Dec. 21-27, 2015
2 feature games this week, both non-conference battles involving Hawaii.
12/21/15-
Rice (Charlie Shocker) @
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- This one was close at halftime, as Hawaii only led by 5, but they took control in the second half with lights out defense, allowing just 32.2% shooting for the game. The result was a runaway victory for the Warriors.
Final Score: Hawaii- 73, Rice- 49
12/26/15-
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) @
TCU (Bee Mighty) -- Hawaii led by 2 at halftime and pulled away a little bit in the second half. TCU just couldn't hang on to the ball, committing 18 turnovers. The Warriors went nuts from three point land, going 16-28 there, and that definitely helped them to win this one.
Final Score: Hawaii- 77, TCU- 68
Now on to the weekly recap:
Hartford (David Ginsberg) -- 2-11, 1-0 America East.
12/23/15 at Princeton (L 64-48).
12/25/15 vs. #13 VCU (L 82-65).
12/27/15 at UMBC (W 61-53).
Hasn't been an easy road for the Hawks so far, but maybe winning their conference opener will spark them.
ECU (Al Hutt) -- 3-8, 0-1 American.
12/21/15 at N.C. State (L 79-49).
12/23/15 at South Florida (L 58-54).
2 more losses this week for the Pirates, including losing their conference opener.
Davidson (Randolph Childress) -- 6-5, 0-0 Atlantic 10.
12/25/15 at #7 North Carolina (W 80-59).
Merry Christmas to Randolph and the Hawks who got a nice Christmas present with a big win over top 10 UNC. Hopefully this will get them going in the right direction.
TCU (Bee Mighty) -- 4-7, 0-0 Big 12.
12/26/15 vs. Hawaii- feature game, highlighted above.
The Horned Frogs battled against Hawaii, but couldn't overcome turnovers and three point shooting.
Michigan (Cillian Tribble) -- 6-4, 0-0 Big 10.
12/22/15 vs. Eastern Michigan (W 87-55).
Easy win for the Wolverines in their only game of the week.
#10 Michigan State (Al Mighty) -- 10-1, 0-0 Big 10.
12/24/15 at Northern Iowa (W 67-55).
The Spartans also only had 1 game this week, but it was a much tougher one, as they got by a pesky Northern Iowa squad.
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 7-5, 0-0 Big West.
12/21/15 vs. Rice- feature game, highlighted above.
12/26/15 at TCU- feature game, highlighted above.
Nice week for the Warriors, who beat up on a couple other FOFC coached teams. I'm sure Coach Gunn won't be making any friends around the FOFC community after this week!
Charlotte (Timmy Tribble) -- 4-6, 0-0 Conference USA.
12/22/15 at #7 North Carolina (L 91-56).
12/25/15 at #15 Duke (L 93-31).
Credit the 49ers for scheduling tough, as they've played a lot of top 25 games on the road, but haven't been competitive in any of them. You gotta think this will pay dividends when C-USA play starts.
Rice (Charlie Shocker) -- 4-5, 0-0 Conference USA.
12/21/15 at Hawaii- feature game, highlighted above.
12/23/15 at SMU (L 73-46).
Remember when the Owls were receiving votes in the mid-major poll? Seems like a long time ago, but they've now lost all 4 games since then.
Monmouth (Thomas Carrano) -- 5-7, 4-3 MAAC.
12/25/15 at Siena (W 66-40).
12/27/15 at Niagara (W 50-43).
Good week for the Hawks, who go on the road and snag a couple conference victories.
Norfolk State (Payten Carrano) -- 3-9, 0-0 MEAC.
12/24/15 at Old Dominion (L 61-59).
12/26/15 vs. SIU Edwardsville (W 53-41).
Perhaps winning 2 of their last 3 games will spark the Spartans going into MEAC play, which is wide open. You wanna know how bad the MEAC is this season? No team has a winning record, the best record in the conference is 5-8, and the conference is still somehow ranked 24th out of 32. Crazy!
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- 7-3, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/24/15 vs. Texas Southern (W 77-57).
Just a lone non-conference game this week for the Buffaloes, but they take care of business before 2 tough non-conference road games next week.
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- 9-2, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/21/15- Las Vegas Classic Semifinals vs. (3) Richmond (W 84-69).
12/22/15- Las Vegas Classic Championship vs. (1) Tulsa (W 81-57).
12/27/15 vs. Montana (W 85-75).
Congrats to Coach Sanchez and the Cardinal, who become the 4th and final team to win a season tournament this season. They followed that up by going back home and struggling a bit against Montana, but still got the W.
#5 UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- 10-0, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/21/15 at UC Irvine (W 86-48).
12/27/15 vs. Maryland (W 83-47).
I'm not quite convinced this mod is totally accurate, as I can't see UCLA beating Maryland that bad in real life, but hey, who knows. This is fun to work with anyways. Oh, the Bruins had 2 more dominating performances this week.
DeShawn St. John (Washington State) -- 5-3, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/21/15 at NJIT (W 77-75, OT).
12/25/15 vs. Idaho (W 66-55).
The Cougars struggled against 2 non-conference opponents who have a combined record of 6-17. What will this mean for conference play? Well, they've got a chance to redeem themselves, with 2 more non-conference games next week.
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- 3-6, 0-0 SEC.
12/23/15 at #15 Duke (L 78-70).
12/26/15 at #21 Virginia (L 92-43).
The Crimson tide fall short in their question to get a marquee road non-conference win. One more chance next week.
#18 Florida (Noah Oppenheimer) -- 9-1, 0-0 SEC.
12/25/15 vs. N.C. State (W 63-39).
Just 1 game for the Gators this week, but they take care of business at home.
#9 Kentucky (Patrick Hutt) -- 10-2, 0-0 SEC.
12/22/15 vs. Central Michigan (W 74-58).
12/27/15 at Indiana (L 73-64).
Stop the presses, the Wildcats are beatable! At least in FBCB they are. They were taken out by a solid Indiana team.
Troy (Brett Hawkins) -- 4-7, 2-1 Sun Belt.
12/24/15 at Georgia Southern (L 71-70, OT).
12/26/15 vs. Arkansas Little Rock (W 50-39).
A split for the Trojans this week, but they'll tell you they are very unhappy they weren't able to hang on at GA Southern, as they led late but let it slip away.
Let's take a look at the polls:
Code:
Top 25
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Iowa (36) 10-0 1757 2 Big Ten Conference
2. Gonzaga (33) 14-0 1749 4 West Coast Conference
3. UCLA 10-0 1651 5 Pacific-12 Conference
4. Villanova (3) 10-1 1603 6 Big East Conference
5. Syracuse 10-1 1516 8 Atlantic Coast Conference
6. Kansas 10-1 1443 1 Big 12 Conference
7. Michigan State 10-1 1355 10 Big Ten Conference
8. Ohio State 9-1 1267 14 Big Ten Conference
9. VCU 9-1 1224 13 Atlantic 10 Conference
10. Baylor 10-1 1106 17 Big 12 Conference
11. Duke 10-1 982 15 Atlantic Coast Conference
12. North Carolina 11-1 982 7 Atlantic Coast Conference
13. Arizona 8-2 922 12 Pacific-12 Conference
14. Oklahoma 9-1 849 20 Big 12 Conference
15. Virginia 10-1 770 21 Atlantic Coast Conference
16. Kentucky 10-2 769 9 Southeastern Conference
17. Florida 9-1 710 18 Southeastern Conference
18. Cincinnati 11-1 526 23 American Athletic Conference
19. Louisville 9-2 489 3 Atlantic Coast Conference
20. Iowa State 11-1 475 11 Big 12 Conference
21. Vanderbilt 10-1 401 22 Southeastern Conference
22. Miami 11-1 264 25 Atlantic Coast Conference
23. Notre Dame 8-2 249 16 Atlantic Coast Conference
24. Marquette 11-1 162 24 Big East Conference
25. Texas 9-2 80 NR Big 12 Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Illinois 9-1 38 Big Ten Conference
Winthrop 11-0 23 Big South Conference
Washington 9-1 19 Pacific-12 Conference
UNLV 9-1 10 Mountain West Conference
Wisconsin 8-2 8 Big Ten Conference
South Carolina 10-1 1 Southeastern Conference
Florida, Michigan St., and UCLA all move up after perfect weeks. Kentucky, as expected, moves down 7 spots. Where in the world is Stanford? They stand at 9-2, just won a season tournament, and you're telling me they aren't even worthy of a vote? Ridiculous. Coach Sanchez should be furious!
Code:
Mid Major Top 25
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Gonzaga (72) 14-0 1800 1 West Coast Conference
2. VCU 9-1 1728 2 Atlantic 10 Conference
3. Cincinnati 11-1 1655 3 American Athletic Conference
4. UNLV 9-1 1558 9 Mountain West Conference
5. Winthrop 11-0 1436 12 Big South Conference
6. Illinois State 12-1 1365 14 Missouri Valley Conference
7. Stephen F. Austin 10-2 1364 15 Southland Conference
8. Valparaiso 11-1 1195 16 Horizon League
9. Eastern Kentucky 11-1 1137 17 Ohio Valley Conference
10. South Dakota State 7-2 1029 6 Summit League
11. Colorado State 9-1 982 18 Mountain West Conference
12. Connecticut 10-3 952 10 American Athletic Conference
13. Vermont 9-1 925 7 America East Conference
14. North Florida 10-1 879 8 Atlantic Sun Conference
15. Richmond 9-2 792 11 Atlantic 10 Conference
16. Old Dominion 8-1 724 20 Conference USA
17. Tulsa 10-2 641 4 American Athletic Conference
18. Fordham 10-1 582 22 Atlantic 10 Conference
19. George Washington 8-3 486 NR Atlantic 10 Conference
20. Louisiana Tech 10-2 352 25 Conference USA
21. San Diego State 8-4 326 19 Mountain West Conference
22. Harvard 8-3 322 NR Ivy League
23. New Mexico State 9-2 194 NR Western Athletic Conference
24. Stony Brook 10-2 172 NR America East Conference
25. Massachusetts 8-3 165 NR Atlantic 10 Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Murray State 11-2 126 Ohio Valley Conference
La Salle 8-3 121 Atlantic 10 Conference
Saint Louis 9-2 85 Atlantic 10 Conference
New Mexico 8-2 75 Mountain West Conference
Toledo 8-2 53 Mid-American Conference
Princeton 9-2 42 Ivy League
Florida Gulf Coast 10-2 34 Atlantic Sun Conference
Bucknell 11-2 23 Patriot League
Middle Tennessee 7-2 23 Conference USA
UTEP 7-2 21 Conference USA
Northern Iowa 8-3 20 Missouri Valley Conference
Eastern Washington 10-2 16 Big Sky Conference
No surprise here, we're still shut out of the mid-major top 25.