Sunday Musings From Across the Land 1-19 Edition

THE AAC

- Louisville and Cincinnati have stamped themselves as the class of the new AAC. Louisville went into UConn and defeated the Huskies on Saturday night while Cincinnati continues to bludgeon its opponents, winning at USF. The Bearcats are 6-0 in conference play and should be 8-0 heading into a matchup at Louisville on January 30th. Cincinnati still has road games with UCOnn and SMU as well.

Memphis, UConn & SMU remain in the mix. I'll remain doubtful of Memphis even with its win at Louisville easrlier this month. Home losses to Cincinnati and UConn are hard to scrub, along with the history of the Tigers.

THE ACC

- Virginia easily handled Florida State at home, sweeping the season series with FSU. They did lose earlier in the week at Duke. Other than that, the Cavs have rolled through the ACC up to this point.

- Duke smoked NC State at home playing like the Duke team you fear. They travel to Pitt and Syracuse in back-to-back games at the end of the month. A split their would go a long way for them. Amile Jefferson has stepped up his play the last few games. His emergence is key

- Syracuse held off a pesky Pitt team at the Carrier Dome on Saturday and have some convinced they're the best team in the land. Lead by the play of freshmen PG Tyler Ennis, the Orange remain undefeated playing a brutal style of ball. While efficient, Syracuse hasn't played a game with more than 60 possessions in ACC play.

THE BIG XII

- Oklahoma went into Baylor and dropped the Bears to 1-3 in conference play. The Sooners have been getting fantastic play from Gonzaga transfer Ryan Spangler. In typical Baylor fashion, the Bears had 9 seconds to tie or take the lead as Oklahoma nearly spit away a 7-pt lead in the final :30. Baylor failed to get a shot off.

- Iowa State dropped its 3rd straight game, losing at Texas. The Longhorns and much-maligned Rick Barnes are quietly off to a 14-4 start. The host K-State on Tuesday. It's not a must win but it would certainly not be a good loss since they have lost at home to Oklahoma already.

- In the game of the day in the conference, Kansas outlasted Oklahoma State at Phog Allen. Kansas appears to be growing up after a sluggish start to the season. Andrew Wiggins disappeared for the final 30 minutes, yet Kansas found a way to win. Other FROSH star, Joel Embiid nearly had a triple double. As you'll hear ad nauseum, Embiid is still learning to play the game but has NBA scouts drooling. As for OSU, injuries have hurt their depth and Marcus Smart finished strong after a no-show start. The Cowboys seem prone to sloppy offensive possessions. They pressured the young Jayhawks into plenty of turnovers but followed up too many of those with poor shots of their own. If that gets cleaned up, they're tough to beat.

The Big East

- Providence served notice last night that despite the loss of so many expected contributors, they'll have something to say about who wins this league. They jumped all over Creighton who fell to 1-1 traveling to the east coast. Bryce Cotton played his 3rd straight game without seeing the bench. The game was never close in the 2nd half. Will the Friars have the legs to do this through the rest of conference play?

- While Providence tries to make themselves a player in the conference, two pre-season favorites, Marquette and Georgetown continue to struggle. The Hoyas lost at home to Seton Hall. The Pirates have been better recently but that's not a game Georgetown should lose. Marquette had a 40-28 lead at Butler with 15:26 left and scored 9 more points in regulation. They averaged .57 ppp in the 2nd half. Rinse, repeat...

The B1G

- Michigan went into Wisconsin and won in Madison for the first time since 1999. The Badgers have dropped two straight and save a Fran Mccaffrey meltdown, should have two home losses in conference. Wisconsin's lack of heft inside and mediocre defense was exposed for the 2nd time in a week. This is Wisconsin's best offensive team in years but they have real concerns on defense. The defensive efficiency numbers are skewed higher than they probably really are due to their pasting of cupcakes. Expect it to be their downfall in March. Still, a Final Four run isn't out of the question.

- Somehow, Northwestern has won 2 straight games with a win over Indiana yesterday. Indiana beat Bucky earlier in the week and pundits hailed the arrival of the young Hooisers. One game in January doesn't define a season one way or the other. There's talent in Bloomington but it's young. Wouldn't get too up or down about either game

Missouri Valley

- The Valley looks to be a one-bid league in 2014 but that one-bid team looks like a Final Four contender. The Shockers waxed a good Indiana State team at home on Saturday. I suspect they'll trip up at either UNI or Indiana State, which are back-to-back games in the beginning of February. If they get through that, they have a legit chance at being undefeated going into Arch Madness.

Pac-12

- The news of the week was the loss of Spencer Dinwiddie to Colorado for the season. It'll be a tough road ahead for the Buffaloes who crushed USC on Saturday.

- California continues to impress in conference play moving to 5-0 with a sweep of the Washington schools over the past week. Cal should be 6-0 going into Pauley next Sunday.

- Utah and Stanford also notched wins this weekend. Utah beat UCLA at home while Stanford won its 3rd straight conference game. Among those wins is a win at Oregon. The depth of the Pac 12 is amongst the best of any league in the land. Arizona will be well-tested heading into March.

SEC

- Kentucky held off Tennessee at Rupp despite getting dominated on the boards. I overrated the Wildcats at the beginning of the season. I don't see a title team here but I do see a team getting better every week. They were sloppy at the end yesterday but you can still see them maturing. Tennessee went at them and the youngsters responded beautifully.

- Arkansas followed up its win at home over Kentucky by losing at Georgia. The Razorbacks are a monster at home, a wimp on the road. And I watched them lose at home to Florida last week where Florida was undermanned. Arkansas will be on the bubble and if they get left out, I'll have a hard time feeling sympathy for such an up-and-down team.