Midseason Report: The Good and the Bad

Mike DeCourcy - SportingNews.com

We could look at this from the half-empty perspective, wondering where on Earth the members of the NCAA men's basketball committee will find 68 functional teams to place on the plus-sized 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket.

Or we could look at it from the totally full viewpoint: At least they won't have to find 96.

What a year to expand the NCAA Tournament, when the SEC West is a disaster, the Pac-10 is in the second year of a reconstruction that might run as long as the presidential campaign cycle and the ACC -- America's proudest college basketball conference -- has been conquered by Kennesaw State, Yale and Seattle.

Good gracious -- who's any good?

"It almost seems to be getting a little worse every year," says CollegeRPI.com analyst Jerry Palm. "Teams still have proving to do, and that's typical of this time of year. But I'm getting to the bottom of my board, and I'm looking at these teams and thinking, ‘Gosh, this is bad by early January standards.' Maybe by the end of the year, some will prove themselves.

"When we get to March, I kind of always feel there are a couple of teams that aren't in there, we wouldn't miss them. I never feel sorry for anybody that gets left out. There's a reason we have the NIT."

That will be one of the huge stories of the season's second half: the race for those three extra bids the committee created. It maybe look like the race is being run backward, but it'll be entertaining.

As will this backward look at the season's first half:

Final forecast, halfway home edition

National title favorite: Duke. Even without star point guard Kyrie Irving, the Devils appear imposing. And it's not certain he won't be back from the toe injury that's kept him inactive for a month. But if he's not there to shred opponents off the pick-and-roll, Duke will be more vulnerable to the field.

Leading contenders: Ohio State, Kansas. Unlike the Devils and Jayhawks, the Buckeyes have enjoyed the luxury of playing with the same rotation from the start, and they're building great chemistry. KU is working in point guard Josh Selby, who served a nine-game NCAA suspension, but might have the most NBA-level talent of any team.

Not out of the picture: Michigan State. The Spartans' four losses forced some changes to their approach. Can they win it with a 6-8 center?

Darkhorses: Kentucky, Texas. Both teams are a bit young to be thinking NCAA title, but have the sort of talent that often leads in that direction.

Midseason Player of the Year

Kemba Walker, junior, Connecticut. There is a very good chance UConn's inevitable decline began when the Huskies visited Pitt for a too-soon-after-Christmas road game. There is little chance, though, Walker will fail to continue as one of the most dynamic, positive forces any team can claim. He might not only be the best player of the first half, but the best leader too.

They shoot, they score

NCAA scoring leaders PPG

1. Kemba Walker, Connecticut 26.1

2. Adrian Oliver, San Jose State 24.4

3. Jimmer Fredette, BYU 24.1

4. Xavier Silas, Northern Illinois 24.0

5. Charles Jenkins, Hofstra 23.5

Midseason Coach of the Year

Steve Fisher, San Diego State. Because his first several teams were loaded with NBA prospects -- Glen Rice, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose -- Fisher was assigned a roll-out-the-balls reputation. He now has turned the Aztecs -- who preceded his arrival with 13 losing seasons in 14 years -- into a three-time NCAA Tournament entrant that, with its top-10 ranking and perfect record, is headed for a fourth trip. Yeah, the media were all over that one.

Midseason Freshman of the Year

Jared Sullinger, center, Ohio State. Sullinger has been overwhelmed by neither the expectations placed upon him nor the responsibility of serving as the fulcrum for a veteran team that clearly is a national championship contender. A Greg Oden is a rare thing, but this sort of wide-bodied low-post force -- Webber, Danny Fortson, Corliss Williamson -- can be nearly as dominant.

Buckeye Bigs per game averages

Sullinger Greg Oden

Points 18.1 15.7

Rebounds 10.2 9.6

Blocks .5 3.3

FG Pct. .595 .616

Three teams we'll need to study more …

1. Cleveland State. The Vikings haven't gotten much respect despite a 16-1 start whose victims mostly include solid mid-majors such as Iona, Kent State and Akron. They'll finish the regular season without beating a BCS conference opponent -- but dominance of the Horizon League might be convincing enough.

2. Cincinnati. The Bearcats won their first 14 games by an average of 21 points. There's no denying the non-league schedule was weak, although a 68-34 neutral-court destruction of Dayton deserves some respect. The Big East schedule -- and Thursday's Crosstown Shootout against Xavier -- will answer all of our questions about UC.

3. Iowa State. It seems wrong to call coach Fred Hoiberg a novice, especially after he got the Cyclones off to a 13-2 start. But he is new at this. Though the team hasn't beaten anyone in the RPI top 100, wins over Creighton and Virginia said something.

Where did that come from?

1. UCF. That's the name across the front of the jersey. Central Florida sounds a bit "directional" for an athletic program with serious, big-time aspirations -- and apparently a basketball team that can help drive them. The Knights took down Florida and Miami in-state. Now they have to conquer the Conference USA road -- including Jan. 26 at Memphis.

2. St. John's. With an all-new coaching staff coming off still another uninspiring season, there was no reason to expect immediate excellence from the Red Storm. Well, Rick Pitino saw it coming -- he said SJU might win the Big East. At 3-0 with two league road wins, the Johnnies might prove him right.

3. Josh Harrellson. Kentucky had hoped to have Turkish big man Enes Kanter as part of its freshman-dominated lineup, but the NCAA still hadn't ruled on his eligibility 14 games into the season. Harrellson removed some of the sting from that absence, battling for 9.4 rebounds per game.

Three disappointments

1. LaceDarius Dunn. This ostensibly was to be a team category, but Dunn has earned personal distinction by getting into an offseason domestic dispute that brought about a three-game suspension and then shooting the Bears out of far too many games. Even having played fewer games, Dunn already has more field-goal attempts than forwards Quincy Acy and Perry Jones -- future NBA first-round picks.

2. Kansas State. Coach Frank Martin argued all summer that Jacob Pullen could be an outstanding point guard. What K-State really lost in the transition was the scoring Pullen so consistently provided when that was his primary job. Add that to Pullen's suspension for amateurism issues, and to multiple suspensions for forward Curtis Kelly, and one struggles to recall that most in the media (but not Sporting News, by the way) had K-State ranked ahead of rival Kansas.

3. Devoe Joseph. After leading Minnesota to the Big Ten final last season, Joseph seemed set to fill the team's point guard need. Then he was suspended for the first six games of the season -- not an ideal point guard move. Now he plans to transfer midway through his junior year -- meaning he's got little more than a half-season of eligibility left. There's a place in the game for that sort of player: Luxembourg.

Did we read that score ticker right?

Auburn 65, Florida State 60. The Seminoles entered at 11-3 with wins over Clemson and Baylor. The Tigers entered with a rep as the worst BCS team. Go figure.

UIC 57, Illinois 54. The Illini entered the season expecting to fight for a Big Ten title, and they backed that up with wins over Maryland, North Carolina and Gonzaga. Then they dozed through this one against a Flames team now 5-10.

Tie: Oakland 89, Tennessee 82; Charlotte 49, Tennessee 48; USC 65, Tennessee 64; College of Charleston 91, Tennessee 78. After the Volunteers smoked Big East contenders Villanova and Pitt, they genuinely looked like a top 10 team. Then they stop defending -- and appeared to stop caring.

Now that's impressive

Connecticut 84, Kentucky 67. On a neutral court in the Maui Invitational final, UConn finished the first half on a 21-2 run -- and had the Wildcats down 50-29 at halftime.

Ohio State 93, Florida 75. As part of ESPN's 24-hour college basketball celebration, the Buckeyes traveled to Gainesville and beat the Gators for what must have seemed like 24 days.

San Diego State 79, Gonzaga 76. The Zags don't average even a single loss a year in their new Kennel, but San Diego State did not miss on an opportunity to start its season right.

Three key questions for the second half

1. Will Kyrie Irving heal? Duke would love to have Irving, who brought Isiah Thomas-like qualities to the point guard position in his short stint before being injured. Admirably, the coaches are assuring that whatever is best for Irving's future, and not this year's team, will be the course followed. If he could make it back even by late February, it'd be worth the disruption to the routine.

2. Does Renardo Sidney want to be here? Mississippi State suspended him twice in his first 10 days following the completion of his NCAA suspension. Either his attitude improves, or he'll spend his first three years as a pro trying to make it in the D-League. At some point, the unfortunate manner in which his career has been handled ceases to be an excuse. This seems like that time.

3. How big is the Big East? The conference had eight teams ranked in the polls at mid-season and 10 among the top 68 in the Ratings Percentage Index. Does the expansion mean there is more room for the Big East in the NCAA Tournament?

How Big is the Big East?

The Big East: RPI for the pickin'

1. Georgetown (12-3)

3. Syracuse (15-0)

6. St. John's (10-3)

7. Connecticut (11-2)

8. Pittsburgh (14-1)

11. Notre Dame (13-2)

14. West Virginia (9-4)

18. Villanova (12-1)

46. Louisville (11-2)

67. Cincinnati (14-0)

(Through games of Jan. 4)

----

More basketball news

More sport news

Sports home

Copyright 2011 by SportingNews.com