It is almost time for the Holidays, which means you'd better finish up shopping and get your presents wrapped. On the college basketball schedule, it is Finals week for most of the schools in the country. Finals week also means there won't be many good games the rest of the year.
There weren't many good games throughout the week, but that doesn’t mean there weren't some Bad Beats to talk about. Anyone know here the Bad Beats are the embarrassing things that happen in the college basketball world from week to week. This week, a team took a loss to one of the worst teams in the country on their home floor, and that was just the beginning.
There was a power conference school that made the wrong hire, a power conference school that is having an awful start to the season, and finally, a coach who is complaining again about his schedule. Those were some vague descriptions, but let’s get more in-depth on those below.
No. 5 Mick Cronin is complaining about an 11:30 EST Tip Time.
This probably should not have upset me as much as it did, but the UCLA head coach is back to complaining again about things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. There is no denying that Coach Cronin is a great coach and has turned the UCLA program around. I don’t think that anyone would deny that, but that doesn’t excuse his antics.
What do I mean by antics? Just listen to a UCLA press conference after a win and especially after a loss. All he does is complain about the sport and tell everyone how awful the new rules are or how terrible the travel in the Big Ten is. There isn’t a thing coach Cronin hasn't complained about.
Well, he is on it again, and this time he is complaining about a late start time at 11:30 EST. The game took place on Saturday night, and UCLA lost. The start time was late for everyone outside the Pacific time zone, but the last time I checked, the Bruins and the Gonzaga Bulldogs play in the Pacific time zone, and it was on a Saturday night. It sounded like an older man screaming at a cloud, just something to complain about, and he did that instead of getting his team ready. I know that isn’t what happened, it just seemed like it.
No. 4 Wes Miller
How can a person be a Bad Beat? Let’s just start by going and watching the Cincinnati Bearcats play basketball under coach Wes Miller, and get back to me. But since I am here to explain my reasoning, I will go more in-depth.
When Cincinnati hired coach Miller, it was a peculiar hire. He did have success at UNC-Greensboro, but it was based on an efficient defense, not a very efficient offense. One guy usually dominated the offense. The fit never seemed right at a program like Cincinnati, which was one of the best in the country under Bob Huggins and Mick Cronin. Miller was supposed to bring the team back to glory and return the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament.
That doesn’t look like it is going to happen anytime soon. The Bearcats' talent is good, and they have a five-star guard in Shon Abaev, but the talent isn’t meshing well. Coach Miller doesn’t make many adjustments, and it is hard to win in a league like the Big 12 by playing smothering defense with no offensive identity. That is just this year. Last year, Cincinnati was picked to finish near the top of the Big 12, but fell flat once conference play began.
The Bearcats need to move on from their current coach. Over the last two weeks, Cincinnati was beaten by Xavier, its heated archrival, and got boat-raced by Georgia after leading by 10 points. Things are bad right now for Cincinnati, which is headed on a crash course for the bottom of the Big 12 again this season.
No. 3 Loyola Chicago loses again.
The Ramblers have been on this list before, and I was hoping they wouldn’t be back again. But given how the year has gone and how lost head coach Drew Valentine looks on the sidelines, I knew Loyola Chicago would be back on this list at some point.
The Ramblers are already in the midst of a lost season, one that has seen them lose at home to some of the worst teams in the country, like Mercyhurst. The offense is terrible; they don’t defend; there is zero chemistry; and the Ramblers had only racked up three wins on the year. That was already pretty low; good thing they had a game they could win on Sunday.
Well, given that the Ramblers made this list again, we all know whathappenedd. Loyola- Chicago dropped a game to KenPom 357 Chicago State. It wasn’t an oh wow they hit a bunch of shots loss either. Chicago State was ahead by 17 points at one point in the game. That is a beating! The Ramblers took on their home floor, and they are lost, disconnected, and done this season. It is going to be a long 3 months for the Rambler fan base.
No. 2 Botched coaching hire
The Boston College Eagles were once a proud program that made the NCAA Tournament most years. I know it's hard to believe,e but I did witness those days with my own eyes, so I do believe it. It was a long time ago, but winning is possible in Chestnut Hill if the Athletic Department can hire the right coach.
Earl Grant is the current coach for the Eagles, at least to finish out the year, but the hire was a bad one when it was made, especially considering who else was up for the job and wanted it. Coach Grant won 127 games at the College of Charleston before taking the Boston College job, and has won 66 games there. All in all, he has one postseason appearance, and there won’t be one this year for the Eagles. Grant inherited one of the worst Power Five programs and is still the coach of one of the worst Power Five programs. Boston College has not improved one iota under his tutelage.
There is something that makes this hire worse: Mark Schmidt from St. Bonaventure wanted the job, would have done well, and would have won. The Bonnies are always competitive, even when they are supposed to be down. Hiring Schmidt made sense in 2021, and it will make even more sense in 2026. Don’t screw it up again, Boston College.
No. 1 SEC record against Power Conference foes.
Last season, the SEC was historically strong and sent 14 of its 16 teams to the NCAA Tournament. This season, it's a different story. The numbers we are going to talk about get ugly for the SEC, and all numbers are accurate as of December 12th, 2025. Let’s get into it.
There would never have been a time last season when the SEC would have lost to any unranked team, especially one without its best player and struggling to win games on its own. That is precisely what happened this year when Tennessee went to the Carrier Dome and lost to Syracuse. It was a bad loss for a team many thought had the potential to reach the Final Four. That was just one blip on a larger season-wide scale, but it was a bad look.
Currently, the SEC is 28-41 against high-major competition and Gonzaga. I put Gonzaga in there because the league has lost to them three times. That isn’t an excellent non-conference schedule, especially considering the league was 60-19 last season against power-five non-conference opponents.
So why does this hold significance? Well, last season, the league got so many teams in because every team, except LSU and South Carolina, had exceptional metrics and was considered a great win. This year, with the lack of quality wins in the non-conference, especially when conference powers Kentucky and Auburn are dropping these games, it means the quality wins, or good wins in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament committee, go down. Alabama and Vanderbilt, and to a lesser extent, Arkansas, are the only sure things in the SEC right now. The Tide and Commodores have handled business up to this point. Still, if the SEC actually wants the nine bids they claim to be getting from the bracketologists, they better pick up the pace, and Florida and Kentucky better turn it around to create some more quality opponents.