Well, the unbeatens are down to four, but Murray State keeps chugging along. Up this week for the 14-0 Racers is Eastern Kentucky at home and Austin Peay on the road. I’m staying with my prediction that Murray will be undefeated heading into their conference tournament.
All in the Family
When a coaching legend leaves the game and hands his program to his son, that’s what you call “keeping it in the family.” Dick Bennett made Washington State an impact team in what was then the Pac-10 and then turned it over to his son Tony. Tony did an incredible job in Pullman and now has Virginia on the move in the tough ACC. The Cavaliers are now 13-1 and have solid wins at LSU and at Oregon. They also handled Michigan in the Big 10-ACC Challenge. Right now, Tony Bennett’s team is the 3rd-best in the ACC behind UNC and Duke. Look for Virginia to be in the hunt for an NCAA bid every year as long as Bennett is in charge.
Big 12 Surprises
How about this statement on January 3rd: the Big 12 has 2 undefeated teams – and neither is Kansas. In addition to unblemished Missouri and Baylor, Kansas State has just one loss and Oklahoma is 10-2. All four coaches of these four teams have done a great job. I would say that seven teams from this league will be in the hunt for NCAA bids.
Panther Problems
Jamie Dixon is in unfamiliar territory sitting at 0-2 in Big East play. Now his Pittsburgh Panthers face two must-wins coming up versus Rutgers and DePaul. After that, they play Syracuse, Marquette and Louisville in the three following games, so victories against the Scarlett Knights and the Blue Demons are required. To make matters worse, Pitt dropped back-to-back games at home to Wagner and Cincinnati. WATCH OUT DePaul and Rutgers, Dixon will have his team fired up to get back on track.
Best of the Best
The best conference so far? The Big Ten. 9 of the 12 squads have RPIs in the Top 50 – Michigan State (8), Ohio State (10), Indiana (14), Minnesota (19) and Illinois (25) are in the Top 25, plus Michigan, Purdue, Northwestern and Wisconsin knocking on the door. Look for the Big Ten along with the Big East to send a minimum of eight teams each to the Big Dance. And here’s a number to leave you with: the Big Ten has thirteen wins outside the league versus RPI top-50 teams. By comparison, the Pac-12 has one quality win (Stanford over NCState).
– 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.
