Week of 11/27/23
It was a big week with most early season tournaments starting and finishing. The biggest one of them all created a lot of chaos, and a new number one team.
After rattling off 3 straight wins over top 11 opponents, Purdue moves up to number one. They beat Gonzaga by 10, 73-53, before eeking out a close win over Tennessee 71-67. Zach Edey was great in both games, with 25 against Gonzaga and 23 against Tennessee. His dominance continued on the boards, coming down with 14 and 10 respectively. In the championship game, Edey had 28 points and 15 rebounds, earning him the MVP. He’s now averaging 23 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game. Edey is a big reason why Purdue is number one, and why they have beaten the level of opponents that have beaten. Following Purdue are Arizona, UConn, Houston, and Marquette. Arizona, UConn, and Houston all went undefeated this week, and although Marquette is third in the AP poll, I put them at 5. Marquette’s loss came to Purdue is championship game for the Maui Invitational, and they’re put up a good fight, only losing by 3, 78-75. Marquette did beat Kansas, the former number one team, by 14, but their 2 point win over UCLA doesn’t look that good, seeing as they were unranked and just lost to Gonzaga.
Rounding out the top 10 are Kansas, Duke, Miami, Baylor, and Gonzaga. I’ll start with Gonzaga, who lost to Purdue in the opening round of Maui, but then destroyed Syracuse and got past UCLA. Baylor and Miami both went undefeated, and even though Miami had a close win over FIU earlier this season, they have better wins the Baylor. Duke also went undefeated this week, with their only loss this season coming to Arizona, so not a bad loss at all. Then there’s the elephant in the room, the Kansas Jayhawks. They win their first game in Maui, 83-56. They then got blown out by Marquette, turning the ball over 18 times in the process. they did finish out the tournament with a 69-60 win over Tennessee. The turnovers once again continued, with 15. Tennessee only had 6. Kansas does have another good win over Kentucky, but if their turnover problem continues, they could be out of the big dance early.
After Gonzaga are Tennessee, Kentucky, FAU, Texas A&M, and Texas. Out of these 5, Tennessee is the only one with 2 losses, to Purdue and Kansas, both of which either are currently number one or were number one. Kentucky’s loss came earlier this season, and it was also to Kansas. They had an easy week this week, and play Miami this week. FAU’s loss came last week, and they won all 3 games in the ESPN Events International last week. One of the teams the beat in that tournament is A&M, but the Aggies rebounded by beating Iowa State. Texas also lost this week, a 10 point loss to UConn. Texas never led in that game, however. Gonzaga’s one loss also came in Maui, to Purdue.
Rounding out the top 20 are UNC, Creighton, Villanova, BYU, and Colorado State. There were two games played between 4 of these teams. I’ll start with the only team that didn’t play another, BYU. They’re undefeated, and beat SDSU earlier this season. Villanova and North Carolina played each other, with Nova coming out on top 83-81. They did lose to Penn earlier this season, but have played 4 great games since. The game against North Carolina went into Overtime, and although North Carolina dominated in rebounds and shot the ball better, Eric Dixon dropped 34 points in the close win. North Carolina rebounded against Arkansas, winning 87-72. The other matchup was between Creighton and Colorado State. CSU absolutely destroyed Creighton, 69-48. Creighton’s leading scorer in that game, Baylor Scheierman, only had 13 points. CSU is now undefeated, while Creighton just has the one loss.
The teams finishing the top 25 are James Madison, Mississippi State, Illinois, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Mississippi State is ahead of James Madison in three AP Poll, but because James Madison beat the formerly ranked Michigan State in East Lansing, they get the nod above the Bulldogs. Both are undefeated. Then come the pair of the one loss teams, Illinois and Alabama. Illinois lost to Marquette earlier this season, and kept it close until the last 5-ish minutes, eventually losing by 7. Alabama lost to Ohio State this week, a big reason why they fell. They lost 92-81, and were down for almost all of the second half. They then beat Oregon the day later, hanging on to win 99-91. Oregon isn’t a bad team, but also not a good one. Sitting at number 25 is Oklahoma, as they upset USC 72-70 on a last second put back by Otega Oweh. Oweh finished the game with 16 points. Oklahoma also shot 45.5% from 3, something that could ruin someone’s season in March Madness.