Friday Look Ahead: Short-handed Vols face tall task in Jayhawks
Now that we got that silly college football out of the way, it's time to focus on college basketball, you know, the sport where the little guys matter, where everything is decided on the court, where it's almost impossible for a star player to get tackled and injure his shoulder.
In this sport, that's not a game-changer.
It's two free throws and the ball.
Let's do the Friday Look Ahead.
Best game of the weekend: Tennessee played its first game without its four arrested players Wednesday night, and the Vols looked more like a traditional "Bruce Pearl team" than they have in a while. They played together, played hard, and cruised to an 88-71 win over Charlotte, leaving some to wonder if this could be a classic case of addition by subtraction. Me? I'm not ready to go that far yet because it's difficult to consistently compete at a high level when you're down four players. But either way, it should make for a wild atmosphere Sunday afternoon when the 16th-ranked Vols host No. 1 Kansas at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Another interesting matchup: Purdue is the other undefeated team with a tough road test on tap this weekend. The No. 4 Boilermakers play Saturday at No. 17 Wisconsin, which is rarely simple for the visitor. The Badgers are 129-10 at the Kohl Center since Bo Ryan took over in 2001, and they've already notched a win there over Duke this season. Just saying.
Yet another interesting matchup: A testament to the strength and depth of the Big East is that No. 13 Connecticut will play Saturday at No. 12 Georgetown, and the game will almost certainly have no real bearing on the race for the league title. Both teams are good, sure. But they're still ranked behind No. 6 Villanova, No. 7 Syracuse and No. 8 West Virginia in the latest AP poll. Meantime, Pittsburgh is ranked 23rd (and rising), meaning there will be at least six Big East teams ranked next week, and perhaps seven if Marquette upsets Villanova. My guess: Even the winner of UConn-Georgetown won't finish better than fourth in the Big East, although either could win the Pac-10 by four games.
Guaranteed to be a blowout: Texas has been sketchy lately, struggling with both Texas A&M-CC and Arkansas. But the Longhorns will have no such problems Saturday against Colorado. I predict they'll run the Buffalos off the court ... unless, of course, Damion James takes a hit on his opening drive, injures his shoulder and is replaced by a true freshman. If that happens, things could prove difficult.
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Guaranteed to be an upset: I'm returning to my tried and true formula for picking unranked teams over ranked teams, which means I'm going with a capable unranked team at home against a ranked team on the road. I nearly took unranked UTEP at home over No. 25 BYU, but I went with the Miners last week and missed. So I'm taking unranked Maryland at home over No. 18 Florida State despite the fact the Terrapins haven't beaten anybody as good as FSU, and that they've already lost at home to William & Mary. Gary Williams, don't let me down.
Player trying to keep rolling: Another reasonable pick for an unranked team over a ranked team would be unranked Missouri over No. 11 Kansas State, but I'm not interested in going against Jacob Pullen. The junior guard has made 26 of 43 (60.5 percent) 3-point attempts in KSU's past five games and recorded a 30-point effort against Alabama and a 23-point effort (in just 23 minutes) against South Dakota. Truth be told, Pullen really ought to be getting more serious All-America consideration than he's getting. He could have the Wildcats at 16-1 and ranked in the top 10 heading into a Jan. 18 game against Texas.
Player trying to get rolling: Considering the way Duke is playing (seven straight wins) and the way Georgia Tech is playing (coming off a loss to Georgia), there aren't many reasons to think the Yellow Jackets will handle Mike Krzyzewski's team Saturday in Atlanta. Still, there's a chance, if only because Georgia Tech has Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. But Iman Shumpert has to be better or else an upset is unlikely. Shumpert missed six games after knee surgery, and was OK in his return at Charlotte. But his second game back was the Georgia game, i.e., a loss in which he finished 1 of 7 from the field with five turnovers.
Three things you need to know
1. Rhode Island's 12-1 start is one of the nation's surprises, but the Rams still haven't received much Top 25 consideration. That'll change if they handle No. 21 Temple on Sunday and move to 13-1. Jim Baron for Coach of the Year?
2. Among the players posting big numbers who you've probably never seen is Lipscomb's Adnan Hodzic, a junior center from Bosnia who is averaging 22.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Yes, some of that is against Atlantic Sun competition. But Hodzic got 18 and 4 against Vanderbilt, 18 and 6 against Ohio State, 18 and 6 against Cincinnati, and 34 and 13 against Arizona, meaning he's performed against high-major competition, too. He'll play against USC Upstate on Saturday. Don't forget to check the box score.
3. Around Thanksgiving it seemed the West Coast Conference season-opening game between Gonzaga and Portland might be between two ranked teams, but that never materialized because the Pilots have taken four losses since finishing second to West Virginia in the 76 Classic. Still, Saturday's game between the 19th-ranked Zags and Portland is noteworthy. If the Zags win, they'll be on their way to another WCC title. If not, the league race could be interesting.
Final thought: I like to think I give as much or more attention to the non-BCS leagues as anybody, but I admit it's easy to focus on the Kentuckys and North Carolinas of the world and lose track of everything else. It's never intentional, it just happens. And that's why I'd like to use this space to tell you that Conference USA, the Missouri Valley Conference, and the Mountain West Conference are all going to be fun leagues to follow from now through March.
Is this the year somebody not named Memphis wins Conference USA?
Could Derrick Caracter be the league's Player of the Year?
Can the Missouri Valley get multiple bids?
Can the MVC get four?
The questions surrounding these leagues are endless.
But there's no question that they're going to be intriguing.
