Bald Prophet Review: Week 5 Of The College Basketball Season

Thoughts on Week 5:

§  Through the first four weeks of the season the Big East dominated nearly every foe that came down the pike.  Even traditional bottom-feeders like South Florida and Seton Hall were hoarding wins.  But Week 5 brought the “beast” back to some semblance of reality.  Providence followed a win against George Washington where every starter scored between sixteen and nineteen points with a home loss against Iona.  Notre Dame lost at home to Loyola Marymount, which won three games all of last season.  Louisville’s wheels are connected to their axels with Scotch tape and gum after two straight losses to Charlotte and Western Carolina.  Villanova lost to Temple (which they hadn’t done to a Big Five school in 21 of 22 previous outings). OK, let’s stop the panic train.  The Big East is still beastly but they have to be glad this week is over.

§  Oklahoma seems to have overcome their early-season stumble by ripping off five straight wins.  Against Centenary Tony Crocker had 29 points and ten rebounds – in the first half.  Expect the Sooners to re-assume their top four status in the Big 12.

§  Butler finally got a win over a ranked team against Ohio State (which may not be ranked for long without Evan Turner) but should be very concerned about Matt Howard.  Howard has fouled out of six games this year and is only shooting 41 percent from the field.  It’s not like defense are totally keying on him – Gordon Hayward looks like the Horizon Player of the Year and a solid NBA candidate.  It’s doubtful that Butler won’t win the conference but if they don’t they could be on the outside of the Dance this season.

§  Bench performance of the year so far goes to Jamel Jackson of Seton Hall, who scored 40 off the pine in the Pirates’ 134-107 win over VMI (which is doing their impersonation of the early 90s Loyola Marymount squads). 

§  Finally, look for the Missouri Valley to get more Dance bids than the Pac-10 this season.  Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Wichita State are a combined 25-2 this season and are ranked in the upper reaches of the RPI.  The Pac-10 has Washington, which comes off a loss to Georgetown and Cal as possible Dance reps.  Enough said.

Your Top 40:

1.       Kansas

2.       Texas

3.       Purdue

4.       Kentucky

5.       Tennessee

6.       West Virginia

7.       North Carolina

8.       Syracuse

9.       Michigan State

10.   Georgetown

11.   Villanova

12.   Butler

13.   Connecticut

14.   Georgia Tech

15.   Duke

16.   Kansas State

17.   Texas Tech

18.   California

19.   Illinois

20.   Ohio State

21.   Texas A&M

22.   Washington

23.   Florida

24.   UAB

25.   Florida State

26.   Oklahoma State

27.   Minnesota

28.   UNLV

29.   New Mexico

30.   Brigham Young

31.   Gonzaga

32.   Northwestern

33.   Clemson

34.   Ole Miss

35.   Missouri State

36.   Memphis

37.   Northern Iowa

38.   Charlotte

39.   Seton Hall

40.   Western Carolina