Dec. 18-24, 2017
3 feature games to talk about this week, so let's get to it:
12/19/17-
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) @
Norfolk State (Payten Carrano) -- Not a pretty game by any stretch, as the teams combined for 42 fouls and 30 turnovers. Free throw shooting turned out to be the difference, as Hawaii made 16 free throws and Norfolk made just 6.
Final Score: Hawaii- 64, Norfolk State- 59
12/20/17-
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) @
#17 Florida (Noah Oppenheimer) -- Not much to talk about in this one. The Buffaloes shot just 20.8%, yes you read that right, 20.8% from the field, had 18 turnovers, and were down by 23 at halftime. Florida rolled, easily.
Final Score: #17 Florida- 87, Colorado- 46
12/22/17-
Clemson (Charles Johnson) @
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- A great game, as the lead changed several times. Both teams made a living from the three point line, as there were 54 three pointers attempted overall. Wow! The difference was that Clemson made 13 of them while Stanford only made 7. And that truly was the difference as everything else was just about even, but Clemson steals a road victory.
Final Score: Clemson- 78, Stanford- 74
Now to the rest of the weekly recap:
Hartford (David Ginsberg) -- 8-5, 1-0 America East.
12/22/17 at Yale (W 64-58).
12/24/17 at New Hampshire (W 84-67).
Don't look now but the Hawks are on a 3 game winning streak, including winning their conference opener. And as weak as the America East looks to be this season, anything can happen.
ECU (Al Hutt) -- 3-5, 0-1 American.
12/20/17 at SMU (L 75-56).
1 game this week for the Pirates, as they get blasted on the road in their conference opener.
Tulsa (Will Brown) -- 8-4, 1-0 American.
12/20/17 at Houston (W 88-84, OT).
12/22/17 at Texas Tech (W 98-90).
Good week for the Golden Hurricane, as they get a couple more road wins, including winning their conference opener.
Davidson (Randolph Childress) -- 8-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10.
12/18/17- Diamond Head Classic First Round vs. (3) #18 VCU (L 83-65).
12/19/17- Diamond Head Classic Consolation Round vs. (7) UC Irvine (W 81-73).
12/21/17- Diamond Head Classic 5th Place Game vs. (8) Old Dominion (W 90-86).
12/24/17 at Toledo (W 83-71).
Heavy week for the Wildcats as they were on the road for 4 games, and they won 3 of them. They'd like to have competed a little more against VCU, but still a solid week as they finish 5th in their season tournament.
Clemson (Charles Johnson) -- 6-4, 0-0 ACC.
12/18/17 vs. Oklahoma (W 83-69).
12/22/17 at Stanford- feature game, highlighted above.
Good week for the Tigers who get a couple wins over very good teams. Next week they start conference play and kick it off with 2 ranked teams.
#16 Duke (Dean Hoo) -- 8-2, 0-0 ACC.
12/21/17 vs. California (W 57-55).
12/24/17 at #1 Ohio State (L 87-69).
The Blue Devils split this week, and become our second FOFC team to get crushed by Ohio State on the road. The Buckeyes are good, very good. Duke starts conference play next week and jumps right into a rivalry game with UNC.
#7 Kansas (Dave Johnson) -- 9-2, 0-0 Big 12.
12/19/17 vs. Georgia (L 54-50).
12/21/17 at Iowa (W 93-88, OT).
A split this week for the Jayhawks, but no shame in losing to Georgia, as they are a good team.
TCU (Bee Mighty) -- 7-4, 0-0 Big 12.
12/18/17 at Texas A&M (W 77-69).
12/22/17 vs. #24 Nebraska (L 76-68).
Believe it or not, the loss to Nebraska ended a 5 game winning streak for the Horned Frogs. It's been a long time since they've won 5 in a row, and now that they are about to start conference play, don't look for another 5 game winning streak anytime soon.
Michigan (Cillian Tribble) -- 6-4, 0-0 Big Ten.
12/18/17 at N.C. State (L 71-67).
The Wolverines fall short in their only game of the week, and they've got 2 feature games on the schedule next week to finish off non-conference play.
#23 Michigan State (Al Mighty) -- 8-2, 0-0 Big Ten.
12/18/17- Las Vegas Classic Semifinals vs. (4) LSU (L 79-69).
Well, I don't think the Spartans were expecting to lose to LSU in the semifinals of their season tourney, but that's what happened. Tough loss in their only game of the week.
#19 Northwestern (Ess Vee) -- 10-0, 0-0 Big Ten.
12/23/17 at Hampton (W 57-47).
1 more game this week for the Wildcats, who beat another subpar non-conference opponent. They've got 1 more such opponent before they begin conference play.
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 6-7, 0-0 Big West.
12/19/17 at Norfolk State- feature game, highlighted above.
12/21/17 at Texas Southern (W 84-48).
12/24/17 vs. Cornell (W 81-60).
It's been a heck of a turnaround for the Warriors, who have won 5 of their last 6, with the only loss in that stretch being a 2 point loss. Word is Coach Gunn informed his players of the firecoachgunn.com website and they didn't care too much for it.
Charlotte (Timmy Tribble) -- 3-8, 0-0 Conference USA.
12/20/17 at North Carolina (L 74-44).
12/22/17 at #1 Ohio State (L 71-52).
2 blowout losses for the 49ers this week, on the road against very good competition, takes the losing streak up to 5 games. They've got a feature game next week, then the start of conference play.
Rice (Charlie Shocker) -- 6-4, 0-0 Conference USA.
12/21/17 vs. Mississippi State (W 79-71).
12/23/17 at McNeese State (W 77-61).
Good week for the Owls who win 2 games. In case anybody was wondering, Mississippi State was the winless power conference team I was talking about in my last post. Rice passed that test and they've got 1 more non-conference game before C-USA play starts.
Monmouth (Thomas Carrano) -- 5-7, 3-4 MAAC.
12/22/17 at Marist (W 70-68).
12/24/17 vs. Marist (L 49-47).
A split this week for the Hawks, against the same opponent. I really hate when the schedule works that way, teams going back to back against the same opponent. It is what it is though.
Norfolk State (Payten Carrano) -- 4-6, 0-0 MEAC.
12/19/17 vs. Hawaii- feature game, highlighted above.
Just the 1 game this week for the Spartans in which they fell short. It's almost conference play time for Norfolk, and the MEAC is totally wide open this season.
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- 5-5, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/18/17 at #1 Ohio State (L 61-52).
12/20/17 at #17 Florida- feature game, highlighted above.
12/23/17 vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi (W 71-39).
Give the Buffaloes credit for being the FOFC team to play Ohio State the closest, but then following that up with a 41 point loss at Florida doesn't bode well. At least they finished the week with a win.
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- 8-2, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/22/17 vs. Clemson- feature game, highlighted above.
Just the 1 game this week for the Cardinal, who fell short in a feature game. They'll have another feature game next week before conference play starts.
#13 UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- 9-2, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/19/17 vs. Maryland (L 98-91, OT).
12/24/17 vs. George Washington (W 70-56).
A split this week for the Bruins, who blew a pretty sizable lead in that OT loss to Maryland. They'd love to have that one back.
Washington State (DeShawn St. John) -- 7-3, 0-0 Pac 12.
12/23/17 vs. Portland State (W 55-49).
1 game this week for the Cougars, who take care of business before they head into conference play, where we'll learn a lot more about them, specifically if they are real, or just taking advantage of lower level teams.
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- 4-7, 0-0 SEC.
12/21/17 at #20 Cincinnati (L 86-58).
12/24/17 at Indiana (L 57-49).
2 more losses for the Crimson Tide, who are definitely struggling again. They start conference play next week, but before that, another non-conference road game.
#17 Florida (Noah Oppenheimer) -- 9-2, 0-0 SEC.
12/20/17 vs. Colorado- feature game, highlighted above.
12/24/17 at #8 Wisconsin (L 74-54).
A split for the Gators this week, who hammered a fellow FOFC team but then got hammered by a solid Wisconsin team.
#6 Kentucky (Patrick Hutt) -- 9-1, 0-0 SEC.
12/19/17 vs. Boise State (W 85-45).
12/21/17 at Howard (W 71-56).
2 easy wins for the Wildcats this week, as they have a couple non-conference games next week before getting into SEC play.
Troy (Brett Hawkins) -- 4-7, 1-3 Sun Belt.
12/21/17 vs. Arkansas State (L 82-66).
12/23/17 at Louisiana Lafayette (L 85-76).
2 losses this week for the Trojans, who really weren't close in either of them. They'll try to get off the slide next week as they have what should be at least 1 easy game.
Let's take a look at the national top 25 heading into next week:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ohio State (72) 12-0 1800 1 Big Ten Conference
2. Kentucky 9-1 1657 6 Southeastern Conference
3. Gonzaga 12-0 1604 3 West Coast Conference
4. Baylor 11-1 1585 4 Big 12 Conference
5. Virginia 10-1 1555 9 Atlantic Coast Conference
6. Marquette 11-1 1480 5 Big East Conference
7. Villanova 9-1 1368 10 Big East Conference
8. Miami 10-1 1248 11 Atlantic Coast Conference
9. Illinois 12-0 1230 12 Big Ten Conference
10. Syracuse 9-1 1216 2 Atlantic Coast Conference
11. Kansas 9-2 1057 7 Big 12 Conference
12. Wichita State 11-2 922 22 Missouri Valley Conference
13. Wisconsin 9-2 852 8 Big Ten Conference
14. Northwestern 10-0 833 19 Big Ten Conference
15. VCU 9-2 819 18 Southeastern Conference
16. UCLA 9-2 783 13 Pacific-12 Conference
17. Florida 9-2 579 17 Southeastern Conference
18. Illinois State 11-1 546 25 Missouri Valley Conference
19. La Salle 9-1 488 15 Atlantic 10 Conference
20. Duke 8-2 457 16 Atlantic Coast Conference
21. Memphis 12-1 420 NR American Athletic Conference
22. Duquesne 10-1 407 NR Atlantic 10 Conference
23. Louisiana Tech 8-1 129 NR Conference USA
24. Notre Dame 9-2 93 NR Atlantic Coast Conference
25. Cincinnati 8-3 91 20 American Athletic Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
West Virginia 8-2 48 Big 12 Conference
Michigan State 8-2 39 Big Ten Conference
Nebraska 7-2 29 Big Ten Conference
Massachusetts 9-2 22 Atlantic 10 Conference
LSU 10-2 13 Southeastern Conference
Arizona 7-3 10 Pacific-12 Conference
Colorado State 11-2 8 Mountain West Conference
Georgia 8-2 8 Southeastern Conference
Indiana 9-2 3 Big Ten Conference
Stanford 8-2 1 Pacific-12 Conference
Kentucky and Northwestern have nice jumps in the top 25, while Kansas, UCLA, and Duke all fall 4 spots. Florida stays the same at 17. Michigan State, with their loss this week, falls out of the top 25 but is still receiving votes. Stanford is just barely hanging in the others receiving votes category, as they get 1 lone vote this week.
Now for the mid-major top 25:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Gonzaga (72) 12-0 1800 1 West Coast Conference
2. Wichita State 11-2 1724 5 Missouri Valley Conference
3. Illinois State 11-1 1610 7 Missouri Valley Conference
4. La Salle 9-1 1563 3 Atlantic 10 Conference
5. Memphis 12-1 1460 10 American Athletic Conference
6. Duquesne 10-1 1435 9 Atlantic 10 Conference
7. Cincinnati 8-3 1429 2 American Athletic Conference
8. Louisiana Tech 8-1 1289 11 Conference USA
9. Massachusetts 9-2 1232 12 Atlantic 10 Conference
10. Colorado State 11-2 1115 8 Mountain West Conference
11. Northern Iowa 11-3 1104 15 Missouri Valley Conference
12. American 9-2 942 17 Patriot League
13. San Diego 8-2 916 20 West Coast Conference
14. Richmond 9-3 803 4 Atlantic 10 Conference
15. Rider 10-2 765 21 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
16. UAB 8-2 736 23 Conference USA
17. Cal Poly 8-2 663 NR Big West Conference
18. Oakland 9-2 657 6 Horizon League
19. Sam Houston State 7-2 482 NR Southland Conference
20. Tennessee Martin 9-2 435 NR Ohio Valley Conference
21. UTEP 7-2 358 24 Conference USA
22. Middle Tennessee 9-3 183 14 Conference USA
23. Boise State 7-3 179 18 Mountain West Conference
24. Quinnipiac 10-3 176 NR Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
25. Stephen F. Austin 8-3 123 NR Southland Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Temple 9-3 60 American Athletic Conference
UC Santa Barbara 9-3 34 Big West Conference
USC Upstate 10-3 34 Atlantic Sun Conference
Valparaiso 8-3 32 Horizon League
North Florida 9-3 14 Atlantic Sun Conference
South Dakota State 8-3 13 Summit League
Air Force 8-3 11 Mountain West Conference
Dayton 7-3 11 Atlantic 10 Conference
St. Bonaventure 7-3 10 Atlantic 10 Conference
Northern Arizona 8-3 2 Big Sky Conference
None of our FOFC teams got a vote, but I have a feeling we've got 3 or 4 teams that if they win all their games next week, could pick up some votes.