NEWS AND NOTES
-A lot is being made about all the upsets we’ve been seeing in college basketball. While there have been some big ones, not everything that gets tagged as an upset is really an upset. In any given season, even ranked teams that aren’t ranked in the top 7 or 8 end up with losing records on the road and multiple road losses to unranked teams. It’s hard to win on the road in college basketball because there are two things that strongly favor the home team; the atmosphere at the game, and more importantly the familiarity of the intricacies of the venue, the floor, the rims, etc. So, when Auburn goes out and gets creamed by Florida, I wouldn’t call that an upset, especially when you consider that Auburn really hasn’t beaten anyone who looks like they’re solidly in the top 40 yet. Same with Butler losing at DePaul, Kansas struggling (but winning at Texas), Oregon struggling (but winning) at Washington, Florida State struggling (but winning at Miami), Colorado losing at Arizona, and Ohio State losing at Penn State. Those really aren’t surprising outcomes. I’ve said this before, but it’s oftentimes harder to beat an NIT team on the road than it is to beat a team that’s ranked in the teens at home. Just look at the results of any given season.
Now, there were a few surprises, like Louisville’s HUGE road win at Duke. It was one of the most impressive showings by the Cardinals in years. They jumped out to an early lead in a hostile environment against a good team that was up for the game, and every time Duke started punching their way back into it, Louisville would make big plays and regain control of the game. This adds so much to Louisville’s profile because it was a road win against a potential #1 seed, plus it’s a sign that this team is finally playing like the top five team we thought they were coming into the season.
-DePaul had lost their first four Big East games, all to good teams and all in close games. That has to be frustrating. Well, all that frustration was worked out yesterday as they ran Butler off the court. The lead was as much as 20 in the second half. DePaul still needs more wins, but I think they’ve shown they are good enough to get the wins that they need.
-Oregon trailed for most of the game, but came back in the final minutes to force overtime against Washington and then picked up the nice 64-61 road wins over their rivals. For Washington, that is a loss that’s going to haunt them. It would have been a great resume win, especially now that that they are shorthanded and must reprove themselves.
-Kentucky followed up their loss to South Carolina with a huge road win at Arkansas. The Razorbacks were playing well and were jacked up for this one. Kentucky had led for most of the game, but it was close. Then John Calipari got ejected, and all the momentum seemed to be shifting toward Arkansas. But, it didn’t. It was actually at that point that Kentucky got control of the game and finished off really strong. This has happened before when Calipari has been ejected. Perhaps it’s all part of his master plan!
-West Virginia was blown off the court at K State. It was probably their worst showing of the year. They’re still in good shape, but it was rather surprising to see them play so poorly, even if it was a road game.
-Houston needed a big win, and got it. They went into Wichita State and just dominated the Shockers, which is something that is rarely done. It adds a much needed conference road win against a ranked team to Houston’s resume, which is important because their resume had been looking rather flimsy prior to this game.
-Arizona’s resume is still looking a little flimsy, but their team is not. Since losing a very close one at Oregon, they have just been blowing teams off the court, and they blew a pretty good Colorado team off the court yesterday. They still need some road wins, but if they keep playing at this caliber they will certainly get them.
-Creighton and Providence seesawed back and forth, but Creighton got the win at home. Providence still has a lot of catching up to do after a slow start to the season, and yesterday’s win would have certainly helped had they been able to pull it off.
-Virginia Tech kind of stubbed their toes yesterday with a home loss to Syracuse. The Hokies still have a reasonably good profile and certainly still have a path to the NCAA Tournament, but yesterday was the kind of game where you were expecting them to hold serve.
-Marquette picked up a really nice road win at Georgetown. Their resume is looking better and better as the season plays out.
-Stanford had a 20pt lead on USC at the half, and appeared to be putting the Trojans away in what would have been a really nice road win and a really nice statement win for the Cardinal, but USC chipped away in the second half. Still, the Cardinal appeared to be in control in the final minutes, but blew the lead with some costly turnovers and USC got the game to overtime. USC then won in overtime. What looked like a nice road win for Stanford is now a nice win for USC, and you start to look at Stanford’s resume and realize there aren’t a whole lot of big wins on it yet.
THE ONE HIGHLIGHTED GAME
-MINNESOTA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Minney is floating around our bubble, but is still looking for their first road win of the season, so a win today helps them out a ton. Rutgers is floating around our #8 line and is looking to hold serve.