Daily Fix: Strangeways, Here We Come

The 2007-08 college hoops season just gets crazier and crazier. It likes all of D-I is on crack. Take today’s games as an example of just how much this college basketball season makes less sense than a tweaker explaining, well, anything.

Let’s start with San Diego’s 81-72 upset of Kentucky in Lexington. It’s not like the Toreros have been like fellow West Coast Conference upstarts St. Mary’s and strung together a series of upsets. Bill Grier’s side has been pretty average, winning the games they should — CSU-Monterrey Bay, San Jose State — and losing the games they should — USC, UNLV, San Diego State. None of this season’s results would indicate that San Diego was a team that could roll into Lexington and beat the Wildcats. Until you consider the way Kentucky’s played so far this season that is.

Put simply, Billy Gillespie’s Wildcats have played more like tamed cats, losing four of their last five before today’s loss to San Diego. A win over Kentucky this season doesn’t have the cachet that it has in season’s past but this is still a good win for the Toreros. Junior guard Brandon Johnson led San Diego to victory, scoring 27 points in the kind of signature victory that could galvanize the Toreros come WCC play. Gonzaga and St. Mary’s have definitely taken notice of this win. Think there are Kentucky fans still wishing they hadn’t run Tubby Smith out of town?

As good as San Diego was against Kentucky today, Dayton was even better, thrashing 6th-ranked Pittsburgh 80-55. The Flyers were 10-1 entering their scrap with the Panthers, so them winning wasn’t really a surprise, especially since the game was in Dayon, but their 25-point margin of victory was shocking. It was one of this rare games, where one team shoots lights out and the other couldn’t throw the rock into the ocean if they were standing in the surf at Coney Island. The Flyers, paced by senior sniper Brian Robert’s six triples, made 26-of-50 shots from the floor while Pittsburgh was cold as an ice-burnt carton of ice cream, making only 30% of their shots.

Not to be outdone, Winthrop, Mid-Major darlings from the past few seasons, showed that they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the Big South, beating previously unbeaten Miami 76-70 in Miami. Torrell Martin may be gone but Eagles’ coach Greg Marshall’s cupboard is far from bare, as NCAA tourney-tested Taj McCullough, Michael Jenkins, and Chris Gaynor led Winthrop to the dubbya.

In a normal season, the wins by Winthrop, Dayton, and San Diego would be proof enough that college hoops is standing on it’s collective head this season. But it’s not a normal season so those three games aren’t proof enough. No, it takes a game like Florida-Gulf Coast’s 60-30 win over Pennsylvania to really bring home just how insane the first two months of the 2007-08 college hoops have been.

The Quakers haven’t exactly been world-beaters this season but scoring only 6 first half points, a new NCAA record low for points in a half, is just, well, I don’t know that there are words for just how shockingly absurd Penn’s performance is. Adding to the absurdity of the game is the fact that the Eagles came into their scrap with Penn giving up an average of 71.75 points per game while Penn was scoring nearly 71 points per game. Somehow, on Saturday, Penn scored 40 points less than both their average points scored and the Eagles scoring defense.

All you really need to know about this game is that Penn, Ivy League bullies and perennial NCAA Tourney participant, didn’t score for the first 13:29 minutes of their game with a D-I newbie.

So yeah, this is a college basketball season on crack.