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Weekly Wrap: Cal surprising under Montgomery
Hoops Hysteria
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Championship — Detroit, Ford Field
FOXSports.com analysis
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Cal improved to 15-2 after knocking off Washington in triple overtime on Saturday, giving the Bears nine straight wins overall and a 4-0 start in the Pac-10.
It's the program's best start since 1959-60.
THE GOODS (Player or Team of the Week): I was all set to give it to Cal's Patrick Christopher, who had 27 points and 11 boards in the win against Washington until Jeff Teague tore up North Carolina for a career-high 34 points on Sunday night in Wake Forest's victory over the Tar Heels. Teague is fearless, can get to the basket at will and is also able to shoot the ball from deep.
REAL DEAL: Washington senior Jon Brockman — Even though the Huskies lost at home against Cal, Brockman was a beast this past week, grabbing 18 rebounds in the loss and also hauling down 18 in a victory against Stanford. He won the game against Stanford with a last-second tip-in.
THE IMPOSTER: Boston College — There's no way that the Eagles are the 17th or even the 24th team in the nation — even after delivering a loss to previously top-ranked North Carolina. BC followed the shocking upset with home losses to Harvard and Miami.
MID-MAJOR TEAM OF THE WEEK: Harvard — No one is more deserving. Tommy Amaker's Crimson won on the road against BC and then avoided a letdown with a close victory at Dartmouth in the Ivy League opener.
BETTER THAN ADVERTISED: TCU — Jim Christian can coach. He proved it at Kent State and is doing it at TCU. The Horned Frogs followed up a road win at Texas Tech with a huge victory against UNLV and are now 11-5 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West.
SIGNATURE WIN: Louisville's road victory at Villanova was critical for the Cardinals. Rick Pitino's team had struggled out of the gates again — with losses to Western Kentucky, UNLV and Minnesota — but the Cardinals have won a couple of close games lately.
STINKER: Maryland's home loss to Morgan State out of the MEAC barely edges out DePaul's 80-58 home setback to South Florida. The Terps had some momentum early in the season, especially after a win against Michigan State, but Gary Williams & Co. took a significant step backwards with the loss to Morgan State.
PAYBACK: Illinois pounded Indiana, 76-45, a year after the Illini lost to Eric Gordon and the Hoosiers in Bloomington. Bruce Weber doesn't have anything against new IU coach Tom Crean, but there's no love lost between the two programs due to the Eric Gordon Saga in which the NBA rookie was at one time committed to Illinois before backing out of his pledge and eventually signing with the Hoosiers.
STATEMENT: Earl Clark had his head between his legs a week ago after he make a couple of errant passes that nearly cost Louisville the game against Kentucky. Clark responded with 22 points and nine boards against South Florida and 16 points and 11 rebounds in a road win against Villanova.
SHOCKER: Arkansas getting another win against a Big 12 elite with a home victory against Texas early in the week. The young Razorbacks, who lost to Mississippi State over the weekend, got wins against Oklahoma and the Longhorns within a week.
HE'S BACK: Arizona coach Lute Olson was in the stands for the second time this season during a home victory against Oregon earlier in the week. Olson retired just prior to the start of the season and was replaced by interim coach Russ Pennell.
MILESTONE: Northern State coach Don Meyer passed Bob Knight as the all-time winningest college basketball coach with 903 career victories after knocking off the University of Mary on Saturday.
TOUGHEST LOSS: Purdue, even without Robbie Hummel and Chris Kramer, lost on the road to Penn State. The Boilermakers have put themselves in a hole in the Big Ten race, but Matt Painter is making certain his team is healthy down the stretch.
STILL LOOKING: New Jersey Institute of Technology is 0-16 and has lost 49 straight games. Jim Engles' team is one of two in the D-1 ranks without a victory after Mississippi Valley State knocked off Alabama A&M on Saturday. The other team is also an independent, North Carolina Central, which lost to Chicago State over the weekend and fell to 0-18.
SORELY MISSED: North Carolina senior guard Marcus Ginyard came back after missing the first 11 games with a stress fracture, but he hasn't been the same player he was when healthy. Ginyard, the team's top defender, sat out Sunday night's game against Wake Forest and may not be back for a while.
CREDIT: Northeastern — How about Bill Coen's Huskies off to a 5-0 start in the CAA. In just his third season, Northeastern is tied with George Mason atop the league.
WEEK TO FORGET: Illinois State was undefeated a week ago and on the verge of cracking the Top 25. The Redbirds lost a pair of conference games at Bradley and Indiana State and are now in the middle of the pack in the Missouri Valley Conference at 3-2.
Six-pack on tap
1. Pittsburgh at Louisville, Saturday at 6 p.m. ET — The Panthers will go on the road and try to stay undefeated when they face a Louisville team that is starting to pull it together.
2. Wake Forest at Clemson, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET — It's a potential matchup of two of the three remaining unbeatens.
3. Texas at Oklahoma, Monday at 9 p.m. ET — In all likelihood, these two teams will battle for the Big 12 title. The Longhorns, who have won six straight against the Sooners, have plenty of big bodies to rotate in against OU star Blake Griffin.
4. Arizona State at UCLA, Saturday at 3:45 p.m. ET — Can James Harden and the Sun Devils go to Pauley Pavilion and establish themselves as the Pac-10's elite team?
5. Kentucky at Tennessee, Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET — The SEC is wide-open this season and the Vols need to hold court at home against UK.
6. Minnesota at Wisconsin, Thursday at 9 p.m. ET — If Tubby Smith's team can win in Madison, the Golden Gophers would put themselves in prime position for an NCAA tournament berth.
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