CLEVELAND, Ohio — Familiarity is what makes conference play so tough. Playing teams regularly, two and three times a season, home-and-home makes for easy scouting reports and tough matchups. It is where home teams dominate.
Last week, 14 teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 lost games. All were in league play and only one was on its homecourt.
It’s been quiet so far this week, but not without close calls. One anticipated upset did not happen. No. 2 Baylor was given a good chance to take out No. 3 and Big 12 powerhouse Kansas on the road, but it didn’t happen. The resilient Jayhawks prevailed, 73-68, keeping their 51-game homecourt winning streak alive.
Also Wednesday, No. 14 Cincinnati trailed almost the entire game before beating unranked Tulsa on it’s home floor, 57-55, when senior Troy Caupain hit a jumper with 4.4 seconds remaining.
As league play begins its second round, only nine of 32 conferences have an undefeated leader. And only one of those sits atop one of the traditional power conferences — No. 5 Arizona in the Pac 12.
The only undefeated team in the country overall, No. 1 Gonzaga, puts this general theory to test Thursday night in a West Coast Conference road game at BYU. If the Cougars win, it might be considered an upset by some, but it will be business as usual on the home court in major college conference play.
We talk about it in this video.
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