First off, let’s send our congrats to the New Orleans Saints for defeating Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Superbowl XLIV.  Sean Payton had a number of gutsy calls that almost all paid off and sent Bourbon Street into a hizzy.  Speaking of Saints, guess who has the longest current win streak in the nation in college basketball?  You guessed it, the Siena Saints have won 14 in a row and remain undefeated in MAAC play through Sunday night.  Remember to scroll to the bottom and click the “FACTS & BRACKS”  link to view my entire grid and projections.

Who has the #1 RPI?  Kansas 
Which team has played the toughest schedule?  Georgetown 
Who are my four # 1 seeds?  Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Villanova
  
Last 4 teams in the Bracks? Virginia Tech, Illinois, Marquette, Oklahoma State
First 4 teams out of the Bracks?  Old Dominion, Texas Tech, Washington, Notre Dame
 

Most intriguing major conference game this week?  Duke @ North Carolina.  Why?  Because it’s the greatest rivalry in college basketball no matter how good or bad they are.  Carolina really needs this game because suddenly their tourney hopes are slipping away fast.  They’ve struggled mightily lately and what better way to right the ship then to beat your most hated opponent?  The Tar Heels are now 2-6 in the ACC after laying a goose egg @ Virginia Tech and @ Maryland.  Duke, on the other hand, needs to prove that they can win consistently away from Cameron.  Before Saturday’s win @ Boston College, the Blue Devils had just 1 true road victory all season.  UNC is falling and if Duke wants to prove they are as good as their ranking then they need to figure out a way to take care of business at the Dean Dome on Wednesday.               

Most intriguing Non major conference game this week?  Cornell @ Princeton on Saturday.  Both of these teams are currently undefeated in league play.  After Cornell’s 36 point drubbing of Harvard, maybe the Tigers are the only team that stands in the way of Cornell’s 3rd straight Ivy league title?  You would think that the Big Red will take care of business…but remember, there is no conference tournament in this league so one slip up could cost them a bid.   


 A few Atlantic 10 games I’m lookin’ forward to this week…First of all, is it possible for the A-10 to get 6 teams into the NCAA tournament?  Yes, it’s possible.  Will it happen?  Probably not.  But, there are 6 teams right now that have a legitimate shot of controlling their own destiny and making the tournament.  Some key games to watch this week…Richmond @ Rhode Island and Charlotte @ Dayton on Wednesday, as well as Rhode Island @ Temple and Xavier @ Florida on Saturday.  As of now, Xavier, Richmond, Temple, Dayton, Charlotte and Rhode Island are ALL in my field.      
       

The “Let’s Goooo” team of the week (Team who helped itself the most this past week)  South Florida.  I was thinking that the Bulls needed to win @ Notre Dame to win this award, but after second thought I realized that by winning @ Georgetown, South Florida put it’s program on the map for the 1st time since joining the Big East.  They had their all time best 4 game Big East win streak halted in South Bend on Sunday, but they still stand at 5-6 in the Big East.  Winning at Notre Dame would have warranted South Florida a bid right now, but for the time being they are on the outside looking in.  The Bulls have 7 games left on their conference schedule:  @ Marquette, Cincy, St. John’s, @ Villanova, Providence, @ Depaul, UConn.  If South Florida continues to play at the pace they are playing right now, they will have a pretty good opportunity to finish at .500 or better in the league.  And to that I say WOW. 
  
The “What Are We Doing?” team of the week (Team who hurt itself the most this past week).  Cincinnati.  The Bearcats have two solid non conference victories against Maryland and Vanderbilt.  However, they have yet to prove that they can win consistently over quality opponents in the Big East.  With losses @ Notre Dame and at home against Syracuse this past week, Cincinnati went from being a 10 seed in last weeks Facts & Bracks all the way to dropping out of them this week.  Losing those two games are not necessarily bad losses, but it drops their record to 5-6 in the league and when you have zero great W’s in league play it’s hard to make a case for keeping them in the field.  They go on the road for two games this week.  First, they go to a struggling UConn team who needs the W just as much as the Bearcats do.  They then travel to South Florida to take on a hot Bulls team.  Cincy really needs to figure out a way to get 1 of these or else they will heading to being completely out of the tournament discussion.    
         

The “Wait, We scheduled who?” team of the week (team who will regret scheduling a certain someone at the end of the season)  Virginia Tech.  The Hokies are a stellar 18-4 overall and have a solid 5-3 record in the ACC.  Their 4 losses this year came to Temple (in the Philly Hoop Group Classic), @ North Carolina, @ Florida State and @ Miami (FL).  I don’t consider any of these losses as being really bad.  They took care of business at home this last week by defeating UNC and Clemson in Blacksburg.  But why, you ask, does this team remain on the bubble?  The answer is…UMBC (RPI of 340) and NC-Central (RPI of 347).  I can’t completely knock them for scheduling UMBC because nobody knew they were going to be this bad and they did make the NCAA tournament two years ago, but playing against NC-Central is just mind boggling.  This team won a total of 6 Division 1 games the last 2 years combined.  So, coaches, I tell you this when scheduling before the season…if you think your team has ANY chance of making the NCAA tournament do not schedule teams you KNOW will be at the bottom of the RPI.  You are better off playing a Non-D1 opponent.  If you think you are an NIT team at best, then yes, schedule the NC-Central’s of the world and rack up those W’s.  I am not knocking Virginia Tech because many teams in the nation schedule poorly, I am merely using them as an example.  We shall see if the RPI is the reason they miss out of the NCAA’s.  My advice to the Hokies:  Keep winning in the ACC and you won’t have to worry.           
   

  The “Middie Who’s Gettin’ Giddy” team of the week (mid-major team on the rise).  UNLV.  With former Runnin’ Rebels star Larry Johnson in the house, UNLV dismantled Jimmer Fredette and BYU.  This is now their third very good win to add to their resume to go along with wins over Louisville and @ New Mexico.   They are clearly putting themselves in solid position for getting an at-large bid.    
   

   

The “Power Who’s Goin’ Sour” team of the week (high major team on the decline)  While North Carolina may be the obvious choice here, I will go a different route.  I turn to the Big 12 and Oklahoma State.  The Cowboys lost this week at home to Texas and on the road @ Texas Tech.  They have now lost three in a row and find themselves under .500 in conference play.  The one thing that OK State still has going for them though is their RPI which sits at 34.  They also don’t have any real bad losses, but the bottom line is that they better start winning again because the RPI can only do so much for a team.  They only have one game this upcoming week which is against rival Oklahoma at home.  This is a game they cannot afford to lose and I would imagine that they won’t.  Most teams in college basketball have poor stretches.  For the Cowboys tourney’s sake, let’s hope that their bad stretch is behind them.                      
           

“Survive and Enhance” team of the week (Team who saw the biggest improvement to their RPI)  UTEP.  The Minors saw their RPI skyrocket from 75 to 57 this week after a big win over conference foe Tulsa.  They also have key wins this year vs Oklahoma, @ UAB and @ Memphis.  They currently lead Conference USA in the standings at 8-1.              


Team who saw their RPI drop the most this week?  It’s crazy but the team whose RPI dropped the most this week didn’t even lose a game.  That team is Cornell.  Their RPI dropped 16 spots from 33 to 49.  This won’t mean much if they run the table and win the Ivy league going away, but it would really hurt their chances of an at large bid should they not win the league.  It also could, in turn, affect the Big Red’s seed in the NCAA tourney.                                 
                      
 

  CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY FACTS & BRACKS FOR FEBRUARY 8th, 2010