A trio of games on Tuesday night did not fail to impress. Duke finally got a much needed road win, found out the latest winner in Bedlam, and watched to see if a struggling Big East team could pull off a much needed upset.
Duke 80, @Pittsburgh 65: This is a major, proving-quality win for the Blue Devils. Before tonight, Duke's only road win was at Miami, who is no one's idea of a world-beater. But Pittsburgh is a quality team with a gaudy record (with a very small number of decent wins). So for Duke to go to Pittsburgh and win proved that the ACC old guard is not ready just quite yet to let the new guys come in and run everything (not that I think anyone in the ACC can push Syracuse back this year). Duke got the road win it needed to prove that its record and play so far is more than just Cameron (and MSG, or Cameron North).
The game meant a lot for Pittsburgh as well. Pitt is a team who has some OK wins, and some road wins, but it hasn't defeated anyone who is really good or a lock to make the tournament. Tonight would have been Pitt's best win of the season, but they just could not make any stops in the second half. Pitt welcomes Virginia in on Sunday, and the Panthers could use a win very much to show that it isn't just a team that can beat NIT (and worse) teams.
@Oklahoma 88, Oklahoma State 76: Oklahoma State started the season looking like one of the few elite teams, and we all pointed at Marcus Smart as one of the most important teams in the country. But Oklahoma State has been merely good. It doesn't have any top notch wins, and it has lost to several teams elite teams wouldn't have. OK State still could go far in the tournament, and it won't get a terrible seed, but it looks like the Michael Cobbins injury is more serious than his stats would have suggested.
But the Sooners keep rolling. A weak non-conference schedule and a home loss to Louisiana Tech gave the impression that Oklahoma was going to struggle in a Big 12 with Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State. But OU has held its own, running its conference record to 6-2. OU now has consecutive road games ahead against Iowa State and West Virginia. Lose both, and we'll still have questions about OU, but even a split would be golden on the resume.
Villanova 65, @Georgetown 60: Try as they might, the Georgetown Hoyas just could not catch Villanova on Tuesday night. Georgetown should not feel bad about losing to an excellent Villanova team, but the Hoyas need wins, having fallen so far off the edge of the bracket. Those early season Puerto Rico wins just are not holding up. Meanwhile, Villanova just keeps winning. The Wildcats are 2-2 against Ken Pomeroy top 10 teams, with no losses on its resume to a team outside the top 3. Some basketball insiders might not like Villanova's makeup on paper, but this is a team to be reckoned with.
Just two other games worthing mentioning as low-major favorites kept winning.
@North Carolina Cent. 53, @Morgan State 52 - big comeback for win, would have been huge upset
@Southern 68, Alabama State 55
A monster of a game waits for us on Tuesday when Michigan State heads to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes. This will be the test of just how good Iowa is, because if it loses at home to an injury-riddled Spartans squad, it may signify that Iowa is still in that second tier. A win is meaningful, despite MSU's injuries. The Spartans are still a talented, albeit short, squad. A Michigan State loss will have them fighting for third in the Big Ten, which means the ungelled Spartans will have a tougher road in March when, supposedly, all its pieces are back.
Elsewhere, Missouri and Arkansas will fight for a chance to get back in the bracket, and West Virginia will try to knock Baylor all the way out of the tournament.
#2 Michigan State at #3 Iowa
#8 SMU at South Florida
VMI at #16 UNC Asheville
(FFO) Missouri at (FFO) Arkansas
West Virginia at (LFI) #11 Baylor
Loyola (IL) at #1 Wichita State
Texas Tech at #9 Kansas State
#5 Kentucky at LSU
St. John's at #4 Creighton
#6 Virginia at Notre Dame
#11 New Mexico at Utah State
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