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 71, Michigan State 61: “In front of an energetic sell-out crowd (3rd of the season), the Buckeyes bounced back from their defeat in Madison on Saturday with a 71-61 victory over Michigan State Tuesday night. The Spartans have now won just 2 of their last 8 games to continue their dissappointing season, while the Buckeyes took step one of potentailly reclaiming the top spot in the nation after Kansas’s loss last night.” (Eleven Warriors)
• Kansas State 84, #3 Kansas 68: “The stay atop the polls will be a short one as the Kansas Jayhawks stepped onto the court on Monday night and never stood a chance. Jacob Pullen was a man on mission, the Kansas State Wildcats fought their way off the ropes and for all the talk of embracing no.1 the Jayhawks looked completely unprepared for the challenge.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 and Part 2)
• #13 Villanova 60, Seton Hall 57: “For the third consecutive game the outcome came down to the last shot. And twice in those three games the ball was in the hands of the opponent. The nightmare scenario was unfolding as Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall’s latest 2,000 point scorer had the ball with 0:11 on the clock and 25 points already banked from this game. Hazell-led teams had never beaten the Wildcats, and this was the best chance in his four seasons. Hazell, who had 2,005 points entering the game, will probably almost certainly pass Greg Tynes (1974-78) to become the #3 scorer in Pirate history. But his total stopped at 25 tonight as his last three point attempt careened off the rim and into Dominic Cheek’s eager grasp. ” (Villanova by the Numbers)
• #20 Syracuse 63, West Virginia 52: “There will be no three-game losing streak. There will be no four-game home losing streak. When they needed to most, the Orange got their act together and held on for 63-52 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers Monday night.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
• #21 Kentucky 85, Mississippi State 79: “Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats did just slightly more than enough to win this game. Ugly or pretty, nobody will ever know at the end of the year that this was anything other than a W. I am not surprised that the Mississippi St. Bulldogs offered Kentucky such a stiff challenge. Last year’s two overtime losses to Kentucky had to affect this team, they came in smarting from a bad loss against the Auburn Tigers, and they were ready to take it to Kentucky. They did so. If not for the untimely foul and absurd technical by Rick Stansbury at the end of the first half, who knows for sure what the outcome of this contest might have been? In the end, though, Kentucky did just enough to win, and made some timely big plays in the bargain. But Mississippi St. deserves praise for bringing their A game into Rupp Arena.” (A Sea of Blue)

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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

• #13 Georgetown 64, #12 Syracuse 56: “Georgetown fans have been conditioned to believe that when the going gets tough, we’d falter.  Instead, we did the exact opposite, finishing the game with an 8-1 run to win 64-56 in the most satisfying victory of the season.  John Thompson III earned his first victory in the Carrier Dome as the coach of Georgetown.” (Casual Hoya)

Other Games of Interest

• Michigan 75, Northwestern 66: “On Michigan’s first offensive possession of the game, Jordan Morgan went up soft for an easy layup, missed it, and went crumbling to the floor. It was eerily similar to Morgan’s soft early layups at Ohio State except this time it was Mike Cappocci defending the rim rather than Jared Sullinger. I’m not sure what happened but, after that dismal attempt, the switch flipped. Morgan dominated the next 39 minutes in a way that we haven’t seen this year. He missed just one more shot and finished with 27 points on 13 field goal attempts. That’s not to say Morgan didn’t get any help from his teammates. Tim Hardaway Jr. was phenomenal yet again and Morris, Douglass, Novak, and Smotrycz were all solid in supporting roles.” (UM Hoops: Recap, Post-Game Chat, John Beilein Post-Game Interview, and Player Post-Game Interviews)
• Maryland 106, Longwood 52: “Ah, the joys of cupcakes. Sean Mosley scored 20 points, Dino Gregory had his second double-double of the season, six Terrapins finished in double-digits in points, and Maryland cruised to an easy victory over Longwood, more than doubling up the Lancers with a 106-52 final score. The win was Gary Williams’ 665th, and Maryland fans held up “665” signs in the final minutes commerating the victory.” (Testudo Times)

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College basketball fans over the age of 20 undoubtedly remember the 1997 Kansas Jayhawks, a team that was 34-1 (its only loss coming on the road at rival Missouri) heading into its Sweet 16 match-up against a 21-9 Arizona team. That Jayhawk team was coached by Roy Williams (back when he was known for his inability to win the big game) and featured Jacques Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz, Scot Pollard, and a talented sophomore named Paul Pierce. Coming into the game the Jayhawks were heavily favored with good reason having compiled that record despite having Vaughn sit out most of their non-conference schedule with an injury.

As you know things didn’t work out Roy’s Jayhawks. That night Lute Olson and the Wildcats pulled off one of the great upsets of the decade. In retrospect, looking at the talent on the Arizona team it shouldn’t have been that shocking since the underdogs had the eventual tournament MOP (Miles Simon) along with future NBA stars (Jason Terry and Mike Bibby). Still at the time the result shocked the nation. Despite a valiant effort from Pierce who had 27 points (on just 13 FG attempts) and 11 rebounds, the Jayhawks needed a flurry of late 3s to cut into the Wildcats lead. After Bibby hit a couple of late free throws to extend the lead to 3, the Jayhawks were forced to attempt several desperation 3s to try and force OT.

When LaFrentz’s 3 from the corner fell short Roy Williams was dealt one of the most devastating losses of his career. To this day, many Kansas fans still have a hard time getting over the game. Ironically Roy may have had the one player capable of hitting a 3 to earn a trip to the Final Four sitting on his bench. . .

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I thought I had heard the last of these two teams for a while (ok, I figured I would hear something about Kansas being pretty good this year),  but it turns out I was wrong.

By now you have all heard about how Binghamton has been reduced to holding open tryouts. Unfortunately, the Bearcats had to cancel the tryout because it may have violated NCAA rules by having too many players involved for a session this early although the specific bylaw is somewhat vague as to the number of players that can be involved in a practice this early in the year. In other Binghamton news, retired New York Chief Judge Judith Kaye will be in charge of the independent counsel investigating the Binghamton athletic program. For more on Kaye, check out the brief profile The New Yorker did on her last year (or her official bio).

Meanwhile on the other end of the college basketball spectrum, Kansas coach Bill Self might want to consider getting his team chauffeurs (see Brady Morningstar) as Markieff Morris (yeah, the same guy who was involved in the Tyshawn Taylor fiasco) was involved in a two-car accident last month. Normally the accident wouldn’t have been a story except that the police report stated that the car was registered under former Jayhawk “star” Scot Pollard. Given the recent indiscretions of the Jayhawk basketball program this had the potential to turn into another media frenzy (and might actually draw some attention from the NCAA), but that quickly died down when Pollard and Kansas athletic department issued statements saying that Morris had borrowed the car from Taylor who bought the car from Pollard a month before in a sale that was approved by the school’s compliance department.

Once again we will ask the question: When do the games start?