What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

LSU and Tennessee went back and forth on Saturday afternoon giving each other everything they could handle. After a frantic tip-in tied things up for LSU, the Volunteers had a chance to win the game. The Vols’ Lamonte Turner, who had made only four of his last 22 three-point attempts, took this quick look after dribbling upcourt. What happened next was a bit of misfortune on Grant Williams’ part to give LSU the break it needed.

Rivalry Week began with the primary focus, as usual, on Tobacco Road. A mere 30 seconds into the game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, though, the focus swung onto Zion Williamson and his shoes…

For as much grief as Charles Barkley deservedly gets when it comes to analyzing the NCAA Tournament, the Round Mound of Rebound delivered a spot-on take with respect to the Zion Williamson situation….

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

It was quite a week for Kentucky at Rupp Arena. It began with a controversial ending as SEC rival LSU got the benefit of the doubt when it came to a tip-in at the buzzer.

The loss pushed Kentucky two games behind SEC-leading Tennessee. Not to worry, though, as the Wildcats took a bite out of the #1 team in the country in a prime time showcase between top-five teams.

The win against the Volunteers pushed Kentucky’s John Calipari into some new territory of his own…

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Saturday marked the initial release of the Selection Committee’s top 16 seeds for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. While the choices lacked much in the way of surprise, the release was followed by five of those teams losing later that day.

Earlier in the week, the college basketball world was reminded of the drama that comes along with NCAA violations, as Arizona decided to place assistant coach Mark Phelps on administrative leave. The Wildcats have struggled both on and off the court this season.

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Tennessee began the week as the top-ranked team in the national polls. It was the first time that the Volunteers had been ranked #1 since the 2007-2008 season under Bruce Pearl. On Wednesday night, Rick Barnes‘ club was completely tested in a game against intrastate rival Vanderbilt. Down by five points late in the second half, Tennessee’s Jordan Bowden delivered this incredible Dunk of the Year candidate that set things in motion for the Vols to win the game…

Last week also featured a pair of games with outcomes that no one could possibly see coming. Down by 14 points with just over two minutes to go, LSU‘s win probability was less than one percent against Missouri. Then all of this happened…

Texas-San Antonio joined LSU last week with a comeback for the ages. KenPom’s win probability gave UTSA just a 0.2% of winning the game against Old Dominion, trailing by 14 points with 2:13 to go. The outcomes of these two games only further prove that anything is possible in college basketball…

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Last week began with Syracuse defeating top-ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The upset included the Orange’s Tyus Battle scoring 32 points and East Carolina transfer Elijah Hughes adding 20 points of his own. Not all of his buckets were created equally, though, as this shot in the final seconds of the first half came from well beyond the three-point line…

After beating Duke, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was asked about Blue Devils’ superstar Zion Williamson. Boeheim found it very difficult to describe the precocious freshman, but had a very colorful way to link him to Charles Barkley…

After beating Virginia Tech last week, Matt Norlander gave his take on Virginia basketball….

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Last week was filled with drama and intrigue around the college basketball world, with plenty of close games heading into the waning seconds.

On Wednesday night, Marquette was staring at a three-point deficit with less than one second remaining when Markus Howard inbounded the ball to Sam Houser, who immediately decided 40 minutes was not enough basketball for this game…

On Thursday night, Oregon watched a large second-half lead dwindle to just three points with a few seconds left. Instead of allowing UCLA to attempt a game-tying three-pointer, Dana Altman instructed his team to foul the Bruins. After Jaylen Hands made the first attempt to trim the lead to just two, chaos ensued. While the game would go to overtime, the Bruins found a way to escape Eugene with a win in extra five minutes. The debate on whether to foul or not to foul rages on…

Not to be outdone by their power conference brethren, Thursday night was filled with last second drama in both the WAC and the Sun Belt. In the former, New Mexico State’s Johnny McCants delivered this half-court heave in the dying seconds….

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

St. John’s was mere seconds away from moving to 13-0 when Seton Hall’s Shavar Reynolds got this look for the win…

While Seton Hall ultimately took the victory, the game-winning shot came immediately following a controversial play in which St. John’s appeared to have secured the win. The Red Storm had an apparent steal, but the referees blew the play dead…

As irate as St. John’s fans were at the end of the game, the explanation given afterward makes the outcome even tougher to swallow. The “timing error” blown whistle is a rough explanation…

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

As the temperature drops as winter overcomes us, Marquette shooting guard Markus Howard brought plenty of warmth to the Fiserv Forum in a win over Buffalo last week…

Those that bet on Duquesne +5.5 against Penn State were feeling pretty good as the clock approached zero. Then chaos ensued…

The Buffalo Bulls: Kings of New York…

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Gonzaga’s Mark Few did not mince words when talking about NCAA President Mark Emmert, going so far as saying, “Emmert needs to step up and be a leader and make some quicker decisions.” Few continued: “there’s a lot of teams who do it right – the National Champions two out of the last three years. There’s a lot of great things. This thing is worth saving.” While Few later went on to say his championship comments were not a shot at North Carolina’s Roy Williams, it was still interesting timing ahead of Gonzaga’s weekend game against North Carolina (which the Zags lost).

On the topic of Emmert and the NCAA, the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) have partnered on a new rule that limits the players that coaches can watch during the month of June. Limiting access of coaches to players in this way is not a step in the right direction.

While action on the court was limited this week because of final exams, it did include a few noteworthy moments. Midweek action included Villanova’s trip to The Palestra to take on Penn. While the Quakers ultimately came out on top, credit should still be given to Jay Wright for playing the game. High-major programs willing to play true road games at mid-majors is always good for college basketball. 

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Two weeks ago, college basketball fans were treated to a Feast Week that featured Gonzaga vs. Duke in Maui, Virginia vs. Wisconsin in the Bahamas and Kansas vs. Tennessee in Brooklyn. This past week brought us the perfect dessert to the meal with the 20th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. This season’s event, as always, included a plethora of quality match-ups…

https://twitter.com/accmbb/status/1067103946186067968

The challenge this year included Michigan soundly beating North Carolina by 17 points, as Wolverines’ freshman Iggy Brazdeikis scored a season-high 24 points in a dominant performance. Michigan’s elite defense stifled the Tar Heels all game long, as the below sequence shows…

https://twitter.com/BigTenNetwork/status/1068000299506225152

The challenge this year included Wisconsin making plays in crunch time. The Badgers overcame a 12-point second half deficit to beat NC State. The below sequence sealed things…

Wisconsin Basketball.

Winning Plays.

Nice #B1GACC win, @BadgerMBB! pic.twitter.com/qQvYu2bEfD

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 28, 2018

The challenge this year included last-second drama. Pittsburgh was down a point with the ball in the closing seconds against Iowa. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the final few seconds included nothing more than these two airballs….

Anotha one. ✅

And it's another thriller in the #B1GACC Challenge as @IowaHoops holds on against Pitt!

B1G 4, ACC 3. pic.twitter.com/JFQ2KUU888

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 28, 2018

The challenge this year included an ACC team draining a game-winning shot in the final seconds. Leonard Hamilton‘s Florida State club trailed Purdue by eight points with under four minutes to go, but the deficit was just one point with ten seconds remaining. Then, the Seminoles’ Trent Forrest stepped up…

https://twitter.com/theACCDN/status/1068003704312233984

The challenge this year featured 14 games and each conference walked away with seven victories. Thank you ACC, thank you Big Ten, for another terrific challenge.

https://twitter.com/theACCDN/status/1068007237413732352

The challenge this year featured a number of individual efforts and plays as well. There was Zion doing #Zionthings in Duke‘s win over Indiana…

https://twitter.com/br_CBB/status/1067633045904199681

The challenge this year featured Wisconsin‘s Brad Davison taking five charges….

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1067663730316636161

Outside of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge last week, college basketball also experienced a rather sizable lowlight. Despite having access to countless respected advanced analytics platforms and plenty of smart people offering to help the NCAA develop its system, it decided to handle the job on its own. The organization unveiled its initial NET Rankings on Wednesday morning…

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1067105577661276160

And well, within a half-hour Twitter ripped apart the new system. Whether that meant Nate Silver offering this opinion…

These are the worst rankings I've ever seen in any sport, ever. NCAA needs to go completely back to the drawing board. https://t.co/UXKbrGyuP8

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 26, 2018

The NET rankings also gave us the least talked about upset of a “#1” team ever…

The No. 1 team in the NET rankings goes down! pic.twitter.com/Be1HcPCrVm

— SB Nation CBB (@SBNationCBB) November 29, 2018

This past week also featured March Madness darling Sister Jean jumping back into our lives as she was given a Final Four ring at Loyola (Chicago)…

A Final Four ring for Sister Jean! pic.twitter.com/k0A0slaC8i

— Loyola Men's Basketball (@RamblersMBB) November 28, 2018

This past week also featured two plays that flew under the radar. First, Western Kentucky’s Josh Anderson registered this dunk which could be up against any dunk of the week…

Nowhere to go but up ↗️↗️↗️ #GoTops @JA__IV @ESPNAssignDesk #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/jRZtyTlD3W

— #SellOutDiddle (@WKUBasketball) December 2, 2018

And finally, Eastern Kentucky’s Nick Mayo found the ball in his hands in the waning seconds against High Point…

"To Mayo … at the buzzer … for the win!"

Here it is. @1nmay0's glorious buzzer beater, complete with @Gstotelmyer's radio call.

Let's get Nick on @SportsCenter's #SCTop10! pic.twitter.com/3pV0ysapkl

— EKUHoops (@EKUHoops) December 1, 2018