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An extra day of conference tourneys…

Ohhhhhh, the Big 10, at the risk of drawing the ire of some of the readership, the Buffet was ready to attach superlatives to a conference that earned them this season. We could talk about the 4 maybe 5 teams with legit Final Four aspirations, the top tier college basketball talent populating the various rosters, or simply we could discuss the multiple games a week that featured thrilling conclusions and out and out 40 minutes of superb basketball.  But then, unsurprisingly, Gus Johnson provided the best possible encapsulation we could have come up with today at the close of the Illinois/Minnesota, shocker, thrilling conclusion, “At the buzzzzzer… WELCOME TO THE BIG 10.”

Indiana.  The team the Buffet believes is the most talented and complete.  They survived the regular season Big 10 Battle Royal as outright champion by leather of a basketball that didn’t drop – but in doing so, made a statement as to just how good they are. There are some who question their consistency, but that just doesn’t jive with the Buffet. On one hand the Big10 is amazing and tough, on the other, 4 losses during conference play (best in conference), questions your greatness? Maybe they should have just had a major contributor get hurt, lose 4 games, come back and everyone will be ready to crown them.  Snark aside, this is a #1 seed, probably so, even with a loss to Illinois in their 12ET matchup tomorrow, but they could use a little B10 run to ensure not only the 1 seed (which is pretty assured) but also that they keep placement in Indianapolis away from Louisville, who looked PRIME in their contest with Villanova today.   Indiana would get Illinois and then the Michigan/Wisconsin winner, 2 wins, and they could not only be assured to come home for the Sweet 16 (if they win) but also the number two team over all.

 

Ohio State.  It’s funny, for the same reasons people have called Indiana “inconsistent” – suddenly Ohio State was treated as a second tier Big10 team because they sat at 8-5, and yes, they sat at 8-5 and didn’t have a really strong road win, but then a season closing 5 game win streak which included home wins overs Minnesota, Michigan State and Illinois and capped by a win at Indiana,  and the 3-seed range is back where they belong, a nice run this weekend could see them playing in 2-seed territory, a quick loss to Purdue with one of the current 4s or even SLU, Wisconsin, Syracuse with tournament championships MIGHT cause a ripple effect. But, most likely a 3 seed is the Bucks destiny.

 

Michigan State.  Another Big10 hype Michigan casualty, wins over Kansas, Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, Boise St, at Wisconsin, Illinois and at Iowa – was all forgotten, because apparently losing to Indiana, @Ohio St and @Michigan in three straight games (by a total of 13 points) means we start questioning your merit.  Guess what, conference season is tough.  Want to know when it’s tougher? Playing your games in the nation’s best conference.  We assume the committee understand these principles, and have seeded them according – slotting them as a #2.  Now if they don’t win the Big10 title, and one of our current 4 seeds does win their tournament, maybe we slide them to a 3, but that’s gotta be the worst case scenario for them.

 

Michigan.  The hard luck 5 seed, finished just two games back, and if Jordan Morgan’s put back drop, we’re talking about a Big10 conference co-champ.  With arguably the best player in NCAA hoops overall, and a talent studded roster, this is a Final Four caliber squad.  8 top 50 wins, 2 more if you include the top 100, and there is a questionable loss (@Penn State) but the strength more than outweighs.  We see a #2 seed, and with the Penn State get back win today (not that they needed it as a get back, but just avoiding a bad loss in mid-March, we think they are pretty safe, pending what the 3 seeds do and what their fellow 2s do.

Wisconsin.  What a roster of wins – at Indiana, sweep of Illinois, wins in Madison over Michigan, Ohio St Minnesota & California with only a home loss to Purdue (who was FEISTY in late Feb/early March), and Wisconsin is easy to forget, because of the 4 teams already discussed, but this is a team with 7 top 50 wins, an overall SOS of 20 (but only 135 with just non-conference games), the sit 28 in the BPI, and we see them as a 5 with upward mobility to a 4, and really, they are pretty safe – only 2 of the four 6 seeds could win their conference tournament, and we don’t see Wisconsin being the first 5 to go.

Illinois. A win at the AP #1 is hanging nicely on this resume, so is a win over Butler on a neutral floor, and at Minnesota – those pair nicely with Indiana and Ohio State home wins.  But, they are weird case of a team with a decent roster of top 50 wins, but then no work against 50-100 (only a home win over Eastern Kentucky, then the balance of their work versus the bottom tier, and two losses (including one at home against Northwestern) which makes you wonder.  And, no, we had a writer in Chicago for two years that is not a BUBBLING rivalry, even if they don’t like each other.  Northwestern is : a) not good in 2012-13; b) barely musters feeling if Pat Fitzgerald isn’t the coach; 3) would likely intellectually decide why they weren’t going to feel rivalry hate against their instant conference opponents.  The profile we described is a classic 8/9 spot, with a Big10 run allowing anywhere from 5-7 depending on other results, with 6 being more likely and 7 being probably their ceiling when all is said and done.

Minnesota.

 

 

 

 

We wanted to visually represent the Free Fall this team is currently on.  This team started 15-1 and had some wins to make you believe (Memphis, Michigan St, a blowout win over Illinois, but then the conference best came calling, and Minnesota stopped performing, 5-11 to close the season, with four separate multiple game losing streaks.  Those roster of wins are nice, but then you see the way they closed the season and 3 losses to 101-200 and a 3-8 road record, and this team will be in, but the seed is quickly dropping.  Last look was a 9 seed, after today’s loss we’re thinking 10/11 is a more likely final landing for the Gophers.

Iowa.  The odd case where you finish ahead of two teams safely in, but you find yourself likely out without much of a Big10 run (thank you unbalanced schedules!) – probably 2 wins is required to get in, but a win over Michigan St at a time when many other teams aren’t either improving their resumes or can’t, will definitely make the Buffet take a longer look at them.

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:   Illinois at Gonzaga, 85-74

 2013 Big Ten Player of the Year: Trey Burke, Michigan

 

2013 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year:  Victor Oladipo, Indiana (UPSET! We didn’t know people were allowed to not tout Aaron Craft’s defense.)

2013 Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Gary Harris, Michigan St

2013 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year: Will Sheehey, Indiana

2013 Big Ten Coach of the Year: Bo Ryan, Wisconsin

2013 All-Big Ten First Team

Victor Oladipo, Indiana

Cody Zeller, Indiana

Trey Burke, Michigan

Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan

Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State

Big Ten 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidates:  

 

Jordan Hulls, Indiana, 76/156, 31 games, 2.5/gm, 49%

D.J. Byrd, Purdue, 73/199, 31 games, 2.4/gm, 37%

Ben Brust, Wisconsin, 71/180, 31 games, 2.3/gm, 39%

Big Ten Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Trey Burke, Michigan, 3.5 A/TO

 

2013 PAC-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Mach 13-16, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV

After an abysmal 2011-12, the Pac12 rebounded nicely, with likely 5 teams on the verge of advancing to the Buffet.

UCLA. If you’re like the Buffet, and you can only listen to Bill Walton in 5 minute increments, then you’ve noticed UCLA put together a nice season – yes, they lost to Cal-Poly at home, but following a loss to San Diego St, they went on a little run, that turned around their season, and ended up a sweep of Arizona, a road win of Colorado later (with a brief ASU/Washington St blip) as the 2013 Pac12 regular season champions.  The profile is light on non-conference wins, however, which keeps their ceiling lower despite winning the regular season title.  The thing that helps, interestingly, is that they swept Arizona, so while Arizona’s profile overall is much stronger, UCLA will latch to them somewhat (as much as 4 to 7 is latching) because you really can’t put Arizona out of their orbit.

Arizona. The tournament’s #4 seed, but probably the conference’s most talent (Shabazz Muhammad excluded) and with easily it’s best resume – Arizona is an odd team – great wins – Miami Fl, Florida, San Diego St, Southern Miss, the 3point winner that wasn’t versus Colorado (which was answered resoundingly in the Pac12 tourney opening round), but if you watched those games, you still didn’t feel great about UofA. Then the inconsistency set in. Swept by UCLA, loss at home to Cal, away at Colorado & Oregon, and an inexplicable road loss to USC.  The good outweighs the bad for seeding purposes, and after their 10 point win today, should be safe in the 4/5 range, we think the committee will have SOME sense of humor and give them Momo Jones and Iona, but with UCLA next, and a chance to get one against them this year, a 3 isn’t out of the question with a Pac12 title.

California. This sort of came out of nowhere. Not even in much of a tournament discussion at the start of February, suddenly they closed huge, and grabbed the tournament #2 seed, finishing tied for 2^nd with Oregon & Arizona (although, the PAC12 tourney OT loss to Utah changes the narrative a bit).   A late 7 game win streak brought a .500 conference team to 12-5, and a loss to Stanford dropped them into that 3-way tie that they moved ahead of thanks to tie breaker.  We liked them in the 8/9 game, the Golden Bears are held back because while they are playing good ball (or were before the last week), they have very little in the non-conference to speak of – Denver is their top win, and with their early WAC loss today, that lost some luster.  If they lose to Utah, as a pair with Stanford to close the season, could be a late seeding victim and finish at 10/11.

The teams who stumbled their way in as much as anyone: Oregon & Colorado.

Oregon. The Ducks seemed to have the conference title in their sights, at 7-2 and 10-3, but then losses to Cal, @Colorado, @Utah right after a 3 game losing streak to Stanford, Cal (which is why Cal is your #2 seed, having also won head to head with Arizona), suddenly Oregon’s Buffet inclusion isn’t in question, but their seeding is (and should be).  They are getting a bit of a reprieve, having the offensively challenged Huskies, and now, perhaps, Utah, before a final appearance.  And a nice road win over UNLV will probably mean a boost to the 8/9 line, despite not really deserving it.  But you all watch…

Colorado. Andre Roberson got hurt, and they proceeded to blow out Oregon, after a 16 point loss at Cal.  Then, perhaps, finally feeling the depth effects, fell to Oregon St (they subsequently beat them before falling today to Arizona, and hopefully, causing Tad Boyle to stop worrying if the 3 in Tucson should have counted or not.  A couple of decent wins – at home v. Colorado St, neutral court versus Baylor, sweeping Oregon, and beating both UofA and Cal at home.  But there were a couple poor conference losses weighing them down.  Right now, they sit in the 10 spot, with Temple and Iowa St on the last Buffetology threatening their place.

Arizona St. Well, they tried it, an OT win over Stanford, who also wanted consideration, and led for most of the game tonight until UCLA took control. But a three letter future is in store for the 2012-13 Sun Devils.

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:  Arizona vs. Miami (FL) 69-50

2013 Pac12 Player of the Year: Alan Crabbe, California

 

2013 Pac12 Defensive Player of the Year:  Andre Roberson, Colorado

2013 Pac12 Freshman of the Year:

Jahii Carson, Arizona St

Shabazz Muhammad, UCLA

2013 Pac12 Coach of the Year: Dana Altman, Oregon

2013 All- Pac12 First Team

It would have been easier to say everyone…

Jahii Carson, Arizona State
Allen Crabbe, California
Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado
Larry Drew II, UCLA
Solomon Hill, Arizona
Mark Lyons, Arizona
Shabazz Muhammad, UCLA
Dwight Powell, Stanford
Andre Roberson, Colorado
E.J. Singler, Oregon

Pac12 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidate:  

 

Ahmad Starks, Oregon State, 64/162, 32 games, 2.0/gm, 40%

J.T. Terrell, USC, 67/185, 31 games, 2.2/gm, 36%

Pac12 Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Larry Drew II, UCLA, 3.3 A/TO

2012 SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 13-17, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.

Now, if you were looking to find the 2012-13 version of the Pac12, this is it.  Only 1 team can feel totally safe, 2 teams can feel good, and 6 are under continuing consideration, and likely, barring some selection committee madness, only one will start out the tournament wearing white.

Florida. That would be the Gators, who most people like to include among the list of most talented, but stayed just inconsistent enough to keep them out of a top seed discussion. They beat Marquette and Wisconsin, but they missed chances at really having a flawless looking resume with their late collapse versus Arizona and inability to pull off a win in Manhattan, Kansas.  For the most part they had control over the SEC this season, but their inability to get sterling road wins is what has them at a 3, and with the ceiling of a 2, but more than likely staying right where we have them currently.

Now let’s get into the real fun – making sense of this league.  Before reading on, for those that are inclined, look at the resumes of Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky (w or w/o Noel), and they are hard to discern. 

Missouri. Probably has your best resume, thanks to wins over VCU and Illinois on neutral courts.  But they went .500 against the middle of the bracket teams, and absolutely bombed on the road – losing at: UCLA, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Arkansas, LSU, and Texas A&M.  Those top wins will probably keep Missouri safe, but an early loss in the SEC tournament, and we are looking sincerely at a double digit seed.

Kentucky. First they were in trouble, probably the victims of their own freshman laden success from last year.  Then, they seemed to get it together. Then disaster struck and Nerlens Noel went down.  The 30-point loss to Tennessee in their first game after the injury was predictable, but then they lost to Arkansas and Georgia back to back, and suddenly the Wildcats weren’t looking to be around to defend their title.  But a huge bounce back against the Florida, gave the Committee their first good luck at what this team could be without Noel.  Now, they are looking at the first four games in Dayton, because the Buffet thinks the NCAA/Selection Committee has ratings/dollar signs in their eyes about it. They did finish #2 in the SEC, but really, they need to beat Vanderbilt tomorrow to make sure this happens to them. They really could use to beat Ole Miss/Missouri, because they are similarly situated teams.  This is essentially a team that short of an SEC tournament final berth will be waiting and waiting on Sunday.

Tennessee. Authors of two of the worst games this season (they lost both – 37-36 to Georgetown and 46-38 to Virginia), they did, however, close 9-1 with wins over Florida, Missouri, the 30 pt win over Kentucky.  Add to that wins over Wichita St and Alabama, and this is a solid resume, until you notice they are 1-6 against the top 100 on the road, that their only top non-conference wins computer wise outside of Wichita, are UMass (sorry Jerry, this isn’t sterling) and Xavier, and you start to wonder.  Now, they got by Miss St easily, they beat Alabama, and set up a rubber game with Florida, and we think you can start thinking about how far you’ll pencil them along in your brackets.  Certainly a qualification in the SEC tournament final will seal it.

Ole Miss. Marshall Henderson pissed off the entire Auburn crowd, Ole Miss was 6-0, people we all about the Rebels.  Lost in that was Ole Miss needed heroics to beat AUBURN.  Well, it got unlost in a hurry, 6-0 became 6-6, and the losses? Kentucky at home, @Florida, @Missouri, @A&M, @So Carolina, @Miss State. Now are the first 4 “bad” losses? No, but they reflect an inability to compete at a tournament level.  They hold NO non-conference wins to speak of – Rutgers is their top non-conference win.   Maybe a run to the SEC final changes things, but we doubt it.  Win the tournament Rebs, and schedule better non-conference (ranked 271 this year) next season.

Alabama. It’s not probably happening.  Although, they have better non-conference work than Ole Miss, an identical conference record, while their top win (Kentucky) is computer rated lower than Ole Miss’ (50 to 35).  But it’s 4 losses to teams 101+ versus Ole Miss’ 2 (although, OIe Miss has two losses above 200 to Alabama’s 1, and Alabama’s worst loss, Auburn, we all now know from Henderson’s antics, was one Ole Miss almost had themselves.  Alabama does have a chance to get by Waiting Line… Tennessee and conference top seed without winning the SEC tournament, actually gives them more upward more mobility, in the Buffet’s eyes than Ole Miss, who technically sit ahead of Alabama right now.

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:   Weber State at Dayton, 62-61

2013 SEC Player of the Year: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia

 

2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year:  Nerlens Noel, Kentucky

2013 SEC Freshman of the Year: Nerlens Noel, Kentucky

2013 SEC Sixth-Man of the Year: Kyle Wiltjer, Kentucky

2013 SEC Coach of the Year: Billy Donovan, Florida

2013 All- SEC First Team

Much like the Pac12, otherwise known as everyone…

Trevor Releford, Alabama

Erik Murphy, Florida

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia

Nerlens Noel, Kentucky

Johnny O’Bryant III, LSU

Phil Pressey, Missouri

Jordan McRae, Tennessee

Elston Turner, Texas A&M

SEC 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidate:  (we’ve got another leading contender)

 

Marshall Henderson, Ole Miss, 121/336, 31 games, 3.9/gm, 36%

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia, 78/210, 31 games, 2.5/gm, 37%

Elston Turner, 78/210, 30 games, 2.4/gm, 37%

Andre Stringer, 61/151, 29 games, 2.1/gm, 40%

SEC Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Scottie Wilbekin, Florida, 2.5 A/TO

Scanning the Scene…

ACC: Boston College and their talented freshman, Olivier Hanlan, setting an ACC conf tournament record with 41 points, beat Georgia Tech 84-64

NC State avoided disaster by handling Virginia Tech 80-63

Florida State won the nightcap snoozer, 73-69 over Clemson

Maryland stayed in the Waiting Line… with a 75-62 win over Wake (but at least Jeff Bzdelik tweeted how proud he was of his team’s effort)

America East:  #2 Albany vs. #1 Vermont, Saturday 11:30am ET

Atlantic 10: Charlotte 68-Richmond 63, after a chaotic cluster of a finish

Butler got by Dayton 73-67

UMass saved disaster, a stayed on Jerry Palm’s mysterious radar, 77-72

Xavier decided to eschew the dunk, and as a result eschewed a win, losing to Saint Joe’s and leaving the Waiting Line… officially, 58-57

Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast, Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament champion.

Big 12: Iowa St probably moved ahead of Oklahoma with a tremendous comeback win – 73-66

Texas crushed the hopes and dream of the Buffet editorial staff, oh wait, no Chaminade did that months ago, but they did lose to Kansas St 66-49, and Myck Kabongo, playing inspired after letting his teammates down with suspension, had 2 points on 0-5 shooting with 5 turnovers and 7 assists. Not Gregory Douglas Ott numbers.

Oklahoma St got two free throws from Phil Forte with 3 seconds left, to stave off a furious comeback attempt and sweet 4 point play to tie late by Baylor.  Buffet still thinks this keeps Baylor steady and in the last four in, for now.

Kansas had no problems with Texas Tech in a 91-63 win, setting up Iowa State Round III. No word if Bill Self’s Iowa State admirer will be in attendance.

Big East:  Georgetown, wanting that #1 seed, pounded Cincy and their ugly uniforms, 62-43

Syracuse got a little bit of normalcy back, handing Pittsburgh a 62-59 loss.

Louisville stomped Villanova out, 75-55

Marquette thoroughly disappointed the Buffet, and probably should start planning on a 4/5 landing, losing to Notre Dame 73-65

Big Sky: Opening round action saw one minor upset – Northern Colorado took Weber and Montana’s biggest conference test (Montana St) out with a 69-56 win

North Dakota (69-52) and Weber St (85-58) had no problem with Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, respectively.  Looking at those two schools and their directional modifiers, they probably aren’t too far from each other.

Big South: Liberty Flames, 2013 Big South Conference Tournament champion.

Big Ten: Illinois helped Minny continue their late season free fall with a 51-49 win

Michigan had no problem with Penn St (83-66)

Iowa kept their place in the Waiting Line… beating Northwestern 73-59

RED ALERT! Nebraska over Purdue 57-55

Big West: No surprises so far – Long Beach St and Cal Poly cruised.

Pacific had a wild finish against a game UCSB squad (technical on Pacific’s Lorenzo McCloud, who had just missed 2 free throws, follow by 2 misses by UCSB down 1, and a couple of free throws and a missed 3 later, Pacific survived.

UC Irvine led by 22 at halftime and then held on for a 71-60 lead

Colonial:  James Madison 2013 Colonial Athletic Association champion.

C-USA: Memphis had no problem with Tulane, Tulsa with the mini-upset of East Carolina, UTEP beat up Houston, and Southern Miss made the Waiting Line… continue to tolerate their presence 81-66 (it’s a back of the line presence, so they are barely noticed)

Horizon League:  Valparaiso Crusaders 2013 Horizon League tournament champs.

Colonial:  Harvard Crimson, 2013 Ivy League Champs

MAAC: Iona Gaels, 2013 MAAC Tournament champion.

MEAC: More upsets: Savannah State lost in overtime to the Fightin’ Todd Bozemans and Delaware State took out Hampton, for tomorrow’s semis we’ve got 5 v 8 (Morgan St v Bethune) and 6 v 7 (Del State versus NC A&T)

MAC: Kent St ended the Buffet’s upset fun with a 2 point win over Buffalo, and Western Michigan get the chalk intact with a 70-55 pasting of Eastern.  Akron/Kent and Ohio/Western Michigan on tap for the MAC tourney

MVC: Creighton Blue Jays, 2013 Arch Madness champions

MWC: New Mexico v San Diego St, 6pm PT

UNLV v. Colorado St (w/o Dorian Green) 830pm PT

NEC: Long Island University Brooklyn Blackbirds, 2013 NEC Tournament champs

OVC: Belmont Bruins, 2013 OVC Tournament champions.

Patriot: Bucknell (#1) vs. Lafayette (#2), Wednesday at 7pm ET.

Pac 12: Maybe Utah is relevant? Nah, but they did provide the big upset of the night with a 10 point overtime win over the 2 seed and previously playing well Cal.

UCLA ended an Arizona St Waiting Line… attempt with a late second half comeback

Arizona finally silenced Tad Boyle

Overtime late in Vegas – a late 3 that pushed the -3, but Oregon outlasted Washington 80-77

SEC: LSU and Vanderbilt had tiny, insignificant upsets, and Missouri & Tennessee kept their spot in the Line… or the Buffet, depending on how you look at them with wins over bottom seeded opponents.

Southern: Davidson Wildcats, 2013 Southern Conference tournament champions

Southland:  SE Louisiana won over McNeese by 20, and Oral Roberts first Southland season ended ignominiously with a 58-55 loss to 6-seeded Sam Houston State

Summit: South Dakota State Jackrabbits, back to back Summit Tournament champs.

Sun Belt: Western Kentucky, Sun Belt conference tournament champions

SWAC:  Prairie View continued to be an elusive school’s name to spell but also defeated the 3 seed (as the 4) Alcon St by 8

Jackson St held seed, as the 2 seed beat the 5, in the wacky seeding structure you’ll find when only 7 teams are eligible for you tournament.

WAC:   Bad night to be a top seed here, after UTSA announced their presence with a 67-49 authority over San Jose, they continue the announcement, upsetting the top seed, and faint Waiting Line… hoping (hopes over) Louisiana Tech 73-67.

Denver, another faint Line… hoper was taken out by Texas State, 72-68

New Mexico St, the new presumptive favorite, beat Idaho 65-49

TX-Arlington defeated Utah St 83-78.

West Coast: Gonzaga, 2013 WCC Conference champions

109 TEAMS REMAIN!!! The breakdown is below. Check in later for more notes and a seed list of all 109 teams.

-ACC – 8 (Miami, FL (at-large), Duke (at-large), North Carolina (at-large), NC State (at-large), Virginia (under consideration), Maryland (under consideration), Florida State, Boston College)

-AMERICA EAST – 2 (Albany, Vermont)

-ATLANTIC TEN – 8 (Saint Louis (at-large), VCU (at-large), Butler (at-large) La Salle (under consideration), Temple (under consideration), UMass (under consideration), Charlotte (under consideration), Saint Joseph’s)

-ATLANTIC SUN – 1 (FGCU – champion)

-BIG TWELVE – 6 (Kansas (at-large), Kansas State (at-large), Oklahoma State (at-large), Oklahoma (at-large), Iowa State (under consideration), Baylor (under consideration))

-BIG EAST – 8 (Louisville (at-large), Georgetown (at-large), Marquette (at-large), Pittsburgh (at-large), Notre Dame (at-large), Syracuse (at-large), Villanova (under consideration), Cincinnati (under consideration))

-BIG SKY – 4 (Montana, Weber State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado)

-BIG SOUTH – 1 (Liberty, (champion))

-BIG TEN – 9 (Indiana (at-large), Michigan (at-large), Michigan State (at-large), Ohio State (at-large), Wisconsin (at-large), Illinois (at-large), Minnesota (at-large), Iowa (under consideration), Nebraska)

-BIG WEST – 4 (Long Beach, Cal Poly, Pacific, UC Irvine)

-COLONIAL – 1 (James Madison (champion)

-CONFERENCE USA – 4 (Memphis (at-large), Southern Miss (under consideration), UTEP, Tulsa)

-HORIZON LEAGUE – 1 (Valparaiso (champion))

-IVY – 1 (Harvard (champion))

-MAC – 4 (Akron (under consideration), Ohio, Western Michigan, Kent State)

-METRO ATLANTIC – 1 (Iona (champion))

-MEAC – 4 (Morgan State, Delaware State, North Carolina A&T, Bethune Cookman)

-MISSOURI VALLEY – 2 (Creighton (at-large), Wichita State (at-large)

-MOUNTAIN WEST – 5 (New Mexico (at-large), Colorado State (at-large), UNLV (at-large), San Diego State (at-large), Boise State (under consideration))

-NORTHEAST – 1 (LIU Brooklyn (champion))

-OHIO VALLEY – 1 (Belmont (champion)

-PAC TWELVE – 6 (UCLA (at-large), California (at-large), Arizona (at-large), Oregon (under consideration), Colorado (under consideration), Utah)

-PATRIOT LEAGUE – 1 (Bucknell (champion))

-SEC – 8 (Florida (at-large), Missouri (under consideration), Kentucky (under consideration), Ole Miss (under consideration), Alabama (under consideration), Tennessee (under consideration), LSU, Vanderbilt)

-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE – 1 (Davidson (champion))

-SOUTHLAND – 4 (Stephen F Austin (under consideration), Northwestern State, Southeast Louisiana, Sam Houston State)

-SUMMIT LEAGUE – 1 (South Dakota State (champion)

-SUN BELT – 2 (Western Kentucky (champion), Middle Tennessee (under consideration))

-SWAC – 4 (Southern, Jackson State, Prarie View A&M, Alabama A&M)

-WAC – 4 (New Mexico State, Utah State, Texas State, TX San Antonio)

-WEST COAST – 2 (Gonzaga (champion), Saint Mary’s (under consideration)

Griggs

Big Conference Kick Offs

Buffet v Experts

Mo’ of Momo

A wealth of auto bidding

Top Seeded Carnage

Scanning the scene

Huge Buffet

Killer Top Seeds

An extra day of conference tourneys…

 2013 – 60^TH ANNIVERSARY – ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

March 14-17, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC

 First thought – there is no word our writers and editors struggle with spelling more than “coliseum.” It’s a weird mental block.

A new league leader came to the foreground this season, as Miami waited for the returned of Durand Scott early, but then realized the team’s best player that they were waiting was already there – Shane Larkin. Which is cool, because, that means we get to think about hall of famer, Barry Larkin, every time we talk about the Hurricanes.  But, the league’s best team is probably its #2 seed, especially with Ryan Kelly back in the lineup.  Hey, did anyone know that Seth Curry has an injury that prevents him from practicing? We kid, but we can’t get enough unintentional humor out of well-meaning journalists who not only point that out REPEATEDLY, but frame it in a way that suggests that no one on earth has mentioned it before.  Also, Allen Iverson had the same injury, we suppose.  Duke is in line to be the #1 overall seed, probably would need to win the league to secure that (because Indiana winning the Big10 or Louisville doing so in the BigEast would be more compelling), but they definitely have the leading edge.  By the way, it won’t happen because we’re drawing attention to it, but is there any question Liberty will be coincidentally lined up in the play-in game opposite Duke, so it can be a Seth Curry versus School He Deserted Opening…err…Second Round game?

Meanwhile, Miami is in need to do some reinforcement, after starting the conference season 13-0, they’ve gone 2-3, losing to both Georgia Tech & Clemson in that time, costing themselves a likely shot at a #1 – they’re behind Louisville, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Kansas, and the Michigan schools in line, heck, even the Florida Gulf Coast loss doesn’t seem as bad with their conference tournament championship as the losses to Tech at home and Wake Forest, anywhere that that game would be played.   They’re sitting on the 3 line right now, and all of those teams listed sit in front of them, but an early tournament exit by any, and an ACC run (and especially a title) could get them to at least a 2.

 

North Carolina.  A bizzare year for the Heels, or maybe a year showing that Roy Williams is a rich man Rick Barnes.  Dude can recruit, but coach? I mean, Larry Drew isn’t winning Naismith awards, but UCLA sure seems psyched to have him in the lineup, and Williams had no use for him.  UNC spent a lot of late January/early February with their Buffet inclusion in doubt, then a 6 game ACC streak pretty much cemented a bid, and now they could have used the ACC tourney to bolster where they will line up – which is dashed somewhat by how the brackets lined up, they get Florida St/Clemson winner first, which can only hurt not help their seeding (hurt with a loss, do nothing with a win). Then they get Duke, obviously a Duke win would be a HUGE boost, but that proved to be a large mountain to climb in the season finale, and don’t imagine it getting much easier with a number 1 number 1 on the line for the Blue Devils.  But get that, and then there’s Miami or UVA/NC State waiting in the final. That 7 could become a 5 with a tournament title, and it really likely becomes a 6 regardless of final outcome if they are able to beat Duke, but the 8/9 game looms if they can’t get by Florida St or Clemson.

North Carolina State. Team Enigma.  Seems everything time we go to put finger on key about the Wolfpack, they perform exactly the opposite what we will write.  After starting 4-2, but losing pretty convincingly to the only 2 real tough teams they played, we were all ready to declare them slightly fraudulent, then they rattled off 8 straight wins including a neutral court win over UConn, and capped by an 8 point win in Cameron, and then we were ready to declare them for real.  Then they lost 5 of 7, including at Wake Forest: FRAUDS again.  Then they beat UNC at home.  And maybe the 5 of 7 was blip, then they dropped 3 more straight against tournament caliber competition: FRAUDS.  Then 6 of 7.   See what we mean? But then closed the season with a loss to Florida St (this just in, the 2013 Seminoles should be good, but they’re not). FRAUDS.  We can’t keep up. What we do know, is there’s just enough of a mix of really good and really bad wins to make them impossible to get a handle on, right now that sort of Jeckyll/Hyde act makes the 8/9 line a perfect place for them.  Lose to Va Tech and those capital letters take hold, and road jerseys and a 10 seed seem their destiny.  But get that opener and then knock off Buffet hungry Waiting Line… standing Virginia, and suddenly the good gets amplified and a date with Miami could mean a 6 seed, and an ACC championship could mean a 5.  That could be a stretch, but it really is possible, pending other results.

Virginia. This is another tough team to figure out, the RPI isn’t so favorable – 67. But the more informed computers are – 21 in KenPom and 38 in BPI, which, in the Buffet’s eyes, is probably just ahead of where Virginia should be which is in the 40s.  Their early season is hard to get a grasp on, because they had such backcourt issues that it’s hard to really evaluate them.  But they did go 0-3 in the Colonial, the same league that Northeastern lost 4 games in all year long. But despite that loss to #316 Old Dominion, #161 George Mason and #140 Delaware (to go with losses in conference to Wake, Clemson, BC and Tech), they are a lot of nice things too – wins over Duke, UNC, NC State to go with non-conference wins over  Wisconsin and Tennessee.  Then there is a big hole in their resume, before you get to their season sweep of Maryland, and you start drifting into their bad loss side of the ledger and 3-8 road record (3-9 if you count neutral court games).  If there’s one team (and there’s more – Maryland, Arizona St, Iowa, Iowa St, Baylor, Air Force, Tennessee, La Salle, Southern Miss, Xavier) that really needs a show this weekend, its Virginia.  The opportunity is there. They could really use NC State to hold serve against Virginia Tech, who thankfully isn’t in the eternal Waiting Line… this year, in order to preserve the chance at a resume boosting win.  That MAY be enough, but a win over Miami in the hypothetical semis would absolutely be. Although, don’t count those chickens just yet, Miami gets the winner of BC/Georgia Tech. And we saw how that went last time they played either of those teams.

Maryland. Not often do you skip a team in the standings to talk about the hopes of another, especially to a team that finished sub-.500, but that’s what happens when one has 5 losses to teams 101+ (Florida St) and the other has only 2 such bad losses (the Terps).  Maryland has a MOUNTAIN to climb this weekend, and even that, without winning the thing may not prove to be enough.  There’s good stuff, but it’s all at home, which doesn’t help (Duke, NC State) and with the bad (Boston College, Georgia Tech) and the lack of middle ground, 1-4 versus teams 51-100, Maryland just loaded up the cream puffs and forgot to snag more than a couple of the big prizes (3 point losses to Virginia and Kentucky and the Miami loss where it was 48-48 with under a minute left are weighing heavily here).  The Terps bracket shapes up this way – they have Wake first, obviously can’t lose that one.  Then there’s Duke.  And we truthfully don’t think even a win there is enough, probably needs to be followed up with a North Carolina win (FSU or Clemson won’t help them) and then not getting blown out in a final.  That’s not a prescription for a plate, that’s a prescription for how to still be in Line… come Sunday afternoon when things get announced. 

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:   Duke over Louisville, neutral court, 76-71 in the Battle 4 Atlantis, a sneaky top preseason tournament.

 2013 ACC Player of the Year: Erick Green, Virginia Tech

2013 ACC Defensive Player of the Year:  Durand Scott, Miami

2013 ACC Coach of the Year (or, the NOT FRANK HAITH award): Jim Larranaga, Miami2013 ACC Freshman of the Year: Olivier Hanlan, Boston College

2013 ACC Player Who Didn’t Practice But Played In Games (like every other basketball player on earth would do if they could get away with it) of the Year, as awarded by everyone basketball writer everywhere: Seth Curry, Duke

2013 All-ACC First Team

Mason Plumlee, Duke (actually got more first place votes, despite losing conference player of the year to Green, which, brace yourselves, you’ll be hearing about almost as much as Curry’s practice routine this weekend, especially when Va Tech is long gone and Plumlee is leading Duke on)

Erick Green, Virginia Tech

Shane Larkin, Miami

Joe Harris, Virginia

Richard Howell, NC State

ACC 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidate:  

 

Scott Wood, North Carolina State, 86/203, 31 games, 2.8/gm, 42%

Seth Curry, Liberty… sorry … Duke, 81/186, 30 games, 2.8/gm, 44%

ACC Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Dexter Strickland, 3.3 A/TO

 2013 BIG WEST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 14-16, Honda Center, Anaheim, CA

 Where have you gone Casper Ware? While always ready to watch the kids on the Coast play ball, it does suffer a bit for the Buffet without the great Casper Ware and the second best Orlando Johnson. But Long Beach is back as your tournament #1, with Pacific reemerging as a West Coast mid-major contender for tournament titles and probably sits as your favorite going in.

Long Beach 2013 is the deep reserve supporting cast the Casper Ware days: – Mike Caffey, James Ennis, Kris Gulley, and the best last name you only thought was Vegas Vacation: Peter Pappageorge, and introduced DePaul transfer Tony Freeland (who brought 11 points and 5 rebounds to the table), West Virginia transfer Dan Jennings, and ASU refugee Keala King to their Big West defending champion outfit. While Long Beach was not quite the national scene darling they were last year, losing all of their high and low profile games against major conference team, en route to a 5-7 non conference record, they still sprinted out to a 9-1 Big West start, before crashing to earth a big in the final couple of week, going 1-3 with a bracket buster loss to Stephen F. Austin at the Beach, finishing the season 14-4 in conference, retaining the tournament 1 seed, but really opening the door for Pacific, who beat them handily on the regular season’s final day, to step in as potential tournament favorite.  But, before we dismiss them, let’s acknowledge how impressive it is to lose a player the caliber of Casper Ware, not really introduce a new star, but elevate from within, and still have the talent to win your small conference. (just ask UCSB, who sit seventh conference after graduating Orlando Johnson) Dan Monson, you get our salute.

Pacific.  While dropping 1 extra conference game, and only being 1 better in non-conference play. The Tigers put together a much more impressive lineup of wins, including Xavier & St. Mary’s in a nice looking run at the DIRECTV Classic.  Where was that, you ask? Oh yes, Anaheim, site of the Big West tournament.  The season exclamation point was a 20 point win over Long Beach to close the year.  Pacific’s issue is you don’t always know exactly where the points will come from, just 7^th in the Big West in scoring, you know who will do it, if they do, you just don’t know how often they will.  They do return their top 3 scorers from last year: Lorenzo McCloud, Travis Fulton & Ross Rivers, but none really expanded their scoring portfolio this year, and Rivers actually dropped 4 points off his average, in his place was Sama Taku, a junior college transfer out of Tucson, but still McCloud as the leading scorer only put up 11.4 a game.  Still their performance against better competition, on this court and the season finale all trend towards a Pacific win.

If not them, who? Can’t ignore the 5 game win streak of the Mustangs out of Cal Poly.  (and 8 of 9 overall, including a win over Pacific, and WCC tourney upstarts! Loyola-Marymount).  Momentum is huge coming into postseason tournaments where the talent divide isn’t so great, and leading scorer Chris Eversley will try to take his Big West dominating inside game to the Buffet.  They also hold a nice win over UCLA in Pauley, so this team can rise to the occasion.

We would not be serving our constituency if we didn’t speak on the Gauchos of UCSB – Alan Williams and Kyle Boswell, a couple of players who averaged under 8 points a game last year, did a tremendous job trying to fill the shoes of Johnson and James Nunally, lifting their per games to 17.6 and 13.2, respectively, but OJ and Nunally were prime time Big West performers and the team suffered in conference, a pair of lengthy losing streaks saw them 4-11 at the beginning of March, but then a 3 game win streak to close the season brought them to 7-11 and might be a wave they can ride.  We’ll find out right away, as they open this afternoon with Pacific.

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:   Cal Poly at UCLA 70-68.

 2013 Big West Player of the Year: James Ennis, Long Beach State

2013 Big West Defensive Player of the Year:  Will Davis II, UC Irvine

2013 Big West Freshman of the Year:

Alex Young, UC Irvine

Isaac Fotu, Hawai’i

2013 Big West Sixth Man of the Year: Kyle Boswell, UC Santa Barbara

2013 Big West Coach of the Year: Dan Monson, Long Beach State

 2013 All- Big West First Team

Mike Caffey, Long Beach St

James Ennis, Long Beach St

Chris Eversley, Cal Poly

Corey Hawkins, UC Davis

Christian Standhardinger, (longest name award), Hawai’i

Alan Williams, UC Santa Barbara

 

Big West 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidate:  

Ryan Sypkens, Cal Davis, 104/221, 28 games, 3.7gm, 47%

Big West Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Jamal Johnson, Cal Poly, 2.8 A/TO

2013 ATLANTIC 10 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14-17, Barclays Center, Brooklyn.

 It’s a testament really to the strength of the 2013 Atlantic 10, that instead of a tournament preview, we’re bringing the Buffet status of 7 teams. Yes, 7.  Granted, when the Catholic Big 7 East dust settles, it might be a one year apex, but as long as it is apexing, let’s ride that train.

Saint Louis.  What a season for the Billikens. The tragic passing of their head coach, Rick Majerus, the architect of their return to basketball prominence.   A 3-3 start, including a loss to Santa Clara, and not much was expected of SLU.  Then they hit a 9 game win streak, capped with a 14 point win over New Mexico and a conference opening win versus UMass.  The road proved a nemesis early – losses to Washington, Temple but they straightened that out with a win at Butler.  Still, that Jan 19 loss AT HOME to Rhode Island is a bit inexplicable, and ultimately, that with the SCU loss, is what will keep the champion of a very strong league, likely sitting at 4/5 rather than have a shot to jump into the 3s.  Winning the tournament, or at least getting to the finals of what is usually an unpredictable ride, would be best to maintain their 5 and perhaps discuss whether they deserve a 4.

VCU.   Freed from the small conference shackles of the Colonial (that is not meant to disparage a wonderful mid-major conference, but it did open VCU to a few more resume building opportunities) and the Rams and Shaka Smart did their best to take advantage.  They started a bit shaky, not suffering any bad losses, per se, but failing to get wins over Wichita St (2 point loss), Duke (9 point loss) and Missouri (3) when they could really have a resume that shines, they still finished a 12-4 A10 season, had wins over Waiting Line… outfits Belmont (who doesn’t need an invite, but that’s their caliber), Alabama, Xavier and UMass, and resume boosting wins over Memphis and Butler. They were a tad inconsistent in conference, sprinkling those 4 losses including games to Richmond (somewhat defensible on the instate rivalry front) and couldn’t quite get the big win on the road (the late season collapse to Temple could have been resume defining, but the Owls needed that battle of animal mascots more).  We see VCU as a 6, but a run in the A10, which would include bursting Xavier’s bubble, then the revenge win against Temple, followed by, most likely Saint Louis, could see them vault to as high as a 4, but likely a 5.

Butler.  Your annual darlings, and they deserve it, had an odd ride.  They finished 11-5 in conference, although technically 11-6, since their early season 15 point loss to Xavier didn’t count in A10 standings since it was scheduled pre-Butler to the A10, but they also have wins over Marquette, UNC, La Salle, Temple, and the season ending, see we aren’t who thought we were (Dennis Green) .  And the crown jewel: a neutral court thrilling win over Indiana on December 15.  But losses to Charlotte, pretty much when they went out on the road versus stronger A10 teams, and Butler had an inconsistent A10 season that renders a team with four top-20 wins as a 6.  Now, if there’s any team with a strong enough resume to use a tournament run to really propel them, it is the Bulldogs.  No losses to a team ranked below 80, a solid 7-4 road record, if not for 5 (6) conference losses, they’d be a 4 seed already, with a chance to move up.  As it is, just writing this is causing the Buffet to reexamine them – but a tournament title, or at least a run with wins over LaSalle and Saint Louis, we could see them wearing white uniforms for two rounds, not just one.

Temple. Home losses hamstrung them, but at the end of the day, some big time wins and a strong finish to the season (7 straight wins and 9 of 10 overall)  will help Temple into the Buffet, provided they don’t go and lose to someone like GW in the first round of the tournament.  They did lose at home to Canisius, St Bonaventure and Duquesne.  But they did also beat Villanova, Syracuse, St Louis, VCU La Salle and UMass.  And really showed strong against Kansas (7 pt loss in Lawrence).  We have Temple probably a bit lower than they belong, 11, but they have the tournament to show us we’re wrong.   They await the UMass/GW winner, and then get another run at VCU before the final.  Just getting to the final probably has them in 9/10 orbit, and winning it, Temple could end up anywhere from 7-9, depending on other’s outcomes.

La Salle. Probably the Waiting Linest of all Waiting Line… teams.  La Salle has a solid but not spectacular resume, with a nc win over Villanova and A10 wins over VCU (at VCU), Butler.  But losses to Central Connecticut State and Bucknell, aren’t helping matters, and a lone NC win of Villanova, makes them vulnerable, especially when high win volume teams like Middle Tenn St and St Mary’s are hovering around the Buffet line.  They are one of those teams with a lot to prove and good fortune to have the opportunity to do it.  First, potentially, comes Butler, that win alone could do it, but definitely that and Saint Louis, and La Salle will be in.  Lose in that first game, and nothing is set in stone, but it’ll be a long few days.

Massachusetts. We’re just not seeing it here, They appear on some under consideration charts, and they might belong there, but it really doesn’t move beyond that.  Their best win is over LaSalle (though it was on the road), then their best NC win is Ohio.  They lost to George Washington (at home) and St. Bonaventure, and have only 1 top 50 win. There is talent, so no is ruling them out of a tournament win, but short of that, we aren’t sure wins over Temple & LaSalle will improve their resume enough.

 

Xavier.  It’s not often that a teams comes from not in the discussion, to a regular season finale loss away from getting to the front of the waiting line, but Xavier had that kind of late February/March.  It started with a win over Memphis, then a win over Saint Louis, and suddenly we were paying attention.  If they could’ve pulled the 2012-13 Butler sweep and/or finished the VCU upset bid off, we’d be talking more positively, as it stands they have 3 top 25 wins (Saint Louis is at 27 and probably finished in top 25 by the end of the year) and 5 top 50.  But then there’s a space until Dayton at 109.  They also have a glaring home loss to Wofford, another toe stubbing home loss to Vandy, and then they feel to Wake Forest, it’s a lot to overcome, but with 4 games in front of them, including resume boosters VCU and Temple, we might be signing a different song on Sunday… stay tuned.

 Charlotte. There is a lot of respect in the Buffet for Jerry Palm. Why an 8-8 A10 team whose best, and only top 100 non-conference win is Davidson keeps showing up as one of the first few out is just inexplicable here.

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:   Saint Louis vs. New Mexico,  60-46

 

2013 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year: Khaliff Wyatt, Temple

2013 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year:  Briante Weber, VCU

2013 Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year: Semaj Chrison, Xavier

2013 Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year: Cody Ellis, Saint Louis

2013 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year: Jim Crews, Saint Louis

 2013 All- Atlantic 10 First Team

Khalif Wyatt, TU

Ramon Galloway, LAS

Rotnei Clarke, BU

Dwayne Evans, SLU

Chaz Williams, UM

 Atlantic 10 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidate:  

 

Eric Mosley, Saint Bonaventure, 81/185, 29 games, 2.8/gm, 44%

Darrien Brothers, Richmond, 80/185, 31 games, 2.6/gm, 43%

Rotnei Clarke, Butler, 98/235, 28 games, 3.5/gm, 42%

Troy Daniels, VCU, 108/263, 31 games, 3.5/gm, 41%

(they can SHOOT the ball in this league, when your 10^th place shooter by percentage has launched 263 and hits 41%, BOMBS AWAY A10)

Atlantic 10 Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Darrius Theus, VCU, 2.8 A/TO

 2013 BIG SKY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

March 14-16: 14: Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, Montana; 15 & 16: Campuses of higher seeds

 Sit down Readership, this will come as a HUGE shock.  This tournament should come down (if finished 6 and 7 games clear of the #3 seed is any indication) between Weber State and Montana.

Montana is your one seed, perhaps using the Damian Lillard departure to better themselves by 1 game, they also had a Big Sky player of the year for the first time in 20 years: Kareem Jamar.  Montana comes in winning 19 of 21, but they did split the series with Weber State (home and home, which was telling because Montana won by 2 at home but lost by 24 in Ogden).  Kareem Jamar is a lot of fun to watch, evidenced by the fact that a guy who isn’t his team’s leading scorer was still the conference players of the year (he’s a stat stuffer – with 6 rebounds, four assists to go with his points).  Will Cherry and is  still around to provide the depth, but Mathias Ward, after season ending surgery, is not, so even more reason they are going to need to figure out Weber State before the Wildcats figure them out, home court or not.

What about those Wildcats? Weber State is Long Beach St like, with a huge hole to fill (2 time Big Sky POY Damian Lilliard) and doing so with aplomb.  Welcoming Cal State Monterrey Bay transfer Davian Berry (maybe it’s the name synchronicity or something on that floor), who led them in scoring with 15 points, and added 4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, while shooting 44% from deep.   The supporting case is back: Scott Bamforth, Kyle Tresnak, Frank Otis and Jordan Richardson.  They didn’t really challenge themselves this year, but in what was probably thought of as a rebuilding year, the 24-5 record, just 2 losses in conference and 20 point win over Montana, (and the late season BB win at Oral Roberts, perhaps reflecting some real strength)  and we see a Wildcat Buffet line entry.

If not them, who?  Keep a doubting eye on Montana State, but still an eye, they were the difference between Weber & Montana (a 5 point home win over Weber), but only lost to Montana by 3 on March 2. This could be where an upset comes from.

Best Non-Conference RPI Win:   Weber State at Dayton, 62-61

 2013 Big Sky Player of the Year: Kareem Jamar, Montana

 

2013 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year:  Will Cherry, Montana

2013 Big Sky Freshman of the Year: Venky Jopis, Eastern Washington

2013 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year: Davian Berry, Weber St

2013 Big Sky Sixth Man of the Year: Cody Ellis, Saint Louis

2013 Big Sky Coach of the Year: not yet announced

 2013 All- Big Sky First Team

Kareem Jamar Montana

Will Cherry Montana

Troy Huff North Dakota

Gabe Rogers Northern Arizona

Derrick Barden Northern Colorado

Davion Berry Weber State

Scott Bamforth Weber State

 Big Sky 2013 Jack Leasure Madbomber Award Candidate:  

 

Tate Unrue, Northern Colorado, 87/199, 29 games, 3.0/gm, 44%

Big Sky Gregory Douglas Ott Award Candidate: 

Lateef McMullan, Portland St, 2.4 A/TO

 Scanning the Scene…

 

ACC: So far today:  Boston College beat Georgia Tech 84-64

America East:  #2 Albany vs. #1 Vermont, Saturday 11:30am ET

Atlantic  10: So far today:  Charlotte 68-Richmond 63, after a chaotic cluster of a finish

Big 12: The disappointing 2012-13 West Virignia season ended with a whimper – 71-69 to Texas Tech

Texas avoided utter embarrassment, pulling away from TCU, 70-57

So far today:

Iowa St looked to cement their bid with a 73-66 comeback effort versus Oklahoma

Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast, Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament champion.

Big East: More chalk yesterday: Syracuse looked a bit more to form with a 75-63 win over Seton Hall

Cincinnati ended Providence faint Waiting Line… hopes 61-44

Villanova avoided bad loss at a bad bad loss time, 66-53

Notre Dame took out Rutgers, in a very Mike Brey fashion 69-61

So far today:

Georgetown, wanting that #1 seed, pounded Cincy and their ugly uniforms, 62-43

Big Ten: Illinois helped Minny continue their late season free fall with a thrilling 51-49 win (yes, thrilling is both ironic, and apt description of the ending)

Big South: Liberty Flames, 2013 Big South Conference Tournament champion.

Colonial:  James Madison 2013 Colonial Athletic Association champion.

C-USA: Tulane, Houston and UAB all kept seeds with first round wins

Horizon League:  Valparaiso Crusaders 2013 Horizon League tournament champs.

Colonial:  Harvard Crimson, 2013 Ivy League Champs

MAAC: Iona Gaels, 2013 MAAC Tournament champion.

MEAC: Upset Wednesday as the #1 seeded Norfolk St will not be turning upsets this year, beaten by Bethune-Cookman 70-68; and NC A&T kept North Carolina face, beating NC Central 55-42

MAC: Buffalo made the Buffet look smart, moving on over Ball St 76-61, and Eastern Michigan took out Miami (OH) 58-47

MVC: Creighton Blue Jays, 2013 Arch Madness champions

MWC: Seed 1, 2, 3 and 4 are alive  – New Mexico (1), Colorado St (2), UNLV (3) and San Diego St (4) all winners heading into Friday night’s semifinal action. Dorian Green will still NOT be in action for Colorado St

NEC: Long Island University Brooklyn Blackirds, 2013 NEC Tournament champs

OVC: Belmont Bruins, 2013 OVC Tournament champions.

Patriot: Bucknell (#1) vs. Lafayette (#2), Wednesday at 7pm ET.

Pac 12: Big result was Arizona St staying in the Waiting Line… for at least one more day with an 89-88 OT win over Stanford

Colorado stopped the bleeding temporarily beating Oregon St

Washington & Utah are still irrelevant until they prove otherwise, but they did win yesterday, and USC’s nightmare is over.

SEC: Mississippi St and Texas A&M got the opening night wins.

So far today: LSU leads Georgia 58-48 with 7:30 to go in the second half

Southern: Davidson Wildcats, 2013 Southern Conference tournament champions

Southland:  McNeese St miniupset saw them beat Nicholls St 62-59

Sam Houston St took out Central Arkansas 69-63

Summit: South Dakota State Jackrabbits, back to back Summit Tournament champs.

Sun Belt: Western Kentucky, Sun Belt conference tournament champions

SWAC:  The dream completely defeated season is over, as Grambling lost to Alabama A&M 59-51

West Coast: Gonzaga, 2013 WCC Conference champions

 

 

We will provide you with Big10, Pac12 and SEC looks later today, but needed to get you brunch on an early and busy conference tournament day.

Welcome to a very special edition of the Small Conference Game of the Day.  As previously mentioned, the SCGD comes to an end with the conclusion of the regular season, not including conference tournaments.  However, there is a regular season game on tonight’s schedule which clearly merits this one special Championship Week edition.

At 10:00 PM Eastern tonight, the Northern Kentucky Norse will be in San Francisco to take on Rex Walters’ Dons.  The Dons finished their West Coast Conference season at 7-9 in league and 14-16 overall, including being one of Loyola Marymount’s victims in the Lions surprising run to the conference tournament semifinals.  However, tonight in the spirit of conference-mate Saint Mary’s scheduling a game after the conference tournament ended a few years back, they have one last regular season game.

The visiting team tonight is Northern Kentucky.  The Norse are finishing their first ever season at the Division I level.  They are a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference but will not be eligible for the NCAA tournament until the 2016-17 season.  Despite this, they finished a very respectable 9-9 in conference play.  Overall, the Norse were 11-15 this year, including a non-conference win over Hampton, arguably the new favorite to win the MEAC automatic bid after last night’s upsets.  They also scored a regular season win over the A-Sun’s regular season champion, Mercer.

Following tonight’s game, the only games left before the tournament selection show will be conference tournament games.  Thus, the regular season has truly come to an end for the SCGD.  But not before we get this one last true meaningless gem of a game in.