Quick Takes: Michigan completes a perfect November

With its victory over North Carolina on Wednesday, the Michigan Wolverines completed a perfect November.  Big Blue hosts Purdue on Saturday, the first day of December.  Their 7-0 start includes a road victory at Villanova (by 27 points), a neutral-court win over Providence, and last night’s 17-point margin at home against the Tar Heels.  Consider this, too … if Michigan beats Purdue this weekend, the Wolverines will be heavy favorites to complete a perfect December – which means UM could be 13-0 heading into January.  Not a bad reprise for last year’s national runner-up.

Additional Quick Takes …

• Florida State added another quality win to its resume by holding off Purdue.  The Seminoles own November victories over Florida, LSU, and the aforementioned Boilermakers.  FSU’s lone loss was to Villanova in Orlando.
• As for Purdue, they are now 0-2 vs. ranked competition from the ACC – falling to Virginia Tech (Charleston Classic) and Florida State.
• Meanwhile, Virginia improved to 2-0 against B1G foes after winning at Maryland.  The Cavaliers also own a victory over Wisconsin from Atlantis.  De’Andre Hunter is averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds a game for UVA.  Think they missed him during the NCAA tourney?
• With Frank Howard back, Syracuse looked more like the Orange team we expected Wednesday night, handing Ohio State its first loss of the season while visiting Columbus.  The loss takes nothing away from OSU, whose early road wins at Cincinnati and Creighton still look pretty good.
• BYU’s at-large hopes took another hit with a loss at Illinois State.  The Cougars’ best remaining chances to garner non-conference nuggets are probably San Diego State and Mississippi State in late December.  Then again, Utah State has made some early noise; the Aggies and Cougars hook up on December 5.
• On the flip side, it was a crucial win for Illinois State, who had already absorbed early losses to Belmont and Georgia.  The Redbirds still have chances to impress against San Diego State, Ole Miss, and UCF.  The major carat there is UCF, at least as it appears right now.
• Miam-FL isn’t too keen on New Jersey these days.  The ‘Canes dropped their home game to Rutgers in the B10-ACC Challenge last after falling a few days earlier to Seton Hall.
• On the topic of odd B10-ACC losses, didn’t see Virginia Tech losing at Penn State on the radar, especially since the Nittany Lions had already fallen to DePaul and Bradley.  College hoops – you just never know, especially on the road.
• A night earlier, Louisville etched its first marquee win of the Chris Mack era by outlasting Michigan State at the Yum Center!  It salvaged a 1-2 mark for the Cards against a tough trio that included Tennessee and Marquette in New York.
• After falling to Boston College, we may learn a lot more about Minnesota in the next week. The Gophers have a three-game gauntlet between now and December 5 that includes Oklahoma State (who just beat LSU), Ohio State, and Nebraska.
• UC-Irvine won at Saint Mary’s late Wednesday, giving the Anteaters November road wins over Texas AM and the Gaels; could be a dangerous first-round opponent come March.

A fairly light Thursday on the docket for college hoops tonight. Friday, the Big Ten begins conference play – which continues through next week.  Enjoy.