Dec. 6-12, 2021
Just 1 feature game this week, as we have a Big Ten/SEC showdown between teams that are trying to restore their glory.
12/6/21-
Michigan State (Al Mighty) @
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- The first half was the difference in this one, as the Spartans held Bama to just 17 first half points and 35% shooting overall for the game, as they get an important road victory.
Final Score: Michigan State- 66, Alabama- 53
Now to the rest of the weekly recap:
Hartford (David Ginsberg) -- 2-6, 0-0 America East.
12/7/21 vs. Rhode Island (L 79-68).
12/9/21 at Rutgers (L 72-59).
2 more double digit losses for the Hawks, who have lost 6 in a row since looking really good in their first 2 games. The streak has to end sometime, we hope.
UConn (Randolph Childress) -- 3-4, 0-0 American.
12/6/21 at Gonzaga (W 85-63).
12/10/21vs. #23 Ohio State (W 76-70).
12/12/21 at #5 North Carolina (L 86-60).
Not a bad week for the Huskies, as they played some tough competition, getting a home upset of Ohio State before falling apart at North Carolina. Still, 2 outta 3 against top competition isn't bad.
ECU (Al Hutt) -- 4-5, 0-0 American.
12/6/21 at Miami (L 90-68).
12/8/21 at Florida (L 72-64).
12/11/21 at VCU (W 88-59).
I thought this might be a tough week for the Pirates, and it was. They looked bad against Miami, lost a halftime lead against Florida, but finished the week strong with a road dismantling of a VCU team that has vastly underperformed since joining the SEC.
Tulsa (Will Brown) -- 3-6, 0-0 American.
12/8/21 vs. South Dakota State (L 57-53).
12/11/21 at Oklahoma State (L 91-82).
Pile em up! More losses for the Golden Hurricane. What's most frustrating is that 2 of their last 3 losses have been to teams they really shouldn't be losing to, especially at home. At least Oklahoma State is a respectable loss.
Duke (Dean Hoo) -- 8-1, 0-0 ACC.
12/7/21 vs. Georgetown (W 56-55).
12/9/21 at #25 Vanderbilt (W 84-51).
12/12/21 at Gonzaga (W 83-74).
Great week for the Blue Devils who continue to roll. After a scare against Georgetown, the Dukies looked great at Vandy and at Gonzaga.
TCU (Bee Mighty) -- 2-4, 0-0 Big 12.
12/6/21 at Tennessee Tech (L 51-50).
12/10/21 vs. New Orleans (W 91-78).
A split for the Horned Frogs this week, and a heartbreaking loss at Tennessee Tech. All they needed to do was figure out how to make 1 more shot. They've got more winnable games coming up, the question is can they play consistently enough to turn them into wins.
Michigan State (Al Mighty) -- 5-1, 0-0 Big Ten.
12/6/21 at Alabama- feature game, highlighted above.
Just the 1 game this week for the Spartans and it was a solid road victory. They've got a chance to puff up their win total going into conference play, although there are a couple games left in non-conference that could be tests.
Northwestern (Ess Vee) -- 5-3, 0-0 Big Ten.
12/8/21 at Chattanooga (W 67-61).
12/10/21 vs. Toledo (W 70-65, OT).
2 wins this week for the Wildcats, and badly needed wins. With Coach Vee fighting for his job, he really needs to win as many as he can out of conference, because he knows what a grind the Big Ten schedule will be.
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 4-2, 0-0 Big West.
12/8/21 vs. #11 Penn State (W 67-60).
A nice home victory for the Warriors in their only game of the week. Anytime you can steal a victory against a P5 team is important.
Rice (Charlie Shocker) -- 4-2, 0-0 Conference USA.
12/8/21 at Houston Baptist (W 75-70, OT).
12/10/21 at Texas Southern (L 76-65).
12/12/21 vs. North Dakota State (W 78-74).
2 out of the for 3 owls, and their only setback was against a team that is usually near the top of their conference, so not bad.
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- 6-2, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/7/21 vs. BYU (L 61-57).
12/10/21 vs. Western Carolina (W 89-58).
A split for the Buffaloes, who are probably kicking themselves for that loss to BYU. It was a slow start that did it. They needed that win, because wins might be tough to come by for the rest of the month.
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- 5-2, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/6/21 vs. Northeastern (L 66-64).
A loss for the Cardinal in their only game of the week. Not exactly the kind of momentum you want going into your season tournament where your first round opponent is 7-1. Coach Sanchez has some work to do to get his team ready.
UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- 6-2, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/6/21 vs. Colgate (L 79-77).
12/10/21 at Loyola Marymount (W 76-61).
12/12/21 vs. Holy Cross (W 82-57).
2 outta 3 for the Bruins, but losing to Colgate? Really? To be fair, Colgate is 5-2 with an RPI of 36. But still, this is a bad loss for UCLA.
Washington State (DeShawn St. John) -- 3-4, 0-0 Pac 12.
No games this week for the Cougars and Coach St. John, who hopefully used the week to prepare for some more winnable games coming up.
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- 2-5, 0-0 SEC.
12/6/21 vs. Michigan State- feature game, highlighted above.
12/8/21 at #8 Iowa State (L 82-58).
12/10/21 at #9 Syracuse (L 64-55).
Give credit to the Crimson Tide for scheduling tough and boosting their SOS for an at-large bid, but none of that matters if they can't find a way to win some of those games. Their last 4 opponents have a combined record of 29-3 so far this season, and 3 of them beat Bama by double digits. This isn't going to fly.
Kentucky (Patrick Hutt) -- 6-2, 0-0 SEC.
12/7/21 at N.C. State (L 75-73).
12/11/21 vs. Cleveland State (W 83-61).
A split for the Wildcats, who won't be happy about dropping one on the road to another P5 opponent. Both of their losses are on the road so far, Coach Hutt wants to get that figured out sooner than later.
Troy (Brett Hawkins) -- 4-3, 0-0 Sun Belt.
12/7/21 at Charlotte (W 91-82).
12/9/21 at Mississippi State (L 96-91).
A road split this week for the Trojans, and both of them were old fashioned shootouts. It's nice that they are putting up the offense, but they've got to shore up that defense. Conference play begins next week for Troy, a little early I'm thinking, but maybe not.
Here's a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Dec. 13-19:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Wisconsin (72) 9-0 1800 1 Big Ten Conference
2. Wichita State 10-0 1728 2 Missouri Valley Conference
3. Arkansas 7-0 1649 4 Southeastern Conference
4. North Carolina 6-0 1550 5 Atlantic Coast Conference
5. Iowa State 9-1 1497 8 Big 12 Conference
6. Baylor 8-0 1421 3 Big 12 Conference
7. Syracuse 9-1 1359 9 Atlantic Coast Conference
8. Arizona 8-0 1333 7 Pacific-12 Conference
9. Louisville 6-1 1152 15 Atlantic Coast Conference
10. Wake Forest 5-0 1142 12 Atlantic Coast Conference
11. St. John's 7-1 1024 18 Big East Conference
12. Manhattan 8-0 973 14 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
13. Virginia 6-1 821 20 Atlantic Coast Conference
14. Florida Gulf Coast 6-0 805 16 Atlantic Sun Conference
15. Villanova 6-1 773 22 Big East Conference
16. San Diego State 7-1 772 6 Mountain West Conference
17. Xavier 7-1 643 NR Big East Conference
18. Texas 7-1 547 NR Big 12 Conference
19. Nebraska 6-1 504 NR Big Ten Conference
20. Notre Dame 8-1 489 NR Atlantic Coast Conference
21. Duke 8-1 403 NR Atlantic Coast Conference
22. Fresno State 9-1 285 10 Mountain West Conference
23. Oklahoma 8-1 262 NR Big 12 Conference
24. Memphis 8-1 163 NR American Athletic Conference
25. Kansas State 7-1 77 NR Big 12 Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Georgia 5-1 42 Southeastern Conference
Massachusetts 7-1 38 Atlantic 10 Conference
Oakland 8-1 33 Horizon League
William & Mary 6-1 26 Colonial Athletic Association
Penn State 6-1 24 Big Ten Conference
Old Dominion 6-1 14 Conference USA
South Florida 6-1 14 American Athletic Conference
Cal Poly 5-1 9 Big West Conference
James Madison 6-1 6 Colonial Athletic Association
Oklahoma State 5-1 6 Big 12 Conference
Boston College 5-1 5 Atlantic Coast Conference
Purdue 6-1 5 Big Ten Conference
VMI 7-1 3 Southern Conference
The Citadel 7-1 2 Southern Conference
Air Force 4-1 1 Mountain West Conference
Great to see Duke jump into the top 25, but what a lack of respect for the FOFC teams otherwise. Those losses that teams like Stanford, Kentucky, Colorado, and UCLA had were enough to cause them to lose all their poll votes. Crazy.
Now for the mid-major top 25 going into the week of Dec. 13-19:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Wichita State (72) 10-0 1800 1 Missouri Valley Conference
2. Florida Gulf Coast 6-0 1672 4 Atlantic Sun Conference
3. Manhattan 8-0 1648 5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
4. San Diego State 7-1 1623 2 Mountain West Conference
5. Fresno State 9-1 1478 3 Mountain West Conference
6. Memphis 8-1 1435 10 American Athletic Conference
7. Oakland 8-1 1318 16 Horizon League
8. William & Mary 6-1 1261 9 Colonial Athletic Association
9. Old Dominion 6-1 1092 23 Conference USA
10. South Florida 6-1 1090 13 American Athletic Conference
11. VMI 7-1 1074 12 Southern Conference
12. Massachusetts 7-1 1031 17 Atlantic 10 Conference
13. The Citadel 7-1 954 15 Southern Conference
14. James Madison 6-1 808 6 Colonial Athletic Association
15. Valparaiso 6-1 799 18 Horizon League
16. Alabama A&M 6-1 712 24 Southwestern Athletic Conference
17. Loyola MD 7-1 635 NR Patriot League
18. Northeastern 4-1 627 NR Colonial Athletic Association
19. Oral Roberts 6-1 590 20 Summit League
20. Cal Poly 5-1 502 NR Big West Conference
21. Air Force 4-1 485 7 Mountain West Conference
22. Illinois State 6-2 269 8 Missouri Valley Conference
23. Portland 7-2 146 11 West Coast Conference
24. Green Bay 7-2 116 NR Horizon League
25. UNLV 5-2 52 14 Mountain West Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Belmont 6-2 42 Ohio Valley Conference
SMU 6-2 32 American Athletic Conference
Davidson 6-2 28 Atlantic 10 Conference
Rider 8-2 23 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Sacred Heart 6-2 13 Northeast Conference
Colgate 5-2 12 Patriot League
Grambling State 6-2 7 Southwestern Athletic Conference
Richmond 4-2 7 Atlantic 10 Conference
Colorado State 5-2 6 Mountain West Conference
UTEP 4-2 6 Conference USA
Wagner 6-2 3 Northeast Conference
Western Illinois 5-2 3 Southland Conference
Hawaii 4-2 1 Big West Conference
No surprise to see Rice lose their mid-major votes, but hello Hawaii! They get 1 point in the polls after their big win over Penn State.