Kentucky Survives in Raucous Starkville.  #2 Kentucky 81, Mississippi State 75 (OT).  After several days of fielding phone calls from Mississippi State fans who ranged in temperament from delusional to deranged, DeMarcus Cousins and his team had the last laugh tonight in Starkville as water bottles and sodas rained down on the court in the closing minutes of this one.  Coach John Calipari was so giddy afterward that he even played up the hostility of the situation in his interview with Jeannine Edwards, ducking for cover at one point and running over to corral his players at another (wow, consider just how different things were last year at this time with respect to UK’s head coach and Miss Edwards).  The story of this game, however, was in the way that Kentucky was able to overcome a seven-point deficit in the last three minutes after having looked shaken and stirred in the previous few as MSU built its lead with inside star Jarvis Varnado on the bench fouled out.  Cousins held up his end of the bargain with MSU fans by dropping 19/14/3 assts, including seven huge offensive rebounds, several of which he converted at key points in the second half to keep the Cats afloat.  Patrick Patterson added a dub-dub himself (19/10), while John Wall ended up just shy of a triple-double with 18/10/8 assts/3 stls.  Come March, when the rest of the country decides to tune back into college basketball, all anyone is going to hear about is the mercurial Wall; but to those of us who know better, it will be Cousins that makes the difference if Kentucky is to make a serious run at the national title.  He has a knack for corralling the ball on the offensive end of the court (the #1 offensive rebounder in America), but he’s probably just as effective at converting those extra possessions into points with his soft touch around the bucket (note: if anyone has hard stats on this, we’d love to see them).  MSU had numerous chances to put a signature win on their NCAA resume, but like much of their season this year, they were close but not close enough.  The Bulldogs played the game without leading scorer Ravern Johnson, who was suspended for conduct detrimental prior to his team’s biggest game of the season, and Varnado had at least two silly fouls that would have allowed his presence to stay on the court longer than 23 semi-effective minutes (10/5/2 blks).  If any one of those decisions were different, perhaps MSU wins the game and we’d have a photo of their fans RTCing underneath this writeup.  But as it happened, Bulldog fans will instead by remembered for their unsportsmanlike behavior, and they’ll have to settle for screaming into DeMarcus Cousins’ voicemail as he moves on to the more important things like winning SEC titles and gunning for the Final Four.

Holla Back At Ya!

Regular Season Champs. Two clinchers tonight…

• #24 Northern Iowa 70, Creighton 52.  No Jordan Eglseder, no problem.  Even without the big man who was suspended for three games after his arrest for DWI over the weekend, UNI clinches its first outright MVC regular season title with an easy win over the Bluejays.  The Panthers hit thirteen treys for the game, including a 5-10 effort from Ali Farokhmanesh.  It will be a very interesting Bracketbuster game on Friday night when UNI hosts the co-leader of the CAA, Old Dominion.
• Murray State 80, Southeast Missouri State 62.  Murray moved to 16-0 in the OVC tonight, clinching their 21st regular season title and the top seed in the OVC Tournament next month.  The Racers now have the nation’s longest winning streak (at sixteen) and put twelve players into the scoring column this evening.  This is a team that has six players averaging between 9.5 – 10.8 points per game that nobody will want to see as their first round opponent on March 14.

Other Games of National Interest.

Read the rest of this entry »

Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley Conference.

Current Records and my standings, (Conference Standings) (Last Week)

1. Northern Iowa  22-3  (13-2) (1)
2. Wichita State 21-6 (10-5) (2)
3. Illinois State  18-8 (9-6) (3)
4. Creighton  13-13 (8-7)  (6)
5. Bradley  13-12 (8-7) (7)
6. Indiana State  15-11 (7-8) (4)
7. Missouri State  17-9 (7-8) (5)
8. Drake  11-16 (6-9)  (8)
9. Southern Illinois   14-11 (6-9) (9)
10. Evansville 7-18 (1-14) (10)  

STORIES OF THE WEEK

• Northern Iowa clinches conference—UNI clinched a share of the MVC title on Wednesday night with their win against Drake.  They will go into the MVC Tournament as the number one seed with everyone else in the conference gunning for them to give the Valley an opportunity to get more than one team into the NCAA Tournament.  However, some pundits including Jerry Palm don’t believe that Northern Iowa is in yet, even as an at-large.   The Mock NCAA exercise has the Panthers as a 13 seed.   It will be up to the Panthers to hold up down the stretch as they struggled a year ago in this same position.
• Eglseder Suspended for Three Games– Northern Iowa may have run into a problem though as their center Jordan Eglseder was arrested Saturday night for drunk driving.  Eglseder was stopped in his vehicle by officers at about 3 a.m. Sunday. Officers observed Eglseder’s vehicle committing a traffic violation and followed the vehicle for a couple of blocks before stopping it.  Eglseder was administered a field sobriety test at the scene and failed it.  He is now suspended for three games at a minimum and could affect how UNI finishes the regular season and the big game against Old Dominion on Friday becomes even bigger. 
• Evansville being the spoiler—The other team in the Valley to even have a little consideration as to tourney talk was Wichita State.  The Shockers have been trying to pad their resume a little more down the stretch.  Unfortunately, they ran into Evansville who were on a 14-game losing streak.  You expected that the Purple Aces would get a win at some point.  They ended up getting it against Wichita State.  This victory has opened up a chance for second place in the conference and the Shockers are back on their heels.
• Bracketbuster week—This weekend is Bracketbuster weekend.  Northern Iowa and Wichita State need wins in this event to give the Valley a little more credibility.  The Panthers host Old Dominion on Friday night and the Shockers go out to Utah State in the final game of the day.  Missouri State is also on the ESPN family of networks against Nevada which may not be of any real significance for either school.  Some people have their own opinion about Bracketbusters. 

THE AVERAGE VALLEY

Once again teams are beating up on each other this week without any consistency down the stretch.  Let’s take a look at the Valley teams.

• Illinois State  (2-0 this week)— The Redbirds have been the most successful team this week, getting victories on the road at their rival Bradley and at Creighton on Saturday.  Some of the Illinois State fans were not to excited about the shirts some of the Bradley fans wore to the game.   The Redbirds have now won three games in a row by a total of seven points to take over sole possession of third place in the Valley.   They host Missouri State in a conference seeding game and then  Morehead State next weekend in Bracketbusters.
• Northern Iowa (1-1 this week)—The Panthers got past their in-state rival Drake this week, but then after celebrating winning a share of the Valley regular season title, they were surprised by Bradley.   They are being celebrated as Iowa’s team of the decade.  That is quite an accomplishment since there are teams from the Big 10 and the Big 12 also in the state.  The Panthers will get some love at home this week as they host Creighton and then kick off Bracketbusters Friday night against Old Dominion. 
• Bradley (1-1 this week)—Bradley was pretty fired up to take on Illinois State this week in the return game of their rivalry after getting smoked in Normal the week before.  Unfortunately it was not enough as Bradley lost a two-point decision to the Redbirds.  The black uniforms may not be the answer.  In a turn of events, Northern Iowa came in and Bradley took it to them from the beginning and put themselves back into contention to avoid Thursday night in St. Louis.  The win against Northern Iowa was the first victory for Bradley against a ranked team at the 27-year old Carver Arena.  A conference game at Indiana State this week is on the slate before hosting Drexel in their Bracketbusters game Saturday night. 
• Wichita State (1-1 this week)—The Shockers are starting to get a little complacent as they head down the stretch.  Losing two of their last three games going into the game against Missouri State, the Shockers are playing themselves out of consideration for an at-large much less a good seed in the conference tournament.  They are looking like last season’s Creighton team that just missed getting into the NCAAs.   They may be thinking their program is returning to prominence, but they need to slow down a bit.  After surviving at home against Missouri State, where they are now 15-0, they need wins this week against Evansville and at Utah State in the Bracketbusters to keep them from a total collapse.
• Missouri State (1-1 this week)—The Bears are full of confidence right now and are getting their momentum back at the right time.  After starting the season 12-1, Missouri State has been up and down throughout the rest of the conference season.   Missouri State had Wichita State on the ropes Sunday night, but could not pull out the victory.   It will be a big game for the Bears at Illinois State on Wednesday before hosting Nevada in the Bracketbusters this weekend.
• Creighton  (1-1 this week) –Justin Carter swished a half-court shot in practice to end it early and to give the team a smile leading into the Bluejays’  golden opportunity to solidify their third place position by getting a win against Illinois State.  However, they couldn’t get the win and the Redbirds are now 7-1 against the Bluejays over the past four seasons.  It is very possible they will meet again in St. Louis.  P’Allen Stinnett’s suspension is now permanent until the end of the season.  It will be interesting to see if he returns to the Bluejays next year.   The Bluejays hit the road against conference champs Northern Iowa before hosting Loyola (IL) in Bracketbusters this weekend.   
• Indiana State (1-1 this week)—The Sycamores are trying to stay afloat with their top three scorers already out for the season.  They hung around but did not have enough against Creighton.  However, it is always nice to play at home and they were able to get some confidence in a win against Drake while only committing three turnovers.   Bradley comes to town this week before hitting the road against Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Bracketbusters.
• Southern Illinois (1-1 this week)—The Salukis are not finishing the season strong and are again headed towards a disappointing season.  They just hope they do not finish with a losing record again.  Not finishing games has been their main problem this season.  Nick Evans, who had not played since the Creighton game on January 13, has left the team due to personal reasons.  SIU heads to Drake before hosting Western Michigan in this weekend’s Bracketbusters.
• Evansville (1-1 this week)—At long last, Evansville got a conference win and it was against one of the better teams in the conference in Wichita State.  In the process of beating the Shockers, Colt Ryan broke the  school’s freshman scoring record.  The Aces play the Shockers again this week, but on the road.  Illinois-Chicago pulls the short straw and gets to go to Evansville for their Bracketbuster game.
• Drake (0-2 this week, 4-game losing streak, lost 5 of 6)—Drake has now gone on a big slide after earlier threatening to become a contender in the conference.  Seth VanDeest will be quite the player to contend with over the next few seasons for Drake.   A battle of the bottom with Southern Illinois on the slate before taking a trip out to California to take on Cal-State Northridge for their Bracketbuster game.  How that matchup is good for both schools is beyond me and is one of the examples of the bad things that can happen because of the Bracketbuster format.   

WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH

The few Valley teams on TV for Bracketbuster weekend hope to make some noise.  At the same time, almost one Valley team on the tube all week long. 

• 2/16, Creighton @ Northern Iowa (Fox Sports Net)—This game has a lot less significance than it did at the beginning of the season, but still should be a good one to watch. 
• 2/17, Evansville @ Wichita State (No TV)—The Shockers hope to give a little payback after Evansville notched their first conference win of the season against them last week. 
• 2/17, Missouri State @ Illinois state (Fox Sports Net)—A positioning game for the MVC Tournament
• 2/19, Old Dominion @ Northern Iowa (ESPN2)—A featured game of Bracketbusters with two of the top teams in the field.  It is the Valley vs. the Colonial conferences. 
• 2/20, Nevada @ Missouri State (ESPN2)—A middle of the road Bracketbuster game that may not mean anything at the end of the season as both teams probably need to win their conference tournaments to get into the Big Dance. 
• 2/20, Wichita State @ Utah State (ESPN2)—The final game of Bracketbusters should be a key one for either team and many may stay awake for this one.

Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley Conference.

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

1. Northern Iowa  21-2  (12-1) (1)
2. Wichita State 20-5 (9-4) (2)
3. Illinois State  16-8 (7-6) (3)
4. Indiana State  14-10 (6-7) (7)
5. Missouri State  16-8 (6-7) (6)
6. Creighton  12-12 (7-6)  (5)
7. Bradley  12-11 (7-6) (8)
8. Drake  11-14 (6-7)  (4)
9. Southern Illinois   13-10 (5-8) (9)
10. Evansville 6-17 (0-13) (10)  

STORIES OF THE WEEK

2010 Bracketbusters—The people in Bristol announced the  11 TV matchups for this season’s Bracketbusters for  Friday and Saturday, February 20^th and 21^st, while the other conference commissioners matched up the rest of the games of the other 76 teams.  Here are the matchups for the Valley teams and TV info for those selected to play on the ESPN family of networks:

• Northern Iowa vs. Old Dominion, Friday, February 19^th, 6PM, ESPN2
• Wichita State  @ Utah State,  Saturday, February 20^th, 11PM, ESPN2
• Nevada @ Missouri State, Saturday, 2PM, ESPN2
• Morehead State @ Ilinois State, Saturday, 4PM
• Indiana State @ Green Bay, Saturday, 7PM
• Loyola (Ill.) @ Creighton,  Saturday, 8:35PM
• Drexel @ Bradley, Saturday, 7PM
• Drake @ Cal State-Northridge, Saturday, 9PM
• Western Michigan @ Southern Illinois, Saturday, 2PM
• Illinois-Chicago @ Evansville,  Saturday, 7PM

Valley coaches in favor of expanded tournament—On the weekly Missouri Valley Conference teleconference, the question of expanding the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams was deemed pretty favorable by the coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference.  With the Valley looking at a one bid for the third straight year, I guess you could understand why they would like it.  However, I still think it takes away from the integrity of the hard work done throughout the season and the build-up would not be the same when teams are expecting to go to the NCAA Tourney by default every year. 

Northern Iowa declared MVC champs—Ok, so mathematically several teams have a chance to catch up and tie or overtake Northern Iowa, but come on,  with five conference games remaining, Northern Iowa has basically run away with the Valley regular season crown while all the other teams are just beating each other up.  When the Panthers knocked off Wichita State last week, they staved off their final threat in the regular season.

Rivalry Week in Full Swing—The known rivalries in the Valley will all be in action this week.  Creighton heads to Carbondale to take on Southern Illinois where the Salukis are looking to respond to the blowout the Bluejays handed to them last season on SIU’s home floor.   The Battle of I-76 between Bradley and Illinois State will be played again with Bradley seeking revenge for getting run off the court a couple weeks ago at Redbird Arena.  Drake and Northern Iowa hook up again as well in an in-state matchup.

TEAM BREAKDOWNS

CRUISE CONTOL

Northern Iowa (2-0 this week, 20-1 in last 21 games, 5 game win streak)—The Panthers are getting every team’s best shot, but they are continuing to find ways to win.  Against Wichita State on Wednesday, the Panthers survived a late rally by the Shockers to get the win.  Saturday they came from behind to beat Southern Illinois and Adam Koch scored the team’s last 11 points.  They hope to continue their domination against Drake and Bradley this week.

BUMPY HIGHWAY FOR  2^nd-9^th

Bradley (2-0 this week) – After going 0-2 last week, Bradley turned things around to go 2-0.  This is just one example of how the rest of the Valley has played this season.  A winning shot by Will Egolf gave Bradley a thrilling victory over Drake.  It is a big week for the Braves this week as they get a shot at the top of the conference with Northern Iowa and Illinois State.  The other good news for them is that both games are at home. 

Wichita State (1-1 this week)—The Shockers just seem to be coasting through under the radar for the most part.  After losing a heartbreaker against Northern Iowa  for their chance to try and catch them, the Shockers had to rally from 15 down in the final nine minutes against a shorthanded Indiana State team to pull out a victory.  It’s the little things that players like Aaron Ellis bring to the court for the Shockers that has helped them become so successful this season.  Games against Evansville and Missouri State should give Wichita State the opportunity to lock down their second place standing in the Valley.

Illinois State  (1-1 this week)— Win one, lose one….that is the mantra of the Valley over the past several weeks and the Redbirds have not been left out.   The big troubles have been road games with last week’s loss coming at Indiana State.  Illinois State is now 1-5 on the road.  With Bradley and Creighton on tap this week, can they get a road victory?  The other question—is Osiris Eldridge not playing as well this season compared to last?   Appears that way. 

Missouri State (1-1 this week)— The Bears are the highest scoring team in the Valley as well as trying to be a great defensive team as well.  In their win against Creighton this week, they displayed both as they went on 11-1 and 17-0 runs to take the Bluejays behind the woodshed, 70-52.  Creighton only had 30 points with nine minutes to go.  Southern Illinois and Wichita State give the Bears opportunities  to move up this week.

Creighton  (1-1 this week)—Creighton, like Illinois State, has big problems winning a road game.  After getting crushed at Missouri State this week, the Bluejays are now 2-11 in road/neutral games this season and it looks like they may not get a road victory the rest of the year.  Luckily they have two home games this week against Indiana State and Illinois State.  It is so dire for Creighton fans now, that the focus is almost off the men’s basketball team as fans find the Creighton Dance Team more interesting. 

Indiana State (1-1 this week)—The Sycamores took a big blow this week losing point guard Harry Marshall along with Dwayne Lathan to injuries suffered during the Illinois State game that will pretty much take them out until the end of the season.   They had a valiant effort against Wichita State on the road, but didn’t have enough gas to keep the Shockers from stealing the victory down the stretch.  Creighton and Drake are on the schedule this week.

Southern Illinois (1-1 this week)— The Salukis couldn’t upset the Panthers even though they hoped their depth would be key this week, so they continue to be an average team.  Tony Freeman had weird feelings playing a game in the state of Iowa again.  They got a victory against Missouri State, but cannot relish in it too much because they turn around and play them again this week along with doormat Evansville

Drake (0-2 this week)—Drake had a nice run, but they have now lost three of four games.  The three losses have all come on the road.  Josh Young keeps getting accolades before he is crowned the school’s all-time scoring leader.  They host conference leaders Northern Iowa this week and travel to Indiana State. 

BLEW A TIRE AND ENGINE BROKE DOWN

Evansville (0-2 this week, 14 game losing streak)— Colt Ryan averaged 24 points in his two games this week against Creighton and Bradley. Before the end of the season, Ryan will shatter the freshman scoring record for this school.  Unfortunately, the Purple Aces continue to lose.  With the City of Evansville building a new Arena and the Aces expected to play there, will there be enough people in the seats to make the switch?  Wichita State and Southern Illinois the next ones to beat up on the Aces.

WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH

Pretty much every game is key in the Valley this week, but here are the best matchups and a couple most people should be able to watch on TV.

• 2/9—Illinois State @ Bradley (Local TV)—Yes, most won’t be able to watch this one, but Bradley has declared a “Blackout” as the Redbirds try to come in and sweep their home-home series this season.
• 2/10—Northern Iowa @ Drake (Local TV throughout Iowa) –This game has to get mentioned because of an in-state rivalry and the Panthers are ranked in the top 25 so every game is important for them.
• 2/13—Illinois State @ Creighton (Local TV in Omaha and Illinois)—This game will determine who will likely play on Thursday night in St. Louis in the MVC Tournament. 
• 2/13—Northern Iowa  @ Bradley (Fox Sports Net)—Either at home or on the road, the Panthers have been dominating the Valley.  Can it continue in Peoria?
• 2/14—Missouri State @ Wichita State (ESPNU)—The Shockers hope to lock in second place in the Valley with this game

It’s a new week and we’re back with a new Top 25 poll.  The usual analysis after the jump…

Note that this week Rob Dauster of BiaH is filling in for one or usual pollsters. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, RTC spoke with Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS to talk about a variety of topics on college basketball and a new promotion for Coke Zero. This is not the first time we have spoken with Seth as we interviewed him last March for the launch of his book “When March Went Mad” about the 1979 championship game between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Before the interview officially began, Seth expressed his displeasure about not getting linked every day in the Morning Five. We would give you the transcript of that discussion, but Chinese government regulations prohibit us from doing so.

Ed. Note: This interview took place last week, but due to some transcribing issues we are just putting it up now.

Seth Davis: Man of Intrigue

RTC: I guess we will start with your alma mater. Duke is looking strong again this year, but is different than they usually look as they are not relying on the outside shooting as much as a complete game. A lot of people have been talking up Duke. Do you think this is the year they can make it back to the Final Four?

Standings & Records (Conference Standings) (Last Week)

1. Northern Iowa  17-2  (8-1) (1)
2. Wichita State 15-4 (6-3) (2)
3. Illinois State  14-6 (5-4) (3)
4. Drake  10-11 (5-4)  (8)
5. Bradley  10-9 (5-4) (6)
6. Creighton  10-10 (5-4)  (4)
7. Missouri State  14-6 (4-5) (5)
8. Southern Illinois   11-7 (4-5) (9)
9. Indiana State  11-9 (3-6) (7)
10. Evansville 6-12 (0-9) (10)
    

STORIES OF THE WEEK

Wichita State/Northern Iowa game was as expected—The matchup of the top two teams in the conference was quite the game this week.  Getting the TV exposure is needed for the MVC.  Wichita State came out fast against the Panthers to take a dominant lead in front of a raucous home crowd to halftime.  Maybe it was the extra attention that Northern Iowa was getting by being ranked the day before or the fact that the Shockers hosted another ranked team at home in the same season for the first time in almost 15-20 years.  But the Panthers erased the deficit early in the second half and seemed as though they were going to pull out the victory the same way they have all season, but did not have enough as the Shockers upset the Panthers and once again put the Valley race back in play for several other teams.

Opportunities lost, others gained—With Northern Iowa losing this week, Wichita State, Creighton and Illinois State could have taken advantage of the situation in the MVC standings.  However, Creighton lost to Illinois State, Illinois State lost to Southern Illinois and Wichita State turned around and lost to Drake.  Bradley and Drake, who have been struggling this season, have taken advantage of those losses to move up the Valley standings.   It is now anyone’s game, but it is extremely important that either Wichita State or Northern Iowa decide to take over the league and somebody else win the Valley tournament if they expect to get more than one team into the NCAA Tournament this season.

Saint Louis wants to be part of the Valley?—Saint Louis head coach Rick Majerus made it quite clear that they would rather be a part of the Missouri Valley Conference instead of the A10.  The question is, could that really happen?  And if so, would they drop a team or add another to make the conference twelve?  Butler? Western Kentucky?  Apparently there are no plans for any MVC expansion, but does make an interesting discussion.

POSITIVE WEEK

Drake (2-0 this week, 5 game winning streak) — Drake has been on fire, now on a five-game winning streak including a dominating win against Wichita State on Saturday.   Players are stepping up while Craig Stanley is out with an injury.   The Bulldogs will be squarely in the conference race with wins against Northern Iowa and Creighton this week. What a turnaround this might be after having a horrible non-conference season and losing to teams like SIU-Edwardsville at home.

Bradley (2-0 this week, 3 game winning streak) – Bradley all of a sudden is making a turnaround with a three-game winning streak with wins this past week against Southern Illinois and Evansville.  Defense has been the key to their resurgence.   Bradley could move up into the top three of the conference with wins over Creighton and Illinois State this week.

CAN’T DECIDE

Northern Iowa (1-1 this week) — The Panthers ranking and Sports Illustrated article were probably a little too much to handle this week heading into their game against Wichita State while opening the door to the rest of the conference to say they are beatable.  Northern Iowa is in no way guaranteed the NCAA tournament as their Athletic Director can attest after his participation in a mock NCAA selection committee exercise.   Jordan Eglseder looks like a different player this season and appears to be a dominant inside threat in the Valley.  The hottest team in the conference, Drake, is coming to town before a trip to Missouri State is on the schedule this week.

Wichita State (1-1 this week) — Wichita gave Northern Iowa their best shot and sent a message to the Panthers that they are contenders for the league, but then must have had a hangover in getting drilled by Drake.    You would have thought Wichita was completely out of the race after this loss.    They hope to get back on track against Illinois State and Southern Illinois

Illinois State  (1-1 this week) — The Redbirds came from behind Wednesday night against Creighton by dominating the inside with Dinma Okiakosa setting the standard, but then suffered an overtime defeat to Southern Illinois.   This will be a key week for them with games against Wichita State and Bradley.

Missouri State (1-1 this week) — Missouri State blew a 24-point second half lead against Indiana State before surviving in overtime.  They then lost a see-saw battle against Creighton.  A key to the Bears’ continued success is the health of Adam Leonard. He has been experiencing back spasms that may keep him out of games down the line.  They will need him for the games against Evansville and Northern Iowa this week.

Creighton  (1-1 this week) — Creighton let another halftime lead slip away, this time at Illinois State.  They were on the verge of collapsing but hit an amazing 15-15 from the free throw line in the second half to get a win against Missouri State.  Are the Bluejays playing scared?  Some are starting to think that including the players.  Road trips to Bradley and Drake won’t make things any easier this week.

Southern Illinois (1-1 this week)—Just when you thought the Salukis were about to pack it in for the second consecutive season (with a loss to Bradley at home), screams for Chris Lowery’s exit out of town grows louder and louder, and academic problems with Gene Teague,  they survived against Illinois State in overtime.   A road trip to Indiana State before hosting Wichita State are on the slate this week.

PACKING IT IN

Indiana State (0-2 this week) — Indiana State took 30 minutes to wake up against Missouri State and almost came back to defeat them, but came up short.   Although they were in range of Northern Iowa, they could not steal a win from there.  The loss of Dwayne Lathan has really hurt this team.   They have few opportunities left to make a conference run, but could have some success hosting Southern Illinois before heading to Evansville this week.

Evansville (0-2 this week, 10 game losing streak) — It doesn’t really matter who Evansville is playing anymore, they just don’t have enough to win games.  Rebuilding is hard, especially at Evansville.   Missouri State and Indiana State are on the slate this week and could be a spoiler for those teams.

WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH

The Wild and Wacky Valley.  You have to see it:

• 1/25, Western Kentucky @ Southern Illinois (Fox College Sports)—A very odd out of conference matchup for the Salukis and Hilltoppers during conference season that looked more attractive at the beginning of the season.  Not so much now, but still likely a good game.
• 1/27, Creighton @ Bradley (Local TV)—Great matchup for both teams that are looking to position themselves for St. Louis.
• 1/27, Drake @ Northern Iowa (Local TV)—Drake wants respect.  Best way to get it is against conference leader UNI.
• 1/27, Illinois State @ Wichita State (Fox Sports Net)—Koch Arena is a great college basketball environment.  See it in action on TV.
• 1/30, Bradley @ Illinois State (Fox Sports Net)—I think the loser of this game will end up playing on Thursday in the play-in games in the MVC tournament.
• 1/30, Creighton @ Drake (Local TV)—Even though Drake didn’t get the win in Omaha a couple weeks ago, the effort jumpstarted them into their current streak.  A great I-80 matchup.
• 1/30, Northern Iowa @ Missouri State—This game isn’t going to be on TV, but it will be a battle in Springfield by these two teams.
• 1/31, Wichita State @ Southern Illinois (ESPNU)—The Shockers want to separate themselves from the rest of the Valley contenders, but the Saluki’s may not let them at home.

Message Received, Loud and Clear.  #15 Purdue 84, Illinois 78.  Matt Painter threw everyone on his team other than E’Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel under the bus over the weekend in comments he made about the lack of hustle and energy from his players during the Boilermakers’ recent three-game losing streak.  It’s a tried-and-true coaching strategy, and it seemed to work tonight as his team used a strong second half run out of the game to take control of this game and make Painter look like a genius.  Examining the players that Painter referred to in his diatribe, he conspicuously omitted JaJuan Johnson from a preferred starting lineup (composed entirely of Moore and Hummel clones), and that slight resulted in a dominant 24/12/2 blks evening for the big man.  When JJJ plays up to his abilities on the offensive end, Purdue is nearly unbeatable, going 8-1 in the last two seasons when he breaks twenty points.  When he’s held under ten for the game, the Boilermaker record is 6-6 over the same period, including all three losses this season.  Additionally, usual starters Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer were relegated to bench duty tonight, but 7/9/3 assts between the two of them show that they were focused on defense and hustle stats.  Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was sophomore guard John Hart coming off the bench to contribute a career-high 14/2 in eighteen inspired minutes of action.  Believe it or not, tonight was Hart’s first minute of action in a Big 10 game — nice debut, young fella!  Illinois played well enough to win the game on the defensive end, but like so many other Illini games over the year, they simply couldn’t get enough production aside from Demetri McCamey (28/9) and Mike Davis (17/15).  Freshmen guard duo DJ Richardson (12/2) and Brandon Paul (5/3) shot 6-18 from the field, which was surprisingly their best combined output in three weeks, but Illini fans have to be wondering what happened to the pair that combined for 34 points in the big comeback at Clemson in early December.

Johnson Accepted Painter's Challenge Tonight (AP/Robin Scholz)

Watch Out, ACC. #18 Georgia Tech 66, #16 Clemson 64. The Ramblin’ Wreck moved to 3-2 in the ACC with its third win in eleven days over a ranked team (nevermind that pesky loss to UVa sandwiched in between).  And while the win is very nice and worth talking about on its own merits, what we really want to discuss is that the nation’s #2 incoming recruit, Derrick Favors, may have awakened from his season-long slumber to serve notice that the second half of the year may be a somewhat different story for his opponents.  His numbers weren’t Michael Beasley or Blake Griffin-esque (17/14/3 blks), but they do represent his best all-around performance of the season (career highs in pts and rebs), and had he made his FTs (1-5) he would have broken the 20-point barrier as well.  As Favors said after the game, he is ‘playing better,’ and if he is putting it all together just in time for the home stretch of the season, Georgia Tech suddenly becomes the most interesting team in the ACC.  Gani Lawal added 16/10 for Tech and Zachery Peacock (6/5) hit the game-winning FTs with 3.2 seconds remaining.

Read the rest of this entry »

Zach Hayes is RTC’s resident bracketologist plus author of the weekly Ten Tuesday Scribbles and Bubble Watch columns.

With college football crowning another faux-national champion Thursday night in Pasadena, the college sports scene can officially shift its axis to basketball. While a number of college basketball diehards such as yours truly were knee-deep in mid-major box scores and enthralling non-conference tournaments since the season tipped off in mid-November, it’s perfectly understandable for our college football-fan brethren out there to have been entranced in the gridiron scene during this time. For many folks out there, college basketball truly begins when a football champion is crowned and conference play heats up, when Rece and the gang show up on our TVs every Saturday morning at 11 AM and the bubble begins to take its early shape. For those people, you sure missed plenty of exciting hoops action. To get you caught up in what has gone down thus far on the hardwood, here’s a summary for your enjoyment, divvied up into the six major conferences and all the rest:

ACC

What we’ve learned: There was much back-and-forth debate entering this season whether Duke or North Carolina represented the class of this conference. After two solid months of play, it’s fairly evident Duke has separated themselves from their bitter rival as the class of the ACC. While the Tar Heels may top Duke skill-wise up front, Carolina simply does not boast the backcourt to even contend with the Dukies’ tandem of Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith. The primary knock on Duke heading into this season was point guard play with Elliot Williams transferring to Memphis. As a true sharp-shooting 2-guard who creates his shots coming off screens in Redick-like fashion, could Scheyer handle the responsibility of running the Duke offense? The answer has been resounding in the affirmative: 19.7 PPG, 46% FG, 92% FT, 43% 3pt and an otherworldly 4.8 A/TO ratio that currently leads the nation. Another key to Duke’s early season success has been Coach K’s willingness to adjust his defense to fit his roster. Rather than employing the normal Duke on-ball pressure attack, Krzyzewski is utilizing more of a sagging defense that plays into the frontcourt depth Duke enjoys with six players that receive time at 6’8 or taller.

Scheyer Has His Devils Looking Great This Season

What’s still to be determined: After Duke and Carolina (and let’s not go overboard following the Heels loss to Charleston, they’re still clearly the second best team in this conference), who will emerge as the third contender behind the top two dogs? An ever-shifting proposition, the current edge probably goes to Florida State despite their utter lack of point guard play. The Seminoles are one of the tallest teams in the nation and have a few capable long-range shooters that get open looks when defenses collapse on Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton. Plus, they’re off to a head start with a December win at ACC foe Georgia Tech. Plenty of folks think Clemson could be that team behind powerful big man Trevor Booker, but they lack a second scoring option and I can’t stop thinking back to their collapse at home to an inexperienced Illinois squad. It would be unwise to count out Gary Williams, and the jury’s still out on Virginia Tech and Miami due to their soft schedules, so I’ll give the current edge to Wake Forest as that third team. The road win at Gonzaga’s on-campus arena stands out, Ish Smith has turned into a fine point guard and Al-Farouq Aminu has as much pure talent as anyone in this conference.

NCAA Locks: Duke, North Carolina.

Likely bids: Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest.

Bubble teams: Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami (FL), Virginia Tech.

Make other plans for March: Boston College, North Carolina State, Virginia.

Big East

What we’ve learned: The NCAA picture is shaping up quite similarly to last season when Louisville (regular season champion), Pittsburgh and Connecticut all received #1 seeds. There will be much back-and-forth debate about whether the top three teams this season — Syracuse, West Virginia and Villanova –– holds the edge in this conference, but does it really matter? Right now you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t think Kansas, Texas, Kentucky and Purdue are the likely #1 seeds (of course plenty could change, we have two months of games left), while those top contenders in the Big East are likely all on the second seed line. Even of greater importance though is the obvious revelation that Jamie Dixon can coach basketball. You wouldn’t be alone if you counted out Pittsburgh following a near-loss to Wofford, a 47-point output at home vs. New Hampshire and a second half butt-kicking at the hands of Indiana, but those losses came without their most athletic player, Gilbert Brown, and their best defender, Jermaine Dixon. Those two have returned to action with the most improved Big East player Ashton Gibbs (who recently broke the all-time Pitt record for consecutive free throws made) as a fearsome trio that has carried the Panthers to road wins over previously-undefeated Syracuse and fringe-top 25 Cincinnati. If Dixon is able to coax his Panthers into a NCAA Tournament team after losing such enormous production and leadership in Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields, there is little debate on his merits as National Coach of the Year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Missouri Valley – Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review (READ MORE)

Surprises at the top — A year ago, you would not have seen Missouri State and Wichita State at the top of the conference with Creighton and Bradley towards the bottom.  But this is how the crazy Valley non-conference season has gone so far.  The Valley is an impressive 80-32 (.714) in non-conference play with some nice wins against top level conferences that have been missing over the past few seasons.

SEC – Paul Jordan of Wildcat Blue Blog (READ MORE)

Finally!   College basketball is back in the SEC after a couple of weeks of finals (and the holidays) and it is back with a vengeance with two bitter in-state rivalries for both Kentucky and Tennessee.  Aside from that, Baylor does a curious double dip in the SEC and most of the good action is actually televised this week.

Big Ten – Jason Pzirobowski  (READ MORE)

I don’t know if you looked at the new AP top 25 poll, but if you have, you may have done a double take when you saw Northwestern at number 25. It’s for real, for the team that has never made the NCAA Tournament, they are well on their way.  Now five Big Ten teams are in the top 25: #4 Purdue, #11 Michigan State, #13 Ohio State, #23 Wisconsin and #25 Northwestern.

ACC – Steve Moore  (READ MORE)

What’s the deal with UNC-Greensboro? I understand that the poor Spartans have a short trip to almost every ACC school, and can fatten their athletic wallet with games in ACC gyms. But they’ve gotta grow tired of this, right? Greensboro plays 13 non-league games this season, and six of them come against ACC foes. The Spartans have already lost to Duke, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Wake Forest  by a combined score of 319-235, and still have to face N.C. State and Maryland this week. To add to their misery, the Spartans have also been thumped by Richmond (26 points), Akron (24 points) and East Carolina (21 points). I’d love to hear that recruiting pitch…

We’re back from a busy weekend and heading into a really light week, but that doesn’t mean our correspondents are taking a break!

ACC – Steve Moore  (READ MORE)

UNDER THE BIG TOP:  Much has already been written about the UNC-Texas shootout/circus at The-House-That-Jerry-Built.  The 103-90 Texas win proved that Roy Williams’ Tar Heels still have plenty to do on the defensive end, as UNC gave up 100 points in regulation for the first time in Williams’ tenure there.  Does this mean that UNC is not good enough to reach the Final Four?  Absolutely not.  If there’s any team that needs time to find its identity, it’s this one, considering all the new faces.  I may have bumped UNC out of the top spot this week (and I may think Roy Williams is a crybaby), but I still expect the Heels to rise back to the top of the ACC (notice how I’m already backing off my crazy Maryland prediction from earlier in the year). (…)

Missouri Valley – Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review (READ MORE)

MVC-MWC Challenge winding down—The Valley continues to lead the challenge against the Mountain West Conference 4-3 heading into the final weekend of games.  Illinois State went on the road to defeat Utah and Creighton had a chance to close out the conference’s victory but lost a huge lead on New Mexico and left Albuquerque with a loss.  Now it is up to Drake and Northern Iowa this coming weekend to close out the first year of a several year agreement for each conference to play one another.  In the coming years all of the Challenge games will be played in a one-week time period instead of throughout the non-conference season.  (…)