The NFL season is over and while I am very sad to be without football for the next seven months, I can now focus all of my attention on my second favorite sport, college basketball. My favorite teams, my alma mater George Mason and my faovrite team since I was a kid, North Carolina both are tied for the lead in their respective conferences. Mason faced a lot of questions coming into the season, as longtime coach and program builder, Jim Larranaga moved on to Miami and the ACC. In a hire that I wasn’t thrilled with he was replaced by former Georgia Tech coach, Paul Hewitt. Mason also lost some really good players, including team leader and point guard Cam Long, and forward Luke Hancock, who decided to transfer to Louisville after Larranaga left the program. They also would be without senior guard Andre Cornelius for the first ten games due to a suspension. Mason got off to a slow start, suffering embarrassing losses to Florida International and Florida Atlantic. A loss to Duquesne at home, Mason’s first home loss in two seasons, left them at just 7-4. However, since that game Mason has won 13 of 15 games and currently is 20-6, and 12-2 in conference. Mason hasn’t been overly impressive and due to their bad losses and weak non-conference schedule have a horrendous RPI. Their only hope of making the NCAA Tournament is to win the conference tournament in early March. However, a first place finish in conference in the regular season would at least assure an NIT berth. Two of Mason’s final five games are against conference co-leader VCU. That rivalry is the best going in the CAA right now, especically after VCU made a Final Four run of their own last season. I would love for Mason to make the NCAA Tournament but any sort of postseason play would be nice, as they are a very young team and need all the experience they can get. The games against VCU will go a long ways towards letting everyone know just how legit Mason’s record is.
North Carolina is 20-4 and tied for first place in the ACC with Florida State and Duke, but this season has been a disappointment. The Tar Heels came into the season ranked #1, but were defeated early on by UNLV. They played Kentucky tough before falling late, were blasted at Florida State in an embarrassing 33 point loss and then last night, blew a 10 point lead in two minutes at home to Duke. There is still a lot of games left and a lot will also be determined by how they fare in the ACC Tournament, but Carolina will have major work to do if they want to earn a #1 seed as many projected them as having before the season. Injuries have taken their toll, as the loss of Dexter Strickland was huge. Carolina has a lot of talent but isn’t particularly deep and is still not all that great of a defensive team. Their perimeter defense against Duke last night was awful and was encapsulated by Tyler Zeller’s laissez faire approach to guarding Austin Rivers on that final shot. The Heels don’t have any time to feel sorry for themselves as they next host #20 Virginia, then have to travel to Miami. I still think Carolina can win a national championship but they are no longer the favorites like they were back in November.
College Basketball – Top 25
Mississippi (14-8, 4-4) at #18 Mississippi State (18-5, 5-3), ESPN 2, 7:00 PM ET.
#22 Wisconsin (18-6, 7-4) at Minnesota (17-7, 5-6), ESPN, 7:00 PM ET.
Tennessee State (15-10, 8-4) at #7 Murray State (23-0, 11-0), 8:00 PM ET.
Illinois (16-7, 5-5) at #23 Indiana (18-6, 6-6), Big Ten Network, 8:00 PM ET.
NBA
Los Angeles Lakers (14-11) at Boston (14-10), TNT, 8:00 PM ET. Lakers need to start winning road games.
Golden State (8-14) at Denver (15-11), 9:00 PM ET. Nuggets have been decimated by injuries.
Houston (15-11) at Phoenix (11-14), 9:00 PM ET.
Oklahoma City (20-5) at Sacramento (9-16), TNT, 10:30 PM ET. Why is this on TNT?
NHL
St. Louis (31-14-7, 69 pts) at New Jersey (31-19-3, 65 pts), 7:00 PM ET.
Montreal (21-24-9, 51 pts) at New York Islanders (22-22-8, 52 pts), 7:00 PM ET.
Tampa Bay (23-24-5, 51 pts) at New York Rangers (33-13-5, 71 pts), 7:00 PM ET.
Toronto (28-20-6, 62 pts) at Philadelphia (30-16-7, 67 pts), NHL Network, 7:00 PM ET.
Winnipeg (25-24-6, 56 pts) at Washington (28-21-4, 60 pts), 7:00 PM ET.
Dallas (27-23-2, 56 pts) at Columbus (15-32-6, 36 pts), 7:00 PM ET.
Nashville (32-17-5, 69 pts) at Ottawa (27-22-7, 61 pts), 7:30 PM ET.
Los Angeles (26-18-10, 62 pts) at Florida (24-17-11, 59 pts), 7:30 PM ET.
Vancouver (33-15-3, 71 pts) at Minnesota (25-20-8, 58 pts), 8:00 PM ET.
Calgary (25-22-7, 57 pts) at Phoenix (25-21-8, 58 pts), 9:00 PM ET.
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