My big weekend wrapup: Who impressed, who didn’t, and who still needs to win a darn game

Here’s something new we’re trying this week.

By Russell Steinberg@Russ_Steinberg Dec 12, 2016, 8:43am PST

You guys seem to like my weekend previews, so here’s a weekend recap, filled with a bunch of fun stuff.

You ready? No, you’re not ready. You’re never ready to recap an entire weekend of basketball. Too bad! Here we go:

Stock Rising:

Dayton: Five straight wins, the most recent coming at home against a good ETSU team. Now imagine if the Flyers can get healthy.

Iona: After dropping their first two of the season, the Gales have won six out of seven. They beat Ohio on Saturday.

Wichita State: The Shockers finally picked up their statement win, knocking off Oklahoma in Oklahoma.

UNC Wilmington: A road win over St. Bonaventure reminded us all that the Seahawks are the team that nearly upset Duke in the NCAA Tournament last year.

Rice: The Owls just beat a rebuilding Stephen F Austin and are a quiet 7-2. Keep an eye on them.

New Mexico State: The Aggies beat in-state rival New Mexico and have a legit claim as the best team in the state.

Nevada: The Wolf Pack are 8-2 with two road wins and two neutral site wins. Their latest victim: Washington, out of the Pac-12.

Louisiana Lafayette: It’s been almost a month since the Ragin’ Cajuns last lost a game. They just beat Louisiana Tech to run their win streak to eight.

Stock Falling:

San Diego State: With three straight losses against likely non-tournament teams, the Aztecs are in free-fall. The good news: they get Alabama State, one of the nation’s worst teams, at home on Monday.

Stephen F. Austin: Kyle Keller is in full-on rebuilding mode, with losses now to UAB and Rice. That’s just fine. Keller wants to build a program there and seems to have the mind to do it.

Fordham: The Rams have a Charmin-soft non-conference schedule and can’t even win with it. Their five-game losing streak includes losses to Sacred Heart and Manhattan.

Rhode Island: Make no mistake: The Rams are a good team. But after beating Cincinnati in November, they’ve missed several opportunities to pick up key wins. Their loss at Houston — not a bad one by any stretch — was their third in four games.

Team of the Weekend (by Game Score):

Beat Somebody!

Oakland: I wanted to rank Oakland on my Power Rankings ballot this week. I really did. But the Grizzlies still don’t have a win against anyone, even in the top 200 of KenPom. Their next three games will tell us a lot, however, as Oakland hosts Northeastern and Georgia, with a game at Michigan State in the middle.

Monmouth: Monmouth is off to a great 8-2 start but lost its only two games against quality competition. No one will fault the Hawks for losing to South Carolina or Syracuse, but their best win was at Holy Cross. Like Oakland, Monmouth has plenty of opportunities coming up. Their next three games are at Memphis, at home against Princeton, and at North Carolina.

Burn the tape:

Duke 94 UNLV 45

This was ugly from start to finish. Duke jumped out to a 20-3 lead and the Rebels never threatened, falling behind 42-26 at the break and being outscored 52-19 in the second half. The Rebels turned the ball over 21 times and doled out just six assists. They shot under 30 percent for the game and were 7-14 from the line. It was the second straight blowout loss for UNLV, which also fell to a mediocre Arizona State team, 97-73.

What we learned:

Every week, I ask two questions in our weekend preview that I hope are answered with Saturday and Sunday’s games. Here they are for this week:

Who is the best team in New Mexico?

Well, New Mexico State beat New Mexico on Saturday, so the two split their season series with 13-point victories at home. Call that a wash. If you look at resumes to date, each team’s best win is against each other, though the Aggies have defeated two other top-200 opponents (Long Beach State and Air Force). The Lobos have not. Look at KenPom’s four factors, and the edge goes back to New Mexico, albeit not by much.

VERDICT: Wait and see.

What is VCU’s identity?

The Rams beat a good Old Dominion team this weekend to bounce back from two bad losses to Illinois and Georgia Tech. VCU ended that game on a 23-9 run over the final 7:37 and limited the Monarchs to 0.97 points per possession for the game. It was another strong defensive effort in a game where the Rams got just enough to win. JaQuan Lewis led the way with 20 points on 5-8 shooting from three.

VERDICT: VCU is still an excellent defensive team, but is more inclined to frustrate you in the half-court when it can’t speed you up and force turnovers. This is still a team that is likely headed for the NCAA Tournament.

Unbeaten Watch:

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs are the only undefeated mid-major left, and they defeated Akron 61-43 on Saturday. Next up: exams, then a date with Tennessee on Sunday.

Winless Watch:

Four teams are still winless on the season:

Alabama A&M
Coppin State
Dartmouth
Mississippi State

17 more are still winless against Division I teams:

Alcorn State
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Detroit
Drake
McNeese State
Norfolk State
North Carolina A&T
Oral Roberts
Sacramento State
Southern Utah
South Carolina State
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
Maryland-Eastern Shore
VMI
Western Illinois
Wofford

Hopefully everyone gets off the schneid this weekend.

Read this!

Our best #content from over the weekend:

Who is Drake coach Jeff Rutter?

Indiana State falls to Western Kentucky

Howie Dickenman is now Santa Claus

Manhattan wins Battle of the Bronx

Tahjere McCall is the catalyst for dangerous Tennessee State

Three-Day Weekend:

The best game on Monday’s schedule: Albany vs. Canisius, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3

Yeah, it’s a quiet Monday in college basketball. That’s ok. The Great Danes are 6-4 with no really bad losses and travel to Buffalo to face a Golden Griffins team that has already beaten Boston University and Duquesne.

Have a great week, everyone!