If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.
Top 25 Games
#19 Syracuse 66, #5 UConn 58: “There will be no five-game losing streak. There will be no talk of scandals. Tomorrow, the only thing worth talking about will be the fact that Syracuse basketball won a game and they did so when they needed to most. For more than one reason, Wednesday’s 66-58 win over UConn helped change the conversation and get a program back on track.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician: Recap and Photos)
#6 Duke 80, Maryland 62: “Well, I was wrong: it wasn’t a close game after all. Duke got 22 and 21 points out of Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, respectively, to overcome a Jordan Williams double-double and defeat Maryland in the Comcast Center, 80-62. In truth, the game was much closer, as Maryland had the lead as small as five more than midway through the second half, but the result is the only thing that matters. Maryland is now dropped to 14-8 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. The Terrapins will likely need a deep run in the ACC tournament or 11 ACC wins (or both) to sneak into the NCAA tournament, the latter of which would require a 7-1 finish to conference play.” (Testudo Times)
Indiana 60, #20 Minnesota 57: “Indiana ran circles around the Gophers for three quarters of the game before Minnesota actually showed life. However, the deficit and ineptitude at the free throw line proved insurmountable and ultimately doomed Minnesota’s comeback chances. The Hoosiers walked away with a 70-67 victory and yet another win over a ranked team at home” (From the Barn: Recap or Inside the Hall: Recap and Interviews)
We are normally fans of Seth Davis, but we have to strongly disagree with him on his response to Jake from Seattle (scroll down), though we would have accepted an answer that Jake was using the improper jargon and the appropriate phrase is “rush the court.” Ok, all kidding aside, Seth has a solid column (again) with some good stuff about all the questions surrounding Ohio State (have to go back a page from the original link). Still, we think it is worthwhile pointing out that, despite our name, we don’t think the actual act is necessary all the time, and that it should only be done at rare and appropriate times. We feel so strongly about this that we even wrote a post about it. That said, we do agree with Seth’s point that crowds need to be aware of their surroundings and watch for others around them as I witnessed at the only true RTC of which this author has ever been a part. The Providence fans were very courteous in letting me move to the side to avoid being trampled by the onslaught so I could get a better angle to report on it when I joined the students on the floor (see pics in the link above — apologies for the poor formating which is the result of some old audio files that seem to be missing).
Even though most people know Ken Pomeroy for his site and its rankings he also writes an interesting blog. A lot of the time his posts are about analyzing some new statistic, but he recently had an engaging post questioning how the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee should determine how it picks the at-large teams. It is worth a read and raises the question as to whether those involved with selecting the field should allow their personal viewing experience to influence who gets into the field. In an ideal world they would not, but then they’d be left without a way to understand basketball, which I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t want to have as a characteristic of the people who determine which teams make the field.
Someone mentioned a few days ago that people would start jumping on the UNC bandwagon pretty soon, and after the Tar Heels blew out the Eagles in Chestnut Hill it looks as though that was quite prescient as some people in the North Carolina media are starting to buy into the Heels even if many of their readers aren’t (see the comments in that link). It will be interesting to see if the media can convince themselves that UNC could actually play with their rivals a few miles down the road. We know that CBS will certainly be hyping it up like that, especially for a certain primetime game, but we still aren’t sure how many will actually try to get on the bandwagon as well.
We are a college basketball site, but we would be remiss not to offer a tip of the hat to Bob Hurley Sr. for winning his 1,000th game as a high school basketball coach. While some may argue that his son Bobby — the point guard on the back-to-back NCAA championship teams at Duke and still the NCAA record holder for assists in a career — is more well-known, it is his father who has impacted more lives, having sent countless players to college on scholarship or improved their lives through basketball. Hurley Sr. is the 10th high school coach to reach the 1,000 win milestone and is already pointing toward 100 more. Personally, we would like to see him out there for 1,000 more.
Speaking of well-known father-son combinations, Gonzaga has one in John Stockton and his son David Stockton. All right, maybe the father is a little more well-known than the son in this case. You all know about John’s accomplishments, but you are probably less familiar with David, who joined the Gonzaga team earlier this season as a freshman walk-on. Much like Jeff Jordan, the son of Michael Jordan (the man who prevented David’s father from winning a NBA championship ring) who was given a scholarship after walking on, David also received news that he too had been given a scholarship. For Mark Few‘s sake, we hope that David stays at Gonzaga longer than Jeff did at Illinois.
The Lede. Groundhog Day came and went and it was another interesting night across the college basketball landscape. There were the obligatory upsets, the blowouts, the disappointments, and The Jimmer. But it was a somewhat obscure result between two unranked teams tonight that caught our attention the most.
Michigan State is Getting Swatted By Everyone (AP/C. Jette)
Your Watercooler Moment. Are the Spartans Kaput? After a holy crapola-inducing beatdown of Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans by twenty points this evening, we have to wonder if the wheels have completely come off in East Lansing. Otherwise, how else can you explain going to one-win Iowa (they beat Indiana) and allowing a team that has trouble scoring the ball to put up a 41-point first half and shoot 58% from the field for the game? Somewhere in Europe Mateen Cleaves is rolling over in his pfennigs. Tom Izzo characterized the performance as the worst he’s ever experienced as the head coach at MSU, a “total letdown… everybody’s hitting shots against us and I don’t know why.” We wrote earlier this year that Spartan fans shouldn’t fret too much by early losses to UConn, Duke and Syracuse — it’s been the tendency for Izzo teams to take some hits during the regular season only to overachieve come March. But the recent three-game stretch where MSU lost to rival Michigan at home, came dangerously close to losing to Indiana, and just dropped another one tonight against Iowa, is not representative of an NCAA Tournament team (in fact, Sparty is three overtimes from having lost eight in a row right now). With the talent that Tom Izzo has at his disposal — even considering the loss of Korie Lucious — those should have been three easy wins. Instead, standing at 13-9 (5-5), the Spartans are running out of time to ensure they’ll be back in the Dance for the fourteenth consecutive year — two of their next three are at Wisconsin and Ohio State, and there are three other ranked teams left on the schedule. The MSU offense always comes and goes, but Izzo can usually rely on his defense to keep his team in the game — not so lately. In the last five games, Michigan State has allowed a minimum of 1.04 points per possession, and four of the Spartans’ worst six performances on the defensive end have come in the last six games. When players stop guarding and picking up for each other, it’s a sure sign that there are chemistry problems on the team. If anyone can bring a squad out of such a tailspin, it’s Tom Izzo, but even we’re starting to wonder if this reclamation project is too big for even his talents. The way we’re viewing it — even with the nation’s #1 ranked schedule, Wisconsin on Sunday in Madison is about as close to a must-win as it gets in early February.
Tonight’s Quick Hits…
Syracuse Ends Losing Streak. We have much more on Syracuse’s big win at Connecticut below in the RTC Live section, but let there be no doubt that SU played like a desperate team tonight in order to get the much-needed victory. Maybe it was all the point-shaving rumors going around (ha), but the Orange showed a focus that they haven’t had in the last couple of weeks, especially on the defensive end, and managed to put the four-game losing streak in the rear view mirror. The Orange zone gave up eight threes tonight, but only thirteen other field goals, a far cry from the pathetic defensive performances of the last two weeks.
DJ Gay’s Fadeaway. If you’re like us, you’re secretly harboring hope that both San Diego State and BYU will get through the rest of their Mountain West schedules to set up a blockbuster showdown for the conference title in San Diego on February 26. One of the tougher tests that SDSU was going to face was the trip to Colorado State, and had it not been for DJ Gay’s step-back jumper with 1.8 seconds that found all net, our MWC dream game rematch hopes might have already been dashed. These are the kinds of game-winners on off nights that occur during special seasons, and Steve Fisher’s Aztecs are well on their way to a spectacular 29-2 type of regular season.
Today is Groundhog Day, and with much of the nation under snow, ice and feeling a lot like the inside of a commercial freezer, it may seem very hard to believe, but Punxsatawney Phil actually predicted an early spring this year. Whether his prediction about March comes to pass is debatable, but it got us thinking that the celebration of his day makes for a good assessment point to see if what we think we know at this point of the season passes muster in less than six weeks. Generally speaking, do the teams ranked highly on February 2 do well in March? How predictive are the major polls today compared with what ultimately happens next month? We’re not sophisticated enough to run high-level regressions on this stuff, but we were able to eyeball some of the numbers and come to some basic conclusions below.
He Can Predict Weather, But Can He Predict Hoops?
The first thing we did was look at the AP, ESPN/USA Today and the RPI ratings on or about Groundhog Day for the last three seasons. Notably absent are the Pomeroy ratings, but to our knowledge, he doesn’t keep historical daily archives available for public consumption. So we’ll deal with what we have. We then averaged the top sixteen teams using those three metrics and then compared them with their ultimate season outcomes (NCAA Tournament seed; Sweet Sixteen appearance; Final Four appearance). It’s a rudimentary analysis, but as you can see, below, Groundhog Day seems to be a fair to good predictor of March outcomes. Here are the last three years worth of data:
As you can see above, eleven of the sixteen teams ranked in the aggregate top sixteen ended up getting a top four NCAA seed, and a full half of these teams made it to the Sweet Sixteen. This year was the only incident in the three-year window where a Final Four team (Butler) came from outside the Groundhog Day top 16. On to 2008-09:
Game #125. RTC Live visits College Park tonight for one of the classic rivalries in the modern game…
Maryland has played a number of big games this season. They’ve lost them all. The Terps are in that treacherous bubble area where they have beaten everyone that they are supposed to beat and have lost to everyone they are supposed to lose to. That, frankly, is not the best way to get yourself a bid to the NCAA Tournament. While they still have games left against Florida State and North Carolina, tonight’s matchup with Duke is the only game left on the Terps’ schedule (they already lost to Duke once) against a truly elite team, which makes it the most important game of their season. Duke, on the other hand, will be looking to reestablish their superiority in the ACC. Granted, a loss at Florida State is not a terrible loss. A 15-point loss where they were not competitive at St. John’s is. The Blue Devils have a flaw, and its not necessarily playing without Kyrie Irving. Duke is weak in the paint. In every game that they have struggled, their big men have been beaten up inside. Maryland has arguably the best big man in the conference in Jordan Williams, a double-double machine when he stays out of foul trouble. He had 22 points and 13 boards in the first matchup, a game Maryland nearly won on the road. If Adrian Bowie continues his hot play and Williams once again goes off, the Terps may finally land that big win they have been so close to so many times this year.
Game #126. Syracuse is in the midst of its longest losing streak in some time as the Orange visits UConn this evening in snowy Hartford.
Tonight’s game in Hartford between Syracuse and Connecticut has big implications going forward. First, most important (and obvious) is Syracuse is on a four-game losing skid that includes a 22-point beatdown in the Carrier Dome at the hands of Seton Hall. While Syracuse is in no danger of joining the bubble anytime soon, their season prognosis is beginning to look like Texas’ epic collapse last season. The Orange need to right this ship as soon as possible. Connecticut is dealing with its own questions after a tough double-overtime home loss to Louisville last week. Kemba Walker has starting coming back down to earth, but freshmen Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier and Roscoe Smith have picked up the slack. Still, there are lingering doubts about whether the Huskies are true Final Four contenders: most notably can the freshmen step up and deliver when Walker goes cold? The hidden storyline revolves around the weather: like most of the country, New England was ravaged with snow, sleet and freezing rain the last couple of days, making travel a little dicey. Normally that doesn’t hurt the home school too much because most arenas are on campus. But this game isn’t in Storrs, so who knows how many fans make the trip? With the homecourt advantage neutralized and Syracuse desperate for a win, there’s a very good chance for Jim Boeheim’s team to pull off the upset, especially if their zone can fluster Kemba Walker.
Game #127. RTC Live is in Bloomington tonight as the Hoosiers try to keep their forward progress moving against Minnesota on an icy evening.
Welcome to icy Bloomington, Indiana and to Assembly Hall. Tonight’s matchup features the 20th ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-5, 5-4 Big Ten) vs. the Indiana Hoosiers (11-11, 2-7 Big Ten). This game is a rematch of the 67-63 Barn Burner in Minneapolis in early January, a game that was narrowly won by Coach Tubby Smith’s Gopher squad. Winners of their last two outings at Assembly Hall, Coach Tom Crean’s upstart Hoosiers will be looking for revenge. The last time Indiana played at home, Crean logged perhaps his biggest win at Indiana, a 52-49 stunner over rival Illinois. The Hoosiers followed up that win with a heartbreaking overtime loss to Michigan State. With veteran Verdell Jones III unable to play in either game due to injury, others Hoosiers Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, and Jeremiah Rivers have stepped up. Assembly Hall is starting to become a big home court advantage once again, making this game far from an automatic victory for the visitors from Minneapolis. Minnesota will be looking to bounce back from a twelve-point loss to Purdue last Saturday. The Gophers will no doubt lean on leading scorers Blake Hoffarber (14.0 points per game) and Trevor Mbakwe (13.6 points per game) to silence the rowdy Hoosier fans during this game. Hoffarber is one of the best sharpshooters in the conference, shooting over 40% from three. Mbakwe is matchup nightmare at forward, sporting an NBA body (6’8, 240 pounds) and smooth moves to match. Catch all the action LIVE! on RTC Wednesday evening (weather permitting).
***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game
Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.
Two big rivalries lead the way tonight while a couple of key conference clashes comprise this evening’s undercard. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.
It’s a matchup of the deans of the Big East as Jim Calhoun faces off yet again with Jim Boeheim. Both teams are coming off of losses on Saturday, but the Orange have lost four straight and are looking dead in the eye of a fifth as they head on the road to face Connecticut. Facing a Connecticut team that shoots the ball at a fairly average clip and has recently thrown up a couple of sub-40% performances, however, may be the prescription needed for a win.
The 2-3 Zone Has Been Porous and Passionless Of Late
Penn State hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in ten years. They’ve finished better than .500 in the Big Ten just twice in the last 18 seasons. After Tuesday’s loss at Illinois, the Nittany Lions are 5-5 in conference play this year, and 12-9 overall. They’ve been playing better than anyone expected, recently knocking off three ranked opponents (including home wins against Illinois and Wisconsin), and losing road games at Ohio State and Purdue by a total of three points. With eight games remaining and opportunities for further signature wins coming up on the schedule, PSU has even popped up in recent NCAA Tournament talk as an outside contender for an at-large bid. Certainly, the last thing head coach Ed DeChellis and his team need right now is a big distraction or inconvenience to come along and screw up their mojo, right?
Sorry, gentlemen. Bon Jovi needs to practice.
Good Luck With the Rest of the Season, Guys. Now Get Out.
While that won’t necessarily come as news to you, they specifically need practice time to prepare for their upcoming tour, innovatively titled “Live 2011.” It kicks off a week from today at the Bryce Jordan Center — the Nittany Lions’ home arena.
The Lions normally practice both in the BJC and at a nearby practice gym, but like to get in a workout in the arena the day before a game to get reaccustomed to shooting with the deeper background that the BJC entails and to feel even more at home on their own floor. Too bad. For the next week, the only picks the Bryce Jordan Center will see are the kind that pluck guitar strings. It’s drum rolls, not screen-and-rolls. Power chords will take precedence over power forwards. The Nittany Lions will be relegated to the gym where students play pick-up games. And while the players don’t seem too fazed, DeChellis isn’t pleased at all.
“I don’t care if it’s my granddaughter coming in to see Disney On Ice,” he told Brennan in the linked article. “It’s a problem for us in mid-February, not to be able to use your home facility for that many days in a row when you’re trying to make your run.”
If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.
Top 25 Games
#3 Kansas 86, Texas Tech 66: “So much for Bill Self not being able to win in Lubbock, huh? The Jayhawks came out and immediately went to work inside, feeding Marcus Morris for the first three baskets of the game. Once the lead reached 10-2 after the first four minutes of the game, the outcome was never in doubt. Texas Tech couldn’t find a shot on the offensive end and they showed no inclination of making it difficult for anyone in blue get to the basket on the defensive end. The final score was 88-66 and it wasn’t anywhere near that close.” (Rock Chalk Talk)
Ole Miss 71, #10 Kentucky 69: “Well, this was a game that the Mississippi Rebels needed very badly, and they won the game on a near-last second 3-point shot by senior point guard Chris Warren. It was an exciting game, but Kentucky comes up on the short end, I think deservedly. I was very impressed with how aggressive and how physical the Ole Miss Rebels were in this game. They took it to Kentucky in every way you can, and they played with a heart and intensity that, if they had played like this all year, might have them in contention for an NCAA bid instead of trying to salvage a season that started with four league losses in six games. But this game, this time, the Rebels were very, very good, and they sent Kentucky home with their third SEC road loss in four tries. I can’t say enough about how tough and determined the Rebels were. They won this game the old-fashioned way — they earned it.” (A Sea of Blue: Part 1 and Part 2)
#16 Wisconsin 66, #13 Purdue 59: “Purdue went into another difficult Big Ten venue — perhaps the most difficult — and could have come away with a win. In fact, they likely should have, but they did not, losing 66-59. The Boilers — especially these seniors — are not afraid of the Kohl Center. Closing out a win tonight would have made JJ and Smooge 3-1 at Wisconsin in their careers, a fun stat that would have been awesome to lord over obnoxious Badger fans. However, it was not to be…and while officiating was again atrocious, that was once again not why the Boilers lost.” (Boiled Sports)
#24 UNC 106, Boston College 74: “I’m not sure if I can express how good a game this was to people who didn’t see it. Looking at the score, sure you may be excited that UNC cracked the century mark, but you’ll probably just chalk it up to Boston College not being very good. And their defense is indeed pretty bad. But they’re a decent team at home, and Carolina just beat them worse than Duke managed in Cameron. This was the best complete game I’ve seen from the Tar Heels all season; from the moment they took their first lead – off of not coincidentally a Reggie Bullock three pointer – they didn’t let up, putting over 100 points on the Eagles in regulation for the first time since 1996.” (Carolina March)
#24 Illinois 68, Penn State 51: “I cannot overstate how important this game was for the Illini. Having lost four of the last five games, including one to this very same Penn State team, the Illini slumped to 4-4 in the Big Ten, and 14-7 overall, and with a loss to Indiana fell to the brink of the tournament field. Talor Battle, as you all well know, has been a total thorn against the Illini and has single handedly stolen victories against Illinois.” (Hail to the Orange)
