Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. As February gets going, we see a few elite programs doing different things. A couple are not doing quite what was expected but in opposite directions, while one is now looking like we expected. Plus, there’s one state where things are simply not good right now.
We begin with Kansas, winners of 14 consecutive Big 12 regular season titles. Can they make it 15 in a row? It is looking more questionable seemingly by the day, as the Jayhawks are now two games back in the loss column, but more importantly, trending downward as they have lost three of their last four games and four of their last six. They are 1-6 in true road games this season, and now Lagerald Vick is taking a leave of absence from the team for personal issues on top of the injuries they have had to deal with. While it’s long been an article of faith that you bet against them in the Big 12 at your peril, they are not looking good right now.
The next team to look at is Kentucky, a team that now looks very much like many expected before the season. After getting annihilated by Duke in the season opener, most of the non-conference slate didn’t give us much to go on about this team. They were a mystery, beating a lot of decent teams but no good ones, until they beat North Carolina and then Louisville. They have carried that over into the SEC, where they have been an elite defensive team and are right behind Tennessee.
After that, we talk about Villanova. Even with their recent dominance of the Big East and their two recent national championships, in none of those seasons did Villanova win their first 10 Big East games – but they have now. This is probably Jay Wright’s best coaching job, and if the Wildcats are able to win at Marquette on Saturday, they could run away with it.
Finally, we head out west, where the state of Arizona is not a good place to be. First, the FBI investigation is coming back into play at Arizona, where assistant coach Mark Phelps has been fired for an alleged NCAA violation regarding the academic transcripts of Shareef O’Neal. The son of former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, Shareef is sitting out due to a heart condition. Meanwhile, both schools lost at home, with Washington State’s blowout win at Arizona State being one more blow to the Pac-12.
We also talk about the NCAA’s plan to review all shots at the buzzer in this upcoming NCAA Tournament, then look ahead to a big weekend of action as well as the prognosis for teams in the Big Ten and Big East aside from the teams at the top of each conference. A number of teams have some work to do to separate themselves from one another.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune in next week as we discuss more college basketball.
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