Filed under: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10, SEC
If the best laid plans of mice and men have no chance, what hope should we have expected for those of Wildcats and Hokies?
In this week's roundtable, we run down the most disappointing teams in college basketball.
This week's roundtable is college basketball blogger Evan Hilbert, associate editor Matt Snyder and college basketball editor Ray Holloman.
ACC
Evan Hilbert: North Carolina. There's still plenty of time for UNC, and it's not as if they've been altogether terrible. Still, a top 10 team preseason, the Heels have yet to live up to their lofty expectations. Speaking of not living up to expectations, I suppose we can hang some of this on Harrison Barnes, who was perhaps a bit over-hyped out of high school. But that's not entirely fair. He's averaging almost 12 points a game, and it can't be only his fault that Carolina got smoked by a hapless Georgia Tech squad last weekend.
Matt Snyder: North Carolina Even if the preseason expectations for both the team and Harrison Barnes were unfair -- they were -- neither the team nor Barnes are even in the ballpark. Barnes is averaging 11.8 points and 5.3 rebounds. This from a preseason All-American. The Tar Heels have won six of their last seven since starting 7-4, but getting beat by 20 against Georgia Tech this past Sunday is a sign they still aren't really a good team. Put it this way: Do you ever trust UNC to win?
Ray Holloman: Virginia Tech. If we may channel our inner-Dennis Green, North Carolina is what we thought they were, a young team with a Smith Center-sized hole to fill at point guard -- one they're finally filling with Kendall Marshall. But the Hokies have managed to do, yet again, exactly what they couldn't afford to do, whiff on every possible marquee win. Granted, it's not all Virginia Tech's fault. The Hokies have had so many injuries, you wonder when Kerry Wood became the team's trainer. But the most experienced team in the ACC lost every big contest, falling to Kansas State, UNLV and Purdue in the non-conference, North Carolina on the road and then added a bad loss to Virginia as well. That the Hokies have played so much better since the loss to Virginia Dec. 5 just makes it all the more disappointing. The only remaining chances of a real headliner win comes at home against Duke. Yet again, the Hokies will be at the mercy of the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Big East
EH: Georgetown -- Coming into conference play, the Hoyas had only one loss coming on the road against Temple. But since then -- in the meat grinder that is the Big East -- wins have come few and far between. They fell in three straight to St. John's, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, games in which their leading scorer Austin Freeman struggled. For the Hoyas to get back on track, they'll need Freeman to be the scoring threat he's been throughout his career.
MS: Georgetown -- was pretty heavily hyped coming into the season and an 11-1 non-conference record appeared to justify said hype. But the Hoyas seem to have fallen into the mode where they only beat teams far inferior in talent. Their best win since November is either over Memphis (who just lost to SMU) or at Seton Hall. (Could have to change after St. John's game, but hopefully they lose and it's easy). Considering the Big East gauntlet, things can't continue on this path if the Hoyas want to have a successful season.
RH: Georgetown -- A league this good doesn't leave any other choice, though I'm not ready to toss the towel in on the Hoyas for the season. At the season's start, I thought Georgetown might be this year's Duke, except with a playmaking point guard. The Hoyas had three great perimeter scorers, an outstanding offensive rebounder and an offense that can be just as steady and strong as Duke's a season ago. But the Hoyas don't have the matchup problem that is Kyle Singler and they don't have remotely the same commitment to defense. They're are one of the worst teams in the nation at creating turnovers, and until they can manage more free possessions to offset the barrage of 3-pointers they shoot each game and the general inconsistency of Chris Wright, they will struggle to move over .500 in the Big East.
Big Ten
EH: Michigan State. Not so much based on the Spartans' losses; they have some, but mostly to ranked teams. Still, as a team expected to compete for a national championship, Michigan State has looked out of sorts and very vulnerable against lesser competition. A team with this much experience really shouldn't be struggling as much as the Spartans have been.
MS: You can justify almost all of the losses, but six is far too many for a Michigan State team that went to the Final Four last season and returned enough to be rightfully ranked No. 2 in pretty much every poll this past preseason. Turnovers and a lack of offensive consistency from several players -- notably senior leaders Durrell Summers and Kalin Lucas at times -- have plagued the Spartans. Losing Raymar Morgan and Chris Allen from last year's group hurt, but it shouldn't have hurt this much -- especially not with the talented recruiting class coming in. Something seems wrong with the Spartans, even needing overtime to beat Northwestern and Wisconsin at home in back-to-back games after losing at Penn State. There's enough talent to get it fixed by March, but progress needs to come quickly.
RH: Minnesota -- Michigan State's pre-March swoons are the sort of thing Swiss watchmakers set their watches by, despite Izzo's distaste for the label. "As everybody says, my teams are never good until the end of the year," he said after an early December loss to Duke. "I'm getting sick of that." Well, physician, heal thyself. Until then, we won't expect much out of the Spartans until Selection Sunday. Meanwhile, Minnesota, despite a 14-4 record, is our contrarian pick, not so much for their on-court performance, though the only NCAA tournament-caliber teams the Gophers have beaten are North Carolina and Purdue, but for the way in which chaos has clung to the program for year another season. Maybe Tubby Smith can keep the team together over the long haul, but this could be another season of what could've been, particularly what could've been with transferring guard Devoe Joseph.
Big 12
EH: Kansas State. Ranked in the top five to start the season after an impressive march through last year's NCAA tournament, K-State has experienced suspensions and turmoil throughout this season. They weathered the storm prior to opening Big 12 play, but have lost three of four already to the likes of Colorado and Oklahoma State. In addition, they've yet to have a real solid win -- not that they haven't had chances.
MS: What a mess at Kansas State. Suspensions for Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly, in addition to some pretty absurd comments from Pullen have clouded the once-promising campaign. And don't forget about the losses. The best win for the Wildcats since Dec. 3 came at home against Texas Tech -- hardly a feather in their cap. Otherwise, you see five wins over also-rans and five losses. This was a team many predicted to go to the Final Four. At this point, K-State has work to do just to get into the tournament.
RH: Texas Tech Anyone who didn't think Kansas State would have a difficult time repeating last season's success didn't see Denis Clemente play last season. Perhaps it was beard glare from Jacob Pullen. Clemente, Kansas State's former point guard, was the team's single most indispensable player. Without him, the Wildcats turnover rate has skyrocketed to 23 percent and the offense has devolved into Pullen watching. While less was expected of Texas Tech, Pat Knight's team has managed to underachieve at every turn. The Red Raiders' top five players are four seniors and a junior, four of whom played heavy minutes last season. Yet the team is worse and downright embarrassing defensively. Opposing teams are shooting 37 percent behind the 3-point arc.
Pac-10
EH: Washington State -- On Christmas Day, the Cougars were 10-1 coming off a win over Baylor in Hawaii. Since then, Washington State is 3-4, and they've stumbled back in the very winnable Pac 10. Klay Thompson has done his part, averaging almost 23 points a game. However, Reggie Moore's injuries and dust-ups with the law has dampened the Cougars a bit.
MS: UCLA almost -- and probably should have -- broken Kansas' insane home winning streak, yet lost to Virginia Commonwealth and Montana? There's too much talent on Ben Howland's team for that to be happening. In fairness, the Bruins seem to have found some consistency and started winning games they are supposed to. Still, you'd think they would be in position to beat USC like a drum.
RH: UCLA. Or, all of the above. What was supposed to be a bounceback year for the league has turned into a reason to go to bed early. No place is that more acute than Westwood, where the league's marquee team is headed for another forgettable year. It's still strange to see a Ben Howland team that simply isn't tough enough when it needs to be.
SEC
EH: Tennessee. Frankly, with each impressive win the Vols are able to pull off, the more disappointing their season looks. Over a one month stretch, the Vols lost six of nine games, all of which they probably should have won. Many of them came at home against teams from outside the power conferences. Somehow, though, Tennessee has beaten Pittsburgh, Villanova, Memphis, Vanderbilt, and Georgia. How you can beat Pittsburgh by seven, and lose to Charlotte and Oakland, is something that will never truly be explained.
MS: From the travails of Renardo Sidney -- which include his fight with a teammate who then transferred -- to the inconsistent play to the bad losses (Florida Atlantic, East Tennessee State, Hawaii), this season has been a disappointment for Mississippi State. This wasn't exactly considered an elite team coming into the season, but the Bulldogs were supposed to be much better than this, coming off four straight 21-plus win seasons and having a good amount of talent. Maybe the past two games -- wins, albeit against terrible teams -- will be what they need to get some momentum going, particularly with point guard Dee Bost back in the lineup.
RH: Florida -- The Gators returned their top five players from last season. No team this experienced should so regularly seem disinterested in what's happening on the floor. Sure, Florida is 14-4, but its good wins over Florida State and erratic Tennessee are offset by home losses to Jacksonville and South Carolina as well as a neutral court loss to Central Florida. Meanwhile, star freshman Patric Young hasn't made much of an impact. The Gators are still likely the most talented group in the SEC, but in dire need of a kick in the butt -- or something -- to ignite the team. Perhaps Thursday's peek-through-your-fingers ugly 45-40 win over Auburn could serve as a wake up call.
Mid-Majors
EH: Gonzaga. Perhaps we've grown to expect too much from the Bulldogs, but they ended their non-conference slate with only one good win which came over Baylor. They lost five games after being ranked a top 15 team preseason. Now, out of the top 25 and flying under the radar, the 'Zags have won nine straight. Still, with only the one impressive win, it doesn't appear that they will reflect their early season ranking. Butler. Perhaps even more disappointing than Gonzaga is last season's national runner-up. Butler hasn't seemed to be able to recover from the early season blowout at Louisville. Even as their schedule has lightened up after an impressive tournament win in December -- where they beat Florida State and Washington State -- the Bulldogs haven't been able to keep their streak alive. Conference losses to Wright State and Milwaukee has them playing catch up in the Horizon League.
MS: Losing Gordon Hayward hurt Butler, but it shouldn't have hurt the Bulldogs this much. They went from a top-ten team who made a run to the NCAA championship to a team that might not even receive an at-large bid to this year's Dance. There's just not enough offense to take pressure off Shelvin Mack, who is shooting just 39.6 percent from the floor (after 45.4 percent last season). Matt Howard's playing well in the post, but Andrew Smith and Khyle Marshall need to be integrated into the offense more in order to free up Mack. The good thing for Butler is that there appear to be loads of wins left on the schedule -- with just enough time to build confidence in time for mid-March.
RH: Memphis -- The Tigers brought in the nation's best recruiting class, but may very well end the year without a victory over an NCAA tournament team. It's not all coach Josh Pastner's fault-- troubles with talented frosh Jelan Kendrick, who has since left the program have helped scuttle the season -- but the Tigers will be in a dogfight to advance to the NCAA tournament out of Conference USA.
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Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/01/22/college-basketballs-most-disappointing-teams/
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