When last met, there were 28 teams that had not experienced the “agony” of defeat. Of course, two weeks later, that number has been cut squarely in half, going down to 14. Here’s the first 14 that got knocked off and how…
»Wright State; made it to 2-0. What happened then? They fell the very night of the first appearance of this column (Dec. 1), losing to Marist, 79-64.
»New Orleans; made it to 4-0. Also lost on December 1st, to Nicholls State, 75-57.
»St. John’s; made it to 4-0. Also lost their first game following this initial post(a CHJ jinx developing??), a victim of Miami (FL), who throttled them 66-47 on December 2nd.
»Creighton; made it to 5-0. Losing a game at Xavier (79-66) is nothing to hang your head about.
»Boston College; made it to 5-0. A puzzling 98-89 loss to Providence on—you guessed it—December 1st knocked the Eagles from the ranks of the unbeatens.
»Duquesne; made it to 6-0. ANOTHER victim of the CHJ jinx, the Dukes were felled by an underrated Drake team on December 1st, 77-73.
»Seton Hall; made it to 6-0. Saint Mary’s took care of the Pirates on the day this column tried to die. The first day of December: Gaels 85, Pirates 70.
»Holy Cross; made it to 6-0. Let’s just called it Black Saturday. December 1st was the day many of the unbeatens went down, and the Crusaders were happy to oblige, allowing Dayton to escape, 55-53.
»California; made it to 6-0. The Bears incurred their first loss in a game at Kansas State on December 9th, an 82-75 loss.
»Saint Mary’s; made it to 7-0. The Gaels got knocked off by entering a rabid doghouse in Carbondale on December 11th (a 71-56 loss). Southern Illinois needed a win there as much as any team needed any win this early into the season.
»New Mexico; made it to 7-0. The final victim of the early December plague, the Lobos got beaten on the road by another yet-to-be-defeated team: Ole Miss, who walked out with an 85-77 victory.
»Texas A&M; made it to 7-0. Arizona played a great home game against the Aggies, beating them 78-67 on December 2nd.
»UCLA; made it to 7-0. A victim of the Texas backcourt, the Bruins went down 63-61 in a great game on December 2nd in Pauley, and that was with a hobbled Darren Collison.
»Butler; made it to 8-0. The Bulldogs were offed by a Wright State team that knows how to beat them (they’ve defeated Butler three seasons in a row at home). The final tally? A paltry 43-42 outcome. Yuck.
Now, for a look at who’s still rocking the bagel in the loss column, and what they have lying ahead, let’s take it to the other side of the jump. Oh yes, and there’s also the comical list of teams that cannot yet get that “1″ in the “W” column, too.
- Vanderbilt 10-0. Next three: Dec. 22, Tennessee State/Dec. 29, Tennessee-Martin/Dec. 31, Iona.
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Duke 9-0. Next three: Dec. 17, Albany/Dec. 20, Pitt (@ MSG)/Jan. 6, Cornell.
- Kansas 9-0. Next three: Dec. 15, Ohio/Dec. 18, @ Georgia Tech/Dec. 22, Miami (OH).
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Miami (FL) 9-0. Next three: Dec. 17, Stetson/Dec. 20, North Florida/Dec. 23, North Carolina A&T.
- Pittsburgh 9-0. Next three: Dec. 15, Oklahoma State/Dec. 20, Duke (@MSG)/Dec. 29, @ Dayton.
- Texas 9-0. Next three: Dec. 15, Texas State/Dec. 18, Oral Roberts/Dec. 22, @ Michigan State.
- Washington State 9-0. Next three: Dec. 20, The Citadel/Dec. 23, @ Idaho State/North Carolina A&T.
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Clemson 8-0. Next three: Dec. 20, PR Mayaguez/Dec. 21, @ DePaul/Dec. 22, Mississippi.
- Mississippi 8-0. Next three: Dec. 20, DePaul/Dec. 21, LaSalle/Dec. 22, @ Clemson.
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North Carolina 8-0. Next three: Dec. 16, @ Rutgers/Dec. 19, Nicholls State/Dec. 22 UC, Santa Barbara.
- Sam Houston State 8-0 (Southland). Next three: Dec. 15, @ Texas Southern/Dec. 20, UC Irvine/Dec. 28, @ San Diego State.
- Texas-Arlington 8-0 (Southland). Next three: Dec. 17, @ TCU/Dec. 22, @ Oklahoma State/Dec. 29, Hardin-Simmons.
- Georgetown 7-0. Next three: Dec. 15, Radford/Dec. 22 @ Memphis/Dec. 29, American.
- Memphis 7-0. Next three: Dec. 15, @Middle Tennessee State/Dec. 19, @ Cincinnati/Dec. 22, Georgetown.
As for those who have yet to taste a win, we had 15 total two weeks ago, and now, five…
- N.J.I.T 0-13 (Independent)
- Canisius 0-8 (MAAC)
- Ball State 0-8 (MAC)
- Furman 0-7 (Southern)
- Grambling State 0-5 (Southwestern Atlantic)
I’m going to allow things to play themselves out over the next two-plus weeks. If there still any teams without a win, expect the marveling from this site to begin. Another edition of this post on January 2nd or 3rd, I’d say, and my prediction: We’ll have at least eight teams still sans a loss.
