Weekend Look Ahead: Big Ten leaders narrow from 3 to 1 on Sunday
This weekend has exactly two games between ranked teams.
That's depressing.
And boring.
But I'll get through it, I think. Either way, here's the Weekend Look Ahead.
Top game: We enter the weekend with three teams tied atop the Big Ten standings, and two of them play Sunday. It's No. 20 Michigan at No. 4 Ohio State, which means it's a nice point guard matchup between Trey Burke (Michigan) and Aaron Craft (OSU). And because the other team that's tied for first (Michigan State) is off this weekend, the Michigan-Ohio State winner will be all alone atop the Big Ten standings the moment the final buzzer sounds.
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Podcast: Another interesting matchup: I watched Mississippi State get a nice road victory at Vanderbilt last weekend and became a believer in Rick Stansbury's Bulldogs. They've got a legitimate star (Arnett Moultrie), an experienced point guard (Dee Bost) and some nice supporting pieces (Rodney Hood, Renard Sidney, Jalen Steele, Brian Bryant), and I won't be surprised if this team advances to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. I also won't be surprised if the 18th-ranked Bulldogs win Saturday at 14th-ranked Florida.
Yet another interesting matchup: Iowa State played Missouri to the final minute earlier this month, and the Cyclones are talented enough to do the same Saturday against fifth-ranked Kansas. In fact, I was this close to picking ISU over KU as my guaranteed upset. But I'm tired of predicting the Jayhawks to be something less than what they are. Every time I think they're about to slip, they prove me wrong. So I'm just gonna stay out of it.
Guaranteed to be a blowout: Missouri has the nation's second most efficient offense. Texas Tech is terrible on defense (and in general). Those two teams play Saturday at Mizzou Arena. The second-ranked Tigers will win by at least 20 and perhaps 30. And then that midweek loss at Oklahoma State will seem like less of a big deal.
Guaranteed to be an upset: I don't know if Pittsburgh is back. But Travonn Woodall is back -- and he had 17 points against Providence the other night. Simply put, the junior point guard is a difference-maker. So give me the Panthers over No. 9 Georgetown on Saturday at the Peterson Events Center. Which means I'm taking the team that's tied for last in the Big East over the team that's tied for second in the Big East. And I actually feel pretty good about it.
Player trying to keep rolling: I haven't been to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in a few years, but Doug McDermott is so impressive that I'm almost certainly attending this season. The sophomore has Creighton ranked 15th nationally heading into Saturday's game against Bradley. He got 30 points and nine rebounds Wednesday against Drake. He's the nation's second-leading scorer. He has been consistently great all season and scored at least 30 on four different occasions.
Player trying to get rolling: Cody Zeller isn't the reason Indiana has dropped four of its past five games, but his seven-point/three-rebound effort against Wisconsin on Thursday sure didn't help the 16th-ranked Hoosiers in their attempt to stop their slide. Indiana hosts Iowa on Sunday. Tom Crean's team needs a win to regain confidence. Zeller needs to be big because IU can't be good unless he's good.
Three things you need to know
1. Bobby Cremins has taken a leave of absence for health reasons and thus will not coach Charleston in Saturday's game against Wofford. Cremins is 64 years old. This is his sixth season at Charleston.
2. Syracuse is expected to play its third consecutive game without Fab Melo on Saturday when the third-ranked Orange host West Virginia. The sophomore center is being held out because of what's been described as an "academic issue."
3. Miami announced on Friday that Jim Larranaga has agreed to a three-year contract extension. The Hurricanes play at Boston College on Sunday.
Final thought: I'm staying home this weekend and most of next week too.
And it's not because of budget cuts or laziness.
It's because I'm bored by the season.
This occurred to me a few weeks ago when I was trying to find a trip to take during the second half of January. There were some OK games but nothing that I felt was worth getting on a plane to attend. And then I started bouncing my thoughts off of other college basketball writers, and they mostly agreed that the season is lacking interesting storylines outside of Kentucky and maybe Murray State. Doug McDermott is great, but he's not as exciting as Jimmer. Thomas Robinson is great, but he doesn't dunk like Blake. North Carolina has been a disappointment relative to expectations. And none of the schools that were supposed to push Kentucky in the SEC (Florida, Vanderbilt, Alabama) have lived up to their preseason hype, and my guess is that the Wildcats are going to win the league by multiple games.
(All together now … B-0-R-I-N-G.)
To be clear, I'm not giving up on the season.
I'm still optimistic that the NCAA tournament will be great if only because it always is.
But the excitement I had in November is no longer around.
Why?
Because I love great stories.
And this season just hasn't produced enough of them.
