Craziest day in college basketball

Today had to be one of the most fun sports days I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Especially since I just had an exam on Friday, and have one worry-free week to look forward to great matchups in hockey, basketball, and football.

So, I am a Big East fan. And this year Big East Basketball is just plain sick... six teams outright in the top 25 in the nation and 3-4 more legitimate NCAA contenders. I was upset with Nova's loss at West Virginia which made them drop their perfect start. U Conn was already imperfect. Nonetheless, out of the three remaining undefeated teams, #1 Duke, #2 Florida, and #9 Pitt, Pitt was still representing Big East. Of course, this morning Pitt lost to conference rivals St. John's, and even though I like the Red Storm, I wasn't too happy. Next came Duke against my very own Georgetown. Now I had watched Georgetown play a couple of outstanding games, but they have lost to all the ranked teams they have played so far, including the pesky West Virginia. I gave them no chance in this encounter. Imagine my surprise when they hold an 8-something lead early - very uncharacteristic of Duke games. I figure I would save myself the heartache and check scores at half-time for the damage. I almost fell off my chair when I saw the half-point scores: 42-28 GEORGETOWN.

WTF?? Duke is 17-0, matching its best start EVER. They're so not losing to a mediocre G'town team... but then Georgetown had the misfortune of being coached by an extremely untalented (I could use other words here but I will be PC) Craig Esherick until last year. With another Thompson behind the bench, they could actually win a few important games. But it was too much to hope. But considering the fibrillations G'town basketball tends to cause, I decided to check the score later and watch some TV. Guess what was on when I pushed the power button on the remote? I was now looking at the MCI Center in DC, watching the game live. Oh yeah.. I forgot how every single Duke game is either on ESPN or network TV. Well, since I couldn't avoid the game, I just settled down, expecting G'town to fall apart as I watched, giving me another frustrating performance. Well, after a few mini heart-attacks, I watched the floor of MCI Center get swamped by hundreds of students as G'town "Nuked Duke (espn.com)" defeated its first 1st #1 ranked opponent since it beat St. John's in 1985.

Wow.. so two of the three unranked teams defeated within hours... Seems like Florida may be in trouble. I guess Tennessee must have watched the news, cuz it made sure that Florida's 17-0 win streak was snapped short in the day's fashion.

So you'd think that Duke and Florida's upset would be the biggest headlines in NCAA basketball. Nope. Apparently #13 Wisconsin lost to INDEPENDENT North Dakota (Fargo). FIRST loss to a nonconference player in like 27 games. North Dakota is actually in the middle of going from Division II to Division I, and after beating a good Wisconsin team, it seems that they'd be a good fit come 2008.

And to make a good day even better, NJ Devils won their 9th straight hockey game. Only 4 more games to go to match their franchise best 13 game win streak. Of course, it helps that there are no more ties in NHL starting from this year. Last 3 of their 4 wins have been in shootout. And I was pleased (a little) to see the high flying Carolina hurricanes lose, snapping their rival 9-game winning streak. To the Caps of all people. The MCI Center must have been ridiculous today.

The Devils play the Rangers tomorrow, who won their game today, keeping a six point difference between the Atlantic devision rivals. Since both teams played today, neither has an advantage from fatigue or rustiness tomorrow. Hopefully Devils can win because its a four-point swing closer to the Rangers in the rankings. But the way how the last few games have been so close, I am fully expecting this winning streak to end soon. Which is too bad.. it's nice having an undefeated status for the year.