Syndication: Austin American-Statesman
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The final full Saturday of regular-season college hoops action set up to be a banner day on paper. In practice, however, there were a whole lot of really good teams that got caught looking ahead to the postseason. On the precipice of conference postseason play for all the major conferences, four top-10 teams took losses on the day and five unranked teams toppled ranked teams in a lopsided, can't-explain-it kind of day. 

No. 2 Alabama was the highest-ranked team to stumble on the day with a 67-61 road loss to No. 24 Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide trailed by double digits at halftime and never recovered in a flat showing just days after clinching the outright SEC regular-season title.

No. 3 Kansas found itself in a similar boat in a 75-59 loss to No. 9 Texas. Kansas officially clinched the outright Big 12 regular-season title with Texas' loss to TCU earlier in the week and trailed almost the entire game in an impressive start-to-finish showing for the Longhorns. The underwhelming performance for KU resulted in a failed attempt to solidify its resume as the possible No. 1 overall seed.

There were plenty of others who delivered duds and dandies across the college basketball landscape, so let's break it down winners and losers style below -- starting with Kentucky.

Winner: Antonio Reeves leads Kentucky to big road win

Without the services of lead guards Cason Wallace and Sahvir Wheeler, Kentucky stole a huge win on the road over Arkansas in Fayetteville behind a career-high 37-point explosion from sharpshooter Antonio Reeves. Reeves had a respectable 15 points in the opening 20 minutes before going nuclear with 22 in the second half, finishing the game 12-of-17 shooting and a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line. Kentucky's spot in the NCAA Tournament was never in doubt )it is a projected 7-seed according to CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm), but the win helped UK secure the 3-seed and the important double-bye in the SEC Tournament. 

Loser: Kansas gets blown out in finale

Having already clinched the Big 12 regular-season championship earlier in the week thanks to Texas, Kansas laid an egg on the road in Austin while suffering a 75-59 beatdown by the Longhorns. The game was meaningless for KU in terms of Big 12 Tournament implications -- it already had the title and locked up the 1-seed, whereas Texas was playing for seeding -- but it was an alarming letdown for a Jayhawks team that has looked almost immortal the last month. 

It's not the first time Kansas has underwhelmed in a big way this season, either. There is no doubt Kansas still has the goods to potentially repeat as champs, but a 16-point road loss to Texas is its third double-digit loss this season. Maybe it's not cause for panic, maybe it is, but worth mentioning: of KU's five losses, three of them -- to Texas, to Iowa State and to TCU -- were by an average of 18 points. When KU has it rolling, it can beat any team. When Kansas doesn't have it, though, it is liable to get run out the gym -- as it did on Saturday. 

Winner: Duke sweeps North Carolina

A year after North Carolina spoiled Mike Krzyzewski's final home game as Duke's coach to close the regular season, the Blue Devils exacted a measure of revenge by beating UNC 62-57 on Senior Day for UNC. The Tar Heels desperately needed the game for their NCAA Tournament hopes but shot just 30.4% from the field and made just 5 of 23 attempts from 3-point range.

With the win, Duke has completed a regular-season sweep of the Tar Heels under first-year coach Jon Scheyer with a roster full of freshmen. One of them, Kyle Filipowski, stood out as the hero on Saturday. The versatile 7-footer finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils into the ACC Tournament on a six-game winning streak.

Loser: Alabama showing some flaws

The No. 2 Crimson Tide lost while shooting just 7 of 36 from 3-point range. Alabama is still going to be the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament and remains in good shape in regards to securing a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. But the Crimson Tide haven't quite been the same over the past four games since revelations came to light about Brandon Miller's connection to the murder investigation involving ex-teammate Darius Miles. Amid a wave of criticism for the program's handling of the situation, Alabama needed overtime to beat lowly South Carolina and then squeaked out home wins over Arkansas and Auburn, both of whom it defeated by larger margins on the road earlier in the season. Alabama's resume is rock solid, but Saturday's performance was the latest sign that this team is not operating at peak efficiency entering the postseason.

Loser: Providence gets blasted

No. 20 Providence is officially limping into the postseason after losing 82-58 at home to Seton Hall -- the program's worst home loss since 2004. The Friars entered as 8-point favorites but let the Pirates shoot 62.5% from the floor. Dre Davis led Seton Hall with a career-high 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting, and the Pirates shot a season-best 55.6% from 3-point range. Providence made just 4 of 23 attempts from deep and has now lost three of its last four games following a 12-4 start to league play.

Winner: Princeton rallies for Ivy League title

Princeton trailed Penn by 19 in the first half and was down by nine with under five minutes to play but managed to rally for a 77-69 overtime victory to clinch a share of the Ivy League regular-season title. It's the program's 29th league title and second straight. Four players reached double figures for the Tigers, who closed the game on a 22-5 run.

Winner: Auburn gets big bubble win

CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm wrote that Auburn "desperately" needed to beat Tennessee. Well, the Tigers did just that, squeaking out a 79-70 win over the No. 12 Volunteers to close the regular season with a marquee win. Entering the day, Auburn's only Quad 1 victory was a November win over Northwestern on a neutral floor. Beating Tennessee gives the Tigers much-needed juice entering the SEC Tournament and helps lessen the sting of a gut-wrenching overtime loss at No. 2 Alabama from earlier this week.

Loser: Baylor falls flat in regular-season finale

With Big 12 Tournament seeding on the line and the ever-important NCAA Tournament jockeying looming large, No. 7 Baylor laid a stinker in what I think was the most disappointing showing of the season for the Bears in a 73-58 home win to Iowa State. Iowa State had lost four straight entering Saturday, entering full meltdown mode, before going on the road and handing Baylor its biggest home loss since Feb. 13, 2016 when it lost at home to Texas Tech by 18 points.

"It was one of those games where every time we got something going, we couldn't sustain it," said Baylor coach Scott Drew. "The only good news is hopefully everyone had a bad game at once and got it out of their system, to get us refocused and reset for the conference tournament."

Winner: West Virginia shores up resume

West Virginia entered Saturday's game against No. 11 Kansas State on the bubble, according to Palm, as a projected No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers took care of business in impressive fashion, shooting 50.8% from the floor and forcing 20 turnovers in an 89-81 win. Emmitt Matthews Jr., Kedrian Johnson and Erik Stevenson each reached 20 points for WVU, which rallied nicely from an 0-5 start in Big 12 play to close the regular season with a 7-11 league mark.

Winner: Fairleigh Dickinson goes dancing

After finishing 4-22 last season, Fairleigh Dickinson became the first team of 2023 to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament as the Knights secured their bid with a 70-50 win over Saint Francis (PA) in NEC semifinals. Though FDU will still face Merrimack in the league title game on Tuesday, it is guaranteed a spot in the Big Dance since Merrimack is still completing its transition to Division I and is thus ineligible.

The Knights are college basketball's smallest team, according to KenPom, as they start a pair of guards under 6 feet tall. But their decision to hire prolific Division II winner Tobin Anderson has paid immediate dividends as FDU will be dancing for a third time in the past eight seasons.

Loser: Tennessee Tech's miracle goes to waste

Southeast Missouri State pulled out an 89-82 win over Tennessee Tech in overtime of the OVC Tournament title game and will be heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000. But it took some fortitude for the Redhawks to overcome what happened at the end of regulation. Diante Wood sank a turnaround jumper off a full-court pass for the Golden Eagles. Initially, it appeared to be a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that would have given TTU the win. But after review, it was determined that Wood's foot was on the line and that it wasn't actually a buzzer beater.

Once the game got into overtime, Southeast Missouri bounced back with some clutch execution to deny Tennessee Tech its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1963. If the outcome had gone the other way, Wood's shot at the end of regulation would have gone down in program lore and as one of the best shots of the season in college basketball. It was still a great play, but its significance was diminished by the game's outcome.

Winner: Fun in the Sun (Belt)

The Sun Belt Tournament is shaping up as one of the most intriguing so far after a pair of seismic upsets set the stage for a potentially unexpected champion to emerge. No. 8 seed South Alabama continued a late-season charge by knocking off No. 1 seed Southern Miss 78-61 in the quarterfinals. Then, No. 11 seed Texas State won its third game of the tournament by knocking off No. 3 seed Marshall 71-68. 

No. 2 seed Louisiana and No. 4 seed Troy remain in the field with a chance, but Texas State has suddenly turned a corner after losing 10 of its final 13 regular season games, and South Alabama has been on a heater since a 2-7 start to league play.

Loser: Pitt's fortunes turn in a hurry

Pitt entered Saturday's matchup with Miami one win away from securing a share of the ACC title and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. It left Saturday as the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament. Poor, poor, Pitt.

The Panthers lost 78-76 at Miami to miss on landing the No. 1 seed, but that was just the start of their no good, very bad day. From there, Duke beat Miami and Clemson stomped Notre Dame to land the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds, respectively, due to tiebreakers it held over Pitt.

It's still been a great season for Pitt relative to expectations — the team was picked to finish 14th and was a successful possession away from a conference regular season title — but Saturday served as a painful reminder just how slim the margin for error is at the major conference level.