It was a bad night to be a ranked team in college basketball last night. With the exception of #6 Ohio State & #12 Florida, who won by 10 points and 9 points, respectively, they all lost. #11 UNLV lost their first game since being ranked 11th on Monday, losing to TCU in a high scoring game, 102-97. Guard Hank Thorns had 32 points in the victory. Unranked LSU topped #23 Miss. State in overtime, while Clemson held #22 Virginia to only 48 points as they won the ACC battle.
#1 Kentucky and #2 Syracuse both cemented their places at the top of the rankings for at least one more week. Ohio State, however, lost their 3rd place ranking and are now #6, thanks to now #8 Michigan State. #7 UNC lost to #4 Duke, but only fell two spots. Missouri moved from 4th to 3rd and Kansas moved from 10th to 5th.
Other Moves
–Duke 9th to 4th
–Mich. St. 12th to 8th
–Baylor 6th to 10th
–UNLV 16th to 11th
–Florida 7th to 12th
–Marquette 19th to 13th
–Murray State 7th to 14th
–Notre Dame NR to 25th
–Gonzaga NR to 24th
There was a close one in the Big East last night on ESPN between #2 Syracuse & #18 Louisville. It was a very low scoring game so it was tough to tell who played well unless you actually watched the game. Scoop Jardine was utterly useless scoring 0 points on 0-8 shooting following his big game against UConn last week. The game came down to the wire when Louisville’s junior guard Peyton Siva threw the ball away with 5 seconds left when he probably should have just shot it. Syracuse had a chance to seal the victory with 2 seconds left but failed to do so with a missed free throw. Louisville had a last second chance but failed to convert as the Cardinals fell to the Orange 52-51. Only 4 players in the whole game scored in double digits, no one going over 16 points.
Just as I expected, #2 Syracuse toppled UConn by double digits, while Senior Guard Scoop Jardine managed to score 21 points against the Calhoun-less Huskies. #4 Mizzou also beat #6 Baylor, while #5 UNC ran right over #20 Virginia, and #16 UNLV upset #14 San Diego State. Unfortunately, I was wrong about one game, and that was when #3 Ohio State was upset by defensive-minded #12 Michigan State.
#7 Florida was also upset against unranked Tennessee by 5 points. #15 Creighton lost their third straight game Saturday against Wichata State. You can guarantee that they will not see the top 25 come Monday morning.
Games to watch for this week:
#2 Syracuse vs. #23 Louisville (Monday @ 7)
#5 UNC vs. Miami (Wednesday @ 8) Miami beat Duke last week
#12 Michigan State vs. #22 Wisconsin (Thursday @ 7)
Another big weekend in college basketball begins Saturday (once again, omitting Harvard’s game on Friday). My favorite team, UConn, will face #2 Syracuse and almost definitely lose by double digits. #4 Missouri will host #6 Baylor in a Big 12 showdown at 1:30. #5 UNC will try to avenge their last loss when they welcome #20 Virginia to Chapel Hill. #3 Ohio State will play #12 Michigan State, while #14 San Diego State plays #16 UNLV.
Predictions
Syracuse over Uconn (Still my favorite)
Mizzou over Baylor (Baylor got smoked against Kansas)
UNC over Virginia (hate them but they are home)
Ohio State over Michigan State (Still think Ohio St. has a chance of winning it all)
UNLV over SD State (Could go either way but I’ll go with the home team)
This night seemed to turn out a little bit better for my picks than usual. #10 Kansas topped #6 Baylor 68-54. Junior 7 foot center, Jeff Withey was able to drop 25 points on 8-10 shooting from the field. Thomas Robinson added 15 points of his own while snagging 11 rebounds. On the flip side, Baylor’s Perry Jones III shot 1-8 from the field and only scored 5 points against the Jayhawks.
#2 Syracuse barely escaped an upset from #11 Georgetown in an overtime thriller. The final score was 64-61. Syracuse senior forward, Kris Joseph, was able to put up 29 points against G-Town while Fab Melo was only able to pitch in 11 of his own.
Finally, in case you somehow missed it, #9 Duke shocked #5 UNC at the buzzer as Austin Rivers made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give them th
e win, 85-84. Doc’s son finished with a career high 29 points and the biggest shot of his career thus far. Both Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes both finished with 25 and 23 points, respectively. This was probably the most exciting game to watch this season, with an NBA-like vibe and score.
As rivalry continues, we take a look at the biggest night of the week. First off, #2 Syracuse will take on #11 Georgetown. Although I think it will be a closer game than most think, I believe Georgetown can hang with the Orange, but I still think that Syracuse will win the game.
Secondly, #9 Duke plays #5 North Carolina in the biggest rivalry game of the season. Yes, I know that they are not the highest seeds, but this is always a good game even 
though I despise both teams. Duke is strong but even Coach K said that UNC is the most talented team in the country and I see them winning.
Finally, #10 Kansas looks to jump back from a loss against Mizzou when they play #6 Baylor. I know that I picked the underdog Kansas last week and it didn’t work, but I am going to have to do it again. I think they are strong and Thomas Robinson is one of the best players in the country. Plus, they beat them by 18 points a few weeks ago. Yeah the Bruins are on tonight, but this will be a nice thing to flip the channel too every now and then.
For those of you too focused on the NFL playoffs this weekend, you missed a pretty good weekend in college basketball. #5 Ohio State defeated #8 Indiana in a battle of the Big Ten powerhouses. #6 Duke came back against unranked Clemson to upset them late in the second half. More importantly, #3 UNC got smoked by 33 points against unranked Florida State (FSU). I only put that because we all know what FSU stands for and thats exactly what they did. #16 UConn handed Notre Dame their first home loss in 29 games, and #1 Syracuse and #2 Kentucky both held on to keep their top rankings in tact.
#1 Syracuse looks to stay perfect against unranked Pittsburgh tonight in a battle of the Big East. Another good game to watch for those of you who don’t wanna watch the Bruins win and the Celtics lose, is #4 Baylor vs. #10 Kansas, where Baylor looks to stay undefeated in a conference battle.
In case you missed the defensive battle last night in the Alamo Bowl, I suggest you check out the highlights because this one provided some fireworks. By defensive battle, I mean that Baylor and Washington combined for 123 points and 17 TDs (holy hell). Surprisingly, I don’t think RG3 was the story of the game, nor do I think Baylor’s running back, Terrance Ganaway, was the MVP. I’m talking about Washington sophomore quarterback, Keith Price. This guy threw for 4 TDs, rushed for another 3 and dropped 438 yards on the Baylor D. I was watching the highlights on Sportscenter last night and they totally passed him over. I mean he legitimately almost beat the #12 ranked Baylor single handed. He made virtually no mistakes, out performed the Heisman winner and broke multiple bowl records. I am an enormous fan of Sportscenter, but if they have one flaw its really focusing on superstars and not top performances. This should have been the real story of this game, even though Baylor hoisted the trophy, and he got almost no air time. I mean Price is probably 19 years old and he’s already looking like a high first round draft pick in the upcoming years. Oh, and he’s from Compton. Straight G.
Wednesday was not a good day for undefeated teams in college basketball. Both #4 Louisville and #13 Indiana lost their games, leaving only Syracuse, Baylor, Missouri, and Murray State as the undefeated teams in the top 25. (Keep in mind that Murray State has not played any high ranked teams, and won’t for the rest of the season so it is tough to tell how good they are) Baylor barely slipped by #14 Mississippi State in the final seconds of a close match.
#1 Syracuse, #2 Ohio State, & #3 Kentucky all won by more than 20 points, and with Louisville losing just their first game, they will most likely still remain in the top 8. #9 UConn rode Jeremy Lamb’s 22 points to a slight win over USF. As much as I hate to admit it, UNC will most likely move up to the 4th rank and Duke & Baylor will round out the next two spots, due to their weak upcoming schedule.
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