Teague's growth puts Wake Forest in good hands (cont.)

Other Hoop Thoughts

• Do you all realize it's quite possible all four No. 1 seeds will come from the ACC and the Big East? I'm pretty sure two conferences have never done that.

• Speaking of those two leagues, I know everyone is ready to call this year's Big East the best conference in history, but there is a case to be made that this year's ACC is just as good, if not better. Yes, the Big East has eight teams ranked in this week's AP Poll compared to the ACC's four, but remember, the Big East also has four more teams in its conference. And the ACC has four teams in the top 10 and three in the top five, while the Big East has three and two, respectively. If the ACC gets seven teams into the NCAA tournament, that would be 58.3 percent of the league. If the Big East gets nine, that would be 56.3 percent.

• Some of you may remember that last year I highlighted the inspiring story of Max Bass, a 5-year-old boy stricken by leukemia who had befriended Wisconsin guard Michael Flowers. (The story was originally chronicled by Capital Times sportswriter Rob Schultz.) Well, last week Max's dad, Adam, sent me an e-mail reporting that Max finished his treatments in May and that all of his bloodwork has come back clean. He also said Flowers spent several days with the family last summer before heading to Germany to play ball. Schultz has a more complete update on Max's condition here, but I was thrilled to hear the little fella was doing well. I think Wisconsin could have used him at Purdue on Saturday.

• I continue to be in awe of Butler, which, despite starting three freshmen, now stands at 14-1 and ranked 17th. This is truly one of the elite programs, mid-major or otherwise, in America.

• While watching Tennessee in person last week against Gonzaga, it occurred to me that, for all of Bobby Maze's talents, he is not the right point guard for this team. Maze is a setup man, but the Vols are hurting for perimeter scoring. They need someone at that position who can knock down shots; Maze has made just 11 three-pointers all season.

• If you ask me (and you did, right?), it's not hard to see silver linings in North Carolina's loss at Wake Forest. The Tar Heels played on the road against one of the best three or four teams in America, they are still without their best defender (Marcus Ginyard), they shot 6-for-23 from three-point range and they still only lost by three.

• In my ongoing quest to show everyone just what is wrong with grassroots basketball in America, I present to you the case of Anthony Crater, a 6-1 guard from Flint, Mich., who decided to transfer from Ohio State two weeks ago. Crater's former AAU coach, Carlos Fordham, told the Columbus Dispatch that Crater left because Thad Matta "was not living up to" a promise that he would start Crater ahead of juco transfer Jeremie Simmons, who, according to Fordham, was described by Matta as "coming in as a combo guard, a backup, because they needed another shooter in the program." After adding that "we don't like people to lie to us," Fordham said that Crater would seek out "programs that go up and down [the court]. Unfortunately, him and Thad are in two different playbooks."

Fordham's remarks are so ludicrous it's hard to know where to begin. In the first place, I highly doubt Matta explicitly promised Crater a starting spot, but if he did, Crater and Fordham were dopes to believe it. Playing time is something that is earned, not promised. (Crater still played 13 minutes a game, mind you. He just didn't start.) Fordham is basically arguing that even though Crater could not beat out Simmons for the spot, Matta should have started him anyway. Finally, according to Fordham, Crater is apparently not good enough to play for a program unless it plays a specific kind of style. Seems to me Ohio State went "up and down" plenty when Mike Conley Jr. was the point guard, but I guess that's ancient history.

And all of this was supposed to happen for Crater during the first semester of his freshman year. That's really showing some patience and maturity, huh? Crater has since decided to attend South Florida. All I can say is, let the buyer beware.

• I was amazed to read last week that it has been seven years since Michigan State won the Big Ten. Me thinks that's about to change.

• If you're channel surfing off the beaten path, keep an eye out for Wisconsin-Milwaukee's 6-7 junior forward James Eayrs, a juco transfer who is listed on the roster at 340 pounds but has reportedly slimmed down to a svelte 310. Despite his ursine frame, Eayrs has light feet and made 18 three-pointers in his first 15 games. He reminds me of Robert "Tractor" Traylor.

• For this week's Hoop Thought on Paul Harris' value to Syracuse, I defer to that noted oracle of wit and wisdom, DePaul coach, Jerry Wainwright: "Every good establishment has to have a bouncer."

• A lot of us (myself included) have been hyping up the big national player of the year race, but it looks like Blake Griffin is pulling away from the field.

• I have enormous respect for Jim Phelan, the legendary longtime Mount St. Mary's coach, as well as for Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. But upon hearing that Dixon was named the midseason winner for the Jim Phelan Coach of The Year award, I couldn't help but wonder why a) we need yet another coach of the year award, and b) why anyone would think to give out an award for midseason coach of the year?

• In an era in which it seems fewer people in sports show a social conscience, it is refreshing to read about the efforts of IUPUI coach Ron Hunter to bring awareness to Samaritan's Feet, an organization that collects shoes to be delivered to underprivileged people all around the world. Last season, Hunter coached a game barefoot. This year, he persuaded a number of his fellow Division-I coaches to join him next month. Hunter is working hard for a great cause, and as an added bonus he's making the sport I love look good. Thanks, coach.

• The most impressive thing about Miami's win at Boston College on Saturday was that it got only 12 points from Jack McClinton. Five Hurricanes scored in double figures in the win. Now BC needs to learn to spread things out so it doesn't have to rely so heavily on Tyrese Rice, who needed 18 shots (12 of them from three) to score his 21 points in the loss.

• Ditto for Texas, by the way. A.J. Abrams needed 27 shots to get his 22 points in Monday night's 15-point loss at Oklahoma.

• For the record, I don't think there is a single, solitary instance where it is justified to have the game announcers conduct a phone interview during the game.

• I'm amazed at how many top teams are only playing six or seven players. The reality is, in today's instant gratification society, it's hard to get good players to come to a program that has a lot of other good players. It's even harder to keep them from transferring when they realize they won't be playing 30 minutes a game. Georgetown is Exhibit A. Point guard Jeremiah Rivers and power forward Vernon Macklin transferred to Indiana and Florida, respectively, because they knew they weren't going to get mega minutes. That has left the Hoyas with a very thin bench.

• Now that conference play has begun in earnest, allow me to remind everyone about the difference between playing on the road and playing at home: When you're at home, you can shoot a lot of threes. When you're on the road, you need to shoot a lot of free throws. Class dismissed.

This Week's AP Ballot

1. Pittsburgh
2. Duke
3. Wake Forest
4. North Carolina
5. Connecticut
6. Michigan State
7. Oklahoma
8. Georgetown
9. Clemson
10. Texas
11. Syracuse
12. UCLA
13. Notre Dame
14. Marquette
15. Purdue
16. Xavier
17. Miami
18. Baylor
19. Louisville
20. Arizona State
21. Gonzaga
22. Tennessee
23. Michigan
24. Illinois
25. California

Skinny: This is the time of year when actual results should increasingly override subjective impressions, but I'm still taking a healthy mix of both into consideration. The top of my ballot felt a little easier this week. You can quibble if you like about my decision to rank one-loss Duke ahead of undefeated Wake Forest. I can't say I had a great reason other than I had Duke ahead of the Deacs last week and didn't think it was right to switch.

I'm also a little more bullish on Georgetown than my fellow voters. (The Hoyas were 13th in this week's poll.) Yes, they lost to Notre Dame, but that was in South Bend. They should also be ranked ahead of Notre Dame given that the Irish also lost at St. John's. Normally I like to give extra weight to head-to-head results, but as we get late in the season, it becomes harder to keep applying the transitive property to my ballot.

I thought I might be ahead of the curve in welcoming California, but my ever-watchful fellow voters installed the Bears three spots higher than I did. I'm also increasingly looking for quality wins to justify rankings, which is why I dropped Villanova entirely. What exactly has this team done to justify its No. 23 ranking? The Wildcats' best win of the season came at Seton Hall.

I'm also mystified why Minnesota warrants being ranked 18th. Its best win came on a neutral court against a Louisville team that played horribly. Besides that, the Golden Gophers have done bupkus.

I think my fellow voters also learned a hard lesson on the dangers of overreacting to one good win. I did not put Boston College on my ballot even after it won at North Carolina, and the team justified my lack of faith by losing at home to Harvard and Miami. I also left Arkansas off my ballot last week after it beat Oklahoma and Texas. (The Hogs ended up unranked but were second in others receiving votes.) The reason is because those games, like almost every one Arkansas has played, were at home. The Hogs lost at home over the weekend to Mississippi State. They may end up as a top 25 team, but they're going to have to get something done on the road before they earn my vote.

Seth Davis' book, When March Went Mad: Magic, Bird and the Game That Transformed Basketball, will be published by Times Books in March, 2009.