3 Most Important Results from Tonight
St. Mary's 83, Gonzaga 62 – The king is dead! In every sense of the word, this was a blowout. At least on this night, Gonzaga had no chance, getting stomped despite only two points from St. Mary's leading scorer, Rob Jones. As we move forward this season, the Gaels have now become the favorite in the WCC after blowing both BYU and Gonzaga away already.
Duke 61, Virginia 58 – Virginia can certainly compete at the top of the ACC. Duke is still Duke. Nothing has really changed as both are NCAA Tournament teams and both should cruise through the rest of the ACC other than North Carolina fairly easily on the way to a semifinal rematch at the ACC Tournament.
Minnesota 77, Indiana 74 – Minnesota is back from the dead, ending Indiana's Assembly Hall win streak. Who would've thunk it. For Indiana, it was apparent that it was playing well above its head to reach the top 10. Are the Hoosiers a legit top 20 outfit? Yes. Top 10? Not quite yet.
Worst Loss from Tonight
Boston College 59, Clemson 57 – And thus the ACC below Virginia continues is further descent to Pac-12 level depths.
10 Biggest Games of the Weekend
San Diego St. vs UNLV (Saturday) – The Mountain West begins with the biggest game of the season in that league. UNLV has looked really good all season long while San Diego St. has been a surprise after losing a good chunk of the production from last year's team. Along with the games against New Mexico, this series will decide the league, much like the Gonzaga-St. Mary's-BYU games in the WCC.
Ohio St. vs Indiana (Sunday) – Poor Indiana. It lost at home to Minnesota. Now it gets to go on the road and play Ohio St. in a revenge game with the Buckeyes coming off a loss. This won't be pretty. Expect a come back to Earth beatdown.
Florida St. vs North Carolina (Saturday) – This might be the last, best chance for a fourth ACC team to step forward as a contender for an NCAA bid. The Seminoles have historically beaten either Duke or North Carolina at home around this time as a launching pad to a tournament bid. Given the weakness of the rest of the ACC, a win here could give Florida St. the confidence needed to pile up a high win total.
Northern Iowa vs Missouri St. (Friday) – One of three huge games in the Missouri Valley this weekend where the top six teams all play each other. Missouri St. doesn't have much of an at-large resume, but it is the defending conference champion. Northern Iowa is in better shape overall, but is hurting at 2-3 in the league. It needs a win here, because a loss would make seven or even eight league losses likely and that kind of record, even with good non-conference work, would need the auto-bid.
Stanford vs Colorado (Saturday) – A real live Pac-12 game that matters. Though it would have mattered more had Colorado not lost to Cal tonight. Given that, the Buffs need to win, or they will have already drifted back to the Pac while the Bay Area teams step forward as the class of this weak league.
Illinois St. vs Creighton (Friday) – Another major Missouri Valley game. Illinois St. is certainly 6th in the top six pecking order in the Missouri Valley, but playing at home, the Redbirds could pick Creighton off and use it to launch forward in conference play, though the at-large hopes look slim no matter.
Indiana St. vs Wichita St. (Sunday) – The third MVC game of import and Wichita St. needs to win it desperately while Indiana St. is trying to remain in contact with the league leaders in league play.
Missouri vs Texas (Saturday) – Missouri got a little exposed by Kansas St. last week and Texas really needs a big win to revive its flagging NCAA Tournament hopes. Of course Missouri is much tougher to beat in Columbia and Texas, while talented, lacks the frontcourt personnel Kansas St. has to kill Missouri and its lack of inside play or depth.
Northwestern vs Michigan St. (Saturday) – These are games that need to be won to make an NCAA Tournament Northwestern. Of course Northwestern knows this, but it hasn't mattered. Still no NCAA Tournament berths in program history, though surviving this season's Big Ten in one piece very well might get the Wildcats their first.
Mississippi St. vs Alabama (Saturday) – This game is important for placement purposes in the SEC. IT is likely that one of these two will get the fourth bye in the SEC Tournament along with Kentucky, Florida (assuming the Gators right the ship) and Vanderbilt.
Final Thought on the night in College Basketball
Why is Baylor getting lost in the discussion of perfect teams? The answer is the schedule. Syracuse is number one and has a cushy schedule for awhile. Murray St. has the curiosity factor to go with its pathetic Ohio Valley schedule. Baylor has back-to-back games against Kansas and Missouri coming up next week. Good luck with that Bears, though the media attention will remain the same because Baylor remains the forgotten undefeated.
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