Bob Knight got his 899th career win.
Eddie Sutton is stuck on 798 career wins.
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| Wayne Ellington plunged the dagger into Clemson nation with his winning 3-pointer. (AP) |
And the rest of the happenings are here in the Monday Look Back.
Best game of the weekend: Faced with the dilemma of watching Roger Clemens lie (we all agree he's probably lying, right?) or staying tuned to North Carolina-Clemson, I opted to TiVo 60 Minutes and stick with basketball. Glad I did. Because what transpired at Littlejohn Coliseum late Sunday was one of the better high-level games to date, a 90-88 overtime victory for the Tar Heels courtesy of a Wayne Ellington 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining. When the sophomore let it go, you just knew it was in, didn't you? And it was difficult not to feel badly for Clemson, which was that close to the type of marquee win that would've quieted all its critics. Maybe next time. But either way, Clemson still performed better than Clemens.
Worst game of the weekend: All those hoping to wake up Saturday and watch Kansas get tested at Boston College must've been disappointed when the Jayhawks won 85-60 after ending the first half on a 25-7 run. Bill Self's team made the Eagles look like a low-major opponent, leading Darnell Jackson to tell reporters "if we keep playing like that and keep our energy up, there's no way we can be stopped." To be clear, I'm not sure there's "no way" Kansas can be stopped. But it appears Jackson is closer to right than wrong given that the Jayhawks are now 14-0 and getting healthier every day.
Win to brag about: Contrary to what the AP story indicated, Arkansas does not have a player named Robert Weems. It's Sonny Weems. And Sonny Weems got 21 points Saturday to lead the Hogs to an 85-78 victory that snapped Baylor's six-game winning streak. Come Selection Sunday, this should be deemed as a quality win by the committee. So it was important in that regard, particularly given how Arkansas has already suffered losses to Providence, Oklahoma and Appalachian State. As for the Robert Weems reference, I have no idea. But there's a Robert Weems who played a racetrack announcer in The Grifters. So perhaps that's what caused the confusion.
Loss to hide from: The debate about Bruce Weber and the Illinois program has been going on for at least a year. Some focused on the man's impressive record to date and wondered why anybody would ask questions while others looked deeper (specifically at the drop-off in recruiting) and suggested things would turn bad soon. In case you didn't know, soon has arrived. The Illini lost again Sunday. At home. To Penn State. And they are now 8-7 overall (including 0-2 in the Big Ten) and a good example of what can happen when a high-level program strings inferior recruiting classes.
Player who deserves improper benefits: It's a tad early to know whether Vanderbilt is a possible Final Four team because it still hasn't played a ranked opponent. But if the Commodores prove legitimate -- and we should know after that Jan. 17 game at Tennessee -- then Shan Foster is going to be a serious candidate for National Player of the Year honors because he's been nothing short of spectacular this season, the latest example being Saturday's 32-point effort that led Vandy to a 97-88 win over UMass. A senior wing, Foster hit 8-of-12 3-point attempts in the victory and is now making 53.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc. He's scored at least 15 points in all 15 games and UMass coach Travis Ford called him "the best player I've seen this year."
Player who should lose his scholarship: Stand there and take a charge or jump and commit a foul. Either is a respectable way to handle the situation. But what you cannot do if you're Jamal Boykin is kinda stand there (but kinda move) and get posterized by Russell Westbrook, who started on one end of the court, gained speed and then dunked all over Boykin in UCLA's 70-58 win at California on Saturday. Man, did he dunk on Boykin! The clip is already on YouTube and the angles presented probably don't do it justice. The dunk was vicious. And if there's a team out there with a more exciting player coming of its bench, I sure would like to see him.
Why I'm smarter than you think: I spent part of the preseason explaining how the Pac-10 would be the nation's toughest conference because it would offer few guaranteed wins, particularly on the road. Now we're just one week into the league schedule and every member already has at least one loss except UCLA, Washington State and Arizona State -- and it's worth noting WSU has only played one game (against Washington) while ASU was fortunate enough to start with two home games (the second of which was against the conference's lone team not capable of competing for an NCAA Tournament bid, namely Oregon State).
Why I'm dumber than I think: In the Obvious prediction portion of the Friday Look Ahead I wrote that the Michigan State-Minnesota game would not be competitive despite it featuring two teams with good records. But what I failed to take into account is that Tubby Smith hasn't coached a bad team in 15 years, and though I'm a big proponent of the players-win-games theory I also realize there are some coaches who are always going to figure out a way to keep their teams competitive even when the makeup of their roster suggests they shouldn't be. Tubby Smith, quite simply, is one of those coaches. He showed it in Saturday's 65-59 loss at Michigan State, and I bet Kentucky fans miss the days when they could play Top 10 teams close. Or any teams close, actually.
Three things you should know before you go
1. Sunday offered a glimpse of how badly Pittsburgh is going to miss Levance Fields. The Panthers needed a game-winning play in the final seconds, and in normal circumstances the ball would've been in Fields' hands. But because the junior point guard is out with an injured foot the ball was in Ronald Ramon's hands, and his hands turned it over for the fifth time and allowed Villanova to escape with a 64-63 victory.
2. The highest-ranked team to lose this weekend was No. 10 Marquette. The Golden Eagles dropped to 1-1 in the Big East with a 79-64 loss at West Virginia that left the league with just four teams (Notre Dame, Syracuse, DePaul and Georgetown) possessing no conference losses.
3. North Carolina-Greensboro announced Saturday morning that it will retire Kyle Hines' No. 42 at a Feb. 28 ceremony before the Spartans' game against Chattanooga. It's a unique move, to retire a number for a player while said player is still playing. But Hines has been so fabulous throughout his career that it's hardly undeserving, although Kevin Oleksiak must be wondering when his honor is coming. I mean, the guy scored 28 points in a win over Central Arkansas last Wednesday and backed it with a 29-point effort in Saturday's win over Georgia Southern. Oleksiak wears No. 20. If he gets 30 points on Monday night against the Citadel all options should be explored.
On tap: On Monday, Butler tries to win its sixth straight game when it visits Loyola. On Tuesday, Purdue gets an opportunity to notch a notable win at Michigan State. On Wednesday, Ole Miss attempts to remain undefeated at the expense of Tennessee. On Thursday, Southern California goes for its first Pac-10 victory when it hosts Washington State.
Final thought: One of the things we learned this weekend is that the gap between good and elite is wider than some want to believe. Make no mistake, I still like Saint Mary's and Patrick Mills. A lot actually. But the Gaels and their heralded point guard obviously floundered when matched against a high-level team with an even-more-heralded point guard, falling 81-62 at Texas while D.J. Augustin further solidified himself as the nation's best at his position.
Augustin got 30 points (on an 11-of-22 effort), four assists and one turnover in the win.
Mills got 12 points (on a 4-of-12 effort), one assist and five turnovers in the loss.
So yeah, the Gaels and Mills are better than most anybody thought in the preseason.
But neither seemed ready for such a stiff test on national television.
