Saturday opened up with a lot of great action in the Big 12 and a bunch of movement throughout the conference's standings. We sorted out a little bit between the top two teams, but everything from 3 down changed. We also had upsets all over the country, and a number of teams fortified their positions. Let's take a look at Saturday's action.
Oklahoma 66, @Baylor 64: Oklahoma, now with two Big 12 road wins, is quickly improving and rising up the charts. The big problem has been OU's non-existent defense, which showed up today in a big way, holding the rapidly devolving Baylor Bears back just enough for the road win. BU's biggest problem today? Free throws. But Baylor, loser of 3 of its last 4 games, is falling quick. I fully expect that Oklahoma will find itself above Baylor in the next Bracket Brief.
@Texas 86, Iowa State 76: Since starting 14-0, Iowa State has had an incredibly difficult schedule, as proven by its 3-game losing streak. I'm not entirely shocked that ISU lost on the road today, but I am surprised that Texas showed up so strongly and got its best win of the year. UT now has a handful of good wins, and if they don't make it into the next Bracket Brief, they will be awfully close (I think they will right now).
@Kansas 80, Oklahoma State 78: One final Big 12 game worth some extra coverage. Yes, Kansas was supposed to win, and yes, Kansas was supposed to win because this was in Lawrence. But KU came awfully close to giving the game away and letting the Cowboys escape with a win. This game being played at Kansas, with Kansas winning, not much was revealed about the race for the top spot in the Big 12. But it is worth noting that OSU now has 2 losses in the conference while KU is still undefeated. The Jayhawks has now won 4-straight games as it moves away from an Andrew Wiggins-central offense. Wiggins took only 5 shots today, scored only 3 points, and grabbed only 2 rebounds. This was in only 23 minutes, which was Wiggins lowest minutes total of the season. Bill Self seems to have found the recipe for success, and it seems to revolve around relying less on his all-everything freshman.
@Utah 74, UCLA 69: Utah was having a decent season until it was derailed on its trip to play against the Washington schools. Utah got back on track tonight, beating UCLA at home. This win might be enough to get Utah back into the bracket, but like Texas, if not, it will be close. And it isn't a bad loss for UCLA necessarily, but Cal already has 3 road wins in the Pac-12. It will be hard for UCLA to keep pace with the Bears, so while we're probably looking at the clear #3 team in the Pac-12, that might be all that the Bruins are.
Michigan 77, @Wisconsin 70: Wisconsin's last two games look a lot like Iowa State's last three. The teams started the season a combined 30-0, and in the 5 games since, they are a combined 0-5. The Badgers' losses, though, are a bit more surprising. Wisconsin first lost at Indiana, who followed up its win with a loss to lowly Northwestern. The Badgers then went home and lost to the Wolverines, who has put together an excellent winning streak since losing to Arizona. Michigan once looked to be defined by its loss to Charlotte, but the Wolverines are writing a different script. Michigan does look like it has passed Ohio State after today's win.
@Providence 81, Creighton 69: The interesting thing about this game is how Creighton lost. There really only seemed to be one factor: three-point shooting. Creighton took far fewer threes than normal, and it did not come close to its average from deep. Simply put, Creighton went away from what gave it such a great offense, and it's relatively porous defense couldn't keep up for once. Doug McDermott played well but he just didn't shoot as much, hampered by two early fouls. One figures, though, McDermott still could have shot more, taking some of the load off Ethan Wragge, who couldn't find his shot tonight. Creighton is still in a good position, and Providence, with its best win of the season, is creeping into the bubble discussion.
There were simply tons of games today, a few teams getting some much needed wins, as noted below. A few teams also lost devastatingly, like Georgetown, losing at home to Seton Hall, in a game where the Hoyas were heavily favored. Here are the rest of the scores involving teams in the bracket or on the bubble as of the last Bracket Brief.
Toledo 75, @Akron 61
@Kentucky 74, Tennessee 66 - expected but good win for home-team Wildcats
SMU 58, @UCF 46
@Virginia 78, Florida State 66 - good home win for UVA
@North Carolina 81, Boston College 71
Delaware 74, @Northeastern 70
Seton Hall 67, @Georgetown 57 - another bad loss for G'Town, shouldn't lose at home like this
@Kansas State 78, West Virginia 56
@Fairfield 71, Manhattan 67 - terrible loss for Manhattan, still MAAC fav, but geeze
@Georgia 66, Arkansas 61 (OT) - Ark. drops to 1-3, starting to head out of tourney
@Memphis 101, LeMoyne-Owen 78
@Colorado 83, USC 62
@Duke 95, NC State 60
Robert Morris 77, Mount St. Mary's 69
@Butler 69, Marquette 57 - Butler finally gets BE win, MU finally suffers bad loss
@Missouri 68, Alabama 47
Vermont 73, @UMBC 47
@Saint Louis 70, Fordham 48
@Georgia State 99, AR-Little Rock 73
@North Dakota State 65, Western Illinois 52
@Richmond 73, Dayton 64 - bad loss for UD, who should remain out of bracket
@Syracuse 59, Pittsburgh 54
@Wichita State 68, Indiana State 48
@Villanova 88, DePaul 62
Florida 68, @Auburn 61
@Clemson 61, Wake Forest 53
@VCU 80, Duquesne 65
@California 76, Washington State 55
Gonzaga 82, @Loyola Marymount 72
@North Carolina Central 62, Delaware State 52
Cincinnati 61, @South Florida 54
Mercer 87, @Lipscomb 66
UNC Asheville 80, @Charleston Southern 76
@San Diego State 63, UNLV 52
Massachusetts 84, @Elon 74
New Mexico 89, @Fresno State 78
George Washington 79, @St. Bonaventure 71
Michigan State 78, @Illinois 62
@UMKC 68, New Mexico State 66 - baffling loss for NMSU, WAC opening up
Belmont 79, @Tennessee State 65
Northern Colorado 84, @Montana 73
Louisville 76, @Connecticut 64
Southern 60, @AR-Pine Bluff 56
BYU 91, @Santa Clara 81
UC Santa Barbara 79, @Cal State Northridge 69
@Stanford 79, Washington 67
After 151 games on Saturday, only a few teams are in play on Sunday, but two games stand out. First, we'll see Minnesota head to Iowa. The Gophers have had a decent start to the Big Ten season, having nearly beat Michigan, taking Michigan State to overtime, and beating Ohio State. Iowa should win this game, especially since it is in Iowa City, but this could be interesting. The second interesting game of the day is Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss in a clash between the two best teams in Conference USA. LA Tech's Raheem Appleby may be out for up to seven more weeks with an ankle injury, so it will be interesting to see if they can hang on to the lead in C-USA.
#9 Minnesota at #4 Iowa
#10 Louisiana Tech at (NFO) Southern Miss
#12 Green Bay at UIC
Hofstra at #11 SMU
#6 Oregon at Oregon State
No comments:
Post a Comment