Volume 26:2

Chaotic Men’s Basketball

The Men’s College Basketball season has been full of surprises. Want proof? Look no further than the number one team in the nation. In the preseason, Purdue, Houston, and Duke were considered the best teams in the country. Now, it’s the undefeated Arizona Wildcats. On a meter of 1-10 how surprising is every Top 10 team in the CT rankings?

#1 Arizona Wildcats 17-0

Surprise Rating: 7

The Wildcats were projected to be good at the start of the season. They weren’t projected to be great. Thanks to wins over Florida, UCLA, UConn, Auburn, and Alabama, Arizona has managed to surge all the way up into the rankings. With the Purdue loss to Iowa State then Iowa State getting a loss themselves, Arizona and Michigan were in a battle for the #1 ranking. Michigan lost, making Arizona the consensus #1 team in the country.

#2 UConn Huskies 17-1

Surprise Rating: 4

When your only loss is to the #1 team in the nation by four points, you’re probably ranked high. For UConn, that’s exactly the case. The Huskies are 3-1 versus teams currently ranked and have strong wins over Florida and Seton Hall. UConn is once again a strong team and should make a great run at a third championship in four years.

#3 Purdue Boilmakers 16-1

Surprise Rating: 6

Purdue was the preseason #1 team and held that position entering their only loss. After starting 8-0 with statement wins over Alabama and Texas Tech, Purdue lost to Iowa State in blowout fashion and dropped down in the rankings. Purdue is now riding an 8-game win streak. Though they are 16-1. It feels weird that the Boilermakers are this low down.

#4 Duke Blue Devils 16-1

Surprise Rating: 2

The Duke Blue Devils are not very surprising. They are 16-1 and their only loss is by one point to Texas Tech. Duke is as expected– a highly rated team on top of the ACC.

#5 Michigan Wolverines 15-1

Surprise Rating: 6

Michigan has a 1-point win over Wake Forest, a 4-point win over TCU, a 30-point win over Auburn, and a 40-point win over Gonzaga. Wait, what? They beat Auburn and Gonzaga by 70-combined points but Wake Forest and TCU by 5-combined points. The Wolverines started kind of slowly, winning close games. Thanks to those back-to-back wins over Auburn and Gonzaga, Michigan catapulted themselves. But recently, they’ve slowly been playing a bit worse and a bit worse. After barely surviving Penn State with a win by two, fate finally caught up to Michigan when they suffered a 91-88 loss to Wisconsin and fell from second ranked to fifth.

#6 Iowa State Cyclones

Surprise Rating: 8

Iowa State started 8-0, and went into a matchup with then #1 ranked Purdue. ISU walked out with a strong 81-58 win on the road. They immediately jumped up in the rankings after that statement win. Iowa State got another seven wins before being blown out on the road by Kansas. The Cyclones are still very surprisingly highly ranked but dropped after their loss in Lawrence.

#7 Gonzaga Bulldogs 18-1

Surprising Rating: 1

The Zags have not been surprising at all. Outside of their loss to Michigan, Gonzaga is 18-0. The Bulldogs have been nearly flawless. With their hardest matchups behind them, Gonzaga has a real chance to end their final WCC Season 32-1 with a conference tournament title. There is one problem though– the 17-2 St. Mary’s Gaels (who would be #26 in the CT rankings). Gonzaga has run the WCC for a long time, but so has St. Mary’s. The Zags and the Gaels meet twice in the regular season and are likely to meet again in the conference championship if they avoid being upset.

#8 Houston Cougars 16-1

Surprising Rating: 4

The Cougars started the season highly ranked. But they haven’t lived up to the expectations. Despite starting the season strong they already have a loss to Tennessee. Houston has had a surprising amount of close wins. When and will the Cougars falter?

#9 Nebraska Cornhuskers 17-0

Surprising Rating: 10

Surprising rating is 10. Why? The Nebraska Cornhuskers, not even a preseason top-25 team, are 17-0. Nebraska has a pair of very impressive wins over Michigan State and Illinois. The Cornhuskers are doing super well and are serious threats to any team in the nation.

#10 BYU Cougars 16-1

Surprising Rating: 8

The Cougars only loss is by two to UConn, they should be ranked higher. Right? No. BYU has no statement wins and that is holding them back. This rare combination of overachiving without a statement win is very confusing and crazy. It’s been working for the Cougars. But how long will it continue working?

Rest of the rankings:

#11 Vanderbilt Commodores

#12 Michigan State Spartans

#13 Virginia Cavaliers

#14 Texas Tech Red Raiders

#15 Illinois Fighting Illini

#16 Kansas Jayhawks

#17 Arkansas Razorbacks

#18 Utah State Aggies

#19 North Carolina Tar Heels

#20 Louisville Cardinals

#21 Tennessee Volunteers

#22 Alabama Crimson Tide

#23 Georgia Bulldogs

#24 Iowa Hawkeyes

#25 Saint Louis Billikens & Villanova Wildcats

So, you may see that two teams are ranked 25th. I couldn’t decide who was ranked 25th. So i’m letting you decide. To cast your vote email thecoletimes@gmail.com by 11:59pm on Monday, January 19th. To cast your vote send an email with the name of the team who you are voting for. Saint Louis plays today at 4:00pm. Villanova plays today at 8:00pm. Even with the results due to who the opponents are whoever wins the vote will be ranked 25th.

NFL Wild Card Recap and Divisional Round Preview

• The Los Angeles Rams beat the Carolina Panthers 34-31

  • Matthew Stafford threw for 304 yards

• The Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers 31-27

  • The Bears rallied from 18 points down to win

• The Buffalo Bills beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-24

  • The Bills won their first road playoff game in 33 years

• The San Francisco 49ers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-19

  • George Kittle tore his achilles during the 49ers win

• The New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Chargers 16-3

  • Drake Maye threw for 268 yards and ran for 66 yards

• The Houston Texans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6

  • The Texans scored 23 4th-quarter points

• The Buffalo Bills face the Denver Broncos at 4:30pm today

  • Buffalo is led by former MVP Josh Allen and RB James Cook, who led the league in rushing yards this season

  • The Broncos defense had 60+ sacks this season

  • Prediction: Buffalo 21, Denver 13

• The San Francisco 49ers face the Seattle Seahawks at 8:00pm today

  • Sam Darnold threw for 4,048 yards this season

  • Christian McCaffery ran for 1,202 yards and got 924 receiving yards

  • Prediction: Seattle 24, San Francisco 23

• The Houston Texans face the New England Patriots tomorrow at 3:00pm

  • Houston held Pittsburgh to six points in the Wild Card round

  • New England held Los Angeles to three points in the Wild Card round

  • MVP-favorite Drake Maye tossed for 4,394 yards this season

  • Nico Collins, who had 1,117 receiving yards in the regular season, is out versus the Patriots

  • Prediction: New England 17, Houston 13

• The Los Angeles Rams face the Chicago Bears at 6:30pm tomorrow

  • Matthew Stafford threw for 4,707 yards this season

  • Rookie TE Colston Loveland had 713 receiving yards this season

  • Prediction: Chicago 31, Los Angeles 28

Battle For The Atlantic

There is one division in the NBA that has its top four teams within 2.5 games of each other in the standings. The #2, 3, 4, and #7 seeds in the Eastern Conference playoff picture are these four teams. 

The #1 team in the division is the 25-15 Boston Celtics. The Celtics are without their star, Jason Tatum. But a new star has emerged. Jaylen Brown is averaging 29.4 points per game for the Celtics. The champions from two years ago are back, but look different.

The New York Knicks are second place in the division. Before the season, the Knicks were heavy favorites to take the division. However, New York has lost seven of their last nine games after starting 23-9. Jalen Brunson, their star, is questionable and New York is in turmoil. The favorites haven’t fallen off completely, but they are falling, and are now 0.5 games behind the Celtics.

One game behind the Knicks are the Toronto Raptors. Toronto was projected to have just 38 wins this season and miss the playoffs. Now the Raptors have won seven of their last ten and are battling for their division. Will they keep up? Only time will tell.

There’s also the Philadelphia 76ers, who are only 1.5 games behind the Raptors. The 76ers have won six of their last ten games. Tyrese Maxey has 30.3 points per game. Joel Embid, Paul George, and VJ Edgecombe all have over 15 points per game.

So, who will win the Atlantic Division? We will see later in the season.

College Football National Championship

The Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes will face each other in the College Football National Championship. What led these teams here?

Indiana is the most complete team in the nation. They have the best all-around team with Heisman winning QB Fernando Mendoza and the offense, as well as a physical hard hitting defense. The stage is set for the Hoosiers to cap off a fairy tale undefeated season. Can they do it?

Miami is led by a great and methodic offense. The Hurricanes are here for a reason. They know how to play to win. They use their strengths to beat their opponents, with their biggest being that stout defense.

This matchup will come down to which defense can do more to control the game.

Prediction: Indiana 37, Miami 27