Updating Your Ass: NCAAB, Week 16

WEEK 16: Updating Your Ass is a weekly feature recapping the week in NCAA Men’s Basketball through the eyes of JOCKpost writer, KB.

After looking at the schedule for week 15, I was concerned I would have little to write about for this weeks edition, considering my third best game to watch was Texas @ Texas A&M.  Thanks to some unforeseen upsets and big injuries, week 15 ended up being one of the most exciting of the season. 

Where to start?  Let’s start with the biggest upset that occurred down in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Right when (1) Kansas looked like they would take a hold of the top ranking in the country, Oklahoma State decided to step in and play their best game of the year.  Kansas never stood a chance in this game. 

After being down by 16 at halftime, the Jayhawks just could not get in the flow of things and wound up losing by eight.  One good note for Kansas is Sherron Collins finally got out of his funk and led the team with 22 points, but when the teammates do not follow suit it is difficult to win games. 

With Kansas losing that means Kentucky could step back in as the best team in the country.  Not quite.  On Wednesday South Carolina came into Kentucky looking to upset the Wildcats once again.

However, UK was well prepared for Devan Downey and the Gamecocks this time, beating them by a score of 82-61.  Then Saturday came.

Kentucky went into Tennessee underestimating them just as much as the rest of the country did, losing 74-65.  The Vols have not played consistent basketball all season.  Although, they now can say they have defeated the two best teams in the country in Kansas and Kentucky. 

With the two top seeds going down, that left (3) Purdue room to step in and claim the top spot.  They never had a chance to do this however, with the loss of Robbie Hummel (torn ACL) on Wednesday night in a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Boilermakers needed a last second shot from Keaton Grant to get the win.  It was evident how much of an impact Hummel had for Purdue on Sunday when they played Michigan State. 

The game was back and forth in the first half, with Purdue holding a two point lead at halftime.  The second half went all Sparty’s way with a double-double from Raymar Morgan and 53-44 win.

Purdue’s other two go-to guys, E’twaun Moore and Jujaun Johnson, combined for 7-27 shooting.  This led Purdue to only scoring 16 points in the entire second half. 

I don’t think it is any secret that that type of performance is going to have Purdue exiting March madness pretty early. 

After the top three ranked teams going down in the same week, surely (4) Syracuse would step in and grab that number one ranking. 

They did more than grab it, they bitch-slapped it and claimed it as theirs. 

After putting away a pesky Providence team on Tuesday, they prepared for the huge test that awaited them in (8) Villanova on Saturday.

What began as the making of a great game, ended with Syracuse proving they are the best team in the land with a final of 95-77.  Kansas and Kentucky are right there with them, but after watching the Syracuse defensive zone week after week, I really can not see a team beating them in March with only days to prepare. 

Not to mention the Orangemen can drop 90-100 points on any given night. 

Amazing all of that happened in one week between four teams.  The rest of the top 25 pretty much stayed put except for a few underachievers that have been on the outs for a couple weeks now.

(7) West Virginia is picking the wrong time to start playing inconsistent basketball.  They have been in the top ten all season, however with a loss to unranked UConn and a tight battle against Cincinnati the Mountaineers are verging on ending that streak very soon. 

Let’s not forget they just kicked their starting point guard off the team for good because of a hit-and-run. 

Games against Georgetown and Villanova next week will show the country just how good this team really is and what to expect in the tourney. 

The Big East had a surprise team come out of the wood-work this week in Notre Dame.  After dropping three straight and possibly losing Luke Harangody for the entire season, the Irish season looked all but over. 

That was until this last week they decided to put it to (13) Georgetown and (16) Pittsburgh.  Notre Dame is now 8-8 in conference play and riding the bubble with 25 other teams. 

They will have to do some work in the conference tourney but if they keep playing like this there is not doubt you will see them in the big dance. 

I could not finish this article without mentioning New Mexico, who are now ranked in the top 10 after beating (11) BYU on Saturday.  The Lobos are now 27-3 overall and are 6-0 against ranked teams this season, which is something to take into consideration when you are filling out your brackets in a couple weeks.  Just don’t piss off Steve Alford.

TOP 3 GAMES FOR WEEK 16

(5) Kansas St. @ (2) Kansas – Wednesday 8 P.M.
(8) West Virginia @ (9) Villanova – Saturday 12 P.M.
(20) Georgetown @ (8) West Virginia – Monday 7 P.M.