College Hoopla- Feb. 15

In a weekend dominated by the Olympics, college basketball was dominated by upsets all week with Syracuse, Georgetown, Northern Iowa, Georgia Tech and Cornell all going down in conference play. The countdown to March Madness continues and conference races are getting hotter with the Big East and A-10 races being the most intriguing.
Player of the Week: Kalin Lucas, G, Michigan State
Lucas needs to be on the floor and healthy for the Spartans to win. Lucas was hurt at Wisconsin two weeks ago and sat out Sparty's game at Illinois, both games were dropped by Tom Izzo's team. Going into Tuesday's big matchup with Purdue, Lucas was not 100% but still gave his all in 29 minutes he played but his effort was not enough. On Saturday against Penn State, Lucas looked to finally be back at full strength playing 35 minutes and scoring 24 points. If the Spartans want to make a run in March, Lucas must be healthy.
Team of the Week: New Mexico
The Lobos are not only flying under the radar nationally, but even in their own conference. With BYU being the head honcho of the Mountain West, Steve Alford's team has slowly been climbing up the top 25 and cemented its position in the Mountain West with wins at UNLV and Utah this week. They are now at 23-3 (9-2 in Mt. West) and could help the Mountain West gain multiple bids, along with BYU and UNLV, and could go far in the tournament with an experienced coach like Alford.
Game of the Week: Pittsburgh 98, West Virginia 95 (3OT)
Version two of the Backyard Brawl occured only a week and a half after the first game in Morgantown. With the home crowd behind them, Jamie Dixon's Panthers prevailed in a brawl, scrapping to come back at the end of regulation and holding on until the end of the third overtime to win. As usual, West Virginia got a big game from former Hoopla player of the week Da'Sean Butler, who put up 32. Pittsburgh relied on strong performances by upperclassmen Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker who contributed with big shot after big shot.
Upsets of the Week:
Louisville over Syracuse 66-60
Rutgers over Georgetown 71-68
Penn over Cornell 79-64
All three upsets have their own significance. Louisville went into the Carrier Dome and did what only Pitt could do this season and beat Syracuse at home, a win which put them back into tournament contention. Rutgers, always strong at the RAC, outplayed the Hoyas all day and were rewarded for all their hard work with a win that sets Georgetown back in the race to grab a high seed in March. Perhaps the most shocking of all, Penn, who came into their matchup with nationally ranked Big Red with only three wins. Cornell is by far the best team in the Ivy League and barely missed an upset at Kansas earlier in the year but no one saw this upset coming. Dropping Cornell out of the top 25 and putting themselves at 3-2 in Ivy League competition, the Quakers have a high note during a low year.
Games to Watch This Week:
Monday: UCONN @ Villanova (7, ESPN)
Tuesday: Creighton @ Northern Iowa (8:05)
Wednesday: Purdue @ Ohio State (6:30, Big 10 Network)
Thursday: Syracuse @ Georgetown (7, ESPN2)
Friday: William & Mary @ Iona (9, ESPNU)
Weekend 6-Pack to Watch:
Siena @ Butler (Sat, 11:00 AM, ESPN2)
Illinois @ Purdue (Sat, 4:00, ESPN)
UCONN @ Rutgers (Sat, 4:00, ESPN360)
Kentucky @ Vanderbilt (Sat, 6:00, ESPN)
Villanova @ Pittsburgh (Sun, 12:00, CBS)
Ohio State @ Michigan State (Sun, 12:00)
What the Top 10 Should Be:
(1) Kansas
(2) Kentucky
(3) Villanova
(4) Purdue
(5) Syracuse
(6) Duke
(7) Kansas State
(8) West Virginia
(9) Ohio State
(10) New Mexico

Check back every week until the championship for more College Hoopla.