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Louisville vs Kentucky – More Than Just Julius Randle
There’s still not enough cohesiveness and consistency from the Kentucky freshman, but their ability to elevate their game after their best player leaves the floor for good, resulting in a 73-66 win over Louisville, probably put one big smile on John Calipari’s face when he went to sleep after the game.
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Villanova vs Syracuse – ACC Better to be Undefeated in
What used to be a major Big East battle is now something of a conference bragging rights rivalry game, but Villanova couldn’t focus on that to hold on to their early lead in the Carrier Dome, with Syracuse eventually pulling away for a very impressive 78-62 victory, remaining undefeated before beginning their conference play in the ACC for the first time.
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Ohio State Beats Notre Dame – Improbable Win & Remaining Undefeated
You’re not supposed to win games when there’s less than a minute to go and your team is down by 8 points. However, Ohio State aren’t made of the quitting material, and somehow made things go their way, resulting in a memorable 64-61 win over Notre Dame, with the Irish probably still wondering what exactly went wrong in that ending.
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Duke Beats UCLA – There’s a Reason They’re not Close in the Polls
Misleading numbers made some people think that UCLA were going to put up a fight against Duke due to the similar records. It turns out the folks of the AP Poll knew what they were doing with Duke coming in as #8 into the game, while the Bruins weren’t even ranked. Jabari Parker, with an impressive double-double, made sure the second half was the end of all the debate.
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Arizona Wildcats – Love Making it Interesting
What’s the point of being 11-0 without making a few wins tense and nail biters? Arizona came back from a first half deficit for the fourth time this season with a 72-70 win in Michigan which should keep them at #1 for one more week, carried by some great basketball from Brandon Ashley and Aaron Gordon when it matters the most.
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Florida Gators – Scottie Wilbekin Gets To Be A Star For Once
After two early losses this season, people were ready to write off Florida and their chances to be a contender later this season. A 67-61 win over Kansas proved that with a full lineup, without suspensions or injuries getting in the way, they just might be as good as anyone else in the nation right now.
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Oregon Ducks – Marcus Mariota Will Return For His Junior Year
Despite being projected as a top 5 pick in the next NFL draft, Marcus Mariota proved he is good for his word, deciding to stay another season with Oregon in order to get his degree and maybe lead Oregon a little further than he or anyone else has been able to for the last couple of years.
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Oakland Raiders – Ready to Spend Big on Free Agency in 2014
Teams that aren’t heading to the NFL playoffs, like the Oakland Raiders, have three things to enjoy until the end of the season – seeing some of their younger players develop, start thinking about what they’re going to do in the draft and if they have a lot of cap space, what free agents they’re going to pick up in 2014.
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North Carolina vs Louisville – Maybe Things Aren’t That Bad
Steering clear of the negatives, North Carolina were led by Marcus Paige to one of their biggest nonconference wins in quite some time, beating Louisville 93-84, which should help them get a very big bump in the next Top 25 poll after showing up at 24 last time around.