What a week in college hoops! There were some big time upsets including one of the nation’s six unbeaten teams falling from their pedestal. We’ve got a lot to cover so we won’t waste any more time here. Let’s dive in!

At the top, (1) Arizona maintained pace by comfortably surpassing Kansas State and TCU. Just below them, however, (2) Michigan saw its perfect season end!  Unranked Wisconsin stunned the Wolverines 91-88 in Ann Arbor, handing them their first loss of the year. Wisconsin fueled the upset with 15 made shots from behind the arc, and made just enough defensive stops down the stretch to hold off the maize and blue. While Michigan fell, (3) Iowa State, (4) UConn, and (5) Purdue took care of business and all remained in the win column. 

Shoutout to Big Ten surprise (10) Nebraska, who preserved their unbeaten record by rallying past Indiana 83-77! Down 16 midway through the second half, Nebraska flipped the game by outscoring Indiana 50–28 over the final 17:42. (7) Houston has quietly won 9 straight games and impressively held off (14) Texas Tech before crushing Baylor in Waco.  They seem to be rounding into the form we expected. (11) Vanderbilt remains undefeated on the year (who saw that coming) and picked up their best win of the season over (13) Alabama.  Speaking of the Crimson Tide - they dropped their next game vs unranked Texas.  They’re shooting just 40% from the field in their last two losses. (15) Arkansas also suffered an unranked loss, falling at Auburn 95-73!

Expect more shakeup at the bottom of the polls during the next rankings release - (20) Louisville, (21) Tennessee, (22) Kansas, (24) SMU and (25) UCF all lost to unranked opponents over the last week. 

One last callout for the defending national champs - Florida - who had their best week of the year: victories over (18) Georgia and (21) Tennessee may sneak them back into the top 25 sooner than later.

We talked about the need for Utah State to be ranked last week, but the “experts” didn’t listen. The Aggies followed it up with a couple of blowout road wins against Air Force (99-62) and Boise State (93-68). They better be in the Top 25 after these performances! Boise State lost to Grand Canyon earlier in the week to fall to 9-7 and 1-4 in Mountain West play. Their at large hopes appear to be gone. The Atlantic 10 has a chance to steal one a bid from the Mountain West thanks to strong performances from their top dogs. Saint Louis moved to 15-1 on the year after wins over VCU and La Salle. George Mason is now 16-1 after beating Fordham and VCU. Dayton beat George Washington to keep their A10 record unblemished as well. This will be a fascinating conference race all the way to March.

Saint Mary’s got a win over Washington State to stay unbeaten in WCC play. The Gaels head on the road to face San Francisco and Santa Clara this week. Santa Clara played (8) Gonzaga tough in The Kennel but came up short. They bounced back with a thrashing of Loyola Marymount on Saturday behind 37 points behind freshman Sash Gavalyugov. He hadn’t scored more than 8 points in a game since December 3rd! The Missouri Valley Conference keeps building towards an incredible Arch Madness. The conference boasts five teams with 12+ wins (the Big East has three, for reference). Murray State sits atop the standings after beating Evansville and Valparaiso. Belmont bounced back after a 1-1 week to win at Northern Iowa and at Drake. They were down 25 in the second half against Drake and won the game on this beautiful play. Bradley had the most impressive week of all though beating both Drake and Northern Iowa at home. Northern Iowa is now 4-2 in MVC play, level with the Illinois State Redbirds, who suffered a different loss of their own early last week.

Miami (OH) remained undefeated on the year with wins against Western Michigan and Toledo. Princeton pulled off a big upset over Yale and are playing their best ball of the season right now. Liberty is 5-0 in C-USA play after a 2-0 week. Hofstra, Charleston, and UNC Wilmington are all undefeated in CAA action so far as well. Finally, High Point has now won 18 straight Big South games after they beat Charleston Southern by two in OT.

Other Storylines: 

Here is what we will be watching this coming week! Reply to this email and let us know what you will be tuning into!

More Southland action for your viewing pleasure! Everyone knew McNeese would be at the top of this league when the season started. They are an impressive 13-3 after wins against Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern Louisiana last week. Perhaps the surprise in this conference is the Nicholls Colonels. They went 1-8 in non-conference play with their one win coming against the College of Biblical Studies. Somehow, they are 7-0 in Southland play and sit alone at the top with an 8-8 overall record! This marks their first game against McNeese - can they keep their hot streak rolling?

Honorable Mentions:

Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Prairie A&M - two of the top 30 fastest teams and SWAC contenders square off

Maryland-Eastern Shore @ Norfolk State - UMES looks to stay unbeaten in the MEAC against the Spartans

This Big East clash pits (4) UConn, one of the nation’s most complete teams that somehow feels under the radar, against a surging Seton Hall squad that’s also quietly making noise. UConn enters off a 12-game win streak and is unbeaten in Big East play thanks to suffocating defense and improved scoring recently. The Huskies rallied to beat Providence in OT before a more comfortable 72-60 win over DePaul. Seton Hall has three straight wins of their own, including a comeback road victory over Georgetown where Adam Clark led with 22 points. For the Pirates, a home win against a top 5 team could keep them in the discussion for an at-large bid.

Honorable Mentions: 

(23) Virginia @ (20) Louisville - Pat Kelsey’s team needs to right the ship

The Purdue Boilermakers freight train keeps on rolling. They earned wins over Washington and Penn State last week and still only have one loss on the season (to Iowa State, who is undefeated). Braden Smith averaged 24.5 ppg and 10.5 apg in his last two games. Iowa comes in after dropping their last two on the road against Minnesota and at home against Illinois. The point guard matchup between Smith and Bennett Stirtz (18.0 ppg, 5.0 apg) will be a fun one to watch.

Honorable Mentions:

High Point @ Winthrop - Two best teams in the Big South do battle

Southern Miss @ Troy - Early Sun Belt front runners look for a big win

Nevada @ Utah State - The Mountain West has been down this year, but not because of these teams

Should be a fun clash of styles between two of the top three teams in Summit League standings!  While the Tommies like to get up and down the court (82 ppg, including 12 fast break ppg), the Fightin’ Hawks are going to do their best to slow the game down.  North Dakota relies on half court sets and crashing the rim - which they do to the tune of 10 offensive rebounds per game, leading to 12 second chance points on average each night. We will see which style prevails!  Watch for St. Thomas guard Nolan Minessale, who has scored 20+ points in 14 of 18 games this season.

Honorable Mentions: 

UT Arlington @ Utah Tech - top 3 positioned WAC teams square off

(8) Gonzaga @ Washington St - Zags look to avoid the upset

Baylor seems to be heading in the wrong direction. They have lost their first three Big 12 games and haven’t beaten anyone of note since November 26th (San Diego State). They have been in the news for recently signing former NBA draft pick James Nnaji who is currently averaging 3.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg in his first three games. Any press is good press I suppose… Kansas avoided a disastrous home loss to TCU thanks to a late second-half comeback. They trailed by 15 with 5:19 left before getting the win in overtime. The Jayhawks then lost at West Virginia despite the return, albeit limited, of Darryn Peterson. This may be a “get right” game for Kansas, but Baylor is desperate for a win too.

Honorable Mentions:

Colorado State @ Boise State - both teams need a big finish to the year to get on the Bubble

This Big 12 showdown features the next test for the nation’s #1 team, visiting a tough environment in Orlando where (22) Kansas lost earlier this year. Arizona is another level, however. The Wildcats have been dominant in league play, most recently cruising past TCU 86-73, and continue to get incredible interior minutes from freshman Koa Peat (15 ppg, 6 rpg). They enter 16-0 overall and looking to continue a historic start to their season. UCF has been solid, sporting a 13-2 record and capable of big offensive nights; we mentioned their school-record 19 three-pointers in a recent win. Despite a setback in a loss at Oklahoma State, the Knights’ strength lies in their perimeter game and rebounding prowess under coach Johnny Dawkins.

Honorable Mentions: 

Florida @ (11) Vanderbilt - another huge test for Vandy

(15) Arkansas @ (18) Georgia - both teams coming off losses this week

(9) BYU @ (14) Texas Tech - expect lots of points!

Two of the best teams in the American face off here and both have not gotten off to the conference start they were hoping for. Tulsa entered league play with a 12-1 record with their only loss coming at Kansas State. They have dropped back to back games against North Texas and South Florida. UAB entered American play with a 9-4 record with wins over High Point, South Alabama, and Drake. Two of their last three games have gone to OT and the Blazers are 2-2 over their last four. Both will be hungry for a win to jumpstart their journey to Birmingham for the American Conference Tournament.

Honorable Mentions:

Florida Atlantic @ Temple - This game will help settle the logjam in the middle of the American

Hope you stayed up late for this one! The two teams atop the Big West have been awarded our Bango String, as Hawaii and UC Irvine combined for 22 lead changes and 11 ties on Saturday night. Neither team led by more than a few possessions at any point, and the final minutes were jam-packed with back-and-forth shot-making!

With the Anteaters down 1 late, Derin Saran (lead all scorers with 22 points) drove and finished a go-ahead runner to silence the Rainbow Warrior faithful. In order to respond in the closing seconds, Hawaii put the ball in the hands of Hunter Erickson - shooting just 2-9 at that point - who rose for a tough fadeaway jumper as the horn sounded to seal the 67-66 win!

16.5 ppg, 13.5 rpg, 5.5 apg, 1.0 bpg, 2-0 last week

Quion Williams did it all and then some for the Golden Lions this past week. First, he put up a 17pt/10reb/8ast line in a home win against Alabama State. He followed this impressive line up with a 16pt/17reb/3ast game on the road at Texas Southern. He stands at 6’5” but is averaging 8.2 rpg on the year! He has also only failed to score in double digits twice this year. He is well on his way to a 1st Team All-SWAC selection.

Collin’s model has been colder than the Alabama Crimson Tide recently. Another week with a losing record brings the season record down below .500 as well. The unpredictability is why we love college basketball right? Right???