SI:AM | Another Highly Ranked Men’s Hoops Team Goes Down

Plus, ranking every player on both Super Bowl rosters.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I want to thank my readers for being mostly tolerant of my decision to write about wrestling yesterday.

In today’s SI:AM:

🏀 College hoops parity

🎙️ Roger Goodell takes heat in press conference

🏈 Ranking the Super Bowl rosters

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Upsets galore

It’s been a dangerous time to be a top-ranked men’s college basketball team.

Over the past week or so, numerous top-15 teams have suffered upsets, many of them on their home courts. The most recent victims were the No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks, who lost on the road against the Kansas State Wildcats in overtime last night, 75–70.

Tylor Perry, a fifth-year senior transfer from the University of North Texas, led the way for K-State with 26 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He and Cam Carter (19 points and 11 rebounds) played all 45 minutes. The 5'11" Perry evokes memories of Markquis Nowell, another undersized K-State point guard who at 5'7" dazzled in last year’s NCAA tournament. Perry scored eight of the Wildcats’ 11 points in overtime last night, including this amazing diving layup that put K-State up for good with 2:55 to play.

It was the Jayhawks’ third loss this season against an unranked opponent. They’d previously lost to the UCF Knights and West Virginia Mountaineers, both on the road. But Kansas isn’t the only top team that has stumbled against unranked opponents. Over the past week-and-a-half, a bunch of the nation’s best have been upset. The No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels, No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers, No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers, No. 8 Auburn Tigers, No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats, No. 13 Creighton Bluejays, No. 15 Baylor Bears and No. 16 Dayton Flyers have all lost to unranked opponents since Jan. 27.

But this isn’t just a recent trend—it’s been happening all season, and no one is immune. One of the No. 1 UConn Huskies’ two losses this season came on the road against Seton Hall on Dec. 20. The No. 2 Purdue Boilermakers have also had two losses this season, both on the road against unranked opponents (the Northwestern Wildcats and Nebraska Cornhuskers).

A column by Scott Richey published Sunday in The News-Gazette, the Champaign, Ill., newspaper, noted that top-10 teams have only won 47.4% of their games on the road this season against ranked opponents, which would be a record by a mile. The previous lowest winning percentage for such games was 62% in the 2015–16 season.

That trend speaks to the growing parity in college basketball. The transfer portal and extra year of eligibility awarded to players because of the COVID-19 pandemic have made it easier for impact players to change schools, allowing teams to quickly retool their rosters. Kansas State needed a point guard after Nowell graduated, so it got Perry in the portal. Jameer Nelson Jr., a fifth-year senior transfer from the Delaware Blue Hens, dropped 30 points in the TCU Horned Frogs’ win over Baylor last week. Butler Bulldogs guard Jahmyl Telfort, who transferred to the school from Northeastern before this season, tied his season high with 26 points in the team’s win over Creighton on Friday.

Last season, no power-conference men’s team lost fewer than six games. Without any dominant teams at the top of the bracket, we were treated to an upset-filled NCAA tournament in which only one of the top eight seeds reached the Elite Eight. This year’s regular season has already been full of upsets—and there’s no reason to believe that’ll change come March.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

• For more on the parity in men’s college hoops this season, check out this piece by Pat Forde.
• Conor Orr wonders what Super Bowl week in Las Vegas would look like if the boisterous Bills Mafia had been there instead.
• Orr also wrote about commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual press conference and why it’s time for NFL owners to speak for themselves.
• Gilberto Manzano ranked all 104 players on both Super Bowl rosters.
• Rohan Nadkarni has a list of four proposed trades that he thinks NBA teams should consider making before Thursday’s deadline.
• In-flight WiFi issues meant the Commanders first learned that Ben Johnson was backing out of their head coaching race through social media.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Artemi Panarin’s game-tying goal from near the blue line.

4. Five three-pointers in a row for Brandon Ingram.

3. James Harden’s four-point play to put the game out of reach against the Hawks.

2. Islanders rookie Kyle MacLean’s first NHL goal, right after getting out of the penalty box.

1. Syracuse lacrosse player Michael Leo’s behind-the-back assist.

SIQ

On this day in 2011, Tom Brady became the first player in NFL history to win the MVP award by unanimous vote. Who is the only other player to do so?

• Patrick Mahomes
• Lamar Jackson
• Peyton Manning
• Drew Brees

Yesterday’s SIQ: On Feb. 5, 2017, New England Patriots completed their stunning comeback from down 28–3 against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Which Patriots player scored three touchdowns in the game, including the game-winner in overtime?

• Dion Lewis
• LeGarrette Blount
• Julian Edelman
• James White

Answer: James White. It was White’s five-yard touchdown catch with 2:08 left in the third quarter that started the comeback. White punched it in from one yard out in regulation to make it 28–26, and they went to overtime after Danny Amendola’s two-point conversion catch tied the game.

On the opening possession of overtime, the Patriots marched down the field and White powered his way into the end zone on a two-yard touchdown run to win the game.

The MVP went to Tom Brady, though.