Who's HOT, Who's Not

HOT

I’m going to skip some of the obvious teams at the top like Memphis, Tennessee, UNC etc. and focus more on the teams up and coming. I’ll also skip UConn since I covered them in my last post.

TEXAS- The Longhorns have won 9 of their last 10 games, all coming in conference play, including a 3 point win over #3 Kansas at home. While some of those games were closer than they should’ve been (2 points over Colorado and Oklahoma St., overtime over Iowa St.) Texas just continues to win, led by super sophomore D.J. Augustin. With only one truly tough game left at Kansas St., Texas should continue this hot streak into the Big XII tourney, which they have a great shot at entering as the #1 seed.

BUTLER- Just win baby. That’s what the Bulldogs have been doing. They’re 13-2 in the underrated Horizon League and 24-2 over all, and they’ve creeped all the way up to #8 in the polls. It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Bulldogs have taken care of business. A Horizon League tournament championship should have Butler in store for a favorable seed come March.

PURDUE- The surprising leaders of the Big Ten have been virtually unbeatable at home this year, at literally so in conference play (7-0). They have also proven they can win anywhere with their victory in Madison over Wisconsin where almost nobody walks in and beats Bo Ryan’s Badgers. Matt Painter has does a great job with this young team and their 12-1 mark in the Big Ten is as impressive a mark as any other major conference team has achieved this year.

LOUISVILLE- They are finally healthy and finally playing ball the way people were expecting them to. David Padgett has returned and the Cardinals have won 8 of 9, with that lone loss being by 2 points at UConn in a game where the Cardinals did not play their best. One of those victories was over #6 Georgetown at home, where the Cardinals defense put on a show giving up only 51 points. It has been the defense that Pitino's Louisville squad has been playing that has been the key to their success, as during this 9 game run they’ve given up only 59 points a contest. O yeah, and they’re first in the mighty Big East.

Not

Texas A&M- The Aggies have gone 5-5 since starting the season 15-1. While they did get those 5 wins consecutively, they were sandwiched between 3-game and 2-game skids, respectively. Some losses in conference were to teams that aren’t bad, but teams they probably should’ve beat in Texas Tech, Baylor, and Oklahoma St. have the Aggies at 6-5 in conference. This is good enough for 4th right now, but it’s only two games away from tenth. If they’re going to get back on the right track, A&M is going to have to be more consistent offensively.

Michigan St.- Tom Izzo’s bunch has dropped from first to fourth in the Big Ten in the last few weeks. After starting conference play 7-1 the Spartans have lost 3 of 4 and find themselves 3 ½ back of Purdue. The loss at Purdue was not that big of a shock, but a blowout at Indiana was not expected. Needless to say, the loss at Penn St. was a demoralizing one and it seems to have made an impact as that loss started the slide.

Arizona- Coach Kevin O’Neill has done a terrific job filling in for Lute Olsen this year, but the Wildcats are beginning to enter the danger zone. 3 losses in their last 4 games put the ‘Catz at 6-6 in the Pac-10 and 16-9 overall. Arizona has 6 games left, 3 of which are against Washington St., UCLA, and USC. It will be tough for Arizona to get in with a 9-9 record in conference and 12 losses overall unless they do damage in the Pac-10 tourney. To be safe they’ll need to take care of business in their other 3 games and win against one of those teams I mentioned, otherwise they’ll be cutting their tourney chances close.


*Stats from ESPN.com