1. FLORIDA (24-2): Who's the best player on the best team in the country? The fact that this question has no obvious answer tells you a lot about Florida. Maybe it's Scottie Wilbekin, because the point guard should win by default. But backup Kasey Hill is averaging almost as many assists (3.1) as Wilbekin (3.7) in 10 fewer minutes per game. Casey Prather leads the team in both scoring and field-goal percentage and still, nobody knows who Casey Prather is. Michael Frazier II is the most reliable outside shooter. Dorian Finney-Smith leads the team in rebounding -- and he comes off the bench. Florida's best NBA prospect is Chris Walker, and he only plays a handful of minutes per game. What a weird, awesome team.
2. WICHITA STATE (28-0): Syracuse suffering its first loss to Boston College should remind people that winning every single game you play is really really hard, regardless of the quality of competition. Wichita State standing three games away from an undefeated regular season is an incredible achievement because the Shockers have been playing the Boston Colleges of the world for months and haven't slipped up once. Sure, their strength of schedule is ranked 130th in the country at KenPom.com. But that's ahead of Cincinnati (132) and Louisville (158), two teams that don't face the same kind of skepticism that the Shockers do.
3. SYRACUSE (25-1): It's difficult to articulate just how unlikely the Orange's home loss to Boston College was. BC was 6-19 on the season and their only two wins against Division I opponents since November both came against Virginia Tech. What's even more worrisome is that Syracuse could easily be riding a three-game losing streak right now if not for a miracle heave by Tyler Ennis and an epic N.C. State choke.
4. ARIZONA (24-2): The Wildcats' offense might be letting them down, but their defense remains the best in the country. Arizona only allowed one field goal over the final five minutes to win at Utah, where the Utes had been 16-1 on the season.
5. KANSAS (20-6): Andrew Wiggins put up 19 points and scored the game-winning layup with less than two seconds remaining to salvage a one-point win at Texas Tech. But sure, let's call him disappointing.
6. MICHIGAN STATE (22-5): In Keith Appling's first game back, Michigan State lost a shocker at home to Nebraska. In his second, he racked up nine assists and Michigan State sunk 17 threes to pound Purdue. Here's hoping that second outcome is closer to reality that the first.
7. CREIGHTON (22-4): Villanova only has three losses this season. Two of them are to Creighton. In those two games, Creighton scored a combined 197 points and shot 60% from three-point range (30-for-50!). In their more recent matchup, Doug McDermott dropped 39 points and passed Larry Bird in career scoring. This is one seriously badass offense.
8. LOUISVILLE (22-4): Maybe the hardest résumé to decipher in college basketball. On one hand, the Cardinals are destroying the opposition. Each of their last five wins have come by at least 15 points and they lead the country in scoring margin by a mile (outscoring opponents by 21.5 points per game). But they've also lost against the four best teams they've played (North Carolina, Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Memphis). In fact, they might only have two wins against NCAA Tournament teams (Connecticut and SMU). Louisville still has some work to do if it wants a tournament seed that matches its talent.
9. DUKE (21-6): The following teams have now lost to North Carolina: Duke, Michigan State, Louisville and Kentucky (coincidentally, the top four in preseason rankings). And the following teams have beaten North Carolina: Belmont, UAB, Wake Forest, Miami.
10. SAINT LOUIS (24-2): Last weekend's win over VCU virtually guarantees Saint Louis the regular season title over the ultra-competitive Atlantic 10. The only team more thrilled about that than Saint Louis is Wichita State, who beat the Billikens in their own building back on December 1st. Saint Louis hasn't lost a game since then, a fact that lends Wichita State the credibility it desperately needs.
Key Games to Watch This Weekend:
#11 Louisville at #7 Cincinnati, 12:00 PM Saturday
Louisville has already lost to Cincinnati at home. The Cardinals really need this one to prove that their gaudy numbers aren't a mirage manufactured by whipping bad teams.
St. John's at #6 Villanova, 1:30 PM Saturday
Every year, a team that was initially expected to be good suffers some some bad losses early and falls off the radar, but then figures things out and quietly charges back into relevance. St. John's looks like that team. Once 0-5 in the Big East, the Red Storm is now 8-6 and their only defeat in their last 10 games came at Creighton. On Tuesday, they were trailing to Butler at halftime -- and still won by 25 points. Villanova could get upset here, but the Wildcats are probably thrilled that they don't have to play Creighton.
#1 Syracuse at #5 Duke, 7:00 PM Saturday
A rematch of the best game of the season, and a game Syracuse suddenly has to win just to keep pace with Virginia (of all teams!) in the ACC title race.
#19 Texas at #8 Kansas, 7:30 PM Saturday
With a win here, Kansas would open up a three-game lead on the rest of the Big 12, virtually clinching the regular season title. That would be Bill Self's tenth Big 12 championship in ten years at Kansas. That'll do.
#13 Michigan State at #20 Michigan
The Big Ten title could be on the line here. Michigan (10-3 in the conference) has already won at Michigan State (11-3), although the Spartans didn't have Adreian Payne in that game. Payne is back for what should be a highly entertaining rematch that could hinge on how healthy Keith Appling's wrist feels.
No comments:
Post a Comment