One month left to go for the college basketball regular season. Before there can be March Madness there must be February crunch time, when teams can show they’re truly ready for Selection Sunday and the vast riches beyond.
Or not.
Consider the Big 12. With this many highly ranked teams — four of the top nine in this week’s Associated Press poll are lodge members — they’re bound to keep running into one another. Come to think of it, this is about to be crunch time for nearly the entire conference.
Arizona finally lost a game — it only took three months — and now the Wildcats have five more top-25 opponents in the next six contests. That starts with Texas Tech Saturday, then BYU, Houston, Kansas and Iowa State. One break for Arizona: Houston is the only game on the road, and the Wildcats are 13-0 in Tucson. Thanks a heap, Big 12 scheduler.
About those Cougars. Starting next Monday they’ll see three top-10 opponents in eight days: At Iowa State, home to Arizona, at Kansas. Combined record: 63-9. Houston is 22-2 and has a particular motivation to keep its collective basketball shoes on the gas. The Cougars would get a major door prize if they could be a No. 1 seed and placed in their natural geographical region. That’d be — heh, heh — the Houston regional. The Cougars would get to stay in town because they’re technically not the host school. But try explaining that to the teams who would have to travel to Texas to play them.
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Iowa State’s dates for Valentine’s Day weekend will hardly be bringing flowers and candy to Ames. The Cyclones host No. 9 Kansas Saturday and 56 hours later No. 3 Houston on Monday. Hilton Magic — Iowa State is 46-2 in the friendly confines the past three seasons and 13-0 this year — is about to get a workout.
Now that the nation has seen another display of the eternal power of Allen Fieldhouse on behalf of Kansas — the Arizona conquest ran Bill Self’s home record to 39-0 on Big Mondays and 15-0 in top-10 matchups when the Jayhawks are lower ranked — Houston’s visit to Lawrence in late February should be interesting. Kansas must also go to Iowa State and Arizona.
The Jayhawks will be taking an eight-game winning streak to Ames Saturday and there’ll be the usual question: Will he or won’t he? Will Darryn Peterson be in the lineup? Kansas has had to play a bifurcated season — 10-3 when the sporadically healthy phenom is on the court and 9-2 when he’s not. His frequent absences have forced the Jayhawks onto a path of self-discovery that isn’t yet complete.
“A lot of teams this time of year, when you get to early February, they know where their ceiling is, and the great teams are operating pretty close to their ceiling,” Self said after the Arizona win. “I don’t know where our ceiling is… I know that we’re not close to it yet.”
So the illumination continues in the Big 12. Starting Saturday there will be six top-10 matchups in the conference in the next 17 days.
Crunch time for Michigan.
The 23-1 Wolverines might be the next No. 1. Their rampage has had few interruptions. In only eight of their first 23 games were they ever behind by more than one possession. That was before Wednesday night, when Northwestern shoved them into a corner, leading by 16 points in the second half. Upset? Never mind. Michigan would just do this a different way. Instead of steamrolling early, the Wolverines steamrolled late, outscoring the Wildcats 45-17 the last 14 minutes to win 87-75.
But that dominance will soon get a major challenge from the schedule. The home game with UCLA Saturday is the gateway to an arduous stretch of four games in five away from Ann Arbor. And we’re not talking cushy vacation stops, as if they were leaving on a winter Caribbean cruise. The itinerary includes Purdue, Duke (in Washington D.C.), Illinois and Iowa. Then they come home to play Michigan State. If the Wolverines are No. 1 on March 9 they’ll be there the hard way.
Crunch time for Kentucky.
The Wildcats have made falling behind an art form. They have trailed by double digits in 10 games. but ended up winning five of them, including scrambling from 18 back to beat LSU and from 17 and 14 behind to twice yank rugs from beneath the feet of Tennessee.
Dramatic? Sure. But not the recommended way to get invited to March — and it keeps Big Blue Nation on a moody edge. Kentucky is tied for second in the SEC and 17-7 overall, so it’s worked out to a degree but nobody gets away with that forever. Can the Wildcats spend a little less time chasing the opponent?
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They’ll find out with a double dip of Florida the final month. The first is Saturday in Gainesville, where the Gators have been on a hectic journey. First, No. 3 in the preseason Associated Press poll. Repeat! Repeat! Then, 5-4 and out of the polls and something of a cold-shooting enigma. No repeat! No repeat! Now on a tear where they have won their past four league games by an average of 27 points and have the SEC lead to themselves for the first time in 12 years. Facing that locomotive twice ought to say something about Kentucky.
And Florida, too. Same when the Gators go to Rupp Arena later.
Crunch time for Purdue.
The formerly No. 1 Boilermakers have been a tad bewildering. There’s nothing wrong at all with a 20-4 record, and Tuesday’s overtime win over Nebraska was their second road victory over a top-10 opponent. But there ‘s a tinge of labor to Purdue lately. There was the three-game losing slide, and even some of the recent wins had to be grinders. Oregon is last in the Big Ten but pushed the Boilers to the final minute the other night in Mackey Arena. The victory at Nebraska was heartening enough but not the fact they had to resuscitate themselves after blowing a 22-point lead.
So there needs to be some clarification about just where Purdue is headed at the moment. That starts Saturday at Iowa and then a triple jump opportunity at home — Michigan, Indiana and Michigan State in 10 days.
Crunch time for Clemson’s winning streak.
The Tigers were very large in Duke’s rearview mirror atop the ACC but then they went and lost at home Wednesday night to Virginia Tech. The good news is that they now go on the road where they seem so comfortable, having won 14 ACC games in a row to share the second longest such streak in the history of the conference. The bad news is they’re going to Duke.
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Crunch time for Saint Louis.
The Billikens are still rolling. Still 23-1, with a 17-game winning streak, second longest in the country behind only Miami (Ohio). Still leading the country in scoring margin at 23.3 and field goal percentage defense at 36.4. What could rain on this parade? They face three road games in their next four — including Dayton, where the Flyers are 11-2 at home. Also in the middle of that is a home game with second place VCU. And at the end of the season, a trip to 21-4 George Mason.
Crunch time for Miami.
No, not the unbeaten bunch from Ohio but the surprise package from Coral Gables. The Hurricanes are 19-5 one year after going 7-24. They just took down North Carolina to improve their ACC mark to 8-3 one season after finishing 3-17. Is this reboot in the express lane to March? Starting Saturday they must play on the road for three of their next four league games, including at NC State and Virginia.
Crunch time for, well. everybody. The first league tournament games are but 18 days away.
