The turn of the new year also marks roughly the mid-way point of the current college basketball season. Out-of-league games have concluded and now teams are either starting or have already begun conference play.
Although many storylines have gone as predicted (Kentucky and Duke's dominance most especially), there have also been multiple surprises thus far in the college basketball world. Here are five of them...
West Virginia
The Mountaineers were picked to finish towards the basement of the Big-12 in the conference preseason poll, but as we hit mid-January Bob Huggins' squad boasts a #14 ranking and a 14-1 record. Their lone loss to LSU was by one point. Senior guard Juwan Staten is putting up 16 points a game on 37% shooting from deep.
Old Dominion
Just two seasons after ODU won only five games, the Monarchs are ranked in the top 25 for the first time in school history. They got wins over LSU, VCU, and Richmond in 2014, and are now have to be considered the odds on favorites to win Conference USA.
Syracuse & UConn
These former Big East rivals are two of the most storied programs of all time, and both are usually fixtures of March Madness. This year, either will be lucky just to make the Big Dance. The Orange and Huskies have combined for 9 losses thus far this season, and neither has a win against a ranked opponent.
St. John's
Like Cuse and UConn, the Red Storm used to be an old Big East powerhouse, but faded onto an extended run of tough times. The Johnnies are back in a big way, however, They're ridden their defense -- ranked in the top ten of Kenpom this year -- to a #24 ranking. However, they'll need to rebound from three recent losses to open their Big East conference slate.
Virginia
Everybody expected the Cavaliers to be good, but only the most diehard of UVA fans would've expected them to be this good. There's only three undefeated teams remaining in the major conferences in 2015. Two of them are Kentucky and Duke. The third's the Cavaliers. Guard Justin Anderson has nearly doubled his scoring from last season, from 7.8 to 15.1 per game, and he shooting a superhuman 59% from three.
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