Week in Review: My mind's playing tricks on me

When Villanova hammered unbeaten West Virginia 84-46 earlier this month, it was a dyslexic moment. Surely we read that score wrong. Maybe Villanova had won by the more reasonable score of 84-64. Or 48-46.

Nope. It was indeed 84-46.

Villanova faced two unbeatens last week, losing by one to Boston College, then pounding Kansas by 21. (AP)

History repeated itself Saturday when the score of Villanova's game with undefeated and No. 2 Kansas crawled across the bottom of television screens and flashed on scoreboards at arenas around the country. Surely it was a misprint: Villanova 70, Kansas 40.

Nope. It was indeed 70-40 midway through the second half, a game that ended 83-62.

Considering those two prodigious victories, and that all four of Villanova's losses have come by a combined 10 points -- including a 67-66 defeat in the final seconds earlier in the week at No. 9 Boston College -- it's well past time to take the Wildcats seriously.

By the way, did anyone else notice all the 25-point halves last week? Pittsburgh's Chevon Troutman had 25 in the second half against Connecticut, Florida State's Von Wafer did it to Wake Forest in the first half and Boston College's Jared Dudley rung up 25 on Villanova. All three of their teams won, too. Go figure.

Best wins

• No team picked up a more-needed win than No. 21 Pittsburgh, 76-66 at No. 16 UConn.

• As if the ACC football title wasn't enough, Virginia Tech defeated N.C. State and No. 12 Georgia Tech this week. Greedy Hokies.

• No. 15 Texas looked Final Four-like in its 75-61 victory against No. 5 Oklahoma State, which makes No. 18 Oklahoma's 64-60 win against the Longhorns all the more impressive.

• By sweeping Oregon and Oregon State on the road, Arizona has some separation between itself and the next wave of Pac-10 challengers. Salim Stoudamire had 52 points in the two wins.

• Philly's in the house, y'all. Saint Joseph's and Temple have the best league records in the Atlantic-10 after the Hawks' 73-54 win at UMass and the Owls' 69-54 win at Xavier.

• Nevada and UTEP are in control of the WAC thanks to the Wolf Pack's 62-59 win at Rice, which dropped to third.

• Riding 28 points and 15 rebounds from Mike Wilkinson, No. 24 Wisconsin won 72-61 at Michigan -- momentum for No. 1 Illinois' visit Tuesday.

• If it wasn't legitimate before, Wichita State is now, after knocking off MVC leader Southern Illinois 58-56.

• Georgetown's 55-54 buzzer-beating victory against Notre Dame placed both clubs in a third-place tie in the Big East. Raise your hand if you thought Georgetown would be tied for third at any point this season. Suuuuuuure you did.

Worst losses

• An NCAA bid is within reach for UCLA, but the Bruins can't afford another week like this past one, where they lost at home to Stanford and California.

• Fresno State has exceeded expectations all season long, which makes its 68-65 loss to Tulsa so puzzling. Tulsa was 0-6 in the WAC entering the game, while the Bulldogs were 5-2 and jostling for the regular-season lead.

• We know what it says under "best wins," but still -- by losing 72-71 at Virginia Tech, N.C. State officially crossed the line from a team struggling against a tough schedule to a team that is simply struggling.

• If pollsters were looking for a reason not to believe in UAB, a 76-73 overtime loss at Tulane -- which had been 0-4 in C-USA -- will do.

Heroes

No, Danny Granger didn't play for New Mexico, but Andrew Bogut's 24 points and 20 rebounds was one of the most dominant performances of the season as Utah won 69-58 to gain control of the Mountain West. ... Oklahoma's Drew Lavender was huge in a 70-54 win at Texas A&M, scoring 23 points while the Sooners' leading scorer, Taj Gray, was held scoreless. ... Tennessee freshman Chris Lofton torched Florida for 22 points, including six 3-pointers, in an 83-76 OT win on the road. ... Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor picked up a solid win for No. 200 of his career with a 67-66 victory at Hofstra to move the Monarchs to 16-2. ... Virginia Tech's Coleman Collins had 20 points, including the winning bucket with 12.9 seconds left against N.C. State. ... Glen Davis put up a monster double-double against Arkansas (26 points and 18 rebounds) in the disputed win. ... Some All-American attention, please, for Duke's Shelden Williams, who had 30 points in a 92-83 win at Miami. ... UTEP's Omar Thomas had 18 points, 15 rebounds and two free throws with five seconds left that beat Hawaii 71-70. ... San Francisco guard Jerome Gumbs had 18 points and 13 rebounds in the Dons' 73-70 upset win against Gonzaga. ... With 25 points, Luther Head was the main reason Illinois survived Iowa 73-68 in overtime. ... Nevada's Nick Fazekas had a career-high 33 points in a 75-69 win at Tulsa. ... Stanford's Dan Grunfeld had 45 combined points in wins against UCLA and USC. ... Daryll Hill got the better of Noo Yawk PG Carl Krauser, scoring 25 points in St. John's 65-62 win against No. 21 Pittsburgh. ... Eric Williams was too much for Cincinnati, scoring 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting in Wake Forest's 74-70 road win. ... Curtis Withers was the star he needs to be in Charlotte's 76-66 win at Marquette, posting 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Goats

There's no excuse for a player to become academically ineligible at midseason, Texas' P.J. Tucker, Memphis' Sean Banks and Virginia's Jason Clark.

Speaking of poor decisions ... Florida State led Wake Forest by three points in the final seconds, assured of nothing worse than overtime unless a Seminole fouled a Deacon as he made a 3-pointer. So what did FSU's Ralph Mims do? He fouled Taron Downey as Downey made a 3-pointer. Mims' freshman mistake went unpunished as Downey missed the foul shot -- the Deacons' first miss after an NCAA-record 50 consecutive conversions -- allowing the Seminoles to go to overtime and win.

More goats: From a talent standpoint, the absence of Yuri Demetris wasn't the reason No. 21 Pittsburgh lost 65-62 at St. John's -- but he's a starting guard, a senior, and his suspension after being arrested on charges of hitting an ex-girlfriend surely shook up the team. ... Anthony Roberson has been Florida's MVP, but at some point in his 9-for-26 shooting day against Tennessee either he or UF coach Billy Donovan should have made center David Lee more of a priority. And Lee should have demanded more than three field-goal attempts in 33 minutes. ... Scoring leaders Tyrone Sally of West Virginia and Andre Owens of Houston were scoreless in losses to Notre Dame and TCU. ... If Cincinnati gets a routine day from senior center Jason Maxiell, the No. 20 Bearcats beat No. 3 Wake Forest. Instead, Cincinnati gets five points from Maxiell, who missed a potentially game-tying shot in the final seconds. ... Something incredible had to happen to end Western Michigan's 25-game home winning streak, and there it was -- Ben Reed (18.3 ppg) going scoreless, capping his 0-for-9 day with a miss in the final seconds of a 66-65 loss to Ball State. ... He was Georgia Tech's best all-around player for 39 minutes and 54.5 seconds, but Isma'il Muhammad won't be remembered for the 14 points and nine rebounds he had against Virginia Tech. He'll be remembered for the two free throws he missed with 5.5 seconds left and the Jackets trailing by one point.