On Saturday afternoon, three of the nation's top 25 College Basketball teams lost in upsets just ahead of conference tournaments and March Madness 2017. The Duke Blue Devils, Baylor Bears, and Maryland Terapins were all on the losing side of things against opponents. In particular, Duke has now suffered two-straight losses, leaving Coach K's bunch in a slump before the Big Dance gets going, even though the team has been mentioned as top NCAA tournament contenders.
Duke falls to Miami
In Coral Gables, Florida, freshman Bruce Brown had 25 points to lead the Hurricanes past Duke, 55-50, in a close game throughout.
The most impressive part of the win was Miami holding Duke 32 points under their scoring average to hand them their second-straight loss. The team also fell to a buzzer beater at Syracuse in the game prior, 78-75.
With the loss, No. 10 Duke now has a record of 10-6 in the ACC and 22-7 overall. The most recent Bracketology from Joe Lunardi had Duke as a No. 4 seed in the Midwest, while Miami is listed as a No. 8 seed in the East region of the brackets.
Iowa State edges Baylor
The No. 9 Baylor Bears were also amongst Saturday's top 25 losers. The team was stunned in a 72-69 loss at Iowa State on Saturday in what was a tough battle start to finish.
Despite having just 17 rebounds in the game, the Iowa State Cyclones shot an impressive 57.8 percent for their field goals including 53.3 percent from three-point range.
Guard Deonte Burton finished with a team-high 22 points. Monte Morris had 17, while Solomon Young chipped in 11 points.
After Saturday's loss, Baylor is now 23-6 overall and 10-6 in conference. They're projected as a No. 2 seed according to Joe Lunardi, while Iowa State (19-9, 11-5) is considered a No. 7 seed. That could all change based on the latest game results and upcoming conference tournament play.
Iowa tops Maryland
The Iowa Hawkeyes trounced Maryland 83-69 on Saturday behind 24 points from Jordan Bohannon and 21 points along with 10 rebounds from forward Tyler Cook. The Hawkeyes shot 48.4 percent for the game including 61.5 percent three-point shooting.
The win moves Iowa to 16-13 and the No. 24 Maryland Terrapins to 22-7 overall and 10-6 in the conference.
Most likely the loss drops Maryland out of the top 25 and could shake up their seed position a bit for the Big Dance. Lunardi projects them as a No. 7 seed in the East as of this report.
Iowa isn't really part of the conversation when it comes to Selection Sunday, so they may be in the NIT unless they somehow win their conference tournament for the automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.