Numerous Teams Fail To Prove Their March Madness Worth on Wednesday Night

This was the night for teams in the lower half of the at-large rankings to prove---or disprove---their worth. Baylor, on the higher end thanks to not losing to teams like Texas Tech, lost to Texas Tech. Illinois lose a home game...to Purdue. New Mexico fell at home to UNLV. Georgetown couldn't get itself together long enough to grab a nice road win at Xavier. And Notre Dame lost again.

So Long Wisconsin, Hoosiers Hand Badgers First Loss

And then there were 3. Indiana's defeat of Wisconsin left college basketball with only three unbeaten teams: Arizona, Syracuse, and Wichita State. Arizona and Syracuse still have tough schedules coming, and WSU has looked a bit shaky at times, but it really could run the MVC table. We'll look at Wisconsin and the ramifications of the amazing finish in the Arkansas/Kentucky game.

Duke Escapes Virginia's Comeback at Home; Kansas Looks Good on the Road

The two big stories coming into tonight were how Duke would fare against Virginia following the terrible loss at Clemson and how Iowa State would rebound after losing its first game of the season on Saturday at Oklahoma. We look at those games and more.

Ohio State Goes Down At Home; Two Pac-12 Powers Upset

Ohio State, who was looking at a solid #1 seed earlier, lost at Michigan State, which was not too damaging, but today's home loss to Iowa, who was in control most of the day, hurts quite a bit. Ohio State fell a bit further back in line for a #1 seed, and without more wins, OSU will be in trouble. On the West Coast, the Pac-12 went all topsy-turvy, as Colorado, Oregon, and Utah were all upset.

Bracket Brief for January 12, 2014

Seed	West (1) Anaheim (Th/Sa)	South (4) Memphis (Th/Sa)	East (2) NYC (Fr/Su)	Midwest (3) Indy (Fr/Su)
Site 1 16 8 9	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona R. Morris/Char. So. Oklahoma New Mexico	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Villanova Georgia State Michigan Louisville	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Syracuse N. Carolina Central Duke Minnesota	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Wisconsin Elon/Southern Gonzaga UCLA
Site 5 12 4 13	Spokane (Th/Sa) Creighton N. Car./UConn Iowa Toledo	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Colorado Missouri Kansas New Mexico State	Orlando (Th/Sa) Oklahoma State Stanford/Marquette Massachusetts Belmont	San Diego (Fr/Su) Memphis Green Bay Baylor UC Santa Barbara
Site 3 14 6 11	Raleigh (Th/Sa) Virginia Delaware Oregon SMU	Orlando (Th/Sa) Florida Mercer Florida State George Washington	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa State North Dakota State Kentucky VCU	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Cincinnati Manhattan Xavier Arkansas
Site 7 10 2 15	Spokane (Th/Sa) Saint Louis Tennessee San Diego State Northern Colorado	Saint Louis (Fr/Su) California Kansas State Ohio State Stephen F. Austin	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Harvard Georgetown Michigan State Boston U	Saint Louis (Fr/Su) Pittsburgh Louisiana Tech Wichita State Vermont

Note: Through games of January 11, 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.

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.