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Top 25 Games

• #9 Notre Dame 92, #14 Villanova 72: A running diary of Notre Dame’s blowout victory on Senior Night that raised their profile and lowered Villanova’s profile in many eyes. (Rakes of Mallow)

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Walker Carey is an RTC contributor.

There is much uncertainty surrounding the status of several high profile coaches around the country. While Wyoming’s Heath Schroyer, Stetson’s Derek Waugh, Georgia State’s Rod Barnes, and Monmouth’s Dave Calloway have been the only head coaches this season to already receive their pink slips or be asked to step down, there are definitely more changes that will come at the end of the season. The challenging part of the coaching carousel is determining what coaches will be fired.

Sidney Lowe Is Feeling the BTUs In His Office Chair And Spot On the Bench

In an attempt to determine what coaches should be considered on the chopping block, one can rate a coach’s chance of dismissal by three criteria: (1) There must be considerable fan disdain, (2) There should be a degree of waffling administrative support, and (3) There must be a pattern of losing over an extended period of time. If a coach meets all three then a coaching change is extremely likely. If a coach meets two of the three there still exists a good chance that a change would be made. If a coach only meets one then it is a safe bet that he will be given more time to turn things around.

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Can you believe March begins tomorrow? This is the final week of the regular season and a lot of mid-major conference tournaments begin over the next few days, as well. Tonight we kick the week off with three NCAA definites and a fourth likely headed for the Big Dance. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

#14 Villanova @ #9 Notre Dame – 7 pm on ESPN (****)

A Few Weeks Ago, Wright's Squad Looked Focused and Sharp, But It Appears Lately As If a Certain Ennui Has Arisen

The Wildcats are limping toward the finish line yet again, losers in four of their last six games, including two straight home defeats this past week. Villanova is actually a very solid 7-3 on the road but they’ll have to turn things around quickly in order to win at Purcell Pavilion, a place where Notre Dame is 16-0 this season.

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It’s been a great late February Saturday of college basketball, with some high-quality action that you’d hope and expect to see this time of year.  Let’s take a look at a few of the key storylines from the second half of today’s coverage.

• Colorado Second Half Bombards Texas Defense.  It was one of those games where we were barely keeping an eye on the gametracker because it appeared quite early on that this would become another UT blowout led by their defensive mastery.  As it turned out, a 48-33 halftime lead in Boulder didn’t mean much, because the Buffs shredded the vaunted Longhorn D in a way that nobody else in the Big 12 (or America) has been able to this season.  Consider this: in fourteen conference games, the Longhorns had not given up more than 58 points in eight of them — today, Colorado put up that number in the second half in coming from as many as 22 down to win, 91-89.  CU’s Alec Burks had a monstrous 33/10 game, and it appears that the Colorado team that many suspected was in Boulder before the season began is finally hitting its stride.  Having now won three of four, with two more winnable games (@ Iowa State; vs. Nebraska), the Buffs could be in position to finish at 9-7 in the conference and even make a run at a first round bye in the Big 12 Championship.
• So, About Texas? It’s cliched to point out that Rick Barnes’ teams at Texas have by and large not finished up strong, but with road wins in consecutive weekends at places not named Lawrence, Columbia or even College Station, there need to be some alarm bells going off in Austin.  With the loss today, the Longhorns’ fifth of the season, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where UT has a reasonable shot at a #1 seed — and they certainly would need some help regardless.  The question is whether this is just a blip or if teams have started to figure them out — two of the Horns worst four defensive showings this season (as measured by points per possession) occurred today and against NU.  In order to prove to us (and the nation) that this UT team is in fact different than some of the others in recent vintage, they really need to clobber surging K-State and Baylor in their last two regular season games.
• Kentucky’s Home vs. Away Quandary.  After today’s 76-68 win over Florida, one of the nation’s most schizophrenic teams has moved to 7-0 in the SEC at home and 1-6 on the road.  How and why is this happenening?  It’s pretty simple, actually.  The two legitimate NBA talents that John Calipari has at his disposal — guard Brandon Knight and forward Terrence Jones — are almost equally effective no matter where they play.  The problem is that their less-talented teammates such as DeAndre Liggins, Darius Miller and Doron Lamb, drop off considerably away from Rupp Arena.  Lamb, for example, averages 15.8 PPG on 57% shooting in Lexington (today: 14 pts on 6-9 FG); away from home he’s at 12.4 PPG and 47%.  DeAndre Liggins is even more volatile: 11.0 PPG on 47% shooting at home, and  6.0 PPG on 32% away.  A general tenet of March basketball is to never trust teams who can’t win away from home — something to remember when filling out brackets in just two short weeks.
• Miserable SoCal Trip For Arizona. After last weekend’s big win over Washington in Tucson, the last thing Sean Miller wanted to see was a two-loss trip to Southern California.  That’s what he got, though, as his team dropped a close one to USC on Thursday night before getting run out of the closing-for-renovations Pauley Pavilion today.  A 22-2 run blew the thing open, rendering the second half a showcase for the ever-improving Reeves Nelson (27/16) and ending in a fitting way, with John Wooden’s great-grandson, Tyler Trapani, scoring the final points in the old barn before it becomes closes to become modernized.  We’re still not sure if Ben Howland’s team is any kind of postseason threat, but we thought Arizona was; it’ll be interesting to watch how the Wildcats recover from a lost opportunity this weekend next week at home in addition to seeing if UCLA can steal one or two on the road at the Washingtons.  
• Did Virginia Tech Finally Get Over the NCAA Hump? Of course, it’s hard to say for certain with these guys.  After vanquishing #1 Duke for its most important win in years, the Hokies will probably turn around and lose to Boston College at home on Tuesday.  Let’s hope not.  When he’s not whining about being left out of the Tournament in March, Seth Greenberg strikes us as a nice fellow, and for a school that has had a number of ups and downs in its basketball program this year, we’re hoping that the Hokies don’t blow the good will and RPI boost that this win engenders.  As for Duke, this loss may have cost the Devils a #1 seed.  They still have to travel to Chapel Hill (a team that gave them all kinds of hell in Durham) and win the ACC Tournament.  One more slip-up and we’re not sure they’ll have the overall profile needed to earn it outright.  Their profile honestly doesn’t look significantly different than BYU’s, for example.
• Bubbling Up: Colorado, Baylor and Kansas State in the Big 12; Butler in the Horizon; Clemson and Virginia Tech in the ACC; Michigan in the Big Ten; UAB in CUSA.
• Bubbling Down: Wichita State in the Valley; Alabama in the SEC; Memphis and Southern Miss in CUSA; Minnesota in the Big Ten; Colorado State in the Mountain West.

I like cliches, because they give me something to do. The proverbs of the sporting world and the received aphoristic wisdom of our hallowed forefathers are well-known and often taken for granted. They are also, fortunately, not too hard to test or analyze. I’m a fairly agreeable guy, but I must say, few things give me as much joy as being contrary in the face of stupid cliches. It’s an easy thing to do in the blogosphere, equivalent to shooting fish in a barrel, and there are many out there who are better gunslingers than I. But, for now, let’s joyously take aim at the hoariest one of all: “Defense wins championships.”

Great Sign, But Does It Win Championships?

Obviously, playing some defense is necessary to win anything. No one is arguing with that. But what the phrase really seems to mean is that teams with excellent defenses are the ones that win the big one. More than that, the phrase implies that defense, above offense, is the thing that separates the great teams from the good ones. Like so many things, it seems like our little proverb has things half right. In college basketball, the national champions have all been excellent defensive teams. The worst defenses to have won the title since 2003 are Syracuse (in 2003), or arguably, North Carolina in 2009 and even then, both of these teams had defenses that ranked in the top twenty in terms of defensive efficiency. Teams with bad defenses don’t win championships. If we want to take our proverb only this far, we can be happy.

The suggestion that quality defense is more important than quality offense is where the trouble starts. While every title-winning team since 2003 has had a quality defense, they have also all had quality offenses. The worst offense of any of these teams also belonged to that 2003 Syracuse team and it was, by Ken Pomeroy’s reckoning, the eleventh best in the country. So, it seems that we could, if we wanted, reasonably compromise and say, “Offense and defense win championships,” but that is ridiculously banal, and reasonable compromise is kind of boring. If you want to pick only one, offense is what wins championships.

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1. We haven’t talked much about the incident at Holy Family involving head coach John O’Connor that has spread across the Internet like wildfire over the past week. As you know, O’Connor was accused by Matt Kravchuk, one of his (now former) players, of assault related to an incident at a practice on January 25th. Kravchuk reported it to the athletic department that day, but when he felt it was not dealt with appropriately he went to the local authorities on February 11th. Since that time, video from the practice (available in the following link) shows an admittedly out-of-context incident that appears to show a coach attacking a player after a rebounding drill. O’Connor has been widely panned for his actions, but now he is responding with his account of the incident. We won’t add any more commentary, but will let you watch the video, read his explanation, and judge for yourself.
2. Speaking of trouble with the law, Texas forward Alexis Wangmene was arrested early Sunday morning — 4:30 AM, to be exact — on suspicion of drinking under the influence. Wangmene has since been suspended from the team indefinitely. The junior forward/center has played sparingly for the Longhorns this season and averages just 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 9.7 minutes per game this season. Neither the Texas SID nor Rick Barnes has released a formal (informative) statement on Wangmene yet.
3. While most of the attention in Storrs over the past few days has focused on Jim Calhoun‘s deferred three game Big East suspension next year, not much attention has been paid to the fact that Calhoun will not be coaching (and perhaps more importantly not answering post-game press conference questions) Connecticut during tonight’s game against Marquette, as he will be attending funeral services for his sister-in-law. In his place will be his assistant coach George Blaney. Those of you who have followed UConn closely over the years are familiar with Blaney, as he has filled in admirably for Calhoun many times in recent years — including last year’s 14-point win over then #1-ranked Texas — as Calhoun dealt with a variety of health issues.
4. There was some big news out of powerhouse/basketball factory Oak Hill Academy where two of the top players in the country — Ben McLemore and Sidiki Johnson — were thrown off the team for violating unspecified team rules. McLemore, who is currently deciding between Kansas and Missouri, transfered to Christian Life Center in Humble, Texas while Johnson, an Arizona commit, transfered to Wadleigh High School in Harlem, New York. It is unclear if their dismissal will affect their recruitment or eligibility (we are guessing it will not), but it is worth keeping an eye on particularly if any news breaks on why they were thrown off the team.
5. We close out our links today with a little whining. Today’s edition is courtesy of USC head coach Kevin O’Neill who calls Arizona star Derrick Williams “the most protected dude I’ve seen since Michael Jordan.” It is somewhat amusing to note that O’Neill could be coaching Williams in rather simple scenarios: (1) if Lute Olson hadn’t turned on his word and taken the Arizona coaching job back from O’Neill or (2) if Williams had remained committed to USC where he had initially signed. While we disagree with O’Neill’s assessment of the level of protection Williams gets (O’Neill was also effusive in his praise of Williams and most likely trying to wage psychological war with the officials), it is worth noting that Williams leads the nation at an astounding 9.2 free throw attempts per game.

The Lede.  Only a couple of good games were on tonight’s docket, but the bigger story of this evening is that in just a few minutes from the time of this writing, we pass over into the month of February.  You remember that one, right?  It comes immediately prior to March, otherwise known as the month we all salivate over the rest of the year.  You don’t need us to tell you why the year’s shortest month is so important, but suffice it to say that there’s no longer any time for excuses.   We’ve played two months of a non-conference season and another month of action within the family — it’s time to show what you’ve got this season, or simply play out the string.  Shall we?

Things Are Fun For Texas Right Now (AP/J. Eilts)

Your Watercooler Moment.  Those Longhorns Are Kinda Good.  Is it possible that this year’s Texas team is every bit as surprising in a good way as last year’s #1-turned-first round loser was in a bad way?  Rick Barnes’ Longhorns are sure playing like it, and what’s remarkable about their current streak is that they’re simply dominating the Big 12 right now.  Nobody they’ve played in conference action has yet been able to find a weakness in the sticky man-to-man defense to where they can get open looks to score.  And we mean… nobody — after tonight’s 69-49 win over rival Texas A&M (and the game wasn’t that close), Texas has defeated seven Big 12 opponents by an average of 18.7 points while holding its opponents to a paltry 53.4 PPG.  As exhibited by the Aggies in tonight’s 24% shooting first half (and 31% for the game), the looks simply are not available from anywhere on the court — so long as UT can merely hit 40% of its own shots, they’re going to be in position to win every game they play the rest of the season.  Given the way the Horns are locking up teams defensively and with their two toughest road trips already behind them (@ TAMU, @ Kansas), they have an excellent shot at running the table in the Big 12 at 16-0.  Their toughest two remaining games are at Nebraska and Colorado, both of whom have shown promise interspersed with difficulties.  It amazes us to think about gunner Jordan Hamilton as a defensive stopper, but he appears to have bought into the ethos and completely shut down TAMU’s Khris Middleton tonight (0 pts on 0-9 FG).  We’ve noticed the emergence of a definite swagger creeping into the UT players in much the same way that some other great defensive teams of the past have (we’re thinking of 2002-03 Kentucky, as one comparison) — they dare you to score on them, and most of the time, you cannot.  It seems that the only way to legitimately have a shot to break down the Longhorn defense is off the bounce of an elite guard — someone like Ashton Gibbs (24 pts vs. Texas) or Kemba Walker (22 pts) who has the ability to get shots off under duress and in transition.  Otherwise, good luck finding those points — Texas A&M, with more shots blocked tonight (9) than assists (7) will attest to that.

RTC Live.  Rob Dauster covered tonight’s game in Washington, DC, and submitted this report.

Georgetown 62, Louisville 59.  Louisville may not have a star, as Rick Pitino has had a penchant for saying this season, but one this that is becoming clear is that Peyton Siva might be the most important player on the team. What Louisville likes to do if they cannot get an open look early in the shot clock is to run a high ball-screen with Siva. The Cardinals spread the floor with shooters and look to either get Siva in a one-on-one situation with a big man at the top of the key or hit Terrence Jennings on a roll to the rim with a defender on his back. It worked against UConn and West Virginia, particularly down the stretch, but Georgetown’s Julian Vaughn is terrific at defending the play. Siva is quick, but on just one occasion was he able to score off of it in the second half, drawing a foul on Vaughn with less a minute left.  With Georgetown’s resurgence in the Big East now at five straight wins, you are going to hear a lot about Chris Wright and Austin Freeman returning to form. And, yes, they deserve credit for their great play. Wright was terrific tonight just 48 hours after Freeman carried the Hoyas to a win over Villanova. But what no one is going to be talking about is the switch that John Thompson, III, made in the starting lineup. Nate Lubick has been starting for the Hoyas over Hollis Thompson. This gives Georgetown more size to start the game while allowing them an offensive sparkplug off the bench when Thompson enters. Ohio State does something similar with Dallas Lauderdale and Aaron Craft, and it appears to be working for both teams.

Tweet of the Night.  Fake Gimel is back with a timely rip on Bob Knight as commentator.  Is it too much to ask for one of the greatest coaches ever to do a little homework on the teams he’s calling?

***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor

This weekend brings us yet another great slate of games with plenty of ranked teams heading out on the road to face unranked opponents. How many will go down this time? All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.

#21 Georgetown @ #6 Villanova – 12 pm Saturday on ESPN (****)

Despite their win at the Carrier Dome over Syracuse last week, Villanova has lost two of its last three games and now welcomes their rival Georgetown Hoyas to the Wells Fargo Center. The Hoyas have won three straight over the New York-area schools to climb back to 4-4 in Big East play. Georgetown has won four true road games but none of those wins were against teams the caliber of Villanova.

If Freeman and the Hoyas Plan On Finishing Strong, Tonight's a Good Night To Start

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The Lede.  It’s really been a great week of college hoops, and tonight’s slate was no different.  We were thrilled and bedazzled with another 40-point performance from the modern-day JJ/Chris Jackson/Steph Curry, depending on whom you ask; a Big East team that seems to have nine lives this season finding another one hanging around at the top of the backboard; and, an emotional evening in Oklahoma centering on a tragedy from a decade ago that people in that area still feel heavily in their hearts.

SDSU: Not the First, Nor the Last (Deseret News/S. Johnson)

Your Watercooler Moment. Jimmer Carries BYU to Knock SDSU From Unbeatens.  It wasn’t the prettiest game you’ll watch all season, but for many folks around the country it was their first chance to get a nationally-televised look at the one they call The Jimmer.  And he didn’t disappoint, especially in a scorching first half of action where you may have wondered if he was ever going to miss a jimmer, er, jumper (20 points on 8-12 shooting including 3-3 from behind the arc).  He ended the game with another ridiculous night — 43/4 on 14-24 shooting — in scoring over 60% of his team’s points and generally setting the crowd of 22,000+ at the Marriott Center and the millions more watching at home into apoplexy every time he appeared to face up to the rim for a look at the basket.  With Kemba Walker in the east, Jared Sullinger in the midwest, and Jimmer Fredette in the west, the national college basketball landscape this season has a trio of NPOY candidates with completely different skill sets who add incredible value to their teams.  It’s going to be a wild six weeks to finish out the season and determine who will take the award, but Fredette proved again tonight that despite playing in relative obscurity beyond the lights of a major conference and regular TV appearances, he deserves every bit as much attention as the other guys.

As for the game itself, San Diego State played well considering that the only real production Steve Fisher’s team had tonight was from a sick Kawhi Leonard (22/15).   And we mean sick as in illness rather than our typical usage of that word.   His frontcourt mates Malcolm Thomas and Billy White struggled shooting the ball (combined 7-20 FG) and the Aztecs’ lack of three-point bombers other than DJ Gay (who was cold as Utah snow tonight, 0-7 FG) really hurt them.  Of course, nobody truly expected SDSU to run the regular season table undefeated, but from a long-term perspective, the Aztecs are not going to be able to beat three or even four good teams in the NCAA Tournament on neutral floors if they can’t find a way to regularly make some outside jumpers.  They’re at 33% on the season out there, and they were even worse at 5-20 from beyond the arc tonight.  Is it a fatal flaw?  Yes, in the sense that when they play a really good team that can match their interior play, they’ll be forced to make some Js — when that doesn’t happen (we’re thinking back to the 2009 Oklahoma team with Blake Griffin), it’s lights out.  Still, with the right matchups, SDSU can make a run to the Elite Eight — they’ll just need to play the right teams along the way.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

• Just Go Ahead and Order It.  You know you want to have one in your closet if or when Jimmer and BYU make a run in March just so you can wear it around and tell all your friends you’ve had it for “years.”

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Coming off their huge win at Kansas on Saturday, Texas heads back out on the road to another tough environment and looking to avoid a letdown while the game of the year in the Mountain West takes place tonight in Provo, Utah. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.

#6 Texas @ Oklahoma State – 7:30 pm on ESPN (***)

Hamilton and the 'Horns Enter a Tough Environment Tonight, Even Without the Added Emotion

Emotions will be running high in Stillwater as the Cowboys take the court tonight and the Oklahoma State community honors the legacy of the ten lives lost in the plane crash that occurred ten years ago Thursday. Gallagher-Iba Arena is always a tough place to play and that will especially ring true this evening.

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