Weekend Rumblings II (1/20-21)
Upsets on the hardwood. Saturday saw many.
#1 North Carolina 82, Maryland 80
#4 UCLA 63, USC 72
#9 Texas A&M 54, Kansas State 75
#15 Mississippi 80, Auburn 77
#16 Pitt 59, Cincinnati 62
#24 Miami (FL) 77, N.C. State 79
#25 Arizona St 52, Stanford 67
North Carolina and UCLA, the best-ranked teams out of these upset victims, both dropped games on their own floor. College basketball is following in the footsteps of their football counterparts; very few teams are displaying dominance. Memphis jumped to a number-one ranking, deservingly so. The Calipari-coached Tigers boast (blowout) wins over Arizona, Georgetown, Cincinnati and UConn. Although some would suggest that Tennessee is the only team standing in the way of a perfect season, if upsets this weekend are any indication, anyone can beat anyone on any given night - even on the road.
The PAC-10 is the best conference in basketball, and with the exception of Oregon St. (whose coach Jay John was fired on Monday), all squads are potential tournament teams. There are no cupcakes, so you won’t want to miss a beat. The east-coast-biased ACC has two teams (#5 UNC and #4 Duke). The SEC does as well (#3 Tennessee and #14 Vanderbilt). The PAC-10 has four (Washington St., UCLA, Arizona St., Stanford), but more impressive is one glance at the standings: Not one team is unbeaten in conference play. Every game is a battle, another prime example of f-u-n.