1. North Carolina 13-0 (45)
2. Memphis 11-0 (26)
3. Kansas 13-0 (1)
4. Washington State 12-0
5. UCLA 12-1
   
6. Michigan State 12-1 (↑2)
7. Georgetown 9-1 (↑1)
8. Tennessee 12-1 (↑3)
9. Duke 10-1 (↑1)
10. Marquette 10-1 (↑2) (more…)

    

Well, ‘07 has come to an end. I’d do a whole College Hoops Journal: Year in Review type thing, but, well…it’s only been chugging for about two months. Let’s hope that I’m still pumping out the basketball love next year and can do something along those lines.

–No. 1 North Carolina 90, Valparaiso 58. God, what do you think? HANSBROUGH. AGAIN. Twenty-three points, 12 boards, and he’s probably the POTY at this point in the season. The ever-evolving Danny Green also threw down 20 and before you know it, North Carolina has seperated itself from all but about two teams in the country.

Notable:

Tennessee State 60, Illinois 58. The players are gay!…As Kenny Mayne would say. And, did you know…with this win Tennessee State only moves to 4-7. Yeah, bad day for the Illiniwek faithful. I follow college basketball like a fiend nd I can’t even tell you one player, famous alumnus, or even the mascot for Tennessee State. What’s worse? The Illini lost this game on their own campus. Yeeeeesh. Consider it a down year for the Big 10, k? (I had to look it up: their nickname is the Tigers. SWEET.)

UNLV 81, Minnesota 64. Ohhhh…things were going so well for Tubby Smith and the Gophers. They stumble here in the “Duel in the Desert”, where Vegas gets a really nice win for themselves. Vegas: 11-3, Gophers: 10-2. We’ll check back with them soon.

Florida State 66, Georgia Tech 64. Those Seminoles, on a roll as of late. They now sit at a pretty 11-4 and could be a player in the ACC.

Mississippi State 87, Missouri 75. A good win for Miss. St. and a bad loss for the Tigers. Credit the Bulldogs’ tough play under the hoop; their 42-26 edge in the paint provided the difference.

Southern Illinois 79, Missouri State 71. The Missouri Valley probably won’t be a multi-bid conference this year. With the win, the Salukis crawl back to .500, while Missouri State falls to 7-6.

Pittsburgh was ranked 6th in the nation as of Saturday afternoon. But by the evening they…well…they were still ranked 6th. That’s sure to change tomorrow, however, and it should be interesting to see how far they fall now that their floor leader has been sidelined due to a broken foot.

Levance Fields went down pretty hard in the game against Dayton on Saturday and will be out at least two months. The result? No one except those close to the team really know, but it was likely to be a cheerleader’s foot. (Stupid enthusiasts and their floor privileges.) First it was Mike Cook’s awful looking injury against Duke, and now this? A Sweet 16 appearance may have seemed like a disappointment to many Pitt fans a few days ago, now it may seem like a victory.

Pitt’s Fields Headed For Surgery Tomorrow {Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}

Set to broadcast nationally…

»Florida State @ Georgia Tech; 5:30 ET (FSN).

»Valparaiso @ No. 1 North Carolina; 7:30 ET (FSN).

There’s some news to report from the world of women’s basketball. I know, I’ve kind of slacked in that area, but when something notable (ridiculous) comes about, I’ll be here to inform you. What’s today’s news? Just your typical drubbing, you know, that 119-point win type of variety. Uh….what?

The 119-point margin of victory was three points shy of the NCAA Division II record. West Texas A&M defeated National Christian 155-33 on Nov. 29, 2001.The Warriors made 58 field goals, four shy of the NCAA mark of 62 set by Norfolk State on Nov. 20, 1990, against Fayetteville State.

The final score was 132-13. Just think about being on the losing side of that…

Women’s Hoops Team Wins 132-13 {Sports Illustrated (via AP)}

It’s the biggest rundown of the season so far. Why waste space here?

–UPSET–Dayton 80, No. 6 Pittsburgh 55. Embarassing. Yes, for me. I said that Pitt would produce a win in the fashion that Dayton executed. Uh, whoops. Oh yeah, bad for the Panthers too. See, this is the kind of loss that will prevent people from thinking that the Panthers are legitimate Final Four contender. How do you lose by 25, regardless of the location? Give it up to Dayton though. With wins like this, it sure makes the Atlantic 10 to look like a three-bid league. Minimum. Store it away, the Flyers could be a trendy upset pick in March.

–UPSET–Wisconsin 67, No. 9 Texas 66. A little of Wisconsin playing better than they are, a little of Texas playing not quite as good as they are. But maybe we don’t know who they are. UT’s guards were kept in check for a large part of the game. Either way, I put up an entire post on this game if you’d like to read any more about it.

–UPSET–Winthrop 76, No. 19 Miami (FL) 70. I told you that this upset was likely to happen and sure enough it did. Here’s the kicker: Winthrop isn’t really that good! They’re only 7-5. And now Miami is 12-1. People may write this off as a mild upset that (uh..yeah, that’s what I did), but it is a little weird to think that it was so obvious considering that the Eagles have lost to: Baylor, Missouri State, West Virginia, Mississippi and Mt. Saint Mary’s. If Miami, Baylor and West Virginia all continue to play well throughout the season, and Winthrop can roll through their league (which probably won’t happen), then maybe they can be a bubble long shot.

–UPSET–Oklahoma 88, No. 23 West Virginia 82 (2OT). Riveting stuff. What a physical game this was, too. Longar Longar! Longar Longar! I could keep scream/typing it! Two very evenly matched teams that I’d love to see set up for a possible second weekend or second round game in March. The rub? The officiating was spotty. Like, real spotty. Fortunately for that crew, the play was so balanced, and it was 50 minutes of play, that the ‘Eers can’t use that as an excuse. Sooners look like Top 25 material.

–UPSET–Boise State 73, No. 20 Brigham Young 70. Curious, for sure. The Cougars fall to a Boise State team that is definitely on the come. The Broncos are now 9-3, and give the WAC a good win for its RPI. Forty percent from the floor were the Cougars; they missed too many shots near the end of the second half to escape with a win.

–No. 2 Memphis 76, No. 17 Arizona 63. This game was a blueprint for why Memphis is so dangerous. They have so many bodies to flush in and out that opponents can not keep up over the course of a physical 40 minute game. Did you see/read a few people talking of how this game would be a tougher task than Georgetown? Hardly. Memphis held Arizona in check once they got past the original surge of the Wildcats in the first five minutes. And a brief scary moment for Memphis fans as well, as CDR took a hard fall to the floor with about eight minutes to go in the second half. And a terribly called intentional foul on the play as well. Memo to officials: Just because there’s a lot of contact and an injury, it doesn’t mean there was malicious intent by the defender.

–No. 3 Kansas 86, Yale 53. I’ll say it again: Until someone gives the Jayhawks a game, it’s a waste to watch; you already know what’s happening.

–No. 5 UCLA 76, UC Davis 48. The University of California-Los Angeles is better than the University of California-Davis. Thanks for stopping by.

–No. 7 Michigan State 93, Wisconsin-Green Bay 75. Is it a sign that there just hasn’t been enough national coverage of the game that it’s pretty astonishing that Michigan State is flying under the radar right now? I mean, this team is ranked as the seventh best in the country right now; they’re top 10, no doubt. Big time game from MSU sophomore Raymar Morgan. Morgan had 24 and 10 in the win.

–No. 8 Georgetown 78, American 51. Hoyas continue to dominate anyone within a 40 mile radius of their campus. The bizarre twist in this one? No t-shirt under the jersey for Roy Hibbert. I’ll admit, he looked more agile and unyielding with just the jersey.

–No. 11 Tennessee 82, Gonzaga 72. Before I get to the Vols, let me talk about Gonzaga real quick here. There was talk that this Gonzaga team might be the best in quite some time. Well, when you think about it, don’t we hear that every year about Gonzaga? True, they are bringing in a lot of talent, but they are becoming perennial underachievers, which is weird to think about when you consider that they reside in the WCC. Seems to me like they’re losing a lot more of these big time games than they’re winning. That simply wasn’t the case three, four, five years ago. As for Tennessee: I’ll admit that I was wrong when I stated that they weren’t really clicking on all cylinders. They look good and are embodying Bruce Pearl’s wacky sort of toughness. JaJuan led the Vols with 18.

–No. 12 Marquette 77, Savannah State 37. Marquette is one sloppy loss to Duke in Maui away from being one of the undefeateds in college basketball. They really should’ve beaten Duke in that game, you know. They are steamrolling opponents and look like the best team in the Big East to me.

–No. 13 Indiana 97, Chicago State 59.The Hoosiers look as impressive as the Spartans (meetings on Feb. 16, Mar. 2, just so you know) and are now 11-1. Flash Gordon leads the way with 22 for IU. Big board game for D.J. White: 15 of ‘em.

–No. 14 Texas A&M 83, Florida A&M 54. DeAndre Jordan is kind of like the Dwight Howard of college hoops—unstoppable around the rim. He’s worth a point differential of at least 12 around the iron every game for the Aggies. Meanwhile, Josh Carter is looking better and better. Twenty points for the junior guard in this one.

–No. 15 Vanderbilt 92, Tennessee-Martin 85. We’ll find out when SEC play swings into gear, but could A.J. Ogilvy be a top 5 freshman? Don’t scoff at that, because it might be true. Ogilvy had 21 points, nine boards and was everyone his team needed him to be on Saturday. This game was a little closer than it needed to be, by the way. Maybe the pressure of having no losses is starting to get to the Commodores.

–No. 18 Villanova 71, LaSalle 58. Big game for Dante Cunningham: 12 points, 12 boards and came up big when ‘Nova needed its big man to play like a big man.

–No. 21 Clemson 78, Samford 45. Blowout from tip to handshakes.

–No. 24 Southern California 70, UC Riverside 57. I still won’t buy this team as a Top 25′er until they show a little something against a quality opponent. The jury’s still at lunch.

–No. 25 Rhode Island 85, Georgia Southern 80. Make it 13-1 for the Rams! According to the reports, this is the best start since that infamous 1946-47 season. URI is a shoe-in for 20 W’s this year.

Notable:

Stanford 55, Fresno State 48. It’s pretty safe to assume that at 11-1, the Cardinal will creep into the AP Poll once again come Monday afternoon.

Central Michigan 100, Tiffin 34. Double-up and almost a triple-up!

Drake 62, Wichita State 54. Got to looove the Drake! They’re 10-1 and for real.

Washington 73, Louisiana State 65. Under the radar, but this was a game that LSU really should’ve had. Regardless, the Huskies get a win that might mean something…maybe.

Alabama-Birmingham 73, Old Dominion 57. ODU has little-to-none of a chance at an at-large bid. Not the case for the Blazers; they are now 9-5.

Illinois State 80, Creighton 67. The was the first Missouri Valley game for both of these schools, and what a win for Illinois State (9-3). The Blue Jays lose only their second game, but not the way you’d want to start out the conference season.

I was debating upon whether or not to make a post on this game due to the fact that there’s still plenty of ball ahead of us on this Saturday, and maybe this won’t be the best game/finish of the day. But why not? Right? We all love us some orange ball. The formerly thought-to-be-by-some best team in the nation Texas Longhornrs were felled by the Badgers Michael Flowers, 67-66.

Note: One of the biggest reasons I watch college basketball because of the reaction of Wisconsin’s bench following this win. If ESPN could be so kind to show the replay view that the producers of this game did while it was happening, you’ll know what I mean.

Michael Flowers made a great play that cannot be understated. How often do you see this: A big shot in the closing seconds of a game falls in, then, the inbounding team is in such a rush to get a play off that an errant pass is made and said team doesn’t even get the chance to heave one before the buzzer. Well, that’s what happened here. Flowers (a stud defensively and the quintessential man to make this kind of play) made the game-winning trey, then stole the inbounds pass, and as he was falling out of bounds with less than three seconds remaining, threw the ball as high as he could in the air to preserve the win as time expired. Play. Maker.

Great, yet confounding, ending to a magnificent ball game. Key stats and other leftover tidbits from this one will be in the recap tomorrow morning. But it should be clear: Wisconsin doesn’t win today’s game without Brian Butch.

Here ya go! The shot comes at about the :50 mark. I love Butler this year. Love ‘em.

Set to broadcast nationally…

»Wisconsin @ No. 9 Texas; Noon ET (ESPN2).

»San Diego @ Kentucky; 2 ET (ESPN2).

»No. 11 Tennessee vs. Gonzaga (@Seattle); 4 ET (ESPN2).

»Oklahoma @ No. 23 West Virginia; 6 ET (ESPN2).

»LaSalle @ No. 18 Villanova; 7 ET (ESPNU).

»No. 6 Pittsburgh @ Dayton; 8 ET (ESPN2).

»No. 17 Arizona @ No. 2 Memphis; 10 ET (ESPN2).

It’s nice to have a healthy diet of college basketball back in our lives.

–No. 4 Washington State 67, North Carolina A&T 34. Yeah the Cougars still haven’t lost and it’s time you started paying some attention. At 12-0, they’re a very well-balanced team and, I can’t believe this, but have a legitimate shot at a 1 seed if they can handle UCLA in the Pac-10. Much easier said than done, but it’s time to start taking this team seriously. Though many won’t; you know they’d be the trendy top pick to fall in the Sweet 16.

–No. 16 Butler 57, Southern Illinois 55. AJ Graves buried Southern Illinois with a 3 and five seconds remaining. Amazing. It was from about 35 feet away. AMAZING. I will get some video up for you as soon as possible because you have got to see this shot. The Salukis are toast; an at-large bid is out of the question unless they can roll through the MVC undefeated (which won’t happen).

–No. 22 Mississippi 78, Southern Mississippi 58. Undefeated Rebs keep on rollin’! It’s Alabama A&M that will get Ole Miss to 13-0 before their big game against Tennessee on January 9th. Now, if they can win that game, oh, then you’ll really start to here about how good the SEC is this year. All I need to do is point you in the direction of Kentucky and a Florida team that looks about as old as my 8th grade CYO squad. The Southeastern Conference has some quality and some caliber that should be noticed, but I still think it’s overvalued.

–No. 25 Rhode Island 92, Eastern Michigan 75. Bada bing! Jim Baron has coached his team to a 12-1 record to end out his 2007. Everyone should feel Ram fever. Believe it or not, this win was in the Islander Invitational. Uh, can’t we be done with all the tournaments and invitationals already? The Rams were led by Will Daniels and good ol’ Jimmy Baron, both of whom scored 18. Jimmy’s been working on some new moves!

Notable:

Saint Joseph’s 74, Siena 68. Both teams are now 6-4, St. Joe’s gets a huge win that they really needed.

San Diego State 79, Sam Houston State 78 (OT). A true barn burner, this game was tight throughout and the Bearkats finally received their first loss thanks to a rebound-and-put-back from SDSU’s Billy White with 11 seconds to go in overtime. The kicker? White did the same thing to tie the game right before the buzzer to end regulation. Sam Houston State is now 10-1.