Big East fans! Wow! There’s a really good chance you are in a great mood this morning. Salud! It was an incredible week for the conference, and you’ll notice several of your programs are recognized here today. It was also a massive week for a bunch of darkhorse programs. This is clearly becoming Minnesota and Iowa State’s world, and we’re just living in it. Narratives have formed, but we like to dive deeper than the narratives around here. So let’s go under the hood in College Basketball to find some great stories out there.
With the season now over a month in, certain programs (Bowling Green as an example) have still not had their complete roster available to them. Other squads are still finding their way (see South Carolina) with appropriate tweaking and rotation adjustments. For the bulk of College Basketball, it is a week-to-week sport that is subject to unexpected surprises and results. It gives us a big reason to love this game irrationally. Let’s take a wide look across the entire sport to see who truly had a tremendous week.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL TEAMS OF THE WEEK (12/6-12)
DePaul
David Jones scored 23 of his career-high 33 points in the second half. DePaul fought past Louisville 62-55 on Friday night in a statement win. Blue Demons also pounded Duquesne earlier in the week. The Blue Demons win at Louisville is a rare away marquee win in any recent program history, here are the winning highlights:
Arizona
What else can be said at this point? The Cats now have a premier road win at Illinois, they punished previously unbeaten Wyoming, and have kept the 80+ points streak alive and well. Christian Koloko was particularly impressive defending the preseason All-American: Kofi Cockburn.
Texas Southern
Tigers absolutely stunned the Gators on Monday night. The 13th best offensive rebounding team in the country proved themselves (14 Offensive Rebounds) and an overall 46-23 rebounding edge in this major upset. KenPom gave the Tigers a 2% chance of winning prior to tip-off. All of this came over an SEC team with a loaded roster. Hats off to Johnny Jones and his program on an improbable win.
James Madison
Sell-out crowd witnessed a massive regional win over Virginia. JMU is not able to participate in the CAA tourney this year, so this likely made the season for the Dukes. It was the first win in program history over Virginia. The Dukes held UVA to near 15% three-point shooting, and got the win despite not have one player score in double-figures. JMU also beat Radford.
Notre Dame
The Irish outscored Kentucky in the paint (38-26) while limiting the Wildcats to just 61 possessions on offense. On the glass, Notre Dame held a plus-five advantage over Kentucky. Strategic win for MIke Brey and Notre Dame, as they look to turn things around this season.
STRONGLY CONSIDERED
NEW MEXICO STATE
Two road wins in a week. Revenge win at New Mexico on a circus shot by Nate Pryor (pictured here). The Aggies then took down LMU by 5 on Saturday. Aggies are 8-2 now and have won three consecutive true road games. Here is the clip of Pryor beating New Mexico at the horn:
IOWA STATE
CyHawk rivalry game turned out to be a laugher, as the Cyclones dominated Iowa, 73-53. Izaiah Brockington was unbelivable in the win (29 pts./10 rebs. on 11-for-14 shooting). Cyclones continue to make major statements each game.
ST. FRANCIS-BROOKLYN
Coach Bracia had plenty to be happy about this week. Terriers entered the week at 0-8 and faced two road games at Saint Peter's and Delaware St. The Terriers ended up playing extremely well and won both by double-digits. Larry Moreno had 18 points to lead the upset over Saint Peter’s. If Moreno’s name sounds familiar, it’s likely due to his incredible basketball trick shot videos he made during 2020. Here’s one:
WEST VIRGINIA
The Mountaineers solidified themselves with a key win vs. UConn at home. It was important for the resume. Also, WVU took care of Kent State in a tricky follow-up game rather handily.
BUTLER
Butler went on the road and took down Oklahoma in OT. It was a gutsy performance by Chuck Harris and Simas Lukosius. Bulldogs may have in fact revived their season.
HONORABLE MENTION
Baylor The Bears handled an elite Villanova team in Waco. It was a defensive clinic that produced the lowest scoring game under Jay Wright that Villanova has ever had.
Murray State Tevin Brown and Justice Hill each had 20+ points to lead the Racers to a big road win at Memphis. Ja Morant being in Memphis made this a little extra special.
Seton Hall Pirates picked up a signature home win over Texas. For an encore, they lit up their rivals - Rutgers, by 14. Great week for SHU.
Belmont Bruins went into Saint Louis and came away with a crucial away win. Grayson Murphy did it all, 14 pts/9 assts/8 rebs. in the win.
Texas Tech It wasn't pretty. However, it counts. The Red Raiders outlasted Tennessee in a win that figures to carry a lot of weight by March.
Creighton The Sanford Pentagon hosted a clash between BYU and the Jays. Jays were Runnin and gunnin’ all afternoon, and got a major win.
South Carolina The Gamecocks picked up a significant win over Florida State by being especially disruptive on the defensive end of the court.
Georgetown Took down rival Syracuse. That came after blowing out UMBC. Hoyas are getting stellar play from their blue-chip Frosh, Aminu Mohammed (23/13 vs. Cuse)
Stephen F. Austin Beat a tough Liberty team by double-digits in Fort Worth. SFA really got it done defensively, holding the Flames to 22% three-point shooting.
Michigan State Spartans picked up a road win at Minnesota. For the time being, that is a big one as nobody else has figured out the Gophers. Sparty also tamed Penn State over the weekend.
Mercer Neftali Alvarez got injured in the game at Coastal Carolina. Bears still persevered and won at CCU, then beat their local rival, Ga. Southern over the weekend.
Ohio State In the comfort of home, the Buckeyes blitzed a good Wisconsin team on Saturday. Also, tOSU fought off a scrappy Towson squad earlier in the week.
SIU Edwardsville Overcame the tornado tragedy by beating Kansas City on Sunday. Also blew out IPFW earlier in the week.
Alabama Won a wild one over Houston that came down to a somewhat controversial no goaltend call that couldn't be reviewed.
Eastern Michigan Stan Heath moved to 5-0 at home in his first year as Head Coach. The Eagles survived a 4 OT war vs. FIU. They also beat a solid Niagara team during the week.
Colorado State Rams stormed back to beat Mississippi State. A key 17-2 run late pushed the Rams over the top. CSU is in an excellent position to make the NCAA's.
St. Joseph's Two wins in the Big 5 this week, included a blowout over Temple. Hawks have some good bragging rights in hand and played efficient hoops too.
Maryland The Terps outlasted Florida to gain Danny Manning his first win as interim Head Coach. Buffalo Key road win at WKU, not an easy place to win. Bulls moved to 6-3 by week's end.
Tennessee State TSU entered this week 1-6 and searched for answers. They manhandled a bad IUPUI team on Friday. The follow-up win at Lipscomb on Sunday could be a real season-changer.
SMU SMU took care of red-hot Dayton in their only game this week. Kendric Davis once again led the Mustangs, with 19.
Bowling Green BGSU is returning closer and closer to full strength and now they have a quality win in hand after knocking off a hot Oakland Golden Grizzlies team.
UCLA Mick Cronin’s Bruins dealt with ridiculous travel circumstances, and still won at Marquette by double-digits. All this with Cody Riley out still.
Stony Brook Took care of local rival Hofstra, 79-62. Impressive win. Seawolves did not have a letdown over the weekend either, beating Bryant, 86-78.
Loyola-Chicago Stellar play continued for the Ramblers as they went into SEC country and took care of Vanderbilt, 69-58.
TCU Frogs played outstanding in a win over Utah, then edged Texas A&M in Houston. Great week for Jamie Dixon's club.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders are off to a 9-1 start under Steve Lutz. It has been impressive to see them beat a lot of teams in their own weight class. Two more wins in the bank this week included a road win at Omaha.
Southern Utah Thunderbirds cooled off a hot Utah Valley team, holding them down in a 60-56 win. T-Birds have won six straight.
Xavier Third straight victory in the Crosstown Shootout under Travis Steele. Throw in a 46-point win over Ball State, and it was a great week.
Winthrop Toughed out a home win over Furman, 85-80. Five Eagles finished in double-figures.