Rank (Last Week) | Record | Comment |
1. Kentucky (1) | 26-1 | If Christian Watford had not hit that jumper at the buzzer in Bloomington on Dec. 10, we’d be thinking the Wildcats have a heck of a chance at becoming the first unbeaten national champion since the Indiana Hoosiers in 1976. |
2. Syracuse (2) | 27-1 | If center Fab Mello had not been held out of the game at Notre Dame on Jan. 21 . . . see above for the rest of this observation. |
3. Missouri (3) | 25-2 | With Big 12 games at home to Kansas State on Tuesday and in Lawrence against Kansas on Saturday, the Tigers will have a pretty good sense of their conference title hopes on Sunday morning. |
4. Kansas (4) | 22-5 | It will be extremely loud in Phog Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday. |
5. Michigan State (5) | 22-5 | The Spartans haven’t won by less than a double-figure margin this month (five games). |
6. Duke (7) | 23-4 | Seth Curry has averaged 20.5 ppg over the past four games. |
7. North Carolina (8) | 23-4 | The Tar Heels close with three of their final four regular-season games away from Chapel Hill. |
| 8. Ohio State (6) | 22-5 | Big Ten title figures to be on line in East Lansing on March 4. |
9. Florida State (11) | 19-7 | Remember when FSU used to be considered a “football school”? |
10. Wichita State (14) | 24-4 | By popular acclaim the Shockers are now considered the best of the “mid-major set”. |
11. New Mexico (NR) | 22-4 | So much for any mystery and/or debate about the top candidate for MWC Player of the Year. |
12. Marquette (NR) | 22-5 | One has to wonder how long Marquette will be able to hang onto its current basketball coach. |
13. Creighton (NR) | 23-5 | The best individual BracketBuster performance was saved for last late Saturday night in Omaha by Doug McDermott. |
14. Murray State (NR) | 26-1 | The Racers gained a whole lot of believers Saturday against Saint Mary’s. |
15. Louisville (NR) | 21-6 | This has to rate among the very best of coaching efforts by Rick Pitino. |
16. Indiana (13) | 20-7 | The Hoosiers have dropped five of their past six games away from Bloomington. |
On the cusp: Baylor 22-5; Florida 21-6; Virginia 20-6; Temple 21-5; UNLV 22-6; Notre Dame 19-8; Georgetown 20-5; Michigan 20-7; Vanderbilt 19-8; Wisconsin 20-7; Harvard 23-3; San Diego State 20-6; California 22-6; Washington 19-8; Saint Mary’s 23-5; Gonzaga 21-5.
THE TOP PERFORMANCES OF FEB. 13-20
TEAMS: Michigan State (Big Ten victories over Wisconsin and at Purdue); Syracuse (road Big East wins over Louisville and Rutgers); New Mexico (scored a pair of lopsided MWC victories over San Diego State and UNLV to move atop conference standings); Murray State (smacked Saint Mary’s, 65-51, in a BracketBuster); Wichita State (drilled host Davidson, 91-74, in a BracketBuster); Creighton (rallied from nine points to edge Long Beach State, 81-79, in a BracketBuster); Loyola-Marymount (beat host Saint Mary’s by 15 points in a WCC game; also knocked off Horizon-leading Valparaiso in a BracketBuster).
TEAM OF THEWEEK: New Mexico
PLAYERS: Drew Gordon (New Mexico/Collected 17 points and as many rebounds in a 10-point MWC win at San Diego State Wednesday night; two days later he went for 27 and 20 in Albuquerque against UNLV): Toure’ Murry (Wichita State/14 assists and only three turnovers in a MVC win over Missouri State and a 17-point BracketBuster win at Davidson); Scott Machado (Iona/29 points and 24 assists in wins over Rider and Nevada – the later coming at home Saturday in BracketBuster competition); Doug McDermott (Creighton/scored 36 points with 11 rebounds as his team rallied from nine points to edge visiting Long Beach State, 81-79, in a BracketBuster); Draymond Green (Michigan State/40 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists and only four turnovers in Big Ten wins over Wisconsin and Purdue); Jae Crowder (Marquette/52 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and six steals in Big East wins over Cincinnati and Connecticut); Isaiah Canaan (Murray State/23 points and four assists in BracketBuster win over visiting Saint Mary’s); Terrence Ross (Washington/43 points, 10 rebounds and six steals in Pac-12 wins over Arizona State and Arizona).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Gordon
Frank Burlison has been covering hoops for 30+ years for a variety of publications.
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I remember
When Drew Gordon was the mostly beastly big at the 2008 Nike Hoop Summit, featuring Alexis Ajinca and Serge Ibaka. Definitely one of my favorite seniors in this years draft, has been from the start of the year. Mike Moser was the former UCLA forward getting most of the talk, but Gordon has a real position and showed it in the 27/20 game against UNLV.
Georgetown
What exactly does Gtown have to do to enter the Top 16? Admittedly I am a Gtown fan and biased but I will go simply by the numbers;
This includes Gtown defeating Louisville at their place. Doesn’t make sense.