After beating ISU, Florida A&M is 300 in the Kenpom rankings -- one can only guess how low they were coming into that game.
It was obviously a bad loss, but it also points to the fact there is increased parity and many -- perhaps even most -- teams have enough talent to pull off an upset if things go their way on a given night. FA&M had four guys in double figures, so it wasn't even one hot player going off. There's no statistic that clearly shows why FA&M won -- they outshot the Cyclones, but not by much -- 51 to 46 percent. ISU shot 40% from deep -- 8-20 -- but FA&M hit only four three-pointers. ISU outrebounded them by 5, but had 4 more turnovers. Really, the stats are relatively even, which suggests it was just a hard-fought win for FA&M.
In short, it makes it clear that players and coaches shouldn't view any team as a "cupcake" (even if some fans insist on doing so). It's a good way to get beat.
