The Emery Board: Week 10

College basketball has not seen a team go undefeated since Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers went 32-0 in 1975-1976. The closest we have seen since then was a Jameer Nelson-led St. Joseph's team that went 27-0 in the 2003-2004 season before losing to Xavier in the Atlantic-10 tournament. Every season a team flirts with the notion of an undefeated season, but every season that notion slowly fades as January turns to February and February turns to March. BYU's senior guard Jackson Emery, has made the bold prediction that his team, a Cougar squad that finished with a 27-4 record last season, will in fact go undefeated this season.

We have decided that, in honor of Emery's swagger, we will keep a watch on the BYU Cougar's schedule, see if they can walk-the-walk. We will also keep tabs on any other undefeated teams who try to make a run at the perfect season.


Week 10:
BYU had a relatively light week, with just one game since last Monday. However, in that game, a 104-79 throttling of rivals Utah, Jimmer Fredette went bananas. And when i mean bananas, I mean, like b-a-n-a-n-a-s, bananas. The dude dropped 32 points in the first half, including a half-court buzzer-beater.



At the half, Utah's entire team had scored just ten more points than Fredette. He scored 15 points in the second half for a grand total of 47-points. The Cougars have two games this week, home against TCU tonight, then a road game on Saturday at Colorado State. But almost everybody in the country has circled January 26th. That's the date when the undefeated, No. 5 Aztecs of SDSU travel to the Marriott Center to face the No. 9 Cougars in arguably the biggest game of the season west of the Mississippi River.

Next Game: 1/18 vs. TCU
Next Potential Loss: 1/26 vs. No. 6 SDSU

Other Undefeated Teams

No. 1 Ohio State: 18-0
Last Win: 69-66 vs. Penn State
Next Game: 1/19 vs. Iowa
Next Potential Loss: 1/22 at Illinois

The Buckeyes claim the top spot in the rankings due to Duke's loss at Florida State. Ohio State had a tough week, squeaking past two inferior opponents. They went on the road and beat Michigan by just four and followed it up with a three-point-win at home against Penn State. Jared Sullinger provided the game-winning basket against Penn State after scoring just 12-points in the Michigan game. They get Iowa at home before playing back-to-back games against ranked opponents (at #22 Illinois, vs. #13 Purdue).


No. 2 Kansas: 17-0
Last Win: 63-60 vs. Nebraska
Next Game: 1/17 at Baylor
Next Potential Loss: 1/17 at Baylor

Just like tOSU, Kansas had a difficult week in conference play but ultimately won both the games, a five-point win at Iowa State and a three-point win against a scrappy Nebraska squad. But the next two weeks may be the toughest stretch of games for the Jayhawks all season. They play at Baylor tonight, then host No. 11 Texas five days later, followed up by a trip to Colorado to face the current Big-12 leaders. They cap off January with "The Sunflower State Showdown" against No. 24 Kansas State. I'd be very shocked if Kansas is still undefeated when we enter February.


No. 5 Syracuse: 18-0
Last Win: 67-52 vs. Cincinnati
Next Game: 1/17 at Pittsburgh
Next Potential Loss: 1/17 at Pittsburgh

Jim Boeheim's bunch put together solid week of play, blowing out two teams (St. John's and Cincinnati) that were on hot-streaks. The Orange play their biggest game of the year tonight when they travel to Pittsburgh in the marquee game of the Big East season thus far. Rick Jackson and Scoop Jardine have been playing great, but the Orange have back-to-back games against elite Big East teams in Pitt and Villanova. I don't think Syracuse will be undefeated for much longer.

No. 7 San Diego State: 18-0
Last Win: 87-77 at New Mexico
Next Game: 1/19 vs. Air Force
Next Potential Loss: 1/26 at BYU

It was a big week for the Aztecs, as they knocked off two solid MWC opponents in UNLV and New Mexico. The win against new Mexcico was especially impressive considering it was on the road at The Pit. SDSU has two tough games coming up as they face a better-than-advertised Air Force team, then the MWC showdown of the year against No. 9 BYU. I think the Aztecs could end up being the last remaining unbeaten team.

Drop-Outs

No. 1 Duke: 16-1
First Loss:66-61 at Florida State

I had a hunch that Florida State's stout defense might give Duke fits, and that's exactly what happened. They Blue Devils got little-to-no productive from their frontcourt and had trouble hitting their shots. But don;t write off the Dukies just yet. When they play well, I think they are the best team in the country.

The Bottom of the Barrel:

It would be rude of us to include the "have's" and but not the "have-not's". After all, planetary balance is very essential. For every team that hasn't lost a game, there has to be a team still fighting for their first win.



Centenary: 0-19
Next Game: 1/19 at Louisiana-Lafayette (3-14)
First Potential Win: 1/19 at Louisiana-Lafayette (3-14)

Poor poor Centenary. Last week there were four winless teams, and now, just one. It's very possible that the Gentlemen don;t win a single game this season, something that hasn't been done since N.J.I.T did it back in 2008.