More undefeated teams have fallen! We love the parity we have seen recently in college basketball. We are also only 55 days away from Selection Sunday. Now is the time to start your research for this year’s Cinderella stories! Now, let’s dive into this week’s action!

One of the defining stories of the season continued this week as (8) Nebrasketball proved it belongs firmly in the national conversation. The Cornhuskers backed up their rising AP poll ranking with a pair of impressive performances, earning a home win over (13) Illinois before going on the road and grinding out a victory against Minnesota. Nebraska’s defense once again set the tone in both games, and seems to only be getting better. What began as a “feel good” story has now evolved into a legitimate Top 10 team in America!

At the top of the poll, (1) Arizona remained unbeaten while navigating a tricky week with wins over Arizona State and UCF. (2) Iowa State experienced a much rougher stretch, suffering consecutive losses (at Kansas, at Cincinnati). (3) UConn held its own with two close victories on the road (at Seton Hall, at Georgetown) that kept the Huskies unblemished in Big East play. (4) Michigan bounced back nicely after suffering their first loss of the season last week with wins over Washington and Oregon, albeit they’re now winning games by 10 points instead of 30. Vulnerable? We wonder. (5) Purdue handled Iowa at home then flew out to California to defeat USC, despite starting the game in a 8-22 deficit, to round out the top 5.

Moving down the polls, we saw (10) Vanderbilt hit turbulence. First they lost on the road to Texas, then fell at home to (19) Florida in a high scoring upset. (11) BYU suffered its first Big 12 loss of the season at the hands of (15) Texas Tech (playing much better as of late).  However, no one had a worse week than (14) North Carolina… The Tar Heels returned home from their west coast road trip with zero(!) wins to show for it. They first lost to Stanford and the nation's most exciting player (yeah, I said it) in freshman Ebuka Okorie. Three days later, North Carolina surrendered 54 first half points to a California Golden Bears squad that had just one ACC win when the ball was tipped! California held on to win 84-78. UNC showed us National Lampoon levels of chaos in their road trip gone wrong!

Well… Utah State was ranked this week! Sadly, it will be a short-lived trip to the polls for the Aggies this time around. They suffered just their second loss of the season at the hands of Grand Canyon. The Lopes led almost wire to wire and earned the win behind 20 pts from Brian Moore Jr. The logjam persists at the top of the A-10 with George Mason, Saint Louis, and Dayton all remaining perfect in conference play. Santa Clara got a big win as they upset Saint Mary’s on Saturday. The Broncos are 0.5 games back of Gonzaga as the Gaels suffered their first WCC loss of the year. Miami (OH) stayed undefeated on the year after trouncing Central Michigan 100-61 before playing a wild game against Buffalo. The Redhawks were down three in the final seconds before a tip-out offensive rebound led to an Eian Elmer three pointer to send the game to OT. Buffalo and Miami (OH) battled throughout the extra period but the Redhawks had the final possession. Peter Suder knew exactly what to do. He won the game with his seventh made three to give him 37 points on the night. The Redhawks escape!

In the Colonial Athletic Association, the UNC Wilmington Seahawks moved to 17-2 (6-0) thanks to a win against Campbell. Charleston, Elon, and Hofstra are all 4-2 in CAA play, but they may begin to separate from each other as Elon hosts Charleston this week. Utah Valley beat UT Arlington and continues to hold the top spot in the WAC. Vermont is still the class of the America East Conference and looks to maintain momentum as they head on the road for two games this week. Queens University moved to 6-0 in ASUN play, Portland State is 5-0 in the Big Sky, and Long Island University finds themselves at 5-0 in conference play to lead the NEC.

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!

Battle of the Georges! George Washington started the year 8-2 but has gone just 4-4 in their last eight games. They are two games back of the triple threat that leads the A-10 in George Mason, Saint Louis, and Dayton. A win here would pull them within one game of the Patriots. Speaking of George Mason, they are 17-1 with their only loss coming on the road to Virginia Tech. Former Presbyterian Blue Hose guard Kory Mincy has been fantastic averaging 16.6 ppg. The Patriots are incredibly balanced with five players averaging 10+ ppg and are very deep with 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game as well.

Honorable Mentions:

Iona @ St. Peter’s - The Peacocks look to defend home court from Iona in this MAAC battle

Merrimack @ Marist - These teams are a combined 13-3 in MAAC play, both have a shot at dancing

America’s darling Redhawks will look to stay undefeated as they visit the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center in Kent. You read about the heroics behind Miami’s recent results in the section above (thanks, Collin) - but beware of the Golden Flashes. Their only home loss of the season came on opening night in November, and average 90 points per game (not far behind Miami’s 93 ppg pace). Prepare for electric scenes in Ohio!

Honorable Mentions: 

(15) Vanderbilt @ (17) Arkansas - no nights off in the SEC

(25) Seton Hall @ St John’s - we may see these teams swap positions in the next AP poll

These teams are in an absolute dog fight with High Point for the one seed in the Big South Conference tournament (FB & FB will be on site for this tournament). Radford took care of business in games against Gardner-Webb and Longwood. This is a very important week for the Highlanders who travel to play High Point after this game. Winthrop earned their best win of the season in a 92-75 dismantling of top dog High Point as noted above. They followed it up with an impressive two point road win against UNC Asheville as well. Big South Player of the Year threat Logan Duncomb should have a big impact on this game.

Honorable Mentions:

Tulane @ Florida Atlantic - The top two teams in the American face off in Boca Raton

San Diego State @ Grand Canyon - GCU looking for another big upset after taking down Utah State

Best Coast Hoops! The Big West is very much up for grabs, with Hawai’i and UC Irvine leading the way at 5-2.  Just below them, however, sit our two teams here in Thursday's matchup at 4-3 each. UC San Diego has alternated results (win, lose, win, etc.) since December 16! They’ll need to find consistency from here on out. This should be an impactful result for the conference race!

Honorable Mentions:

Vermont @ UMass-Lowell - Vermont is the last unbeaten team in the America East

Basketball’s version of The Game takes center stage on Friday night. Ohio State is squarely on the bubble and we expect them to remain there until Selection Sunday. However, if they are able to pull off an upset over their rival, maybe they will nudge themselves to the right side of said bubble. Michigan bounced back after their first loss with a pair of wins against Washington and Oregon, each by 10 points. Those are far from breathtaking results, but a win is a win. Maybe playing their arch rival will lead to a return to top form for the Wolverines. 

Honorable Mentions:

Long Island @ Stonehill - LIU puts their undefeated NEC record on the line

Something tells me the Red Raiders have been thinking about this rematch. Since losing at Houston on January 6, Texas Tech has won 3 games in a row while making 11+ 3PT in each contest. Houston, to their credit, hasn’t lost since November 25 and have really turned it up offensively as well. However, Christian Anderson and Lejuan Watts combined for just 12 points in the first matchup - I wouldn’t bet on that happening again.

Honorable Mentions: 

Troy @ Georgia Southern - #1 visits #2 in the Sun Belt standings!

Saint Peters @ Merrimack - same comment as above, this time for the MAAC!

(13) Illinois @ (5) Purdue - “Big” (get it?) implications in conference play, and March seed lines

Another B1G game gets the spotlight as we wrap up the week. USC comes into this game sitting at 14-4 having split their games this week against Maryland and (5) Purdue. The Trojans were up by as many as 14 against Purdue, but could not find a way to get the win. They have yet to beat a ranked opponent this year. They likely won’t get a chance in this game as Wisconsin will be outside the Top 25 barring a surprise from AP voters. The Badgers have won four straight including handing Michigan their first loss on the year. An undefeated week for Greg Gard’s team will get them close to being ranked, if not over the top. This game will boost the tournament resume for whoever wins.

Honorable Mentions:

Illinois State @ Belmont - the March to Arch Madness rolls on with this Top 100 matchup

Navy took down the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Saturday in double OT to move to 5-1 in the Patriot League. There were a total of 14 lead changes in this game and Aiden Kehoe’s and-one tied the game with 49 seconds left. Both teams missed their final shots before OT. Navy would never lead in the first OT period, but did tie it late thanks to four points on the final two possessions from Austin Benigni. In double OT, he would hit 1/2 FTs with 13 seconds left to give the Midshipmen a three point lead. After a Mountain Hawks bucket, Navy clutched up and made four free throws to ice the game and get the W.

This week’s spotlight goes to Rueben Chinyelu of the defending champion Florida Gators! The junior forward has anchored the Gators through SEC play lately, and reminded us all to think twice before driving the lane. First, in Florida’s road win at Oklahoma, Chinyelu finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds with 1 block in just 26 minutes for his 9th double-double of the year.  

In his encore act, however, Chinyelu followed up with an even bigger impact in the Gator’s 98-94 upset of (10) Vanderbilt, posting 20 points, 10 boards, and 3 blocks in a high energy game! He scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, repeatedly killing Vandy runs. Florida is a true SEC title contender if they get this type of interior play on a nightly basis.

Four of the seven days this past week ended above .500 but a difficult Wednesday and Saturday sunk Collin’s model to a losing record in both Spreads and Totals on the year. Still waiting for that midseason turnaround…