NCAA Basketball Round-Up: Conference Play is Here!

over 2 years ago

It seems like just the other day the college basketball season was starting up and now here we are beginning conference play. From here on out it is going to be a mad dash to March and all of the madness that ensues! I know that some of the Big 10 teams have already played each other this season, but it was exciting to see so many games slotted back to back on Sunday.

First, let's take a step back to Friday where Kentucky took on High Point. It was the only top 25 game on that day, and the Wildcats handled the Panthers pretty easily from what it looks like. It was a bigger margin of victory than Michigan State had against High Point.

On Saturday there were supposed to be nine games played, but four of them were postponed. It is nice to see that they are postponing games versus outright cancelling them. That gives me a little bit of hope that this season isn't going to go the way of 2020. Who knows though, that Omicron variant is kind of mucking everything up right now.

There was only one upset on Saturday, it was #22 Villanova over #15 Seton Hall. As I have said in the past, that Big East conference is pretty crazy and we will likely see a lot more movement of those teams through the rest of the season.

It's safe to say it was a tough week for Seton Hall losing to both Nova and Providence in the same week. They are likely going to take quite a tumble from that #15 spot.

On Sunday there were four games scheduled, but only three of them got played. #9 Arizona versus #7 USC got postponed. That likely would have been a really good game based on their records and their ranking. I would keep an eye out for them to reschedule that and try to watch it.

Nebraska took #13 Ohio State into overtime, but the Buckeyes ultimately came out on top. Nebraska needs something good to come out of their athletics department after the year they had in football. Hopefully they can get some quality wins and make it into the top 25. As long as the wins aren't agasint Michigan State!

#10 Michigan State took down unranked Northwestern 73 to 67. It was actually a really close game and I had to sit with my eye partially covered for just about the last five minutes of the game. There were so many fouls and Michigan State could hardly get anything to fall in the first half.

I think three players between both teams ended up fouling out. It was a pretty chaotic game with not a lot of pacing or flow. I kind of blame the officials for making it much harder than it needed to be.

The good news is, Sparty won and now they can focus on Nebraska later this week, and Michigan on the weekend.

#23 Wisconsin wasted no time heating things up in Big 10 play last night by beating #3 Purdue by five points. I was busy getting caught up on Yellowstone with my wife and watching season 2 of the Witcher, but now I wish I had tuned in for that game.

That should give the Badgers a pretty good boost up the rankings. It might also move Michigan State into the highest ranked Big 10 position. Not that I really want that for them. I'd much prefer they sit somewhere in the #10 range where they are now and then show everyone what they are made of come tournament time.

Just as long as they don't lose to Michigan.

It is interestign to see how much the landscape has changed already since the begining of the season. Teams like Duke were mid to 25 at best and then you had U of M sitting in the number 4 spot I think it was. Now, Duke is near the top and Michigan has fallen out of the rankings completely. Plus Michigan State started the season unranked and now they sit solidly in the #10 spot.

Things are just going to get crazier as we inch closer to March! Are you ready?!