NCAA Basketball The Peach Basket Brief

(15) Texas 98, (6) Texas A&M 96. On a night when Kevin Durant had 30 and 16, and Texas won a classic ... the fact that Acie Law's name is even being brought is up is a testament to how special a player he is. The things he did at the end of regulation and the first overtime were the stuff of legend. I don't mean to short Durant, he deserves every accolade he's getting, but ... Law has a chance to be a special player, too. Stat of the night: Three of Texas's starting five (James, Augustin, and Durant) had 22 or more points.

Maryland 85, (14) Duke 77. The fact that Duke was ranked 14th and Maryland was unranked seems a bit ridiculous now, doesn't it? Maryland went into Cameron and put away the Blue Devils, getting 25 from Mike Jones in the process. If Maryland keeps their confidence up, and keeps things rolling ... they're going to make some high-seeded tournaments team's draw much rougher than it should be.

Texas Tech 85, Baylor 74. I've gotta think that Texas Tech's tournament resume is looking pretty good. Not that a win over Baylor is anything special (a win they had to struggle to get), but they're over .500 in a very tough conference, and they've got three wins against top ten teams. That should do it, right?

Penn State 74, Iowa 72. Meanwhile, Iowa's bubble wasn't just popped ... it was obliterated with the force of a thousand sledgehammers. Penn State ... really, Penn State? You want the world to believe you're a tournament team, and you're losing to Penn State? I'm chuckling right now. I am audibly chuckling at the Iowa Hawkeyes.

UMass 102, La Salle 63. UMass pushes their record to 22-7, violating LaSalle and strengthening their cause for a tournament bid. I have a nagging feeling that the relative lack of strength in the A-10 is going to be held against them ... I'd still recommend winning the tournament.

Tennessee 86, (4) Florida 76. You'd have expected a little more from the Gators after their coach outright accused them of not caring about winning their last game ... of course, I suppose it's hard to compete with any team that's getting a pregame peptalk from Peyton Manning and a cheerleading performance from Pat Summitt. By the way, I guess I have to be the one to say it, so fine ... for a 55-year-old woman, Pat Summitt's got a decent pair of legs. Chris Lofton led Tennessee with 21.

Pitt 80, (12) West Virginia 66. That could just about finish off West Virginia's tournament hopes. Now, they're going to probably need a couple of wins in the Big East tournament to get in, because lately, they've been in strugglesville. WVU can point to their poor shooting if they want to, but they gave up 51 points to Pitt in the second half. It takes their best defensive effort to keep Pitt from lighting it up. In the first half, they gave that. In the second half, they didn't.

Brigham Young 62, (20) Air Force 58. Air Force is another team bottoming out at the wrong time. The loss to BYU is their third straight, it ends their 30-game home winning streak, leaving BYU as the team with the nation's longest home winning streak ... at 30 games. BYU now clinches the Mountain West title with a loss from UNLV in either of its last two games.

Winthrop 74, Charleston Southern 42. Winthrop advances with ease in the Big South Conference tournament quarterfinals. They're at the quarterfinals already? Well, yeah, but it doesn't take much work to get there in an 8-team conference. Winthrop could be a troublesome team in the tournament, too, with the right draw.

Oklahoma State 84, Kansas State 70. It was senior night in Stillwater ... might as well go out with a bang, eh, Mario Boggan? Boggan got ejected on his senior night after headbutting K-State forward Cartier Martin. Well done, Mario. Mom will be so proud.

Michigan 67, Michigan State 56. A contest between two Big Ten bubble teams try to convince the world that the Big Ten is not, in fact, a soft and overrated conference (it is) ... and Michigan gets the win at home behind 24 points from Dion Harris.

(3) Kansas 67, Oklahoma 65. Oklahoma led by fourteen at the half, before the Sooners stormed back to make it close ... I tend to think that the first twenty minutes of the game are more indicative of the real Jayhawks than the last twenty. They've been blowing everyone out recently. They jumped out to the lead against Oklahoma, and let their foot of the gas pedal a little bit. It happens.

Syracuse 72, (10) Georgetown. You've gotta give Jim Boeheim a ton of credit for what's happening at Syracuse. They started out the season looking like they'd be a Big East bottom feeder, and they're rolling along now like a well-oiled machine. They had to first play their way on to the bubble, and now they're off ... on the good side of it. They shot well and they defended all night long.

Texas-Pan American 70, New Jersey Institute of Technology 58. The official adopted team of the Peach Basket Brief continues to struggle. NJIT dropped a heartbreaker to fellow independent Texas Pan-American. Kraig Peters led the NJIT Highlanders with 15 in a losing effort, and Marc Milbourne Swan had 14.

Long Beach State 82, Pacific 76. Player on the night: Long Beach's Aaron Nixon, who set the stat sheet on fire with 32 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. The win gets Long Beach to 20 wins, with a two game lead for the conference title.

(24) Oregon 64, (11) Washington State 59. If they weren't already in the tournament (and I'd think they'd have to be), this should seal the deal for Oregon. They came back from a massive first-half deficit, got it rolling in the second half, and Aaron Brooks put the Ducks ahead by three with 12.9 seconds left. Tajuan Porter had 21 big points for Oregon on just 9 shots.

Loyola-IL 75, (15) Butler 71. Rough one for the Bulldogs, who have actually lost three of their last five. Blake Schilb, who might be the best player in the Horizon League, torched Butler for 28 ... and the loss leaves them a half game behind Wright State in the conference standings. Speaking of which ...

Youngstown State 72, Wright State 57. The Penguins came out of nowhere to pull the Horizon League shocker on Wright State. Fortunately for the Raiders, Loyola-IL also took care of Butler, so they end up clinging to their conference lead. Youngstown State's Quin Humphrey led all scorers with 35.

Duke 71, Clemson 66. Very nice win for Duke, beating a tough opponent on the road at a crucial point in their season. They led most of the game -- by 21 at halftime -- and kept the lead around the 10-point mark for most of the second half. On the road in the ACC, it doesn't get a lot more impressive than that. Clemson, meanwhile, might be sliding off the bubble completely with a 5-8 conference record.

Hofstra 68, UNC-Wilmington 65. The sad-sack UNCW Seahawks almost jumped up and bit Hofstra. The Colonial Athletic Association bottom feeders went back and forth with Hofstra all night, but Antoine Agudio's 30 were enough to get the Pride the win.

(4) UCLA 85, Cal 75. One night, Lorenzo Mata is like a dunk Ben Wallace at the free-throw line. The next, he's like Chauncey Billups. Mata's at 30% on the season from the charity stripe, but hit 8 of 9 last night to boost UCLA to victory. The Bruins trailed most of the first half, but imposed their will in the second.

Kennesaw State 67, Mercer 51. I've been waiting all year for things to come together for Kennesaw State ... and finally, they have. The 12-18 Owls pimpslapped the Mercer Bears all night long. Ten players scored for Kennesaw State, and Ronell Wooten led them with 19.

(1) Ohio State 68, Penn State 60. A win's a win, I suppose, but ... beating Penn State by single digits at home is a cry for help. I guess I should congratulate Penn State for their incredible ability to drag other teams down to their level. Jamar Butler had 18, and Greg Oden had 17 and 14.

Mississippi State 83, (21) Vanderbilt 70. Jamont Gordon combines a lot of things. As evidenced by his triple-double, he combines the ability to score, distribute and rebound. As evidenced by his first name, he combines "Jamaal" and "Lamont." It's all about things coming together, and last night, they did, as the Bulldogs pulled the upset.

(14) Southern Illinois 58, Indiana State 50. That was very nearly a disaster for the Salukis ... Indiana State's the worst team in the MVC, but they almost tripped up Southern Illinois. Their reputation remains intact, though, as they came back in the second half. 15 each for Tony Young and Jamaal Tatum.

Miami (FL) 68, (19) Virginia 60. This is not the kind of loss that you like to have when you're trying to boost your tournament seeding. Virginia lost to one of the ACC's worst last night. Hurricane Jack McClinton hit a couple of clutch threes down the stretch to get the win.

Xavier 98, Rhode Island 72. Pretty significant game in the Atlantic 10 last night between a couple of teams that would like to argue that the A-10 is better than a one-bid conference. Xavier ghetto-stomped Rhode Island, pushing their record to 20-7 overall, and 10-3 in the conference. Rhode Island is 17-11 (10-4).

UMass 83, St. Bonaventure 44. Sticking with the A-10 for a second, it was also home to last night's most savage beating. The Bonnies, as you might expect from a team named so unfortunately, are bad.

Virginia Tech 79, Boston College 62. Virginia Tech pussed their conference record to 9-4, getting back to within a game of UNC for the top spot. Zabian Dowdell had 23.

Michigan State 64, (2) Wisconsin 55. That's a pretty nice little resume builder, no? The bubble-bound Spartans might've done enough last night to get themselves on the good side of the bubble, knocking off the #2 (or #1, depending on who you believe) team in all of college basketball. Drew Neitzel was incredible all night long, making plays, willing the ball into the bucket, and willing his team to victory. Neitzel had 28, and it left Tom Izzo on the brink of tears. Which I didn't really need to see.

(20) Texas 80, Texas Tech 51. Texas Tech was another bubble team with a chance to make a statement against a highly-regarded opponent. And they did make a statement, but that statement was, "Yes, please ... go ahead and beat our ass." Texas just rolled. It wasn't close past the 4-minute mark in the first half. Stat of the night: Every Texas player was in double figures, while no Texas Tech player was in double figures. That has to be rare.

Providence 64, (18) West Virginia 61. You live by the three, you die by the three ... it's a cliche, but it's true. When your shot is falling, you're capable of beating teams that you have no business beating. When it's not, though, you can lose to teams who have no business beating you. West Virginia shot (State of the night #2) 9-of-41 on the evening from beyond the arc, and they still had a chance to win it at the end. Providence got 24 from Weyinmi Efejuku.

UNLV 60, (13) Air Force 50. Consider this all Stat of the night #3: Just one game seperates them in the standings. Both are 10-4 in the conference, Air Force is 23-5, while UNLV is 23-6. Air Force is 13th in the RPI, and UNLV is 14th. And yet, Air Force is ranked 13th in the country, while UNLV is still answering questions about their postseason resume. That's amazing... it's crazy how this all works. And, oh yeah, they knocked off Air Force last night, getting 14 points from Kevin Kruger.

Missouri State 71, Wichita State 65. That puts Wichita State's slide at three games, while Missouri State keeps itself in line for an at-large bid. The Shockers shot a much better percentage from the floor, but extra possessions (just 4 turnovers to Wichita State's 11) and three-point shooting earned them the road W.

Tennessee Tech 73, Austin Peay 72. And tonight's Player of the night: Ah, Neitzel will get enough attention, let's give it to Golden Eagle Anthony Fisher, who finished with 30 points. Austin Peay already has the regular season OVC title sewn up, so they probably won't lose a lot of sleep, but Anthony Fisher? You go ahead and party down in Cookeville, buddy.

Kentucky 70, LSU 63. If Kentucky had lost, it would've been their first four-game losing streak since John Pelphrey took the floor in a UK jersey. At least Tim Hardaway will be pleased.

(6) Kansas 71, Kansas State 62. They might as well just go ahead and paint a big Jayhawk in the middle of K-State's home court. This one was a big deal for the Wildcats ... Huggy targeted it as the day they'd finally beat Kansas, and the fans collaborated to all wear black (it's slimming), but unfortunately, none of that means that the Wildcats can compete with the Jayhawks just yet. 17 for Mario Chalmers and 20 on 8-of-11 shooting from Sherron Collins.

(8) Pittsburgh 71, Seton Hall 68. Stat of the night: Pitt is 6-0 in conference road games. I don't care who you are, in what conference ... that is manly. It speaks to Pitt's veteran leadership, and their ability to play a number of different styles. As for Seton Hall, you wouldn't know it from their record, but it doesn't feel like they're the same train wreck they were last year. It's a long, slow process, but Bobby Gonzalez has things moving in the right direction.

(16) Marquette, Villanova 67. Coming off three straight losses, it was important for Marquette to get back in the win column, and they did, against a quality opponent. It was a night for the freshmen ... Lazar Hayward had 17 for the Golden Eagles, and Scottie Reynolds had 25 for Villanova. Reynolds is going to be special.

(15) Butler 68, Wisconsin-Green Bay 58. Despite only hitting 35% of his shots, A.J. Graves was still able to lead all scorers. People were interested to see how he'd respond after the flu and the Salukis bottled him up on Saturday. He did not hesitate to launch. 17 from Brandon Crone, too.

Gonzaga 87, Portland 67. This one got out of hand quickly. It really escalated. It jumped up a notch. Portland was down 15 just 10 minutes into the game, and never got closer. Derek Raivio had 20 in his final home game.

New Jersey Institute of Technology 78, Longwood 74. Longwood was shriveled by the Highlanders, as Nesho "The War Criminal" Milosevic had 21 and 10, while Marc Millbourne Swan had 19.

(7) UCLA 67, Arizona State 21. "We were fortunate tonight, frankly, to get out of here with the win," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "But we played well down the stretch and made free throws when we needed them." Translation: "Thank God Arizona State sucks that bad." UCLA needed to come back from 10 down with 11 minutes to play to beat the 0-14 in the conference Sun Devils.

Cal 63, (17) Oregon 61. The Oregon free fall continues. They've lost five of seven, this one a particularly egregious loss. Cal was in the midst of a pretty sorry streak themselves, having lost six straight. Cal fans rushed the court ... which I guess is tradition now when you beat the #17 team in the country and the win gets you one game above .500. Ryan Anderson led the Bears with 18.

Purdue 81, (19) Indiana 68. It was close for 3/4th of the game, but at about the 10:00 mark of the second half, Purdue got hot, and Indiana couldn't recover. Three balls started going down (Purdue was 8-of-17 on the night), and the Hoosiers couldn't keep pace. David Teague, who sat out all of last year with a torn ACL, put up 32 big points for Purdue.

(23) USC 80, (24) Arizona 75. Lodrick Stewart was pretty good for a guy who didn't practice all week. He came off the bench after fighting an illness for the past few days, and scored 36 points in 30 extremely efficient minutes. He was 11-of-15 from the floor. Nick Young also had 26 for the Trojans, who hadn't beaten Arizona at the McKale Center in 21 years.

Notre Dame 81, Providence 78. It's difficult to win close games when you go for six-minute stretches in the second half without getting a point. That's the lesson Providence learned last night. Colin Falls led Notre Dame with 16.

UMass 74, Fordham 59. Fordham, whose logo reminds me of the Dodge logo, was gutted like a fish in the second half. Stephane Lasme led the Minutement with 18 points and 10 boards, as UMass enjoyed a 44-point second half.

IUPUI 75, Southern Utah 74. There is never a night off the Mid-Continent conference. IUPUI and SUU played a classic on Thursday night, and Austin Montgomery's layup with under 2 seconds to play sealed it for the Jags.

Duke 78, (21) Boston College 70. It would probably be excessively mean to call Duke the Boston Celtics of the NCAA, but ... much like the Celtics did last night, Duke also snapped a losing streak. They did it by beating the stuffing out of the ACC-leading Boston College Eagles. The final margin of victory was 8, but that's deceiving ... Duke led by as many as 24 in the second half.

DePaul 72, (13) Marquette 67. Tom Crean spent the post-game press conference complaining that the refs couldn't hear his plea for a timeout, but ... Marquette lost by five, and the shot that Marquette ended up getting sans timeout would've only closed the margin to two. It's not like it clearly cost them the game or anything. The officials didn't make Dominic James force a contested three-ball that hit nothing but air.

(1) Florida 76, Alabama 67. Alabama had them down 18 in the second half, but it was like Florida suddenly remembered they were Florida after the break. They started making shots, they started pushing the tempo ... they forced the Tide to do things they didn't want to do, and they couldn't handle it.

(2) Ohio State 64, Penn State 62. This was one of those games where the second half was the completely opposite of the first half. The Buckeyes led by 21 at the break, but relaxed in the second half (that will always cost you), and Ohio State just missed a three-ball at the buzzer that would've won it.

Drake 62, Wichita State 58. The Missouri Valley might be a three-bid conference, it might even get four ... but it almost assuredly won't get five, and this loss keeps Wichita State in that fifth place spot. The Shockers really couldn't afford this one.

Tulane 86, Central Florida 80. UCF suffered a big blow in their quest to finish second in Conference USA behind Memphis. This will hurt their NIT seeding. The Green Wave, meanwhile continues to fight for a .500 record, and are now one game above at 12-11.

La Salle 77, Temple 72. Rough night for The Cos. Bill Cosby's dog didn't win at Westminster, and his Owls couldn't get a road win over lowly La Salle. Then again, Temple's pretty lowly themselves, these days.

Texas Tech 77, (6) Texas A&M 75. It's always been Bob Knight's policy to not call timeouts and set up plays at the end of games. His thinking is that his team should be better prepared for that situation than the other team, so don't give the other guys a chance to stop, reset, and think about what they're going to do. He trusts that his guys will know what to do, and it will give them an advantage. With six seconds left to play, A&M's Acie Law came off a ball screen to bury a jumper at the top of the key, and Knight opted against the timeout. Jarius Jackson took it the length of the court and pulled up for a short jumper. Perfectly calm and composed, he stuck it. Tech wins a great game between two very good teams.

(25) Virginia Tech 81, (4) North Carolina 80. Has Frank Beamer taken over the basketball program or something? Noted basketball school Virginia Tech went on the road and won in Chapel Hill last night, edging the 'Heels 81-80 in overtime. It's the second time this year that the Hokies have beaten UNC, and it brings their conference record to 8-3. When VT joined the ACC, people were worried that they'd drag down the quality of the conference's basketball, but they didn't think it would be because they made the conference's best teams look like chumps.

Tennessee 89, (18) Kentucky 85. On a night when you retire Bernard King's jersey, you better come strong with it. Tennessee did, pulling off the mild upset of Kentucky. When King was a freshman at Tennessee, he lost to Tennessee, and then vowed that it would never happen again. It didn't. Not during the rest of his playing career, and not last night. 23 points for Chris Lofton.

Michigan State 59, Michigan 44. This was a close, hotly-contested game until there were about 6:00 to play in the game, and Drew Neitzel decided he longer wanted the game to be close. He and Raymar Morgan took over and won it going away. Both teams are bubblicious right now, with Michigan in worse shape at the moment.

Creighton 66, Northern Iowa 55. That should just about do it for UNI's tournament hopes. Creighton guard Nick Porter was dazzling all night, and Dane Watts had the outside stroke going to get the home win.

Iowa State 58, Oklahoma 51. The question has been plaguing college basketball for a long time, and still, no one has an answers: How do you stop Jiri Hubalek? Jiri had a career-high 26.

Stetson 88, Savannah State 74. That'll teach you to mess with the Hatters. The schedule gets tough for Stetson after this, though. They play the Scarfers, the Pantsers, and the Lingeriers.