As if the college basketball gods had looked down and smiled, the first weekend of March was filled with regular-season action that resembled postseason play. Complete with upsets, blowouts and top-ranked teams getting pushed to the brink, the first two days of the best month of the year proved to be the most exciting of the season so far.
On Saturday, legendary Duke Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski went for his 800th career win in a road game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Led by point guard Greg Paulus, the Devils overcame a halftime deficit to pull out the big win in Raleigh, 87-86. At game's end, the Duke players swarmed Coach K in an impromptu celebratory huddle.
Duke's Tobacco Road rivals, the North Carolina Tar Heels, also received a big scare of their own this weekend. Down the road in Chestnut Hill, coach Roy Williams' Heels had to contend with an all-time great performance from Tyrese Rice, the point guard for the host Boston College Eagles. Hitting eight of his first nine three-pointers, Rice had the Eagles thinking upset as they held an 18-point lead early in the second half.
UNC, however, was simply too strong, and Rice, who finished with a remarkable 46 points, failed to find support from his BC teammates. Even Eagle big man John Oates proved unable to weather the inevitable Tar Heel offensive storm.
North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough dropped 25 points and the Heels made a strong second-half comeback, eventually winning 90-80. The game marked the return of the previously injured Ty Lawson, whose absence left UNC without competent point guard play for the past few weeks. With Lawson back, look for the Tar Heels to resume destroying opponents the way they did before he was hurt.
Turning to the Big 12, the previously No. 5 Texas Longhorns stumbled and saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end Saturday. In Lubbock, Texas, the Texas Tech Red Raiders rode an excellent all-around performance from senior guard Martin Zeno, stunning the Longhorns 83-80.
After a 44-point loss to the Texas A&M Aggies last week, the Raiders gave coach Pat Knight the biggest win of his young career.
He's going to need to ride this one for a while, though, considering that Texas Tech lost to the Kansas Jayhawks Monday, 109-51.
While most of the weekend's best games saw contests fought between a powerhouse and a middle-of-the road squad or an all-out bottom feeder, a Big East thriller Saturday featured two solid Top 25 teams. In Milwaukee, the Georgetown Hoyas took down the Marquette Golden Eagles in overtime, 70-68.
The tough road victory arguably solidified Georgetown's status as one of the top teams in the country. Star center Roy Hibbert, standing at 7-foot-2 and weighing 275 pounds, was dominant as usual, tossing in 20 points. Senior point guard Jonathan Wallace added 20 of his own, including three free throws with 2.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it to extra time.
Sunday saw the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers spar with the Kentucky Wildcats in hopes of getting over last week's tough loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Wildcats, a team plagued by inconsistency all season, found themselves without their star forward Patrick Patterson, who was recently sidelined for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury. Nevertheless the Wildcats gave Vols coach Bruce Pearl and company quite a scare, on the road no less. Sharpshooter Chris Lofton netted 14 points as UT barely held on for a 63-60 win.
In East Lansing, Mich., the Michigan State Spartans defied Big 10 standards by putting out a huge offensive effort to the tune of a 103-74 victory over the Indiana Hoosiers, who are still trying to fully regroup after the firing of coach Kelvin Sampson. Hoosier freshman Eric Gordon was solid as usual, scoring 22.
Out West, Kevin Love shocked nobody in scoring another double-double, his 18th of the year. This one was extra important, though, as Love's UCLA Bruins were pushed to the brink on the road against the Arizona Wildcats. Chase Budinger and stalwart freshman Jerry Bayless paced Arizona, but they were unable to seal the deal in Tucson against a Bruins team that has its eyes fixed firmly on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
