ATB: Gonzaga & Butler – Same As It Ever Was
Posted by rtmsf on February 12th, 2010
WCC Dominance. #11 Gonzaga 80, St. Mary’s 61. It was billed the Game of the Year on the west coast (keep the snickering to a minimum), but like so many of the others before it, the end result was the same with Gonzaga knocking off its top rival St. Mary’s tonight. The Zags used a devastating early second-half 16-3 run to break a tight game wide open, and the sense for those of us watching at home was one of vague familiarity. Elias Harris followed up his dunking exhibition from a month ago with a 19/4 night before ultimately fouling out, and Matt Bouldin had 18/5/4 assts in yet another WCC statement win for Gonzaga. Just as in the last game in Moraga, the Zags scorched the nets with a 54% shooting night (57% last month), calling into question the ability of the SMC defenders to stay in front of the more athletic Zags. With the win, GU effectively opens up a two-game lead over its closest competitor using the tiebreaker, and they’re now all but assured to get their tenth straight WCC regular season title in the next few weeks of action. SMC at 21-4 (8-2) is an interesting case for the NCAA Tournament committee right now. They have four ‘quality’ losses (Vanderbilt, USC, Gonzaga twice), but their only really good win was one over Utah State in Logan in December. Their RPI is in the mid-40s, and the last four regular season games probably aren’t going to change that position much. In our eyes the Gaels will need to win all four games to go to 25-4 and have another nice run in the WCC Tournament to ensure a bid this year.
Couldn't Have Said It Any Better (credit: Dan Pelle)
Speaking of Dominance. #15 Butler 68, Youngstown State 57. With this win tonight, Butler’s fourteenth in a row, the Bulldogs clinched their fourth consecutive Horizon League regular season title with three games left in the race. Gordon Hayward was awesome tonight, going for 22/17 in a game that was closer for much of the contest than the final score indicated. Yet, Butler continued to show why they’re a cut above the rest of this league, overcoming an early eight-point deficit to take control in the second half and move to 15-0 in the conference. We’re still a week out from the BracketBuster matchups, but if Butler can win its next two and Siena do likewise, then we’ll have the two teams with the longest current winning streaks in America facing each other in that game.
A Little Upsetting.
- Michigan 71, Minnesota 63. The wheels appear to be coming off of Tubby Smith’s ride, as the Al Nolen/Royce White/Trevor Mbakwe sagas appear to be taking their toll on his program in the form of an unexpected loss to a team that came into Minneapolis having dropped five of six with one road win all season (Penn State). The Gopher defense gave up 27/7 to DeShawn Sims and 20/4/7 assts to Manny Harris, which was enough to hold off Minnesota tonight.
- St. John’s 74, Louisville 55. Speaking of wheels coming off, on the same day that rumors about Rick Pitino’s interest/non-interest in the Nets job came out, his team laid a gigantic egg in the middle of Madison Square Garden — seriously, you could make a Carnegie Deli-sized sandwich out of this egg. A second-half 27-5 spurt embarrassed his Cardinals to the point where we wonder if he hasn’t already mentally checked out of the Big East. Louisville is rewarded with a trip to Syracuse on Sunday for their troubles.
Other Games of National Interest.
- Seton Hall 90, Notre Dame 87. As of late Thursday night/Friday morning, the news on Luke Harangody’s knee was that he tweaked it landing awkwardly during a rebound scrum with the Hall’s Herb Pope. Indications are that he’ll be ok (no ligament damage), but the Golden Domers still took the close loss back home with them to South Bend. Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell dropped 35/3/4 stls on 12-16 shooting, and what little life both of these teams have left for the NCAA Tournament probably didn’t change much tonight.
- Mississippi State 71, Ole Miss 63. MSU continues to have their bitter rival’s number, as the Bulldogs won the season series against the genteel Rebels for the fourth time in the last seven years tonight. Ravern Johnson had 18 points and Jarvis Varnado added 11/11/4 blks as he continues his march to the all-time NCAA blocks record. Both of these teams are good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, but they need to put together more consistency in the last few weeks of the season to ensure a bid.
RTC Live. California 93, Washington 81. Cal’s Jerome Randle was awesome tonight, going for 33/3/3 assts on 12-19 shooting from the field in a completely different game than the last time these two teams played each other a month ago. He got help from all four of his fellow starters in the form of double-figure games, only the second time all season that the Bears have accomplished that kind of offensive balance. After the game, Mike Montgomery was actually smiling, which shows just how well he thought Cal played tonight. He also knew that this win gave the Bears a two-game lead over one of their closest competitors (in terms of talent) and showed that his team could possibly be rounding into form with its fifth win in the last seven outings. Cal moves to 8-4 in the Pac-10 race, and the Bears have a very reasonable schedule the rest of the way, with road games only at the Oregons and Stanford. Washington dropped to 6-6 in the league, but perhaps more interestingly, they also moved to 0-6 in true road games this season. When Montgomery was asked why UW might have such trouble playing on the road, he referred to their great fans and homecourt environment, but he also mentioned that they “get away” with more physical play in Seattle. That’s probably true everywhere, but it also exhibits a common refrain that coaches sometimes mutter under their breath about the trip to the Emerald City. Very interesting. Isaiah Thomas had 24/6 as he went mano a mano with Jerome Randle during parts of the game, and Quincy Pondexter struggled to get his 18/4/3 stls.
