Picking a new No. 1, now that Wisconsin has gone down, isn't easy. There's only one school left in the four highest-rated RPI leagues (ACC, SEC, Pac-10 and Big Ten) that's undefeated in league play -- and that team, Florida, also hasn't lost since Dec. 3. What about the tear North Carolina is on, though? The Heels have won their past five games by an average of 27 points, making an equally strong case. For this week, the vets in Gainesville get the nod over UNC's speedy kids -- but a win at Duke on Wednesday could be cause for re-evaluation.
| NCAA Basketball Power Rankings |
| 1 |
4 |
 |
Wooden Award |
Not that we really needed another indicator of just how scary the Gators are, but here goes: There were only two teams -- North Carolina and Florida -- with multiple players on the Wooden Award's midseason top 30 list. The Tar Heels got two, in Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright. The Gators got three -- Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Joakim Noah. Strangely, a fourth guy who was left off the list, Al Horford, might actually be their best Wooden Candidate. He has eight double-doubles to Noah's five ... but can't match Noah's wardrobe or Q-Rating.
The Gators' extreme statistical balance -- five guys averaging double-figures, no one above 14 points -- will probably keep any of them from winning the Wooden. Unless a split trophy is possible (like SI did with Tim Duncan and David Robinson for the 2003 Sportsmen of the Year), Billy's boys will have to settle for a second national title instead.
Next three: 2/3 vs. Tennessee, 2/7 at Georgia, 2/10 at Kentucky. |
| 2 |
5 |
 |
Man, wait 'til ex-Arizona star Gil Arenas hears about this. In the interest of supporting his ACC brethren on their Western travels, Coach K said Sunday he "was cheering like crazy" for Roy Williams and UNC against the Wildcats this weekend. Arenas, if you haven't been reading his blog, has a grudge against the principals involved in his being cut from the U.S. national team this summer -- namely, Coach K, the Suns' Mike D'Antoni and Portland's Nate McMillan. Arenas scored 54 against the Suns earlier this year, causing D'Antoni to joke that Arenas was "gonna KILL Duke." Gil responded with the following blog post:
I thought it was funny because if I have the chance to go back to college, I'll give up one NBA season to play against Duke... One college game ... that's five fouls, right? ... 40-minute game ... at Duke, they got soft rims ... I'd probably score 84 or 85. ... I wouldn't pass the ball. I wouldn't even think about passing it. It would be like a NBA Live or an NBA 2K7 game, you just shoot with one person.
With K rooting against Gil's alma mater, the scoring figure likely jumps into Wilt territory.
Next three: 2/3 at N.C. State, 2/7 at Duke, 2/10 vs. Wake Forest. |
| 3 |
1 |
 |
Our ABBA-Photoshopping of Alando Tucker made it into the Wisconsin State Journal this week, which means it's either time to ramp up our coverage of Swedish music (a Peter Bjorn and John reference, maybe?) or balance out the hijinks with some serious analysis. Here you'll find the latter. Did you know that, through Sunday, only six major-conference players were taking more 32 percent of their team's shots? And Tucker, at 36.2 percent, is second only to Rice's Morris Almond. The table below compares how each of the six players' personal offensive rating (from kenpom.com) relates to their team's raw offensive efficiency. While Almond's high-volume work is done with a terrible supporting cast, Tucker is actually surrounded by an even-more efficient lineup.
Player Team Pct Pers. Team Diff.
Shots OEff. OEff.
Morris Almond Rice 39.6 117.5 98.1 +19.4
Kevin Durant Texas 32.7 119.2 115.8 +3.4
Aleks Maric Nebr. 32.3 106.9 107.1 -0.2
Alando Tucker Wisc. 36.2 112.5 114.0 -1.5
Christian Polk ASU 32.5 93.8 97.5 -3.7
Richard Roby Colo. 34.3 90.2 94.3 -4.1
Next three: 2/3 vs. Northwestern, 2/7 at Penn State, 2/10 vs. Iowa. |
| 4 |
2 |
 |
I wish it were possible to do these rankings after the Ducks played UCLA on Thursday night, but alas, it's not. Instead we'll honor the phenomenal duel that took place between Oregon's Aaron Brooks and Washington State's Derrick Low last Saturday. It was basically Durant vs. Boggan, minus the size, two overtimes and the ability to see it on basic cable here in New York. D-Low dropped 37 points on the Ducks, hitting 9-of-16 trey attempts, and only turned the ball over once in 41 minutes. Brooks, meanwhile, "only" had 31, but scored 16 in the final seven minutes of the game (including a banked-in 32-footer). In the wake of the duel, Arizona coach Lute Olson said that Low "is to [Wazzu] what Steve Nash is to the Suns"; and SI's Grant Wahl said Brooks has a "whisper campaign" going for national player of the year. If A.B. keeps impersonating Chauncey Billups, he'll be a lot more than a whisper-man come March.
Next three: 2/1 at UCLA, 2/3 at USC, 2/8 vs. Arizona State. |
| 5 |
7 |
 |
Mike Conley Jr. knew how to pick up a friend in need. Greg Oden, Conley's teammate in high school (at Indy's Lawrence North), AAU (Spiece Indy Heat) and college (OSU), was rocked this week by the death of his best friend, Ball State freshman golfer Travis Smith. Oden attended Smith's funeral in Terre Haute, Ind., on Wednesday and, according to The Columbus Dispatch, arrived in West Lafayette less than an hour before the team bus departed to face Purdue. And so while Oden struggled with foul trouble against the Boilermakers, Conley scored 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from long distance and dished out six assists. Of his big-man-in-mourning, Conley said, "We just wanted to do whatever we could to make it easier on him."
Next three: 2/3 at Michigan State, 2/6 vs. Michigan, 2/10 vs. Purdue. |
|
CLICK BELOW FOR 6-10  |
|
