The Index 12/15

    

    What a week of ball folks, and there has been some movement in The Index, and possibly a dead conference. An incredible weekend slate took aim at some of The Index and that resulted in some strong risers flexing their muscles, and some teams getting pushed down. The big time matchups delivered and the drama that is developing in the mid-major world is proving to entertain every night of the week. There are of course a couple of teams I will touch on to highlight the week they had, and a few conference and their outlook going into the new year. To start however, we have to talk about the Matadors of Cal State Northridge, possibly the winners of the week across college basketball. A 2-0 week that included taking down Fresno State at home in a game they led nearly the entire way, and then turning around and going across the country and winning by 20 at Delaware against a Blue Hens team that had just knocked off George Washington (And dug the hole for the coffin of the A10). Andy Newman in year three and a new roster is making a foot hole in the Big West for CSUN and punching above the weight of this teams talent regularly. CSUN is an aggressive and fast team that plays with a lot of tempo but doesn't revolve around chucking threes, but rather getting to the paint. Their offensive pressure penetrates defenses allowing for higher quality looks on the outside and driving up opponent foul counts. The Big West is building a serious mid major conference right and you can find it on the Big West Beat later this week. 

   The A10 is currently arranging their own funeral, another abysmal week for a once proud basketball conference. Day after day last week the A10 disappointed and fell apart in every key game, and even some buy games. Going into the week on already shaky ground, Rhode Island kicked it off with a home loss to a decent McNeese team. Wednesday featured VCU dropping a conference measuring stick game to New Mexico and the fighting Eric Olens, while George Washington got ran out the gym by Delaware at home. Finally, Saturday the Bonnies lose to Ohio, and George Washington can't crawl back to at large relevancy after losing to Florida. While SLU and George Mason were able to add some decent wins, for the second straight week the A10 fails to carve out space for multiple bids. 

The Index Top 25

1. Michigan 

2. Arizona

3. Gonzaga 

4. Duke

5. Alabama

6. Tulsa

7. St. Mary's

8. UCONN

9. Illinois

10. UCLA

11. Hawaii 

12. Purdue 

13. BYU

14. New Mexico 

15. Georgia

16. Wake Forest

17.Vandy 

18. Louisville

19. Washington

20. UCSD

21. Cal Poly

22. Nebraska 

23. CSUN 

24. Yale

25. Cal Baptist

Receiving Votes: Hofstra, Towson, SIU Edwardsville, UNC Wilmington, Akron

Risers of the Week: 

    Michigan...the new number one on The Index is just beating the hell out of teams with a club then turning around and doing Zombieland celebration on their corpse for fun. Aday Mara is just the next ogre of college basketball living up to his linage of Vlad Golden and Zack Edey. What do you do with him, he just an immovable blob of arms that is just eating teams alive. Now, I still do not believe in this team, they are still living off negative karma which they earned last year after cheating the Tritons out of a tournament win. Their time will come and they simply cannot keep this up, but for now they're the new number 1. 

    Tulsa is just quietly chugging along and no one is mentioning them as a sleeper or darling and I think that is great for them. A few years after Oral Roberts put Tulsa on the map, their neighbors the Golden Hurricanes are now possibly Americas next mid major team. 

    New Mexico went into Richmond and stole the heart out of Siegal Center and Eric Olen is going to be the next coach for hire. The Mountain West got off to a slow start and has rebounded completely and New Mexico is leading the charge, the Lobos are going to push Utah State, Nevada, and Boise State all season. 

    Vandy and Louisville are going to quietly be top 3 seeds this season, the public is starting to come around to Louisville as they beat the hell out of teams. Vandy should be competing for the top of a down SEC and they are providing quality basketball night in and night out. These two teams are the next tier down from title contenders with the ability to disrupt the tourney as a whole. 

Children of the Poor of the Week: 

    St. Mary's does not have the ability to hold onto the ball and the streaky play of McKeever and Lewis don't bode well moving forward. Their loss to Boise State was ugly and the encapsulation of a season long issue with ball security and offensive consistency. Their style of ball doesn't allow for wasted possessions and that is the thorn in the side of Bennett Ball currently. With Gonzaga showcasing that last year may have been a blip, the top of the WCC will actually be in contention this season. 

    Oklahoma State failed to meet the moment in OKC versus the Sooners. The Cowboys of Stillwater just got worn away, even with a second half push by Christian Coleman it wasn't enough. They'll drop out of The Index this week as this was their only real test of the non-con season so far but the individual efforts of Coleman and Kanye Clary moving forward will make this team appear again. 

    Illinois getting caught at home by Nebraska, who is a good team, is not encouraging for the Illiniwek and their national perception. This team is just stuck shooting threes and being out of shape, I do not know if they are capable of getting a key stop defensively and if Underwood knows how to make a coaching adjustment to give them a shot. Disappointing so far, but time will only be kind to them and their tourney run may get a nice discounted price.