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-You really need to throw the stats out for players that have barely played. As the next table will show, Connecticut’s Kentan Facey has only been playing in garbage time, so don’t read too much into his rebounding rates yet. But North Carolina’s Kennedy Meeks and TCU’s Karviar Shepherd have played against real competition and their defensive rebounding rates are impressive. Indiana’s Noah Vonleh is clearly rebounding at a superhuman level, but Meeks and Shepherd have been nearly as good.

-Stevie Clark has a great assist rate, but almost all of his numbers have come in garbage time thanks to the presence of Marcus Smart on the Oklahoma St. roster. Clark was arrested for marijuana possession this week creating doubt about his future with the program.

-Luke Fischer was not getting enough playing time at Indiana and has elected to transfer to Marquette.

-Marquette hasn’t gotten as much scoring as it might have hoped out of its freshman class, but Deonte Burton has been particularly good at forcing steals.

7’6” Mamadou Ndiaye has an impressive 55 blocks so far for UC Irvine. His defensive presence is going to make Irvine a key competitor with Santa Barbara for the Big West title.

A lot of these guys at the bottom of the rankings will be stars next year. But when a player breaks out in year one, that can push a team over the top. For example, Villanova’s Josh Hart has been an efficient and effective scorer off the bench and that’s helped Villanova move from being an NCAA bubble team to the Big East favorite.

Finally, a few notes on the players that are missing from the table:

#68 Detrick Mostella appears to be playing at prep school. #69 Nick Emery is on a LDS mission. #85 Aquille Carr went to the D-League and was recently released from his team. And #95 Anthony January is playing JUCO ball.

 #7 Chris Walker is awaiting an NCAA clearinghouse ruling after enrolling mid-year at Florida. #19 Isaac Hamilton isn’t playing because of the letter of intent issue, but should suit up for UCLA next year. #43 Xavier Rathan-Mayes was declared academically ineligible at Florida St. And #48 Brandon Austin was suspended by Providence and is now transferring.

#59 Duane Wilson, #62 Allerik Freeman, and #76 Kam Williams may redshirt at Marquette, Baylor, and Ohio St. due to early season health issues. #73 Jordan Bell’s eligibility was delayed at Oregon so he may redshirt. And #81 Markel Crawford and #97 RaShawn Powell are redshirting at Memphis due to the Tigers extreme depth.

Quick Thoughts

-Let me echo those who feel that Cincinnati’s Justin Jackson is one of the most improved players in the nation. After he posted ORtgs of 84, 97, and 83 the last three years, I often asked why Mick Cronin was sticking by him, but this year his efficiency is up to 111.

-Purdue’s AJ Hammons is one of the most frustrating player in the country. I can’t understand how someone can have 18 points, 16 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 4 assists in one game, and then play so passively that he forces his coach to keep him on the bench.

-Duke vs Syracuse never needed any hype. People have always wanted to see a team that loves threes (Duke) play one of the best zone defenses in the nation. But Duke’s struggles against the zone this year have made that matchup even more intriguing. When UCLA threw a zone at Duke, it took them a good 10 minutes of game time to figure it out. And when Notre Dame threw a zone at Duke, Duke settled for far too many jumpers. Jabari Parker might just be the perfect pivot to position at the free throw line and destroy Syracuse’s zone, following the lead of Otto Porter last year. But given Duke’s struggles against the zone this year, that matchup seems even more intriguing than expected.

-The injury to Joe Harris finally seemed to light a fire under Akil Mitchell. Mitchell has been extremely passive this year but he exploded with a number of offensive rebounds against Florida St.’s big front line. Had Mitchell made his FTs, he would have had a big scoring night. As is, Virginia dominated on the road against a solid Florida St. team. For the second year in a row Virginia is a team that you just cannot figure out. When you fall in love with them, they play poorly. And when you write them off, they explode.

-Davante Gardner finally started for Marquette and scored a needed 28 points in a closer-than-expected game against DePaul. Buzz Williams has forgotten more about basketball than I will ever know. But if you are having trouble scoring, it seems to make sense that you should start your best offensive player and make him the focus of the offense.

Harvard Watch

It says something about how much Harvard has arrived that they can win their 6^th straight game against Boston College and no one bats an eye. Wesley Saunders made a strong case that he is the Ivy League player-of-the-year with his two dominant games this week. Harvard now gets a chance for a quality win against a reeling Connecticut team.