Soft Pretzel Logic

Interesting results in the Big 5 last night, and I can honestly say I'm not sure any of them surprise me this morning.

Well, St. Joe's losing at Duquesne surprised me when I first heard it. But in retrospect, it doesn't, because the Dukes play a far faster tempo than the Hawks do and the game was played at 80 possessions a side.

It's certainly no surprise that Phil Martelli is furious about his team letting Duquesne shoot 60 percent from the field after defending Villanova so well.

Nonetheless, let's highlight Dukes forward Shawn James, who recorded the first triple-double in school history:

Anyone who gets ten blocks in a game is worthy of the spotlight, even before the points and rebounds.

As for Temple, I said on this week's College HoopsCast that I had a hunch Richmond would sneak a win in this game. That's exactly what happened, though Mark Tyndale's flu had a lot to do with the result as well.

Unlike the St. Joe's-Duquesne game, the Temple-Richmond affair was played at a snail's pace -- 60 possessions a side. That's no surprise, because the Spiders play a Princeton offense and their coach, Chris Mooney, is a Princeton alum (and Archbishop Ryan graduate).

But if I had to pick one coach from anywhere in the country to beat a Princeton offense, I'd pick Fran Dunphy. Including last year's win over Richmond, Dunphy is 21-14 all-time against Princeton offenses -- indeed, at Penn all those games were against the Tigers themselves.

Indeed, the Owls held Richmond to 39 percent shooting from the field last night. Looking at the game flow, it just seems like one of those nights where the two teams were close throughout and the Spiders just edged it at the end.

The line that stands out is from Richmond guard David Gonzalvez:

The good news of the night came in Washington, where La Salle heaped further misery upon my boss' alma mater by beating George Washington. Great job by the Explorers defense to hold the Colonials to 39 percent shooting, and at the other end it was another big night for Darnell Harris:

Just as importantly, the Explorers are now 4-4 in conference play and are in a comfortable position for a trip to Atlantic City next month.

Nationally, Dick Vitale was given quite a gift for his return to the broadcasting table -- a barnburner of a game between Duke and North Carolina.

For as much as I don't like feeding the hype machine that gets cranked up to full blast whenever the Blue Devils and Tar Heels meet, the two teams lived up to their rankings last night and gave it every ounce of the effort you would expect in such a fierce rivalry.

Who knows what would have happened if Ty Lawson had played, though? If nothing else, I'm sure Carolina wouldn't have committed 20 turnovers.

But because he didn't play, and because we all knew his absence was coming, the gameplan for Duke was clear. As J.P. Giglio and Caulton Tudor down at ACC Now predicted, Mike Krzyzewski let Tyler Hansbrough score his points and put the clamps down on everyone else.

Taking out Hansbrough's 28 points on 12-for-21 shooting, the other seven Tar Heel players combined to make only 16 of 48 field goal attempts. Episcopal grad Wayne Ellington was perhaps the game's worst shooter, finishing 3-for-14.

And while UNC shot 3-for-17 from three-point range, Duke shot a (yes, Dickie V) sensational 13-for-29 from beyond the arc.

So full marks to Duke for a big road win that solidified their status among the top of this year's class in college basketball.