There weren't any Earth-changing games on Wednesday night, but nearly every game involving a bracket or bubble team ended up having some impact on the landscape. Coming into the night, we didn't really know which games would be the most impactful, save for Harvard at UConn. A trio of Big East, SEC, and ACC upsets lead the way.
@Connecticut 61, Harvard 56: This was not a bad loss for Harvard. Yes, they failed to capitalize on a win and get a good win on the resume. Harvard's best win remains one over Green Bay, after losses at Colorado and at UConn. The best team remaining on Harvard's schedule is Princeton, so if Harvard needs to win and win out to keep its RPI up, and it needs to blow out teams to keep its Pom up. Harvard can't do much more than that if it wants a single-digit seed.
Across the floor, UConn got a good win, and it stemmed the recent bleeding suffered from losses at Houston and at SMU. UConn fell all the way down to my last four in Sunday's Bracket Brief, and this win should keep them from falling out altogether.
@Providence 70, Georgetown 52: Providence is not yet close to the at-large line, but it is hanging around in the area. This game was far more about Georgetown losing. We know, away games are hard, and Providence is pretty good, but this is a team who already lost to Northeastern. That doesn't leave the Hoyas with much room for error. I already had them in my first four out last week, so what can a loss to a team that is worse to them do? Georgetown next has games at Butler (an extremely hungry Butler) and at Xavier (a fast improving Xavier). The Hoyas could start the Big East season 2-3 before it ever plays a game against Villanova or Creighton. Ouch.
Georgia 70, @Missouri 64 (OT): This is one of the most surprising results of the night. UGA was playing a very emotional game for its coach, but Missouri should have been able to find a way to win this one. No one on Selection Sunday will say, "Yeah, but there was that touchy-feely thing going on during that game." They'll say, "That's a team that lost to Illinois and Georgia in Missouri." Mizzou had been gaining some national attention over the last week or so, for an unknown reason, but it looks like that good will now go away until the Tigers notch a good win.
Miami FL 63, @North Carolina 57: As I said earlier on Twitter, there's nothing more frustrating than trying to figure out what the committee would do with UNC. UNC still has good Pom numbers, thanks to its losses being close and some blowouts of some bad teams, but I don't know that I've ever seen a resume like this. How do you beat Louisville and lose to UAB? How do you beat Michigan State and lose to Belmont? How do you beat Kentucky, yet lose, at home, to Texas and Miami FL? This makes no sense. But the eye test tells me that UNC will usually be closer to that team with 5 bad losses than to that team with 3 great wins. Definite bracket slippage after this one.
There is a lot of other games to talk about tonight. In addition to the above games, a lot of teams suffered bad defeats or good after-loss wins. The second session was particularly interesting, because as UNC was losing to Miami, Colorado and New Mexico found themselves in overtime on the road against bad teams. That and other action is listed below.
Villanova 83, @Seton Hall 67 - very nice road win for Nova
@Florida 74, South Carolina 58
Kansas 90, @Oklahoma 83 - very important bounce-back road win for Jayhawks
@Massachusetts 66, Saint Joseph's 62
@Virginia 74, Wake Forest 51
@Delaware 86, Hofstra 79
@William & Mary 85, Drexel 73 - Dragons permanently eliminated from at-large bid
@Columbia 68, Stony Brook 63
@Saint Bonaventure 84, Richmond 70
@Ohio 59, Kent State 53 - Ohio could give Toledo major run in MAC
@Western Michigan 87, Toledo 76 - bad loss for Rockets, maybe this year's Wyoming
Minnesota 68, @Penn State 65 - excellent road win for less bubbly Gophers
@Charleston Southern 70, Coastal Carolina 58
@Wichita State 66, Illinois State 47
@Kentucky 85, Mississippi State 63
Indiana State 77, @Drake 73
@Wisconsin 95, Illinois 70 - huge win for Badgers, get stronger hold on #1 seed
@Oklahoma State 87, Texas 74 - good win for OSU over not-yet-ready-for-primetime UT
Colorado 71, @Washington State 70 (OT) - Buffs barely escape Pac-12's worst team
New Mexico 72, @Wyoming 69 (OT) - UNM lucky, cannot afford bad losses in slumping MWC
@Texas A&M 69, Arkansas 53 - like Mizzou, Ark cannot afford this kind of bad loss
Nevada 74, @UNLV 71 - another bad loss for MWC's chances of multiple at-large bids
@Washington 59, Utah 57 - UW probably unable to overcome early-season woes
@San Diego State 69, Boise State 66 - BSU nearly gets upset after late rally
Go west, young man. Thursday's marquee matchup is undoubtedly Arizona at UCLA. The Wildcats face their third tough road test this year (San Diego State and Michigan) and will try to stay in the driver's seat for the #1 overall seed. What has been most striking about Arizona so far this year is its balance. UCLA may try to find aspects to shut down, but can it contain enough pieces? A good place to start is Arizona's overlooked star, Nick Johnson. The big question is how much Steve Alford will rely on the Wear twins, who have been a major thorn in Arizona's side over the last couple of years in Ben Howland's system.
While that game is the one you should focus your attention on, watch out also for Florida State at Clemson Marquette at Xavier, and Memphis at Louisville. Here's a list of all the important Thursday night action.
#5 Memphis at #6 Louisville
St. Francis (PA) at #16 Bryant
#13 North Dakota State at IPFW
#7 Florida State at Clemson
DePaul at (NFO) Butler
George Mason at #12 VCU
Auburn at Ole Miss
Florida Atlantic at (NFO) Louisiana Tech
#13 Manhattan at Quinnipiac
#12 Southern Miss at North Texas
#15 Belmont at Southeast Missouri State
#10 George Washington at La Salle
#14 Stephen F. Austin at Houston Baptist
#1 Arizona at #7 UCLA
Northwestern at #4 Iowa
Seattle U at #12 New Mexico State
#10 Marquette at #5 Xavier
Pepperdine at BYU
#9 Michigan at Nebraska
Weber State at #16 Northern Colorado
(NFO) Arizona State at USC
(FFO) Stanford at Oregon State
Santa Clara at Saint Mary's
(LFI) #11 California at #3 Oregon
#9 Gonzaga at Portland
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