Upset Saturday Surely Turning Heads...

It was "upset Saturday" in the college basketball ranks, and that's putting it mild.

Virginia Tech (19-8, 9-5 ACC) is strongly making its case for a berth in the NCAA's field of 68. The host Hokies upset #1-ranked Duke (26-3, 12-2 ACC) 64-60 on Saturday night in Blacksburg.

Kansas State all but punched its ticket to the Big Dance. The Wildcats (20-9, 8-6 Big 12) upended 21st-ranked Missouri (22-9, 8-6) by an 80-70 score in Manhattan, thanks to 24 points from Jacob Pullen and 15 from Curtis Kelly.

Colorado (18-11, 7-7 Big 12) helped its cause as a bubble team by nipping the #5 Texas Longhorns (24-5, 12-2) in Boulder, 91-89 on Saturday night. With Nebraska (18-10, 6-8) losing to Iowa State 83-82 in OT on Saturday, this makes Colorado's win over Texas that much bigger AND it also makes March 5th's regular season finale at home against Nebraska just that much bigger of a game. It depends on if the Buffaloes and Cornhuskers make any noise in the Big 12 tournament, whether or not the NCAA selects one or both for the NCAA tournament's field of 68.

#20 Syracuse (24-6, 11-6) and winners of four in a row, played some great defense at #11 Georgetown (21-8, 10-7) on Saturday, 58-51. Spoiling the Hoyas' Senior Day, Scoop Jardine dropped in 17 for the Orange, leading all scorers, and Austin Freeman led Georgetown with 16.

Staying in the Big East conference, what has Steve Lavin done with the St. John's Red Storm??!! #25 St. John's (19-9, 11-5) won a huge road game at #14 Villanova (21-8, 9-7) in convincing fashion, 81-68. Dwight Hardy is also making a case for Big East player of the year honors as well. Hardy lit up the nets for 34 points on 9-of-16 from the floor (5-9 on 3's) and is averaging 17.9 in Lavin's first season at the helm.With this win over Villanova, St. John's has no won 6 games over Top 15 teams. They've won six games in a row and look to finish on a strong note this week at Seton Hall and at home versus South Florida before "hosting" the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden March 8-12.

#7 BYU (27-2, 13-1 MWC) showed that the NCAA Selection Committee should consider the Cougars as a possible #1 seed. Led by Jimmer Fredette's 25 points and 9 assists, BYU beat down the #4 San Diego State Aztecs (27-2, 12-2 MWC) on SDSU's home floor, 80-67. The Aztecs' lone two losses came at the hands of BYU, each of them by 13 points. Fredette wasn't the focal point of the Cougar offense. Charles Abouo had 18 (9 rebounds), Noah Hartsock 15 (4 blocks) and Jackson Emery 13 (3 steals) as BYU showed the nation how good they really are.

UCLA (21-8, 12-4 Pac 10) had the widest margin of victory on Saturday as they took the #10 Arizona Wildcats (23-6, 12-4) straight to the woodshed in a 71-49 thumping at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. 

#22 Kentucky (20-8, 8-6 SEC) came away with a 76-68 victory over #13 Florida (22-6, 11-3 SEC) at Rupp Arena. This win over the Gators extends the Wildcats' home winning streak to 33 games.

More college basketball talk to come this week! Great weekend of college hoops. Lots of upsets and more to come. It's almost Christmas in March (March Madness)!!