The U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced the midseason watch list for college player of the year, otherwise known as the Oscar Robertson Trophy. There are only two players from the Big 12 and both play for Kansas. No one will dispute that Ben McLemore is unworthy of making the list, but I wonder, had McLemore been eligible last season, could KU have beaten Kentucky in the championship game? Jeff Withey is adding an offensive game but he’s also still locking the paint down on the defensive end. The two Kansas players outnumbered power leagues like the ACC, SEC and Pac-12 in total players chosen.
It was a busy day at the USBWA as they also released its midseason watch list for the Wayman Tisdale Award,given to the top freshman in college basketball. Thankfully, the Big 12 had more diversity among the candidates. Baylor’s Isaiah Austin is one of the more versatile seven-footers in all of college basketball — how many guys that tall can shoot threes and pull down 20 boards like he did against Oklahoma? Speaking of versatility, Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart is a point guard who wears many hats: those of a passer, a defender, and a leader. Those two along with Ben McLemore give the Big 12 three of the 12 candidates named for this award. The Pac-12 led all conferences with four representatives.
When Frank Martin trotted out freshman Angel Rodriguez as a stater last season, I wasn’t so sure it was the best idea. Clearly he felt strongly enough to throw him into the fire and, wouldn’t you know it, he didn’t burn as the Wildcats ended up winning 22 games in 2011-12. Rodriguez’ Achilles heel last season was turnovers but that appears to be a thing of the past this time around. He’s averaging 6.3 assists and 1.6 turnovers per game in seven Big 12 games which amounts to nearly a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. The point guard depth in this league is exceptional so being the third best one-guard behind Smart and Pierre Jackson is by no means an insult.
We know Texas stinks this year but would it be the right decision to fireRick Barnes after the season? Admittedly, my gut says no way because he’s had so much success (two Elite Eights and a Final Four) and a team in the tournament every year since he arrived at the Forty Acres. And then I think about the teams he had from 2009-11 who appeared destined for deep NCAA runs but in fact never made it to the second weekend. Yes it would be foolish to let go of Barnes after one bad season out of 15 years at the helm, but it wouldn’t be foolish to keep an eye on him if I’m athletic director DeLoss Dodds. If progress isn’t made soon, we’ll hear those grumblings get louder.
Jordan Tolbert’s numbers are down from last year and now we know that this has played a role in it. Tolbert lost his father, James Tolbert, to a heart attack back in October — he was just 40 years old. “To wake up to that [learning of his dad’s passing], I just couldn’t believe it,” the sophomore guard said. Learning of something like that can derail anyone’s season but Tolbert has turned things around this past week (15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds per game). His season isn’t quite over but, much like the healing process, it’s getting better by the day. Thoughts and prayers to the entire Tolbert family.
Oklahoma finally had a chance to score a road win against Baylor that would boost their average tournament profile. So they grabbed a hold of this game early and never let go. The Sooners marched into Baylor’sFerrell Center and handed the Bears their third home loss of the season (they’ve got six total). They got an outstanding effort from Amath M’Baye but I’m giving major props to a upperclassmen I expected a lot more from during his senior season. I pictured Steven Pledger being a serious contender for player of the year in the Big 12 but his six minute drop in playing time has seen his shooting and scoring numbers take a hit in 2012-13. Last night: 20 points, 6-for-12 shooting, made three threes, had two steals, five assists and one turnover. He made three free throws down the stretch to clinch it for Oklahoma. This game goes to show that he’s better than his season stats would tell you.
Iowa State tried to make history last night, and they came close, but it just wasn’t to be. Again. The Cyclones had not won a game at Gallagher-Iba Arena in a quarter of a century and now they will have to wait another year to rewrite history. They led for a little over half of the game before losing it in an interesting final seconds of regulation. If the original call of a foul plus a 1-and-1 opportunity for Chris Babb stood firm, we could be talking a game that went to overtime and possibly a streak that could be no more. But as players and coaches will tell you, it’s never a good idea to let the referees decide the end of a game. They’ll move on and face Baylor Saturday who ironically enough have never won a game at Hilton Coliseum. Go figure.
Yes it was super frosh Marcus Smart who hit the game-winner last night and had another typical superb game, but his high school teammate is deserving of some attention too. PhilForte stands just five feet, eleven inches tall and knows if he wasn’t a gym rat, there’s a chance he wouldn’t be playing Division 1 hoops. His tireless work ethic has earned him starters’ minutes as of late, going over 30 in four of the last five games. Last night, Forte chipped in with 17 points and four steals. It won’t be long before people outside Stillwater will realize that Forte is actually not related to former Cowboy Keiton Page.
We knew it was going to get ugly in Manhattan. What hampered Texas this time? Offense again. All the Longhorns could get was 19 in the first half while K-State happened to score 19 more than UT. The Horns turn the ball over more than anyone (16 turnovers/game) in the Big 12. Wouldn’t you know it, the Wildcats would win the turnover battle 17-6. Sheldon McClellan described this season better than anyone after the game: “Demoralizing.” At this point Rick Barnes’ only hope this spring is if he can find a way land Julius Randle for next year’s recruiting class.
Kansas State absolutely would have taken a win by any means necessary after losing twice last week. While the game was never in doubt, backup forward Thomas Gipson played like there was no tomorrow. After starting the last 13 games for the Wildcats, Gipson found himself coming off the bench. He took the demotion in stride, scoring 17 points and pulling down seven boards in 21 minutes. For Gipson, there was also some added meaning for playing on January 30th. “I think that today, my real motivation was that today was my sister’s (Jade Middleton) birthday and she passed about a year ago and I just used that as my reason to play hard. I should play like that every day.” At least he’s willing to admit he doesn’t play to his potential. Now it’s time to buck that trend.
We have seen the best (Puerto Rico Tip-Off) and the average (currently 3-3 in the Big 12) from Oklahoma State, but with a team as talented as the Cowboys are, why haven’t they been able to stake a claim as one of the top teams in this league? What’s keeping this team from flourishing? CowboysRideForFree has an idea of what it could be: the three-quarter court trapping press. The article cites this as a catalyst for making a comeback in the Oklahoma game even though they ultimately lost. And as recently as Saturday, the Cowboys fell behind 13 points to West Virginia before Travis Ford implemented a combination of the press and 2-3 zone to turn that game into a 14-point victory. Maybe it has something to do with the press but there’s much more to Oklahoma State’s inconsistencies than that. Not knowing what you’ll get from Le’Bryan Nashis part of the problem too. They better fix their issues fast because the last thing the Cowboys want is their bubble to burst come Selection Sunday.
Wednesday could be an important day in the history of Iowa State basketball. Dating back to 1988, the Cyclones have made the trip to Gallagher-Iba Arena 17 times and 17 times they have left Stillwater empty-handed. That also means head coach Fred Hoiberg never saw a Cyclone victory there as a player either.Iowa State already knows the Kansas State win was a step in the right direction but now it’s time to really make a statement. Are they able to go on the road, to one of the toughest arenas in the Big 12, and beat a fellow bubble team? It’s a big game for both clubs but it would mean so much for the Cyclones to get this one without the help of “Hilton Magic.”
Will Spradling is one of the more prolific shooters in the league but at just 35% from three on the year, the Kansas State junior is, ahem, shooting for more consistency from outside. Spradling says he’s going back to an old routine he used to do with his dad where he makes 50 threes during practice… with one hand. “I’ll do that at least once a day,” Spradling said. “That has my shot feeling great right now. Two of the last three games I’ve shot it well and played well. I feel like I’m getting better.” That’s about the worst thing you could hear if you’re an opposing coach.
How bad has Texas been this season? Here is their season-in-review in a neat 257-word layout. The Horns scored their two season highs in points against North Carolina and Baylor, both games I happened to see take place live. But they have the tougher task of matching up against Kansas State in Manhattan tonight. Texas hasn’t won a game at the Octagon of Doom since 2008 and I will go ahead and say Kansas State will have their way with Longhorns. For the first time in the Rick Barnes era, they will be looking towards next season while still in the middle of their current season.
History has told us that when a coach like Bob Huggins talks/yells/face turns bright red, players listen and respond in the way he would like. There hasn’t been a whole of that this season but in Monday’s game against Kansas, at last, someone finally listened.Aaric Murray explained how to appropriately listen to coach when he’s yelling: “You’ve got to listen to the message and not how he’s saying it. I think I was listening to how he said it instead of what he was saying. When I stopped worrying about him [Huggins], everything was fine.” 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals later, hopefully Murray is a success story. Now about the rest of his teammates…
Andy Katz is reporting that the interconference event between the Southeastern and Big East conferences is no more. Katz cites the uncertainty in the Big East is to blame and that the SEC has been in negotiations with the Big 12 to be the replacement. The partnership will start during the 2013-14 season, which means that this is yet another collaborative effort between the SEC and Big 12 in addition to the football Champions Bowl (aka the Allstate Sugar Bowl) beginning on January 1, 2015.
Buh-bye.
This is a win for the Big 12. They were previously one-half of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series until that partnership was discontinued after the 2010-11 season. The potential matchups for next year are tantalizing. Another round of Florida-Kansas State maybe? The Gators could get their revenge on the Wildcats for beating them in Kansas City this season. How about Kentucky-Texas if the Longhorns can get their act together next year? We may also get some important battles between Ole Miss-Iowa State or Alabama-Oklahoma State. And dare I say, a renewal of the Kansas-Missouri rivalry? Mizzou fans would love nothing more.
It’s still funny to think how close the Big 12 was to a violent death. Now look at them. Their football seems to be in good shape and if the conference landscape were to change again, they now have plans for that too. If you are league commissioner Bob Bowlsby, life’s got to be feeling pretty good right now.
Brian Otskey is an RTC columnist. Every Tuesday during the regular season he’ll be giving his 10 thoughts on the previous week’s action. You can find him on Twitter @botskey
A lot of people are pumping up the Mountain West Conference this season and rightly so. Trailing only the Big Ten and Big East in the Pomeroy ratings, the Mountain West has seven of its nine teams in the top 100. Two Mountain West teams made the AP top 25 this week (New Mexico and San Diego State) while another (UNLV) is knocking on the door. That said, I don’t believe there is a single elite team in this league. The parity in this league makes for great action night after night but I would be surprised if any of these teams makes a legitimate run at the Elite Eight or Final Four. San Diego State and UNLV probably have the best potential to advance in the NCAA Tournament but each has too many flaws to make a serious run in my opinion. San Diego State does a number of things well but I question its ability to score against good competition and get a bucket when it is really needed. I think the Aztecs are the best in the Mountain West but their lack of size and occasional scoring issues will be their downfall. As for UNLV, it may have the most talent of any team in the league. But talent doesn’t always equal wins. Anthony Bennett is a flat out stud but the Rebels struggle against teams that can match their athleticism but also against teams that can slow it down and make it a half court game. UNLV’s turnover issues and shaky play away from Las Vegas are also major causes for concern. It always seems that whenever the Rebels look like they’re about to turn the corner, they lose. The win at San Diego State was a positive but UNLV gave it right back by losing to Colorado State three days later. This has been a trend for UNLV over the years as it just can’t seem to sustain a high level of play. A questionable or disappointing loss always seems to follow a nice win. New Mexico is an interesting team. Steve Alford has built a nice program in Albuquerque but I have been down on this team for the better part of the season despite its record. The Lobos really struggle to score, as evidenced by the putrid 34 points they put up in Saturday’s blowout loss at San Diego State. It’s disappointing because they have talented guards and a solid big man in Alex Kirk. Similar to UNLV, New Mexico often has a letdown after a period of strong play. The Lobos started 12-0 then lost at home to South Dakota State. Then they went on the road and beat Cincinnati, only to lose the next game in uncompetitive fashion to St. Louis. Then they won four straight (including at Boise State and vs. Colorado State) before getting blown out by the Aztecs. Until New Mexico proves it can consistently beat good teams, I will have my doubts. The Mountain West is really fun to watch but don’t get carried away about the league’s postseason prospects.
Steve Fisher may have the best team in the Mountain West (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)
One team out west that I feel does have the potential to go deep is Gonzaga. I do have a few concerns about the Bulldogs but I really do believe this is the best team Mark Few has ever assembled in Spokane. The Zags have the perfect balance with talented guards and strong players around the rim. Kelly Olynyk is having a spectacular season coming off a redshirt year and he anchors a strong frontcourt that also features the uber-athletic Elias Harris. Gonzaga is tough to match up with because it can score in so many different ways. If you zone the Zags, you risk Kevin Pangos dropping a ton of threes on you while giving up a lot of offensive rebounds. If you play man-to-man, Pangos can penetrate and dish to the big men at will or Gonzaga will run him off ball screens for plenty of good looks from deep. Gonzaga, with the nation’s fourth-ranked offensive efficiency, is incredibly difficult to contain on that end of the floor. The Bulldogs have been held under 70 points only five times in 21 games. The way to beat Gonzaga is to be physical and take advantage of its very average defense. Few’s team struggles to defend ball screens and is vulnerable against teams with a rugged style of play. You often get a lot of rugged, slow it down games in the NCAA Tournament and Gonzaga is going to have to sure up its defense by March in order to survive. That said, Gonzaga’s offensive prowess is a huge asset and one that should carry it to at least two NCAA Tournament victories in a perfect world. Of course, the world isn’t perfect and basketball games, more than any other sport, are often determined by match-ups. Read the rest of this entry »
Right when we thought a team might overtake Kansas in the Big 12 standings (or our power rankings, at least), Kansas State went out and lost two in a row last week, first to Kansas at home and then at Iowa State on Saturday. Both were close games with the Wildcats losing by a combined 10 points, but they lost two games on the Jayhawks in the Big 12 race and fell into a third place tie with Iowa State and Oklahoma. Baylor has quietly started 5-1 in conference play, but the easier part of their schedule is now behind them. The Bears have already swept TCU and have another win over Texas Tech in Lubbock (but hey, that’s more than Iowa State can say). And about those Jayhawks — they are due for a loss, aren’t they? They have been winning close games for the last month it seems. We’ve spiced up the rankings this week with a team’s projected NCAA Tournament seed from Bracket Matrix. Instead of picking a random bracketologist’s numbers, how about averaging out a bunch of mock brackets? The guys at Bracket Matrix do that so we don’t have to, and as many people have been saying lately, there looks to be six NCAA Tournament teams from the Big 12 this year.
The Kansas Offense Hasn’t Been Pretty In January, But The Defense Has Helped Keep Its Winning Streak Alive.
Last Week: W 59-55 at Kansas State, W 67-54 vs Oklahoma
This Week: Tonight at West Virginia, 8:00 PM CST, Saturday vs Oklahoma State, 3:00 PM
Rundown: The Jayhawks have won 17 straight since losing to Michigan State in November but the offense has disappeared in January. They are averaging 62.2 PPG in their last five games, leading to a KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency of #18. And as we pointed out here, teams that finish outside the top #25 in that category rarely make the Final Four.
Cause For Concern: The offense, of course. Last season, point guard Tyshawn Taylor was always there to clean up an ugly offensive possession with a drive to the basket. This team has had point guard issues most of the year. Starter Elijah Johnson has been more of an off-guard during his career and backup Naadir Tharpe is trigger-happy. Freshman Ben McLemore averages 16.2 PPG, but with a shooting percentage of 51%, he needs to take over more games than he does. He’s the best player on the team and one of the five best in the country, so an average of 10 shots a game isn’t enough.
Last Week: W 64-54 vs Oklahoma State, W 82-56 at TCU
This Week: Wednesday vs Oklahoma, 6:00 PM, Saturday at Iowa State 7:00 PM
Rundown: The days of losing to teams like Charleston and Northwestern look to be behind them, but the schedule certainly picks up the rest of the way. Eight of their last 12 games are against teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament. The emergence of freshman center Isaiah Austin will help, though. Austin has scored double figures in each of his last 10 games going back to December 12.
Cause For Concern: We all know what the Bears are by now, a talented, underachieving squad that could fall on its face in the first round of the Tournament or make the Elite Eight. From where they stand now, the worst thing that could happen to Baylor — or any team for that matter — is to land in the #8/#9 game and play a #1 seed in the second round.
What’s wrong with this headline: “Big Ten pace OK with KU’s Self.” Kansas under Bill Self hasn’t played very Big Ten-like, but that showdown with Kansas State on Tuesday sure seemed like a Big Ten battle. It was physical. Ugly. Tons of bricks from every player on the floor. But, as every coach likes to point out, the sign of an elite team is its ability to handle adversity and win even when it’s not on its so-called “A” game. That’s how Self viewed the victory in Manhattan. “A testimony to a team’s toughness is to figure out a way to win when things aren’t going well.” Agreed on all counts. So no matter how ugly that win was, you’ve got to give Kansas credit for scrapping out a win in the most difficult road environment it’ll see all season.
Bruce Weber isn’t Bill Self’s best friend by any stretch of the imagination, but even he’s admitting the Kansas State head coach is doing a terrific job with his new program thus far. “Bruce can coach… There’s no question he can coach. I think he’s done a great job,” Self was quoted in Jason King’s ESPN.com article. It’d be easy to write off Weber for winning with a team Frank Martin assembled, especially since his national title appearance in 2005 happened with none other than a Self-recruited team. But, as King points out, any coach who can get to a Final Four clearly has some sort of talent. And considering what Weber built at Southern Illinois, there’s no reason for Kansas State fans to become concerned about a major drop-off after Martin’s players all graduate. Maybe a change of scenery will help Weber learn from the mistakes he made at the end of his Illinois tenure.
You know how Myck Kabongo‘s still out for a few more weeks? That’s bad for Texas. And it’s even worse now that Jonathan Holmes will miss three to six weeks with a broken right hand. Rick Barnes already had to deal with an injury to forward Jaylen Bond earlier in the year, so it’s like there’s a curse in Austin this season on the hardwood. Holmes is the team’s leading rebounder — and it’s not even really very close — and he’s also the most talented offensive option in the frontcourt for Texas. When it rains, it really, really pours in Texas, apparently.
Marcus Smart may have already set a record in the category Most Feature Stories Written About a Freshman. It’s unprecedented how much hype this guy got after signing with Oklahoma State. He’s lived up to every single expectation, and he certainly deserves the attention. Most of the feature stories have been similar, but this one’s worth your time. It came from USA Today, so you know it’s solid. It’ll also give you an idea of where Marcus Smart is coming from, and why he is the way he is. Chilling stuff.
Oklahoma is good. Are the Sooners great? Probably not. Will they make the NCAA Tournament? Perhaps. All we know right now, though, is Lon Kruger has a pretty good team, and it’s definitely the best team in the state right now. At 4-1, Oklahoma is miraculously just a game behind Kansas in the Big 12. The next five games will entirely define Kruger’s second season, and that’s not an exaggeration. Look at this murderer’s row: at Kansas, at Baylor, vs. Kansas State, at Iowa State and vs. Kansas. Lose all five of those and the NCAA Tournament’s a goner. A few wins might put this team in solid position, though. Even a 2-3 record in that stretch might be considered terrific for Kruger’s team.
Romero Osby is what you call an impact transfer. A year ago, he immediately became a force on the boards and in the paint for Oklahoma after transferring over from Mississippi State. Now, as a senior, he’s elevated his game even further. Osby is the centerpiece of a team attempting to qualify for its first NCAA Tournament since the Blake Griffin era, and he’s leading the way by attacking the glass and playing with an edge. He scored a career-high 29 against Texas on Monday night, and doing damage against the Longhorns is a sure way to become a new fan favorite in Norman.
Losing team? Underachieving? Cue the coachspeak from Rick Barnes, who says his Texas team won’t give up even after losing its first five Big 12 games. We should certainly hope that players with Division I scholarships wouldn’t simply pack it in, but if anybody were to do it, it might be Texas. The Longhorns have been crippled by the suspension of Myck Kabongo, and he’s not set to return to the lineup until next month. There are no juniors or seniors on this team, no veteran leaders and an offense so ugly it makes Bo Ryan look like Paul Westhead. Except Ryan wins. His teams play slowly but efficiently. There’s nothing efficient about Texas right now, and Barnes will need to look ahead to next season to rebuild his proud program.
Before Kansas outlasted Kansas State last night, CBS Sportspenned a thoughtful piece on why the state of Kansas is perhaps the “best college basketball state of the modern era.” Not Indiana. Not Kentucky. Not North Carolina. The state of Kansas, home to KU, KSU and the MVC’s Wichita State. Look at the numbers. Matt Norlander, who wrote the article, might just be right. The three schools in Kansas have won more than three-quarters of their games historically. That number sits at 81 percent. Eighty-one percent, people! All hail to the state of Kansas.
Everybody loves Melvin Ejim in Ames. Why not? He hustles his tail off and, oh, he rebounds too. The Iowa State forward leads the league thus far with 9.7 rebounds per game, a statistic you probably didn’t know about until you read it here. Truth be told, it surprised us too. Ejim is 6’6”, after all, so the fact that he’s outboarding 7’1” Isaiah Austin in the Big 12 is a testament to that whole “it’s-not-the-size-of-the-dog-in-the-fight” theory.
West Virginia is having a bad season. You know that. At least one writer argues that it’s due to a lack of recruiting. Problem is, the article doesn’t really dive into Huggins’ recruiting classes or analyze the players he’s brought in. In terms of high-profile recruits, you’ve got to consider Aaric Murray and Juwan Staten in that “marquee” league of newcomers, even though they’re both transfers. They were wildly coveted across the nation after they transferred out of the Atlantic 10, and although they’re not traditional freshmen, those were major signings for Huggins’ program. If you look at sheer Rivals.com ratings — which mean little to nothing, but can at least give us a barometer — it shows one four-star player on this roster in Jabarie Hinds and two more signed for 2013. It also may be premature to rank Huggins’ sophomore class, which includes Hinds. The bottom line is that Huggins’ players aren’t getting it done, but that might not necessarily be because the head coach is losing a bunch of recruiting battles.
The question of whether states other than Nevada will allow legalized sports gambling reached a key decision point on Tuesday as the US Department of Justice intervened in a case brought by the NCAA and the four major professional leagues against New Jersey disputing a 1992 law that prohibits betting on sports. The Garden State passed a law last year (signed by Governor Chris Christie) that would allow sports gambling in its casinos and race tracks statewide, but the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL along with the NCAA, citing “significant harm” to their leagues, filed suit against the state questioning its constitutionality under federal law. Tuesday’s decision by the federal government to intervene on the side of the plaintiffs gives additional weight to the side that supports the ban. Although not unprecedented, it’s somewhat unlikely that the DOJ would stake its reputation in federal court on a case where it stands to come out on the losing side of the matter. As a result, if you live in New Jersey and are hankering for a legal method to place a wager on future Big East Tournament games involving league stalwarts South Florida and East Carolina, you may want to go ahead and book those annual March trips to Las Vegas for the foreseeable future. It doesn’t appear that you will have the option in New Jersey.
Harvard has been kind of under the radar this season after being the team du jour last season and part of that reason is because of the loss of Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry, who withdrew for school a year after they were implicated in a wide-reaching cheating scandal. We had not heard what the two were doing as they waited to return to school next year, but The New York Times was able to catch up with them. Both of them returned to their hometown with Casey working for a nonprofit group and Curry selling life insurance. It will be interesting to see how the two adjust to rejoining a Harvard team that they were expected to lead this season, but has grown to play without them.
We have reached the point of the season where John Gasaway publishes his weekly Tuesday Truths. Last week was technically the first week he did it, but there was so little data that I didn’t think it was worth linking to. For those of you who are not familiar with the column it looks at the difference in a team’s offensive and defensive points per possession to calculate an efficiency margin (more details here). In this week’s edition, Gasaway goes through the conference’s per his usual routine taking particular interest in Florida‘s dominance of the SEC. We will be completely honest that while we find the numbers interesting and somewhat enlightening we don’t find it to be quite the revelation that many of our colleagues seem to think the Tuesday Truths are.
For a different type of weekly recap, Pat Forde offers his Forde Minutes, which is similar to his Forde Yard Dash that he writes when he is covering college football. While this lacks the number-crunching of Gasaway’s Tuesday Truths, it offers an equally comprehensive look at what is happening in college basketball. Of course, since it relies more on words than numbers it has to work off a central theme and this week’s theme is Brad Stevens and his emotional reaction (or lack of) following Butler’s thrilling win on Saturday night. Forde also offers an all-encompassing look at the player of the year and freshman of the year of races as well as who is hot and who is not.
At the beginning of the season college basketball writers obsessed over the triangle of basketball power between Indiana, Louisville, and Kentucky. While that area may still be the strongest in the country (substituting Butler for Kentucky at the present time), Matt Norlander feels that the designation of best basketball state should go to the state of Kansas. In addition to boasting the always solid Jayhawks, the state also has two other potential powers in Kansas State and Wichita State. As Norlander points out part of the state’s strength is its impressive win percentage which is bolstered by only have three Division I teams in the state. As you can imagine there are a few states which have not taken too kindly to this analysis and you can see a sampling of their thoughts in the comment section.
Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn.
Tonight’s Lede.Not Many Games, But A Lot Of Action. You may have looked at tonight’s hoops lineup and come to the quick conclusion that there were bigger and more important things to put on your television this evening. If that’s the case, I apologize for your misfortune, because you missed one of the best pound-for-pound weekday nights of the regular season. In total, 14 games were played. That is not a lot of games – at a glance, it fit the customary boring-Monday-night profile. But it was the ratio of quality to volume that made Tuesday night’s schedule special. We had a big upset in the ACC, a really tight SEC finish, two really nice wins from Big Ten teams of near-equal standing, a shocker in the Big East, and a reaffirmation of everything we already knew to be true about Big 12 basketball. All packaged tidily within the construct of a 14-game schedule.
Your Watercooler Moment. Cardinals Drop Second Straight.
Two straight losses has Louisville reeling as it hits a tough stretch of conference play (Photo credit: AP Photo).
When Louisville fell at home Saturday to Syracuse, college basketball fans nationwide let out a collective sigh. Don’t get me wrong: Beating the No. 1 team in the country is huge news for the Orange, and it might go down as the most important win of any team this season. But for Louisville, once you got past the initial disappointment of losing the No. 1 ranking, it wasn’t all that hard to fathom Syracuse pulling out a win against the nation’s best team. The Orange could, in fact, earn that same honor at some point this season. Michael Carter-Williams is an excellent basketball player. Boeheim’s 2-3 zone has spooked more than a few teams over the last 30-plus years. Louisville would lick its wounds, roll out the nation’s best defense (the Cardinals entered Tuesday allowing 0.81 points per possession) and stomp on Villanova in a vengeful, cathartic rout at the Wells Fargo Center. Instead, the Wildcats picked up a win they badly needed. They forced Louisville into 17 turnovers (up five from its season average), exploited its foul trouble by hitting 22-of-29 free throws and got a huge inside performance from JayVaughn Pinkston. Pinkston’s 11-point, six-rebound line won’t strike you as anything particularly noteworthy, but he was the perfect counter to Louisville’s loaded frontcourt, for a team that’s struggled to get consistent interior play all season long. Until things really spiral out of control for the Cardinals, I’m willing to give them a pass – teams are just as vulnerable (or nearly so) coming off big wins as they are big losses. Saturday’s trip to Georgetown will test Louisville’s mental resolve, not to mention their defensive ability, but unless the Cardinals’ struggles persist into February, Tuesday night’s loss will be remembered more as Villanova’s at-large clincher, or just a really nice moment for a struggling program. It says here that Louisville remains Final Four material.
Also Worth Chatting About. Court Rushings Becoming Familiar For NC State.
Ten days ago, NC State caught a Ryan Kelly-less Duke team at the right spot and the right time. In a frenzied PNC Arena, the surging Wolfpack – who for the past few weeks fell out of national favor after a couple non-conference losses killed NC State’s preseason hype train – upended the then-No. 1 Blue Devils. Hundreds of jubilant red-clad fans rushed the court (one notable fan wheelchaired his way onto the floor). C.J. Leslie and company basked in the glory. NC State had arrived. The Wolfpack then voyaged to Maryland, where the Terrapins were looking to do unto NC State exactly what NC State did to Duke four days earlier. College Park is no safe haven for traveling ACC teams, and the Wolfpack came up short. The resulting court rushing was debated vigorously on Twitter; but still, it happened. The Wolfpack had come full circle – from the pinnacle of happiness to the victim of another fan base’s joy. NC State had experienced quite enough floor celebrations of late. You could understand coach Mark Gottfried getting fed up with all this emotional noise, both in support of and against his team. The floor-rushing party continued Tuesday night in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest – long the bottom of most every ACC fan’s bar room jokes – actually did something of merit (backhanded compliment? You bet) under third-year coach Jeff Bdzelik by treating the visiting Pack to another RTC. These celebrations were already getting old for NC State. After being court-rushed twice, and having their own fans rush the court just once all in the last week and change, the practice must feel nauseating.
(A note: please do watch the above video. It brings you right into the celebration, with a unique hands-on-deck camera angle)
