Rob Dauster of Ballin is a Habit is the RTC correspondent for the Big East Conference.

Until Tuesday night, it was a relatively uneventful week in the Big East. The teams that should have won got the Ws, while the teams that were supposed to lose generally lost. That is, until Providence knocked off Pitt in front of packed house at the Dunk (for the record, Friar fans had one of the best ‘rushings of the court‘ that I have seen in a long time – they absolutely swallowed up the three Friar players in the center of the court).

Back to the point, not only were there not many upsets during the week, their weren’t that many outstanding performances. Weyinmi Efejuku of  Providence had 31 in a loss to Notre Dame. Ryan Ayers scored 28 in that same game, but earlier in the week struggled as the Irish lost to West Virginia. Luke Harangody had 26 and 13 in the Irish loss, but was non-existent until the final few minutes (when the game was decided) against Providence. DeJuan Blair’s 20 and 18 against DePaul (which should technically make the performance not count … it’s DePaul) is overshadowed by his 17 and 8 (and 5 turnovers and 5 fouls) in the loss to Providence.

You get the point.

Why should I be pointing that out to you? What is the significance of it? Is it just so I don’t look like a fool making my Player and Team of the Week picks?

Not exactly. It should show you that no team or player in the Big East (save for Providence, the damn Friars ruined my whole column) is stepping up to make a run at the NCAAs. As of this moment, the league should expect seven teams. After this win, Providence may be the eighth.

But Cincinnati, Notre Dame, and Georgetown all still had a realistic chance to get in by winning. Cincy’s loss to Louisville gives them a two game losing streak. A win at South Florida is not going to be enough for the Hoyas, who have now lost 9 of 11. Even Providence had lost two straight before the upset of Pitt.

Notre Dame is the only team that looks to have a little bit of life left in them. They have now won three of four, including wins over Louisville and Providence, with the loss coming at West Virginia. If the Irish can keep up their winning ways, there is a good chance the Big East could actually end up with nine tourney teams.

For the record, I’m sick of everyone talking about the Big East as the toughest conference in the country.

It isn’t.

Let it go.

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Allen R. of Houston Basketball Junkies is the RTC correspondent for Conference USA.

The moment of truth for Conference USA has come and in the next couple of weeks there will be major tests for the flagship program of the conference:  Memphis.

But the biggest story still is the fact that the Tigers have dominated in a year that for all intents and purposes was supposed to be a down year.

1.) Two More Tests for the Tigers:  There are only 4 games left on their schedule, but 2 of them will pose serious challenges for Memphis, who is currently 12-0 in Conference USA. Last Saturday UTEP gave the Tigers a tough game before losing 70-63. The first challenge will come this Wednesday night on the road against UAB. In a conference desperate for some true rivalries, a heated one is developing between the Tigers and Blazers. The last game ended in an ugly altercation between Memphis players and the UAB student section after a hard-fought Tiger win. There probably won’t be an altercation this year, but I still expect a hard-fought game. Keep in mind that in 2006 the Blazers handed the Tigers their last CUSA loss. If the Blazers don’t stop the Tigers, Houston hosts the Tigers for their last road game of the year and the Cougars will try to recapture the same magic that led to a 2005 upset in Houston.

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Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

Bye-Bye Blues
My, my, what an intriguing set of scenarios is emerging in the WCC’s final week to determine the number two seed in the conference tournament. Oh yeah, Gonzaga wrapped up the conference title – its ninth consecutive – with a pair of routine wins over Loyola-Marymount on Thursday (2/19) and Pepperdine on Saturday (2/21).

The two seed is important because the holder gets a bye straight to the conference semifinals. That means no game on Friday, March 6 or the following Saturday – a chance to watch the lower-echelon teams scramble for position from the comfort of the stands. The top two teams play for the first time on Sunday, with the winners advancing to the championship game and chance for the automatic NCAA bid on Monday night in Las Vegas. At this time of year no team wants to play an extra game, and the thought of playing three games in a row over a weekend is daunting. That’s the kind of thing teams do early in the season, in such balmy climes as Honolulu, when they’re fresh.

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Current Records and my standings (Conference Record)(Last Week Rank)

1. Creighton (23-6)(12-4) (2)
2. Northern Iowa (18-10) (12-4)(1)
3. Illinois St. (22-6) (11-5)(3)
4. Bradley (16-12) (9-7) (4)
5. Evansville (16-11) (7-9) (5)
6. Drake (17-12) (7-9) (7)
7. Wichita St. (14-14) (7-9) (6)
8. Indiana St. (9-19) (6-10) (8)
9. Southern Illinois (11-17) (6-10) (9)
10. Missouri St. (11-17) (3-13) (10)

BRACKETBUSTERS

This weekend all 10 teams took part in the annual ESPN Bracketbusters event. Though the league went 7-3 in its games, 2 of the top three teams in the league suffered losses. The MAAC was not friendly to the Valley as Illinois St. lost to Niagara and Northern Iowa continued its slide losing to Siena. However, Creighton scored a nice win against George Mason to get talk going about a possible at-large berth.

BATTLE FOR THE TITLE

The battle for the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship has come down to the final week. 3 teams are still in the race and anything could happen this week as Creighton, Northern Iowa and Illinois St. battle it out. There are several scenarios that could have any of the three win the conference outright or even end in a 3-way tie. The MVC tournament could be really interesting.

Speaking of the Missouri Valley Tournament, I will be down in St. Louis as a fan, but also covering for Rush the Court the goings on in the Tournament from press row. This should be a lot of fun.

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Current Records and My Standings (Conference Standings) (Last Week)

1. Oklahoma (25-2)(11-1) (1)
2. Missouri (23-4) (10-2) (2)
3. Kansas (22-5)(11-1) (3)
4. Kansas St. (19-8) (7-5)(4)
5. Texas (18-8) (7-5) (5)
6. Oklahoma St. (17-9) (6-6) (8)
7. Nebraska (16-9) (6-6) (6)
8. Texas A&M (19-9) (5-7) (9)
9. Baylor (16-10) (4-8) (7)
10. Texas Tech (13-14) (3-9)(10)
11. Iowa St. (13-14) (2-10) (11)
12. Colorado (8-16) (1-11) (12)

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Corey Johns is the RTC correspondent for the America East Conference.

Over the past two weeks Boston U and Albany played their way out of contention for the regular season conference championship.  Albany just went in a free fall down the standings, losing five straight while Boston U needed to win out for hope but most recently lost to Stony Brook, taking them out.  It’s down to Vermont and Binghamton.  If Binghamton wins out they are the champion.  They beat Vermont twice this year and have the tie breaker.  But if they slip at all Vermont is in perfect position to take the title.

Team    Overall Record    Conference Record

• Vermont    21-7    12-3
• Binghamton    18-8    11-3
• Boston U    14-12    9-5
• Stony Brook    15-12    7-7
• New Hampshire    11-14    6-7
• UMBC    12-14    6-8
• Albany    13-13    5-8
• Maine    9-17    4-9
• Hartford    6-22    2-12

Projected Awards

First Team All-Conference

• D.J. Rivera, G, Binghamton- (20.4ppg, 6.5rpg, 1,7spg, .487 FG%)
• Darryl Proctor, F, UMBC (20.2ppg, 8.4rpg, 1.3spg, .490 FG%)
• John Holland, F, Boston U (17.9ppg, 5.5rpg, 1.9spg, .461 FG%)
• Mike Trimboli, G, Vermont (16.0ppg, 4.8apg, 3.7rpg, .467 FG%)
• Marqus Blakely, F, Vermont (15.6ppg, 8.9rpg, 2.7bpg, .598FG%)

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JC at HBCUSportsBlog is the RTC correspondent for the MEAC and SWAC Conferences.

A rebirth in hoops nation is taking place. You can see it in the hearts of mid-major loyalists everywhere, championing the chance for little schools to draw and keep the attention of the college basketball conscience.

There is no better example of this than in the MEAC, whose champion will likely present the best chance for a historically black college to advance in the national tournament. So let’s call this a born day for the underdog, and check out the week that was in the MEAC.

THIS WEEK

With little less than a month to go before the MEAC basketball tournament begins, two teams are picking up where the left off in 2008. Morgan State and Coppin State have emerged as two of the favorites in the latter part of the season, with Morgan having paced the conference for much of the season, while Coppin has mounted its annual late season flurry of conference wins.

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Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the NEC and MAAC Conferences.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – The Northeast Conference season is in the home stretch. The top eight teams qualify for the post season. Each round is held at the home court of the higher seed. The tempo free breakdown as of Friday February 20.

Note : EM is efficiency margin or the difference between offensive and defensive points per possession. 

* The order is by standings which hold true to form in relation to efficiency margin. The lone exception in the EM pecking order is Quinnipiac who is discussed below.

** The average pace of NEC games is 68 possessions. Around mid-pack so to speak. Not NASCAR (mid seventies) and not pedestrian either. 

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David Zeitlin is the RTC correspondent for the Ivy League.

A weird sequence of events happened during the Penn-Columbia game two weeks ago: Penn fans listened as the Princeton-Cornell score was announced. They learned Princeton was winning. And then they cheered. Of course, this makes perfect sense. The only way for any of the seven Ivy League also-rans to make the NCAA Tournament (or at least the play-in game) is to get through Cornell, the clear favorite to win the league. But for all of the Penn fans in the gym that night – the dozens of us – cheering for Princeton still felt dirty. That’s because for so long the Ivy League has been all about Penn and Princeton, the two storied programs that have made up one of college basketball’s best rivalries. Penn-Princeton games may not always produce the most exciting basketball (unless you love backdoor cuts and running the shot clock down to five seconds) but each contest is special because it usually determines the league champion. Over the years, the other six Ivy League teams have had as much success as Gus Johnson trying to keep his voice down in a library. Consider: Since the Ivy League’s inception in 1955, only seven times has the league championship been awarded without the Quakers or Tigers at least sharing the crown. Here’s a good YouTube video on the rivalry which highlights the 1999 game in which Penn raced out to a 29-3 lead before losing, 50-49, in a game now known at the Palestra simply as “Black Tuesday.” Six years later, however, Penn produced a miracle of its own when it erased an 18-point deficit in the final seven-and-a-half minutes to stun Princeton in overtime. I think about nine of my 10 favorite Palestra memories came from that game, and I still get chills every time I watch the highlights.

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Michael Hurley is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-10 Conference.

Pac-10 Tidbits.

• Freshman extraordinaire Isaiah Thomas is averaging 16.5 points a game for Washington. His 413 points so far on the season are the second-highest point total for a freshman in Washington history.
• Jon Brockman is putting together another solid season for the Huskies.  Against Oregon he registered his 54th double-double of his career. That is the most of any active player.
  • Jon Brockman, Washington      54
  • John Bryant, Santa Clara           45
  • Jeff Adrien, Connecticut           44
  • Luke Harangody, Notre Dame   43
  • Tyler Hansbrough, UNC           41
• Brockman also holds the Washinton career record for rebounds with 1,159 and is the only Husky in history to total 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds.  Check out this video the University of Washington made to market its All-American  candidate.
• Arizona State’s season sweep of UCLA was their first since 2002-03 and first by any team over UCLA since Washington did it in 2005-06.
• Arizona’s six-game conference winning streak is the longest by any Pac-10 team this year.
• When you hear “Big Three” Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen shouldn’t come to mind, but rather Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Nic Wise.  They have combined to account for 69 percent (1,303 of 1,877 points) of the Wildcats scoring.

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