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Clemson (20-8, 8-6, #27 RPI)

Florida St (20-8, 8-6, #42)

Georgia Tech (19-9, 7-7, #33)

Virginia Tech (21-7, 8-6, #52)

Wake Forest (18-8, 8-6, #29)

RPI #'s updated as of 2/24/10, 2:00 pm.

 

It was accepted well before Tuesday night's game that Kentucky would encounter a hostile environment in Starkville. In the days leading up to the game Mississippi State students called DeMarcus Cousins repeatedly, some using the time to make humorous statements while others went well beyond the line that separates fun and terribly poor taste. But what was supposed to be a showdown between Cousins and Jarvis Varnado did not play out as such, especially in the second half and overtime as the senior fell victim to foul trouble.

Mississippi State, who hasn't done enough to sew up an NCAA bid to this point in the season, has a great opportunity to do so in Starkville on Tuesday night. Kentucky comes calling on ESPN in a game that matches up likely lottery pick big men in DeMarcus Cousins and Jarvis Varnado. With an RPI of 58 and an overall strength of schedule of 118 (numbers courtesy of realtimerpi.com) they need at the least a solid effort if they're to be a part of the NCAA Tournament.

As we get closer to March the games that take precedence are those with NCAA Tournament hopes on the line, and there will be no shortage of such contests on Saturday. Connecticut kicks things off in what's essentially an elimination game between the Huskies, who welcome back head coach Jim Calhoun, and Cincinnati at the XL Center. A pair of Lance Stephenson free throws decided the first meeting but neither he nor Deonta Vaughn has played well of late.

You can normally tell the magnitude of a game at Duke by how fired up head coach Mike Krzyzewski is, especially when it comes to pumping up the Cameron Crazies. Coming off of a sound defeat at the hands of Georgetown, the Blue Devils needed to respond against a team that had knocked them off earlier in the season and they did just that. In the 83-65 win Kyle Singler hit eight three pointers in scoring 30 points while also grabbing five rebounds, and as a team Duke shot 66.7% (12-18) from behind the arc.

The weekly Bracketology field is based on how the tourney looks "as of this moment." . In late February, I release Bracketology updates daily as the season approaches crunch time.

 

Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest)

Trevor Booker (Clemson)

Ed Davis (North Carolina)

Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech)

Sylven Landesberg (Virginia)

Gani Lawal (Georgia Tech)

Jon Scheyer (Duke)

Kyle Singler (Duke)

Greivis Vasquez (Maryland)

Other (Collins, Favors, Ginyard, Smith, etc)

With UNC rebuilding and Duke lacking depth, the ACC is more wide-open then its been in quite some time. Adding to the intrigue are top-notch prospects like Derrick Favors, Michael Snaer, and John Henson.

 

Ranking players is more art then science. How do you compare the potential of freshmen with seniors who have already peaked? How much does physical talent come into play versus intangibles and experience? How big a role do numbers play?