College basketball fans were treated to a terrific match between Michigan State and Michigan on Saturday. The two teams waged a shifting war, but in the end, Michigan left East Lansing with a big-time win, a signature victory, one that we'll look at on Selection Sunday and point to if UM wins the Big Ten season championship. We will look at that game and all of Saturday's major action.
Michigan 80, @Michigan State 75: The game of the week did not disappoint in any way. Michigan jumped out to an early lead, but then Michigan State came back and controlled the entire middle part of the game. It looked like Michigan would probably keep the game close but fall short, especially given the East Lansing locale. But Michigan fought back like potential Big Ten champions should, taking the lead for good with about 3 minutes left.
It would be hard to overstate just how important of a win this was for Michigan. Any doubts that we had about the Wolverines after they lost to Charlotte in Puerto Rico should be dispelled. The losses at Iowa State, at Duke, and to Arizona are easily explained and, perhaps, expected, to all but the most elite teams. Michigan now stands alone atop the Big Ten, the only team without a loss in the conference. And Michigan's schedule is quite favorable, with home games against MSU, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, road games to Iowa and Ohio State, and all winnable games aside.
On the other side, Michigan State has a strange resume. Yes, losses to North Carolina and Michigan are acceptable, even for a team seeking a #1 seed. But it nearly lost to Oakland at home, and although it beat Ohio State and Minnesota at home, both games went into overtime. It also struggled against Indiana at home, losing with 10 minutes to play. Yes, Michigan State has had injuries throughout the season, but will there be time for the Spartans to gel? And, besides, it isn't like Michigan was without its own injury problems. It isn't time yet to throw in the towel on MSU, and the top 5 or 6 of the Big Ten could finish in any order. But Michigan controls its own destiny now, and today proved that UM is a major threat to win the conference.
@Providence 81, Xavier 72: Providence may have had the best last 2 weeks in the country with wins over Creighton, Xavier, Georgetown, St. John's, and Butler. The last three teams are unlikely to make the tournament at this point, but the first two are very good. It helps, though, that the Friars played four of those games at home. A return date with Xavier will happen in Cincinnati on February 8.
I may have moved Xavier up too high too soon, but I don't think so. Xavier is a very good team who happened to lose a road game to another good team. The only games that Xavier have lost are today, a game at Creighton, and its three games in the Bahamas, which I read, given XU's other great play, as an anomaly in an otherwise good season. Those Bahamas games may drop XU's seed several spots for the tournament, which is a major disservice who whomever gets the misfortunate of playing the Musketeers.
Texas 74, @Baylor 60: As noted yesterday, a Baylor failure today would likely knock the Bears out of the tournament, and they were handled easily at home. Baylor is the classic case for why non-conference strength of schedule is important to pay attention to, because its 12-1 start meant nothing against such poor competition (only 3-4 meaningful games). The only Big 12 game that Baylor has won is at home against TCU, who is, without question, the worst team in the conference. Things are looking bad for Baylor, but things are looking up for Texas, who now has 3 decent road wins and a 5-2 record in the Big 12.
As always, college basketball gave us a number of excellent games on Saturday. Here are the scores from all of the teams in the projected bracket or on the edge of the bubble.
Iowa 76, @Northwestern 50
@Duke 78, Florida State 56 - good win for Duke, but still waiting for marquee road win
@Delaware 83, Towson 76
George Washington 75, @George Mason 69
VCU 97, @La Salle 89 (2OT)
Syracuse 64, @Miami (FL) 52
@Kentucky 79, Georgia 54
@Iowa State 81, Kansas State 75 - very nice home win for ISU, stops losing streak
Villanova 94, @Marquette 85 (OT)
@Oklahoma State 81, West Virginia 75
@Mercer 87, Stetson 49
@Virginia 65, Virginia Tech 45
@Florida 67, Tennessee 41 - bad looking score shouldn't hurt Vols too much
Oklahoma 74, Texas Tech 65
@Robert Morris 74, Wagner 70
American 84, @Army 74
New Mexico 68, @Colorado State 66 - UNM gets much needed win
@Rhode Island 88, Dayton 76 - bad loss for UD, falls to 1-4 in A-10
@Richmond 77, St. Joseph's 62
@Missouri 82, South Carolina 74
@North Carolina Central 87, Coppin State 63
Wisconsin 72, @Purdue 58 - Wisc. finally ends losing streak
North Dakota State 85, @South Dakota State 77
Stephen F. Austin 66, @Central Arkansas 49
Georgia State 66, @UL Monroe 58
Pittsburgh 83, @Maryland 79 - MD fails to capitalize, Pitt continues to impress
@Arkansas 86, Auburn 67
@Boise State 76, San Jose State 55
@Southern 66, Alabama A&M 52
Connecticut 82, @Rutgers 71
@High Point 78, UNC Asheville 67
Southern Miss 60, @East Carolina 46
@Arizona State 72, Colorado 51 - Dinwiddie injury seems even more damaging after today
@Samford 62, Elon 59
@Louisiana Tech 98, Marshall 77
@Alabama 82, LSU 80 - tough loss for fence-riding LSU
@Belmont 84, Eastern Kentucky 81
@Creighton 76, Georgetown 63 - Creighton continues to roll towards high seed
Wichita State 78, @Drake 61
Kansas 91, @TCU 69
@New Mexico State 90, Texas Pan-Am 78
Northern Colorado 72, Sacramento State 62
Hawaii 90, @UC Irvine 86 (OT) - top of Big West is very jumbled
@Gonzaga 84, BYU 69
San Diego State 74, @Utah State 69
Sunday is very much a sorting day for college basketball, especially in the Pac-12, where the seeding fortunes of Stanford (who plays at USC, who beat California at home on Thursday night), California (see above), UCLA (good but very inconsistent), and Utah (hanging around the bubble and could do wonders with a win at Arizona). We'll also keep a sharp eye on Clemson at North Carolina to see whether either team looks deserving of an at-large berth.
Fordham at #6 Massachusetts
South Florida at #6 Memphis
Quinnipiac at #13 Manhattan
Detroit at #12 Green Bay
#9 SMU at Houston
#3 Cincinnati at Temple
#12 Harvard at Dartmouth
#10 Stanford at USC
(LFI) #11 Clemson at (FFO) North Carolina
Kent State at #13 Toledo
#5 Minnesota at Nebraska
Binghamton at #15 Vermont
(LFI) #11 Oregon at Washington State
(NFO) Utah at #1 Arizona
#10 California at #9 UCLA
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