It’s always a good day when Duke loses. It’s especially good when they lose to a team that crushed Gonzaga earlier in the season. Virginia 68, Duke 66, final in overtime. Nice! The Cavs are now 6-2 in the ACC, in a three-way tie for second place in that league.
(Granted, the Zags lost to Duke, too. But nobody looks askance at a 7-point loss to Duke. A 21-point loss to Virginia, on the other hand, didn’t look quite so respectable. Virginia’s success as the season goes on makes it somewhat moreso.)
Other bubble teams that have gotta be happy about this: Appalachian State, which beat Virginia 80-69 in December, and Stanford, which beat ‘em 76-75.
UPDATE 2: Also in L.A., in a battle for first place in the Pac-10 (not to mention, a showdown between USC’s next two opponents), UCLA beat Oregon, 69-57.
