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OSU Tops Power Rankings, UNC Returns

mdunn — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:43:53 +0000

The Ohio State Buckeyes received 15 of 16 votes from ESPN’s college basketball experts, keeping them in the top spot on ESPN’s NCAA Basketball power rankings list. The Buckeyes are the only undefeated team left. “The Buckeyes have had a week to prepare for Saturday’s monster road game in Madison, Wis.,” it says in the rankings. ”The good news for coach Thad Matta is that there isn’t much to tweak, especially when he gets offensive contributions from the likes of Dallas Lauderdale, who scored 10 points in OSU’s win over Minnesota.”

Texas comes in at number two and was the only other team to receive a first place vote. The Longhorns are gaining a lot of steam right now. Kansas comes in at three, followed by Pitt. Duke rounds out the Top 5. A surging North Carolina team climbed to 19 this week after falling off the list for a good portion of the season. Though the Tar Heels were unable to pull off the upset of Duke on Wednesday night, their play was encouraging and has a lot of people expecting to see them make some noise in the NCAA Tournament. Their inconsistency worries me, but the talent is there.

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Duke Avoids Upset With Comeback

mdunn — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:34:45 +0000

A few weeks ago, it looked like last night’s North Carolina-Duke matchups wouldn’t have the usual sizzle that the rivalry offers, but UNC’s recent play made last night’s game a much-anticipated one. North Carolina seems poised for the upset, at one time boasting a 16-point lead in the game, but Duke came storming back to secure a 79-73 victory over their most heated rival. Nolan Smith scored 22 o his career-high 34 points in the second half to help lead the Dukies back from a 14-point halftime deficit. Seth Curry chipped in 22 in what was probably his best game as a Blue Devil.

“We had to come out with a different mindset that we were going to fight,” Curry told reporters after the game. ”In the first half, they just beat us to every ball and every rebound. We were just running around and weren’t really poised out there. In the second half, we came out, really calmed down and tried to get it back one possession at a time.” The win would have been huge for a North Carolina team that is beginning to look like an ACC contender again. It was a tough loss for coach Roy Williams. “To say it’s extremely disappointing would be an understatement,” Williams said.

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Wildcats Spoil Pearl’s SEC Return

mdunn — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:55:28 +0000

Tennessee Vols coach Bruce Pearl was allowed to coach his first SEC game last night after serving a suspension for violating NCAA rules, but the Kentucky Wildcats didn’t do him any favors. The Vols fell to 18^th-ranked team in the country by a score of 73-61. The Wildcats were coming off consecutive losses to two supposedly inferior teams and needed a win. UK head coach John Calipari said he had his team work with a heavy bag in practice following the two losses. “I showed them how to jab,” Calipari told reporters. ”You’ve got to be rough. You’ve got to be willing to fight. You can’t let people take our stuff.”

Guard DeAndre Liggins led the way for the Wildcats with 19 points in the contest. Forward Josh Harrelson chipped in 16 of his own. The Wildcats pulled away in the second half, cruising to the victory with relative ease. While it was good for Pearl to get back on the court, he was exposed to the razzing he’s bound to experience for much of the season, as signs referencing his NCAA troubles were rampant in the students section of Rupp Arena.

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UNC Back in Top 25

mdunn — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:43:46 +0000

The Ohio State Buckeyes remain the number one team in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, but the big story this week is the reappearance of the North Carolina Tar Heels on the list. The Tar Heels started the season in the Top 10, but quickly fell out of the Top 25 all together after a rough start to the season. North Carolina has won five straight and nine of their last 10 games, getting back into the Top 25 (at No. 21 this week) just in time for a head-to-head matchup with rival Duke on Wednesday.

One big reason for the Heels’ recent success has been the play of freshman Harrison Barnes. Barnes came into the season as a National Player of the Year candidate after a stellar high school career in Iowa, but struggled to adjust to the difference of the collegiate game. However, as of late Barnes has been looking much more comfortable and has put up some big games as a result. Barnes is capable of taking over games and could have the Heels rolling by the time the NCAA Tournament begins. A big test awaits with No. 5 Duke on Wednesday, which will tell us a lot about how good the Tar Heels are actually playing.

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OSU Takes Down Minnesota

mdunn — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:57:34 +0000

The number one-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes had a tough test on their hands yesterday when traveled to Williams Arena to take on the 20^th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, but the Buckeyes had little trouble. Ohio State took an eight-point lead into halftime and never looked back, winning the contest 82-69. Each of the five OSU starters scored in double figures, led by David Lighty’s 19. Jared Sullinger scored 18 points and added 13 rebounds, but shot just two of eight from the free throw line. Sullinger is likely to be one-and-done this season, no matter what the reports might say, so OSU probably feels a sense of urgency about winning it all this season.

Head coach Thad Matta said that this team isn’t patting themselves on the back, though. “They can tell you we haven’t lost, but they couldn’t tell you how many we’ve won in a row. They have a good way about them,” Matta said after the game. The Buckeyes are the only undefeated team in the nation, but I’ve heard a lot of people say that they like the Texas Longhorns as the best team in the country lately.

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Texas’ Barnes the COY?

mdunn — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:43:57 +0000

ESPN’s Dana O’Neil thinks that Texas’ Rick Barnes has been the best coach in NCAA basketball to this point. Coming off a 2009-10 season in which the program experienced quite the slide down the stretch, Texas has bounced back this season in a big way. Jordan Hamilton’s much0improved shot selection certainly has been a big reason, but Barnes deserves a lot of the credit. It’s been the stifling Longhorn defense that has carried the team this season, so much so that some are predicting that Texas will be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament this March.

“The Longhorns have also done what no one can seem to do this season — win on the road,” O’Neil writes. ”Texas has beaten three top-25 teams in fiercely hostile environments — at Michigan State, at Kansas and at Texas A&M — and are arguably playing the best basketball of any team in the country right now, including unbeaten Ohio State.” Barnes might not get a ton of credit for rebuilding this team, as Texas doesn’t have much trouble convincing top recruits to join the program, but it’s not as easy as people assume. The Longhorns are playing great right now and could very well be the best team in the nation.

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Barnes Leads UNC to Win Over BC

mdunn — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:40:59 +0000

North Carolina freshman Harrison Barnes finally appears to be coming on, and so do the Tar Heels. Barnes scored a career-high 26 points last night in UNC’s 106-74 victory over Boston College. The Heels have been shooting the ball well as of late, something the team has been struggling with early in the season. “I’ve said all year long I thought we’d be a good shooting team. We hadn’t shot well, but we shot well tonight,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said after last night’s game. ”Everybody looks better when the ball’s going in the basket. If they stink it up the next time, I’ll call them freshmen again.”

Barnes hit nine of hit 16 shots from the floor in the contest, including four of seven from three-point range. Barnes came into the season with as much hype as a freshman can get, even earning preseason All American honors before even stepping on a college basketball floor. His early season struggled had really hurt his NBA Draft stock, but finishing the season strong could again have him near the top of the prospect rankings. The Heels are still very much in the mix in the ACC and Barnes could benefit greatly from some big performances in the tourney.

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Katz On Last Week

mdunn — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:54:39 +0000

ESPN’s Andy Katz named Xavier’s Tu Holloway as his Player of the Week for last week after his 33-point outburst against Richmond. “During the preseason, Richmond’s Kevin Anderson — the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year — understandably received more attention than Holloway. But X’s 6-foot point guard was the star Saturday, and has been all season,” Katz writes. “While Anderson scored 10 points, was just 2-of-9 on 3s and didn’t get to the line, Holloway dominated the ball and ultimately laid down a statement that he should be the A-10 player of the year.”

Katz also made mention of North Carolina freshman Harrison Barnes’ 25-point game against NC State that included a game-winning three-pointer. Barnes has struggled this season after coming into the year as the consensus number one pick for the 2011 NBA Draft. However, Barnes could still earn that distinction if he’s able to turn it on from here on out. Katz also praised BYU’s Jimmer Fredette for yet another incredible performance, this time in the form of a 43-point game in a huge conference win over San Diego State. Fredette is probably the frontrunner for National Player of the Year honors right now.

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Storming the Court

mdunn — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:53:20 +0000

It was quite the shocker, and it wasn’t close. The St. John’s Red Storm, led by head coach Steve Lavin, upset the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils, one of the favorites for the National Title this season, by a score of 93-78. Head coach Steve Lavin was waving his arms to the S. John’s fans during a second-half timeout. “You’re caught up in the moment of the game and I wanted St. John’s fans to come to the party in terms of supporting the players on the court,” Lavin told reporters about that gesture. ”We had this arduous stretch of games and having lost five of six, at that moment it was just wanting to jumper cable the crowd and bring energy for our players because they deserved a pat on the back and some appreciation for the yeoman’s effort and the cohesive brand of basketball they had been playing against the defending national champion.”

The Red Storm are coming off a tough eight-game stretch in which they faced a slew of ranked teams. The Johnnies were able to win three of those games, including last night’s win over the Dukies. The Red Storm were also able to take down Georgetown and Notre Dame. Lavin has certainly injected some talent and excitement into this program.

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Hansbrough Leads Irish to Victory

mdunn — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:24:55 +0000

After taking down the Syracuse Orange in a huge matchup last week, the No. 2 Pitt Panthers fell to the 14^th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish last night by a count of 56-51. Irish guard Ben Hansbrough, younger brother of former National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough, was the driving force in the Notre Dame victory. Hansbrough caught fire in the second half on his way to 19 points, four rebounds and seven assists. “This was the first time we committed to an all-out ‘burn,’ and we beat Pitt doing it two times last year,” Hansbrough told the media after the game. “This is probably the best win I’ve had … maybe ever.”

This is the second big win for the Irish on the season, as the team beat UConn earlier this season. “We knew if we didn’t concentrate at the end of the clock, we would lose here by 15 like everybody else does,” Irish coach Mike Brey said of the matchup with Pitt. “They’re really good. They’re hard to guard. They’re really hard to keep off the boards. This was the absolute road challenge for us.” The Irish could vault into the Top 10 with this victory. Considering they’ve slain two giants this season, this is certainly a group to keep an eye on.

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