And then there were four. We lost one more unbeaten team on Saturday afternoon when Iowa State lost on the road at Oklahoma. We also saw Duke lose yet again on the road, falling to 0-2 on the road and 3-4 away from Cameron. A busy basketball Saturday had surprises throughout the entire day, so let's take a look at the action.
@Oklahoma 87, Iowa State 82: And we're down to the final four unbeaten teams. It always looked like ISU would probably be the first of the last five to lose, but it got its loss out of the way pretty quickly when it fell to Oklahoma. Still, ISU did not play poorly, and this just shows the perils of going on the road in conference play. Oklahoma is getting better by the minute and is looking more and more like it deserves a spot in the bracket. The Cyclones should feel good about making it unbeaten this far, and they still should challenge for the Big 12 championship.
@Clemson 72, Duke 59: Any time you say something bad about Duke, people come out and say, "Well, you just hate Duke." And that's probably true for some people, but this year, Duke has a lot of major question marks. Duke has now lost its only two road games, to Notre Dame and Clemson, average teams in this year's ACC. Sure, Duke has plenty of offense, but it has an extremely poor defense. Whether that is because of youth or chemistry or something else altogether, these issues are causing Duke to fall far down in the bracket. Right now, it is entirely possible to imagine Duke finishing 5th in the ACC, the conference taken over by a couple of Big East transfers.
For Clemson, one wonders what it would be like if they had not lost to Auburn. Clemson would only have lost to UMass, Florida State, and Arkansas, March Madness likelies, and although it did not have a good win before today, it would now. Clemson fell all the way out of the bracket after the Auburn loss, and rightly so, because Auburn is simply not good. It appears, though, that Clemson might have righted its ship, and Clemson should be much closer to being in tomorrow's bracket.
Georgetown 70, @Butler 67: The post-Brad Stevens and Big-East-Conference eras in Butler basketball are, well, going about as horrifically as possible. Butler is four games into its Big East life, yet it still has not won a single game, despite three of them being at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It has lost to every decent team on its schedule (and one bad one). Butler's inability to play defense is only matched by its inability to play offense. Butler is not only playing itself out of the tournament, it is playing itself to a last-place finish in the new Big East. Ouch.
Georgetown, on the other hand, is still working out its problems, turning an 18-point road loss to Providence on Wednesday into today's 3-point road win at Butler. The Hoyas still aren't secure, but this puts them back on the right track. A win at Xavier on Wednesday would give Georgetown a major leg into the bracket. We'll see if
Elsewhere, there was a lot of fun action. UNC finally lost when it was taking on elite competition. Cornell won a game!! Michigan State nearly lost again, needing overtime at home for the second straight game, this time against a Minnesota team that dominated it for about 30 minutes. Here are those scores and all the others involving bracket or bubble teams.
Saint Louis 67, @Dayton 59 - excellent road win for SLU
@Syracuse 57, North Carolina 45 - UNC's elite upset magic running out
@Georgia Tech 74, Notre Dame 69 - Irish continue to fall
@Pittsburgh 80, Wake Forest 65
Indiana 79, @Penn State 76 - important road win for bubble Hoosiers
@Massachusetts 73, Saint Bonaventure 68
Villanova 74, @Saint John's 67
Florida 84, @Arkansas 82 (OT) - Ark. fails to get signature win after bad Wed. loss
Robert Morris 71, @Bryant 67
@Indiana State 62, Bradley 59
@Baylor 88, TCU 62
North Dakota State 87, @IUPUI 64
Cornell 77, Oberlin 55 - Big Red's streak finally over, though now looking for a D1 win
LSU 71, @South Carolina 68
@Kansas 86, Kansas State 60
Boston U 89, @Lafayette 78
@Winthrop 85, Charleston Southern 68
@Harvard 61, Dartmouth 45
@Louisiana Lafayette 90, UT Arlington 70
@Marquette 67, Seton Hall 66 - much needed win for MU
Missouri 70, @Auburn 67
@Michigan State 87, Minnesota 75 - MSU, without Payne, prevails in 2nd straight OT home game
@George Washington 69, Rhode Island 56
Memphis 79, @Temple 69
Kentucky 71, @Vanderbilt 62
Oklahoma State 73, @West Virginia 72
@UTSA 85, Charlotte 77
Delaware 78, @James Madison 74
@Georgia 66, Alabama 58
@Mississippi State 76, Mississippi 72
Virginia 76, @NC State 45
Belmont 87, @UT Martin 72
@Connecticut 84, UCF 61
@Cincinnati 71, Rutgers 51
@Pennsylvania 77, Princeton 74
Texas A&M 57, @Tennessee 56 - bad home loss for Tenn, will likely hurt in bracket
@Toledo 86, Central Michigan 71
@Saint Mary's 88, San Francisco 73
@Florida A&M 63, North Carolina Central 60
Cal Poly 72, @UC Santa Barbara - bad home loss for seeding purposes for Gauchos
@Elon 74, The Citadel 65
Richmond 77, @Fordham 74 (OT)
Stephen F. Austin 80, @Texas A&M-CC 70
Wichita State 72, @Missouri State 69 - WSU narrowly avoids first loss after rally from 19 down
@Texas 67, Texas Tech 64
@Louisiana Tech 85, FIU 51
@New Mexico State 78, Idaho 54
@Nevada 62, Utah State 54 - USU falling further off bubble
Saint Joseph's 84, @George Mason 80
California 88, @Oregon State 83
@Texas Southern 87, Prairie View A&M 83 (3OT)
Wyoming 52, @Boise State 50 - bad home loss for bubble-challenged Broncos
@BYU 91, Loyola Marymount 68
@Northern Colorado 82, Idaho State 75
New Mexico 69, @San Jose State 65
We have some pretty good games set for Sunday. First, we'll get to see how Louisville plays after Thursday's home loss to Memphis, and we'll get to see whether SMU is ready for the big stage. Iowa and Ohio State should be quite excellent. Xavier lucks out in getting its road game against Creighton at a time when the Bluejays are short-handed. And Colorado plays in Seattle against a rapidly improving Washington team, while Arizona State plays at UCLA and Stanford plays at Oregon. Here's a look at all of the Sunday action you should keep an eye on.
#8 SMU at #6 Louisville
#12 Southern Miss at Tulsa
#4 Iowa at #1 Ohio State
Marist at #13 Manhattan
#14 Green Bay at Milwaukee
#16 Stony Brook at Hartford
#4 Colorado at Washington
#5 Xavier at #9 Creighton
#3 San Diego State at Air Force
(FFO) Stanford at #3 Oregon
Akron at Ohio
(NFO) Utah at Washington State
(LFI) #11 Illinois at Northwestern
Maryland at #7 Florida State
#1 Arizona at USC
(NFO) Arizona State at #7 UCLA
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