Daun is in first place again. For the fourth time in 11 weeks, college basketball’s top-ranked team has been upset. Kur Jongkuch pinned Houston’s shot off the backboard and with less than 5 seconds left on him, helped Temple defeat Houston on his Cougs’ home court 56-55.
It’s the second time Houston has lost the No. 1 spot this season, with a home loss to Alabama in December. The top spot in tomorrow’s AP poll will be either the Crimson his Tide or Purdue after Kansas suffered a losing streak this week. TCU dismantled the Jayhawks by 26 on Saturday. According to ESPN Stats & Info, For the first time in AP voting history, the top two teams lost at home in two days..
Houston was the 19-point favorite. This is the biggest upset for a top-ranked team since Duke lost to Cameron his indoors in 2019 when he was the 27.5-point favorite.
Temple pulled off an upset without much play against Kelvin Sampson’s grit and grind defense. Zach Hicks (12 points) and Damian Dunn (16 points off the bench) are the only Owls to score in double figures. Temples were reduced to just 31.1% from the floor. This was Loyola Chicago’s 27.4% shot completion percentage, the team’s first-place finish since he beat Cincinnati 60-58 in overtime for his championship in 1963. It is the lowest shooting percentage ever.
I’m not afraid of the top college basketball teams
As March Madness unfolds this year, analysts will play out the same old tropes. “His NCAA Tournament this year width Open. “Usually that’s not true. Sure there are upsets early on, but usually the best of the best come out on top in the biggest games of the later rounds. This year’s NCAA Tournament really does may be wide open.
The teams in the highest seedlines have more quality wins than most, but they don’t look like world winners. Zach Eady and Purdue. All the traditional powers of Kentucky, Duke, Gonzaga, North Carolina, Kansas and Michigan are not in their familiar supreme form. You’ll find Clemson, FAU and Rutgers. Do any of these teams have the talent to make it to the top of the NCAA Tournament? Probably, but if Kentucky were to face one of these teams early on, it would scare anyone reading this article. No. Sprint into the postseason at a blistering pace. Buckle up, BBN.