Watching Georgetown against West Virginia, I thought the announcers made an astute observation. Georgetown was not scoring using its traditional offense. The Hoyas couldn’t seem to buy an assisted basket because West Virginia seemed to anticipate every cut and every pass. The only way Georgetown was getting points was by individual one-on-one effort.

And on the first full weekend of conference play, when there were 35 match-ups between BCS conference teams, that seemed like the right metaphor for the day. Conference play means the scouting reports matter. We know what you run, and you know what we run. We know who your best players are, and you know who our best players are. The difference is who takes that information and executes better. And now that conference play is here, every weekend will have the same fun wrinkles:

1.) Superstar players are usually the difference.

Certain players, even though you know the scouting report, cannot be stopped. And they win games. Georgetown versus West Virginia pitted three stars against each other. For the Hoyas, it was Henry Sims, Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson. For West Virginia, it was Kevin Jones, Darryl Bryant,and Deniz Kilicli. And on Saturday, West Virginia’s stars were simply better. Deniz Kilicli became the first player this season to completely take Henry Sims out of his game. It wasn’t Sims worst statistical game. He’s beaten himself at times this year. But Kilicli was the first player to shut down Sims wide offensive repertoire. And offensively Jones was unstoppable around the rim, while Bryant saved West Virginia against the press late.

2.) Weak links get exposed.

Despite what West Virginia was able to do to shut down Georgetown in the halfcourt, the Mountaineers lack of point guard play almost cost them the game. With poor free throw shooters and young ball-handlers, expect WVU to see full court pressure in almost every game the rest of the year.

3.) Leaving the wrong players open for three is inexcusable.

There is no mystery who is a good point three-point shooter at this point in the season, and nothing irritates a coach more than when one of the great shooters gets an open look. Ask any coach and they’ll say the same thing. If we lose because we can’t make a basket, I can live with that. But if we lose because we leave the other team’s best shooter open, I can’t live with that. Virginia Tech trailed Wake Forest by 4 points and got two huge steals to get back in the game. But Wake Forest’s CJ Harris was 21-of-41 on the season from three point range, and was 2-for-3 in the game. And when Virginia Tech’s Erick Green went under a screen and left Harris wide open in the final seconds, you could almost hear Seth Greenberg’s head explode. Harris hit the game-winning three, but for a Virginia Tech team that prides itself on great defense, that lapse means a bad loss on the resume.

4.) If you are open for three at this point in the season, there might be a reason.

Niles Giffey had a couple of open three point looks for UConn late in the game at Rutgers. But Jim Calhoun was screaming at him for pulling the trigger. And those wasted possessions matter. While UConn was able to pull within four points a couple of times, that wrong shot selection was ultimately the dagger in UConn’s second loss of the week.

5.) Emerging players are scouting report kryptonite.

A few weeks ago, the scouting report on Joseph Bertrand said “non-factor offensively, do not be afraid to help off of him”. But with Illinois struggling offensively, Bertrand’s 11 of 12 performance from the field was the only thing that separated Illinois from a home loss to Nebraska. After a 9 for 9 game against Missouri, Bertrand’s emergence has been the kind of outside-the-scouting report development that can turn the tide in a season.

6.) Every team can win when the shots are falling, but who can execute the defensive scouting report when the shots are not falling?

Missouri and Florida entered Saturday with the two of the most efficient offenses in the country, and both are led by their electric backcourts. But neither team could make a jumper to save their life and both teams lost. Missouri shot just 33% from the field and Florida shot just 36%. (By the way, there are those that argue that FG% is a useless statistic in 2012 and that we should factor in the made threes using eFG%. But I still like the stat for this reason. It tells us that Florida and Missouri weren’t getting any “easy” buckets in the game. They may have made a few threes, but without any “easy” buckets, it is hard to win.)

Despite the disconcerting margin of victory, Missouri was going to lose a game eventually. I don’t read too much into a tough loss at a solid Kansas St. team. But Florida’s defense is starting to look historically terrible. I know I said last week that Tennessee was very unlucky to be 7-7. But for Florida to never make a run in the second half of that game was shocking. At some point if you want to win on the road, you have to string together a series of stops.

7.) And all of the above explain why it is hard to win on the road. Stars don’t get the same calls, weaker players are more likely to get rattled, and jump shots don’t fall. 

Duke is a much better team than Georgia Tech.  But on the road, Duke let Glen Rice Jr. score 28 points, and let the Yellow Jackets come back from an 18-point deficit.  Duke won it with free throws at the end, but it was the classic example of why all road wins, even over inferior teams, are impressive.

Four More Fantastic Games

- St. John’s went on the road and upset Cincinnati in one of the craziest games of the year. Cincinnati was 4 of 29 from three point range at one point in the game. Last week, I asked why Wisconsin was still taking threes in a 3-of-29 performance. Well, maybe you keep taking the shots because eventually they go in. Cincinnati hit its last three three-pointers of the game to tie the game. But with three seconds left and an NBA-style side out-of-bounds, St. John’s had some of the best halfcourt offense I have seen this year. St. John’s not only got a good look at a five foot floater, they even had time for the game-winning tip-in. To get two good interior shots in three seconds is flawless execution. I am now extremely confused about Cincinnati. This team had high expectations coming into the year, struggled with a Yancy Gates-oriented offense early, played well when Gates was suspended, and now the team loses again at home in a game where they are heavily favored. Whatever you think Cincinnati will do next, they will probably do just the opposite.

- I have been arguing for awhile that Miami (FL) might be the third best team in the ACC with a healthy Reggie Johnson despite data suggesting Virginia is the third best team in the conference. And Virginia’s 52-51 home win over Miami did little to answer that question. Both teams looked dominant for stretches.

- It is hard to believe, but Notre Dame and Louisville went to OT for the seventh time in the last 11 meetings. But despite double overtime, this game was not nearly as good as some of the recent clashes. Notre Dame missed a lot of shots, and Louisville missed a lot of free throws, and the end of regulation probably said it all. In the final 20 seconds, Louisville’s Petyon Siva was called for a charge and then Notre Dame failed to get a good look on the other end. This was a double OT game, but not a classic. 

-Stanford vs Oregon St. was much more memorable. First Stanford’s Josh Owens appears to get the game-winner in regulation, but it was waived off as the ball is still in his hands. Then in the third OT, with Stanford trailing by three, Stanford’s Anthony Brown hit a step-back three pointer to send the game to a fourth overtime. And in that fourth overtime, with Stanford leading by a point, Oregon St. missed three shots that would have won the game. First, Jared Cunningham stole the ball and missed a lay-up, then Devon Collier missed the put-back, and then in truly bizarre fashion, OSU’s Roberto Nelson threw Stanford’s Josh Huestis to the ground. Amazingly, despite his wrestling-style takedown, he was not called for a flagrant foul, and the dazed Huestis missed a FT which gave OSU one last look at a game winning three. This is a huge win for a Stanford, but you can’t fault Oregon St.’s effort. In particular, the image of the 250 lb Oregon forward Joe Burton diving on the floor for a rebound in the third OT is exactly the type of effort and hustle that makes college basketball great.