a finite number of possessions in a crucial timeframe where every trip down the floor can swing the final outcome. The game was not lost because officials have some unspoken personal vendetta with UConn’s basketball program, or because it fell victim to the Golden Eagles’ home court influence. Referees make mistakes. This one happened so late in the game, and in such mystifying fashion, that it inevitably draws the brunt of the blame for UConn’s defeat. I’m not minimizing the effect of the referees’ blunder – to reiterate: mistakes hurt, especially in overtime. I’m merely emphasizing the downside of a third-party blip looming over what was a truly entertaining Big East battle between two solid teams.

Your Quick Hits…

• Another Boeheim Milestone. Historical benchmarks have defined Syracuse’s season as much as anything else, and Jim Boeheim made another step in the all-time wins pantheon Wednesday night by securing his 903^rd W to pass Bob Knight and move into 2^nd place behind Mike Krzyzewski. Buckets of praise, and an almost near-equal amount of pushback, erupted following Boeheim’s passing into the vaunted 900 realm a few weeks back, so it’s best we not revisit the coach’s career achievements. Boeheim’s career is a curious test case on the valuation of wins vs. postseason accomplishment. Perseverance and longevity in the coaching profession is Boeheim’s defining trait – 903 wins, no matter the rate of accumulation, requires an eternity of year-long dedication and grinding commitment. The controversy stems from Boeheim’s thin postseason credentials relative to career length. With just one national championship and three Final Fours to his name over 37 years of sideline time, where does Boeheim rank in the pecking order of coaching legends? I don’t know, and neither do you – not until he finally decides to call it quits.

• Read the rest of this entry »

Apologies that we are a bit tardy in rolling out our Top 25; with the holidays behind us and the New Year officially upon us, we plan on hitting 2013 running. A fairly light week of hoops resulted in little movement in the RTC25. Duke remains #1 for the sixth straight week, Minnesota cracks the Top 10 for the first time, and NC State jumps back into the poll after making a departure for several weeks. In perhaps the most exciting game of the week, Gonzaga shot back up to #10 after a big road win in Stillwater against Oklahoma State. The Quick n’ Dirty after the jump.

Quick n’ Dirty Analysis.

• Read the rest of this entry »

Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.

Full disclosure: I grew up a grossly obnoxious Duke basketball fan. UNC was evil, but a necessary evil, making up one half of what I believed to be the greatest rivalry in all of sports. But as of late,  I can confidently say that the happiness felt from the hate of that lighter shade of blue has been usurped by another in-state rivalry. The build-up to Kentucky and Louisville’s annual late December battle was popcorn-making worthy. Twitter was abuzz all week, with profanity laced rants 140 characters at a time being hurled back and forth between the 80-mile stretch of I-64.

After a week of angry UL fans tweeting me grammatically incorrect vulgar/homophobic/threatening tweets, I must say..UL fans, “your” the best

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) December 29, 2012

Never stop this hatred ever, guys. We’re all better for it.

More on Kentucky – Louisville

Per the usual, the build up was full of jabs that make this rivalry great.

In Kentucky, 17% of the population is Louisville fans. In Kentucky, 17% of the population lives below the poverty line. Coincidence?

— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) December 27, 2012

Photo: Yep, it gets kind of crazy for Louisville-Kentucky. (h/t @terrymeiners) tmblr.co/ZBsoXyaT6w8o

— Big EZ (@BigEZ) December 29, 2012

Louisville fans secured home court for their team, as there was no Sea of Blue present at the Yum! Center.

Louisville fans held out, didn’t sell tickets to UK folks. This place is 95 percent red.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) December 29, 2012

Kentucky was down early, clueless against Louisville’s full court press, but foul trouble for the Cardinals and the emergence of Archie Goodwin and Willie Cauley-Stein in the second half kept the game interesting.

Cauley-Stein loves dunking on Nerlens Noel. Did so already at #Kentucky Midnight Madness

— Terrence Payne (@terrence_payne) December 29, 2012

Archie Goodwin has big time potential he has that Westbrook factor but that’s a gift and sometimes a curse.

— I am ESPN (@WJL1691) December 29, 2012

But in the end, the experience of Rick Pitino’s club prevailed. A freakishly fast-paced game left everyone involved exhausted.

Damn do I love watching teams that embrace pressure + quickness. Louisville is the principal. Beautiful interruption.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) December 29, 2012

Louisville hangs on, 80-77. I think the feeling in the building is catharsis. Lotta stress on a lot of faces in here down the stretch.

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) December 29, 2012

Nick Johnson To The Rescue

Perhaps the most exciting game of the holiday break was the finals of the Diamond Head Classic, where Arizona slipped past San Diego State, due in large part to a game-saving block by the Wildcats’ Nick Johnson. A 6’3″ guard, these are the types of plays a taller frontcourt player is supposed to make, meaning Sean Miller has a special athlete in his rotation.

https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/283806646881370113

Is “The Block” the Derrick Williams block or the Nick Johnson block?

— RC (@ZonaRube) December 27, 2012

Johnson’s block drew such oohs and aahs that fans started drawing comparisons with that play and another game saving swat by a former Wildcat, Derrick Williams.

I like Nick Johnson’s block better than Derrick Williams block. He definitely got up higher than Dwill!

— Martin (@MartiniWeenie35) December 26, 2012

Nick Johnson’s block to clinch the game brought back memories of Tayshaun Prince against the Pacers in 2004. Came from nowhere!

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) December 26, 2012

My pick? Gotta go with Johnson. He’s no imposing big man, but a perimeter player who used his incredible hops to turn and make a play without even thinking.

Ben McLemore & Anthony Bennett:Two Stars In The Making

If you’ve seen Kansas and UNLV play this season, then you’ve probably noticed two freshman who have established themselves as clear-cut pros. Over the last 10 days, if you saw Ben McLemore drop 22 with ease on Ohio State, and Anthony Bennett show his versatility against North Carolina, you told yourself multiple times that these may be two of the best young basketball players in the country, regardless of level.

@royalreality That is a tough call. If McLemore were as aggressive as Bennett I think he would be answer. Both studs, could argue either.

— Eric Bossi (@ebosshoops) December 29, 2012

As part of a freshman class that few were psyched about following the litany of spring All-American games, the Jayhawks and Rebels seem to have the two most obvious one-and-done players as we enter the new year. McLemore, who is drawing comparisons to Dwayne Wade, seems to get less attention on Twitter because he makes it look so easy. He scores from anywhre on the floor, but doesn’t necessarily incite hashtag-inducing plays.

Moved Ben McLemore into the Top 5 on our Big Board. Best NBA prospect KU’s had since Paul Pierce. insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/resu…

— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) December 23, 2012

#IWillTwerkFor Ben mclemore.

— Lorren Overley (@Overley_Tweetin) December 21, 2012

Enjoy Ben McLemore, #Jayhawks fans. You’ll have him this season.

— Bob Baptist (@BBaptistHoops) December 22, 2012

Conversely, Bennett has established himself as a must-see-TV player. He blows people away with his ability to create his own shot despite his girth, and his game compels people watching to immediately turn to social media…

Anthony Bennet. Absolute.Monster.

— Ryan Greene (@ryanmgreene) December 29, 2012

Anthony Bennett’s open loathing for properly constructed rims and baskets is a wonderful thing.

— Andy Hutchins (@AndyHutchins) December 29, 2012

If I were an NBA GM there is no way I take Noel or Zeller over Anthony Bennett

— Corey (@Zazmania) December 29, 2012

I wonder how many NBA scouts saw that sequence from Bennett and started salivating.

— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) December 29, 2012

Tony Parker Wanted To Be Home For Christmas

The curse of the overweight, overhyped Bruins big man continues. Just a few weeks after sophomore Josh Smith left the UCLA school and program, freshman Tony Parker aired, albeit cryptically, some grievances about his feelings about his first year in Westwood.

https://twitter.com/tonyparker32/status/282987874918477824

https://twitter.com/tonyparker32/status/283635223068024832

Counting down the days

— tony parker (@tonyparker32) December 25, 2012

@tonyparker32 time for TP32 to come home. The UGA family will welcome oh with open arms. Play for the “G”, the state that loves you!

— tnturfdawg (@tnturfdawg) December 27, 2012

Parker soon defended his tweets, saying he was just a homesick college kid unable to be back in his native Atlanta for the holidays… which, let’s be honest, is completely understandable. Parker has not had an impact this season, getting only eight minutes of run a game. He finished with two points in just three minutes played Friday night in UCLA’s thrilling overtime victory over Missouri, meaning on the court he’s still got a ways to go to meet his potential and expectations.

1. After multiple attempts to pass a resolution that would allow student-athletes to get a stipend it appears that Mark Emmert is planning on proposing a “need-based” stipend at the NCAA board of directors meeting in April. When the initial attempt was made to provide stipends regardless of need the measure was easily defeated, but the inclusion of the “need-based” clause should at least provide Emmert and his supporters a more tenable position to base their argument off of as the schools will cite financial hardships in providing the additional assistance. Even though the proposal seems reasonable we have a hard time seeing the schools giving up any more.
2. Now that there conference is at the point of extinction (ok, they are beyond that point) the Big East is in damage control mode. The latest example is how they are explaining losing Boise State back to the Mountain West. According to Big East officials the decision was essentially made because they were unwilling to meet the same conditions that the Mountain West was in keeping Boise State: allowing teams to keep more money if they appear on national TV and unequal distribution of bowl appearance fees. It shouldn’t be a surprise that football is the driving force in Boise State’s move or that the Big East turned down what are ridiculous demands, but that won’t help ease the sinking feeling that Big East supporters are feeling right now.
3. With 2012 behind us Matt Norlander took a look towards the new year and has some resolutions for college basketball. While many of the suggestions are somewhat snarky (“The SEC should resolve to stop being so awful”) others are actually reasonable and worthwhile (thinning out the NCAA rulebook). Overall we think this is a pretty good list and if you combine it with some of the rule changes that John Infante suggested (linked to in yesterday’s M5) it would be a good place to start. For us our resolution for college basketball would be relatively simple–make the process more transparent so there is a less guessing about penalties. The NCAA does a great job with showing us how the Selection Committee operates, but we lack that clarity on how penalties are handed out. Obviously explaining the decision on penalties is much more complex, but giving the public more information would go a long way to reducing the distrust towards the NCAA.
4. It seems like programs and coaches often get blamed when their athletes get in trouble, but often times the problem lies with the athlete. That appears to be the case with former Seton Hall star Herb Pope, who was arrested on New Year’s Eve after allegedly pulling a gun outside of a bar near Pittsburgh after one of the people in his group had their ID rejected. Pope, who made national headlines nearly three years ago when he punched a Texas Tech player in the groin, rebounded to have an outstanding senior season and was playing for an Israeli team. We can only hope that there is something more to this story and that Pope is able to get his life together again.
5. Finally, a little hilarity to end the Morning Five courtesy of Karl Hess and company. At the start of last night’s overtime between Connecticut and Marquette, the ball was tipped to the Huskies leading to a play that resulted in a goaltend against the Golden Eagles except that the teams were going the wrong way. The basket was waived off and Marquette got the ball under their own basket with play resuming with 4:48 left in overtime in a game that the Golden Eagles eventually won 82-76. After the game the Big East released a statement stating that the officials had ruled incorrectly and the Huskies should have been awarded two points. It goes without saying that this may have altered the outcome of the game and is a poor reflection on the officials and the conference. On the bright side at least it did not hurt Connecticut’s postseason chances although it may come into play if Marquette is on the bubble on Selection Sunday.

1. Now that it seems that nearly every school has changed conferences the next (il)logical thing is thing to do is not change conferences after you say that you will and go back to your original conference, which is exactly what Boise State did yesterday when it announced that it would stay in the Mountain West and not move to the Big East (in football) and the Big West (all other sports) in 2013. At this point it is really a matter of when not if the Big East officially ceases to exist so Boise State’s decision should not come as much a surprise particularly with the prominence of its football program nationally. As for basketball, which is obviously our primary focus, the decision will only bolster an already promising Mountain West Conference and will likely mean that San Diego State will also bail on the Big East thanks to a provision in the contract that allows them to leave without penalty if there are no other schools in the conference that are located west of the Rocky Mountains. The return of those two schools means that the conference should continue to be competitive with the so-called BCS conferences for years to come.
2. With 2012 complete there are only four teams that remain undefeated: Duke, Michigan, Arizona, and Wyoming. The first three teams are the top three teams in the rankings while the Cowboys have not even cracked the top 25. They will have a hard time doing that and staying undefeated with the loss of Luke Martinez, who is out indefinitely after fracturing his right ring finger. The loss of Martinez (14.5 points per game) is particularly problematic for the Cowboys as they are about to enter the most difficult part of their schedule with a game on the road against a very solid Southern Methodist team before they begin play against the previously mentioned exceptionally strong Mountain West schedule.
3. He will have to settle for being in the enormous shadow of Mike Krzyzewski for the foreseeable future, but Jim Boeheim has put himself in position to pass Bob Knight for second on the all-time wins list after the Orange’s easy win yesterday to close out non-conference play gave Boeheim his 902nd career win. Boeheim will have a shot at passing Knight tomorrow when Syracuse begins Big East play at home against Rutgers. At this point we have heard plenty of arguments about where Boeheim ranks among the all-time greats. For the time being, we will ignore those and choose just to appreciate Boeheim for his impressive career and longevity. We will leave the debates about where he ranks all-time for when he retires and his resume can be judged as a whole.
4. John Infante, who is the best source for information on NCAA rules (follow him on Twitter if you don’t already do so), has put together his third annual list of suggestions for small changes to the NCAA rulebook that could have a significant impact on student-athletes. While some of these changes may seem to relatively minor in terms of their impact such as what he proposes for graduate assistant some of the other suggestions such allowing coaches to arrange professional training for their athletes would obviously have a much larger impact. There are some ideas that we are still having trouble getting behind such as a proposal to allow athletic departments to hire prospects, but either way this is a post that should make you think about how current rules are structured and how they could be improved.
5. Finally, with 2013 behind us it is both time to look forward and also to look back. If you missed the excellent “The 10 Biggest CBB Stories of 2012” by Chris Johnson, we highly recommend you check it out with this summary post and the attached links to the top 10 stories. You can argue putting #2-#10 in any order you want and maybe even throw another story or two in there and we would be willing to hear your argument, but if you try to challenge the #1 story of the past year we will not even listen to your argument.

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. Read the rest of this entry »