College basketball heat check: LSU scorching hot, Syracuse cooling off

This week’s college hoops heat check takes note of the fact that LSU has surged into first place in the SEC and Syracuse squandered an opportunity to improve its NCAA Tournament resume.

Things change quickly in college basketball, and last week’s heat check provided a prime example of that. Virginia, which was a faller after a recent slump, rebounded nicely with a pair of wins while Seton Hall’s winning streak came to an end after the Pirates got beaten by Xavier on Saturday.

This week’s heat check starts off with our rapid risers, including the new top dogs in the SEC.

Rapid Risers

LSU

Don’t look now, but the Tigers are scorching hot right now. LSU has ripped off 10 straight victories, including a perfect 8-for-8 in SEC play, to surge to the top of the conference’s standings. That is a very impressive feat since many were hyping Kentucky and Florida as the SEC’s best teams at the start of the season. Auburn also began the year undefeated so LSU’s run of dominance deserves mention.

West Coast Conference

The WCC has usually been a one or two-bid league to the NCAA Tournament depending on whether or not Gonzaga falls in the conference tournament but things could be different this year. The Zags are definitely in but four different teams in the WCC have at least 16 wins with Saint Mary’s, BYU and Santa Clara holding legitimate at-large chances.

Obi Toppin, Dayton

Dayton continued its magical season by surging into the top 10 last week, and that has largely been on the strength of Obi Toppin. The sophomore forward averaged 20 points in wins over Duquesne and Fordham last week. On the season, Toppin is averaging 19.7 points per game and is proving to be a legitimate NBA prospect.

Fast Fallers

Syracuse

It was not a good week for the Orange faithful, who entered the week with a strong belief their school could make a case for an at-large bid out of a weak ACC. Syracuse promptly lost back-to-back games, falling on the road by a point at Clemson before getting pushed around by Duke in the Carrier Dome. Things will need to improve quickly for the Orange to get back into a position to stake a claim for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Tennessee

The Volunteers are also trending down thanks to an ill-timed three-game losing streak. Neither loss looks particularly good for the Volunteers, who got beaten at home by a .500 Texas A&M team before getting drubbed by 13 at Mississippi State. A win over VCU looks nice on Tennessee’s resume, but one of their other top victories is losing significant luster since the opponent is also a fast faller.

Washington

Being the only team (so far) to beat Baylor should be a major selling point for Washington’s resume but the Huskies are letting it go to waste by sinking in the Pac-12 standings. Washington is just 2-8 in conference play and has dropped nine of their last 11 games, including its current five-game skid to fall to 12-11 on the season. Considering the level of talent that Washington has, they should be far better than the worst team in the Pac-12.

For more NCAA basketball news, analysis, opinion and features, check out more from the FanSided college basketball section to stay on top of the latest action.