Saturday was a big day in college basketball as a number of conferences ended their regular season and a number of big matchups took place among the 147 Division I games. Conference tournaments start in less than a week; by this time next week several NCAA Tournament bids will have been earned.
It was the second time this season I had to cover three games at three different sites and the third time in the past two seasons. In the nine games played on those days, the home team has won just three times, with two of those coming on Saturday. Take from that what you will.
Now, some thoughts coming from the day’s games.
- Louisville got a big win at Syracuse to keep the Orange reeling heading into the last week of the regular season. The road team won both games between the two teams this season. Syracuse has lost three in a row, two coming at home, and four of six. Since winning at Louisville last month, Syracuse is 5-6.
- Not only did Georgetown stay hot by beating Rutgers 64-51, but so did Otto Porter, who had 28 points and eight rebounds to keep the Hoyas alone atop the Big East.
- Cincinnati managed to turn the game around in the second half to beat Connecticut and get back to .500 in the Big East.
- Minnesota got back to .500 in Big Ten play by thumping Penn State, avoiding a letdown after knocking off Indiana the other night.
- Iowa State could have used a win at Oklahoma to boost its at-large chances. The Cyclones are 9-7 in Big 12 play and have some good wins – Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma, all at home and the Bears in Waco as well – but could probably use a win over Oklahoma State on Wednesday night to boost their candidacy.
- In one of the most highly-anticipated games of the day, Duke held off Miami in a thriller 79-76 as Ryan Kelly made a very triumphant return with 36 points. Most figured the Blue Devils needed Kelly, but not for a big scoring outing.
- Maryland kept some NCAA Tournament hope alive with a win at Wake Forest, a game that isn’t a resume win but is one they couldn’t afford to lose nonetheless.
- It wasn’t a good day for SEC bubble teams on the road. Kentucky lost at Arkansas, and while the Razorbacks have played well of late this isn’t good for the Wildcats. Alabama could have really used a win at Florida for their NCAA Tournament profile, but lost, while Tennessee lost at Georgia and Ole Miss lost at Mississippi State.
- UCLA picked up a huge win over Arizona in a showdown in the Pac-12.
- I think Colorado will wind up in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the day, but they could have used a win at California on Saturday. The Golden Bears scored a nice convincing win over the Buffaloes.
- Arizona State’s tough loss at USC hurts their at-large chances. It wouldn’t have been a quality win but is a questionable loss.
- Gonzaga finished a perfect run through the West Coast Conference and stated a case for the top spot in the polls by blasting Portland 81-52.
- Boise State has been up and down a bit in Mountain West play, but the Broncos are an intriguing team if they don’t suffer any bad losses the rest of the way. They beat Colorado State on Saturday night and have respectable computer numbers to go with wins against Creighton (in Omaha) and UNLV (home). They have two more opportunities before the conference tournament with UNLV (road) and San Diego State (home) remaining.
- VCU annihilated Butler 84-52 in a game that was never in doubt as they forced 20 Butler turnovers.
- Saint Louis remained hot by winning at George Washington for their 11th straight win. They are 12-2 in a strong conference.
- If Xavier was still on the bubble given the opportunities they have for quality wins with remaining games, they probably went off the bubble with a 77-72 loss to UMass.
- A week ago, Dayton looked like they were almost certain to not make the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Now the Flyers are right there in the mix for the final spots after two straight wins, including Saturday’s over Richmond. They play at George Washington, also 6-8 in the conference, in their final regular season game, and that might have a conference tournament bid on the line.
- Behind a huge game (41 points) from Doug McDermott, Creighton won the big showdown at home against Wichita State to claim an outright regular season title in the Missouri Valley.
- In beating George Mason 82-77 at home on Saturday, Delaware not only finished second in the CAA with a 13-5 mark but also bucked a trend of CAA home teams losing on Senior Day. With Northeastern losing to Old Dominion, that made home teams 0-7 before Delaware won later in the afternoon.
- Towson finished their bounceback season by holding off Hofstra 67-64 to finish at 18-13 overall and 13-5 in CAA play. That’s a 17-win jump over last season.
- Louisiana Tech kept the nation’s longest winning streak alive by crushing San Jose State 88-61.
- Akron won’t go undefeated in MAC play as they lost at Buffalo 81-67. They weren’t likely to get an at-large bid in the first place, but this loss will end any talk of that happening.
- Bucknell and Lehigh get most of the pub in the Patriot League, but Lafayette will go into the tournament as the No. 2 seed behind Bucknell. They also enter looking like as good a team as any to emerge victorious. The Leopards have knocked off both teams and finish 10-4 in league play after taking care of American on Saturday behind another stellar effort from Tony Johnson.
- The Ivy League had a big shakeup this weekend as Princeton swept their two home games and Harvard got swept, losing at Penn on Saturday night to fall a game behind Princeton, who beat them on Friday night. The Tigers now control their own destiny as the two teams have already played twice.
- Belmont won the Ohio Valley regular season title outright in its first season there, wrapping that up by beating Jacksonville State 78-71 on Saturday.
- Staying in the OVC, we saw further proof that this Murray State simply isn’t up to last season’s level: Southeast Missouri State beat the Racers 84-68 in Murray on Saturday.
- Mercer won their first Atlantic Sun regular season title in ten years, wrapping it up with a 77-65 win over Stetson.
- The Northeast Conference had a jumbled mess of four teams tied for second at 11-6 entering Saturday and surging Mount St. Mary’s right behind them at 10-7, but that has now been settled. LIU is the second seed after beating surging Quinnipiac, Wagner is the third seed after winning at Monmouth and Bryant is the fourth seed after they crushed St. Francis (Pa.). Bryant will host surging Mount St. Mary’s, who finished fifth, and to illustrate how close these teams were, Quinnipiac would have been the No. 2 seed with a win over LIU but instead is No. 6 and will play at Wagner.
- Weber State is staying neck-and-neck in the Big Sky with Montana. They are 16-2 after an overtime win at Northern Arizona, while the Grizzlies beat Montana State to go to 16-1. The two teams don’t meet this week, but Montana has to play three games, including Monday night at Southern Utah on a quick turnaround.
