Falcons Soaring

The greatest season in the history of Air Force basketball keeps getting better. The Falcons, led by fourth-year head coach Joe Scott, have already established a new school record for wins in a season (17, and counting), conference wins (8), non-conference wins (10) and are in position to secure their first invitation to the NCAA Tournament since 1962.


Scott, a Pete Carril disciple, brought the Princeton offense to Colorado Springs, and the Falcons have been frustrating Mountain West Conference foes ever since. Offensive execution, however, did not translate into victories during Scott's first three seasons at Air Force. The Falcons averaged just 9.6 wins from 2000-2003 and failed to win more than three league games in any single season. This year has been a completely different story. The Falcons' 51-50 win over visiting New Mexico last week improved their overall record to 18-3 and kept them atop the MWC standings with an improbable 8-1 record. They have wins over California and Wisconsin-Milwaukee out-of-conference and have knocked off league powers Utah and BYU.


The Falcons, however, are far from a lock to receive to an at-large invite to the NCAA Tournament if they do not win the MWC Tournament title. They have a low RPI (52) and still have difficult road games ahead - at Utah, at BYU and at Wyoming.


But to even be talking about Air Force and the NCAA Tournament is quite an accomplishment for a program that is enjoying its first winning season since 1977-78.

Coach K Chastises Crowd

Cameron Indoor Stadium is regarded as one of the top home courts in all of college basketball, but Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was less than thrilled with the Cameron Crazies following the Blue Devils' 81-55 win over Clemson. Just three days after Duke's emotional overtime win over rival North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the student section at Cameron "wasn't even close to capacity," according to the Durham Herald-Sun, for a key ACC game with Clemson. "We shouldn't have empty seats," Krzyzewski said. "How can you have empty seats in Cameron, with the No. 1 team in the country just winning one of the most unbelievable games? That's disappointing."


Coach K also chastised those in attendance for their lack of energy. "We're the team that won," Krzyzewski said. "We're the team in first place (in the ACC). We're the team that's No. 1 in the country. I don't know what to do but I'll try to do something because (the crowd) needs to be better."

What's Wrong with Kansas?

The week began with a 20-point beating at Oklahoma State and ended with a 74-55 loss at Nebraska. Times have been better in Lawrence, Kan. "Every team goes through peaks and valleys, and certainly this past week, this is the biggest valley we've been in," said first-year KU coach Bill Self. "There is a lot of concern because we haven't played well this past week. But we could have played well these last two games and, the way these opponents have played, still come away with losses."


The Jayhawks, just 4-4 over their last eight games, have lost consecutive conference games by a double-digit margin for the first time since the 1982-83 season.

Ducks to Remain at Mac Court

Oregon basketball will remain at Mac Court for the foreseeable future after plans for a 15,000-seat arena in Eugene were tabled because the cost of the project was soaring out of control. The new arena was estimated to cost between $90 and $130 million, but that figure increased to the $180 million range in recent months.


"Its complexity and financing make it clear that we cannot move forward at this point," said University of Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer.


McArthur Court, more fondly known as Mac Court or the Pit, has been home to Oregon basketball since 1927. The 9,000-seat gym is one of the loudest in the country and has been one of the most difficult places to play in recent seasons. The Ducks have a 37-3 record at home in the past three years.

These First-year Coaches Are Getting It Done

1. Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh

Dixon was promoted to the top job only after Pittsburgh failed to lure Skip Prosser away from Wake Forest. He has turned out to be a perfect fit for the Panthers, who were expected to take a step back following the departure of coach Ben Howland - Dixon's former boss - and three key contributors from last season's 28-5 club. Dixon has Pittsburgh in contention for the Big East title and in position to secure a first or second seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

2. Matt Painter, Southern Illinois

The Salukis lost three key components from their 2003 Missouri Valley Conference championship team - guard Kent Williams, forward Jermaine Dearman and head coach Bruce Weber, who moved upstate to take over at Illinois. SIU, however, is once again the team to beat in the Valley. The Salukis have opened up a three-game lead over Creighton and have positioned themselves for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament should they falter in the MVC Tournament. Painter, Weber's top aide the previous five seasons, is the runaway leader for league Coach of the Year honors.

3. Steve Hawkins, Western Michigan

Hawkins began his stint as the boss at Western Michigan with an 18-point win over USC. And things have been rolling in Kalamazoo ever since. The Broncos are on top of the MAC's Western Division and will be one of the few mid-major programs deserving of an at-large invite to the NCAA Tournament. Hawkins, an assistant under Robert McCullum at WMU the past three seasons, inherited a team that returned five of its top six scorers, but the Broncos have clearly exceeded preseason expectations.

4. Dick Bennett, Washington State

The record isn't flashy, but Dick Bennett is teaching the Cougars how to win games. Washington State has already topped its win totals from last year, both overall and in conference play, and the Cougs have improved as the season progressed. They recovered from a 2-5 start in Pac-10 play to win three of their next four games, including an improbable sweep of the L.A. schools on the road. Wazzu's win at UCLA was its first ever at Pauley Pavilion (in 39 tries) and it snapped a 46-game losing streak against the Bruins in Los Angeles.

5. Murry Bartow, East Tennessee State

Bartow took a year off after being forced out at UAB and has found a great situation in Johnson City, Tenn. The Buccaneers are cruising toward the top seed in the Southern Conference Tournament and could be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament. They have a win at Houston to their credit and played well at Texas Tech and Clemson in two of their four losses.

Conference Roundups

ACC

North Carolina State's 78-74 win over Duke was its fifth consecutive victory in league play - the first time in 30 years the Pack has strung together five straight ACC wins-Duke senior Chris Duhon is fifth on the ACC's all-time steals list with 269 and 10th on the assists list with 748-North Carolina center Sean May is the only ACC player averaging a double-double - 15.1 points and 10.1 rebounds-Wake Forest is 39-5 at home in the three-year Skip Prosser era-Virginia's Elton Brown (.504) and NC State's Julius Hodge (.500) are the only players in the league shooting 50 percent or better from the field-NC State is hitting an impressive 82.1 percent (184-of- 224) of its free throws in league games.

BIG TEN

Wisconsin junior Devin Harris was named the Big Ten Player of the Week after averaging 24.5 points in the Badgers' wins at Iowa and over Ohio State in Madison. He scored 16 points at Iowa, including 13 of the Badgers' final 17, and added three steals while playing all 40 minutes. He poured in 33 points in the win over Ohio State, thanks to a 16-of-18 performance on the foul line-Northwestern (11-11 overall) has a 6-5 record in the Big Ten, its best conference mark this late in the season since the 1999 team was 6-5. The Wildcats' sixth league win, a 65-52 decision over Penn State, was aided by a 30-2 run to open the second half-Minnesota finally broke into the win column with an 81-78 win over Michigan in Minneapolis. The Gophers had lost their first nine conference games for the first time in more than 70 years.

BIG 12

Heading into the Feb. 18 game at Colorado, Texas Tech senior Andre Emmett was 19 points from becoming the Big 12's all-time leading scorer. Kansas' Nick Collison currently holds the record with 2,097 points from 2000-03. Big 12 records started in 1996-97, and Emmett and Collison are the only two players to score at least 2,000 career points-Not counting Missouri freshman Linas Kleiza (11.1), who is out for the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury, there are four Big 12 freshmen averaging 10-plus points this season. Iowa State guard Curtis Stinson leads the freshmen class at 15.2 ppg followed by Oklahoma's Drew Lavender (11.4), Texas' P.J. Tucker (11.4), and Texas Tech's Jarrius Jackson (10.5)-Missouri's 94-60 win against UNLV on Feb. 15 gives the Big 12 a 102-35 final regular season out-of-conference record for 2003-04. The 102 wins mark the sixth time and fifth straight season the Big 12 has combined for 100-plus victories against non-conference foes.

BIG EAST

When No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 5 Connecticut lost on Feb. 9 (to Seton Hall and Notre Dame, respectively), it was the first time in Big East history that two teams ranked in the top five lost on the same day-The Big East boasts three of the nation's top four shot-blockers - UConn's Emeka Okafor (first with 4.8 per game), West Virginia's D'or Fischer (third with 4.0) and Providence's Marcus Douthit (fourth with 3.9)-Boston College senior Uka Agbai is 28 blocks away from the Eagles' overall career blocked shots record (168) held by Burnett Adams-The Big East has a combined 17-18 record against the other Big 5 power conferences-St. John's (0-10 through games of Feb. 15) is the only major conference team in the nation without a league win.

CONFERENCE USA

Charlotte has three wins against teams ranked in the Top 10 at the time of the game - at Syracuse on Nov. 26, at Cincinnati on Jan. 31 and vs. Louisville on Feb. 12-Marquette guard Travis Diener leads the league in both scoring (17.4) and assists (6.14)-DePaul's Drake Diener, Travis' cousin, leads the league in 3-point shooting - 50 of 100 (50.0 percent)-Surging Memphis quietly moved into first place with an impressive 89-71 win at Marquette. The Tigers are 17-4 overall and 9-2 in league play.

PAC-10

Washington (7-6 in league play) is already assured of its best league finish since the 1999 Huskies finished 10-8 on their way to the NCAA Tournament-Stanford passed a difficult hurdle on its way to a potentially undefeated regular season by knocking off rival California 69-58 in Berkeley. It was Stanford's school-record 21st consecutive victory-Washington State managed just four field goals and shot 17 percent from the field in the first half of a 67-62 overtime loss to Oregon-UCLA shot 66 percent from the field yet lost to host Arizona by 24 points. The Bruins were undone by 28 turnovers that resulted in 50 points for Arizona.

SEC

Two of the top three scorers in the league began their respective careers at another four-year school. Leading scorer Scooter McFadgon (20.0) of Tennessee transferred to Tennessee after playing two years at Memphis, and Mississippi State's Lawrence Roberts (18.1) left Baylor over the summer after the fiasco in Waco-LSU's Jaime Lloreda, a leading candidate for league Player of the Year honors, had his streak of double-doubles snapped at five when he scored 19 points and grabbed 'just' nine rebounds in LSU's impressive 73-70 win at Florida-First-year Georgia coach Dennis Felton is now 3-0 in his career against Kentucky. He won at Rupp Arena while at Western Kentucky and has two wins against the Wildcats this season-Mississippi State's 77-70 win over Arkansas was its first win in Fayetteville since 1972. The Bulldogs had been 0-12 at Arkansas since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992, losing by an average of 17.8 points per game.

ELSEWHERE

Utah State had its school-record 17-game winning streak snapped with a 64-60 loss at Pacific-Through games of Feb. 15, Eastern Washington is the only Big Sky team with a winning record (10-1) in league play. Northern Arizona and Idaho State are both 5-5-Chicago State failed to win a Mid-Continent Conference game in each of the past two seasons, but the Cougars are 7-5 in league play after a 76-72 win over IUPUI-Former South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander has done a nice job in his first year at Tennessee State. The Tigers went 0-16 in the Ohio Valley Conference last season, but were 5-7 after the first 12 games of the Alexander era-Tulsa, an NCAA Tournament team the past two seasons, is headed for its first losing season since 1988. The Hurricane are 7-15 overall.

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