Go Furman!
This thread is a bit odd this year....as several teams will be undefeated simply from...not playing any games. So we'll not consider teams that have not played. Congratulations to the Ivy league. You beat the system. Anyway:
Baylor (11-0) coming into a ridiculous 4 game stretch, against 3 KP top 15 teams, and #33 OK state
Gonzaga (12-0) unless something shocking happens, they'll run the table. They already have a >50% chance per KP, and their three most difficult games are 87%, 89% and 87% wins. The rest are >95.
Michigan (10-0) Stiff test coming tuesday vs wisconsin
Drake (13-0) They don't have any great games left, but also aren't that great. Odds are they'll drop something.
Winthrop (10-0) They have a very good chance to go undefeated (20%) with no team in the top 200 left on their schedule
Siena (3-0). I thought maybe they had cancelled their season with only 3 games, but they played yesterday, so clearly that is not the case. It seams the the MAAC is playing double headers in most cases on friday and saturday against the same team in the same location, so likely they'll drop one of those against one of the better teams, I'd imagine
The Citadel (8-0) They play #79 furman on wednesday, and again later in the season (along with several other decent team) and have almost no chance to last the season. They're predicted to lose all of their remaining games.
Alabama A&M (2-0) They haven't played since 12/19...but in theory have a game on saturday. If they are actually playing, they have little chance of winning out (Their best player is also, coincidentally enough, Jalen Johnson...making at least 3 Jalen Johnsons in D-1 (including Duke and Wake's)
1200. DDMF.
Go Furman!
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
Michigan lost at Minnesota 75-57 on Saturday, so now there are six teams with records of 3-0 or better:
Gonzaga (14-0, KenPom #1) next plays Pacific on Saturday 1/23.
Baylor (12-0, KP #2) faces Kansas on Monday 1/18.
Drake (13-0, KP #57) is in a COVID pause but should play a pair at Missouri State on 1/26 and 1/27.
Winthrop (13-0, KP #107) plays two at Presbyterian Tuesday and Wednesday 1/19 and 1/20.
Siena (6-0, KP #137) gets two visits from St. Peter's Friday and Saturday 1/22 and 1/23.
Alabama A&M (3-0, KP #336) goes Southern on Saturday 1/23.
As a Michigan fan I wasn't overly alarmed by the loss. One, Minnesota is legit. Two, Michigan was missing Eli Brooks, a senior starter and key cog to the offensive ball movement (which looked stagnant). Three, this team probably needed a bit of a punch to the gut sooner rather than later to have them overcome some adversity (they were never going to go undefeated in this Big Ten!) and bring them back down to earth after all the hype that was going their way. I still think the Wolverines have Final Four potential and are definitely in the second tier of teams this year (below the clear top tier of Gonzaga/Baylor).
Scott Rich on the front page
Trinity BS 2012; University of Michigan PhD 2018
Duke Chronicle, Sports Online Editor: 2010-2012
K-Ville Blue Tenting 2009-2012
Unofficial Brian Zoubek Biographer
If you have questions about Michigan Basketball/Football, I'm your man!
Four teams got their first loss since the last update:
Siena (8-2) played St. Peter's January 22 and 23, and lost on the first night. Then they played Marist January 30-31, and lost on the first night.
Winthrop (16-1) saw its 21-game winning streak snapped January 29, the second night of its pair against UNC-Asheville.
Alabama A&M (5-2) lost at Prairie View A&M January 30, and at Texas Southern February 1.
Drake (18-1) escaped at Valparaiso yesterday but lost at Valparaiso today.
And then there were two.
Gonzaga (18-0) had yesterday's game against Santa Clara postponed, again. They play at BYU Monday.
Baylor (17-0) did the postponing for yesterday's game against TCU and Wednesday's game at Oklahoma. Next is Texas Tech on Saturday.
One tidbit from the Gonzaga article linked above:
I would be surprised if this happened, but the article looks at Baylor, and goes on to speculate on openings in the schedules of Houston, FSU, and Ohio State.Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after [the January 23] win over Pacific that he hadn’t closed the door on attempting to reschedule Baylor or another high-profile opponent if workable dates became available.
We finally have an answer: the last to fall is Gonzaga, if they fall at all.Who will be last to fall? Tracking the undefeateds, 2020-2021
Baylor (18-1) lost at Kansas 71-58, in only its second game since my last post in this thread 3 weeks ago.
Gonzaga (24-0) completed its incomplete regular season, going 15-0 in the WCC. They also beat Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa, and Virginia on neutral courts.
Next they go to Las Vegas for the 2021 WCC Tournament. They (and 2 seed BYU) benefit from an extremely favorable bracket format where neither plays until the semifinals. So the Zags need only 2 wins for the automatic bid.
BYU was ahead by 15 during the first half and carried a 12-point lead into halftime. The game was tied with less than five minutes to play.
A very good BYU team (#23 in Ken Pom) hit Gonzaga with its best punch last night.
Down 12 at the half, undefeated and #1Gonzaga came back and won by 10.
THAT is a championship team !
I still really want them to win it all in 2017.