By Tom Reck
Let’s talk a little college hoops — it is certainly basketball weather and then some.
The list of undefeated men’s teams decreased to four last week, leaving Purdue, Kansas, Texas and Kentucky as the lone teams without a setback.
Purdue handed West Virginia its first defeat and looked great in the meeting of then-undefeated teams on New Year’s Day.
The Boilermakers won their Big Ten opener at Iowa, meet Minnesota tonight at Mackey Arena and go to Wisconsin on Saturday. Minnesota and Wisconsin currently lead the league with 2-0 records.
The Badgers have looked tough in beating Ohio State by 22 and Penn State on the road by 17, holding both opponents to less than 50 points. Bo Ryan recently won his 200th game at the school.
Indiana looked good in beating Michigan in its first conference game and Michigan was a winner over Ohio State on Sunday.
The Hoosiers are at Ohio State on Wednesday and Buckeye ace Evan Turner may be back in action for OSU. He has been out with a back injury for a few games.
IU returns home to face Illinois on Saturday. The Illini beat Northwestern in their Big Ten opener and are at Iowa tonight.
In the Missouri Valley, Indiana State is 2-1 and tied with four other teams for second behind league-leading Northern Iowa, the only 3-0 team in the conference.
The Sycamores are beginning MVC play with three of four games on the road and continue that killer schedule Wednesday at Bradley, 1-2 in the Valley, before coming back to Hulman Center to play Evansville, 0-3 in the league, on Sunday.
Fans should think about going to Hulman Center for the battle between Aces and Sycamores. ISU is playing well and will be out to get another victory against its old rival from the Pocket City.
Tennessee and Kansas will meet Sunday in a game that will be on national television. The Vols are 10-2 but likely will be meeting the Jayhawks and a good Charlotte team on Wednesday without four starters currently on indefinite suspension.
In women’s games, Connecticut had no problems beating Big East foe Seton Hall 91-24 and three other ranked teams won by 60 points or more on Saturday.
• Services set — Funeral services are scheduled Wednesday for Jimmy Claus, longtime sports editor of The Tribune before The Star and Tribune merged.
We got our start in the newspaper business in 1958 by working for “Frosty” Garderwine at The Star and Claus at The Tribune.
Jimmy was always the perfect gentlemen and a professional in every way. His “Sporting Around” column was a popular item for many years.
• Tom-Cattin’ It — The Sporting News has published early favorites for the Super Bowl on its Web site, stating the Cowboys and Chargers have the best chances to make it to the big game.
Six teams will be meeting in rematches of Sunday’s regular-season finales in playoff action this weekend. Arizona faces Green Bay again, Philadelphia returns to Dallas and Cincinnati meets the New York Jets. The Jets, Cowboys and Packers were winners Sunday.
• To the reader who wanted to know how Kentucky got a tie on its basketball record, we tried but could not get the reason. We know the tie game was in the 1918 season when the Wildcats were 9-2-1.
By the way, super frosh John Wall set a Kentucky school record with 16 assists against Hartford last month.
• Evansville Bosse grad Cardell McFarland has been dismissed from the Missouri State basketball team. He played in five games and scored 25 points.
• In last week’s Sagarin men’s basketball rankings, ISU moved to 108 from 122. IU was 181 and Purdue was No. 7 in the list.
• We enjoyed watching Ohio State beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl and will make on final college football pick. We’ll go against the odds and say Texas will beat Alabama in the championship game Thursday.
Happy New Year to you all.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
