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Sunday, December 10, 2000

Nation’s top teams face few tests early
Majority of Top 25 squads pad statistics, rankings by scheduling weak opponents in early season
By Mark Zuckerman
Associated Press
Cupcakes. Cream-puffs. Pushovers. Roadkill. Whatever you want to call them, they're all over the college basketball world each November and December, showing up at some of the biggest-name programs in the country to take a nice paycheck-and an old-fashioned thumping-back home.
   But how much is too much? Is it right that some ranked teams spend the first two months of the season staying in their home gyms pounding lesser opposition to oblivion and padding their own stats?
   Seven teams ranked in the major Top 25 polls have racked up wins with some of the easiest schedules in the nation, according to the Sagarin computer rankings. Five of those teams (Seton Hall, Virginia, Iowa State, Connecticut and Alabama) have strength-of-schedule rankings below 270 out of 325 Division I programs.
   Check out some of the opposition these teams have faced:
   Seton Hall (strength of schedule: 272) -- Rider, St. Peter's, LaSalle and Norfolk State, with Wagner and Hartford still to come.

Virginia (278) -- Long Island, Coastal Carolina and VMI, with Maryland-Baltimore County, Bucknell and Dartmouth remaining.

Iowa State (292) -- The Cyclones still have not left the state of Iowa, having beaten Texas Southern, Northern Iowa, Southern Mississippi, Tennessee Tech and Morningside.

UConn (305) -- Quinnipiac, Chaminade, Brown, Houston and New Hampshire, with Fairfield and Stony Brook coming up.

Alabama (325) -- The Crimson Tide have the easiest schedule in the country thus far, having beaten Troy State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Louisville, Grambling and Wofford. And it won't get any tougher in coming weeks, with Alabama State, Southeast Louisiana, Akron, North Texas and Northern Iowa ahead.
   What does it all mean? Don't be surprised if these teams post some impressive early season records, only to falter once conference play commences.
   For the record, the teams with the five toughest schedules so far, according to Sagarin, are Eastern Kentucky, Marshall, DePaul, Temple and Grambling, which won't play its first game at home until Jan. 6.

SEEING TRIPLE: As common as triple-doubles have become in the NBA, they are rarities in the college game. That was, until two players did it in the same night last week.
   North Carolina center Brendan Haywood became the first player in Tar Heels history to record a triple-double when he had 18 points, 14 rebounds and a school-record 10 blocked shots in a 67-45 win over Miami last Monday.
   That same night, Seton Hall freshman Eddie Griffin had 21 points, 12 boards and 10 blocks against Norfolk State, becoming the first player in school history to have a triple-double.
   Leave it to first-year Carolina head coach Matt Doherty to put it all in perspective. Asked if ever came near the feat in his career, Doherty replied that he "played 10 minutes one game, had more than 10 cups of water at halftime and set more than 10 screens. That was my triple-double."

UPSET OF THE WEEK: Curse those Winthrop Eagles, who lost by 10 at Clemson and sent us spiraling downward to 0-2 on the season.
   Determined not to fall too far below the .500 mark, we'll take upstart Charlotte to beat an Indiana team still adjusting to life without Bob Knight next Saturday at Assembly Hall.

DISASTER OF THE WEEK: Roy Williams turned down the North Carolina coaching job last summer to stay at Kansas. Based on his team's performance Thursday at Wake Forest, it might be a good thing Williams avoided the ACC.
   The Jayhawks didn't just lose to the Demon Deacons, they were embarassed by 31 points, 84-53 - the fourth-worst loss in Kansas' storied history and the second-worst in Williams' tenure.



Includes information obtained from other sources. Staff writer Mark Zuckerman can be reached at 886-3747 or by e-mail at zuckermanm@caller.com

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