The insanity arrived early this yr.
An unpredictable faculty basketball season took an unprecedented activate Saturday, when the highest six and 7 of the highest ten groups misplaced out.
Gonzaga, Arizona, Auburn, Purdue, Kansas, and Kentucky all fell, marking the primary time within the AP Ballot period (1948-1949) that the highest six groups misplaced on the identical day. Texas Tech additionally misplaced No. 9, setting one other document for many prime 10 groups dropping in a single day.
Solely the seventh and tenth seed Duke beat Baylor, whereas the Bears beat fifth-ranked Jayhawk. #8 Villanova averted carnage by default – the Wildcats will not play once more till Tuesday.
And whereas the highest stage was eradicated, the opposite 10 groups gained the AP Prime 25 performed on Saturday.
“In all my years I’ve by no means seen a day in hoops like at present,” chirp ESPN Analyst Dick Vitale, who got here out of the airwaves whereas present process most cancers remedy.
The hoopla wasn’t imagined to be stunning with the best way the faculty basketball season has gone to date.
Gonzaga spent three first-place stints totaling six weeks, together with the final two. Baylor spent 5 weeks at primary, Auburn spanned three, and Duke briefly appeared at primary.
And that is simply the highest line. The AP Prime 25 has been blended all season, with groups buying and selling venues just like the NASCAR short-track races.
Voters must make some robust decisions on Monday. Similar for the NCAA Championship Choice Committee in two weeks.
“We didn’t get assist per se in our league as a result of we didn’t care in regards to the enterprise, however nationally, we bought a variety of assist at present due to the groups we’re combating with for the highest seed, all of us misplaced,” Kansas coach Invoice Self stated after dropping 80-70 to Baylor. “So I imply, we can’t fall off a lot, if any, I will not assume.”
The primary-class carnage started with Michigan State’s 68-65 win over fourth-place Purdue in East Lansing, Michigan. The Spartans misplaced 5 out of six to fall out of the AP’s Prime 25, however overtook Boilermakers to present coach Tom Izu his 662nd win, matching the Indiana Bob Knight’s most colleges within the Massive Ten.
Arkansas coach Eric Moselman drove the Moss bus into the proper route on the proper time and the 18th seeded Razorbacks scored one in every of their largest wins of the season, ending sixth at Kentucky 75-73. Arkansas, who reached Elite Eight final season, gained 13 of 14 and is prone to soar in Monday’s ballot.
No. 17 Tennessee was subsequent, proving that the Thompson-Boling Enviornment is a house of terror for the visiting groups, as he went within the 17-2 spherical to defeat third seed Auburn 67-62. Falls 15-0 at residence this season.
Down in Texas, TCU rebounded from an 11-point deficit to beat ninth place Texas Tech 69-66 to spice up its NCAA Championship hopes.
After Baylor’s win over Kansas, Colorado pushed second-placed Arizona to a 79-63 win. It was the Wildcats’ lopsided lack of the season – out of three – and it matched the highest-rated opponent the Buffaloes had ever defeated.
No. 23 St. Mary’s gave the lid to the carnage, placing a wand within the wheels of the top-rated Gonzaga Present for the proper West Coast Convention season. The Gaels walked the identical variety that Zags normally do, scoring 16 consecutive factors en path to a 67-57 win that despatched followers in Moraga, California, to the bottom.
“It is form of like life in late February and early March, particularly on the roads,” stated Gonzaga coach Mark Vu.
The insanity has already begun. Mars could also be obsessed.
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Related Press sports activities author Stephen Hawkins in Dallas contributed to this report.
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Extra AP faculty basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball, https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll, https://twitter. com/AP_Top25
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