Over the last several days we've seen tons of ranked teams lose to opponents they probably shouldn't have lost to. Some I believe have just been flukes, others I'm a bit more concerned about.
Wednesday: Wofford 79 (5) North Carolina 75
I watched the last 8 minutes of this game on Wednesday because I was busy getting outraged by Survivor finale, but I watched enough to bask in a North Carolina loss to Wofford. This guy named Fletcher Magee was the star for the Terriers and finished with 27 points. It really came down to UNC playing a lazy and casual game for 35 minutes, frantically trying to recover for 5, and ultimately coming up short. The problem with UNC in my opinion is that they play too many people. With Cameron Johnson making his debut that night, the Tar Heels had 11 guys get time. I feel like that only raises rhythm problems. Look at Florida State last year. They had a similar rotation, and while they got a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament, they lost in the Round of 32 to Xavier. I'm not saying a team can't win a title playing more than 8 guys, it just usually means that your team lacks star power, which I ultimately think this Carolina team does, despite Joel Berry and Luke Maye. They did bounce back from their Wofford disaster with a nice win over Ohio State today. In that game they looked more focused and prepared and won by double digits. In the long term, Wofford won't even be a game UNC remembers.
VERDICT: Fluke
Thursday: San Diego St 72 (12) Gonzaga 70
I've started to view Gonzaga differently ever since they got pummeled by Villanova three weeks ago. In their Creighton win at the beginning of December, I saw a team capable of running the table in the WCC and possibly making it back to the Final Four if they got some Zag bounces. Now, I'm not so sure. San Diego St is an okay team: they've now beaten Gonzaga, but also have an embarrassing loss to Cal. The Aztecs have been all over the place. To be blunt, Gonzaga should've handled them. This seems like the culmination of a bad December, a month that was bookended by losses. Josh Perkins needs to start making better decisions on the court. He's currently averaging 3 turnovers a game, but against San Diego St he had 6, and against Villanova he had 5. That needs to improve if they hope to beat good teams in the NCAA Tournament.
VERDICT: Cause for Concern
Saturday: UCLA 83 (7) Kentucky 75
People seemed to be really excited for this game leading up to it, and I didn't really see why. To me I saw two teams: one that was accurately ranked and one that was absurdly overrated. I'll let you guess which one was which. Well anyway, I didn't necessarily think Kentucky was going to lose, but I'm not surprised they did. I haven't liked this Kentucky team all year, and this was fuel to my fire. If we took Kentucky's roster and put them on a different team (like Baylor for example), this team wouldn't even be ranked. They have played two competent opponents all year: Kansas (Loss) and UCLA (Loss). Their best win is at home against Virginia Tech, and that's not a good thing when all the other heavyweights have a Top-25 win. Kevin Knox showed promise today, but he's the only player keeping this team from going in the tank. I know Calipari's teams always get better by the end of the year, but this seems different.
VERDICT: Cause for Concern
Saturday: New Mexico St 63 (6) Miami 54
Miami entered the Diamond Head Classic as the hands-down favorite to win the damn thing against USC. Well my bracket is now absolutely f**ked because the Canes went and lost to New Mexico St in the semifinals. Aside from my December Bracketology griefs, Miami actually played pretty terrible and deserved to lose this game by more than 9. I feel like we were all banking on that Minnesota game as Miami's signature win, but we failed to realize that Minnesota is way worse than we thought. Now I'm thinking of Miami as the 3-seed that'll get bounced in the first round or a team that'll just collapse and get a 8-seed. I can't see the good in Miami. I've tried to keep a positive eye on them thus far, but that's one ugly loss. Also, we can't assume Miami finishes 3rd in the Diamond Head either. Middle Tennessee can make their week a whole lot worse.
VERDICT: Cause for Concern
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