WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- North Carolina is tied for last in the ACC.
Did you ever think you'd read that sentence this season?
Let's do the Monday Look Back.
Best game of the weekend: A record crowd filled the Joel Coliseum late Sunday to watch a pair of Final Four contenders. They were treated to a game that A) matched the hype, B) launched Jeff Teague into frontrunner status for ACC Player of the Year honors, C) proved once and for all that North Carolina isn't a lock to win the national title, and D) established Wake Forest as one of the nation's best teams (if not the best). Final score: WFU 92, UNC 89. So Roy's Boys are now 0-2 in the ACC, and there isn't a person on the planet who thought things would unfold this way.
Worst game of the weekend: I imagine the Marquette fans who wondered if it was proper to promote assistant Buzz Williams are now convinced, because the Golden Eagles just destroyed West Virginia by a 75-53 margin on Saturday to put themselves atop the Big East at 4-0. Sure, Marquette is yet to meet one of the league's perceived powers, somebody like Pittsburgh, Connecticut or Notre Dame. But Williams is 15-2 with wins over Wisconsin, Villanova and now West Virginia, and that's pretty darn good for a guy who this time last year had people questioning whether he should have ever left that head coaching position at New Orleans.
Win to brag about: Sometimes good people have to deal with bad stuff. It's not fair, it makes no sense, and if they wanted to sit around feeling sorry for themselves I'm not sure I could blame them because it's probably easy to do. But that's not the approach Don Meyer has taken. Despite nearly dying in an accident last September and subsequently losing part of a leg, the Northern State coach is still doing exactly what he has always done, i.e., winning games and downplaying the significance. Meyer's 82-62 victory over Mary on Saturday was the 903rd of his career. Thus, he's now the winningest men's coach in college basketball history, and that's something that shouldn't be downplayed -- plus a reminder that nice things can follow bad times even if it doesn't always seem that way.
Loss to hide from: Though I really like this Arkansas team, my concern all along was that they were just young enough to offset quality wins with horrific losses. That belief came to fruition Saturday when they lost 70-56 to an incredibly average/five-loss Mississippi State team. So Arkansas has beaten Oklahoma and Texas but lost to Mississippi State and Missouri State, which proves John Pelphrey should probably play more Big 12 powers (bring on Baylor!) and stay away from M-State schools (Murray State must be avoided).
Player who deserves improper benefits: Former Georgetown coach John Thompson made headlines last week when he said the Hoyas, now coached by his son John Thompson III, needed some "thugs" on their roster to help in the frontcourt. Me? I just think they need another Greg Monroe, because the freshman forward showed again why he's one of the few first-year players legitimately ready to jump to the NBA in Saturday's 82-75 win over Providence. Monroe finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and five steals in 35 minutes. So while I'm not sure whether that qualifies him as a thug, I am sure that I'm impressed.
Player who should lose his scholarship: It's bad to get dunked on regardless of the dunker, but it's completely unacceptable when the dunker is a 6-foot, 185-pound point guard, which brings me to Syracuse's 82-66 win at Rutgers. Did you see Jonny Flynn's dunk on Mike Rosario? Holy moly. If not, click this link and take a look at Saturday's top highlight while I encourage all college basketball players to always go for the block when a 6-foot point guard tries to dunk; the alternative has you just standing under the goal at risk of being posterized by a tiny player, and if it happens you can't live it down. Mike Rosario is proof. I swear, we might never know exactly what happened between Eric Devendorf and that female student two months ago, but I guarantee you it wasn't worse than what Flynn did to Rosario this weekend. Good Lord, that was nasty.
Why I'm smarter than you think: I told anybody who would listen that Illinois State was simply a product of its schedule, that the Redbirds weren't Top 25 material, that their 14-0 start was the same 14-0 start 50 or more schools could have if they chose to assemble a similar nonleague slate. I felt very strongly about this. I had no doubt things would turn. And then Illinois State lost 75-70 in overtime to a 12-loss Indiana State team on Saturday, so now I look brilliant because, honestly, do schools that are worthy of Top 25 votes lose to 12-loss teams? I don't think they do.
Why I'm dumber than I think: I pretty much gave up on Alabama after a 1-2 start with losses to Mercer and Oregon, and I think most of the nation was with me. But the Crimson Tide have won 10 of their past 12 after Sunday's 65-59 victory over LSU, and they must now be considered the favorites -- along with Arkansas -- to take the SEC West crown, which would likely lead to an NCAA tournament appearance that would end Ron Steele's career on the good note it deserves.
Three things you should know before you go
1. Turns out, the way to get through to Bobby Maze is to tell the Tennessee point guard at halftime of his SEC opener that you're having second thoughts about ever recruiting him. That's what UT assistant Steve Forbes (the point man on Maze's recruitment) did after watching Maze back a zero-assist effort in 36 minutes against Gonzaga with no assists in the first half of Saturday's game at Georgia. Fed up, Forbes grabbed Maze by the jersey, laid into him (which in the South translates to "dog-cussed" him), and the result was Maze getting 11 points and two assists in the second half to lead the Vols to an 86-77 victory over Georgia. "I give a lot of credit to Coach Forbes," Maze told Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "That meant a lot to me. It definitely pushed a lot of fire into me."
2. After Kalin Lucas missed all three of his 3-point attempts in that lopsided loss to North Carolina, Michigan State had a 4-2 record and Lucas was shooting 15.4 percent from 3-point range. Both were surprising. But then Lucas hit one of two against Bradley, two of four against Alcorn State, and with his 3-of-4 effort in Saturday's 75-62 victory over Kansas the sophomore guard has now made 15 of his past 24 3-point attempts. Put another way, Lucas -- who was shooting 15.4 percent from beyond the arc in MSU's first six games -- is shooting 62.5 percent from beyond the arc in the Spartans' past nine games, which is one of the main reasons Tom Izzo's team is on a nine-game winning streak.
3. The folks at Central Florida really ought to put John Calipari on payroll considering the Memphis coach did his best to inject life into their program Saturday night, spending a good deal of his press conference (following the Tigers' 73-66 win at UCF) explaining to the city of Orlando why it should support the fellow Conference USA school. Here is (in part) what Calipari said, according to the Orlando Sentinel: "All I'm saying to this community, you got a jewel. You know what I did this afternoon? I went around the campus. I went in the football facilities. I went over and looked at the soccer field (and) the baseball field. I'm looking at the buildings and the housing. This looks like you're in Disney. This is like a jewel here, (and) I don't understand why people here aren't like, 'This is our program.' ... I can't say (it) enough: Of all the programs in our league, this is the one that's about to do this (points up). And all I would say to everyone in this community, I'd jump on now. I'd jump on now. Get great seats, watch this thing go."
On tap: On Monday, the two best teams in the Big 12 will meet when Texas visits Oklahoma. On Tuesday, Billy Gillispie will try to improve to 2-0 in the SEC when Kentucky visits Tennessee. On Wednesday, it'll be another Big East showdown when Georgetown hosts Syracuse. On Thursday, a couple of possible lottery picks will be on the court when Arizona State (with James Harden) battles Southern California (with DeMar DeRozan).
Final thought: One of the things Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic pointed out in his blog about Arizona State's 76-58 win over Oregon was a play late in the first half that featured ASU's James Harden diving for (and getting) a loose ball at the feet of Tajuan Porter, which led to Oregon coach Ernie Kent benching Porter for the rest of the game. It reminded me of a play I saw a few weeks ago, when Oklahoma's Blake Griffin suddenly dove on the floor for a loose ball at the feet of an Arkansas player, and I just found it interesting that the possible first and second picks of next June's NBA Draft are both guys who play extremely hard and genuinely try to do the little things to help their teams win games.
Now don't get me wrong, Griffin and Harden aren't going to be lottery picks because of their hustle; rather, it'll be because of Griffin's combination of size and athleticism, and Harden's ability to score. But all young players would be wise to realize that if Griffin and Harden aren't above diving for loose balls, nobody should be above diving for loose balls -- including Tajuan Porter, who should be diving for anything and everything to try to make up for the fact that he has notched more turnovers (37) than assists (30) this season while playing for a team stuck in last place in the Pac-10.
