John Calipari, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison

Kentucky head coach John Calipari, right, and the Wildcats including twins Aaron Harrison (2) and Andrew Harrison (5) are the last undefeated basketball team in the country this season.

(AP Photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- College basketball, behind the scenes, shows signs of becoming like NASCAR, constantly changing the rules to address whatever the perceived problem of the day is. The stories are linked everywhere.

There is a push to trim the 35-second clock back to 30 seconds and to widen the court for more freedom of movement. This is an attempt to speed up the game to improve scoring. Neither hits the real problem.

Try coaching.

Fundamentals, such as improved free-throw shooting, would go a long way toward getting point totals up. The most recent rules change, putting a semicircle under the basket and limiting the ability of post players to take a charge, has helped lead to a lot more free throws. That has exposed the fact many players/teams can't shoot well from the line.

Where 68 percent team free throw shooting used to be considered marginal, the best conference in the country, the ACC, had eight teams shoot less than 68 percent from the line in their last game. The culprits might surprise you.

Florida State (66.7), Louisville (61.4), Wake Forest (59.3), North Carolina State (57.9), Boston College (55.6), North Carolina (55.0), Miami (54.5) and Duke (53.8). Four of those teams were in the last AP Top 25 poll. Two of them (Duke and Louisville) were in the Top 10.

Just FYI: There are only nine players in the country shooting better than 90 percent on free throws according to the latest NCAA stats. The leader is Riley Grabau from Wyoming at 94.1 percent, followed by Jarekious Bradley at Southeast Missouri State (who began his career at Kent State) at 93.1 percent.

What to do: If coaches want a rule change, try this. Eliminate the 3-seconds call. Mandate, the final 25 seconds of the shot-clock, there must be an offensive player inside the paint at all times. He can still set screens, and step out for jump shots, but there must be a 'post' player in the paint at all time.

This would also open the perimeter for more freedom of movement and might also encourage more true inside scoring, which could lead to more points overall.

Only one left: The Kentucky Wildcats (21-0, 8-0) are now the only team in the country that is undefeated after Virginia fell last week to Duke (when Duke shot 53.8 percent from the line). If you're curious, Feb. 10 at LSU and Feb. 28 vs. Arkansas look to the prime opportunities for the Wildcats to get their first loss, if at all.

Just so you know, the Wildcats -- consensus No. 1 in the nation and favored to win the national championship -- are shooting 69.0 percent from the line this season.

At the other end of the spectrum there are just two winless teams remaining -- Florida A&M (0-21) and Central Arkansas (0-18). Savannah State (5-16), in the last game of the season, looks to be FAMU's best hope for a win; Feb. 7, vs. New Orleans (6-11) might be it for Central Arkansas.

Coming to Cleveland: Conference-USA has a lot of bottom feeders dragging that conference down, with nine of the 14 teams in the league sitting .500 or worse overall. But at the top is Louisiana Tech (17-5, 8-1), ahead of Western Kentucky (15-6, 8-1), a team it has already defeated, and No. 3 UAB, (11-11, 7-2), another team it has defeated.

While the computers rank C-USA No. 4 Old Dominion (17-4, 6-3) a lofty No. 40 in the nation, the Monarchs have a lot of work to do to catch up to the No. 98 Bulldogs, who are in the NCAA Top 100 teams in scoring per game (74.3 points), field-goal percentage (45.4 percent), blocked shots (5.7) and steals (8.3).

Louisiana Tech will likely be an 11-12-13 seed at best, but that's where NCAA Tournament teams capable of upsets normally reside, which could see them land in Cleveland for the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional in March.

Inside the Top 25: A whopping 13 teams in the AP Top 25 lost at least one game last week and the range went from top to bottom. Look for several Big Ten teams to move around this week in the poll, with Ohio State likely to make a return to the AP list.

Key games this week:

Monday - Virginia at North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN.

Monday - Iowa State at Kansas, 9 p.m., ESPN.

Wednesday - Creighton at Xavier, 9 p.m., Fox Sports I.

Thursday - Gonzaga at Santa Clara, 11 p.m., ESPNU.

Saturday - Baylor at West Virginia, noon, ESPNU.



Top 25 poll vote: Here's how I voted this week in the AP Top 25 poll.



1. Kentucky

2. Gonzaga

3. Wisconsin

4. Duke

5. Virginia



6. Arizona

7. Villanova

8. Kansas

9. Louisville

10 Notre Dame



11. Iowa State

12. West Virginia

13. Northern Iowa

14. Utah

15. Wichita State



16. North Carolina

17. VCU

18. Maryland

19. Oklahoma

20. Butler



21. Baylor

22. Texas A&M

23. Ohio State

24. Indiana

25 Tulsa