Oklahoma's Headache

NEW YORK (The Tuesday College Diaries) - Blake Griffin is the best player in college basketball.

If you need proof, look at what is happening to Oklahoma without him.

Griffin was hurt on Saturday night, when an inadvertent whack from Texas' Dexter Pittman left him with a concussion. He left after 11 minutes, and Oklahoma lost 73-68 - only their second defeat of the season.

Three days later, they were back on their home floor, having had time to prepare to play without their talisman.

No matter.

The streaking Kansas Jayhawks came into Norman and, after some early struggles, they beat up Oklahoma in an 87-78 win.

There is little disgrace in losing to this Kansas team, who have now taken over the Big 12 conference lead with a 12-1 conference record.

The Jayhawks have struggled to earn respect this season, a result of Bill Self's team losing 80% of their scoring from last season, but right now they have a better record than they did at this point a year ago - when they were en route to their national title.

But that will not make defeat any easier to stomach for the Sooners.

Sure, they have plenty of talent not named Griffin, but their gameplan is built around the double teams that he attracts.

With Blake on the bench, his older brother Taylor Griffin was needed to shoulder some responsibility. Instead, he got into foul trouble early and Kansas took full advantage.

What had been a 20-8 Oklahoma lead at the midway point of the first half was blown up by a 16-0 Kansas run, turning the game on its head.

With no threat inside, Kansas could defend the perimeter, and Willie Warren was the only Oklahoma guard who still found a way to score, finishing with 23 points.

At the other end, Jayhawks freshman Tyshawn Taylor was having some fun, scoring 16 points in the first half en route to 26. Sherron Collins, who had four points at half time, finished the game with 26 for Kansas.

By the second half, Kansas was taking it right to Oklahoma's weak point, playing a physical inside game that simply wouldn't work if Griffin had been out there.

Kansas sophomore center Cole Aldrich feasted, collecting 15 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks.

Even though Oklahoma made a stirring 9-0 run to cut a 15 point deficit to six, 62-56, with 6:47 left to go, there was no way back for the Sooners even as they kept it close the rest of the way in a thrilling finish.

In the build-up to the game, Griffin was listed as day-to-day, only being officially pulled out a few hours before tip off.

There is every chance he returns to play Texas Tech on Saturday. But concussions are uncertain things - and risks cannot be taken.

Whenever he comes back, it may already be too late for Oklahoma's Big 12 hopes.

Tough at the Top: Oklahoma's losses were just part of a brutal week at the top end of college basketball. After UConn had lost to Pitt, the No. 1 ranking was there for the Sooners to take against the Longhorns, but they couldn't do it.

That passed the opportunity to North Carolina to reclaim the ranking it held at the start of the season and which so many folks had assumed it would carry throughout the season.

Greivis Vasquez and Maryland had other ideas.

The Venezuelan became the first Terrapin in 22 years to record a triple-double as Maryland rallied from 16 points down to force overtime and stun the Tar Heels 88-85 in overtime on Saturday.

Vasquez, a junior guard, collected a career-high 35 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a stunning performance that was as much about attitude as talent. Vasquez refused to back down as North Carolina built a seemingly insurmountable 52-36 lead in the second half.

The loss snaps a Tar Heels win streak at 10 and raises fresh questions about North Carolina's depth going into March. While their starting five are pretty much unstoppable, those behind them are not. The Tar Heels got only five points off their bench in this one - Maryland got 41.

That loss allowed Pitt to get their just desserts - albeit a week later - for last week's victory over then No. 1 UConn in Hartford as they return to the top of the polls.

There was never much danger of the Panthers falling foul of the problems affecting last week's top three as DeJuan Blair collected 20 points and 18 rebounds in an easy 80-61 win over DePaul.

Seminal Seminoles: With Wake Forest now fading, a new team has emerged as the ACC's surprise package.

Say hello to Florida State.

The Seminoles went on the road Saturday to sneak past Virginia Tech 67-65 and improve to 21-6 overall, 8-4 in the ACC.

While that's good enough for fourth place right now, I'm not sure it holds up the rest of the way. Florida State still has to go on the road to play Boston College and Duke, while Clemson are still to visit Tallahassee.

Burning the Bruins: It looks like the Diaries jinx has got UCLA good and proper.

Following last week's losses to Arizona and Arizona State, the Bruins made it three defeats out of four as they went down 82-81 to Washington State this week.

The slide has instantly knocked UCLA out of the Pac-10 title picture as they trail Washington by two games,

As for Wazzu, a 6-9 record is not going to get an awful lot done, even if their resume does look a little better if you consider losses to UCLA and USC were by two points and the Stanford defeat was by one. However, this win might raise a few opposing coaches' eyebrows ahead of the Pac-10 Tournament.

Musketeers fire back: Just to follow up on the note on Xavier's struggles last week...

Things got worse before they got better, but get better they did by week's end.

It did not seem like they would on Thursday night as the Musketeers suffered a stunning 65-60 loss to Charlotte, which recorded only its fourth conference win of the season.

But all Xavier needed was to get back on its home court, where the Musketeers duly extended their conference unbeaten streak to 23 with a 71-53 rout of George Washington - a win that gives them the Atlantic 10 lead back by half a game after Dayton lost to Saint Louis on Saturday night.

The conference title will now be decided on March 5, when Dayton must end Xavier's home dominance if it is to wrest the crown away.

Bulldogs win...again: We spend a lot of time on here moaning about one-team conferences, usually in reference to Memphis and Conference USA.

So now let's turn the spotlight on one of the handful of decent non-conference teams the Tigers have beaten this season - Gonzaga.

The Bulldogs this week wrapped up their ninth straight West Coast Conference title, and their twelfth straight 20-win season. Another three wins and it will be another unbeaten WCC campaign for the Zags.

"It never gets old," coach Mark Few said after Thursday's 91-54 demolition of Loyola Marymount.

We beg to differ.

Rebuilding The Citadel: A tip of the cap to coach Ed Conroy, who has pulled off a major rebuilding job at his alma mater.

Conroy came to perennial Southern Conference doormat, The Citadel, in 2006.

Last week, a 64-46 pounding of Davidson on the road made it 10 straight wins for a team that Conroy has now led to an 18-10 record, 13-4 in the conference.

It is the first time since 1985 that the Bulldogs have 18 wins, and this is only their fourth winning season in the last two decades.

Smokey Roberts