Northern Iowa Beats Iowa State; Utah Beats Duke in Upset Heavy College Basketball Weekend
The weekend of December 19th-20th featured some upsets of highly ranked teams in college basketball.
On Saturday December 19th, unranked Ohio State knocked off Kentucky (#4 in the AP Poll) 74-67. Jamal Murray scored 33 points for the otherwise lethargic Wildcats. Kentucky dropped to 9-2 on the year and faces #19 Louisville on December 26th. The Buckeyes pushed their record to 6-5.
Also on Saturday, Utah took on #7 Duke in Madison Square Garden in New York in the Ameritas Insurance Classic tournament. Utah lost to the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament back in March. This time, the Blue Devils fell short 77-75 in overtime. Both teams are now 9-2, so maybe Utah will break into the Top 25 this week.
On Sunday, #17 Butler handed in state rival and ninth ranked Purdue (11-1) its first loss of the season 74-68 in Indianapolis. Butler has been a scoring machine this season, averaging almost 90 points per game. The Bulldogs (9-1) will figure prominently in the crowded Big East race along with Villanova, Xavier, Marquette, Providence, and possibly others. Also on Sunday, Northern Iowa pulled off its second upset of a Top Five team this season, beating previously unbeaten Iowa State 81-79 in Des Moines. Last month, the Panthers beat then #1 North Carolina 71-67 in Cedar Falls. Northern Iowa is 7-3 and will land in the top 25 sooner or later this season, but more importantly, the Panthers will be a team no one will want to face in March.
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This is the beauty of college basketball. If college football went to a 16 team playoff, then teams could risk a 2 loss season and schedule challenging games before conference play. Alternatively, both teams could declare the game an exhibition, and thus, outside of ranking consideration. Do you think anyone would like to see Ohio State play Alabama in August? Maybe a rematch of the previous final four teams would be exciting (two week football tournament!) as well.