University of Tennessee sophomore
guard Chris Lofton, after becoming a household name (at least in those
homes in which the inhabitants pay at least a little bit of attention to college
basketball) last week with his jump-shooting displays at Kentucky and Georgia,
heads the latest Scout.com National Player of the Week list.
Rounding out the top five were
LaMarcus Aldridge (Texas), Brandon Roy (Washington), Shelden Williams (Duke) and Marcus Williams (Connecticut).
And before you star screaming
“Where are J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison?”, relax:
Redick and Morrison were
outstanding, as usual. But it’s become borderline boring to keep including the
Duke and Gonzaga standouts almost every week. There are just a few weeks
remaining in the regular season and why not give some other fellows an
opportunity to crack the Top Five each Monday?
The top six teams in the Scout.com
Top 25 remained intact with only Florida (stunned at home by South Carolina)
slipping five spots to 12 this week.
Washington, after a critical
Pacific 10 Conference victory in Seattle over UCLA on Saturday, moves back into
the Top 25 (in the final spot).
A look at some of the week’s top
matchups:
Monday
Connecticut at Villanova:
The Huskies hammered Syracuse and Seton Hall last week. The competition (vs.
the Wildcats and at West Virginia Saturday) should be a bit more competitive
this week – at least you would think so.
Louisiana Tech at Nevada:
Coach Mark Fox’s team has won five games in a row (including 12-point
decision against this same opponent in Ruston) and looks exactly like what
everyone expected it to be – the best club in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Wolf Pack just missed moving back into the Scout.com Top 25 this
week.
Tuesday
West Virginia at Seton Hall:
The Mountaineers continue to play well on the road, with the victory at
Georgetown Sunday added to a resume that includes wins at Oklahoma, Villanova
and UCLA. After being pummeled by Connecticut, the Pirates could use a strong
effort or that six-game winning streak will be forgotten in a big
hurry.
Michigan State at Iowa: The
Spartans could win the Big Ten and no one would be surprised if they get to the
Final Four. But they’ve still have to be classified as at least mild
under-achievers so far this season.
Creighton at Wichita State:
These are two of the four teams sharing the Missouri Valley Conference lead.
The Bluejays need a road victory after dropping a game at home to another of the
leaders, Southern Illinois, Saturday.
Wednesday
Florida at Vanderbilt: The
two wins over Kentucky won’t mean as much to the NCAA selection committee as
they would have in almost any other season. So the Commodores better build on
that NCAA at-large bid resume.
Ohio State at Wisconsin: If
the Buckeyes come out of Madison with a win, we’ll say they are the best team in
the Big Ten – at least for the time being.
Oklahoma at Colorado: The
Sooners are playing exceptionally well. This borders on the “must-win” for the
Buffaloes’ hopes of being very happy on March 12.
Thursday
Georgetown at Marquette: The
Golden Eagles could use another marquee victory, especially after stumbling at
Rutgers.
San Diego State at UNLV: The
Aztecs suffered a startling home loss to Utah Saturday but can continue to hang
onto the Mountain West Conference lead by knocking off the Rebels for the second
team. This is still very much a “one-bid” conference, by the
way.
Arizona at California: The
Wildcats will be involved in the two most significant Pac 10 games of the (long)
weekend, the second being Sunday at Stanford.
Saturday
Connecticut at West Virginia:
The most talented team in the country visits the second best team in the Big
East.
Michigan at Michigan State:
The Wolverines are slumping and could be teetering on slipping into bubble
land.
Tennessee at Alabama: The
best game in this SEC this week, hands down. Who could have imagined that the
Crimson Tide could have played this well after Chuck Davis (knee) went
down?
Bucknell at Northern Iowa:
This is one of the few “Bracket Buster” games actually worth
watching.
Players of the
Week
LaMarcus Aldridge (6-10, So.,
Texas): Recovered nicely from a mild “slump”, getting 17 points, 11 rebounds
and two blocked shots in a 65-44 victory at Texas Tech, and 21 points, 12
rebounds and two blocked shots as the Longhorns cruised past Nebraska,
78-59.
For the season: 15.9 points,
9.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.9 blocked shots per game.
Chris Lofton (6-2, So.,
Tennessee): The word “automatic” came to mind while watching him jump shoot
last week. He scored 31 points (while hitting seven of 10 beyond the arc) during
the Vols’ 75-67 victory at Kentucky, and was even sharper at Georgia, knocking
in nine of 13 3-pointers while scoring 33 points. He also grabbed a collective
13 rebounds in the game, in case you were wondering if he does much
else.
For the season: 17.2 points,
3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
Brandon Roy (6-5, Sr.,
Washington): He led the Huskies to a couple of Pac 10 home victories that
were solidly in the “must win” category. During an 87-73 defeat of USC, he had
25 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Then, during a 70-67 victory over
conference-leading UCLA, he had had 20 points, four rebounds, seven assists and
two blocked shots, including one of a potentially tying 3-point attempt by
Jordan Farmar at the buzzer.
For the season: 19.2 points,
5.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Shelden Williams (6-8, Sr.,
Duke): If you wondered if he was going to repeat as national Defensive
Player of the Year, wonder no longer. He had four steals and four blocked shots
(along with 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists) in the 87-83 thriller at
North Carolina. Four days later he collected two steals and blocked seven shots
to go with 26 points and 13 rebounds in the Blue Devils’ 96-88 victory at
Maryland.
For the season: 18.5 points,
9.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 4.0 blocked shots per game.
Marcus Williams (6-3, Jr.,
Connecticut): The lefty from Los Angeles continued to direct the Huskies’
Big East-dominating run with four points, five rebounds and nine assists during
a 73-50 pasting of Syracuse, and 15 points, four rebounds and 10 assists as the
team bopped host Seton Hall around, 99-57.
For the season: 10.0 points,
3.4 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game.
Scout.com’s updated Top
25
(Last week’s ratings in
parentheses; records of Feb. 12)
1. (1) Connecticut (22-1) Next
game: at Villanova (Monday)
2. (2) Duke (23-1) Next game:
vs. Wake Forest (Tuesday)
3. (3) Memphis (22-2) Next game:
vs. Southern Mississippi (Tuesday)
4. (4) Gonzaga (20-3) Next game:
at Portland (Monday)
5. (5) Texas (21-3) Next game:
vs. Baylor (Tuesday)
6. (6) Villanova (19-2) Next
game: vs. Connecticut (Monday)
7. (8) George Washington (20-1)
Next game: vs. Massachusetts (Wednesday)
8. (9) Pittsburgh (19-3) Next
game: at Providence (Wednesday)
9. (10) West Virginia (18-5)
Next game: at Seton Hall (Tuesday)
10. (14) Ohio State (18-3) Next
game: at Wisconsin (Wednesday)
11. (16) Tennessee (18-3) Next
game: vs. Auburn (Wednesday)
12. (7) Florida (21-3) Next
game: at Vanderbilt (Wednesday)
13. (12) UCLA (20-5) Next game:
at USC (Sunday)
14. (19) Boston College (19-5)
Next game: vs. Stony Brook (Monday)
15. (11) North Carolina State
(19-5) Next game: vs. Florida State (Wednesday)
16. (15) Georgetown (17-5) Next
game: at Marquette (Thursday)
17. (18) Iowa (19-6) Next game:
vs. Michigan State (Tuesday)
18. (21) North Carolina (15-6)
Next game: vs. Georgia Tech (Wednesday)
19. (13) Illinois (20-4) Next
game: vs. Northwestern (Wednesday)
20. (20) LSU (16-7) Next game:
vs. Mississippi State (Wednesday)
21. (23) Oklahoma (16-5) Next
game: at Colorado (Wednesday)
22. (24) Kansas (17-6) Next
game: at Oklahoma State (Monday)
23. (22) Northern Iowa (21-5)
Next game: at Indiana State (Tuesday)
24. (17) Michigan State (18-6)
Next game: at Iowa (Tuesday)
25. (ur) Washington (18-5) Next
game: at Oregon (Thursday)
Dropped out: Michigan
(25)
Inducted into the USBWA Hall of
Fame last April, Frank Burlison is Scout.com’s national basketball expert and is
also a columnist for the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram. He can be reached
at frank.burlison@presstelegram.com. Read more of Burlison’s pieces at
www.FrankHoops.com