Jan. 18-24, 2021
3 feature games this week, 2 of them involving UCLA. Let's take a look, starting in the Pac 12:
1/21/21-
Washington State (DeShawn St. John) @
UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- UCLA committed only 6 turnovers in this one, while forcing 15 Cougar turnovers. Washington State is improving, but they still have some work to do.
Final Score: UCLA- 70, Washington State- 54
1/23/21-
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) @
UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- The Bruins shot 50% in this one, despite being outrebounded by Colorado. The Buffs couldn't keep up with the hot shooting, and fell in a tough game.
Final Score: UCLA- 78, Colorado- 70
For our final feature game, we go to the American Conference:
1/23/21-
Tulsa (Will Brown) @
ECU (Al Hutt) -- The Pirates rolled in this one, shooting 53% and outrebounding Tulsa 41-27 for an easy home victory, as the Golden Hurricane continue to slide.
Final Score: ECU- 86, Tulsa- 64
Now for the rest of the weekly recap:
Hartford (David Ginsberg) -- 14-5, 5-3 America East.
1/22/21 at UMBC (W 60-51).
1/24/21 at Stony Brook (W 60-56).
The Hawks get back on track with 2 road victories this week. Although they've only had 5 true road games, they are undefeated in them so far.
UConn (Randolph Childress) -- 10-10, 5-3 American.
1/20/21 vs. Butler (L 55-46).
1/23/21 vs. Tulane (W 67-65).
A split this week for the Huskies, who lose outside of the conference, but win a conference game. The Tulane win was win #100 for the career of Coach Childress.
ECU (Al Hutt) -- 10-9, 4-4 American.
1/20/21 at SMU (L 81-72).
1/23/21 vs. Tulsa- feature game, highlighted above.
A split for the Pirates this week, as they break a 3 game losing streak with the rout of Tulsa.
Tulsa (Will Brown) -- 8-9, 2-5 American.
1/20/21 vs. Cincinnati (L 94-93).
1/23/21 at ECU- feature game, highlighted above.
Tough week for the Golden Hurricane, who lost a home heartbreaker against Cincy, then get hammered by ECU.
Duke (Dean Hoo) -- 12-6, 3-3 ACC.
1/20/21 vs. #2 Louisville (L 85-62).
1/23/21 vs. #3 Syracuse (L 77-73, OT).
The Blue Devils are reeling a bit, losers of 3 in a row. To be fair, this week they had to face 2 teams in the top 5, and took Syracuse to OT but couldn't seal the deal.
#12 TCU (Bee Mighty) -- 15-4, 6-1 Big 12.
1/18/21 vs. Kansas (W 58-57).
1/23/21 vs. Iowa State (L 54-50).
2 very close games this week for the Horned Frogs, who see their 6 game losing streak broken against Iowa State. Still, this TCU team is rolling.
Michigan State (Al Mighty) -- 10-8, 2-4 Big Ten.
1/20/21 vs. #18 Illinois (L 77-71).
1/23/21 at Penn State (L 81-70).
Oh how the mighty Sparty have continued to fall. 2 more losses this week for the Spartans who are now well under .500 in conference play.
Northwestern (Ess Vee) -- 7-11, 3-3 Big Ten.
1/20/21 vs. Purdue (W 63-61).
1/23/21 vs. Minnesota (L 70-68).
Another split for the Wildcats, who are still just a win or 2 away from really taking off, but just can't find that consistency.
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 10-8, 4-1 Big West.
1/16/21 vs. UC Davis (W 65-41).
1/19/21 at Cal State Northridge (L 69-57).
The Warriors split this week, suffering their first loss in conference play. Their next 2 games will be very telling if they are going to compete well in conference play. Firecoachgunn.com isn't quite getting as many hits right now, but it is still well up and running.
Rice (Charlie Shocker) -- 9-8, 2-4 Conference USA.
1/21/21 vs. #14 FIU (W 88-78).
1/23/21 vs. Old Dominion (L 57-56).
A split for the Owls, and nothing kills momentum more than losing to a subpar team after beating a ranked team.
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- 7-11, 1-5 Pac 12.
1/21/21 at Arizona (L 62-49).
1/23/21 at UCLA- feature game, highlighted above.
The slump continues for the Buffaloes, and Coach Nielsen may be starting to worry about his job security a little bit, although anybody that is very familiar with FBCB knows it takes a lot to lose your job or even hit the hotseat in this game.
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- 10-8, 4-2 Pac 12.
1/21/21 at Arizona State (W 60-45).
1/23/21 at Utah (W 80-59).
The Cardinal roll in 2 conference games this week, and they are also still undefeated on the road in 5 games.
UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- 13-5, 4-2 Pac 12.
1/21/21 vs. Washington State- feature game, highlighted above.
1/23/21 vs. Colorado- feature game, highlighted above.
2 feature games for the Bruins this week, and 2 more wins. They've got a tough stretch coming up though.
Washington State (DeShawn St. John) -- 12-6, 3-3 Pac 12.
1/21/21 at UCLA- feature game, highlighted above.
1/23/21 vs. Arizona (W 62-46).
Another split for the Cougars, who have started conference play with 3 straight splits.
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- 9-9, 2-4 SEC.
1/20/21 at Florida (L 60-58).
1/23/21 vs. South Carolina (W 65-64).
2 tough games this week for the Crimson Tide. After a couple hot seasons, they are starting to fade a bit this season.
#20 Kentucky (Patrick Hutt) -- 12-5, 5-1 SEC.
1/20/21 at LSU (L 65-50).
1/23/21 vs. Ole Miss (W 75-64).
A setback for the Wildcats, who lose to the same LSU team they had just beat, but a nice recovery for a split this week.
Troy (Brett Hawkins) -- 10-9, 6-5 Sun Belt.
1/21/21 vs. UT Arlington (L 96-90, OT).
1/23/21 vs. Texas State (W 73-66).
The Trojans stay above .500 with a win this week, but they'd really like to take advantage and go on a nice little run.
Let's take a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Jan. 25-31:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Wisconsin (50) 17-1 1778 1 Big Ten Conference
2. Louisville (22) 17-3 1749 2 Atlantic Coast Conference
3. Baylor 17-3 1621 4 Big 12 Conference
4. San Diego State 17-2 1560 6 Mountain West Conference
5. Syracuse 15-2 1547 3 Atlantic Coast Conference
6. Boise State 16-3 1439 5 Mountain West Conference
7. Providence 16-3 1353 9 Big East Conference
8. Villanova 15-4 1318 7 Big East Conference
9. Wichita State 17-4 1195 16 Missouri Valley Conference
10. Florida State 14-4 1091 19 Atlantic Coast Conference
11. Memphis 15-3 1065 17 American Athletic Conference
12. Illinois 15-3 995 18 Big Ten Conference
13. Penn State 15-4 967 NR Big Ten Conference
14. Rhode Island 15-3 751 24 Atlantic 10 Conference
15. Fresno State 16-3 677 25 Mountain West Conference
16. Florida 13-5 664 NR Southeastern Conference
17. Georgia State 17-4 602 NR Horizon League
18. Oklahoma 12-5 523 13 Big 12 Conference
19. Middle Tennessee 15-3 512 10 Conference USA
20. TCU 15-4 423 12 Big 12 Conference
21. Quinnipiac 16-3 329 11 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
22. Kentucky 12-5 280 20 Southeastern Conference
23. FIU 14-3 207 14 Conference USA
24. Western Michigan 15-4 195 NR Mid-American Conference
25. Georgetown 14-6 164 23 Big East Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
UCLA 13-5 84 Pacific-12 Conference
Oregon State 14-4 60 Pacific-12 Conference
Harvard 16-4 57 Ivy League
William & Mary 15-4 52 Colonial Athletic Association
UAB 14-4 34 Conference USA
Kent State 14-4 31 Mid-American Conference
UC Irvine 14-4 22 Big West Conference
Vanderbilt 13-5 21 Southeastern Conference
Lehigh 15-4 16 Patriot League
Nebraska 13-5 10 Big Ten Conference
Missouri 13-5 4 Southeastern Conference
Tennessee 13-5 3 Southeastern Conference
Miami 13-5 1 Atlantic Coast Conference
So TCU and Kentucky both stay ranked, although both drop a few spots. UCLA is right on the cusp of being ranked again.
Now for the mid-major top 25 for the week of Jan. 25-31:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. San Diego State (50) 17-2 1778 1 Mountain West Conference
2. Boise State (22) 16-3 1748 2 Mountain West Conference
3. Wichita State 17-4 1646 4 Missouri Valley Conference
4. Memphis 15-3 1588 5 American Athletic Conference
5. Rhode Island 15-3 1473 9 Atlantic 10 Conference
6. Georgia State 17-4 1390 11 Horizon League
7. Fresno State 16-3 1342 10 Mountain West Conference
8. Middle Tennessee 15-3 1266 3 Conference USA
9. Western Michigan 15-4 1173 12 Mid-American Conference
10. FIU 14-3 1143 7 Conference USA
11. UAB 14-4 1077 14 Conference USA
12. William & Mary 15-4 974 8 Colonial Athletic Association
13. Kent State 14-4 972 13 Mid-American Conference
14. Quinnipiac 16-3 925 6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
15. Harvard 16-4 835 15 Ivy League
16. UC Irvine 14-4 754 17 Big West Conference
17. Lehigh 15-4 678 21 Patriot League
18. Davidson 13-5 543 NR Atlantic 10 Conference
19. George Washington 12-5 395 NR Atlantic 10 Conference
20. Detroit 16-6 356 19 Horizon League
21. Illinois State 14-6 344 24 Missouri Valley Conference
22. South Florida 12-5 230 18 American Athletic Conference
23. SMU 13-6 226 23 American Athletic Conference
24. UTEP 11-5 137 NR Conference USA
25. Massachusetts 13-5 109 NR Atlantic 10 Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Richmond 13-5 73 Atlantic 10 Conference
Mercer 14-5 60 Southern Conference
Pepperdine 13-6 44 West Coast Conference
Buffalo 12-6 42 Mid-American Conference
Colorado State 12-5 25 Mountain West Conference
Northeastern 15-6 23 Colonial Athletic Association
Columbia 12-6 22 Ivy League
Belmont 14-6 5 Ohio Valley Conference
Northern Illinois 12-6 4 Mid-American Conference
Hartford doesn't manage to get any votes back, despite winning twice this week. A shame really.