NCAA Basketball: Duke, Kentucky title hopes lead Monday Morning Mailbag

What are the biggest NCAA Basketball questions you have this week? We answer them in this week’s Mailbag, including looks at Duke, Kentucky & more.

In what has been a crazy and unpredictable NCAA Basketball season, any stability we thought we had completely gone out the window this weekend. Baylor had their Big 12 record win streak snapped, Gonzaga lost a WCC game for the first time in over two years, and San Diego State saw their undefeated season come to an end at home against UNLV.

Those three teams were all pretty solid No. 1 seeds in NCAA Tournament projections and, while some may still be on that line, it has opened the door for every more chaos in the coming weeks.

With that as the backdrop – along with there only being two weeks like in the regular season – what are the biggest questions on your minds? Let’s dive into a new Monday Morning Mailbag.

Do you have a college basketball or NBA Draft question you want to have answered? Join the conversation on Twitter @brauf33. Thanks as always to those who contributed this week.

I don’t put a lot of stock in that Virginia Tech win. Duke was home and bounced back they way you’d expect them to against a much lesser team in the Hokies.

The NC State loss was far more concerning for me because it further exposed Duke’s struggles with their half-court offense. I give a full breakdown on that here.

Absolutely, though they’ll need some help. Busting Brackets bracketologist Lukas Harkins had the Wildcats as a No. 4 seed coming into the weekend, and they strengthened their resume with a win over Florida. Of the teams currently seeded ahead of Kentucky, the Big East champ (whether that’s Seton Hall, Creighton, or Villanova) would be in line ahead of the Wildcats, as would Louisville.

Kentucky’s path would involve another loss by Louisville, a loss by Dayton, and some losses by Maryland.

I don’t think they’ll lose their No. 1 overall seed, to be honest, but they’ll probably have to lose at least three times. The easiest path to that means losing to one of their next three opponents (Oklahoma State, at Kansas State, TCU), losing at Texas Tech to close the season, and then losing early in the Big 12 Tournament.

Even that may not be enough depending on what else happens around the country, but that would be the most likely of these unlikely scenarios.

If you look at it in a traditional sense then yes, Penn State is overrated because, in a normal year, they likely wouldn’t be ranked in the top 10. However, this is not a normal year. There is so much parity between teams No. 7 through No. 35, but someone has to occupy those spots in the bottom half of the top 10.

I trust Penn State more than a lot of those teams because of their experience, star power, and consistency, and we’ve seen that play out in their resume. That’s why they were No. 9 despite not being as strong as top 10 teams from past years.

Final Four. I think Seton Hall has all the tools to make it to Atlanta, and I wrote yesterday that Creighton’s improved defense has given them a real shot to get there, too – which was solidified with their blowout win over Butler. I’d be surprised if both made it, but I do think the Big East will have at least one representative at the Final Four.

Let’s go with two. San Diego State is obviously in and I think Utah State will find themselves in the First Four. They’ve proven they can handle Mountain West opposition and I don’t think they’ll lose again until the Mountain West Tournament title game, which will be enough to get them in.

I think so. There’s no question about Northern Iowa, and they probably wouldn’t even have to play in the First Four. East Tennessee State is another story. I really think they’d get in – especially if that title game loss was to UNC-Greensboro or Furman – but they may be headed to Dayton in the First Four.