Sunday Shootaround: Kentucky, Wichita State serve notice; Zags falter
Sunday Shootaround is a feature that highlights the top takeaways from the past week that are of note to college basketball fans across the nation.
Kentucky locks up SEC title
Believe it or not, entering Saturday there was still a possibility Kentucky would not win the outright SEC regular-season title.
The last barrier standing in the Wildcats' way was an Arkansas team that came to Lexington riding a seven-game winning streak. The Razorbacks have clearly established themselves as the No. 2 team in the SEC, and were also the first ranked opponent to oppose the Wildcats in calendar 2015.
Regardless, Kentucky made short work of another SEC foe, clinching the conference's regular-season crown.
Since escaping Baton Rouge with a two-point win over LSU, Kentucky has won five in a row by an average of 24.4 points.
These guys are good.
Wichita State still king of the MVC
Since dropping a 70-54 decision to Northern Iowa back on Jan. 31, the Wichita State faithful surely had the Panthers on their minds for the entire month of February in the lead up to a conference title-deciding rematch to close out the regular season.
The Shockers did their fans proud with a terrific performance in which the defense smothered Northern Iowa standout Seth Tuttle, and the offense was masterful in its attack of a strong Panthers defense.
Point guard Fred VanVleet was the catalyst of the attack, controlling the game and not turning the ball over a single time. Meanwhile, fellow guard Ron Baker bounced back from a sub-par performance with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
The Shockers won't enter the NCAA Tournament with an undefeated record, and they won't earn a No. 1 seed like they did a year ago, but Wichita State is still a team to be feared with March upon us.
Gonzaga doesn't want to be a No. 1 seed
The clocked ticked past midnight on the East Coast, meaning the end of Saturday night's West Coast Conference tilt between BYU and No. 3 Gonzaga crept into March, and it gave us a preview of the madness to come.
The Bulldogs fell as double-digit home favorites, for now knocking themselves out of the No. 1 seed conversation in the West Region.
On a day in which Villanova escaped a potential upset itself and Arizona won a heavyweight bout to all but lock up the Pac-12, Gonzaga didn't do itself any favors.
Billy Donovan records win No. 500
There was a time not long ago when Florida head coach Billy Donovan flirted - hard - with the idea of going to NBA.
He elected to stay in Gainesville, and on Saturday he won his 500th career game, joining Bob Knight as the only Division I coaches to accomplish the feat before their 50th birthday.
In a year in which Duke's Mike Krzyzewski became the first Division I coach to reach the 1,000-win milestone, Donovan could be hitting that mark himself somewhere down the line.