College Basketball results: Three things we learned from Week 6

The 2020-21 college basketball season is officially in full swing, and it’s been a jam-packed first couple months. There have been so many big games it’s been a little hard to keep track of, but luckily for you, we’ll be recapping the few biggest revelations of the past week just in case you missed anything. Without further ado let’s dive into the three biggest takeaways from the past week:

Big Ten will get 10, possibly more teams into March Madness

The Big Ten is incredibly deep, and that’s been on full display over the past week. It’s starting to look like the conference may get ten teams into March Madness, more than even the ACC. At this point it wouldn’t be at all surprising if they got 11 or even 12 in, with teams like Northwestern, Maryland, and Purdue likely all right on the bubble if the season ended today. Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, Indiana, and Rutgers all appear to be safely in.

Even Penn State, which isn’t on the bubble right now, is a top 50 team according to Kenpom and could easily play their way onto it. Rutgers came within two points of beating Iowa on Saturday, showing the parity in the conference is better than ever. The Big Ten has a whopping 14 teams, and Nebraska is the only one not capable of beating the best team in the conference on any given night.

ACC is wide open

The ACC could come get pretty close to getting ten teams in as well, and right now there’s a huge pile-up at the top. Duke, Clemson, Virginia, and Louisville all have legitimate claims right now, and teams like Syracuse, Florida State, and UNC all aren’t too far behind. In recent years Duke and Virginia have often been the clear top dogs, but that isn’t the case this season. Virginia has looked vulnerable while losing to San Francisco and getting blown out by Gonzaga, and Duke appears to have their least talented team in many years.

North Carolina is better than they were last year, but they still aren’t anywhere close to their 2019 and prior blue-blood status. I mean they did just get beat badly by Georgia Tech this past week. Duke only beat 2-8 Boston College by one point on Wednesday, and then Syracuse lost to Pittsburgh. Clemson won two games this week, but one of them was by one point against Miami and the other came in overtime against NC State, showing just how jumbled up things are in the conference right now. This race is going to get thrilling, so buckle up.

Texas isn’t just legit, they’re elite

It’s hard to believe that Shaka Smart was on the verge of being fired not too long ago. When Texas was getting a lot of hype at the beginning of this season it was easy to be skeptical, but they’ve done more than just prove the doubters wrong. They’ve completely silenced all critics, and this past week they picked up two more wins. The first of which proved once and for all that they’re an elite college basketball team.

On Saturday they went on the road, and absolutely dominated Kansas in an 84-59 blowout. It was a shocking performance, and they have one of the best defenses that I’ve seen in years. They held the Jayhawks to less than 31 percent shooting from the floor, practically looking like a peak-Virginia defense out there. They currently rank third in overall defensive efficiency according to Kenpom, and that might be being conservative.

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