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For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Middle Tennessee and Rice – CLICK HERE.

Be on the lookout tonight for a double feature podcast – we will have our season premiere of the Bracket Racket podcast along with our weekly Under-The-Radar podcast tonight.

All good things eventually come to an end, and last night was no exception. Villanova’s 20-game winning streak that dates back to last year’s NCAA Tournament run was snapped by Butler last night thanks to the Bulldogs’ 66-58 triumph at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It was Butler’s 2nd win over a #1 team in program history.

Duke won comfortably at home against Georgia Tech in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game before back surgery tomorrow. The big story from last night’s blowout win was Grayson Allen’s reinstatement into the Duke starting lineup. It turns out that “indefinite” would be defined as one game for his series of tripping incidents. While a one-game suspension is somewhat in line with what you would see in the NBA for excessive technicals in a season (or accumulated yellow/red cards in soccer), calling this an indefinite suspension was a joke from the get-go. At least Jeff Capel has one less distraction to deal with as he takes the coaching reigns for Duke now.

Baylor survived their first stiff test at home against Iowa State, and if they’re able to beat Oklahoma State at home this weekend, there is an excellent chance the Bears will be ranked #1 next weekend. That ranking would immediately be put to the test with a road swing at West Virginia and Kansas State next week.

All the home teams held serve last night in the ACC. Syracuse finally beat a major program with a decisive win over Miami at home, and Louisville and Virginia were also upset on the road against Notre Dame and Pitt, respectively. However, the only blowout that was not bigger than Duke’s win was NC State thrashing Virginia Tech in Raleigh.

Teams that did manage to win tougher-than-expected games last night included Michigan at home against Penn State, Fort Wayne on the road at Omaha, and Houston at home over Tulsa.

South Carolina once again looked like an NCAA Tournament-caliber team with Sindarius Thornwell back in the lineup after a 6-game suspension. They won by 6 at Georgia – it gives them a little payback against a team that helped to send the Gamecocks to the NIT last season. They’ve still got a ton of work to do in the SEC, but at least beating an NIT-caliber Georgia team in a hostile environment is a good start.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-PURDUE AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten).  Purdue has had a good season so far, but they are still looking for their first true road win.  Ohio State has more warts than good wins on their profile and needs to get it turned around soon or they’ll be watching the tournament on TV.

-UCONN AT MEMPHIS (American).  Memphis has an outside shot at best to get in.  They certainly can’t afford to lose at home to non-tournament teams.

-UNC WILMINGTON AT DREXEL (Colonial).  If UNCW picks this up it will be their sixth true road win of the year.

-IOWA AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten).  Nebraska is coming off two huge road wins that seems to have landed them inside the bubble.  If they want to stay in that range they need to hold serve and beat non-tournament teams at home.

-MINNESOTA AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten).  Both of these teams are off to great starts and both are looking to continue to grow their profiles.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of these teams in the NCAAs.

-CALIFORNIA AT UCLA (Pac Twelve).  I really like this UCLA team and am expecting them to end up as a #1 or #2 seed.  Cal is actually to a point to where they need a monster win like this in order to get their season turned around.

-COLORADO AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve).  Colorado was a team that we liked coming into the season that has been somewhat disappointing up to this point.  This is the kind of game they should be expected to win even though it’s a road game.

-GONZAGA AT SAN FRANCISCO (West Coast).  The Zags have blown through their schedule so far, and even though San Francisco is one of the better teams in this conference and could make Gonzaga sweat a little bit, it’s still a game they can probably easily win.

-UTAH AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve).  Arizona shouldn’t have too much trouble picking this one up at home.  Utah has a good record up to this point, but doesn’t have any monster wins yet.  If the Utes do somehow pull the upset it would really boost up their resume.

-STANFORD AT USC (Pac Twelve).  USC was clobbered against Oregon in their last game, and needs to rebound in a winnable home game tonight.

-BYU AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast).  These are two of the better teams in the WCC.  If BYU wants any shot at all of making the NCAA Tournament, they need to pick up a road win against either SMC or Gonzaga.

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Long Beach State and UC-Irvine – CLICK HERE.

For Jon Teitel’s interview with USF interim head coach Murry Bartow – CLICK HERE.

Last night was the Super Tuesday debut on the ESPN family of networks, and it did not fail to disappoint. The biggest surprise last night was Texas Tech pulling off an upset at home over West Virginia with a 77-76 win. Anthony Livingston hit the game-winner for the Red Raiders with under 5 seconds left in overtime. Texas Tech still has a bit of a bloated record, but they now have a win of substance to prop that record up a bit.

We’ve said for most of the year that TCU may be primed to potentially make a postseason run under Jamie Dixon – they were able to beat Oklahoma 60-57 at home last night. They’ll have a bigger test this weekend when they go to West Virginia.

Kansas also survived an upset bid at home against in-state rival Kansas State with a 90-88 victory. They went the length of the floor to hit the game-winner, but it was not without controversy – travelling was not called on the final shot.

And speaking of controversy – North Carolina needed overtime to survive against a game Clemson team on the road. Clemson head coach Brad Brownell was very unhappy in the postgame handshake line and had words with Roy Williams – this was mainly due to Kennedy Meeks taunting the Clemson bench during the game, from what I can understand.

In the Big Ten, Wisconsin gets roadkill with a 75-68 win at Indiana’s Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers have now lost 3 straight games and it may be looking more and more like an abberration that they were able to beat Kansas on Opening Night.

In the SEC, Arkansas was able to rebound on the road with a win at Tennessee – no small feat considering the Vols have been playing some of their best basketball this year with wins at East Tennessee State and Texas A&M. A&M looks to be in deep trouble after getting disemboweled at Rupp Arena – the Wildcats won 100-58.

If you happened to see any of the East Carolina-UCF game last night, our deepest sympathies go out to you. Neither team shot above 30% from the field in this one, but the Knights prevailed 48-45 thanks to clutch free throw shooting.

Given that the Atlantic 10 isn’t going to provide many opportunities for signature wins, it was good for both Dayton and Rhode Island to get some wins of note last night. The Rams had no trouble beating Saint Joe’s at home, and the Flyers pulled away from St. Bonaventure on the road last night. Neither team has much margin for error as far as at-large hopes go, though.

Orlando Antigua was also dismissed from his position as South Florida’s head coach yesterday. Antigua was 23-55 in 2 and a half seasons at South Florida – assistant coach Murry Bartow will take over as head coach for the remainder of the season.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-RUTGERS AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Michigan State has won six of their last seven and is off to a good start in Big Ten play.  They shouldn’t have too much trouble against a Rutgers team who is better, but still has a long way to go.

-VILLANOVA AT BUTLER (Big East).  This should be a fun one.  Butler has had some slip ups, but at home they’ve looked fantastic.  Getting to host top ranked Nova, who is well deserving of the #1 ranking, is a great showcase game for them.

-AUBURN AT VANDERBILT (SEC).  Auburn has work to do, and they need to win games like this one.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA (SEC).  You get the sense that both teams really need this win.  South Carolina got off to a great start, but has been teetering lately and a road win like this could get them turned back around.  Georgia still has a lot of work to do as well.

-GEORGIA TECH AT DUKE (ACC).  Georgia Tech is coming off a stunning win against North Carolina.  If they pick this one up, then they will have perhaps undergone the most drastic and sudden turnaround that any team has ever undergone.  This is also Coach K’s last game before he has back surgery on Friday.  We wish him a speedy recovery

-MIAMI FL AT SYRACUSE (ACC).  Miami needs to build up their profile and picking up road wins is a good way to do it.  Syracuse just needs to…well…stop losing to bad teams. Or, for that matter, actually beat a team from a major conference for the first time this season.

-VCU AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten).  In our latest bracketology we had VCU right on the bubble.  They need to blow through this conference and avoid losses in games like this in order to feel safe on Selection Sunday.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT TEXAS (Big Twelve).  Texas’s tailspin continues.  Oklahoma State has a fairly strong profile and if they hold serve in conference, which means winning games like this, they should be fine for a bid.

-IOWA STATE AT BAYLOR (Big Twelve).  Baylor has an incredible profile right now, but they will definitely be challenged in conference play.  Iowa State has work to do.  They haven’t won a true road game yet.  Winning tonight would be a tall order but if they do somehow pull it off their resume will drastically improve.

-DRAKE AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley).  Wichita should win this fairly easily and remain safely inside the NCAA Tournament bubble.

-PENN STATE AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten).  Michigan is coming off a loss and simply cannot afford to lose at home to a sub-NCAA Tournament team like Penn State.

-CREIGHTON AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  The Johnnies just got a hugely surprising win against Butler, so Creighton better not overlook them.

-VIRGINIA TECH AT NC STATE (ACC).  NC State has a good record, but they haven’t really built it up by beating good teams.  They need some meat on their profile and beating a Virginia Tech team that’s been playing very well would be the kind of statement win that they need.

-LOUISVILLE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  It always seems like a great game when these two get together.  Louisville is highly ranked and has the better profile, but the Irish are unbeaten at home and should be way up for this one.

-VIRGINIA AT PITTSBURGH (ACC).  UVA is coming off a very surprising home loss to Florida State.  They’ve proven they can play well on the road with their win against Louisville, though, and if they are a top fifteen caliber team they should be able to win this one.

-OREGON AT WASHINGTON (Pac Twelve).  Oregon is red hot all of a sudden, and Washington continues to sputter.  This is a bit of a rivalry game, and it’s never easy to win those on the road, but given how they’ve looked lately it wouldn’t surprise me to see Oregon roll in this one.

-TULSA AT HOUSTON (American).  Houston has a good record, but a weak OOC schedule has really thinned out their margin for error.  They need to be able to beat bad teams at home, and Tulsa falls into that category.

-TEMPLE AT SMU (American).  I still think SMU is a tournament team, and they should be expected to beat a Temple team that’s just been playing like crap lately.