NCAA Basketball: Tennessee comes up big in latest winners and losers
By Adam Childs
No. 3 Loser – Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
Loyola-Chicago was the surprise team last year, but this year they were not going to sneak up on anyone and it shows. They are getting the best from everyone they play and so far the Ramblers are not doing a good job of dealing with it. Even though they return almost everybody from last year, they are not finding the success they did last year. It may change come conference time, but right now it does not seem like it will.
This past week they lost to Ball State and Maryland. Ball State was a game they should have won and one they would have last year. Maryland is ranked but they were not in it for much of the game. The Ramblers are struggling with being one of the top dogs and this week was a bad one for them.
No. 3 Winner – Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tulsa came into this past week just 5-3 and cames against Oklahoma State and Kansas State lurking. Oklahoma State is not a great team, but they had beat a ranked LSU team a couple weeks ago K-State was ranked and seemed to be a top twenty team. It looked like Tulsa could be staring down a 5-5 record by the end of the week.
Instead, they started off the week with a tough three-point win over the Cowboys and then they grinded out a win against Kansas State. Not only did they beat the Wildcats, but they also held them to 46 points. It was an ugly game, but one that showed the toughness of Tulsa and could propel them into conference play. Tulsa came out as one of the surprise winners of last week.