NEWS AND NOTES
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-Michigan played one of their better games of the year against Wisconsin. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they didn’t get the win and their profile still needs quite a bit of help. They need a strong finish, and perhaps some big road wins like the one they almost picked up last night, to end up on the right side of the bubble.
-Pitt went to NC State and lost. I was not all that impressed with Pitt prior to the game, and am even less impressed with them now. They have one really good win, but it’s starting to look like an anomaly rather than an indicator of how good they are.
-Akron won big against Ohio, and despite their resume having some rust on it I really do like this team and think they’d deserve at least a look for an at-large bid if the season ended today.
–COACHES FLIPPING OUT. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen more incidents of coaches losing their freaking minds than what we normally see in an entire season. It was just the other week when the coaching staffs of Georgia and Missouri got into it and a brief shoving match broke out just before the half. Then just the other week members of the New Mexico staff who had been ejected for running out onto the court while a fight nearly broke out (nothing too egregious there assuming they were wanting to break it up), but then continued yelling at Colorado State players after the game in the parking lot as they were getting on the bus (which is utterly ridiculous).
Last night’s game between Siena and Rider may have topped them all. After Rider committed a hard foul on an attempted alley oop in the game’s final minutes, a shoving match broke out amongst the players in front of the Siena bench, but it appeared to be quickly controlled. Then for reasons that I don’t understand, Rider head coach Kevin Baggett was all fired up, and ran at the Siena players and coaches while screaming his head off. He was restrained and returned to the bench, and after a couple of ejections and technical fouls, the game resumed. This had a rather hilarious ending when Baggett and his staff left the floor without shaking hands, and Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos walked through the line “air shaking” hands with no one.
There is kind of an unwritten rule that seems to have been violated in all three of these incidents. When things get heated, coaches and players need to go get their own guys. Let the other side worry about their guys. When you go after the other side, you’re going to make it worse, and in every case that appears to be what happened and things escalated rather than diffused. I really don’t think coaches should ever be going after the players and coaches of the opponents, or yelling at them throughout the game, or even talking to them at all. They should talk to their own players and staffs and that’s it, and that’s especially true when things get overly heated. Had Baggett not come charging in like a fool and yelling at the Siena players and coaches (even if he had a legitimate reason for being upset), it would have ended and not even been a story today.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-FLORIDA AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). This is a rare SEC game because it features two teams that appear to be solidly in the tournament. That makes this a big game because both teams have limited chances to add solid wins to their profile.
-INDIANA AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Indiana needs to stabilize themselves, and that may be easier said than done. Penn State still has a lot of work to do, but they’re slowly building up their resume. A win today would be another huge step forward.
-NOTRE DAME AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). Much has been made about how Notre Dame is the only unbeaten ACC team. While that’s true, they haven’t really faced a heavyweight yet other than Louisville, who they beat at home. If they win this game tonight, then I’ll be on board in discussing them as a #2 seed. We shall see.
-OKLAHOMA AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve). There aren’t many games that are easy to win in this conference, but perhaps this is one of them. West Virginia has been unstoppable at home and they aren’t likely to be stopped tonight.
-TEMPLE AT CINCINNATI (American). Cincinnati is good enough to possibly run the table in this conference. I don’t expect them to get much of a challenge tonight.
-VCU AT FORDHAM (Atlantic Ten). In my opinion, VCU should not be in the field if the season ended today. They just don’t have any really good wins. They certainly cannot afford to lose a game like this.
-TCU AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve). This is a hugely important game between two teams that we are currently projecting to be inside the bubble, but barely. It has a very pivotal feel to it.
-VIRGINIA AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). Boston College is, admittedly, not nearly as bad as they have been in recent years, but this should still be a very winnable road game for a team like Virginia.
-MIAMI FL AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). Both teams are looking very bubblish, and this is the kind of game that bubble teams really need to be able to win.
-OHIO STATE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). For either team to get an at-large, they’d need to put together a long and impressive string of wins. It isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility, but it’s getting closer and closer to being impossible.
-GEORGIA TECH AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). Some people here at Hoops HD like this Georgia Tech team and think we need to start looking at them as a tournament team. I personally believe these people are mentally disturbed, but having said that, if the Yellowjackets win tonight, I really can’t avoid sitting up and taking notice.
-UTAH AT WASHINGTON STATE (Pac Twelve). Utah, slowly but surely, keeps improving and they have a winnable conference road game tonight.
-KANSAS STATE AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big Twelve). Both teams need wins. Period. Both need to come into this with a huge sense of urgency because the loser will be knocked even further outside the bubble, and the winner will still have work to do but will at least be on the right track.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley). I think Illinois State can land on the bubble if they win out or come close to it. But, as soon as they lose a game that’s pretty much over.
-AIR FORCE AT NEVADA (Mountain West). Nevada will be in the discussion if they can run the table, but anything short of that and they’ll probably need the automatic bid.
