Three days before the start of March, a bit of madness hit men's college basketball.
The top six teams in The Associated Press poll all lost, the first time that has ever happened. Gonzaga, Arizona, Auburn, Purdue, Kansas and Kentucky all fell on a scintillating Saturday of hoops. No. 9 Texas Tech lost as well.
SN tries to answer three big questions in the aftermath:
What does this mean for the top of the bracket?
Saturday's results will make drawing the 1 and 2 lines on Selection Sunday more difficult, for several reasons.
First, all the losing teams were on the road in conference play, four of their opponents were ranked, and the unranked foes each came in with 18 wins (Colorado, Michigan State). No. 2 Arizona being blown out in Boulder by the Buffs, who are fifth in the Pac-12 standings, was the worst of the bunch.
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Second, using College Halloween Costumes the selection committee's "Bracket Reveal" from a w Michigan vs. Ohio State Rivalry Shirts eek ago, one of the 1-seeds lost to a 2-seed (Kansas vs. Baylor) and another one lost to a 3-seed (Auburn vs. Tennessee). The Bears are Catholic University Cardinals clothes fifth in the latest NET ratings (they're third in the KenPom ratings), the Jayhawks sixth, the Vols eighth and the Tigers 11th.
All but Arizona among the top six can get a pass, but the space between the top four and the second four in the bracket got even narrower.
How do these results affect the bubble?
That's a tough question to answer, other than to say that Michigan State (33rd NET, 34th KenPom), TCU (49th NET, 51st KenPom) and Colorado (78th NET, 83rd KenPom) bolstered their resumes. Here are two surface observations:
Mississippi State (52nd NET, 43rd KenPom) had to like seeing Arkansas beat Kentucky. The Bulldogs — who were on the bubble in SN's most recent Field of 68 projection — beat the Hogs at home in their SEC opener on Dec. 29. That is one of their two Qua Clarkson Golden Knights clothes d 1 wins this season. MSU gets Auburn at home on Wednesday.
On the flip side, Michigan (34th NET, 32nd KenPom, 4-7 in Quad 1 games) can't b Notre Dame vs. USC Rivalry Gear e happy with the double whammy of Purdue losing to Michigan State. The Wolverines routed the Boilermakers in Ann Arbor on Feb. 10, five days after losing to them in West Lafayette.
Who gained the most?
Baylor. The Bears are a half-game behind Kansas in the Big 12 standings with a week to play in the regular season. They'll finish at No. 20 Texas on Monday and home vs. Iowa State on Saturday. The Jayhawks will wrap up with a Tuesday-Thursday home-and-home against TCU, which beat Texas Tech on Saturday, and a Saturday home game vs. the Longhorns.
Arkansas. The Razorbacks (22nd NET, 20th KenPom) moved into a second-place tie with Kentucky and Tennessee in the SEC standings. All three teams are just a game behind Auburn. Arkansas ends with LSU at home on Wednesday and the Vols in Knoxville on Saturday.
Duke. The No. 7 Blue Devils (No. 9 NET, No. 5 KenPom) beat Syracuse by 25 on the road Saturday to move to 25-4. The ACC leade Alabama State Hornets Jerseys rs will finish at Pitt on Tuesday and at Cameron Indoor vs. North Carolina on Saturday in Mike Krzyzewski's final home game.