Around The Blogosphere: February 28, 2011
Posted by nvr1983 on February 28th, 2011
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 82, Indiana 61: “After scoring just seven points in six games on 3/22 shooting before a modest bounceback six point effort Tuesday night against Illinois, Deshaun Thomas exploded against his home state school with 22 points, including 14 in a row during a decisive 26-6 first half run, keying Ohio State’s 82-61 blowout victory over Tom Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers.” (Eleven Warriors or Inside the Hall)
- Virginia Tech 64, #2 Duke 60: “The Hokies got the signature win that everyone has been looking for over the last four years, and all but punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 64-60 win over #1 Duke at the Cassell. Tech used an extremely balanced effort to take down the Devils. All five Hokie starters reached double-digits in points, including double-doubles from Jeff Allen and Victor Davila. The Hokies are now 3-2 against #1 teams under Coach Seth Greenberg, and this was Tech’s fourth win all-time against a #1 (Tech is 3-1 against #1 teams in the Cassell overall).” (Tech Hoops)
- #17 Louisville 62, #3 Pittsburgh 59 (OT): Breaking down Louisville’s OT victory that featured one of the strangest finishes this season. (Card Chronicle)
- Colorado 91, #4 Texas 89: “For the second straight Saturday, the Texas Longhorns suffered a road loss to an unranked opponent after their defense and then their offense completely fell apart. The game was nowhere near as close as the final 91-89 margin indicates. Texas did just about everything right in the first half and led by as many as 22 points before taking a 15 point lead to halftime. However, in a sign of things to come, Colorado won the final few minutes of the first half and trimmed that lead to a more workable margin.” (Burnt Orange Nation)
- #6 Kansas 82, Oklahoma 70: “The Kansas Jayhawks jumped out early on the road against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday and were never truly threatened. For Kansas it was another game led by an impressive offensive performance and for Kansas it continues to boil down to great ball movement resulting in high percentage attempts.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 or Part 2)
- #8 Purdue 67, Michigan State 47: “Following the Wisconsin game, I didn’t see a way Purdue would end the BT season with any fewer than 4 losses, but now it looks like nearly a lock…and I thought I was being optimistic. But this team has grown up and learned a ton in the month of February, and now, they are officially rubbing elbows with the nation’s elite.” (Boiled Sports)
- #20 Syracuse 58, #11 Georgetown 51: “Georgetown tried to keep as many Orange out of the building as possible Saturday. They didn’t do a very good job of it. And they especially didn’t do a good job of keeping Scoop, Rick, Brandon and the rest of the SU basketball team out. They paid for it as the Orange ruined Senior Day and the Gray Out with a 58-51 win in the Verizon Center.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
- UCLA 71, #12 Arizona 49: Recapping a huge victory for the Bruins on a historic night at Pauley Pavilion in the last men’s basketball game at the historic site that will be undergoing a significant transformation before being reopened in the 2012-13 season.. (Bruins Nation: Recap, Roundup, and Photos)
- #21 St. John’s 81, #14 Villanova 68: “Behind a career-high 34 points from Dwight Hardy, aka the Baddest Man on the Planet, the St. John’s Red Storm defeated the Villanova Wildcats 81-68 in Philadelphia. The game was much, much closer than that deep in the second half… but the Wildcats never led. Not once.” (Rumble in the Garden or Villanova by the Numbers)
- #14 UNC 87, Maryland 76: “Well, it’s all but official: Maryland’s at-large NCAA candidacy is over. Terrell Stoglin scored a game-high 28 points and Jordan Williams had 16 points with 19 rebounds, but North Carolina had 61 points from Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, and Leslie McDonald to defeat the Terrapins in a near-must-win for Maryland, 87-76.” (Testudo Times)
- #19 Kentucky 76, #16 Florida 68: “Ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, you have no idea how pleasant it is to write a postmortem about a big victory over a team that I really love to beat. What makes it even more pleasant is that the Florida Gators were on a six-game roll and running away with the East Division, and the Kentucky Wildcats stopped them dead in their tracks. The Gators must now sing for their supper, as Vanderbilt, Georgia, Tennessee and even Kentucky have long-shot hopes of tying them in the East. It won’t happen, but it’s nice to make them sweat it out.” (A Sea of Blue or Alligator Army)
- Kansas State 80, #22 Missouri 70: Breaking down the Wildcats big win to continue their hot streak as they continue to make their case to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. (Rock M Nation)
Other Games of Interest
- Mississippi State 70, Tennessee 69: “The Vols got 22 from Scotty Hopson and 16 from Tobias Harris, though Harris again struggled at just 4 of 13 shooting. Melvin Goins added 9. The Vols got nothing of note from anyone else. That led to a 36.4% shooting performance in a game where the Vols watched Mississippi State take a ton of stupid shots, and then decided they’d immitate. The Vols shot 5 of 21 (23.8%) from the arc. Here again: Scotty and Tobias were 4 of 11 from the arc. The rest of the team was 1 for 10. Cameron Tatum was 1 for 5 with 5 points, continuing his disappearing act.Mississippi State played the second half without Renardo Sidney, out with an illness. But late in the game, State’s threes started falling. It kept them in front or within a possession at every turn. Meanwhile, Tennessee tried to catch up at the free throw line, and shot a decent 16 of 23 (69.6%). But the biggest stat of the game was State’s 12 of 15 (80.0%) performance at the line – again, always kept them in it, and helped negate Tennessee’s advantage on the glass.” (Rocky Top Talk)
- Michigan 70, Minnesota 63: “It’s safe to say that Michigan’s game against Minnesota in Ann Arbor was the turning point of the season. After playing perhaps their worst game of the year against the Gophers on Jan. 22, the Wolverines held a team meeting before traveling to East Lansing and beating the Spartans. They haven’t looked back since, and Michigan’s 70-63 win against Minnesota at The Barn couldn’t have been a more prominent display of how much this team has improved over the final third of the regular season.” (UM Hoops: Instant Analysis, Recap, and Five Key Plays or The Daily Gopher)
News/Analysis
- Texas Basketball: How Much is in Your Glass?: “Many of us witnessed a second straight meltdown on the hardwood earlier today. Texas has now dropped back to back road games, has wilted away its two game conference lead, and, for the time being, given up any hopes of landing on the No. 1 line in the NCAA tournament. The real question revolves around what to make of the losses to Nebraska and Colorado. Two teams with their backs against the wall who came up big or clear cracks in the Longhorn armor? Minor road blips on the road to the Final Four or a first and second draft blueprint of the ideal takedown of Texas?” (Burnt Orange Nation)
- Texas Longhorn Basketball Recruiting: Finishing Out 2011: “Coach Rick Barnes already has a great four-man haul signed and ready for delivery this summer, but talk around the Web is the Longhorns aren’t done recruiting for 2011. With the strong possibility that Jordan Hamilton declares for the draft after this season, the much smaller possibility that Tristan Thompson follows him, and the graduation of Gary Johnson and Matt Hill after this year, Texas will be very thin in the frontcourt with only Sr. Lexi Wangmene, Sr. Clint Chapman, and incoming freshman Jonathan Holmes currently slated to show up on next season’s roster listed as anything other than “G.”” (Burnt Orange Nation)
