Mizzou guard Phil Pressey has the Tigers dominating. The Big 10 is up for grabs and no one seems to want it. Can the Pac-12 really end the season without a top 25 team? Your answers, picks, and commentary on what was the best week of college basketball so far. It’s the full court press!

Unbeaten: It’s down to just Murray State(#11, 20-0, 8-0) in the empty loss column. They squeezed out a close one at Morehead State this

Flickr by Murray State

week. The combined record of their last 8 opponents is 74-86. Even if they lose a game, they will still get a mid 4-8 seed in the tournament. Anyone remember the last time a Ohio Valley team won an NCAA tournament game? “ONIONS!!”

Panic Meter: Alabama has lost three straight and now sit at seventh in the SEC standings. Forward Tony Mitchell has recorded five double-doubles on the year, but his past three games have been horrendous; including an 0-8 showing against Vandy. This team has to turn it around and their next 5 games offer a great opportunity to string together some wins.

On the Rise: There’s only one team you can have in this category: Florida State Seminoles. What I would give to be on that campus the past two weeks. In a earlier post, I claimed that Virginia had a shot to be a top team in the ACC. Not even the Chach could have predicted the ‘Noles taking down #3 ranked UNC AND #4 ranked Duke on the road in the same week. I gave you the video for the win against North Carolina, but this one’s better:

Stat: Florida State has beaten UNC or Duke in six out of the last seven years.

Conference Chat:

Flickr by Megan.Barton

The Good: The ACC  is surprisingly stacked this year. It’s a six team race now with Duke, NC State, and Florida State tied atop with UNC, Virginia, and Maryland right on their heels. You know you have an exciting race when a 3-loss team (Virginia) is fourth in the standings. Outside the Big 12, this is the best conference out there.

The Bad: The Big 10 is just annoying. One week you will see three teams that look spectacular (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin) and the next thing you know, they are middle of the pack and a new trio emerges (Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State). Some would say this makes the conference look tougher. Well, you tell me. Michigan, who leads, lost to 11-9 Iowa who lost to Purdue who lost to Penn State who lost to Nebraska.

The Ugly: The PAC-12 has 0 ranked teams this year. From what used to be a semi-interesting conference with UCLA, Arizona and Oregon now has sunk to a 2 tournament team conference. If they wouldn’t have added Colorado this year, they would be even worse. Note: USC is 5-15 after going 18-13 last year.

Audio: Final Call PBP Missouri 89 Baylor 88

Local Flavor: #2 Mizzou played what is being called as “the best road win in college basketball” all year this past Saturday. What is more impressive about this win is it was against a #3 Baylor team coming home off a tough loss. Let me just read you Phil Pressey’s stat line against Baylor: 18 points, 7 assists, 6 steals, and 5 rebounds. The kid is 5’10”, super fast, can drive on anybody, has amazing court vision, and oh ya, he can dunk.

The Book: #3 Syracuse travels to Cincinnati tonight at 6 CT. ‘Cuse will still be without Center Fab

Yancy Gates lookin to throw down. (Image by Sam6644 via Flickr)

Melo due to academic reasons and Cincy has been pretty good lately. On the other hand, the Bearcats are 1-6 ATS at home and the early line (-5) seems like a trap bet. I don’t know how Cincy can win this game other than the fact that if they don’t, Yancy Gates might have something to say about it. Just ask Xavier’s Kenny Frease.

Prediction: Syracuse covers -5

Thanks For Reading,

Chach