Volume 40

College Basketball Top Teams

Who is the best Men’s College Basetball Team? Is it the Big 12’s Arizona Wildcats, the ACC’s Duke Blue Devils, the Big 10’s Michigan Wolverines, or the Big 12’s Iowa State Cyclones. Here is the comparison:

Duke Blue Devils

11-0

4 ranked wins

7 remaining ranked games

Points Per Game: 87.7

Points Allowed Per Game: 60.8

Michigan Wolverines

10-0

2 ranked wins

6 remaining ranked games

Points Per Game: 94.7

Points Allowed Per Game: 67.7

Arizona Wildcats

10-0

5 ranked wins

7 remaining ranked games

Points Per Game: 90.0

Points Allowed Per Game: 67.4

Iowa State Cyclones

11-0

2 ranked wins

6 remaining ranked games

Points Per Game: 90.5

Points Allowed Per Game: 63.3

These teams ranked wins:

Iowa State @ Purdue Boilermakers 81-58

Iowa State went on the road and dominated then unanimous #1 team in the nation Purdue by 23.

Arizona @ UConn Huskies 71-67

Arizona beat a then superior ranked UConn by four to give the Huskies their only loss to date. UConn is just behind these Top 4 teams and if this match had gone the other way, UConn would be in this conversation instead of Arizona.

Michigan vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs 101-61

Michigan may have only played two ranked teams so far, but when  you beat Gonzaga by 40, that may be okay.

Arizona vs Alabama Crimson Tide 96-75

The Wildcats held a very high scoring Alabama team to just 75 points in their dominant win. This proves that they can play great defense versus a great offense.

Michigan vs. Auburn Tigers 102-72

Michigan beat Auburn by 30 and Gonzaga by 40 on back-to-back days to win the first ever Players Era Festival. Auburn was the top team in the country last year and retained some firepower. But that didn’t matter for Michigan, as they thrashed the Tigers by 30.

Arizona vs. Auburn Tigers 97-68

Auburn lost to Arizona by 29. That isn’t much better than losing to Michigan by 30. Auburn’s only other loss is to a then #1 ranked Houston team by one point. So Auburn is 1-3 versus ranked teams and expected to drop to 1-4 as they face Purdue tonight.

Arizona vs. Florida Gators 93-87

The defending National Champs didn’t fare while in the season opener versus the Wildcats. Arizona played more physical and powered their way to a win.

Duke @ Michigan State Spartans 66-60

After two home wins versus ranked teams, Duke went on the road and played a competitive game in which they just edged out the Spartans.

Duke vs. Florida Gators 67-66

Duke’s game versus Florida was sandwiched in between two ranked games. There was some doubt when Duke was down two with half a minute left. But the Blue Devils’ Isaiah Evans made a clutch three with 20 seconds left to put the game away.

Arizona vs. UCLA Bruins 69-65

Arizona got a quality four-point win over a good ranked team. Nothing better than that. Right? It wasn’t their best outing of the year but the Wildcats got past the Bruins and that is all that they were asked to do.

Duke vs. Kansas Jayhawks 78-66

Blue Blood versus Blue Blood. Duke won the battle, handily getting past another road block.

Duke vs. Arkansas Razorbacks 80-71

Cameron Boozer had 35 points and nine rebounds as Duke rallied from seven down to pull away from the Razorbacks.

Iowa State vs. St. John’s Red Storm 83-82

Iowa State snuck past St. John’s to remain undefeated and live to see another day without a loss.

Matchups vs. Each Other

If these teams keep playing as they are, we will be set for an interesting end of the season. On Febuary 21st, the Wolverines face the Blue Devils in Durham. On March 2nd, Arizona hosts Iowa State. Michigan and Duke should go one way or the other: High scoring or Low scoring. Both teams have some of the best units in the country on both sides of the ball. The same goes for the Cyclones and Wildcats– it will either be high scoring or low scoring.

College Football Playoffs

Alabama Crimson Tide @ Oklahoma Sooners

The crowd in Norman was electric but, it wasn’t enough. The Sooners jumped out to an early 17-0 lead and looked poised to run away with the game. But Alabama fought back, outscoring Oklahoma 34-7 the rest of the way to leave with a satisfying 34-24 victory. Alabama advances to play Indiana in the next round.

Miami Hurricanes @ Texas A&M Aggies

College Station gets to host their own home playoff game. The Aggies are hoping to get back on track after suffering their first lost of the season to Texas in a game that kept them out of the SEC Championship. Miami is riding a four-game win streak and usurped Notre Dame’s spot to get in. Kyle Field will be rocking for the game with a trip to play Ohio State on the line. QBs Carson Beck and Marcell Reed should put on a show.

Tulane Green Wave @ Ole Miss Runnin’ Rebels

Tulane and Ole Miss played earlier this season, and the Rebels destroyed the Green Wave. But this time, Tulane should be ready. Ole Miss is expecting more fight from Tulane after their lifeless performance early in the season. Trinidad Chambliss will cause the Green Wave defense trouble. But I see a shocker coming. This prediction will either age great or terribly– the CT has Tulane upseting Ole Miss.

James Madison @ Oregon Ducks

They could have just given Oregon a bye to face Texas Tech. Unless some massive injury happens, the Ducks are going to dominate. JMU stands no chance, as their weak Sun Belt schedule can’t prepare them for what their going to face in Eugene. Ducks by 30.

NFL Week 15

• The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 29-28

  • Captain Kirk Cousins struck again, keeping the NFC South at a tie between the Bucs and the Panthers, who meet each other twice coming up

• The Chicago Bears beat the Cleveland Browns 31-3

  • Myles Garrett recorded 1.5 sacks putting him at 21.5, one sack away the single season record

• The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-0

  • Baltimore won and remained within striking distance of the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers as their Week 18 face off draws near

• The Los Angeles Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 16-13

  • Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL toward the end of the game

  • The Kansas City Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention

  • Travis Kelce seems poised to retire at the end of the season, ending a surely Hall-of-Fame career

• The Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots 35-31

  • Buffalo rallied from down 21-0

  • New England holds a one-game advantage over Buffalo in the AFC division race

• The Washington Commanders beat the New York Giants 29-21

• The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Las Vegas Raiders 31-0

• The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the New York Jets 48-20

  • The Jaguars have ten wins this year

• The Houston Texans beat the Arizona Cardinals 40-20

  • The Texans are one game behind the Jags for the AFC South lead

• The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers 34-26

  • Micah Parsons tore his ACL

  • Bo Nix had four TD passes

• The Los Angeles Rams beat the Detroit Lions 41-34

  • Los Angeles clinched a playoff berth with their win

• The New Orleans Saints beat the Carolina Panthers 20-17

  • Carolina is tied with Tampa Bay for first place in the NFC South, after being one of the worst teams in the league last year

• The San Francisco 49ers beat the Tennessee Titans 37-24

• The Seattle Seahawks beat the Indianapolis Colts 18-16

  • Philip Rivers made his first start in five years after coming out of retirement to return to the Colts

• The Minnesota Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys 34-26

• The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins 28-15

  • The Steelers are one game ahead of the Ravens in the AFC North with their Week 18 matchup on the horizon

NBA

There was a team in the NBA that was 24-1. Now they are 25-3. What happened in their last three games? The Oklahoma City Thunder were 24-1 and tied for the best start in NBA history. But then they went on a 1-2 stretch losing twice in a short period of time. Those two losses were by a combined seven points, but still weren’t great. In the NBA Cup semi-finals, the Thunder were up 16 but fell hard, losing to the Victor Wembanyama-led San Antonio Spurs by two. The Spurs are a great team, who are sitting at 20-7. But it was an uncharacteristic loss for OKC. The Thunder rebounded by beating the Los Angeles Clippers but then lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves. OKC again lost a large lead, as they led by 12 at one point in the game. Anthony Edwards took over though and led Minnesota to the win. OKC has the Memphis Grizzlies next, as they look to get back on track.