Wesley Johnson had a coming out party similar to the one Carmelo Anthony had six years ago at Madison Square Garden. (Post-Standard photo)
—UPSET—Syracuse 87, No. 6 North Carolina 71. UNC’s first field goal in the second half came from Tyler Zeller with 12 minutes to go. That ended the 21-1 run that started the half, too, for the Orange. The national Syracuse love is going to be heaped on the public now, so prepare yourself. Can this team now handle the success? Past Orange squads haven’t fared so well. I think you have to vault SU into the top 10 of your ballot if you’re an AP voter, by the way. I’d love to hear a reason why they don’t deserve to belong there.
No. 5 Villanova 71, No. 18 Dayton 65. The Flyers made a late surge, but Villanova controlled for the majority of the game. Villanova will win just to spite you. I thought it should have fallen against George Mason, but I’ll be damned if Jay Wright doesn’t know how to coach his style to a T.
No. 15 Ohio State 76, No. 13 California 70. I was a little rough on Evan Turner, so how did he do? Only four turnovers to go with 9 for 14 shooting, 8 for 11 from the line and 26 points in 40 minutes of work. Will he be expected to go 40 against all big-time opponents?
No. 2 Michigan State 75, Toledo 62. Whatever happened to Tom Izzo losing a bet and agreeing to shave his head? Did any pictures ever surface from that?
No. 7 Purdue 74, South Dakota State 63. Monitored this one. Boilers had some trouble throughout. Could never really pull away.
No. 10 Tennessee 105, East Carolina 66. After a great week on the recruiting trail, Bruce Pearl is going to enjoy his weekend.
No. 14 Washington 80, San Jose State 70. Huskies can definitively claim to be the West Coast’s best after recent transgressions.
No. 15 Michigan 77, Houston Baptist 55. Manny Harris had 25; DeShawn Sims had 22.
No. 21 Georgia Tech 70, George Mason 62. Confirmed: Derrick Favors is nasty.
No. 22 Clemson 89, UNC-Greensboro 67. Same ol’ early-season, non-conference Clemson story.
No. 25 Maryland 82, New Hampshire 55. Interested in seeing what the Terps look like this year. I was down on them for the majority of last season.
Notable:
Alabama 84, Providence 75. And there’s the first loss for the Big East this season. We can all shut up now.
Mississippi 86, Kansas State 74. Does it make me a sad case that I watched this alone in my house on a Friday night? You know what, don’t answer that.
St. Joseph’s 84, Boston College 80. Rakim Sanders went down for the Eagles with an ankle injury, but I won’t let that stop me from throwing plenty of the the A10’s way.
Central Florida 84, Auburn 74. Will the SEC see its low-tier teams have really bad years again? If you want to shine a bright light on Kentucky, Auburn must be pointed out as well.
St. John’s 79, Brown 76. A barn-burner in Queens. Bad sign for the Johnnies, who Digger Phelps thinks are going to The Dance.
DePaul 60, Northern Iowa 52. Team picked to finish last in the Big East beats team picked to finish first in the Missouri Valley.
Seton Hall 89, Cornell 79. A home win for the Big Red would have been huge! But the Big East improved its 2009-10 season record to 40-0 with this W.
Boston University 71, Indiana 67. Patrick Chambers gets his first win over an historic program like Indiana. Regardless of circumstance, that’s cool.
