While not quite as exciting as last weekend, there was a still a lot to keep track of this weekend as far as sports are concerned. I didn't get to watch as much college basketball as I had hoped to due to some impromptu home repairs.
I did get to watch the important (to me) stuff though, and that is what really matters.
Friday night there were no top 25 college games, but I did get to watch my niece play for her high school varsity team. Thursday night both the freshman and junior varsity teams squared off against this school and unfortunately, they both fell short.
This school is their local rival and there was a lot of hype going into this Friday night game between the two varsity teams.
It started off a little slow as it usually does for them, but by the end of the first quarter, it was pretty obvious this was going to be a one sided show.
They ended up beating them pretty handily. In fact, it looked like the other team was going to end the game with only 24 points or so. It wasn't until my nieces team pulled the starters and gave the opponent a little bit of breathing room that they were able to get their score up to 33. Due to the nature of the game, my niece was able to get a bit of playing time even though she is the youngest player on the team.
It was great to watch her playing at the highest level and holding her own. I can't wait to see what the next two years bring for her. This coming weekend @mrsbozz and I are heading down to watch her play in person. We are super excited about that!
On Saturday, there were 17 top 25 games played in the NCAA. While the Michigan/Michigan State game wasn't a top 25 game, it was still the main contest that I watched on Saturday. Despite all the setbacks, I made sure I had my home repair done in time to watch the game.
Michigan State ended up winning the game, but it ended up being much closer than it should have been. The Spartans dominated pretty much the whole game. Then, as they typically do, things started to slip towards the end and they gave U of M an avenue to make the game pretty close. It was frustrating to watch, but ultimately, I am glad they came away with the win.
While I was fighting with my dishwasher, I got to watch a little bit of the Minnesota/Nebraska game and again, even though it wasn't a top 25 game, it was still quite exciting. It went into overtime and Nebraska came away with the tough win on the road.
Don't sleep on any of the teams in the Big 10 this year, they are going to be tough!
#20 Missouri narrowly defeated Vanderbilt 85 to 82, and #16 Duke just edged out Boston College by one point 65 to 64.
Adding merit to my earlier comment about the Big 10, Illinois beat #14 Wisconsin 79 to 69. In other upsets, #25 Iowa State took down #17 TCU 69 to 67, and Washington State beat #5 Arizona 74 to 61.
That wasn't it though, Kansas State beat #19 Baylor in overtime 97 to 95. Meanwhile, #22 Auburn took down #13 Arkansas 72 to 59 and UNLV came out of nowhere to beat #21 New Mexico 84 to 77.
I'm really wishing I hadn't been so busy working on home repairs that I could have put some money on some of these games.
Finally, on Sunday there were four top 25 games played. It was a 50/50 split with half of them being upsets and half of them going about the way you would expect.
Northwestern took down #15 Indiana 84 to 83. Which isn't too surprising. This is the same Wildcat team that beat MSU earlier in the season and knocked them out of the top 25. Also, Maryland beat #24 Ohio State 80 to 73. That's two big loses for the Buckeyes this past week I think.
Meanwhile, Purdue bounced back from their loss earlier in the week to beat Penn State. They will still drop out of the #1 spot, but it would seem that earlier loss was just a road bump on their journey.
Houston beat Cincinnati 72 to 59 and with that win and the Purdue loss, they will likely move into the #1 spot when the new rankings are release later today.
There's only one top 25 game on tonight, but it doesn't really matter because everyone is probably going to be watching the college football championship game anyway. Speaking of that, I should probably go put my bet in.
Check back at the end of the week when I cover all the NCAA top 25 action that happened this week!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the weekend's sports action. It sounds like there were some exciting games and upsets in both college basketball and the NFL. I'm glad you got to watch your niece play in her high school varsity game, and I'm sure it will be even more special to watch her in person this coming weekend. The Big 10 has definitely been tough this year, and it's always interesting to see the upsets that happen in college basketball. It sounds like it was a great weekend for sports fans overall.
The upsets are what I love the most about college basketball. Except when it is my favorite team that gets upset!