Rank (Last Week) | Record | Comment |
1. Kentucky (1) | 21-1 | Fast forward to a challenging week – a week from now (vs. Florida on Feb. 7, at Vanderbilt four days later). |
2. Syracuse (2) | 22-1 | No Big East victory gets tossed back into the water but, yes, that was a goal-tending call missed by the officiating crew during the two-point win over West Virginia. |
3. Ohio State (3) | 19-3 | The Buckeyes have won their past four games by an average margin of 22.5 points. |
4. Duke (6) | 18-3 | It’s Virginia Tech (on the road, Thursday) and Miami (home, Sunday) before the tilt we’re all hankering to see – at North Carolina on Feb. 8. |
5. Missouri (4) | 19-2 | Every week in the Big 12 is challenging – especially this one for the Tigers (at Texas Monday night and home to Kansas on Saturday). |
6. Kansas (5) | 17-4 | Player of the Year frontrunner Thomas Robinson had one of his poorest performances of the season in the loss at Iowa State. |
7. North Carolina (8) | 18-3 | Odd Stats line Dept. – Harrison Barnes has only three assists but 13 turnovers this month. |
| 8. Baylor (7) | 19-2 | The Bears bounced back nicely last week from their two consecutive losses. |
9. Michigan State (9) | 17-4 | The Spartans have allowed as many as 70 points only once in the Big Ten play. |
10. Creighton (10) | 20-2 | Here’s hoping for a Saint Mary’s-Creighton BracketBuster matchup announcement later Monday. |
11. Murray State (11) | 21-0 | Best remaining chance at regular-season loss will come in BracketBuster matchup. |
12. UNLV (13) | 20-3 | The Rebels were oh-so-close – as in a pair of overtime victories – to returning to Las Vegas with two more MWC defeats. |
13. Florida State (15) | 14-6 | Saturday home ACC clash with Virginia is one of the best games of the week, anywhere. |
14. Saint Mary’s (NR) | 21-2 | See No. 10 team’s comment. |
15. Indiana (14) | 17-5 | The five-loss (in conference) Hoosiers can’t afford any more Big Ten defeats to maintain slim hopes for conference regular-season title. |
16. San Diego State (12) | 18-3 | The Aztecs were really jolted for one of the few times all season Saturday in Ft. Collins. |
On the cusp: Virginia 17-3, Florida 17-4, Marquette 18-4, Gonzaga 17-3, Wisconsin 17-5, Michigan 16-6, Harvard 18-2, Mississippi State 17-5, Georgetown 16-4, Vanderbilt 16-5, Notre Dame 14-8, Louisville 17-5, Nevada 18-3, Iowa State 15-6, Middle Tennessee 20-3, Oral Roberts 20-4, Wichita State 18-4
THE TOP PERFORMANCES OF JAN. 23-29
TEAMS: Washington (won Pac-12 road games against Arizona State and Arizona), Notre Dame (won Big East road games against Seton Hall and Connecticut), Nevada (won WAC road games against Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State), Saint Mary’s (won WCC road games against Loyola-Marymount and BYU), UNLV (won MWC road games, in overtime, against Boise State and Air Force)
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Notre Dame
PLAYERS: Mason Plumlee (Duke/scored 19 ppg and grabbed 14.5 rpg, with 3 apg, in victories over Maryland and St. John’s), Tony Wroten (Washington/went for 19.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 3.5 apg, with 1.5 steals and 1 bpg , in victories over Arizona State and Arizona), Nasir Robinson (Pittsburgh/hit 16 of 22 shots from the floor while scoring 18.5 ppg and grabbing 7 rpg as the Panthers collected first two Big East victories, over Providence and Georgetown), Doug McDermott (Creighton/27 ppg in wins over Drake and Bradley), Perry Jones III (Baylor/hit 16 of 27 shots while scoring 21 and 22 points, respectively, win Big 12 wins over Oklahoma and Texas; grabbed a collective 26 rebounds in the games), Anthony Davis (Kentucky/scored only 10 ppg but missed just one of eight shots from the field in SEC wins over Georgia and LSU, grabbing 10.5 rpg rebounds and blocking eight shots in the process) and James Ennis (Long Beach State/the transfer from Ventura College scored 35 points with four rebounds, six assists and six steals to help the 49ers improve to 9-0 in the BWC with wins at UC Riverside and at home to Cal State Fullerton).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Plumlee
Frank Burlison has been covering hoops for 30+ years for a variety of publications.
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Plumlee
The triplets get ushered out of the paint by thicker guys. They’ll have to rectify this if they want to last in the league…
As much as I’d like to forget
As much as I’d like to forget the losses to Harvard, Princeton, and Clemson, Florida State is actually 14-6, not 18-3.
Corrected, thanks!
i disagree
Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah arent that much bigger than Mason. and they are doing just fine in the league. Guys are going to grow and get stronger.