Entering the week, Duke was projected to land comfortably out of the NIT, about a dozen seed lines above our uppermost bound.
Then last night happened.
It was a stunning result, not in single-game probability (Duke was only favored by a handful of points, at most) but by the audacity of seeing it on a scoreboard. Duke? Losing at Pitt? When their best win is still the one at Notre Dame?
Now, there’s a lot of time left this season, and I wouldn’t guess the loss was enough to pull Duke down into our next projected field. But man. What hope in Durham.
Other notes for today:
- Utah State took Colorado State to poundtown, but the Rams were the real winners, because we’re beginning to doubt Utah State’s CV.
- Mississippi won the Mississippi game, which means Mississippi State lost the Mississippi game, which means Mississippi’s in a decent spot now NIT-wise but Mississippi State still isn’t.
- Florida torpedoed their NIT chances but made a good McDonalds joke on Twitter.
- Remember when Alabama was an NIT contender? Us too.
- Seton Hall narrowly averted disaster.
- Akron beat Bowling Green, providing some catharsis for those of us who bet on Akron and against Bowling Green a lot last year.
- Oregon State beat USC! Heroic effort by the Beavers. We aren’t getting excited yet, but…oh who are we kidding. We want Andy Enfield back so bad.
- Butler continues to look tentatively perky, with their latest act a smothering of DePaul in Chicago.
- Syracuse whooped Miami, who goes back down into the why-did-we-get-our-hopes-up bucket.
- Georgia Tech could use a win, and with Clemson coming to town, the opportunity’s riper than a ok I won’t make a peach joke.
- VCU plays St. Bonaventure in a MASSIVE A-10 CLASH GET TO YOUR TV’S IT’S ON CBSSN JUST LIKE THE COLORADO STATE UTAH STATE ONE WAS.
- Kentucky visits Georgia, looking to climb back into NIT-land.
- Arkansas hosts Auburn, looking to climb back out of NIT-land. Joke’s on them, because they’d have to beat Auburn by a lot to do that comfortably.
- Providence has a don’t-win at Creighton. Rhode Island has a don’t-lose at Duquesne.
- Northwestern and Tulsa don’t always obey, so we’re not even going to warn them tonight. They have to learn for themselves at some point.
- And finally, if the UNC/Duke rivalry is as strong as they say it is, UNC’s going to get trounced by Wake Forest tonight. Watch for that.
