NCAA Men’s Basketball Conference Review- February 2, 2011
Heading into the month of February, NCAA men’s basketball action is at a fever pace with the best teams in the country battling it out in their respective conference to try and put themselves in the best position possible come tournament-time next month. The following is a brief review of the top few teams in each of the major conferences along with a few teams to watch from the Mid Majors. All rankings quoted are from the latest Coaches Poll.
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ACC
Duke remains atop the ACC and the No.5 team in the country despite a shocking 93-78 home loss to unranked St. John’s this past Sunday. The Blue Devils are now 19-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference. North Carolina continues to climb back into the ACC title picture with nine wins it its last 10 games to go to 16-5 overall and 6-1 in conference play.
Big East
The Big East was sent reeling last week with losses by several of its top teams. No.4 Pittsburgh remains the beast of the East with an overall record of 20-2 and a conference record of 8-1. No.7 Connecticut (17-3, 5-3) is next followed by a surprising No.8 Notre Dame, which moved to 17-4 and 6-3 with a 56-51 victory over the Panthers last time out. The other ranked teams in the Big East include No.12 Villanova (17-4, 5-3), No. 13 Louisville (17-5, 6-3), No.14 Georgetown (17-5, 6-4), and No.17 Syracuse (18-4, 5-4).
Big Ten
Ohio St continues to not only sit atop the Big Ten at a perfect 9-0 in conference play, but all the national polls at a perfect 22-0 overall. The Buckeyes survived a 58-57 scare against Northwestern last Saturday after pummeling No.10 Purdue 87-64 on Jan.25. The Boilermakers are coming off a 66-59 loss to No.18 Wisconsin on Tuesday night that dropped them to 18-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten, while the Badgers moved to 16-5 and 6-3 in the conference. The other ranked teams include No.20 Minnesota (16-5, 5-4) and No.24 Illinois (15-7, 5-4).
Big 12
No.2 Kansas has the best overall record in the Big 12 at 21-1 but at 6-1 in conference play, is actually in second place behind No.3 Texas. The Longhorns are coming off a 71-58 victory over No.15 Missouri and a 69-49 romp over No.16 Texas A&M to run their overall record to 19-3 and Big 12 record to a perfect 7-0. The Tigers are now 17-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference and the Aggies are 17-4 and 4-3.
PAC-10
No. 19 Washington remains the highest ranked team in the PAC-10 despite suffering an 87-80 setback at the hands of in-state rival Washington State this past Sunday. The Huskies are 15-5 overall and 7-2 in conference play. Arizona broke into the rankings at No.22 by virtue of an 85-74 win over UCLA and an 82-73 victory over USC. The Wildcats are 18-4 overall and tied with Washington at 7-2 in the PAC-10 standings.
SEC
No.11 Kentucky is coming off a 71-69 loss to Mississippi on Tuesday night while No.23 Florida got by No.24 Vanderbilt 65-61 in overtime to shake-up the balance of power in the SEC-East. The Wildcats are now 16-5 overall and 4-3 in the conference while they Gators moved to 17-5 and 6-2. The Commodores, the only other ranked team in the conference, fell to 15-6 overall and 3-4 in SEC play.
Mid-Majors
No.6 San Diego State remains the highest ranked Mid-Major school in the nation despite last week’s 71-58 loss to No.9 BYU in a Mountain West Conference showdown. The Aztecs are now 21-1 while the Cougars are 20-2. No.21 Utah State is the only other Mid-Major team in the top 25. The Aggies have won 15 games in a row to run their record to 20-2.
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