Yearly Memphis Overreaction

Can we make a deal - just between you, me and Daisuke Matsuzaka who they won't stop showing on my t.v.?

Can we both agree to not overreact to Memphis's record this year? Seriously, it's getting old. Ever since the Big East lost BC, Miami and Virgina Tech and decided it wanted to be the size of the National League, Memphis' conference has been weaker than your average mid-major. Consider that the Big East grabbed Cincinatti, Louisville, Marquette and Depaul from the Conference USA. (They took South Florida too but, honestly, who cares?). The defection of those traditional basketball schools to the Big East has left C-USA looking more like the Ivy League.

Actually, worse than the Ivy League. Rice lost to Princeton 51-28. Yes, you read that right. Rice scored 28 points against an Ivy League team. What's more depressing as that their 8-6 in Conference USA. So they're above .500 in Memphis' conference but couldn't break the thirty-point barrier against the smartest of smart kid schools. How much do you think I would be willing to bet that Kevin Durant could beat Rice. If you guessed "a lot," keep up the good work.

(Maybe the craziest thing about the Rice-Princeton game, though, was that Rice has a kid named Morris Almond who averages 26.4 points a game. How did they only score 28? This makes no sense. They should start an spinoff of Instant Classics called "Did that really just happen?" It would show games that nobody saw in which weird, overly-pathetic stuff like this happens. Trust me, college kids would set their DVRs to record every episode.)

Not to rub in how bad the C-USA is - actually, entirely to rub in how bad it is - Marshall lost to Princeton as well, 61-45. First of all, kudos to the Thundering Herd for putting up a respectable score. Second, I have a question about this game: Marshall is in Conference USA? Where was I when they didn't bother announcing this on ESPNNEWS? Congrats to the C-USA bigshots - the Big East took all but one of your national television-worthy teams and you brought in the mighty Thundering Herd of Marshall. It's basketball heaven down there. It's really surprising the conference isn't included in the annual discussion of top basketball leagues.

I don't have a personal vendetta against Conference USA. They have never done anything to me. I only bring up how bad these teams are to show that Memphis' 14-0 conference record means absolutely nothing. The Tigers are the only team in the league with a coach, John Calipari, that can recruit good players and make them better. This does not mean, however, that Memphis is any good when faced with even decent competition. They squeaked out a one-point win at Gonzaga against a Zags team that was the weakest in years even before it lost Josh Heytvelt, lost to Arizona earlier in the year and got creamed by Tennessee. Their only quality win is over Kentucky at the beginning of the season when the Wildcats were as inconsistent as they come.

Their record is seductive, of course, and has led them to a sixth ranking in the country. But do you actually think they could compete with anyone in the top ten. Texas A&M is ranked seventh. Raise your hand if you think an Aggies-Tigers match-up would be even remotely close at the half. No one? Thought so.

So write a letter to Vitale, your congressman, whoever. Tell them Memphis is overrated again and should be a five or six seed. Look at their resume. That's the most they've earned.

Gators Losing Interest

Glen "Big Baby" Davis' sore right quad might just be the best thing that happened to LSU basketball this year. The 15-13 Tigers, utterly mediocre all year after what's looking more and more like a flukey run to the Final Four last season, upended a lethargic Florida team that appeared to vastly underestimate their opponent's potential without its best player.

Florida trailed by double-digits for much of the game, due largely to LSU's hot shooting and consistent rebounding. The Tigers held the Gators to one shot and done on nearly every possession, outrebounding the Gators 34-22. Even without Davis, LSU was quick to grab Florida's misses, rebounding much like last year's Villanova team - with smarts and outstanding leaping abiity. With Tasmin Mitchell, Terry Martin, Magnum Rolle and even point guard Garrett Temple (who at 6-5 is converted two guard with abnormal size for his new position), the Tigers were quicker to elevate to lose balls than a Gator team that is generally considered one of the most athletic in the country. They certainly rival Kansas and UNC in total team speed as their little guys and bigs can run the floor.

But with LSU shooting well (51 percent) and Florida going through a number of cold patches, it was the Tigers who did most of the running. Temple ran their uptempo offense with composure and a keen ability to find passing lanes that were invisible to this guy. He made Joakim Noah - who apparently is going by Joe now, at least is in Gus Johnson's mind - look silly on one play, slinging a pass from the perimeter past his ear while he looked disoriented and the Tigers got an easy two.

If Big Baby decides to stay, which is up in the air at this point, LSU could be a major player next year. They're about as young as the Celtics this year and with Temple learning the point as well as he has, next year's edition could well mimic their Final Four team. Think of Temple as the Darrell Mitchell, Rolle (6'10'') could be a poor man's Tyrus Thomas and just be there to jump through the roof. Tasmin Mitchell and Martin, both sophomores, would bring back Winston Kennedy type bodies and games and the Tigers could have a perfect blend of finesse and power.

Yes, I know, I'm probably overemphasizing their potential because they looked so good against one of the top teams in the country, but look at the Tigers' roster. It's loaded with young talent. They didn't know how to win this year, but next year could be a different story.

There's a couple of problems with my theory. First, Big Baby grew another inch on espn.com this year. He's 6'9" now. Somebody wants to get drafted. 6'9" and his weight looks a whole lot better than 6'8" or 6'7". Allando Tucker should probably start fakely growing too.

Second, I'm not sold on John Brady. He had one semi-miraculous run last year and made it obvious that he had little confidence in himself when he very publically demanded an extension last summer. It's pretty obvious his thought process was: "My stock is as high as it will ever be, the team is going to be young next year and who knows what will happen once Big Baby is out of here. Now's the time to set myself up for life." Brady has three guys averaging in double figures (Martin, Mitchell, Davis) in a week SEC and their at the bottom of the western division. This win was nice, but I just don't trust the guy.

Speaking of the weak SEC, playing only conference opponents has made Florida look as bored as Shawne Merriman watching Lifetime. Fortunately for them, the conference tournament is just around the corner and they haven't played themselves out of a number one seed just yet. But you can bet Kansas, Texas A&M and Wisconsin will set their DVRs for UF's games in the SEC tournament. Another loss, coupled with one of those teams winning its conference tournament, could knock Florida out of a number one berth.

A Tough Two Weeks for B.C.

A few weeks ago, I was jotting down story ideas in class while my classics professor led a discussion on whether or not Cleopatra was a babe. (She wasn't, but more on that later). I came up with a bunch of ideas - the discussion went on for a while - and one of them was to write a piece on the unsung Eagles of Boston College. At that point, they were on top of the ACC but somehow unranked. Sure, they suffered some bad nonconference losses early in the season (Providence, Vermont, Duquesne), but the Eagles were rampaging through the ACC with their only league blemishes coming on the road against ranked opponents.

Then came last week. ESPN has dubbed this current week "Judgment Week" (whatever that means), but BC's judgment week fell a week ago with home tilts against Duke and North Carolina. BC needed at least a split to cement itself as a ranked team and maintain its presence around the top of the ACC. But with the way that coach Al Skinner had his guys playing, even without center Sean Williams who was dismissed for unknown reasons (he's been on one strike away from getting kicked off for his marijuana habit since he stepped on campus), I was thinking the Eagles would take care of the struggling Blue Devils (four straight losses coming in) and then try to hang with the Tar Heels and see if the ball bounced the Eagles way in the last few minutes.

Quick digression: If it was in fact drugs that got Williams kicked off the team, the guy has to have a serious problem to not just stay away from weed for a few months. He was a certain lottery pick. All he had to do was stay on a division one basketball team until the end of March. This should not be that hard. He could have earned the type signing bonus that accompanies a lottery pick and, because his problem would likely eventually get the better of him, mess with drugs too much and still find himself out of the league in a few years. It would be the same in the end, yes, but in this scenario he would be set for life as long as he paid someone to smartly invest his money (or read "Investing for Dummies"). Is that too cynical?

Back to BC. Apparently there is a rule in college basketball that Coach K can't lose five games in a row. The rule, no doubt, is sponsored by American Express. Care to know why I'm sure this rule exists? Because Josh McRoberts scored 18 and Greg "I make Chris Duhon look like Pete Maravich" Paulus went for fifteen. That's right folks, Duke's offense was led by McRoberts and Paulus. This does not happen every day. In fact, it pretty much only happens when Coach K is in danger of losing five in a row. Weird.

The final was Duke 78, BC 70 but it was never really that close. BC trailed by eleven at the half and made a run down the stretch but Paulus always had the answer - never thought I would write those words. On the bright side for the Eagles, they found that point guard Tyrese Rice is A) the real deal and B) the real deal in big games. He got to the hole almost whenever he wanted and ran the offense consistently. Every so often, he ignites his team with a circus shot or a three. And he wants the ball in his hands down the stretch. He alone makes this team capable of pulling off an upset in March.

Rice played just as well against UNC, only to see his team falter down the stretch en route to a 77-72 loss. Rice had 20, eclipsed on his squad by Jared Dudley who scored 22 but missed three key free throws down the stretch. That sequence was almost hard to believe. Duds had the chance to tie the ballgame after being fouled while shooting a three. He was at home, he was in front of a crowd that quieted down for his benefit, he's the front-runner for ACC player of the year (though that's an interesting debate that will be discussed in a column next week), and he missed all three free throws.

The next day, Dudley told a reporter he was over the misses. He may be, but it doesn't look like the Eagles are. In desperate need of a good showing at Virginia Tech on Wednesday, BC trailed by more than 25 for much of the game and ended up with a 17-point loss. That defeat dropped the Eagles to 9-5 in the ACC, good enough for fourth in the league. BC could drop further if they pull another no-show act against Clemson or Georgia Tech in its last two contest, both of which have been inconsistent but have enough talent to match up well with the Eagles. They've gone from a possible four seed to legitimately wondering if they'll be seeded high enough to wear their white shirts in the first round.

To recap: Two weeks ago, BC was sitting pretty atop the ACC while I was listening to a discussion of whether Cleopatra was pretty. Newly found coins from ancient Rome show that she looks more like her boy Mark Antony than Elizabeth Taylor. It's too bad she wasn't good looking but at least she looked like her significant other. Sort of like if Drew Neitzel and Britney Spears started dating. It's also too bad, at least for poor Bostonians like myslef, that BC is looking about as good as Cleopatra these days.

KU Edges K-State

They say that good guard play wins championships. And while Emeka Okafor and Joakim Noah might argue otherwise, it's hard to name a team that has won the NCAA finals in recent years without at least consistent guard play.

Last night, Kansas got consistently good guard play.

Thanks to 20 points from freshman guard Sherron Collins and 17 more from sophomore shooting guard Mario Chalmers, Kansas pulled out a 71-62 road win that was anybody's game until the final minute. Collins, who shot 8-11 from the floor and now averages an even 10 points a night made big shot after big shot (enough to overcome eight combined turnovers between he and Chalmers compared to three combined assists) as he dominated the minutes at point guard over the junior starter Russell Robinson.

Turnovers from the backcourt won't help Bill Self much in March, but the scoring output was eye-opening.

But beyond last night's production, one of the best things about Collins is that every solid performance he puts out gives the commentators more and more opportunities to tell us that he played wide receiver in high school again. I only metion this because, at 5-11 and 200 pounds, what on earth was he doing playing wide receiver? Who was their running back, Gilbert Brown? Leroy Hoard?? Ok, so maybe Hoard is a random choice for a big RB but mentioning him lets me write my favorite quote of his: "If you need one yard, I'll get you three. If you need five yards, I'll get you three."

Back to things I took from the game. First of all, Bob Huggins brought more than just a professional pool player's wardrobe to Manhattan (see above). His energy has completely reignited the fan interest there. He spent last night, in typical Huggins fashion, racing up and down the sideline, yelling at his players and refs alike - he even got T'd up after loudly complaining about a legitimately blown call. The crowd emulated his behavior, wore all white and only quited down a smidgen after Chalmers and Collins put the Jayhaws on their backs in the middle of the second half. With Huggy Bear recruting as he can, Manhattan should soon be one of the toughest places to play in the Big XII.

Did anyone see Mario Chalmers shoot it straight up in the air in the second half? It was really good. He went up for a three and lost the handle with incredible force, sending the ball straight up in the air about fifteen feet overhead. It almost went backwards, but not enough to start calling him Aaron Brooks. The only good that came of it for Kanasas was the fact that it weirded out the K-State guys enough to travel after picking up the loose ball.

That Kansas State turnover pretty much summed up the night for the Wildcats - close, but in the end, they shot themselves in the foot. I'm serious when I say that this game was up for grabs until the end. In fact, K-State had the ball in a two-possession game with more than half-a-minute left before the quick hands of Kansas defenders forced a loose ball. KU didn't even secure posession, but the scrum for the ball killed more than ten seconds. Suddenly it was a two-possession game with 18 seconds left. A tall task for Kansas State.

So where does this leave us in the Big XII race? Kansas takes over first place at 11-2 in conference, putting Texas A&M in second at 10-2. Of course, A&M owns the tiebreaker as it (really, Acie Law IV) beat Kansas a few weeks back. Here's Kansas' remaining schedule:

vs. Iowa State (2/24)
at. Oklahoma (2/26)
vs. #20 Texas (3/3)

And Texas A&M's:

at. Oklahoma State (2/21)
vs. Baylor (2/24)
at. #20 Texas (2/28)
vs. Missouri (3/3)

Advantage: Kansas, but only because they get Durant and the Longhorns at home. To my mind, though, a Big XII regular season title doesn't clinch a number one seed in March for either team. Both have been too up-and-down all year. That said, a regular season conference title and a run to the finals of the conference tournament would surely lock up a number one seed for either.

One last thing: While writing this, I watched Drew Neitzel go for 28 in a nine point win over Wisconsin (thanks for backing up my last post Badgers). But seriously, 28 points in a game! Who does Neitzel think he is, Duke?

Big Ten Tops Newest Rankings

Wasn't this supposed to be the Big Ten's year off from high level basketball?

Entering the season, the only thing anyone was talking about in the Big Ten was big Greg Oden, the massive man-child at Ohio State. Most experts agreed that OSU would take a strong hold of the conference as the Buckeyes were unlikely to encounter much resistance.

Well most people who think about these things - myself included - vastly underestimated the talents of Alando Tucker at Kammron Taylor at Wisconsin. The two combine to average 33 points per game and Tucker - even though he's 6-6 but can't shoot the three - has been mentioned in the same breath as Oden and Kevin Durant as a contender for player of the year. Add the capable, though gloriously awkward, Bryan Butch and his nine points and six boards a game and the Badgers are suddenly the second ranked team in the nation. Or are they first? Depends who you ask.

The most recent AP poll, released today, has Wisconsin as numero uno and Ohio State holding steady at number two. The ESPN/USA Today poll has Ohio State at one and Wisconsin at two. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how you differentiate between the Badgers and Buckeyes at this point.

Ohio State has played the tougher schedule, making them worthy of the top spot to some. The only trouble with that logic, is that their three losses have come at the hands of the three teams that make the Buckeyes record so impressive: Florida, North Carolina and 'Sconsin. You can still argue that they should be cut some slack, though, as each of their shortcomings came on the road.

As of today, Wisconsin is the clear number one. They've won the head to head with OSU - though I'd bet the boys from Columbus will draw even when Tucker and company visit on Sunday. Plus, Wisconsin has done well with the tougher portions of its schedule including a dominant drubbing of Pitt and a win at in-state rival Marquette. They haven't played the UNC's or Florida's of the world but they still have as many wins over those teams as OSU does: zero.

It's not enough to just play a tough schedule. You still have to rack up wins against the best teams. OSU has yet to do that. But if they win the season series against a now well-known and respected Wisconsin team, the Buckeyes could still be looking at a number one seed. Right now, though, the number one ranking and the Big Ten's number one seed in March (I don't see the Big Ten being deep enough this year to convince the committee it's worthy of two top seeds) should be in Madison.