Another Saturday full of college basketball games – over 140 of them in Division I – is in the books. We’re at the time of the year where unexpected results seem to multiply, as younger teams start to grow more and the sense of urgency is either there or it’s not and makes more of a difference. While a few conference races appear to be shaping up, some others are only looking more jumbled.
With all of that in mind, here are some thoughts coming from Saturday’s games.
- Indiana is really looking like a championship team of late, with the latest example being their 83-55 romp over arch-rival Purdue on Saturday. In a strong and deep Big Ten, they and Michigan State look to be separating themselves from the pack.
- It’s too bad this will be the last regular season meeting of Duke and Maryland, at least for quite some time. Saturday’s game was an instant classic, like a lot of their games in the last 10-15 years, and it’s one more rivalry that is a casualty of conference realignment.
- NC State continues to show that picking them to win the ACC was perhaps a bit unwise. The Wolfpack needed overtime to beat Virginia Tech at home on Saturday, and while they aren’t really in contention in the ACC now (tied for fourth place and five back in the loss column), the Hokies aren’t a team that should be taking them to overtime in Raleigh.
- Kansas State was impressive in blowing out Baylor, and they remain in a three-way tie atop the Big 12 with Kansas and Oklahoma State, both winners on Saturday.
- Another team that has seemed immune to rebuilding has been Texas, but their 73-47 thumping at Kansas is another sign that they are not. This is that rebuilding year.
- Saturday’s blowout loss at Tennessee only tells us so much about how Kentucky will be without Nerlens Noel. With him, they already looked like a team destined to not go far in March to begin with. The Volunteers ran out to a big early lead and never let up. It is just one game, but it is a troubling one for Wildcat fans as they had season-worst stats in a few categories including rebounding margin.
- LSU won’t be in the NCAA Tournament unless they win the SEC Tournament, but Johnny O’Bryant III is having a nice season for the Tigers. On Saturday, he posted another double-double, giving him 11 for the season and eight in SEC play, all coming in the last nine games. He leads the SEC in that category.
- Arizona State is still in the NCAA Tournament conversation, for now at least. The Sun Devils scored a dramatic win at Colorado just seconds after they had missed two free throws and the Buffs got a basket to regain the lead.
- The Mountain West continues to be like the Wild, Wild West, as UNLV’s 72-70 win over San Diego State makes it a little more interesting as both teams are 6-5. They’re chasing New Mexico, who beat Boise State to go to 9-2, and Colorado State, who beat Air Force (also 6-5) despite 45 points from Michael Lyons.
- Temple continues to be a tough team to figure out. Just this week, the same team that beat Syracuse in December lost to Duquesne at home and then edged UMass in Amherst on Saturday night. Both the Owls and Minutemen are 6-5 in the Atlantic 10.
- Houston and Tulsa tried, but couldn’t match Louisville and Notre Dame from a week ago. It took three overtimes for Tulsa to beat the visiting Cougars 101-92. Houston’s TaShawn Thomas had 31 points and 15 rebounds in the losing effort.
- The Patriot League got a little more interesting on Saturday as Bucknell and Lehigh both lost on the road in the game preceding their second showdown. The two teams will meet in Bethlehem on Monday night, and now both will come in off a road loss as Lafayette beat the Bison to pull within two games of both teams and Colgate shocked Lehigh.
- Quietly, New Mexico State had run off 12 in a row before losing at Utah State late Saturday night in the battle of the Aggies. In the WAC, they’re both chasing Louisiana Tech, who moved to 14-0 with a win at Idaho, and Denver, now 13-2 after winning at San Jose State.
- Northeastern has now lost two in a row after losing at UNC Wilmington on Saturday night. The good thing is that they got Joel Smith back, but limited him to 16 unproductive minutes in which he didn’t score. The Huskies are still in a good place with two of their three remaining games being at home.
- Ohio managed to knock off Kent State in overtime to improve to 10-1 in the MAC. The Bobcats had a good, not great, non-conference run, but in MAC play they are now asserting themselves as the strongest contender to knock off Akron, who improved to 12-0 in MAC play after beating Bowling Green on Saturday.
- Murray State slipped further back in the Ohio Valley Conference race, losing at Eastern Illinois. They lead the West Division but are behind both Belmont and Eastern Kentucky in the East.
- The Northeast Conference race is more of a jumbled mess at the top after this weekend. Wagner beat Bryant to knock the Bulldogs out of first place, while Robert Morris and LIU both won to go to 10-4, a half game up on 9-4 Bryant. Wagner is 9-5 and surging Quinnipiac is 8-5 with a four-game winning streak.
- While all the Ivy League talk on the evening centered on the showdown at Harvard, Cornell quietly completed a sweep of their road weekend to go to 5-3 in League play, just one game out of second place.
- Grambling State remains the only winless team in Division I after being annihilated at Jackson State by a 77-38 margin. This team doesn’t appear close to winning a game, as every loss has been by double digits.
