THURSDAY MARCH 25TH
NCAA
BUTLER 63
SYRACUSE 59
A little shooter's touch on a couple shots was all that separated these teams. The Syracuse zone disrupted the explosive offense that Butler has shown this year, forcing them to take more long jump shots than they would like. The Butler man to man defense caused the Orange to hemorrhage turnovers. At the end, a couple of those long jumpers fell for Butler.
WASHINGTON 56
WEST VIRGINIA 69
Don't feel too bad for these young Huskies. They are set to reload. A nice run after a dissapointing season. They should be the favorite in the Pac-10 next year. The Mountaineers survive and advance.....but how far can they go without Darryl "Truck" Bryant?
XAVIER 96
KANSAS STATE 101
Game. of. the. tournament. There some iffy calls to keep this one going, but both teams were clutch, especially the backcourts. Jordan Crawford showed that he is more than the kid who dunked on Lebron, and Jacob Pullen....well America, please say hell to the best guard in the Big 12. World, Jacob....Jacob, World.
CORNELL 45
KENTUCKY 62
Well, Cornell played well for awhile, but there was just too much talent in those blue and white jerseys.
NCAATUESDAY MARCH 23RD
NIT
TEXAS TECH 87
MISSISSIPPI 90
This was a nice win for Mississippi, but it really illustrates the depth of the Big 12. This was the SEC West Champs against a bottom half team in the Big 12 and the Rebels were hard pressed to win this one.
NORTH CAROLINA 60
UAB 55
You can see the confidence growing for this young group of Tar Heels. Roy has them playing good ball right now and with this post-season experience, they should be back strong next year. I hope everyone enjoyed kicking them while they were down. Cuz, well, that's over for awhile.
MONDAY MARCH 22ND
NIT
NEVADA 83
RHODE ISLAND 85
UCONN 63
VA TECH 65
KENT STATE 58
ILLINOIS 75
DAYTON 81
CINCINNATI 66
SUNDAY MARCH 21ST
GONZAGA 65
SYRACUSE 87
The Cuse Zone can hide a lot of problems, and their offense can cause a lot of them. They blew out a very good Gonzaga team in this one.
GEORGIA TECH 66
OHIO STATE 76
The Buckeyes are for real. I expect that this will not be their last win.
MICHIGAN STATE 85
MARYLAND 83
Another awesome game, with the teams exchanging buckets in the last 10 seconds. Michigan State had the ball last, so they win, but they lost their best player. That is a big problem for them.
MISSOURI 59
WEST VIRGINIA 68
Missouri was game, but just couldn't make the plays at the end. This game was a bit closer than the final score.
CORNELL 87
WISCONSIN 69
Cornell OWNED wisconsin. That covers it.
XAVIER 71
PITTSBURGH 68
Pittsburgh put together a nice rally to get it back close, but Xavier was able to finish it out late. Jordan Crawford (famous for dunking on Lebron James), had another big game with 27 points.
TEXAS A&M 61
PURDUE 63
A tough, defensive game between 2 physical teams. Purdue managed to get one more without Robbie Hummell. Turgeon is proving that he is a great tournament coach.
CALIFORNIA 53
DUKE 68
Duke was Duke in this game. Single and Smith led, but they did get a surprising contribution from Brian Zoubek who had 14.
SATURDAY MARCH 20TH
NCAA
SAINT MARY'S 75
VILLANOVA 68
The Gaels are better than advertised, and Omar Samhan is for real. Here's his line against Nova, 32 points, 2 Blocks, 7 Rebounds. Oh, and he was 13 of 16.
MURRAY STATE 52
BUTLER 54
Murry State was a tough matchup for Butler, but the Bulldogs know how to close out a game. Great season for the Racers
OHIO 68
TENNESSEE 83
Ohio's starts matched up pretty well, with 3 of them reaching double figures. But...you are not going to beat Tennessee without somethingh from your bench very often. The caused 14 turnovers on their way to 83 points and a win.
NORTHERN IOWA 69
KANSAS 67
Well, who would have thought that Ali Farokhmanesh would be a household name. This little man for the Northern Iowa Panthers has no fear shooting the ball and hit enough big ones to lead a balanced attack right past the overall #1 KU Jayhawks. As well as Northern Iowa played, KU has noone to blame but themselves. They overlooked the Panthers. Well, that's a mistake you can't afford this time of year.
OLD DOMINION 68
BAYLOR 67
ODU had no answer for LaceDarius Dunn. He put 26 to lead the Bears. When he scores efficiently (9 of 16), the Bears win more often than not.
WASHINGTON 82
NEW MEXICO 64
And the PAC-10 is not done yet. Washington is peaking at the right time and with Gaddy and Thomas in the backcourt, this is very promising for Husky fans looking down the road.
BYU 72
KANSAS STATE 84
Few teams can run with K-State, BYU is not one of them. Almost as few teams can shoot like BYU, K-State can. That about covers this one. Jacob Pullen our shot Jimmer Fredette as he put up 34 to lead the Cats to the sweet 16 for the first time since 1988.
WAKE FOREST 60
KENTUCKY 90
Wow, so the over-under on wildcats leaving this year.....3? This team is loaded. When Patterson scores 4, and you still put up 90...yeah...that's just sick.
NIT
NORTH CAROLINA 76
MISSISSIPPI STATE 74
This was the best game I saw on saturday, IMO. It was back and forth the whole second half, with Larry Drew II finishing it late with a tough layup over the country's leading shot blocker.
JACKSONVILLE 64
TEXAS TECH 69
Jacksonville came in wanting to prove that the Arizona State game was not a fluke. Well, after taking Texas Tech to overtime.....they have proven themselves quite nicely. They didn't get the win though. Great, Great, GREAT game.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE 52
UAB 72
UAB lead wire to wire, proving themselves to be a better team that the ACC also-rans from NC State.
FRIDAY MARCH 19TH
NCAA
MORGAN STATE 50
WEST VIRGINIA 77
West Virginia overcame a slow start to pull away from Morgan State. This is the kind of performance that the Mountaineers needed to start their run in this year's tournament.
MINNESOTA 54
XAVIER 65
Minnesota should not have been a tournament team. Xavier was a bubble teams and they put the Golden Gopher down in convincing fasion.
CORNELL 78
TEMPLE 65
Cornell is not your typical Ivy League team. They are more athletic than advertised, with decent length and
they can really shoot it.
SIENA 78
PURDUE 65
Yeah, about the demise of Purdue after the injury to Robbie Hummel. Yeah, not quite as advertised. This is a nice win for them, and should give them a big confidence boost going into round 2. They do miss him, don't doubt it, but they have some nice players.
MISSOURI 86
CLEMSON 78
Missouri is a great team....remember the 40 minute of hell? Well this is version 2. They don't have Todd Day hanging around, but they cause a lot of problems for opposing teams.
OAKLAND 66
PITTSBURGH 89
Yeah, Oakland, thanks for stopping by. Rough draw.
WOFFORD 49
WISCONSIN 53
Yeah....well, Wofford lost by 4....WAIT....4 points?
Wisconsin needs to play better than this, or this will be a short stay in the tourney.
UTAH ST. 53
TEXAS A&M 69
Mark Turgeon in the NCAA at Wichita State and he is proving that not to be a fluke as A&M. This is a nice win, if you saw Utah St. play this year. They are a good shooting team with some very skilled post players, but the Aggies were too much for them today.
FLORIDA ST. 60
GONZAGA 67
The Noles held the score down where they like it, but the Zags surged late behind 14 second half points from Matt Bouldin.
GEORGIA TECH 64
OKLAHOMA ST. 59
This game shocked a lot of people. A nice redeeming win for the ACC in a match up #7 seeds from the ACC and Big 12.
ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF 44
DUKE 73
Yeah, good job with the play-in. Here's your free T-Shirt. Everybody drive home safe now.
NEW MEXICO ST. 67
MICHIGAN ST. 70
This was a tight game, but the tournament experience of the Spartans shown through as Kalin Lucas had a career high and Raymond Morgan pulled them through late.
VERMONT 56
SYRACUSE 79
Yeah, hope you enjoy the memory of that upset a few years back, because the Orange was having none of that. They dominated the Catamounts from start to finish.
LOUISVILLE 62
CALIFORNIA 77
First blush you have to wonder if the Pac-10 was not as bad as people said, but then reality hits. This was #1 in the PAC-10 against #6 from the Big East. That said, Cal dominated this game, leading by double digits for most of the second half. This is a team that can play with just about anybody if they shoot it well. Teams with a legitimate Center are going to cause them issues though.
UC SANTA BARBARA 51
OHIO STATE 68
The only thing surprising thing about this game was that John Diebler was the star. He was highly regarded coming out of High School, but has been inconsistent. If this was a coming out party rather than just a good game for him, the Buckeyes just became scary.
HOUSTON 77
MARYLAND 89
Houston did what they wanted early, setting a fast pace to the game. Problem is, all that succeeded in doing was giving the Terps a chance to show how well rounded they are. The Terps stayed in it until they could settle in and pull away. Oh, and 21 and 17 from Jordan Williams was nice surprise.
THURSDAY MARCH 18TH
NCAA
FLORIDA 92
BRIGHAM YOUNG 99
The young gators played a hell of a game. Truth be told, they probably let one slip through their fingers here. Lloyd's 26 points and timely shooting kept BYU in the game, until Fredette could take back over. Great game....2 OT's in the first real game of the tourney. Gotta love it....oh, and Fredette....he put up 37.
OLD DOMINION 51
NOTRE DAME 50
This was one of the trendy upset picks, and it was right. ODU led most of the game, with Notre Dame scratching their way back into it late. Luke Harangody has got to be sick to play this badly. He didn't have a bucket till the closing minutes. So much for him being a great team leader and competitor. He got shut down, and Notre Dame went with him.
ROBERT MORRIS 70
VILLANOVA 73
Bob led the whole game with the Wildcats just squeaking into OT. Then they got just enough out of Scottie Reynolds to survive. A scary game, but I am willing to bet that Nova comes out a whole lot more motivated and sharp for the second round.
MURRAY STATE 66
VANDERBILT 65
Another of the trendy upsets that came true. This was a shocker for me. Vandy is a very balanced team, with a talented front court scorer, but the athleticism that Murray State runs out there was more than enough to equalize. A great game, played hard till the last seconds.
You know....some of these mid-majors aren't too bad ;)
SAM HOUSTON STATE 59
BAYLOR 68
SHSU was very a very game opponent for Baylor in this opening round. They were actually leading until few minutes were left in the game. That is one of the differences between the small conference champs and the big conference contenders. You learn how to close in the Big 12, or you don't go dancing. Baylor advances, but the Bearkats can be proud.
SAINT MARY'S 80
RICHMOND 71
Omar Samhan was dominant and Saint Mary's kept their momentum rolling. Now they get to take a shot at Villanova. Saint Mary's guards are good, but are they good enough to match up with Scottie Reynolds and company? We'll know soon.
BUTLER 77
UTEP 59
Butler is the Gonzaga of this century. They are no longer a good team, they are a good program, and they show it year after year. A dominant showing against a very solid UTEP team in round 1 behind the 7 3's of Shelvin Mack is a bit of statement to those who wondered how Butler would match up against more physical teams.
NORTHERN IOWA 69
UNLV 66
All year long, if you didn't score 70 points against Northern Iowa, you lost. Well, for those who were curious, that rule of thumb applies outside the Missouri Valley conference too. A huge 30 ft 3 point shot from Ali Farokhmanesh with under 5 seconds left sealed the win for the Panthers.
KENTUCKY 100
EAST TENNESSEE STATE not near enough
The "other" freshman guard for Kentucky lit up East Tennessee state. Eric Bledsoe was one of the highest rated guards coming into college this year, but with John Wall on the team he has been under the radar all year. Well, that's over. 31 points has him on everyone's radar, and that kind of production in the backcourt with John Wall is just what the dr. ordered for the wildcats.
OHIO 97
GEORGETOWN 83
If you would have told Hoya fans that they were going to score 83 points, they would have felt pretty good about their team's chances in round one. Well, when you give up 13 3's to the other team, 83 is not going to do it. Georgetown's inconsistent defensive effort caught up to them. To put his in perspective, the Ohio Bobcats were the 9 seed in the MAC conference tournament. Yeah.....this is a huge upset, brackets be damned.
NIT
WEDNESDAY MARCH 17TH
NIT
TULSA 74
KENT STATE 75
Kent State erased a 9 point second half deficit to take the lead and win with 20 second left. These games are what the post-season tournaments are about.
ILLINOIS STATE 42
DAYTON 63
Dayton recognized that to beat the Redbirds you have to keep their backcourt of Eldridge and Phillips in check. They did just that, holding the duo who averages 25 a night between them to 12, shutting Phillips out entirely. An amazing defense job against an explosive offensive team has them moving on.
NORTHWESTERN 64
RHODE ISLAND 75
Northwestern was only in this game because they are in the Big 10. They should have been at home, studying. Now they can get back to that.
QUINNIPIAC 61
VIRGINIA TECH 81
Va. Tech. was upset that they got snubbed and they took it out on the underdog Bobcats. They had great passion and energy winning the rebounding battle against, statistically, the top rebounding team in the country.
WEBER STATE 62
CINCINNATII 76
Cincy's athletes and defense were just a bit too much for Weber State in this one. Sometimes it's easy to remember that an average recruit to a big conference school would be a recruiting home run for the smaller schools. Games like this remind us of that.
TROY 65
MISSISSIPPI 84
Troy was outclassed by a motivated Ole Miss team. Terrico White's 27 led the Rebels, who looked to be on a mission to prove that they should have gotten a bid.
NEVADA 74
WICHITA STATE 70
This was a game of runs, and Nevada had the last one. This win is better than people realize as the Wolfpack just handed the Shockers their first home loss of the season.
ST. JOHN'S 71
MEMPHIS 73
This was a great ending. It also illustrates how far Memphis fell when Calipari left. But as coach John likes to say.....Survive and Advance....that's what the Tigers did.
ILLINOIS 76
STONY BROOK 66
Due to a scheduling conflict, the #1 seed Illini had to play on the road in the first round. Yeah, that didn't matter. They looked very solid against a well-coached Stony Brook team. Congrats to the Seawolves on their first postseason appearance in 11 years.....and don't let the door hit ya.
CBI/CIT
I looked at these and realize....noone cares except the fans of these teams. Here's the link
TUESDAY MARCH 16TH
NCAA
WINTHROP 44
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 61
Meh. Sucks that these two won their conference tournaments and then had to play each other. I think at-larges should have to play the play-in. These are supposed to be "automatic" bids after all.
NIT
NORTHEASTERN 57
CONNECTICUT 59
This was almost a terrible end to a disappointing season. The Huskies showed their athleticism, and played pretty good defense, but their overwhelming weakness showed as well. This team cannot shoot the basketball. Jim Calhoum needs to find a jumpshooter this offseason...BAD.
NORTH CAROLINA ST. 58
SOUTH FLORIDA 57
A late defensive lapse cost the Bulls a quality win at home. Very evenly matched, middle of the road, big conference teams in this game. Competitive, but not particularly well played as you can see from the relatively low score.
COASTAL CAROLINA 49
UAB 65
Well.....so much for Coastal Carolina complaining about missing the big dance. UAB was an also-ran in Conference USA and shut them down in a big way. They were a big fish in the Big South......and now we know what that means.
TEXAS TECH 87
SETON HALL 69
This one really raised some eyebrows. Texas Tech was never in the Big 12 race. Seton Hall was an up-and-coming in the Big East. Tech OWNED the Hall in this game. Is this the first sign that the Big East was overrated, or the Big 12's depth underrated? hmmmm
WILLIAM & MARY 72
NORTH CAROLINA 80
William & Mary, once again, was game against a big time oppondent. The young Heels showed some spirit though, and used their superior talent to lead this one pretty solidly for most of the game. Good for the visitors for working hard to stay in the game, and good for the young Heels for coming out with some fire after a disappointing season landing them in the NIT.
JACKSON ST. 67
MISSISSIPPPI ST. 81
Mississippi State is hot right now. They are very athletic and are getting some jump shots to fall at the right time. They should have been in, with the Gators sitting home, and in the first round they looked like they were out to prove just that.
JACKSONVILLE 67
ARIZONA ST. 66
**NEWS FLASH** **EXTRA, EXTRA** The Pac-10 sucks this year people. Jacksonville? Really? So much for ASU bubble gripes.
CBI TOURNAMENT
SAINT LOUIS 63
INDIANA STATE 54
A nice matchup of 2 also-rans from strong mid-major conferences. Indiana State just didn't have the horses in this one. A nice win for the Billikens as they held the Sycamores to 32% shooting
GEORGE WASHINGTON 73
VA. COMMONWEALTH 79
This was kind of a sloppy, up and down game. Both teams shot over 43% from the field. Both teams shot at least 18 free throws. Both teams had over 10 turnovers. The difference? The Rams shot 40% from 3, while the Colonials shot 26%. That, and 5 more made free throws were enough to overcome a 6 rebound, and a 4 turnover deficit. A fun game for fans, but a bit sloppy. Of course, if they were sloppy and shot like that, we wouldn't be talking about the NIT.
SOUTH DAKOTA 78
CREIGHTON 89
Creighton has been a decent ball club the second half of the year, causing a lot of trouble for the top teams in the MVC. They showed that same kind of offense in this game, shooting 52% from 3 point range. Maybe the should just kick P'Allen off the team if this is how they are going shoot with him suspended. Course, South Dakota does not play the kind of defense that Northern Iowa and Wichita State play either.
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