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Bracketology 2020: North Carolina, Michigan headline this week’s losers

By Andrew Dieckhoff

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - DECEMBER 07: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts to a play in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on December 7, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - DECEMBER 07: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts to a play in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on December 7, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – DECEMBER 15: Nathan Hoover #10 of the Wofford Terriers and Trevor Stumpe #15 of the Wofford Terriers celebrate defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels as K.J. Smith #30 of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on following their game at Carmichael Arena on December 15, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – DECEMBER 15: Nathan Hoover #10 of the Wofford Terriers and Trevor Stumpe #15 of the Wofford Terriers celebrate defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels as K.J. Smith #30 of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on following their game at Carmichael Arena on December 15, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

As conference play begins in some leagues, and the non-conference season wraps up for others, there were plenty of significant losses to go around over the past week. How did it affect overall Bracketology?

We are halfway through December and just a few weeks away from the official outset of the conference season. But some leagues, such as the Big Ten and the ACC, have already begun playing games. Other teams are trudging their way through the toughest part of their non-conference season.

In either case, these early matchups are producing plenty of head-scratching results.

Louisville, the #1 team coming into the week, lost by 13 to Texas Tech.

Ohio State looked like a good prospect to take over the top spot in the polls, but the Buckeyes fell from the ranks of the undefeated on Sunday night against Minnesota.

The issues for the Big Ten ran even deeper.

Maryland was another team that was turning heads in the first few weeks. Then they tripped themselves up against Penn State, though perhaps it wasn’t all bad.

Purdue lost to a Nebraska team that nearly pulled off an upset of Indiana just a few days earlier.

But it was another Big Ten team that had the worst week of all.

We’ll get to them in a minute.

This was a week where a lot of teams made their lives harder by incurring tough losses and/or missing good opportunities for resume-building wins. A few games over the weekend featured probable bubble teams, like Mississippi State-Kansas State and Oklahoma State-Houston. The Bulldogs and Cowboys scored valuable victories that they’ll keep in their back pocket for Selection Sunday.

But for the Wildcats and Cougars, the window is starting to close a bit. The pressure to perform in league play is turning up exponentially with each passing game.

And that’s a common theme that you’ll see in this series. Teams shooting themselves in the foot and setting up an untenable gauntlet for the remainder of the season.

Perhaps no team embodies this faltering more than our first Bracketology Loser, who whiffed on yet another opportunity to get a signature win for its new head coach.

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