College basketball short takes

March 1, 2014 at 5:25AM
Creighton coach Greg McDermott looks at his notes with Doug McDermott (3) and Ethan Wragge (34) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Seton Hall in Omaha, Neb., Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014. Creighton won 72-71. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
McDermott (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

• Something to sit and ponder: Even with one more regular-season game remaining, Wichita State has gone 30-0 before the postseason, something no college basketball team has ever done. Whether the Shockers will be rewarded for this feat with a No. 1 seed is still a subject of great debate, but if you need another argument in favor of that, ESPN's Eamonn Brennan provides one, via ESPN Stats & Info. In the Associated Press poll era, each other the previous four teams that followed Final Four appearances with a 30-0 start (including postseason games) made it back to the Final Four the following year. Regardless of your thoughts on the disastrous Missouri Valley Conference (and it is), Wichita State is for real.

• Heading into Saturday's game at Xavier, Creighton's Doug McDermott — a near-lock for Player of the Year — is 83 points shy of 3,000 for his career, a milestone that only seven players have ever achieved. Will he hit the mark before he leaves CenturyLink Center court for the last time? The Omaha World Herald points out that it's very possible. McDermott is averaging 26 points a game. He would need 28 per game to reach 3,000 in the next three.

• In each of the past two seasons, the team with the best Basketball Percentage Index from Feb. 1 to Selection Sunday has won the national championship, ESPN notes. The team with the current best BPI since Feb. 1? North Carolina.

• Jim Boeheim's freakout followed by ejection over a foul call has kind of dominated Syracuse coverage lately, but those hysterics are masking the real issue the Orange is experiencing, Rush The Court points out. The offense is struggling, big time. In the first 24 games, Syracuse posted a 102.1 offensive efficiency rate — meaning the Orange scored 102.1 points per 100 possessions. But in the past four games, Boeheim's bunch has posted offensive efficiencies of 92.5, 94.3, 99.6 and 88.6.

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Ober allowed nine hits, four runs in 5 ⅔ innings with five strikeouts, zero walks.

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