News, Notes, and Highlighted Games (Elite Eight): Sunday, March 27th

Posted on March 27, 2016 by David Griggs

Welcome to the semifinals of this year’s ACC Tournament!!!

Both Villanova and Kansas had trouble getting it going offensively yesterday, which was sort of a surprise given how well both had looked throughout the tournament so far.  Nova ended up getting the win and knocking out the overall #1 seed in a game that came down to the final few possessions.  Oklahoma played one of their best games of the year, especially on the offensive glass, and ran away from Oregon to earn the other Final Four spot.

#10 SYRACUSE VS #1 VIRGINIA (Chicago IL, 6pm, est, TBS).  Syracuse’s path to the Elite Eight has involved knocking off Middle Tennessee and Gonzaga, both of which are teams that got much deeper into the tournament than many were expecting.  They have a very tall order today against a familiar conference foe in Virginia that’s seeking its first Final Four since 1984.  Both teams play very good defense, and when you factor in how familiar the two already are with each other then it could be a real rock fight.

#6 NOTRE DAME VS #1 NORTH CAROLINA (Philadelphia PA, TBS, 8:49pm, est).  Notre Dame had to sweat out Michigan a little bit in the round of 64, they then needed a shot in the final seconds to get past Stephen F Austin in the Round of 32, and their Sweet Sixteen win against Wisconsin came down to the final minute as well.  They are taking “Luck of the Irish” to a whole new level.  North Carolina has blasted past everyone they’ve faced so far.  But, the last time these two met Notre Dame was right in there.  Again, the familiarity the two have, and given how well Notre Dame played against them recently means that the Irish do have a chance.

CIT Semifinals (click on the link for both live streams)

NJIT AT COLUMBIA (6:00 PM, CBS Sports Network) – For the second straight season, NJIT has won their first 3 games in the CIT at home – their latest win was a 2nd half comeback victory against fellow UTR darling Texas-Arlington. The Highlanders need only travel across the Lincoln Tunnel this year to play at Columbia; the Lions are also coming off of a close win against Ball State in their quarterfinal game in the CIT last week. I don’t have confirmation of this, but this would likely be the first time a team from the Ivy League would play in the championship game of a postseason tournament should Columbia be able to win tonight.

UC IRVINE AT COASTAL CAROLINA (9:00 PM, CBS Sports Network) – The Anteaters have proven to be road warriors in their first two games in the CIT (as they got a bye in Round 2) – they won at North Dakota and also hit a game-winner against Louisiana-Lafayette to advance to the CIT semifinals. Coastal Carolina is the only team that will have hosted every game in the first 4 rounds of the CIT; they defeated Mercer and New Hampshire and survived a potential game-winner by Grand Canyon to make it to the semifinals along with Irvine.

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News, Notes and Sweet 16 Recap/Elite 8 Preview – Saturday, March 26

Posted on March 26, 2016 by John Stalica

Last night was a banner night for the ACC – not only does it assure them of 4 teams advancing to the Elite 8, it also assures them of having 2 teams make the Final Four and one team in the national championship game. The first of the 4 teams to win last night was Virginia; they beat Iowa State 84-71 despite Georges Niang scoring a game-high 30 points for the Cyclones. The Hoos raced out to a 14-point lead at halftime; their smallest lead of the 2nd half was 7 points. Anthony Gill scored a team-high 23 points for Virginia.

They will be matched up with Syracuse; the Orange beat Gonzaga 63-60 despite trailing for much of this game. Michael Gbinije hit the go-ahead shot with 22 seconds left, and Syracuse was able to survive despite a late judgment call in which Trevor Cooney made a steal in the baseline corner but was ruled to have stepped out of bounds. The play was reviewed not to see if he had stepped out, but rather how much time Gonzaga would have to get off a game-winning shot. They failed to do so, and Syracuse iced the game with 2 free throws with under 2 seconds remaining.

Notre Dame and Wisconsin had a tight game throughout the evening, but the Irish scored the final 8 points of the game in a span of about 18 seconds and ended up beating Wisconsin 61-56. VJ Beachem had 19 points for the Irish; Demetrius Jackson also had 16 points for Notre Dame. They advanced to the Elite 8 for the 2nd consecutive year for the first time since the 1978 and 1979 NCAA Tournaments.

Their opponent will be North Carolina; the Tar Heels looked very much like the team that was expected to win the national title in preseason. They beat the Hoosiers 101-86 thanks to 21 points from Marcus Paige and 20 points from Brice Johnson. North Carolina also shot an astounding 11-for-20 behind the arc last night; they were 32-for-62 overall with only 9 turnovers on the night.

As for today:

(2)OKLAHOMA VS. (1)OREGON (6:09 PM, CBS) – The West Region is the first of 2 regional finals to be played tonight; both games feature the top 2 seeded teams in their respective regions. Oregon had relatively easy games against Holy Cross and Duke to get to this point; only Saint Joseph’s gave the Ducks a scare in round 2. Ironically, Oklahoma’s toughest games came in OKC against Cal State-Bakersfield and VCU; they had their easiest game on Thursday night against Texas A&M in Anaheim’s Honda Center. Oklahoma has the star power to go all the way, but Oregon will also be shooting for their first Final 4 in 77 years tonight.

(2)VILLANOVA VS. (1)KANSAS (8:49 PM, CBS) – The South Region in Louisville also had its top 2 seeds survive the first 3 rounds en route to tonight’s matchup. Both Kansas and Villanova have had early NCAA exits in recent years relative to the seeds they earned, but neither team has been seriously challenged in the first 3 rounds. Kansas had 3 easy wins against Austin Peay, UConn and Maryland; Villanova looked equally as impressive against UNC-Asheville, Iowa and Miami. Kansas will also be looking for revenge against a Villanova team that beat them 2 years ago in the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship; that game was the impetus for Villanova’s 3-year reign of terror in the newest incarnation of the Big East.

LATEST COACHING CAROUSEL MOVES:

Out – Brian Gregory from Georgia Tech

Staying Put – Mick Cronin will remain at Cincinnati; UNLV’s search for a head coach goes on.

In – Mike Dunleavy Sr. will be the new head coach at Tulane.

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NCAA Tournament and Under The Radar Postseason News, Notes and Recap – Friday, March 25

Posted on March 25, 2016 by John Stalica

NCAA TOURNAMENT NEWS AND NOTES

-It seems like the more upsets we have in the early rounds, the more chalk we have in the later rounds.  That was definitely the case last night as all of the better seeded teams not only won, but won big.  Duke made Oregon sweat for a half, but Oregon opened it up before the game was over.  Same with Maryland, who was right in there with Kansas for the first half, but nowhere close by the end of the second half.  Villanova and downed Miami and Oklahoma got by Texas A&M without too much trouble at any point.  In fact, what was by far the best game of the night was NJIT’s CIT win over Texas Arlington as discussed below.

#4 IOWA STATE VS #1 VIRGINIA (Chicago IL, CBS 7:10pm, est).  Virginia got a bit of a scare from Butler, but held on to win after an incredible shooting performance and defensive adjustment in the second half.  Iowa State pretty much blew past both Iona and Little Rock to get here.  Virginia is one of the best and most frustrating defensive teams in the nation, so it will be interesting to see how Iowa State matches up.

#7 WISCONSIN VS #6 NOTRE DAME (Philadelphia PA, TBS, 7:27pm, est).  Both of these teams needed dramatic shots in the final seconds to advance past the Round of 32 with Wisconsin hitting a three at the buzzer to down Xavier, and Notre Dame hitting a shot in the final seconds to get past Stephen F Austin.  Wisconsin is a very tough defensive team, and that will likely give the Irish fits.  Wiscy has also won thirteen of their last fifteen and knocked off teams like Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland, Pittsburgh, and Xavier in that stretch, so although they’re a #7 seed they are a red hot #7 seed.

#11 GONZAGA VS #10 SYRACUSE (Chicago IL, CBS, 9:40pm, est).  Gonzaga is the only remaining team that would not have made the tournament had it not been for the automatic bid.  But, you can’t say they didn’t earn their way here.  In fact, speaking strictly of the NCAA Tournament, they’ve probably had the most impressive road after blowing out a red hot Seton Hall team that had just won the Big East Tournament, and then destroying Utah who was a #3 seed.  Syracuse blew past both Dayton and Middle Tennessee to get here.  These are the only two double digit seeds remaining, and one will advance to the Elite Eight.  Gonzaga has been clicking on offense, but Syracuse’s zone will not be fun to play against.

#5 INDIANA VS #1 NORTH CAROLINA (Philadelphia PA, TBS, 9:57pm, est).  North Carolina has looked like one of the most impressive teams in the nation since just before Championship Week.  Indiana has looked really good as well minus their B10 Tourney loss to Michigan.  The Hoosiers come in to this on an emotional high after knocking off a highly talented Kentucky team that they have a history of not liking.  UNC, on the other hand, blew past their first two opponents.  As good as the Hoosiers have looked, they’ll probably have to play better than they’ve played all season to knock off the Tarheels today.

 

UNDER THE RADAR

There was only one game played outside of the NCAA Tournament last night, but both NJIT and Texas-Arlington put on a memorable show in Newark last night. Despite being outrebounded 45-31 and being down by as many as 11 points in the 1st half, the Highlanders were able to mount a successful 2nd-half comeback and move on to the CIT semifinals. NJIT ended up shooting over 50 percent from the field in the 2nd half, and hitting 11 3-pointers helped lead the way to a 63-60 win for NJIT. The Highlanders will play at Columbia at 6:00 PM on Sunday night, and Texas-Arlington ends one of their better under-the-radar seasons in recent memory (included early-season wins at Ohio State and at Memphis).

There were a couple of notable goings-on as it related to coaching news at UTR schools. Tim Cluess signed an extension at Iona; his contract is now scheduled to run through the 2020-21 season. As of last night, Zach Spiker is now expected to become the next head coach at Drexel, and there is also a distinct possibility that former Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury could be on his way to Western Kentucky to take the top job. We at Hoops HD will continue to monitor the head coaching carousel throughout March and the offseason, both above and below the radar.

EDIT: 11:15 AM

Multiple outlets are now reporting that Jerod Haase is expected to take the Stanford job; Haase has led UAB to the 2015 NCAA Tournament (including an upset of 3rd-seeded Iowa State) and the NIT this season, including a regular-season championship in C-USA in 2016 and the 2015 C-USA tournament championship.

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Postseason press pass: HoopsHD is in the house for the NIT at GW!

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Jon Teitel

Press pass

If at first you cannot get a press pass to the NCAA Tourney…get 1 to the NIT quarterfinal game 4 blocks away from your office! I was able to score a press pass for Wednesday’s quarterfinal NIT game between Florida and GW (thank you Justin), so I walked the 4 long blocks down G St. NW to get to the Smith Center. After realizing that I had not brought a pen, I walked 4 blocks back to the office and then 4 blocks back to the gym, yet still had time for a couple of pregame pizza slices in the media room. It was a bit jarring to see the Gators come out in their white uniforms despite playing on the road, but that is what happens when you decide to begin a $65 million renovation to your home arena in March. Then again, there were so many Gator fans in the stands dressed in orange and blue, yelling when GW players shot free throws, and doing the “Gator Chomp” after their own team made a free throw, that at times it seemed like a neutral-site game despite the presence of noted DC-area college basketball writer John Feinstein in the front row.

The coaching contrast was evident early: GW coach Mike Lonergan wore his blue blazer and GW tie while gesticulating wildly all game long, and on the other end of the sideline Florida coach Mike White ditched his jacket early and calmly stood in place or squatted down to watch the action on the court unfold. The 1st half was very evenly-matched: the Colonials made 1 more FG (16-15) and 2 more FT (4-2) to earn a 39-36 lead at the break, but the Gators AST advantage (9-3) and balanced scoring (4 players with 6-9 PTS) demonstrated that this game would go down to the wire, which happily it did. Patricio Garino was a 1-man wrecking crew for GW: a couple of jumpers, a couple of layups, and a nifty 1-handed put-back gave him 11 PTS by halftime. Despite not playing a single second, the 1 Florida player who I could not stop staring at was Zach Hodskins, who was born without a left hand/forearm. I never would have believed it, but after watching him dribble between his legs during layup lines and make double-pump reverse layups, I really think that the kid can play D-1 basketball despite having only 1 hand, so kudos to Zach for enlightening me.

The 2nd half was all about the veteran big men for GW: 6’9” JR Tyler Cavanaugh scored 18 of his game-high 23 PTS (including 3-3 from behind the arc) and 6’10” SR Kevin Larsen had 14 PTS/8 REB to finish with a total of 19 PTS/13 REB. The only 2 SEC freshmen that the majority of the nation knows about are Ben Simmons of LSU/Jamal Murray of Kentucky, but Florida has a dynamic duo of their own in KeVaughn Allen (22 PTS on a variety of dunks/layups/threes) and Kevarrius Hayes (14 PTS on 6-7 FG from close range). The Gators only missed 2 FTs all night and only had 1 of their shots blocked, but 29.2 3P% and getting out-rebounded on the road will not win you many postseason games. I got to introduce myself to Feinstein in the media room and tell him that I liked “A Season on the Brink”: good times!  I also got to ask each coach a question during the post-game press conference, and if you would like to hear Coach White’s response it is the final question/answer located at the following link: http://floridagators.com/watch/?Archive=4040

GW is now 42-6 at home over the past 3 seasons, but I do not know how they are going to do away from home when they travel to MSG on Tuesday to face San Diego State. What I do know is that after watching them beat Virginia in person in November en route to extending their current home winning streak against non-conference opponents to an amazing 24 games in a row, I do not know why any team outside the A-10 would choose to fight DC traffic just to get the chance to come to the Smith Center…and lose.

 

 

[acx_slideshow name=”GW NIT”]

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Sweet Sixteen Rundown: Thursday, March 24th (and a note about GCU’s Historic Season)

Posted on March 24, 2016 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for our Under the Radar Postseason News, Notes, and Highlighted Games

 

#3 MIAMI FL VS #2 VILLANOVA (Louisville, KY.  CBS, 7:10pm, est).  Villanova is very tough to guard, and when they are hitting their shots they can be almost impossible to beat.  They’ve blown through their first two games and played what was perhaps one of their best games of the year in the Round of 32 against Iowa.  Miami has been up and down this season, but they’ve mostly been up.  They held on to win their first two round games despite a big comeback from Wichita State.  They’re defense is certainly going to get a workout tonight.

#3 TEXAS A&M VS #2 OKLAHOMA (Anaheim, CA. TBS, 7:37pm, est).  There are times that Oklahoma has looked like the best team in the country, but there are many other times where they have certainly looked beatable.  Even though they’re here, they looked beatable in both of their NCAA Tournament wins to get here.  Texas A&M is coming off what is probably one of the most improbable wins in NCAA Tournament history by overcoming a double digit deficit against Northern Iowa in the final 44 seconds.  These are old conference foes that now rarely play.  Oklahoma is more battle tested, but TAMU has shown they can play.

#5 MARYLAND VS #1 KANSAS (Louisville, KY.  CBS, 9:40pm, est).  Maryland beat two double digit seeds to get here and Kansas blew through their two games as well.  Maryland is good, but they will be swinging way over their weight in this one as Kansas has looked absolutely remarkable over the past month or so.

#4 DUKE VS #1 OREGON (Anaheim, CA.  TBS, 10:07pm, est).  Duke beat two double digits seeds to get here as they had to sweat out UNC Wilmington a little bit, and then had to hold on against a Yale team that mounted a furious comeback.  It was no easy path for Oregon either who struggled to put away Saint Joe’s in the Round of 32.  I like Oregon’s athleticism and think Duke will struggle defensively in this game.  Like all the other games today it should be a fun matchup.

 

THE GRAND CANYON ANTELOPES

-The Grand Canyon Antelopes, this year’s team of the people, fell on the road to Coastal Carolina in the quarterfinals of the CIT in a game that came right down to the buzzer.  As disappointing and as heartbreaking as it is when a team’s season ends, especially if it ends after a game they feel they could have won, they have a lot to be proud of.  When we decided to adopt them as our “Team of the People” this year, we had no idea that we were going to have as much fun with them as we did.  The fans were great.  We loved the interaction on Twitter and elsewhere.  We loved that our own Jon Teitel was actually able to get to one of their games in person.  We loved some of the antics that we pulled, such as the #LopesWaiver tweets, twitter bombing the NCAA with pictures of Howard Beale, petitioning the White House to get them a waiver, calling Mark Emmert during a podcast of Under the Radar to try and get him on the phone, getting the WAC Commissioner to respond saying that he felt it was unfortunate, and so much more.  I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed following them this year.

And, there really is much to be proud of.  Most transitional programs are complete and total train wrecks.  The teams are essentially on probation for four years, so it is hard to sell yourself to recruits and build yourself up when you’re going through that.  If a team is good, or generates some quality players, they will often be tempted to transfer to a program that is not on probation.  It is not easy at all to do what they did.  They finished in the top 100 of the RPI, and finished second overall in the WAC conference.  That is as successful as any transitional program has ever been.  They still have one more year.  Once that’s over, they will be a competitive program at the div1 level and will contend for NCAA Tournaments.

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Under The Radar Postseason News, Notes and Highlighted Game – Thursday, March 24

Posted on March 24, 2016 by John Stalica

Click here for Jon Teitel’s interview with Dominique Wilkins (named to the 2016 Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame)

6 games were played last night involving Under-The-Radar schools; one more game in the CIT will be played tonight between NJIT and Texas-Arlington. Recaps and the lone preview are listed below:

NIT

There were times when it did feel like a home game for Florida last night; lots of Gator fans happened to be in the District last night to watch the Florida-GW quarterfinal. It was a close game throughout, but Tyler Cavanaugh hit a 3-pointer with under a minute remaining to give the Colonials a 4-point lead; they would hang on to win 82-77. Cavanaugh led the way with 23 points last night; Kevin Larsen also had 19 points and 13 rebounds for GW as well.

Their opponent in the NIT semifinals next week will be San Diego State; the Aztecs defeated Georgia Tech 72-56. The Yellow Jackets trailed by only 4 points at the under-12 mark, but a 6-minute shooting drought was fatal for their chances of winning last night. Trey Kell led San Diego State with 18 points; 12 of which came from 3-point range.

CIT (click on the link for a live stream)

All 3 games in the CIT went down to the wire last night; Ball State had a chance to tie their game against Columbia in the closing seconds, but a pair of missed free throws were fatal for the Cardinals. Columbia ended up winning 69-67 in the friendly confines of New York City.

Sadly, this year’s Team of the People also missed a chance to hit a game-winning 3-point shot against Coastal Carolina with under a second remaining; the Chanticleers wound up winning 60-58. The Lopes actually led for most of the 2nd half, but Coastal was finally able to retake the lead with under a minute remaining in regulation.

However, there was one team that did hit a game-winner in the closing seconds; Mike Best hit a 10-footer with under 4 seconds remaining to give UC-Irvine a 67-66 win on the road at Louisiana-Lafayette last night. The Anteaters didn’t panic despite blowing a 7-point halftime lead; they will move on to the semifinals of the CIT with a 9:00 game Sunday night at Coastal Carolina (can be seen on CBS Sports Network).

As for tonight:

TEXAS-ARLINGTON AT NJIT (7:30 PM) – The only game being played tonight not involving the big boys will be played at NJIT’s Fleischer Center. Arlington got a bye through the second round into tonight’s game; NJIT defeated Boston University in their last game at home earlier this week thanks to a combined 51 points from Damon Lynn and Tim Coleman. Tonight’s winner will travel to Columbia to play in the first CIT semifinal played at 6:00 PM (also live on CBS Sports Network).

CBI

There would not be a 3rd straight comeback win for the Ohio Bobcats; Morehead State saw to that with a 77-72 win on the road in Athens, Ohio. Lyonell Gaines finished with a double-double (14 points, 13 rebounds) to lead the way for the Eagles. Their opponent in the CBI Championship Series will be the Nevada Wolf Pack; Cameron Oliver led Nevada with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. Game 1 of the best-of-3 series will be played on Monday in Morehead, KY at 8:30 PM and will be televised live on ESPNU.

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