Teams separate themselves from the pack

Halfway through the conference season, three teams have proven themselves worthy of No. 1 seeds come March, while that fourth spot seems wide open at this point. Duke's Blue Devils, Stanford's Cardinal, and St. Joseph's Eagles have distanced themselves from the rest of the college basketball landscape, with the other teams struggling to keep up with the win totals of the three.

At times this season, several teams looked prime to move into the fourth No. 1 spot, including the UConn Huskies and the Louisville Cardinals. But after a recent string of losses, both teams have fallen back from the lead pack and look doubtful for receiving that high of an NCAA Tournament seeding.

Duke's game last Thursday against the North Carolina Tarheels was another epic battle between the two schools, only eight miles apart on Tobacco Road. The game has already been dubbed an instant classic and ESPN Classic actually ran the game again this Thursday.

After Jawad Williams of Carolina tied the game with a three-pointer with less than ten seconds remaining, the game went into overtime -- a fitting ending for such a great game between the greatest of rivals.

The Heels tied the game again with a three-pointer with less than thirty seconds left, only to have Duke's Chris Duhon drive the length of the court Tyus Edny style, split two defenders, and score on a reverse layup. Duke prides themselves on not calling timeouts after made baskets late in the game, because it doesn't allow their opponent time to set up their defense. In this case it worked perfectly with much of the credit going to Coach K's preparation of his team.

Many ask how you can rank a team with one loss above two undefeated teams, but the Blue Devils are more than worthy. They compete in the ACC, which is the best conference in the nation according to the RPI and may get as many as seven teams into the NCAA Tournament.

And after last night's win over the Virginia Cavaliers, the Devils have stormed out to 10-0 record in the conference, unlikely to be caught.

The Cardinal kept their unbeaten record alive with an incredible buzzer-beating shot to cap their impressive comeback over the Arizona Wildcats, 80-77. Trailing 77-74 with less than 43 seconds to go, Stanford stole the ball and swingman Josh Childress nailed a wide open three to tie the game.

After calling a timeout, Arizona brought the ball up court and ran a congested play that led to a steal by third-string forward Nick Robinson. Robinson took two dribbles past half court and heaved up a prayer. Well, that prayer was answered and as the shot went down, the Stanford crowd rushed the court along with Tiger Woods, who was in attendance in the front row.

Thanks to their trio of backcourt players, which is easily in the top five in the country, if not the best, the Eagles have been able to carry an unblemished record into February. Led by All-American Jameer Nelson, scorer Delonte West, and sharpshooter Pat Carroll (over 45 percent from 3-point range), St. Joe's has destroyed opponents with a barrage of long-range shots and excellent ball-handling. In Wednesday night's game against the conference rival Dayton Flyers, the Eagles dominated with an 81-67 win. Dayton was the largest roadblock left on the Eagles schedule, which now looks like clear sailing as they don't play any teams significantly over the .500 mark for the rest of the regular season.



Mid-Major Report

Never forget the kings of the mid-major conferences, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who are sitting pretty at this point with only two losses. More importantly, their only two losses have been at the hands of the only two undefeated teams remaining in all of Division I basketball.

If they win out, the Zags should be in line for number two or three seed in the NCAA Tournament, with a four seed being the absolute lowest that they would receive. Led by All-American point guard Blake Stepp, big man Ronny Turiaf, and transfer Errol Knight, Gonzaga looks primed to run the table in the West Coast Conference, something they have never done despite their recent dominance.

Other mid-major powerhouses who look to cause a stir come March are the Utah State Aggies, the Southern Illinois Salukis, and last year's media darlings, the Creighton Blue Jays. Despite all of these teams having great years, they better plan on winning their conference tournaments, because there is no guarantee that they will get an at-large bid into the NCAA's.