It is an ironic afternoon in college hoops, with more than a few interesting coincidences occuring.
Today Purdue will look to become the #1 team in the country (not really, Syracuse will be #1 no maktter what in my estimation) when they host the Michigan State Spartans. Last month Purdue beat State in Lansing while their top player, Kalin Lucas, was injured (yes he played sparingly). Today, the tables turn as Sparty heads to Lafayette to meet the Boilers sans Robbie Hummel.
Tennessee, who was left for dead with little chance of posting bail just seven weeks ago now owns victories over the top two teams in the country, and two sure-fire #1 seeds in Kansas and Kentucky. No one else in the nation can boast such an accomplishment. Even more impressive, they were one possession away from beating Purdue way back in November. That would have given them possibly three wins over #1 seeds.
Iowa? Terrible. Indiana? Even worse. New Mexico? In line for a #2 seed after beating BYU in Provo yesterday. Hats off to Steve Alford and his Lobos. I'm interested to see how well they handle March Madness. As of now they are 6-0 against ranked opponents.
North Carolina finally got a conference win yesterday to keep their plus-.500 NIT hopes alive. Their struggles have deflected attention from the truly worst team and coaching performance in the country, the absolute meltdown in Austin. Texas lost again yesterday to fall to 5-7 over their last 12 games. At seventh place in the Big 12, and looking at their final 12 games one could argue the Longhorns are inching close to the bubble (exaggeration, they are safely in). It is hard to put them any higher than a #7 seed if the tourney started today.
And in a final ironic twist, how about Cincinnati blowing a 17-point lead to West Virginia, essentially ending their hopes of going to the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats still have not made the field of 65 since now-West Virginia coach Bobby Huggins patrolled the sidelines in the Queen City. I am sure Bobby is was far above such pettiness, but one has to think "suck it Nancy Zimpher" entered his head on several occasions...
