Monday’s AP Poll confirmed what most Big 12 fans already knew: The conference isn’t very good right now. Kansas entered the top 10 and Oklahoma State sits at No. 23, and that’s it. Baylor’s win at Kentucky on Saturday should inch the Bears closer to the Top 25, but their overall resume isn’t there yet. As for Oklahoma State, its 81-71 loss last week to Virginia Tech drops them to No. 2 in our weekly power rankings, with Kansas taking its familiar spot atop the Big 12.

1) Kansas (6-1, 0-0)

Ben McLemore Has Helped Kansas Regain the Top Spot This Week (Lawrence Journal-World)

Previous Ranking: 2

Last Week: W 70-57 vs. San Jose State, W 84-78 vs. Oregon State

This Week: Saturday vs. Colorado, 1:00 PM CST

• Rundown: The Jayhawks have won five in a row since losing to Michigan State in Atlanta and look to be getting better, albeit slowly. Freshman guard Ben McLemore is making his case to be the third one-and-done player Bill Self has had at Kansas, and senior center Jeff Withey is playing the best defense in the country with 5.7 BPG. Saturday’s game at home against Colorado (who beat Baylor last month) should give fans a good gauge on the team’s improvement before winter break.
• Danger Zone: Point guard play. Bill Self isn’t happy at all with his perimeter defense, and he shouldn’t be. Opposing guards have been lighting up the Kansas D all season. On offense, senior guard Elijah Johnson is playing the point for the first time in his career. He played off the ball for most of last season, deferring to Tyshawn Taylor. Now it’s Johnson’s job to lead the offense and get the ball inside when Kansas needs it, and come March, Johnson’s play could be the difference between consecutive Final Fours or another Tournament flameout.

2) Oklahoma State (5-1, 0-0)
Previous Ranking: 1

Last Week: L 81-71 at Virginia Tech

This Week: Wednesday vs. South Florida, 8:00 PM, Saturday vs. Missouri State, 3:00 PM

• Rundown: Freshman point guard Marcus Smart continued to impress against Virginia Tech last week (18 points, 11 rebounds, six assists), but it wasn’t enough to make up for the team’s putrid night from deep. The Cowboys went 4-23 from three-point range and the Hokies eventually won, 81-71. The schedule softens now, though, and the wins should pile up this month until a New Year’s Eve meeting with Gonzaga in Stillwater.
• Danger Zone: It’s never a good thing when your freshman point guard leads the team in rebounding. Smart is averaging 7.7 RPG and while it complements the rest of his game nicely, the Cowboys need to find more consistent post play. Smart and sophomore guard Le’Bryan Nash are great, but being 135th in the country in RPG (36.5) won’t lead to sustained success this season.

1. Did Baylor’s 64-55 win over Kentucky Saturday in Rupp Arena say more about the Bears or Wildcats? The short answer is yes. Winning in Rupp Arena isn’t easy. Kentucky had a nation-leading 55 straight wins at home and the Wildcats entered Saturday’s game at No. 8 in the country. Baylor point guard Pierre Jackson reminded people why he was chosen as the Big 12’s Pre-Season Player of the Year, though, with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals, but it wasn’t exactly a clinic they put on in Lexington. They shot just 40 % with 19 turnovers. Luckily for them, Kentucky shot 29% and played like a bunch of freshmen. So, while beating a top-10 team on the road in an environment like Rupp Arena is impressive, Kentucky is proving to be less than stellar this season. Also, great teams don’t lose to the College of Charleston.
2. Bill Self has had some great point guards at Kansas, from Aaron Miles and Russell Robinson to Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor. It’s a big reason why the Jayhawks have won eight consecutive Big 12 regular season championships. Now its senior guard Elijah Johnson’s turn at the point, except Johnson has never had this responsibility while at KU. He has been a shooting guard up until this season, and the position switch has seemed to affect his game early on, especially on defense. “He got whipped,” Self told ESPN’s Jason King after Kansas’ 84-78 win over Oregon State, a game in which Beaver guard Ahmad Starks had 25 points. San Jose State guard James Kinney put up 30 points on the Jayhawks last week, and Chattanooga freshman guard Farad Cobb went 7-9 from three-point range a few weeks ago in Allen Fieldhouse. “That’s something that’s got to improve or we’ll have to change how we play,” Self told King. “We’ll have to play some zone or whatnot.” The fact that Bill Self is even considering playing a zone — something he has rarely played — says a lot about his confidence in the team right now.
3. Dave Behr of the Austin-American Statesmen wrote a column Saturday on the early struggles of the Texas Longhorns. Motivation seems to be the problem, with head coach Rick Barnes yanking players at the drop of a hat recently in an attempt to grab players’ attention. After losing to Chaminade and USC in the Maui Invitational and beating Texas-Arlington by just 16, motivation isn’t the only thing Texas fans should worry about. Of course, getting sophomore point guard Myck Kabongo back would solve a lot of problems. Kabongo has been suspended by the NCAA while being investigated for possibly receiving improper benefits.
4. Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg had nothing but good things to say about former Utah transfer Will Clyburn this offseason. Clyburn averaged 17.1 PPG in his one season at Utah and it was good enough to earn him a scholarship in the Big 12. In seven games for Iowa State this season, he’s averaging 17.3 PPG and 8.6 RPG, his best two games coming recently against then No. 18 UNLV and BYU where he finished with 21 and 32 points. As a 6’7″ guard, Clyburn will be a tough match-up for any team he plays against this season. He could also be the key to Cyclones not suffering too big of a dropoff this season with the departure of do-everything guard/forward Royce White
5. The CBSSports.com crew updated their Top 25 (and one) ranking on Sunday night, and only two Big 12 teams made the cut. Kansas climbed from 13th to 10th while Oklahoma State dropped from 16th to 23rd after losing to Virginia Tech Saturday, 81-71. There doesn’t seem to be any Big 12 teams close to making this list, either. The conference is one Cowboy loss away from having a single team in the (unofficial) Top 25 next week.

Brian Goodman is an RTC editor and correspondent. He filed this report from the second semifinal of the Edward Jones CBE Hall of Fame Classic Monday night.

Kansas throttled the Cougars in an even more impressive fashion than was expected coming into Monday night. Some key takeaways:

1. Message Received By Jayhawks After Early Bumps: There’s no shame in losing to Michigan State on a neutral floor in Atlanta, but the Jayhawks needed an injection of tough love from Bill Self after falling behind to Chattanooga at home later that week. KU responded in the second half last Thursday and kept the momentum rolling from the opening tip against Washington State Monday night. The Jayhawks shot their way to a 50-point first half with a scorching 64% clip from the floor. Kansas clicked on the glass as well, rebounding five of its nine misses for an incredibly efficient start. Staked to a 29-point lead at the intermission, Self substituted freely throughout the second half, and as a result, his most important players should benefit from the rest with a one-night turnaround. In addition, the extra reps for players like Anrio Adams, Andrew White and Naadir Tharpe will serve the team well in the long run.
2. Role Players Emerge For Kansas: While it wasn’t surprising to see KU perform well in front of a de facto home crowd, not many predicted the role Travis Releford would play Monday. The senior came into tonight’s contest shooting a bone-dry 26.1% from the floor, but made his first six shots, including a pair of threes, on his way to a game-high 17 points against the Cougars. Defensively, Kevin Young made good on his first start as a Jayhawk. The senior transfer starred alongside Jeff Withey and the two combined to fluster Wazzu in its attempts to penetrate. For KU to keep a lock on its conference championship streak, it needs consistency from its complementary players in addition to Withey and Elijah Johnson, who are expected to lead the team on a regular basis.
3. Washington State Has Too Many Leaks For Ken Bone To Plug: Beating Kansas in its second home is a tall order for any team, but Washington State’s failure to make the game competitive at any point can’t bode well for Bone’s future in Pullman. While his portrayal of a disciplinarian in removing Reggie Moore from the team in September was admirable, Bone has struggled to pick up the pieces. Based on the combined 7-25 shooting night from Wazzu’s backcourt on Monday, the early returns in the quest for help can’t be much more discouraging. Brock Motum‘s international flavor at center is unorthodox enough to throw opposing big men off their games, but if no other threats emerge for Washington State, teams will simply continue to double Motum, knowing they can hedge away from other personnel. Coaches express emotions in several ways, but all Bone could do was shake his head as he watched Kansas make shot after shot. While it’s not advisable to make too much out of one bad game, Bone needs to find answers if his team is to make a run at a postseason tournament bid. The Pac-12 has climbed back to respectability, but Wazzu is still groping for the light switch.

1. The annual 50-player Naismith Award watch list was unveiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club Tuesday Morning, led by Creighton guard Doug McDermott. Five Big 12 players spanning four teams made the list. They are: Baylor G Pierre Jackson, Kansas State G Rodney McGruder, Oklahoma State G Marcus Smart, Kansas G Ben McLemore, and Kansas C Jeff Withey. Jackson has looked the best so far this season, finishing with 25 points and seven assists in Sunday’s victory over Jackson State. The Naismith Award winner will be announced on April 7 in Atlanta.
2. Bill Self didn’t seem too upset after his team’s 67-64 loss to Michigan State last night in the Champions Classic, but he told KUSports.com that it will be a while before the Jayhawks are mentally tough and “learn to compete.” He’s right. This wasn’t a 34-point loss like what West Virginia suffered at Gonzaga late Monday night. There weren’t any demoralizing aspects to last night’s game. Kansas is young. “Green and naive,” Self called his freshmen. And there will be a few more of these close losses throughout the non-conference season as Kansas preps for another Big 12 championship run. A bright spot in the loss was the solid game from redshirt freshman Ben McLemore, who had 14 points on 5-7 shooting. His athleticism and three-point shooting will be key for the Jayhawks’ development this year.
3. Former Iowa State forward Royce White has the talent to make a nice living in the NBA, but his battle with anxiety might be derailing that career before he signs another contract. White’s fear of flying has been well noted by now. He missed parts of the Rockets training camp this season after missing flights, eventually figuring out a travel plan with the team that would allow him to bus to away games when practical. Monday, White skipped his team’s game against the Miami Heat and was absent from Tuesday’s practice as well after the team planned to send him down to the D-League. Today, White released a statement. Part of it reads, “As a rookie, I want to settle into a team and make progress; but since preseason the Rockets have been inconsistent with their agreement to proactively create a healthy and successful relationship. He later added this on twitter. Pardon me for not feeling bad for Royce White and his anxiety. Nobody forced him to sign a contract requiring him to travel across the country for seven months out of the year. If his fear of flying is as detrimental to his health as he says, he should have no problem giving back his NBA money and working at Sears instead. Otherwise, he should do his job.
4. Kansas State finalized its trip to New York City for the Preseason NIT after dismantling Alabama-Huntsville Tuesday in Bramlage Coliseum, 87-26. The Wildcats will play next Wednesday in New York against Delaware, following the Blue Hens’ upset at Virginia last night. A win would put Kansas State in the championship game Friday night against what will be Pittsburgh or Michigan. The two-game trip could be a great experience for a Wildcat team still learning to play in Bruce Weber’s new system. With talented upperclassmen like Jordan Henriquez and Rodney McGruder back on board, getting acclimated with Weber is the only obstacle to another NCAA Tournament appearance for K-State.
5. Jeff Goodman of CBSSports talked about ranked teams with point guard issues this season, and Kansas and its senior guard Elijah Johnson made the list. Johnson has played off the ball in his first three years with the Jayhawks as Tyshawn Taylor ran the show. Now there’s no one else but Johnson to fill that role. He struggled in KU’s opener against Southeast Missouri State, going 1-5 from the field with just four points and one assist. In Tuesday’s 67-64 loss to Michigan State he was much improved, finishing with 16 points along with a solid floor game (four rebounds, three steals). He added just two assists, though, and it’s clear he’s not a stereotypical point guard. With so many freshman on the roster, that might not be the best thing for this year’s team. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Goodman recognized a handful of other teams with solid point guard play and didn’t take long to mention Baylor’s Pierre Jackson, who is averaging 19.5 PPG and 9.5 APG through two games.

Brendon Mulvihill is the head curator for @SportsGawker and an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

The first full week of the college hoops season provides us several excellent non-conference match-ups between the true blue bloods of the sport, as well as a first glimpse at some of the mid-majors we may be hearing from in March. Let’s get to the breakdowns.

Game of the Week

#2 Kentucky vs. #9 Duke – 9:00 PM EST, 11/13/12 on ESPN HD (*****)

Nerlens Noel needs to step-up his offensive game against the Duke Blue Devils

• Duke took care of business in last Friday’s opening game against Georgia State. Because of the the level of competition, the first game does not give us too much insight into the 2012-13 version of the Blue Devils. Mike Krzyzewski’s squad shot and rebounded well, but they were expected to against the Panthers. Mason Plumlee leads the way for Duke and his match-up against the Kentucky front line should be a key factor on Tuesday. The Wildcats can throw Kyle Wiltjer, Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, and Nerlens Noel at the Duke big man. While Maryland forward Alex Len was able to have a big game against these four, look for Kentucky coach John Calipari to make major adjustments to stop Plumlee. Duke senior Ryan Kelly needs to step-up to help Plumlee, particularly on the offensive glass where Duke struggled a bit in their first game. Also, keep an eye on Duke’s turnover numbers. They turned the ball over on 22% of their possessions against Georgia State. Neither Seth Curry, Tyler Thornton, or Quinn Cook had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in the first game. Continued turnovers will come back to bite the Blue Devils against better competition.
• Kentucky gets its second ACC team of the season, but now it’s the cream of the crop in the Blue Devils. UK’s freshmen performed reasonably well in their first game but need to put together a full 40 minutes of effective basketball. Maryland was down by double figures in the first half of their first game last week but was able to make the game very tight by the end. Freshman guard Archie Goodwin put together a solid game against the Terps with 16 points, but highly touted freshman center Noel looked lost on offense. Pay close attention to how the freshmen play in the second half in this one. Interestingly enough, Kentucky played very good team defense even with so many freshmen. Typically, defensive skills take longer to develop but the Wildcats held Maryland to a 35% eFG, including 3-19 from three-point land. Duke is a three-heavy team, so watch to see how the Blue Devils fare against a tough perimeter defense.
• Kentucky is going to need more of their freshmen to step up on offense, if they want to beat the Blue Devils. Wiltjer carried them in the first game and is as smooth as they come on the offensive end, but they need additional offensive support. Watch to see who among all the rookies is able to provide more offense. If Goodwin can continue to provide punch and they can get double figure points from one other freshman, Kentucky can win this game. Duke needs to limit turnovers and get scoring and rebounding from Ryan Kelly. He is very capable on the offensive end but needs to be more aggressive.

More Great Hoops

#8 Michigan St. vs. #4 Kansas – 7:00 PM EST, 11/13/12 on ESPN HD (*****)

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Over the last two weeks, we have brought you the obligatory team preview here at the Big 12 microsite. We finish up our segment with Kansas at the #1 position on our list.

The Skinny

• 2011-12 record: 32-7, 16-2 Big 12
• Key contributors lost: G Tyshawn Taylor, F Thomas Robinson
• Head coach: Bill Self, 10th season
• Projected finish: 1st

Bill Self is Looking for His Ninth Consecutive Big 12 Championship (AP)

Players change, expectations don’t. That’s what Bill Self has been telling people about coaching and playing at Kansas for at least the past few seasons. It’s not meant in a negative light, even though if it was, Self would have no one to blame but himself. What else do you expect when you give one of the most rabid fanbases in the country, at perhaps the most tradition rich school in the country, winning season after winning season? In the last six years, Kansas has more victories (197) than any school over a six-year stretch in history. That stat was largely unknown until C.J. Moore of CBSSports reported it during last season’s NCAA Tournament run. In the era of 1-and-done players and a good amount of parity, Self’s run has been remarkable.

Three things have helped him remain great in that time:

1. Allen Fieldhouse. Losses to Texas A&M in 2006-07 and Texas last year are the only home losses for Kansas the last six seasons.
2. Great players. From Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush to Sherron Collins, Tyshawn Taylor, and Thomas Robinson. Self has great players coming to Lawrence nearly every season, and West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins has noticed. “He’s a great coach. Of course, having all those players don’t hurt either,” Bob Huggins joked at Big 12 Media Day. “Just in case you were wondering, that doesn’t hurt.”
3. Managing roster turnover. Building a team from a recruiting class into a championship contender is hard enough, no matter how many stars the players received in high school. But doing it multiple times without missing a beat is a whole different challenge.

Self calls it “bridging the gap.” Read the rest of this entry »

CBS Sports made an ambitious attempt earlier this month at ranking the top 100 players in college basketball, a fun but mostly impossible task good for heated debate and preseason discussion. At the risk of seeming unoriginal, it gave us the bright idea at this microsite to attempt something similar — a top 100 list of Big 12 players, which essentially spans almost every single player on all 10 rosters. Before you proceed, please understand this list is simply for fun. It’s not intended to be taken completely seriously, but it’s supposed to offer a guideline for the talent in this league from top to bottom. Direct all complaints to Danny Spewak (@dspewak), the genius who decided to write this. I’m looking forward to the criticism. 

1.    Pierre Jackson, Baylor (PG): The preseason Big 12 Player of the Year was, inexplicably, not a unanimous choice on the all-conference team, which is almost as bizarre as his coach not starting him until Big 12 play a year ago.

2.    Jeff Withey, Kansas (C): Considered replacing Jeff Withey with FakeJeffWithey at this spot because the latter has more Twitter followers.

3.    Rodney McGruder, Kansas State (G): If he ever finds himself nostalgic for a Frank Martin tirade, at least he’ll have this to look forward to during his senior year.

4.    Myck Kabongo, Texas (PG): Had his family not chosen to mis-spell his first name, he’d probably be number one on the list.

5.    Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State (G): I’ve never seen him play, but I’ve read more than enough sappy articles about his intangibles to know he’s a Smart pick in the top five.

6.    Le’Bryan Nash, Oklahoma State (G): Travis Ford just read the past two selections and had a heart attack.

7.   Isaiah Austin, Baylor (C): Unlike the Kabongos, the Austin family spelled its son’s first name correctly, something Isiah Thomas cannot brag about.

8.   Sam Grooms, Oklahoma (PG): Averaged more assists per game than Pierre Jackson, but since he doesn’t score much, he’s obviously a bad basketball player.

 9.  Aaric Murray, West Virginia (C): It won’t get you cool points to know he’s a good player now because he doesn’t play for La Salle anymore.

10.  Will Clyburn, Iowa State (F): Everybody wants him to be Royce White, but he doesn’t have a Mohawk, so that really won’t work.

Someone Decided The Big 12 Pre-Season POY Wasn’t Good Enough to Be First Team All-Big 12.

11. Rico Gathers, Baylor (F): The mere thought of lifting weights with this guy scares me.

12.  Ben McLemore, Kansas (G): His Rivals.com profile has as many stars (4) as the IKU constellation (I had to Google that).

13.  Jordan Henriquez, Kansas State (C): Averaged about two-and-a-half blocks per game, but he should play with a handicap because of his 7’6’’ wingspan.

14.  Elijah Johnson, Kansas (G): His first name is not mis-spelled, it’s just cool.

15.  Steven Pledger, Oklahoma (G): He scores the basketball.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, Kevin released his list of the five most important Pac-12 non-conference games of the season, and a few weeks back, I released my own rankings. This post will explain why my top five games are better than Kevin’s, but first, let’s see where his games fall on my list:

Here’s a Hint (credit: Wikipedia)

5. Florida @ Arizona (My Rank: 5)
4. California @ Wisconsin (2)
3. Stanford vs Missouri (28)
2. UCLA vs Georgetown (11)
1. USC vs Illinois (25)

And now, my top five:

5. Florida @ Arizona (December 15) – This is the one game we agree on, so there’s nothing to argue about here. This will likely be a battle of Top 15 teams when the Gators venture into the McKale Center, making it a must-see contest. It will be Florida’s second trip to the desert in the 2012 calendar year, the first being a two-game split in the NCAA Tournament last March. They’ll be looking for revenge after being upset at home last year by Sean Miller and company, 78-72 loss in overtime.

4. Oregon State vs Kansas (November 30) – Without question, this will be Oregon State’s biggest non-conference game in recent memory. And depending on how they do in the 2K Sports Classic earlier in the month, a win could mean a clean non-conference slate for the Beavers heading into Pac-12 play. In their way will be a raucous Sprint Center crowd, not to mention the combination of Elijah Johnson and Jeff Withey. This game doesn’t make Kevin’s list, instead it’s California-Wisconsin, a matchup we’ll break down in just a moment.

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1. Let the arguments begin. The Big 12 released its preseason coaches poll on Thursday, which means about as much as preseason football, exhibition games, and the college football bowl system (ouch, sorry about that one). Everybody in the league picked Bill Self and Kansas to win the Big 12 in 2012-13, except for, well, Bill Self. That’s because he couldn’t vote for his own team. Self voted for Baylor, which finished second in the poll. Somehow, due to a random assortment of events we’ll never quite understand, the coaches picked Oklahoma State to finish third. We’re guessing they like Marcus Smart — hey, we do too — but not that much. Iowa State’s eighth-place choice is perplexing, too, as is Kansas State’s slot at number five. There’s a reason they call it a preseason poll, though, and that’s because they’re usually wrong.
2. The coaches picked West Virginia to finish sixth in the Big 12. Call it newcomer hazing if you want, but coach Bob Huggins wasn’t too pleased with the selection. “If we’re the sixth-best team in the league, it’s a hell of a league,” he told the press. He may be a little biased, but he has a point. The Mountaineers welcome two of the league’s top newcomers in Juwan Staten and Aaric Murray, and Huggins has more than proven himself as a college basketball coach, regardless of league. West Virginia hails from the Big East. The Big 12 shouldn’t be a problem, not with his improved personnel this year.
3. In wake of the NCAA investigation into Myck Kabongo‘s relationship with an agent, his buddy and fellow countryman Tristan Thompson has come to his defense. Thompson, a former Texas Longhorn himself and a teammate of Kabongo’s in prep school, said on Thursday he actually paid for Kabongo’s trip to Cleveland. As Thompson explains, this tidbit is important because it would prove to the NCAA that Rich Paul, the agent in the middle of this whole debacle, did not reimburse Kabongo for the all-inclusive trip. This still wouldn’t exonerate Paul with regard to the allegations he made contact with NBA coaches on Kabongo’s behalf before the NBA Draft, but it’s helpful that Thompson would go public with this sort of information.
4. Trent Johnson is on a roll. Less than a week after top-50 center Karviar Shepherd pledged to his TCU program, Johnson picked up a commitment from point guard Michael Williams. He won’t arrive on campus in 2013 with the same kind of fanfare as Shephard, but any publicity is good publicity for Johnson at this point. Williams, rated as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com, appears to have chosen TCU over Creighton, Nebraska, Tulsa, Colorado State and others. Not North Carolina and Kansas, but not exactly Division II, either. It’d be silly to judge him as a prospect at this point, though, so we’ll take a wait-and-see approach.
5. Face it. Kansas’ bench has more talent on a yearly basis than your program could ever hope to amass in a century. That’s how Bill Self operates, and it’s how a player like Jeff Withey can transfer to Kansas as a deep reserve and finish his career as a star. Elijah Johnson was a big part of last year’s Final Four team — he wasn’t on the bench, that’s for sure — but he’s now ready to take over as the next stud Jayhawk. With such roster turnover and so many new faces, Johnson will have to be a stabilizing figure for Kansas. Often an unsung hero in 2011-12, it’s easy to forget how well he played during the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments. He tallied a career-high 26 points in a quarterfinal win over Texas A&M and scored in double figures in every single postseason KU game. That’s the kind of thing Self needs from his senior in 2012-13.

Oregon State’s schedule for next season has yet to be released, but through past contracts and other team’s schedule releases, we’ve been able to piece together most of it. There are still times and television schedules that need to get cleared up, but for the most part we now know its opponents. Below, we’ll highlight a handful of games and stretches of the season that could determine the eventual fate of the 2012-13 Beavers. For the purpose of this exercise, we won’t speculate and include games that haven’t been given a date yet.

Click To Enlarge

Early-Season Tournament: While we don’t know Oregon State’s exact opponents for the 2K Sports Classic Regional Round, they will face two of the following – Niagara, Bucknell, South Dakota State, and Hofstra. The Beavers should win both games no matter who they face, but all four opponents won’t be pushovers. Once they make the trek across the country to New York City, things become much more interesting. They’ll open the elimination portion of the tournament with a Alabama team that loses its top two scorers from a year ago before facing either Villanova or Purdue in the next game.

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