Thursday's Nuggets - Extra Crispy

February is upon us and this signifies the start of bubble talk in a couple of weeks. Even on today, February 1st, I still consider it hilarious when someone asks me or someone else if a certain team is in. Ladies and gentlemen, unless the school you are inquiring was either seeded 1 or 2 in my most recent version of the NCAA Tournament Predictions, then that school is not necessarily in the tournament. Entering January 1, I seeded Alabama as a 3 seed. Four weeks later, the Tide is nearly bleached and Ronald Steele is a shell of himself. Twenty-eight days later, Alabama can be a 3 seed again and Virginia Tech may be the team whose hopes are hanging by a thread.

Speaking of Virginia Tech, they saw their solid play come to a halt at home against ACC cellar-dwellers NC State, 70-59. "We were out-coached, we were out-played, we were out-competed, we were out-focused, we were out-toughed," said Hokies head coach Seth Greenberg. That sums up frustration and a bad entry into a sink-or-swim month.

Other Headlines

Indiana fans may soon forget that their coach is a cheater following their win against Wisconsin.

Kevin Durant poured in 37 and 23 (points and rebounds) as Texas defeated the Red Raiders in Lubbock.

Florida started slowly, per usual, and then overcame an upstart Vandy team. Remember the name Derrick Byars. If Vanderbilt does anything of substance this season, he'll be the main contributor.

VCU finally lost in the Colonial last night, succumbing to a Hofstra team that was embarrassed by four-win Delaware on Monday.

Moving onto tonight, here are the games of note:

Oregon @ UCLA: A battle for Pac-10 supremacy. After losing their way in the second half against Stanford, the Bruins seek to re-establish their physical presence. Oregon doesn't care how they win, and that's why they're doing just that.

Washington St. @ Arizona: A must-win for both teams, but more for Arizona. The dictation of tempo will ultimately decide the winner in this one. Shakur v. Low is a matchup worth tuning in for by itself.

Duke @ Virginia: The 'Hoos are hot. Duke is winning too, with a mix of solid defense, timely shooting, and fortituitous bounces going their way via the zebras. Something to think about: this is Duke's 4th true road game of the season.

Old Dominion @ Drexel: This is the most important game remaining on the Monarchs' regular season schedule, bar none. Drexel needs this one badly too. Expect a grinder from start to finish.