Weekend Wrap, ACC vs. Big East, and Tonight's (weak) Lineup

So, what has happened over the past three days, and what do we have to look forward to?

Wake Forest 78, @Clemson 68:
Wow! Wake is for real! I count maybe one opportunity for them to lose – at Cameron Indoor. However, a friend of mine who is an expert on the ACC claims that Duke has no shot against Wake, and that they match-up poorly. This is a very good team. Don’t discount Clemson, though – this is still at top 15 team.

@Louisville 69, Pittsburgh 63:
Apparently, the Cardinals finally decided to show up, first against Notre Dame, and then again against Pittsburgh. This, combined with the above Wake win, drops Pitt from #1 overall. As I haven’t exhaustively looked through teams, I can’t tell you where I’d put Louisville – but expect them to rise.

@Duke 76, Georgetown 71:
This game was a blow to those who claim that the Big East was the dominant conference in the land. Moreover, it probably knocks Georgetown off the one line, and might lift Duke as a THIRD ACC team (3!!). 2005 was the last time that two teams from the same conference made the one line, an event that has happened eight times since the advent of the 64-team tournament. NEVER have three teams from the same conference made it as a one seed, though in 2005 the third ACC team was a two seed. So we may be in for a history making year.

@New Mexico 81, Brigham Young 62:
Oh no! BYU lost! I’m… not at all shocked. Road teams losing is what happens in the Mountain West, and why four teams in might have been a little unreasonable.

@ Tennessee 82, South Carolina 79:
The Vols are having a rough start to their conference season, and I am not at all confident that they can win enough games to land in those top four seed lines.

@Northwestern 74, Minnesota 65:
Northwestern is on the wrong side of the bubble, but winning games like this is the best way to work their way back.

Ohio St. 65, @Michigan 58:
Michigan’s season is going down the tubes, very slowly. I mean, how many of their remaining games do you feel confident they can win after this? 3? If this Michigan team goes 6-12, I don’t think they will make the tournament. Also, I’m sure the Buckeyes feel good about getting a legitimate road win.

@Michigan St. 63, Illinois 57
Not as surprising as the above. I mean, Michigan St. is far and away the class of this conference, and they should win every game at home this year.

Arizona St 61, @UCLA 58, @Southern Cal 65, Arizona 64; @Stanford 75, Cal 69:
Go figure. Arizona St. IS the class of this conference, and the loss to USC was just a hiccup. Speaking of USC – they could still make the tournament. They just have to do really well the rest of this year. I don’t think so, either.

@Mississippi St. 73, Vanderbilt 66:
3-0 in conference, but still no major wins. Mississippi St. could make the tournament, but they need to win some big games first.

@Syracuse 93, Notre Dame 74:
Still not surprised. This reminded me a lot of last year’s game at Marquette – you know, the one where they got owned? The difference is they don’t get a home game to pay them back this time.

@Virginia Tech 79, Boston College 71:
Boston College, never change. Your ability to slay the dreaded UNC Dragon, and then go on a 0-4 run amuses me greatly. And the more they lose, the worse it looks for UNC. Like, I would consider it within the realm of possibility for the Tarheels to get a #2 seed.

@Nebraska 73, Kansas St. 51:
Hooray Cornhuskers. You have little to no shot of making the tournament (honestly), and yet you still are destroying teams at home. Five points, and they’d be a lock for the tournament. Anyhow, this hurts Kansas St. a little, but this was to be expected.

@Massachusetts 79, Temple 75:
Really, the Owls were on tenuous ground before this, and Massachusetts is a bad loss. They basically need to win out to make it to the tournament.

Missouri Valley:
I really, really, really don’t understand this conference. At least only their auto-bid winner will be in.

The ACC is now 9-6 against the Big East, with one game remaining – Duke vs. St. John’s. Let’s take a look at those games.

ACC Victories
Duke 76, Georgetown 67 - The crown jewel of the ACC in the argument. +2 ACC
North Carolina 102, Notre Dame 87 – Looked a lot better at the time. +1 ACC
Florida St 58, Cincy 47 – Huge win at Cincinnati, exposing the Bearcats. +1 ACC
Boston College 81, Providence 76 – Perhaps BC’s second-best win. +1 ACC.
Virginia 77, South Florida 75 – Mostly Irrelevant. +.5 ACC
Virginia Tech 81, St. John’s 67 – Mostly Irrelevant. +.5 ACC
BC 82, St. John’s 70 – Irrelevant. +0
North Carolina 97, Rutgers 75 – Irrelevant. +0
Miami (FL) 70, St. John’s 56 – Irrelevant. +0

Big East Victories
Connecticut 76, Miami 63 – The crown jewel of the Big East camp? +1 Big East
Marquette 68, NC St. 65 – I don’t know what to call this game. Shouldn’t have been this close. +.5 ACC.
Syracuse 73, Virginia 70 – At Syracuse, Virginia should not be this close. +1 ACC.
Pittsburgh 56, Florida St 48 – Good win for Pitt. +1 Big East
Seton Hall 77, Virginia Tech 75 – Mostly Irrelevant. +.5 Big East
Georgetown 75, Maryland 48 – Irrelevant. +0

So, by my count, 6.5 ACC, 2.5 Big East. Despite being a Big East homer, I’ll say that the ACC is the better conference.

So whats happening tonight?

Tuesday, January 20
Tennessee @ Vanderbilt:
The Vols want a big road win to establish legitimacy. The Commodores want a win over a top to establish… anything.

Michigan @ Penn St.
After that home loss to the rival Buckeyes, Michigan has to travel to the upstart Nittany Lions. I think that Penn St. could potentially garner a tournament bid.

Ohio St @ Illinois
I really don’t think this will be too interesting. But if OSU pulls off the upset…
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Wake Forest?!

So, if you've been paying attention, we have our winner for likely #1 overall - Wake Forest.

I actually don't have time to recap the weekend's action, and I spent my time yesterday looking at Bracketbusters, of which there should be about two or three excellent games (well, games that mean anything).

So, for now, I'll just comment on tonight's match-ups:

Syracuse @ Pittsburgh:
What? Why do I think this game has a shot of being close? Well, Syracuse IS massively inconsistent...

Cincinnati @ Providence:
If Providence wants to get into the tournament, it has to provide separation from the lower end
of the conference - a group which Cincinnati is pretty much part of.

Yea... A Big East kind of night.
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29th Wrap-up

Georgetown 74, Connecticut 63:
So, I'm out visiting relatives this week. Imagine my dismay when, of all times, they pick 7:00 for dinner. 7:00 - the one time that I pleaded they not schedule anything for. I dashed back to the hotel after dinner, and went to the bar, only to discover that the hotel doesn't get ESPN2. Major lack of planning here. *Winces* I'll get my taste of elite Big East basketball soon. In any case - for all you out there that doubted Hoya might (Ahem, CJ), here's your proof, in Hartford. I'm actually worried for my Irish now - no student section + no South Bend support (since it is a weeknight) = a quiet JACC = Georgetown headed for a victory.

Davidson 79, Charleston 75
Briefly considered ditching the family to attend this game. Wish I had. The hotel doesn't get the U either, and I was tired enough not to go searching for it. I spent the final 2 minutes of this game yelling at the computer screen to update faster, especially when Lovedale fouled out. Davidson should go undefeated in conference, but here's a question. Does the College of Charleston have a shot at making the tournament? They could make a similar argument to Davidson of last year (well, not undefeated, but only losses to Davidson is almost the same thing).

Memphis 60, Cincinnati 45
I talked about this yesterday. Memphis stays in the bubble hunt. Cincinnati still gasping for air. Note: if not for a last second free throw by Cincy, each team would have scored the same amount of points in the first and second half.

Santa Clara 83, Belmont 80
How cruel, for Santa Clara to defeat such a nice Belmont team. Belmont better be careful, or they may take Navy's spot on the 16 line. On a related note, how unlucky is Belmont? If you ignore the 14 point loss at Pitt, they have lost 4 games by a total of 8 points - 2 to Austin Peay, 1 to Jacksonville, 2 to Tennessee, and 3 here to Santa Clara. *Wince* I wouldn't want to be the team matched up against them in the first round.

Baylor 79, Portland St 66
Well... I'm sure you can find something positive about this loss. But Portland St. should probably just focus on not losing in the Big Sky.

CSU-Northridge defeats CSU-Fullerton
So, I'm not staying up just to see the final score of this game, which is 80-58 with 5 to go. Just know that a CSU-Northridge win @ CSU-Fullerton puts them firmly in the challenger spot.

Cornell 89, Boston U 59
America East, you are the weak link in the chain. For your crimes, you are relegated to the 16-seed line.

I'll try to wake up early and do previews for the next two days. No promises, though. I think you'll live if I don't.
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Big East End of Year Award Ballot: Go Irish, Beat Famine

1) Louisville
2) Georgetown
3) Notre Dame
4) Connecticut
5) Marquette
6) Pittsburgh
7) West Virginia
8) Villanova
9) Syracuse
10) Cincinnati
11) Providence
12) Seton Hall
13) Depaul
14) St. John’s
15) South Florida
16) Rutgers

• Player of the Year: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

1st Team:

• AJ Price, Connecticut
  
• Jeff Adrien, Connecticut
  
• Kentrell Gransberry, South Florida
  
• David Padgett, Louisville
  
• Sam Young, Pittsburgh

2nd Team:

• Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut
  
• Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati
  
• Terrence Williams, Louisville
  
• Donte Green, Syracuse
  
• Brian Laing, Seton Hall

3rd Team:

• Kyle Mcalarney, Notre Dame
  
• Scottie Reynolds, Villanova
  
• Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
  
• Dominique Jones, South Florida
  
• Joe Alexander, West Virginia

• Freshman Of the Year: Donte Green, Syracuse

1st Team:

• Dejuan Blair, Pitt
  
• Jonny Flynn, Syracuse
  
• Dominique Jones, USF
  
• Dar Tucker, Depaul
  
• Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall

2nd Team:

• Mac Koshwal, Depaul
  
• Justin Burrell, St. John’s
  
• Corey Fisher, Villanova
  
• Corey Chandler, Rutgers
  
• DJ Kennedy, St. John’s
  
  
• Coach of the Year: Mike Brey, Notre Dame
  
• Defensive POY: Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut
  
• Most Improved Player: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
  
• Projected BET Champ: Louisville
  

2008-09 Top 3
1) Notre Dame
2) Connecticut
3) Syracuse

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My Big East Ballot

1. Louisville
2. Connecticut
3. Georgetown
4. Notre Dame
5. Marquette
6. West Virginia
7. Pittsburgh
8. Syracuse
9. Cincinnati
10. Villanova
11. Depaul
12. Seton Hall
13. Providence
14. St. John’s
15. South Florida
16. Rutgers
POW: Kentrell Gransberry, USF - No other player had as big a week, and no other player was as valuable to his team
FOW: Chandler, Rutgers - Jeremy Hazell from Seton Hall had a bigger week, but the Pirates got blown out in each game. I wish I could give the Freshman of the week to Chandler, Coburn, and Pettis, but I had to choose just one.
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Big East BlogPoll - Combined

22 bloggers voted this week.
1) Georgetown (13): 339 points.
2) Louisville (6): 324 points.
3) Notre Dame (1): 306 points.
4) Connecticut (2): 302 points.
5) Pittsburgh: 256 points.
6) Marquette: 249 points.
7t) Syracuse: 208 points.
7t) West Virginia: 208 points.
9) Cincinnati: 173 points.
10) Seton Hall: 148 points.
11) Villanova: 132 points.
12) DePaul: 116 points.
13) St. John’s: 84 points.
14) Providence: 81 points.
15) Rutgers: 41 points.
16) South Florida: 25 points.

Player of the Week: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
Freshman of the Week: Jonny Flynn, Syracuse

I'm not sure about those 3 votes that didn't go to either Louisville or Georgetown. UConn and the Irish are hot, but they aren't the best teams in the conference. I'm also not sure about Marquette dropping to 6th after losing to ND and Louisville. I don't think that means they are worse than Pitt. I really can't argue with anything else, other than Syracuse and WVU being tied.


Seed List to follow soon, then Top 25, then Bracket.
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Big East BlogPoll - My Ballot

Big East Elite
1. Louisville - They beat Georgetown. They are certainly on that level with the Hoyas, and that win gives them a tie-breaker over the Hoyas.
2. Georgetown - Certainly in the top 2 in the Big East, without question.
Upper Tier
3. Marquette - Yes, they did lose to Notre Dame. But it was by 3 at one of the top 16 arenas in the nation (according to rivals.com). A 3-point loss on the road vs. a 20 point win at home means they are indeed better than my Irish.
4. Notre Dame - Arguable selection here, but as with Louisville/Georgetown, Notre Dame holds the win in the only game played against Connecticut.
5. Connecticut - Any ordering of these three is acceptable. I just think that based on results, this is how it should be.
Upper-Mids
6. Pittsburgh
7. West Virginia
Middle of the Road
8. Syracuse
9. Cincinnati
10. Villanova
11. Seton Hall
Low-Mid
12. Depaul
13. Providence
Bottom of the Barrel
14. St. Johns
15. Rutgers
16. South Florida

POW: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
FOW: Chris Chandler, Rutgers
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Big East Blogpoll Ballot

1. Georgetown
2. Marquette
3. Notre Dame
4. Connecticut
5. Pittsburgh
6. Marquette
7. Louisville
8. Cincinnati
9. Providence
10. Syracuse
11. Seton Hall
12. Villanova
13. Depaul
14. Rutgers
15. St. John’s
16. South Florida
POW: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
ROW: Dejuan Blair, Pitt
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Big East BlogPoll Ballot

Unless Providence can pull the upset, here is my ballot:
1. Georgetown
2. West Virginia
3. Connecticut
4. Marquette
5. Louisville
6. Notre Dame
7. Pittsburgh
8. Cincinnati
9. Syracuse
10. Rutgers
11. Syracuse
12. Providence
13. Seton Hall
14. Villanova
15. St. John’s
16. South Florida

POW: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

FOW: Mike Coburn, Rutgers

If Providence does win, just switch them and Syracuse.
For player of the week: I was going to pick Anthony Mason Jr. from St. John's for his two 29-point performances. St. John's lost both of those games, so I decided instead to pick a top performer who led his team to victory.
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Stop Slacking!

Major games from the weekend:
Saturday:

• Maryland defeats UNC. This is a huge lift for Maryland, and lessens the aura of dominance surrounding the Tar Heels. However, for all intents and purposes this loss did nothing to the Tar Heels, as they maintained their seeding in many seed lists (mine include).
• USC defeats UCLA. Much more important for USC than the UNC win was for Maryland, as USC only had one bad loss. This also hurt UCLA, as they already had one loss. This game allowed Tennessee to sneak in as a 1 seed.
• Speaking of the Vols, they have an astounding 7 wins against the top 50 RPI teams. Thats three more than any other team. However, they only beat the Buckeyes by 5. Is this a sign of weakness, or a sign that the Buckeyes are good?
• Fordham defeats Duquesne. Duquesne's whole tournament resume was based around the fact that they had no bad losses, and this game ruins that.
• Miami (FL) is a pretender. Miami (FL) is a pretender. (Repeat as necessary)
• Baylor picks up a road win. Baylor is for real, and they will make the tournament. This makes me happy, since this improves the Irish chances.
• Texas A&M is not good. They cannot win big games on the road. However, they are not bad. But unless they start winning some road games, they are done for. Same goes for the Irish.
• Kudos to Nova for picking up a road win in the Big East. Through Saturday, home teams in the Big East are 34-9, with only Rutgers having more than one home loss.
• Kudos also to Cincinnati for beating Pittsburgh. Cincinnati needs to continue knocking off top teams so they can overcome their pathetic non-con schedule.
• Drake beats Illinois St. in the battle for the Valley. Drake is now the master of the universe.
• BYU beats Utah in the only significant Saturday MWC action. This probably drops Utah out of the running for an at-large.
• Stanford beat Arizona St. Stanford is moving off of the bubble while ASU is moving closer to the bubble.
• California needs to win a game every so often, or they will miss the tournament.
• Davidson and Chattanooga squared off, and Davidson resoundingly showed that they will win their conference.
• Mississippi loses to Auburn? Inconcievable! This could shove Auburn back into NIT level.
• IUPUI followed up the tough loss at ORU to an unthinkable loss at Centenary. IUPUI went from one-bid stud to one-bid dud in the span of a week.
• Still searching for SWAC teams that want to win.

Sunday:

• Marquette got shellacked on the road by UConn. No one in the Big East is going to end up with a good road record, which will hurt seeding a lot. On the other hand, West Virginia's road win at USF will look very good, even if USF isn't the best team.
• Wake Forest beats Florida St. Enough said.

Monday:

• Syracuse ALMOST beat G'town, which would have pushed them into the tournament. But they didn't, and now they must suffer the consequences.

Big Matchups for Tonight and Tomorrow:

• Wake Forest @ Clemson: Big game for each. A win for the Deacons might push them into the tournament and send the Tigers tumbling out.
• Drake @ Creighton: Jeff from basketballpredictions.com says that Drake will falter once they're in the spotlight. Here they are, on the road, against one of the best teams in the conference. A win here will solidify their position, while a loss will leave many doubts for the Drake.
• Utah @ New Mexico: Another important game regarding the MWC. Quick story: yesterday a friend was going through conference-by-conference, asking me who could realistically win each one. We got to the MWC. I looked at it for a second, then told him "Everyone except Colorado St. and Wyoming"
• UNC @ Miami (FL): The Cane's can show me here that they are not pretenders.
• Virginia @ Florida St.: Bubblicious ACC game.
• Baylor @ Texas A&M: Road win will push Baylor above the bubble, but Texas A&M will be looking for someone to beat after two embarrassing losses sent them tumbling.
• Iowa St. @ Kansas: The Cyclones have been surprising solid at home, but so far do not have a stellar road win.
• UConn @ Cincinnati: The Bearcats are 8-3 at home with wins over Pittsburgh and Villanova and losses to Belmont and Bowling Green. Which team will show up?
• Akron @ Kent St.: For control of the MAC bEast.
• San Diego St. @ BYU: See previous comments regarding MWC.
• Bucknell @ Lafayette: For control of the Patriot League.

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Red Panda Part 2

Now that I have a little more free time, I'll summarize the big games since Saturday:

Saturday:

• North Carolina DOMINATED NC St. in their ACC opener. While this is not a bad loss for the Wolfpack, it will stick in the committee members' minds in March, both as a sign of UNC dominance and NC St. failure.
  
• Meanwhile, Florida St. failed to pick up a big win against Clemson. The Seminoles need something to make their resume stand out.
  
• Kentucky came out of nowhere to upset undefeated Vanderbilt at Rupp. I'd lay money that that sentence was never thought possible prior to this season. Is this a sign that the ship is being righted in for UK, or a sign of troubles down in Vandy?
  
• I was seriously surprised the UConn-G'town game was as close as it was. Perhaps the Hoyas will not have the easy ride to the conference championship that I believed they would. Also, Villanova looks less and less like a tournament-quality team every game. Losing to Cincinnati is not the way to go. (Cincinnati just isn't that good. I don't know how they beat Louisville, but they lost to St. John's by double-digits.)
  
• Kansas St. winning at Oklahoma was key. Both teams will be in the tournament, and this will be the gift that keeps on giving for KSU.
  
• I watched the end of Michigan St. and Iowa, and have determined that Michigan St. is perhaps the worst "good" team in the history of me watching basketball. I really liked them last year, especially Drew Nietzel, but the fact that they are able to play as poorly as they did against Iowa tells me that they have no shot of winning the NCAA Tournament.
  
• Elsewhere in the Big Ten Ohio St. picked up a bad loss at Purdue. Bad in this sense not because PU is horrible, but because they are supposed to be so much better than Purdue. This does not bode well for the Buckeyes.
  
• Arizona came up with a key OOC road win at Houston. Realistically, unless Houston can upset Memphis at least once (out of a probable three chances), they aren't going to make the tournament.
  
• UCLA made their case for being a 1 seed. I watched the end of this game, and the barrage of threes by Washington St. at the end was quite impressive. You probably don't need me to tell you more about this game.
  
• It was not a good day for top teams in low-major conferences. UMBC (America East), Winthrop (Big South), East Tennessee St. (Atlantic Sun), CSU-Fullerton (Big West), and Holy Cross (Patriot) all lost, with all except HC coming at home.
  
• Southern Illinois lost again, this time to Indiana St. I hope everyone (other than true Saluki fans) has gotten off this bandwagon. This is just not their year. This is really the only interesting thing to come out of Saturday from the MVC.
  
• It isn't very far into the conference season, but it appears that the Southern Conference is a two team race between Chattanooga and Davidson.
  
• In the WAC, Utah St. came out victorious over New Mexico St. in the battle of conference leaders. In the MWC, San Diego St. beat New Mexico at New Mexico in the battle of conference leaders. Does anyone else think these two should just merge into a super-conference? (Bonus Point: Another leader in the MWC, UNLV, lost to Air Force. This puts a SERIOUS dent in whatever at-large hopes they had).
  
• Austin Peay won round 1 against SE Missouri St. in a match-up between the two teams most likely to represent the Ohio Valley in the play-in game.
  

Sunday:

• Duquesne showed they belonged at the A-10 party by almost knocking off highly-touted Rhode Island AT RIU. This finally led me to acknowledge that Jeff over at basketballpredictions.blogspot.com may know more about the A-10 than I. (I've been arguing with him for weeks about the A-10, because he believes they will only receive two bids.)
  
• Syracuse showed that they cannot hang with West Virginia. I maintain that Syracuse, like Villanova, is vastly overrated.
  
• IU beat Illinois. Not much news here. I was actually shocked that it was close.

Monday:

• Shocker of the night: Pitt beat Georgetown. It appears that there are several clusters in the Big East: G'town, Marquette, and Pitt at the top, Notre Dame, Louisville, Connecticut, and West Virginia in the high-middle, Villanova, Providence, and Syracuse in the middle, Cincinnati and Depaul in the low-middle, and the other four below them.
  
• Kansas wiped the floor with Oklahoma, showing that they are indeed a (perhaps the) top team in the Big XII.
  
• I've decided that no one truly wants to win the SWAC. I hope some team from that conference uses that statement as motivation.
  
• VMI won to improve to 2-0 in the Big South. They won't win the conference, but by golly I want them to. They are quite entertaining to watch. If you can, find last year's conference championship game between VMI and Winthrop. It was awesome.

Tuesday:

• Miami lost to BC by 10. I believe that this is more an indication that Miami is overrated than the Eagles being a tournament team. However, for BC this is a step in the right direction.
  
• Baylor beat Oklahoma St. I think Baylor is truly going to make the tournament, and I don't think the committee puts as much stock in "name" as people think.
  
• Nebraska lost to Colorado. Ya hear that? That's the sound of Nebraska's at-large hopes falling fast.
  
• Winthrop beat Liberty by only 7 at home. I give it 3:2 odds that Winthrop wins the conference... which isn't good news for them.
  
• Two big games in the Mountain West. UNLV, who lost to Air Force, destroyed BYU. I will say outright that I have not a clue who will win this conference. New Mexico, 14-2 heading into the conference season, lost to a not good TCU team.

This brings us to the games tonight:

• UMass @ Dayton: Massachusetts does not want to fall to 0-2 in-conference, but that is probably what will happen.
  
• North Carolina @ Georgia Tech: Must-win for Georgia Tech. Also won't happen.
  
• Duke @ Florida St.: The Noles are still looking for something shiny to show the selection committee.
  
• Delaware @ VCU: Two of the three teams vying for the conference title.
  
• Drake @ Bradley: Another road test for your MVC-leading Drake. (Note: My roommate couldn't be happier about this.)
  
• Utah @ San Diego St.: The only two teams left undefeated in conference play in the MWC.
  
• Florida @ Mississippi: Game of the night. Mississippi "rebounded" from their tough lost at Tennessee to almost lose at home to not-so-great LSU. Florida is still a mystery, and probably will be until deep into the conference season.

I plan to do another seed list tonight after all the big games are done. I apologize for the long post, and long time since my last post.

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Big East Blogger's Poll Ballot

1. Georgetown
2. Pittsburgh
3. Marquette
4. Notre Dame
5. West Virginia
6. Villanova
7. Connecticut
8. Cincinnati
9. Syracuse
10. Louisville
11. Providence
12. Depaul
13. Seton Hall
14. South Florida
15. St. John's
16. Rutgers

POW: Hibbert, Georgetown

FOW: Blair, Pittsburgh

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Thursday Update

If this post sounds incoherent, it is because I got my wisdom teeth removed this morning and am on medication for the pain. If it is indeed incoherent (and not just containing debatable points), please comment as such. If I get a few of those comments, I will delete this post.

Did anyone see the UNC/UNC-Asheville game last night? I saw the Sportscenter highlights that talked about UNC-A’s Kenny George, but I’d like to know if he is nearly as good as they made him out to be.

Both Marquette and Seton Hall looked quite pathetic in the game Tuesday evening. While Seton Hall wasn’t supposed to be good, Marquette, a ranked team playing at home, seemed like they didn’t even want to win. Perhaps they were looking ahead to Notre Dame. Georgetown further established their dominance with the double-digit win at Depaul. Rutgers has established their place at the bottom of the Big East. Syracuse showed that they are not the lock that some have claimed them to be.

Some other quick thoughts:

• After the tough loss against UNC that made me believe they were a legitimate team in the ACC, Clemson’s loss at home to Charlotte has me doubting them again. I’m not going to write off the Tigers because of one bad loss, but I will be keeping close watch on them. Charlotte also put the A-10 on notice that Dayton, RIU, and Xavier are not going to run away with the conference.
  
• Speaking of the A-10, two games of note from last night. Dayton beat Rhode Island in a highly anticipated match-up in Dayton. I’m not convinced that Dayton is vastly superior, and look forward to the rematch on February 2. In addition, UMass losing to St. Joseph’s showed that there is not a clear-cut 4th team in the A-10 at this time.
  
• Michigan St. had a close call at home against Purdue, following a close call at home against Minnesota. Something is wrong in East Lansing, and it may catch up with them sooner or later.
  
• George Mason lost to Delaware. I will admit that I do not have the slightest clue who will win the CAA.
  
• The Tennessee-Ole Miss game saw another team leave the group of the undefeated. However, it also validated Ole Miss’s start. Either one of these teams could end up winning the SEC.
  
• St. Mary’s picked up that road win they needed, as did Florida.

Tonight:

• West Virginia @ Louisville: At 4th and 30th respectively, this game has the lowest combined Pomeroy Ratings of the night. West Virginia is coming off the win against Marquette, while Louisville lost at home to Cincinnati the last time they played a Big East game.
• Georgia St. @ Virginia Commonwealth: Georgia St. already beat conference favorite George Mason. A victory over VCU would seal the conference to a one-bid fate.
• California @ Oregon: Two teams that will probably end up on the bubble.
• Arkansas @ Auburn: Arkansas needs wins like these to remain on the happy side of bubble-land
• New Mexico St. @ Boise St.: Two of the top teams in the WAC. A win at Boise would make NMSU the favorites to win the conference
• Illinois @ Wisconsin: Illinois needs a miracle to receive an at-large berth. A win at Wisconsin would be a good start.
• Washington St. @ USC: A loss at home would be USC’s third straight loss, and would keep the Cougars undefeated.

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