If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.
Top 25 Games
- #1 Ohio State 71, Michigan State 61: “In front of an energetic sell-out crowd (3rd of the season), the Buckeyes bounced back from their defeat in Madison on Saturday with a 71-61 victory over Michigan State Tuesday night. The Spartans have now won just 2 of their last 8 games to continue their dissappointing season, while the Buckeyes took step one of potentailly reclaiming the top spot in the nation after Kansas’s loss last night.” (Eleven Warriors)
- Kansas State 84, #3 Kansas 68: “The stay atop the polls will be a short one as the Kansas Jayhawks stepped onto the court on Monday night and never stood a chance. Jacob Pullen was a man on mission, the Kansas State Wildcats fought their way off the ropes and for all the talk of embracing no.1 the Jayhawks looked completely unprepared for the challenge.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 and Part 2)
- #13 Villanova 60, Seton Hall 57: “For the third consecutive game the outcome came down to the last shot. And twice in those three games the ball was in the hands of the opponent. The nightmare scenario was unfolding as Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall’s latest 2,000 point scorer had the ball with 0:11 on the clock and 25 points already banked from this game. Hazell-led teams had never beaten the Wildcats, and this was the best chance in his four seasons. Hazell, who had 2,005 points entering the game, will probably almost certainly pass Greg Tynes (1974-78) to become the #3 scorer in Pirate history. But his total stopped at 25 tonight as his last three point attempt careened off the rim and into Dominic Cheek’s eager grasp. ” (Villanova by the Numbers)
- #20 Syracuse 63, West Virginia 52: “There will be no three-game losing streak. There will be no four-game home losing streak. When they needed to most, the Orange got their act together and held on for 63-52 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers Monday night.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
- #21 Kentucky 85, Mississippi State 79: “Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats did just slightly more than enough to win this game. Ugly or pretty, nobody will ever know at the end of the year that this was anything other than a W. I am not surprised that the Mississippi St. Bulldogs offered Kentucky such a stiff challenge. Last year’s two overtime losses to Kentucky had to affect this team, they came in smarting from a bad loss against the Auburn Tigers, and they were ready to take it to Kentucky. They did so. If not for the untimely foul and absurd technical by Rick Stansbury at the end of the first half, who knows for sure what the outcome of this contest might have been? In the end, though, Kentucky did just enough to win, and made some timely big plays in the bargain. But Mississippi St. deserves praise for bringing their A game into Rupp Arena.” (A Sea of Blue)
Other Games of Interest
- St. John’s 80, Marquette 68: “So what if they’re not yet ranked in the top-25? So what if the game’s the second on a road trip? So what if St. John’s hasn’t beaten Marquette since 1966? The Red Storm took another step to national notice and respectability with a 80-68 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles in Milwaukee. The Johnnies beat Buzz Williams’ team on the night Marquette honored their legendary coach Al McGuire. It was so bad that the fans were booing the home team, and those same fans left for the exits with minutes to go in the game.” (Rumble in the Garden)
- Virginia Tech 91, Maryland 83: “Terrell Stoglin dropped a career-high 25 points for Maryland, but Terrapin-killer Erick Green (who scored 24 in the Terps’ thrashing in January) dropped 20 – including two 3s late in the game – as Virginia Tech defeated the Terrapins in a hard-fought contest, 91-83. This may be a death knell for the Terrapins’ tourney chances, as it was widely believed they needed to win both the VT and UNC games to sneak into the tournament. Now their hopes rest in the ACC tournament.” (Testudo Times or Tech Hoops)
News/Analysis
- Scot Pollard Column:Welcome To The Seedy Underworld Of College Recruiting: The former Jayhawk star discusses his experiences as a coveted recruit. (Lost Letterman)
- On Jim Boeheim’s Press Conference: “So I get it. I get why Jim Boeheim was so pissed off last night he decided to go personal with reporters from the Post-Standard. Imagine if Jimmy ever got a computer and checked out the message boards and blogs…my goodness. We’d all be waking up with horse heads in our beds.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
- The Race to 2,116: “For those of you keeping score at home, Jacob Pullen currently has 1,939 career points, which is good for second on the all-time list. Mike Evans, the career scoring leader, currently sits at 2,115. For those of you without quick access to a calculator, that means that Jake currently trails him by 176 points. If Jacob Pullen wants to leave Kansas State as the career scoring leader, he must score 177 points. With five games left in the regular season, it’s nearly impossible for him to pass Evans unless the team gets to the postseason.” (Bring on the Cats)
- Texas Longhorns Basketball: Defense On Historic Pace: Taking a look at just how tough the Longhorns are on defense. (Burnt Orange Nation)
- Can Bruce Weber control his players?: “I credit Weber for not blaming his players for being influenced by outsiders by saying they’re just kids. I respect that. But the fact that he feels the need to mention it at all just shows that he’s lost them. He made some similar comments after the game against Purdue (see Joe’s recap here). Those comments, along with the benching of Demetri and Tisdale against Minnesota, tell me that Bruce is at his wit’s end. He doesn’t know how to keep this group focused on basketball (McCamey in particular). When was the last time you heard Coach K or Roy Williams or Bill Self talk about outsiders distracting their teams? It doesn’t happen, and those coaches have much higher profile players than Weber does.” (Hail to the Orange)
- The BasketVols approach final leg still in search of answers: “We are 15-10 overall and 5-5 in league play. We have six more regular season games plus however many games we are able to earn ourselves in the SEC tournament. How many more games can we afford to lose before we have to officially resign ourselves to an NIT bid? I don’t know the exact answer to that question, but after three consecutive losses, I do know that a bid to the NCAA tournament is something that we have to now earn. (Rocky Top Talk)
- Five Games And Five Questions For Kansas Basketball: “Kansas dropped a game in embarrassing fashion last night to the Kansas State Wildcat team that came out with something to prove. Fortunately for Kansas fans losing isn’t something that happens very often in life. Unfortunately that means it’s sometimes difficult to keep things in perspective and it without question becomes very easy to overreact. A loss is just one loss, the sun came up and not letting that one loss turn into two, three or a trend is what’s important. In all reality we know that isn’t going to happen. But with five games to go before the Big 12 Tournament and then the NCAA tournament, the game against Kansas State does raise a few questions and Kansas has five games to answer those before a loss starts to mean more than just a loss and it means you go home for good.” (Rock Chalk Talk)