State of College Basketball Address

While a lot of college basketball is focused on the Big East, as well they should be, I want to talk about the Big 6: the top Power Conferences as well as the top 6 candidates for Player of the Year in NCAA Basketball today. Therefore I present to you as President of the United Words of this Article, The State of College Basketball Address: Midseason Version.

Conferences:

1. Big East:

The Big East certainly isn’t the Big Easy this year. From top to bottom every team looks to be a dangerous one that could make a run at any moment in time. Even teams at the bottom of the conference like Rutgers or Connecticut have the talent to take on one of the top ten teams in the country and deal them an upset. Louisville is another team to watch out, as they were once thought to be one of the top teams in the country in the preseason. Then you throw Notre Dame with Harangody, Marquette, Pitt, Gerogetown, and West Virginia in the mix with conference leaders Villanova and Syracuse and you can’t say that this isn’t the conference to beat.

2. Big 12:

Let’s first start off by mentioning that the conference has the number 1 RPI in the nation. Not only that but the conference also includes the number 1 team in the nation as well as the best record when facing out of conference teams. All that makes us wonder how they are not the number 1 conference on this list. But then we have to look at the fact that besides Kansas no other team has separated itself as cream of the crop. It seems that inner conference play may be the Big 12’s gift and curse. Texas has definitely felt the wrath of a tough in conference schedule as its fall from an undefeated number 1 team has been well documented. But in March Madness, I don’t think any team will want to see a Big 12 team facing them because you know they come to play.

3. Big 10:

What a year for the Big 10. They came into the season as the proverbial favorites with some experts saying that they could put as many as 9 teams into the NCAA tournament. They lost a little steam coming into the conference schedule and because of their competitiveness, every team that makes it into the Big Dance will be at the very least battle tested. No one gives more evidence to this than Perdue. They started the season as a possible number one seed in the tournament, fell behind early and now has been riding a hot streak on the way to number 4 in the nation. They along with Michigan State and Ohio State have all reached the 20 win milestone already this season tying the Big 12 as the only conferences with 3 teams to accomplish that feat.

4. ACC:

Doesn't it just feel like Duke and the rest of the boys at this point? I really feel like the fall of North Carolina started a trend where any given day anybody in the ACC could beat anybody else in conference but then out of conference a lot of people would beat up on the ACC. You definitely don’t see it in their non-conference record this season as they actually sport the 2nd best record in that regard but while other teams in the nation seem to be trending upward, many ACC teams are going in the opposite direction They lost the Big Ten-ACC challenge and just don’t seem like the powerhouse conference of yesteryear. It looks as if the conference will probably squeeze 5 maybe 6 or 7 teams into the tournament and while that looks good on paper you are probably looking at only 3 teams that you are confident about making some noise: Duke, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Other than that you really can’t feel all that good about Maryland, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Florida State, Can you?

5. SEC:

The one thing that the SEC must be commended for is the fact that after a very weak season last year this conference has made a very admirable comeback. A big part of that is the surge of Kentucky as one of the top teams in the nation with their Fab freshmen: John Wall and Demarcus Cousins, but even some of the other teams in the conference are showing some feistiness. I think the conference suffers a similar story as the ACC with only a few stars and all of them coming out of the SEC East. This conference looks to have 3 teams surely into the tournament: Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt with Mississippi, Mississippi State, or Florida perhaps providing a fourth off of the bubble.

6. Pac 10:

Wow, what a down year for the Pac-10. No team is looking really good and they will be lucky to get more than one team into the tournament this year with Cal (ugh) looking at an 11 seed. If Cal wins the NCAA tournament, they will be the only team representing the conference in the Big Dance and that’s just disturbing to me as a Stanford fan. It is important to note that the Pac-10 has had 21 players be drafted to the NBA, many of them being underclassmen thus taking some of the talent out of the conference. The Pac-10 is in need of a big influx of new talent to resurrect it back to its glory days.

Player of the Year Candidates:

1a. John Wall

Resume: 17.1 points per game, 6.5 assists per game, 4.1 rebounds per game, shooting 35% from three point land, 1.9 steals per game, leader of one of the nation’s top two teams, makes the big play when it matters most, and not that it matters but the sure number 1 pick in the upcoming draft.

1b. Evan Turner

Resume:19.5 points per game, 5.8 assists per game, 9.2 rebounds per game, shooting 55% from the field, 1.9 steals per game and probably one of the most important players to his team in the NCAA. Without him, Ohio State would probably be headed for a different tournament.

2. Wesley Johnson

Resume:16 points per game, 2.3 assists per game, 8.7 rebounds per game, 1.8 blocks per game, 1.6 steals per game, 40 % from 3 point land, 51 % from the field and an unselfish player that means a lot more to his team than his stats show.

3. Scottie Reynolds

Resume: 18.9 points per game, 3.4 assists per game, 40% from three point land, 48% from the field, 2.8 rebounds per game and one of the most reliable leaders of any NCAA team let alone one with national title aspirations.

4. Demarcus Cousins

Resume:16 points per game, 10.3 rebounds per game, 1.7 blocks per game, truly challenging Wall as the most valuable player on that Kentucky team and the best and most physical big man in my opinion in the NCAA

5. Sherron Collins

Resume: 15.1 points per game, 4.2 assists per game, 36.5 from three point land, 2.1 rebounds per game, 42% from the field and the tough and unquestionable leader of the number 1 team in the nation.

Outside looking in: Cole Aldrich of Kansas, Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, Damion James of Texas