Nov. 22-28, 2021
1 feature game this week, but it wasn't a part of any season tournament, just a regularly scheduled game.
11/28/21-
ECU (Al Hutt) @
Duke (Dean Hoo) -- A really good test for the much improved Pirates, but they weren't quite up to the task. Despite forcing 26 Duke turnovers, ECU could only manage to shoot 35.9% from the field. Combine that with the fact that the Blue Devils hit double the amount of three pointers that ECU did, and it all added up to a double digit win for Duke.
Final Score: Duke- 76, ECU- 64
Now for the rest of the weekly recap:
Hartford (David Ginsberg) -- 2-2, 0-0 America East.
11/22/21- Toledo Regional First Round vs. (4) UL Monroe (L 60-52).
11/23/21- Toledo Regional 3rd Place Game vs. (3) High Point (L 71-63).
A couple 8 point losses to teams the Hawks probably should have beaten, and they finish 4th in a 4 team tournament for the 3rd time in Coach Ginsberg's career.
UConn (Randolph Childress) -- 1-2, 0-0 American.
No games this week for the Huskies and Coach Childress.
ECU (Al Hutt) -- 3-2, 0-0 American.
11/28/21 at Duke- feature game, highlighted above.
Just the 1 game this week for the Pirates, and if they could have just converted on half of the Duke turnovers, they'd be sitting at 4-1 right now.
Tulsa (Will Brown) -- 2-3, 0-0 American.
11/22/21- Gulf Coast Showcase First Round vs. (6) Towson (L 71-61).
11/23/21- Gulf Coast Showcase Consolation Round vs. (7) Nevada (W 70-64).
11/24/21- Gulf Coast Showcase 5th Place Game vs. (8) Rider (L 71-58).
An embarrassing week for the Golden Hurricane, who go 1-2 against the #6,7, and 8 seeds in the Gulf Coast Showcase for a 6th place finish. They are still trying to figure it out, but Coach Brown's patience is wearing thin.
Duke (Dean Hoo) -- 3-1, 0-0 ACC.
11/28/21 vs. ECU- feature game, highlighted above.
A gift win for the Blue Devils this week, who turned the ball over 26 times but still found a way to win.
TCU (Bee Mighty) -- 1-2, 0-0 Big 12.
11/24/21 at Incarnate Word (L 98-83).
1 game for the Horned Frogs this week, and boy was it an embarrassing loss. A 15 point road loss to Incarnate Word. The honeymoon might be wearing off for TCU.
Michigan State (Al Mighty) 1-1, 0-0 Big Ten.
No games this week for the Spartans and Coach Mighty.
Northwestern (Ess Vee) -- 2-1, 0-0 Big Ten.
No games this week for the Wildcats and Coach Vee. Wow, a lot of teams had the week off.
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 1-2, 0-0 Big West.
11/26/21 at Eastern Kentucky (L 69-63).
1 game this week for the Warriors, and it was another loss, but at least it was close. The schedule isn't easy coming up for Hawaii.
Rice (Charlie Shocker) -- 2-1, 0-0 Conference USA.
11/26/21- Music City Challenge First Round vs. (2) UL Lafayette (L 84-77).
11/28/21- Music City Challenge 3rd Place Game vs. (4) Jackson State (W 75-52).
The Owls split this week, salvaging 3rd place in their tournament after a tough loss to UL Lafayette.
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- 4-1, 0-0 Pac 12.
11/22/21- Gulf Coast Showcase First Round vs. (8) Rider (W 63-56).
11/23/21- Gulf Coast Showcase Semifinal vs. (4) Portland (L 86-79).
11/24/21- Gulf Coast Showcase Championship vs. (6) Towson (W 81-70).
2 out of 3 this week for the Buffaloes, and it's far too soon to say they've turned the corner. Nothing to be ashamed of losing to Portland, who already has some incredible wins this season and will be ranked when the new polls come out. Still though, a promising start for Coach Nielsen, who picked up career win #100 in the win against Rider.
#20 Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- 3-1, 0-0 Pac 12.
11/24/21 at Santa Clara (W 83-77).
11/28/21 at UC Santa Barbara (L 70-64).
A road split this week for the Cardinal, and a pair of 6 point outcomes. That loss to UCSB was marred by bad shooting and getting beaten by 15 on the boards.
UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- 3-1, 0-0 Pac 12.
11/24/21- Battle 4 Atlantis First Round vs. (7) Georgia State (L 79-77).
11/25/21- Battle 4 Atlantis Consolation Round vs. (6) Evansville (W 83-68).
11/26/21- Battle 4 Atlantis 5th Place Game vs. (8) DePaul (W 93-80).
Not exactly the competition the Bruins were hoping for as they progressed in the tournament, but that's what happens when you get upset in your first round game. A good recovery to finish 5th, but they really missed out on a chance at some RPI boosting games.
Washington State (DeShawn St. John) -- 3-1, 0-0 Pac 12.
11/22/21- Main Event First Round vs. (3) LSU (W 70-55).
11/23/21- Main Event Semifinal vs. (2) Indiana (W 72-70).
11/24/21- Main Event Championship vs. (5) Georgia Tech (W 101-70).
I'm not sure what Coach St. John said to his Cougars after that season opening loss, but whatever he said... message delivered, at least for these 3 games. It was like a new Washington State team out there, and they carried it all the way to win the Main Event Championship! This is the first tournament title for Coach St. John and the Cougars since this dynasty started. Congrats to him, hopefully they can keep it up.
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- 2-1, 0-0 SEC.
11/24/21 vs. Columbia (W 67-64).
Just 1 game this week for the Crimson Tide, and they will soak in this victory, because with the upcoming schedule they have, it might be their last win for a while.
#22 Kentucky (Patrick Hutt) -- 4-0, 0-0 SEC.
11/22/21- Hall of Fame Classic Semifinal vs. (5) Memphis (W 74-68).
11/23/21- Hall of Fame Classic Championship vs. (6) Akron (W 74-65).
The Wildcats miss a chance to play the 2nd seed in this tournament, as they were bounced by tournament runner-up Akron. Still, a tournament win is a tournament win, because you still have to beat who is put in front of you. The Wildcats become the first FOFC team in this dynasty to win a 4 team, 8 team, and 16 team tournament. They've completed that hat trick, and they've also won 4 season tournaments now in this dynasty. Impressive!
Troy (Brett Hawkins) -- 3-2, 0-0 Sun Belt.
11/25/21- Wooden Legacy First Round vs. (3) Navy (L 77-76).
11/26/21- Wooden Legacy Consolation Round vs. (7) Howard (L 57-50).
11/28/21- Wooden Legacy 7th Place Game vs. (8) Marist (W 82-65).
Some agonizing defeats for the Trojans this week, who lose 2 games by a total of 8 points. A nice recovery to get a double digit win in the 7th place game.
Here's a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Wisconsin (72) 5-0 1800 1 Big Ten Conference
2. Wichita State 5-0 1728 2 Missouri Valley Conference
3. Arkansas 3-0 1625 6 Southeastern Conference
4. Baylor 3-0 1578 10 Big 12 Conference
5. North Carolina 3-0 1502 9 Atlantic Coast Conference
6. San Diego State 4-0 1428 15 Mountain West Conference
7. Arizona 5-0 1244 18 Pacific-12 Conference
8. Kentucky 4-0 1074 22 Southeastern Conference
9. Penn State 6-0 1031 NR Big Ten Conference
10. Wake Forest 3-0 1025 21 Atlantic Coast Conference
11. Syracuse 6-1 994 7 Atlantic Coast Conference
12. Fresno State 5-0 935 19 Mountain West Conference
13. Iowa State 3-1 925 3 Big 12 Conference
14. Georgetown 2-1 836 17 Big East Conference
15. Portland 4-0 705 NR West Coast Conference
16. South Florida 4-0 633 NR American Athletic Conference
17. Manhattan 5-0 596 NR Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
18. Georgia 3-0 561 25 Southeastern Conference
19. UNLV 3-0 426 NR Mountain West Conference
20. Louisville 4-1 398 NR Atlantic Coast Conference
21. South Carolina 3-0 309 NR Southeastern Conference
22. James Madison 4-0 270 NR Colonial Athletic Association
23. Oklahoma State 2-0 243 NR Big 12 Conference
24. Florida State 3-1 229 8 Atlantic Coast Conference
25. St. John's 3-1 182 11 Big East Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Florida Gulf Coast 3-0 176 Atlantic Sun Conference
IUPUI 3-0 153 Summit League
Iowa 3-1 105 Big Ten Conference
Boston College 2-0 104 Atlantic Coast Conference
Seattle 3-0 100 Western Athletic Conference
Texas State 2-0 78 Sun Belt Conference
Villanova 3-1 76 Big East Conference
Denver 2-0 73 Summit League
Vermont 3-0 70 America East Conference
Air Force 1-0 58 Mountain West Conference
Eastern Kentucky 2-0 49 Ohio Valley Conference
Northwestern State 2-0 36 Southland Conference
Virginia 2-1 13 Atlantic Coast Conference
Ohio State 4-1 10 Big Ten Conference
Bryant 1-0 8 Northeast Conference
Boise State 1-1 4 Mountain West Conference
Buffalo 3-1 4 Mid-American Conference
Oklahoma 4-1 3 Big 12 Conference
Vanderbilt 3-1 3 Southeastern Conference
Kentucky has a big jump this week after winning the Hall of Fame Classic, while Stanford loses all their votes after their meltdown at UCSB. These are really tough polls to figure out. I guess I don't keep that close of attention to polls in real life, but I have a hard time having a 1-0, 1-1 team receiving votes, when we have 4 Pac 12 FOFC teams that are either 3-1 or 4-1, and none of them receive a vote. Crazy.
OK, rant over, for now. Here's a look a the mid-major top 25 going into the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Wichita State (72) 5-0 1800 1 Missouri Valley Conference
2. San Diego State 4-0 1723 2 Mountain West Conference
3. Fresno State 5-0 1618 3 Mountain West Conference
4. Portland 4-0 1526 NR West Coast Conference
5. UNLV 3-0 1409 NR Mountain West Conference
6. South Florida 4-0 1394 10 American Athletic Conference
7. Manhattan 5-0 1387 13 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
8. James Madison 4-0 1234 24 Colonial Athletic Association
9. Florida Gulf Coast 3-0 1206 NR Atlantic Sun Conference
10. Vermont 3-0 1087 14 America East Conference
11. IUPUI 3-0 1046 NR Summit League
12. Denver 2-0 960 20 Summit League
13. Seattle 3-0 922 NR Western Athletic Conference
14. Texas State 2-0 850 NR Sun Belt Conference
15. Eastern Kentucky 2-0 846 NR Ohio Valley Conference
16. Air Force 1-0 811 NR Mountain West Conference
17. Northwestern State 2-0 655 NR Southland Conference
18. Boise State 1-1 559 NR Mountain West Conference
19. Bryant 1-0 555 NR Northeast Conference
20. Buffalo 3-1 530 NR Mid-American Conference
21. Green Bay 4-1 213 NR Horizon League
22. Illinois State 3-1 209 18 Missouri Valley Conference
23. Belmont 4-1 192 16 Ohio Valley Conference
24. Memphis 3-1 99 5 American Athletic Conference
25. Akron 3-1 96 7 Mid-American Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
VMI 5-1 87 Southern Conference
Cal Poly 3-1 36 Big West Conference
Oakland 3-1 32 Horizon League
Northern Colorado 5-1 30 Big Sky Conference
Massachusetts 3-1 29 Atlantic 10 Conference
Bucknell 3-1 28 Patriot League
Sacramento State 3-1 24 Big Sky Conference
Saint Louis 3-1 23 Atlantic 10 Conference
UAB 3-1 19 Conference USA
Dartmouth 3-1 15 Ivy League
Radford 5-1 15 Big South Conference
Rhode Island 1-1 14 Atlantic 10 Conference
Fordham 2-1 11 Atlantic 10 Conference
UC Irvine 1-1 11 Big West Conference
Charlotte 3-1 10 Conference USA
Colgate 3-1 10 Patriot League
Eastern Illinois 3-1 10 Ohio Valley Conference
Temple 2-1 9 American Athletic Conference
Southern Utah 2-1 7 Big Sky Conference
Montana State 1-1 6 Big Sky Conference
St. Francis NY 2-1 6 Northeast Conference
Western Illinois 2-1 5 Southland Conference
Alabama A&M 4-1 4 Southwestern Athletic Conference
Boston University 3-1 4 Patriot League
FIU 2-1 4 Conference USA
UNC Greensboro 2-1 4 Southern Conference
Valparaiso 3-1 4 Horizon League
Niagara 1-1 3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
North Carolina A&T 2-1 3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
William & Mary 2-1 3 Colonial Athletic Association
Louisiana Monroe 3-1 2 Sun Belt Conference
Loyola Marymount 1-1 2 West Coast Conference
Colorado State 1-1 1 Mountain West Conference
Oral Roberts 1-1 1 Summit League
San Jose State 1-1 1 Mountain West Conference
No big surprise, as none of our FOFC teams are receiving mid-major votes.