The top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels capped a rough week for previously unbeaten teams, losing to Tyrese Rice and Boston College, 85-78, in both teams' ACC opener. Rice, BC's talented lead guard, has long presented a tough matchup for the Carolina backcourt -- he scored 46 the last time these teams met.
Thus ends any talk of an undefeated season for the Tar Heels -- who had won every game before yesterday by double-digit margins. It's hard not to suspect that the Heels may have been looking past BC -- picked to finish 11th in the 12-team ACC in preseason polls -- and towards this Sunday's game with unbeaten Wake Forest.
Several other top teams suffered a similar fate this week -- which will mean major changes when the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls are released later today.
- The second-ranked Connecticut Huskies lost their conference opener -- at home, no less -- losing to Georgetown, 74-63 at the XL Center in Hartford. (Georgetown's status as the team to beat in the Big East was short-lived... the Hoyas lost to visiting Pitt, 70-54, later in the week.)
- Arkansas looks like a team on the rise after knocking fourth-ranked Oklahoma from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 96-88 victory. Razorback freshman Courtney Fortson (12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds) is a real force to be reckoned with.
- Tubby Smith is building Minnesota into a formidable Big Ten team -- but the Gophers got a dose of reality, and their first loss -- at the hands of perennial power Michigan State.
- And Stanford's new coach Johnny Dawkins rode a soft non-conference schedule to an undefeated early record... but that run ended when his Cardinal was pounded by Arizona State, 90-60, in both teams' Pac 10 opener.
The last team to complete a season undefeated was Bob Knight's 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
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