Kentucky | Syracuse | Missouri | Kansas

#4 Kansas

Remaining Opponents: #3 Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas

Prediction: Their remaining schedule is no cake walk.  Missouri has already beat them once, by 3 points, even though they lost the other night. Oklahoma State is the only team with a losing record that they play, but even they have beaten Missouri. I think it will be tough but they will most likely receive the #1 seed if they can continue to win.  They have lost against teams that they should not have lost against.

Thomas Robinson is one of the best players in the league in my opinion, if not the best. He is a 6’10 Junior and will most likely be a top 3 draft pick. He plays 31.1 minutes per night and averages a double-double (17.7 PPG & 11.8 RPG) He shoots almost 55% from the field and puts in 1.8 APG, which is a decent amount for a big man.

Senior Tyshawn Taylor is a great #2 on the team behind Robinson.  He scores 16.6 PPG, while averaging 5.1 Assists.  He will be a first round draft pick, but most likely a lower one.

Junior Jeff Withey is the surprise this season.  He is a 7-footer who puts in 9.5 PPG while grabbing 6.6 boards. He also has high FG% at 56%. If an NBA team really needs a center that they don’t mind working with, he would not be a bad choice.  He dropped 25 points against Baylor.

Travis Releford is another Junior guard who is 6’6.  He plays nearly 31 minutes per game, and puts in 9.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 2 APG. He also shoots over 50% like two of his teammates.

Elijah Johnson is yet another Junior guard for the Jayhawks.  He is only 6’4 but contributes his share of points (8.6) and assists (3.7).  He also leads the team in steals with 1.6 per game.

With Selection Sunday less than 3 weeks away, I thought it would be a good idea to look into the top teams to try to figure out who will be rewarded the #1 seeds in each bracket. So each day this week, I will be putting up a short summary of each team’s top players, remaining schedule, and other projections.

Kentucky | Syracuse | Missouri

#3 Missouri

Remaining Opponents:  #5 Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech

Prediction: Missouri has had a great season so far.  They have only lost three games.  Unfortunately, two of those losses were to Kansas State, and a fluke loss to sub-.500 team Oklahoma State by 7 points.  Other than that they have been flawless, winning many games by double figures.  They beat Kansas once before a few weeks ago, by 3 points, and will face them again on Saturday.  This is going to be a close game but they are away.  I do not think they will win this game.  Since they already have three losses, I do not think they will be a #1 seed come March 11^th.

Marcus Denmon is a 6’3 Senior who, in my opinion, is one of the top players in the Big 12.  He averages 17.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, in 33.9 Minutes a night. He has scored over 20 points in 9 games this season. Denmon shoots almost 90% from the free throw line.

Senior Kim English is their #2 scorer with 14.2 PPG, and 4.1 RPG.  He also shoots over 50% from the field. He is barely behind Denmon with 32.9 Minutes per game.

Ricardo Ratliffe is the third senior in this line up.  He is a 6’8 forward who averages 13.7 PPG on 73% shooting from the field.  He also grabs 7 rebounds per contest.

Junior Michael Dixon is a 6’1 guard who puts in 12.6 points of his own, while assisting 3.1.  He also shoots almost 90% from the foul line.

Flip Pressey is the young gun on the team.  He is merely a sophomore and scores 10 PPG on 31.4 minutes per game.  He also grabs 3.2 boards per game, and 2.1 steals per game.

Mizzou is a veteran team which will hurt them in the future.  However, we are just looking at this season and if they can win the Big 12 (assuming they can beat Kansas) then I think they can get the #1 seed.  I just think Kansas is a better team overall, even though their record does not show it.  They are both 12-2 in the conference.

#3 Missouri was upset by unranked Kansas State for the second time this season.  This will make my blog about Mizzou a little more difficult later on.  They lost 78-68. Rodney McGruder dropped 24 points against the Tigers. Michael Dixon was able to put in 21 points off the bench, and star Marcus Denmon added 19 of his own in the losing effort. Ricardo Ratliffe had 14 rebounds but missed the double-double by 1 point.

#8 Georgetown was also upset, but they lost against unranked Seton Hall who they should beat every day.  Senior Jordan Theodore scored 29 points for the Pirates.  He shot a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc.  Not one player on the Hoyas scored in double digits in any column (points, assists, rebounds). Seton Hall 61% from the field, 61.5% from 3-point range, and 78.9% from the free throw line. Georgetown only recorded 9 assists as a team.

Newly ranked #21 New Mexico was upset by rival Colorado State 71-63.  Key players for the Rams were Pierce Hornung (13 pts, 5 rebs) & Dorian Green (17 pts, 8-8 ft). New Mexico’s Kendall Williams (16 pts) & Demetrius Walker (14 pts) each had good games.

With Selection Sunday less than 3 weeks away, I thought it would be a good idea to look into the top teams to try to figure out who will be rewarded the #1 seeds in each bracket. So each day this week, I will be putting up a short summary of each team’s top players, remaining schedule, and other projections.

Kentucky | Syracuse |

#2 Syracuse

Remaining opponents: South Florida, UConn, #17 Louisville

Prediction:  They should be able to handle the first two with ease, just as they have throughout the season.  They already beat the Huskies by 18 points a few weeks back.   Their toughest competition is going to be Louisville, who they beat by 1 point last week, and could have easily lost if Louisville didn’t turn the ball over with 2 seconds left.  However, this time, the Orange are home.  Marquette is 2^nd in the Big East, sitting two games behind Syracuse so they should have a number one seed when playoff time comes around.

Senior Kris Joseph (from Canada?) is averaging exactly 14.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG.  He is 6”7 and uses his length to his advantage.  He also averages 30.9 minutes per game which is the most on the team by far.  The next closes is C.J. Fair at 26.9.

Sophomore Dion Waiters throws in 12.0 PPG himself, and adds 2.2 RPG and 2.7 APG to go along with it.  Plus, he only plays 23.6 minutes per game.

Junior Brandon Triche is a 6”4 Guard who scores 9.4 PPG and shoots 86% from the free throw line.

Sophomore C.J. Fair is a 6”8 Forward from Baltimore that puts in 9.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG and is second in minutes per game with 26.9.

Senior Scoop Jardine adds 8.7 PPG and 5 assists per game.

Fab Melo, the 7 footer from Brazil, adds 7.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG to the Orange’s artillery.

They are a strong team that knows how to win games.  I see them as a sure-fire #1 seed when Selection Sunday comes. Their only loss came against Notre Dame, exactly a month ago today.  Notre Dame has also beaten teams such as Marquette and Louisville.

It was a good day to watch college basketball on Saturday with barely anything else on as a Boston sports fan.  #14 Murray State was able to beat #16 Saint Mary’s by double digits,  while #1 Kentucky, #5 Kansas, & #7 North Carolina were all able to do the same in their games.  #6 Ohio State was upset by rival #19 Michigan 56-51.  #15 San Diego St was also upset for the 3^rd straight game against Air Force.

On Sunday, there were few good games on.  For a while, unranked Rutgers was able to keep it close against #2 Syracuse but the Orange proved to be too much in the Big Ten conference battle as they beat them by 10.  #4 Duke also ran right over BC with a final score of 75-50.

March Madness is right around the corner!

It was a bad night to be a ranked team in college basketball last night.  With the exception of #6 Ohio State & #12 Florida, who won by 10 points and 9 points, respectively, they all lost. #11 UNLV lost their first game since being ranked 11th on Monday, losing to TCU in a high scoring game, 102-97. Guard Hank Thorns had 32 points in the victory.  Unranked LSU topped #23 Miss. State in overtime, while Clemson held #22 Virginia to only 48 points as they won the ACC battle.

There was a close one in the Big East last night on ESPN between #2 Syracuse & #18 Louisville.  It was a very low scoring game so it was tough to tell who played well unless you actually watched the game. Scoop Jardine was utterly useless scoring 0 points on 0-8 shooting following his big game against UConn last week.  The game came down to the wire when Louisville’s junior guard Peyton Siva threw the ball away with 5 seconds left when he probably should have just shot it.  Syracuse had a chance to seal the victory with 2 seconds left but failed to do so with a missed free throw.  Louisville had a last second chance but failed to convert as the Cardinals fell to the Orange 52-51.  Only 4 players in the whole game scored in double digits, no one going over 16 points.