Since we missed the last two nights (life sometimes intervenes in blogging), this will take on a more weekend review like tone.
Most Important Results Since Tuesday
Missouri 78, Illinois 74 – The Braggin' Rights game is one of the highlights of the season and this was no exception. Missouri did everything it could to blow this for quite some time, until it realized success was a possibility. Then the game turned back around and Missouri finished it off.
Ohio 76, Northern Iowa 59 – Huge win for Ohio that needed a quality win to validate its 9-1 start, now 10-1 after this win. For Northern Iowa, as long as the sting doesn't linger, this shouldn't hurt too much as Ohio has a chance to rack up a pretty gaudy record in the MAC.
Louisville 69, Charleston 62 – Another tough win for Louisville. The Cardinals keep winning these games, but D-Day is coming soon. Kentucky is on the horizon. Charleston is good, but its no at-large contender in a year that looks like it is going to have a lot of strong mid-major at-large contenders.
Gonzaga 71, Butler 55 – Another win for Gonzaga that could turn out to be a good win in the end even if Butler isn't in the tournament. As for Butler, this team looks a lot like the Xavier team from about 4-5 years ago that was young and not great. That team won its conference tournament and went to the NCAA's as a 14 seed, then started its run of A-10 championships and easy safe at-large passage the next season.
Baylor 72, St. Mary's 59 – Another good win for Baylor and another missed opportunity for St. Mary's.
UCLA 89, UC Irvine 60 – Notable only that UCLA is finally over .500 this season after its wretched start.
Long Beach St. 68, Xavier 58 – Finally another big win for the extremely overscheduled 49ers. Xavier very well might have tanked its entire season with that fight against Cincinnati. Even with Tu Holloway back, it looked bad tonight.
North Carolina 82, Texas 63 – For once, Texas lacks the talent to compete with North Carolina. Normally, it lacks the cohesion and chemistry needed.
Seton Hall 69, Dayton 64 – Another nice win for Seton Hall, a team that looks like this year's surprise Big East tournament team. For Dayton, the bubble is looking quite likely at this point.
Creighton 87, Northwestern 79 – If Northwestern is to ever make the NCAA Tournament, it needs to figure out how to win games like this one. Creighton, even with the loss to St. Joe's last week, is moving closer to NCAA lock.
Alabama 69, Oklahoma St. 52 – Nice turn around win for Alabama after struggling recently. For Oklahoma St., the NIT beckons, if its lucky.
Middle Tennessee St. 68, Ole Miss 56 – Big win for the at-large hopes of Sun Belt based Middle Tennessee, adding it to the wins over Belmont and UCLA. For Ole Miss, getting waxed like this really hurts.
Florida 82, Florida St. 64 – For Florida St. it's really simple. If they give up 80 points, they are screwed. The Florida guards can get to 80 quite easily if you don't guard well.
Kansas 63, USC 47 – The USC offense continues to not bother. Too bad too considering the defense is near elite level (and not just by Pac-12 standards).
Georgetown 70, Memphis 59 – Another decent win for Georgetown and more proof that Memphis should not see the top 25 in the preseason under any circumstance no matter how much talent until Josh Pastner figures out how to coach along with his excellent recruiting.
Worst Losses Since Tuesday
Duquesne 75, George Mason 64 – CAA teams can't lose to middling Atlantic 10 opponents and make the tournament. It makes them look like middling Atlantic 10 opponents that won't make the tournament.
Houston Baptist 72, Santa Clara 71 – Ouch, there goes the neighborhood for Santa Clara, a team that lacks quality wins and now needs a top 2 finish in the WCC (fat chance).
Louisiana-Lafayette 61, Central Florida 60 – And thus the good of the UConn win is erased.
UTEP 61, Clemson 48 – And the ACC continues its pathetic play below North Carolina, Duke and Virginia.
Rice 65, Texas A&M 58 – The Aggies just can't score. It will kill them against better offensive teams in conference play like Kansas, Kansas St. and especially Baylor and Missouri.
Butler 71, Stanford 66 – And here lies the carcass of the final Pac-12 team to not be featured in this section this season.
3 Biggest Games of Tomorrow
UNLV vs Cal – This is the final chance for both Cal and the Pac-12. No pressure here Bears. For UNLV, this game could set it up on a path towards a top 4 seed, possibly even as high as two if everything breaks right.
West Virginia vs Baylor – West Virginia is no tournament lock, but a win here at a neutral sight would do wonders, especially since Baylor looks like one of this season's elite teams and currently is still undefeated.
Long Beach St. vs Auburn-Hawaii winner – Long Beach St. needs to win the Diamond Head Classic and smoke the Big West to get into at-large contention. It's opponent in the semifinals is still unknown as Auburn and Hawaii are playing a close game in the first half as I write.
Final Thought on the night in College Basketball
Programs are fragile, especially below the Power Conferences. Xavier should take that thought to heart as it tries to refocus after getting stomped again, this time by Long Beach St. After that fight against Cincinnati, if Xavier collapses, it could bring about the collapse of the entire program. The reason is simple: perception is everything. The perception would be of thuggish losers below the top level of the sport. That would mean easy pickins for negative recruiters. And the fall of the program. Xavier, for program reasons, needs to steady the ship. And that needs to start tomorrow against the loser of the Auburn-Hawaii game.
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