Auburn's still No. 1 in the polls, but Duke has pulled ahead of the Tigers in the computer metrics — and looks every bit their equal

A non-conference game in February doesn't happen very often in college basketball. However, Duke and Illinois may have started a new tradition.

The final Saturday of February is here and the stakes are high for college basketball teams as they battle for their NCAA Tournament positions, jockey for conference title hopes and try and climb their way up the projected seeding prjections for March Madness.

Saturday's Illinois-Duke matchup in New York City was meant to be a priming of the pump, a get-ready non-conference interlude that would allow both teams to get a feel for an NCAA Tournament environment and competition.