They are dropping like flies.
Undefeated teams in conference play, that is.
It was only just over a week ago that a double-digit number of teams were undefeated in conference play. All of a sudden, there is only one team left, and it’s a team that is trying to do that for a second season in a row. The latest team to fall came on Friday night, as St. Bonaventure edged Rhode Island 77-74 in Olean.
And while Vermont now has the nation’s longest winning streak and stands alone as a conference undefeated, St. Bonaventure needs to be talked about.
We’re talking about a school that is about as in-the-middle-of-nowhere as you can get. Traveling there is quite difficult, and it’s a school where the right fit on the bench is paramount. Jim Baron was the right fit; Mark Schmidt, the current head coach, is just that as well. His time there has proven it with more than just occasional success; on Friday night the Bonnies reached the 20-win mark for the third straight year.
Rhode Island went up 71-65 with 4:31 left, and the game could have gotten away from the Bonnies. Instead, they went on an 8-1 run to take the lead, then got a dunk after the Rams regained the lead in the final minute and held on.
St. Bonaventure is an interesting case study as far as their NCAA Tournament candidacy is concerned. Friday night’s win is their first RPI top 25 win, and they have three other top 50 wins – but none of those three is an NCAA Tournament lock (Buffalo, Vermont and Syracuse). They have three sub-100 losses, meaning they have a little to make up for, and they can hold out hope that Maryland will have a late surge to give the Bonnies’ win over them the day after Thanksgiving more value.
Not helping is their remaining schedule. None of the four teams that remain have an RPI with two digits, which means they need to win them mainly to avoid a bad loss. In fact, it’s such a down year in the Atlantic 10 that only the Rams, Bonnies and Davidson are in the top 100 (and the Wildcats barely make it).
Three teams that had been undefeated in their conference have gone down for the first time over the past two nights. Cincinnati and Florida Gulf Coast lost on Thursday night, and Rhode Island became the latest on Friday night. It continues a trend from over the past week, where we have gone from looking like we might have multiple teams pull that off to having just one such team standing.
Side Dishes
The wild game of the night came in the Ivy League, where Princeton looked to be well on their way to a win at Cornell. They led by 20 with 12 minutes left, but the Big Red rallied and eventually took the lead with 10 seconds remaining. The Tigers got a free throw to tie it, and it would take three overtimes before Cornell came away with a 107-101 win in Ithaca. It’s the first time in the 118-year history of the teams playing each other that both teams scored over 100 points. Harvard and Penn both won to stay tied atop the league, and interestingly, Yale, Harvard’s opponent on Saturday night, is the only other team above .500 in league play at 5-4.
Two more conferences have a tie at the top, with one the result of a showdown on Friday and the other leading up to one in a couple of days. Wright State edged Northern Kentucky 69-67 to tie the Norse atop the Horizon League, while Canisius beat Monmouth 78-60 to tie Rider atop the MAAC at 13-2, with the two teams set to play in Lawrenceville on Sunday.
USC has already had a challenging season, and it got a little more challenging on Friday as they learned Bennie Boatwright is done for the season with a left patella injury. The junior forward suffered the injury during Thursday’s win over Oregon, and with the Trojans on the bubble this hurts additionally because now they’ll be evaluated differently by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
Tonight’s Menu
Here are the highlights from the usual busy slate of games:
- ACC play starts with a key game in terms of NCAA Tournament at-large possibilities as Syracuse goes to Miami (noon), then Notre Dame travels to Boston College and NC State goes to Wake Forest (4 p.m.) Later, Louisville hosts North Carolina (8:15 p.m.)
- The Big 12 slate gets going with two slumping teams matching up as Texas visits Oklahoma (noon), then Kansas State hosts Iowa State (1 p.m.) leading up to a big one with Kansas hosting West Virginia (6 p.m.) Later, Baylor tries to stay hot as they host Texas Tech (7:30 p.m.), and the slate is rounded out by TCU hosting Oklahoma State (8 p.m.)
- In Big East play, Providence looks to build on their win over Villanova as they travel to Butler (noon), then at 4:30 p.m. is the big showdown with Xavier hosting Villanova. Later, Creighton hosts Marquette (10 p.m.)
- Early Big Ten games include a Northwestern team desperate for a quality win having an opportunity for one as they host Michigan State (2 p.m.)
- The CAA has a key matchup in Boston as Northeastern hosts William & Mary (4 p.m.)
- In the Pac-12, Washington tries to bounce back as they host Colorado (8 p.m.), while Oregon goes to UCLA really needing a win to salvage this trip (10:15 p.m.) and USC hosts Oregon State (11 p.m.)
- The SEC has some good matchups to watch, starting with Missouri visiting LSU and Kentucky trying to snap a four-game losing streak as they host Alabama (2 p.m.) Later, South Carolina hosts Auburn (3:30 p.m.), Arkansas hosts Texas A&M while Vanderbilt hosts Florida (4 p.m.), Georgia tries to build on their win at Florida as they host Tennessee (6 p.m.) and in-state rivals meet as Mississippi State hosts Ole Miss (8:30 p.m.)
