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NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga stumbles, Indiana’s MVP and other takeaways

By Brian Rauf

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Head coach Mark Few of the Gonzaga Bulldogs reacts during the first half of the game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Talking Stick Resort Arena on December 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Volunteers defeated the Bulldogs 76-73. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Head coach Mark Few of the Gonzaga Bulldogs reacts during the first half of the game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Talking Stick Resort Arena on December 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Volunteers defeated the Bulldogs 76-73. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 15: The Belmont Bruins celebrate their 74-72 win over the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on December 15, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 15: The Belmont Bruins celebrate their 74-72 win over the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on December 15, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) /

Following the slowest week of NCAA Basketball action, Saturday’s slate provided plenty to talk about. Here are the biggest takeaways from the past week.

Finals Week on college campuses gave us virtually no NCAA basketball games (insert witty Cardale Jones “we didn’t come here to play school” joke here), but there were a number of high-profile games on Saturday as the non-conference season winds down.

Kansas likely maintained their hold on the No. 1 ranking despite not looking their best in a 74-71 win over Villanova. North Carolina picked up their first big win of the season over Gonzaga, who suffered their second straight loss after rising to the top of the polls.

There were also a number of upsets, headlined by Belmont’s 74-72 win over UCLA. It was a rough week for the Pac-12 overall – again (more on that later) but with head coach Steve Alford’s job already in jeopardy, this loss put him even more on the hot seat. Old Dominion also knocked off Syracuse, pushing the Monarchs to 3-1 against ranked teams on the road since 2006 (don’t schedule Old Dominion!).

But the story of the day was the number of near-upsets and close calls there were. Auburn needed overtime to get past UAB, Nevada only beat South Dakota State by four, Ohio State beat Bucknell by two, and Arizona State needed a layup from Luguentz Dort in the final seconds to beat Georgia.

Despite the limited action, we still learned a lot. Here are my eight biggest takeaways of the week in this latest edition of the Rauf Report.

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