Kansas falls; USC-Arizona tonight
#1 Memphis -- a winner at Houston last night -- is the only unbeaten left in college basketball, after #2 Kansas lost at #22 Kansas State, the Wildcats' first home win over the Jayhawks since the first Reagan Administration. (See, I can inject presidential politics into any post!)
You know what this means: North Carolina is in line to ascend to #2, and Duke to #3. We're getting closer and closer to that 1-vs.-2 matchup for Dukie V's big return. Duke just needs to win at home against N.C. State and Miami, UNC just needs to win vs. BC and at Florida State... and, oh yes, Memphis needs to lose at home against UTEP on Saturday. That last part is the major obstacle to this scenario. :)
Speaking of unbeatens, Drake is 10-0 in the Missouri Valley, and 19-1 overall. Unreal.
On tap tonight, a whole bunch of intriguing games, including a nationally televised USC-Arizona game at 10:30 PM on FSN. ESPN's Bubble Watch has the Trojans in the "work left to do" category (though that was before their win at Oregon) and the Wildcats in the "should be in" category. Joe Lunardi gives USC a #8 seed and UA a #5 seed at the moment. Both teams are 4-3 in the Pac-10, in a three-way tie with ASU (who USC also plays this weekend) for fourth place. Anyway... Fight on Trojans, Beat the Wildcats!
If it's a 1v2 matchup for Dicks return I would be willing to bet $500 that his vocal chords explode.
Posted by: Marty West | Jan 31, 2008 11:09:10 AM
My Tigers are awfully good, baby. They're playing like they believe they are the number one team in the country, and that they deserve to be there.
All I care about at this point is finishing with a 6 game win streak through March/April.
Go Tigers Go!
Posted by: Jay Johnson | Jan 31, 2008 12:11:07 PM
Woo hoo! The cheese stands alone!
GO Tigers!!
Posted by: Fresh Girl | Jan 31, 2008 12:43:44 PM
Memphis is a very good team, but I have little confidence they'll be able to survive a string of solid competition in the tournament.
Posted by: Andrew | Jan 31, 2008 1:02:55 PM
"Dukie V"
???
Posted by: David K. | Jan 31, 2008 1:35:13 PM
He's called that sometimes, David, a reference to his perceived pro-Duke bias.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Jan 31, 2008 3:05:28 PM
The Irish are also at home this evening against Providence as they look to extend their JACC winning streak...
Posted by: NDLauren | Jan 31, 2008 5:40:33 PM
USC completely fell apart in the last few minutes of the game. We really missed Daniel Hackett, we just don't have the depth to sustain injuries.
Posted by: Andrew | Feb 1, 2008 12:44:22 AM
32 in a row for the Irish at the JACC... too bad ND is only Brendan's #8 basketball team, or whatever.
Posted by: Anonymous Hoosier | Feb 1, 2008 9:00:37 AM