— Big trade in the NBA after midnight; Lakers acquired Luka Doncic from Dallas, traded Anthony Davis to the Mavericks. Utah Jazz were involved in a minor way; there were some other players included, but Davis/Doncic caused ESPN to go off the rails late Saturday night.
— 11 of the top 25 college teams lost Saturday, a very upsetting day.
— Big X
Baylor 81, Kansas 70
Jayhawks led 40-21 at halftime.
Baylor was 25-28 on foul line, Kansas 12-19.
Baylor out-rebounded the Jayhawks, 40-27
Kansas State 80, Iowa State 61
K-State outscored Iowa State 43-26 in second half.
Loss snaps the Cyclones’ 29-game home winning streak.
Wildcats shot 10-20 on the arc.
Texas Tech 82, Houston 81 OT
Tech’s best rebounder/head coach were ejected 3:10 into the game.
Loss snaps Cougars’ 13-game winning streak.
Three of Houston’s four losses have come in overtime.
Arizona/Houston are tied for first, with 9-1 records.
Bracketology has 8 Big X teams in NCAA Tournament.
— SEC
Arkansas 89, Kentucky 79
John Calipari posts a big upset in his return to Lexington.
Razorbacks shot 13-25 on the arc.
Adou Thiero was 10-12 on foul line; Kentucky’s whole team was 9-18.
Auburn 92, Ole Miss 82
Auburn has won 13 in a row; their only loss was at Duke on December 4th
Tigers shot 14-28 on the arc, scored 1.31 points/possession.
Ole Miss lost four of last five games, after a 15-2 start.
Auburn leads Alabama by a game, Missouri by two games atop SEC standings.
Bracketology has 13 SEC teams in NCAA Tournament.
— ACC
Boston College 77, Florida State 76
Florida State led by 4 with 0:08 left in this game.
Eagles snap their six-game losing streak.
Seminoles have lost four games in a row.
Duke 87, North Carolina 70
Duke has won 15 in a row; their last loss was in November, to Kansas.
Blue Devils crushed UNC; they led 47-25 at halftime.
Tar Heels lost 4 of last 5 games, are 13-10, 6-5 in ACC.
Duke is 10-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2006.
Duke leads Clemson by a game, Louisville by 2 games atop ACC standings.
Bracketology has five ACC teams in NCAA Tournament.
— Big 18
USC 70, Michigan State 64
Loss snaps Michigan State’s 13-game win streak.
USC only played seven guys; two Trojans played whole 40:00.
Trojans won four of last six games, are 5-5 in Big 18.
Michigan 66, Rutgers 63
Michigan is shooting 60.1% inside arc (#5 in country)
Rutgers was 10-36 on the arc, 12-31 inside the arc.
Michigan is 16-5, 8-2 in Big 18; they were 8-24/3-17 last year.
Spartans still lead Big 18, by a game over Purdue/Michigan
Bracketology has nine Big 18 teams in NCAA Tournament.
— Big East
St John’s 68, Providence 66
Red Storm won its 8th game in a row.
St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tourney game since 2000; right now, Bracketology has St John’s as a #7 seed, so they’ll likely be favored in the first round of NCAA’s next month.
Creighton 62, Villanova 60
Bluejays won their 7th game in a row.
Villanova led by 5 with 6:42 left in the game.
Creighton shot 72% inside arc, 6-26 on the arc.
St John’s leads Big East, by game over Marquette/Creighton.
Bracketology has four Big East teams in NCAA Tournament.
— Upsets of the Day: (lot of upsets Saturday)
Texas- San Antonio (+15.5) 54, North Texas 50
Kansas State (+15.5) 80, Iowa State 61
Texas Tech (+11.5) 82, Houston 81 OT
IU Indy (+11.5) 84, Youngstown State 79
Arkansas (+10.5) 89. Kentucky 79
Georgia Tech (+8.5) 77, Louisville 70
Portland (+8.5) 84, Pepperdine 64
Indiana State (+7.5) 88, Ill-Chicago 83
Northern Kentucky (+7.5) 84, Oakland 75
Miami (+7.5) 63, Notre Dame 57
UConn (+7.5) 77, Marquette 69
Missouri (+6.5) 88, Mississippi State 61
North Dakota (+6.5) 80, South Dakota State 75
— Among conferences in the normal gambling rotation, these leagues plays the fastest-paced games: MAC, Ivy League, Summit League.
Leagues plays the slowest-paced games: Missouri Valley, MAAC, Big Sky
— Mountain West
San Diego State 63, Wyoming 61
Down 50-41, Aztecs went on a 20-0 run to grab control of the game.
Aztecs won their last four games, three of them by 3 or fewer points.
San Diego State has #7 eFG% defense in the country.
New Mexico won 82-63 at Utah State; they lead Utah State/Colorado State by a game atop the Mountain West standings.
— WCC
Saint Mary’s 62, Gonzaga 58
Saint Mary’s survived going 11-22 on the foul line.
Gonzaga was only 3-17 on the arc.
Mikey Lewis scored 16 points in 22:00; he didn’t start.
Saint Mary’s leads San Francisco/Gonzaga by three games in the WCC.
— Missouri Valley
Drake 75, Southern Illinois 65
Drake has four starters who played D2 ball last season.
Bulldogs are 20-2 this year, 126-33 the last five years, 69-19 in MVC games.
10-2 Drake, 9-2 Bradley are sitting atop the MVC.
— Famous birthdays, February 2nd:
Wayne Fontes, 85
John Tudor, 71
Christie Brinkley, 71
Kim Zimmer, 70
Pat Tabler, 67
Jason Kapono, 44
Matthew Boyd, 34
Adrian Houser, 32
Josh Lowe, 27
— American
Texas- San Antonio 54, North Texas 50
Roadrunners led 27-13 at halftime.
Teams combined to shoot 7-36 on the arc.
Loss snaps a six-game win streak for North Texas.
Memphis leads UAB/North Texas by game in loss column, atop AAC standings.
— Ivy League
Dartmouth 95, Columbia 89
Big Green is 3-3, in 4th place in Ivy; only top four teams in the league make their conference tournament, so this is a big deal.
6-0 Yale leads 5-1 Cornell stop the Ivy League standings.
Ivy League teams are shooting 38.5% on arc in league games, the best of any conference.
— Conference USA
Jacksonville State 72, Liberty 61
Gamecocks have won six in a row, after a 9-7 start.
Jax State was 25-46 inside arc, only 3-11 on arc; old-school ball.
Jacksonville State leads Middle Tennessee by a game, atop the C-USA standings.
— Big West
Northridge 88, Bakersfield 62
Matadors led 44-22 at halftime, coasted home from there.
I watched CSUN’s game Thursday; they’re very athletic, an impressive team in a league where Irvine/Cal-San Diego are thought to be head/shoulkders above everyone else.
Irvine leads Cal-San Diego by a game, but Riverside/CSUN are both surging.
— Big Sky
Northern Colorado 87, Northern Arizona 69
Bears have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Bears shot 14-30 on the arc in this game.
Northern Colorado is shooting 60.1% inside the arc (#6)
8-1 Northern Colorado leads 8-2 Montana by half a game.
