The Week In Chaos, February 25: Texas Appears Permamently Good; Xavier Flies Above A-10 Fray; Stanford Will Lose to Washington But Probably Not

The 2008 Atlantic-10 Tournament Official Program Cover Photo

The Week In Chaos examines all of the absurd things that happened to Top 25 (AP Poll only, coaches don't know anything) teams in the previous week of college hoops. With this season being The Year Of Mediocrity, consider this a chronicling of all this misdeeds these supposedly high-caliber teams are guilty of. If this season is to be forgotten due to a lack of greatness, I feel it should be remembered for its abundance of greatlessness. See, I'm being positive!

This is part 2 of this week's edition with part 1, on Kansas entering the Land of Mediocre, Indiana making Northwestern look like a Division I team and Kansas State's role players disappearing, is here. Why am I dividing one post into two parts? Because reading/writing about this much mediocrity in one sitting can significantly lower our national level of productivity. That and I want to make it look like I post more.

Most Refreshing Display of Expected Dominance- At this point, basically any highly ranked favorite that covers a spread or even you know, wins, could be considered for this faux-prestigious non-honor. But Texas, God bless them, beat down RPI-abuser Oklahoma Saturday, 62-45, in that Red River Thingamajig. After being destroyed by Missouri and Texas A & M earlier in the season, I was conditioned to take any subsequent Longhorn success with a grain of salt. Narrow escapes of Colorado, Oklahoma State and Iowa State seemed to only add to that uneasiness. But ever since that victory over Kansas, the Longhorns have been playing better basketball than anyone in the country, winning eight straight and 11 of 12, and it was nice to see them maintain a level of success that seems to have a shelflife of about four games, even for some of the top teams, this year. Everyone knows about Texas' multifaceted, efficient offense but against Oklahoma it showed a level of defense that transforms the Longhorns from good team to title contender. They held the Sooners to 26 percent shooting, with only Blake Griffin reaching double figures. Many are touting Texas as a potential No. 1 seed and it appears only a Big 12 tourney loss to Kansas, or a Rick Barnes Timid Coaching Special circa 2007, will change that fate.

Most Unexpected Victory That Probably Should've Been Expected Anyway- Given the carnage going on around the country among the top teams, it's rather remarkable that Xavier has won ten straight, especially in the cannibalistic, at-large bid-destroying menace that is the A-10. Thusly, everyone likely would have forgiven the Musketeers if they lost at once-proud, now floundering Dayton Sunday. Instead, Xavier beat Dayton at their own game: a low scoring slugfest. The X-Men have now basically locked up the regular season A-10 crown and are in good position for a No. 2 or 3 seed in the NCAAs. Meanwhile, the rest of the A-10 is engaged in a Lord of the Flies-like test of survival to see who can destroy enough peers to grab another at-large bid. I just hope Richmond wins the league and it spontaneously combusts.

Foreshadowing of Chaos, Brought To You by Doom, Powered by The Book of Revelations- Last week's pick of North Carolina State over UNC was woefully incorrect and I wouldn't have it any other way. The main goal of this section is to make an insane prediction, try to provide a reasoning that, given this season's crapshootedness, makes you somehow believe it might actually happen and then, regardless of the outcome, celebrate my ability to use mediocre basketball to affect your perception of reality. This is what I want in life. For a mildly insane prediction, check out today's picks, in which I predict Tennessee to lose to Vandy tonight due mostly to Bruce Pearl's inner sexual desires toward sideline reporters. But that pick doesn't quite do it for me. No, this week I got Stanford losing to Washington Thursday. The Cardinal are one of my favorite teams this year and behind possible best player in country Brook Lopez, could be poised for a Final Four run. So naturally, they will lose to the ninth place Huskies. Washington isn't as bad as it seems, with all 13 of its losses to top 100 teams and a win over UCLA. If the Huskies were in any other conference they could probably be a Bubble team, actually. They also have Jon Brockman, a guy who is physical enough to frustrate the emotionally explosive Lopez twins and maybe force some cheap fouls, and enough speed and athleticism at the wings and in the backcourt to take advantage of Stanford's more timid, plodding ballhandlers (you're starting to believe me aren't you?). In its last three, Stanford lost to Arizona State, were handed a victory by the refs at Arizona and struggled to eventually put away Cal; I think the luck runs out and a loss finally happens.*
*loss will not actually happen

The Week In Chaos, February 25: Kansas Alters Reality; Indiana Boycotts Pratice, Defense; The Kansas State BeasWalks Lose

Northwestern in practice Friday, preparing for Indiana

The Week In Chaos examines all of the absurd things that happened to Top 25 (AP Poll only, coaches don't know anything) teams in the previous week of college hoops. With this season being The Year Of Mediocrity, consider this a chronicling of all this misdeeds these supposedly high-caliber teams are guilty of. If this season is to be forgotten due to a lack of greatness, I feel it should be remembered for its abundance of greatlessness. See, I'm being positive!

This is part 1 of this week's edition with part 2 coming tomorrow. Why am I dividing one post into two parts? Because reading/writing about this much mediocrity in one sitting can significantly lower our national level of productivity.

AP Top 25 Teams Going Undefeated- 14. Tennessee, North Carolina, UCLA, Texas, Stanford, Xavier, Wisconsin, Georgetown, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Marquette.
AP Top 25 Teams Going Winless- 2. Texas A & M, Kansas State.

Most Ridiculous Display of Mediocrity- The mighty Kansas Jayhawks, once an eviscerator of foes so merciless that nary a Big 12 opponent could come within 20 of topping them, lost to Oklahoma State Saturday. Yes Kansas, a title-contending frontrunner just a month ago, was beaten by a team that lost to Oral Roberts by 15 at home, North Texas by nine and Illinois by 16. A team that has a six-game losing streak this season. It was only a one-point loss but there were some disturbing signs of mediocrity. The once feared Kansas perimeter defense was torched by 11-point scorer Byron Eaton, who shot 18 free throws on his way to 26 points. The Cowboys, No. 202 in the country in three-point shooting, were able to go 8-17 against Kansas' supposedly vaunted close-outs and length on the wings. With the third most efficient offense in the country, against, again, a team that lost to freaking NORTH TEXAS, the Jayhawks committed 20 turnovers in 64 possessions and shot 43 percent from the field. The result of all this soul-crushingly confusing nonsense is that Kansas, which has lost two of three, is now a game behind Texas in the Big 12 standings and have lost to the Longhorns in the only head-to-head meeting. What that means is the team once considered the favorite for the No. 1 overall seed is going to need to win the Big 12 Tournament to obtain a regional No. 1 in March. And what THAT means is my whole entire world is collapsing in front of me.

Most Narrow Avoidance of Mediocrity That Should Not Be Forgotten But Will Be- In case you haven't heard, that basketball program over there at Indiana is undergoing significant unrest. And while those matters have certainly made any act of actual basketball completely irrelevant (I mean, think about what the boosters must be going through!), the Hoosiers did still play a game Saturday. And they were awful. Now, with the reports that some players threatened to quit and the seemingly laissez-faire attitude of new coach Dan Dakich toward holding any of those players accountable for skipping practice Friday, I didn't expect a dominating performance by Indiana against Northwestern. But no team, in the history of the world, should give up 82 points to the Wildcats. Northwestern is No. 307 in the country in pace at 63 possessions per game which earns them an average of 63 points per game. It only had 67 possessions against Indiana and scored 82. The only two teams Northwestern recorded a higher offensive efficiency against are Arkansas State and something called Illinois Benedectine. The Hoosiers allowed Northwestern sophomore Kevin Coble to score a season-high 37 points, three more than Eric Gordon and DJ White combined and if it wasn't for Armon Bassett's 24 points and four threes, they would have lost. To Northwestern. A team with ZERO conference wins and a loss to Brown this season. Brown doesn't even have a basketball team. Anyway, despite the three-point win, this has to send a crazed concoction of emotions throughout the Hoosier fanbase, which wanted a public stoning of Kelvin Sampson, essentially got their wish and are left with an angry team, with two players suddenly really looking forward to the NBA, that gives up 82 points to Northwestern. Just a program steeped in tradition.

Most Embarrassing Realizations of Mediocrity- I had two very nice options for this one, both courtesy of Kansas State. First, the Wildcats lost at Nebraska, a team that has kindly given Colorado one of its two Big 12 wins, in the middle of the week. That was an atrocious loss, but I was far more impressed with the completely ass-backwards way they lost to Baylor Saturday. The Bears are a decent team, were at home and desperate for a win, so the six-point loss was unexpected for KSU but certainly forgivable. But when you get 44 from one player, 31 from another and LOSE, well then yes, you are a disgusting mass of mediocrity. Besides Michael Beasley and Bill Walker, the rest of KSU scored 11 points. That group was 3-18 from the field, 1-10 from three and 4-8 from the line. Needless to say, Frank Martin, Crazy Person, probably would prefer a more balanced attack. One of the great things about last year's Texas team was that as the season wore on, the non-Durant/Augustin Longhorns became more involved in the offense, rather than grow accustomed to watching the two freshman stars do whatever the hell they want. As Beasley's numbers continue to border on the absurd (that was his second 40-point game in the last three) and Walker emerges as probably the most underrated freshman in the country, the other Wildcats are disappearing in hopes of deflecting responsibility to the two figureheads. Well the thing is, Beasley and Walker aren't going to suddenly suck because they have to shoot more. They are just going to continue dominating and it looks even worse on the other guys when they do things like score 11 points to Beasley/Walker's 75... and lose. As a result the BeasWalks are now squarely on the Bubble and I would venture a guess that Texas will use a double team or two on Beasley tonight.