March is rapidly approaching. For most teams, there are only four games left in the regular season. Therefore, it’s crunch time!

Guess what happened this past week? The #1 ranked team lost! I bet you never saw that coming in the wake of the vast turnover at the #1 spot throughout this season. Yep, UConn choked away their top spot. Actually, they didn’t really choke as they were just beat up in their own house by a better team, the Pitt Panthers. Coincidentally, the Panthers are the new top-ranked team. They’re looking at a full road slate this week at Providence and then Seton Hall; so, prepare thyself for more turnover by this time next week.

Here’s the latest relevant rankings along with each team’s respective movement as compared with last week:

Now, onto the conference reviews:

Big East: Patphish – The argument of which conference is the best in the country is officially over for the regular season. The BEast now has the top 2 teams in the rankings, as well as 5 of the top 10. I have had a week to reflect on the Pitt victory over the FNCUH and have a slighlty different view than I did the last Monday night.

Contrary to what is stated in our opening, Pitt is not the best team in the country. Last Monday, they were the best team in the game with the Huskies. BUT………………….I underestimated the loss of guard Jerome Dyson in that game. I know how great a player he is, and how the Huskies could use his perimeter defense and deep stroke. But, what I failed to touch on was that the Huskies need a few games to adjust to life without him; and adjust they will. They crushed South Florida in Tampa at home Saturday; and while not a brutal place to play or a great opponent, (USF is similar to say……….Maryland in the ACC), teams sometimes struggle when they hit the fun-in-the-sun of Floriduh after 3 months of gloom-and-doom in New England the end of the regular season.  The Huskies are deep, especially at guard, and they will be rolling again come tourney time. Look for them to beat Marquette on the road (they are unbeaten on the road, btw) Wednesday night in a battle to unclog first place.

West Virginia travels to Cincinatti in what is a huge game for both teams. The Bearcats will “honor” Huggy Bear before the game. For what, I am not sure. Partying like a rock star? Failing to graduate any of his players? Winning a ton of meaningless games and then getting smoked when it counts? Sounds like Huggins to me. Of course, the Mountaineers will probably pull it out, causing serious damage to Cincy’s tourney hopes.

Syracuse is a mess. Too slow, too uninterested. Jim Boeheim looks bored and almost like he doesn’t even like his own team. Devendorf is exactly what he appears to be, a wannabe thug. I’m not impressed. They’ll make the dance, but 1-and-done won’t surprise me at all. Side note: when they win their next game, whenever that may be, Boehiem will be the first coach in history to win 20+ in 31 seasons. He’s still a douche; but that’s a nice stat.

Providence can’t defend and they are fading fast. They would win 11 games in the ACC with their high-octane offense; but the lack of interior D is getting them killed in the BEast. Unless they make a surprise run in the conference tourney, I see NIT in thier future.

A lot is being made of Jim Calhoun’s press conference after Saturday’s victory. I guess it’s big news, seeing that it’s February and all. Please. It was a decent question, but the kid acted like a punk and was trying to show up the best coach in the land, (2-0 vs Krzyz^&*%$# in the Final Four, so please just stfu if he is the argument you are going to bring) and was out of line asking in that setting. Calhoun chewed him up and spit him out. Good. That’s the guy I want coaching my team.

Cream: Pitt, FNCUH, Louisville (Pitino has them ready), Villanova (5th straight year with 22+ wins, who knew?) Marquette

1/2 & 1/2: ‘Cuse, West Virginia, Cincy, Providence

Milk: Notre Dame, Seton Hall, G’town, St John’s

Skim: USF, Rutgers, DePaul

ACC: GITC - There are now nine relevant teams in the ACC… out of twelve. I’d say that this wraps-up the whole ACC/BigEast thing but those Big East people have crazy ideas. Anyway, Carolina was beaten by my Terps on Saturday in OT in College Park. The Terps always pull the upsets. According to the tournament committee’s meeting with ESPN on Sunday, pretty much any team that finishes ACC tournament play with a .500 record in the ACC will get in. That means that Maryland doesn’t have to beat Duke tomorrow (I’m going to the game) or Wake next Tuesday (going to that as well) as long as they don’t lose at NC State or Virginia and win their 1st round ACC tournament game. While that sounds easy, it won’t be. When the tournament committee sat down on Sunday they left out Virginia Tech and put in the other eight teams. Tech has lost three in a row but can easily work their way back in with an upset or to. That or they could lose the rest of the way through their brutal schedule (@Clemson, Duke, UNC, @FSU). Miami is listed as in now despite their 5-8 conference record. No matter, they should be able to run through the last three (@Virginia, @NC State, Georgia Tech) with no trouble to finish 8-8. BC is holding on after a loss to Miami but unless they lose an unexpected game they should come out 9-7 and in the tourney. Wake plays two easy games this week before they go to Maryland and then get Clemson at home. They can’t sleep on those two games though. FSU is now ranked top 25 but has a harsh stretch to end the season (@BC, Clemson, @Duke, VaTech). They are pretty much a lock at this point although I guess they could lose 5 in a row and miss out. Duke might be riding high on their win at home vs. Wake on Sunday but they better not sleep on the Terps. At this point you think they’d know to fear the turtle but you never know. Clemson still has three hard games left but should get through them OK and Carolina will be fine I’m sure as they will keep their one seed. Can the ACC send 9/12 to the Tourney? We’ll wait and see…

Big 10: Sparty – Late season Big 10 basketball is here! What exactly does that mean? Very low scoring. Obviously the Big 10 has never been known for wide-open offenses; but always around mid-February, scoring seems to take a nosedive in Big 10 play. Some of it has to do with tired legs, but more of it has to do with familiarity. This is what happens when you play 18 conference games.

The perfect game of great defense, or maybe it really was just offensive futility, was Penn State’s win over Illinois. Penn State needed only 38 pts to beat the Illini, who only managed to put up 33 at home. Talor Battle lead all scorers with 11 pts. He was the only player to score in double digits, and he did it on 3-11 shooting from the floor. The win was huge for Penn State, as they greatly improved their chances of reaching the NCAA Tourney.

The team that hurt themselves the most this past week was Michigan. The Wolverines had an opportunity to get their conference record above .500 entering the last couple weeks of the season, but dropped a game in OT to the Iowa Hawkeyes as their best player was benched the entire extra session. This may have cost the maize and blue any shot at the big dance; they now need a huge win over Purdue to get a chance.

Another team that needs probably 1 more win is Minnesota. That is going to be tough to come by, as they head on the road to offensive juggernaut Illinois, and then over to the Kohl Center to face the Badgers. They close the season at home in a game against what is sure to be a desperate Michigan team.

Michigan State is holding tight to the lead in the Big 10, but Purdue is breathing down their necks. These were the two teams expected to vie for the title at the start of the season, and Tom Izzo said that whoever wins the league would probably have 3-4 losses; and, he was right. Purdue closed to within 1 game after thrashing Michigan State at Mackey last week. It was Michigan State’s first road loss of the season. The two teams meet again to close the season, and there is a good chance it will be for the Big 10 title.

The team that probably has really played their way out of the tourney is Ohio State. A late season 3-game losing streak is not something that the committee wants to see. If they split their last 4 games, they should be ok.

Locks: Michigan St, Purdue, Illinois

Should be dancing: Penn State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State

Uh-oh: Michigan

Big 12: Miz/Trey – Blake Griffin goes down! Supposedly nothing major, but it is a setback that could cost Oklahoma a #1 seed if they are not careful. After going down with a concussion Saturday, literally at the hands of rival Texas, Oklahoma looked very human and were knocked off by the once-struggling Longhorns and the resurgent Jayhawks in Griffin’s absense. Speaking of the Longhorns…after beating Oklahoma, combined with wins over UCLA, and Villanova, Texas will probably be dancing…well, so long as they finish at least .500 and win a game in the Big 12 tourny. Oh yeah; and those Kansas guys? They go and win a national title last year; then hover around in the shadows while slowly working their way back up into major contention this year. The Jayhawks beat up on the Griffin-less Sooners last night in Norman and have taken over 1st place in the conference! The Sooners are looking more and more like a one man show (don’t give me that Willie Warren junk) while the Jayhawks are looking more and more like a complementary team.

The bubble teams…Kansas State, thanks to some lighter fare, is still looking towards earning a place in the madness too. A win over Missouri Wednesday night will do a lot of good for a team with a very low RPI…Oklahoma State is in the same boat, but with a much better RPI. Their problem? Nothing they can point to as a signature win…But it’s Texas A&M with the easiest route in. Their schedule sets up perfectly to allow them to win out (in the regular season) and jump off the bubble on selection Sunday.

In: Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Texas

Bubblin’: Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Baylor

Slim’s hand shut the door: Nebraska

PAC 10: Sparty – Commenter “thecassino” has a heart attack every week due to our PAC 10 review so we thought we’d give him a stab at it. So, without further ado, here’s his thoughts on the PAC 10:

The clutter at the top of the Pac-10 is starting to clear up. With Cal and UCLA losing games they shouldn’t have, they’ve let Washington and Arizona State separate themselves from the pack. The winner of Thursday’s Washington/Arizona State showdown will almost certainly be the conference champion. Washington won the first leg in Tempe, and their only loss at home this year was in 3 overtimes to Cal. With no more road games to play, they’re the favorites.

Remember last year when Oregon State went 0-18 in conference play? After completing a season sweep of the bay area schools, they’re now 7-8. Craig Robinson is the Pac-10 coach of the year, and nobody else is in the conversation.

Cal’s loss to Oregon State put their tournament situation in a little bit of danger. The remainder of their schedule is brutal (home for USC and UCLA, then @Arizona and @Arizona State), so if they don’t keep their focus they could very well find themselves 9-9 in conference play and on a 5 game losing streak. It’s not likely to happen, but it wouldn’t be shocking if it did.

USC continues to play their way out of the tournament after a split with the Washington schools. More interesting than the team’s recent on-court futility is that this team is coming apart internally in a big way. Reportedly, during the game against Washington two USC players got into an argument during a timeout (Tim Floyd was probably too busy yelling at refs to notice). Then during the game one player made a “vulgar gesture” at another. After the game Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis had a “confrontation.” No word on Lil’ Romeo’s involvement. Big news on the recruiting front for them though, they picked up a verbal from Rivals’ #10 ranked recruit: Renardo Sidney. Sidney is a kid who went to three high schools, already travels with an entourage, and hasn’t qualified because for some reason he has yet to take the SAT. Tim Floyd has lost control of this program.

Cuttin’ Rug: Washington, Arizona State, UCLA

In, Barring a Meltdown: Cal and Arizona

Meltdown in Progress: USC

SEC: Miz/Trey – Florida is a Final Four team. Book it. (Miz note: Those were Trey’s words, in case you were wondering.)

The SEC continues to have a logjam at the top of the East and a single player in the West. Florida, Kentucky, and South Cackalacky are tied up for the East lead after Tennessee fell down the stairs last week and got up with a black eye with losses to Mississippi and Kentucky. Luckily for Tennessee, their RPI is still in the top 25. If the Vols don’t get it together, they’ll miss the tourny completely and be NIT-bound.

LSU is thoroughly dominating the West. I haven’t heard much from all the peeps that were so pissed off when John Brady was fired mid-season last year. Seems like the move has paid off with the Tigeauxrs elevating themselves to the class of the conference this year. Again though, before you get too high on the Tigers and their tourny chances, take a look at their schedule and note the out-of-conference games. A tourny-ready team does not a weak out-of-conference schedule make.

So far, eight teams in the conference already have double digit losses. Of the other 5 major conferences, only the Big East contains as many or more teams with double digit losses (nine)…and the Big East has 33% more teams than the SEC!

In my opinion (Trey), if the SEC legitimately gets 4 teams in, they should celebrate. Not just any celebration, an SEC parade in Birmingham. Woo Woo. And really, don’t be shocked if some doo doo team like Auburn wins the SEC tourny and the conference sends another undeserving team to the dance. Cause, it will probably happen.

In: LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky

Wobbly: Tennessee, Mississippi State

Needs to be that “doo doo team”: everybody else

GITC Mid Major Power Poll – trimmed down because most of the mid majors are not worthy to be mentioned here anymore:
1. Memphis (Conference USA) – (24-3) Momentum…
2. Xavier (Atlantic 10) – (22-5) Lost to Charlotte but it just doesn’t matter.
3. Gonzaga (West Coast) – (21-5) Only team not named the Memphis Tigers to be undefeated in conference play.
4. Butler (Horizon) – (23-4) Drops a spot after a loss but won a bracket buster.
5. Utah (Mountain West) – (19-7) Moving up as others move down…
6. Dayton (Atlantic 10) – (23-4) Lost to St. Louis. That was bad.
7. BYU (Mountain West) – (20-6) Lost by one at UNLV. That’s acceptable to me.
8. Utah State (Western Athletic) – (25-3) Dropped their bracket buster to St. Mary’s without Patty Mills. That’s bad.
9. Siena (Metro Atlantic) – (22-6) Won their bracket buster against Northern Iowa. They might be the real deal.
10. Creighton (Missouri Valley) – (23-6) Won their bracket buster against Mason. Slowly climbing the ranks.
11. UNLV (Mountain West) – (20-7) Beat BYU but lost at Wyoming. Meh.
12. St. Mary’s (West Coast) – (22-5) Beat Utah State without Patty Mills? Watch out for this team if he gets back.
13. Davidson (Southern) – (22-6) Lost both games this week. Won’t make tourney without conference tournament championship now.

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