61 And Counting Down...

[TheHall87]

As the 11-day Feast Week kicks into full gear this week, there are only 61 remaining unbeaten D-I basketball programs, a number will tumble this week as the primary multi-team events featuring top competition get under way.

On Monday alone Tennessee-Syracuse, Purdue-Gonzaga, UConn-Texas and UCLA-Marquette represent ranked teams paired off in various tournaments.

Of the 61 unbeatens, the Big 12 leads the way with 10 schools with perfect records followed by the ACC with eight. The SEC has six teams with untarnished marks while the Big East and Pac-12 have four apiece.

Houston is the only unbeaten with six wins while seven others are 5-0 (there are a handful of 5-1 teams as well).

On the other side, 19 schools have yet to score a win with Coppin State's 0-6 the worst of that bunch.

Among FBS schools there remains one without a loss in both football and basketball. Any guesses?

 

[TheHall87]

And then there were 53...

Monday saw eight teams fall from the ranks of the unbeatens including ranked teams Gonzaga, UCLA, Texas and Virginia. Others to fall were Syracuse, Drake Akron and Tulane.

UTEP averted joining that list with a tie-breaking, buzzer-beating three pointer just past 3:30 AM ET at the SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano, CA. That ended a day of basketball that tipped of at 11 AM ET in Estero, FL with High Point and Iona doing battle in the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Tuesday features three matchups with ranked teams where the loser will take its first loss. The unlikeliest one is James Madison-Southern Illinois in Cancun while the other two are the Maui Invitational Semi-Final matchups with No. 2 Purdue meeting No. 7 Tennessee and No. 1 Kansas taking on No. 4 Marquette.

 

[TheHall87]

And then there were 46...

Seven more unbeatens went down on Tuesday including ranked teams Kansas, Tennessee and Colorado. Those three schools were joined by LaSalle, Southern Illinois, Toledo and UNC-Wilmington (by 30 to Appalachian State in Ft. Myers)

Tuesday was another day that saw action end in the wee hours of Wednesday AM in the continental US as Hawaii hosted and defeated Northern Arizona after the conclusion of Tuesday's Maui Invitational games which are being played on UH's home floor this year.

The prime Wednesday game featuring unbeatens is the Maui Championship matchup between No. 2 and No, 4 Marquette. It seems certain the winner will top the polls on Monday. The only other matchups pairing unbeaten teams are Boston College-Colorado State at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City and Bradley-UTEP at the SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano, CA.

The Battle 4 Atlantis tips off at Noon ET on Wednesday with North Carolina, Texas Tech and Memphis all still unbeaten and a formidable field including Villanova, Michigan and Arkansas.

Other schools putting their spotless records on the line include ranked teams Creighton, Baylor and James Madison (plus the aforementioned UNC). They're joined by Mississippi, Princeton, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Purdue-Fort Wayne and Pittsburgh.

 

[TheHall87]

As the late Casey Kasem might say, we're down to 40.

It took 17 days for approximately 90% of 361 Division I basketball programs to take a loss, with more to come this weekend. There's a reason it has been 47 years and counting since the last unbeaten season in Men's college basketball.

Once again, Wednesday's action stretched into the next day's early morning hours on the east coast and at least one idiot was awake at 3 AM watching California-Tulane complete the day's play. Six more teams -- Marquette, Boston College, Texas Tech, Purdue-Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh and UTEP now have an "one" in the loss column.

Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday brings an abbreviated slate with just 15 games. For the first time this week, there are no morning ET tip-offs. The Iona Gaels are thankful for that after starting play at 11 AM on three straight days.

FOX will get one of -- if not its highest -- college basketball rating of the season as Arizona and Michigan State meet in Palm Springs after the network's NFL coverage.

The rest of the schedule features four second day games at the Battle 4 Atlantis, the first day of action at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando and doubleheaders in Kansas City for the Hall of Fame Classic, Las Vegas for the Vegas Showdown (formerly the Wooden Legacy) and San Diego for the Rady's Children Inivitational.

A dozen teams put their unblemished records on the line. One of Thursday's first games, Penn State-Texas A&M in Orlando features two unbeatens. The only other matchup of teams without a loss is Colorado State-Creighton in KC. Other unbeatens include ranked schools Arizona and North Carolina plus Memphis, Iowa State, NC State, BYU, Oklahoma and of course our own Pirates.

In addition to Seton Hall, three Big East teams are in action. Villanova meets North Carolina in an Atlantis semi-final, Butler draws Florida Atlantic in Orlando -- both are 2:30 starts -- and Creighton takes on Colorado State in the Hall of Fame Classic final at 4 PM.

 

[TheHall87]

And then there were 36... (actually 35 now)

Thursday's lightened schedule dominated more by football and food still didn't wrap up until past 2:30 AM in the east on Black Friday (ask me how I know, lol). Four more teams took their first L on Thursday including ranked teams Creighton and North Carolina plus Penn State and our beloved Pirates.

Friday's action saw the day's first game tip-off at 11 AM in Orlando with the first of the day's unbeatens going down as Texas A&M fell to Florida Atlantic.

All told 20 of the 36 schools with zero losses play on Friday. Including A&M, six ranked teams put their perfect marks on the line. That list includes UConn, Houston, Baylor, Alabama and Mississippi State.

There are three battles of the unbeatens, Evansville-Chattanooga, an Emerald Coast Classic battle between Oregon and Santa Clara; and the championship game of the Vegas Showdown between NC State and BYU.

Other schools with unblemished records in action on Friday include Delaware, Oklahoma, Memphis, Iowa State, UC San Diego, George Washington, Hawaii and Clemson.

 

[TheHall87]

And then there were 29...

Seven more unbeaten teams went down on Friday leaving roughly eight percent of the nation's D-I College Basketball programs without a loss. Joining the non-exclusive club of one (or more) loss teams were Texas A&M, Alabama, Chattanooga, Memphis, Iowa State, UC San Diego and Oregon.

It's a big College Football weekend so college hoops takes a back seat on Saturday. Of the nearly 70 games on Saturday's slate, only five appear on national cable -- three on FS2 (all Big East games) and one each on the SEC and Big 10 Networks -- although a good number are available to ESPN Plus subscribers.

Among the schools putting perfect marks on the line on Saturday are Liberty, Evansville, Princeton, Tulsa, George Washington, Santa Clara, Bradley and Hawaii. For the first time all week there are no matchups pairing unbeatens.

Also, just one ranked team -- Alabama -- is in action as they face-off with Oregon in the consolation game of the Emerald Coast Classic in Destin, FL

 

[TheHall87]

And then there were 25...

Sunday is the 11th and final day of Feast Week. Four more of the nation's unbeatens took an L on Saturday -- Tulsa, Delaware, George Washington and Santa Clara.

Sunday's offerings began at 10:30 AM with the seventh-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational between Penn State and VCU -- one of only five national cable broadcasts on an NFL weekend that has five games instead of two outside its typical broadcast weekend.

Just two teams, Nebraska and Western Carolina (who have somehow been off since last Saturday), put their perfect records on the line.

Four ranked teams are in action -- No. 12 Texas A&M meets Iowa State in the third-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational, No. 15 Texas hosts Wyoming, Iona visits No. 18 Colorado and No. 19 Florida Atlantic takes on Virginia Tech in the Championship game of the ESPN Events Invitational.

 

[CL82]

Counties closest to remaining unbeaten teams. (Waiting for Princeton to go down so we can pick up some real estate.)

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Counties closest to remaining unbeaten teams. (Waiting for Princeton to go down so we can pick up some real estate.)

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Wouldn't it be something if Princeton and UConn were the last 2 unbeaten teams. Hope they're still doing the map then.

 

[Halldan1]

Right now Kenpom has Princeton favored in every remaining regular season game.

 

[CL82]

Wouldn't it be something if Princeton and UConn were the last 2 unbeaten teams. Hope they're still doing the map then.

Sort of, though then Princeton would get the whole country and we would be bottled up in New England.

They do run this for the whole season. There is another one where you take the territory of whomever you beat. That one's kind of fun because you have scattered wins all over the country.

 

[TheHall87]

Here's who's left after Feast Week.

ACC (2) Clemson, Miami
Big 12 (6) Houston, BYU, Baylor, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, TCU
Big East (1) UConn
Big 10 (2) Nebraska, Purdue
Big West (1) Hawaii
C-USA (1) Liberty
Ivy (1) Princeton
MVC (2) Bradley, Evansville
MWC (2) Colorado State, Nevada
Pac-12 (1) Arizona
SEC (3) Mississippi State, Mississippi, South Carolina
Southern (1) Western Carolina
Sun Belt (1) James Madison

7-0 - Houston, Nebraska
6-0 - BYU, Baylor, Oklahoma, UConn, Purdue, Liberty, Princeton, Bradley, Evansville, Colorado State, Arizona, Mississippi State, James Madison
5-0 - Clemson, Miami, Cincinnati, TCU, Hawaii, Mississippi, South Carolina, Western Carolina
4-0 - Nevada

On the winless side

CAA (1) NC A&T
Horizon (1) Detroit Mercy
MEAC (1) Coppin State
Patriot (2) Navy, Army
Southland (1) Houston Christian
SWAC (4) Florida A&M, Alabama A&M, Texas Southern, Mississippi Valley State
Sun Belt (1) Georgia Southern

0-7 - Coppin State, Mississippi Valley State
0-6 - NC A&T, Detroit Mercy, Army, Texas Southern, Georgia Southern
0-5 - Alabama A&M
0-4 - Navy, Houston Christian, Florida A&M