3 Most Important Results from Tonight
Florida St. 76, Charleston Southern 51 – The Seminoles needed to stop the bleeding after getting beaten up at the Paradise Jam Tournament and then getting rolled by Michigan St. in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. They did so here, finally finding some offense to go with the usually suffocating defense.
Milwaukee 87, DePaul 76 – The Horizon league is off to a great start despite league overlord Butler playing average at best best basketball to start the season. Milwaukee is a part of that start having started the season 8-1 with only a loss to Michigan St. on the negative side. While DePaul isn't great, it is still a Big East team and one Milwaukee needed to beat if its even thinking about an at-large berth in the tournament.
Providence 80, Brown 49 – Almost as important as getting quality wins for the NCAA Tournament resume is avoiding bad losses. Providence did that easily tonight but still has a long way to go to reach the NCAA's (but it is possible in a Big East that doesn't possess nearly the strength it did last season).
Worst Loss from Tonight
Detroit 69, St. John's 63 – Speaking of the weaker Big East, the proof comes with results like this. I know Coach Steve Lavin is out for his cancer treatments. I also know that St. John's lost pretty much everyone of consequence from last year's roster. Still, Big East teams, even bad ones, should not be losing to below .500 Horizon League teams.
3 Biggest Games of Tomorrow
Washington vs Marquette – The Huskies road woes of the last few seasons have continued this year. Now, they have to travel across the country to face a team that just beat Wisconsin in its own gym. This looks like it could be bad for Washington, especially with Duke on the Horizon on Saturday.
Virginia vs George Mason – George Mason squandered a chance to advance in the Preseason NIT, making its schedule look really weak thus far. With no other power conference teams remaining on the schedule and the CAA off to a very slow start, George Mason is in a must win situation for its at-large hopes. As for Virginia, they really need to win this game with a 12-day break for finals coming immediately after this game. The Cavs can't afford to lose the momentum gained from the Michigan win last week.
Villanova vs Missouri – Villanova had an ugly trip to Anaheim over Thanksgiving, losing to Saint Louis and Santa Clara. This is really the first major step towards recovering, but they will need to play their best game of the season. Even then, it might not be enough as Missouri has been one of the most impressive teams in the country thus far. The Tigers steamrolled both Notre Dame and Cal and nobody has come within 15 points of them so far.
Final Thought on the night in College Basketball
The rematch debate continues to rage in college football. Luckily, we don't have a debate like that in college basketball. The NCAA Tournament keeps those debates from happening, in part because the playoff is prioritized over the regular season (unlike college football). When the playoff is the priority, rematches are fine as long as they don't happen in the first round. Hence, if Kentucky and North Carolina meet again in the NCAA Tournament to stage another duel after Saturday's classic game, nobody will complain because it will have been earned through the playoff, not given by the voters as Alabama was gifted in football Sunday evening.
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