With less than two weeks remaining until Selection Sunday and college hoops is heating up. It was a wild weekend with 7 of the top 10 ranked teams losing all on the same day. The top team in the nation (Gonzaga) suffered it’s only conference loss of the season losing on the road to St. Mary’s 67-57. The other top ranked teams to lose were Arizona, Auburn, Purdue, Kansas, Kentucky and Texas Tech. It should be noted that all of these losses were road games and against tournament-bound teams except Arizona who was defeated by Colorado 79-63. Congratulations to Murray St and South Dakota St who finished undefeated in conference play and will enter their conference tournaments as the teams to dethrone. Last year’s Final Four team, UCLA, dominated Oregon St beating them 94-55 on the road. Lastly, in a perhaps a final match-up between future HOF coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim, Duke prevailed with a decisive victory against Syracuse 97-72.
While some teams are a sure lock for the Big Dance, others are playing to survive and find themselves on the proverbial “Bubble”. San Diego St kept their chances alive cruising to a 77-52 victory against San Jose St. The Aztecs are currently 4th in the Mountain West and have 3 games remaining until their conference tournament. Memphis picked up their 8th win in their last 9 games beating Wichita St 81-57. The Tigers finish their regular season with a home game against top ranked Houston who made it to the Final Four last year and will surely be a tough out come tourney time. Florida kept their chances alive by getting a win against Georgia 84-72. The Gators still have a lot to prove but a victory on Saturday (3/5) against blue blood Kentucky in a nationally televised game would do wonders for their resume. Michigan remains on the bubble after failing to pick up a crucial home win against Illinois. The Wolverines’ final 3 games are against tournament-bound teams so they still have plenty of opportunities to impress the selection committee. Another Big Ten team that needed to win and did was Indiana who beat Minnesota 84-79. The Hoosiers have wins against Notre Dame, Ohio St and Purdue but may need at least one more signature win to solidify their spot in the Big Dance.
Bracket Bingo 