Tuesday night was full of thrilling action, with the highlight of the night taking place in Columbia, South Carolina, a city that now owns the "shock of the season" tag once owned by Charleston. Top-ranked Kentucky looks to have a short stay at No. 1, as they fell at South Carolina, 68-62, thanks to 30 points from Devan Downey, who could very well be the SEC Player of the Year over John Wall. The Wildcats, on their other hand, didn't quite take President Barack Obama's advice from earlier in the day to heart.
But the Palmetto State wasn't the only place to find thrilling action on Tuesday.
Michigan had a shot to beat fifth-ranked Michigan State at the buzzer, but DeShawn Sims' layup wouldn't go in. The Spartans prevailed, 57-56, to stay perfect in the Big Ten. In Minneapolis, Minnesota held off Northwestern, 65-61, to prevent the Wildcats from picking up a crucial road win.
There was another thriller in the Big 12. No. 11 Kansas State won at 76-74 at No. 24 Baylor. The Bears had tied it on a goaltending call with 19.9 seconds left, but Jacob Pullen hit two free throws with 8 seconds left to give the Wildcats the win heading into their showdown with Kansas Saturday.
Boston College stunned visiting Clemson, 75-69, meaning both teams are now 3-4 in the ACC, A couple of weeks ago I remarked that the Eagles were the worst team in the conference. It appears the true owner of that title may be Miami, who was crushed by Maryland, 81-59, in College Park. The win means the Terps sit alone atop the conference for the moment. North Carolina snapped their three-game conference losing streak with a 77-63 victory at N.C. State in Ed Davis' return to the lineup.
The only BCS conference that didn't provide much in the way of excitement was the Big East, where No. 9 West Virginia handled DePaul in Chicago, 62-46, and Marquette crushed Rutgers, 82-59.
Rhode Island knocked off Dayton, 65-64, snapping the Flyers' 30-game home win streak. The Rams now sit at 4-2 in the Atlantic 10, while Dayton is at 3-3, and in increasingly perilous position for an at-large bid.
UAB now sits alone atop Conference USA at 6-0 after a 65-55 home win over previously unbeaten Tulsa.
UNLV moved to 5-2 in the Mountain West by topping Air Force, 60-50.
In the Atlantic Sun, Lipscomb swept the Battle of the Boulevard for the year, beating Belmont, 78-72, in a game that probably would have had a different result had the Bruins made some free throws.
Kent State moved to 4-2 in the MAC East with a 69-49 win at West Division strugglers Toledo. Ball State moved to .500 in the league and .500 overall with a 65-59 win over Miami (OH), who also sits at 3-3 in the conference.
North Dakota State won at UMKC, 73-69, in the lone Summit League game of the night.
In non-conference action out West, Seattle was no match Washington, as the Huskies prevailed, 123-76. Cal State Fullerton also topped Cal State Bakersfield, 92-84.
For more on Tuesday's action, visit SB Nation and Searching for Billy Edelin.
After the jump I'll take a look at a busy Wednesday.
There are quite a few games to pay attention to Wednesday night, both at the top of the bracket and for bubble purposes.
Notre Dame at No. 3 Villanova, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN): The Wildcats will look to make their case to jump to the top spot in the rankings, while the Fighting Irish are looking for another win for their resume.
No. 21 Vanderbilt at No. 14 Tennessee, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU): If the Commodores can win this one, they'll have a shot to claim first place in the SEC Saturday in Lexington. However, the Vols, who like Kentucky, have only one league loss, would love to keep their rivals from moving up.
Georgia at Florida, 7 p.m. ET (SEC on CSS/Full Court): Both teams are coming off important SEC wins Saturday and will hope to avoid a letdown.
No. 19 Connecticut at Providence, 7 p.m. ET (Big East Network/Full Court): The Huskies will also be looking to stay up after picking up a big win over the weekend. The Friars will undoubtedly try to lure them into a shootout.
Vermont at New Hampshire, 7 p.m. ET (NESN/Full Court): The Catamounts look to snap a two-game America East losing streak in Durham.
Texas A&M at Oklahoma State, 7;30 p.m. ET (ESPN2): This is a key battle between two Big 12 teams who at 3-2, are still firmly in the conference race.
Memphis at Marshall, 8 p.m. ET (CBS College): Both teams have just one loss in C-USA, so they're looking to keep pace with leaders UAB.
Florida State at No. 8 Duke, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN): The winner of this one will remain a game behind Maryland in the loss column. The Blue Devils can't get caught looking ahead to their trip to Georgetown Saturday.
Texas Tech at No. 6 Texas, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU): The Longhorns return home, where they hope to get back on track after two straight setbacks.
No. 12 BYU at New Mexico, 10 p.m. ET (the mtn.): The Lobos will look to hand the Cougars their first Mountain West loss, and pick up their fifth straight win in the process.
And there are still other viewing options.
Illinois at Penn State, 6:30 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)
TCU at Colorado State, 8 p.m. ET (the mtn.)
LSU at Alabama, 8 p.m ET (SEC/Full Court)
No. 20 Ohio State at Iowa, 8;30 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)
Iowa State at Oklahoma, 9 p.m. ET (Big 12/Full Court)
Nebraska at Colorado, 10 p.m. ET (FS Rocky Mountain/Full Court)
For information about games that will be telecast regionally, like Illinois State at Wichita State and No. 15 Temple at Charlotte, visit Matt Sarz' College Sports on TV site.