College Basketball Top-25 and Other Headlines

Every Monday, we will be releasing my updated Top 25 teams in the country, along with headlines from power conference teams. Also included this week is a recap of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Top 25

ACC/Big Ten Challenge

• Nebraska gets back on track after a disappointing Feast Week by beating a very experienced Clemson team.
• Minnesota loses for the first time this season on the road at Boston College.
• Notre Dame outlasts Illinois in a great game. The Fighting Illini look like the worst team in the Big Ten as of now.
• Penn State silences its doubters after their loss to Bradley last week by upsetting undefeated Virginia Tech.
• Another upset happened on the same night, as Louisville was able to top Michigan State in overtime, handing the Spartans their second loss on the season.
• Iowa narrowly avoids a costly upset as they held off Pitt with great defense on a buzzer beater opportunity.
• Wisconsin edges NC State for a win, but with the Wolfpack’s effort, I finally got some reassurance to believe that the Wolfpack could be a contender in the ACC.
• Duke annihilates Indiana by 21, as Zion had his career high of 25, scoring 19 in the first half.
• Rutgers makes a statement that they should not be overlooked in the Big Ten, beating Miami.
• Syracuse uses their dynamite zone defense to slow down Ohio State on their way to an upset to get their season back on track.
• Virginia holds off a late push from Maryland for another top-25 win.
• Northwestern dominated Georgia Tech early, but let them back into the game to make their win over the Yellow Jackets closer than it should have been.
• Michigan’s season gets even better as they absolutely decimated North Carolina 84-67, leaving Roy Williams baffled after the game. The Wolverines have now beat the last three national champions on the year.
• Florida State gets a late bucket to propel them over Purdue in the best game of the Big Ten/ACC challenge.
• FSU’s win caused the challenge to result in a 7-7 tie, and with that, I believe these are the two best conferences in College Hoops.

Other Headlines

• Temple gets two meaningful road wins on the week, as they took down Missouri and beat St. Joes, who is a top team in the A10.
• VCU suffers a loss to Old Dominion that sets them back a bit after their better-than-predicted first few weeks of the season.
• Texas is upset by Radford, who already beat Notre Dame this season. This sent the Longhorns out of the Top-25.
• Louisville beats Seton Hall on the road for an important win that the committee will look at when it comes time to decide if Louisville should be in the NCAA Tournament.
• Gonzaga is able to flip the switch once again. After trailing Creighton by double-digits, the Zags overcame the deficit and won by 11, scoring 103 points.
• Nevada is able to outlast a great fight from USC on the road, 73-61.
• Kansas State is upset, as Marquette gets a great win at home. KSU drops eight spots in the updated Top 25.
• Butler loses a costly game away from home, falling to St. Louis.
• Kansas shockingly needed overtime to get passed Stanford at home in Allen Fieldhouse.
• Wake Forest suffers a horrendous loss to Richmond, who didn’t even have their best player. Wake easily looks like the worst team in the ACC.
• Miami is upset by Yale, adding to the rough stretch for the Hurricanes over the last couple weeks.
• Wichita State gets a solid win beating Baylor, but the Shockers led by 33 at one point and they allowed Baylor to cut it to just five points late in the game.
• In Big Ten openers, Wisconsin goes on the road and beats Iowa for a fantastic win, and Michigan keeps on rolling by blowing out a ranked Purdue team by 19.