Monday Madness 2/4: Huskie Resurgance

Welcome to Monday Madness, your guide to the week that was in college basketball. Expect to see it every Monday around noon.

Super Awesome Team of the Week

Connecticut Huskies

I snubbed the Huskies last week, but I can’t deny them any longer. With wins over Louisville and Pittsburgh, the Huskies went from “nice little turn-around story” to “legitimate threat to be the second best team in the Big East”. The loss of leading scorer Jerome Dyson has been a rallying point for this squad, which was really just going through the motions all season. Jim Calhoun has this squad playing with passion and has the Huskies right back into Big East title contention.

Close: Arkansas (back into SEC race with blowouts of Florida, Miss State), UCLA (state of Arizona should stay away from Pauley), Stanford (Top 10 team after WSU win), Cal (road sweep of Washington schools puts them back in bubble talk), George Mason (huge win vs VCU), UNLV (quietly rolled off five straight wins to control the MWC), Texas A&M (nice rebound wins over Texas and Oklahoma) Cornell (taking command of the Ivy at 4-0),

Bad, Bad Week

Washington State Cougars

The Cougars, last season’s surprise story, were able to hold off any letdown talk with a 14-0 start and #4 ranking. But since that impressive win at USC, the Cougars are just 3-4 in Pac-10 play. The home loss to Cal is unacceptable even in the rugged Pac-10, and Kyle Weaver’s foul shooting cost them a win against Stanford. I’m not saying that this isn’t a very good Washington State squad and they very well may be in the Sweet 16 in the end, but maybe they just aren’t the Final Four team people were calling them just a few weeks ago.


Close: Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Miami (FL), Arizona State (should morph into one team that just collapses upon itself), Baylor (must be still tired from 5OT game), Michigan State (first bad L of the season), Villanova (can’t buy a win at this point), Providence (knocked off bubble with four straight Ls)


Upset of the Week

Penn State 85 Michigan State 76

Growing up in Central PA, I truly understand how rare a major upset from the Bryce Jordan Center is . Adding to the shock factor is the fact that the Lions, losers of six straight, won this one without their best player Geary Claxton, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. And it may turn out that Michigan State was overrated all along, but it was still nice to see the Penn State fans getting to storm the floor for a change.



Close: Kansas State 84 Kansas 75, Missouri 77 Kansas State 74 (Mizzou played without half their team), Memphis 70 UTEP 64 (we’ll give this near shocker some credit).



Mid-Major Spotlight

William and Mary Tribe

Just when it appeared as if George Mason and VCU had separated themselves from the pack in the CAA, here come the Tribe. Wait, what? The Tribe? Yes, Bill and Mary, one of the few schools that have never made an NCAA appearance in school history, is suddenly the hottest team in the CAA. They have eight of nine in the CAA, including wins this week at James Madison and against UNC-Wilmington. It might too much to ask for the Tribe to top George Mason and VCU in March, but I’ve definitely seen stranger thing happen in conference tournament season.

Bubble Watch

Dayton Flyers RPI 13, 15-5, 3-4 A10,

Now here will be an interesting case for the Selection Committee. The Flyers started off the season on a tear, winning 14 out of 15 and rising into the Top 15 of the polls. But after costly injuries to big man Charles Little and freshman stud Chris Wright, the Flyers have fallen off significantly. They have now lost four of five in the A10, dropping them to 3-4 in conference and into the bottom third of the standings. The committee will surely look at their quality wins with a healthy roster (at Louisville, Pitt, Rhode Island) and give then Flyers a bit of a pass with the injuries. Still, they can’t continue to lose to teams like Richmond if the still wan to make the tournament.

Player I’d Like To Party With

Matt Causey, Georgia Tech

This is the kind of guy we love at STF. Causey, who scored in doubles figures exactly once in GT’s first 16 games (including zero against Presbyterian), has exploded for 30, 18, 18 and 12 in his last four games. It’s like Kevin Pittsnogle all over again, sans 17 tattoos. We promise to have much more on this later in the week.


Student Section of the Week

Kansas State (vs Kansas)

Quite possibility the quickest floor storming off all-time by the K-State section. Which is pretty much expected when you have 24 years to practice.


Freshman Spotlight

Kevin Love, UCLA (along with his chest pass)

Kevin Love was a beast against the Arizona schools this week, scoring 20 against Arizona State and 26 against Arizona. And thanks to Jay Bilas talking about it every 45 seconds, let’s give Love some credit for being able to hit the backboard on a full-court chest pass in practice. which is actually pretty remarkable when you think about it. This also marks the only time that a chest pass has been considered interesting.