College Basketball: Ravern Johnson, Matt Howard and Other Insights for Feb. 8

Welcome to the TeamRankings.com Daily Feast, where every weekday we stuff your head with the tastiest data-driven insights on college hoops.

Coffee and Cooler Talk (News and Results from Yesterday)

Pittsburgh gutted out a close 71-66 win at West Virginia, despite the absence of Ashton Gibbs. With the win, Pittsburgh remains the top team in our away power ratings.

Kansas put on an offensive clinic, downing Missouri 103-86. The Jayhawks are averaging 1.288 points per possession over the last three games, tops in the nation.

Matt Howard was bloodied by an elbow to the eye (video not recommended for the squeamish) in Butler’s closer-than-expected win over Illinois-Chicago. Meanwhile, Detroit upset Cleveland State, who now has little chance of an at-large NCAA bid. Our Horizon League tournament simulation gives Butler only a 22 percent chance of snagging an auto-bid, Cleveland State a 32 percent chance and conference-leading Valparaiso a 28 percent shot.

Mississippi State's Ravern Johnson was suspended indefinitely for skipping class, his third suspension of the year; his others were for inappropriate tweets and academics. Johnson is the top scorer on a team that already is only middle of the pack in offensive efficiency.

Oklahoma State suspended forward Darrell Williams after he was charged with rape. Williams was second on the Cowboys in rebounding, one of the team’s strengths—they rank 64th in defensive rebounding percentage.

Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer was fired after his team’s seventh straight loss left them tied for last in the Mountain West. Our conference tournament simulation shows the Cowboys with less than a 1 percent chance of even advancing to the semifinals of that tourney.

Lunchtime Reading (Interesting Stat-Oriented Posts from around the Blogosphere)

Dan Hanner of "Yet Another Basketball Blog" investigates which recent coaching hires seem to have made the most difference to their teams’ performance.

In an equation-heavy post, Nathan Walker of "The Basketball Distribution" introduces a new way of calculating individual defensive ratings from box score data.

T.H. of "Carolina March" looks at the effect of Cameron Indoor Stadium on free throw shooting and foul calls.

Dinner and A-Game (Notes on Tonight’s Hottest Games)

No. 47 Tennessee @ No. 10 Kentucky. Both Vegas and our models have Kentucky as a heavy favorite, but with this year’s erratic Tennessee team (win at Pitt, loss versus College of Charleston), who knows what might happen.

No. 67 Boston College @ No. 34 Clemson. If you like the offense to have the advantage over the defense and enjoy lots of 3-point shots, check this one out. Our possession-based game simulation projects both teams to score more than one point per possession, and shooting more than 20 three-pointers.

No. 53 Xavier @ No. 59 Georgia. Though Georgia is favored in Vegas by 4.5, our projection basically sees this as a tossup. An inter-conference win by Xavier could help the Atlantic 10 come Selection Sunday.

No. 83 Indiana @ No. 7 Purdue. Though Indiana has lost nine of 12, they’ve been much better than their record indicates with several close losses, including giving Wisconsin a tough game at the Kohl Center. Obviously Purdue is a heavy favorite, but Indiana could make it a game.