Sport-Blog.com

One of the most interesting aspects of college basketball is its parity. That parity was on full display Saturday when the last three major college programs still undefeated on the season all fell victim to upset specials, on the road and by a combined 12 points.

First, number nine ranked Pittsburgh dropped a tough roadie to the Red Storm of St. John's, 55-50. Then top-ranked Duke dropped one in Washington, DC, falling to the Georgetown Hoyas 87-84. That left number two ranked Florida with the chance to move the nation's top spot, but they too ran into a buzz saw in Knoxville, losing to Tennessee in yet another close game, 80-76.

On the same day that St. John's honored 10 former coaches and players, including coaching legend Lou Carnesecca and former, NBA great Chris Mullin, the Red Storm knocked off a ranked team for the second time in less than a week. Just Tuesday, the Storm handled then No. 17 Louisville, 68-56, also at Madison Square Garden.

Lamont Hamilton led St. Johns, matching his career high of 24 points, including two free throws with 12 seconds left that gave the Red Storm their 53-50 lead. The win was third in a row for St. John's, now 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the Big East in coach Norm Roberts second year. The upstart Red Storm went 9-18 a season ago.

St. John's got off to a roaring start, scoring the game's first 14 points and holding a 31-19 halftime. The Panthers meanwhile shot just 27 percent (7-for-26) while committing 12 turnovers.

Pittsburgh made a move early in the second, using a 13-2 spurt to get to 37-34 with about 13 minutes left in the game. The Hoyas utilized backdoor layups to frustrate the aggressive Blue Devils man-to-man half court pressure defense, recording the first Georgetown win over a number ranked team in 21 years.

Prior to the game, the Dukies at 17-1 had matched their best start in school history. But a Hoyas team that shot 61 percent while holding Shelden Williams to a season-low four points proved to be too much for the Devils.

Brandon Bowman led the Hoyas with 23 points while Jeff Green chipped in with 18. The Hoyas, now 12-4 on the season, had previously lost nine straight games to ranked opponents. Their last win over a number one ranked team came against St. John's on Feb. 27, 1985, when John Thompson senior bested Lou Carnesecca 85-69.

J.J. Redick matched a career high with 41 points, but he was about the only Duke player to get it done on Saturday. A crowd of 20,035 saw the upset, fueled in great part by Georgetown's ability to handle the Duke defense. Georgetown had 24 assists and only 16 turnovers, just the second team on the season to have more assists than turnovers against the Blue Devil man-to-man pressure.

The Florida Gators, in prime position to take the top spot in the rankings after the Duke upset, fell later Saturday night before a boisterous crowd in Knoxville. The game was a classic Southeastern Conference match-up that was nip and tuck until the final whistle.

Tennessee put an end to the surprising start of Florida behind Chris Lofton's 29 points. The Vols finished with nine steals, and Florida had 19 turnovers against the aggressive Vol defense.

Like Duke, the Gators were 17-0 coming into the contest. Unlike Duke, the preseason favorite in college basketball, Florida was not even ranked in the preseason poll. After all, the Gators had lost Matt Walsh, Anthony Roberson and David Lee from a team that went 24-8 a year ago.

However, the Volunteers (12-3, 3-1) are also surprising a lot of people under new coach Bruce Pearl. Tennessee had also knocked off then Number 6-ranked Texas a month ago and looked every bit an even match for the Gators, especially when playing before more than 24,000 fans in the cavernous Thompson-Boling Arena. Among the people sited were Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt and football coach Phillip Fulmer.

The extremely young Gators start four sophomores. Whereas Duke had tied a record start to the season, Florida had put together the longest winning streak in school history. The team had in fact won 21 regular season games in a row going back to Feb. 19, 2005, and their game with LSU.

But the Volunteers have been the spoiler for Florida before. Last year, Tennessee won in Gainesville giving Florida its first SEC loss of the season then as well.

On Saturday morning three unbeatens took the floor for the final time in 2005-2006 season, each emerging on the short end of the score against a quality opponent. Unlike football where a loss can take a team out of the BCS picture, a loss in basketball is merely a marring of the record. In fact, do not be surprised if any of the three, Duke, Pittsburgh, or Florida loses another game or two or even three.

It's why we love college basketball, the parity and the idea that on any given night, any team in the land can get it done against the better opponent, at least for one night.