Halfway through the college basketball season and the teams that are going to be in the tournament this year have to start figuring things out. While things in the first half of the season are important in terms of making the tournament, getting hot during the second half of the season is important to have success in the tournament. Each week from here on out I'll give my list of three teams that are heating up and three teams that are cooling down. To start off I will talk about the teams that need to start figuring it out because something is not working.
Three Down
Texas A&M - Two weeks ago the Aggies were 11-1 and the 5th ranked team in the country. People were talking about A&M as a potential top 2 seed and one of the favorites to win the SEC. Fast forward to today and the Aggies have dropped 4 straight to start conference play including two games by 15 or more. A&M is tied for last in the conference at 0-4 and with a tough game at Tennessee this Saturday the Aggies better figure it out if they want to get back on track for the tournament.
TCU- Another school from Texas falling, maybe not as hard or as fast as Texas A&M but TCU was at one point 12-0 and was one of the last three teams undefeated this years. The Horned Frogs flew under the radar ranked #10 but have since lost 3 of 4 to start conference play. While 2 of those three losses were to ranked teams they did lose both at home and with a tough schedule coming up if the Horned Frogs don’t start winning again they could be the next team to drop out of the rankings.
Florida State- This is more of a long term decline over the past month. Florida State did manage to pull off an upset of North Carolina a few weeks ago but besides that game, FSU has lost 4 of their last 6 games to start off just 1-3 in conference play. With as tough as the ACC will be this year falling behind early in the season could make it hard to come back and finish near the top.
Three UP
Texas Tech – The Red Raiders have not had a very competitive basketball team in quite some time but Texas Tech has flown under the radar to start out the season. The Red Raiders did just lose to Oklahoma but that was on the road to at top ten team and the only other loss this year was against 13th ranked Seaton Hall at Madison Square Garden. I don’t think Tech will win the Big 12 as it is very competitive this year but I would not be surprised to see the Red Raiders as a top 5 seed come March.
Purdue – Purdue is another one of those teams that have been under the radar to start the year. The Boilermakers are sitting at 16-2 and 5-0 in the conference with the only losses coming to Arizona and Western Kentucky, two teams projected to make the tournament this year. Purdue is also one of the hottest teams in the nation winning 11 straight as of today.
Florida – The Gators were one of the best teams during the first two weeks of the year nearly winning the PK80 tournament. A few really bad losses in a row and everyone started doubting the Gators. Since then, the Gators have won 6 of 7 with their only loss coming to 19th ranked Clemson on a neutral court. The Gators have started SEC play at 4-0 with an average margin of victory at over 10 points per game.