As the college basketball regular season enters its final week, the nation's top teams are trying to solidify high seeds for the NCAA tournament, while bubble teams are looking to sneak in with last-minute upsets. For now, though number one Kansas and number two Maryland were nearly upset last week, there's been little movement among the leading squad.
In the most recent poll, Pitt and Florida swapped the number eight and ten positions in the polls, while Marquette, Gonzaga and Alabama held onto nine, seven and six, respectively. The top five remains the same. Kansas is the top team in the land, with Maryland, Duke, Cincinnati and Oklahoma rounding it out.
Within a few hours on Sunday, both Kansas and Maryland won single point games in the final moments of regulation. Kansas, which at one point trailed home-team Nebraska by 12 points in the second half, came back to win on freshmen Keith Langford's three-point bucket with just 33 seconds left. Nebraska missed an outside jumper and a subsequent tip-in before time expired, allowing the nation's top ranked team to come out with a difficult but important victory. Drew Gooden, one the nation's finest players, led the Jayhawks with 26 points and 14 rebounds.
The win clinched Kansas' first Big 12 league title in four years. Kansas, which has now won 12 straight games, could become the first Big 12 team to go unbeaten in conference play with wins this week against Kansas State and Missouri.
In one of the most shocking finishes this season, Maryland won an equally exciting game. Maryland, playing at home against ACC rival and top 25 team Wake Forest, trailed 85-81 with under three minutes left. After a quick hoop, star guard Juan Dixon stole a pass, was fouled and converted two free throws with 2:13 remaining in regulation. The teams played back and forth, with Maryland eventually taking an 89-87 lead. The Demon Deacon's Josh Howard, who scored 18 points and recorded 15 boards while playing on an injured ankle, scored in the lane and was fouled with 10.1 seconds left, but missed the free throw.
With the game tied, Dixon missed what could have been a game-winning jumper at the other end. When Howard grabbed the rebound with under two seconds left, he signaled for a timeout. But like Chris Webber's Michigan team of 1993, the Demon Deacons had none remaining and were charged a technical foul for the blunder. Dixon converted one of the free throws, and cemented the 90-89 win.
In the week's other marquee matchup, Florida traveled to Alabama to decide the SEC title. With time winding down, Alabama's Earnest Shelton began to take a shot. But when the defense collapsed towards him, Shelton fired a pass to teammate Antoine Pettway, who converted a layup as time expired, giving the Crimson Tide a 65-64 victory. The win guaranteed Alabama at least a share of the conference title for the first time in 15 years. It was also one of the most physical games played in the NCAA this season, as both teams had most of their stars in serious foul trouble in the second half.
The week's big winners were Western Kentucky, Georgia and Oregon. Western Kentucky entered the polls at #23 after defeating Middle Tennessee State and Kentucky State. In another great SEC game, Georgia defeated LSU 55-54 and moved up from #20 to #15 in the polls. The Bulldogs are perhaps the nation's most enigmatic team, able to defeat the likes of Florida and Kentucky, but also capable of playing horrendous basketball. Oregon defeated Washington State and Washington, scoring a combined 205 points in the two games, and moving up to #13 from #17.
The week's big losers were Stanford, Miami and Virginia. Stanford dropped two integral PAC-10 games, losing by almost 20 against USC, then losing a close contest to UCLA. The Cardinal plummeted from #11 to #19 in the polls. The overrated Miami Hurricanes lost a Big East matchup to Notre Dame and fell from #13 to #18. The Cavaliers fell out of the polls after owning the #15 ranking last week. Virginia is in the midst of a free fall. The Cavaliers stand at 16-9 overall after dropping games to Georgia Tech and Florida State. With games against Maryland and Duke, Virginia could likely finish sub-.500 in the ACC and lose out on an NCAA tournament bid.
As the season enters its final week, the focus of the nation turns to "the bubble," the string of teams hoping to grab one of the dwindling NCAA tournament births. South Carolina, Boston College, St. John's, Rutgers, Virginia, and Michigan State are some of the big names hoping for a positive final week that will catapult them into the big dance.
