Friday Look Ahead: Kentucky crazies craving SEC showdown
Jim Calhoun is back.
But Hasheem Thabeet is not, and neither is Jeff Adrien or A.J. Price. Thus, it would be foolish to expect the Hall of Fame coach to get Connecticut turned around and back in position to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Still, Calhoun's return does ensure his final game won't be a January loss at Michigan. Now, it'll likely be a March loss in the NIT.
But whatever.
It's nice that he's back.
That's the point.
Let's do the Friday Look Ahead ...
Best game of the weekend: Further proof that Kentucky fans are insane (and I mean that in a good way, mostly) will come when 23,000 people fill Rupp Arena to watch ... a pregame show. Seriously, the school distributed 23,000 tickets -- i.e., every ticket available -- for Saturday morning's taping of College GameDay that will originate live in advance of Saturday night's SEC East showdown between the No. 3 Wildcats and 12th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, and it's days like these when I wonder if NBC made a mistake by not giving John Calipari a shot at The Tonight Show. Is he as quick as Conan O'Brien? Absolutely not. But Calipari would very clearly draw ratings, at least in the commonwealth of Kentucky.
Another interesting matchup: Seven Atlantic 10 teams enter the weekend with either two or three league losses, and two of those teams -- No. 21 Temple (7-2) and unranked Rhode Island (7-3) -- will meet Saturday in Philadelphia. Assuming Temple wins, go ahead and make the Owls the favorite to take the conference crown because their remaining schedule is favorable. Sure, four of the final six games are on the road. But the opponents are St. Bonaventure (3-6), Saint Joseph's (3-7), Dayton (6-3), La Salle (3-6), Saint Louis (6-3), and George Washington (2-7), meaning Temple only has one remaining regular-season game against a team Jerry Palm projects to make the NCAA tournament. That game, against Dayton, is at home. For the purpose of comparison, consider that Richmond (8-2) has three more games against A-10 projected NCAA tournament teams, as does Charlotte (8-2). Xavier has two, one of which is on the road.
Yet another interesting matchup: Seven different Big 12 schools have been ranked in the AP poll at one time or another this season, but Missouri isn't one of them despite the fact that the Tigers are tied for second in the Big 12 standings. Truth be told, I'm not sure Mike Anderson's team will break into the Top 25 even with a win Saturday at No. 24 Baylor given that they only received three points in the latest AP poll. But a win would get the Tigers serious consideration for the Top 25 (and one), and it would be difficult to leave them out with a 19-6 record featuring wins over Kansas State, Baylor, Illinois and Old Dominion, especially when you consider that three of their losses are to the teams ranked No. 1 (Kansas), No. 18 (Texas A&M) and No. 20 (Vanderbilt) in the latest Top 25 (and one).
Guaranteed to be a blowout: Kansas just destroyed Texas at Texas, and Iowa State has dropped six of seven since Lucca Staiger abandoned his team between road games at Nebraska and Texas Tech. Beyond that, it should be noted that Kansas won 84-61 at ISU last month. So if you can come up with a good reason why the top-ranked Jayhawks won't again punish Iowa State, please let me know before Saturday night's tipoff at Allen Fieldhouse. Unless I hear from you, I'll be expecting a 20-point win, at least.
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B/R: Weekend Slate |
Guaranteed to be an upset: As long as you'll accept that an unranked team beating a ranked team is an upset -- and for these purposes, I'm requiring you to do so -- then I'm taking unranked Wake Forest over No. 20 Georgia Tech on Saturday, this despite it being true that the Yellow Jackets beat the Demon Deacons by 21 points just two weeks ago. That's in the past, far as I'm concerned. What's in the future is a Wake Forest win that will propel the Demon Deacons to a top-three finish in the ACC and an NCAA tournament berth.
Player trying to keep rolling: Purdue's E'Twaun Moore had 25 points, six assists and three rebounds in Tuesday night's win at Michigan State that created a four-way tie (in the loss column) atop the Big Ten standings. It won't take a similar effort to get the Boilermakers past Iowa on Saturday, but the subsequent game is at Ohio State, and he might as well stay hot until then, right?
Player trying to get rolling: The decline of Texas' Dexter Pittman continued in Monday's loss to Kansas. The senior center had three points and three rebounds in 21 minutes, marking the eighth time in 10 outings that Pittman has been held to single-digits in points, this after scoring in double-figures in 11 of UT's first 14 games. The 14th-ranked Longhorns host Nebraska on Saturday. If Pittman is going to get right, this would be a good time to do it, just before Texas embarks on a two-game road trip featuring tilts at Missouri and Texas Tech.
Three things you need to know before you go
1. Notre Dame's Luke Harangody left Thursday's loss to Seton Hall with a bone bruise in his right knee, and he will miss Sunday's game against St. John's. Harangody is averaging 24.1 points and 10.0 rebounds for the Irish, who are 17-8 overall, 6-6 in the Big East.
2. Memphis big man Will Coleman will get his first shot at Tulsa's Jerome Jordan this weekend, and it's something Coleman has been looking forward to for a while -- since Oct. 24, actually, when the junior college transfer Tweeted the following: "Put that on my momma Jerome Jordan get shut down when he see Memphis..Coleman ain't havin it." I can't say for sure, but that seems like a shot. So it'll be interesting to see how Jordan -- AKA, Coleman's momma -- responds Saturday when the two face off in a game between a pair of C-USA's top four teams.
3. Remember when I watched Ohio State lose at West Virginia three weeks ago and wrote how it wasn't a big deal, that the Buckeyes' tough start was merely a result of Evan Turner's injury and a front-loaded schedule, and that they were about to win five straight and enter Saturday's game with Illinois in sole possession of second place in the Big Ten standings? Well, I was wrong. I mean, I was correct about the five straight wins, but the Buckeyes are not in sole possession of second in the Big Ten standings; they're tied for first. I apologize for misleading you.
Final thought: Regardless of what I think of Northern Iowa, it's undeniable that the Panthers are running away with a traditionally competitive Missouri Valley Conference, and that alone is impressive. Consequently, I'm ready to give in, compromise and rank UNI in the Top 25 (and one) as long as the Panthers win Saturday at Bradley.
That's a promise, Northern Iowa fans.
A win at Bradley would push UNI to 23-2 overall, 14-1 in the MVC and it would clinch the outright league title. There would still be a shortage of quality wins, of course, and that has always bothered me. But I'm not interested in debating the merits of UNI any longer, nor am I patient enough to explain myself again Sunday night after the Top 25 (and one) is updated.
I'm ready to move on.
So a win gets you in.
A loss keeps you out.
That's a promise.
I promise.
