Among the 140 games played on Saturday were the last BracketBusters games, as the event is going away after this season. The event was a mixed bag in its time; great for many of the teams that got TV games, just okay for those who didn’t. It also meant a change to many teams’ conference schedules over the years since it meant one weekend off from conference play, but many teams were already mixing in a conference game or two in December before it starts in earnest in January.
Saturday had more than that, though. What stands out the most is that the SEC had four overtime games, including one that took three overtimes to settle and another that took four. The SEC may not be very good this year, but it’s certainly been competitive, and Saturday was indicative of that.
Some thoughts coming out of the games played on Saturday:
- Georgetown’s win over Syracuse certainly figured to be a big-time atmosphere, and it was a game worthy of it. For the second straight Saturday, we saw a big rivalry game played that we won’t see much of anymore thanks to conference maneuvering. Yes, they have one more game left this season and have committed to playing each other in the future, but it’s only once a season and won’t feel the same way because there won’t be conference standings coming into play.
- Villanova has a good deal of work to do to be an NCAA Tournament team, but a 60-56 win over Marquette certainly helps.
- Miami had a nice run before finally losing in ACC play, and while no one expected them to go undefeated surely no one expected the first loss to come at Wake Forest and by double digits.
- North Carolina is now very much in the NCAA Tournament discussion after beating NC State, who continues to underachieve. The Wolfpack will be in the tournament barring a complete collapse, but no one outside of Raleigh expects a big run out of this team.
- Maryland needed Saturday’s game against Clemson for any hope of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. It’s not a resume win by any stretch, but if the Terrapins have any shot at an at-large, they have little if any room for error left after losing at Boston College on Tuesday night.
- Iowa has been mentioned as a possible at-large team from the Big Ten, but losing 64-60 at Nebraska has to deal a serious blow to that idea. The Hawkeyes are 6-8 and entered the week with an RPI of 80.
- Baylor looks very much like an NIT team despite all its talent, and losing to Oklahoma adds to that as it was a chance for a good win.
- California barely held on to win at Oregon State, a game they needed to keep pace in the Pac-12.
- Kentucky needed the win against Missouri badly. The Wildcats needed a resume win, for one, and they needed it to feel like they can beat a good team without Nerlens Noel. They also didn’t need to drop a home game, even if it was against a good team. For Missouri, it’s another tight game they couldn’t pull out, which won’t help later on.
- Alabama’s hopes of an at-large bid may have been dashed, or at least put on life support, by a 97-94 triple overtime loss at LSU on Saturday.
- Tennessee and Texas A&M managed to top Alabama-LSU by needing four overtimes before the Volunteers prevailed to improve to 8-6 in the conference.
- Ole Miss certainly needed to get back on track, and walloping Auburn as they did (88-55) is certainly one way to do it.
- Rick Ray is at the beginning of a major league rebuilding project at Mississippi State, and further evidence came on Saturday with their 72-31 home loss to another rebuilding team in Vanderbilt.
- Kendall Williams had the individual game of the day in going for 46 points in New Mexico’s 91-82 win at Colorado State.
- UNLV managed to take care of Wyoming behind a double-double from Khem Birch (12 points, 14 rebounds) with Anthony Bennett limited to four minutes due to a bothersome shoulder.
- VCU scored a huge come-from-behind win at Xavier to keep pace with Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 a night after the Billikens scored a big win at third-place Butler. The Rams overcame a 17-point deficit to knock off a Xavier team that had won 52 of their last 53 home games.
- Saint Mary’s needed Saturday’s 74-66 win over Creighton for any remote hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Still, at this point the Gaels would do well to be victorious in Las Vegas two weeks from Monday night.
- Indiana State probably didn’t boost their NCAA Tournament chances much by edging out Iona, but it’s better than a loss. Still, while the Sycamores have a respectable resume and an RPI of 61 entering this week, they are most likely only making the NCAA Tournament with a win two weeks from Sunday.
- Memphis clinched the Conference USA regular season title with another convincing win over Southern Miss. That result is no surprise, but it just further shows how dominant they are in that conference.
- It’s been a tough year for Drexel, and after losing by one at Towson on Saturday the preseason CAA favorites will do no better than .500 in CAA play. Towson is tied for second with Delaware, who pulled out a 79-78 win at UNC Wilmington on Saturday.
- Belmont’s convincing win over Ohio in the last BracketBusters game flew under the radar much like both teams. While it won’t make the Bruins an at-large team, it’s a nice win to give them some momentum for the home stretch. Ian Clark became the school’s all-time leading scorer in the Division I era of the program.
- First place in the Ivy League will be on the line once again on Friday night between two familiar foes. Princeton beat Cornell 72-53 to sweep their weekend at the New York schools, then Harvard assured they would still have the lead in the loss column by pulling out a tough 72-66 win at Yale. Harvard is a game up in the loss column and won the first meeting in Cambridge last Saturday.
- Quinnipiac has made the race for the top of the Northeast Conference even more interesting by remaining hot with a win over Bryant. Both schools and LIU are 10-5 heading into the final week, but Robert Morris is in the driver’s seat with a 12-4 mark after blowing out Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday. Bryant hosts Robert Morris on Thursday night.
- Norfolk State was a big story in the NCAA Tournament last year, and the Spartans are at it again as they improved to 13-0 in MEAC play with a 60-56 win at Delaware State.
