There's Something Wrong With Duke, Though Not Iowa State, Despite Losses By Both

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.

The Friday Appraisal

Before I get to a preview of tomorrow's games, I figure Friday would be a good time for a new Q&A feature, the Friday Appraisal. Friday is the slowest day of the college basketball (in the only game worth watching, Mercer beat Kennesaw State 83-46 at home), usually populated by just a few low- to mid-major conference games. So here are some burning college basketball questions. At the end of this post is a preview of Saturday's major match ups.

Arizona Escapes, Keeps #1 Overall Seed; Louisville Falls Again

So, another Thursday night, another magical night of college hoops. Arizona/UCLA provided all the magic we expect out of this rivalry, with UCLA nearly pulling out a win at the end of the game, succumbing to Arizona's toughness. In other places, Louisville, Gonzaga, and Butler all suffered fairly noteworthy upsets. The Bracket Briefer takes a look at all of these games and more.

Major Conference Minor Upsets Galore

There weren't any Earth-changing games on Wednesday night, but nearly every game involving a bracket or bubble team ended up having some impact on the landscape. Coming into the night, we didn't really know which games would be the most impactful, save for Harvard at UConn. A trio of Big East, SEC, and ACC upsets lead the way.

Michigan State and Ohio State Go to Overtime, and Other Tuesday Night Action

With Michigan State up 17, it looked like the Spartans had taken care of the four-game stretch when Gary Harris was out and MSU looked quite beatable. But Ohio State's offense took over the came and went on a 20-3 win to get the game into overtime. The fight on the road proved one thing, no matter who won or lost the game: the Buckeyes are well on their way to earning a #1 seed. Michigan State still has plenty to prove, however.

BCS, SchmeeCS, College Basketball Kept Going on Football's National Championship Night

As college basketball took one final backseat to college football for this year (which turned out to be one of the better championship games, especially with ESPN's Megacast), some games raged on, including a very interesting matchup between Maryland, perennial underachievers, and Pittsburgh, who as typical put up a gaudy record and good numbers against a terrifically terrible schedule. We recap that and several games that you might not usually pay attention to from conferences at the bottom of the S-curve.

Oregon Finally Losses, Wisconsin Rallies, and Kansas Goes Down at Home

The conference season shows you just how difficult it is to remain undefeated in college basketball. Sure, a team can keep from losing a game when it plays almost every game at home or on a neutral court. With a little luck, a talented-but-not-elite team can get to the conference season undefeated. But that's when the season changes, because then you have to play all (or nearly all) of your conference mates on their home floor. It is therefore unsurprising that we are now down to six undefeated teams.

Bracket Brief for January 5, 2014

Seed	West (1) Anaheim (Th/Sa)	South (4) Memphis (Th/Sa)	East (2) New York City (Fr/Su)	Midwest (3) Indianapolis (Fr/Su)
Site 1 16 8 9	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona Bryant/Char. So. New Mexico Michigan	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Ohio State No. Colo./TX So. SMU Saint Louis	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Syracuse Elon Harvard Gonzaga	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Wisconsin Stony Brook Duke Creighton
Site 5 12 4 13	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Cincinnati New Mexico State Baylor North Dakota State	San Diego (Fr/Su) Pittsburgh Southern Miss Colorado Manhattan	Orlando (Th/Sa) Xavier VCU Iowa UC Santa Barbara	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Memphis Tennessee Massachusetts Toledo
Site 3 14 6 11	Spokane (Th/Sa) San Diego State Stephen F. Austin Oklahoma State Notre Dame	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Wichita State Mercer Arkansas California/UConn	Orlando (Th/Sa) Florida Delaware Louisville Illinois/Oklahoma	Spokane (Th/Sa) Oregon Green Bay Missouri Dayton
Site 7 10 2 15	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Kentucky George Washington Michigan State North Carolina Central	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Florida State Marquette Kansas Belmont	Raleigh (Fr/Su) UCLA Virginia Vilanova Louisiana Lafayette	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) North Carolina Minnesota Iowa State Boston U

Note: Through games of January 4, 2014. Teams in italics below represent automatic bids. The rankings at the top of each column are based on the overall seeds of the top four teams, so the winner of the regional with the team seeded #1 overall would meet the winner of the regional with the team seeded #4 overall.

Duke, Oklahoma State, Memphis, and UConn Are All Upset

A packed Saturday did not disappoint as the vast majority of the tournament locks and bubble teams were in action. It is hard to pick exactly which was the best game of the day. Cinci won a major game at Memphis to open the day, but little did we know the upsets to come. SMU proved it may be a major force in the American conference, defeating UConn. Virginia got a huge win at Florida State. LSU somehow lost at home to Rhode Island. In what most people may consider the upset of the day, Duke lost at Notre Dame, but Duke has had warning signs all day. As far as a most surprising upset, I'd go with Kansas State over Oklahoma State. KSU isn't bad, don't get me wrong, but I penciled in OK State as #1 in the Big 12. Now we'll wait to see if the Kansas Jayhawks are still the top dog in Sunday's game against San Diego State.