Here’s a look at the power rankings that Drew and I have compiled after the fourth week of Pac-12 games. Here we go!

1. Stanford, 8-1: You couldn’t have asked for a better week if you’re a Cardinal fan. Stanford won the three games they played in by a combined 67 points, which included a dominating performance on the road against Seattle and a résumé building win against NC State. They now have a great chance of finishing non-conference play 11-1, but they will have to get past a talented Butler team in order to achieve that. Stanford now will take a 13-day break for finals and some extra rest. Up Next: 12.17 vs. San Diego

Guard Aaron Bright leads the cheers on the Stanford sideline. (credit: Bob Drebin)

2. Oregon State, 6-1: The Beavers only played one game this week and they waited until Sunday to do it. However, the wait was worth it, as the Beavers dominated Montana, 71-46. Just to show you how far OSU has come in a year, Montana defeated Oregon State by five in last December’s meeting. Up Next: 12.9 vs. Idaho

3. Arizona, 6-2: Two mid-majors, two wins for the Wildcats. They started off the week on Tuesday with a closer-than-comfort win over New Mexico State, then closed out the week with a 14-point win over in-state rival Northern Arizona. The Wildcats will now begin a brutal four-game stretch that includes opponents like Florida, Gonzaga, and Oakland. Up Next: 12.7 @ Florida

4. California, 6-2: It wasn’t a terrible week for California, but it could have been a lot better. After destroying McNeese State to open up the week, the Golden Bears lost a heartbreaker at San Diego State yesterday. It would have been an instant classic, but San Diego State would eventually outlast the Bears, 64-63. Up Next: 12.7 vs. San Jose State

5. Oregon, 4-2: The Ducks had a rough week despite their 1-1 record. Their win over UTEP was only by five points, and contrary to what CSN announcer Jordan Kent said after the game, any win is not necessarily a good win in the eyes of the selection committee. Oregon had a chance to make up for the bad game with an upset of BYU in Salt Lake City, but the Ducks went ice cold in the second half and fell, 79-65. Up Next: 12.10 vs. Fresno State

6. Washington, 4-2: It’s time to panic in Seattle. A 13-point loss at Saint Louis is one thing, but no matter how young and inexperienced a team is, you can’t lose to Nevada. It will most likely just get worse before it gets better for Washington, as the Huskies face Marquette, Duke, and UC Santa Barbara in their next three games. Up Next: 12.6 vs. Marquette in New York City Read the rest of this entry »

SEC Set Your TiVo will take a look ahead at each week’s key games. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

Two days. The SEC has given us two whole days of no basketball action. Take Monday and Tuesday to spend time with your significant other and/or children. Tell them you love them and that you enjoy their company. Then on Wednesday night, you have a choice: Shall you spend an unprecedented third day with the people-that-you-love-the-most-after-March? Or is there a game that needs to be seen?

Arizona at Florida – Wednesday, December 7, 7 PM on ESPN3 (***)

Arizona is still trying to figure things out this season. Sean Miller has started eight different players, most recently removing center Kyryl Natyazhko from the starting lineup. In Saturday’s 53-39 win over Northern Arizona, the Wildcats featured a three-guard set featuring Kyle Fogg (11 PPG, 41.4% 3FG), Jordin Mayes (7.4 PPG) and Nick Johnson (10.8 PPG, 46.4% 3FG). That leaves 6’7″ Jesse Perry (10.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG) and 6’6″ Solomon Hill (12.4 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.1 assists per game) in the frontcourt.

Patric Young identifies aliens and subliminal advertising using the eyewear provided by Billy Donovan (Photo via John Raoux / AP)

In the paint, Arizona may find themselves outmatched. 6’9″ Patric Young and 6’7″ Will Yeguete played up to their size in a losing effort against Syracuse. If 6’10” forward Erik Murphy can contribute — he’s been cleared to play — Arizona will have a tough time covering all the locations from which Murphy can score. Arizona must not over-commit to interior defense or else Kenny Boynton, Bradley Beal and Erving Walker will bomb away. Arizona has one of the best three-point defenses in the country even though they allowed 8-12 3FG shooting in a 61-57 loss to San Diego State.

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1. Kentucky and North Carolina played in one of the best regular season college games in quite some time. For a game with an extreme amount of hype coming in, this one lived up to all of the hype and more. It seemed from my Twitter timeline, that most fans, analysts and writers wished for five more minutes of these two heavyweights going at it. We may get forty more minutes in March or April. Here’s the roundup of everyone’s reactions to this instant classic: Jeff Goodman wrote that this one sure felt like March. CBS Sports graded each player based on their NBA prospects. Seth Davis wrote that he hopes UNC and Kentucky meet again. The Lexington Herald Leader talked about Anthony Davis’ signature moment. More on Davis’ incredible block from The Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy. More from DeCourcy on how proud Calipari is of his freshmen. Rob Dauster of Beyond the Arc wrote that the game lived up to its hype. Jason King of ESPN wrote about how special this game really was. The guys at a Sea of Blue look at the good and the bad for the Cats. And finally, our national overlords at Rush the Court say that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was a star among stars.
2. In its 62-60 loss to Louisville on Friday night, Vanderbilt made only eight two-point field goals in the entire game. Half of its points came from threes, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, outscoring Louisville 30-15 from beyond the arc. John Jenkins is one of the most exciting players in the country to watch coming off screens for a three point shot, especially when he is hot. However, the Commodores have become too reliant on the outside shot, even considering that their biggest inside threat, Festus Ezeli, continues to be sidelined by an injury.  The fewest three-point shots that Vandy has hoisted up so far this season is 17, in a loss to Cleveland State. Despite throwing up more than 20 three-point shots in six of their eight games, the Commodores have only shot over 40 percent once, an 11-25 (44%) effort against Monmouth.
3. Speaking of three-point shots sinking a team, Alabama lost a thriller on Thursday night to Georgetown on a last second three by Hollis Thompson. With the 57-55 victory, Georgetown snapped a 24-game home winning streak for the Tide in Coleman Coliseum. Potentially more detrimental, the Hoyas might have laid the blueprint to beating Alabama with an aggressive sagging 2-3 zone. It was Alabama’s inability to convert from three that caused its offense to stall. The Tide shot 3-16 from beyond the arc beginning with missing their first 11 three-% on 23 attempts on the season.
4. Mike Rosario, the Florida’s fourth leading scorer this season, played a season-low six minutes in a loss to Syracuse on Friday night. Rosario came in averaging over 10 points per game, but coach Billy Donovan made the decision to sit him on the bench throughout the entire second half. “The last couple days, I think emotionally, he just hasn’t been there,” said Donovan. “I tried to use him a little bit and he just did not seem himself. It was more my decision not to play him. I actually felt like we needed defense because I knew we were going to have a hard time scoring with Patric (Young) off the floor.” Guards Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker stepped up in his place with a combined 9-19 from three-point land. Boynton finished with 22 points, while Walker added 17 points and five assists. Rosario disappeared in Florida’s last top five match-up in Columbus against Ohio State. Rosario played 19 minutes, but only added five points. Rosario’s play in marquee games should be something to keep an eye on for the Gators.
5. If I had to choose a team that could ill afford an injury to a frontcourt player at this point, I would probably choose Vanderbilt. With starting center Festus Ezeli still out, the Commodores received more bad news as they have lost 6’11” center Josh Henderson with a stress fracture in his left foot. He will be sidelined for eight to 12 weeks. Henderson was averaging three points and three rebounds in limited minutes, however, was beginning to gain confidence with a 10-point, five-rebound performance against Monmouth. Henderson played a season-high 18 minutes against Xavier. Henderson’s injury should not be much of an issue once Ezeli returns to action in a couple of weeks, but will further hamper the Commodores until that time.

1. Apparently there was a pretty big game on Saturday. Unlike many other games, the Kentucky-North Carolina match-up lived up to the hype as it had a little bit of everything including a crazy final sequence that involved a ridiculous block, a brain freeze by UNC, and then a mental lapse by Marquis Teague that should have resulted in a turnover. We posted our recap soon after the game, which you can read here. One thing that has been glossed over in our recap was that it was even match-up that we would be lucky to see in April (not March like everybody keeps saying).
2. Jeff Goodman has been all over Xavier for quite a while now (more likely due to his obsession with Chris Mack than actually insight), but it might be time for the rest of the nation to take notice. With Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons starting the Musketeers might have best backcourt in the country, praise that was heaped on them even before their remarkable comeback against Purdue. Even though Ken Pomeroy doesn’t love them (ranked #22 at the time this was written), with their remaining schedule the Musketeers could very easily be looking at a #3 seed if they continue to play well given how their schedule works out for them with only two road games against ranked opponents (Memphis and St. Louis) remaining.
3. On Friday night, after Syracuse‘s win over Florida, Jim Boeheim apologized for his prior criticism the alleged victims of sexual abuse in the Bernie Fine case. Various members of the media have come out on both sides of the debate. Some applauded Boeheim for having the courage (not sure that is the right word) to apologize for his prior statements. Other took it as another opportunity to rip Boeheim for how long it took him (two weeks) to apologize for his callous prior statement and his need to do so with an attorney-prepared script. Unfortunately for Boeheim and Syracuse we doubt that this circus is going to end until the courts make a ruling or Boeheim retires.
4. Two weeks ago, Jabari Brown left Oregon taking away one of the top freshman recruits in the Pac-12. Last night, the Pac-12 lost another of its most hyped freshman recruits as Sidiki Johnson decided to transfer from Arizona. The exact reasons for Johnson’s transfer have not been provided yet, but it appears that he did not mesh with the Wildcats or Sean Miller. Johnson, who only played in three games before being suspended on November 21, decided to stay in New York City following the team’s appearance in the 2K Sports Classic before returning to Tucson briefly. Johnson has not announced where he is looking to transfer, but his prior list of schools may give us some indication of where he may end up.
5. Finally, a tip of the cap to our college football friends who have to spend another off-season trying to explain their mess of a system to determine a champion. Ignoring the fact that LSU would absolutely destroy Oklahoma State, it is amusing that a team with one loss (on the road following a tragic event in their athletic department) and that has more big wins gets passed over for a chance at the title game by a team that already played the #1 team at home and lost. While there are a few critics who want college basketball to expand its postseason to allow more teams to play (read: help more bad coaches keep their jobs) it is worth noting that as long as you don’t lose your last game of the conference tournament you are allowed a shot to play for the title in our sport (ignoring the Ivy League, a few awful teams in super conferences, and schools on probation). As last year demonstrated, you can play fairly mediocre for a stretch of the season, but if you are playing the best at the end of the season, you can walk away with the title.

In order to beat the Syracuse system, Florida needed to come out guns blazing. Specifically they needed their big forward Patric Young to be enough of a post threat to score and draw collapsing Orange defenders. They also needed their collection of long-range snipers — both old (junior Kenny Boynton, senior Erving Walker) and new (junior Mike Rosario, freshman Brad Beal) — to exploit the seams in Agent Orange’s zone defense.

Boynton (22 points) and Walker (17 points, five assists) did their part. Young (six points, five rebounds) was pinned down, controlled by Syracuse’s interior defenders and played just 25 minutes. Rosario (six points) and Beal (seven points on 2-9 FG, 0-5 3FG) just didn’t bring enough bullets. The Syracuse defense bent and contorted, wasting Florida possessions (20 turnovers) and forcing the Gators to withdraw in defeat.

Syracuse wins 72-68. Tell me, Mr. Donovan, what good is good defensive pressure when you are unable to three?

RTC Live is coming to you from Syracuse where basketball has taken a back seat to more serious matters over the past two weeks, but tonight it is the site of the game of the night as the two of the top six teams in the country face off in what is one of the more highly anticipated match-ups of the regular season. Join us for our live coverage tonight, after the jump.

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Brian Otskey is the Big East correspondent for RTC and a regular contributor. You can find him @botskey on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

As we move into December, the first big Saturday of the year (highlighted by the battle in Lexington) is now upon us. Not to mention we get a nice preview of things to come on Friday evening.

#6 Florida @ #3 Syracuse – 7 PM EST Friday on ESPN (*****)

• Syracuse has three distinct advantages in this game despite playing a top ten opponent. One is home court, two is height, and three is depth. The Orange have taller players at every position, one through five, and Jim Boeheim can go a legitimate ten deep into his bench. Against a Florida team that will be without forward Erik Murphy, Syracuse may be able to overwhelm the guard-heavy Gators. The key for the Orange will be defense. The 2-3 zone creates a fantastic match-up given Florida’s preferred style of offense, shooting lots of threes. If the Orange can be active and extend the perimeter of the zone, Florida will have a tough time.

• The key for Florida is simple: make threes. To do that however, the Gators must establish Patric Young early and often. Playing without Murphy, Young is Florida’s only reliable post player. If he can’t get going, Syracuse won’t have to worry about extending the zone and leaving holes in the middle. If Young gets off to a fast start, the Orange will have to respect his presence by packing its defense in a bit more inside the arc. That will give Florida’s dynamic guards the opportunity to make shots. With Kenny Boynton and Mike Rosario both shooting almost 50% from deep and two other Gators lurking as potential snipers, Syracuse doesn’t want to be forced to do that.

Can UF Establish Patric Young Inside To Give Its Shooters Room?

• It’s always fun when a team that relies heavily on guards and the three point shot gets together with a team that plays almost exclusively zone. The Syracuse defense will tempt Florida to shoot the deep ball all night but Florida must work for open shots by establishing Young and some sort of an inside-out game. Keeping the zone off balance and moving the ball effectively are always keys to finding open shots. Defensively, Florida has to do better. Syracuse is much more efficient on that end of the floor while the Gators rank a pedestrian 52nd in the nation. Although three point shooting is the big key in this game, Florida’s defense could cost them in a tight game.

1. Wednesday brought great news for the Florida Gators as forward Erik Murphy will not require surgery on his injured knee. “The meniscus tear was from when he hurt it his sophomore year in high school,” coach Billy Donovan said. “It looks like this was just a bone bruise. We’re hoping to have him back in a week to 10 days.” Murphy has averaged 10 points per game for the Gators this season, and has been pivotal in pick-and-pop situations with Florida’s quick guards because of his excellent three-point shooting. He is shooting 57.1% from beyond the arc this year in 14 attempts. It appears that Murphy could play against Arizona next week on December 7.
2. The University of Alabama student newspaper points out that the Crimson Tide have won 24 straight home games in Coleman Coliseum dating back to February 27, 2010. That winning streak is in jeopardy tonight when Alabama plays Georgetown as part of the Big East/SEC Challenge. The Alabama players credit the fans with providing a home court advantage in Tuscaloosa. “Our fans have been great these last couple of games and last year coming in and giving us excitement and energy, cheering for us in and out every game,” junior forward Tony Mitchell said. The Tide and Hoyas will be one of the most exciting games of the week Win or lose, Alabama’s smothering 2-3 zone will serve as the Hoyas’ best tune-up for Syracuse’s famed 2-3 zone once Big East play begins.
3. A long scoring drought in the second half against Colorado was the nail in the coffin for the Georgia Bulldogs. The Dogs finally made their first basket of the second half with 12:34 remaining on the clock. Georgia had similar droughts of eight minutes in a loss against California and five minutes in a loss to Xavier. Two issues that could be causing the scoreless spurts for the Dogs are the reliance on outside shooting for the offense to be successful and the expectation for freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to do a majority of the scoring. Georgia needs to find another element to its offense if they are to avoid lengthy stretches without points going forward.
4. The Daily Mississippian tells the story of Ole Miss guard Maurice Aniefiok. Aniefiok grew up in Nigeria never having played basketball. He played his senior year of high school at Huntington Prep in West Virginia while developing his offensive skills. Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy has been happy with Aniefiok’s adjustment to the college game thus far. “I think first and foremost, him understanding that is a huge step,” Kennedy said of the adjustment. “His attitude is great. Day in and day out, like all of our freshmen, he wants to learn, wants to get better and gives us the necessary effort. That is one area we have not had to coach with this group: effort.” Aniefiok has had difficulty shooting thus far going 26.7% from the field and 20% from three-point range. However, Aniefiok’s limited exposure to basketball means he should be a player to keep an eye on over the next few years as he begins to develop his offensive game. Kennedy likes the 6’5″ guard’s play so much that he is playing him over 14 minutes per game so far this season.
5. A source tells Kentucky Sports Radio that Kentucky is considering a plan that would eliminate the Kentucky-North Carolina series for the immediate future. You may remember from earlier this week that John Calipari asked Big Blue Nation which rivalry the passionate fan base would like to drop from the schedule if UK felt it needed to create space for two additional SEC games (with the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M). The contract with the Tar Heels ends after the game on Saturday, and the Cats apparently would like to take a year off from the series and revisit renewing the series at a later point. A quick glance at the comments section of the article on KSR reveals that Kentucky fans are not exactly thrilled with the potential move. Saturday’s match-up between Kentucky and North Carolina doesn’t need any more hype as Lexington will be rocking regardless.

Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we’re missing or different things you’d like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Lead Story: Britt Chooses Carolina, Gives Tar Heels Top Two Committed Juniors

Nate Britt Will Be A Force In North Carolina's Backcourt. (ESPNHS)

Roy Williams Out To Early Lead In Class of 2013. With junior point guard Nate Britt‘s selection of North Carolina last night, head coach Roy Williams has now received commitments from the top two signed prospects in the Class of 2013 — the other being power forward Isaiah Hicks. Britt has dreamed of being a Tar Heel since the age of 11 and will form a nightmare backcourt with Class of 2012 point guard Marcus Paige (North Carolina) when the two are put together. North Carolina is in great shape at the point guard position over the next few years thanks to the duo of Paige and Britt and won’t suffer a large drop-off after sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall leaves. Britt is such a valuable prospect because of his outstanding ability to score in the mid-range, knock down perimeter shots, and his consistency in getting into the lane. He’s an intelligent player who can finish well around the bucket with both hands. Britt is also a great passer and does a good job of controlling the pace of the game. A couple of other top juniors North Carolina is going after includes small forward Troy Williams and power forward Julius Randle. The Tar Heels have a good shot with Randle, although they aren’t the favorite — that would be Kentucky.

What They’re Saying

• Junior Matt Jones on selecting Duke: “It’s the way they play and [head] coach [Mike] Krzyzewski, everybody respects him and what they stand for with academics on and off the court. They can get me to the next level as a person and a man and as a player to continue to improve my game.”
  
• Junior Julius Randle on  how Matt Jones’ commitment affects him: “I have to do what’s best for me and find the best fit. I know Matt pretty well and I don’t think he’s going to put pressure on me. He’ll tell me that if I don’t go to Duke he’ll love me either way.”

1. The Florida Gators beat Stetson on Monday night for head coach Billy Donovan’s 400th career victory. However, the Orlando Sentinel says Billy the kid has a new nickname — Billy the Forgotten. Despite being the youngest active Division I coach to reach 400 wins, Donovan’s milestone victory was overshadowed and overlooked. Donovan is ready to move past this achievement and just get back to work.  “I think as it relates to fanfare, attention or exposure or things like that I just feel like that’s probably for other people to talk about. I just have a job to do,” Donovan said. “I have respect for Tom [Izzo], certainly what [Mike] Krzyzewski’s done, [Jim] Calhoun, [Jim] Boeheim and those guys, but I think if you’re coaching good enough players, you’re going to eventually win at that level.” Donovan would sure like to get win #401 on Friday when the Gators take on #4 Syracuse. That one might mean a lot more than win #400.
2. The SEC honored Ole Miss forward Murphy Holloway as the SEC Player of the Week. Holloway led the Rebels to wins over TCU and the University of Miami this week. Holloway scored 20 points and four rebounds against TCU, and came back with 13 points and 17 rebounds against Miami. He averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in this stretch. Florida’s freshman guard Bradley Beal took home SEC Freshman of the Week honors after he averaged 18.5 points and seven rebounds while leading the Gators to victories over Wright State and Jacksonville. Beal scored a team-high 22 points against Wright State. Congrats to both players for their outstanding performances.
3. Mississippi State played with their full line-up with the return of big men Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie. Conditioning was again an issue as the Bulldogs ran away from North Texas. “I played them until they couldn’t play,” said head coach Rick Stansbury. “One of them was wanting to come out of the game and we just turned our heads and let him stay in the game. We gave up some points in that stretch but he (Sidney) needed that.” Moultrie finished with 20 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Sidney continued to struggle as he only managed nine points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. Sidney will have to find ways to contribute without being a liability on both ends of the court because of his lack of conditioning. It doesn’t seem that Stansbury is ready to give up on Sidney just yet.
4. Kentucky coach John Calipari is critical of his team’s slow starts so far this season. On Saturday, Portland led the Cats 7-6 going into the first TV timeout four minutes into the game. “The first play was great,” Calipari said. “Then we had about five plays after that (that) were just sloppy.” Calipari’s plea for better play coincides with a big week for the Cats as they face St. John’s on Thursday night and a huge test against North Carolina on Saturday. Kentucky was able to overcome sloppy play against Marist, Portland, and Radford, but North Carolina will require a full 40 minutes of the team’s attention. Despite the slow starts, the Cats opened the week as the #1 team in the country.
5. Tennessee arrived back in Knoxville Friday night after a good effort in Maui. But head coach Cuonzo Martin didn’t expect a letdown against Oakland on Monday night. “We aren’t going to get caught up in any jet lag — Hawaii is in the wind,” Martin said. “This is an important game, and we’re going to have to be focused to win on the road.” Perhaps it wasn’t jet lag, but it could have been that the Volunteers were looking forward to a big game this weekend with Pittsburgh. Regardless of the reasons, the Vols dropped a big one to Oakland by the score of 89-81. Oakland is a strong team at home having won 41 of its past 43 home games. The Vols lost to the Golden Grizzlies by an almost identical 89-82 score last year.