NCAA Manic Mondays 02/15/2010

Here is the new Top 25 in college basketball

#1 Kansas Jayhawks (24-1)
#2 Kentucky Wildcats (24-1)
#3 Villanova Wildcats (22-2)
#4 Purdue Boilermakers (21-3)
#5 Syracuse Orange (24-2)
#6 Duke Blue Devils (21-4)
#7 Kansas State Wildcats (20-4)
#8 West Virginia Mountaineers (19-5)
#9 Gonzaga Bulldogs (21-4)
#10 Georgetown Hoyas (18-6)
#11 Michigan State Spartans (20-6)
#12 Ohio State Buckeyes (20-6)
#13 Butler Bulldogs (23-4)
#14 Brigham Young Cougars (23-3)
#15 New Mexico Lobos (23-3)
#16 Wisconsin Badgers (19-6)
#17 Texas Longhorns (20-5)
#18 Tennessee Volunteers (18-6)
#19 Vanderbilt Commodores (19-5)
#20 Temple Owls (20-5)
#21 Pittsburgh Panthers (19-6)
#22 Baylor Bears (19-5)
#23 Texas A&M Aggies (18-6)
#24 Northern Iowa Panthers (22-3)
#25 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (18-5)

The Tennessee Volunteers suffered the worst drawback in the polls this week, dropping six spots on their way to a #18 ranking. Devastating losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky not only leaves Tennessee reeling in the SEC race, but also exposes their weaknesses as a cohesive unit. In most of their quality wins this season, Tennessee has shot the ball well and out-rebounded their opponents by significant margins. Vanderbilt and Kentucky challenged the Volunteers from start to finish, proving how Bruce Pearl, sparkling in that orange jacket of his, has a lot of work to do before the NCAA tournament. The only advantage working in Tennessee's favor right now is their ability to generate a substantial amount of offense. They are not a very good rebounding team and do not execute at the free-throw line when given their chances. Tennessee came out flat in their game against Vanderbilt, missing shots outside the perimeter and allowing the Commodores to control the tempo and execute inside the paint. In spite of the efforts of Wayne Chism and J.P. Prince, Tennessee was unable to match Vanderbilt's energy throughout the course of the game. Turnovers and personal fouls killed the Volunteers to the point where Vanderbilt attempted 43 free throws and made 37 of them. Jeffery Taylor and Jermaine Beal had spectacular games for the Commodores, hitting enough big shots to halt any kind of change in momentum and preventing Tennessee for making a comeback.

Tennessee came out with a better effort against Kentucky on Saturday night and even held a two-point lead late in the second half. They were efficient within the paint defensively and were successful at taking DeMarcus Cousins out of the game. They got terrific bench play from Melvin Goins, who contributed 14 points and made a few three-pointers to keep Tennessee in the game. However, the combination of John Wall and Eric Bledsoe were too much to handle for the Volunteers. The Wildcats would pull away late off crucial turnovers from J.P. Prince and key jump shots from Wall and Bledsoe. Tennessee was better from the free-throw line, shooting 77% and proving to be a thorn in Kentucky's side. However, they were not able to draw enough fouls and expand their lead to the point where Kentucky would have to start playing mistake-free basketball. The Commodores and the Wildcats proved why they are better than the Volunteers right now. In order for Tennessee to return to the land of prominence among the elite, they will need a greater spark from their bench and will need to limit their turnovers and foul trouble. They have terrific young guards in Bobby Maze and Scotty Hopson, who can burn you with the jump shot and can also feed the ball successfully to Wayne Chism. Chism needs to establish himself as a dominant weapon in the paint, emerging as the catalyst of Tennessee's offensive strategy and allowing Bruce Pearl to stretch his game plan a little bit. Tennessee has a lot of problems right now. In order for them to be a legitimate threat come March, they will need to unite as a team much in the same way they did when they lost Tyler Smith and defeated Kansas earlier in the year.

One of the primary disadvantages working against the West Virginia Mountaineers is that they play in the Big East Conference. Statistically speaking, West Virginia boasts one of the most talented groups in the nation and should be considered a dangerous threat leading up to the NCAA Tournament. To say that they are not a dangerous threat would be ludicrous considering they are ranked #8 in the nation. However, if one were to go through their season thus far, one would see that West Virginia only has two quality wins against Ohio State and Pittsburgh. They got blown out by a Purdue team that is slowly rising to the top of the Big Ten Conference. They lost a close game to Syracuse, which wasn't even that close because of WVU's turnovers and personal fouls. And they suffered tough losses against Villanova and Pittsburgh last week, the latter of which was a classic triple-overtime thriller that turned out to be the game of the weekend. The Villanova loss was a tough one to swallow for the Mountaineers, who were fresh off a recent ranking of #4 in the polls and were tops in the nation in rebounding and 3-point percentage. Villanova came ready to play as they shot the ball very well from beyond the arc and won the rebounding war by 10. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher took control of the game in the second half, finishing with 21 and 17 points respectively. Antonio Pena wore down the Mountaineers in the paint with 10 points and 9 rebounds. The straw that broke the camel's back was West Virginia's inability to establish dominance outside the 3-point line, going 7-27 from beyond the arc and not capitalizing from the free-throw line. Villanova was more physical than West Virginia and that proved to be the difference in the basketball game.

West Virginia's ineptitude from the 3-point line continued against Pittsburgh in a game worthy of a Backyard Brawl. Da'Sean Butler had the game of his life for the Mountaineers, finishing with 32 points and 11 rebounds in 49 minutes of play. 18 of those points came in the overtime periods, with Butler serving as West Virginia's only scorer in the third overtime. Darryl Bryant was WVU's most efficient player from beyond the arc, going 3 for 6 from outside the perimeter and finishing with 20 points. Devin Ebanks was a force inside the paint as he was able to successfully neutralize Nasir Robinson and Gary McGhee and shut down Pittsburgh's interior game. Ebanks would finish with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but it wouldn't be enough to contain the Panthers. They wanted this game in the worst way and it showed from the moment they took the court against the Mountaineers. Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker were instrumental in Pittsburgh's win as both kept their team in the game with clutch jump shots. Wanamaker also fed the ball successfully to his teammates and would finish the game with 24 points and 10 assists. Travon Woodall was lethal coming off the bench, hitting key shots in the overtime periods and finishing with 12 points. This was the ultimate difference in the ball game because West Virginia could not get anything from their bench. Pittsburgh was able to grind out a victory against a West Virginia team more dependent on their finesse style of play rather than an aggressive and attacking offensive game plan. West Virginia has three outstanding forwards in Butler, Ebanks, and Kevin Jones. The latter two average over 7 rebounds per game and complement Butler's scoring style very well. The problem with West Virginia is their inability to develop consistency from their bench. They need smaller role players to step up with the game on the line, hitting their free throws and setting up Butler within the paint. West Virginia has been very good at getting help from their role players since they are among the leaders in free-throw percentage and scoring offense. Yet they have been sputtering as of late, which means that head coach Bob Huggins needs to reach deep down and find out what his team is made of in the coming weeks.

Some would argue that the Syracuse Orange will be the team to beat going into the NCAA Tournament in March. They certainly have the weapons to justify that claim and can play a zone defense capable of shutting down any of the nation's elite powerhouses. With Wesley Johnson and Kris Joseph anchoring the interior, Syracuse is not only lethal outside the perimeter but can also attack opposing defenses and wear them down as the game goes on. Lately, the Orange have fallen victim to their own mistakes and have been keeping teams in the game for far too long. They were very close to suffering an upset loss against UConn and did indeed suffer an upset loss to Louisville yesterday. There is no real reason as to why the Orange have been flirting with disaster recently, except to say that UConn and Louisville offered serious challenges by putting pressure on the zone and forcing Syracuse to adjust their gameplan. Syracuse's ineffectiveness at neutralizing the leading scorers of the opposing teams (Jerome Dyson of UConn and Edgar Sosa of Louisville) forced them to play mistake-free basketball in the crucial moments of those games. Syracuse turned the ball over 20 times against UConn and shot a paltry 42% from the field, which was very uncharacteristic of a team ranked #1 in field-goal percentage. The Orange also failed to execute from the 3-point line, shooting a measly 23% from beyond the arc. Yet despite the efforts of Dyson and Stanley Robinson in this game, Wesley Johnson and Kris Joseph made some crucial free-throws down the stretch to give the Orange the victory. They would not be so fortunate against Louisville. Syracuse would continue its shooting troubles by hitting just 41% of their shots from the field. Wesley Johnson tried to be the hero by stepping out of his comfort zone and attempting to hit crucial three-point shots to get Syracuse back in the game. Johnson's failure to execute motivated the Cardinals to stretch the game out, with Samardo Samuels and Mike Marra dominating the perimeter and attacking the zone with great success. Louisville outplayed Syracuse yesterday despite the efforts of the latter's vastly superior frontline. Johnson, Arinze Onuaku, and Kris Joseph dominated the boards but it wasn't enough to hold off a Louisville team that had something to prove. Their victory over Syracuse brought them back into the tournament conversation, if only for a brief moment. Louisville still has a lot of work to do before we can start to take them seriously again. As for Syracuse, consider this a blip on the radar. While it is true they haven't played well in their last two games, they are still one of the highest scoring teams in basketball. They are also one of the top rebounding teams and can still find a way to execute both inside and outside the 3-point line. They have a terrific interior game led by Johnson and Joseph that causes havoc for opposing defenses. And they play a magnificent zone defense, which has given fits to some of the best teams in the country. Jim Boeheim has his team headed in the right direction. Yet all that could change should they lose to Georgetown and Villanova in the next two weeks.

That's it for now...Syracuse-Georgetown, UConn-Villanova, Purdue-Ohio State, Kentucky-Vanderbilt, and Bracket Busters analysis could be seen next week. Til then...