It’s the biggest rundown of the season so far. Why waste space here?

–UPSET–Dayton 80, No. 6 Pittsburgh 55. Embarassing. Yes, for me. I said that Pitt would produce a win in the fashion that Dayton executed. Uh, whoops. Oh yeah, bad for the Panthers too. See, this is the kind of loss that will prevent people from thinking that the Panthers are legitimate Final Four contender. How do you lose by 25, regardless of the location? Give it up to Dayton though. With wins like this, it sure makes the Atlantic 10 to look like a three-bid league. Minimum. Store it away, the Flyers could be a trendy upset pick in March.

–UPSET–Wisconsin 67, No. 9 Texas 66. A little of Wisconsin playing better than they are, a little of Texas playing not quite as good as they are. But maybe we don’t know who they are. UT’s guards were kept in check for a large part of the game. Either way, I put up an entire post on this game if you’d like to read any more about it.

–UPSET–Winthrop 76, No. 19 Miami (FL) 70. I told you that this upset was likely to happen and sure enough it did. Here’s the kicker: Winthrop isn’t really that good! They’re only 7-5. And now Miami is 12-1. People may write this off as a mild upset that (uh..yeah, that’s what I did), but it is a little weird to think that it was so obvious considering that the Eagles have lost to: Baylor, Missouri State, West Virginia, Mississippi and Mt. Saint Mary’s. If Miami, Baylor and West Virginia all continue to play well throughout the season, and Winthrop can roll through their league (which probably won’t happen), then maybe they can be a bubble long shot.

–UPSET–Oklahoma 88, No. 23 West Virginia 82 (2OT). Riveting stuff. What a physical game this was, too. Longar Longar! Longar Longar! I could keep scream/typing it! Two very evenly matched teams that I’d love to see set up for a possible second weekend or second round game in March. The rub? The officiating was spotty. Like, real spotty. Fortunately for that crew, the play was so balanced, and it was 50 minutes of play, that the ‘Eers can’t use that as an excuse. Sooners look like Top 25 material.

–UPSET–Boise State 73, No. 20 Brigham Young 70. Curious, for sure. The Cougars fall to a Boise State team that is definitely on the come. The Broncos are now 9-3, and give the WAC a good win for its RPI. Forty percent from the floor were the Cougars; they missed too many shots near the end of the second half to escape with a win.

–No. 2 Memphis 76, No. 17 Arizona 63. This game was a blueprint for why Memphis is so dangerous. They have so many bodies to flush in and out that opponents can not keep up over the course of a physical 40 minute game. Did you see/read a few people talking of how this game would be a tougher task than Georgetown? Hardly. Memphis held Arizona in check once they got past the original surge of the Wildcats in the first five minutes. And a brief scary moment for Memphis fans as well, as CDR took a hard fall to the floor with about eight minutes to go in the second half. And a terribly called intentional foul on the play as well. Memo to officials: Just because there’s a lot of contact and an injury, it doesn’t mean there was malicious intent by the defender.

–No. 3 Kansas 86, Yale 53. I’ll say it again: Until someone gives the Jayhawks a game, it’s a waste to watch; you already know what’s happening.

–No. 5 UCLA 76, UC Davis 48. The University of California-Los Angeles is better than the University of California-Davis. Thanks for stopping by.

–No. 7 Michigan State 93, Wisconsin-Green Bay 75. Is it a sign that there just hasn’t been enough national coverage of the game that it’s pretty astonishing that Michigan State is flying under the radar right now? I mean, this team is ranked as the seventh best in the country right now; they’re top 10, no doubt. Big time game from MSU sophomore Raymar Morgan. Morgan had 24 and 10 in the win.

–No. 8 Georgetown 78, American 51. Hoyas continue to dominate anyone within a 40 mile radius of their campus. The bizarre twist in this one? No t-shirt under the jersey for Roy Hibbert. I’ll admit, he looked more agile and unyielding with just the jersey.

–No. 11 Tennessee 82, Gonzaga 72. Before I get to the Vols, let me talk about Gonzaga real quick here. There was talk that this Gonzaga team might be the best in quite some time. Well, when you think about it, don’t we hear that every year about Gonzaga? True, they are bringing in a lot of talent, but they are becoming perennial underachievers, which is weird to think about when you consider that they reside in the WCC. Seems to me like they’re losing a lot more of these big time games than they’re winning. That simply wasn’t the case three, four, five years ago. As for Tennessee: I’ll admit that I was wrong when I stated that they weren’t really clicking on all cylinders. They look good and are embodying Bruce Pearl’s wacky sort of toughness. JaJuan led the Vols with 18.

–No. 12 Marquette 77, Savannah State 37. Marquette is one sloppy loss to Duke in Maui away from being one of the undefeateds in college basketball. They really should’ve beaten Duke in that game, you know. They are steamrolling opponents and look like the best team in the Big East to me.

–No. 13 Indiana 97, Chicago State 59.The Hoosiers look as impressive as the Spartans (meetings on Feb. 16, Mar. 2, just so you know) and are now 11-1. Flash Gordon leads the way with 22 for IU. Big board game for D.J. White: 15 of ‘em.

–No. 14 Texas A&M 83, Florida A&M 54. DeAndre Jordan is kind of like the Dwight Howard of college hoops—unstoppable around the rim. He’s worth a point differential of at least 12 around the iron every game for the Aggies. Meanwhile, Josh Carter is looking better and better. Twenty points for the junior guard in this one.

–No. 15 Vanderbilt 92, Tennessee-Martin 85. We’ll find out when SEC play swings into gear, but could A.J. Ogilvy be a top 5 freshman? Don’t scoff at that, because it might be true. Ogilvy had 21 points, nine boards and was everyone his team needed him to be on Saturday. This game was a little closer than it needed to be, by the way. Maybe the pressure of having no losses is starting to get to the Commodores.

–No. 18 Villanova 71, LaSalle 58. Big game for Dante Cunningham: 12 points, 12 boards and came up big when ‘Nova needed its big man to play like a big man.

–No. 21 Clemson 78, Samford 45. Blowout from tip to handshakes.

–No. 24 Southern California 70, UC Riverside 57. I still won’t buy this team as a Top 25′er until they show a little something against a quality opponent. The jury’s still at lunch.

–No. 25 Rhode Island 85, Georgia Southern 80. Make it 13-1 for the Rams! According to the reports, this is the best start since that infamous 1946-47 season. URI is a shoe-in for 20 W’s this year.

Notable:

Stanford 55, Fresno State 48. It’s pretty safe to assume that at 11-1, the Cardinal will creep into the AP Poll once again come Monday afternoon.

Central Michigan 100, Tiffin 34. Double-up and almost a triple-up!

Drake 62, Wichita State 54. Got to looove the Drake! They’re 10-1 and for real.

Washington 73, Louisiana State 65. Under the radar, but this was a game that LSU really should’ve had. Regardless, the Huskies get a win that might mean something…maybe.

Alabama-Birmingham 73, Old Dominion 57. ODU has little-to-none of a chance at an at-large bid. Not the case for the Blazers; they are now 9-5.

Illinois State 80, Creighton 67. The was the first Missouri Valley game for both of these schools, and what a win for Illinois State (9-3). The Blue Jays lose only their second game, but not the way you’d want to start out the conference season.

Sunday, December 30th, 2007 @ 12:14 am Top 25 Results
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