Are we ready to believe in Virginia as a top-five team nationally? The Cavaliers are 9-0 after now playing a game in Week 9, making them the only unbeaten team left in the ACC. However, they just don’t have the offensive firepower of North Carolina, Duke or even Florida State, but does that mean defense can’t win this team a championship. Not exactly, but the Cavaliers must be able to score 70-plus regularly once conference play begins.
Every team needs a good scare before conference play starts back up in January and things really get serious and Michigan got just that against in-state foe Western Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines struggled to shut the door on the visiting Broncos, winning 70-62 in a relatively ugly affair where stud freshman Ignas Brazdeikis scored just four points — 13 under his season average and was held scoreless through the first 30-plus minutes. Wins are wins, though.
Tennessee held a 15-point lead over in-state foe Memphis at halftime and little did the Volunteers expect an offensive push from the Tigers in the second half as they scored 57 points to get back into the game. Ultimately, it was the Volunteers securing a win, but Rick Barnes has to be concerned about the second-half defensive effort as he allowed 92 points on the road against the 5-5 Tigers. Still, Tennessee will remain in the top-three just one week after upsetting Gonzaga.
It was a slow week for most teams around college basketball and especially quiet for Duke as the Blue Devils got a nice week off in the middle of a tough finals stretch for the student athletes. The Blue Devils needed this break before facing Princeton and Texas Tech to finish 2018 next week. This team will remain at No. 2 and still receive some first-place votes despite not playing.
Though it wasn’t quite the matchup it was expected to be when the season began, Kansas and Villanova matched up in Week 6 in a ranked battle. The Jayhawks escaped this one with a three-point victory over the defending champs and that’ll be enough to keep them at No. 1 in the rankings, especially since Duke didn’t play a game and no other team looked like a serious contender for that top spot.