Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.
Congratulations, everyone, we’ve made it to the month of March, which some people are unofficially just straight up calling “Izzo.”
I guess if you’ve reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 16 years, including six Final Four appearances as the head coach of one team, you can pretty much do whatever you want.
Marcus Paige
There’s perhaps no non-freshman player in the country who has improved as much as Marcus Paige since November. The slender point guard is the clear-cut leader of this year’s Tar Heels, and his play against Triangle rival NC State last week proved as much.
And then a few nights later, Paige sealed a victory for UNC on the defensive end.
He missed two key free throws, but came up with a game-winning block versus Notre Dame.
TV Ted Valentine Gets Airtime With Mick Cronin
Well known official Ted Valentine loves attention. He’s overly confident and sometimes downright condescending. Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin has a short fuse. A really short fuse. Both men’s polarizing personalities clashed on Saturday during the Bearcats’ loss to UConn.
31-0 #WatchUs
We finally have it. For the first time since St. Joseph’s did the trick in 2003-04 will a team enter the postseason with exactly zero losses. Much like the Atlantic 10’s Hawks of a decade ago, there is a wide range of #hotspotstakes regarding just how good this Shockers team is compared to the Floridas and Kansases and Dukes of the world.
A collection of the best tweets encapsulating their 31st win of the year is below.
And… oh… man.
Pitt vs. NC State: One Game, Two Narratives
There were two obvious angles to be played following NC State’s take-down of Pitt at the Petersen Events Center on Monday night.
1) Pittsburgh is suddenly not a Tournament lock
2) TJ Warren is really good (he dropped 41 on the Panthers)