Wow, what a ridiculous week of college basketball. Thirteen ranked teams lost. The #1 team in the nation went down by a solid margin to an unranked team. The seeding field was blown to bits – and this, this was all just the women.
The men also had their fair share of chaos in the last seven days. We thought we had a pretty solid handle on who would claim the #1 seeds and those teams seemed to be in a league of their own. What a difference a week makes. Six ranked teams lost to unranked teams. All four of the top ranked schools lost last week. This hasn’t happened since the 2003/2004 season. Some losses were worse than others but in the end, the big L hurts the same. Let’s recap…
Kansas was upended by unranked Kansas State by 16 points in the Little Apple. This one was bad. But let’s not forget that KSU started the season ranked #3 in the nation. They were that high for a reason – they are good, they’ve just lost a few too many games they should have won. They can do some damage in the Big XII tournament, or, the Big Dance if they get in. Texas, #2, was beaten by unranked Nebraska. This one really hurts. Nebraska has inserted themselves onto the bubble if they can win a few more, but they are one of three Division 1-A schools to have never won a NCAA tournament game. Ouch.
Pittsburgh, #4, was beaten by unranked St. Johns, who is making a strong case to be in the Top 25.
Ohio State‘s loss was the most “quality” if you like that word for tournament points. They lost to #11 Purdue, but they did it by 13 points.
Other ranked teams losing to the unranked in the last week are as follows: #7 Notre Dame to West Virginia, #16 Louisville to Cincinnati, and #23 St. Mary’s to San Diego. Yes, yes, yes, the madness has begun.
So who should be the #1 seeds if the tournament were to start today? My picks would be Texas, Duke, Pitt, and Ohio State. I’d bump Kansas to a #2 seed because they lost to Texas who lost to Nebraska, and they were dominated by Kansas State last week. On top of that, starting guard Tyshawn Taylor was just announced as suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Be that as it may, Kansas could still definitely grab a top seed with a strong showing in their conference tournament. I will not recant on my pick to take the crown – I’m still sticking with KU! Rock Chalk.
What will next week bring?
About Jeff Werkheiser
