Six-for-Six... Unbeaten Teams Remain Perfect

College Hoops Player of the Day for Tuesday, December 29, 2009

When the balls hit the various floors across the college basketball spectrum on Tuesday, six teams remained undefeated. By the time the final buzzers sounded, all six - Kansas, Texas, Syracuse, Purdue, Kentucky and West Virginia - still had perfect records.

Most of the games were one-sided affairs, though Syracuse had to sweat out a 80-73 win at Seton Hall, aided by Wesley Johnson's huge effort: 20 points and 19 boards.

West Virginia narrowly escaped at home against Marquette, getting a buzzer-beating 20-foot jumper from Da’Sean Butler for the 63-62 win. The Mountaineers are 11-0.

The most impressive performance by a single player came in the most one-sided game of the evening, Kentucky's 104-61 pounding of Hartford. Freshman sensation John Wall scored just 9 points, but set a school record by dishing out 16 assists. The accomplishment is augmented by remembering the exceptional players who passed the rock over Kentucky's 100 years or so of basketball excellence. Wall's effort was the best ever. Now that's saying something.

NOTABLE: Not only did the top six teams in the rankings win on Monday, but so did #7 Duke, #12 Kansas State, #16 Mississippi, and #21 Clemson. The only Top 25 team to lose was #20 Texas Tech. They took a 90-75 loss at #19 New Mexico.

Wildcats' Wall Throws No Bricks

College Hoops Player of the Day for Wednesday, December 9, 2009

In one of this season's best inter-conference contests, the Kentucky Wildcats barely outlasted the UConn Huskies, 64-61, as the legend of freshman John Wall extended through Madison Square Garden.

The Wildcats broke out to an early 12-0 lead, only to have the Huskies come back and take a 29-23 lead into half time. In the second half, Kentucky took control early, outscoring the Huskies by 9 in the period, paced by Wall's career-high 25 points. A time ticked down to the final buzzer, Wall took over the game, scoring 12 of Kentucky's final 12 points, including a dazzling drive to the hoop, bucket and foul for a three-point play that put the Wildcats ahead for good.

Wall hit 10-of-16 shots overall, including 1-1 from 3-point range. He hit all four free throw attempts, and, despite turning the ball over 7 times, made 6 steals.

#4 Kentucky improved to 9-0, while the #14 Huskies dropped to 6-2.

Wall the Real Deal in Maui Win

College Hoops Player of the Day for Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Everyone who's seen him play says Kentucky freshman, John Wall, is ready for the NBA. After his performance Wednesday night, propelling the Wildcats to a 73-65 OT win over Stanford to capture the title game of the Maui Invitational, it's tough to argue with that assessment.

Wall scored a career-high 23 points - it's only his 5th college game - and hit a clutch jumper and a pair of free throws in the final seconds to send the game into overtime. There, the Wildcats outscored the Cardinal, 10-2, with Wall punctuating the win with a dunk at the buzzer. He also had 4 boards, 5 assists, a steal and 2 blocked shots in the game.

Matching Wall on the scoreboard was Stanford's Landry Fields, who accounted for 23 points and 15 boards - his third straight double-double. Unranked Stanford and Landry garnered some respect in Maui. The senior forward is averaging 23 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.

NOTABLE: Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson each scored 20 points as #13 Connecticut engulfed LSU, 81-55, in the semi-finals of the Preseason NIT Tournament at Madison Square Garden. The 6-0 Huskies will play #7 Duke, who struggled to a 64-53 win over a sub-par Arizona State squad.

Sophomore Willie Warren lit it up for 30 points but couldn't help the #25 (and falling) Oklahoma Sooners from losing their second straight game, this time to unheralded San Diego, 76-64. Last Saturday, the Sooners fell to Virginia Commonwealth, 82-69. The main problem for Oklahoma seems to be accuracy. They shot 33% from the field in the loss to San Diego and 41% when losing to VCU, but only 19% from 3-point range in that contest.