Quick Takes: St. Bonaventure, Cincinnati, Washington State absorb upsets

In the not-such-a-good-look department, St. Bonaventure and Cincinnati dropped home decisions to Northern Iowa and Monmouth.  Coming into Saturday, UNI was winless against Division 1 competition, including losses to Nicholls and Vermont.  Monmouth was 4-1, but UC owned a surprising rout of Illinois and a competitive loss to Arkansas.  Let downs?  Possibly.  We won’t know how the losses actually impact either team for a while, but it’s safe to say neither was ideal.

We also need to mention Washington State.  After a 5-0 start, the Cougars fell to Eastern Washington.  Maybe the Eagles will win the Big Sky again, maybe not.  Regardless, it’s a loss WSU may look back on if the Cougars end up around the cutline.

Quick Takes: FSU sweeps Louisville, WVU continues slide

It may not have been a volume night in college hoops, but Monday’s results could certainly impact how the bracket appears in three weeks.  Takeaways:

Florida State looked scary good in the second half against Louisville in Tallahassee.  The Seminoles put up a 50-27 margin in the final 20 minutes; perhaps the most dominant single-half performance we’ve seen this season.  The victory gives FSU a season sweep of the Cardinals and positions the Seminoles as a strong two-seed heading into a closing stretch that includes Clemson, Notre Dame (road games) and Boston College (home).

Louisville wraps up its regular season with Virginia Tech (home) and Virginia (road).  The Cardinals may need another shot at Duke or FSU in the ACC tourney to reclaim its seeding mojo.

Seed List: Ohio State vaults to No. 1

Anyway you slice it, Ohio State has been impressive.  Unblemished at 9-0, the Buckeyes are riding a two-game high that includes a 25-point road win at North Carolina and a 32-point home win over Penn State.  Couple those with a 25-point victory over Villanova and a season-opening win over Cincinnati, and it’s easy to vault OSU into the pole position on the Seed List.

Seed List

Next is Kansas, which has been impressive, too, since its turnover-laden opening night loss to Duke.  Louisville falls to third after dropping its first game – which vaulted Texas Tech back up the Seed List a bit.  Gonzaga, fresh off a strong road win at Washington, grabs the final top-line position.

After a relatively quiet week, hoops revs up again this weekend.  It’s hard to believe we’re quickly approaching 2020.

 

Bracketology: Cards, Buckeyes lead at opening turn

At the quarter-turn of our race to Selection Sunday, the Louisville Cardinals lead Ohio State by a nose for the No. 1 overall seed.  Close behind are Michigan, Kansas, Gonzaga and Maryland.  The Buckeyes and Wolverines are the surprise entries among that group, although both have earned their positions with impressive performances out of the gate.

Bracketology

While the first turn provides a quick glance at the Field,  we still have three-quarters of the race to run – including a daunting backstretch and the turn for home known as conference play.  Those grueling furlongs tend to separate the pretenders and contenders.

Early brackets are notoriously fluid; margins between teams are thin. Early projections also tend to produce some quirkiness – especially related to conference balance.  Keep those things in mind.  By next month we could see a lot of changes.

Quick Takes: Cards, Blue Devils win the night

Louisville’s defense suffocated Michigan.

It’s was that simple Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.  The previously hot Wolverines missed 43 of 58 shots, including 16 of 19 three-point attempts. By game’s end, Big Blue had racked up a whopping 43 points.  For comparison sakes, Michigan averaged 79 points-per-game while sweeping through Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Assuming the Cardinals dispatch Pittsburgh at home on Friday, they will be the top overall seed in next Monday’s bracket.

Duke wasn’t as defensively dominant in the scoring column, but the Blue Devils rattled Michigan State early and kept the Spartans off balance with an in-your-face mentality in East Lansing.  It was a nice bounce-back victory after last week’s shocking home loss to Stephen F. Austin.  Duke heads to Virginia Tech on Friday.