The day that was in college basketball

Lots and lots of action on Saturday. Some bubble teams got big wins which may put them over the hump, Texas showed why they were the best team in the Big 12 in a big way, and as I talked about in my last post, we had a record set. Let's jump right in:

- #1 Duke beat Temple 74-66 on the back of Shelden Williams, who had 23 points and 12 rebounds. But what I found most interesting about this game was how Temple played JJ Redick. They made sure someone was tightly on Redick all the time, even within their zone. They made other guys beat them, which they had a tough time doing. From experience, I've sorta been in JJ's shoes, where it looked like Temple was face-guarding him, and this is frustrating as an offensive player. You have to work extra hard to get open to get the ball, and once you do, there's one or two guys on you so you don't get a good shot. It clearly hampered Redick, as he was 3-10 with 11 points. Definitely something to keep watch for, because Duke is not good enough to go far without Redick. Food for thought:

Paulus: 3-6 FG
Dockery: 1-4 FG
Nelson: 3-8 FG
Melchionni: 1-3 FG

And this was getting wide open looks because of all the attention on JJ. Duke only won by 8 against Temple, who is now 15-11. This is something to watch for, because if you want to beat Duke, you either have to A) get Shelden Williams in foul trouble or B) shut down Redick. This may be a way how.

- #7 Texas estabslished that they are in fact the best in the Big 12, as they stomped a very good and very hot Kansas team 80-55. The only thing that concerns me for Texas was Daniel Gibson's performance - 6 points and 4 fouls in 23 minutes. Sometime in the tourney, they're going to need him to carry them, and if he doesn't play better, they can't win it all.

- In the SEC, Arkansas beat Tennessee 73-69 in a game that should get Arkansas into the tourney, especially since this one was played in Tennessee, and the Vols were #3 in the RPI before the game. Ronnie Brewer continues to impress, as even though he only had 9 points, he also had 9 assists and pulled down 5 rebounds. As Ken Pomeroy calculates, Arkansas was 22 in the nation in pythagorean winning percentage before the game, so they could be dangerous.

- A dandy between NC State and Boston College, as BC prevails 74-72 in 2 OT. Craig Smith had a nice day with 18 points and 14 rebounds, and the NC State balanced attack was there as usual, as their leading scorers had 16, 14, 12, and 10. I like both of these teams and think both are capable of making the Sweet 16, and maybe even the Elite Eight in the right bracket. Both are well coached and they are balanced, which is nice.

- Two good Big 10 teams won today, as Illinois beat Iowa 72-58 in Champaign, and Ohio St. beat Michigan 64-54 in Columbus. I like Illinois a little more come tourney time because they play some of the best defense in the nation and because Dee Brown is capable of controlling games by himself, but Ohio St. could be very dangerous if they are hitting shots from the outside. They didn't do that today, but got a very solid performance from Terrence Dials, but if they want to make a run, they need the outside shooting to consistently be there.

- One NBA note, because I have to give the Sixers some love after beating Chicago 108-102. However, I'm not complimenting them because they beat Chicago, but it was how they did it that was impressive. Consider this: Michael Bradley, Steven Hunter, and Kevin Ollie started, and Shavlik Randolph was their leading rebounder. And they won an NBA game. Incredible. On another good note, from the numbers, Iguodala looks to have carried the momentum he got during the All-Star break into the season, scoring 20 points tonight.

Is it March yet?