Quite a few upsets last night

Wednesday was not a good day for the high-majors.

Conversely, it was a great day the mid-majors, who won eight games over their higher-spending brethren.

• Furman 91, South Carolina 75
• Seattle 59, Virginia 53
• Cleveland State 69, South Florida 62
• Dayton 69, Seton Hall 65
• Siena 62, Georgia Tech 57
• Northern Iowa 67, Indiana 61
• North Texas 75, LSU 55
• New Mexico 89, Colorado 76

Now, it should be noted that not all of these are technically upsets. You would be hard-pressed to find someone that thought Colorado was a better team than New Mexico. Dayton, like Seton Hall, was a preseason pick to make the NCAA Tournament. And neither Dayton or New Mexico are what a sober person would consider a "mid-major" basketball team.

But some of these results truly leave you scratching your head.

Take Siena's win over Georgia Tech. The Saints are not the Saints that we grew to love the past few seasons. Alex Franklin, Edwin Ubiles, and Ronald Moore have all graduated. To make matters worse, Clarence Jackson missed this game and Ryan Rossiter was sick enough that he required two IV's prior to tip-off. During the game, a blow to the face sent him to the locker room in the first half and kept him on the bench at the start of the second half. Rossiter scored 12 of his 19 points late in this one, and Siena knocked off the Yellow Jackets. How much longer does Paul Hewitt have at Tech?

What about Virginia's loss to Seattle? Mike Scott was back in the lineup for this one, meaning that the Cavs team that beat both Minnesota and Virginia Tech on the road was back close to full strength and they still lost to Seattle. At home.

Perhaps the biggest head scratcher is South Carolina's 16 point loss to Furman. The Gamecocks looked like they could be a sleeper in the SEC after a nice start to the season, but after their demolition at the hands of Ohio State on Saturday and tonight's loss to Furman, it certainly doesn't look like that will end up being the case. Bruce Ellington had 31 points, but USC had too many costly turnovers and poor shots to try and mount a comeback. Furman led by eight at the half, and the Gamecocks never got closer than three.