Saturday Recap

Big day in college basketball, here's a recap.

Good wins:

Cincinnati 62, Pittsburgh 59- The Bearcats keep rolling at home as they hold off a spirited Pittsburgh rally in the final minute. Cincinnati is now 4-2 in the Big East, already having knocked off Louisville, Villanova, and Syracuse before yesterday's game. They did win at Louisville, but lost badly at Notre Dame and St. John's. Winning on the road will be important for Cincinnati if they want to finish in the top half of the conference.

Virginia 84, Boston College 66- The Cavs responded well after suffering a bad loss to Virginia Tech at home on Wednesday night. I didn't think UVA had much of a chance in this game after the Va Tech debacle, but they really played well yesterday.

Villanova 81, Syracuse 71- A good road win in a league where home teams are winning at about an 80% clip. Villanova has been vastly overrated thus far, but this is a decent win away from home. Syracuse has no depth and is very young, so I wouldn't get too excited about this if I was a Villanova fan. Still a good win, a game they had to have to right the ship.

Seton Hall 92, Louisville 82- Big win for the Hall at home against a Cardinals team that is finally healthy and coming together. Louisville had no answer for super frosh Jeremy Hazell (29 pts), who shot 8-14 from three point range. This is a confidence building win for Bobby Gonzalez's young team, who should have won the game by 17-20 points had they hit their free throws down the stretch. Terrence Williams had a triple-double in the loss for Louisville. After giving up only 51 points in a blowout win over Marquette on Thursday night, Rick Pitino's team allowed the Pirates to put up 92. Expect some hard defensive practices in the coming days.

Iowa State 73, Oklahoma State 66- ISU is quietly riding along at 12-6 (2-1 Big 12). Ames is always a tough place to play, and probably even tougher for a Cowboys team that has so much difficulty winning on the road. Iowa State should be able to pick off some of the top teams in the Big 12 at home, so maybe they'll have an outside shot at a tournament bid.

Mississippi State 66, Alabama 56- A very nice road win for the Bulldogs, who finally are playing to the potential many saw in them before the season. MSU is now 13-5 (4-0 SEC) after winning its eighth straight game.

USC 72, UCLA 63- USC pulls the shocker at Pauley, downing the Bruins in convincing fashion. Tim Floyd mixed up his defense and it worked again. A huge resume building win for the Trojans, who have struggled in recent weeks.

Baylor 72, Nebraska 70- Quality road win in a tough environment for Scott Drew's team, which is now 15-2 (3-0 Big 12). When is the nation going to give this team the respect it deserves?

Georgia 82, Arkansas 69- The Dawgs are 2-1 in the SEC after this game. At 11-5 overall, Georgia has an opportunity to win games in the SEC and sneak onto the NCAA bubble.

Arizona 79, California 75- A very nice bounce back win for Arizona after losing at Stanford on Thursday. The Bears are struggling and appear to be headed in the wrong direction, away from the NCAA Tournament. California needs to win these type of games at home in order to be a player in the Pac 10. Road wins are hard to come by in that league.

NC State 79, Miami 77 (OT)- A wild end to this one, as Miami throws a pass right to NC State for an easy game winning layup with three seconds left. NC State was struggling mightily. An 0-3 start in ACC play would have been devastating. Looking for this year's Clemson? Miami might be your team.

Stanford 67, Arizona State 52- After trailing at halftime, Stanford erupted in the second half to score an easy win over the Sun Devils. The Cardinal swept the Arizona schools this week, paving the way for a top 25 ranking come Monday.

Bad losses:

Maryland 82, North Carolina 80- Carolina was never the #1 team in the country in my mind, and the last two games have proved it. This team doesn't play good defense and relies solely on its offensive fire power to win games. That won't cut it in the NCAA Tournament, where they could encounter teams like Memphis or Kansas, who play tough in-your-face defense. If they get that far, that is. Carolina was exposed, and the ACC race is up for grabs with Duke playing very well right now. A good win for Gary Williams' club, maybe it's the spark they need.

Kansas State 75, Texas A&M 54- After watching the Aggies struggle with Colorado last week, I thought they were overrated. Their last two games have proved me correct, as they have scored 53 and 54 points in losses to Texas Tech and Kansas State respectively. If you're a top 15 team, you don't go on the road and get blown out in back to back games. Expect the Aggies to take a big plunge in the rankings on Monday. A great win for Frank Martin's team, as they're now 12-4 (2-0 Big 12).

Auburn 80, Mississippi 77- The Rebels are another candidate to be this year's Clemson. It remains to be seen if they can keep up their hot start, but losing at an Auburn team playing without Korvotney Barber is not good.