There are currently 10 unbeaten teams in the top 25 of men's college basketball. Which team will be the last one standing? Or will there be more than one?
Arizona (#1), Syracuse (#2), Ohio State (#3), Wisconsin (#4), Villanova (#8), Wichita State (#11), Oregon (#13), Iowa State (#17), Massachusetts (#22), and Missouri (#23) are the 10 teams. Arizona and Iowa State both squeaked out nail biters late this past week to stay unbeaten. Michigan who was originally ranked inside the top-10 almost took down Arizona, but fell 72-70. And Iowa State just inched past in-state rival Iowa with a late game charge to win 85-82. We know one thing not all of these teams will be undefeated at the end of the regular season.
Ohio State and Wisconsin will face each other once this season, and possibly in the Big Ten Championship. Ohio State will also face #5 ranked Michigan State twice, and #25 ranked Iowa twice. Wisconsin gets the Spartans once, but they do get Iowa twice. With a strong Big Ten schedule, oen of these two will surely go down.
Arizona and Oregon get the pleasure of playing each other twice, so at least one of them won't remain unbeaten. #20 Colorado is also on each of their schedules. Only once for Oregon, but twice for Arizona.
Villanova and Syracuse face off on December 28th, which should be a good battle early in the season for both of those teams. Syracuse will be the favorite, but with Villanova already taking down Iowa and Kansas, they aren't to be messed around with.
The Wichita State Shockers do not have a currently ranked team on their remaining schedule, so look for the Shockers to continue their momentum from last years tourney charge throughout the 2013-2014 season. The same is the case for the Massachusetts Minutemen who do not face a ranked opponent for the rest of the this season.
But for schools like Massachusetts, it is similar to college football teams like Northern Illinois and Fresno State. Both of them were undefeated throughout most of their season, but got no credit for that and were ranked behind teams with up to three losses. So, they won't get much competition throughout their season, and will have to prove themselves in the tournament come March.
This season is shaping up to be good one for college basketball, and I can not wait until March for all of the suspense.
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