NCAA Hoops Re-Cap 1/7/2022: A week into conference play

over 2 years ago

We are just about a week into conference play now and there has already been some pretty exciting games. I don't think it is going to be an easy road for my Michigan State Spartans to navigate the Big 10 and I have a feeling there are a lot of other conferences that are just as contentious.

It is actually a short week to recap here becuase I already covered Monday on Tuesday because I was busy doing my football post on Monday. Thankfully football is just about done now and I can focus the majority of my attention on college basketball.

Tuesday gave us nine games in the top 25. Well ten games if you count the one between # 22 Xavier and Georgetown that was postponed. With all of these games being postponed it makes you wonder if they are going to be able to get them all in before the tournament starts.

We could see weeks at the end of the season where teams have a game ever night!

Baylor retains their number 1 ranking by taking down unranked Oklahoma by ten points at home. In what could be a crushing but all too familiar blow to Wildcats fans, #21 LSU beat #16 Kentucky by five points. This could drop Kentucky out of the top 25 for a short time. It will likely depend on how they perform this weekend.

Hats off to unranked Marquette for taking down #16 Providence. I am not sure how there is a crossover there with Kentucky and Providence both having a 16 ranking. Either it was a screw up on my score site or there was a disconnect between publishing and when the rankings came out.

No other upsets on Tuesday beyond those two in the top 25.

Wednesday gave us seven games. Six played and one postponed.

Zero of them were upsets, but it should be noted that Ole Miss took Tennessee into overtime and only lost by six points.

Michigan State won their game against Nebraska, but dang if it was ugly. They had 19 turnovers which is kind of high even for them. They need to work on not being so sloppy with the ball. They have already found out in the preseason what teams can do when they are so unforgiving.

Something needs to change or they will find themselves out in the first round again this year. I don't think anyone wants to see that. Except maybe U of M fans.

Thursday brought us four games and all of them were played. Can you imagine that?

In what could be considere a shocker, unranked Indiana took down #13 Ohio State by about 15 points it looks like. Well done Hoosiers. Like I said, I think the Big 10 is going to be tough this year.

Though, I say that pretty much every year and lately I have been proven very wrong in that statement. I think last year the Big 10 was one of the conferences with the most bids in the tournament and they also had the most teams out in the first round or something like that. It was sad.

Tonight we have just one game. The other one has been postponed. I notice that Gonzaga hasn't played in what seems like forever. I don't really care, I just like giving them a hard time. I feel like it has been weeks that they have played an actual game though. Between postponements and whatever is going on now, they might have a tough time on Saturday when they finally play again against Pepperdine.

Who am I kidding, they will likely destroy them...

The one game I will be focusing on this weekend happens at 2:30 PM on Saturday. It is #10 Michigan State at unranked Michigan. Big in-state rivalry there. Since it is at home for U of M, I am not counting on anything. I think it will be a tough game for the Spartans. Especially if they have 19 turn overs again.

Check back on Monday when I recap all the college hoops action from the weekend.