A big flurry of activity. Here's who helped themselves (and hurt Maryland) and vice versa:
MOVING UP
For some teams, it was an "erase all doubt" day. Among those who shouldn't be sweating are West Virginia, Baylor, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Kansas State and Arkansas. Most of them were in great shape anyway; now, they just don't have to hear about bad possibilities this week.
UNLV, Massachusetts, New Mexico , Villanova and Arizona State didn't trip up.
Dayton continued its trip back from the dead, beating Saint Joseph's in the Flyers' airplane hangar to win their third straight. Dayton still has those victories over Pittsburgh and Louisville; now what the Flyers need are victories over Saint Louis and Xavier to open the A-10 tournament. At 20-9 (8-8 in the league), things suddenly look a lot brighter for Dayton.
Speaking of the A-10, Temple maintained its surge, beating La Salle to earn the No. 2 seed in the league tournament.
Mississippi will have to be reckoned with at some point. The Rebels won at Georgia to move to 7-9 in the SEC and 21-9. They'll face the Bulldogs again on Thursday in the SEC tournament.
Syracuse won't go quietly. The Orange almost predictably took out Marquette, and are now off to Carrier Dome East (MSG) to solidify their resume.
Oregon is back in play after sweeping two games this week, including yesterday's victory over Arizona.
No huge surprises in the three conference title games. Winthrop, Austin Peay and Belmont all win. UNC Asheville and 7-foot-7 Kenny George becomes the first team to lock itself into the NIT. They could be coming to a major conference arena near you in another week and a half.
In the tournaments still in progress, Davidson and Virginia Commonwealth won quarterfinals, while Drake and Illinois State won their Valley semifinals and Butler won a Horizon semifinal.
MOVING DOWN
No team is more confounding than Arizona. The Wildcats are 18-13, but have a great profile on paper. They really could have used a win at Oregon to avoid a Pac-10 tournament play-in game. They'll get roadkill Oregon State in the opener, then Stanford. Losing to Oregon State would be the basketball equivalent of walking around with a scarlet letter.
People want to say Miami is a bubble team. I'm not really buying it. The Hurricanes played well early, played well late and have a signature victory and a great RPI. Their seeding might get damaged with a quick flameout in the ACC tournament, but they're probably safely in the field even after losing at Florida State yesterday.
Conference USA took it on the chin yesterday, with both UAB and Houston losing games. Neither team is all that accomplished, and you've got to do something even in a bad year for the field. "Something" does not include being down 28 at the half to Memphis (like UAB was) or losing at Texas-El Paso (as Houston did).
Saint Joseph's did not need to lose at Dayton. They're right back in a precarious position, and they'd be wise to beat Fordham and Richmond in the A-10 tournament. The first two days of that event will be utter madness, with a bubble team potentially playing in all but one of the first eight games of the tournament.
Creighton joins Southern Illinois on the sideline as traditional Valley powers that are NIT bound.
A team continuing a long slide was Texas A&M. The Aggies have dropped five of seven, but still have victories over Kansas and Texas to their credit. They'd be wise not to lose to a Nebraska/Missouri/Iowa State type to open Big 12 tournament play.
Rhode Island really must not want to make the tournament. The Rams tumbled to Charlotte, and get the 49ers again on Wednesday.
--- Patrick Stevens
