I’ve never said this to a female before but, sorry, this is going to be long.
–UPSET–Connecticut 68, No. 7 Indiana 63. Saturday’s biggest upset was coincidentally broadcast to the widest possible audience (CBS aired it) and so UConn’s national profile will likely skyrocket.
–UPSET–Purdue 60, No. 11 Wisconsin 56. I want to dig for the link to when I said Purdue would likely take down Wisconsin, but there are too many games to write about here. So self shoulder taps all around, thank you. The pasty dude in the photo is Robbie Hummel, who hit a big 3 late and then blocked Michael Flowers’ last-second shot to tie the game under the hoop. Surprisingly, both Wisconsin and Purdue are now 6-1 in the Big Ten.
–UPSET–Richmond 80, No. 16 Dayton 63. What gives, Flyers? After Dayton received a beatdown from Xavier on Thursday, they are taken to the woodshed by the Spiders? Not only that, but it’s Dayton’s third consecutive loss, which will likely garner them zero points in the upcoming polls. Strange. I thought Dayton would be able to steady themselves after the Xavier game, but apparently they freaking can’t.
–UPSET–Mississippi State 88, No. 17 Mississippi 68. Is Ole Miss this year’s Clemson? Charles Rhodes tooled on the Rebs for 26 points and led MSU in scoring. Where was the defense, Miss? The Rebels allowed the Bulldogs to get 50 second half points on them and were run out of the joint. Break ‘em up: MSU has won nine straight.
–UPSET–Notre Dame 90, No. 18 Villanova 80. They will no longer be No. 18 Villanova come Monday. The Big East has an identity problem.
–UPSET--Oklahoma 77, No. 25 Baylor 71. Another tight one serves as great evidence that CHJ’s “Student Section Supports” is really working! Baylor won’t survive consecutive weeks in the Top 25.
–No. 1 Memphis 81, Gonzaga 73. The Bulldogs had a nice little run before the half to cut the lead to three, but Memphis put the whoopin’ on in the second half and wouldn’t quiet allow Gonzaga to really make it riveting. Thought that ‘Zaga might have a chance here, but maybe this team really can go undefeated. I know I’m rooting for it.
–No. 2 Kansas 84, Nebraska 49. I’m sticking by my rule of not breaking down Kansas games until they are legitimately challenged in conference.
–No. 3 Tennessee 85, Georgia 69. Ryan Childress (featured, ready to accept the jar for his balls) proposed to his girlfriend (I think) after the win on Saturday. Unfortunately she said yes. Nothing quite throws an engagement for a loop like a deep NCAA tournament run. Someone warn that poor girl. Oh yeah, Tennessee played better than Georgia in this one.
–No. 6 Washington State 56, No. 24 Arizona State 55. The Cougars will fall in the polls due to their loss to Arizona and this escape to the Sun Devils on the road. But I dunno, I think that splitting two road games in ‘Zona will be considered par for the course for any Pac-10 team this season. Derrick Low’s hair is starting to annoy me. More on this in the coming weeks. The Sun Devils have dropped three straight.
–No. 8 UCLA 85, Oregon State 62. Everyone’s medicine: Oregon State. The Beavers are probably not going to win one game in the Pacific-10 conferece this season.
–No. 9 Georgetown 58, West Virginia 57. Yes, that was a goal tend by Little Ewing on the last play of the game. The Hoyas are overrated, though everyone will now appropriately rate them accordingly (BlogPoll on Wednesday, *cough, cough*), so let’s just move on.
–No. 12 Texas 73, Texas Tech 47. That Bobby Knight really needs to learn how to coach.
–No. 14 Butler 73, Illinois-Chicago 57. There weren’t quite enough losses in the Top 10 this week to get the Bulldogs there, but they’ll probably creep back up to No. 12 in the rankings come Monday. The ‘Dogs never trailed in this one.
–No. 18 Texas A&M 59, Oklahoma State 56. I don’t even know what to make of A&M. You can note that they avoided a fourth straight loss by beating the Sooners, but they really didn’t deserve to win this game. Remember: Okie State just isn’t that good this year. Don’t disillusion yourself to the fact that the Aggies are slipping fast.
–No. 20 Stanford 82, California 77. The Bears (2-5) continue to slip even further in the Pac-10 standings. The Lopez brothers are just so much better than the Collins twins. (And if you don’t remember the Collins twins, you need much a brushing up on your hoops know.)
–No. 21 Marquette 79, DePaul 71. The Golden Eagles stop the bleeding. Dominic James (who scored 19) has to play well for this team to have any sort of success. That spells early upset in March, I think.
–No. 22 Drake 58, Northern Iowa 54. The Drake had a bit of a fight on their hands in this on but avoided the upset from the hands of the . Drake has the third-longest winning streak (Memphis and Kansas obviously the 1 and 2) with 17 straight Ws.
Notable:
UNLV 72, San Diego State 69. Vegas remains very much in the hunt for an at-large bid while SDSU cannot gain any momentum.
Southern California 95, Oregon 86 (OT). Witness: A league like the SEC will have teams beat up on each other this season and probably only draw five teams into The Tournament. The Pac-10 will do the same and bring in seven. USC is looking very nice in recent weeks, but I still feel like a slump is coming. Don’t even ask me about the mysterious monster that is The Oregon Ducks.
St. Joseph’s 68, Temple 67. GREAT ending to this one that was similar to the Georgetown ending: The Hawks get the win after a UMass last-second layup is blocked by Ahmad Nivins. I know you all assumed it was Nivins, but I just had to give you that little factoid for the record. St. Joe’s is now 12-5 and won’t go away from the bubble discussion. Lunardi is not sleeping a lot, I’m sure.
Virginia Tech 81, Boston College 73 (OT). The first half was all Va. Tech, the second BC, and the overtime saw a 15-7 advantage for the Hokies. BC is 12-6 overall and 3-2 in conference, though you’d think they were much worse than that, right?
North Carolina State 69, Florida State 66. I don’t get it…you explain this one to me.
Brigham Young 83, New Mexico 66. The suddenly-bipolar Cougars needed this one more than the Lobos and it showed.
Ohio State 76, Minnesota 60. The Buckeyes remain healthy and alive for significant postseason play. The Gophers are likely done.
–Connecticut 69, Louisville 67. Like Duke, you knew that UConn couldn’t be kept down for too long (read: two years). Jeff Adrien (right) has turned himself into a handy little Big East Big Man With Muscle that will certainly come in handy a few more times before this season is over. Hasheen Thabeet’s alley-oop with about two minutes to go was a great television moment. Word on that whole that Doug Wiggins and Jerome Dyson “scandal”, in case you had missed it, was that the two dolts were drinking some Cognac in a car and getting their…whatever, on…so that’s why they’re indefinitely suspended. Hey, that’s college for ya. Louisville hits a speed bump here with a mojo-driven UConn team playing well at home, but I don’t think it will really derail the Cardinals. Although I must say: terrible shot selection (why go for the 3, Louisville?) with about 10 seconds to go in this game.
–No. 4 Duke 93, Maryland 84. That’s why photography is so great. Rivalry! Yeah! Maryland’s student section is one of the better ones (and I include the Redick ribbing, of course) in the entire country. And while Maryland looked like a sorry, pathetic ACC team that lost games to Ohio and American early in the year (wait, they were just that), they have come on strong and are looking like a solid 10-seed right now—even in defeat. Duke was just too much and remained focused (God, I sound like a boring sportswriter right now), while Maryland seemed too concerned with what Duke should’ve been getting whistled for.
Set to broadcast nationally…