Conference play is a different deal.
Prior to the holidays No. 1 Purdue nearly got beat at Nebraska in overtime.
And just this past Saturday, there were a number of significant results as league play began, or restarted, with Iowa State beating Baylor in Ames, Marquette winning at Villanova, New Mexico staying unbeaten by winning at Wyoming by one, Kansas State beating West Virginia in Manhattan, Oklahoma State having a double-figure lead at Kansas but failing to hold on and in the WCC, Saint Mary’s beating Santa Clara and San Diego shocking San Francisco.
Nothing is easy and certainly not predictable. The most significant result came in Cincinnati where Xavier handed UConn its first loss of the season after the Musketeers won at St. John’s to earn our Men’s March Madness Team of the Week honors. The Musketeers are off to a 4-0 Big East start.
And just when it looked like North Carolina was ready to roll again, Pitt took down the Tar Heels 76-74 behind our Men’s March Madness Player of the Week Jamarius Burton’s 31 points. Burton scored nine in an earlier win at Syracuse, but he has had other big ACC moments as well, with 24 points in a win over NC State. The Panthers are now 3-0 in the ACC.
Will Pitt make our Power 36? Well…
College basketball rankings: The Power 36 for Week 8
Last week’s rankings in parentheses:
1. Purdue (1): The Boilermakers reset the Big Ten by hosting Rutgers. They aren’t shooting well, but they are finding ways to win.
2. Arizona (3): The Wildcats held off Arizona State for the road W. But they continue to have multiple speeds that teams can’t keep up with over 40 minutes.
LAST WEEK’S POWER 36: Purdue, UConn’s continued dominance headlines Week 7’s Power 36
3. Kansas (4): The Jayhawks got Oklahoma State’s best shot but again the experience in key positions showed well for KU in their Big 12 opener at home.
4. UCLA (5): The Bruins got the tough state of Washington sweep to keep pace with Arizona.
5. Houston (6): The Cougars are already rolling to 2-0 in the American.
6. UConn (2): The Huskies drop their first game of the season with a road loss at Xavier. No shame. Xavier may not lose a Big East home game.
7. Gonzaga (8): The Zags rolled Pepperdine in the WCC opener, showing yet again how tough they will be to contain in the league.
8. Texas (9): The Longhorns escaped with a one-point win over Oklahoma for their sixth in a row.
BARI 😳 pic.twitter.com/cIthIo9oIe
— Texas…
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