It almost seems fitting now that the NCAA football "bowl season" is almost behind us that conference play would start in college basketball. If you were able to pull yourself away from the football games happening over the past week, you would have noticed that many teams were finishing off their pre-season campaigns.
The 107 to 53 victory by (25) Baylor over Arlington Baptist last Friday is a prime example of just how cupcakey these cupcake games can be. I've covered this before, but if you aren't familiar, cupcake games are early season games where a much lesser school comes to a power conference school and basically gets their ass handed to them in return for a hefty check that basically keeps their program running for the full year.
This serves two purposes. First, it give the better team some experience and the ability to try different players in different positions in a non-clutch situation. Second, it gives the other team the chance to see how they stack up to some "A" level competition, and finally like I said above, it pays the bills.
That is all over now. Starting today, the grind really starts and conference play begins. This is where things really get interesting as teams start solidifying their resume for a chance at a tournament run come March.
Saturday there were four top 25 games on the slate and three of those four were upsets.
Memphis continued to show they are building something good by taking down (16) Ole Miss. This is their third or fourth win against a ranked opponent in the early season. If they keep this up, they will definitely make it to the big dance. (22) UCLA took down (14) Gozaga 65 to 62 in a close game, and Utah State ousted (20) San Diego State 67 to 66. That's always the risk of playing these cupcake games. Sometimes, you end up being the cupcake!
On Sunday there were six games in the top 25. Most of them were pretty lopsided wins as expected like the (24) Illinois 117 to 64 victory over Chicago State.
There were no upsets on Sunday.
Monday brought us eight games in the top 25. Most notably for me was the (18) Michigan State game against Western Michigan where my inlaws graduated from. It was a nice 80 to 62 victory for the Spartans. I hope this carries over into the conference play season for them. They have a game tomorrow night against Ohio State that I am kind of worried about.
I'll actually be at the game, so hopefully it turns out well for me. If the OSU team shows up that beat (4) Kentucky though, we could be in trouble.
Kansas State beat (16) Cincinnati 70 to 67 in a big upset for the Wildcats. I'm not surprised that it was the only upset of the day on Monday.
Tuesday or New Years Eve had six games in the top 25. West Virginia had a big upset 62 to 61 over (7) Kansas which I have to say makes me happy to no end. It's not that I hate Kansas, but I do hate one of their players, so by default, I am not a Kansas fan this year.
Last night, there was just one game in the top 25 and as expected it was not an upset.
Conference play gets started tonight with a couple of games in the Big 10, and a couple more from other conferences. As I said, I will be at the Michigan State game tomorrow night, and you better believe next week I will give you a full update!
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