Important Wins from the Weekend
UNLV 64, Illinois 48 – The Rebels got revenge after getting stomped by the Illini is last year's NCAA Tournament and also validated that the win over North Carolina was no fluke. For Illinois, I know it has to play at the United Center for recruiting purposes each season, but its inability to win there is just killing them. This is five out of six losses over the last few seasons there.
Louisville 95, Memphis 87 – Memphis was way overrated in the preseason (again, just like every year under Josh Pastner) and this game showed why. The Tigers have as much talent as Louisville, but it just doesn't jell together the way it needs to in some way. Some games its on defense (like this one), other on offense (barely beating a terrible Tennessee team in Maui). As for Louisville, good start, but conference play and the Kentucky game will be a bit of a wake up call.
Baylor 86, BYU 83 – Perry Jones is a beast and it appears he made a good decision to come back to school for another year even though he would have been a top-10 pick in the draft. As for BYU, it has Matt Carlino now and he played well in his first game after becoming eligible after transferring from UCLA (what on Earth is Ben Howland doing considering he has no team this year and he has stocked New Mexico, UNLV and BYU with high level players). If he can score consistenly, BYU will be a threat to Gonzaga in the WCC.
Florida 84, Texas A&M 64 – Get a lead on A&M and the game is over. The Aggies just can't score (despite the 8-2, haven't reached 70 points since November 13). Florida jumped out 18-2 and the game was over.
Kansas St. 71, Alabama 58 – The Crimson Tide can't shoot from the outside. If a team can play a competent zone score on Alabama's tough defense, it should win, especially at home. This is exactly what Kansas St. did (and Georgetown and Dayton before the Wildcats).
Indiana St. 61, Vanderbilt 55 – What happened? Vanderbilt is on the short list for most underachieving team in college basketball after this loss, the first with Festus Ezeli though he's still working his way back into shape. Indiana St. now has the big win it needed for its resume as the Missouri Valley pushes for three or even four bids this seasons.
Gonzaga 71, Arizona 60 – Another game where the winner jumped out to a big lead and was never really challenged. Oddly, Arizona needed this a lot more than Gonzaga because of its weak league (the Pac-12 is that bad this season).
New Mexico 66, Oklahoma St. 56 – The Lobos got another middling BCS league win to go with its growing collection of middling BCS league wins over teams that won't be going to the NCAA Tournament. The current bad BCS body count for the Lobos: Oklahoma St., USC (whose game against Georgia merited no mention here), Boston College (just a miserable team), Washington St. (average Pac-12 team in an awful Pac-12) and Arizona St. (saved from being the worst team in the worst BCS conference only because Utah is now in the league).
Virginia 67, Oregon 54 – Good road win for Virginia. In Oregon's case, see all previous notes about how bad the Pac-12 is.
Worst Losses from the Weekend
Butler 67, Purdue 65 – This one is going to sting. The Butler name is good, but the team is 5-6. Unless Butler has suddenly rediscovered itself (doubtful), this portends trouble for Purdue once Big Ten play begins.
Bucknell 79, Richmond 65 – And thus ends the NCAA hopes of the Richmond Spiders.
Miami (OH) 66, Belmont 61 – And thus ends the NCAA at-large hopes of Belmont, who somehow regressed from last season with nearly the entire roster back.
Oral Roberts 64, Xavier 42 – I know there were suspended players, but getting blown out at hom by Summit League teams is never a good thing.
South Dakota St. 92, Washington 73 – I could make another wisecrack about the Pac-12, but what would that accomplish?
3 Biggest Games Tonight
LSU vs Marquette – LSU is a bad SEC team carrying losses to Coastal Carolina and South Alabama already. But the Tigers are at home and home court makes a big difference in college basketball. It probably won't matter, but there's a chance.
South Florida vs Cleveland St. - South Florida is an awful team (see 52-40 loss to Auburn last week), but Cleveland St. is an NCAA contender that needs wins over BCS conference opponents for perception and needs to avoid bad losses like this would be in reality.
Arizona St. vs Southern Miss – Southern Miss is off to a decent start, but other than Murray St. (2OT loss) and Ole Miss (won on Saturday at home), it has played nobody. Arizona St. is another nobody that is already playing out the string. If Southern Miss really is an NCAA contender, it drills the Sun Devils, even in Tempe.
Final Thought on the weekend in College Basketball
Thank God finals are over. We can finally get on with the season now. I understand the importance of finals, but it still stunts the season and gives us one incredibly boring week every year. Now, we can get back to the fun of basketball like this last weekend was.
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