PC and How6rd's CBB Corner: Week 15

Dude…

March Madness is so close I can almost taste it. We are coming down to the last 5 games before our conference tournaments start. Each team is jockeying for position and maybe even seeking entry into the covenant, NCAA Tournament. We continue to see many top teams have lapses in their game play that makes them lose games. We’ve seen multiple #1 team in the AP Poll. We’ve seen multiple teams in the top 10 drop out and had new ones come in. It’s the beauty of College Hoops, and The Dudes have you covered with our latest reactions!

PC’S CBB Corner

UCONN and Purdue both lose, who should be in front now?- After we briefly discussed these two powerhouses currently in the college hoops landscape, each team took big losses. Purdue lost to Ohio State on Sunday 73-69. Now, normally when you hear a loss to Ohio State it’s normally not a big thing. It is this year. Ohio State has been in shambles this entire season including firing their head coach just a few days prior. Ohio State didn’t look like a NIT team. To lose to this Ohio State team could be a huge deficit. Now, will this affect the Boilermakers being a 1 seed? No. The fact of the matter is that if the guards do not show up for Purdue, they’ll be in the same position as last year.Yes, maybe not losing to a 16 seed, but their hopes of a final four would be vanquished if the backcourt doesn’t play well. So, it was clear that UCONN should be #1. They are, however, they just received a beating of their own on Tuesday night. UCONN lost 85-66 to the Creighton Bluejays. Now, the competition was much better than the Purdue loss. Creighton is ranked 12 in the AP Top 25. However, they loss by 19. The game wasn’t close from start to finish. The Bluejays shot the lights out from 3 making 14 of 28 from deep. This allowed for the Bluejays to gain the lead and keep it. It was a breakout performance for Steven Ashworth who had 20 points. So, both top teams lost, who is #1? I still believe UCONN has played as a team better to me personally. They’ve looked like the most complete team and continues to progress towards a repeat as champions. Purdue is still a major threat, and if the cards fall right, they could be the team to pick come tournament time. Another major player in the contention is Houston. They just has a big win over Iowa State, but a big test comes to town at the end of the season with Kansas. If the Cougars can figure out how to win that game and the Big 12 Tournament, their won’t be a more battle tested #1 seed than this Cougars squad. UCONN should still be the favorite, but the other teams have definitely closed the gap.

Kentucky gets back on track with big win over Auburn- The Criticism for Big Blue Nation has been going on for a few years now. The Wildcats missed the NCAA Tournament last year, and they were on a skid where it seemed like they may end up with another disappointing one and be done in the tournament. Calipari is a Hall of Fame coach who has had Kentucky fans frustrated with the wack rotation schedule and no defensive presence. With the season dangling by a thread, the Wildcats came in and played extremely well against Auburn. Auburn has been one of the top teams in the SEC this year, and Bruce Pearl has another incredible team that has bought into his schemes. The Kentucky Wildcats only allowed Auburn to shoot 30% from the floor. Not only that, they forced turnovers and had 23 points off those turnovers. Kentucky has all the talent to win the NCAA Title, however, they’ve lacked that defensive edge that is needed to win it all. If this team decides to lock in, they may shock everyone and be a dark horse in this year’s tournament.

Kansas finally gets a road win, needs to stay steady to be in consideration for a 1 seed- The weekly Kansas rant is finally a positive one. KANSAS FINALLY GOT A CONSIDERABLE BIG 12 ROAD WIN!!! The Jayhawks went into Boomer Sooner country for the last time as Big 12 opponents and came out with a win. The Jayhawks won 67-57 thanks to Dickenson’s 20 point, 16 rebound performance. McCullar was very inconsistent with his shot, but still had a major impact on the game with 16 points. Johnny Furphy went 3-5 from deep that really boosted the Jayhawks in the scoring column. The lack of depth showed up again, when they only secured 2 points off the bench. Self is not allowing these guys get reps. Which is a good thing!! The guys on the bench have continued to disappoint, making the Arterio Morris situation way more impactful than I believe most people expected. The lack of depth is a huge concern for the squad in the tournament. Remember what happens when the starters aren’t playin well? Look back to the previous game and see what happens, you lose by 29. Is there a shot that KU could be a #1 seed? Yes, however, they need some help. Houston has to get beaten by someone before they play Kansas. If not, the only way would be to beat Houston in the last game, and in the tournament. It’s definitely a big challenge that faces Bill Self and the Jayhawks, but it’s more likely they will end up as a 2 or a 3 seed.

Who is the best in the Big 10?- I believe there is only one answer to this question and it’s Purdue. Yes, they’ve hit some bumps along the way, but they have been the most successful and complete team coming out of the Big 10. Wisconsin used to be in the conversation, until they fell off a cliff and lost 5 of 6. Illinois is a threat in the tournament, especially if the Terrence Shannon Jr. rape claims are false. That will light a fire under them that may ignite this savvy veteran team. Northwestern has beaten Purdue once, and took them into overtime in the other matchup. If Boo Buie goes Curry mode in the Big 10 tournament, they could totally win. Michigan State is a veteran team that has a lot of experience and was projected as a top 5 team in the pre season. You can’t ever count Tom Izzo out in a tournament. The regular season champ will be Purdue, but the tournament always brings a wow factor, and this may be the conference to bring out the best in each team.

How6rd’s Big East/Mountain West/Mid-Major Roundup

UConn destroys and gets whooped within a week- This was quite the Big East experience UConn Huskies went through this past week. To start off the top team in the country hosted the Marquette Golden Eagles who were on their best-looking stretch of the season going into this one. Meanwhile, the first 10 minutes of this game was the only part of the game Marquette competed with the Huskies as Dan Hurley’s team was locking things down the rest of the game for their ranked 4 opponent as Oso Ighodaro was the only one who could get any consistency in shooting. UConn had the biggest margin of victory in a top-five matchup in CBB history with a 28-point victory over Marquette and at this point in time it was obvious who is number one. The Huskies’ next game did not replicate the defensive effort they had in the Marquette contest as the Huskies were more offensive-focused in this one forcing Creighton to shoot it and the Bluejays were not missing almost at all. After Steven Ashworth had a fiery start shooting the ball the rest of the Bluejays followed suit for the rest of the 75% left of the game, and the Huskies just couldn’t match it in the end giving them another ranked road lost. The fact that the Huskies haven’t won a ranked road game in 10 years is pretty crazy, but they’ve gotten two national championships within that time too so I personally believe that this is still the number one team in the country, but they are beatable as Creighton showed in this one.

Is there a true top team of the Mountain West?-  This conference is one of the most competitive and toss-up conferences we’ve seen from any group still categorized as mid-majors in a long time as the suspense continues. The biggest takeaway from this past week is no matter how solid a team looks anybody can lose when playing on the road. The biggest case of this from the past week is San Diego State who became ranked after a flat-out beatdown of New Mexico on their home court. The shooting performances were a night and day difference with the Aztecs easily prevailing and getting ranked at 19 ahead of a huge contest against Utah State. The Aggies, on the other hand, showed that they are still top dogs after getting stomped on the road against Colorado State things went way differently when Utah State were the hosts to the Aztecs. This contest was pretty tight throughout the game and didn’t have a clear-looking winner until a few seconds before the final buzzer sounded, but point guard Darius Brown continuing to look like one of the biggest x-factors on this loaded Aggies team definitely propped them in the end. This conference has a long way to go in it’s chaos as at this point that may be one of the main conference tournaments that everybody will be watching.

Saint Mary’s may be exactly who people thought they were-  The Gaels have officially done a 180 turn on their season from the start of their wild out of conference stretch as they’re now riding the longest active win streak in the country and are 13-0 in the conference that Gonzaga once dominated. Now I don’t believe they have looked impressive enough to say they could beat anybody right now, but in a season full of flaws everybody is beatable and consistency is the strongest aspect for this year. The most impressive part of this Gaels streak is that they have completely turned teams’ water off being one of the toughest defenses to score baskets on in the country. The offense also plays at their own pace to where if the defense is getting tested the offense can stay composed enough to stay ahead. The biggest key getting close to see which team is looking the most consistent before the tourney begins and if Saint Mary’s keeps this winning going into the tourney they’re easily a team to be scared of if someone has to meet them in March.