More Upsets in College Basketball
Four of the AP Top 25 men’s NCAA basketball teams were in action on February 17th, and in what has become almost the norm for this season, three of them lost. Only #1 Villanova posted a win, beating Temple 83-67. Kansas, ranked #2, did not play.
In Lubbock, Texas, Texas Tech hosted #3 Oklahoma, and took down the Sooners 65-63. Oklahoma also lost to Kansas over the weekend and is now 8-5 in the hotly contested Big 12, 20-5 overall. The Red Raiders are getting noticed; this was their third consecutive game against Top 25 teams (the others were Iowa State and Baylor) and they’ve won all three. Texas Tech is now 16-9 overall, 6-7 in the Big 12.
In State College, Pennsylvania, Penn State took on #4 Iowa. The Hawkeyes clobbered Penn State 73-49 just two weeks ago, but they shot just 41 per cent from the field in this game and Penn State emerged with a 79-75 victory. Iowa is now 20-6 overall, 11-3 in the Big Ten. Penn State evened its overall record at 13-13, 4-9 in the Big Ten.
The Duke-North Carolina rivalry is one of the best in college basketball, and the February 17th game between the two at Chapel Hill was a great one. The #20 Blue Devils trailed most of the way against the #5 Tar Heels, but didn’t give up and took the lead late in the game and came up with some key defensive stops in their 74-73 victory. North Carolina fell to 21-5, 10-3 in the ACC, while Duke, whom some had given up for dead this season after losing four of five last month , improved to 20-6 and 9-4 in the ACC. Don’t count them out yet.
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There is more parity of talent now than in quite a while. This can lead to regular season upsets, especially in emotional games on the road. Plus, rankings don’t necessarily reflect the true strengths of teams, so can lead to emotional incentives (Penn State beat the #4 team, probably not the 4th best team in the country).
When the “madness ” begins next month, although there will be upsets, the teams with the best coaches will be most likely to rise. Thus, a team like Michigan State or Duke beating Oklahoma or Iowa would be less of an upset.