Hoop thoughts (cont.)

• There isn't a lot of exciting news to report out of Indiana these days, so let me take a second and give a nod to Matt Roth, a freshman guard who tied a Big Ten and school record for made three-pointers when he shot 9-for-11 from behind the arc in a 93-81 loss to Ohio State on Saturday. Roth came into the game averaging just six points per game, but he is the all-time three-point shooter in Illinois high school basketball history and is making 52.6 percent this season. (I will avoid making the obvious Bobby Plump reference here.)

• A direct quote from one of ESPN's top on-air college basketball people: "Bob Knight is dying to get back into coaching." There's no doubt Knight can coach, but if I were a prospective athletic director, he would have to prove that he has the energy and desire to recruit at the level he would need to win. Knight would be a good short-term hire. Long-term, I'm not so sure.

• St. Mary's could potentially pose a very tough case for the NCAA men's basketball committee. What if the Gaels go on a major losing skid without Patty Mills (who broke his wrist in a loss to Gonzaga), but then they win a couple after he comes back late next month? Remember, the committee takes injuries into consideration, but if St. Mary's loses a bunch of games in Mills' absence, it might be hard to put them in the field.

• Virginia Tech could prove to be another interesting case if the Hokies are on the bubble. Remember, they lost two games on shots at the buzzer to Xavier and Wisconsin. In the case of the Xavier game, the loss came on a half-court shot. If that shot doesn't go in, the Hokies have a win over a top 10 team on their résumé. Members of the Selection Committee might not admit openly they take such close losses into consideration, but believe me, they do.

• Siena may have fallen off the radar after the Saints lost all three of their games at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando in November, but now they have won 12 of their last 13, they're undefeated in the MAAC and they're ranked 20th in the RPI. No team will want to see its name pop up next to Siena's on Selection Sunday.

• So let me get this straight. Memphis is a borderline top 25 team, and yet there is still no one in Conference USA who can beat them?

• You know about Eric Maynor, but VCU has another potential future pro in 6-9 sophomore forward Larry Sanders. Sanders has only been playing organized basketball for a few years, and his minutes were limited last season because of foul trouble. But thanks to his 7-7 wingspan, he is a lethal shot blocker, and he is a freak athlete who has worked on his rail-thin body. I really hope VCU does well in the tournament so I can go on TV and say "Hey now!" every time I mention Sanders's name.

• You all do know that Marquette's Jerel McNeal is the best guard in the Big East, right?

• I see freshmen Jrue Holiday (UCLA) and DeMar DeRozan (USC) still listed as lottery picks on some NBA mock draft boards, and I can only shake my head. I mean, these guys are barely good college players right now.

• It's amazing how many teams are dealing with flu issues right now. This is a bigger problem than we often realize because it's not as easy to spot as an injury. These guys are sharing locker rooms and airplanes throughout the winter, so when one of them gets sick, they're all in jeopardy. For instance, Michigan State forward Raymar Morgan has had a hard time shaking a bad virus for several weeks. He barely played in the Spartans' loss at home to Penn State on Sunday.

• I know Tennessee fans are excited about freshman Scotty Hopson's season-high 20 points (on 4-for-6 three-point shooting) in Saturday's big win over Florida. If there's one thing that could jump-start Tennessee's season, it would be Hopson emerging as a go-to perimeter scorer. I suspect he's not ready for that to be his full-time role.

• It is not hard to figure out what Wake Forest needs to do to win games: get to the foul line. If you look at their game-by-game stats, the Deacons' two lowest free-throw attempt totals were 12 versus Virginia Tech and 17 versus Georgia Tech. Those are also their only two losses.

• I have to say, I'm surprised that Alex Legion is not having a bigger impact at Illinois. The 6-5 Kentucky transfer became eligible in December and should have given the Illini some instant offense, but he has only mustered three double-digit scoring three times in 11 games and has scored seven points total in his last four games.

• Wouldn't it be ironic if this year's Davidson turns out to be George Mason?

• Kansas could really take a step up if Mario Little emerges as a consistent scorer. The 6-5 junior college transfer missed the Jayhawks' first 12 games because of injuries, and he almost decided to redshirt. He scored 12 points off the bench in Kansas' win at Baylor on Monday night. It was just his second double-digit scoring night of the season, but it gave the Jayhawks an important lift on a night when Sherron Collins wasn't shooting well and Cole Aldrich was limited by foul trouble.

• Jeff Capel is the first, second and third choice at Georgia. In fact, Georgia had an offer ready to go after Capel last year until Dennis Felton saved his job by winning the SEC tournament. You can be sure a lot of schools will go after Capel this spring, but they will have a formidable adversary in OU athletic director Joe Castiglione, who may well be the best AD in the country.

• I'm not quite buying the comparison, but an NBA executive recently told me he looks at James Harden and sees Brandon Roy.

• I just love that Homer Drew is still coaching Valparaiso.

• Kudos to Utah State for its 20-1 record (9-0 WAC), but for such a prominent program, it's pretty disappointing that Stew Morrill didn't give his guys a more challenging schedule. The Aggies' nonconference schedule is ranked 265th in the country and included just two teams ranked in the top 75 of the RPI. If Utah State doesn't win the WAC tournament, it could have a hard time getting an at-large bid even if it has just two losses.

• When did the Mohawk make a comeback anyway? I thought that went out with The A-Team.

• It says here there will not be a single team from the Pac-10 or the SEC playing in the NCAA tournament in the second week.

• Matt Bouldin emerged as Gonzaga's definitive go-to guy during the Zags' comeback win at Tennessee, and he hasn't looked back since.

• Finally, I want to pass along my congratulations to my good friend Vito Montelli, the 76-year-old head coach at St. Joseph's High in Trumbull, Conn. Last week, the venerable Coach V won his 800th career game. Think about that for a second. It is an amazing accomplishment.

This Week's AP Ballot (Official rankings in parentheses)

1. Connecticut (1)
2. Oklahoma (2)
3. Duke (4)
4. North Carolina (3)
5. Louisville (5)
6. Pittsburgh (6)
7. Wake Forest (7)
8. Marquette (8)
9. Clemson (10)
10. Michigan State (13)
11. Purdue (12)
12. Xavier (9)
13. Butler (11)
14. Gonzaga (18)
15. Syracuse (20)
16. Texas (16)
17. Villanova (17)
18. UCLA (15)
19. Washington (22)
20. Notre Dame (NR)
21. Memphis (14)
22. Kansas (21)
23. Minnesota (19)
24. Illinois (23)
25. Siena (NR)

Ranked but not on my ballot: Arizona State (24), Utah State (25)

This is the closest my ballot has resembled the actual rankings in quite some time. (Not sure that's a good thing.) The only difference in the top eight is that my fellow voters put North Carolina ahead of Duke. It's a small point, but it's hard to justify. Both teams lost close games at Wake Forest. Otherwise, Duke lost at Michigan and UNC lost at home to Boston College. The Tar Heels also needed a three pointer at the buzzer to get by Florida State last week. But like I said, it's a small point, and we'll know better on Feb. 11 where these guys stack up against each other.

It also looks like I am riding shotgun on the Notre Dame bandwagon, surrounded by lots of empty seats. As I noted above, all the losses during Notre Dame's five-game skid came against teams ranked above them. So how can the Irish be ranked behind Arizona State, which lost at home last week to Washington State and Washington? Texas has five losses, including to Notre Dame in Maui, and last week the Longhorns lost at home to Kansas State, yet they're ranked 16th and the Irish are going to the NIT? I'm not feelin' that.

At any rate, it's obvious Memphis will keep climbing in the rankings if for no other reason than the Tigers still won't lose a league game. Their Feb. 7 contest at Gonzaga should give us a better idea of how good they are (or aren't). Even though St. Mary's lost at Portland, I might have given them a mulligan and left them at No. 25, but since they're without Patty Mills, I figured I had to drop them. I like to use that No. 25 spot to give a mid-major some love. Siena is my flavor of the week.

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