A familiar sight

Kansas shuts down TCU, now poised for another Big 12 title and a No. 1 seed. Plus, Duke rolls, a Big West showdown, ACC issues and more.

Author

Mike Miller
February 21, 2023

There's something to be said for the college basketball nights with just 19 games. Gives everyone a chance to catch their breath.

Let's get to the news.

1. The more things change, the more things stay the same

In a season where unpredictability has become the norm, there's still one constant: Kansas winning the Big 12.

The Jayhawks (23-5, 11-4 in Big 12) are now alone atop the standings after a gritty 63-58 win against TCU on Monday night. Yes, there are still games left to be played, but with upcoming home games against West Virginia and Texas Tech, the odds are certainly in Kansas' favor to capture at least a share of the title after their fifth straight victory.

Not that it was pretty.

Neither team made a field goal in the final 4:19. Kansas was 39.4 percent from the field and just 3-of-16 from deep. Jalen Wilson (7 points on 3-of-11 shooting) couldn't get going, and Gradey Dick (19 points) didn't score in the final 18 minutes. But by holding TCU (18-10, 7-8) to a season-low 30.3 percent from the floor and 5-of-18 from beyond the arc — the Horned Frogs hit 8 of their 15 3-point attempts in their rout of Kansas last month — the Jayhawks came away with perhaps their best road of the season and their 14th Quad 1 win.

“We haven’t accomplished jack, but we've put ourselves in a favorable position to maybe do something,” KU coach Bill Self said. “Everybody talked about our sky's falling when we lost three in a row. In this league, that can happen easily. But we’ve recovered pretty good since then."

The defense certainly helped. Kansas held TCU to .83 points per possession, their second-lowest output of the season. That's not a small thing given TCU was coming off a game where it dropped 100 on Oklahoma State, one of the league's elite defenses.

And now? Expect to hear lots of this discussion in the coming weeks.

Also in the Big 12:

West Virginia 85, Oklahoma State 67The Mountaineers (16-12, 5-10) weren't messing around. Erik Stevenson scored 23 points, and Tre Mitchell added a season-high 22 in a resounding win that keeps them in the NCAA Tournament picture. But while West Virginia snapped a 3-game skid, the Cowboys (16-12, 7-8) now have one of their own. They'll have a chance to ease their NCAA tourney hopes with home games against K-State and Baylor in the next week.

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2. A little lot of defense out in the Big West

Kansas wasn't the only conference contender getting it done with defense on Monday.

UC Irvine overcame a 10-point halftime deficit by holding Cal Poly scoreless over an 8-minute stretch for a 59-56 win. Normally that might include a substantial offensive run as well, but the Anteaters only scored seven points of their own in that span. This game flow is pretty wild.

The final 2:33 did finally see some points, with Dawson Baker's three baskets over 110 seconds pushing Irvine to the win. Some might call that ugly basketball. And maybe they're right.

But the bottom line is the Anteaters (20-8, 13-3 in Big West) now lead UC Riverside (19-10, 12-5) by a game and a half. They have four games left, including a trip to Hawaii on Saturday and a March 2 showdown at Riverside, which will likely decide the regular-season title.

Other results to know from Monday:

Duke 79, Louisville 62The Devils (20-8, 11-6 in ACC) won their third straight — though it was probably more difficult than coach Jon Scheyer would've liked against Louisville (4-24, 2-15), which led by nine points early on. But 14 points from Jeremy Roach and 13 from Kyle Filipowski helped Duke pull away.

Illinois 78, Minnesota 69Jamison Battle was great for the Gophers (7-18, 1-14 in Big Ten) with a season-high 31 points, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Illini (18-9, 9-7), who snapped a two-game skid behind Matthew Mayer's 22 points.

Morgan State 89, Howard 76The Bears (13-14, 5-6 in MEAC) dumped 61 points in the second half on Howard (17-11, 9-2), as five players hit double figures, led by Will Thomas' 24 points. It was the Bison's worst defensive performance since a Nov. 30 loss to Yale. There was one silver lining though...

Coppin State 69, Norfolk State 62The Spartans (19-8, 8-3) couldn't take advantage of Howard's loss and stayed a game back in the MEAC. Nendah Tarke scored a game-high 19 points as the Eagles (7-21, 2-9) used an 18-4 run to start the second half to assume control of the game.

3. Talkin' tourney

March is barely a week away, which means we gotta squeeze in as much Bracketology as possible. The latest Fielding the 68 show (Mondays and Fridays at 5 pm ET) hit on everything a college hoops fan should know, including analysis from the NCAA's Sweet 16 reveal on Saturday, the teams sweating it out on the bubble, the teams on the wrong side of the bubble and which teams are in line for those No. 1 seeds.

Fun fact: Kansas entered Monday night with 14 Quad 1 wins, one more than 2018-19 Michigan State, which is the most since NET began. And the Hawks still have one Quad 1 game remaining this season, plus the Big 12 tourney.

No other team has more than 9.

Anyway, our full bracket is below, along with a link to the full show. Enjoy!

4. Jeff Capel: The ACC doesn't suck

Every coach stumps for their league. It's part of the game you play with the media, usually in an effort to bolster the image of your team. "Every game we play is tough! Nothing is easy for us!"

On cue:

FWIW, I'd be doing the exact thing if I was Capel, especially in a season where Pitt's third in the ACC. Anything that besmirches the league implies maybe the Panthers aren't that good. So hold that thought.

Simply put, the ACC is struggling. It's seventh in KenPom's conference rankings, behind the Mountain West. If you think that's a stretch (we're looking at you, TO), it's clearly down from previous seasons where it was no worse than fifth. And it's a far cry from its 80s and 90s heydey when it was essentially the precursor to this season's Big 12. There were no bye games then.

Now? There are five teams — Notre Dame, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Louisville — that rank 171 or lower on KenPom. (No MWC squad is lower than 155.) Put another way, some teams in the ACC can't beat anyone good.

Could 2-3 ACC make a deep run in March, the same as it did last year? Sure. But when you have dreck at the bottom, and when your marquee programs (Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse and Louisville) are underwhelming, it's a tough message for anyone to buy.

As for Pitt, Capel's team has been great during the conference season. But it was 1-4 against non-conference top-100 teams, including a couple of blowouts to West Virginia and Michigan, neither of whom is an NCAA Tournament team today.

My take? If the ACC was up to its usual standards, Pitt probably isn't 12-4 in conference play. So enjoy the season, Jeff. Your Panthers have been terrific for most of 2023. If the conference can't keep up, that's not on your team.

5. News you should know

Just passing along info. It's what I do.

  • Houston's back at No. 1 in the AP Poll for the third time this season, garnering 48 first-place votes. Alabama and Kansas are 2 and 3, and each had seven first-place votes. And let's hear it for Northwestern, which is back in the Top 25 for the first time in more than two years.

  • The last time Creighton played Marquette, it was the last of six consecutive losses for the Bluejays. To say they've "grown since then, the guys that played in that game," would be a bit of an understatement. Creighton's played as well as anyone in the last month, winning nine of its past 10. Tonight in Omaha should be a good one.

  • The Pac-12 is reportedly set to announce San Diego State as a new member soon, giving it at least one replacement for when USC and UCLA join the Big Ten next season. So who's that other team that would step in? Jon Wilner does the math on if adding Gonzaga makes any sense — and if the Washington schools would approve.

Chart du Jour

Here, via JG Trends, is a chart I probably stared at for 5-6 minutes on Monday. Pretty good reminder of why Boise State was run a few weeks ago at SDSU, or why Oklahoma State's defense is so much better when Moussa Cisse is on the floor.

Time to shine

Two months ago, Texas A&M was 6-5 and had just lost to Wofford. Well, things have changed in College Station. The Aggies (20-7, 12-2 in SEC) have won 14 of their past 16 games and five in a row, including an impressive win at Missouri on Saturday. They're right on the heels of first-place Alabama in the SEC and should be considered one of the league's biggest surprises. Contrast that with their Tuesday opponent, Tennessee (20-7, 9-5). The Vols have dropped four of six and can't seem to string together any kind of consistent offense. If A&M wins in Knoxville, it'll be past time to pay attention to Buzz Williams' squad. (7 pm ET, ESPN)

Other games to watch (All times ET)

  • Baylor (20-7, 9-5 in Big 12) at Kansas State (20-7, 8-6), 7 pm (ESPN2)

  • Akron (19-8, 11-3 in MAC) at Toledo (21-6, 12-2), 7 pm

  • Marquette (21-6, 13-3 in Big East) at Creighton (18-9, 12-4), 8:30 pm (FS1)

  • Indiana (19-8, 10-6 in Big Ten) at Michigan State (16-10, 8-7), 9 pm (ESPN)

  • Iowa State (17-9, 8-6 in Big 12) at Texas (21-6, 10-4), 9 pm (Longhorn Network)

Statue-esque

This may be the greatest piece of investigative journalism Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster have ever done.

Links as you catch up on work during a short week.

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