NCAA: Gonzaga takes over the No. 1 poll spot

Just how much does Ryan Kelly’s return to a Duke uniform mean for the Blue Devils? Netting 36 in a revenge win over Miami answers that pretty well…

Gonzaga University isn’t the typical NCAA powerhouse basketball team that people think about when they start putting thoughts into March Madness brackets, yet anyone who’s paid attention to collegiate basketball in the US has heard of them. They don’t have multiple Final Four appearances, they don’t have National Championship banners flying in the McCarthy Athletic Center, and they aren’t usually listed on potential schools of the top high school players in the country. The Zags just do what they do and for the last 15 years or so, they’ve done it pretty well, culminating into their first ever seat at the top of the Associated Press NCAA Top 25 Poll, with 51 out of 65 possible first place votes. The Bulldogs, their official team nickname, are currently 29-2 and riding a 12-game winning streak, finishing 16-0 in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga has a familiar face running point, not because David Stockton is someone you know, but he’s a spitting image of his famous father, and Gonzaga alum, John Stockton, a 10-time NBA All-Star and 2009 Naismith Hall of Famer. When you see David on the court, you immediately recognize that intense stare and the hair parted to the side, just like his father. Stockton leads the club in assists and steals, also familiar territory as John still holds the Bulldogs’ career steals record with 262 (No. 1 on the NBA career list with 3,265) and is fourth on the career assist list with 554 (No. 1 on NBA career assist list with 15,806). Their scoring leader, Kelly Olynyk, a 7’0″ senior, is averaging 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

The rest of the Top 10 was shaken up quite a bit, again, as a number of teams fell to much lesser ranked clubs. Indiana lost to unranked Minnesota, Duke was knocked off by Virginia and followed that up by beating Miami, Michigan handed Penn State their first Big Ten win in a season and a half, Michigan State also lost, but at least they fell to Michigan. This season there have been 19 Top 5 teams lose to unranked teams, demonstrating the greater parity in college hoops this season compared to others.

Top 5
No. 1 – Gonzaga (29-2, 16-0 WCC): The Zags journey to No. 1 started with their improbably run to the Elite Eight in 1999. Knocking off the likes of Minnesota, Stanford and the famous buzzer-beater win against Florida. They were relatively unknown outside the Pacific Northwest, but they were a team to be dealt with from then on. According to school records, enrollment went up 65% in the years from 1997 and 2003 and the school was gifted enough funds to build a new athletic center. They’ve qualified for the NCAA Tournament every year since 1999, making it to the Sweet 16 on four occasions (’00, ’01, 06, ’09). The Zags have taken a long road to get to the No. 1 spot, having started at No. 21 in the preseason poll. By week four they had moved to No. 12, in week five they cracked the Top 10 and were No. 10, they dropped four spots when they lost to Illinois in week 6, were back to No. 10 in week 9, moved up to No. 7 in week 13, hit No. 5 in week 15, and this week (18) have the top spot. Gonzaga’s schedule is complete other than the WCC tournament and the NCAA’s, so their 29-2 record in the regular season will go down as the best in Division 1 in 2012-13. Last week, the Bulldogs travelled to BYU and came out with a 65:70 win, then hosted Portland and earned an 81:52 victory.

No. 2 – Indiana (25-4, 13-3 B1G): The Hoosiers spent four weeks at No. 1, their second time in the top spot this season, before letting unranked Minnesota topple them. The last time the two clubs locked horns, it was in Bloomington and Indiana put on a show in the first half. They could do no wrong and had basically blown the game so far open in the first half it felt like Minnesota had brought a team of underachieving high school kids to play. Then they retired to the locker rooms for their second half instructions. Minnesota coach Tubby Smith is known for his fire and his ability to motivate and it showed when they stepped out on the court in the second half; either that, or the bus with the actual team showed up and the replacement players quietly snuck out the back door. Indiana still won by seven, but the Hoosiers showed both what they are capable of, and that they can also let teams score. This week Indiana traveled to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers and only held a four-point advantage at the half. Their hosts came up big in the second half and held on to not only knock off the No. 1 team in the country, but to pick up a Big Ten win that brings four teams within two games of the Hoosiers at the top of the standings. Indiana is 13-3 but Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin all are at 11-5, with two games remaining in the conference schedules. Indiana will face Ohio State on Tuesday, and Michigan on Sunday. Michigan has Purdue and Indiana; Michigan State has Wisconsin and Northwestern; Ohio State has Indiana and Illinois; and Wisconsin has Michigan State and Penn State.

No. 3 – Duke (25-4, 12-4 ACC): The week started out rough for Duke, falling to unranked Virginia, 68:73 on the road, but then they stepped on the court at Cameron Arena and had a welcome new/old face warming up, senior Ryan Kelly. Duke was considered a huge underdog in this one, even with the contest being played on Duke’s home court. They had just lost to unranked Virginia in a game that looked like the Blue Devils just going through the motions, and then there’s the 90:63 beating that Duke got from Miami the last time they played, just over a month ago. Most thought that Miami would win, but not by quite as much as Cameron is a tough place to play, but all that talked stopped when it was announced that Kelly was returning to the lineup. Kelly had injured his right foot in January during a game against Clemson and was expected to sit two to four weeks. It turned out to be worse than expected and he sat the rest of January, all of February and just returned on Thursday. Kelly is a 6’11” senior forward that shoots over 50% from behind the arc, and he can rebound with the best of them. He was averaging over 15 points and just under 6 rebounds per game when the re-occurring injury to the foot got him out of his court shoes and into street clothes for nearly two months and he was a welcome sight for the Duke family. Just how did Kelly repay those that welcomed him back so warmly? By lighting the Hurricanes up for 36 points and leading Duke to a 79:76 win. He connected on 10 of 14 shots, 7 of 9 outside the arc. Said Duke skipper Mike Krzyzewski, “I mean, me saying `spectacular’ or whatever doesn’t do his performance justice, one for the ages. Probably as good a performance as any player has had – a Duke player has had – in Cameron.” Most thought Kelly would come back at 75% and have to work his way back to playing shape, but it appears that he’s ready to take on the rest of the schedule and the ACC tournament, which will start next week.

No. 4 – Kansas (25-4, 13-3 Big 12): Kansas has worked it’s way back into the Top 5 with two impressive wins: a 96:108 road win over Iowa St.; and a 91:65 beating of West Virginia at home. They also routed Texas Tech at home, 79:42 on Monday night after the polls were released. The results boost Kansas’ record in the Big 12 to 13-3, tied for the top spot with in-state rival No. 9 Kansas St. (24-5, 13-3 Big 12). Kansas has just one game remaining, away at Baylor (17-13, 8-9 Big 12), who just took Kansas St. to the wire in a 61:64 loss at home. Kansas St. has two contests remaining; home against TCU (10-19, 1-13 Big 12) on Tues., and on the road against Oklahoma State (19-9, 10-6 Big 12) on Sat. TCU is the club that knocked off Kansas Feb. 23rd when it looked like Kansas was going to slide into the No. 1 ranking. The Jayhawks had lost three straight in early February and looked like they were going to have their implode around them, but they rebounded with a 21-point win over Kansas State and have won seven straight now. The last four by an average margin of just over 25 points.

No. 5 – Georgetown (23-4, 13-3 Big East): Georgetown and Gonzaga came into Top 5 in the same way, quiet, undetected, but deservingly. The Hoyas have had an interesting season, starting with the first game of the year against Florida on the deck of an aircraft carrier. That in itself would be a decent story, but then when they added the surprise touch of unexpected condensation on the court making it nearly impossible to get any traction, it became much bigger (and it’s tough to get any bigger than playing basketball on the deck of a massive aircraft carrier). They stopped that game at halftime with Florida winning 27:23, but it wasn’t considered a complete game and didn’t count on either team’s record. Georgetown’s first loss came at the hands of Indiana, who was No. 1 at the time. Then they won the rest of their non-conference games and opened with Big East play against Marquette on January 5th. It looked like it was going to be a long season as they fell to Marquette by one, then dropped a 28-point decision to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Jan. 8. After two wins and a narrow loss to South Florida, Georgetown traveled to South Bend, IN to take on Notre Dame and came up with a big 16-point win. Since then, they’ve won 11 straight, including a one-point win at UConn, 78:79, last Wednesday; and a 13-point win at home against Rutgers. The Hoyas will finish their Big East schedule this week against Villanova (18-12, 9-8 Big East) in Philadelphia and then will entertain the Orangemen of Syracuse (22-7, 10-6 Big East) on Sat., March 9th. Georgetown holds a one-game lead in the Big East over Louisville and Marquette.

The Associated Press Top 25 Poll