The loss to Washington, still a head scratcher for those of us who watched the game, cost the Bears a top ten position in the listing, but there are some good teams ahead of us and behind us. There may be more parity in the game this year than in any of the recent years. I suspect that the list will shift considerably in the weeks ahead and if the Bears take care of business that they will move steadily toward the top dozen teams.
It is always a challenge to play well in December because of the approach of Finals and the gaps in the schedule brought on by that and by the holiday season. Both the men and the women will have a chance to get a key player (Cox for the women and Clark for the men) ready for conference play and hopefully, for the team to get prepared for the long January/February grind. If the teams play well against what is primarily weak competition, so much the better, but there is usually a clunker or two in that string of games. One hopes that it is not against the one or two strong teams on the December schedule.