College football has an ending. It took until Jan. 19, which was later than the first 12 Super Bowls, so for anyone who has been pretty much focused on Indiana’s run to a perfect season — Curt Cignetti’s a national champion, Google him — we’re here to report they’ve been playing basketball for a while, too.
In case you wondering what you’ve missed, now that you’re here...
You haven’t missed an Arizona loss. Or Nebraska. Or Miami (Ohio). They’re as perfect as the Indiana football team. Arizona was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12, Nebraska has never won an NCAA tournament game and Miami has missed the last 17 NCAA tournaments, but at the moment they’re a combined 55-0, with only 10 of the 55 victories by five points or under.
You missed some early leapfrogging at the top of the polls. First Purdue was No. 1, then Houston, then Purdue again, and Michigan was there, too, with the coaches. But Arizona moved into the penthouse in December and looks very much at home now with its 18-0 record. You missed the historic early wave the Wildcats surfed to get there, picking off five ranked opponents in their first nine games. They haven’t played anyone ranked since but they haven’t been chased to the buzzer by anyone, either. Their closest game in two months has been seven points. They’re 5-0 in Big 12 play and have trailed for just 12 minutes.
Arizona is something of an anomaly. In this 3-point happy age, the Wildcats are 351st in the nation in attempts from behind the arc. Is it possible to win big these days without always bombing away? Apparently so.
You missed Nebraska climbing to No. 7 in the AP poll, higher than the Cornhuskers have ever soared. But then they’ve never won 22 games in a row before. It’s been a season of rare achievement in Lincoln. Nebraska went unbeaten in nonconference play for the first time since 1928 and is 7-0 in league play for the first time since 1966. The 22-game streak is the longest for any Big Ten team in 15 years. No, the Cornhuskers shouldn’t be 0-8 all-time in the NCAA tournament much longer.
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You missed a gaggle of teams getting to Jan. 20 with just one loss. Eight of ‘em. You think it’s hard to win a national championship with no defeats? The last was Indiana — yeah, the football school — and that was 50 years ago. But it must be even harder to do it with one loss. It’s been 52 years since the last single-defeat champion, North Carolina State.
You missed UConn starting 8-0 in the Big East. The last time the Huskies did that was 1999. They’ve won six national championships since then. They’re 5-1 this season against ranked opponents, and the one loss was a four-pointer to Arizona, the only team in front of them now in the AP poll.
You missed the doings of the Big Ten basher twins, Michigan and Purdue. Michigan has played 17 games and led by double figures in 16 of them, even the one the Wolverines lost at home to Wisconsin 91-88. They still own the season’s most dazzling week, blowing through San Diego State, Auburn and Gonzaga by 40, 30 and 40 points. It took until last Saturday for Purdue to play a game settled by closer than seven points, that one a 69-64 win at Southern California. The Boilermakers’ one misstep was a doozy. You missed Iowa State running them over 81-58 in Mackey Arena, matching the worst home loss ever for a No. 1 team. Still might be the single most impressive victory this season by anyone, anywhere.
You missed Duke being Duke, rolling through the schedule with freshman power. With Cameron Boozer leading the way, the Blue Devils are 8-1 in Quad I games in the NET world of the NCAA, and have kept a chokehold on the ACC, winning 28 of their last 29 against league opponents. The one loss this season was weird, though, 82-81 to Texas Tech when they let a 17-point lead get away. That was the largest squandered lead for Duke in a defeat in two decades.
There was also a unique moment in Durham on New Year’s Eve. While you were probably watching Miami escort Ohio State to the exit in the football playoff, the Boozer family was taking up 40% of Duke’s lineup and accounting for 46% of the scoring as Cameron and Cayden both started in the Blue Devils’ 85-79 win over Georgia Tech. Cameron had 26 points, Cayden 13. They became the first documented set of twin brothers to start a game for Duke since the 1942-43 season.
You’re just in time to see one-loss Houston on a roll. Last week the Cougars stampeded Arizona State 103-73 by opening with a 30-5 run, and five days earlier flattened West Virginia 77-48, jumping to a 28-5 lead. They allowed three field goals in the first 8 ½ minutes of both games combined. Yeah, that sounds like Houston, all right. The Cougars were lost in the shuffle a bit early by the glamor of other teams and the fact opponents actually started scoring 70 points against their defense. But they haven’t gone anywhere. They’ve won 15 in a row at home and 16 in a row on the road.
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You might have heard about the mighty exploits of Iowa State and Vanderbilt and been surprised to find them downgraded a few spots in the new polls. Barely more than a week ago, they were two of the last unbeaten teams and living charmed lives. The Cyclones’ rampage at Purdue gave them three wins in a row against the No. 1 team — and all were away from home. Vanderbilt had special moments such as taking its No. 11 rating and beating No. 13 Alabama 96-90, the first top-15 matchup in the Commodores’ house since 1974.
But it’s hard to stay spotless on such a dusty landscape. The two went a combined 0-4 last week.
You might be wondering what the defending national champion has been up to. Just about the time bowl season began, Florida was 5-4 and had its masses a tad worried. The offense was one long clang of missed jumpers. "If we start to make some shots, we're going to be able to run away from some people," coach Todd Golden said along the way. He wasn’t kidding. The Gators have won eight of nine games and in the last four rang up 92, 91, 96 and 98 points on the likes of Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. The first time in school history they’ve hit 90 points in four SEC games in row.
You’ll find Kansas at No. 19. If you had been around last week, you wouldn’t have found the Jayhawks at all. It’s been a journey for Bill Self, trying to keep his freshman phenom Darryn Peterson healthy and now he’s been in the hospital with issues of his own. Had Kansas not scrambled back from 15 points down in the last five minutes to beat TCU in overtime, its Big 12 start would have been 0-3. Unheard of in Lawrence. But whipping Iowa State by 21 and Baylor by 18 last week would suggest Self is finding his answers.
You might be wondering, what’s Saint Louis doing at No. 24? That’s what a 17-1 record and leading the nation in scoring margin will get you.
Miami (Ohio) at No. 25? The RedHawks hadn’t been ranked this century. But possibly nobody’s season has been more magical than theirs, a 19-0 start and the best field goal percentage — both overall and 3-pointers — in the country. Whatever it’s taken so far, Miami has done. Just this past weekend the RedHawks went overtime to down Buffalo 105-102. They hadn’t allowed 100 points in a game and won in 39 years.
Looking for St. John’s, the team that began No. 4 in the polls? Or Kentucky, who started out at No. 9?
Go down to the also-received-votes bunch. Both had early mishaps but have shown recent surges. The Red Storm have reeled off four wins in a row and are now 13-5 but still haven’t beaten a ranked opponent yet. Kentucky was in crisis mode after losing at home to Missouri, who had been 0-9 all-time in Lexington, to drop to 9-6. What to do? Since the Wildcats have been behind a lot, why not turn into comeback kings? In three wins since, they’ve rallied from 12, 18 and 17 points down to beat Mississippi State, LSU and Tennessee. You’re here just when Kentucky is getting interesting.
That Tennessee game got the Vols booted from this week’s poll. It was only the second time since 2017 Tennessee lost after leading a home game at halftime. The only other defeat was last season — by Kentucky.
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Odd, huh? You’ve missed a lot of those. Such as...
The nation’s top scoring average of 24.1 for Tarleton State’s Dior Johnson. He always comes off the bench, which begs the question if someone could actually be the scoring champion and never start a game?
The thrill ride that has been Virginia Tech’s season. The Hokies are 4-0 in overtime games and just completed a dizzying six-game spree when they won in overtime by one point, in triple overtime by 10, lost by three and one in regulation, won by three, then lost by one — the last defeat 77-76 at SMU, where the Mustangs went 2 for 14 in 3-pointers and then buried a half-court shot at the buzzer to win. That 14-5 overall Virginia Tech record should be an attraction at Disney World.
And next to it should be the Providence roller-coaster. The Friars put up 104 points against Marquette, 98 against Connecticut, 110 against Butler and 101 against Virginia Tech — and lost all four games in overtime. There were 51 ties and 68 lead changes. They’re 0-4 in OT and 9-6 in regulation.
You missed Michigan State beating Cornell in a 114-97 shootout. The Spartans hadn’t won a game while allowing 97 points since 1964.
Auburn losing to Michigan, Purdue, Houston and Arizona. Why that matters is those are the four teams who have been top ranked in either AP or the coaches’ polls, so the Tigers are 0-4 against teams who have been No. 1 and 11-3 against everyone else.
Gonzaga starting 19-1 with 16 of the wins by double digits, and the loss by 40. Also Mark Few reaching his 750th win in 903 contests, the second-fastest in Division I history. Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp beat him by one game.
Louisville finally defeating Kentucky and Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey so excited afterward he dislocated his finger celebrating.
Northern Iowa edging UC Irvine 70-69 but not before the two teams combined for seven points in the last eight seconds of overtime.
Dai Dai Ames scoring seven points in the final 11 seconds as California shocked Notre Dame 72-71.
Chicago State leading Stonehill 71-69 with 0.1 seconds left, having possession of the ball — and losing. The Cougars called a timeout they didn’t have. Technical foul. Two Stonehill free throws. Overtime. Stonehill wins 85-82. Chicago State is 2-17 so a nightmare ending like that is the last thing the Cougars needed.
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You missed leads melting like they were in a microwave.
Belmont was down 25 points to Drake with just over 17 minutes left and won on a backdoor layup with 0.4 seconds to go.
San Diego State was up 24 points on Boise State but ended up needing to go three overtimes to win.
New Hampshire trailed Boston University by 25 points and won, but also led Harvard by 20 and lost.
Texas Tech was up on Colorado by 24 with just over 13 minutes to go but escaped by two. Colorado had a shot to win in the final seconds.
A team gets up 15 points, it’s not supposed to lose. That’s already happened 82 times this season.
Yeah, a lot’s gone on indoors while you were away watching touchdowns. Now that Indiana has finished 16-0 in football, we can place the feat next to the 32-0 record the 1976 Hoosiers put up in basketball. The most recent perfect seasons in both sports now belong to Bloomington. Maybe they can sell T-shirts with Bob Knight on the back and Cignetti on the front. Neither smiling, of course.
As for the current basketball Hoosiers, they’ve lost three in a row and are 12-6, but maybe things will improve now that the fan base is not so distracted by Mendozamania.
And maybe the nation will notice the extraordinary resurgence of the Miami Hurricanes in basketball, which has been largely hidden until now by their football run. Miami went 7-24 overall and 3-17 in the ACC last season. At the moment, the Hurricanes, with a new coach and a new roster, are 15-3 and 4-1.
Yep, basketball now has the floor. Welcome.
