Week Three of the college basketball season brought a plethora of intense action that was highlighted by #10 Maryland and #4 Kentucky suffering their first losses of the young season. The Terrapins fell last Tuesday night at #6 North Carolina in a highly entertaining game that showcased the talent level of each squad. On the contrary, Kentucky showed it is still a work in progress during its 10-point loss last Thursday night at UCLA. This season’s Kentucky/UCLA showdown was in stark contrast from last year’s game when the Bruins managed to score just seven first half points en route to a humbling 83-42 defeat. Yes, the Wildcats’ roster has seen a lot of turnover since then, but such a difference illustrates just how unpredictable college basketball can be from game to game and week to week. This week’s Quick N’ Dirty after the jump.

Quick N’ Dirty Thoughts.

• Michigan State is the new RTC25 #1. The Spartans are now #1 following the aforementioned Kentucky loss. Tom Izzo’s squad moved to 9-0 on the season with a come-from-behind win over #23 Louisville last Wednesday night and a blowout victory over Binghamton on Saturday. Not only is the team unbeaten, but senior guard Denzel Valentine has emerged as a legitimate National Player of the Year candidate. The Spartans will face an interesting test this Saturday when a pesky Florida squad comes to town. If they can emerge victorious, it is highly likely they will enter Big Ten play with a perfect record. Who says Izzo doesn’t care about the regular season?
• Syracuse was unable to maintain its positive momentum. Just one week after taking home the Battle 4 Atlantis crown and rising from unranked to #12 in the RTC25, Syracuse is once again unranked. The Orange lost at home to Wisconsin on Wednesday before falling at old rival Georgetown on Saturday. While the Orange will have several more chances to earn impressive victories this season, its recent inconsistency helps to explain why our pollsters did not think too much of Jim Boeheim’s squad in the preseason.
• Arizona scored an impressive victory. The Wildcats fell from #13 to #19 last week after a bit of an unimpressive showing at the Wooden Legacy Tournament where they struggled with a weak Santa Clara squad and lost to #20 Providence. Arizona is back up to #13 this week after notching a noteworthy road win at #21 Gonzaga. The Wildcats are still going to be without big man Kaleb Tarczewski for a few more weeks due to a foot injury, but if they are able to build off this victory, they should be in good shape when they are back to full strength.

Game of the Week. #7 Virginia vs. #19 West Virginia. The first game in Tuesday’s Jimmy V Classic will be a contrast in styles. Virginia is known for its methodical offense and pack-line defense. West Virginia utilizes an up-tempo offensive attack and its aggressive defensive pressure has a knack for forcing turnovers. The team that can dictate the pace of the game will go a long way in determining who emerges victorious here. Something to keep an eye on will be how Virginia handles West Virginia big man Devin Williams on the inside. Williams has been sensational thus far this season, averaging 18.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per contest.

Keep Tabs On. #15 Miami (FL) vs. Florida; #10 Maryland vs. #25 Connecticut; #24 SMU vs. Michigan; #16 Vanderbilt vs. Dayton; #8 Iowa State vs. Iowa; #18 Utah vs. Wichita State; #12 Xavier vs. Cincinnati; #21 Gonzaga vs. UCLA.

Conference Call: Big 12 (5), ACC (5), Big East (4), Big Ten (3), Pac-12 (3), SEC (2), AAC (2), WCC (1).

WCarey (318 Posts)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 at 9:01 am by Walker Carey and is filed under blogpoll, Regular Features. Tagged: arizona, feature, kentucky, maryland, michigan state, north carolina, syracuse, virginia, west virginia. 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.