Bald Prophet Review: Week 8 Of The College Basketball Season

Thoughts from Week 8:

Individual Performances:

Jimmer Fredette, BYU.  49 points, seven rebounds, nine assists vs. Arizona.   Granted, the Wildcats’ streak of NCAA Tournament appearances is likely to come to an end after 25 straight dance invitations.  Just take a moment to appreciate what he did against a backcourt that features Nic Wise, who’s certainly no slouch.  If you factor in the assists Fredette had a hand in at least two-thirds of the Cougars’ 99 points.  He’s a big reason the Stormin’ Mormons are 14-1. 

DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky.  19 points, twelve rebounds vs. Hartford (in 19 minutes) and 18 points, 18 rebounds vs. Louisville.   If he were playing 30 minutes a game, his season averages would be 24.1 ppg and 15 rpg.  After further review, it turns out his technical foul against Louisville was somewhat justified, but Cousins is still his own worst enemy.

Stanley Robinson, UConn.  22 points and sixteen rebounds against Notre Dame.  Robinson is a great example of how to handle adversity following his suspension for part of the 2008-09 season.  This year, you can’t get him off the floor (35 minutes a game) and he only averages a foul a game.  If you were to draw up a prototype for an NBA small forward Robinson would fit the mold.

Team Performances:

Oregon.  Beat Washington 90-79 at Washington and Washington State in OT to now lead the Pac-10.  The Pac-10 postseason got more interesting with the absence of USC and Oregon would be in prime position to get a rare bye.  The Ducks are deep with ten players averaging at least five points a game.  They could be an interesting matchup if they win the Pac-10 tourney.

Gonzaga.  Beat Eastern Washington 94-52, Oklahoma 83-69 and Illinois 85-83.  If nothing else the Zags make things interesting.  They overcame Tiny Gallon’s impersonation of Darryl Dawkins (and the resulting delay during which the analysts made shadow puppets for twenty minutes) and a furious comeback by the Illini (who are becoming college hoops’ version of the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail). 

Oddity Of the Week:

Four players tied for the lead in scoring in TCU’s loss to Northern Colorado.  I can’t remember the last time that happened.

And now, your weekly Top 40:

1.       Kansas

2.       Texas

3.       Kentucky

4.       Purdue

5.       Duke

6.       North Carolina

7.       West Virginia

8.       Kansas State

9.       Villanova

10.   Syracuse

11.   Tennessee

12.   Georgetown

13.   Michigan State

14.   Georgia Tech

15.   Connecticut

16.   Texas A&M

17.   Florida State

18.   New Mexico

19.   Brigham Young

20.   Butler

21.   Texas Tech

22.   Washington

23.   UAB

24.   Ohio State

25.   Miami (Fla.)

26.   Minnesota

27.   Gonzaga

28.   Temple

29.   UNLV

30.   Oklahoma State

31.   Northwestern

32.   Virginia Tech

33.   Northern Iowa

34.   Ole Miss

35.   Clemson

36.   California

37.   Wisconsin

38.   St. Mary's

39.   Louisiana Tech

40.   Pittsburgh