In one way or another, each of these scores from last night are surprising, beginning with:
Kentucky 78 - Florida 58 = It's no shock at all the 'Cats won in Rupp, but for the Gators to be so ineffective does surprise me somewhat. I figured they could at least make a competitive game of it, and not a practice scrimmage.
Oklahoma State 69 - Iowa State 67 = The Cowboys derail the Cyclones in their push for respect, and I'm shocked they did not take advantage of this opportunity in Stillwater against lesser opposition. Still, it was not the biggest upset of the evening, which was instead . . .
Evansville 65 - Creighton 57 = What? The Aces top the Bluejays, and improve to .500 twice with their 12-12 and 7-7 marks? What? I can make no sense of this at all, and Creighton has as little excuse as Dook did against Miami Sunday. Pitiful, just pitiful.
Ohio State 87 - Purdue 84 = Yeah, OK, I guess I did say the Boilermakers could maybe sorta have a chance in Columbus against the Buckeyes. Still, for them to come this close to a HUGE upset . . . well, moral victories don't count in the standings, but it does count in my book.
Tonight's action has a few games of marginal interest, beginning with:
Penn State vs. Michigan State = Last year the Nittany Lions gained at least a little late respect by winning some games they were not supposed to. Those wins have been fewer this season, and I would not expect them to take this one in East Lansing from a superior (albeit flawed) Spartan squad.
Florida State vs. Boston College = And even though this one's in Chestnut Hill, I wouldn't give the Eagles a snowball's chance against the red-hot 'Noles.
Kansas vs. Baylor = Therefore, skip those two games and watch this match-up in Waco instead. The Jayhawks lost a heartbreaker to Mizzou to put them into a 3-way tie for the league lead with those Tigers and these Bears. This one is not only huge in the regional sense, but on the national level as well.
Pittsburgh vs. South Florida = And this one . . . not so much. But if you're like me, you want to see if the Panthers can continue their late push against the Bulls tonight. This ought to be a tight and competitive fight to the finish.
Georgetown vs. Syracuse = As should this one, which pits two of the best of The Beast against each other in the Dome. No doubt the line goes to the Orange at home, but I'd say you may as well flip a coin. The Hoyas seem to be the only team trying to challenge 'Cuse in the conference race, and should be ready to play. As they are young, and subject to excitement, that could be a bad thing. So keep an eye on this one, for if it's close at the half it will be close at the end.
Wake Forest vs. Virginia = And this should be over by the half. Still, remember the Cavs did lose to the Hokies at home, and VT's not all that much better than the Deacs.
Michigan vs. Nebraska = The Wolverines are better than the Cornhuskers, but as I've said often this season they do have trouble scoring the ball. You can win games in the 60s, true . . . if you hold the other guy in the 50s, however. I can't see that being a big problem, but you never know.
Notre Dame vs. West Virginia = The Mountaineers got hot for a while, then cooled off somewhat. They are still pretty good. By contrast, the Irish has made more noise recently, with wins over Syracuse, U Conn, and Marquette. Hey, if they can take those guys, they can take WVA, even in Morgantown. But you gotta do it first. Both teams want this badly, and it should be fun, though maybe not as much fun as our nightcap . . .
Duke vs. North Carolina = Do I really need to say any more than that? OK, if you insist. The Heels need a win to stay tied atop the ACC with FSU, since they cannot reasonably expect any help from BC tonight. The Blue Devils REALLY need a win tonight, for following their loss to the 'Canes they are in eminent danger of falling out of that race entirely with a third conference loss . . . which would not only tie them with 3 others in the L-column, but with games still remaining at FSU and hosting UNC would make wins there absolute necessities, barring outside help from someone. True, Carolina has the harder row to hoe from here out, for after this game they host UVA, visit Miami, host Clemson (ehh), then visit NCSU and UVA before hosting the Terps and ending at Dook. Hey, would you want that schedule? I make no prediction here. Let's just toss it up and let them settle it in the Dean Dome tonight.
That's gonna be it for now. I hope you enjoy this evening's fare. Me, I won't know about that until about 11 PM.
