Starting the Party Off Right

I have to admit something: I refused to watch more than snippets of the Wisconsin-Virginia Tech last night. I can't stand watching Wisconsin. The Badgers are more boring to watch than The Hills. But my college basketball desires could not be entirely crushed, and, with 30 seconds left, I decided to flip back to ESPN to catch the game's waning moments.

Boy, was I rewarded.

It was 67-58 Wisconsin with 1:14 left, so when I tuned in, the commentators were talking about Virginia Tech's comeback in the final minute to make it a game. Here's what ensued ...

0:53 Va. Tech's Malcolm Delaney hits a 3 (67-61 W)
0:43 Wisconsin's Joe Krabbenhoft makes 1 of 2 FTs (68-61 W)
0:36 VT's Dorenzo Hudson hits a 3 (68-64)
0:33 Wisconsin turnover
0:29 VT's Delaney fouled shooting a 3, makes 2 of 3 FTs (68-66 W)
0:26 Wisconsin's Krabbenhoft makes 2 of 2 FTs (70-66 W)
0:18 VT's AD Vasallo makes a 3 (70-69 W)
0:11 Wisconsin's Jason Bohannon makes 2 of 2 FTs (72-69 W)
0:07 VT's Vasallo makes another 3 (72-72)

And that's when Hughes drove (almost) the length of the floor, slipped by one defender and awkwardly released a jumper while sideways and barely avoiding another defender. Nothing but net.

Virginia Tech even had a halfcourt heave to win, and it looked good when released, but not good enough.

What a finish. Wisconsin won, 74-72.

Elsewhere
-- Rosie O'Donnell's show got canceled after one episode. Surprised?

-- Good games tonight: Ohio State at No. 21 Miami and No. 4 Duke at No. 9 Purdue. Big Ten/ACC Challenge games, of course.

Swallowed by the Beast

Jonny Flynn and the Syracuse Orange upset No. 17 Florida last night, 89-83. Wow. The second-best SEC team against the seventh-best Big East team. Keep watching Big East teams for more signs of dominance the rest of the year.

Or I could just give you some now ...

No. 2 UConn 76, No. 25 Wisconsin 57

No. 8 Notre Dame 88, Indiana 50

Oh, and Cincinnati and St. John's won, too, but those are just icing on the cake. Plus, who's really counting anyway?

Let's play good loss/bad loss
-- There is never really such a thing as a "good loss," but there are losses that, if close and against a good team, mean a little bit more than a bad loss to a bad team or a blowout loss to anybody. Yesterday provided a full plate of games to pick from:

Terrible loss: Jacksonville State 75, UMass 74. If UMass was hoping to surprise people in the A-10 and make a run as an at-large team, starting 1-3 and losing to Jacksonville State at home usually won't help.

Disappointing but not terrible loss: Syracuse 89, No. 17 Florida 83 (see above)

Tough home loss: UNLV 80, UTEP 67. UNLV is good, but UTEP had a chance to get a quality home win and build up its resume leading into C-USA play. If the Miners want to challenge Memphis for the conference title and stake a claim as a second or third bid out of the C-USA, a win in a game like this always helps.

Bad loss against a good team: Kansas 73, Washington 54. If Washington (or Worshington if your Bob Knight) wants to find its way out of basketball purgatory, it needs to come closer to good teams and win a few of them. More importantly, if Lorenzo Romar wants to keep his job after this season, the Huskies need to do better against quality teams. First step, don't shoot so many 3s if you aren't making them. Just a suggestion.

Awful loss: Yale 53, Oregon State 52. Craig Robinson is off to a very rough 0-3 start. Losing to Howard is tough. Losing to Yale is probably worse.

Embarrassing blowout: Oregon 82, Alabama 59. Not only is Alabama 1-2, with this blowout loss at home and a loss to Mercer ... at home ... but the Crimson Tide suddenly look like one of the worst teams in the SEC, which is terrible because some floated the idea of them being an at-large bid or a bubble team come March. At this point, they might still be a reach bubble team ... for the NIT.

The Jam Really Is Paradise

No. 2 UConn takes on No. 25 Wisconsin tonight in the Paradise Jam title game. UConn thumped Miami despite Jack McClinton's 27 points, while Wisconsin stifled San Diego.

It will be a matchup of gritty defenses, one (UConn) predicated on rebounding and thunderously blocking shots, the other on hand-in-your-jersey man-to-man and closed-off cutting lanes.

I suspect UConn will win this game, but I'll be interested to see how the Huskies handle the Badgers' jarring defense. Wisconsin will provide UConn with a nice preview of what's to come in Big East hoops. A lot of teams in the Big East, especially Pitt and Georgetown, play physical, grueling man-to-man. That's not to say the Huskies don't pack a punch of their own -- they brutalize even the toughest teams with their own tempo and toughness -- but a game against Wisconsin, one of the toughest defensive teams in the nation, will be a nice way to prepare for the rigorous 18-game conference schedule.

The difference lies in the offense: UConn has multiple weapons who can score from all over the place; Wisconsin doesn't. With enough creativity and innovation, UConn will get points, even if its ugly.

Elsewhere
-- I highly recommend this Dana O'Neil story on recruiting. It's a wide-ranging topic that I'd like to analyze and write a lot about when I have more time.