It has not yet been a great season for some of the most important programs of college basketball. But on Saturday, some of the sport’s blue-blood programs showed they were not dead yet.
Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State are not even part of the Bubble Watch of CBS Sports Bracketology expert Jerry Palm, but each has won against a team planning to hit the hook or be in the bubble. And other teams among the royals of the sport, including Kansas, a projected No. 5 seed, and UNC, one of the first four from the field of 68 when the day began, also scored a big victory.
While the traditional forces had a good day, two teams from the Big Ten on the bubble did not.
Minnesota was one of the deadliest teams in the country at home this year. It entered the Williams Arena with a 13-1 record on Saturday and managed to resume its budding NCAA tournament, largely within its own venue. This is what makes beating No. 5 in Illinois 94-63 in Minneapolis all the more impressive. The Illini saw the plate and, as they did the past month, crumpled up and trampled over it.
For a Golden Gophers team at the tournament, the loss – and the way they lost by such a solid margin – could inflict a cruel blow to their pursuit of March madness. However, they were not alone as Indiana, a fellow member of the Big Ten, suffocated a second-half lead to the state of Michigan on Saturday while resuming its NCAA tournament.
The Spartans are far from having the chance to make the NCAA Tournament as a big team, but the win in Indiana places Michigan State in the category of blue-blood programs that show they are still alive.
Winner: Bluebloods still kicks
Kentucky deserves a point off the cap for not dropping completely after dropping 5-13 earlier this month. Saturday’s 70-55 victory at no. 19 Tennessee, a No. 3 in the Bracketology series, defeated the Wildcats in league play 7-7 and their first win over an opponent this season. The Wildcats have scored 70 or more in six consecutive games.
Duke has also now won three consecutive games after winning No. 7 Virginia 66-65. The Blue Devils ranked the day at number 60 in the NET and not even at the Bracketology bubble. But do not be surprised if they crawl into the bubble conversation as they continue to thrive after the departure of Jalen Johnson.
Can we also quickly talk about Duke’s biggest competitor? North Carolina started the day as one of the first classes from the field of 68 in bracket expert Jerry Palm. But the Tar Heels flattened Louisville 99-54 as they shot a ridiculous 60.9% off the floor to improve to 14-7 (8- 5 ACC).
While Michigan State beat Indiana and No. 23 in Kansas, they achieved a victory over Texas Tech no. 15, and Saturday’s results were normal after the season with dismal results for historically proud programs. Duke, Michigan State and especially Kentucky still have a lot of work to do to reach the NCAA Tournament. But at least for one day, they regain their common place as winners in the sport.
Loser: Minnesota in First Four Out and fading fast
When Minnesota handed over its only loss of the season on Jan. 16 and improved to 11-5 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten on Jan. 16, the Gophers rose to 17th place in the AP Top 25 poll. It felt like they were on the fast track to the NCAA Tournament. But after Saturday’s 94-63 loss to Illinois against Illinois, coach Richard Pitino’s team is in trouble.
The Gophers have lost three in a row and lost six of their last eight to 13-10 (6-10 Big Ten). According to Palm’s Bracketology, they have already fallen into the “First 4 out” category and will now have more ground to make up for after their most powerful defeat of the season. The Gophers have hampered star center Liam Robbins through an ankle injury and will soon need him back at full strength if they are to stop the bleeding.
Winner: Kansas Continues to Sail
If you were not completely convinced of number 23 in Kansas’ recent turnaround, I can not say that I blame you. Four of the five wins they would open in February were against teams with one (!) Joint win in the Big 12 series, thanks to the fact that they defeated Iowa State and Kansas State twice. But KU showed on Saturday when he won the no. 15 defeated Texas Tech 67-61, that it indeed made a turn. It was an impressive defensive outing that showed how much better the Jayhawks are playing because they held leading scorer Mac McClung to 11 points.
Kansas, a No. 5 team in Bracketology, still has a handful of games to end the regular season with Texas and Baylor on tap before the post-season action, but it’s a team that is currently on all cylinders shoot and slowly gain confidence and momentum as it rumbles to the most important part of the season.
“This is the most exciting thing I’ve been all year about our team,” Self said after the match.
Loser: Indiana collapses in second half
As the great William Shakespeare once said, “Indiana, Indiana, why is your defense of the second half, Indiana?”
What a fortune teller that man was!
The Hoosiers completely collapsed in the second half against Sparty on Saturday in a final loss of 78-71. During the last 20 minutes, Michigan State scored 52 (!) Second halves of the points, 17-of-30 from the floor, 5-of-9 from 3-point series and committed just four turnovers. It turned a double-digit deficit at one point into a double-digit lead before deciding with a seven-point victory.
A win for the IU would likely have driven it to the safe side of the tournament bubble entering a difficult closing period. Instead, as Jerry Palm noted, IU is on the outside looking in with Rutgers, Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue to close out the regular season.
Winner: Syracuse gets a bubbly return
Syracuse could not afford a losing loss to Notre Dame on Quad 2 on Saturday, but it looks like the Orange are at one point when they fell 20 points behind early in the second half. This is when Buddy Boeheim began taking the lead in leading the program’s biggest comeback in the past decade. The junior guard scored 17 of his career-high 29 points in the 11:10 final to help Syracuse secure a 75-67 victory to stay on the NCAA Tournament.
The Orange (13-6, 7-5 ACC) probably still have work to do if they go to the field of 68, but they have now won four of their last five, and their electric finish on Saturday could be a good springboard that entering the recourse. Syracuse outscored Fighting Irish (9-11, 6-8 ACC) 40-12 to complete the match.
Loser: Miami takes the worst home beats since 2014
There are very few teams this season that are more plagued by the combination of injuries and COVID-10 interruptions than Miami. So it’s hard to go too hard on the Hurricanes despite the winding winds in Coral Gables. But falling 87-60 at home to Georgia Tech was the cherry on top of a nasty, nasty tasting season as it qualified as the Yellow Jackets’ biggest win in an ACC away game. For Miami, it is the biggest defeat period since December 19, 2014, when it fell 72-44 to Eastern Kentucky.
Winner: Ryan Daly soars to Saint Joseph’s
While playing in his first game in two months, Saint Joseph’s star Ryan Daly returned on Saturday with a force to lead the Hawks to their first win in A-10 play after leading the league action 0-9 started. Daly equaled a season with 30 points in 39 minutes of action when they defeated La Salle 91-82. It was Saint Joseph’s second win of the season and the first since an escape on January 9 over Albany.
Winner: Villanova defends live UConn, stays on top of Big East
After eight weeks in the top five of the AP Top 25 poll, Villanova moved up to no. 10 case after a 16-point loss to Creighton last Saturday. In their first game since then, the Wildcats bounced back nicely by beating UConn 68-60 and giving the Huskies a win. The Wildcats (14-3, 9-2 Big East) trailed 14-7 over 42-41, but closed strong thanks to stars Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. The duel scored a combined 37 of Villanova’s 68 points.
The Wildcats are a number 2 seed in the latest bracketology.
Loser: Longhorns suffer at home in Texas
Texas led West Virginia by as many as 19 points in the second half, only to see it break down in a final 84-82 defeat. This in itself is not optimal for a Texas team that has not been able to conjure up its mojo in the early season this past month. But the way it fell apart is particularly worrying.
It really started to fall apart a few minutes into the second half when Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey had an oral discussion session in court, which led to the two being separated. From there, West Virginia, a No. 3 team in Bracketology, ran a 34-18 run to close out the game and successfully stopped a potential game winner and a game shot in the final seconds.
Texas, a number 4 in bracketology, is undoubtedly still in the field with its strong resume, but the loss was the least disturbing development in Austin, Texas. And the loss was quite worrying.
Winner: Noah Williams has a career game
Williams, a second guard at Washington State, threw in 40 points to lead the Cougars to an 85-76 victory over Stanford in triple overtime. Williams needed 35 shots to reach the total, but his point 8 of 18 from three points – including one that forced the first OT – boosted his team to one of the best wins of the season.
The loss was particularly brutal for Stanford, who according to Palm entered the day as one of the “First Four Out” of the NCAA Tournament field. Williams is the first Washington State player to score 40 points since Klay Thompson scored 43 in 2011.
Winner: Teams that win league titles
Cleveland State and Wright State both won Saturday to clinch a portion of the Horizon League season title, and the milestone carries particular weight with a Cleveland State program that struggled five straight losing seasons in the conference before this year. The Vikings defeated Purdue Fort Wayne by 20 points on Saturday in the second half, thus overcoming a 12-point deficit.
Remember UMBC? The Retrievers – who were best known for their historic upset of Virginia in 2018 as a no. 16-seeded in the NCAA Tournament – reached the American East of the regular season this weekend. This is actually UMBC’s first league title since the 2007-08 season. Maybe we’ll see the Retrievers in the Big Dance again.
Belmont also looks like a good bet to make it to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins secured the OVC title in the regular season with a 90-66 victory over Tennessee Tech. This is the program’s 12th league title in the last 16 years.