Monday night packed a punch

College basketball is often praised for its unpredictability. One of the best parts of March Madness is that Julie from Finance has just as good of a shot at winning your NCAA Tournament office pool as you do. She picks the teams based on "how cute the cartoon animals in the logos look," and you pick the teams because you have watched roughly 300 hours of Conference USA this season — just enough to feel good about taking Florida Atlantic to the Elite Eight. There's a time and a place for unpredictability. When March 16th gets here, sign me up.

But on a Monday night in January, who needs unpredictability? Not us, not last night. College basketball fans were treated to a Duke game decided, in part, by an officiating review of a punch to the throat. Wisconsin and Northwestern engaged in a rock fight in which the two teams combined to miss their final nine shots from the field. Baylor and Kansas traded heavyweight blows before the Bears' guards proved to have too much firepower for anyone to keep up. Any of this sound familiar?

Save your chaos for 52 days from now (who's counting?). Onto the news.

1. Virginia Tech packs a punch

That's one way to snap a seven-game losing streak.

Virginia Tech (12-8, 2-7 in ACC) hadn't won in more than a month, but for most of the first half Monday night against Duke, it looked like it would win easily. The Hokies led by 13 late in the first half, shortly after Duke's Dariq Whitehead (who had 10 points in the first half) suffered a leg injury and left the game. 

Whitehead wouldn't return, but that didn't stop the Blue Devils from climbing back into the game. Duke (14-6, 5-4) used a 20-8 run out of the halftime break to take a five-point lead with 13:48 remaining before the Hokies countered with a 10-1 run of their own.

The game seemed up for grabs as two frontcourt stars took turns shining. Kyle Filipowski stepped up in Whitehead's absence with 29 points and 10 rebounds, while the Hokies' Grant Basile led VT in scoring with 24 points.

Down three points with less than a minute left, Duke's Tyrese Proctor nailed a three to tie before Michael Collins Jr. responded with a mid-range jumper to put the Hokies ahead 77-75 with just 14 seconds left. The shot wasn't the only thing he connected on, though. As he turned to celebrate, Collins Jr. fist-pumped as he turned his body downcourt, landing what appeared to be an unintentional uppercut to Filipowski's throat.

No foul was called on the floor, and after review, no flagrant was assessed as the officials deemed the contact incidental. Filipowski returned the next play, and Proctor had another look from deep to take the lead in the final seconds. The shot clanged off the rim, and the Hokies escaped with a 78-75 victory.

Knowing Filipowski is OK makes it OK to turn this moment, where a player wearing "Duke" on their jerseys was the victim of a "punch" incident, into a humorous one. For example, here's a "What would Coach K say to the opposing player in the handshake line if he was still coaching and this happened" MadLib, (fill in your answers in the blanks):

In all seriousness, to this writer's untrained eye, it appears Virginia Tech dodged a bullet here. "Incidental" or not, it's hard to believe a call on the floor wasn't made, given the contact to the neck area. It certainly did not appear intentional, and the best news is that Filipowski, who was brilliant, is OK.

But that won't soothe the bitter taste for Duke fans, who are now three games behind Clemson (who also owns the head-to-head tiebreak) for first place in the ACC.

2. Baylor serves up third straight loss for Kansas

A string of losses in the first week of January plummeted Baylor (15-5, 5-3 in Big 12) down both the Big 12 standings and the polls, but a word of advice from one F68 Daily author?

Monday night, LJ Cryer poured in 19 first-half points to help the Bears build a comfortable lead over Kansas (16-4, 5-3). They looked likely to coast to a leisurely victory for the first 25 minutes.

But it's never that easy against the Jayhawks, who continue to find themselves in close game after close game (except for Saturday's blowout loss to TCU). With the Rock Chalk versions of Batman and Robin fully activated, Jalen Wilson (23 points) and Gradey Dick (24) combined for 47 points on an impeccable 18-for-29 from the field.

Behind Dick and Wilson, Kansas stormed back to take a 46-45 lead, which would serve as their only lead of the game. Baylor responded immediately with a 9-2 run and never trailed again.

For Kansas, the story continues to be inconsistent production outside of Wilson. Dajuan Harris Jr., a leader and Bill Self favorite, has now totaled just five points in Kansas' past four games combined. Kevin McCullar had a double-double, but that was just his third game in double figures since Big 12 play began. KJ Adams, after looking like a reliable scorer for 10 straight games, has come back to earth. Even Dick has his ups and downs.

The Jayhawks' bench also left much to be desired, with four players combining for two points and six rebounds. It's a lot to ask of Wilson — who has been magnificent all season — to carry this group back to net-cutting heights without more help from his supporting cast. Kansas has now lost three straight games for just the fourth time in Bill Self's tenure at the school.

On the other hand, this win launches Baylor back into the mix in the conference race. While Cryer torched the nets early, the Bears only made 37 percent of their field goal attempts (and were just 9-for-30 from deep). It's impressive that they led for such lengthy stretches against this Kansas team on a mediocre shooting night.

There's still no better backcourt in the country when Cryer, Adam Flagler and Keyonte George (and even Langston Love, who added 11 points off the bench) are on their A-game. Last night, they were on their B-game at best, and it was still good enough to handle a Kansas squad that dreams of a repeat.

3. Bracketology is back

It's that time of year!

Fielding the 68, our bracketology show, returned with a season-debut episode yesterday, hosted by a handsome man who writes dad jokes in newsletters.

Joined by expert bracketologists Andy Bottoms and Brad Wachtel, we unveiled the season's first Field of 68 consensus bracket, headlined by No. 1 overall seed Purdue.

Joining Purdue on the 1-line were Alabama, Arizona and Kansas. Notably, Tennessee also earned a mention from both of our experts on the top seed line. With the Jayhawks sliding, the Vols could move up a seed by the time Friday's episode rolls around. Houston dropped to a 2-seed after the surprising loss to Temple over the weekend.

The show went in-depth on the bubble, as well — where our experts both saw Kentucky in their "last four in," and a revolving door of Big Ten teams in their "first four out."

The biggest thing I learned from the show? A LOT is going to change. With such a wide-open season, there are plenty of opportunities for bubble teams to steal wins or for squads in the projected field to suffer a bad loss and be ousted entirely.

You can catch future episodes of Fielding the 68 on Mondays and Fridays at 5 pm ET on our YouTube channel and Twitter. Episodes will feature bracketologists Lukas Harkins, Rocco Miller, and the aforementioned Andy Bottoms and Brad Wachtel, alongside hosts Jim Root, Ky McKeon and me.

4. Northwestern adds to their résumé

Is it time to take Northwestern seriously? This author isn't all the way there yet ... but it's hard to deny the impressive turnaround that coach Chris Collins has somehow manufactured this season.

After losing its best player (Pete Nance) to North Carolina and off the heels (no pun intended) of five (5!) consecutive losing seasons, Northwestern looks primed for a return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

The latest win for the Wildcats (13-6, 4-3 in Big Ten) was a 66-63 victory over Wisconsin (12-6, 4-4), in which Northwestern's veteran backcourt of Chase Audige and Boo Buie combined for 36 points in 76 minutes.

The Northwestern defense is all the way up to 19th on KenPom, and with wins over Illinois, Indiana (at Assembly Hall), Michigan State (at the Breslin Center), and now Wisconsin, it appears the Wildcats will be in the thick of things for the remainder of conference play.

The Big Ten is a mess, as nine teams are sitting between second and 10th place that are separated by just one game in the standings at 5-3 or 4-4. With the veteran guards, anything is possible... except topping Purdue — nobody's doing that.

5. A double OT-thriller, a 46-point night, and more from Wednesday

Arguably Monday's most exciting game was Nevada's 97-94 win over New Mexico in double overtime. After trading leads for much of the game, Nevada trailed by five with 1:07 remaining in the first overtime. But a New Mexico five-second violation resulted in a change of possession, and Nevada made the most of the momentum swing, knocking down a 3-pointer followed by a mid-range jumper while forcing three turnovers in the final 67 seconds to send it to another extra session.

In a stunning tribute to the end of Duke vs. Virginia Tech, we had more officiating drama that contributed to the final result. With 14 seconds left in double overtime and the game knotted at 94, New Mexico appeared to secure a defensive rebound and take a timeout to draw up a play for a chance to win. However, upon review, the officials whistled New Mexico's Morris Udeze for a flagrant foul for swinging his elbow into the face of a Nevada player going for a steal. You be the judge:

Nevada (16-5, 6-2 in MWC) hit three of the four ensuing free throws (two for the flagrant, plus two after receiving possession), and Jalen House missed a heave at the buzzer, dropping the Lobos to 18-3 and 5-3 in the MWC. Monday night college hoops drama at midnight ET. You gotta love it.

One thing you don't gotta love — storming the court as a 3.5-point favorite.

Other games of note:

Western Illinois 92, North Dakota 80Trenton Massner set a new single-game Western Illinois record with 46 points on 16-of-21 shooting and a scorching hot 9-12 from three. The Leathernecks (12-8, 5-4 in Summit) have won three of their past four, while the Fighting Hawks (7-15, 1-8) have just two wins since November. 

Penn 76, Hartford 52Jordan Dingle scored 23 points on 9-13 from the field, and Max Martz chipped in 17 as the Quakers (10-11, 2-4 in Ivy) snapped a three-game skid.

Chicago State 74, Coastal Carolina 70Chicago State (5-16) entered as 8-point underdogs but defeated the Chanticleers (10-10, 4-4 in Sun Belt), thanks to 21 points, 6 rebounds and three assists from Wesley Cardet Jr.

Oakland 76, Detroit Mercy 67Oakland (9-12, 7-3 in Horizon) opened up a 34-14 lead over Detroit (8-13, 4-6) midway through the first half and never looked back, led by 32 points from senior Jalen Moore. Antoine Davis, now the second-leading all-time scorer in D-I history, had a season-low 14 points.

Delaware State 88, South Carolina State 85, OTIn the only other overtime game of the evening, Delaware State (2-16, 1-4 in MEAC) ultimately outlasted SC State (3-18, 0-5) thanks to impressive scoring bursts off the bench from Khyrie Staten (19) and Brandon Stone (18). The win marked Del State's first over a D-I opponent since Mar. 6 2021.

New Valley, same result

Ever since it transitioned to Division I, Belmont has always been a conference title contender. It won or shared six ASUN titles in 11 seasons, then won or shared eight Ohio Valley titles in 10 seasons (along with eight NCAA Tournament berths overall). And it seems to be doing just fine during its first season in the Missouri Valley.

But to make the switch after losing seven of its top eight players a year ago is even more impressive. It's a credit to fourth-year coach Casey Alexander, a standout as a player under former coach Rick Byrd, and a superb coach in his own right when he was at in-town rival Lipscomb.

This season's squad is 15-6 overall and tied atop the Mo Valley at 8-2 after an impressive win at Bradley over the weekend. Led by senior guard Ben Sheppard and transfers Keishawn Davidson and Drew Friberg, the Bruins have been bolstered by the play of two freshmen, Cade Tyson and Ja'Kobi Gillespie. So how did it all fit together? Alexander talked with Mike Miller for our latest edition of Four Questions.

Q: How has the transition to the Missouri Valley been? Geography aside, what’s been the biggest adjustment thus far?

Casey Alexander: We knew it was a very competitive league and that it was a much more physical league than what we were used to seeing as far as how rosters were built a little bit, and probably more of a defensive-minded league than what we're used to. And I think the officiated has kind of compounded that. I think the officiating is far better, but we get a lot of power five guys that just let you play. And our roster definitely wasn't built with the Missouri Valley in mind. So we've had to learn how to play through a lot, and then just how to hold our ground on the defensive end.

We're as intentional as we've ever been as far as trying to play fast. And our offensive tempo is OK. We're still in the top third in terms of tempo in our league. But I think if you ask anybody in the league, they've had to adjust to our pace on the offensive end. We're still pretty true to who we've always been, we're just not getting easy baskets. 

We definitely need to get bigger and stronger across the board, but it's a lot more of a mentality. We've always been under-sold a little bit on the defensive end, probably because we're a little bit more scouting-report, strategy-oriented than 'we're gonna get some dudes.' I don't feel overwhelmed when you look at rosters. I trust Belmont, and how we've done it for a long time. 

Q: You’ve got three players shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc, which is such a stark contrast from the last three seasons when your team finished in the top five for field goal percentage inside the arc. Is that simply a matter of personnel? Your teams have always emphasized the 3, but this is pretty incredible to see a team shoot like that, have 43 percent of its field goal attempts be 3s.

Casey Alexander: We did make a significant adjustment on the office end. For 30 years, we've been 4-out, 1-in with the traditional low post that we have fed the ball to consistently. And then we've surrounded him with four skilled players that can all make 3s. That's what Belmont basketball has always been. But we didn't feel like we had a guy that we could just pound the ball in there to and get the results that we needed. And we're not a team that is trying to get up 30 or 40 three-pointers a game, that's not what we're trying to do. It's just that we have some guys that are playing really well and shooting the ball really well. 

Q: Has it been a challenge to work all the new players in your system this season? You’ve got two freshmen and two seniors who form four of your core players. How was that transition at the beginning of the year?

Casey Alexander: Oh, we were terrible. (Laughs). The strength of our program for years has been the carry-over from one year to the next. Even in years where we might have lost three or four or five seniors, we still had eight or 10 guys on the roster that had been in the program for a while. But last year we lose seven out of our top eight guys and we literally just have one guy, Ben Sheppard, with any real experience.

So we knew that our transfers would stabilize us. Davidson, although he's been hurt all year long, is a real steady force for us and Friberg has been perfect. But it was just those two guys and we didn't know what the freshmen were gonna do. We knew we had a good class, but you never know with a freshman. So we went the first six games without Davidson and had a freshman starting at point guard. We're reaping the benefits of all that experience for Ja'Koi Gillispie now, but we're still not a finished product. I told our guys after the Murray State game last week that it was the first time it felt like a Belmont team this season. And I think the Bradley game was pretty similar.

Q: You’re a Belmont guy through and through. You played at Belmont, you’ve been an assistant at Belmont, you’re in the school's Hall of Fame and now you’re in your fourth season with the Bruins. But … was it strange for a Belmont guy to coach Lipscomb for six seasons? 

Casey Alexander: (Laughs) In the beginning. Belmont people were like 'How could you go to Lipscomb?' and people there were asking 'How could you hire a Belmont guy?' So nobody was excited about it in the beginning. But I had six great years there. I knew, I mean, I knew that I was very well aligned with what they wanted in their program, and it fit me perfectly. So it took us a while to get going. But it was much harder to leave, and come back [to Belmont] than people ever believe.

The rivalry goes way back. Don Meyer's a Hall of Fame coach who won 900-something games and is a legend for coaches across the country. It took a while, but by the time we finished our NAIA existence, both teams were top 5 in the country, every year. And it was just a great rivalry. Games were packed every time we played, no matter what gym we were at. We played at Vanderbilt one year, sold out to 16,000 fans, and had to turn people away. It was that kind of rivalry in Nashville. Of course, we're talking about a time when we didn't have the Titans, didn't have the Predators and we were in the same league. And then we go to the ASUN and we're in the A-Sun together and that just rekindled it. And it was different because we recruited all the same kids. I mean, we were basically the same programs, just two miles apart. 

We're still playing, but it's not the same. We're not in the same conference, which means we're playing our games in November and December, and that's at a time when football reigns supreme. There are still great nights, but it doesn't get the attention or excitements in the city that it used to. It's different, but it's still great.

Belmont plays at Evansville on Wednesday night.

Otzelberger's perfect home record will be put to the test

Iowa State (14-4, 5-2 in Big 12) is 10-0 at home this season, and on Tuesday night the Cyclones will welcome the Big 12-leading Kansas State Wildcats (17-2, 6-1) into Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State has lost two of their last three, but holds impressive home wins over Baylor and Texas already and will be up for the task against Markquis Nowell, Keyontae Johnson and Kansas State. Still, it might not have sharpshooter Caleb Grill. That could be huge. (9 pm, ESPNU)

Other games to watch (All times ET)

• No. 20 Miami (15-4) at Florida State (7-13), 7 pm (ESPNU)

• Ohio State (11-8) at Illinois (13-6), 7 pm (ESPN)

• LSU (12-7) at Arkansas (13-6), 7 pm (ESPN2)

• Oklahoma (11-8) at No. 11 TCU (15-4), 8 pm (ESPN+)

• Oklahoma State (11-8) at No. 10 Texas (16-3), 9 pm (Longhorn Network)

• Georgia Tech (8-11) at No. 24 Clemson (16-4), 9 pm (ACC Network)

Are the 'Blue Bloods' back?

While Duke took Virginia Tech's best punch Monday night, they aren't the only traditional powerhouse that has been up and down this season. Kentucky has recently found its form with the help of some lineup changes, and North Carolina has won three straight, and nine of their last 11. We debated which Blue Bloods are truly BACK on AFTER DARK, and spoiler alert: we didn't always see eye to eye.

Links while you wait for another snarky Dallas Cowboys tweet throwing their own players under the bus:

• In the latest AP poll, Purdue is back at No. 1, and the Big 12 conference now has six teams ranked, with five in the top 12.

• LeBron James believes "Bronny can go to any college he wants to, all I have to do is pick up the phone."

• With Kentucky suddenly winning, how will coach Cal re-integrate Sahvir Wheeler into the lineup?

• Nebraska wing Emmanuel Bandoumel will miss the remainder of the season after having knee surgery.

• Coban Porter, a Denver University basketball player, and younger brother of Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., was arrested in connection with a fatal crash.

Thanks for reading The Field of 68 Daily! If you have a news tip or feedback, email us at [email protected]