Will Syracuse’s hot start cool off this winter?

Syracuse is officially on the clock.

As of Jan. 9, the Orange look an awful lot like the best team in the country. But considering that it’s still early January, that’s not terribly surprising. The question is whether Syracuse will still look like the best team in college hoops in another two months as the NCAA Tournament approaches.

Since the Orange won the championship in 2003, Syracuse has made a habit of starting hot, building a record at least nine games better than .500 each season. In half of those seasons, the Orange have had a record as gaudy as at least 15 games better than .500.

But each season, the team has fallen apart for one reason or another. In some cases, it’s a lack of leadership to handle adversity when the team inevitably drops a tough Big East game or two. In other cases, the downfall has been rifts in team chemistry, sometimes leading to suspensions or poor play. And injuries have factored into a few of the collapses.

In sum, Syracuse has not finished a season better than three games above .500 after the Orange’s struggles creep into the picture. Why would this team be any different?

To start, this team has fantastic depth. Ten players average at least 12 minutes per game. Seven players contribute at least seven ppg, but no one scores more than 14.1 ppg, and that’s senior swingman Kris Joseph. In addition, the Orange have superior height than nearly any other team in Division I, with nine players who stand 6’4” or taller.

Coach Jim Boeheim has helped this team navigate through the tumultuous Bernie Fine affair without any semblance of a disturbance on the court. Compared to the off court drama, Boeheim must be happy dealing with any complaints about playing time that come from his talented players — if there have been any at all. Only two players are averaging more than 25 minutes per game, but as far as we can tell, everyone has embraced his role on the team. And that is leading to win after win.

At some point, the Orange will likely drop a game or two in Big East play. Road games against Cincinnati, St. John’s, Louisville, Rutgers and Connecticut are potential land mines. But unlike in recent years, this team seems built to overcome the struggles of one night. Boeheim has the Orange playing their best basketball in eight years, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats. If Syracuse can maintain its 1.202 points per possession on offense and 0.883 points per possession on defense, both those numbers will be the best marks for offensive and defensive efficiency for the years that Pomeroy has data available (since 2003).

In a season filled with talented teams, Syracuse has earned its No. 1 ranking, and the Orange should remain near the top from wire to wire. And for Syracuse fans, a strong finish to bookend a strong start would be a refreshing change of pace.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman is in the thick of serious allegations after several people at the Bears’ game at South Carolina State said the coach punched Morgan State senior Larry Bastfield during the game, according to ESPN.com news services. The school has indefinitely suspended Bozeman while looking into the accusations. Bozeman and Bastfield say the news is much ado about nothing — with that nothing being an accidental bump during the game, as Bastfield described it.

Xavier coach Chris Mack made his point, then paid the price. Mack missed the past couple of days after tearing a tendon in his left knee while dunking to re-energize the struggling Musketeers, who are 2-5 in the past few weeks, writes USA Today’s Marlen Garcia.

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek has accepted the departure of leading scorer Keala King, who left a few days after Sendek suspended him for unacceptable conduct, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. King’s departure is a massive loss for a pretty bad Sun Devils team. King averaged 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 3.3 apg.

St. John’s scored a talented point guard when former Texas A&M sophomore Jamal Branch decided to transfer to the Red Storm, writes the New York Daily News’ Roger Rubin. Branch averaged 4.2 ppg and 2.5 apg for the Aggies, and he chose St. John’s over several other suitors.

Michael Jordan’s son Jeff has decided to leave Central Florida, according to an Associated Press report. His brother, Marcus, remains with the Golden Knights, as Jeff cited personal reasons for his decision.

Coaches vs. Cancer: A final look

NEW YORK – A brief note on the four teams in the recently completed Coaches vs. Cancer classic. The scores:

Semifinals:

Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 60

Arizona 81, St. John’s 72

Consolation:   Texas A&M 58, St. John’s 57

Championship:  Mississippi State 67, Arizona 57

… Continue Reading

Coach K closes in on D-I record, passing his mentor en route

From the hallowed hardwood in Madison Square Garden, a pupil could surpass the master tonight.

When Duke takes on Michigan State in the Champions Classic in New York City, coach Mike Krzyzewski will have an opportunity to pass his mentor, Bob Knight, for the most Division I wins in NCAA history. The Blue Devils beat Presbyterian Saturday to give Coach K win No. 902. A third consecutive victory to open the season would be the record-setter.

In a press conference Monday, Coach K said that “somebody asked me this morning about where would this be in a list of things that you feel really good about, and I said, ‘It’s behind every championship. And not just national championships but league championships.’”

That doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal. Krzyzewski, who turns 65 in February, has been one of the top coaches in the game for several decades after a slow start to his career in Durham. His perseverance and determination are a model of leadership that extends far beyond a basketball arena. In a sport filled with unsavory characters and frequent recruiting violations, Coach K keeps Duke on the up and up. He takes pride in his players’ high graduation rate, and he cares more about the accomplishments of specific Blue Devil teams than his own accolades.

“You want to win a championship with the team that you coach that year, and those are the things that you remember are championship moments — whether they be league championship moments, regular season, ACC,” Krzyzewski said. “Obviously the biggest thing that you can remember easily is national championships. But championships are things that I look back on because that’s a real accomplishment.”

Another coaching legend, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, won’t make it easy for Coach K to celebrate his record-breaking victory. But whenever Krzyzewski gets No. 903, it will be one of the major highlights of the entire 2011-12 season.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation.

• Louisville junior guard Mike Marra will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL against Lamar Sunday, according to an Associated Press report. Marra’s loss is significant as he was an important member of coach Rick Pitino’s backcourt rotation, averaging 6.4 points per game last season.
• The good news for Louisville is that freshman guard Kevin Ware has his academics in order now and will be eligible to play for the Cardinals starting in mid-December, after the university’s fall semesters concludes, according to a Lexington Herald-Leader report.
• Arizona had to dig deep to rally past Ball State, which held a nine-point halftime lead against the Wildcats Sunday. With junior swingman Kevin Parrom back in the lineup just seven weeks after being shot in the leg and hand while visiting family in New York City and four weeks after his mother died, according to the Associated Press, the Wildcats found the will to lock down the Cardinals in the second half for a 73-63 win. Parrom contributed six points and four rebounds in 18 minutes to help get the Wildcats the victory.
• Instant replay might slow down the game in the NFL, but at least the officials get the calls right more often than not. Vermont probably wishes more stadiums had replay capabilities after falling victim to a lack of technology in a 61-59 loss to South Florida played at Division II University of Tampa. After calling a timeout, the clock ran for an extra second or two, but the referees couldn’t review the time on the clock because there were no available video feeds, writes ESPN.com’s Eamonn Brennan. The Catamounts hit a would-be game-tying tip-in on their final possession — just after the buzzer.
• Texas A&M will be without one of the best players in the Big 12, Khris Middleton, while the junior forward recovers from a knee injury suffered during the Aggies’ 81-59 win against Liberty, according to an Associated Press report.
• According to a CBS Sports.com wire report, Marquette will play its first three games without freshman Juan Anderson for a rules violation. The oftense? Accepting a free ticket to see the Milwaukee Brewers in the Major League Baseball playoffs.

Quick Hitters – May 25, 2010

Quick hitters as we approach the middle of the week:

• An already bad off-season got worse for Providence last week when they kicked Jamine Peterson off the team. The Friars’ leading scorer and rebounder last season, Peterson was a black hole on offense and had a penchant for putting up questionable shots, but he produced points and rebounds. At times, he got both by cleaning up another player’s miss. With two non-seniors already gone from the team for next season from an off-court incident last month, this was an even less welcome development than it is by itself.

• Khem Birch (6’10” So. PF-C, Pierrefonds (Que.)) has quite a bit going on right now. The long big man recently opted for Notre Dame Prep next year and has had a good spring as his body is maturing. He also has an invitation to the National Basketball Association Players Camp next month and recently was invited to try out for the Canadian 17-under national team.

• Birch isn’t alone among New England players trying out next month for the Canadian 17-under national team. Rodell Wigginton (6’4” So. SF, Halifax (Nova Scotia) Boston Trinity Academy) will also try out for the team. Wigginton is an athletic wing who can rebound from that spot, and he helped Boston Trinity Academy win the NEPSAC Class D title this season.

• Although he’s not a big-time prospect, Cleveland Melvin (6’8” SF-PF, Baltimore (MD) Notre Dame Prep) could prove to be a very nice pickup for DePaul. Part of it is because it comes late in the spring, but another part is that he will fit Oliver Purnell’s pressing style. Melvin is an athletic forward who runs the floor well, and he could eventually be a poor man’s James Mays in the press.

• Maine also made a nice late addition in point guard Raheem Singleton, who did two years at Monroe Community College. A tough point guard who does things to help his team win, Singleton will team with Gerald McLemore in arguably the best backcourt in America East next year.

• A big thumbs-up to the NCAA for granting waivers allowing Texas A&M to do something for Tobi Oyedeji, who was tragically killed last Sunday morning. As a result, they were able to visit with his family, attend a charity basketball game held in his honor and go to his funeral on the athletic department’s dime.

Bracket Breakdown: How the Big 12 Will Fare

With more than half of its conference participating in the NCAA Tournament, the Big 12 has sky-high aspirations to have at least one of its members making it all the way to the Final Four. And two of them making it is not a foolish prospect either. Here is a preview of what to expect from all seven Big 12 participants in the Dance.

Kansas Jayhawks (32-2, 15-1 Big 12)

No. 1 seed, Midwest Region

Ranked No. 1 in the nation and having received the top overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Kansas is the Big 12’s — and NCAA’s — favorite to bring home the prize: the national championship.

Owners of 13- and 14-game winning streaks during the regular season, the Jayhawks come into the mid-March Madness having won every game they were supposed to win, their only losses coming on road games to No. 14 Tennessee and daunting Oklahoma State. Kansas won its conference’s regular-season title by a wide margin and also paced itself to a trouble-free Big 12 tournament championship.

The Jayhawks have already beaten a number of teams invited to this year’s field of 65. That includes road wins against a No. 5 seed, Temple, which Kansas thrashed 84-52 Jan. 2, and Kansas State, a conference rival and a No. 2 seed, which the Jayhawks defeated grittily, 81-79, in overtime Jan. 30.

Back spasms almost prevented Kansas’ star, point guard Sherron Collins from coming back in time to down the Wildcats during the Jayhawks’ overtime win, but very little stops the senior from leading his team to victory these days, especially in crunch time. The Jahawks’ leading scorer and assist man at 15.5 points and 4.6 assists per game, Collins is added insurance when a game gets too close for comfort. In the rest of the occasions, Kansas’ complete offense/defense combo does the trick alone.

The Midwest Region isn’t exactly the cakewalk section of the tournament, but Kansas should advance unchallenged through at least the first two rounds, downing 16th-seeded Lehigh in the first and UNLV/Northern Iowa in the second. Maryland, Georgetown or Ohio State might throw a scare into them into the Sweet Sixteen and beyond, but the Jayhawks are not only destined to get to the Final Four but also to win the tournament championship for the second time in the past three seasons.

Kansas State Wildcats (26-7, 11-5)

No. 2 seed, West Region

Feeling lucky to be in any region besides the one the Jayhawks are in — seeing how the Wildcats have lost 41 of the 43 past meetings — Kansas State is the No. 2 seed in the West, behind the monster Big East Conference’s Syracuse. The Wildcats have an exciting combo of guards in Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, who average a combined 35.1 points per game, and shouldn’t have problems advancing to the Sweet 16 by beating No. 15 North Texas and No. 7 BYU.

But that’s where they’ll likely encounter another Big East bully, Pittsburgh, and things could get complicated for the Wildcats. Pittsburgh’s defense could create a lot of problems for Kansas State, and in a match up of second-place teams in the top two conferences, the Panthers would show the Wildcats that the Big East is just a tidbit better than the Big 12 and end their best season in more than 20 years.

Baylor Bears (25-7, 11-5)

No. 3 seed, South Region

No team may have an easier path to the Final Four than Baylor, a No. 3 seed in the weakest region, the South. The No. 1 seed of that section is Duke, a team many believed could fall to a No. 2, followed by Villanova, a squad that has fallen from grace after losing five of its past seven games.

Not only do the Bears have a high-scoring backcourt duo in LaceDarius Dunn (19.4 ppg) and Tweety Carter (15.7 ppg), but they also play intensively on the defensive end. First, they get No. 14 Sam Houston State, a team that will see itself overmatched against the Bears. Then, likely, it will be No. 6 Notre Dame, a dangerous opponent that may upend them, but if the Bears can get past them, the Sweet 16 will await them in Houston, giving them a home court advantage they can ride into the Elite Eight and Final Four.

Texas A&M Aggies (23-9, 11-5)

No. 5 seed, South Region

With two wins, the Aggies get to play a virtual home game in the Sweet 16. That’s all the Aggies of Texas A&M need to do to get a match up in Houston against (likely) the South Region’s top seed, Duke. That’s easier said than done, though. The No. 5 Aggies need to get past the No. 12 Aggies of Utah State, the second-best three-point shooting team in the nation. This game is more even than people might realize because of that long-range shooting wild card.

Utah State won 17 games in a row at one point for a reason, and Texas A&M might see itself get upset in the first round. Utah State is scarier than either team Texas A&M would get in the second round: a No. 4 Purdue without Robbie Hummel or No. 13 Siena. But if the higher-seeded Aggies can get past that first-round hurdle, they could get themselves a dream game in the Sweet 16.

Missouri Tigers (22-10, 10-6)

No. 10 seed, East Region

Inconsistency is the name of Missouri, a No. 10 seed in the East Region. The Tigers opened the season by winning their first four games, then dropped three of their next four. They then ran out to a winning streak of nine games before losing three of their next five. The latest word on the Tigers is a stretch that could have seen them lose four consecutive games if they had not pulled out an overtime win at lowly Iowa State March 2.

No. 7 Clemson, Missouri’s first-round rival, isn’t riding high either after losing its last two games before the NCAA Tournament, but the battle of Tigers will probably go the more-experienced Clemson’s way. Missouri’s leading scorers are all second-year players. The best is yet to come for them, just not this year.

Texas Longhorns (24-9, 9-7)

No. 8 seed, East Region

Few understand what’s happened to Texas, a team that won its first 17 games, earned a No. 1 ranking and then lost nine times in 16 games. But when looking at the schedule, it’s not that difficult to find an answer: the Big 12 happened. The eighth-seeded Longhorns lost seven games against conference rivals and were unable to get any confidence-building wins. A big chunk of their Big 12 victories came at the expense of teams like Iowa State and Texas Tech, the conference’s little brothers.

The Longhorns, however, did get a break in drawing No. 9 Wake Forest as their first-round East Region match up. The Demon Deacons are more done than an overcooked turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Texas fans better enjoy those Damion James‘ first-round dunks. They will be some of his last, seeing how the second round will bring top-seeded Kentucky and the end of a season-gone-awry for Texas.

Oklahoma State Cowboys (22-10, 9-7)

No. 7 seed, Midwest Region

Just how good is shooting guard James Anderson? Good enough to carry Oklahoma State to at least one NCAA Tournament win, that’s how good he is. The No. 7 Cowboys get a date with No. 10 Georgia Tech in the first round of the Midwest Region, and Anderson and his 22.6 points per game look to be more than sufficient to get them past a Yellow Jackets squad that had a losing record (7-9) in the ACC.

Beating up on top teams has been the Cowboys’ trademark this season. They were one of two teams that handed Kansas a loss this season, a fact that should scare anyone who happens to be in their way. But they also beat Baylor and handled Kansas State in Manhattan. They are capable of upsetting No. 2 Ohio State in the second round, but we won’t predict that considering the Buckeyes’ Evan Turner will be awaiting. Out with a bang, that’s how the Cowboys will go in the second round.

Besides Missouri, all Big 12 teams in the NCAA Tournament look poised to win at least one game in the Dance, with a couple of them having the potential to reach the Final Four. That’ll make the conference very proud of all its children. In the end, though, it’s all about Kansas for the Big 12, and the Jayhawks will show why they always got the biggest piece of cake for dessert.

Bracket Breakdown: Mock Tournament 4.0

College basketball nation didn’t wait for the calendar to flip to March to start the madness. A little insanity seeped into February, as this past weekend delivered a few major upsets and several incredible games. Many teams already seem to be playing as if they’re in elimination games. And for some of our bubble teams, that might just be true.

During the final weekend of February, the top three teams in the polls lost. Upsets and inconsistency wreaked havoc among the teams in the projected field, causing upheaval in the fourth installment of the Mock Tournament brackets.

For the first time, we have movement at every seed level that involves at-large teams. That includes a new No. 1 seed in Duke, which simply keeps winning — something that most of the Blue Devils’ elite compatriots can’t claim. Purdue fizzled in its first game without Robbie Hummel, who is done for the year with a torn ACL. The Boilermakers have games remaining against Indiana and Penn State, which they should win. If they falter against two of the Big Ten’s weakest opponents, the team could slip as low as a No. 3 or 4 seed.

The weekend’s big winner was the Big 12. Specifically, Baylor, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State notched chest-puffing wins against tough conference opponents and subsequently inched higher in projected seeding. Oklahoma State made the biggest leap, vaulting the Bears and Aggies to claim a No. 4 seed. The Cowboys looked impressive in dismantling Kansas Saturday.

However, Oklahoma State’s place among the top 16 teams is tenuous, especially with a midweek game at Texas A&M looming. The Aggies have not lost to any team not nicknamed the Jayhawks in College Station this season. And projected to be a No. 5 seed, Texas A&M is probably itching for an opportunity to pick up another high-quality win and take Oklahoma State’s spot among the top four seeds.

Among the teams just making or missing the tournament, Rhode Island fell the hardest after losing at St. Bonaventure, which benefited Florida. The Gators are making their debut in the Mock Tournament’s field. Here’s some more bubble talk.

• Cincinnati remains in the field but can probably afford to lose only one more game between now and Selection Sunday.
• A few Atlantic 10 teams, specifically Charlotte, Dayton and Rhode Island, have picked a bad time to lose their mojo.
• Don’t look now, but Washington is starting to make a case for a second bid out of the Pac-10.
• Notre Dame might want to keep Luke Harangody sidelined for a while longer if the Fighting Irish continue to win. They are one more high-quality win away from entering the field.

Check out the first three Mock Tournaments to see the evolution of the projected field.

Mock Tournament 1.0
Mock Tournament 2.0
Mock Tournament 3.0

As always, share your thoughts by leaving a comment. Starting Friday, the Mock Tournament will extend its projections to include regions and pod assignments.

Texas A&M: Roland Has Successful Surgery After Horrific Injury

Texas A&M senior guard Derrick Roland arrived home on Christmas Day after having surgery to insert a rod and three screws in his leg, which he broke while jumping under the basket against Washington Dec. 22, according to a university press release.

Roland crumpled to the floor with his right tibia and fibula snapped. The force of the fall pushed a bone through the skin and left his leg at nearly a 90-degree angle. Fans recoiled in empathetic anguish, and coach Mark Turgeon and Washington doctors rushed to Roland’s aid, according to an ESPN.com report. After a 10-minute delay, Roland was stabilized, loaded into an ambulance and taken to Harborview Medical Center for emergency care.

A Washington spokesman said the only similar injury he remembers is Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann suffering a broken leg that was graphically visible on national TV in 1985.

Roland was posting career-best averages of 10.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game for the Aggies. Like Theismann’s injury did to the Redskins quarterback, many speculate that this injury will end Roland’s playing career.