Arizona, Duke break No. 1 overall seed debate wide open, and more college basketball thoughts

Saturday began with the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s annual midseason reveal of the top 16 seeds, the one concrete piece of information we get about the field of 68 before the official bracket is unveiled on March 15. Michigan was the No. 1 overall seed, which was no surprise to anyone who follows men’s college basketball. The Wolverines obliterated Purdue on the road this week and have been the most consistently dominant team all season. Then games were played. And the same day that gave us answers also ended up giving us a delightful question to consider as March Madness draws near: Are we sure we know which team is best? Duke, the No. 2 overall seed in the bracket preview, demanded a rethink with a 68-63 win over the Wolverines in front of a split crowd in Washington, D.C. The Blue Devils did not catch the Wolverines on their best night — 6-for-25 from 3-point range after going 13-for-23 at Purdue — but Duke’s gapping, suffocating half-court defense gets credit for some of that. And the Blue Devils had the best player on the floor, forward Cameron Boozer, showing late in the game why he’ll probably be named the best player in the sport this season, helping his team get the inside track to grab that No. 1 overall seed from Michigan. It was hard after Saturday ended to not think Duke is the best team. Except, how about that Arizona win at Houston? Playing without star freshman Koa Peat, the Wildcats (No. 3 overall entering Saturday, per the committee) went on the road against a team that has at times looked destined to push for a title again and put the clamps on the Cougars. Arizona was the unbeaten, likely No. 1 overall seed for most of the season and could get back there. So could deep, loaded Michigan. All three of these teams have two losses and much opportunity ahead. And getting the top seed matters because the team that does should be lined up to meet the fourth No. 1 seed in the national semifinals. That’s better than one of the other two monsters. The last No. 1 seed went to Iowa State on Saturday, a bit of a surprise from the selection committee. The Cyclones then went out and lost on the road to an energized BYU team, 79-67, thanks primarily to AJ Dybantsa (29 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists) in his most complete performance yet. Considering that and Houston’s loss, UConn may have the best claim to the fourth No. 1 seed at the moment. That will also be a hot, and worthwhile, pursuit. Better to play one of those heavyweights in the Final Four than have to beat one of them just to get there. — Joe Rexrode No Peat, no problem for Arizona If there’s been a defining trait for Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona team this season, it’s that Arizona can go to someone else’s arena, sand games down to their roughest edges and exit with a win. No. 4 Arizona outlasted No. 2 Houston 73-66 at the Fertitta Center to deal the Cougars their first home defeat of the season — in the process nudging Kelvin Sampson’s squad into a two-game padding a 1-seed resume that’s starting to look airtight. Arizona is just the second team this century to collect three regular-season wins over AP top-three opponents: Florida in Las Vegas, at UConn and now at Houston. They were undermanned for this one, too, with star freshman Koa Peat out due to a muscle strain in his lower leg. Arizona leaned into its lineup elasticity, and Anthony Dell’Orso, bumped from last year’s starting unit to a reserve role, erupted for a season-best 22 on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Ivan Kharchenkov continued to build his reputation as one of the nation’s premier defenders while finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists as a connective force in Lloyd’s starting lineup. When Houston tightened things with two and a half minutes to play, Bradley supplied the counterpunch, hitting a turnaround in traffic to push the lead back out before burying a pair from the charity stripe that gave Arizona an eight-point cushion with just over a minute on the clock. Houston’s familiar flaw resurfaced at the worst moment. After Chris Cenac Jr. nudged the Cougars ahead 48-46, the offense went more than 10 minutes without a field goal. The Wildcats feasted on the margins, with 16 points off 12 Houston turnovers, and didn’t need a 3-point barrage to do it, shooting just 25 percent from deep. Arizona has a resume oddity that might double as a warning: In each of its top-three wins on the road, the Wildcats hit no more than three shots from beyond the arc. — Ira Gorawara “We don’t like orange,” Jaylen Carey said a season ago, after he had 14 points and 10 rebounds to help his Vanderbilt Commodores beat rival Tennessee. “I don’t like that place,” Carey told reporters last summer of Vanderbilt, after he transferred to Tennessee. “But that place, like I said, it was a great experience (playing Tennessee last season). I love this place and can’t wait to do big things in the big orange.” The venom aimed at Carey from Vandy students Saturday was one of the subplots of the Vols’ 69-65 win Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium. Carey, a junior forward who started his career with Mark Byington at James Madison and followed him to Vandy, had mild numbers (seven points, seven rebounds) but was a key factor and shot some looks toward those students. It was his highly gifted freshman teammate who won it. Byington threw multiple defenders all day at projected lottery pick Nate Ament and often had an extra one in the gap as soon as Ament turned to make a move. The Commodores were physical with him. Vandy’s Chandler Bing was guarding Ament — 2 for 12 at the time — perfectly on the left wing with the shot clock winding down and Tennessee down 65-64. But Ament elevated and nailed the shot that proved to be the game winner with 53.6 seconds left. Byington said there “might have been some shuffling of the feet” on the play, though it looked like Ament kept his pivot foot down. He did, however, drop the ball and pick it back up after picking up his dribble, which should have been called a double dribble. The officials missed one. Ament didn’t. Fellow freshman Bishop Boswell helped make it possible with consecutive buckets moments earlier. And now Rick Barnes’ Vols (20-7, 10-4 SEC) are surging toward March and pushing for a top-four seed. No. 19 Vanderbilt (21-6, 8-6) officially held a No. 4 seed before the loss, per the NCAA selection committee, but it will be a battle to keep it. The good news for Vanderbilt is that starting guard Duke Miles returned after missing five games due to minor knee surgery, and that should make a difference down the stretch. He had 12 points and six assists but was 3 for 13 from the field. The Vols focused on Tyler Nickel and held him to 1-for-8 shooting. Sophomore star Tyler Tanner scored 16, a day after Byington said he tested positive for the flu. Tragedy hung over the game after the death this week of Wes Rucker, who has covered Tennessee for various outlets since he was a student in 2000. The 43-year-old Rucker was killed in a car crash on Thursday, leaving behind his wife, Lauren, 4-year-old son Hank and a daughter on the way. Vanderbilt left an open spot for Rucker in the press box, featuring his picture, flowers and a note from the university expressing condolences. “I ask you all to remember Wes Rucker and his family,” Barnes said at his postgame news conference. “I would encourage people to go to the GoFundMe account, we know Wes wasn’t able to get life insurance due to a stroke he had years ago. He leaves behind a beautiful wife, a son and a daughter on the way. Wes was a special person.” The GoFundMe set up for the Ruckers had raised nearly $600,000 as of Saturday afternoon. — Rexrode The Athletic’s Brendan Marks recently took the temperature of several coaches’ seats based on conversations with industry sources, and Cincinnati coach Wes Miller’s seat earned the top temperature tier: scorching. Saturday’s stunningly emphatic 84-68 win at No. 8 Kansas can only provide so much coolant on its own. But it does crack the door on the only thing that might save Miller at this point: an NCAA Tournament trip. The one-time rising star at UNC-Greensboro is still searching for his first bid in his fifth season with the Bearcats. Since apologizing to Cincinnati fans for an “unacceptable” performance in a 59-54 home loss to West Virginia on Feb. 5, Miller has found something with this team. The Bearcats (15-12, 7-7 Big 12) beat UCF 92-72 in the next game, then crushed Kansas State 91-62 on the road — launching a rather memorable Jerome Tang news conference — edged Utah 69-65 at home and smoked a Kansas team that got 32 minutes from star freshman Darryn Peterson. “The results haven’t been great,” Miller told CBS’ Bill Raftery afterward, “but (my players) have been great. … It’s been a joy to coach this group.” Cincinnati sophomore center Moustapha Thiam was a 7-foot-2 nightmare for Kansas with a career-high 28 points. Cincinnati still profiles as a team on the wrong side of the bubble despite a top-10 defense in KenPom’s efficiency ratings — and because of an offense ranked No. 151 — but this doubles the Bearcats’ Quad 1 win total (2-9 overall) and sets up real opportunity. Cincinnati finishes the regular season at Texas Tech, home against fellow distant bubbler Oklahoma State, home against BYU and at TCU, which is right on the cut line. The program’s first NCAA appearance since 2019 under Mick Cronin and security for Miller are in play, at least. — Rexrode Who needed a win the most Saturday? Here’s a vote for Auburn. The Tigers have been hovering safely above the bubble, but a sixth straight loss to fall to 14-13 would have placed them directly on it, even with metrics in their favor, some enormous wins and the nation’s No. 1 strength of schedule. At some point, you have to stop losing. Steven Pearl’s team did. A 75-74 win over Kentucky was delivered by an Elyjah Freeman putback with 1.1 seconds left, which never would have happened if not for the benefit of a pushoff call on Kentucky’s Collin Chandler with 14 seconds left. Auburn (15-12, 6-8 SEC) can exhale a bit, while Kentucky (17-10, 8-6) needs a response after an 0-2 week. The other team that beat the Wildcats was Georgia, which came in as the No. 42 overall seed and the last team with a bye in last week’s Bracket Watch. The Bulldogs (19-8, 7-7) followed up the upset in Lexington by taking care of Texas at home. Texas A&M (at Oklahoma), UCF (at Utah) and of course UCLA, which stunned Illinois on a coast-to-coast buzzer beater, were other bubble teams that helped themselves Saturday. Ohio State has a huge opportunity Sunday at Michigan State after beating Wisconsin earlier in the week. The biggest losers were USC, which suffered a dreadful home loss to Oregon, and San Diego State, which lost Saturday at Colorado State on the heels of a loss to Grand Canyon. There are more results to come and scrubbing to be done before Tuesday’s Bracket Watch, but one thing’s for certain: San Diego State will be dropping out of the bracket. For a thorough look each week at the fight for at-large spots, check out Jim Root’s Bubble Watch. — Rexrode