CBB Stock Market: Duke & Syracuse Special Opening Act

While Super Bowl happened on Sunday, the best game of the weekend happened on Saturday night in upstate New York. Duke and Syracuse played a phenomenal game of college basketball as the Orange won in overtime, 91-89. The game had it all with big shots, questionable foul calls and a new born rivalry in the ACC.

Rasheed Sulamon had set up the perfect story for sportswriters. A guy whom Duke buried on the bench after a slow start to the season and instead of packing it in this season, he started contributing more and became a player again. Sulamon hit a game-tying three at the buzzer as well as another three with 48 seconds left in the game. With Jabari Parker and Amile Jefferson fouled out, Sulamon and Tyler Thornton stepped up in a major way to force overtime in a game where they probably did not even belong there. Great effort by Duke.



One of the big reasons Syracuse will be the new number one team today as Arizona fell to California is Tyler Ennis' play late in games. This guy is a freshman, and he acts like a Van Wilder team member when the game gets down to the final three minutes. Ennis is the Mariano Rivera of college basketball right now. A complete closer, and this is something that becomes very important when it gets down to March. Another thing helping Syracuse is the consistent play of C.J. Fair. In years past, Fair was a wildcard of sorts, but this year he is coming up in the big moments. Fair had 28 points, a season-high, and for the season, Fair is averaging 17.2, three points higher than last season's average.

You cannot help but wonder 'what if' about this game because Parker and Jefferson fouled out on shit calls from Karl Hess. Jefferson's was a foul, but Rakeem Christmas made it look like Jefferson committed a crime against him. If both played the extra period, would anything had changed? Would Sheed have even took the two 3-pointers? Who knows. Good thing these two teams meet again in three years at Cameron Indoor. As some would say, I think this is a start of a beautiful thing.

BUY BUY BUY 

St. Louis Billikens - Anyone realize this team is unbeaten in conference. St. Louis made the postseason last season as a four seed winning their first game of the tournament, but it seems like they are being forgotten again. They did nearly lose to a struggling George Mason team on Saturday, but St. Louis is playing better than most teams right now ranked in the top 25. Dwayne Evans is having another great season inside averaging nearly 15 points a game while pulling down 6.5 rebound a game, a team leader in both categories. Jordair Jett is having a great year as well at guard with his scoring up to nearly 13 points a game and his assist average up by 1.5. St. Louis hits the road this week with games against St. Joes and LaSalle.

HOLD HOLD HOLD

Kentucky Wildcats - On Tuesday, I was ready to go all in on selling Kentucky. For weeks I have been thinking the John Calipari model might not work again in college basketball. Kentucky got a nice win Saturday on the road against Missouri. It really all comes down to what Andrew Harrison are we going to get on a nightly basis. He played his worst game against LSU and then his best game against Missouri. I think the jury is still out on whether the Cats can be a team that goes far in the NCAA Tournament.

SELL SELL SELL 

Oklahoma State Cowboys - With how good the Big 12 is right now, it seems like every week, a team falls on hard times. But this has to be disappointing for Oklahoma State. This team had a great deal of expectations, and I am willing to bet no one thought they would 4-4 in conference at the start of February. They suffered a road loss to rival Oklahoma and a home loss against a desperate Baylor team whose starting point guard, Kenny Cherry, did not play. Marcus Smart looks off right now, and Oklahoma State needs to figure it out quickly with a big game tonight at home against Iowa State. 

GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEK 
Monday: Norte Dame at Syracuse 6:00 pm ESPN, Xavier at Villanova 6:00 pm FOX Sports 1
                Iowa State at Oklahoma State 8:00 pm ESPN

Tuesday: Ohio State at  Iowa 6:00 pm ESPN, Kansas at Baylor 6:00 pm ESPN2,
               Missouri at Florida 8:00 pm ESPN, Wisconsin at Illinois 8:00 pm Big Ten Network

Wednesday: Wichita State at Indiana State 7:05 pm ESPN3,
                     San Diego State at Boise State 8:15 pm CBS Sports Network