NCAA Hoops Re-Cap 12/20/2021: In a bit of a lull...
Similar to earlier in the week, the bulk of my basketball watching happened in one night while I was watching my neices play for their respective teams. It is really cool that schools have started to broadcast events like this in the past couple of years.
That isn't to say, that schools weren't doing it before. The Pixellot/NFHS system has been around for a while now, but with the recent shut downs and restrictions due to Covid, this gives parents and in our case relatives a way to watch games even if you can't physically be there.
Even more important when your neices play four hours away like ours do. I bet there are some tech savy grandparents living across the country that love streaming their grandkids sporting events.
As expected both girls crushed it. They both got a lot of playing time due to other players being injured or sick on their team. It is always a joy to see them in action. They won all three games they played (Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity).
There was one NCAA top 25 game on Friday night and after I finished watching my neices play, I flipped over to YouTube TV and put that on for a hot second. It was really cool to see unranked Creighton laying it down on #9 Villanova. In fact, Creighton went on to win the game by 20 points. What a great upset to start the weekend!
On Saturday we had a massive 18 top 25 ranked teams in action. Let me find the best way to break this down for you...
As I read through the list here, I see that unranked Providence took down #20 UConn by a couple of buckets. This wasn't an upset, but Kentucky easily handled North Carolina. Pretty important since NC used to be quite the basketball powerhouse back in the day.
Unranked Hofstra beat #24 Arkansas by about eight points, nice job "Pride".
That was it for upsets on Saturday. There were three games that didn't get played. Memphis/Tennessee, Iona, Seton Hall, and Tulsa, Colorado State.
This is just a guess, but I think the Big East is going to be pretty tough this year. I actually wouldn't be shocked if they got just as many tournament slots as the Big 10. They have had their ups and downs, but there are a lot of teams in that conference that are looking really solid.
Finally, on Sunday we only have two top 25 games that were played, and both of them were not upsets. Iowa State easily beat Southestern Louisiana, and Texas took down Stanford by 13 points.
With Christmas on the horizon, Tuesday and Wednesdsay are the big days this week for college hoops action. Michigan State finally hits the hardcourt again tomorrow night against in state rival Oakland University. Although they are a relatively small school, Oakland always plays up to this game and makes it a bit tougher than I would like for the Spartans.
We will see if that is the case again tomorrow.
Check back at the end of the week when I cover all the top 25 games that took place this week.
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Big East teams are generally my favourite go-tos for upsets pre-conference and in the Tournament.
There’s a reason why they usually get about as many bids as the P5 conferences.
Yeah, good points! It is always fun to watch them play for sure.
Creighton got the win over Nova? That's a really big one wow
Yeah, it wasn't even close either! Total blowout!
I think UNC is still going to have a pretty decent season still. They're still 2nd in the ACC after all and yes, I know it is waaaay too early for that stat to be particularly meaninful. Losing by nearly 30 points to UK is pretty horrible though, no matter how you try to look at it.
UK fans probably don't think so! :) You are right of course. It is still so early in the season. We are going to see so much movement during conference play, it is going to be like watching the stock market!