12 takeaways as college basketball begins its stretch run

Twelve takeaways from a significant day in college basketball, as teams hit the stretch run toward March:

1. Kansas is addicted to drama. But Kansas also is addicted to winning.

The Jayhawks have won a dozen Big 12 games this season, virtually locking up a 13th consecutive league title in the process. But very little of it has come easily. The victory at Baylor was their ninth in league play by six points or fewer – including all of the past four. Last week, Kansas ended the game against West Virginia on a 21-7 run to pull out a miracle win, then followed that with a closing 8-0 run to beat Baylor.

While this might not be a dominant team, it is the most clutch group in the country. Kansas is brilliant in late-game situations, tough and savvy and never rattled no matter the scenario. The Jayhawks play like what they are: a veteran-laden team. Frank Mason has played 135 games in a Kansas uniform, Landen Lucas has played 115, Devonte’ Graham has played 93, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk has played 87.

That kind of experience is gold in the modern college game, where often the most talented teams are the youngest. There isn’t much Kansas’ core group hasn’t seen or can’t handle.

Bill Self’s team has some limitations – not much depth and not much reliable size off the bench. There is a danger that Mason and Graham, who average 35.7 and 34.8 minutes per game, respectively, may wear down come March.

But good luck winning an elimination game against these guys.

2. Villanova and North Carolina staged a classic championship game last April. And both look like they have everything needed for a Final Four return engagement.

The Tar Heels maintained their lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference by pulverizing fading Virginia, 65-41. Justin Jackson was brilliant in the first half for Carolina and Kennedy Meeks was overpowering in the second half. Roy Williams’ team is deep, big and versatile offensively – and the Heels seem to be increasingly motivated defensively. Their home game against Louisville Wednesday could go a long way toward deciding who wins the ACC.

Villanova, meanwhile, closed a three-game road swing by throttling Seton Hall, 92-70. Total margin of victory in trips to Xavier, DePaul and Seton Hall: 51 points. It was ‘Nova’s fifth straight win by double digits. If Frank Mason isn’t your national Player of the Year, then perhaps Wildcats senior Josh Hart is. He’s scored in double figures 33 straight games, a streak that dates back to the first game of the 2016 NCAA tournament.

Last time two teams that played for the title both returned to the Final Four the following year: a decade ago (Florida and UCLA). If Villanova and North Carolina don’t wind up in the same region, it could happen this year.

3. Speaking of teams in the habit of winning big: Gonzaga had its 20th straight double-digit victory Saturday, pounding poor Pacific 82-61 and improving to 28-0. Only three teams have come within single digits of the Zags this season: Arizona, Florida and Iowa State, all NCAA tournament teams.

Pacific had no chance against Gonzaga’s overwhelming defense, which leads the nation in effective field-goal percentage allowed (41.5). The Zags’ length makes scoring inside arduous, and it frees their perimeter players to get out on shooters at the 3-point line.

Now just two games from a perfect regular season, Gonzaga will make a Thursday trip to 11-16 San Diego, then come home to face 19-9 BYU Saturday. The Cougars did win in Spokane last year, but they were a better team then and the 2016 Zags were not as good as this version.

4. Hero Ball remains a plague upon our nation.

Guards who wouldn’t give up the rock despite being double covered played major roles in a pair of Big 12 games Saturday. For Baylor, trailing by two with eight seconds left, Manu Lecomte kept the ball and took the last shot despite being stalked by both Frank Mason and Josh Jackson, with predictable results. Then West Virginia had a perfect chance to reprise Villanova’s championship-winning play at the end of regulation against Texas Tech – only to see Jevon Carter force up a shot instead of dishing off.

There were 4.6 seconds left in that one – just a tenth less than Villanova had against North Carolina – and Nathan Adrian was trailing the play in the Kris Jenkins role. But Carter wouldn’t be Ryan Arcidiacono and pass it to him, instead going 1-on-2 and missing. This one ended better than Baylor’s last shot, though – West Virginia won in overtime, and Carter finished with a season-high 24 points.

Coaches have a hard time drawing up anything good at the end of games, and players seem to have an even harder time executing anything that involves a pass. Which is why we see a lot of bad shots that miss at the end.

5. Michigan State guard Eron Harris left Purdue’s Mackey Arena on a stretcher. He might have taken the Spartans’ NCAA tournament hopes with him.

Harris, who is second on the team in minutes and third in scoring, suffered a knee injury of undisclosed severity. It certainly looked bad. If he’s done for the season, a team that is 16-11 and 8-6 in the Big Ten may struggle to get the remaining wins needed to lock up a bid. And Michigan State hasn’t missed the Big Dance since 1997, Tom Izzo’s second season on the job.

Harris hasn’t played well in February and has lost some minutes of late – but on a shaky offensive team he’s a guy who can create his own shot. That could be something the Spartans miss in a closing stretch against Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and Maryland.

6. Kentucky’s winning streak is four, but the Wildcats have not cured all that ails them.

They were pushed into the last minute before De’Aaron Fox almost single-handedly put away Georgia, 82-77. While any conference road win will be embraced, this one came with the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Yante Maten, missing the last 38½ minutes after injuring his right knee. Word out of Georgia Saturday night is that the injury appears “serious,” and the hard-luck Bulldogs aren’t going to play their way into the NCAA tournament without a guy averaging 19.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

On this day, Kentucky was more lucky than good. The Wildcats allowed a limited Georgia team to shoot 63 percent from inside the arc, and failed to create as many turnovers (11) as the error-prone Bulldogs usually commit. Kentucky simply isn’t a very good defensive team at this late juncture – and while those lights can still come on for a young team, as Duke showed in 2015 – the time is drawing short.

7. Northwestern flirted with a season-jeopardizing loss at home to Rutgers, and the stress of it nearly killed Doug Collins.

ESPNU cameras showed the father of Wildcats coach Chris Collins agonizing through the tense closing minutes, as Northwestern fought back after trailing for a 14-minute stretch of the second half. With Northwestern on the verge of victory, the elder Collins actually appeared to be crying in the stands. And this is a guy who played and coached in the NBA for 35 years.

Collins had a lot of company from stressed-out fans of the Wildcats, who saw the first NCAA bid in school history becoming shockingly shaky against the last-place team in the Big Ten. After losing three of their past four, the last thing Northwestern could afford to do was drop the only remaining gimme game on the schedule.

The Wildcats came quite close. Had Rutgers secured a pair of late defensive rebounds that its players seemingly had the inside angle to get, the Scarlet Knights would have scored their first major win under first-year coach Steve Pikiell. But the Wildcats made the plays they had to make to pull out the win, and at 20-7 and 9-5, they’re one step closer to going where they’ve never gone before.

8. The Arizona-Washington matchup undoubtedly had the attention of a lot of NBA scouts and front-office types. One-and-doners Markelle Fultz and Lauri Markkanen both delivered.

Fultz, the more known commodity last fall, had 26 points and six assists. Markkanen produced 26 points and 13 rebounds, and his team got the victory. The 7-footer from Finland has had a huge year, certainly improving his draft stock over the course of Arizona’s 25-3 season. The most recent DraftExpress.com mock draft has Fultz as the No. 1 pick in the draft and Markkanen as the seventh pick.

If Markkanen has a big March and Arizona makes a Final Four run, he likely will continue to move up the mocks. Fultz won’t have that opportunity, since Washington (9-18, 2-13) is a huge bust.

9. Until Trevon Bluiett comes back from the ankle injury he suffered Feb. 11 against Villanova, Xavier is out of offensive options.

The Musketeers already were hampered by the season-ending knee injury to No. 2 scorer and top assist man Edward Sumner. But without Bluiett, their leading scorer, they’ve dropped consecutive games against Providence and Marquette. In Milwaukee Saturday, they were down 21-2 out of the gate and didn’t score their second basket until nearly seven minutes had elapsed.

The loss of Sumner and Bluiett has put too much of a burden on freshman guard Quentin Goodin, who isn’t ready for a centerpiece role. Goodin has made just 4 of 28 shots in the past three games.

10. Is February where South Carolina’s NCAA tournament bids go to die?

Last year the Gamecocks went 4-4 in February and wound up just missing the Big Dance. This year they’re 2-3, coming off consecutive losses to Arkansas and Vanderbilt. And while they should have the requisite résumé already – Syracuse, Michigan, Florida and Monmouth are among their 20 wins – a complete collapse now would spike the anxiety in Columbia. Guard PJ Dozier needs to get his shooting stroke back – he’s made just 2 of his past 10 3-pointers and missed his past seven free throws. He was 0-5 from the line against Vandy Saturday.

11. The Pac-12 is a three-team league. More than that will get NCAA bids, but outside of Arizona, Oregon and UCLA there is not much to like about the league. Those three, however, you should like a lot. It wouldn’t be a shock to see any of them make the Final Four, and possibly more than one.

12. Buzz Williams coaching the second half of Virginia Tech’s game against Louisville in an orange T-shirt, after sweating through his dress shirt during the first half, was the sight of the day. It also served as a reminder of how differently football and basketball coaches dress for game day – the number of football coaches who wear ties during games can be counted on one hand.