There was an eerie lack of turbulence at the top of the college hoops world for the past two weeks, partly because of final exams, partly because only one team in my last top 10 -- Butler -- lost. While the bluebloods in the Bluegrass state have been flailing, elite squads such as Carolina, Memphis and Texas have been cruising. Ascending -- and cracking the top 10! -- is Arizona, which has endured more than its share of Lute-related drama and now might be maturing into a contender.
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UNC Tar Heels (10-0)
Tyler Hansbrough will probably finish first or second in the Wooden Award voting, be the ACC Player of the Year and an All-America, but there is one thing it seems he'll never receive: the sympathy of opposing fans. I watched Hansbrough suffer a concussion on Sunday night at Rutgers after hitting his head on the knee of a cameraman -- an incident that would cause UNC coach Roy Williams to say, "First time in the history of college basketball a guy got a concussion with no foul called." Hansbrough was lying still under the hoop, being examined, when a fan yelled, "That's for all the calls you've been getting!" After watching Psycho T relentlessly bull through the Scarlet Knights for 20 points and 11 boards, perhaps the fan thought Hansbrough deserved this fate. The Tar Heels were also up 19 with less than six minutes left when it happened, and Hansbrough was still in the game. But they had also booed him when he was allowed to stop play to re-insert a contact lens in the first half, and a student occasionally held up a sign with a picture of the infamous mask -- from the sympathy-free broken nose Hansbrough suffered last season -- and underneath, the word "sucks".
Next three: 12/22 vs. UC-Santa Barbara, 12/27 vs. Nevada, 12/30 vs. Valparaiso
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Texas Longhorns(11-0)
This is shaping up to be a major Saturday in college hoops. Georgetown at Memphis is huge. Texas sort-of-at Michigan State (in Auburn Hills, Mich.) is also huge. Tennessee at Xavier is getting less hype, but is also a must-see. That's six hours of high-quality hoops -- and it represents 40 percent of the top-10-vs.-top-10 matchups that have occurred over the first two months of the season. The Longhorns deserve credit for being the only team willing to engage in three of them, all away from home. Here's how many games the AP's current top 10 have played against teams who were in the top 10 at the time:
3: Texas (at UCLA, vs. Michigan State, vs. Tennessee)
2: UCLA (vs. Texas, vs. Michigan State); Michigan State (vs. Texas, vs. UCLA)
1: Memphis (vs. Georgetown), Georgetown (at Memphis),
0: UNC, Kansas, Duke, Marquette, Washington State
(It should be noted that Duke and Marquette met in Maui when they were Nos. 11 and 13, respectively; UNC also intended to play Louisville in the Las Vegas Invitational, but the Cards lost to BYU in the semifinal.)
Next three: 12/22 vs. Michigan State (in Auburn Hills, Mich.), 12/29 vs. Wisconsin, 1/2 vs. TCU
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Memphis Tigers (9-0)
The NCAA would never allow such a thing, but an instructional DVD starring Joey Dorsey -- Let The Giant Sleep: What I Learned From Calling Out Greg Oden -- would be highly beneficial for most college teams' video libraries. Rutgers, especially, might have preferred that junior forward J.R. Inman knew better than to say this to the Newark Star-Ledger in advance of his Sunday matchup with Tyler Hansbrough:
"Honestly, I'm not a conceited dude, but I really don't think he can guard me. He's really strong, and he's a really talented player, don't get it twisted. He's a threat to get a double-double every night. But from what I notice defensively, he really hasn't been challenged this year by a guy who has my ability and skills. Somebody his size with athleticism, reach and all that stuff, but who can also step out to 20 feet. That's pretty hard for anybody, even myself. If I had to guard myself, it would be pretty hard."
Inman -- who did not guard Hansbrough on the other end -- went 3-of-14 from the field for 10 points, his second-lowest output of the season. Hansbrough went for 20 and 11. Call-outs never seem to benefit the caller.
Who will do it next? Could someone on Winston-Salem State please question Mike Beasley's manhood, just to see if he goes for 40 and 20 on Saturday?
Next three: 12/22 vs. Georgetown, 12/29 vs. Arizona, 1/3 vs. Siena
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Kansas Jayhawks (11-0)
Is there any big-time guard who makes a bigger impact on the defensive end than Mario Chalmers? He's tied for seventh in the country with 3.1 steals per game, but in truth he's the most productive, major-minute thief in the country. Of guys who were playing in at least 60 percent of their team's minutes through Sunday, these five recorded steals on the highest percentage of possessions (via kenpom.com):
Rk. Player Team St.%
1. Mario Chalmers Kansas 6.47
2. Robert Palacios N. Colorado 5.97
3. Jonathan Amos Toledo 5.90
4. Josh Dotzler Creighton 5.85
5. Brandon Johnson Old Dominion 5.84 The next-highest player on a top-10 team was Marquette's Dominic James, who has a 4.63 steal percentage. Not even in the same ballpark as Chalmers.
Next three: 12/22 vs. Miami (Ohio), 12/29 vs. Yale, 1/5 at Boston College
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Washington State Cougars (9-0)
When your non-conference slate, post-Gonzaga, consists of Portland State (already vanquished, 72-60), The Citadel, Idaho State and North Carolina A&T, there isn't a whole lot to talk about in the present. So columnists, like this one in the Seattle P-I, understandably turn to speculating about things such as your viability as a Final Four candidate, and if that were to happen, how many more women would gawk at young Tony Bennett. (Said Kyle Weaver of that phenomenon: "Oh man, it's crazy; I don't know if people know he's married with two kids or what.") We'll leave the Bennett topic for the ladies. As for the Cougs' Final Four prospects, I'm not entirely sold. The development of Aron Baynes into an interior force really helps, but they still don't have that multi-NBA-player formula that's usually required to make a title run. My Final Four right now is UNC, UCLA, Memphis and Kansas. Obvious picks, but they're all too loaded to leave out.
Next three: 12/20 vs. The Citadel, 12/23 at Idaho State, 12/28 vs. North Carolina A&T
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