Week of 2/19/24

  1. UConn
  2. Houston
  3. Purdue
  4. Kansas
  5. UNC
  6. Arizona
  7. Duke
  8. Tennessee
  9. Marquette
  10. Iowa State
  11. Illinois
  12. Baylor
  13. Creighton
  14. Auburn
  15. Alabama
  16. Dayton
  17. Kentucky
  18. Saint Mary’s
  19. South Carolina
  20. Washington State
  21. SDSU
  22. Florida
  23. BYU
  24. Gonzaga
  25. Texas Tech


The top 16 teams were announced for March Madness, and it was what we expected. Coming into the Saturday games, some of those teams disappointed, and other outside the top 16 took big hits to their tourney hopes. There is less than a month left of the regular season, and it’s going to be a photo finish.


No surprise here, UConn is at the top of the list. Coming into the week, they had DePaul and Marquette up, and they destroyed both. Against DePaul, UConn put up 101 points and let up only 65. UConn had 52 points in the first half, and Alex Karaban finished with 21. All of the other starters were in double digits as well, including Stephon Castle going for 15, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds. Jaylin Stewart had 11 points off the bench, while Solomon Ball and Hassan Diarra combined for 17. The Huskies shot 56% from the field and 46% from deep, while grabbing 16 more rebounds. They also had 7 more assists and 5 less turnovers. Their largest lead was 39. So, riding high into the Marquette game, UConn destroyed them, winning 81-53. Donovan Clingan had 17 and 10, while Tristen Newton had 15 and Cam Spencer had 14. Castle had a bad day shooting, going 1-7 from the field. Diarra added 14 off the bench. UConn held Marquette to less points than they did to DePaul, and only let 2 Marquette players go over 10 points. UConn shot 46% from the field and had 45 rebounds. Marquette shot 37% from the field and had 27 rebounds. UConn also had 15 more assists than Marquette. The Huskies are trying to stay hot this week against Creighton and Villanova. GameDay is also coming to UConn for that Villanova game. After UConn, it gets a lot murkier. Houston jumps up to second from fifth, while Purdue slides back a spot. Houston had just 1 game last week, blowing out Texas 82-61. Houston shot 47% from the field and had 11 more rebounds. Houston had 10 more points in the paint as well, dominating down low. Texas never led as well. LJ Cryer had 26 points of 9-13 shooting, and Jamal Shead had 16 and 11. Emanuel Sharp had 15 points as well. Houston has a big week ahead of them, taking on Iowa State and Baylor. As for Purdue, they succumbed to the trap game against Ohio State yesterday. They lost by 4, 73-69. Zach Edey had 22 and 13, his tenth straight double-double. Lance Jones had 13 points, and Braden Smith had 12. Trey Kaufman-Renn also had 12 points. Even though Ohio State had 3 different players with at least 4 fouls and an interim coach, Purdue could not over come their 14 turnovers. Purdue also never led in the second half. Purdue had 13 more rebounds than OSU as well. Purdue played a lot different just a few days before against Minnesota, though. That game was back and forth, but it felt like Purdue was never in danger of losing. They destroyed Minnesota down low, as Purdue had 44 rebounds and 34 points in the paint. Minnesota had 27 rebounds and 24 points in the paint. Edey had 24 and 15, Smith had 16, 8, and 9, and Jones had 12 points. Mason Gillis added 14 points off the board. Hopefully Purdue can play like they did against Minnesota and not the way they did against Ohio State this week against Rutgers and Michigan. After Purdue are Kansas and UNC. Kansas had an interesting week, getting molly whopped on the road against Texas Tech before beating Oklahoma by 10. Against Texas Tech, the Jayhawks never led. Johnny Furphy led Kansas with just 13 points. Kansas finished with 50 points. KJ Adams Jr. and Hunter Dickinson combined for 10 points on 3 of 22 shooting. With Kevin McCullar out, Nicolas Timberlake did step up and had 13 points. Elmarko Jackson had 7 points in 24 minutes off the bench, the only bench points that Kansas had. KU shot 33% from the field and 19% from deep, with just 26 rebounds. That all changed against Oklahoma, when Kansas shot 44% from the field, 31% from three, and had 40 rebounds, 11 more than OU. Kansas also had 7 more assists and 16 more points in the paint. Kevin McCullar Jr. came back against OU, scoring 10 points and adding 8 rebounds. Dickinson had 20n and 16, while Furphy had 15 points and 9 rebounds. Dajuan Harris Jr. had 11 points and 7 assists. KU was down by 5 at halftime, but then came back in the last 10 minutes of the second half to win by 10. Kansas takes on Texas in their only game this week. As for UNC, they lost at the start of the week to Syracuse before beating Virginia Tech. Against Syracuse, RJ Davis led the way for 19 points, while Cormac Ryan had 18 points. Harrison Ingram had 14 and 11, while Armando Bacot had 14 and 10. UNC could not stop Syracuse’s Judah Mintz and JJ Starling, who both played 40 minutes, and had 25 and 23 points, respectively. Mintz had 16 points in the second half and Starling had 13. Syracuse shot 62.5% as well. North Carolina turned the ball over 11 times, but had 8 more rebounds. North Carolina had 20 fouls, which led to the Orange shooting 25 free throws. If UNC stayed out of foul trouble, they very well could’ve won. Cormac Ryan played all 40 minutes, and finished with 4 fouls. Bacot and Elliot Cadeau finished with 30 and 32 minutes, respectively. They both had 4 fouls. UNC had 18 fouls against Virginia Tech, but it was a lot more spread out. 4 of the 5 starters had 3 fouls. Bacot had 25 and 12, RJ Davis had 20, Ryan had 16, and Harrison Ingram totaled 12 and 17. He did shoot 0-4 from deep, however. UNC finished the game shooting 51.5% and 33% from deep. North Carolina had 43 rebounds to Virginia Tech’s 31, and had 18 more points in the paint, 54-36. Just like North Carolina, VT couldn’t stay out of foul trouble, as they had 19 fouls. UNC shot 19-23 from the line. Virginia Tech had 2 starters finish with 4 fouls, as they played 17 and 16 minutes. UNC plays just 1 game this week, taking on Virginia, on the road.


Outside of the top 5 are Arizona, Duke, Tennessee, Marquette, and Iowa State. Arizona played just 1 game, destroying Arizona State, 105-60. Arizona exploded in the second half with 56 points, as they shot 57% from the field. Jaden Bradley led the way off the bench, with 21 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds off 8-11 shooting. Caleb Love had 15 points and 2 steals, while Keshad Johnson had 14. Kylan Boswell had 11 points, and Paulius Murauskas had 12 points off the bench. Oumar Ballo dominated down low with 15 and 11. He also shot 5-5. As a team, Zona shot 40% from deep and forced ASU to shoot 25%. Arizona had 46 points to the Sun Devils’ 28. Arizona also had 21 assists; Arizona State had 9. However, Arizona won the game in the paint. They had 52 points in the paint, and Arizona State had just 16. Zona also had 17 more fast break points. Arizona simply dominated against Arizona State, which they will hope to do this week against the 2 Washington teams, Wazzu and UDub. Duke and Tennessee also had great weeks. Duke beat Wake Forest and Florida State this week, 77-69 and 76-67, respectively. Against Wake, Mark Mitchell had 23 and 8, Kyle Filipowski had 21 and 11, Jared McCain had 17 and 10, and Jeremy Roach had 12 points. Tyrese Proctor had a very bad game, shooting 0-5 from the field and 0-4 from deep. Pretty much all of Duke’s stars were having a good game, and if Proctor played better, than this game would’ve been an even bigger blowout. Duke has serious final four potential, but it all depends if they can beat North Carolina. Duke shot just 28% from deep, but had 41 rebounds. It was very close in the first half of the game, but Wake never led and Duke pulled away in the second half. Against Florida State, it was the Jared McCain show. McCain had 35 points off 12-20 shooting, and went 8-11 from deep. Those made three pointers are now a Duke freshman record. He also matched a school freshman mark with his 35 points, which ties Zion Williamson. McCain also had 3 steals and 4 rebounds. Jeremy Roach had 17 points, while Filipowski had 8 and 8. Mitchell had 7 points as well. Tyrese Proctor did not play, which defiantly helped McCain go for 35. Duke shot 62.5% from three and 46% from the field. Duke also had 36 rebounds to FSU’s 27. Duke takes on Miami and Wake Forest again this week. As for Tennessee, they took care of business. They had to play Vanderbilt and Arkansas this week. These games weren’t supposed to give Tennessee any trouble, and they didn’t. They destroyed Arkansas 92-63 and Vandy 88-53. Against Arkansas, Jonas Aidoo had 23 and 12 off 11-14 shooting, while Dalton Knecht had 22 points. Jordan James had 12 points, while Jordan Gainey added 17 points off the bench. Tennessee’s defense was on their A-game, allowing just 1 Arkansas player to go in double-digit points. Arkansas shot 38% from the field, which isn’t too bad until you compare it to Tennessee’s percentage, which was 57%. UT also had 11 more rebounds, 5 more assists, and 3 less turnovers. Tennessee continued their dominance into their next game against Vanderbilt, beating them by 35. Knecht led Tennessee in the scoring department with just 14 points as well. All of the other starters were in double digits, while Tobe Awaka and Cameron Carr combined for 17 points off the bench. Vanderbilt never led, and the game was only tied twice. The first time was when the game was still 0-0, and the second time it was tied was when it was 3-3. UT shot 48% from the field and 45% from deep. They forced 19 turnovers, and had 20 more assists as well. Tennessee led in all most every category, which isn’t surprising when their largest lead was once 41. Tennessee takes on Missouri and Texas A&M this week. However, as it stands now, Tennessee finishes their season with 4 ranked teams, Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina, and Kentucky. If Tennessee can get out of that stretch with a respectable record in those 4 games, they can definitely win the SEC. After Tennessee is Marquette, who suffered a setback to UConn on Saturday. They were blown out on the road against UConn, losing 81-53. Kam Jones led Marquette with 15 points, and Oso Ighodaro had 14. No one else had 8 or more points, no player had 5 or more rebounds, and no player had 4 or more assists. Tyler Kolek had 7, 3, and 3, but shot 2-11 from the field. David Joplin had just 3 points, shooting 1-5 overall and 0-3 from deep. Stevie Mitchell had just 4 points. Chase Ross had 6 points off the bench, while Tre Norman also added 4. Those were the only bench points that Marquette had. UConn had 25. Overall, the Golden Eagles shot 37% from the field and 22% from three. They had 27 rebounds to UConn’s 45 as well. Marquette was dominated in every stat by UConn, which was the opposite when Marquette took down Butler earlier in the week. They beat Butler 78-72, with Tyler Kolek leading the way. He had 27, 7, and 5 off 10-21 shooting, while Oso Ighodaro had 17 and 10. Kam Jones added 11 points too. Joplin and Mithcell didn’t have good games, which led to Ben Gold dropping 9 off the bench. Marquette shot 48% from the field and 42% from deep. They also had 26 more points in the paint and forced 14 turnovers, scoring 15 points off them. Marquette takes on DePaul and Xavier this week. Untimely, Marquette falls back 3 spots after the loss to UConn. As for Iowa State, they don’t move at all after wins over Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Against Cincy, Curtis Jones and Tamin Lipsey both had 15 to lead ISU to the win. Keshon Gilbert and Robert Jones both had 12. Milan Momcilovic played 35 minutes, but shot 1-5 and had just 2 rebounds. The ISU defense had another big game, forcing 25 turnovers and 12 steals. That helped ISU’s lead swell up to 16. Although Iowa State didn’t look their best, as they shot 28% from three and they were out rebounded by 14, they dominated in the paint on offense, with 36 points to Cincy’s 14. Their defense had another big game against Texas Tech, forcing 16 turnovers and had 8 steals. They also forced the Red Raiders to shoot 28% from three. Keshon Gilbert had 24, 8, and 5 off 8-16 shooting, while Momcilovic, Lipsey, and Jones all had 10 points. Curtis Jones had 12 off the bench. The Iowa State defense is going to have to come up clutch this week, especially when they take on Houston later tonight. After Houston, Iowa State play West Virginia on Saturday.


They next 5 teams consist of Illinois, Baylor, Creighton, Auburn, and Alabama. I’ll start with the two SEC teams, Auburn and Alabama. Auburn started the week off with a blowout win over South Carolina, 101-61. Auburn shot 61% from the field and 60% from deep, while forcing 13 turnovers. Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome combined for 44 points off 16-26 shooting. Tre Donaldson had 11 points, and Chad Baker-Mazara added 10 off the bench. He also led Auburn with 5 rebounds. Auburn had 17 more assists and 14 more fast break points. However, their great shooting night against South Carolina was wildly different against Kentucky. Auburn shot 31% overall and 18% from deep, going 4-22 from the beyond the arc. Johni Broome and Baker-Mazara both had 14, and Denver Jones had 12, but those were the only good performances from Auburn players. Broome had 11 rebounds, while Baker-Mazara had 6. Broome and Tre Donaldson were both in foul trouble, as they had 4 fouls. Because of that, Donaldson played just 11 minutes. Auburn has just 1 game this week, taking on Georgia. Hopefully they can shoot better in that game. Alabama played just 1 game last week, blowing out Texas A&M 100-75. That marks 2 straight games where Bama has scored in the triple digits. Bama shot 52% from the field and 44% from three. Mark Sears had 23 off 8-14 shooting, while Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Rylan Griffen, and Aaron Estrada all went in double-digit points. Estrada added 7 assists. Sam Walters had a big game off the bench with 11 and 8. Although Alabama played great against Texas A&M and LSU, who they beat two weeks ago, the rest of the Crimson Tide’s opponents are either ranked or have been ranked at one point this season. They play Florida twice, including this week. They also play Kentucky this week, and they play Ole Miss, Tennessee, Florida again, and Arkansas after this week. They are first in the SEC, but they have to keep up a high level of play to actually win the conference. As for Illinois, they stay at 11 with wins over Michigan and Maryland. Against Michigan, Terrence Shannon Jr. exploded for 31 points off 11-15 shooting. Coleman Hawkins had 17, 5, and 5, while Marcus Domask and Quincy Guerrier combined for 23. Illinois shot 56% from the field and 48% from deep. They forced Michigan to shoot 1-10 from beyond the arc. The Fighting Illini had 9 more rebounds and 10 more assists than the Wolverines. Coming into the Maryland game, Illinois last win in College Park was all the way back in 2011. Terrence Shannon made sure that the streak ended in 2024, as he had 27 points, 14 of them coming from the line. Shannon has scored double-digit points in every game he’s played this year. If not for his rape charges and the missed time that came from those charges, he could’ve been in the National Player of the Year talks. Domask had 19 and 12 in 38 minutes, while Hawkins had 14 and 7. Justin Harmon added 10 points off the bench. Although Illinois shot 25% from deep, they forced Maryland to shoot 22%. It was close throughout the game, but they 39 free throws that Illinois attempted help them win. Illinois take on Penn State and Iowa this week. Baylor had a very easy week, beating Oklahoma and West Virginia. Jayden Nunn went for 27 against OU, and all of the other starters were in double-digits. Baylor shot 55% from the field and 52% from deep. They forced 12 turnovers and had 9 steals. 22 of their points came off Oklahoma’s turnovers as well. Baylor shot very well again against WVU, going 53% overall. They once again forced a lot of turnovers, 14 this time. Ja’Kobe Walter and Jayden Nunn both had 20 pieces, with Walter going for 23 and Nunn finishing with 20. Once again, the other starters were also in double-digits, and Josh Ojianwuna had 10 and 7 off the bench. The easy part of Baylor’s season is now over, as they last of their opponents are either ranked by me or the AP Poll, or were once ranked, just like Alabama. Baylor takes on BYU and Houston this week, and TCU, Kansas, Texas, and Texas Tech after that. Creighton moves up 3 spots with wins over Georgetown and Butler. In the win over Georgetown, Baylor Scheierman had a record night with Creighton’s first triple-double since 1985. He had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. It was a great night for him, and it’s something that probably won’t be matched at Creighton for a while. Trey Alexander also had a good game, leading the team in scoring with 26 points. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth were both in double digits. Ashworth only shot threes in the game, going 4-10, so he finished with 12 points. Against Butler, the defense reigned supreme, forcing 11 turnovers and coming down with 9 more rebounds than Butler. Scheierman had another great game, with 27 and 10 in 40 minutes. Alexander also played 40 minutes, totaling 15, 8, and 5. Ashworth had 12, 5, and 8, and Kalkbrenner added 21 and 6 as well. Creighton has a tough week ahead of them, taking on UConn and Saint John’s. Creighton still has to play Marquette again next month. They lost that first matchup 72-67.


The last 5 teams of top 20 are Dayton, Kentucky, Saint Mary’s, South Carolina, and Washington State. Out of these 5 teams, I’m most excited for Wazzu. They’re currently 20-6, and second in the Pac-12. They’re 11-4, and .5 games behind Arizona for first place. They started their conference play at 1-3, and then went on to upset Arizona. Their next loss came 2 games later against Cal. Since then, they’ve won 7 straight, with a slue of players leading the team. Myles Rice is averaging 16 points per game, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Isaac Jones is also averaging 16 points per game and 7 rebounds. Jaylen Wells and Andrej Jakimovski also averaging over 10 points per game and over 4 rebounds per game. Last week, Wazzu beat Cal and Stanford. Rice and Jones both had over 20 points in the Cal game, while Wells and Jakimovski had 12 points each. Rueben Chinyelu added 10 and 5 off the bench. WSU has a tough week ahead, as they have to go onto the road against Arizona and Arizona State. They already beat Arizona, but that was at home. This time, they have to go onto the road. If they can pull of the upset, there is a very good chance that Wazzu wins the Pac-12 before the go to the WCC next year. Speaking of the WCC, Saint Mary’s might win it, but I’ll get to that in another article. SMC is currently 21-6 after they beat Pepperdine. That was their only game last week. They blew them out 103-59, their 13th straight win. They shot 62% from the field and 63% from deep. They had 20 more rebounds and forced 11 turnovers. Augustas Marciulionis had 28, 5, and 6 off 11-16 shooting. Alex Ducas had 18 points, Adam Mahaney had 13 and 7, and Mitchell Saxen had 12, 4, and 5. Mason Forbes had 11 points off the bench. It was an easy game for Saint Mary’s, which has been their season since their 5-5 start. Saint Mary’s rakes on San Francisco and San Diego this week. The other mid-major in this group, Dayton, is pretty much a lock for the tournament. They’re 21-4, and 11-2 in conference play. They’re tied for first in the A-10 with Loyola Chicago, who they play on March first. That’ll probably depend who wins the conference, but Dayton only had 4 losses, so I’m picking them. Dayton beat Duquesne and Fordham off the back off great performances by DaRon Holmes II. Currently, he’s averaging 20 points per game and 8 rebounds. He had 24 and 11 against Duquesne and 29 and 10 against Fordham. Dayton’s rolling into that Loyola Chicago game, but first they have to play George Mason and Davidson. They only take on George Mason this week. In between Dayton and Saint Mary’s is Kentucky. After their loss to Gonzaga, Kentucky destroyed Ole Miss and Auburn. Against Ole Miss, Antonio Reeves led the way with 15 points, while Justin Edwards had 12. The two freshman, Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham had 13 and 10. However, the star of the show was Ugonna Onyenso, who set a Rupp arena record with 10 blocks. Kentucky also shot 52% overall, which helped them break their 3-game home losing streak. Against Auburn, they had another great day on defense, forcing the Tigers to shoot 31% from the field and 18% from three. Kentucky shot 44% from the field and 31% from three. Onyenso had 7 and 22, while Antonio Reeves had 22. Adou Thiero added 14 and 8. Dillingham had 11, while Sheppard had 4, 5, and 3. Sheppard added 5 steals. Kentucky takes on LSU and Alabama this week. Finally, there’s South Carolina. SC falls 5 spots after an 0-2 week which saw them lose to Auburn and LSU. Against Auburn, SC was blown out by 40, as they shot 20% from deep, going 3-15. Meechie Johnson had 22 and 7 on his 27 minutes, while Collin Murray-Boyles added 19 and 7. BJ Mack had 14 points, but those were the only good performances for the Gamecocks. They got 1 total bench point, and the 2 other starters combined for 5 points. South Carolina also lost 13 turnovers. They improved against LSU, but didn’t play well enough to get the win. They lost 64-63, as SC blew a 16-point lead. Murray-Boyles had 13 and 7, while Mack had 18 and 9. This time around, Meechie Johnson had no points, which probably led to SC blowing the lead that they did. Hopefully South Carolina can get back into the win collum this week against Ole Miss.


 The last 5 teams in the top 25 are almost all new teams to the top 25. Those are SDSU, Florida, BYU, Gonzaga, and Texas Tech. I’ll start at the back with Texas Tech, who had a weird week. They destroyed Kansas at home, 79-50. Darrion Williams led the way with 30 points and 11 rebounds off perfect shooting. Warren Washington had 11 and 6, while TTU got 17 total bench points. The other 3 starters combined for 21. Texas Tech dominated down low, with 42 rebounds and 28 points in the paint. However, Texas Tech was not as good against Iowa State, as they lost by 8. Williams had 12 and 11 while Joe Toussaint had 16 points. Texas Tech could not simply keep up with ISU, which led to them losing. However, because Texas Tech destroyed Kansas at home, they get to be ranked, although it is at 25th. TTU plays TCU and UCF this week. Another Big 12 team, BYU, also went 1-1 this week. They started with a close win over UCF, 90-88. Trevin Knell and Noah Waterman both had 17 points, and Jaxson Robinson had 21 points. BYU held a good lead throughout the game, eventually getting up to 19. However, UCF started to come back, but BYU hung on to win. UCF never led in that game, which is what BYU did against Oklahoma State. They never led, but OKST’s lead got up to 20. Dallin Hall tried to lead a comeback with 2 late threes, but it wasn’t in the cards. Hall finished with 12 points. Knell had 16, and Fousseyni Traore had 17 off the bench. BYU shot pretty bad from deep, which has happened in all of their losses. BYU takes mostly threes, which can either help or hurt your team. It’s hurt them all through conference play, and especially against OKST, shooting 23% from beyond the arc. BYU is currently 6-6 in conference play. They take on Baylor and Kansas State this week. In between the 2 Big 12 teams is Gonzaga. It’s time for them to come back into the rankings. They started their season off hot, but it eventually fell off the tracks. However, they got it back onto those tracks, and it led them to winning 9 of their last 10, including a win over Gonzaga. Their only loss in that stretch came to Saint Mary’s, and its by 2. I’m going to make a separate post about Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga and the WCC later this week, so I won’t get to into that right now. Anyways, Gonzaga beat LMU and Pacific off two 20-point games by Graham Ike. He also had a 20-point game against Kentucky, which means he’s had 3 straight. Hopefully Gonzaga can go undefeated next week against Portland and Santa Clara and finally reenter the AP Poll. SDSU is a team that beat Gonzaga earlier this season, and just like the other 3 teams in this group of 5 that I’ve already talked about, they’ve been inconsistent, always appearing and disappearing and reappearing in the polls. Last week, they destroyed Colorado State and New Mexico. Against CSU, they won 71-55. Jaedon LeDee had 27 points and 6 boards. He also shot 10-14. Darrion Trammell and Lamont Butler both had 11 points, and Butler added 10 rebounds. Then, against New Mexico, Jaedon LeDee had another big game with 23 points of 7-10 shooting. That game was close throughout, but SDSU pulled away late. As for Florida, they’ve been trending up from some time now. They’ve taken down Kentucky on the road and Auburn at home. Last week, they had close wins over LSU and Georgia. Against the Tigers, Walter Clayton Jr. led the way with 21 points and 3 assists. He had 21 points again against Georgia. Florida still plays Alabama twice and South Carolina once, but they have an upset gene which could lead to those tough games become easy wins. Florida takes on Alabama and Vanderbilt this week.

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