“Three Points” to keep in mind with three weeks to go in college basketball’s regular season:
1. It’s Michigan, man
With Arizona having lost two in a row — not to mention hotshot freshman Koa Peat to an unspecified injury — Michigan will be the no-doubt-about-it new No. 1-ranked team on Monday.
Some of us already thought the Wolverines (24-1) were the best team, just saying. They’ve won 10 straight. They trailed by 16 in the second half at Northwestern last week, yet still won by a dozen. They came back Saturday and blew out UCLA by 30. When this team — off to the best start in school history — puts the pedal down, it’s flippin’ scary.
Oh, and guess who plays at Purdue on Tuesday?
2. Purple pain
Northwestern, loser of five straight, is tied with Penn State at the bottom of the Big Ten at 2-13. Going by conference record, it’s the worst team 13th-year coach Chris Collins has had and the worst Wildcats team since the 2007-08 squad went 1-17.
The Wildcats did beat Penn State in late January, giving them the tiebreaker just in case.
So they’ve got that going for them, which is, you know, whatever.
3. Sooner or later
Oklahoma is on a two-game winning streak. Other than that, coach Porter Moser’s experience this season has been like an out-of-control Sooner Schooner. Did you know that losing eight straight SEC games isn’t ideal? Now Moser, the former Loyola hero, knows it, too.
But wait — it’s his fifth straight sub-.500 SEC season since leaving Rogers Park for the big-time. Things just aren’t working. His seat is hot. There are fans shouting for his dismissal. Any chance football can start half a year early? That might be the only thing that would save him. That, or an out-of-nowhere SEC tournament title run. Pray for the man.
Steve Greenberg
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