There have been plenty of upsets so far in the 2019-20 NCAA Basketball season. Who cracked the top-10 list?
As we have reached the halfway point of the NCAA Basketball season, they have been some very surprising upsets this season. We take a look at the top 10 upsets based on various criteria and factors.
*Did the upset win occur on a home, neutral, or away court
*The records of both teams
*The Net and KenPom rankings of both teams
*Margin of victory
Early in the season, there were what seemed to be many upsets in non-conference play. However, now that we have surpassed the halfway point of the season and now have bodies of resumes of all of the division 1 basketball teams, it is now easier to gauge through analytics and analysis to see what were the top upsets of college basketball up to this point. Here below are the top upsets of this season’s NCAA Basketball games.
1. Charleston Southern 68, Missouri 60
Charleston Southern
Net Ranking 296
Ken Pom Ranking 294
Missouri
Net Ranking 77
Ken Pom Ranking 76
In early December, Charleston Southern on a Tuesday night came to the home court of the SEC Missouri Tigers to play a non-conference game. Little was expected from the Buccaneers who are not known for their three-point shooting but shot the ball very well beyond the arc to win a tough road game against a decent SEC opponent. Missouri has beaten the likes of Florida and Illinois and has won at Temple. Charleston Southern, on the other hand, has lost to teams like Longwood, Hampton, and North Carolina A&T.
2. Fairfield 67, Texas A&M 62
Texas A&M
Net Ranking 145
Ken Pom Ranking 158
Fairfield
Net Ranking 256
Ken Pom Ranking 252
Fairfield stunned SEC foe Texas A&M to capture the seventh-place in the Orlando Invitational. No one is claiming that Texas A&M is a great team but they this season have defeated Vanderbilt and Ole Miss in conference play as well as beating Oregon State. Fairfield is 7-10 on the season with a losing record and has some bad losses to such teams as Marist and Niagara to name a few. The Aggies did not expect an 8th place finish in the Orlando Invitational prior to the season.
3. St. Bonaventure 80, Rutgers 74
Rutgers
Net Ranking 18
Ken Pom Ranking 24
St. Bonaventure
Net Ranking 129
Ken Pom Ranking 117
St. Bonaventure won their first game of the season when they beat Big Ten opponent Rutgers 80-74 in Toronto as part of the James Naismith Hall of Fame Classic. At the time, this game was really not considered a big-time upset because many college basketball fans believed that Rutgers would be a bottom tier Big Ten team this season. However, looking back at this game it is easy to see that this was a big-time upset with St. Bonaventure getting a quality non-conference victory. Rutgers is poised to be a top 5 team in the Big Ten and they lost an opportunity to win a game that they should have in mid-November.