Biggest Winners and Losers from Saturday's College Basketball Action

February is just around the corner, which means the college basketball season is really heating up. The question now is of which teams will step up and prove themselves as contenders and which will fade away into obscurity as the season enters its final stretch.

Let's take a look at some teams who helped themselves in a big way, and others who fell flat in yesterdays college basketball action.

Winner: Iowa State

This one was obvious, as the Cyclones pulled off the biggest upset of the day when they handed fifth-ranked Kansas their first loss in the Big 12 this season.

Iowa State now moves to 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in the conference, which would put them in position to make the NCAA Tournament if they continue their solid play.

Obviously, they still have a long way to go with over a month of the season remaining, but Fred Hoiberg's squad finally has that marquee victory that was missing from their resume up to this point.

Iowa State now moves into fourth place in the Big 12, and if they can follow up their win with a victory over Kansas State on Tuesday, they will really prove themselves to be legitimate contenders. 

Loser: West Virginia

This one may take a while to swallow for Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers team.

Down by two with under ten seconds to play, referees missed an obvious goaltending call on a Deniz Kilicli put-back that would have tied the game and likely forced overtime against Syracuse. There is no way of knowing if the Mountaineers would have been able to get it done in overtime, but they had the Orange firmly on the ropes only to come up short in heartbreaking fashion. 

There is no shame in losing on the road to a top-four team, but when you play as well as they did against a top-ranked team you almost need to finish it off and come out with a victory. Instead, though, West Virginia dropped to 5-4 in the conference and is firmly on the bubble, for now.

Winner: Alabama

Alabama's game with Arkansas on Saturday was as close to a must-win as you will ever see in January.

The Crimson Tide came into the season with high expectations but they found themselves only at only 13-7 overall going into yesterday's game. Anthony Grant's team had lost four consecutive games and was in danger of falling to 2-5 in the SEC, a hole out of which they would likely not have been able to crawl.

Thankfully for Crimson Tide fans, the team managed to get the much-needed win over Arkansas, giving them some life as they move into February. There is still plenty of work to be done if Alabama wants to be on the right side of the bubble, but they saved themselves from falling off the map completely with their win yesterday.

Loser: Middle Tennessee State

One of the most intriguing games on the schedule yesterday was a non-conference matchup between highly-touted mid-major Middle Tennessee State and surging Vanderbilt.  

I don't believe that Kevin Stallings thought his team would be challenged when he scheduled the Blue Raiders in the middle of SEC play, but Middle Tennessee came into the game winners of 12 straight games and with a 20-2 overall record. 

However, Vandy managed to continue its hot streak, knocking off Middle Tennessee in their last chance to pick up a marquee win on the season. More likely than not, the Blue Raiders will win the Sun Belt conference tournament and earn their way into the big dance that way, but if they slip up they will be very much on the bubble on selection sunday.

The committee has shown in the past that they are rather unforgiving to mid-major teams who falter in conference tournaments, and it's doubtful that wins over UCLA and Ole Miss will be enough to push them over the edge.

Middle Tennessee will need to win their bracket buster contest if they want to have a realistic chance at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Winner: Minnesota

llinois and Minnesota sure bring out the best in each other this season. The Fighting Illini and Golden Gophers have registered three overtimes in two games this season.

Thankfully for Minnesota, they escaped their home meeting on Saturday to earn a split with Illinois on the season. 

Tubby Smith's squad likely would not have survived two losses to fellow future bubble team Illinois, and a loss would have dropped them to 3-6 in the Big 10. Instead, at 4-5, they are very much alive despite losing four straight Big 10 games in late December and early January.

Minnesota also has a win over Northwestern, which is desperately trying to cling to the bubble as well in the Big 10. Come March, Minnesota may very well be one of the most intriguing cases on Selection Sunday.

Loser: North Carolina State

When I watch N.C. State play, they look like an NCAA Tournament team without a doubt. They have solid offensive weapons and are capable of shutting teams down defensively, as well. However, with seven losses they may very well be on the outside looking in if they can't turn it around this month.

N.C. State is 4-3 in the ACC, but they came within one point of finally securing a marquee win on Saturday. However, Virginia held off N.C. State's rally to keep them without a signature win on the year.

N.C. State has lost to Vanderbilt, Indiana, Stanford, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia. Take away the stinker against the Yellow Jackets and all the rest of those teams are probably, if not definitely, bound for the tournament. 

However, while they won't be punished for their excellent SOS, they had several opportunities to pick up a marquee win and failed in all of them. They came the closest on Saturday against the Cavaliers, but fell short once again.

Winner: Towson

I had to include Towson on this list of winners from yesterday.

Towson hasn't been doing much winning at all in recent years. In fact, they haven't won at all in over 13 months. That was until yesterday, when Towson knocked off UNC Wimington 66-61 to end a 41-game losing streak.

Towson hadn't won a game since December of 2010, so it was tough not to be happy for the Tigers when they got their first win of the season yesterday. Every Division I athlete and coach works hard, and you don't want to see them fail as miserably as they have at Towson.

The Tigers play in a tough conference in the CAA, so once they fell short in all of their non-conference meetings it seemed as though it could be another winless season, but thankfully they got it done to move to 1-22 on the season.

Binghamton, you're on the clock.