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DEL.ICIO.USMark Bradley’s Friday Fallout
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Every Friday until the end of the regular season, we’ll look at who’s up, who’s down and what you should be watching as the countdown continues to the Final Four in Atlanta.
Rising
A week ago, Texas A&M was a good team that had won only one big game (over Oklahoma State on Jan. 20.) Then the Aggies won two big ones in three days, first surging from 10 points down to prevail at Kansas, then routing Texas at College Station.
A&M now seems the best team in the Big 12 and, alongside Ohio State, the strongest probable No. 2 seed on the NCAA tournament grid.
Falling
It isn’t just that Duke has lost three in a row (two of those at home). The Blue Devils must now play five of their last seven regular-season games on the road, and by the time that difficult run is done, this regal program could drop from the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since the preseason poll of 1996-97.
That’s a string of 199 consecutive appearances.
What we’re watching
Florida at Kentucky (Saturday, 9 p.m., ESPN).
It’s hard to envision the Gators losing anywhere the way they’re playing. Still unclear is what sort of team will greet them in Rupp Arena. The Wildcats led South Carolina 50-28 at halftime on Wednesday only to yield 61 second-half points. This prompted Tubby Smith to tell reporters: “We’ve got the best concentration of any team in America.”
He was kidding.
Mid-major of the week
Davidson has won 17 of its last 18 and leads the South Division of the Southern Conference by 2 1/2 games over the College of Charleston. Freshman guard Stephen Curry averages 20.1 points and is the second-leading scorer among freshmen behind Kevin Durant of Texas.
Curry’s dad was himself a shooter of note. He’s Dell Curry, who played at Virginia Tech and spent 16 seasons in the NBA.
Names to know
D.J. Augustin and Mike Conley Jr. aren’t the stars of their respective teams, but they figure to be a year from now. They’re freshman guards playing alongside more heralded freshmen — Augustin with Durant at Texas, Conley with Greg Oden at Ohio State.
Both rank among the nation’s top five in assists. Both are apt to remain in college for at least another season, unlike Durant and Oden.
SEEDS
If the season ended today, here’s what the top four seeds in each region should look like:
• East Rutherford Regional
1: North Carolina
2: Pittsburgh
3: Butler
4: Kentucky
• San Antonio Regional
1: Florida
2.: Ohio State
3: Memphis
4: Boston College
• St. Louis Regional
1: Wisconsin
2: Texas A&M
3: Oregon
4: Southern Illinois
• San Jose Regional
1: UCLA
2: Marquette
3: Kansas
4: Nevada
Fun with numbers
The only string of consecutive AP poll appearances longer than Duke’s belongs to UCLA. The Bruins were ranked for 221 weeks dating from 1966 — the beginning of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sophomore season (freshmen were then ineligible) — to 1980.
Over that span the Bruins had four coaches (John Wooden, Gene Bartow, Gary Cunningham and Larry Brown) and won eight NCAA titles (all by Wooden).
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Final Four, Mark Bradley
Comments
By James Henry
February 8, 2007 08:54 PM | Link to this
test
By Dustin
February 9, 2007 02:16 AM | Link to this
Go Ga Tech!!! young and crintennton have both looked like freshman this year for the most part, and i hope they both realize there not ready for the NBA and stick around another year or 2. Next year with clinch coming back this team will be a true top 10 team! This year i stil believe were top 25 material and can fight our way into the ncaa’s. Go Tech!
By David-ATL14
February 9, 2007 09:30 AM | Link to this
Bradley your #4 seed for Kentucky is a joke.They are closer to a #6 seed. probably a #5 but much closer to a 6 as opposed to a 4.
By Rob in Atlanta
February 9, 2007 01:37 PM | Link to this
Coach K doesn’t have a bad team. He’s just lost control of the refs now the Barakat is no longer in Greensboro.