College Basketball 2011 - 2012 Week 11 Review

By Dennis Berry

The Week of College Basketball: Week 11

Before we get to the notes from the past week, we are going to get to some fallout from something that happened the week before.

Forgetful Roy

Last week the North Carolina Tar Heels were soundly beaten on the road by Florida State 90-57. It was an unexpected beat down for a team that has hopes of winning a National Championship. The end of the game got more attention than the actual game. Roy Williams walked off the court with this team with 14.2 seconds left in the game.

He did it out of safety for his team. Florida State fans were ready to rush the court as soon as the final buzzer went off. That is understandable concern. What is not understandable is why Williams left five walk-ons on the court to deal with the mob?

The days that followed Williams apologized for what happened. The media talked more about the walk-ons being on the court then the actual loss itself.

That is probably what Roy wanted to begin with.

Moving on.

Home Court Winning Streak Stopped

The same Florida State Seminoles that rolled over North Carolina have proven that they are a team to contend with in the ACC. This past Saturday they won at Duke 76-73 on a buzzer beating three pointer by Michael Snaer.

The game winner not only put Florida State in a three way tie for first in the ACC with Duke and North Carolina State, but also ended Duke's 45 game home court winning streak. It is a great turnaround for a team that lost to Princeton at home earlier this year and to Harvard in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Florida State is in a great position to make a run for the ACC title. They still have two games with a ranked Virginia team, and will host Duke at the end of February.

Done to One Unbeaten

With #1 Syracuse 67-58 loss to Notre Dame Saturday night, that means there is only one undefeated team left in Men's NCAA Division I basketball.

The Murray State Racers.

Look for the Racers to be in the Top 10 in both major polls when they are announced Monday afternoon. The question is will they remain undefeated?

They have eight games remaining in the regular season. The Racers will play four at home and four on the road. The team they need to watch out for are Southeast Missouri State, they play twice and Austin Peay. Those are two teams that can beat them.

If they make it through the regular season and Ohio Valley Conference tournament without a loss, it will be interesting to see what seed the NCAA Selection Committee gives them.

Vols Freshman Standout Jarnell Stokes is should still be in high school. Thankfully for the Tennessee Volunteers, he is not. After being declared ineligible for his senior year of his school, he reclassified and joined the Tennessee program in late December. After being declared eligible, he made his debut against Kentucky. He scored 9 points and grabbed 4 rebounds as the Vols almost upset the #2 Wildcats. Then he had 11 points and 9 rebounds in a loss to Georgia. Stokes made is biggest impact in the Vols upset of #13 Connecticut. Stokes had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Tennessee. Stokes is a huge addition to Cuonzo Martin as he tries to rebuild Tennessee after Bruce Pearl.

North Carolina State University Head Coach Mark Gottfried during the game against the University of Miami in N.C. State's 78-73 victory at BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida.

Coach Reinstated

Morgan State reinstated Coach Todd Bozeman. Bozeman missed three games as the Bears went 1-2 without him. Morgan State lost to North Carolina A&T 62-61 in Bozeman's first game back.

Appeal Denied

Todd O'Brien lost his appeal to play this season for UAB. O'Brien enrolled in graduated from Saint Joseph's and enrolled in graduated school at UAB. He wanted to play basketball this year for the Blazers. Saint Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli would not release O'Brien to play.

This became huge news a few weeks ago as the national media brought it to the public's attention.

Injuries

Season ending injuries hit North Carolina and Louisville this past week.

North Carolina lost Dexter Strickland for the season when he tore his ACL in a win at Virginia Tech.

Louisville lost Rakeem Buckles when he tore a ligament in his left knee in a loss to Marquette. Buckles is also expected to miss the 2012-12 season.

UPSETS!

• Notre Dame over #1 Syracuse
• Florida State over #4 Duke
• Nebraska over #11 Indiana
• Cincinnati over #13 Connecticut
• Tennessee over #13 Connecticut
• Virginia Tech over #15 Virginia
• Mississippi over #18 Mississippi State
• Arkansas over #20 Michigan
• Penn State over #22 Illinois
  

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