More chaos and upsets in men's NCAA weekend hoops

February 6, 2023
Even during an especially chaotic hoops season, this Saturday felt truly absurd.
CollegeBasketball
More chaos and upsets in men's NCAA weekend hoopsMore chaos and upsets in men's NCAA weekend hoops
SOURCE: TWITTER/HOKIESMBB

The GIST: Men’s hoops have officially gone wild. Even during an especially chaotic hoops season, this Saturday felt truly absurd. Case in point? The legacy rivalry of UNC vs. Duke barely made a blip on the radar. Here are the fellas whose ballin’ made bedlam.

Hoosier hysteria: As mentioned, the No. 21 Indiana Hoosiers earned Saturday’s biggest upset, handing top-ranked Purdue their second loss of the season. Barring catastrophe, the Boilermakers are still poised to earn a No. 1 seed when Selection Sunday rolls around on March 12th.

  • But the Hoosiers are peaking at exactly the right time, and if Purdue slips up again, IU could rise to the top of the Big Ten. It’s the most exciting thing to happen in Indiana since Andy Dwyer fell into the pit.

Virginia is for lovers losers: In more jaw-dropping news, the unranked Virginia Tech Hokies, who entered Saturday just 3-8 in ACC play, upset No. 6 Virginia 74–68. The Hokies never allowed the ’Hoos to lead — and thanks to a stadium promo, UVA guard Jayden Gardner’s two missed free throws earned the home-crowd free bacon. Bringing it home in a big way.

Big 12 tornados: Hug a Kansas hoops fan today — they had a rough Saturday. First, the No. 10 Texas Longhorns leaped to the top of the Big 12 after besting the No. 7 Kansas State Wildcats by a razor-thin 69–66 margin on the ’Cats’ own court. KSU was the country’s hottest team just a few weeks ago, but they’ve now lost three of their last four games. Yikes.

  • Things went from bad to worse for the Sunflower State when No. 13 Iowa State trounced the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks 68–53. And it’ll only get tougher from here: The Jayhawks face the Longhorns tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. Out of the frying pan…