About last night in Hoops

One of the banes of college basketball is the unwillingness of teams from the BCS 6 who refuse to go on the road during the out-of-conference season, not even to face a team from another BCS 6 conference. At least North Carolina has the balls to schedule mid-majors on the road, winning one such game vs. the College of Charleston on the other hand, not so much. In actually, the Cougars had an 11-0 run to win at the end of regulation, then played a masterful performance in OT to secure the win. The result is that the Heels' RPI ranking on Rivals.com is now 58th. Expect that to improve the rest of the season. While the Cougars now assume the role of Southern Conference favorites. Now we wait for Duke to come into someone else's gym for an OOC game, fat chance it ever happens.

Last night was a stake in the heart of the Colonial's chance to earn an at-large bid to the dance. William & Mary's 10-game winning streak ended after blowing an 8 point lead to UNC Wilmington at home, losing it on a tip-in in the final 3 seconds. Virginia Commonwealth on the other hand, continued to be dominated in it's owh house by Northeastern, who extends their winning streak at the Siegel Pavillion to 3 games. Who ever wins the regular season title will be the most likely at-large hopeful, but upsets by the bottom-feeders will make this task more difficult for the leaders.

Instead of a letdown in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh was able to edge the Bearcats in a closely fought contest. The Panthers, fresh off of giving Syracuse it's first loss are now 3-0 in conference play and their seeding will rise at least one or 2 lines come next week. The Bearcats however, are looking at a stay on the bubble.

Mississippi State shot itself in the foot again, losing at Western Kentucky(Maybe the Heels and Bulldogs can start a support group...When BCS 6 teams go on the road at a non-BCS 6 school and lose). After losses to Rider and Richmond, the last thing the Bulldogs needed was to lose to another non-BCS 6 school. They may now need to do some significant damage in Southeastern Conference play to stay on the good side of the cut line.