On paper, this is one of the best regular season nights of college basketball in a long, long time. It should have an Elite 8 feel to it, absent the fact that each is played on one team's home floor. More than anything else, the results of these games will start to move the dial a bit for seeding, as each team listed below is in contention for a seed anywhere between 1 and 3. Check out this slate:
#07 Kansas (18-5)
#06 Baylor (21-2)
#12 Georgetown (18-4)
#02 Syracuse (24-1)
#10 Duke (19-4)
#05 North Carolina (20-3)
No offense to my Big Ten brethren, but neither Penn State @ Michigan State nor Michigan at Nebraska get me nearly as charged up. That said, the Purdue @ Ohio State game last night was a good one, and you could see the determination and desire from the Boilermakers, playing as if they knew their NCAA Tournament lives were on the line in a game in which they were heavy underdogs, falling just short. Final score: OSU 87, PU 84. What a performance like that does is give you hope for a decent run in the Big Ten Tournament, as far as impressing the Selection Committee.
In terms of tonight's slate, let's just hope that we don't get a repeat of what happened in last night's top 10 battle between #8 Florida and #1 Kentucky. That was an absolute ass-kicking by the top-ranked Wildcats (78-58), in a performance that put everyone on notice that this team has transformed itself into the nation's top defensive team. The February Kentucky Wildcats would beat the November and December Kentucky Wildcats that I saw up close and personal on multiple occasions by double digits. Notably, the individual improvement of Anthony Davis (who hasn't been in foul trouble since his 22-minute appearance in the IU game), and Marquis Teague (who is under far more control these days, focusing on assists instead shots) - which should have been expected given they are hardly freshmen anymore - combined with the return of Terrence Jones' energy level (regardless of stats, he is bringing it night in and night out), plus the collective improvement as a team on the defensive end of the floor makes them the prohibitive favorites to cut down the nets at this point. Soon, it's going to reach the point where there's a ton of pressure to do just that, even though the top of the field is fairly stacked (Cuse, OSU, UNC, Mizz, Bay are all legit threats).
5 comments:
We've got ourselves a little sub-plot for one of these big games:
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/02/08/callie-rivers-austins-sister-is-dating-uncs-dexter-strickland/
Love the sister-dating so-and-so subplot. Remember when AJ Hawk was dating Brady Quinn, er, I mean....
Watched the first 25 minutes or so (game time) of the UK game. They looked pretty much unbeatable. It would take the perfect storm of foul trouble, hot 3 point shooting, a hostile crowd, and a bit of luck to beat them. Pretty much what happened at Assembly in December. Given that UK will not face a hostile crowd in the tournament, and assuming they play like they did last night, I would say anything short of a championship is an underachievement for this UK team.
They're unbeatable at Rupp, that's for sure. As far as an underachievement if they don't win it all ... perhaps. But if the Final Four were to go chalk (which is rare) and feature UK, Cuse, Ohio State, and North Carolina, for example, I think any of those teams are deserving. In a best of 7, give me this UK team over anyone. But in a one-game situation on a neutral court, I really like what I've seen from Cuse now that Melo is back, Ohio State when Buford is hot, and the overall talent level that UNC features. If they're all locked in and playing well, UNC is right there with UK - they've got as many as 6-7 pros on their roster, too.
I'll hold off on expectations until I see the bracket. I think we've got 5 teams worthy of a number one seed this year, and knowing the NCAA, they'll put that fifth (and best #2 by a long shot) in UK's bracket. With any luck, it'll be Missouri in the St. Louis Regional. Yeah.
Don't forget Baylor. That team is a juggernaut when running on all cylinders, and has one of the few rosters with the top-end talent to run with the others you mentioned. Sometimes the effort is not all there, but when it is; look out.
Frankly, I don't think you can overlook the possibility that a physical, well-coached team with an occasionally transcendant leader (a la UConn with Kemba last year) to get a favorable draw and run through the bracket. In that regard I don't think you can count out Michigan State with Draymond Green, Kansas with Robinson, or even Wisconsin with Jordan Taylor (although Bo Ryan's tournament failures are legion). So much depends on the draw, as always.
One thing is for certain, Duke is going to have an easy road, but my hunch is they lose in the round of 32. Saw an interesting breakdown of their defense recently that suggested they are one of the worst in defensive efficiency that Coach K has had in 20 years. I can see them getting rocked early by an SDSU, UNLV, Miss State or similar team that they could potentially see in the second game.
I can't allow myself to trust Baylor, but I like that team. As athletic and quick as any team out there.
Wisconsin? Sorry, but I have them out before the Sweet 16, regardless of draw. They get down 10 to anyone and it's over. No offensive firepower. All it takes is someone who dictates tempo in their favor.
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