NEWS AND NOTES
The state of Kentucky had all kinds of crazy going on in it last night!
-LSU kept it close against Kentucky early, and even at times when it appeared Kentucky had them at arms length, they made big plays and stayed in the game. Then in the second half, they were right there with them. Then they got the lead, and held the lead for pretty much the last five or six minutes of the game. It was an AMAZING performance! I kept waiting for them to fold up, and had that happened I still would have said it was a great performance in a losing effort. But, they won, and it was an amazing win. But no one is talking about just how well they played because of what happened at the end of the game. LSU drove the floor with 6 seconds left, got it up on the rim, and then tipped it in just as time was expiring. The basket really should not have counted, but because goaltending is not reviewable, they were not able to waive it off. Having said that (and this is the real shame of it), for the last ten minutes of the game I felt that LSU was outplaying Kentucky, and would have continued to outplay them had it gone into overtime (which it should have). I do not put ANY sort of asterisk next to this game when it comes to how I evaluate LSU, and I really don’t think the real committee will either. It was a FANTASTIC win. But, the referees did get it wrong. It should have gone into overtime, and as great as that game was, I really wish it would have because I wanted five more minutes.
-Anyway, after that, Louisville was blowing Duke off the court in a game that seemed surreal. I had mentioned that morning (yesterday’s write up) that I thought Louisville’s resume was good, but that their team was even better given some of their close losses to really good teams, and was feeling very good about what a genius I was. Then, the last ten minutes happened. According to David Worlock, this was the first time in the history of college basketball that a team had overcome a 23 point deficit with less than ten minutes to go in the game. That doesn’t seem right. It was an AMAZING comeback, but I almost can’t believe that it had never happened before.
Now, backing up from that, Louisville has now lost two straight games (one rather spectacularly) where they blew double digit leads late int he game against a ranked team. I know that has got to sting, but when you look at the resume and how the committee will look at it, it really is just two losses that aren’t all that damaging. They’re still in good shape, and can still end up as a protected seed. They just need to work on how they finish out games, that’s all.
-Most of the time a top ten team losing to someone with an overall losing record would be the most noteworthy thing of the evening. Michigan basically trailed Penn State from tip to buzzer. The Wolverines were playing so poorly that John Beilein REALLY let the referees have it going into the half! And, got tossed out. I don’t think they can end up back on the #1 line after that short of winning out and winning the conference tournament. My sources (Jon Teitel) inform me that was Beilein’s first technical foul since 1979.
-Michigan State has fixed whatever was wrong, and picked up another nice road win against a Wisconsin team that had been playing very well lately.
-K State continues to roll as they picked up another nice road win last night by knocking off Texas in a game that was close most of the way.
-Saint John’s needed overtime, but held on to beat Butler at home after blowing what appeared to be a rather safe lead in the second half.
-For the second time this season, I am done with Arkansas. I tried being nice to them, but they have now lost two straight games to sub-tournament caliber teams.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SOUTH CAROLINA AT TENNESSEE (SEC). South Carolina has been much better in conference play, but so far they still haven’t been good enough to make a strong case that they are an NCAA Tournament team. Tennessee has a path to a #1 seed, and could end up as the overall #1 seed depending on how things play out.
-PROVIDENCE AT VILLANOVA (Big East). Nova is coming off a 1pt loss at Marquette where they had a chance to win at the buzzer. While frustrating, that’s hardly discouraging, and it is their only conference loss. They still have a path to a first place finish and a protected seed, and are even good enough to win out.
-WAKE FOREST AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). Florida State has a ton of momentum going. They’re playing better and better, their resume is getting better and better, and they have what may be one of their most winnable remaining games tonight.
-CLEMSON AT MIAMI FL (ACC). Clemson has a bit of a fire going. They’ve won four straight, are a respectable 5-5 in ACC play, and if they can pick up this road win tonight it’ll be another small step forward. They have played their way onto our bubble, and have the chances they need the rest of the way to play their way into the field.
-RICHMOND AT VCU (Atlantic Ten). If anyone from the A10 is going to be in position to get an at-large, its VCU. They are clearly the better team, but we’ve seen strange things happen in this rivalry. They need to take care of business at home.
-SOUTH FLORIDA AT UCF (American). It’s a rivalry game, and it is suddenly a very bubblicous game. We have UCF squarely on the bubble, and although we haven’t talked too much about South Florida, you have to consider that they’ve won five in a row, and while they had three straight losses prior to that they were in competitive games against Temple, Cincinnati, and Houston. Their next four are @ UCF, Temple, @ Houston, and UCF again. If they can get three of those, then you have to start thinking South Florida is right on the bubble.
-SMU AT TEMPLE (American). Simply put, Temple is a bubble team with limited opportunities at statement wins, so it is hugely important that they do not blow games at home against sub-tournament caliber teams.
-GEORGIA TECH AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). VA Tech probably won’t end up as a protected seed, but they will easily land in the top half of the bracket and shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight.
-SYRACUSE AT NC STATE (ACC). Interesting game here. NC State is right on the bubble and therefore every game seems to have a pivotal feel. Syracuse is probably inside the bubble, but they’re still extremely inconsistent and could use some stability on their resume. A road win at NC State would certainly help.
-OLE MISS AT AUBURN (SEC). These are two likely tournament teams, but both have a ton of room for improvement and I don’t think either one of them are safe to the point to where they can just put it on cruise control, so this is a big game for both teams.
-GEORGETOWN AT SETON HALL (Big East). This is another bubblicious game. Seton Hall is probably in slightly better shape, but I wouldn’t describe either one of them as being in great shape. Both could really use this win tonight.
-CREIGHTON AT XAVIER (Big East). Just a quick note on Xavier. If they don’t win tonight, then they may not win for the rest of the year. I don’t know if a team has ever been a #1 seed one year, and then a last place finisher the next year. I’m almost certain that no Big East team in any of its previous formats has ever finished in first place one year and last place the next year. So, Xavier is making a little bit of history! (As our colleague John Stalica noted on Monday night’s podcast, the closest example we can recall is Duke, albeit not a #1 seed in 1994, going from an appearance in the national championship game to a last-place finish in the ACC in 1995.)
-TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). I still think this Texas Tech team has not reached their ceiling. This is a winnable road game that they need if they want to improve their resume between now and the end.
-WYOMING AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West). We have Utah State on our bubble now, mainly because it is a very weak bubble, but regardless of the circumstances they do have a path to the NCAA Tournament if they are able to finish strong.
-MINNESOTA AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Minnesota will probably end up on the right side of the cut line, but these are the kinds of games they need to take care of business in in order to make that happen.
-ARIZONA STATE AT COLORADO (Pac Twelve). One never knows if Arizona State is going to beat Kansas or get blown out by Washington State. They are in the hunt for an NCAA bid, but they need to win their games against non-tournament caliber teams. Like, Colorado.
UNDER THE RADAR
-NEW HAMPSHIRE AT VERMONT (American). Vermont is the current first place team and shouldn’t have too much trouble against one of the worst teams in the country tonight
-LIBERTY AT LIPSCOMB (Atlantic Sun). These are the two best teams in the ASun, and they’re separated by just one game. Having said that, Lipscomb won the first meeting at Liberty in a blowout, and has blown out virtually everyone else in league play, so you have to think of them as the favorites