MajorMike
01-31-2007, 02:34 PM
From Jerry Palm
Some tidbits:
Before I get into this week's column, let me give you a quick site update. This week, I hope to put together the conference tournament page. Sometime next week, I'll probably start the Fence Sitters page. If I did a fence sitters page now, it would have about sixty teams on it.
Also, I have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth to the Indianapolis area because of a family situation. Sometimes, that causes an update to be delayed. Thank you for your patience during those times.
The new bracket is posted. The four #1 seeds are still the same, but the order has been shuffled again. That is mostly due to UCLA's loss at Stanford yesterday after blowing a 17-point first half lead. Also, North Carolina handed Lute Olson his worst home loss in his 24 years at Arizona. My current order at the top is UNC, Wisconsin, Florida, UCLA.
The 2-seeds have been pretty stable for a while also with Kansas, Ohio St, Oregon and Pitt. Oregon lost at Washington this week, but came back for a dramatic overtime win at Washington St. Ohio St blew a 20-point halftime lead and hung on to beat Michigan St at home when a three-pointer at the buzzer clanked off for the Spartans.
Air Force lost at BYU this week, which helps the Cougars more than it hurts the Falcons. BYU still isn't in the bracket, nor close enough to be listed among the first four out, but at least it's now on the board.
The Stanford win helped AFA because one of the Falcons' better wins was at Maples earlier this season. The improved play by Texas Tech lately has also boosted Air Force, although the Red Raiders lost at Missouri this weekend.
One team being hurt by the recent play of its non-conference opponents is Nevada. The Wolf Pack no longer have a RPI top 50 win because both Gonzaga and Cal have drifted out of that group. Cal was 25th after winning at Stanford on January 3rd, but has lost four of six since then to fall to 60th. Gonzaga will probably get back into the top 50 if it dominates the WCC, but Cal may struggle in the tough Pac 10. Nevada's tournament profile is based more on a lack of bad losses than any really strong wins.
Big 12
Texas A&M is a team of suspect accomplishment. Right now, they have a home win over Oklahoma St and a competitive loss to UCLA and that's pretty much it. They lost at LSU, which looks worse every day and at Texas Tech last week. They are easily the least accomplished team of any in the top 10 of the polls. The Aggies get a chance to impress this Saturday when they travel to Kansas.
Texas Tech followed up that win over the Aggies with a 13-point loss at Missouri. The Red Raiders host Texas on Wednesday.
The Longhorns better be ready for that game after sleepwalking through the last two games at home against Nebraska and Baylor. They only beat the Huskers by 1 and trailed most of the way against Baylor before winning by 5.
Pac 10
Washington State's win over Oregon St was its first home win as a ranked team since 1950.
The big game in the Pac 10 this week is the rematch between Oregon and UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. That will be the third of four straight road games for the Ducks, who follow that up with at trip across town to USC.
You know it's a strange bracket when a team in the RPI top 5 (Arizona) is seeded below a team outside the top 50 (Vanderbilt), but that's what happens when you lose five out of seven, capped off by a 28-point whipping at home.
Stanford has won three in a row and moved into the polls, but has a trap game this week with Gonzaga. Not only are the Cardinal coming off a huge win over UCLA, but they go to arch rival Cal after that. On top of that, this game means a lot more to Gonzaga than it does Stanford. We'll learn a lot about the Cardinal's maturity and focus in that one.
SEC
Tennessee had a rough week, losing at Mississippi and Kentucky without leading scorer Chris Lofton, who sat out with an injury. I haven't heard when Lofton is expected back.
I don't want to say the league is unbalanced, but every team in the West division is under .500 in conference play.
Alabama and LSU continue to tank. Bama lost badly twice more (don't let the six point margin against Arkansas fool you - the Hogs led big most of the way) and LSU lost twice as well. LSU is no longer even on my board and Bama is close to falling off my bracket. They meet in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.
On the positive side, Vandy and Georgia continue to play well. Both teams beat LSU this week (Vandy did it on the road) and added home wins. They meet in Nashville on Saturday, but before that, Vanderbilt gets a chance to make a big splash when it travels to #1 Florida.
Some tidbits:
Before I get into this week's column, let me give you a quick site update. This week, I hope to put together the conference tournament page. Sometime next week, I'll probably start the Fence Sitters page. If I did a fence sitters page now, it would have about sixty teams on it.
Also, I have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth to the Indianapolis area because of a family situation. Sometimes, that causes an update to be delayed. Thank you for your patience during those times.
The new bracket is posted. The four #1 seeds are still the same, but the order has been shuffled again. That is mostly due to UCLA's loss at Stanford yesterday after blowing a 17-point first half lead. Also, North Carolina handed Lute Olson his worst home loss in his 24 years at Arizona. My current order at the top is UNC, Wisconsin, Florida, UCLA.
The 2-seeds have been pretty stable for a while also with Kansas, Ohio St, Oregon and Pitt. Oregon lost at Washington this week, but came back for a dramatic overtime win at Washington St. Ohio St blew a 20-point halftime lead and hung on to beat Michigan St at home when a three-pointer at the buzzer clanked off for the Spartans.
Air Force lost at BYU this week, which helps the Cougars more than it hurts the Falcons. BYU still isn't in the bracket, nor close enough to be listed among the first four out, but at least it's now on the board.
The Stanford win helped AFA because one of the Falcons' better wins was at Maples earlier this season. The improved play by Texas Tech lately has also boosted Air Force, although the Red Raiders lost at Missouri this weekend.
One team being hurt by the recent play of its non-conference opponents is Nevada. The Wolf Pack no longer have a RPI top 50 win because both Gonzaga and Cal have drifted out of that group. Cal was 25th after winning at Stanford on January 3rd, but has lost four of six since then to fall to 60th. Gonzaga will probably get back into the top 50 if it dominates the WCC, but Cal may struggle in the tough Pac 10. Nevada's tournament profile is based more on a lack of bad losses than any really strong wins.
Big 12
Texas A&M is a team of suspect accomplishment. Right now, they have a home win over Oklahoma St and a competitive loss to UCLA and that's pretty much it. They lost at LSU, which looks worse every day and at Texas Tech last week. They are easily the least accomplished team of any in the top 10 of the polls. The Aggies get a chance to impress this Saturday when they travel to Kansas.
Texas Tech followed up that win over the Aggies with a 13-point loss at Missouri. The Red Raiders host Texas on Wednesday.
The Longhorns better be ready for that game after sleepwalking through the last two games at home against Nebraska and Baylor. They only beat the Huskers by 1 and trailed most of the way against Baylor before winning by 5.
Pac 10
Washington State's win over Oregon St was its first home win as a ranked team since 1950.
The big game in the Pac 10 this week is the rematch between Oregon and UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. That will be the third of four straight road games for the Ducks, who follow that up with at trip across town to USC.
You know it's a strange bracket when a team in the RPI top 5 (Arizona) is seeded below a team outside the top 50 (Vanderbilt), but that's what happens when you lose five out of seven, capped off by a 28-point whipping at home.
Stanford has won three in a row and moved into the polls, but has a trap game this week with Gonzaga. Not only are the Cardinal coming off a huge win over UCLA, but they go to arch rival Cal after that. On top of that, this game means a lot more to Gonzaga than it does Stanford. We'll learn a lot about the Cardinal's maturity and focus in that one.
SEC
Tennessee had a rough week, losing at Mississippi and Kentucky without leading scorer Chris Lofton, who sat out with an injury. I haven't heard when Lofton is expected back.
I don't want to say the league is unbalanced, but every team in the West division is under .500 in conference play.
Alabama and LSU continue to tank. Bama lost badly twice more (don't let the six point margin against Arkansas fool you - the Hogs led big most of the way) and LSU lost twice as well. LSU is no longer even on my board and Bama is close to falling off my bracket. They meet in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.
On the positive side, Vandy and Georgia continue to play well. Both teams beat LSU this week (Vandy did it on the road) and added home wins. They meet in Nashville on Saturday, but before that, Vanderbilt gets a chance to make a big splash when it travels to #1 Florida.