Back on Track

Pitt lost a lot on Saturday: an undefeated record and a No. 1 ranking. But the Panthers didn't lose their confidence.

Back in the comforts of their own stadium, the Panthers handed Syracuse its second conference loss with a dominant second half. The two clubs, both of which you should expect to see for the second weekend in March, were closely matched for the first half, but Pitt pulled away after the break thanks to Sam Young's 19 second-half points.

I'm starting to detect a trend in the Big East: There isn't a clear-and-away favorite. And there won't be. Pitt emerged early after Georgetown went on the road and beat UConn. But then Pitt went on the road and lost to a very good Louisville. Then, Notre Dame goes and loses to St. John's on the road and after a few weeks of conference play, the Irish are 3-3. Heck, Louisville (4-0) and Marquette (5-0) are on top of the league. And I can't see Marquette, with its glaring weaknesses down low, or Louisville, with its rollercoaster inconsistency, staying .

(It's the same with the ACC, where Wake Forest, Duke and UNC are all pretty much equal. You could say the advantage in the early-going is Wake's because the Deacs are No. 1 and they beat UNC, but they haven't played Duke yet. And it's only January.)

So, we get Villanova at UConn on Wednesday. We've got WVU at Georgetown on Thursday. Oh, and then Saturday, UConn travels to South Bend for a tangle with the Irish.

What a conference.

How to Beat Syracuse, Georgetown

It's Basketball Night in Washington. Syracuse and Georgetown are set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. tonight on ESPN 2.

Get your popcorn ready.

Let's break the matchup down:

How to beat Syracuse's 2-3 zone
Beating a 2-3 zone requires a pretty simple formula, but against better teams, executing the plan is the hard part. But for the sake of tonight's game, let's talk about beating a 2-3 as if it is, in fact, easy.

Spread the floor. The key to beating any defense is spreading the floor, but it especially helps against a 2-3. Exhausting a 2-3 zone requires lots of ball movement and off-the-ball screens -- two things Georgetown does extremely well. Big men have to flash to the high post a lot to give the guards a chance to get the ball into the middle of the zone to collapse the defenders, who have to recoil to their positions on the floor to limit backdoor cuts and defend the big man. The other way to collapse a zone is to rotate the ball to the defense's weak side and then penetrate, forcing the defenders to quickly return to their assigned areas and leave shooters open all over the floor. It's all about catching the defense out of position and forcing it to recover rapidly. Teams get to the foul line that way, and they find open shooters and cutters that way.

Georgetown's Chris Wright, Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman are all decent slashers, and it helps that they -- plus DaJuan Summers -- can all shoot the 3. That gives Georgetown options -- the Hoyas can spread the floor, swing the ball and penetrate, then look for open shooters, or they can rotate the ball, flash big fellas like Summers and Greg Monroe to the high post, move the ball through them, and spot open shooters and cutters.

The problem with this plan -- and a major reason why I like Syracuse tonight -- is that Georgetown can penetrate and kick all it wants, but its shooters are struggling of late. Freeman, Sapp and Wright are shooting just 22 percent from 3 in the past three games. If the Hoyas go cold tonight, it won't be pretty. Not just because cold shooting hurts, but I don't see Georgetown doing very well on the boards. The Hoyas are one of the poorer rebounding teams in the Big East.

Attack the glass. The one major problem with a 2-3 zone is that when it is extended, offensive players can sneak into gaps and snatch offensive rebounds. If a shot comes from the outside, the weak-side wing defender is most likely higher up in the lane toward the middle of the floor. That leaves the backdoor open for a crashing rebounder.

The strong-side defender is also probably out defending the wing or trying to close out the shooter, that leaves another gap for an offensive rebounder on the strong side and forces the middle defender in the 2-3 to deal with at least two guys crashing the glass.

What Syracuse does very well, though, is rebound. Obviously Jim Boeheim has figured out a way to make his teams rebound well despite the obvious issues with a 2-3 zone. Paul Harris, who's only about 6-5, is an exceptional rebounder. In fact, he leads the team with close to nine rebounds a game. To have an asset like that, especially on the weak-side block of that zone, is a great way to avoid giving up too many offensive rebounds.

Another way to overcome the problems of a 2-3 is to overplay your positions, i.e. hustle and quickly recover. Syracuse's guards can move quickly and operate well within their positions in the zone. Closing out shooters and boxing them out is something Syracuse does well. That's why the Orange are plus-five in rebounding advantage and their opponents shoot just 39 percent.

How to manage Georgetown's unique pace
Georgetown is one of the most frustrating teams in the nation to defend. The Hoyas move extremely well off the ball on offense, and their patience and ability to use the entire shot clock often catches even the most elite defenses napping. But they also play very meticulous defense.

The Hoyas have the nation's 14th-most efficient D. Georgetown's opponents shoot just 37 percent. In case you didn't notice, that pits two very good defensive teams against one another tonight.

Syracuse has to do what Pitt did in its 70-54 undressing of the Hoyas more than week ago:

1. Cut off the baseline and Georgetown's backdoor cuts, which the Hoyas will try to use against Syracuse's weak-side defenders.

2. Punish Georgetown on the glass. The 2-3 zone, like I said above, is susceptible to big offensive rebounding nights for good offensive rebounding teams. Georgetown is not a good rebounding team, period. That takes care of a big problem that Syracuse will have against dominant rebounding teams like Pitt and UConn. In fact, that's how Syracuse will get a lot of its points -- putbacks and second-chance points after the first shot, in the paint, against a condensed man-to-man defense.

3. Push the tempo when possible. Jonny Flynn, much like Pitt's Levance Fields and Notre Dame's Tory Jackson, loves to push the pace and run the fast break. Flynn floats to a wing outlet or creates space in the middle of the floor to catch an outlet pass after a defensive rebound. Because he is such a dynamic scorer himself, Flynn causes mayhem running the break. He has elite scoring options on the wings in guys like Harris, Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins and bone-crunching trailers like Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. But his ability to pull up and shoot a 3, foul-line jumper or floater, plus his flair for the slash and jam, makes him extremely tough to handle.

Hopefully this guide will help you through the game tonight. Syracuse will try to shut off the backdoor valves of the Hoyas "Princeton on Steroids" offense and control the glass on both ends of the floor. The Orange will also really want to push the tempo and run whenever given the chance.

Georgetown wants to spread Syracuse's 2-3 zone and shred it with ball movement, elusive cuts and solid screens, all while dictating a deliberate and slower pace. If the Hoyas get going early from 3-point range, this game will be very exciting. But if they struggle, and Syracuse does its thing, this could be similarly as ugly as Pitt's win in D.C. two weekends ago.

Hometown Hope

Those of you who know me know that I was born in Lexington, Ky., which is where I had my first glass of water. And, as you know, there's something in the water in Lexington that makes you crazy for hoops.

(It doesn't help that I moved to another hoops-crazy town -- Amherst, Mass. -- after my family left Lexington, but I digress.)

That said, I know what it means for Kentucky to be good. And if Jodie Meeks keeps scoring 54 points a game, the Wildcats are golden. Meeks is the man of the day in the college hoops world. And who can blame the media for fawning? Dude hit 10 3s to help UK destroy No. 24 Tennessee ... in Knoxville.

Kentucky is now 13-4, 2-0 in the conference and suddenly the team to beat in the SEC. And Meeks is a major reason why the Wildcats are clawing back to relevance. With 26 points, four boards, two assists and 1.5 steals a game, Meeks has some nice numbers.

And his team isn't half bad, either. Kentucky struggled out of the gates, losing its first two games to VMI (gulp) and at North Carolina. After a heartbreaking loss to a re-emerging Louisville, Kentucky has won its two opening SEC contests against Vandy and at Tennessee. In a down conference, Kentucky has to be thinking it can really make some waves.

With Meeks (and lottery pick-to-be Patrick Patterson) leading the way, Billy Gillispie's club is looking a lot like a Tournament team these days. Fifty-four points against a ranked team always helps, too.

Elsewhere
-- Big East Showdown of the Week: Syracuse at Georgetown. Not only is this a major rivalry between these two schools, but it also features yet another pair of ranked Big East teams battling. I say it in every post and I'll say it again here: The Big East seems like it has two ranked teams locking horns almost every night.

Who do I like? Well, Syracuse. I think Chris Wright will have a lot of trouble dealing with Jonny Flynn, Greg Monroe can be neutralized by Arinze Onuaku and the rest of the matchups seem to favor Syracuse, too.

Like I said, it's a rivalry game -- and it's at the Verizon Center in D.C., but Syracuse has more talent and a slightly deeper roster. Georgetown is good, don't get me wrong, but I think Syracuse might be the third-best team in the Big East behind Pitt and UConn. And there isn't much of a gap between those three teams.

-- Kansas City will be relevant again with Scott Pioli making personnel decisions.

-- My favorite little guy Dave Meggett is in some trouble. I have to say I'm really disappointed.

-- With Leo Lyons suspended for an uncertain period of time, Mizzou has to find a new scorer. Without him, don't expect the Tigers to keep up their fast start. But it was just a driving violation, so Lyons should be back sometime soon, I would think.

-- Pennsylvania has hopes of a Turnpike Tussle.

-- And I really don't know to react to this.

Devendorf could return before New Year's

That man, Eric Devendorf, is suspended indefinitely, but could return in less than two weeks, reports say. I guess hitting a girl in the face doesn't warrant that much punishment. And hey, Syracuse fans are happy. It's almost like he goes to UConn or something.

The Beast Rears Its Ugly Head

The Big East is responsible for eight teams in both the AP and Coaches polls today. Only one other Big East team received any votes -- West Virginia got one AP vote.

So, how hard will it be for the teams that line up behind the Big 8?

Well, last year, the first year the conference went to 18-game schedule, 9-9 was the worst record that a Tournament team had in the Big East. This year, 8-10 might be acceptable, given the challenging nature of conference play.

This year, the five teams destined for Nos. 9 through 13 in the Big East are all doing reasonably well:

-- Seton Hall is 8-1, with wins against USC and Virginia Tech. Those should hold a lot of weight if the Pirates don't lose any bad games before conference play, which would leave them at 11-1 before Big East games start. SHU should finish at least 7-11 in conference, so stealing one or two games against the top 8 would go a long way. Eighteen wins might not be good enough unless SHU gets a good win against a top-15 team.

-- St. John's is also 8-1, albeit against a cupcake schedule. But still, hosting Miami (FL) and Duke at MSG gives the Red Storm two more opportunities to snag a marquee nonconference win. I just don't see St. John's getting more than seven conference wins, and without the marquee wins like Seton Hall, that's not good enough.

-- West Virginia is 7-2, with losses to Davidson (in New York) and Kentucky. Good wins came at Ole Miss and in Las Vegas against Iowa. Games against Miami (OH) and Ohio State (on the road) give the 'Eers a chance to get two more good nonconference wins. My initial count says WVU goes just 6-12 in the Big East, but knowing its track record at home, I'm willing to adjust to 8-10 or even 9-9. If WVU does that, and wins the rest of its nonconference sked aside from the one at Ohio State, it will finish 19-12. That's good enough, I'd say.

-- Cincinnati is 6-2, with losses against Florida State in Las Vegas and at home against No. 7 Xavier. Two nice wins against UNLV and UAB will help Mick Cronin's squad if its on the bubble in March. A matchup with Mississippi State this week and Memphis in two weeks gives the Bearcats two chances to grab another quality win. I only see Cincy getting 7 wins, which is too few, but a stolen win to get to 8 conference wins, plus a 10-3 nonconference record means 18 wins is possible.

-- Providence was the chic pick to steal one of the top 8 spots in the Big East this year, but the Friars struggled immediately, losing their first game to Northeastern ... at home. Now, PC is quietly 6-3, with a good win against Rhode Island. PC still plays at Boston College, but other than that, there really aren't any other spots for good nonconference wins. This enigmatic bunch looks primed for about a 6-12 or 7-11 finish in the Big East. Steal a win or two, and the Friars could have 17 or 18 wins to their ledger, which still might not be enough.

So, what do these teams do?
Well, that's easy to answer: win. Beating a ranked team or two on your home floor helps. Beating one on the road helps even more. Making sure you win games you should win and beating teams in similar situations as you (these five teams play each other plenty of times) can help overcome the ridiculously tough conference slate.

If I had to pick right now, I'd say Seton Hall and West Virginia are the two teams best positioned to sneak into the Tournament. Marquette and Villanova have some vulnerabilities that leave me thinking those two could struggle, potentially leaving space for one of these next-tier teams to sneak into the Big East's top 8. Keep an eye on Syracuse, too. It'll be interesting to see how the Orange deal with Eric Devendorf's almost certain season-long suspension.

Do any of these teams have the talent to match up with the Big 8? Out of this bunch, I'd say WVU and Providence do; the rest don't. But WVU has had injury issues, and Providence goes cold, can't play defense and is about as predictable as an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

Bye, Bye, Devendorf

The Syracuse guard that everybody loves to hate -- Eric Devendorf -- has been given a season-long suspension from Syracuse. The suspension, as of right now, will be lifted in May.

Seems like the kid can't stop hitting people.

Devendorf's lawyer said Devendorf plans to appeal the decision.

What does this mean for Syracuse?
Well, for a team that has been on a meteoric rise in the national rankings, this is a serious blow. Devendorf averaged 14 points a game and, after missing last year with a knee injury, would have been a key member of Syracuse's campaign this year.

Without Devendorf, expect Andy Rautins's role to expand. There is also a slew of forwards off the bench who will probably see more time, with Syracuse employing a big lineup with Paul Harris at the 2.

The suspension also limits the amount of capable ball-handlers on the floor for Jim Boeheim. Teams might press Syracuse more. And it might also mean Jonny Flynn's minutes will go up -- even though they're already at about 35 a game.

Bottom line: This suspension is a major issue that will have an immediate and lasting impact on the Orange. One of their best players and top shooters/ball-handlers is going to miss the rest of the season. When things like that happen, being successful is difficult at best.

Elsewhere
-- Gonzaga struggled with Washington State for a half before pulling away. Wazzou clearly lacks the punch it had last year, but the Cougs still make it tough for people to score.

-- UMass finally got its second win. Turnovers were still a problem.

-- The Yankees are loading up.

-- And the Nats are trying to.

Why We Watch

We watch college hoops for a reason, and last night provided us with more than a few ...

No. 8 Notre Dame topped No. 7 Texas in a thriller, 81-80.

No. 17 Florida escaped with a win against Washington, 86-84.

And No. 22 Kansas lost to Syracuse, 89-81, in overtime.

Let's break these games down ...

-- Notre Dame cemented its status as a Final Four contender with a gritty, exciting win against Texas. The Longhorns didn't really lose much in terms of reputation or respect, just dropped the game.

-- Jon Brockman had a chance to tie the game for Washington in the waning moments, but his shot rimmed out off the glass. This would have been a huge win for Washington; instead, it's another disappointing loss. It's hard to come away with positives from KC after two really rough losses.

-- And the Syracuse-Kansas game was the game of the night. We had Sherron Collins and Jonny Flynn going toe to toe, runs catapulting one team into the lead before the other team roared back, and an extra five minutes to enjoy the competition. The CBE Classic turned out to be a pretty good tournament, and these guys have a lot to do with that.

Quote of the day: "I had a few too many Wheaties on it." -- Washington's Jon Brockman, after missing the would-be tying putback with less than five seconds to play in Washington's 86-84 loss to Florida.

Great game in KC

Regardless of who wins, Kansas and Syracuse are giving us a great late-night show after Texas and Notre Dame delivered on the promise of a marquee matchup.

Blockbuster Tuesday

No. 6 Texas and No. 8 Notre Dame meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the Maui Invitational. This game could turn into a track meet, given the athletic talent of Texas and Notre Dame's ability to fill it up in a hurry.

Still, the Longhorns' have a little bit more of a defensive bent than Notre Dame, and the Irish are one of the less physical teams in the Big East. It'll be fun seeing who adapts to the other more, but I think Texas might be the better team.

Best matchup: It has to be Tory Jackson vs. AJ Abrams. I've seen Jackson play a few times, and he is one of the fastest players I've ever watched in person (fastest being Darren Collison). Abrams is the most important player on Texas. Both are fast, but I give the slight edge to Abrams in terms of overall ability. In this game, this matchup might be the best indicator of who is winning.

Penn State at Penn ... just kidding.

A quietly good matchup in Dayton: Mercer at Dayton. Mercer surprised Alabama and Auburn and almost beat Georgia Tech (lost in OT), so expect the Bears to challenge a good Dayton team at UD Arena. This is the beginning of a really tough stretch for the Flyers, who host Mercer tonight, then play Auburn and No. 15 Marquette on Friday and Saturday, respectively, in the Chicago 'burbs. If Dayton is working on its Tournament resume, going at least 2-1 in this three-game period will help a lot. Undefeated will go a long way come March.

Florida-Washington in Maui. Florida needs to recover after its loss to Syracuse; Washington has less than 24 hours to change its ways. I like Florida, but this is secretly an important game for both teams.

UNC-Oregon. We know who will win this game, but if the Ducks can at least have a solid showing, it can only help, confidence-wise. Oregon has the talent, but does it have the guts?

Kansas-Syracuse for the CBE Classic title. Kansas is the favorite, but Syracuse looked good against Florida, not that that surprises anyone. But if the Orange can win again here, expect them in the Top 25 on Monday. And a win here will also quiet the always-rowdy critics in March, who always shellack Jim Boeheim for his scheduling.

Swallowed by the Beast

Jonny Flynn and the Syracuse Orange upset No. 17 Florida last night, 89-83. Wow. The second-best SEC team against the seventh-best Big East team. Keep watching Big East teams for more signs of dominance the rest of the year.

Or I could just give you some now ...

No. 2 UConn 76, No. 25 Wisconsin 57

No. 8 Notre Dame 88, Indiana 50

Oh, and Cincinnati and St. John's won, too, but those are just icing on the cake. Plus, who's really counting anyway?

Let's play good loss/bad loss
-- There is never really such a thing as a "good loss," but there are losses that, if close and against a good team, mean a little bit more than a bad loss to a bad team or a blowout loss to anybody. Yesterday provided a full plate of games to pick from:

Terrible loss: Jacksonville State 75, UMass 74. If UMass was hoping to surprise people in the A-10 and make a run as an at-large team, starting 1-3 and losing to Jacksonville State at home usually won't help.

Disappointing but not terrible loss: Syracuse 89, No. 17 Florida 83 (see above)

Tough home loss: UNLV 80, UTEP 67. UNLV is good, but UTEP had a chance to get a quality home win and build up its resume leading into C-USA play. If the Miners want to challenge Memphis for the conference title and stake a claim as a second or third bid out of the C-USA, a win in a game like this always helps.

Bad loss against a good team: Kansas 73, Washington 54. If Washington (or Worshington if your Bob Knight) wants to find its way out of basketball purgatory, it needs to come closer to good teams and win a few of them. More importantly, if Lorenzo Romar wants to keep his job after this season, the Huskies need to do better against quality teams. First step, don't shoot so many 3s if you aren't making them. Just a suggestion.

Awful loss: Yale 53, Oregon State 52. Craig Robinson is off to a very rough 0-3 start. Losing to Howard is tough. Losing to Yale is probably worse.

Embarrassing blowout: Oregon 82, Alabama 59. Not only is Alabama 1-2, with this blowout loss at home and a loss to Mercer ... at home ... but the Crimson Tide suddenly look like one of the worst teams in the SEC, which is terrible because some floated the idea of them being an at-large bid or a bubble team come March. At this point, they might still be a reach bubble team ... for the NIT.