Yes, I’m starting off another column with my good friend Steve Fisher, as San Diego State continues to dominate one foe after another. After slaying Kansas 10 days ago in Lawrence, this week the Aztecs won all three of their games: at AirForce and home against Fresno State and UNLV. And they won them all quite easily, I might add. This makes it 15 straight since a close loss to Arizona in early Noveember, when Fisher was experimenting with tons of new players. Last April, in my final column of the season, I predicted Arizona as a Final Four team, but you know what, the Wildcats will have to beat the Aztecs one more time in Anaheim to get there. Yes, Arizona will be the #1 seed in the West and I think SDSU will be a 2 or 3 seed, so look for these teams to meet again for the right to go to the Final Four.
Holy Toledo!
Think about this: from 2008-09 through 2010-11, there was a team in the MAC won a total of 15 games. Three seasons after those three barren years, have you noticed what is going on in Toledo now? Maybe one of the best four-year turnarounds in college hoops in the past few decades when you think about it. Toledo is 15-2 with an RPI in the 30s, while averaging more than 83 points per game. The Rockets’ leading scorer is a senior (Rian Pearson) and they already have five road wins. Their squad just has the look of a first-weekend upset winner in the NCAA Tournament. Former Green Bay head coach Tod Kowalczyk took over a program in 2010 that was hit with some APR sanctions and in his first year they went 4-28, which followed up an identical 4-28 season in 2009-10. He bumped it to 19-17 the next year, and was 15-13 the following season. Let’s keep an eye on this squad and hope it can get in the NCAA Tournament.
Ute oughta know
Larry Krystkowiak is doing an amazing job at Utah. It is awesome to see the arena crowded and the Ute fans enjoying great hoops again. Saturday Utah got a great win over UCLA to complete a home sweep of the Los Angeles schools. Some people have Utah in the NCAA mix, but I need to see a little bit more on the road, and that can happen fast. Krystkowiak’s team travels to Arizona State, Arizona and Colorado in its next three game. Also, its non-conference schedule was really bad, but you have to understand where Utah is coming from… get wins, get confidence and let the chips fall where they may. Here is the deal with Utah: if we are sitting in March talking about its non-conference schedule, mission accomplished. It means they are winning games and in the discussion. Oh and remember this name: Delon Wright. Wright is averaging 15.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists. Awesome numbers for the junior college transfer.
Yes! Michigan
I have the pleasure of doing the Michigan State-Michigan game this weekend. I am still amazed that Michigan State has been to Final Fours in 2010, 2009, 2005, 2001, 2000 and 1999 under Coach Izzo. That is an amazing accomplishment. Only five other coaches have done it more than him. Adreian Payne is one of those seniors we all forget about and all he has done is work and get better. His freshman year he averaged 2.5 points and his sophomore year he averaged seven. He didn’t give up and transfer, he just worked hard. Now he is averaging 16.2 points per game. He is a great lesson for all of us to learn from. It looks like he’s going to miss tonight’s game with Indiana. I hope for his sake – and the sake of college basketball fans in general – that he gets healthy quickly.
Big 7 out of 10… in the Big 12
You heard it here first. Seven of the 10 teams from the Big 12 are going to the NCAA Tournament. Texas is going to get it done (more on them below), as will Baylor and Kansas State. Four teams are in the top 16 of the RPI, led by Kansas at number one. Iowa State is on a roll, Oklahoma State has Marcus Smart and Lon Kruger is of course getting it done again at Oklahoma. This is the toughest conference because of the round robin format. Even the three that won’t be dancing in March can shake things up; Texas Tech is not a pushover anymore with Tubby Smith and West Virginia is never easy with Coach Huggins. Even though TCU is labelled the “must win” by all the other teams, remember Kansas lost in Fort Worth last year.
Hook ‘Em
It seems that Texas is coming on at the right time. At 14-4 (and with its only losses coming to Michigan State, BYU, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State), the Longhorns got a huge win over Iowa State. They rebound extremely well. If 6’9″ Cameron Ridley can keep putting up double-doubles like he did against the Cyclones and West Virginia, Texas adds another inside threat to help 6’8″ Jonathan Holmes. They still need to improve their outside shooting and the young, talented backcourt must keep getting better. But if that happens–watch out 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.
