Week 3: Pride of the Illini
Illinois managed to move into the #1 spot this week in
the rankings after just missing edging Georgia Tech last week. A big win over Valparaiso on Sunday combined with Gonzaga beating the Yellow Jackets set the Illini firmly on top of the standings. Clemson and Florida join the Top 25 this week, and Texas moved into the Top 10 despite a loss to Wake Forest. Dropping out were Marquette who lost to Arizona, and Wichita State, who is still undefeated. The Shockers played a close game with Tulsa and came out with the win, but it was not enough to keep them in the blue numbers of the Top 25. I was away from sports for the weekend, so this edition of the MRI will just be my...
Quick Hits:
- Joining Texas in the Top 10 is Ohio State, who had a big win for the program by defeating Texas Tech on Thursday last week. Thad Matta has the Buckeyes playing well in non-conference. They haven't had the marquis win yet, but Texas Tech is still a pretty good team to beat to prove you can compete. Ohio State may shock some teams in the Big Ten season and have the authorities at the school wishing they hadn't pulled the team out of tournament possibilities this season.
- Rick Majerus chose to return to ESPN and not take the coaching job at USC on Saturday. This was the same guy who a couple of days earlier was saying he would ride the horse into the football stadium if they needed him to. I don't know why Majerus will be leaving USC, and no one may ever know the true reason but Majerus himself. Rumors have hinted it was a disagreement with current interim coach Jim Saia, that Majerus's health isn't what it should be for him to be coaching, and that Majerus was unhappy with the amount of work that would be needed to get the team to where he thinks it should be. Either way, USC's loss is ESPN's gain. I will continue to enjoy Majerus's broadcasts of college basketball. As I have said before, he is one of the best analysis guys you could have on the microphone but I will always wonder about his decision, just as I to this day wonder about Dan Marino leaving the Dolphins three weeks into his office job.
- As mentioned before, Gonzaga beat Georgia Tech to knock the Yellow Jackets from the #1 spot in the MRI. That leaves Gonzaga with only one loss, that being to Illinois, a team which has proven itself to be better than every opponent by a big margin. Now that Gonzaga has its own marquis wins against Georgia Tech and Washington, it begs the question of who they would have to lose to no longer continue this run as the best team not from a BCS conference. First, they lost their head coach, Dan Monson, to Minnesota a few years ago. Player after player have left, from Casey Calvary and Dan Dickau to Blake Stepp and Cory Violette. Still, the Zags returned a good core of players including Ronny Turiaf, who is one of my favorite big men in basketball. Give Mark Few credit for the work he has been able to do the last 5 years since Monson left in keeping the team on top.
- Perhaps that game against Indiana on Louisville's floor did help Kentucky this weekend. The Wildcats were able to come back from 16 down at halftime to beat Rick Pitino and the Cardinals. This was only the second loss for Pitino when facing one of his old assistants or players, both to Tubby Smith. The Wildcats got a great game from Kentucky native Patrick Sparks, who transfered from Western Kentucky this season. Sparks had 25 points including the three crucial free throws with less than a second remaining when he was fouled on an attempt as the clock wound down.
Enjoy this next week with expanded coverage.
