[Cactus Jack]

On cue: Michigan beats Purdue.
Not on cue: Michigan State is trailing Indiana late.

Speaking of teams who the committee loves to pair Kentucky with, Kansas State beat Arizona tonight, so they've now got a nice pair of back-to-back wins. There's lots of work to do, but they could be playing themselves into the field. If they miss it, they'll look back at some bad non-conference blemishes and also wish they had the TCU, Baylor, and Oklahoma State losses in conference play back (they'd lost to Houston, Kansas, and Texas Tech as part of that six game skid). They have a manageable remaining schedule, but they'll still go into the conference tournament with work to do even if they win out. Their win over Cincinnati looked great at the time, but the Bearcats are 2-8 in their most recent games.

UConn came from behind to beat Creighton on the road. It would have been a devastating loss for UConn's seeding, but for now, they're still holding on. This isn't the same level of talent as their back-to-back national championship teams, but there are still pieces there. But for Hurley's melting down on the refs early this season, we're probably talking about them in much different conversations.