Jan. 4
This season, pre-conference play was filled with many, many shocks. It was absolutely wacky, baby -- night in and night out, you would shake your head after seeing some of these scores.

Teams that many alums and students considered cupcakes (when looking at the schedule before the season) turned out to very tough games. They looked like automatic W's for major-conference schools, but instead they turned out to be humiliating disasters.

So many people get caught up in the name game, baby! After a visit to Shock City, it takes a long time for fans, alums, students, players and coaches to bounce back.

It's time to look at my Top 10 super shocks this season:

1. IUPUI 98, at Georgia Tech 92 (Dec. 29)
2. Hampton 77, at North Carolina 69 (Nov. 16)
3. at Northern Iowa 78, Iowa 76 (Dec. 4)
4. Monmouth 81, Vanderbilt 67* (Nov. 24)
5. at Gardner-Webb 56, Colorado State 54 (Nov. 29)
6. Portland State 79, at Arizona State 69 in overtime (Nov. 20)
7. at Portland 79, Oregon 78 (Dec. 2)
8. Sam Houston State 69, at Texas Tech 65 (Nov. 24)
9. Yale 68, at Clemson 65 (Jan. 2)
10. Davidson 58, at North Carolina 54 (Nov. 20)
*Game played in Thanksgiving Classic in Hawaii

To me, there is a difference between a shocker and a surprise. There have certainly been plenty of surprises as well, with several high-profile teams being knocked off by lesser-known talented opponents.

Some noteworthy examples include Ball State over UCLA and Kansas out in Maui; Georgia State over Georgia; Western Kentucky over Kentucky; Miami-Ohio over Boston College; Pepperdine over UCLA and USC; and St. Bonaventure over Connecticut.

It has been a wild season already, and we are just getting into conference play in most leagues!