College basketball winners and losers: Bubble teams collapse, Ohio State's Bruce Thornton makes history

College basketball's penultimate day of the regular season was far from a banner day for the bubble boys. Outfits like SMU, NC State, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech fell short in opportunistic spots.

Angst certainly awaits as conference tournament week ramps into overdrive.

Oh, and the first tickets to the Big Dance were punched! Here is the breakdown of the winners and losers from Saturday's action.

Winner: Florida overtakes UConn for No. 1 seed

Florida surpassed UConn for the fourth No. 1 seed in CBS Sports Bracketology on Saturday after the Gators won 84-77 at Kentucky and the Huskies fell at Marquette. The teams are now in a dead heat for the fourth spot in terms of results-based metrics used by the selection committee. Where Florida truly owns separation on UConn in a side-by-side comparison is with predictive metrics. The Gators are No. 4 in KenPom, ranking only behind well-established No. 1 seeds Duke, Michigan and Arizona. In the trio of predictive metrics used by the committee, the Gators are resoundingly No. 4 while UConn lags several spots behind.

The Gators' dominant gear was on display against the Wildcats in a wire-to-wire victory. Kentucky roared back to make it interesting late, but Florida used a 24-4 edge in fastbreak points to win its 11th straight game. – David Cobb

Winner: Wisconsin puts a damper on Purdue's Senior Night

Wisconsin's star-studded backcourt of John Blackwell and Nick Boyd combined for 48 points on 26 shots to help the Badgers knock off No. 15 Purdue, 97-93. The Badgers scored 1.48 points per possession. It's the worst defensive showing for Purdue in the KenPom era, which dates back to 1997. Wisconsin, playing without injured big man Nolan Winter, drained 18 3-pointers and has now notched road wins at Michigan, Illinois and Purdue. The combination of elite guard play and a cavalry of 3-point snipers makes Wisconsin one of March's scariest draws. – Isaac Trotter

Winner: Idle St. John's gets championship belt, makes history

St. John's didn't play on Saturday -- the Johnnies beat Seton Hall on Friday to close their regular season -- but Rick Pitino's bunch was still a major winner. UConn's 68-62 loss to Marquette handed the Johnnies the Big East's regular-season championship. It's the first time in St. John's history that it has won the Big East title outright in back-to-back seasons. – Trotter

Loser: NC State is officially at risk

Following an 85-84 home loss to Stanford, NC State's NCAA Tournament hopes are teetering on the brink in a way that would have been unthinkable a month ago. The Wolfpack are now just 19-12 (10-8 ACC) and have dropped six of their past seven. While a poor run of play is the most obvious culprit in the Wolfpack's slide, NC State's best three wins are also depreciating in value. The Wolfpack won at Clemson on Jan. 20 when Clemson still looked good, but the Tigers have been dropping rapidly ever since. NC State also won at SMU on Feb. 3, but SMU has also gone on a horrendous late-season slide. 

While a Feb. 14 home win over North Carolina looks good at first glance, it came when the Tar Heels were missing both Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar. So, as you peel back the layers -- and look at the metrics -- it becomes clear that NC State's NCAA Tournament fate will be hanging in the balance in the ACC Tournament. This team will be in the mid-40s on Sunday in WAB, which is a vital resume metric. That's squarely on the bubble. – Cobb

Loser: Red-hot Cincinnati falls to TCU, loses steam

Cincinnati had surged back into the bubble mix with a 6-1 heater, but TCU poured cold water on the Bearcats' at-large push with a 73-63 victory in Fort Worth. Cincinnati had 19 turnovers and TCU's defensive whiz David Punch bottled up Cincy star Baba Miller. Wes Miller's crew will now head to next week's Big 12 Tournament needing to concoct some magic. – Trotter

Winner: Bruce Thornton becomes Ohio State's all-time leading scorer

Bruce Thornton surged past Dennis Hopson to become Ohio State's all-time leading scorer in Saturday's 91-78 win over Indiana. The senior guard totaled 25 points and sits atop the Ohio State leaderboard with 2,110 career points. While other bubble foes fell flat, Ohio State moved one step closer to making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Thornton's magical career. — Trotter

Winner: Coach Cal has his moment with win No. 900

Arkansas closed out the regular season in dramatic fashion with an 88-84 overtime win on the road against Missouri. The victory gave Arkansas coach John Calipari career win No. 900. He is the fifth Division I men's basketball coach to achieve that milestone. The Razorbacks did it without star guard Darius Acuff Jr., who missed the final game due to an undisclosed injury. After the game, Calipari's players gave him a warm (or cold) welcome back to the locker room. – Cameron Salerno

Winner: Vanderbilt gets revenge on Tennessee

No. 24 Vanderbilt picked up its best road win of the season and evened the season series with No. 23 Tennessee by taking down the Volunteers 86-82. As per usual, point guard Tyler Tanner was elite for the Commodores with a game-high 25 points. He outplayed his counterpart, Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who needed 22 shots from the floor to reach 17 points. 

With star freshman forward Nate Ament out for a second straight game due to injury, Tennessee never led. Vanderbilt is now knocking on the door of a No. 4 seed for the NCAA Tournament in CBS Sports Bracketology as it enters the SEC Tournament. – Cobb

Winner: Duke gets its revenge over North Carolina

Cameron Boozer delivered a 26-point, 15-rebound, five-assist gem to help No. 1 Duke run away and hide from No. 17 North Carolina, 76-61. It was the first game for the Tar Heels since Caleb Wilson was ruled out for the season, and Duke used a 24-2 run midway through the second half to seize control and punctuate a glitzy 17-1 record against ACC foes this year. Dame Sarr (10 points) and Maliq Brown (15 points) were outstanding, but Duke did lose point guard Caleb Foster to a foot injury, which puts a damper on the rivalry romp. – Trotter

Loser: Virginia Tech's bubble deflated

Virginia Tech may still wake up Sunday morning among the "Next Four Out" in CBS Sports Bracketology or somewhere close to it. But make no mistake: the Hokies' at-large hopes took a hit with a 76-72 loss at No. 13 Virginia. Beating the Cavaliers on the road would have brought a regular-season sweep in the rivalry and added some real life to the Hokies' at-large aspirations. 

Virginia Tech kept it close the whole second half, but it couldn't get over the hump and will head into the ACC Tournament needing a big run in the mold of the program's journey to the 2022 league tournament title. – Cobb

Winner: Clemson avoids disaster

Clemson entered the day as a No. 8 seed in CBS Sports Bracketology, but the Tigers would have plummeted rapidly toward bubble trouble with a Quad 4 home loss to Georgia Tech. They avoided that crisis with a wholly unconvincing but desperately needed 79-76 home win over the lowly Yellow Jackets. The Tigers (22-9, 12-6 ACC) should now feel confident about hearing their name called on Selection Sunday, regardless of what happens in the ACC Tournament. Will they feel confident about actually advancing in the Big Dance? That's a different story after a 2-5 season-ending stretch and Saturday's stressful win over a poor opponent. – Cobb

Loser: SMU's slide continues

SMU is in a freefall. After entering the day among the "Last Four In" in the CBS Sports Bracketology field, the Mustangs took a 91-78 loss at Florida State that further imperiled their at-large hopes. It was the fourth straight loss for a Mustangs team that will have work to do at the ACC Tournament if it wants to make the Big Dance for the first time since 2017. This team was once ranked in the AP poll and seemed to be cruising toward a winning season in ACC play as recently as two weeks ago. Now, the Mustangs are 19-12 (8-10 ACC) and fighting for their lives. – Cobb

Loser: Mercyhurst reaches NEC title game, misses out on potential bid

The first automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament was clinched earlier than expected on Saturday due to Mercyhurst's victory over Stonehill in the NEC Tournament. Mercyhurst is in the midst of its transition period from Division II to Division I, which means it is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament and/or the NIT, even if it wins the conference tournament. Long Island University, the No. 1 seed in the bracket, defeated Wagner later in the day, which gave the Sharks the automatic bid from the NEC. – Salerno

Winner: A healthy Darryn Peterson is a scary Darryn Peterson

No. 14 Kansas was not threatened in Saturday's 104-85 runaway win over rival Kansas State, but the story of the game was … Darryn Peterson. The much-maligned five-star freshman scored 27 points, ripped down five rebounds and dished four assists while looking as spry as ever.

"I'm feeling the best I've felt all year," Peterson said afterward.

If Peterson's episodes with cramps are in the rearview mirror, the calculus for Kansas changes significantly. And yes, Kansas is the best version of itself with Peterson in the mix, regardless of what the loud minority may insinuate. – Trotter

Winner: Duquesne completes remarkable comeback 

With 5:30 remaining in the first half, Duquesne trailed Richmond, 40-10. But if you thought the game was over, you would be wrong. Duquesne completed one of the most unlikely comebacks in college basketball history and escaped with a 79-77 win after forward David Dixon tipped in a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer. Per NCAA PR, Duquesne became the fourth Division I team to rally from 30 or more points and win. – Salerno