As we hit the midway point in conference play, seven of the top eight in last week’s AP Poll caught the upset bug that has infected college basketball this season.
Blue Devils fall again
After consecutive losses against Clemson and Notre Dame, Duke fell yet again to an unranked opponent Monday—a 64-62 home loss against Syracuse. Tyler Roberson led the Orange into Cameron Indoor Stadium and pounded a depleted Blue Devil frontcourt en route to 20 rebounds. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team shot a paltry 27 percent from 3-point range, but turned it around Saturday by hitting 7-of-11 shots from deep in the second half to topple N.C. State 88-78. Despite the win, the Blue Devils dropped to No. 24 in the rankings and have a tough matchup on the docket Monday on the road against No. 15 Miami.
No. 1 spot remains fluid; Oklahoma rises to the top once again
After surging to the top of the AP Poll in unanimous fashion at the beginning of the week, Oklahoma quickly lost to Iowa State 82-77 on the road Monday. National Player of the Year candidate Buddy Hield scored 27 points, but his team’s effort was not enough to take down a balanced Cyclone offense, which had three players score at least 20 points.
But the Sooners rebounded against conference leader Baylor Saturday with a 82-72 road victory. With Kansas—the team Oklahoma beat to be crowned No. 1—losing to Oklahoma State and North Carolina racking up a pair of conference victories, the Sooners found themselves at the top of the poll again this week.
Southern Methodist's undefeated run comes to a close
The Mustangs became the last Division I team to lose when they fell to 18-1 Sunday after an 89-80 loss to Temple. Guard Devin Coleman led the Owls, scoring a career-high 23 points on a perfect 7-of-7 from beyond the arc. Despite its long run without a loss, head coach Larry Brown’s team is ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA infractions. Southern Methodist is ranked at No. 13 in this week's poll and will look to close out the regular season strong.
Upsets cause major shake-up in the rankings
The upsets continue to hurt top 15 teams allowing surging teams like Iowa, Texas A&M and Indiana to benefit in the polls and move to No. 3, No. 5 and No. 19 respectively. With losses by then-No. 4 Villanova to Providence, No. 5 Xavier to Georgetown, No. 6 West Virginia to Texas and No. 7 Maryland to Michigan State, just to name a few, the top 25 carousel continues to shuffle. And, of course, with the way this season has gone, more major changes are likely to come next week with another full slate of conference action headlined by key conference matchups in the ACC and Big 12.
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