***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Connecticut @ Notre Dame – 7:00 pm on ESPN (***)

This game will be absolutely crucial to the tournament stock of both teams.  If UConn gets in the tournament this year, it will be by the skin of their teeth, and if Notre Dame is actually dancing in March, they will likely be one of the last teams in.  Both of these teams are dangerous right now, as the Huskies have recently beaten Villanova and West Virginia, while the Irish are coming off victories against Pitt and Georgetown.  What is ironic about Notre Dame is that their recent run has come without superstar Luke Harangody.  If the Irish win their last two contests and win a game in the Big East tournament, how will the NCAA selection committee view his absence?  The more that ND wins without him, the less it seems they will be punished come selection time.  Tim Abromaitis, who has been Harangody’s sidekick this year, scored 53 points in the first two games Harangody was out (both games were losses), but when his point totals and shooting percentages dropped in his team’s last two games, the Irish won.  The team has only had seven bench points in their last two games, but every other starter has stepped up at times to take the weight off of Abromaitis.  In the previous matchup of these teams early in the year, Harangody scored 31 points and the bench did not score at all in a 12-point loss for the Irish.  If they can get double figure efforts from at least three starters and keep up their 1.7:1 assist to turnover ratio, they have an excellent shot of moving into one of those last spots in the field.

#5 Kansas St. @ #2 Kansas – 8:00 pm on ESPN 360 (*****)

Can KU's Mr. Big Shot Do It Again (Getty/P. Aiken)

KSU coach Frank Martin has already built up the game to be one of the biggest in school history, and nobody can blame him.  With a win tonight, Kansas State would make a huge jump in their bid for a top seed.  Unfortunately, the viewing for this game could be tricky.  It is being broadcast on the Big 12 network, which is not accessible to many fans across the country, and ESPN360 is available intermittently.  Fans can try to access channelsurfing.net and atdhe.net in order to view this game, because almost everybody can agree it is worth watching.  When these teams met earlier in Manhattan, Sherron Collins came up with a huge three-point play at the end of overtime to give Kansas the key victory.  The Jayhawks were unable to pull away earlier because they missed 11 free throws in the game.  Kansas actually shoots below 70% from the line on the year, and if the game goes down to the wire again, their free throw shooting could become a factor.  Kansas State has won seven consecutive games, and their wins have become increasingly more impressive, with solid victories at Texas Tech and against Missouri in their last two contests.  Now that some of KSU’s former opponents are now struggling, the Wildcats are still looking for a win against a great team, and if they can keep up their outstanding defensive efforts like they had against the Red Raiders and Tigers, they will have a great chance to win tonight.  Still, Kansas has an even better defense (the Jayhawks rank third in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive rankings), and with 58 consecutive wins at Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks should likely win again in a highly entertaining matchup.

#4 Duke @ #23 Maryland – 9:00 pm on ESPN (*****)

Maryland finally received the respect they have sought for weeks when they were put in the top 25 polls on Monday.  They have won five games in a row, including three straight against tournament teams.  Duke is also hot, riding an eight-game winning streak since their ugly loss at Georgetown.  Duke could be looking at a # 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and currently stand tall as Pomeroy’s top team in the country.  They are still too reliant on Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, and Kyle Singler, but if Smith has a similar outing as he did against Virginia ( he was 1-8 from the field), the Blue Devils may have to depend more on role players like Miles Plumlee and the emerging Brian Zoubek.  When these teams met in Durham earlier in the year, the Blue Devils led by as much as 24 points in a game that was never really close.  Although Greivis Vasquez said that he owns Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Comcast Center is the real home of the Terps, and they are 14-1 there this year.  Landon Millbourne, who had just two points at Duke, will need to be a major contributor for the Terrapins to have a chance in this game.  Given the tough environment in College Park, and Duke’s upcoming game against UNC, Maryland has a golden opportunity to claim a share of first place in the ACC tonight.

THager (49 Posts)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 4:10 pm by THager and is filed under Regular Features, set your dvr. Tagged: brian zoubek, connecticut, duke, greivis vasquez, jon scheyer, kansas, kansas state, kyle singler, Landon Millbourne, maryland, miles plumlee, nolan smith, notre dame, sherron collins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.