-Utah State finally had their impressive amount of win streaks snapped at Idaho last night. With this, I would expect Utah State to completely fall off of all the polls. They were ranked based on being undefeated in a weak conference. While I agree with the ranking while they continue to win, as soon as they lose, they need to go. Idaho isn't even in the hunt in the WAC. The win brings them to 7-5 in conference play. So, what exactly happened that brought the upset? Let's analyze. First, Tai Wesley did not have his strongest game. Wesley is a senior forward who averages 14.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, and 1 BPG. He is a strong, strong candidate for WAC Player of the Year. Late in the first half, the Aggies ran a few pick and roll plays in which Wesley stormed the hoop after setting a pick slightly off the key. Both of these plays resulted in easy baskets for Wesley, and this was the most momentum the Aggies would accrue. But for some damn reason, they totally abandoned this gameplan in the second half. With 6 minutes left, Wesley had taken only one shot, and made it. Secondly, Utah State committed some very undisciplined fouls on their leading scorer, Jeff Ledbetter. As a rule, you DO NOT foul a 3-point shooter! This is just common sense! But the Aggies fouled Ledbetter twice in a span of three minutes on open treys after the release. Ledbetter is an extremely good free throw shooter: he averages 86.8% on the year. He made all six free throws off the two fouls. Thirdly, Idaho played an extended 2-3 zone that just seemed to want this game more. They clamped down on defense, hustled around screens, and contested almost every single shot. And finally, because of the defense, Utah State shot uncharacteristically poorly from all facets of the floor. As a team, they average 46.6% from the field, 72.1% from the charity stripe, and 36.4% from downtown. Against Idaho, they went 22-65 from the field (33.8%), 7-13 from the free throw line (53.8%), and an absolutely abysmal 5-28 from downtown (17.9%).
-With the loss, Utah State has just lost legitimacy of an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. Their SOS is ranked 157, and they have zero top-100 RPI wins. Their best RPI win was against No. 116 Long Beach State, and they were missing their best player. They had two chances for a key OOC win - they lost to BYU, and were blown out by Georgetown. It's up to them to win the WAC Tournament now, which they still should.
-The Big East really isn't as good as I thought. They keep beating up on each other, especially with teams losing to the lower half of the BE. Villanova's loss to Rutgers was just bad, and I really can't see a Big East team going to the Final Four, except maybe Pittsburgh. (It needs to be noted, however, that Pittsburgh has never been to the Final Four.)
-North Carolina is a very, very good team. Kendall Marshall running the point has turned this team around completely; he is head and shoulders above Larry Drew II in playing the 1. It took a career-high 34 from Nolan Smith and a 20 point half from the younger brother of Stephen Curry, Seth, for Duke to pull off the win in Cameron Indoor. The Tarhells will get another shot against Duke at Chapel Hill. Credit Roy Williams with the change after that embarassing blowout at Georgia Tech.
-If a team is really going to challenge Pittsburgh in the Big East, it looks to be Notre Dame. Tim Abromaitis and Ben Hansbrough are a great duo on this team, backed up by Carlton Scott.
-Jimmer keeps on rolling. In a 90-52 rout of Air Force, he put up 25 points despite a bruised left knee suffered in the first half on a drive to the hole. Jimmer leads the nation in scoring with 27.5 PPG. He is followed by Andrew Goudelock (CofC, 24.2 PPG), Marshon Brooks (Providence, 24.1 PPG), Adrian Oliver (San Jose State, 23.8 PPG), and Xavier Silas (Northern Illinois, 23.7 PPG). Goudelock is the only player of the five not to have a 40 point game.
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