Philadelphia, PA – Florida, boosting the nation's most efficient offense, didn't break 30 in either half during a defeat Saturday to Tennessee.
Georgetown didn't have an answer for Kevin Jones in a loss to middle-of-the- road West Virginia. Missouri's leading rebounder was a 5-foot-9 guard, an illustration of a greater problem that reared its ugly head in a loss at Kansas State.
Louisville lost a double-overtime thriller to a Notre Dame playing without its best player for the season. Temple and St. Joe's promptly lost after I spent considerable column space exposing their virtues in a jumbled Atlantic-10.
The cascading fall of ranked teams leaves a large group of resumes that look nearly identical as teams fight for NCAA Tournament entry and positioning. Yes, it is only the second week of 2012, but the bubble already looks thin and indistinguishable, as teams like Wisconsin (losers of three straight) still have a Top-25 profile due in equal parts to early-season victories over BYU and UNLV and the lack of quality depth surrounding them.
I like to use the word "balance" over "parity" when discussing the state of the game. Because of new recruiting rules and the filtering of players to the NBA, the power structure has evened out some in the last decade. Teams with three- and four-year starters strike a collective cohesiveness that on any given night can overcome athleticism and talent. We've seen it countless times during March Madness, but the topsy-turvy nature of the sport has bled into the regular season, particularly conference play.
After Syracuse, there is no dominant team in the Big East. Connecticut is lacking chemistry and is still searching for the Alex Oriakhi from last season. Georgetown and Louisville are getting the max from their talent level, which is down from typical standards. The same holds true with a scrappy Marquette team. Pittsburgh is going through the most trying season of Jamie Dixon's successful tenure.
Kansas and Missouri, two of the top teams in the Big 12, would combine to make an unstoppable roster. Instead, the Jayhawks have perimeter issues, and Missouri relies far too much on outside shooting. The ACC, after North Carolina and Duke, is a middle-of-the-road mess with Virginia on the rise and Florida State on a free-fall with teams like North Carolina State and Virginia Tech clawing for each victory.
Madness has extended to the regular season. We are in for the two-month push that really may not decide much, other than to provide nightly excitement in an unpredictable atmosphere. The "balance" will make the NCAA Tournament selection committee's job all the more difficult and do little to distinguish the eighth-best team from the 12th-best team, the 64th-best team from the 66th-best team.
Balance is good for the game, as the sport is still being played at a high level with newcomers entering center stage each and every week. It's almost impossible to follow the volatility, so you might as well just sit back and enjoy it.
5 THOUGHTS FROM THE WEEK THAT WAS
1. Indiana needs to feed the post more often because its reliance on the outside shot is a tenuous tight rope to walk. In my book, "99 Things You Wish You Knew Before... Filling Out Your Hoops Bracket" I talked about the empirical evidence supports the notion that it is harder to make long-distance shots in domes, on courts without a backdrop, in the pressure of the tournament. That's why Indiana needs to monitor its three-point barrage and instead play more inside-out. It will help them in the long run. In the short term, the Hoosiers' 88-82 victory at Penn State snapped a 16-game conference road losing streak, which just shows you how far the Hoosiers had fallen. Those days seem far in the rearview mirror.
2. Louisiana-Lafayette used a big advantage to convert Elfrid Payton's game- winning layup in a 72-70 victory over Western Kentucky. It had six players on the floor. The officials missed the extra man, and now they could face suspension for failing to call a technical foul. In unconnected news, the Hilltoppers fired head coach Ken McDonald in short order, not for failing to count six players himself, but rather for a 5-11 start, sliding attendance numbers and an overall downward trend for a proud mid-major program.
3. Dayton is now the flavor of the week in the Atlantic-10 after taking down Saint Louis and winning at Temple, the Owls' first home loss. Head coach Archie Miller deserves a lot of the credit in getting the most out of an underachieving team in recent years, winning the Old Spice Classic to go along with victories over Alabama and Ole Miss.
4. Looking for a pair of mid-majors to keep an eye on? Oral Roberts jumped into the national conscience with a victory over depleted Xavier last month and has started 6-0 in the Summit League. The other is a familiar name, George Mason, which started slow under new head coach Paul Hewitt, but has started to mesh in league play. The Patriots are off to a 4-0 start, including victories over Old Dominion and Georgia State.
5. Rutgers finally backed up its victory over Florida two weeks back by downing defending national champion Connecticut over the weekend. The future is bright in New Brunswick, as the Scarlet Knights' roster includes 10 freshmen and sophomores.
FINE 15
1. Syracuse (17-0): There is so much to like. The Orange rank 12th nationally in field goal percentage, 11th in assists and 13th in points per game. They come at you in waves, and they proved their mettle in Saturday's win over Marquette, holding off the Golden Eagles after seeing most of a double-digit lead disappear.
2. Kentucky (15-1): Lost a little in Kentucky's SportsCenter scoring highlights is its success on the backboards and the defensive end. The Wildcats rank fourth nationally in rebounds per game thanks to two freshmen: Anthony Davis (10.6) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (7.8). The Wildcats also place fifth nationally in defensive efficiency, predicated by their length in the paint.
3. North Carolina (14-2): To expound on the "balance" of the game discussed above, the Tar Heels join the Orange, Wildcats and Ohio State Buckeyes as the four favorites to cut down the nets on the first Monday night in April. Each has set itself above the rest of a muddled, shuffling Top 10. North Carolina's Harrison Barnes has been a kenpom.com model as of late, scoring 43 points in his last 49 minutes of game action.
4. Baylor (15-0): The Bears, one of three remaining unbeaten teams, don't register with the upper echelon yet because they go through offensive dry spells. Perry Jones III leads the team in points and rebounds, but still disappears over long stretches. Can't do that against the big boys.
5. Ohio State (15-2): Think the loss at Indiana woke up the Buckeyes? They have dominated their last two opponents, drubbing Nebraska by 31 and Iowa by 29 last week. Jared Sullinger had a monster game against the Hawkeyes, dropping 28 points with eight rebounds.
6. Michigan State (14-2): The Spartans get the edge on the Hoosiers based on the December 28th victory and that they haven't lost since November 15th. Michigan State is back to playing Tom Izzo basketball, valuing possessions and playing tight man-to-man defense.
7. Indiana (15-1): Hoosier nation has a beef to be higher with wins against top of the poll's top five teams, but this spot isn't bad considering where Indiana has been the last few seasons. Again, to lament the point, over half of Indiana's field goal attempts at Penn State came from beyond the arc. Zeller took just five shots. That needs to change.
8. Missouri (14-1): The loss in Manhattan highlighted Missouri's flaws, but I'm not going to overreact to a loss in a tough environment against a very good Kansas State team. Missouri, the nation's field goal percentage leaders entering play, made just 32.7 percent of its shots. The one eyesore is just one attempt in 14 minutes for Ricardo Ratliffe, who, as the lone possible post presence, needs to get more involved.
9. Duke (13-2): Good bounce back in Atlanta, and where did that aggressive play come from Ryan Kelly? The big man, who spends most of his time hovering around the arc, got to the foul line and made all of his 14 attempts in the victory over Georgia Tech.
10. Kansas (12-3): Thomas Robinson is a Player of the Year candidate, doing a lot of heavy lifting in the absence of consistent perimeter play. He scored 18 points with nine rebounds against Oklahoma, has developed some semblance of a face-up game and has stayed out of foul trouble. The Jayhawks still need more production and maturity from guard Tyshawn Taylor, who took to Twitter in ripping critics last week.
11. UNLV (16-2): During a discussion with a colleague about UNLV's projected seeding in the tournament started today, I argued the Runnin' Rebels could stake the case for a second seed. Why? Very few teams (if any) have the large collection of quality wins against the likes of North Carolina, Illinois and Pac-12 favorite California. That argument grows with each conference win.
12. Georgetown (13-2): Georgetown is a nice story and the Hoyas have a manageable schedule coming up against Cincinnati, St. John's, DePaul and Rutgers. If the Hoyas get through that stretch 4-0 or 3-1, I'll believe even more.
13. Kansas State (12-2): Many good teams get embarrassed at Allen Fieldhouse, but the waxing of Missouri shows this team's potential. No one was better on the floor Saturday than Rodney McGruder, who scored 20 points in the victory. Kansas State plays great defense, especially on the wings, and can shuffle in multiple bodies, playing eight guys 12 minutes or more.
14. Michigan (13-3): Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Nothing about Sunday's 59-41 victory over Wisconsin was a sight to see, but it was typical John Beilein basketball. Michigan has quietly held three of its last four opponents under 60 points.
15. Murray State (16-0): Isaiah Canaan's 35-point performance against Austin Peay on Saturday was perhaps the single best individual performance of the season. He scored 35 points on just 15 shots (making 7-of-8 threes) and he also shared the basketball, dishing out five assists.
