Weekend of Dec. 26th - Review

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Here's what happened in college basketball this week if you missed it:

Tuesday:

Michigan State hung with Texas for a while until they wilted in the final 5 minutes and the Longhorns came away with a victory. James was excellent, as usual. Pittman was in foul trouble for most of the game and that forced Rick Barnes to go small to match up with Izzo's Spartans. The depth of the Longhorns was in full display, as 5th best scorer Jordan Hamilton lit it up from three (4-6) and had 14 points overall. I think we know where Texas stands: they're probably the best team in the country along with Kansas. But what about the Spartans? So far they have losses to UNC (Top 15-ish), Texas (Top 2), and Florida (not a Top 25, but probably a tournament team), with wins over Gonzaga (borderline Top 25) and that's about it. The polls on Monday will probably have Sparty around 15, but you could make the argument they should be somewhere in the 20's. Will they get better? I would like to think so. Their most glaring weaknesses to me are turnovers (technically should get better over time, but there's a lot of good defenses in the Big Ten), size at the 5 (shouldn't be a huge issue, since they still rebound very well and are big at other positions), and free throw % (somewhat overrated, since a lot of teams struggle from the line). This team's still 2nd best in their conference, but what does that really mean? I'd put them at around 20 right now, just off the top of my head.

Wednesday:

West Virginia took care of business at home vs. a very good Mississippi team to remain undefeated. More on them later. Also, Long Beach State hung with Kentucky and even led at one point in the 2nd half, USC picked up a good non-conference win (this will be a trend), New Mexico was handed their first loss of the season by a scrappy Oral Roberts team, Missouri won for the first time in a decade over Illinois, and Arizona beat NC State on a last second lay-up by Nic Wise.

Friday:

USC continued to stay hot, beating UNLV 67-56 to give the Pac-10 some rare good news this winter. The Trojans are an interesting team. Left for dead at 2-4 earlier this season, USC now has three good non-conference wins to their slate and are rolling heading into conference play. Plus, 3 of those 4 losses (Nebraska, Texas, Georgia Tech) really are not all that bad. Still, they have a paper-thin bench and they have turnover problems, which is a problem when you play at a snail's pace. Maybe their grinding style of play and tough defense will lead to an abundance of wins in the weak Pac-10. They're available.

Saturday:

West Virginia coughed up a 10 point lead in the final minute vs. Seton Hall but pulled it out in OT to stay perfect heading into their New Year's Day showdown with Purdue. I've been saying for a while now that this is the best team in the Big East, and they haven't proven me wrong yet. They're strong defensively, they rebound better than almost anyone despite not having anyone taller than 6-9, and Ebanks isn't even playing that well. If he gets to where he can be offensively, this gives them three legitmately good weapons on the wing along with Desean Butler and Kevin Jones. If there's a team that can match Syracuse's length, it's the Mountaineers. I'm really scared for Friday. And the close call with Seton Hall? As long as they don't give up 41 points to one guy, I think they'll be okay.

Sunday:

Some ranked teams won and stuff.

I'm going to try and get out an initial bracketology/bubble watch for teams heading into conference play. Stay tuned!