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NCAA.com | February 27, 2017

Morning Madness: Monday, Feb. 27

  In the Zags' final game of the season, BYU came to town and handed No. 1 Gonzaga its first loss of the year.

Here's what you need to know in college hoops for Monday, Feb. 27.

Hope you were paying attention this weekend ...

In case you missed it

• Gonzaga entered the weekend No. 1 team in the nation and a spotless 29-0. Then unranked BYU came to town for the Zags' last game of the season, and the 20-10 Cougars won, 79-71. After bursting out to an 18-2 lead, Gonzaga fell apart in the second half. Could the Bulldogs' close-game inexperience be a problem in the postseason?

• While Gonzaga's first loss of the year highlighted the weekend, it was far from the only big result. No. 5 UCLA avenged its midseason loss to No. 4 Arizona, holding off a late rally to beat the Wildcats 77-72. Iowa State took down No. 9 Baylor at home 72-69, moving into a tie for second in the Big 12 with West Virginia. It was the Bears' third loss in four games. No. 11 Kentucky shot 64 percent in the second half against No. 13 Florida en route to a 76-66 win. Miami (Fla.) picked up its eighth win in 10 games and added another upset to its resume, taking down No. 10 Duke 55-50. Michigan ended No. 14 Purdue's six-game winning streak with a strong 82-70 win. No. 24 Maryland has now lost five of its last seven after falling by double digits to Iowa 83-69. And Central Florida stymied No. 15 Cincinnati, 53-49.

• No. 8 UNC took down Pitt 85-67 on Saturday, clinching at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship. It's the Tar Heels' second straight regular-season crown, and Roy Williams' eighth in his 13 years in Chapel Hill. No other coach has more than two in that span.

Full Friday scoreboard | Saturday | Sunday

What to watch today

• The Week 17 AP Top 25 will come out this afternoon. With the Gonzaga loss, will we see a new No. 1 for the first time since Week 13?

• No. 12 West Virginia looks to extend its three-game winning streak when it faces off against No. 9 Baylor, which is trying to stop its latest skid (7 ET, ESPU).

• No. 8 North Carolina can claim the outright ACC regular-season championship with a win over No. 18 Virginia. The Tar Heels captured an easy 65-41 win over the Cavaliers in the teams' first matchup (7 ET, ESPN).

• Full Monday schedule

Social moment of the weekend

Conference tourney time

Conference tournaments begin today with the Atlantic Sun quarterfinals. See the full conference tournament schedule and keep track of automatic qualifiers here.

Your All-Week team

Team basketball is a sight to behold, but when an individual player is in a zone, sometimes the best strategy is simply to get the heck out of his way and let him dominate.

This week's team is highlighted by giant-slayers John Gillon (Syracuse) and Eric Mika (BYU). NCAA.com's Joe Boozell goes into detail about all five players here.

Bracket tip of the day: How to pick the 8-9 game

The 8 vs. 9 seed game is essentially a toss-up. Since 1985, the two seeds have evenly split their 128 matchups, 64-64.

MARCH MADNESS SHOP
What's more, more than 60 percent of the games played between the 8 and 9 have been decided by fewer than 10 points. The average margin is less than a point (0.09 points, in favor of the No. 9 seed). So who should you pick?

NCAA.com's Daniel Wilco has more in this edition of the Bracket Beat.

Sign up for the Bracket Challenge Game | More Bracket Tips

Mark your calendar

Selection Sunday: March 12
First Four in Dayton: March 14, 15
First Thursday of the NCAA Tournament: March 16
F
inal Four in Phoenix: April 1-3

FULL MARCH MADNESS SCHEDULETICKETS | SHOP

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