Around The Blogosphere: March 7, 2011
Posted by nvr1983 on March 7th, 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 93, #10 Wisconsin 65: “Jon Diebler continued his torrid three point shooting pace, dropping in 27 points on 8/10 FG and 7/8 3FG shooting as the Buckeyes put a thorough 93-65 beatdown on Bo’s Badgers this afternoon in Value City Arena. Diebler’s unconscious effort on Senior Day was complimented by Jared Sullinger’s 22 points and eight rips, William Buford’s 18 and David Lighty’s 13.” (Eleven Warriors)
- #2 Kansas 70, #21 Missouri 66: “In the end, a huge win for Kansas. Turned the ball over way too much but with a big first half from the Morri and a huge second half from Thomas Robinson, the Jayhawks were able give the Tigers their only loss at Paige Mizzou Arena this season.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 and Part 2; Rock M Nation: Recap)
- #11 UNC 81, #4 Duke 67: “In the end, the game came down to two simple facts. Duke came to Chapel Hill and played the same game they had a month earlier – heavy scoring from Nolan Smith and Seth Curry, minimal offense from Kyle Singer and no production from the rest of the team. Carolina played a much superior game though, and won easily.” (Carolina March: Recap and Analysis)
- Iowa 67, #6 Purdue 65: “It was Senior Day at Carver Hawkeye Arena and only one player was honored, but he played inspired…and so did the rest of his team. Jarryd Cole has played well against the Boilers in the past- he did so last season, but this was his best game versus our Boilers. He finished with a team-leading 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Hawkeyes seemingly wanted to send Cole out in style…and they did by giving the beleaguered Hawkeye fans a reason to cheer in a rebuilding season.” (Boiled Sports)
- #7 Texas 60, Baylor 54: “In a night when LaceDarius Dunn became the Big 12 all time leading scorer, your Texas Longhorns appeared to find their legs in the second half winning 60-54. It was a gutty performance as the ‘Horns appeared to struggle again offensively. But as we saw earlier this season, the Longhorns are a defensive team first and foremost. Once the defensive engine got churning, they found enough offense to pull out the W against the Scott Drew led Bears.” (Burnt Orange Nation: Part 1 and Part 2)
- #9 Notre Dame 70, #15 UConn 67: Kemba Walker’s great effort wasn’t enough to get the Huskies past the Irish who are playing some of the best basketball in the country over the past few weeks. (The UConn Blog)
- #10 Wisconsin 77, Indiana 67: “Hats off to the Hoosiers. On Senior Night, they played with the maturity of a team with more than just one in the lineup. In fact, it was a similar style to their opponent: A low-turnover (just five), efficient performance. And, if you can believe it, they calmed their incessant fouling (19 fouls) enough that Wisconsin committed more (22) and shot less free throws (20-of-22) than Indiana (21-of-26). Finally, a net positive in that department.” (Inside the Hall)
- West Virginia 72, #12 Louisville 70: Breaking down a brutal last second loss for the Cardinals. (Card Chronicle: Part 1 and Part 2)
- Cincinnati 69, #18 Georgetown 47: “Today was a tough day for Georgetown fans. Down 43-39 with eight minutes to play, the Hoyas proceeded to get blown off the court, losing 69-47 at Cincinnati. The Bearcats went on a 26-8 run to close the game, resulting in the Hoyas third straight loss and fourth in the last five games. Austin Freeman couldn’t buy a bucket, but played valiantly in his last Big East regular season game, scoring 21 points on 7-23 shooting. Hollis Thompson was the only other Hoya in double figures, scoring 12 points. Julian Vaughn and Jason Clark combined for 5 points on 1-14 shooting.” (Casual Hoya)
- #22 Kentucky 64, Tennessee 58: “Faced with the prospect of going 1-7 on the road this season in the SEC and being forced to play four straight days in the SEC Tournament, the Kentucky Wildcats held on to pull out a huge, low-scoring win against the Tennessee Volunteers. Kentucky came back from 10 down in the first half and 7 down at the half to win the game, and they did it in spite of a loathsome first half that was almost as horrible to watch (to a Wildcat fan, at least) as the Saw series. I had to turn my head away many times in the first half, but not in the second.” (A Sea of Blue)
Other Games of Interest
- Washington 70, UCLA 63: “In hindsight, we shouldn’t have expected much more than this. The Bruins had not pulled out a victory in Seattle since 2004, and despite a rare Thursday night date in Hec Ed and another strong defensive effort, both of which typically point toward a UCLA victory, the Bruins could not keep it up late, falling to the Huskies 70-63.” (Bruins Nation)
- Tennessee 73, South Carolina 69: “Vol fans witnessed both sides of the unpredictable continuum last night as Tennessee nearly ran the South Carolina Gamecocks out of their own building in the first half but only barely held on to win 73-69.” (Rocky Top Talk)
- Michigan 70, Michigan State 63: “Michigan led for the entire game but I never felt comfortable. Now the regular season is over the Wolverines not only swept Michigan State for the first time since 1997, they are 19-12 (9-9) with a legitimate chance to make the NCAA Tournament. Personally, I’m still trying to figure out what happened. This team was picked 10th or 11th in the league and three months ago I was worrying whether they could beat teams like Harvard and Oakland at home. A month ago I was trying to judge whether Michigan could rebound from a 1-7 stretch to finish the season on a positive note. Now, I’m trying to decipher RPIs and bubble resumes to figure out whether Michigan is actually an NCAA Tournament team.” (UM Hoops: Recap, 5 Key Plays, Player Interviews, John Beilein Interview, and Tom Izzo Interview)
- UCLA 58, Washington State 54 (OT): The Bruins overcame an ugly performance to knock off a short-handed Cougar team. (Bruins Nation)
- Virginia 74, Maryland 60: “I’m not sure what it is about Maryland that makes opposing players have career days, but it seems to happen a lot. A game after Rion Brown exploded onto the scene, Maryland gave up a career-high 25 points to Sammy Zeglinski and a career-high-tying 15 points to Assane Sene as Virginia rolled over the Terps on Senior Day, 74-60.” (Testudo Times)
- Illinois 72, Indiana 48: “Beatdown in Champaign today, kids. The Illini, when they play this well, are just too much for a team like Indiana. They have more size on the interior. They have more athleticism on the perimeter. Oh, more experience and talent, too. These mismatches were exploited on both ends of the floor all game — the emotions swirling around senior night, er, afternoon surely helped with this — and the Hoosiers, a team on a quick turnaround from Thursday night’s loss, were really never in this game.” (Inside the Hall: Recap and Analysis; Hail to the Orange: Recap)
- Penn State 66, Minnesota 63: The Gophers ended the regular season with a crushing loss in the last minute. (The Daily Gopher)
- Seton Hall 85, Marquette 72: The Pirates picked up a big win on Senior Night that could be a big blow to Marquette’s NCAA Tournament chances. (Villanova by the Numbers)
News/Analysis
- The Case for Jacob Pullen as Big 12 POY: Breaking down the case for the Wildcat guard. (Bring on the Cats)
- Top 10 Duke NBA Busts: Taking a look back at some notable Blue Devils who failed to live up to expectations. (Lost Letterman: Part 1 and Part 2)
- Has “Ben Ball” Taken UCLA as Far as It Can Go?: Asking a touchy question for all UCLA fans. (Bruins Nation)
- A Letter to Rick Stansbury, Regarding Ben Hansbrough: An open letter to the Mississippi State coach about his former player. (Rakes of Mallow)
- March Madness’ Top 10 Potential Cinderella Players: The names you will need to know over the next few weeks. (Lost Letterman: Part 1 and Part 2)
