Notable Results From Saturday, November 12

Mississippi State 80, South Alabama 65
The Bulldogs bounced back from Wednesday's loss to Akron -- without Renardo Sydney, who missed the game with a groin injury.

Providence 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61
Notable only because I had as many points as the FDU bench on Saturday.

Evansville 80, Butler 77 (OT)
The Purple Aces take down the national runners-up for the second year in a row -- this time with a controversial finish.

Duke 96, Presbyterian 55
Coach K ties his mentor, Bobby Knight, atop the career wins list with 902.

South Florida 61, Vermont 59
A rough start for Doctor Slam's home state allegiance, as the Catamounts drop a heartbreaker to a Big East foe.

Northern Iowa 63, Old Dominion 46
With a pretty tough non-conference schedule, you can expect some surprising results for the Monarchs until the get Kent Bazemore back. Losing to UNI isn't anything to be ashamed of, but no way they get blown out at home with Bazemore.

Ohio Dominican 64, Southern Illinois 63
Remember when the Salukis were the class of the Missouri Valley and Chris Lowery was the hottest young coach around? It's been a rapid decline, and Saturday's home loss to a D2 opponent may be a new low. (It was not, however, the first loss to a non-D1 opponent by a D1 team this year; that honor goes to UMKC, which lost to Northwest Missouri State on Friday night.

Air Force 75, VMI 65
AFA wins the inaugural All-Military Classic championship game. In the consolation, The Citadel came from 20 down to beat Army. (Not sure where Navy fits in to this whole thing.)

Notable Results From Friday, November 11

I thought I'd try this feature out -- a quick list of the most important games from the night before, with maybe a comment or two from me. Games which I've already written about will not appear on the list.

>Northeastern 82, Boston 74 (OT)
I love a good cross-town game. These teams were conference rivals until Northeastern left for the CAA. Tough start to the season for an America East contender.

George Mason 92, Rhode Island 90 (OT)
Former Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt's debut with the Patriots was a thriller. URI got 38 from Jamal Wilson.

Hofstra 89, Long Island 71
This game is a good early barometer of relative conference strength. Hofstra is a lower-half CAA team; LIU is considered the class of the NEC.

Indiana 96, Stony Brook 66
Cody Zeller, considered by many to be the savior of Hoosier basketball, had a double-double (16 points, 10 boards) in his collegiate debut.

Kentucky 108, Marist 58
Freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Marquis Teague combined for 54 points in their first game as collegians.

Missouri State 68, Nevada 46
Favored by many to win the WAC, the Wolf Pack shot 26 percent at home while getting blown out by the Bears.

Richmond 66, American 56
Doctor Slam's alma mater goes down against a tough road opponent in the season opener.

Loyola Marymount 69, UCLA 58
The second big upset of the season, UCLA going down here is probably more noteworthy than Mississippi State losing, because LMU -- unlike Akron, a top MAC team -- is considered just a middle-of-the-pack team in the MWC this season.

Utah State 69, BYU 62
This is a great way for the top two teams in the Beehive State to open the season. Another great way to open the season: Winning Team, Losing Team.

Vanderbilt 78, Oregon 64
Kudos to both of these programs for playing a power conference opponent to start the season. Looks like the Commodores did just fine without the injured Festus Ezeli, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds in a comfortable home win.

West Virginia 78, Oral Roberts 71
Depending on how well WVU fares in this year's Big East, this could count as a "good loss" on ORU's at-large resume, should they need it.