College basketball experienced its first true upset weekend and this week’s RTC25 reflects the madness that took place on the court. Let’s run through the carnage. Fresh off a hard-thought ACC/Big Ten Challenge victory over Syracuse, previously-#15 Michigan was stunned at home by NJIT. What made the upset so stunning is that the Wolverines are the reigning Big Ten regular season champions, while NJIT is the lone remaining Division I independent because its former conference folded and it has yet to find a new league willing to offer an invitation. This defeat along was stunning enough to cause Michigan to fall completely out of this week’s RTC25. #23 Miami (FL) also suffered an upset loss at home to Green Bay over the weekend. The previously unbeaten Hurricanes were ice cold from the field, shooting just 32.8 percent from the field in the defeat. Poor shooting was also the theme for #16 San Diego State on Sunday, as the Aztecs shot just 20.5 percent in a road loss at Washington. College basketball is often where the unexpected becomes the ordinary, and that was certainly on display over the weekend.

This week’s Quick N’ Dirty after the jump…

Quick N’ Dirty Analysis.

• Kentucky remains the unanimous #1 for the third straight week. John Calipari’s talented Wildcats continued their winning ways with wins over #8 Texas and Eastern Kentucky. Kentucky’s defensive intensity was on display in both victories, as it held Texas to just 29.8 percent shooting and Eastern Kentucky to just 26.1 percent shooting. The Wildcats’ immensely talented front line led the way in both wins, as junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein’s 21 points paced Kentucky against the Longhorns and freshman forward Karl-Anthony Towns’s 19 points led the way against the Colonels.
• Duke is now the unanimous #2. The Blue Devils turned in the most impressive win of the week, as they went on the road and scored a 10-point victory at #5 Wisconsin. Duke’s high-functioning offensive attack shot an extremely efficient 65.2 percent from the field in the victory. Freshmen Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor exhibited why they are such highly-acclaimed first-year players, combining for 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting. Duke is off this week for exams.
• Wichita State’s 35-game regular season winning streak ends. Last Wednesday’s trip to Utah resulted in the Shockers’ first regular season loss since March 10, 2013. The 15th-ranked Utes were able to withstand a fierce Wichita State rally to secure a 69-68 overtime victory. While the 11th-ranked Shockers were certainly disappointed with the setback, Gregg Marshall once again has a very talented team at his disposal that will likely be a mainstay in the RTC25 all season.
• The Big East continues to shine. #21 St. John’s and #22 Georgetown join #9 Villanova and #17 Butler in this week’s RTC25. The Red Storm enter after completing an unbeaten week highlighted by an impressive 12-point victory at Syracuse. After a tough 1-2 performance in the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Hoyas responded well with a 32-point victory over Towson. John Thompson III’s club will be tested this week, as it will play host to #10 Kansas on Wednesday.

Game of the Week. #10 Kansas vs. #15 Utah. Kansas’ difficult non-conference schedule continues this week as the Jayhawks visit #22 Georgetown on Wednesday before taking on the upset-minded Utes in Kansas City on Saturday. Bill Self’s squad has made significant strides since its embarrassing early loss to Kentucky. Saturday’s showdown with a Utah squad that has already proven it can knock off one of the nation’s best should be a great indicator of where the young Jayhawks are right now. The match-up to watch in this one will be between Kansas swingman Wayne Selden Jr. and his talented counterpart Utah swingman Delon Wright.

Keep Tabs On. #4 Louisville vs. Indiana; #9 Villanova vs. Illinois; #11 Wichita State vs. Seton Hall; #10 Kansas vs. #22 Georgetown; #14 Iowa State vs. #25 Iowa; #1 Kentucky vs. #17 North Carolina; #3 Arizona vs. Michigan; #6 Gonzaga vs. UCLA.

Conference Call: ACC (6), Big 12 (5), Big Ten (4), Big East (4), Pac-12 (2), SEC (1), Missouri Valley (1), Mountain West (1), WCC (1)

WCarey (318 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2014 at 4:22 pm by Walker Carey and is filed under blogpoll, Regular Features. Tagged: butler, duke, feature, georgetown, kansas, kentucky, miami (fl), rtc25, san diego state, st johns, utah, villanova, wichita state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.