970x125
We undoubtedly won’t have to wait until March 2 to find out whether Arizona or Iowa State is going to have an unbeaten regular season.
There are six remaining unbeaten teams. It will be no surprise if we are down to none or one when February commences.
With the college basketball schedule mostly engulfed with conference games, you will see Top 10 teams getting upset by lesser teams, with numerous court storms on the agenda.
The undefeated clubs are No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 10 Nebraska, No. 11 Vanderbilt and unranked Miami (Ohio).
Arizona and Iowa State of the Big 12 play in Tucson on March 2, but it would be a major stunner if one team was still unscathed, let alone both.
Someone between the Wildcats (15-0), Cyclones (15-0) and Michigan (14-0) will be the last team standing.
Arizona needs to be mindful of its Jan. 17 game at UCF, as mighty Kansas has lost in two of its three visits to Orlando since the Knights joined the Big 12.
The visit to Provo, Utah, to face BYU on Jan. 26 also is arduous. And that road contest at Houston on Feb. 21 will be the toughest away game of the bunch.
The Wildcats have looked so far, with 11 victories by 20 or more points, and they feature six double-digit scorers.
Michigan of the Big Ten barely slipped by host Penn State, 74-72, on Tuesday, with Freddie Dilione V of the Nittany Lions missing a 3-pointer as time expired. Penn State was missing leading scorer Kayden Mingo, too.
It didn’t seem like the Wolverines would be challenged, since they have 10 victories by 25 or more points. But Michigan almost went down to a much lesser team.
Perhaps the upcoming trip west to face Washington (Jan. 14) and Oregon (Jan. 17) could be where loss No. 1 comes. If not, a visit to Michigan State on Jan. 30 and the Feb. 17 road game at Purdue are possible loss material.
Iowa State is off to the best start in school history and features a stellar trio in Joshua Jefferson, Tamin Lipsey and Milan Momcilovic.
Somewhere along the way, two of those players will have a shaky outing in the same game and perhaps there will be foul trouble.
Next Tuesday’s game at Kansas could be a tricky one, since the Cyclones are 10-58 all-time at Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. Iowa State hosts Houston on Feb. 16.
Nebraska (15-0) is off to the best start in school history and boasts the nation’s current longest winning streak of 19 games.
But the Cornhuskers, who are in the top 10 for the first time since 1966, will start dropping games in Big Ten play despite that stellar home win over Michigan State last Friday.
In fact, it won’t be a surprise if Nebraska loses at Indiana on Saturday. The Cornhuskers play at Michigan on Jan. 27 and host Purdue on Feb. 10. And Nebraska isn’t going to sweep Iowa.
Vanderbilt (15-0) deserves raves for Wednesday’s 96-90 home win over Alabama, and the Commodores beat Saint Mary’s, SMU and Wake Forest by an average of 25 points during nonconference play.
But Vanderbilt will soon succumb to the gauntlet of Southeastern Conference play, and they soon could have a three-game losing streak when they have at Texas, host Florida and at Arkansas in order. Look for the Commodores to have seven-to-nine losses on the slate when the regular season ends.
Hello Miami (Ohio), which is 16-0 and 41-9 since the start of the 2024-25 campaign. The RedHawks haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since the 2006-07 season. They play in a one-bid league, so the Mid-American Conference tournament could mean everything.
The nonconference schedule was really light — is Milligan a person or a full team? — but Miami did recently beat Akron, the team it lost to in last season’s MAC tournament title game.
CBS Sports Network is televising the Miami at Toledo game on Friday. Tune in, as that’s the lone chance to see the RedHawks on real TV in the regular season.
