1. It’s not exactly a new story but Dan Wetzel tells the story of Cincinnati rallying together after their ugly brawl. The Bearcats took another step towards securing a NCAA Tournament berth last night when they upset No. 17 Louisville. Point guard Cashmere Wright needed 19 shots to score 22 points, but he paced the team offensively and they held the Cardinals to 34.5% shooting, including 1-14 from behind the arc as they got their 20th win of the season. There is no doubt Mick Cronin and company were stuck in neutral before the brawl and have emerged more focused and determined after it. Now we will see if they can keep the momentum in what is a relatively soft finish to the season.
2. Speaking of stretch runs, Marquette begins a three-game doozy against West Virginia tomorrow night. They will be in Morgantown Saturday playing a desperate Mountaineers team, then they will head to play the streaking Bearcats Wednesday before finishing at home against Georgetown. It also gave us this gem from Buzz Williams where he explains his team “is not good enough to be sedated” and still win.  The Golden Eagles are already in the NCAA Tournament, but these games will play a big role in where they end up as a seed.
3. The health of Jim Calhoun is also taking its effect off the court as well. While he nurses himself back to full health, he will be forced to miss the Autism Speaks event in Southington, Connecticut, at which he was scheduled to speak. The Hartford Courant used that as their news peg for an excellent story about Calhoun’s personal experience caring for his autistic granddaughter, Reese. I won’t offer much commentary other than to say it is well-worth the read.
4. This article explains that if the season ended today, Seton Hall will definitely be in the NCAA Tournament, and they can thank their recent mini-resurgence for that status. But the Pirates will also not be able to rest on their laurels and you can bet Rutgers will be itching to play spoiler when the two teams clash on Saturday. It will be Senior Night for the Pirates, so hopefully that will make sure their best players, Herb Pope and Jordan Theodore, bring their A-games. A win would probably put them closer to the lock status with only one game left in the regular season, but anything can happen in the in-state rivalry.
5. Finally, the biggest game of the weekend will take place in Storrs when the No. 2 Syracuse Orange come to Gampel Pavilion to play a Huskies team desperate to save their season. The game means less for the Orange, but they do have seeding to think about. It will be much more important for the Huskies, who will be looking to climb back to 8-8 in the conference and keep their shaky NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The Orange are the better team, but desperation and a noisy homecourt advantage could help energize the Huskies and propel them to the upset.

mlemaire (324 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012 at 5:31 am by mlemaire and is filed under big east, microsites. Tagged: cashmere wright, cincinnati, connecticut, georgetown, herb pope, jim calhoun, jordan theodore, mick cronin, rutgers, syracuse, west virginia. 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.