Hail to the Victors
Hats off to Michigan for beating three top-ten teams in a row (including two away from home). The victory on Saturday night in East Lansing was something special and the rematch in Ann Arbor, when the Spartans are healthy, should be a great one. These are two teams that can go deep in the tournament.
Finding Providence
A big shout out this week to Providence under Ed Cooley. The Friars have not been to the NCAAs since 2004 and have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1997, when they lost to eventual NCAA champion Arizona, but this year’s team surely is doing the right things heading into February. Already they own wins over Creighton and Xavier and have nice road wins over St. John’s and Rhode Island. Danger lurks in four of the next five on the road, with games at Marquette, at DePaul, at home against St. John’s, and on the road at Xavier and Creighton. Providence plays one home game between now and Valentine’s Day. Much work to do, but right now I am on the Bryce Cotton bandwagon.
Talking Texas
Hey, I guess Rick Barnes has remembered how to coach again! Vultures were on him at the beginning of the year, but he never got rattled. The Longhorns recent run is really impressive. They have won five straight and get a week to prepare for a home game with Kansas on Saturday. Barnes’ record and consistency at Texas over the long haul is incredible. How incredible? Think about this. He was hired the same year as Gregg Marshall and Bruce Weber – when Marshall was hired at Winthrop and Weber at Southern Illinois!!! Check out the coaching changes from 1998-99 here and you will get an even better appreciation for what he has done. Texas has nine top-100 wins and its losses were to BYU, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Longhorns just need to stay the course and we will see them at an NCAA site in March.
A trip to the Quaker State
Let me take you back to 2011-12 and the fine state of Pennsylvania is an example of why you don’t push the panic button when you have a great coach and faith in your program. Pitt started that season 0-7 in the Big East and finished 17-16 overall. People were wondering if it was time for Jamie Dixon to maybe head west and finally take a Pac-12 job. After all, he had turned them all down prior to that. In the end, Pitt swallowed its pride, took a CBI bid, finished 22-17 while winning the CBI and Lamar Patterson got three more weeks of practice. Across the state, Villanova finished 13-19 and went 3-9 to close the season. Jay Wright’s window had passed, some said. Well, not quite two years later, and Pitt is 18-2 and ‘Nova is 17-2.
Have Mercer
Although the Atlantic Sun only has four teams with winning records, don’t sleep on the 17-5 Mercer Bears. Last season they went 24-12 with victories at Florida State and Alabama, but had the misfortune of being in the same conference as a Florida Gulf Coast team that went to the Sweet 16. This season, Mercer has an RPI of 70, with two of their losses coming early in the season and on the road against Texas and Oklahoma. The Bears are in the top 25 as a team in points, rebounds and assists per game and in field-goal percentage. While their resume isn’t perfect (road losses at North Florida, Evansville and Ohio), there are some signs they could be dangerous come tourney time. They’ve got 12 guys averaging ten or more minutes per game with four of those players shooting 40% or better from the three-point line. They also shoot free throws well and have two guys shooting better than 84% from the stripe. 6’4″ senior Langston Hall is their best player and he is having a very nice season so far. Let’s keep an eye on Hall and the rest of the Bears as they look to win the A-Sun and get an automatic berth in March.
– Bill Frieder
Former Michigan and Arizona State head coach Bill Frieder is an analyst for WestwoodOne’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.
