It should be a great battle tonight between the UTEP Miners and the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. UTEP is rolling into the matchup with a an almost perfect conference record (10-1) and a seemingly unstoppable offense. Five players are scoring in double figures for the Miners, averaging 77.3 points per game. They are clearly the odds-on favorite to dethrone Memphis. UTEP currently has a nine-game winning streak, but they are a mediocre 5-3 on the road. The Miners are only one game ahead of Memphis for the conference lead, and it seems like a win in Tulsa would really go a long way for this team’s confidence and momentum. Tulsa (19-7, 8-4) has dropped to fourth in C-USA, and has lost three of their last four—including 73-59 at UTEP. This is more of a gut-check and a prove-your-worth stand for the Golden Hurricanes as it is an act of supremacy by the Miners. Tulsa has been accused of playing a cup-cake schedule this year, and they haven’t really proved anyone wrong—losing to the top three C- USA teams (UAB, Memphis , UTEP). Tulsa has the talent to win this conference, but the effort we have seen from them so far is not enough. For Tulsa to come out on top tonight, and have any shot at winning the conference, they will have to ride their big man, Jerome Jordan, who is dreaming of the NBA in his future. In my book, this is a must win for Tulsa—and seeing that their resume is not good enough for the dance as is, they will have to get that automatic bid if they want to keep playing in March. For both teams, a win would mean reaching the 20-win mark, and positioning themselves for an opportunity to win C-USA.

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RTC Live is back in College Park, MD, as the Maryland Terrapins host the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Maryland is an interesting team. They haven’t beaten much of anyone this season, and don’t have a the greatest overall profile in the ACC, but nonetheless this team is sitting just a game back (in the loss column) of the Duke Blue Devils for first place in the ACC. Georgia Tech is in a different situation. The Yellow Jackets have struggled mightily to win games on the road this season, and as they are currently sitting at .500 in the league, Tech really needs to start putting together some wins to assure themselves of a decent seeding.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that this game is going to be won in the paint. Georgia Tech has a very, very good front line with Derrick Favors, Gani Lawal, and Zach Peacock. Maryland’s front line consists of a promising freshman and, well, a couple other bodies. The Terps are going to need to compete on the glass.   Another aspect to watch for is Maryland’s press. Tech’s backcourt is a bit up and down and can be turnover prone. Maryland has been running a three-quarter court press this season, and it has been pretty effective at times. If the Terps can rebound, force a few turnovers, and get a game from Greivis Vasquez, they should be able to handle the Jackets at home.

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Both Butler and Siena are setting themselves up to be bracket busters in a few weeks, but for one Saturday they will face each other at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The host Bulldogs have mowed through Horizon League play with a spotless 17-0 record and are on a 16-game winning streak overall. Their opposition in this made-for-TV event is Siena. The Saints scored a first round NCAA victory a year ago against Ohio State and are the class of the MAAC. A recent loss to Niagara, however, has left their NCAA at-large chances in some doubt if they don’t win their conference tournament. Butler is playing for a seed, while you’d have to figure that a Siena win in a tough road environment such as this would secure their place in the field of 65.  Join us on RTC Live to analyze and discuss the action. 

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Hello everybody, welcome back to another thrilling edition of Boom Goes the Dynamite.  If you haven’t noticed, we’re at the point of the season where every game has a little more intensity, a little more pressure, a little more edginess, as each team tries to attract the eye of the fickle Selection Committee.  Whether in an attempt to lock up a high seed or simply to make the darn thing, the next three weeks will present ample opportunities for every team to make its case, for better or worse.  As always, we’ll be right there with you throughout the day, checking in on the big games and others of varying importance.  While today isn’t a blockbuster day in terms of key games, there are always going to be a good number at this time of year.  Below are the ones we’ll be keeping an eye on…

11 AM: Siena @ #13 Butler on ESPN2 – RTC Live
12 PM: Florida @ Ole Miss on CBS
12 PM: Seton Hall @ #8 West Virginia on ESPN
12 PM: Morgan State @ Murray State on ESPNU
1 PM: Louisiana Tech @ Northeastern on ESPN2
1:30 PM: #22 Baylor @ Oklahoma State on ESPN360
2 PM: #17 Texas @ Texas Tech on ESPN
2 PM: Georgia Tech @ Maryland on ESPN360 – RTC Live
2 PM: Xavier @ Charlotte on CSS
4 PM: Illinois @ #4 Purdue on ESPN
4 PM: UTEP @ Tulsa on CBS CS – RTC Live
4 PM: Colorado @ #1 Kansas on ESPN360
6 PM: #2 Kentucky @ #19 Vanderbilt on ESPN
6 PM: #7 Kansas State @ Oklahoma on ESPNU
8 PM: Charleston @ George Mason on ESPN2
9 PM: UCLA @ Washington on ESPN
12 AM: Wichita State @ Utah State on ESPN2 – RTC Live

11:02: And we’re live with another BGTD. Interesting decision by ESPN to keep GameDay at 11 AM with the Siena-Butler game on ESPN2. We already have someone doing a RTC Live for the Siena-Butler game so we’ll focus more on GameDay than we otherwise would. Definitely check out our RTC Live of the game though.

11:07: The ESPN analysts are really going out on a limb saying the Big East Tournament will be the best of the conference tournament. Digger breaks with the group and goes with the Big Ten. Surprisingly Bobby Knight calls out the Big Ten saying the Big East would beat them head-to-head.

11:09: In another surprise, Jay Bilas goes against Coach K by saying that the conference tournaments effectively act as a huge NCAA Tournament and if you win you are into the real NCAA Tournament. Digger agrees with him while Hubert Davis attempts to make a ridiculous argument against the automatic bid saying it penalizes teams like Siena that dominate their conferences, but might choke in the conference tournament. Personally I think if you’re that good you can earn an at-large bid with your play throughout the season. Knight holds the coaching fraternity party line saying that he wants to expand the tournament. Translation: Nobody gets fired ever.

11:15: Just flipped over to ESPN2 where the announcers were comparing Gordon Hayward to Mike Dunleavy Jr. I’m not sure if they are talking about their games or the way they look. Where is the college basketball Spike Lee who will call out these announcers for comparing the two only because they are white guys who look fairly similar? For the record their games are pretty similar. Feel free to call me out in the comment section. . .

11:20: Knight wants “The Committee” to get an ex-coach on there (like him?) and the team’s last 18 games. I have no idea how he decided on 18. Why not 20? The other talking heads rip the RPI. Davis wants to take the strength of schedule component out of the RPI and wants to use an “eye test” to replace it. I’d like to see Professor Davis come up with a quantitative way to come up with the “eye test” score.

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Siena @ #13 Butler – 11 am on ESPN 2 (****)

Butler Will Have Their Hands Full With Siena

ESPN picked a fantastic matchup for their Bracketbuster weekend.  When Siena’s 14-game winning streak (tied for third in the country) came to an end last week against Niagara, Butler took their place as the hottest team in the country.  Butler has the longest current winning streak at the nation at 16 games, and they have shown no signs of slowing down.  They haven’t lost at Hinkle Fieldhouse this year, and are now ranked #13 in the country.  Siena has four scorers averaging at least 13.6 points per game, but their offense will be severely limited by Butler’s style of play.  The Bulldogs aren’t the best team in the country (#32 in defensive efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy) but they are able to slow the pace down enough that they have not given up 60 points in their last four games, and haven’t given up 70 points since a loss to Georgetown in early December.  Both teams have struggled to come up with big wins this year, having lost to Minnesota, Clemson, Georgetown, Temple, Georgia Tech, and Northern Iowa.  The difference is that all of Butler’s losses were by single digits and Siena’s last three losses were by at least 10 points.  Butler has four double-digit scorers of their own, and if Siena’s #87 ranked defense fails to guard the Bulldogs, they won’t stand much of a chance because Butler doesn’t turn the ball over that often.  This matchup should be highly entertaining, but considering Siena is coming off of a bad loss and Hinkle Fieldhouse is a tough place to play, the Bulldogs should push their winning streak on to the NCAA tournament.

Georgia Tech @ Maryland – 2 pm on ESPN 360 (**)

Both of these teams responded from tough losses recently, and have played like they can either run the table or lose several of their remaining games.  These squads have been lingering just inside or outside the top 25 for a large part of the season, but with their recent losses they are not only fighting to get back in the polls, they are trying ensure a tournament bid as well.   Joe Lunardi has both of these teams in the dance right now, but another loss for Georgia Tech would mean they will have lost half of their last 14 games.  Although Maryland is one of the more balanced teams in the ACC, ranking in the top 20 nationally in offensive and defensive efficiency, Georgia Tech has one of the best defenses in the country (#6 according to Ken Pomeroy) but one of the worst offenses (#81).  In their last two losses, the Yellow Jackets failed to shoot 40% from the field, and have not show much consistency since their 11-2 start.  They Yellow Jackets use a big lineup, as four of their top five scorers are forwards.  Three of Maryland’s top four scorers are guards, and it could make for some interesting matchups as these teams have not faced each other yet this year.  Given that the Yellow Jackets have lost six out of their last seven road games, look for Maryland to solidify their tournament status with a win in College Park.

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News out of Chapel Hill indicates that Tyler Zeller will be returning to action for UNC today at Boston College after sitting out a month with a stress fracture in his right foot. By now, everyone is familiar with the Tar Heels woes this season, which will most likely end in the NIT assuming they manage to win two of their last five games (yeah, it does sound crazy that they could actually finish below .500 and not qualify for the NIT). However, when Zeller injured his foot just prior to the Heels game against Clemson, they were 12-4 and #9 in the country despite a shocking (at the time) loss to Charleston. Following Zeller’s injury the Heels were blown out by the Tigers losing 8 of 10 games and reached a point where Roy Williams compared this season to the earthquake in Haiti.

Carolina Really Needs This Guy Right Now

With the loss of Ed Davis and Travis Wear for the rest of the season, the Heels could use Zeller on the inside even if his game and minutes will be a shell of what they were earlier in the season. While we don’t agree with Williams who said of his team, “There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m still confident [Ed. Note: We’re not exactly sure what that phrase actually means] we can go on a run and be in the [NCAA] tournament,” UNC fans could use a bit of good news and seeing Zeller have a solid return should give them hope for next season when they return most of their team except for Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson while they add a solid recruiting class that is headlined by Harrison Barnes.

The Harvard students changed from white shirts to black shirts at halftime.

Too bad for the Crimson faithful the ploy didn’t transfer to the hardwood.

Cornell maintained a nine-point halftime lead into a nine-point road victory at a raucous Lavietes Pavilion Friday night to hold a lead atop the all-important Ivy League regular season standings and firmly re-establish their status as the top team in the conference. Despite a remarkable 32 of 34 from the line and 48% shooting from the Crimson, Cornell used trademark three-point shooting, strong rebounding and timely scoring from Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale to eek out a victory in quite possibly the most challenging game on their Ivy slate.

Cornell Moving Toward March

The matchup was billed as a duel between the two best players in the conference- Wittman and Harvard’s point man Jeremy Lin. Lin was his usual stellar self- 24 points, 7-12 FG and 10-11 FT- but it was Wittman who stole the show with an array of clutch NBA-distance treys that stymied multiple Crimson rallies. The most importance sequence of the game came near the midway point of the second half when Harvard cut a 17-point Cornell lead to five until Wittman and Dale answered the call one more time with consecutive dagger threes that killed any remaining Harvard hope.

Cornell coach Steve Donahue remarked after the game how terrific the atmosphere was in Cambridge tonight. One could sense the urgency in the air from both sides with the Ivy League not fielding a year-end conference tournament to decide the league’s auto berth. This puts a giant magnifying glass on the regular season results and the players, coaches, fans and students all realized tonight just how crucial of a contest this happened to be.

Donahue made sure to commend a young Harvard team on their effort. Lin is their leader and anchor, but the Crimson rely on three freshman- Kyle Casey, Christian Webster and Brandyn Curry– for a good chunk of their production. Donahue correctly pointed out how vital Cornell’s experience was tonight in terms of both poise and confidence. He singled out Wittman as someone that played with a toughness and confidence unmatched by any other player on the floor for both sides.

Wittman admitted after the game there was a “lack of urgency” before the stunning upset at Penn last Friday. He said the Big Red absolutely has to bring it every night in the Ivy League and Dale remarked that it feels good to get an opposing team’s best shot every time during league play, similar to Gonzaga in the WCC or Butler in the Horizon. Dale also singled out the importance of getting out to a lead so fighting back on the road was not a necessity.

On the losing end, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker was proud of his team for their commendable effort but the Crimson just could not contain Wittman and Dale to pick up the stops in clutch situations. He was straight to the point in his assessment: Cornell just did things better. Lin also made sure to say this was the best atmosphere he’s seen at a home game in his four years as a member of the Crimson.

Too bad the home team could not deliver for the white-then-black-clad fans screeching, whistling, blowing horns and stomping their feet for 40 solid minutes Friday night.  Then again, this was Cornell. They are on a mission to reach the NCAA Tournament as the class of this league. And it does not appear anyone will stop them from achieving that very goal, at least on this night.

– Zach Hayes

We know that Kentucky crossed the finish line first in the quest to reach the 2,000-win plateau back on December 21st, but the race for second has become pretty tight, as well.  Kansas started the season in third position in total wins with 1,970 victories and have added 25 so far this season.  North Carolina started the season with 1,984 wins, just four behind Kentucky, but have only added 14 this year.  We’re fairly sure you’ve already done the math on this, but we’ll go ahead and tell you that the score going into this weekend currently stands at UNC with 1,998 and Kansas with 1,995.

Each team’s remaining regular season games are as follows:

No, Coach W. You only need two.

North Carolina

• Tomorrow 2/20 @ Boston College
• Wednesday 2/24 vs Florida State
• Saturday 2/27 @ Wake Forest
• Tuesday 3/2 vs Miami (FL)
• Saturday 3/6 @ Duke

It's now down to five, Coach.

Kansas

• Tomorrow 2/20 vs Colorado
• Monday 2/22 vs Oklahoma
• Saturday 2/27 @ Oklahoma State
• Wednesday 3/3 vs Kansas State
• Saturday 3/6 @ Missouri

It’s true that the Duke/North Carolina rivalry produces amazing games no matter what the teams are ranked, but one would have to admit that UNC’s chances in Cameron Indoor in the regular season finale is not likely to work out for them, so that leaves four games to win two.  KenPom has a grim outlook for the Tar Heels, though.  His calculations predict that UNC will win only that game against Miami on 3/2 and finish the regular season with 1,999 wins, meaning that they’d have to pick up a game in the ACC Tournament to get to 2,000 victories this season.

Whether they’re second or third, Kansas has the chance for a truly memorable close to the regular season, as you can see.  If they win out — and that’s even tougher than it looks, with that schedule — they’d be celebrating win #2,000 in that final game against Missouri.  KenPom’s Kansas page predicts the Jayhawks will win all five of them, with their toughest challenge obviously coming in the last game (predicted 63% chance of winning) against Missouri.  What a wave of momentum to launch Kansas into the post-season, though, if they can pull it off:  the #1 ranking, a win on senior night against rival K-State, and then the program’s 2,000th win to finish it against another huge rival at Missouri.

Both programs have some bigger issues on their minds right now, but what do you think?  Kentucky’s already taken the Win, but as far as the the Place and Show positions in the Race For 2,000 — will Kansas win five games before North Carolina wins two?

We’ve had this idea banging around in the cobwebs of the dome for some time now, but it really hit home for us last week.  On an evening where most of the nation was still snowed in and wanting something good to watch on television besides the Olympic Opening Ceremony FAIL (seriously, how long can you enjoy the procession of competing nations before losing interest around Finland?), we were treated to what might have been the absolute best college basketball game of the entire season:  A triple-overtime thriller between Pitt and West Virginia in the return game of their bitter Backyard Brawl rivalry.  It was 55 minutes of pulsating basketball with more swings than a John Mark Karr fantasy camp.  And yet, all we could keep thinking was…  why don’t we get this pleasure every Friday night?

More of These Games on Friday Night, Please.

Tonight, as part of Bracketbusters, we’ll get another interesting game between #24 Northern Iowa and Old Dominion on ESPN2, but in general Friday night college basketball after conference play begins is a vast wasteland relegated to the Ivy League, Big Sky, MAAC and a few others, with hardly any televised presence to speak of.  When you consider that on an average Saturday during league play, there are over 140 games with more than two dozen televised in some national platform, wouldn’t it make a teeny bit of sense to put a couple of those marquee matchups on one of the ESPNs each Friday night?  So with a tip of the hat to ESPN programming director Dave Brown, here’s our case for Friday Night Hoops.

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As the season winds closer to a conclusion and Selection Sunday approaches, a bracket snapshot each Monday just doesn’t quite seem adequate. From now until the end of the year, we’ll be providing a Friday seed update that outlines where each team inside and just outside the field of 65 currently stands along with reasoning why certain teams changed seed number since the previous Monday. Enjoy our first edition:

(Note: each of the four teams in one seed grouping is listed in pecking order in terms of who is closer to moving up a seed line. This is used to determine game location and matchups similar to Joe Lunardi’s S-Curve listing).

#1 Seeds: Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Purdue

#2 Seeds: Villanova, Duke, Kansas State, West Virginia

#3 Seeds: Michigan State, Georgetown, New Mexico, Vanderbilt

#4 Seeds: Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Wisconsin, BYU

#5 Seeds: Temple, Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Texas A&M

#6 Seeds: Tennessee, Texas, Baylor, Butler

#7 Seeds: Northern Iowa, Richmond, Xavier, UNLV

#8 Seeds: Maryland, Missouri, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech

#9 Seeds: Florida State, Old Dominion, Illinois, Dayton

#10 Seeds: Clemson, California, Siena, Louisville

#11 Seeds: UTEP, Rhode Island, UAB, Oklahoma State

#12 Seeds: Marquette, Utah State, Cornell, Florida

#13 Seeds: Charlotte, Northeastern, Kent State, Murray State

#14 Seeds: Oakland, Sam Houston State, Weber State, Charleston

#15 Seeds: Morgan State, North Texas, Belmont, UC-Santa Barbara

#16 Seeds: Coastal Carolina, Robert Morris, Stony Brook, Lehigh, Jackson State

Last Four In: Charlotte, Florida, Marquette, Oklahoma State

Last Four Out: Saint Mary’s, South Florida, Mississippi State, San Diego State

Next Four Out: Cincinnati, Mississippi, Connecticut, William & Mary

Bids per conference: ACC (7), Big 12 (7), Big East (7), Atlantic 10 (6), SEC (4), Big 10 (5), MWC (3), Conference USA (2), CAA (2).

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