B101's Sunday Tweets

Our quick thoughts on Sunday's results:

It was only appropriate that on Valentine's Day, four teams wearing red stole the headlines. Three of those teams came from the Big East, where Rutgers stunned Georgetown, Louisville won at Syracuse, and St. John's won at Luke Harangody-less Notre Dame. The biggest of those wins, in terms of the bracket, was the Cardinals 66-60 victory at the Carrier Dome. Most people (ourselves included) left Louisville for dead after they got blown out by St. John's earlier in the week. But they more than redeemed themselves against the Orange, thanks to some second half heroics from Samardo Samuels and an ugly 5-for-20 effort from Syracuse's Wesley Johnson (who played with a bruised right thumb). As a result, Louisville will stay in our bracket next week, and will move up from the 12 seed they had a week ago. Syracuse, which has now amazingly lost five in a row to Louisville, will slide down to the end of the 1 line, behind Kansas, Kentucky, and Villanova. Georgetown, meanwhile, will fall off the 2 line after their (look-ahead?) loss to the Scarlet Knights, who they beat by 25 in D.C. back on Jan. 23. The Hoyas host Syracuse on Thursday.

The other "red" team to make a statement on Sunday was Ohio State, who blew out Illinois 72-53 in Champaign. The Illini had to have liked their chances coming into this game after the way they played against Wisconsin on Tuesday, but the Buckeyes came out on fire and never let up. Ohio State made 11 threes in the game - six by John Diebler - and Evan Turner had 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. The win was the Buckeyes' ninth straight in conference and sixth straight overall, and it kept them in a first-place tie in the Big Ten with Michigan State, who they visit next Sunday. Ohio State will move onto the 2 line next week as a result of the win, and Illinois (despite the loss) will move from the 12 line to a single-digit seed because of their early-week performance in Madison.

Of note: Florida State beat Boston College at home; Northwestern beat Minnesota at home; Siena won at Canisius; Wichita State beat Missouri State at home.