Eleven Top 25 teams lost on Saturday; Two more lost on Sunday
The list of strong contenders to win the National Championship looks a lot smaller than it has in previous years. This year’s NCAA Tournament looks pretty wide-open and it should make for a really exciting March Madness. That notion was on display this past weekend when 13 of the nation’s AP Top 25 teams lost.
To be fair, two of the Top 25 teams that went down on Saturday played other Top 25 teams, as No. 14 Iowa State lost 62-60 to No. 2 Kansas and No. 11 Kansas State lost to No. 17 TCU. We also had a Top 25 battle on Sunday that went to No. 12 Xavier with a 80-76 win over No. 25 Marquette.
However, that also means that 10 ranked teams lost to unranked teams and there were some lopsided upsets in those games.
List of Top 25 Losses from last weekend
- No. 5 Tennessee to Kentucky (63-56)
- No. 6 UConn to St. John’s (85-74)
- No. 9 Arizona to Oregon (87-68)
- No. 11 Kansas State to No. 17 TCU (82-68)
- No. 14 Iowa State to No. 2 Kansas (62-60)
- No. 15 Arkansas to Vanderbilt (97-84)
- No. 16 Miami (FL) to NC State (83-81, OT)
- No. 18 Wisconsin to Indiana (63-45)
- No. 19 Providence to Creighton (73-67)
- No. 20 Missouri to Florida (73-64)
- No. 23 San Diego State to New Mexico (76-67)
- No. 24 Duke to Clemson (72-64)
- No. 25 Marquette to No. 12 Xavier (80-76)
Of note, Tennessee, UConn and San Diego State were the ones to lose at home. These types of losses will happen during conference play, but it was an illustration of how we have a lot of good teams in college basketball this season, but not many great teams.
In the new AP Top 25 poll that came out on Monday, Wisconsin, Missouri, San Diego State and Duke all fell out, while Florida Atlantic (first time ever!), Rutgers, Baylor and Clemson all moved in.
College Basketball National Championship odds
Here are the NCAA Tournament champion odds as of Jan. 16:
- Houston +650
- Alabama +1000
- Kansas +1000
- UCLA +1200
- Tennessee +1500
- Purdue +1500
- Texas +1800
- UConn +2000
- Gonzaga +2000
- Arizona +2500
- Virginia +2500
- Xavier +3000
- Baylor +3500
- North Carolina +3500
- Kentucky +3500
- TCU +3500
- Arkansas +4000
- Iowa State +4000
- Marquette +4500
- Creighton +4500
- Saint Mary’s +5000
- Illinois +5000
- Duke +5000
- Rutgers +6000
- Kansas State +6500
- San Diego State +6500
- Ohio State +7000
- Michigan State +7500
- Miami (FL) +7500
- Auburn +8000
- Indiana +8000
- Providence +9000
- Oklahoma +10000
- West Virginia +10000
- Virginia Tech +10000
- Memphis +10000
- Iowa +10000
- Wisconsin +12000
- Maryland +12000
- Clemson +12000
- Oklahoma State +15000
- North Carolina State +15000
- Missouri +15000
- Mississippi State +15000
- Utah State +15000
- Utah +15000
- Penn State +15000
- Oregon +15000
- Florida +15000
- Arizona State +18000
- All others +20000 or higher
This year’s field is truly wide open and there are even some teams like Michigan or LSU that are in the +20000 or higher group that may get hot as we go down the stretch. With a month and a half of regular season games left, plus conference tournaments, there are a lot of things that could change and you should stalk the futures board to find hot teams that are making a big push with a lot of vulnerable teams at the top.
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