The champs lose again, a once 13-0 team falls to 14-6 following another loss, and a last four in team loses to a team without a chance of climbing into the bracket.
Cincinnati 69, @Louisville 66: While Louisville maintains a good Pomeroy ranking, its RPI has fallen to 38. From a bracketology standpoint, the Cardinals are in trouble of getting stuck in a game that will give them a low chance of getting to the second weekend. Sure, the losses are all acceptable, but UL's three best wins are at UConn, SMU, and Southern Miss. Louisville only has 4 more good games on the resume. They may not ever get up as high as a #5 seed again.
But Cincinnati's profile just keeps improving each week. Sure, the Bearcats have had a few close calls in this 13-game winning streak, but Mick Cronin has his team rolling. In the year of long winning streaks, what makes Cincinnati's so impressive is that it has gone through its conference season without a loss (unlike, say, Iowa State or Wisconsin). Cinci is now a legitimate #2 or #3 seed, and a lock if it can get through the rest of the season with only 1 or 2 more losses.
@Marquette 61, Providence 50: Tough loss for Providence, which should knock them out of the tournament for the time being. Marquette is most likely the most disappointing team this year in terms of losses, considering the talent it has. So a win at MU is not easy to come by. But with how much Marquette can damage a team's computer numbers, said team can't lose games like this, as Providence did tonight. The Friars have a chance at redemption coming up, though, in its next few games which include trips to Xavier and Georgetown.
UCLA 70, @Oregon 68: We close out west, where Oregon nearly pulled off the upset over UCLA, but instead, the Ducks fell to 2-6 in the conference. Oregon cannot make the tournament with a losing record in this year's Pac-12, and with 5 more games against Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA, it is hard to imagine Oregon staying afloat. What a disappointing performance after that 13-0 start.
Meanwhile, UCLA has put together a sneakily good resume. Before January, UCLA had no bad losses, but it had no good wins. Now UCLA has a smattering of good wins and still no bad losses. With how every other team is playing, the Bruins have a chance to separate itself from the pack and earn a good seed for March.
The biggest shock of the night might have been in the Big Sky, where Northern Colorado, class of the conference, was destroyed at Portland State. Also, Saint Mary's, who couldn't afford more bad losses, lost again to a bad team and will now find it hard to get back on the bubble. Finally, New Mexico State figures to be back on track in the WAC with the return of Sim Bhullar.
Florida 61, @Mississippi State 52
@Davidson 94, Chattanooga 51 - bad loss for last remaining unbeaten Southern team
@Robert Morris 79, Bryant 76
North Dakota State 66, @South Dakota 63
@Michigan 75, Purdue 66
@Connecticut 80, Houston 43 - UConn avenges earlier loss at UH
@New Mexico State 89, CSU Bakersfield 86 - NMSU glad to have Sim Bhullar back
@Stephen F. Austin 64, Abilene Christian 48
@BYU 88, Pacific 78
@UTEP 89, Louisiana Tech 79 - bad loss for LaTech, at-large bid in major doubt
@UC Santa Barbara 80, UC Irvine 60 - good win for UCSB to keep pace in Big West
@San Diego 61, Saint Mary's 43 - hard to picture SMC coming back from this
@Portland State 80, Northern Colorado 57
A very tough home game awaits Harvard on Friday night. If Princeton wins, Harvard will need to win at Princeton later in the year. Without a conference tourney to come back in, the Crimson can't afford such misfires.
Presbyterian at #16 VMI
Princeton at #9 Harvard
#13 Mercer at East Tennessee State
#14 Manhattan at Iona
In tomorrow's Friday Appraisal, I will address to address a question I asked of the basketball committee about what would happen if, as I had in my most recent Bracket Brief, three teams from the same conference ended up in the First Four games. That and more!
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