Down goes No. 1, once more. For the fourth time in 11 weeks, the top-ranked group in school basketball is upset. Kur Jongkuch set a Houston shot on the board with lower than 5 seconds remaining to assist Temple defeat Houston 56-55 on the Cougs’ residence courtroom.
It is the second time this season that Houston has misplaced the No. 1 seed, shedding at residence to Alabama in December. The highest spot in tomorrow’s AP Ballot will both go to the Crimson Tide or Purdue after Kansas suffered back-to-back losses this week. TCU dismantled the Jayhawks for 26 on Saturday. According to ESPN Stats & Info, that is the primary time in AP Ballot historical past that the highest two groups have misplaced at residence inside two days.
Houston was a 19-point favourite. It is the largest upset by a top-tier group since Duke misplaced at Cameron Indoor as a 27.5-point favourite in 2019.
Temple pulled off the upset and not using a ton of theater towards the Kelvin Sampson protection. Zach Hicks (12 factors) and Damian Dunn (16 factors off the bench) had been the one Owls to attain in double figures. Temple remained solely 31.1% off the bottom. It is the lowest taking pictures share by a group to topple the No. 1 since Loyola-Chicago shot 27.four% and beat Cincinnati 60-58 in additional time on the 1963 Nationwide Championship.
The Greatest School Basketball Groups Are Not Scary
This yr, when March Insanity rolls round, analysts will current the identical previous trope: “This yr’s NCAA Event is broad That is usually not true. Positive, upsets occur early, however the most effective of the most effective normally come out on high for the largest video games in later rounds. This yr’s NCAA Event could possibly be large open. pair.
The groups you may see within the increased seeding traces have extra high quality wins than most, however none appear to be world champions, not even zach edey and Purdue. All the standard powers – Kentucky, Duke, Gonzaga, North Carolina, Kansas, the state of Michigan – usually are not in the most effective of acquainted form. When you scan additional down the AP ballot, you may discover Kansas State, TCU, Charleston, Clemson, FAU, and Rutgers. Do both of these groups have the chops to make a deep run within the NCAA Event? Perhaps, however nobody studying this text would freak out if Kentucky was matched up with a kind of groups early. It may be a wild run to the postseason. Buckle up, BBN.