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College Hoops Week in Review: Five Thoughts

Solomon Hill, Chase Tapley

Arizona forward Solomon Hill (44) shoots a layup ahead of San Diego State guard Chase Tapley (22) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Diamond Head Classic, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)

AP

What do we make of this Arizona team?: The Wildcats are 14-0 this season. They jumped out to a 2-0 start in league play with wins over Colorado and Utah this weekend. They have beaten Florida, San Diego State and Miami in non-conference play. They are currently ranked No. 3 in the country. And they are likely to continue to get better as their trio of freshmen big men continue to adjust to playing basketball at the collegiate level.

But when you take some of those wins into context, the picture gets a bit murkier. Florida, quite literally, gave the game away when they visited the McKale Center last month. After allowing an 8-0 spurt to end the first half, the Gators committed two turnovers and missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to blow a six-point lead in the final minute of regulation. Against Colorado, the refs stole a victory from the Buffaloes after Colorado blew a 10 point lead in the final four minutes of regulation. San Diego State was up double-figures in the second half and had their upset bid thwarted by a sensational defensive play by Nick Johnson. And Miami didn’t have Reggie Johnson when they played ‘Zona.

From a ranking standpoint, the only thing that matters is wins and losses. Arizona has won all their games. That’s significant. But there is plenty of room to analyze just how good the Wildcats truly are. I’ll slide on over to Kenpom, who ranks Arizona as the 14th best team in the country. And frankly, that sounds about right to me. Five of Arizona’s next seven games are Pac-12 road games. Let’s see where they stand in three week.

Big Ten road wins: The road is not a friendly place to be in league play, regardless of what conference you reside in. But for teams in the Big Ten, traveling is going to be especially difficult given just how many really good teams populate the top of the league standings. So when you get excited about things like Minnesota beating Michigan State at home or Illinois losing to Purdue on the road and beating Ohio State at home, keep in mind: that is what’s supposed to happen. Good teams defend their home court against conference rivals. There are a lot of good teams in the Big Ten, which means that a lot of good teams are going to be losing games on the road in the Big Ten.

The only time an outcome should truly get you excited is when the game isn’t close (like, for example, the mollywhopping Illinois put on Ohio State) or when someone wins on the road.

CJ McCollum’s injury: If Lehigh proved anything to us on Saturday, it’s that they are still going to be competitive in the Patriot League without CJ McCollum, who will miss about two months after breaking his foot. The Mountainhawks not only erased a 10 point deficit with McCollum on the bench with crutches, they played with the Rams the entire second half and nearly knocked them off.

The Patriot League should serve notice. This team can still finish second in the conference. The shame in McCollum’s injury, however, is that the most exciting part about the conference was going to be their league race with Bucknell, who nearly knocked off Missouri in Columbia on Saturday. That would have been a terrific race. Hopefully, if the basketball gods are looking out for us, McCollum will be back healthy by the time the league tournament begins.

Referee blunders: There were two critical mistakes that changed the outcome of games this week. Refs at the Marquette-UConn game blew a call that should have given the Huskies a bucket in overtime. And the refs in Colorado-Arizona were a complete embarrassment during the final two minutes. I don’t know how to fix this problem. But how often we talk about major officiating blunders that change the outcome of games is an embarrassment and a stain on college hoops.

D’angelo Harrison: The 6-foot-3 St. John’s sophomore may be the nation’s best kept secret. He’s averaging 21.4 points for the Johnnies after this week, when he went for 36 in an overtime loss at Villanova and followed that up with 15 points -- including two huge baskets, one of which was the game-winner, down the stretch -- as St. John’s went into Cincinnati and knocked off the Bearcats.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.