Hoops notes: Five most surprising teams

As we inch ever closer to Selection Sunday on March 16, it’s time to start thinking about the NCAA Tournament field and projecting seeds. It’s crazy, but it’s what we do at this time of year. Call it a little February Fun on the way to March Madness.

Part of the process is looking at the standings, weighing the RPI, and forecasting how the pieces are going together. As we do that, it’s easy to identify the teams that have surprised us the most.

We’re not talking about Kentucky or North Carolina State. Those are the teams that have disappointed. We’re talking about pleasant surprises here. We’re talking about teams that have elevated themselves and done better than expected. We’re talking about teams that maybe didn’t seem to have the tournament in their future at the start of the season, or teams that are playing for higher seeds because they are in contention for a conference title.

You get the idea.

With that in mind, we present our list of the five most surprising teams of the season.

Drake: The storyline for the Bulldogs at the start of the season was Keno Davis replacing his father, Tom, as head coach. Drake was coming off a 17-15 season, the first winning season at the school in 20 years. The rest of the script was rather somber. The Bulldogs were picked to finish last or next to last in the Missouri Valley Conference in almost every preseason poll.

Well, guess what? Drake is 22-1 overall and 13-0 in the Missouri Valley — with a four-game lead over second-place Illinois State. Anyone who has paid attention to college basketball in recent years knows how tough the MVC can be. Davis clearly is a national Coach of the Year candidate.

And if you love BracketBusters weekend, then get ready for Feb. 23 when Drake plays at Butler. I think a few coaches from the big-time conferences will be paying attention to that one in anticipation of NCAA pairings.

Purdue: The Big Ten race has focused on Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin. But guess who is in sole possession of first place after 11 games? The Boilermakers (19-5, 10-1) moved into the top spot with a 72-67 victory over Wisconsin in Madison Saturday night. Coach Matt Painter directed a terrific turnaround last season but Purdue was still picked in the bottom half of the Big Ten in the preseason. The Boilermakers haven’t won the regular season title since 1996 but they now own two wins over Wisconsin. The best may be yet to come. Purdue plays at Indiana on Feb. 19.

UConn: Saturday night on ESPN, Dick Vitale called the Huskies the best team in the Big East. This was during the Georgetown-Louisville game. On Jan. 17, UConn lost at home to Providence 77-65 in a game that featured an embarrassing performance by the Huskies on defense. At that point, UConn fans wondered if their team would make the 12-team cut for the Big East tournament. Now the Huskies have won seven straight, including resume builders over Marquette, Indiana, Louisville and Pitt, and may be positioned for a No. 4 seed in the NCAA’s. Roy Hibbert’s three-point basket beat them at Georgetown. If not for that, Jim Calhoun’s team would 19-4 overall with only two Big East losses. A.J. Price has matured into the best point guard in the Big East. Hasheem Thabeet has made enormous strides at center. And Jeff Adrien has become a double-double force at power forward. The Huskies have made their surge with guard Jerome Dyson suspended for breaking team rules and failing a drug test.

Baylor: Scott Drew’s remarkable job of turning this program around has been well chronicled. It is one of the great stories of this season. The Bears have one of the best collections of guards in the nation. Curtis Jerrells, LaceDarius Dunn, Kevin Rogers, Henry Dugat and Aaron Bruce all average 10.5 points or better. Since the remarkable five-overtime victory over Texas A&M, the Bears have lost three of four.  But even in a 100-90 loss at Kansas, the Bears made a statement. Those 90 points were the most scored against the Jayhawks since Bill Self became coach in 2003-04. The Bears will be a tough team to match up against in the NCAA Tournament.

Stanford: Stanford was in my preseason Top 25, but not in the Top 10 and certainly not in position to get a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That’s where the Cardinal stand right now. Look at the Pac-10 standings. UCLA is 21-3 overall and 9-2 in the conference. Stanford is 20-3 overall and 9-2 in the conference. Stanford is at the top with a significant lead over Washington State and Arizona and that wouldn’t have sounded right to me at the start of the season. The addition of Brook Lopez (18.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg) has been huge. Since a bad loss to Siena in November, the only setbacks have come against UCLA and at Oregon. We will find out just how good the Cardinal can be when they finish the season against Washington State (March 1), at UCLA (March 6) and at USC (March 8).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Niagara’s Charron Fisher knows how to put the ball in the basket. Fisher leads the nation in scoring with a 26.8 average. Sunday night in Baltimore, he poured in a career-high 45 points as Niagara beat Loyola 92-87. Fisher, a 6-4 senior guard, scored 11 points in the first eight minutes and had 25 at halftime. He was 15 of 27 from the field and 11 of 17 from the line. He also had nine rebounds. Those 45 points are the most for any Division I player this season.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Purdue’s Robbie Hummel is a major reason why Purdue is off to its best Big Ten start in 20 years. Saturday the 6-foot-8 freshman registered his career-high, scoring 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting as Purdue upset Wisconsin 72-67 and moved into first place in the conference.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Monday, Feb. 11
Villanova at Georgetown
The Hoyas are clinging to first place in the Big East after losing at Louisville Saturday. Villanova, which snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Seton Hall, needs every win it can get.

Kansas at Texas
Texas owns an 11-2 record in Big Monday games. Seven of those victories have come against teams ranked in the Top 25. Kansas guard Sherron Collins is shooting 60.5 percent from the field in the last five games.

Tuesday, Feb. 12
Michigan State at Purdue
Suddenly the Spartans are looking up at the Boilermakers, who moved into first place in the Big Ten by knocking off Wisconsin Saturday.

Wednesday, Feb. 13
Maryland at Duke
The Terps love to upset Duke and create chaos in the ACC standings. Here’s another chance for Gary Williams and his crew.

Notre Dame at Connecticut
Back on Jan. 5, the Irish let a 15-point halftime lead get away and then rallied back to beat UConn 73-67 in South Bend. Kyle McAlarney had 32 points for Notre Dame.

Thursday, Feb. 14
Stanford at Arizona State
Stanford defeated the Sun Devils Jan. 19 for the first of five straight losses for Arizona State. But ASU is coming off a 59-54 victory over rival Arizona.

Friday, Feb. 15
Pittsburgh at Marquette
What can you say? This is a gigantic game for two teams in the middle of the Big East standings.

Saturday, Feb. 16
Georgetown at Syracuse
Two great rivals go at each other again. Georgetown won the first meeting this season 64-62 in overtime.

Stanford at Arizona
The Cardinal have moved into second place in the Pac-10 behind UCLA and may be playing for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State at Indiana
The Spartans face their second huge road test this week in the Big Ten. Indiana scored a big victory at Ohio State Sunday.

THEY SAID IT:

“This is the best win I’ve ever experienced as a player.” — Louisville center David Padgett, after scoring 18 points in a 59-51 victory over Georgetown.

“If I live to be 106, I won’t be any more proud of a group of kids than I am of that bunch right there.” — North Carolina coach Roy Williams after the Tar Heels rallied from 15 down to beat Clemson 103-93 in double overtime.

“I was more worried about this game than [North Carolina]. Not that I was sure we were going to win on Wednesday, but I was sure we’d be ready, sure that we were going to be there. This one, the last two days I’ve been on them like crazy. We just weren’t sharp.” — Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after the Blue Devils defeated Boston College 90-80.

“We didn’t have the same fight we had the last few games. I take full blame. I’m the leader. I’m the captain. I have to step up.” — UCLA point guard Darren Collison, after Washington upset the Bruins 71-61 Sunday.

“He’s just tired. What more can you win; what more can you do? . . . Today was the most relieved and peaceful I’ve seen him in a long time.” — Texas Tech coach Pat Knight after his father, Bob Knight, resigned and turned the team over to him.

NOTES:

If you are a Clemson fan this morning you are probably thinking you will never see the Tigers win in Chapel Hill during your lifetime. Clearly, Sunday was that opportunity and now it is gone. Clemson is 0-53 at North Carolina after the Tar Heels rallied for a 103-93 victory in double overtime. North Carolina was without injured point guard Ty Lawson and coming off a discouraging loss to Duke. Clemson jumped out to a 10-2 lead. The Tigers led by 11 with three minutes left. Cliff Hammonds led Clemson with 31 points and freshman Terrence Oglesby made a clutch three-pointer in the first overtime. If not Sunday, when?

Speaking of North Carolina-Clemson, the game featured a vintage performance by Tyler Hansbrough. He scored 13 of his 39 points in the two overtimes, but it was his steal, his dive for the ensuing loose ball, and his determined will to block out on rebounds that showed once again why he is the toughest player in the nation. Hansbrough’s career high came as a freshman when he scored 40 points against Georgia Tech. Those are the top two scoring performances in Smith Center history.

One player who certainly deserves more national attention and publicity is Charlotte’s Leemire Goldwire. The guy is a true scorer and he reinforced that point Saturday when he struck for a career-high 39 points in a win over St. Bonaventure. Goldwire was 8-for-13 from three-point range and went 7-for-7 from the free throw line, including hitting six in the final 33 seconds. It was his fourth 30-point game of the season. It also broke a two-game slump of not scoring in double figures and going 2-for-22 from three-point range.  “I was a little frustrated,” Goldwire said of the slump. After scoring 28 points in the second half, that frustration is just a memory.

Rider’s Jason Thompson was our Player of the Week last week. He was right back at it Saturday, scoring 26 points and grabbing 24 rebounds in an 80-77 loss to Siena. It was his third game with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds this season. Amazing.

Kansas does so many things well, it’s easy to overlook the offensive leadership the Jayhawks get from junior guard Mario Chalmers. Chalmers has 47 assists and just 13 turnovers in Big 12 play. For the entire season, Chalmers has 17 games with at least five assists and 18 with two or fewer turnovers.

Xavier took control of the Atlantic 10 race Sunday with its victory over Saint Joseph’s. The Musketeers also picked up their 20th win for a third consecutive season and the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.

Stat of the week: Figure this out. Arizona lost at home to Arizona State 59-54. Freshman Jerry Bayless scored 39 points for Arizona. He was 12-for-18 from the floor. His teammates combined to shoot 3-for-23. Chase Budinger was 1-for-12. Jordan Hill and Jawann McClellan each made one basket. That was it from the field for the Wildcats. And remember, this was shooting at home baskets, in the McKale Center. Crazy.

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