12/21 - College Hoops Week in Review: Slow week capped off by a wild Saturday

What we learned this week: UNC may have three losses on the season, but it is not time for Heel fans to panic just yet. UNC has played as brutal of a schedule as you can play this early in the season - Texas, Michigan State, Syracuse, and Kentucky are all bonafide title contenders, and that list doesn't include Ohio State, who UNC played prior to Evan Turner's injury. Going 2-3 against that group is nothing to be ashamed of.

At some point, people are going to start talking about Jacob Pullen. All he has done in his last two games is averaged 29 ppg, shooting 13-19 from three, and lead Kansas State to double digit wins at UNLV and at Alabama. If he isn't the leader for Big XII POY right now, he has to be right there in the conversation. Kansas State is probably not going to contend for the Big XII regular season title - Kansas and Texas are just too good - but this is a team you aren't going to want to face in March.

No semester addition had a bigger impact than Mike Gerrity at USC. The point guard, who ended up at USC via Charlotte and Pepperdine had 12 points and 10 assists in their blow out win over Tennessee. But don't expect that to mean that Gerrity is the savior of the Trojans or to see them make a run to get into the tournament. Remember, this is a team without any depth that has already lost to Texas, Georgia Tech, Loyola Marymount, and Nebraska. But the Trojans were missing a steady hand to run the point, so with Gerrity this team could feasibly make a run through the Pac-10 to finish some where in or around the top four or five. Considering their non-conference slate and the fact that they play in the Pac-10, will that be enough?


GAME OF THE WEEK: Butler 69, Xavier 68

We've already gone over the controversial ending to this game in detail, and after read multiple different view points, we still believe the refs made the correct decision based on the current rules.

Here's the video:



The sad part is that this was actually a great game. Butler went up big early before allowing the Musketeers back into the game. Xavier took control in the second half before Butler regained the lead. A back and forth last three minutes led to a wild final 30 seconds.

The point I haven't seen made yet is that while is obviously sucks losing a game this way, it probably would have sucked just as much if they lost after missing a heave from half court (which is, in all likelihood, what would have happened).

Also good this week:

• West Virginia 80, Cleveland State 78: Cleveland State over came a big deficit by zoning and pressing the Mountaineers, but after the Vikings finally tied the game with 13 seconds left, Kevin Jones found a streaking Da'Sean Butler for a layup with 1.2 seconds left to give West Virginia the win.
• UMass 73, Memphis 72: Memphis overcame a seven point deficit midway through the second half to take a 72-71 lead late, setting up this ending in the battle of schools Coach Cal cost a Final Four:

• Georgia 70, Illinois 67: Believe it or not, the Bulldogs were in control for most of this game, but a late run by Illinois, capped by an and-one bucket from Demetri McCamey, gave the Illini the lead. But Tre Thompkins responded with four late free throws, and McCamey missed a desperation three at the buzzer.
• Ole Miss 91, UTEP 81: The Rebels over came a late 70-58 deficit to force overtime, and in the OT Chris Warren took over, scoring 11 points as the Rebels spoiled a 15-15 game from Derrick Caracter.
  

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jon Scheyer, Duke

Scheyer has been playing as well as anyone in the country this season, and this week was no different. In a week where the Blue Devils won two games by an average of 40 points, Jon Scheyer was a huge reason why. He had 20 points, 8 assists, and 5 boards in a blow out win over Gonzaga in MSG, and on the week averaged a pedestrian 28.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg, and 8.5 apg while shooting 64% from the floor and 9-13 from three.

Jon Scheyer may be the most valuable Dukie this season.
(photo credit: SI)

To get an idea of how well Scheyer has played this season, keep this in mind: he had 17 assists and 5 turnovers this week. That is a 3.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and actually lowered his season total from 8.4:1 to 5.9:1. While Scheyer is posting all-american numbers, his importance to the Blue Devils cannot be understated. Duke has won when Kyle Singler struggled (UConn, Gonzaga) and lost when he played great (Wisconsin), but Duke's two worst performances on the season came in Scheyer's two worst games.

Also good this week:

• Solomon Alabi, Florida State: Florida State went 3-0 this week, including a win over Auburn and on the road against Georgia Tech in their ACC opener. Alabi was the best player for the Seminoles. He twice scored 22 points, but his best performance came against the Yellow Jackets when he had 12 boards and 4 blocks as he helped hold the two-headed monster Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal to 12 points and 16 boards combined. For the week, Alabi averaged 17.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, and 4.3 bpg.
• Darington Hobson, New Mexico: The Lobos are still undefeated this season, and a large reason is Hobson. The 6'7" wing has become one of the best all-around perimeter players out west, and he proved it with a 22 points, 16 rebound, and 6 assists performance against Creighton in a game that saw the Lobos struggle mightily for every basket.
• Jacob Pullen, Kansas State: Pullen had his second straight excellent performance in Kansas State's second straight big time road win. This week, it was a 30 points performance in a blowout win in Alabama. Pullen also added 6 threes, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
• Chris Warren, Ole Miss: Warren scored 17 first half points against UTEP, then scored two big baskets down the stretch as the Rebels overcame a 12 point deficit in the final five minutes. He scored 11 in overtime to seal the win, finishing with 32 points on the game. Warren scored 9 points in a 108-64 win over Centenary.
• Derrick Caracter, UTEP: Caracter had two double-doubles this week, his first week playing basketball since March 2008. Hard not to root for this kid to turn it around.
  

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Texas Longhorns

Texas played two games this week, but the one game that mattered was a convincing win over UNC (the other was a 104-42 win over UT-Pan American). Coming into the weekend, Texas had yet to be tested this season, but proved themselves to definitively be a contender for a national title by beating up on a team that supposedly had the best front court in the country, out running a team that loves to get up and down the court, and by showcasing their balance - Damion James, Dexter Pittman, Avery Bradley, and J'Covan Brown all scored 20 points.

Dexter Pittman and Damion James outplayed UNC's front line.
(photo credit: Scout)

Until Texas plays, and beats, a team with a great back court (Michigan State on Tuesday may solve that), any talk of the Longhorns being the best team in the country should be tempered. What can't be argued is that Bradley and Brown, both freshmen, proved that they have the maturity and the ability to handle playing in the national spotlight. It also seems that Texas, and not UNC, has the best front line in the country. Dexter Pittman had 23 points and 15 boards (12 offensive). Damion James had 25 and 15. As a team, Texas outrebounded UNC 60-41, which doesn't begin to describe their dominance inside. From John Gasaway:

The 60-41 advantage on the boards posted by Texas, as impressive as it may look, in fact doesn’t begin to capture the degree of abject domination that the ‘Horns inflicted on their opponent. Keep in mind North Carolina actually shot pretty well, and, more to the point, they shot significantly better than Texas. Which means there were fewer opportunities for the ‘Horns to haul down defensive boards. So for this team to get 19 more rebounds anyway means their work on the glass had to be absolutely absurd. Indeed it was: the Longhorns got to fully half of their own misses and rebounded 72 percent of Carolina’s missed shots.

Also good this week:

• USC: The Trojans played just one game, but in that one game they knocked off Tennessee 77-55. It was the first time all season that a team from the Pac-10 beat a ranked opponent. More importantly, USC got big time performances from Alex Stephenson (19 and 15) and Nikola Vucevic (15 and 10) in the paint and a huge boost from Mike Gerrity, a point guard transfer from Charlotte, via Pepperdine, who had 12 points and 10 assists.
  
• Wichita State: The Shockers have been one of the bigger surprises of this young season. Just a year removed from a 17-17 campaign in which they finished below .500 in the MVC, Gregg Marshall's club is now 10-1 on the season after beating Texas Tech 85-83 on Saturday. It was the Red Raiders first loss of the season. Clevin Hannah had 24 points, 5 assists, and 4 boards in the win while JT Turley had 20 points and 10 boards.
  

MATCH-UPS OF THE WEEK

• 12/21 - 6:30 pm: UTEP vs. Oklahoma
• 12/22 - 7:00 pm: Michigan State @ Texas
• 12/22 - 7:00 pm: Butler @ UAB
• 12/22 - 9:00 pm: Cal @ Kansas
• 12/23 - 7:30 pm: Ole Miss @ West Virginia
• 12/23 - 9:30 pm: Illinois @ Missouri
• 12/26 - 3:30 pm: West Virginia @ Seton Hall