Meet the Unbeaten Eight, December style. Fifteen men’s basketball teams went into the past weekend undefeated; only eight came out.
Someone will have to be the last perfect record standing, but who?
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Arizona (8-0)
Long-range artillery, who needs it? The Wildcats have beaten four ranked teams on their express elevator ride to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll while being 358th in the nation in 3-point attempts. Â They made a combined total of 16 treys in wins over Florida, UCLA, Connecticut and Auburn. That’s one good night for Alabama’s shooters.
Arizona does its heavy lifting in other ways. The Wildcats outscored those four ranked victims 190-114 in the paint, including 60-24 in the 29-point thrashing of Auburn that was Arizona’s biggest win over a top-25 opponent in 23 years. They’re averaging nearly 30 points off the bench, with reserves leading the team in scoring in four of eight victories. They’ve had six different players score 20 points in a game, three of them freshmen.
First loss? Arizona will be in Birmingham on Saturday to face Alabama and won’t have many friends in the room. If the Wildcats get past that, it could be a while.
Michigan (8-0)
College basketball’s most fearsome steamroller keeps flattening all before it. Consider the past four final scores: 101-60, 101-61, 102-79 and 94-54. Bashings so thorough, the coaches made the Wolverines No. 1 this week in their poll. The most recent flatee was Rutgers and before that, Gonzaga, Auburn and San Diego State – three teams that have all been in the Final Four in the past four years. In those four games against such name resistance, the Wolverines trailed for a total of 3:03 of 160 minutes.
WATCH: Michigan beats Gonzaga in Players Era championship
We could list astonishing Michigan numbers all day. The last Wolverine team to score 100 points three games in a row was 36 years ago. The consecutive 30-point wins over two ranked opponents – Auburn and Gonzaga – were a first in the history of college basketball, according to CBS. In three of the past four games, six Wolverines scored in double figures. In the other game, five did.
How is all this happening? Michigan is second in the nation in field goal percentage defense and fifth in field goal shooting. Good luck against that combo. Much of the damage has been done by the front line of Yaxel Lendeborg,  Morez Johnson Jr., and Aday Mara, who are shooting 59.7, 68.7 and 61.1 percent. Together, they have blocked more shots than 2-point attempts they’ve missed, 44-41.
First loss? Villanova visits Tuesday, but slowing this machine down in Ann Arbor is a big ask. Somewhere on the Big Ten road is more likely, but you could see this perfection lasting to at least the mid-January swing through Oregon and Washington.
Duke (10-0)
The Blue Devils have beaten four ranked opponents, including three in 10 days. It’s the first time in 34 years that Duke defeated four ranked non-conference opponents during the regular season. Only one of the four came in the friendly confines of Cameron. The 66-60 comeback win at Michigan State Saturday put the Blue Devils at 8-3 in their past 11 true road games against top-10 opponents.
The spotlight has been on freshman Cameron Boozer, and no wonder. Besides his 23 points and 9.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists a game, what else has he done? Not foul much. He has only two more fouls for the season than steals – 19-17 in 10 games.  But also note the team defense. Duke leads the nation by allowing a 34.1 shooting percentage and eight of the 10 opponents so far could not break 40.  Michigan State could manage only 31.8 percent in its own building.
First loss? It’ll be some time because the Blue Devils are down for 10 days with final exams. Texas Tech has the stuff to make trouble on Dec. 20, but that’s in Madison Square Garden, where Duke has won nine in a row. Might as well be Cameron North. Consider the Jan. 6 trip to Louisville.
Iowa State (9-0)
A team can’t send a message much clearer than beating No. 1 by 23 points on its own court. But the sacking of Purdue is only the latest show of dominance by the Cyclones. They blew through Creighton by 18 points and Syracuse by 31. And note the 132 points scored against Alcorn.
READ MORE: Iowa State crushes No. 1 Purdue
The latest list of NCAA team stat leaders pretty much suggests a team on a rampage. Iowa State is leading the nation in shooting and scoring margin, second in turnovers forced, third in 3-point shooting. The Cyclones went into the Purdue game as the only team in the country with three players averaging at least 18 points a game.  That’s changed a bit with Milan Momcilovic now at 18.3, Joshua Jefferson at 17.6, and Tamin Lipsey at 16.8, but you get the idea.
First loss?  Iowa visits Thursday, and strange things can happen in neighborhood rivalries. But that’s in Ames, and they don’t call it Hilton Magic for nothing. Try 37-2 the past three seasons. Barring an upset, the January trips to Baylor, Kansas and Cincinnati seem more likely.
Vanderbilt (9-0)
Surely this is an alternate universe.  The Vanderbilt quarterback will be among the top Heisman vote-getters, and the basketball team is the last unbeaten in the SEC. The latter is being done with an offense that has churned out 96.8 points a game, the third highest in the country, while being second in assist-turnover ratio and seventh in shooting. The Commodores reached at least 104 four times in their first five games, and their lowest scoring night so far was the 83 against Western Kentucky. That 83-78 win is their only game so far decided by under 12 points. They haven’t been unbeaten this late in the season in nearly two decades.
Experience has helped, with a boost from all the new faces through the portal. Nine players on the roster have started at least 30 games somewhere.
First loss? Vandy is a target now, and that can make life challenging on the road. There are trips to Memphis and Wake Forest this month. The first ranked opponent of the season is Alabama on Jan. 7.
Nebraska (9-0)
Nice of the AP poll voters to notice who owns the nation’s longest winning streak. The Huskers slipped into the top-25 for the first time in seven years Monday, now that they have won 13 in a row, going back to last season’s College Basketball Crown tournament. They haven’t been 9-0 to start a season since 1977.
They seem to be warming to the unbeaten record. They come off a 21-point whipping of Creighton, their biggest win over their in-state buddies in 30 years.
First loss? The Big Ten season begins, and it can chew up shiny records. The Huskers host Wisconsin on Wednesday, and home should help, but they’ll be at Illinois Saturday. If they’re 11-0 by midnight, they’re talking a historic start.
Oklahoma State (9-0)
The Cowboys are averaging 91 points a game, have five players averaging double figures, shoot 49.9 percent as a team, have out-rebounded eight of nine opponents, and are off to their best start in 19 years. That’s not bad for a team picked to finish 12th in the Big 12 and had a 12-20 record just two years ago. Just not good enough to get ranked yet,
Oklahoma State has one of the more unique stores in Parsa Fallah, an Oregon State transfer who is currently leading the Big 12 with a 68.8 shooting percentage. If he stays that way, he will have led three different conferences in shooting, first the WAC with Southern Utah, then the West Coast with Oregon State. The married Iranian doesn’t miss very often in any time zone.
First loss? There is imminent danger with Oklahoma Saturday in Oklahoma City. Get past that, and the next road game is Texas Tech on Jan. 3.
Miami (OH) (8-0)
OK, the six Division I teams the RedHawks have beaten are currently a combined 13-49, but why rain on a nice parade? Miami hasn’t been 8-0 in 30 years. The RedHawks are third in the country in scoring margin, fifth in scoring, sixth in field goal percentage, 11th in free throw shooting, and 17th in 3-point percentage. They have a guy, Almar Atlason, who has taken 22 free throws this season and yet to miss. All that is impressive, no matter who’s in the other uniform.
First loss? The pre-Christmas schedule must have been set up by the Grinch. The next four games are all on the road – UNC Asheville, Eastern Kentucky, Wright State, and Ball State, Bah, humbug.
