I picked four games from the slim pickin's last night, and hit gold with them all:
Harvard 56 - Penn 50 = As Joe observed earlier, the Crimson took out the Quakers, though I'd opine calling it a "pop" is a bit of a stretch.
But they did what they needed to do to take control of the Ivy for now, as the win put them 2 1/2 up over Penn, as well as . . .
Cornell 85 - Yale 84 (OT) = A full 2 over the Eli following this upset at Ithaca to the Big Red. I am truly shocked that Yale could not take this one.
Loyola (MD) 87 - Iona 81 = And I'm a bit shocked that the Greyhounds beat the Gaels, but mainly because I've paid not attention to them so far this season, so they've snuck up on me out of nowhere. This huge win for them puts these 'Dawgs atop the MAAC.
Detroit 58 - Wisc. Milwaukee 57 = Aside from being the good tight contest I expected, this may have little import. Yet it is fun, when you consider this result makes it a 4-way tie for 3rd place in the Horizon. This race may also be affected by the first game I'll note below.
Early action today includes:
Butler 52 - Cleveland State 49 = This early final affects that Horizon race, as the Bulldogs were part of that 3rd place tie before this big win over the Vikings . . . which also knocked
them down out of a loss-column tie with Valpo.
Louisville vs. West Virginia = At this moment it's just past halftime in Morgantown, with the Mountaineers up 10 over the psycho Cardinals. Anything can still happen, and I expect a war before it's done. If not, Pitino will be cheesed.
DePaul vs. Notre Dame = And midway through the 2nd the Irish are up a couple buckets over the Blue Demons. Again, anything can happen, as both teams have played good and bad games this year. I'd favor ND in South Bend, but their recent push may have made them complacent.
Virginia vs. North Carolina = The Heel have NO reason to be complacent in Chapel Hill, even before they p!$$ed away that Dook game. This one seems slow in starting, but I always only ask two things from my Tar Heels . . . the lead, and the ball. With that, I'm happy. UNC need a win to stay in that tie atop the ACC, and the Cavs need it to stay in touch with that. I'll keep you posted, you can believe that.
Miami vs. Florida State = The Seminoles dropped that shocker to BC, and also need a win to stay with the Heels and Blue Devils. Meanwhile, the 'Canes have one signature win on the road over Dook, and another at FSU today may punch them a ticket come March. This one could be fun, as well as important.
U. Conn vs. Syracuse = And even though the Huskies have come 'way back down to earth, they are capable of giving the Orange a contest in the Dome. At the moment it's tied, but it's too early to attribute any meaning to that.
AR Little Rock vs. Middle Tennessee State = And why would I put these two No-Names in with the Big Boys? Well, this is a huge game in the Sun Belt Conference, so in all fairness we ought to give them some thought.
Baylor vs. Missouri = Just as we ought to give these two some thought. Yeah, I know I've been busting on both of them all year as being over-ranked, yet the importance of this game on the conference and national levels is large. I'm hoping for a good one here.
I'll be back a bit later with updates and later games. Bye for now.