Victor Oladipo showed once again why he could be the national player of the year, as his offense and defense willed Indiana to a 72-68 win over Michigan State in East Lansing on Tuesday night. Oladipo was spectacular in scoring 19 points, grabbing nine rebounds and adding five steals. It was the stand-out performance in an impressive win that gives Indiana the overall #1 seed at this time.
The Other Four:
Miami came from behind against Clemson then held off Virginia to stay undefeated in the ACC. Let’s go with them at #2 followed by Gonzaga, Duke and Florida.
Battling Rams:
Let me tell you about a team to keep an eye on in the NCAA Tournament. You have to love experienced teams with experienced coaches. At 21-4 entering Wednesday’s MWC road tilt at UNLV, Colorado State (#22/21) is 8-2 in the conference, just a half-game behind New Mexico (#16/16), which comes to Fort Collins next Saturday. The Rams own the nation’s third-longest home-court winning streak with a school-record 27 wins in a row at Moby Arena. Guess who provided the Rams with their last home loss? How about Larry Eustachy’s Southern Miss squad on November 19th, 2011. Guess Larry figured once you beat them, join them. The Rams start five seniors and rebounding and defense are two keys the new coach has brought to a returning NCAA Tournament team brought back lots of talent. Colorado State is tops in the nation in rebounding (42.3) and rebounding differential (+13.8) and has not been out-rebounded in a game this season. Think about that…not one game this season!
While instilling toughness, Coach Eustachy also frequently implores his team to push it up court off a defensive rebound. He’s often flailing his arm like a third-base coach waving them up the court. His sideline attire is not jacket and tie, but rather button-down oxfords in either black, green or orange with a small Colorado State logo on the chest above the pocket. He even got a buzz-cut in honor of two of his seniors this year. Thanks to collegehoopedia.com, I give you this nugget…Coach Eustachy has an opportunity to become the first coach in NCAA Division I history to win at least 24 games in a season with five different DI schools. He previously achieved the feat with Idaho, Utah State, Iowa State and Southern Mississippi. That would be quite a feat.
Hawkeye Opening?
Plenty of teams to watch in the powerful Big Ten, but don’t sleep on Iowa. I think they’ll get hot down the stretch and will be a tough out for some unlucky team. Hard to believe the Hawkeyes haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2006 and haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2001. Its 325th-ranked non-conference strength of schedule will be hard to overcome, but Fran McCaffery’s team has wins over Iowa State, Wisconsin and Minnesota and is 17-9 overall and 6-7 in the Big Ten. Now here is why you need to keep an eye on them… the Hawkeyes have won three in a row and play at Nebraska and Purdue next. Let’s say they get to 19-9 and 8-7. At that point with road game at Indiana they will be rolling the dice and close with Illinois and Nebraska at home. They could be 21-10 and 10-8 in what no one doubts is the best conference this season. Add a strong run in Chicago at the Big Ten Tournament and Iowa’s bubble might not burst after all. The Big Ten has five locks for selection (Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State), then three teams at 6-7 in the league that might be battling for two berths — Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. Can the B1G be the B8G for the Tourney? We’ll see…
Streaking No Longer:
Here are a couple of NCAA Tournament streaks that are going to come to an end unless a basketball miracle happens: Purdue (six), Texas (14), West Virginia (four) and Florida State (four). Meanwhile, Colorado will be making its second straight appearance after making the NCAAs only twice (1997 and 2003) in the previous 30 seasons.
Do Your Homework:
Here’s some required coursework over the next few days:
- Kansas @ Oklahoma State: Tonight, 9 PM Eastern: Kansas reacted to its three-game losing streak by blowing out a ranked K-State team and then Texas by a combined 47 points. Can the Jayhawks make it three straight blowouts in Stillwater against the #14 Cowboys? Remember, it was Oklahoma State’s win at Allen Fieldhouse that started the spiral.
- Washington @ Arizona: Tonight, 10:45 PM Eastern on Westwood One Sports: Not just a plug because John Tautges and I will be there to bring you the action. The Wildcats were prohibitive favorites in the Pac-12 coming into the year, but they find themselves a game behind Oregon at the moment. The Washington schools visit Tucson this weekend, while Oregon hosts Cal and Stanford. The ‘Cats need to win these two.
- Georgetown @ Syracuse: Saturday, 4 PM Eastern: After playing Providence tonight, Syracuse has this schedule: Georgetown, at Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, at Georgetown. If Jim Boeheim and the Orange win the Big East in their last year before jumping to the ACC, they’ll have earned it.
— Bill Frieder
Former Michigan and Arizona State head coach Bill Frieder is an analyst for Westwood One’s coverage of NCAA Basketball. In his weekly blog Boxed Out, Bill scours the box scores to bring you interesting stories from the world of college basketball.
