This was the night for teams in the lower half of the at-large rankings to prove---or disprove---their worth. Baylor, on the higher end thanks to not losing to teams like Texas Tech, lost to Texas Tech. Illinois lose a home game...to Purdue. New Mexico fell at home to UNLV. Georgetown couldn't get itself together long enough to grab a nice road win at Xavier. And Notre Dame lost again.
@Texas Tech 82, Baylor 72: Yikes. I know this was a road game and all, but I found this loss to be extremely bizarre. Texas Tech is simply not very good, and Baylor's only losses prior to tonight were to Syracuse in Maui and at Iowa State. BU didn't have great wins, but it beat Kentucky, Colorado and Dayton. So to lose to Texas Tech, even away, is unexpected, especially to be manhandled in this manner. TTU exposed Baylor's poor defense---sometimes, the Bears just won't be able to score enough points. I still fully expect Baylor to make the tournament, maybe even with a nice seed, but I can't expect them to go very far. This team just will not hold up for enough consecutive games against good competition.
Purdue 66, @Illinois 58: But bye, bye Illinois. Back-to-back losses to Northwestern (away) and Purdue (at home) leaves the Illini far off the bubble. Those losses, coupled with an earlier loss to Georgia Tech, leaves Illinois needing some major upsets in the Big Ten. We're talking, basically, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa, or Michigan State, if it wants to get back in the tourney. Even if it wins every other game but those, Illinois ends up 8-10 in the Big Ten and far off the bubble. Upsets are required.
UNLV 76, @New Mexico 73: And we end the night with a terrible loss in the Mountain West Conference. Look, UNLV is OK, and New Mexico isn't any one's idea of a national championship contender, but they appear to clearly be the second-best team in the MWC. That said, outside of San Diego State, the MWC is down---way down---and if New Mexico continues to suffer these kind of losses, the MWC may be a one-bid conference for the first time since 2001, which was the MWC's first year to receive an automatic bid.
Most of the rest of the games went as scheduled, but as you'll see belong, we had a few more upsets and near upsets.
Michigan State 54, @Northwestern 40
Massachusetts 88, @George Mason 87 - UMass escapes in a crazy finish
@SMU 71, South Florida 54
@Xavier 80, Georgetown 67 - not bad loss, but GTown needed win more
@Boston U 66, Colgate 58
@Indiana State 70, Missouri State 55
@Maryland 74, Notre Dame 66 - MD not good for ND to lose to, but on the road, so push
Clemson 56, @Virginia Tech 49 - timely, useful road win for Tigers
@Delaware 76, William & Mary 71
@Tennessee 78, Auburn 67
@Toledo 67, Buffalo 65
@Charleston Southern 95, Presbyterian 58
@Oklahoma State 82, TCU 50
@Saint Louis 66, Saint Bonaventure 60
Florida State 63, Miami FL 53
Dayton 80, @Fordham 66
@Ole Miss 88, LSU 74 (OT)
@San Diego State 68, Fresno State 60
@Stanford 80, Washington State 48
@California 82, Washington 56 - UW comes down closer to Earth, ends run of good games
Thursday will see a number of bracket teams playing each other and a number of low-major teams trying to hang on to the top spot in their conferences. I'm most intrigued by how Ohio State will play when it travels to Minnesota, which has already proven itself to be a worthy opponent. And Memphis could knock conference-mate UConn out of the tournament (for now) with a home win. Finally, we'll see if we can gain any clarity into the #2 spot in the Pac-12 when UCLA heads to Colorado. Here's all the important bracket action for Thursday:
(LFI) #12 Connecticut at #5 Memphis
Houston at #9 Louisville
Saint Francis (PA) at #16 Robert Morris
#14 Mercer at Northern Kentucky
Arkansas State at #16 Georgia State
Siena at #14 Manhattan
#13 Belmont at Eastern Kentucky
NJIT at #16 North Carolina Central
#12 Missouri at Vanderbilt
#15 Vermont at Maine
#16 Elon at Davidson
#9 UCLA at #5 Colorado
Rice at (NFO) Southern Miss
#13 New Mexico State at Chicago State
Omaha at #14 North Dakota State
#15 Stephen F. Austin at Northwestern State
(FFO) Arizona State at #1 Arizona
#2 Ohio State at #9 Minnesota
#10 Louisiana Tech at Tulane
(NFO) BYU at San Francisco
#15 Northern Colorado at Montana State
USC at (NFO) Utah
#8 Gonzaga at Pepperdine
Long Beach State at #13 UC Santa Barbara
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