Though one big favorite—Villanova—fell in conference tournament action, other top teams rolled to huge victories.
Arizona wasted little time with Utah, beating the Utes 71-39. Utah was hoping for an at-large bid and got a boost by beating Washington yesterday, but losing by 32 doesn't help their cause. Arizona is looking at a 1-seed and may have sealed it with the win. The Wildcats won the first half 34-13 and still won the 2nd half by 9 points.
San Diego State did even better against Utah State, 73-39, including a 36-15 first half. Unlike Utah, the Aggies had no real shot at making the field without a tournament title. But if you add BYU's loss to Gonzaga yesterday—which, combined with the ACL injury to starting guard Kyle Collinsworth, might keep the Cougars out of the Dance—the state of Utah has had a bad couple of days basketball-wise.
But neither of those qualifies as the worst beatdown. That prize went to Louisville, currently #1 in our Strength power rating. The Cardinals utterly destroyed Rutgers, 92-31; that's one point away from tripling the score. The first half was an embarrassing 58-16, and they still more than doubled the Scarlet Knight's score in the 2nd half, 34-15. Louisville had five players in double figures; Rutgers had just three players who made more than a single field goal.
Amazingly, Rutgers led early, 7-6. But from there the Cardinals went on a 20-3 run, and added a 19-0 run to close out the first half.
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