Meanwhile out West, just when we were ready to bury the Pac 10 pre-season co-favorite Washington seems to have woken up. With dominating wins over Portland and Texas A&M the Huskies showed it may have been to early to write them off. Even more impressive? They may not be the best team in the beleaguered Pac-10. We'll save our answer for #16 in this week's Bracketeering.
And alas, the Maniac has long been championing the case of the mid-major but admits the usual suspects are making it tough this year. Gonzaga took one of the most severe beatings I've witnessed to Duke, losing by 35 in game Duke could have easily won by 50. Memphis looks pedestrian at best and has lost to lowly UMass, Xavier continues to struggle offensively and Butler is flirting with the title of most overrated team in the country in the preseason polls (relax Bulldogs, there's still Cal...). Isn't it ironinc when the most overrated teams in the AP polls are #21 Butler and #25 Gonzaga?!? Not all is lost for the mid-majors though, check out spots #11 & #15 for our favorites so far.
I hope everyone got what they wanted under the tree this year. And for anyone who needs a little more hoops in their stocking, we appreciate you forwarding us their way!
Enjoy the special Maniac Christmas edition of Bracketeering.
FINAL FOUR:
1. Texas - Avery Bradley is the best freshman not named John Wall or Xavier Henry. Funny more people haven't heard of him yet, but rest assured, everyone will soon. Texas has been flawless in December and has us anticipating the Feb 8th matchup versus Kansas with bated breath. It is a shame that unbalanced scheduling will only give us these two once in 2010 (until the conference tourney final and possibly the Final Four...)
2. Kentucky - A little high? One could argue Syracuse has done more and that Kansas HAS more. What is indisputable though is that the most breathtaking collection of freshman talent since Michigan 1992 is starting to gel and settle into their roles. The results have been impressive of late. While broadcasters slobber over John Wall like he's Brett Farve, watch the play of fellow freshman backcourt mate Eric Bledsoe. Were it not for Farve... er, Wall, he might be touted as the best freshman PG in the country.3. Syracuse - They've done absolutely nothing to merit dropping a spot in Bracketeering. The only reason? We do it a little different then the polls, rather than moving up or down a prescribed number of slots predicated solely on who wins and losses above and below you, we try to rank the teams on how well they are actually playing basketball. Syracuse has essentially not played in three weeks (St Bonnie, Oakland and St Francis). I'm curious to see how the layoff affects the Orange tomorrow night against a scrappy Jeremy Hazell and Seton Hall.
4. Kansas - The Jayhawks looked good playing a dissapointing, but athletic Michigan team and dispatched a better-than-their-record Cal club to move to 11-0. However they have yet to face a single Top 25 team and have played only one game out of the friendly confines of the Phogg. Call me a hater (and many of you already have) but I still am perplpexed how KU is a unanimous #1 in the AP Poll when the three teams listed above have done so much more in the early going.
ELITE EIGHT:
5. Duke - Yes, they lost to Wisconsin earlier, but anyone who watched them eviscerate Gonzaga with pressure defense, tremendous ballhandling and the best (yes, we said best) backcourt in the country has to walk away impressed with the Devils. Singler, Scheyer and Smith have done it against Gonzaga, handled the athleticism of UConn and beat a now-ranked Charlotte team by 50 earlier this season. I know it is fashionable to beat on Duke these days, but Coach K finally has a team with Final Four talent again.6. Purdue - No reason to doubt them, but no real reason to believe they are definitivley better than last year's version (which is essentially the same exact team a year older). Other than the one-point win over Tennessee the schedule has been pretty pedestiran. They showed some scrap coming back at Alabama, but the Tide are by no means a tourney team in 2010. It will be interesting to see if the Boilers can dominate in Big Ten play. I suspect they drop 4-6 games in conference. That isn't to say they are not a very good team, but there is a talent disparity between them and the five listed above them (and possibly a few below).
7. West Virginia - The showed some guts winning in OT at Seton Hall in the first of the never-ending slew of road tests the BEast will provide, BUT the late collapse that necessitated OT is cause for some concern. We'll keep the 'Eers 7th for now, but obviously the Jan 1st game at Purdue looms large.
8.UConn - A three point loss to Kentucky at Rupp should not be cause for alarm. What is cause for concern is the lack of development by "savior" Ater Majok in his long awaited joining of the team. They desperately need to find another scorer to help out Kemba Walker, Dyson and Robinson, and hope Majok can be it; still defensively the Huskies are as good as anyone.
Sweet and lurking: The next tier
9. Kansas State - Overlooked in the preseason perhaps, but the Wildcats should have everyone's attention by now. In their last four games they have beaten Xavier, UNLV, Alabama and Washington State all by AT LEAST 13 points. They are a clear notch below Texas and Kansas, but not many other teams in the country. Frank Martin has done a heck of a job getting the Wildcats to legitimate respectability in 2010.
10. North Carolina - I'm still not in love with the early results, but continue to contend UNC has a higher ceiling than any other team in the ACC and is a legit Final Four challenger. Tonight's sleepwalker against Rutgers would have gotten them beat by 9 of the 11 other teams in the ACC. Let's hope for their sake Roy wakes them up before conference play kicks off.
11. Temple - One thing I have always loved about the Owls was their unabashed approach to scheduling big. It has led to plenty of 19-12 seasons...and subsequent 11 or 12th seeded "upset" wins in the tourney. Christmas has passed (both the player and the season) but these Owls have wins over Penn State, Villanova and at Seton Hall in their last four games.
12. Georgetown - Wins over Temple, Washington and Butler make up for the home loss against Old Dominion. The 16 point bounce back win over Harvard is a better win that it would appear on paper as well. The Hoyas will be a Top 5 team in the Big East all year...and that is good enough to be a Top 16 team in Bracketeering any day.
13. Villanova - Not in love with this team, but they have stacked up a few quality wins and haven't lost any glaring games (Temple was unranked, but shouldn't have been). Their early conference schedule is soft enough that they should continue to climb in the polls, with next real test (aside from @ Marquette) is Jan 17th hosting the above Hoyas.
14. Michigan State - Something hasn't quite clicked yet this year for Sparty, but something tells me Izzo will have that straightened out by March. Their losses; @ Florida, @ Texas, and @ UNC are all really valuable learning experiences. I'd trade Michigan State's 8-3 with anyone elses in the country. However their best wins are Gonzaga by 4 and... and... um.... Valpo? UMass? Wofford??
15. UAB - While everyone was glamming Tulsa as the new challenger to Memphis's C-USA throne, Mike Davis's Blazers have stormed into national consciousness. In the past three weeks they have taken down Cincinnati, South Alamaba and Butler; all by double digits in controlling fashoin. Their only loss is Kent State was back in the second game of the year. The Blazers have put themselves in rare non-Memphis territory - at-large participants even if they lose the C-USA tourney.
16. USC - I know, the Pac-10 sucks. I know, the Trojans have 4 losses, more than a lot of ranked teams I left out (like Washington (my #17 for the record), Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas Tech...etc). However, in three of the last four games USC has posted the following wins:
Tennessee 77-57Hard to find a much better run anywhere outside the top 15, so we're giving SC the nod, with apologies to those listed above.
St Mary's 60-49
UNLV 67-56
Yup, that's three BIG wins... Cal, Notre Dame, UCLA, Davidson (they miss Steph, but they have been really really bad with a brutal schedule), Memphis, Xavier, Butler, Oklahoma, DePaul (lost to Floida Gulf Coast this week - unacceptable for a Big East team), Creighton, Auburn, Tulsa, The Pac-10!
Half Court Heaves: Teams outside the common radar worth keeping an eye on
Dayton, Rhode Island, UTEP, South Florida, Coastal Carolina, Western Carolina, Murray State, Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern, Minnesota, William & Mary, VCU and ODU (The CAA conference really), Oral Roberts, Northern Colorado, St. Mary's, Lousiana Tech, Niagara, Miami (OH) - the best 3-9 team EVER, Wichita State & Missouri State, Long Beach State
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