Good news for college basketball fans: it's now less than a month until Selection Sunday. Between now and March 11, every game a team plays could be the difference-maker between being in the tourney, on the bubble - or excluded entirely.
And for the first time in over two decades, a Mike Krzyzewski-coached Duke squad could face that third fate. It's hard to believe that just two weeks ago, Duke was ranked eighth in the country with an 18-3 record. Now, the Blue Devils have dropped four-straight games in ACC play, most recently losing to the Maryland Terrapins 72-60 on Sunday, to drop Duke's record to 18-7, and 5-6 in the ACC.
The loss knocked Duke out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1996, and its four-game losing streak is the school's longest in 11 years. With tough road games at Boston College, Clemson, and archrival North Carolina still on the schedule, a .500 finish in league play could be difficult - and only two teams with 7-9 records in the ACC have reached the tournament in the last eight years.
Meanwhile, as one perennial power struggles, an upstart from the south continues to shine. The defending national champion and top-ranked Florida Gators knocked off No. 18 Kentucky in front of a record crowd of 24,465 at Rupp Arena on Saturday.
Powered by potential NBA lottery pick Corey Brewer's team-high 16 points and seven rebounds, the Gators beat the Wildcats for the fifth-straight time, becoming the first team to accomplish the feat in more than 30 years.
The preseason favorite in both the AP and coaches' polls for the first time in school history, Florida has not disappointed so far this season. Returning the nucleus of Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Taurean Green - four players with first-round talent from last year's national championship squad - makes the Gators the odds-on favorite to repeat come March.
In the Big East, Pittsburgh seemed firmly in control of the top spot until Monday night, when the No. 5 Panthers ran into a Louisville Cardinals team on a mission. The Rick Pitino-led Cardinals ran roughshod in front of a stunned Pittsburgh crowd en route to taking a 36-19 halftime lead, and the squad never looked back, winning 66-53.
Using the coach's trademark aggressive-defensive scheme, a 2-3 matchup zone, Louisville neutralized preseason Big East Player of the Year Aaron Gray inside and held Pitt to just 3-of-22 shooting from long range.
In other league play, Georgetown continued its recent strong performance, defeating No. 22 West Virginia on Monday to notch its eighth-consecutive win.
The Hoyas, a potential tournament darkhorse, rank among the nation's best teams in field goal percentage allowed and are the only Big East team shooting over 50 percent from the floor.
It hasn't been a good few days for annual tournament darling Gonzaga. The police arrested two players on Friday night, sophomore Josh Heytvelt and freshman Theo Davis, for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and felonious possession of psychedelic mushrooms.
Heytvelt was the Bulldogs' leading scorer and rebounder, at 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, and was considered a frontrunner for the West Coast Conference Player of the Year award before the team indefinitely suspended him following the incident.
On Monday, Gonzaga dropped its first game at home in 50 contests, losing to Santa Clara 84-73 and surrendering first place in the WCC to the Broncos. The Bulldogs have a good record, but their unsightly computer numbers (RPI 57, SOS 94) will keep them out of the Big Dance unless they right their ship immediately.
