Consider: There really hasn’t been anything too huge in terms of upsets since the infancy of the 2007-08 season. I believe this is a good thing. We need some Goliath-like play, so that when March comes around, it appears to be that much better. Bring on the crushing victories from the big schools in November, December and January. It’s in March when we like to see ourselves surprised.
–No. 1 North Carolina 88, Nicholls State 78. Hansbrough was back, and missed zero games, after his clunker-against-a-cameraman’s-knee head shot on Sunday in the Rutgers game. How’d Pscyho T fare? He only led the team in points (27) and rebounds (11). Yeah, he’s a lot better than a lot of people want to give credit for.
–No. 2 Memphis 79, Cincinnati 69. Great photo on Calipari, right? My buddy actually put down some money on Memphis to cover the spread in this game. Why? I really don’t know, but you could only guess to whether or not the Tigers actually covered due to the aforementioned scenario. Perhaps the Tigers had one eye on Saturday, but they still coasted to a cake win (on the road). But yeah: I’m quite excited for Memphis to take on Georgetown on Saturday (more on that game on Friday).
–No. 9 Michigan State 85, San Jose State 45. The Spartans had 26 assists! San Jose State? Eh, four. Not so much. And yet, Michigan State probably won’t be taken seriously until they win a marquee game on the road. That’s OK though, because I buy into that theory as well. Regardless, this MSU teams reminds me a lot of the 2003 team—the one that went to the Elite 8 and lost to Texas.
–No. 14 Texas A&M 86, North Carolina-Asheville 73. Very few teams around the country are getting much more out of their talent than the Aggies. I’ll admit it: I’m impressed. I thought that A&M would be decent this year, but not a potential Top 10 team. That’s exactly what they are here at Christmas time, and Billy Gillespie is crying himself into his maroon ties at night.
–No. 16 Butler 83, Bradley 64. Maybe this final margin speaks to how deadly of a team Butler really is this year. Granted, it was a home affair for the Bulldogs, but still, 19 points over the Braves? Color me impressed. A.J. Graves had 21 and this game was over at halftime. Bradley may have played themselves out of at-large discussion, depending upon how good the Mizzou Valley ends up being this year, and how well they play inside of it.
–No. 19 Arizona 52, UNLV 49. This was definitely a tricky game for the Wildcats, and they escape being three points the better than Vegas. A mild night for Jarryd Bayless (only eight points), but when your team only puts up 52, it’s probably going to be pretty mild for most. The Kevin O’Neills were led by Jordan Hill. It was Hill’s biggest game of the year, as he scored 16 points and had a monstrous 19 rebounds.
–No. 24 West Virginia 90, Radford 60. The ‘Eers continue to plow through opponents and make everyone who put them as 10th in the preseason Big East poll look like fools. When will the national Bob Huggins love begin to start?
Notable:
UC Santa Barbara 79, Ball State 52. Ball State falls to 0-10.
Wofford 69, Purdue 66. Purdue coach Matt Painter wasn’t too happy with some of the team’s performance about two weeks ago, now how do you think close-to-Christmas practices are going to feel? Bad, bad loss here by the Boilers.
Baylor 92, South Carolina 84. Don’t look now, but the Bears have sneakily gotten to 9-1.
