College Hoopla: February 8th

With all the focus this week on the Super Bowl, college basketball took a backseat and fans missed quite a bit. Two top five teams, Villanova and Michigan State lost and top-ranked Kansas almost continued the curse of being number one. With less a month until conference tournament start, teams at the bottom of leagues that do not let all teams in are battling for the chance to play the top teams in their conferences and teams on the bubble are looking for big wins. Here is last week's best:
Player of the Week:
Marcus Morris, F, Kansas
Morris has been stellar in Big 12 play for the Jayhawks and is a good second option to Cole Aldrich in the post. This past week, Morris delivered in a big way. In Boulder on Wednesday night, the Jayhawks went to overtime with Colorado and Morris scored six points in the extra period to lead the top team in the nation to the win. Back home at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Morris went for 20 points and 11 rebounds leading the team in both statistics in a win over Nebraska.
Team of the Week:
Duke
The Blue Devils have been flying under the radar this season in an off year in the ACC. Led by Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer and a cast of young players, Coach K has guided Duke to the top ten. This week, two big wins for the Blue Devils cemented their claim as the best in the ACC. Beating Georgia Tech at home 86-67 and then going on the road, which has been a struggle this season, at Boston College and squeezing out a win 66-63.
Upset of the Week:
South Florida over Georgetown 72-64
The Bulls have come out of nowhere to become one of the hottest teams in the nation and proved why by going to the nation's capital and taking the Hoyas with a strong second half performance led by guard Dominique Jones who ended up with 29 points, 12 of those coming from the foul line. The Bulls are now 5-6 in the Big East and could possibly make the tournament with a strong run in the upcoming weeks.
Conference Flying Under the Radar:
Atlantic 10
The A-10 title race is heating up and could be the best in the country. With seven teams with single-digit loss totals, Charlotte, Xavier, Richmond, Temple, Rhode Island, Dayton and Saint Louis, they all have a legit shot of winning the conference and making the tournament. Temple is the only ranked team, mainly because of their non-conference schedule and win over Villanova, but the other six are receiving votes in the polls. If these teams continue to get better and the teams like Saint Louis and Dayton, who are on the bubble, advance far in the conference tournament there could be up to seven teams going to the tournament and with major conferences like the ACC and Pac-10 have down years, this is a perfect situation for the Atlantic 10.
Games to Watch This Week:
Monday: Villanova @ West Virginia (7:00, ESPN)
Tuesday: Purdue @ Michigan State (9:00, ESPN)
Wednesday: Duke @ North Carolina (9:00, ESPN)
Thursday: Notre Dame @ Seton Hall (7:00, ESPNU)
Friday: West Virginia @ Pittsburgh (9:00, ESPN)
Weekend 6-Pack to Watch:
Rhode Island @ Temple (Sat, 4:00)
Xavier @ Florida (Sat, 6:00, ESPN)
Tennessee @ Kentucky (Sat, 9:00, ESPN)
Ohio State @ Illinois (Sun, 1:00, CBS)
Georgetown @ Rutgers (Sun, 4:00)
Missouri State @ Wichita State (Sun, 8:05, ESPNU)
What the Top 10 Should Be:
(1) Kansas
(2) Syracuse
(3) Kentucky
(4) West Virginia
(5) Villanova
(6) Purdue
(7) Georgetown
(8) Duke
(9) Kansas State
(10) Michigan State

Check back every week up to the national championship game for more College Hoopla.