Pitt Beats Cuse, But Does It Mean Anything?

#4 Pittsburgh 74, #3 Syracuse 66
Regarding the title of this post, it might seem silly to ask whether a game between two teams ranked in the Top Four in the nation didn't matter. You might argue that even with Kris Joseph missing, he's not even Syracuse's top player (Rick Jackson is) and Joseph's replacement played well (James Southerland had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 0 turnovers in 38 minutes). But even though Jackson is the best Syracuse player on the season, Joseph is the spark that has led Syracuse in all of their big wins. I think that Pittsburgh is better than a healthy Syracuse team, and they had the homecourt advantage, so an average Kris Joseph performance was going to lead to a Syracuse loss. But if Joseph could have exploded, as he had in all four of Syracuse's wins away from home this season (in Cuse's four wins away from home, against Michigan, St. John's, Seton Hall and Georgia Tech, Joseph had at least 15 points and 5 rebounds in every game, hitting 60% from the field on average), Syracuse would have actually had a chance to pull the road upset. So really, we didn't learn anything from this game... other than that one team (Pittsburgh) can start a game on a 19-0 run, followed immediately by another team (Syracuse) going on a 17-0 run, leading some people to turn a 19-17 game on their television, assuming it was close the whole way. I certainly never saw something like that before. Pitt remains the favorite in the Big East, and they will head to DePaul on Saturday and then will get Notre Dame at home on Monday. Syracuse has to bounce right back with Villanova coming to town on Saturday. They need to win that game to stay in realistic contention for the Big East regular season title, and should have Kris Joseph back to boost them.

#2 Kansas 85, Baylor 65
One of the big misconceptions about Baylor basketball is that they have a very good defense. They don't. Even last year, with Ekpe Udoh and Josh Lomers patrolling the lane and leading the team to an Elite 8, they still only finished sixth in the Big 12 in Pomeroy Adjusted Defensive Efficiency. This year they're 8th - below average. And they have the type of defense that performs best against unathletic teams that struggle with their length and athleticism. Kansas isn't afraid of anybody's athleticism, and they put on an offensive clinic here. It's rare that you see a team getting that many wide open 5-10 footers. For the game the Jayhawks hit 63% from the field, including 74% on two-pointers. Kansas will take their undefeated record back home to take on Texas on Saturday, which should be a great game. As for Baylor, they've got to go beat somebody. Pomeroy rates them 47th and their Sagarin PREDICTOR is 53rd, but their ELO_CHESS is 97th and their RPI is actually 101st. They are a remarkably poor 0-5 against the RPI Top 100. They have to start beating some good teams, meaning that they've absolutely got to take care of business on Saturday against Oklahoma State. After that they head to Kansas State and then play Colorado at home.

Chattanooga 91, Charleston 88
Chattanooga has surprised a lot of people this season, and with this home victory they have grabbed control of the Southern Conference. Both Sagarin and Pomeroy believe that Charleston is the far better team (Charleston is rated around the 100th best team in the nation by both, Chattanooga is out near 250th in both), and Charleston was the better team on the floor. They had 5 fewer turnovers and 4 more offensive rebounds, leading to 14 more shots from the field. But Chattanooga hit 10-for-22 from behind the arc (including 7-for-11 in the first half to blow open the game) to come up with the huge victory. Despite Chattanooga's weak computer numbers, they are now 7-0 in the SoCon and have a 2 1/2 game lead in the weak SoCon North division. The four best teams in the SoCon are (in my opinion) Charleston, Davidson, Wofford and Furman, and all are in the SoCon South. And while those four teams duke it out, Chattanooga is in very good shape for the top seed from the SoCon North, setting them up for a relatively easy route through the SoCon tournament. They don't have to play Charleston a second time this season, but they still have a long way to go. Road games at Wofford (Thursday) and Furman (Saturday) are up next. Charleston falls to 5-1, but they remain in control of the SoCon South. They've already won on the road at Furman and Wofford (they will play at Davidson on January 29th). In my opinion they remain the favorite to win the SoCon's automatic bid.