The season is about six weeks old, we have more than three months until the Final Four takes over New Orleans, and already all sorts of things have gone down. There have been big surprises (Montana over Stanford) and expected results (San Diego over UCLA).
There have been some amazing performances (Tom Coverdale's 30 against Maryland), some thrilling developments (North Carolina's high-energy freshman) and some disappointing starts (Temple).
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| Notre Dame's Chris Thomas is showing he might be the nation's top point guard(AP) |
Some teams we like
Arizona: Don't sweat the loss at LSU; these guys are really good, and when Luke Walton returns, they'll be even better. Just too much experience, poise and talent to fall apart now.
Notre Dame: At this point of the year, you can make the argument that Chris Thomas is the nation's best point guard. And he's surrounded by a ton of talent for ND (10-1), including freshman big man Torin Francis, who has helped fill the shoes of graduated Ryan Humphrey.
Mississippi State: The Bulldogs could have fallen into the trap of complaining, whining and blaming when a NCAA investigation forced Mario Austin to sit out the first six games. Instead, MSU grew more determined, and everyone else stepped up their play. Now that Austin is back, the Bulldogs (7-1) look like the real deal.
Creighton: At 9-0, including some quality victories (Notre Dame) this exceptional offensive team looks like the real thing. Might be Dana Altman's best team yet in Omaha, and he has been to the past four NCAAs.
Saint Joseph's: Wasn't this how last season was supposed to go? After never living up to heightened expectations back then, the Hawks are 7-0, including an opening night thumping of Boston College, and boast a star in guard Jameer Nelson.
Illinois: At 8-0 and with Brian Cook playing with passion, the Illini are off to a great start. You have to love the effort, intensity and joy that the freshman class (especially Dee Brown) has brought to a team that a year ago was prone to Frankie Williams' mood swings.
Indiana: Mike Davis game meltdowns aside, no one thought the Hoosiers would be playing this well (8-1). IU's depth at guard is exceptional, and the IU offense creates a seemingly endless supply of open looks.
Marquette: At 7-1, the Golden Warriors are led by superb Dwyane Wade. But he isn't all that Tom Crean's club has going for it. With Cincinnati struggling on offense, this could be the team to finally break the Bearcats' stranglehold on the Conference USA crown.
Tough days
Penn State: A dismal 2-6, including two loses to Ivy League teams. A long way down from the 2000 Sweet 16.
UMass: A dismal 2-6, including losses to Central Connecticut and Lafayette. One of the victories is against D-II Chaminade. A long way down from John Calipari.
New Mexico: As if the on-court struggles and blowout losses weren't bad enough, the spinal injury to Senque Carey sucked the life out of this team for two weeks.
Temple: Less talent, same brutal schedule. A recipe for disaster.
UCLA: Less talent, same occasional lackadaisical effort. A recipe for disaster.
Not bad, but not as great as expected
Western Kentucky: At 5-3, the Hilltoppers are still playing pretty well. But this wasn't how anyone expected the much-anticipated season to go. Center Chris Marcus is still out with an ankle injury, and fellow big man Todor Pandov is lost for the season. Oh, and New Mexico State looks ready for a dogfight in the Sun Belt.
Kansas: The stumbles in New York -- losses to North Carolina and Florida -- rattled the confidence of this team a bit. Picked by some to win it all and by everyone to make the Final Four, the Jayhawks need better depth, more go-to guys and a tougher attitude. KU (5-3) is good, just not dominant.
Probably great but still unproven
Connecticut: The Huskies look good, but then again, how can't you against Quinnipiac, Wagner, Sacred Heart and Asheville? The way UMass is playing, that nine-point half is cause for concern.
Pittsburgh: You have to respect an 8-0 start and all that returning talent, but the only way to make the schedule easier was by convincing Farleigh and Dickinson to split up and each send a team.
Duke: With six freshmen, Mike Krzyzewski obviously went with the take-it-slow approach. How's No. 305 SOS? It's not all K's fault though. UCLA, Ohio State and Michigan are all down this year.
Louisville: There is plenty to like about Rick Pitino's club, but because Marvin Stone wasn't eligible until last week, the Cards purposely kept the lifting light early. We'll know more soon.
Keep an eye on ...
We won't bore you with the high profile mid-majors (Butler, Creighton, Charleston). But keep an eye on these less-heralded of the less-heralded: Eastern Washington, Holy Cross, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Oral Roberts, New Mexico State, Hampton and Kent State.
Best conference
The SEC: No question the SEC East is a great division -- with Florida, Kentucky and Georgia expected to battle for the division crown. But how about the West? That's where Alabama, Louisiana State, Mississippi State and Ole Miss are a combined 28-4 and all looking dangerous. Just edges out the Big 12.
Most improved conference
The Ivy: Don't laugh -- this may be the best season for the league in a long, long time. Everyone knows Penn and Princeton have dominated play forever. So how about this? Harvard is 7-2, Yale is 5-2 and both look capable of contending. Penn (3-2) already owns victories over Villanova, Temple and Penn State. Princeton just took Texas to the wire. Not bad.
Best excuse for a 1-5 record
Delaware State: It hasn't been pretty, but according to Monday's RPI, the Hornets have played the nation's toughest schedule. That's good enough for a 103 RPI, which is only five spots behind 7-0 Georgetown, which has played a weaker schedule (No. 320 nationally) than LeBron James.
Biggest surprises
West Virginia being 7-1. Just consider that this team was so bad last year, legendary coach Gale Catlett retired in the middle of the season rather than deal with the players any longer. Then WVU went through a coaching search that didn't yield any of its top choices, finally got Bowling Green's Dan Dakich, only to see him quit after a week citing potential NCAA infractions (which turned out to be minor). Finally, John Beilein came over from Richmond, cleaned house and took a team that doesn't appear to have much going for it and wound up this good. Incredible.
College of Charleston, with rookie coach Tom Herrion, capturing the Great Alaska Shootout that included Michigan State, Villanova and Oklahoma State.
Offensively challenged Cincinnati absolutely annihilating high-octane Oregon at the Jimmy V Classic. Complete one-night role reversal for the teams.
Bob Knight getting a standing ovation at a road game. It happened. Playing at UTEP, the Texas Tech coach received a standing ovation from a better part of the 10,000-plus Miner fans in attendance.
It happened
Yes, we swear on the name of Bevo Francis (the former Rio Grande (Ohio) College star who scored 116 points in a 1953 game) that Drake and D-III Grinnell College did combine for 272 points (162 of them by Drake) in a December game. And yes, the 3-point happy Grinnell guys did launch 102 shots, 73 of them from behind the arc. And no, Billy Tubbs has not resurfaced as the Grinnell coach.
Best shot
Tennessee's Jon Higgins' game-winner against Georgia Tech. With 0.5 seconds left the Volunteer guard had to catch the ball, turn and fire despite the presence of a Yellow Jacket defender. Oh, and he had to hit the shot, too.
Best game
Maryland vs. Indiana, in Indianapolis. The rematch of the national championship game was a thriller, with Maryland almost winning the thing on a half-court shot by Steve Blake that was released just after the horn sounded. The Hoosiers went on to win in overtime, but both teams had to feel good about being a part of a classic, played in front of a charged-up Conseco Fieldhouse crowd.
Best freshman
The ACC has a bunch of good ones. Bracey Wright at Indiana is a stud. Ditto for Hassan Adams at Arizona. But the season Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony is putting together is truly one for the ages. The 6-8 Baltimore native is averaging a ridiculous 24.7 points and 10.1 rebounds. There simply haven't been many freshman ever who were better.
Great lines
"Our only chance was if they came out in green jerseys." -- Canisius coach Mike MacDonald after a 93-75 loss to Notre Dame, referring to the Irish football team's loss to Boston College after donning the green jerseys.
"I told them we're still playing Michigan." -- Western Michigan coach Robert McCullum describing how he had to guard against overconfidence after his team watched film of the Wolverines. Western (7-2) fought off complacency and defeated the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
"They say great players can't be great coaches, so I guess he couldn't have been too good of a player." -- Xavier's David West paying a left-handed compliment to his coach, Thad Matta.
"That's terrible." -- ESPN broadcaster Bill Walton, after hearing during an in-game break that Washington State had beaten his alma mater, UCLA. Walton proceeded to list a litany of problems with the program and mention alumni displeasure with coach Steve Lavin. The only thing was, the result was from a football game.
"Yes, that's Mr. Peanut. As a kid my nickname was Peanut. I had a funny shaped head." -- Alabama's Maurice Williams, explaining why in the world he has a tattoo of the cartoon nut pitchman on his arm.
"The only test they didn't give him was to see if he was pregnant." -- Kansas coach Roy Williams on the battery of exams doctors performed on Kirk Hinrich's injured back.
Coolest thing that happened
Not only did Alaska-Fairbanks become the first Division II team to win a Division I Tournament -- the Top of the World Classic it's host to. Not only did the Nanooks defeat Weber State, Nebraska and Wisconsin-Green Bay. And not only did the town of Fairbanks celebrate with a parade that drew thousands.
But, in the coolest development of the entire season thus far, the MVP of the tournament was a kid named Brad Oleson, who hails from, of all places, North Pole, Alaska.
How did the recruiting gurus miss this kid?
