Today in Basketball

My best thoughts on the world of hoops today:

- To me, Kansas showed that they're probably the best team in the country right now. One week after #1 Texas couldn't win in the Octogon of Doom, the Jayhawks went on the road against a highly motivated and very good Kansas State team, took their best shot, and won in OT in gutsy fashion. Kansas can go inside with Cole Aldrich and outside with Sharron Collins, and then they can throw Xavier Henry, Tyshawn Taylor, and the Morris twins around on the wing. They just have so many ways to hurt you. For me, that's enough to make them my #1 team in the country right now.

- That said, there's no doubting Kentucky's ceiling. They, too, showed today just how good they can be, dismantling Vanderbilt- albeit at home- with a double-digit win. John Wall is easily the most dynamic player in the country, and when he's running and DeMarcus Cousins is trying as hard as he can, the Wildcats are probably the team with the most potential. I think I'd take Kansas in a best-of-7 series, but I'd take Kentucky's best effort over anyone. As much as me and my secret Calipari hate don't want to say it.

- Syracuse, on the other hand, I do not know what to make of. The Orange look nearly unbeatable at times, and then there are times when they fall behind to a 1-8 DePaul team by 18 before snapping out of it and winning by 2. The thing that worries me about the 'Cuse is that I'm not sure they have a true go-to guy at this point, which is absolutely what you need to have come March. Kentucky, Kansas, even Texas with Damian James, Michigan State, West Virginia- they all have that one guy who they can go to for a big bucket when they need to stop a run. I don't know if Wesley Johnson is ready to be that guy, but I also didn't see the game today. Maybe when they fell behind DePaul by that much, they went to Johnson and he pulled them out of it. I truly do not know. But I do know that either way doing that against DePaul isn't THAT impressive.

- Bob Huggins CANNOT be serious with his windsuit.

- As much as I like to watch Duke lose, this was not a good game for the ACC. The conference most likely won't have any teams left in the top 10, and we had our flagship school get pounded by the 4th-ranked team from the Big East. Watching the Blue Devils today was the same as it's been for the past 5 years- they're just a step too slow to contend with teams that have more elite talent. Chris Wright and Greg Monroe got whatever they wanted when they wanted it offensively. If you don't believe me, look at the numbers- those 2 plus Austin Freeman went 23 for 31 from the field. Coach K's signature has long been tight man-to-man defense, but it seems like the past several years they just haven't had the personnel to execute it, and today they certainly didn't. Now, that said, there's plenty of time for Duke to turn it around, and this is only one game. So they might prove me wrong. But today that's sure what it looked like.

- In related information, how can Obama and Joe Biden be in the same place at the same time? Isn't that against some rule?

- Charlotte is 6-1 in the A-10 and beat Temple this week. There we go 49ers!

- Looking ahead, big game tomorrow night for the Heels. I thought North Carolina did a lot of good against NC State, but they need to prove to themselves and to the rest of the conference that they can play like that for 2 games in a row. Plus, a win would get them to .500 in conference play, which I think would be huge for their confidence, which has sagged a little bit during the 3-game losing streak. I think a sneaky big key going forward for Carolina will be the play of Dexter Strickland. He's the best on the team by far at creating easy offense in transition, and playing offense just gets easier when you're getting some points off layups instead of grinding for them in the halfcourt. Watch for that tomorrow night, in addition to watching whether or not Tony Bennett can keep this game ugly enough to win it 62-60 in Chapel Hill. We'll see what happens.

- Another game I'll be watching tomorrow: Maryland at Clemson. If the Terps can win in Littlejohn, I'll start to believe that they can contend for the ACC regular season title. Clemson may be inconsistent, but they're tough at home, and Maryland doesn't have many other impressive wins on their schedule. This would be a start.