Tons of games on Wednesday night were close, resulting in many near upsets, but only one really stood out: Syracuse's shocking loss to Boston College.
@Boston College 62, Syracuse 59 (OT): Arizona fans know what Syracuse is going through. Like the Wildcats before their first loss, the Orange were riding a fine line throughout many recent games, nearly losing but always finding a way to win. But in that situation, a loss is always coming. It may be that the elite teams in 2014 are simply the teams that can pull out the most close games at the end. Syracuse had done that to perfection, until Wednesday night.
As fun as it was to see the upset, there will not be much of an effect on the bracket. In geography-based bracketing, ranking within a seed line only matters if a team steals your preferred location. New York City is the third choice of Wichita State and Florida and fourth choice of Arizona. In fact, in the most recent Bracket Brief, only three other teams would have NYC as a preferred destination: Duke, Virginia and Villanova, and Syracuse is still ahead of them.
Illinois 62, @Minnesota 49: This upset was less shocking, but still pretty bad nonetheless. Minnesota is already in the position where it needs to fight for its bubble spot, so losing at home by double digits to what might be the Big Ten's worst team cannot be excused. It is quite likely now that Minnesota will finish the regular season with a sub-50 RPI on a 5-10 stretch. Yes, Minnesota's schedule in the Big Ten is brutal, but 7-11 in conference on a heavy bubble is likely to leave the Gophers out.
Elsewhere, nearly every team struggled. Top teams Florida, Saint Louis, and Arizona were all pushed to the brink only to survive within the last few moments of each game. Note also the disappointing results for Marquette, Utah, Cal, bubble teams with lost opportunities.
@Florida 71, Auburn 66
Cincinnati 77, @UCF 49
Saint Louis 89, @George Mason 85 (OT)
@Ohio State 76, Northwestern 60
@Winthrop 75, Coastal Carolina 65 - time for another change at top of Big South
@Boston U 71, American 62 - Boston U back in clear control of Patriot
Delaware 81, @Hofstra 77
@Xavier 83, DePaul 64
Saint Joseph's 57, @Rhode Island 54 - major road win for Joe's, inching closer to bracket
Vermont 79, @New Hampshire 44
@Indiana State 59, Evansville 54
Wichita State 88, @Loyola (IL) 74
Creighton 85, @Marquette 70 - missed opportunity for MU at home
@SMU 68, Houston 64
@Missouri 67, Vanderbilt 64
@Kansas State 65, TCU 53
@Dayton 65, La Salle 53
@Arkansas 71, South Carolina 64
@Oregon 78, Washington 71
Arizona 67, @Utah 63 - road win should keep Cardiac Cats on #1 seed line
UCLA 86, @Cal 66 - Cal loses big at home, last few weeks critical for at-large bid
@Colorado 61, Arizona State 52 - expected win, unlikely to change these teams' fortunes
New Mexico 68, @UNLV 56
As you take a deep breath after Wednesday's action, remember that Thursday still has a good slate of games that you'll want to keep an eye on. Chief among them is, of course, Duke at North Carolina. Duke has surged into the #2 seed line, while North Carolina has been playing solidly as of late and have the benefit of the game being played at the Dean Dome.
#4 Michigan State at Purdue
#9 Memphis at Rutgers
LIU Brooklyn at #16 Robert Morris
#12 Louisiana Tech at East Carolina
Louisiana Monroe at #15 Georgia State
UTSA at (LFO) Southern Miss
#14 New Mexico State at UT Pan American
Eastern Illinois at #15 Belmont
Valparaiso at #13 Green Bay
#2 Duke at #8 North Carolina
#6 Connecticut at Temple
#16 Weber State at Montana
(NFO) Georgetown at Seton Hall
#12 Toledo at Bowling Green
#8 Gonzaga at (LFI) #12 BYU
USC at #10 Stanford
(FFO) Saint Mary's at San Francisco
#14 UC Irvine at Hawaii
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