Gonzaga Knocks Indiana for the No. 1 spot!

Gonzaga is ranked No. 1 in college basketball for the first in school history   Gonzaga (29-2) currently has the best record in Division I with 51 out of 65 first place votes in the AP top 35.  Indiana now takes No. 2 and only received 7 first places votes after losing to Minnesota lat week.  Gonzaga also received 29 out of 31 top votes in the coaches poll.  The latest Top 25 teams of the NCAA:

1. Gonzaga (51) 29-2

2. Indiana (7) 25-4

3. Duke (5) 25-4

4. Kansas 25-4

5. Georgetown (2) 23-4

6. Miami 23-5

7. Michigan 24-5

8. Louisville 24-5

9. Kansas St. 24-5

10. Michigan St. 22-7

11. Florida 23-5

12. New Mexico 25-4

13. Oklahoma St. 22-6

14. Ohio St. 21-7

15. Marquette 21-7

16. Saint Louis 23-5

17. Syracuse 22-7

18. Arizona 23-6

19. Oregon 23-6

20. Pittsburgh 23-7

21. VCU 23-6

22. Wisconsin 20-9

23. UCLA 22-7

24. Notre Dame 22-7

25. Memphis 25-4

February’s All-Star Players

Player of the Month: Otto Porter,Georgetown

– He averaged 19.0 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.4 APG and a 145.3 offensive rating during the month. This included a career-best 33 points at Syracuse.

Defensive Player of the Month: Zeke Marshall, Akron

-Opponents shoot just 40.8 percent against Akron, fourth lowest in the nation.  Marshall averaged 7.7 RPG, 3.3 BPG and 1.0 SPG during the month.

Freshmen player of the Month: Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State

-His month included 25 points in a win at Kansas and career-high 28 in a win over Oklahoma. He averaged 17.4 points per game, 3.1 steals per game.

Scorer of the Month: Nate Wolters, South Dakota State

-Wolters led all scorers with 27.6 PPG in February, while shooting 57.7 percent from the field.  He’s the first player to average 27 PPG and 6 APG in February since Earl Boykins and Charles Jones did it in 1998.

Free Throw Shooter of the Month: Russ Smith, Louisville

-Smith had a 90.8 free throw percentage during the month, while averaging 8.4 makes per game

3-Point Shooter of the Month: Marland Smith, Southeast Missouri

-Smith emerged as one of the nation’s top long-distance shooters. Entering the month he averaged 7.8 PPG with a 33.3 3-point field goal percentage. But in February, he averaged 17.4 PPG and shot 62.0 percent from beyond the arc.

Rebounder of the Month: Jarnell Stokes, Tennesse

– He averaged 11.4 RPG during the month, fourth in the nation.

Distributor of the Month: Vincent Council, Providence

-Council finished fifth in the nation with 7.7 APG in February, and his 3.8 assist-to-turnover ratio separated him from the point guard pack. Over the last five games, he’s handed out 37 assists compared to just six turnovers.

Jordan McRae-ning all over No. 8 Florida Gators

Looks like the Tennessee Volunteers (17-10) have a reason to party as they beat an already beaten up No. 8 Florida Gators (22-5) Tuesday night. Tennessee guard Jordan McRae scored 27 points proving to be a key player towards his teams chances at a postseason.
Gators were playing without two key players, forward Will Yeguette (knee) and guard Michael Frazier II (concussion).Proving the team needs their talents for the success of their season. The tides are turning as injury-prone Gators are showing signs of weakness so close to March. If you were betting on the Gators for this years March Madness, I’m sorry to say that their performance level is not up to par for NCAA champions.

Potential All-Star Players.

 

Allen Crabbe, Junior guard from Cal Golden Bears was named one of three honor payers of the year, along with Otto Porter and Kendall Williams.  

Crabbe is a Junior guard originally from Los Anegeles, California. As a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate, he has also led the conference in scoring the entire season and is currently ranked 27th nationally with a 19-points-per-game average.

Crabbe also ranks among the Pac-12 leaders in three-point field goals made (T-6th, 2.0) free-throw percentage (7th, .798), defensive rebounds (11th, 4.8) steals (13th, 1.3) and minutes played (2nd, 36.2). A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week honoree this season, Crabbe has scored 20-points or more 13 times this season and has also scored 30-point games twice. He scored a career-best 33 points in the win against Pepperdine and 31 points to lead Cal to a victory at No. 7 Arizona. With 1442 points, Crabbe is well on his way to shatter the school’s all-time scoring record set by Jerome Randle (1,835 points from 2007-10).  

Minnesota Upsets No. 1 Team in the Nation!

 

On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Golden Gophers defeat the No. 1 team Indiana Hoosiers 77-73, for the first time since 1989.  Minnesota is currently not ranked, so this was a big win for the Gophers.  Minnesota did most damage from inside the paint grabbing 23 offensive rebounds and scoring 40 points in side the key.  Minnesota senior forward Trevor Mbakwe scored a season-high of 21-points and added 12 rebounds.  The unranked team shut down Indiana with solid defense, leaving Indiana’s lead scored with only 9-points and fouled out for the second time in his college career.  

Latest NCAA Rankings

The latest NCAA basketball rankings have been posted. Indiana comes in at the #1 spot on the AP list for a fourth consecutive week after gaining 64 of the 65 first place votes. Gonzaga is the runner up with the #2 spot on the AP list by gaining 1/65 votes. Following these two  programs are Duke (24-3), Michigan (23-4), and Miami FL (22-4) to round out the top 5. Saint Louis Billikens (21-6) made the biggest jump in the AP polls after being ranked 26th last week and coming in at the 18th spot this week. Michigan State (22-6), Butler (22-6), and Marquette (19-7) made the biggest falls in the polls this week with each school dropping five spaces in the top 25. The top 25 should receive an incredible shakeup by this time next week as the Miami Hurricanes travel to Durham to take on the Duke Blue Devils, Louisville travels to Syracuse, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish  travels on the road to take on Marquette. With the month of February approaching an end, things shall get very interesting on the road to Selection Sunday.

Potential All Star Players.

 

Aaron Craft is a junior basketball player for the Ohio State Buckeyes has been known to be one of the Nation’s top defenders. Buckeye fans would have never guessed him making major contributions on the other end of court. In his Sunday game against Michigan State ranked 4th, Craft continually slashed through the lane reaching a career-high of  21-points reaching a victory of 68-60.  He hit 7-of-12 shots — almost all of them on drives through a thicket of players in the paint.  

Craft was named the Academic All-America of the Year last week.  It’s been discussed how effective Craft has been at carrying his academic load during his career at Columbus.  Craft has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. He’s been assigned to guard the opponent’s best scoring guard on a nightly basis for the last few seasons — and has excelled. As a junior, though, Craft has become more of a scoring option and that’s something that will need to continue down the stretch for Ohio State.  Taking some of the offensive responsibility off his teammates’ shoulders will be a major plus for the Buckeyes in the NCAA tournament. Craft finding ways to be a consistent offensive threat will determine whether that happens.

“We don’t give a damn for the whole state of Michigan”

College Students at Ohio State were going crazy as they began to chant towards the last minutes of the game, “We don’t give a damn for the whole state of Michigan” as No. 4 Michigan State lost for the second straight game against No. 18 Ohio State, 68-60. Things are looking good for Ohio State as one of the nation’s best defenders, Aaron Craft, flaunted his skill on the other end of the court, having his highest scoring game of the season scoring 21 points on Sunday. If you are betting on Ohio State for this years March Madness, you should feel really good about it. This team is coming together as Buckeyes Craft and Deshaun Thomas are proving to be up for the challenge against the nation’s best teams.

Gator Down

The No. 5 Florida Gators lost another player, Michael Frazier, Saturday night as they still went on to beat Arkansas 71-54. Frazier went down in the second half when he struck the opposing players knee. He left the game with a concussion. Frazier is key reserve for the Gators as he is the teams top 3-point shooter (48.9 percent). This will only decrease the Gators shot at the NCAA tournament title. But not by much. Frazier may be a solid 3-point shooter but he is a freshmen that still has years to come before he is most influential in any championship run.

Rankings: The Final Month Before the Tournament

The college basketball season is coming to a close and the Championship Contenders are starting to separate themselves from other teams as they are headed toward the NCAA Tournament.

These nine teams have shown tremendous effort and proven themselves throughout the season in order to make a deep run in March.

9. Georgetown Hoyas

8. Creighton Bluejays

7. Ohio State Buckeyes

6. Miami Hurricanes

5. Kansas Jayhawks

4. Michigan Wolverines

3. Louisville Cardinals

2. Florida Gators

1. Indiana Hoosiers

The only questions is: Which team will win the 2013 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship?