Ed. Note: The conference call actually took place on Monday, but I had an ophthalmologist appointment and I’m pretty sure that they used just about the entire bottle of eye drops to dilate my eyes so I’m just starting to see straight again. The below entries are my some of the key points the coaches made, but are not direct quotes. If you want to listen to the coaches speak directly, click on the link next to their name.

Anthony Grant (Alabama) – Audio
- Defense: Last year their defense gave them a chance to be in every game that they played, but they had to have that solid defense because their offense was not always there.
- Returning players: Senario Hillman one of elite athletes in the SEC and can guard multiple positions. He will need to improve shot selection and decision-making, but is making strides. JaMychal Green adds size and strength to the frontcourt, which is as good as any team in the SEC. Should improve with an extra year of experience. Tony Mitchell had a very good freshman year and being named to SEC All-Freshman team was an accomplishment. Grant is looking for the players to make a jump between their first and second year in the Alabama program.

Tony Barbee (Auburn) – Audio / Key Quotes
- Lack of Experience: Starting over is exciting because you get to mold a new group of players. It will be hard to judge what he has until he sees the team together in the Fall.
- Plan: Focus on defense because they could be “offensively challenged” because they don’t know what they have outside of Frankie Sullivan. Given their lack of size on the inside they might have to focus on their offense around the 3-point line.

John Pelphrey (Arkansas) – Audio
- Frontcourt: They have Marshawn Powell on the inside, but will need to develop more on the inside to help support him.
- APR: We’re all working very hard. We want to see these young men improve in the classroom and on the court. He isn’t sure statistics over the short-term can adequately reflect the academic performance of a program, but is open to more long-term measures.
- Andre Clark: Aware of the transfer to TCU and does talk with players who have transferred if they contact him about an issue.

Billy Donovan (Florida) – Audio
- Backcourt: Didn’t know what to expect coming into last season having lost Nick Calathes. Irving Walker played his freshman year at 2 guard spot. Kenny Boynton came in with huge reputation out of high school, but you’re never sure with them making the jump. Limited depth in the backcourt meant those two played more minutes than they probably should have, which meant they couldn’t do some of the stuff they would have otherwise done such as press. Coming into this year with the experience should be helpful for those two coming into this season. Still some issues with depth in the backcourt this year although they are adding freshmen Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather to the backcourt.
- Alex Tyus: First UF player to put his name in the NBA Draft and return to UF. It was Alex’s decision. He worked out with a couple of NBA teams and listened to what NBA had to say about where he might go. No pressure from UF to come back. Donovan feels that process is only going to help the Gators going forward.
- Patric Young: Very physical and aggressive player, but needs some work on the inside. In the near term he will bring energy and a great rebounding presence to the Gators.

Mark Fox (Georgia) – Audio
- Marcus Thornton: Really big boost after picking him up following his release from his letter of intent from Clemson. Gives Georgia a lot of options because of his versatility.
- Trey Thompkins: Had discussion with family and got info from NBA. Felt it wasn’t appropriate. Only would be able to work out for 1 or 2 days due to final exams and the new NBA Draft withdrawal deadlines.
- Turnovers: Feels they will take better care of the ball and they should also be able to create more turnovers on the defensive end, which should create more easy baskets.

John Calipari (Kentucky) – Audio / Transcript (Part 1/Part 2)
- This past week he went to Haiti, where his “Hoops for Haiti” telethon helped raise $1.5M. Even though they money is helping there is still long way to go. Then there was the NBA Draft, which was also emotional, but from a different perspective. He enjoyed being with the 5 families of the 5 players and helping to create hope for them and their families. As for his much discussed quote, he is standing by it because he was not talking about the past, but talking about the future. He met with Chris Douglas-Roberts on the night before this press conference and he echoed the comments. The NBA Draft was a 2-hour infomercial, which will have effects for at least the next 5 years, and it will be the players who it was aimed at who will win Kentucky championships in the future.
- Future Draft Picks: He feels that Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins could be in that position next year. Josh Harrelson has improved a lot too and could be a major force next year, which fans were not able to see because he spent last year stuck behind two 1st round picks.
- Last season’s accomplishments: Even though they lost in the Elite 8 to West Virginia he was proud of the team’s accomplishments as only one Kentucky team won more games in a season (1948).
- Incoming freshman: Brandon  Knight will enter school with almost one year worth of academic credits. Doron Lamb and Stacey Poole will add depth to the guard position. Lamb can play the 1 or 2 spot and they might play a pair of point guards similar to what they did this year with John Wall and Eric Bledsoe. That’s one of the best things about dribble-drive: position doesn’t matter since all four perimeter players are the same.
- Frontcourt: They lost three frontcourt players and are bringing in a couple to replace them, but they will not be that deep. They will rely on Eloy Vargas and Enes Kanter to step up, but there might be times where the Wildcats play 4 guards and a single big man, which means they may press more. At this point it is just conjecture without having seen them play together.

Trent Johnson (LSU) – Audio / Key Quotes
- This year will be a completely different team as they are brininging in five freshman and a transfer. He doesn’t think moving from the West Coast (Stanford) to the East Coast was that big of an adjustment especially for recruiting.
- Bo Spencer: He’s in summer school and is not a member of the team at this moment, but Johnson did not elaborate on the possibility of him returning to the team.

Andy Kennedy (Mississippi) – Audio
- Nick Williams out of Indiana practiced with the team last year could make an immediate impact. He is a big wing player who brings a physical and mental toughness that will be welcome. He can play any of about three positions. He is most comfortable off the ball, but can score in a variety of ways.
- Dundrecous Nelson and Demarco Cox could also contribute as they are physical ready coming out of high school, but he will need to see if the rest of their game is ready for the transition.

Rick Stansbury (Mississippi State) – Audio
- Losing impact players like Jarvis Varnado and Barry Stewart will be difficult to overcome, but given time he thinks they can overcome it this season. Loss of Varnado hurts them defensively, but they were a good defensive team before he was there and they can still be one after he has left. He does not think they will shoot as many three-pointers this season. He thinks the inside game could become a bigger presence. There are a lot of personnel and injury questions for the team heading into the season.
- Phil Turner: He does not want to discuss it. He says both sides have made their statements and he will not talk about it any further.
- Dee Bost appealing to get his eligibility back: Stansbury has zero control over the situation. He says the reporter knows more about it than he does. He says this is a first time situation so they are all waiting to hear about Bost’s eligibility.
- Renardo Sidney: It will be relatively easy (compared to the prior two problems) integrating Sidney into the team after his nine game suspension.

Darrin Horn (South Carolina) – Audio
- Losing Devan Downey is difficult and it is not something you can do with one player and it is not something that they will try to do. Already dealt with loss of Dominique Archie will not be a big change because he only played 5 games last year so they had to deal with the transition last season. Ramon Galloway showed some flashes last season and they will need to develop that into more consistent output this season.
- Defense: Last year they abandonned what they wanted to do because of personnel issues.
- Freshman: He expects them to have an impact this year. He thinks that all of them can play right away.

Tony Jones (Tennessee) – Audio
- They never explained why he was talking instead of Bruce Pearl.
- Tobais Harris is McDonald’s All-American who is a solid kid, great student, and obviously a great player. Jones feel that he can do it all–shoot, make plays for others, and rebounds along with having a great basketball IQ.
- Florida and Kentucky will be the favorites, but hopefully at the end the Volunteeers will be right there.

Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt) – Audio
- Feels that he has some returning players who can alleviate the loss at point guard (Jermaine Beal) and in the post (A.J. Ogilvy). He thinks that Brad Tinsley is a very capable point guard who has played the 2 guard while he has been at Vanderbilt and Festus Ezeli can help on the inside.
- Jeffery Taylor: He would not be surprised if this was Taylor’s last season at Vanderbilt because of the interest from NBA scouts and he agrees with the praise from those scouts.
- Reseeding: The team enjoys being in “the toughest division in college basketball”.
- One-and-Done: Originally thoguht it was going to be a good thing, but he no longer feels that way. He says he wants a few modifications although he did not specify what those specifications were.

NEW YORK CITY – The morning started on a Northeast Conference note. I officiated three basketball games in the NJ Goats (love that name!) Thanksgiving Tournament. My partner was Ed Mills, a NEC official who occasionally will do a 12-and-under boys tournament such as this. Our third and final game had a former NEC official, Tony Banks, who stepped down a few years ago due to illness.  Three nice games in the book and off to New York. Forget Black Friday shopping.

A final look back on the Pre-Season NIT finals and consolation. Duke knocked off UConn 68-59 for the championship.

Think of Duke and the images of motion offense, passes quickly distributed around the perimeter, precision cuts and open shots come to mind. Friday’s Pre-Season NIT final gave us a look at this year’s Duke, a team that will battle you in the paint and contest everything. The offensive rebounding rate is proof enough. Overall the Blue Devils outrebounded UConn 56-43 with a 25-14 edge on the offensive glass. And this was against a Husky team with several skilled, tough big men.  The principal damage on the offensive glass was inflicted by Brian Zoubek (7 off boards) and Lance Thomas (5 off rebs). Zoubek scored only 2 points but impacted things contesting the paint and adding 11 rebounds overall. Coach Mike Krzyzewski noted two of Zoubek’s offensive rebounds resulted in pitches back out to the perimeter that resulted in three point field goals.

UConn shot 0-4 on the afternoon from three. Not a big concern for Coach Jim Calhoun as the gameplan was to attack the basket. Offensively two things stood out for the Huskies: the field goal percentage of 37% (22-59) and worse yet, a 15-28 mark from the charity stripe. Time and again as UConn was in the process of a run a missed free throw or two put a serious dent in their momentum. Two key points were emphasized by Calhoun. “I can’t remember holding an opponent to 28% field goal percentage (for the game) and limiting them to eight second-half field goals and losing.” Calhoun answered his own question looking at the stat sheet and lamenting the loss of the battle of the boards.

Virtually overlooked was Duke’s excellent 16% turnover rate. The UConn pressure was a major concern of the Blue Devils coming into the game. With only 12 turnovers and a great turnover percentage, Duke handled any half- or fullcourt pressure with poise and excellence.  Another concern was UConn’s shot blocking ability. The final block totals: UConn 9, Duke 7. The Blue Devils showed some ability of their own to reject shots.  Jon Scheyer had 19 points, led all scorers, and earned MVP honors. Jerome Dyson led UConn with 15 points. Kemba Walker had 9 assists but committed 6 turnovers and shot a subpar 4 of 12 from the floor.

In the third place game LSU came out strong and with a purpose. The Tigers couldn’t sustain it, and in a wildly schizophrenic performance wound up losing to Arizona State 71-52. The breakdown of a 57-possession game, very suited to Herb Sendek’s ASU Sun Devils :

Just chalk this up as a total meltdown. Once Arizona State drew even and eventually pulled ahead, it was as if the life was gone from LSU. The ASU zone is not the easiest to break down. Still, on many a possession the Tigers remained almost stationary in their zone offense and were without player movement or finding gaps. LSU shot 5-25 (20%) in the second half while ASU was 68% (15-22) . Again, Derek Glasser of ASU impressed with a fine game-leading 24/6 assist outing. Eric Boateng, who struggled against Duke, responded with 17 points and 8 boards. Tasmin Mitchell had 17 to lead LSU and Storm Warren added 14. The Tigers were without point guard Bo Spencer who injured his ankle in the waning moments of the UConn game.

LSU coach Trent Johnson thought his club’s defensive effort was “for the most part better.” In comparison to the UConn game it was. Against the Huskies, LSU had two bad defensive halves. Against ASU it was a respectable half followed by a nightmare of almost epic proportions. Johnson sat motionless and almost stunned at times during the second half of the consolation, but he later refused to cite Spencer’s absence as an excuse. But it isn’t easy with your point guard suddenly out and a good shooting guard, Alex Farrer, already gone for the season.  The Tigers want to put these two games behind them and understandably so. In the next few weeks we will learn how much they realize the game is 40 minutes and the effort that it requires to be consistently successful.

Welcome back to MSG as we take in the third place game and the finals of the Preseason NIT. In the first game, tipping right at 2:30  pm today, LSU takes on Arizona State. The Tigers were run off the court against UConn, as their backcourt was unable to handle the pressure from the Huskies. The Sun Devils come out strong against Duke, but looked lost on the offensive end over the final 30 minutes of the game. A big issue for the Tigers is going to be how they match up with Arizona State defensively. The Tigers are pretty big — Storm Warren and Tasmin Mitchell are the two forwards, but neither is what you would call a “pure” small forward. ASU plays four guards (including Rihards Kuksiks), meaning that Trent Johnson is going to have to decide between dealing with the mismatch or playing zone. At the other end, ASU is going to have their hands full with Warren inside. He had 15 and 6 in limited minutes against a good Husky front line. Eric Boateng (4 points, 4 boards, 9 turnovers) will need to play much better for ASU.

The final is the game everyone will be waiting to see. There are a few certainties in life — gravity exists, turkey puts you to sleep, Dickie V loves Duke — and one of those certainties is that Duke-UConn is going to be a classic. Think back to 1990 and Christian Laettner‘s heroics; or the 1999 title game and Trajan Langdan’s travels; or the 2004 national semifinal and the UConn comeback. Whenever these two teams tango, it is an event, and tonight will be no different. Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith have been playing fantastic basketball, but they have yet to face a team that has the athletes that UConn has in the backcourt. Jerome “Slicin’” Dyson (ESPN really needs to stop using that nickname, it is terrible. What’s wrong with Romey?) and Kemba Walker are as good defending on the ball as anyone in the nation, and the ability of the Duke guards to handle the 2-2-1 press (with Romey and Kemba up top) will be a huge determinant in the outcome of this game. That said, the difference between UConn last night and UConn of the first three games was their aggressiveness going to the glass. But for the first time all season, they will play a team that can match up with them size-wise. Will the Huskies still be able to rebound the basketball?

Two things to keep an eye on: 1) Who controls the tempo of this game. UConn is going to want to get this thing going up and down, as Duke does not have the athletes to run with them. But Duke is going to want slow this down, sit back in a packed-in zone, and let the Huskies try to shoot their way to the title. 2) Stanley Robinson vs. Kyle Singler. Singler is the best player on this Duke team, and is the guy they look to for big shots. But Sticks is a phenomenal athlete, and will be counted on to slow down Singler.

Is it 5 pm yet? In the immortal words of Fergie, “Let’s get it started in here.”

NEW YORK CITY – A few Preseason NIT semifinal impressions as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade marches on. For years it was the Macy’s parade, long before corporate sponsorship entered our stadia and arenas.  UConn looked very good pushing the pace. The Huskies entered the semi with LSU averaging 66 possessions. Against the Tigers, UConn had a 37 possession first half and a 45-29 lead at the break. The final possession total was 69, somewhat misleading as the Huskies started using more clock the last six minutes with the game in hand. Their final offensive efficiency in the 81-55 rout was 117.

I’m impressed with the UConn bigs, Gavin Edwards (15 pts), Charles Okwandu and Alex Oriakhi (9 boards). They are all skilled and can run the floor like deer. Don’t forget Stanley Robinson (14 pts, 11 reb), a matchup problem on the wing or in the paint and point guard Kemba Walker (20 pts, 5 assists). It all adds up to a strong cast.  The Huskies had some less than spectacular performances before getting here. LSU saw the Big East refs at their best to date. Coach Trent Johnson was upset that his Tigers could not handle the transition. Coach had to be concerned as well about Tasmin Mitchell (9 pts on 4-12 shooting) and point guard Bo Spencer (5 pts and 2-14 from the floor).  Storm Warren (15 points 7 rebounds) was the lone Tiger consistently productive on this night.  My baseline press vantage point saw Johnson not ranting but in virtual conversation or debate with the officials all night. Clearly, LSU had a lot more issues with execution that needed addressing.

I’m impressed with Arizona State coming out tough. Too often teams are prepared and ready for Duke but play tenuous, afraid to miss a shot or make a turnover. Herb Sendek has plenty of experience facing Duke while at NC State, so he had his team ready and playing the role of aggressor. I was especially impressed with the grit and penetration skills of Sun Devil senior guard Derek Glasser who consistently gained access to the paint.  To their credit on a night they could have been headed to a third place game on Black Friday, Duke was resilient to meet the challenge and respond. Kyle Singler (1-6 first half) hit a huge trey that sparked a mid second half spurt that allowed Mike Krzyzewski’s club to prevail 64-53.

This is Duke’s biggest team in years if not the biggest under Coach K. Still, the motion offense, movement and presentation of great looks is there. I’m looking forward to the big man matchup. UConn blocked 13 shots or 21% of the LSU field goal attempts on Wednesday. Their shot-blocking ability has to be a big concern for Duke.  I’m also interested to see how well LSU can respond after Wednesday as they meet ASU in the consolation.

To all… a happy holiday!!!

Predicted Order of Finish:

SEC EAST

1. Kentucky  (13-3)
2. Tennessee  (11-5)
3. South Carolina  (10-6)
4. Vanderbilt (10-6)
5. Florida (7-9)
6. Georgia  (2-14)

SEC WEST

1. Mississippi State (10-6)
2. Mississippi (9-7)
3. Arkansas (9-7)
4. Alabama (7-9)
5. LSU  (6-10)
6. Auburn (4-12)

All-Conference Team:

• John Wall (G), Kentucky
• Devan Downey (G), South Carolina
• Tyler Smith (F), Tennessee
• Patrick Patterson (F), Kentucky
• Jarvis Varnado (F), Mississippi State

6th Man. Terrico White (G), Mississippi

Impact Newcomer. John Wall (G), Kentucky

What You Need to Know.  After missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years, the Kentucky Wildcats are poised to regain their role at the top of the SEC, having added the number one recruiting class and top coach John Calipari. This year looks to be a year of redemption and resurgence not only for UK but for the whole SEC which placed just three teams in the NCAA last year.  Tennessee, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are very strong, experienced teams in the East that should go dancing.  Mississippi State hopes to win the West behind Jarvis Varnado and Mississippi and Arkansas look to be much improved and can give any team in the SEC fits.

Predicted Champion. Kentucky  (NCAA Seed:  #1).  Kentucky returns Patrick Patterson and the core group of the team that won 22 games last season.  The main loss for UK was junior Jodie Meeks who went to the NBA, but in his place, UK added the number one recruiting class and hired head coach John Calipari.  Obviously, Calipari faces the task of instilling a new offense with six new faces, but the Cats are so deep that freshman Daniel Orton, a top 25 player, will have to battle for significant playing time.  The Wildcats achilles heel last year was at point guard and UK added two of the top four freshman points in John Wall and Eric Bledsoe.  Talent and depth alone make this a top 10 team and if Calipari can install his DDMO effectively, this is a legitimate Final Four team.

NCAA Teams.

• Tennessee (NCAA Seed: #3).  Last year’s Volunteers may have underachieved, but they return all five starters and are the SEC’s most experienced team. This team needs to gel defensively and if they can do that, they will be tough to beat. Tyler Smith and JP Prince are the heart and soul of this team and if Scotty Hopson can blossom, the Vols should hover around the top 10 all year.
• Mississippi State (NCAA Seed: #4). Even without Renardo Sidney, MSU returns Jarvis Varnado and four other starters.  This may be one of the best defensive ball clubs in the SEC.  Guard Dee Bost will look to establish himself as one of the top guards in the SEC.
• South Carolina (NCAA Seed:#6). Devan Downey and Dominique Archie are back at USC after their brief flirtation with the NBA and give Darrin Horn a couple of the best guards in the SEC.  Freshman Lakeem Jackson could be the big third option that South Carolina desperately  needs.
• Mississippi (NCAA seed: #6). The Rebels were the unluckiest team in the SEC last year, losing three key performers to knee injuries.  Everyone is back and appears healthy, and if that is the case, Chris Warren can re-establish himself as a top point guard.  Terrico White should continue to progress and be a future NBA player.  The Rebels have one of the deepest teams in the league.
• Vanderbilt (NCAA seed: #8). Center AJ Ogilvy is back and has beefed up considerably and should compete for all-SEC honors.  Vandy also returns their top four scorers from last year’s 19-12 season.  Freshman John Jenkins is a true 3 point threat and a shooting guard that can light it up.
• Arkansas (NCAA seed: #11).  Arkansas returns all five starters from last year’s up and down team that beat Texas and Oklahoma yet won just 2 SEC games.  Michael Washington may be able to move up to a lottery pick with a big year and you would think the rest of the young Razorbacks will show more returns on their potential this year as Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clark have the potential to be very good.

NIT/CBI Teams.

• Florida (NIT).  This team will sit on the verge of the NCAAs but will have to settle for the NIT for the 3^rd straight season.  Nimrod Tishman will not contribute this year and there are too many good point guards in the SEC for Florida to be comfortable with just Erving Walker.  Kenny Boynton will have a huge impact, but he is not a point and that is what will keep this team out of the NCAAs.
• Alabama (NIT). Anthony Grant has JaMychal Green and leading scorer Senario Hillman to build around, but not a lot more.  PG will be a major achilles heel but look for Grant to bring his defensive intensity to the Tide and get ready for a lot of low scoring defensive affairs.

Other Teams.

• LSU- sorry Tigers, but this is a rebuilding year.    The Tigers do have some key pieces returning like Tasmin Mitchell and Bo Spencer but graduation wiped out last year’s 27 win team.  Freshman Aaron Dotson could have tremendous impact at shooting guard.
• Auburn – Auburn was the surprise yeam of the SEC last year with a 24-12 record, but were decimated by graduation.  These Tigers are also rebuilding, and in a vastly improved SEC, rebuilding teams go to the bottom tier.
• Georgia – Mark Fox has the unenviable job of getting the Bulldogs competitive in the SEC East, a division that could send five teams to the NCAA’ if Florida wins 2-3 more games more than expected.  Trey Thompkins and Dustin Ware are a nice foundation to build on, but the talent level at Georgia is light years behind the rest of the conference.

Top 10 RPI Boosters.

• Nov. 23, 2009 – Vanderbilt vs. Cincinnati - Maui Invitational
• Nov. 28, 2009 – Florida vs. Michigan State (Atlantic City, NJ) – Legends Classic
• Dec. 5, 2009 – North Carolina @ Kentucky
• Dec 9, 2009 – Kentucky vs. UConn (NYC) – SEC/Big East Invitational
• Dec. 10, 2009 – Syracuse @ Florida (Tampa) – SEC/Big East Invitational
• Dec. 12, 2009 – Mississippi State @ UCLA – Wooden Classic
• Dec. 23, 2009 – Mississippi @ West Virginia
• Dec. 31, 2009 – Tennessee @ Memphis
• Jan. 2, 2010 – Louisville @ Kentucky
• Jan. 10, 2010 – Kansas @ Tennessee

Key Conference Games.

• Feb. 9, 2010 – Tennessee @ Vanderbilt
  
• Feb. 11, 2010 – Mississippi @ Mississippi State
• Feb. 23, 2010 – Tennessee @ Florida
• Feb. 25, 2010 – South Carolina @ Kentucky
• Feb. 27, 2010 – Kentucky @ Tennessee
• Mar. 6, 2010 - South Carolina @ Vanderbilt
• Mar. 7 , 2010 – Florida @ Kentucky

Digging Deeper.

• Kentucky’s 129-game home winning streak has been featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not comic strip.
• The Wildcats’ winning streak, which ran from Jan. 4, 1943 to Jan. 8, 1955, still stands as an NCAA record.

Fun With KenPom. As mentioned in the Mountain West primer last week, the SEC was dangerously close to falling out of the “Super Six” conferences last season due its relative lack of strength.  It started with early Alabama/Auburn losses to Mercer, and it never really got better.  Not a single team in the entire conference finished in the top 30 in Pomeroy, and the three SEC teams who made the NCAA Tournament — LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State — got a single win between them.

NCAA Tournament History.  The SEC is 248-177 (.584) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with only five wins in the last two seasons (despite nine bids).  With new blood in the league in the form of John Calipari (Kentucky), Anthony Grant (Alabama), Mark Fox (Georgia), Darrin Horn (South Carolina) and Trent Johnson (LSU) joining the old guard of Billy Donovan and Bruce Pearl, the SEC may be on the verge of a resurgence led by a group of young, dynamic coaches who have proven their mettle at other schools.  The fact of the matter is that the league just wasn’t all that good in the 2000s – there were only four F4 appearances in the entire decade, and three of those were Florida’s.  The lone holdout: LSU joined the Gators at the 2006 Final Four.  Even worse, only seven teams made the Elite Eight.  We’d expect that to change in the 2010s.

Final Thoughts.  After a season of irrelevance, the SEC is back in a big way.  Kentucky leads the resurgence of the SEC followed closely by Tennessee and Mississippi State.  South Carolina and Ole Miss are also possibly Top 25 teams by the end of the season  and the SEC can send 7, maybe 8 teams to the NCAA.  The two most electric freshmen, John Wall and Kenny Boynton call the SEC home.  Even though the SEC has been down, Kentucky and possibly Tennessee are Elite Eight threats and if the chemistry is right, Kentucky could be bringing the SEC its 3^rd national title in the last five years.

Sam Wasson of bleedCrimson.net and Travis Mason-Bushman of Vandal Nation are the RTC correspondents for the Western Athletic Conference.

Travis’ Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Idaho (11-5)
2. Utah State (11-5)
3. New Mexico State (10-6)
4. Nevada (10-6)
5. Louisiana Tech (8-8)
6. Fresno State  (7-9)
7. Boise State  (6-10)
8. San Jose State  (5-11)
9. Hawaii  (4-12)

Sam’s Predicted Order of Finish:

1. New Mexico State (13-3)
2. Utah State (12-4)
3. Nevada  (11-5)
4. Idaho (11-5)
5. Louisiana Tech  (9-7)
6. Fresno State  (6-10)
7. Boise State  (5-11)
8. San Jose State  (3-13)
9. Hawaii  (2-14)

All-Conference Team:

• Mac Hopson (G), Idaho
• Jahmar Young (G), New Mexico State
• Luke Babbitt (F), Nevada
• Sylvester Seay (F), Fresno State
• Magnum Rolle (C), Louisiana Tech

6th Man. Kyle Gibson (G), Louisiana Tech

Impact Newcomer. Steffan Johnson (G), Idaho

What You Need to Know. Once a solid multi-bid league, the WAC has struggled to gain national traction in recent years but appears poised to send multiple teams to the Big Dance after graduating just eight starting seniors in the entire league after last season. Five of the nine WAC teams return at least four starters and New Mexico State returns all five starters. The league also returns 14 of the 15 top scorers this season.

Travis’ Predicted Champion. Idaho (NCAA #12) — one and done.  The Vandals have a storied tradition in college hoops — in the early 1980s, Idaho dominated the Big Sky under legendary coach Don Monson, leading an unlikely charge to the 1982 Sweet 16. But that remains the high-water mark for Idaho basketball. In the first three seasons after joining the Western Athletic Conference in 2005, the Vandals were a perennial bottom-feeder.

Last year, Idaho hired Don Verlin, a longtime assistant at Utah State under Stew Morrill, to lead the Vandals out of the hoops wilderness. The move paid dividends far more quickly than anyone expected. Verlin’s Vandals posted one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA basketball, going from an awful 8-21 to a respectable 17-16, despite having just seven scholarship players on the roster. It was the first winning season for Idaho hoops in a decade. The highest-profile sign of the turnaround was a much-celebrated season sweep of Idaho’s hated in-state rival, Boise State — another first-in-a-decade feat. The Vandals finished in a tie for third in the conference, but lost in the WAC Tournament’s opening round.

After going from “terrible” to “contender” last year, Verlin’s squad is poised to follow that up with a run to the WAC Tournament Championship. Six of Idaho’s top seven scorers return, including First Team All-WAC point guard Mac Hopson (16.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.9 apg) and big man Marvin Jefferson (9.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.8 bpg). Added to the mix are new depth and size in the post, along with probable conference Newcomer of the Year Steffan Johnson, a shoot-and-dish guard who earned First Team All-Big West honors at Pacific (14.5 ppg, 4.9 apg, 1.5 spg) and will likely pair with Hopson to form the WAC’s best backcourt. The Vandals’ best freshman get is Corey Stern, a Rivals three-star forward from Seattle who spurned Big 12, Mountain West and WCC offers in favor of Idaho. He’ll likely see solid playing time and may even start some games later in the season.

With an experienced cast on the floor (four of five projected starters are seniors), plenty of depth at most every position and one full year under Verlin’s system, it’s now or never for Idaho. Next year will be a bit of a rebuilding project, and the players know it. They’ll be motivated to go out with a statement season that will silence the naysayers and re-establish the Vandals as a hoops power in the Pacific Northwest.

Sam’s Predicted Champion. New Mexico State (NCAA #12) — 2^nd round. Head coach Marvin Menzies enters year number three as the head coach of the Aggies and after an up and down season last year that saw them fall seconds short of the WAC championship game, the Aggies are loaded and ready to make a run for the WAC championship. The Aggies lost no seniors this year, a stark difference from a year ago, and return virtually everyone to a team that finished tied for fourth in league play. The Aggies will be without their top rebounder Wendell McKines (Jr.) and fellow frontcourter Troy Gillenwater (Soph.) for first first half of the season due to academics. The Aggies will rely heavily on junior all-conference guard Jahmar Young and the team’s Jonathan Gibson, one of two Aggie seniors, to weather the first half of the season. If the two frontcourt stars are able to take care of academics and become eligible for the second semester, it will give the Aggies a shot in the arm and will be akin to a midseason blockbuster addition to an already deep team.

Other than the two players sitting out for academic reasons the Aggies lost center Chris Gabriel who opted to transfer after fellow freshman center Hamidu Rahman established himself as the top big man last season. However, the Aggies added a pair of frontcourt talents in BJ West (Cheneyville, LA) and Bandja Sy (Cergy, France) to go along with fellow frontcourter redshirt freshman Tyrone Watson (Ontario, Canada).

The Aggies are arguably the deepest team in the league and if and when McKines and Gillenwater return it will make the Aggies that much deeper.

Top Contenders:

• Utah State  (NCAA #12) — one and done.  It’s extremely tough to pick against the WAC-juggernaut Aggies, but they’ll be sorely missing conference Player of the Year Gary Wilkinson, who owned painted areas all across the WAC during his career with Utah State. Coach Stew Morrill is a genius at getting unheralded players to produce massive numbers so the Aggies are not at all out of the picture. But with the WAC deeper this year than any other in recent memory, his job may be just a little bit tougher.
• Nevada (NIT).  The Wolf Pack had a busy offseason and not all of it was good for the team. The biggest departure was not a player but a coach. Head coach Mark Fox left for the greener pastures of Georgia (read: the money of a BCS school). Taking over in Fox’s place is long time assistant David Carter. Carter was an assistant for both Trent Johnson (LSU) and Mark Fox (Georgia). Carter will be every bit as important as any player this season as the Wolf Pack hope to maintain their status as an elite WAC team. The team’s lack of depth could hurt the Wolf Pack as the season starts to hit the grind and fatigue or foul trouble could prevent them from winning close games late.

Top 10 RPI Boosters (all times local):

• Nov. 13. Idaho at Utah, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 17. New Mexico at New Mexico State, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 18. Utah State at Utah, 6:05 p.m.
• Nov. 21. Idaho at North Dakota State, 5 p.m.
• Nov. 27. Nevada at VCU, 7:30 p.m.
• Nov. 29. Nevada at North Carolina, 7:45 p.m. (Fox Sports Net)
• Dec. 2. Brigham Young at Utah State, 7:05 p.m.
• Dec. 9. Louisiana Tech at Arizona, 8 p.m.
• Dec. 15. New Mexico State at UCLA, TBA
• Dec. 22. Nevada vs. BYU, 7:30 p.m.

Key Conference Games (all times local):

• Jan. 2. Utah State at New Mexico State, TBA (ESPNU) — This opening-weekend battle of the Aggies will reveal much about both title-contending squads.
• Jan. 4. Nevada at New Mexico State, 9 p.m. (ESPNU) — The brutal opening weekend for NMSU continues and defending home court will be crucial.
• Jan. 13. Utah State at Nevada, 8 p.m. (ESPN2) — A rematch of the 2009 WAC Tournament title game, there’s no love lost between these squads.
• Jan. 25. Boise State at Idaho, 8 p.m. (ESPNU) — A vicious intra-state rivalry game, on national TV for the first time ever.
• Feb. 3. Idaho at Utah State, 9 p.m. (ESPN2) — Can Idaho hang with Utah State on the WAC’s toughest home court?
• Feb. 10. Nevada at Idaho (ESPN2) — A must-win home game for the Vandals and a chance for the Wolf Pack to demonstrate they’re still top dog in the conference.
• Feb. 17. Louisiana Tech at Utah State, 9:05 p.m. (ESPNU) — Are the Bulldogs going to be a threat in the conference tournament? This game should tell the tale.
• Feb. 24. Idaho at New Mexico State, 9 p.m. (ESPN2) — With just two weeks left in the regular season, a key road test for the Vandals and a huge opportunity for the Aggies.

Digging Deeper.

• Utah State head coach Stew Morrill is the elder statesman in the WAC and his coaching tree features five head coaches, including one in the WAC (Don Verlin, Idaho) in addition to Randy Rahe (Weber State), Blaine Taylor (Old Dominion), Terry Dunn (Dartmouth) and Jeff Jackson (Furman).
• Utah State holds the nation’s second longest home winning streak at 34 games, second only to Kansas’ 41-game home win streak.

Fun With KenPom. There may not have been a bigger difference between offensive and defensive efficiency for an NCAA Tournament team than exhibited by Utah State last season.  Stew Morrill’s squad was an excellent offensive team, ranking #17 nationally in offensive efficiency.  But they were very average on the defensive end, ranking #158 in that category.  It didn’t seem to hurt them much, though, as they still went 30-5 (14-2 in the WAC), and took Marquette to the last possession in the ir first round game of the NCAAs last year (losing 58-57).  

NCAA Tournament History. The last two years the WAC has been a one-bid league, but historically that’s been quite unusual for this conference.  In fact, other than 2003 when Tulsa was the sole WAC representative, you have to go back all the way to 1983 to find another year where only WAC team was invited to the Big Dance (Utah).  The league is 65-91 (.417) all-time, and a typical year sees at least two teams from the conference invited.  With the high number of players returning from last season throughout the league, it wouldn’t surprise to see the WAC move back to multi-bid territory very soon.

Final Thoughts. In the past four seasons the WAC has had four different conference champions in Nevada, New Mexico State, Boise State and Utah State. With the wealth of returning players from last season, the WAC will be as deep as it’s ever been and has hopes of returning to its multi-bid status this season. With non-conference games against North Carolina, Arizona and UCLA as well as battles with fellow mid-majors Utah, BYU, St. Mary’s, Virginia Commonwealth, New Mexico and UTEP ,this could be the season the WAC puts itself back in the national picture.

• 1:05 PM: #6 UCLA at #3 Villanova – RTC Live will be there
• 3:20 PM: #10 Maryland vs. #2 Memphis
• 3:35 PM: #9 Texas A&M vs. #1 UConn
• 5:40 PM: #5 Purdue vs. #4 Washington
• 5:45 PM: #8 LSU vs. #1 UNC
• 5:50 PM: #10 Michigan vs. #2 Oklahoma
• 8:10 PM: #12 Western Kentucky vs. #4 Gonzaga
• 8:15 PM: #7 Texas vs. #2 Duke

We’ll be starting this post around 3:20 so head over to the aforementioned RTC Live before that time for our coverage of the start of round 2.

3:23 PM: Memphis starts off like they did in the 1st round with a 35-second violation that wasn’t called because Maryland stole the ball as the shot clock expired. Greivis Vasquez just got called for his first foul 57 seconds into the game. That’s definitely something to watch for.

3:27 PM: Nice run by Memphis to silence any of the early doubts after their ugly opening game. This is the Memphis team I put in the Final 4.

3:40 PM: Sorry for the delay. I was busy responding to an e-mail from the NCAA trying to get you coverage from the NCAA East Regional (they’re pretty myopic in Indianapolis). Anyways, back to the game. . . John Calipari has to be  pleased with this start. His Tigers have come out much sharper than they did against Cal State-Northridge.

3:42 PM: Memphis is up by 10. I just saw this article (seems more like a blog post) about activists protesting the AIG bonuses at outside the executives’ homes in Connecticut. I’m sure that Jim Calhoun feels a little better now.

3:45 PM: jgunnip, not sure about the rule regarding conference teams playing at the same time slot. It wouldn’t surprise me though. The NCAA has done an awful job with the logistics of these early games (start times and putting teams in pods being the most obvious ones). As for the shot clock thing. . .Get a bigger TV. I can see it just fine reading it off the actual shot clock, but yes I understand your point.

3:50 PM: Nice job by Maryland to get back in the game. Down by 12 with 6:31 left. The key is keeping this game close.

4:00 PM: Yikes. Awful start for Texas A&M. Already down 10-0. Memphis is up by 18. Let’s hope these get more competitive.

4:10 PM: Texas A&M has done a nice job getting back into the game. Maryland. . .not so much. Does Memphis beat Maryland by more or less than Duke did at Cameron?

4:12 PM: Does anybody think Billy Gillispie wouldn’t jump at the chance to have his Texas A&M job back?

4:30 PM: Ugh. Just a terrible pair of games. Let’s hope Texas A&M can turn it around because Maryland is dead. If the Aggies can cut it to single-digits at half they have a good chance today.

4:45 PM: Agree with Josh. This is awful. It’s also the reason that I’m not updating that frequently. UConn goes into half leading by 18. Memphis is up by 20 with 14:13 left. I know it’s early but this is the worst start to the 2nd round that I can remember. Honestly this entire Tournament has been kind of weak. There were a couple big moments last night, but other than that there hasn’t been much outside of Byron Eaton taking over against Tennessee.

5:05 PM: So. . .which games are you guys looking forward to tonight?

5:10 PM: ” Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes” -AMC. The fact that Calhoun is starting Gavin Edwards to begin the 2nd half should tell you this is over. I’ll give it until 10 minutes and a 15-point lead before it’s “RTC over”.

5:30 PM: Scott, we can only hope we get a close game today. Did Maryland win the 2nd half or just tie?

5:32 PM: Is this the 2nd time this year Vasquez has called out a team (other being Duke prior to the massacre at Cameron) and then gotten drilled?

5:33 PM: Did Vitaminwater just delete the bleeped out expletive from the commercial with Rick Pitino and Christian Laettner?

5:35 PM: How do you guys think Ty Lawson will do today? I’m not sure they really need him, but if he isn’t feeling it Roy Williams can take him out and use Bobby Frasor. If Frasor isn’t enough, he can put Lawson back in the game.

5:55 PM: Solid if unspectacular start by the Tar Heels. It will be interesting to see what the crowd is like for the next game with Duke since a majority of the people in the stands being UNC fans.

6:05 PM: LSU has done a good job hanging close to UNC in the first 8 minutes. When do you guys think the big UNC run will come? I’m guessing it will come with about 8 minutes left in the first half. If LSU can stay within 10 in the first half, Trent Johnson should be content. UNC has to be under a ton of pressure playing so close to home and being one of the favorites to win the title in Tyler Hansbrough‘s last year.

6:10 PM: I’m guessing that we won’t see Lawson unless they really need him in the last 10 minutes. At least that’s what I would do if I was Roy Williams.

6:15 PM: I agree with Josh here. Not to keep tooting our own horn here, but we said this the day before the Duke game (first “national’–meaning not based in North Carolina–media outlet to cover it) that it’s a significant injury. The “traditional” media just realized this last week at the ACC tournament. The information coming out of UNC has been so sparse that I can’t really say much more about it, but if all they did was a plain x-ray (what I’ve read) they could still be missing a fracture. Pretty poor job by the trainers and the medical staff in Chapel Hill.

6:33 PM: It looks like we have a pair of good games now, which means I won’t be watching The Godfather during the second half.

6:35 PM: Josh, I’ll agree with you up to a point. I’m aware that Roy and any other team official would try to downplay the injury, but I would assume that any journalist who can get a job at a national media outlet could figure out that a toe injury for a guy who bases his entire game on speed and explosiveness would be a big deal. I’m not expecting them to know that a plain x-ray can miss a fracture, but they should at least realize the importance of the foot (and especially the toe) just by having been around sports. I’m sure a handful of the analysts who played basketball in college have also had the injury so they should have known that much.

6:39 PM: Griffin ran up the court gingerly. I’m not sure if he’s just being lazy, but it seems like he reinjured his “tailbone”.

6:50 PM: Who thought that the 4/5 game would have a bigger margin than the 1/8 or 2/10 match-ups?

6:55 PM: Could LSU end Hansbrough’s college career just like they ended J.J. Redick‘s? This has the makings of the first great game of this year’s tournament.

7:05 PM: LSU is up 12-1 on the boards this half. This just feels like it has the makings of an upset. As good as the Tar Heels are, the Tigers seem like they are more athletic. UNC wins this game 8/10 times (probably 9.9/10 if Lawson is 100%), but this could be one of those 2 times.

7:10 PM: That’s 3 on Hansbrough with 10 minutes left. Who do you guys think will win this game?

7:15 PM: UNC has made 8 of their last 9 shots. Can LSU weather this run?

7:30 PM: Ok. Well at least they kept it close for 35 minutes. Purdue-Washington looks promising. . .

7:35 PM: Ok. They definitely changed Pitino’s last line by switching the (bleeped) “asshole” to “guy”.

7:40 PM: Yikes. Awful job of saving timeouts by Matt Painter. The Boilermakers are out of timeouts with 3:30 left. Jon Brockman just made it a 2-point game off the Isaiah Thomas miss.

7:47 PM: Purdue doesn’t have an answer for Brockman. JaJuan Johnson is a force on the inside, but he lacks the bulk to challenge Brockman.

7:50 PM: I’m actually going with Purdue winning and Michigan losing.

7:55 PM: Enjoy the win Purdue because UConn is waiting for you. I’m giving UConn a 10-point edge in that one. Johnson will have  tough time against that frontline. . .and Manny Harris just fouled out. Goodbye Michigan.

7:57 PM: Oklahoma goes 4 corners and it works thanks to a 30-foot 3-pointer. They’ll get the winner of Syracuase-Arizona State, which should be an interesting game tomorrow.

8:00 PM: Short break before the next set of games. Be back around 8:20.

8:20 PM: Bad start for the Blue Devils. Down 6-2 and Lance Thomas already has 2 fouls in the first 2:30.

8:30 PM: Nice response by Duke. An 11-2 run to take a 13-8 lead. Duke’s 6 FGs are by 5 different players. Now comes the mass substitution.

9:07 PM: Both games have nearly identical scores. Duke has struggled from inside the arc, but finished the half well (up by 7). Weird flow to the game. In the Gonzaga-Western Kentucky game, Orlando Mendez-Valdez is going off (17 points on 6/8 FG including 5/7 from beyond the arc.)

9:12 PM: Weird decision by Mark Few not to put anybody on the lane for the FT at the end of the half. Anybody have any insight into his reasoning?

9:17 PM: Scott, I’m assuming you are talking about my comment about trying to get access to the East Regional. The people at the NCAA basically have reading comprehension issues. They write criteria, which we meet, and they’re still denying us by citing those same criteria. Basically it’s your typical bureaucracy that is made stronger by being a government-enabled monopoly.

9:35 PM: The teams are trading 3s in Greensboro. A lot of open looks. Awful shot by Gerald Henderson there. I think he was looking for a foul/bailout there. Gonzaga has opened up a 6-point lead to start the 2nd half.

9:45 PM: “That’s ammonia strong right there!” – Clark Kellogg. Umm, ok. . .

9:46 PM: Does Texas have anybody who can guard Henderson? He’s really starting to look like a pro prospect. If Duke is going to make a run this year, he will be the key.

9:52 PM: Big 4th foul on Dexter Pittman there. 10:52 left. How long does Rick Barnes sit him for? I’m guessing until the 5 or 6 minute mark.

10:05 PM: Duke has a healthy 8-point lead wih 7:31 left but Texas is going to the line. Gonzaga is holding onto a 3-point lead with 7:01 left. Texas misses and is just 9/17 from the line tonight.

10:07 PM: Really late call on Kyle Singler (his 4th) on an A.J. Abrams 3-point attempt. He makes all 3 to cut it to 7. Henderson goes straight to the rim and gets the foul.

10:15 PM: Nice job by Lance Thomas crashing the boards there, but he misses the 2nd FT and then fouls out. Should be a good finish here. Could we only have 1 ACC team left going into Sunday?

10:22 PM: Josh, I agree that some of the calls have been questionable, but it’s 19-19 on the fouls right now. With 2:30 left, this has to go through Henderson.

10:23 PM: Onions! Big shot by Varez Ward. Tie game with 1:36 left. Over to Gonzaga-WKU. . .WKU with the last shot down by 2 with 24.8 to play coming out of the timeout.

10:26 PM: Huge play by Singler. Duke up by 2. . .WKU ties it on a tip-in. Huge play by Demetri Goodson!!! He saves Gonzaga’s season and my bracket. Best finish so far.

10:28 PM: Apparently Singler fouled out while we were away. Nolan Smith going to the line and he make 2 to give Duke the edge with 47 seconds left. Damion James has a 3 that goes in. . .and out. Henderson going to the line with 30.8 seconds left. Wow. That was close.

10:30 PM: Phenomenal play by Jon Scheyer and a foul by Gary Johnson on Elliot Williams should just about do it. That might be the play of the tournament.

10:33 PM: 48.8% FT from a point guard? He makes Jason Williams seem like Rick Barry. Henderson gets the rebound and should be able to make 1 of 2 to give the Blue Devils a 2-possesion lead. He makes the first and Barnes calls a timeout. Why didn’t he call one before the first FT? Ice the guy and draw up the play even if there are 2 FTs left. Ugh. He kills me.

10:37 PM: And Duke holds on. Great pair of games. The Gonzaga one was “better” from the 30 seconds I saw of it, but the Duke win wasn’t bad either. I’d say this officially kicks off the tournament. I’ll be back tomorrow for a marathon session of BGtD. Check back around noon tomorrow when we kick off the day’s action with Syracuse-ASU. Be sure to bring your friends along.

10:39 PM: Josh, thanks for the correction. You’re right. I was thinking of when he replaced Nolan Smith in the lineup. And that makes his shooting even worse. . .Until tomorrow.

vs. Butler (#9 seed)
12:20 p.m. ET – 3/19/09

Vegas Line: LSU -2.5

Thanks to Vegas Watch for providing these graphs that measure the moving average of a team’s spread (moving avg.) over time vs. the spread for each individual game (indiv).  If a team’s moving average is higher than zero, then Vegas currently has a higher opinion of them than Pomeroy, and vice versa.

General Profile

Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Conference: Southeastern, at-large
Coach: Trent Johnson, 26-7 for 78.8%
08-09 Record: 26-7, 13-3
Last 12 Games: 9-3
Best Win: 79-73, @ Tennessee, 1-28-09
Worst Loss: 59-65, @ Alabama, 1-11-09
Off. Efficiency Rating: 110.3; #53
Def. Efficiency Rating: 94.1; #53)

Nuts n Bolts

Star Player(s): Marcus Thornton – junior guard – 20.7ppg…2nd in SEC – 5.5rpg…23rd in SEC – 46.7% FG…9th in SEC and 2nd amongst guards – 74.0% FT…10th in SEC – 1.55spg…7th in SEC – SEC Player of the Year
Unsung Hero: Tasmin Mitchell – junior forward – 16.3ppg…8th in SEC – 7.2rpg…11th in SEC – 52.1% FG…7th in SEC – 73.2% FT…11th in SEC – 1.58spg…6th in SEC – First-Team All-SEC
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): Marcus Thornton – projected #45, Chris Johnson – projected #58
Key Injuries: none
Depth: 24.9%, #299
Achilles Heel: The Tigers are not a very deep team, but are immensely athletic and talented. Their depth does not serve them especially well for a long run in the tournament.Will Make a Deep Run if…: Thornton comes out with confidence and the team wakes up after losing 3 of their last 4
Will Make an Early Exit if…: Thornton isn’t draining shots

NCAA History

Last Year Invited: 2005-06, Final Four
Streak: 1
Best NCAA Finish: Final Fours in 1981, 1986, 2006
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): +0.18

Other

Six Degrees to Detroit: None
Distance to First Round Site: 856 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Shaq.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Nick Saban.
Prediction: LSU is a very talented team, and can beat anyone in the country on the right night. With UNC struggling with Lawson’s injury, the Tigers could be a dark-horse Sweet Sixteen team

Major RTC stories: None

Preview written by… Kurt Wirth/SEC Hoops: The Good. The Bad. The Dirty

Hello hoops fans, and welcome to our first weekday version of your favorite semi-live journal, Boom Goes the Dynamite.  We’re still feeling the effects of that six-overtime Goliath of a game last night, but we’re caffeinated and ready to rock with you all day while we move through what is traditionally the best day of the conference tournament weekend.  It’ll be hard to top what we saw yesterday, though.  Here are a few of the games you should be tracking; as you can see, today is an absolute blockbuster:

• ACC – UNC vs. Virginia Tech – Noon, Maryland vs. Wake Forest – 7pm, Duke vs. BC, 9:30pm
• Patriot – American vs. Holy Cross – 4:45pm
• Big 10 – Michigan St. vs. Minnesota – Noon, Illinois vs. Michigan – 6:30pm, Purdue vs. Penn St. – 9pm
• Big East - Louisville vs. Villanova – 7pm, Syracuse vs. West Virginia – 9pm
• Big 12 – Baylor vs. Texas – 7pm, Oklahoma St. vs. Missouri – 9:30pm
• Mountain West – San Diego St. vs. BYU – 9pm
• Pac-10 – Arizona St. vs. Washington – 9pm, USC vs. UCLA – 11:30pm
• SEC – Florida vs. Auburn – 9:45pm

Another couple of PSAs before we get started.  Be sure to check the site throughout the weekend, as we’ll be doing these BGTDs each day, in addition to a revised bracketology on both Saturday and Sunday, all leading to a liveblogging of the Selection Show on Sunday.  We’ll also be putting up the information for RTC’s Second Annual Bracket Challenge later this afternoon.

12:20 pm. Let’s get started here.  UNC looks flat so far against Virginia Tech, and they should, given that Ty Lawson is over on the bench sitting next to Roy Williams.  He is dressed, though, so it wouldn’t surprise us if his Big Toe makes an appearance.  That crafty Roy – always using the element of surprise.  Or something like that.

12:27 pm.  Over at the Big Ten, Minnesota is leading Michigan State 22-20 in a high-scoring game.  Yes, we said high-scoring and Big Ten in the same sentence.  Wow, ESPN is already re-showing the Syracuse-UConn game on ESPN Classic.  Tivo time.  If these two games get worthless, we’re definitely moving back over there.

12:33 pm. They’re really hyping that game from last night – looks like they’re going to show the whole thing on ESPNU at 3pm.  Getting back to business here, Virginia Tech looks poised right now, playing like a team that wants to keep playing in March should be playing.  Carolina looks a little flat, but the question will be whether they can still make a patented run with Lawson sitting.

12:42 pm. Most of the ACC people are annoyed with the conference tournament being in Atlanta this year, but we think it’s refreshing that it’s not in the same old tired venue of Greensboro or Charlotte again.  The home-state advantage that Carolina gets in those two building is ridiculous.  Speaking of advantage, it looked like UNC was about to make a run until Va Tech came down and hit two consecutive threes.  Ed Davis is going to be a player someday.  He has really nice touch around the rim, and his per-40 rebounding average is in the 15 rpg territory!

12:49 pm. Wayne Ellington is on fire with four threes already, the last of which gave Carolina its first lead 37-36.  Over in the Big Ten, things have predictably slowed down a LOT.  It’s now 27-all with three minutes left in the half.

12:53 pm. Correction – Ellington only has three threes so far, but he’s still on fire.  Va Tech needs to get contact here going into the half – they’ve played really quite well and they’re still downone point against the nation’s #1 team.  We mentioned Tubby’s Minnesota team last night, and we still think that the Gophers are in no matter what happens to them today.  Kalin Lucas with a nice putback there to give the Spartans a three-point halftime lead.  At 1pm, the SEC game between Kentucky and LSU will begin.  Glad we have three tvs here.

1:15 pm. Quick shower and some food there.  The UK-LSU game has started, and LSU is off to a quick start.  We were going to say that we had a sneaking suspicion that Kentucky was going to win this one.  Billy Gillispie has shown a knack for getting it when he needs it most the last two years.  We’ll see what he can do here.  All three games are on now.  Va Tech and Minnesota still hanging around the #1 seeds.

1:20 pm. The SEC folks are telling us that Marcus Thornton of LSU was the SEC POY.  Not sure about that one.  Sure, LSU won the league, but Jodie Meeks had an unbelievable season.  Fifth in the nation in scoring at nearly 25 ppg on 46%/40% shooting?  Don’t get us wrong – Thornton (21/6) had a great season.  But maybe someone can tell us how close the vote was?

1:24 pm. Virginia Tech has come back to take the lead against Carolina.  Folks, it’s become increasingly clear to us the last three weeks that this year’s tournament is going to be pure insanity.  There may not be a single #1 seed make the F4 this year.  In our view, there simply isn’t all that great of a difference between the top five and the top thirty teams on a neutral floor.  Last year Memphis, Kansas, UCLA, and UNC looked dominant heading into the Dance.  Who can we say that about this year?

1:27 pm. Tyler Hansbrough just got a Tyler Hansbrough call, and Seth Greenberg just about lost it.  Two free points for the Heels.  Kentucky is back to within one thanks to a couple of threes from an unlikely source, Michael Porter.  And MSU is putting a little separation between itself and Minnesota in the Big Ten.

1:34 pm. Virginia Tech just had a six-pt lead on Carolina thanks to some good shooting from AD Vassallo.  Under ten to go here – this one isn’t going away.  Jimmy Dykes said at the tip that Lawson’s absence would mean 3-4 fewer fast break buckets for the Heels.  He might be right, and that is the the difference in the game right now.  LSU just ended a long drought, but they’re still up a few, and Michigan St. remains ahead of Minny.

1:39 pm. Should have been a goaltend on Va Tech there, but for the last two minutes UNC has been owning the boards.  It’s like a volleyball up there for the Carolina bigs Davis, Hansbrough and Deon Thompson.  Up in Indy, MSU just hit a three to open up a nine-pt lead.  Remember when we said it was a high-scoring game?  That was at 21-20 with 32 minutes left in the game.  There are now 8 minutes left, and the score is 49-40.  That’s a 29-20 “run” in the last 24 minutes of action.  Gotta love Big Ten basketball.

1:46 pm. Another missed goaltending call in the UNC game, as this time it was Malcolm Delaney‘s layup attempt that was raked off the rim.  Va Tech is taking some retarded shots, and UNC is busily giving Danny Green multiple opportunities to brick from three.  One-point contest with 3:30 to go.

1:55 pm. Great finish in Atlanta, as Va Tech gets bailed out by a loose-ball foul there, down one.  Actually not a bad foul because somehow Carolina only had THREE team fouls prior to that one?  Va Tech just got tied up in the paint, and it’s really unclear whether that was a foul or not.  Seems like a lot of contact on the arms there, but it’s UNC ball going the other way with five seconds to go.

2:03 pm. Yeah let’s get some more OTs around here.  I can’t believe that Carolina had three fouls to give in a physical game like this.  Actually, yeah, I can.  Who will Va Tech go to here?  Delaney or Vassallo?  I doubt Roy fouls, but he could surprise me.

2:05 pm. Roy didn’t foul, but the gamble paid off there and UNC advances.  For the second year in a row, VT loses a heartbreaker to UNC in the quarters.  Michigan St. is finishing off Minnesota in Indy.  Bubble impact?  We think Minny is still in and Va Tech is probably now out.  That Seth Greenberg interview will probably be a good one.

2:14 pm. Over in the SEC, LSU and Kentucky are trading baskets, with the Tigers still up four pts.  LSU is extremely athletic, and they play with a lot more basketball IQ with Trent Johnson as their coach now.  We’re still a little iffy on them in the NCAAs, though.  This is one case where it’ll totally depend on the match-up.

2:25 pm. Sorta getting a feeling that we could turn this LSU-Kentucky game on at any point during the game and LSU would be up four points.  Seriously, how did a team with Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson lose all those games this year?

2:31 pm. Let me answer my own question.  Right, turnovers.  Ranking 337th in the nation probably doesn’t help much, and we just saw an example of why – a quick 5-0 run fueled by two UK turnovers.

2:36 pm. For the record, here’s the list of teams who commit more turnovers per game than the Wildcats.  Good company, there.

2:40 pm. There was a discussion after the Michigan St-Minnesota game of the possibility of MSU getting a #1 seed.  I’m going to puke if that happens – at least Digger and Hubert Davis had the right idea when they pissed all over that idea.  Seriously, there should only be five teams in the discussion at this point:  UNC, UConn, Pitt, Louisville and Memphis.  Nobody else has an equivalent resume.  Note we said ‘resume,’ that doesn’t at all mean we think those are the five teams that will dominate these upcoming weeks.

2:45 pm. Fwiw, Lunardi currently has UNC and the three Big East schools as his #1s.  I’d rather see that then reward a middling Michigan St. team for it.  Back in Tampa, LSU just put another run on UK to pretty much end the Wildcats’ hopes to run the table in this tournament.  Trent Johnson is known as a defensive-minded coach, but the biggest improvement we’ve seen in LSU this year from last is the knowledge of what a good shot is.  Their FG% and offensive efficiencies are demonstrably better than they were last season.

2:51 pm. The ACC and Big Ten are back in action, with FSU leading Georgia Tech early and Wisconsin-Ohio St. tied at 5-all.  Gotta say that I’m not really excited about these two games, but it’s tournament time, anything can happen.

2:52 pm. Thanks, Ben.  Definitely true, nearly a quarter of UK’s possessions result in turnovers.

2:57 pm.  UK has this thing down to seven thanks to a scoring drought by LSU.  A horrible foul call on Porter reversed what should have been UK taking the ball the other way.  The place is sounding like a mini-Rupp right now.  Does LSU have any fans in the building whatsoever?

3:13 pm. Ok, maybe we should re-visit that Meeks vs. Thornton discussion after Thornton threw up 21/5 and Meeks was held in single-digits for the first time all year (8/3).  Back to the other games, which have Wisconsin up four and Florida State up six.  Both games are approaching halftime.

3:18 pm. Brett, thanks for the comment – we considered doing a live-blog today but we’ve found for these 12-hour sessions, for our own sanity and well-being, this BGTD format works best.  But if there’s enough clamor and pitchforks at the RTC gate for a more interactive format, we’ll certainly listen.

3:19 pm. Rob, we hear what you’re saying.  MSU has an excellent resume.  On paper, they look like a really good team.  Problem is that we don’t believe that they are a really good team.  Maybe it was the home losses to Penn St. and Northwestern; maybe it was the raping where it looked like they completely quit against Carolina; or maybe it was the bombing they took in W. Lafayette a few weeks ago.  It’s just that they don’t appear to be an elite team to us.  Maybe they will end up “deserving” the #1 seed because they win the Big Ten Tourney, but from our perspective, that would be one of the weakest #1 seeds since Washington in 2005.  Just our opinion.

3:22 pm. Inculcate – to cuckold Erin Andrews’ future husband.  Inculcate.

3:27 pm. Really having trouble watching this Wisconsin-OSU contest.  Maybe it’s Steve Lavin’s sleep-inducing voice right now, but more likely it’s the sleep-inducing play we’re seeing out there.  Both of these teams are bubble, but they’re high bubble, meaning they’re likely in.  Big shot by OSU’s to close out the half by William Buford.  He really is a nice freshman player for the Buckeyes.  Four of OSU’s top five players this season are freshmen and sophomores – if they can keep BJ Mullens around, they’re looking at a likely top 10-15 preseason ranking next year.

3:35 pm.  Something is seriously wrong here – we’ve just agreed with Digger and Hubert Davis for the second time today.  They just said that they weren’t sure a single Big Ten team might make the Sweet Sixteen this year.  And yeah, that’s one reason we have trouble buying MSU as a #1 seed.  These teams just aren’t all that good.  Between the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-10, we’d be surprised to see more than two teams from those leagues in the Sweets.  That means fourteen spots for the Big East, ACC, Big 12 and the mids, which actually sounds reasonable this year.  Just guessing, but we’d say 5-6 from the Big East, 3-4 from the ACC, 3-4 from the Big 12 and 1-2 mids.  Thoughts?

3:44 pm. South Carolina – Mississippi State has begun and it’ll be good for us to get another look at this South Carolina team in prep for next week.  Does anyone else feel that most of these SEC teams could be thrown into a pot, mixed up, and you’d end up with largely the same team just about every time you chose one (exceptions: LSU and Georgia).  FSU is now up eight on Ga Tech at the start of the second half.

3:53 pm. Mississippi St. can’t hardly throw it into the Tampa Bay right now, with seven pts on the board in ten minutes.  Meanwhile, Georgia Tech is keeping FSU in their sights.  We’ve said all year long that this Ga Tech team shouldn’t be this terrible with their individual talent on the floor.  Let’s see if they can keep it going here.

3:57 pm.  Jgunnip – you bring up a valid point.  There’s a lot of anti-Big Ten sentiment in large part because of style of play (and yes, we’re looking in the mirror here too).  But the conference did have its best-ever showing against the ACC in the Challenge this year, and it’s likely that a 6-2 first round would be met with skepticism.  One thing that really helps the league is that teams from most other conferences aren’t used to the defense and physicality of those B10 teams.  Plus, there are some really outstanding coaches in that league with Izzo, Matta, Weber, Smith and Painter, just to name some of the best.  But looking at this year’s teams, there are a lot of “good” teams but no “great” ones in our eyes.  It wouldn’t surprise us at all if everyone but Penn St. and another team won their first round games, but only MSU and Purdue survived to the second weekend.

4:04 pm. Actually, we looked up how the Big Ten does against seed expectation, and we found that since the 64-team expansion, the conference ranks fifth among the six BCS conferences, winning slightly below the expected number of wins per seed.

4:14 pm. If we’re basing the #1 seeds purely on resume, I agree that MSU might just have the better overall resume than Louisville.  But basing everything on the resumes and the computer numbers is the reason the BCS is such a clusterf#ck every year – we don’t do that in basketball.  The difference is the smell test, and if Louisville and MSU both won their respective conf tourneys, we still believe Louisville is the better team.  Good conversation, though, it’s what makes this time of year great.

4:17 pm. Lost a little track of the ACC game for a while, and now it’s back to three points, FSU leading.  Speaking of teams that are likely to be one-and-done, we’ve got FSU all over that.  The Noles are 5-5 against the RPI top 50, but a little closer analysis reveals that they were 0-5 against the really good teams and 5-0 against the bubble types.  Miss. St. moved back within four of SC at the half, and the Wisconsin has moved ahead of OSU by six with under-five left.

4:23 pm. Georgia Tech just got two straight steals to get the game within one, but then Lewis Clinch got greedy and chucked up a bad shot to try to take the lead.  The winner of this game gets Carolina, so it’s probably going to be a better game if FSU hangs on.  Go Noles.

4:29 pm. Yep, Jon Diebler with a huge three to give OSU the one point lead with 1:46 left.  Meanwhile FSU is doing their very best to blow this game, giving Ga Tech the ball down one with 1:12 remaining.  All the Heel fans are cheering for Ga Tech, hoping for the easier game.   Ghosts of Georgia?  When does the tornado arrive?

4:33 pm. Huge shot from the peacock!  Georgia Tech has fought all the way back to take a one-point lead on a turnaround jumper from the baseline.

4:36 pm. Ok, we’re pausing the Big Ten game to see what happens with the ACC – timeout when FSU got in trouble there.  They have ten seconds to make a plan of action.  Might want to get it to Toney Douglas…

4:37 pm. Wow, that was a nice play by FSU there to get the basket, and-one.  GT will have time, though.  7.7 remaining.  FSU up two.  Shumpert dribbled around like an idiot and still managed to get himself a decent look from about ten feet and he went long with it.  FSU survives to advance… now back to the Big Ten…

4:38 pm. OSU up three, and Wisconsin’s Bohannon had a three in the air to tie, but it was just a little long.  Foul, 1-of-2 and OSU fouls Wisky to keep the game at a reasonable margin.  OSU used a 12-3 “run” to get to this point.   Thanks for the info on Frazier.

4:43 pm.  Over in the SEC, MSU is now up on South Carolina with a lot of game left.  Back at Indy, OSU made two FTs to keep it at two possessions here, and Wisconsin is going to be a little more nervous come about 48 hrs from now.  Definitely bubbling, although they’ll probably get in.

4:45 pm. Ok, we’re going to take a little break here, but that doesn’t mean BGTD is ending.  Hardly.  Nope, our colleague and Slumdog Millionaire nvr1983 will take over for a stretch.  The SEC is still a one-pt game and the Patriot League title game between American and Holy Cross is starting.  Root for American just to spite Bill Simmons.  That game is on ESPN.  Enjoy!

5:00 pm. It’s still early in the Patriot League title game. To be honest, I don’t know that much about either of these teams except that Holy Cross is in Worcester (a dump) and American is fittingly located in Washington, D.C.  If you guys know anything about either of these teams drop some knowledge in the comment section. Holy Cross is up 5-4 with 15:15 left in the 1st half. Every time American makes a big play I’m going to start that entry with a high-pitched “Oh no!” just like Simmons does on his podcast. In other action, Mississippi State is tied with South Carolina with 9:50 left in the 2nd half. Meanwhile, in  Conference USA action, Memphis is up 34-22 on Houston at half (big surprise). If anybody has this game on TV, let me know what Aubrey Coleman‘s game is like outside of his ability to stomp on a guy’s face.

5:10 pm. Oh no! American is up 15-9 with 8:40 left and Holy Cross just got called for a charge. ESPN is really digging down its list for announcers this week. Are these the usual ESPNU announcers? Ok, I’m going to focus on this SEC game for the next 10 minutes. MSU is up 64-61 with 3:31 left in the game. And yes, this might mean only 2 SEC teams in the NCAA tournament. It just seems crazy typing that, but it’s true.

5:15 pm. MSU is up 70-61 with 1:56 left. Jarvis Varnado is having a nice all-around game (10 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 3 assists). I’m guessing some NBA team will take a chance on him and his freakish wingspan.

5:25 pm. South Carolina cuts it to 5 with 51.2 seconds left. This one definitely isn’t over yet, but MSU shoots a respectable 71.1% from the FT line so at least they have that going for them.

5:28 pm. I just noticed that Oregon football coach Mike Belotti resigned to become the athletic director. Is that a step up or down on the pay scale? It seems like the athletic director might make less than a big-name college coach even one who compared the BCS to cancer. Do you guys have any more information about the relative salaries of those two positions?

5:30 pm. The Bulldogs have this one wrapped up. They’re up 81-68 with 3.3 seconds left. Does this South Carolina loss hurt Florida‘s NCAA chances?

5:35 pm. Jgunnip, thanks for the analysis. We’ll probably do a thorough review sometime after the season because it is so time-consuming as you probably could tell by looking at our earlier work.

5:40 pm. Oh no! American is up 28-18 at half. Memphis is running away from Houston. It’s 61-27 with 9:39 left in the game. We probably won’t be checking in on that game unless Memphis opens up an 80-point lead. In low-low-low-major news, Jackson State knocked off Prairie View A&M in the SWAC semifinals.

5:45 pm. With all these bubble teams choking, it seems like some teams that were out coming into this week might have a chance to get in. Do you guys have any picks for teams that might be in that situation on Sunday?

5:55 pm. Did they just say “a pretzel came flying out of the stands”? They need to show a replay of that because this game is excruciating. Lunardi has American as a #13 seed. They’re 73rd in the RPI with their best win coming against Manhattan, #163 in the RPI. How is that possible?

6:25 pm. Ok, so things are a little slow around here right now, but HC is making a bit of a comeback to get it within 11.  Am.U. really disappointed us in last year’s first round.  We had high hopes for that team, but they really didn’t challenge Tennessee the way we thought they would.

6:35 pm. Brett, we’ve considered making the BGTD features into fully-interactive liveblogs and it’s still on the table for the future, but we haven’t quite made the leap yet.  We’ll definitely be live-blogging the Selection Show on Sunday, but thanks for the feedback.  If more people keep requesting it, we’ll definitely further look into trying to do it.

6:39 pm. HC is still within a fighting chance, but American really isn’t showing any signs of choking this game away. The Big 10 is starting back up with the Michigan-Illinois game in Indy.  UM could really use another win over a conference foe to distinguish itself.  Up in the A10 (remember, RTC is partnering with CCT to provide simul-blogging coverage of the A10 Tourney), Xavier is up very early on Temple.  Do you think the A10 is a two-bid league this year?  Three?

6:49 pm. Wow, commercials sure are different in the midwest – we just saw an ad for something called SureStart, which apparently helps your corn to become “clean.”  The Big Ten Channel, a window into America.  Meanwhile, the Illini are up 11-7 on Michigan, and American is running out the clock against Simmons’ alma mater.

6:54 pm. And there’s our thirteenth automatic bid!  American joins the field of 65.  They didn’t really challenge any of the high-majors they played this year, but they have won thirteen in a row.   That counts for something, right?

6:58 pm.  Following up on that thought, there will be twelve conference champions crowned tomorrow.  What an insane day that will be.  Ok, let’s take a look at what’s upcoming.  On ESPN, we’re going to have Louisville-Villanova.  On ESPN2, Wake Forest-Maryland.  Should be two excellent games.  We’ll also be keeping an eye on Baylor-Texas on ESPN FC as well as the Michigan-Illinois game that has already started on the B10 Network.  Should be a great evening session.

7:05 pm.  Wanted to throw this pic up already commemorating Syracuse’s epic win over UConn last night…

Nice to see Syracuse not resorting to sweatshops in Laos for these shirts.

7:09 pm.  This Louisville-Villanova game is really interesting.  Villanova has really impressed this year, because they don’t appear to have the same calibre of talent as the top three Big East teams, yet they’ve done nothing but take care of business and win games all year.  The Wake-Maryland game is a classic scenario of one team that really, really needs a big win, while the other team is prone to letdowns.  Not gonna tell you which is which there.

7:13 pm. Question for the crowd – is Wake a darkhorse national title contender?  Let me put this another way – will anyone pick the Deacs on any of their brackets?  Of course it depends on the matchups, but the hype on this team died considerably after their swoon in mid-Jan to mid-Feb (lost four of six).  Here’s the one stat that really catches our eye – 6-1 against the RPI top 26 this year.  The one loss was at Cameron Indoor in a game where they shot over 60% from the field.

7:22 pm. Wake is in a drought right now, down 10-5, while Villanova and Louisville are tied 11-all.  The Illini are up one on Michigan at the half, and Xavier-Temple are tied 29-29.

7:24 pm. Jay Bilas just implied he didn’t think Syracuse would be tired after last night’s 70-minute game, which is one of the more stupid assertions the usually-on-target Bilas has made.  Who cares if they don’t have meetings today?!?  They just played a six-OT game until amost 2 in the morning!  That’s the ATYPICAL part, not the meetings or shootarounds or whatnot.  Guarantee we see elements of a tired Syracuse team in the second half tonight.

7:31 pm. Somehow James Johnson has already picked up three fouls with ten minutes to go in the first half.   Really confused as to why he was even on the court there.  Nova has gone on a bit of a run to take a six-pt lead vs. Louisville.  The Cards look a little listless so far here tonight.

7:34 pm. Watching Wake-Maryland right now is like watching one group of boneheads play another.  Some of these decisions are ridiculous.  Which is probably why nobody responded that Wake is a national title contender, right?

7:37 pm. Quick check-in on the Big 12 reveals that Texas is up ten on Baylor right now.  Louisville is getting very frustrated by Villanova right now, who has gotten all 26 of its points from three players (Cunningham, Anderson, Fisher), but their collective defense is the story so far…  UofL is shooting 35%.  Not to mention rebounding (+10).  Bottom line is Louisville is just getting outplayed.

7:43 pm. My God, that LD Williams three looked like a lead balloon flying through the air.  Dropped through like one too.  Wake-Maryland is a mixture of phenomenal atheticism with completely retarded decisionmaking right now.  Louisville is starting to wake up a little bit, only down six, but they’re going to need a big second half to beat Villanova tonight.

7:56 pm.  Villanova is getting points off Louisville’s turnovers, and Pitino is not happy with the way his “veterans” are playing the Nova defense.  Quick aside, doesn’t Chris Collins just have an aura about him as the biggest cock you’ll ever meet?  Maryland will take a  5-pt lead into the half, but Gary Clark just threw in a 50-footer after the buzzer there. Wow, just switched over to the BTN to find that Illinois has seemingly outscored Michigan by twenty pts this half.  It’s actually 27-10 this half, and Michigan looks like they’re goingt to fall into that indistinguishable pile of teams including Minnesota, Penn St. and a bunch of other teams.

8:09 pm. This is making the rounds.  So UNC gets the calls even outside the state of North Carolina in the ACC Tourney?  Shocking.

8:12 pm.  Hmmm… Michigan just dropped eleven in a row to put the pressure back on Illinois with just over 4 remaining.  Stay tuned in Indy…

8:18 pm. Illinois finally stopped the bleeding, and it seems as if Michigan is running out of time.  We just can’t see how the Wolverines would be left out of next week with six wins over top 50 RPI competition, including Duke and UCLA.

8:21 pm. Wow, Jeff Teague is playing even worse than I thought, 0-7 from the field.  Wake looks terrible right now, and Maryland hasn’t shot themselves in the foot yet.  Back in Manhattan, Louisville has closed the gap on Villanova with some energized play.  Oops, now they’ve taken the lead already.

8:24 pm. Louisville came out with a 14-2 run to start the half – Pitino must have lit up every one of his player’s.  You can always tell with that guy.  When he’s jocular and laughing about his team like he did in the halftime interview, then you know he’s absolutely livid.  So far it’s working.

8:28 pm. Wake is absolutely terrible right now.  They act like they’ve never seen a zone before.  The mental side of this team is simply lacking.  The talent is there, but they just play dumb.  Maryland isn’t exactly a group of hoop scholars out there, but they’re playing more like it tonight.  A lot going on right now.  Temple is up two on Xavier in the A10, and Baylor has come back to tie Texas.

8:31 pm. The Louisville pressure is destroying the Nova guards.  They can’t even get the ball past halfcourt at this point.  Wish we could see that Xavier game, it’s no on our package anywhere.  Wake is hitting a scalding 25% from the field, and 2-15 from three tonight.

8:36 pm.  Jeff Teague just got his first basket with twelve minutes to go in the game.  Looks like Temple is about to knock off Xavier and every bubble team groans collectively, b/c it means the A10 might become a three-team league this year.

8:49 pm. Baylor and Texas are battling it out in Ok City, with Baylor up one late in the second half.  Meanwhile, Louisville is up 8 on Nova and Tennessee is crushing Alabama in the SEC.  Wake just missed a lob dunk that could have cut it back to ten; we really don’t see Wake coming back in this one the way they’re shooting threes unless Maryland completely gags.

8:55 pm. According to the ESPN reporter, all of Wake’s stars are contemplating returning to school next year.  Believe it when I see it.  It’s one thing to tell the coaches you’re staying during the season; it’s quite another when the season is over and you’re a projected lottery pick (ask Chris Paul).  Louisville is up seven on Nova with under-four to go, and Baylor-Texas remain tied.

8:58 pm.  Suddenly it’s the Greivis Vasquez three-point shooting exhibition.  I guess if you’re hitting 1-3 each time that could be a productive offense.  Louisville has opened it up to nine in MSG and will probably hold on.  Texas is up two on Baylor now.

9:09 pm. Baylor is now up four and Maryland will advance to play either Duke or Florida St. tomorrow.  The Terps probably punched their ticket tonight, and they deserve it.  With wins over Michigan St., UNC, Wake and Michigan, they have enough quality Ws to get invited.  And they’ll get another chance at one tomorrow.

9:13 pm. Baylor is trying to become this year’s Georgia, but as everyone knows, this team has top 25 talent, unlike the Dawgs last year.  But after going 5-11 in the Big 12, Homer Drew’s team is on the verge of winning an automatic bid out of the Big 12 and knocking another bubble team out of the picture.   Both Missouri and Oklahoma St. are teams that Baylor could beat.  We couldn’t figure out why Baylor had gotten so bad in the middle of this season, but they look like an NCAA Tournament team right now.  They just need one more win to get there.

9:25 pm. We missed it, but Purdue is already up fifteen on Penn St in Indy, and Washington has an early lead on Arizona St. in LA.  One key bubble-related game is the Mtn West game between SDSU and BYU (on CBS College Sports), where SDSU is now leading by four.

9:53 pm. Sorry got sidetracked there.  Arizona St. is destroying Pac-1o champion Washington, and BC hasn’t really showed up in the game against Duke.  WVU-Syracuse is sloppy thus far, and the SDSU-BYU second half is about to start (with SDSU up three).

10:00 pm.  Tyrese Rice just hit a deep corner three to get BC to 9 total pts with eight minutes to go in the half.  They’re still hanging in, but they’re going to have to get it going or Duke will blow them away soon.  Florida is up early on Auburn 5-0, and Purdue remains up big on Penn St.

10:07 pm. Syracuse just went on a 9-0 run, and Bilas is still harping on Syracuse not being tired.  Wait until the second half when their legs are completely finished.  BC is back to even with Duke.

10:14 pm.  We’re going to keep a close eye on this BYU-SDSU game for the immediate future because we haven’t gotten as good a look a these teams as some others.  BC is on a nice run here to open up a 5-pt lead against Duke.  Syracuse is playing with adrenaline, but we still think they’re going to get tired in the second half – now up seven against WVU.

10:19 pm. Is there any shot in this building Devendorf can’t hit?  A 55-footer at the end of the half.  Tomorrow night he’ll be throwing them in Kevin Love-style from 90 feet.  Rice for BC just threw in a deep three at the buzzer himself.  What a turnaround in Atlanta.  BC looked terrible for the first 12 minutes of this half.  Now they’re up 29-22.  Gerald Henderson is so far nonexistent, but we expect to see him in the second half.

10:24 pm. Watching BYU play SDSU in Vegas, the Mormons really travel well to follow their team.  Would anyone want to play them in Boise in the first round this year?   Purdue is probably finishing Penn St.’s bubble off, still up 20+ on the Lions.  Over in the A10, Duquesne is now up 10 on Dayton, which if holds could create a situation where Temple-Duquesne is an automatic bubble killer game tomorrow.

10:32 pm. Tie game in Vegas, and it appears that Washington might be making a comeback on ASU.  We’ll keep tracking that.

10:36 pm. Lunardi has SDSU as one of his last four in, and looking at their data, they do really need to beat BYU tonight.  They have a strong RPI (37), but they’re 1-5 against the top 50 and that sole win was vs. in-conference foe Utah.  They have two losses to BYU already.  Duke’s G-Henderson just had a sick throwdown.  Let’s see if BC can continue to do what was working in the late stages of the first half.

10:41 pm. WVU has come out very strong here in the second half to cut the lead almost immediately to two points.  Let’s test that tired legs theory now, shall we?  Washington is back within nine of ASU in the Pac-10 with plenty of time left there.  Over at BC-Duke, for some unbelievable reason, Sanders for BC raked the ball off the rim which gave Duke three freebies.

10:45 pm.  Four excellent games going right now, and the margin is BC +2, WVU +1, ASU +4 and SDSU +3.  Just for good measure, Missouri is also up two on Oklahoma St.

10:47 pm.  Duke’s last four buckets have been threes, which isn’t really their game.  BC should keep letting them chuck it from out there and keep them off the foul line and out of the paint.  SDSU is now up two with 3:19 left.

10:52 pm.  SDSU holds a one-pt lead going into the final minute…  JEEZ, is every game a great game tonight.  Now there’s news that the WAC incumbent Utah St. is down one with 0:30 left to New Mexico St!

10:55 pm. Great play by SDSU to get a clean spinning-left jump hook by Wade.  Now BYU will have 22.7 seconds to go for the tie.  In the WAC, Utah St. just went ahead with 0:04 left 71-70…

10:57 pm. Wow, Jimmer Fredette got fouled on a long two by SDSU; he’s one of the best FT shooters in the Mtn West.  Crazy.  Utah St. held on to win by one point in the WAC.  Meanwhile, David McClure mauled a BC player underneath the basket, who laid out under the basket, as Duke ran the other way with the ball (resulting in a foul call).

11:00 pm. Just saw SDSU coach Steve Fisher standing over there.  Do you think he ever wonders about how close he was to a national title in 1993 with the Fab Five, knowing he’ll never get another chance?  I’d say the answer is affirmative.   Here we go, will SDSU hang on???

11:03 pm. Loose ball after the missed FT goes SDSU’s way.  Looks like they’ll hang on, which means bubble trouble for some teams out there, watching and waiting…

11:06 pm. BYU hoping for a miracle.  Got the layup to cut it to two, now they need the steal.  Checking back in on the other games, we have Duke up four, Syracuse up one, Florida up two and ASU up seven.

11:07 pm.  Wow, BYU very nearly got that steal and corner shot off that banked weirdly toward the rim.  Not sure it would have counted, but still…  So SDSU, Baylor and Oklahoma St. are the enemies of the bubblers.

11:11 pm. We lost track of the Pac-10 game for a bit, but ASU has forged ahead by nine now and appear to be poised to knock off the #1 seed Washington.  Bilas is still going off about Syracuse not being tired tonight, and we just don’t see it, but whatever.  In the SEC, UF and Auburn are playing scrappy, like the bubble teams that they are.  Duke us now up four on BC with five minutes left.

11:18 pm. Talk about a hump.  Auburn has had eleven possessions to take the lead and only just now took the lead (on the twelfth).  BC is back only down one to Duke.  SO MANY GAMES…  but hey, you gotta love it!!!

11:21 pm.  Duke up three, Syracuse up five.  Both under four minutes.  Mizzou is up four but there are ten minutes left in that one, so we can catch up on it a little later.

11:25 pm. Huge steal and timeout by WVU there to get the ball back only down three.  BC has it down to one again.  Terrible shot by BC to essentially give Duke two free points, followed by a sick three to tie it.

11:29 pm. Excellent drive by Flynn to get the foul and put Syracuse up three.  BC also got a foul to take two shots for the lead in the ACC.  Flynn misses the second and WVU will have 13 seconds…  BC makes both…

11:31 pm. WOW – very nearly an and-one for Devin Ebanks there.  Now the freshman will get two shots to tie the game.  No way he makes both, right?

11:32 pm. He got the first, and Gerald Henderson had a sweet post move to get the lead back.  BC will have 34.6 to try to win the game.  Quick look at the SEC – Auburn is up two on Florida with just under-four to go.

11:34 pm. Huge shots by Ebanks to tie the game.  Gutty.  And… Duke steals the ball under the basket – what happened there?  Oh, trying to get the ball underneath to a guy that wasn’t open.  Scheyer missed the first end of the 1-and-1, and here we go again…  BC has 10.6 seconds to win the game.

11:38 pm.  Not sure why BC decided to go for a 28-footer there instead of, you know, doing what worked all night – driving to the rim.  Back in the SEC, Auburn is up four and Syracuse is already up four in the OT against WVU.

11:40 pm.  Mizzou is up six with 2:38 to go in the Big 12 semis.  Amazing stat the Jonny Flynn has played 144 minutes in three games.  Cuse looks like they’re in control of this overtime, though.  Florida has the ball down three against Auburn.  This very well could be a knockout game, remember.  And Auburn just got the rebound and has a three-pt lead still.  HUGE dunk by Auburn to go up five with 0:25 remaining.  Could the Gators be looking at two straight NITs?  Maybe Billy should have stayed in Orlando after all?

11:43 pm. Walter Hodge knocks in a get-the-roll three to cut the Auburn lead back to two.  WVU will be going to the line down five with 28.2 seconds remaining.  Neither of these are over just yet.

11:48 pm. Terrible foul for Syracuse there after missing the second end.  Now WVU can get it down to two and hope for another miss to extend this game.  Down to two points.  One note from a bubble team is that St. Mary’s is destroying E. Washington tonight to get to their 26th win.  Not sure yet how Mills played, but we don’t believe this will influence the committee that much.  Either SMC is on their previous merits, or they’re not.

11:45 pm. Mizzou is pulling away in the Big 12.  Nice run for Oklahoma St. there to get to the semis.  They’re in as far as we’re concerned.  Auburn missed the second and Florida got rejected on a three at the buzzer, and Auburn wins.  Amazing that this team has come out of nowhere in the last month to put themselves into the conversation.  Syracuse is trying to put WVU away, but they’ll need to hit some more FTs.

11:52 pm. According to Lunardi, Maryland is now in the last four.  Syracuse missed another FT but it didn’t matter, because apparently you can run over three-pt shooters and not have a foul called.  ???  It was a gutsy performance by the Orange, but we’re afraid they’re going to really feel the effects against the withering athletes of Louisville.  Definite foul that should have been called there.  Good job, refs.

11:55 pm. Ok, that’s almost twelve hours of semi-liveblogging for today, so even though there’s a couple of other games taht are important going on right now – Utah vs. Wyoming in the Mtn West, and UCLA-USC in the Pac-10, we need to get outside and breathe some air for a bit.  Our fingers feel like Devendorf’s shooting arm right about now.  What a tremendous day of games, though.  So many close calls.  We’ll hopefully be back a little later with a wrap.  Either way, we’ll see you tomorrow morning for another full day of BGTD.  Btw, there are TWELVE conference championship games tomorrow.  Awesome.  Drink it up, folks.

]]> http://rushthecourt.net/2009/03/13/boom-goes-the-dynamite-031309/feed/ 28 http://rushthecourt.net/2009/02/28/boom-goes-the-dynamite-022809-edition/ http://rushthecourt.net/2009/02/28/boom-goes-the-dynamite-022809-edition/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:05:44 +0000 rtmsf http://rushthecourt.net/?p=5431

Welcome back to Boom Goes the Dynamite.  It’s Noon eastern and it’s Saturday, so that means we’re affixed to the couch for the rest of the weekend.  The day gets off to a little bit of a slow start, but keep in mind that RTC Live will be coming to you from Gampel Pavilion at UConn at 2pm, and we’ll be here for the rest of the action today (all 135 games).  Let’s get it going…

12:17pm. We’ve got Villanova – Georgetown on ESPN and Cleveland St. – Butler on ESPN2 right now.  UNC – Georgia Tech is on CBS, and if you’re really misogynistic, Depaul – St. John’s is on ESPN 360.  Here at the RTC compound we’re going to keep an eye on Butler right now because they don’t get much air time, tracking the others.

12:22pm. Has anyone else noticed that we’re only a week until the end of the regular season, but several of these “national” games are complete garbage?  Who’s making these schedules?  There’s no way UNC – Georgia Tech should be a CBS game on Feb. 28 this year.  Later we get the thrilling Oklahoma – Texas Tech game.  Oh well, at least Blake Griffin is due to return today.

12:27pm. So far it’s a brickfest in Philly at the Georgetown-Nova game, while the UNC-Ga Tech game is (shockingly) lacking defense.  Cleveland St. is giving Butler all they want so far – love the Hinkle Fieldhouse.  Where are Coach Dale, Shooter and Jimmy Chitwood?

12:43pm. Yes, Bucky, it is definitely a whiteout there.  Speaking of white, could Gordon Hayward be the second coming of Adam Morrison (w/o the floppy hair and needle injections during games)?  They both have similar builds and games (from our viewpoint), but Hayward has the superior numbers as a frosh (GH: 14/6 on 48%/83%/46% vs. AM: 11/4 on 53%/73%/30%).  Granted AM played 20 mpg his freshman season versus Hayward’s 32 mpg, but still.  Butler takes a six-pt lead into the half.

12:52pm. Heading into the half, Carolina is up thirteen on Ga Tech now.  This one is losing our interest quickly.  Georgetown had a beautiful end-of-half break to take a five-pt lead into the half in Philly.  The 1pm games are coming up soon – the only mildly interesting one is Memphis playing at home against Southern Miss.  They should overwhelm the 14-13 Larry Eustachies, but we want to keep an eye on this Tiger team to see once again if they’re as good as their ranking.

1:02pm.  A little bit of dead air right now among the three games we’re watching, so let’s put up a link.  Basketball Prospectus takes a look at the “luckiest” and “unluckiest” teams thus far this season, and determines that one of the teams we’re now watching (Georgia Tech) has been the second unluckiest team in the conference season (behind only West Virginia).  Is it bad luck, or do they just suck?  Terrible decisionmaking in the clutch has to have something to do with this measure.

1:14pm. We’re back with game action here, and Carolina is ripping Ga Tech, so we’re removing that one from our focus for now.  Butler is up six, and Georgetown remains up around 6-8 pts on Villanova.  You know, if this Georgetown score holds up, and they win their last two against St. John’s and Depaul, the Hoyas would get to 8-10 in the Big East.  We (and everyone else) wrote them off last week after the Ls to Marquette and Louisville, but looking at the numbers, wouldn’t a 17-12 Georgetown with an 8-10 Big East record get a long look due to their having the #1 SOS in the nation?  Remember the poster case for a team like this was 2001 Georgia, who was 16-14 with the toughest SOS in the nation…  it’s not out of the question.

1:33pm. Nova is fighting back, and Butler can’t quite get separation from Cleveland St.  Did we mention Butler was going for its third straight Horizon League title today.  It’s really pheonomenal considering what the Bulldogs lost from last year.  RTC’s prediction of Butler finishing fourth was not an uncommon sentiment.  In other news, Tyler Hansbrough just moved into first place in ACC history for most FTs made – insert your own joke here about why that might be.

1:41pm. Cleveland St. just took the lead and Butler responded.  This is going to be a great finish.  Butler has to win this game to secure the Horizon championship.  CSU is playing for a chance at the #2 seed here.

1:47pm. Quick reminder – RTC Live has begun from Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, ready for the Notre Dame at UConn game that starts in about 15 minutes.  Be sure to stop over at this link and leave your comments and questions.  Keep in mind that we’ll be taking the best questions with us into the locker room and media room afterwards.

1:51pm. Georgetown’s season comes down to these next five minutes.  If they can survive, they still have a realistic shot at the Tourney; if not, they have to win the Big East title.  Two straight airballs from the NBA three-point line does not help.  Over at Hinkle, Cleveland St. has the ball and a 2-pt lead.

1:54pm. CSU probably wanted to get a better shot than that baseline jumper (disagree with Bucky Waters there).  They’re not sunk though, in part because Butler missed a foul shot to leave the door open.  One score update – Memphis is up 32-14 on S. Miss at halftime.  Yeah.

1:56pm. Tremendous perimeter defense by Butler there to challenge CSU’s shot to win the game.  Speaking of defense, Villanova has played excellent D the last four possessions for Georgetown (who just missed the front end).

1:58pm. Butler hangs on despite missing three of their last four FT attempts.  Georgetown and Villanova are stuck on 52-50.  There’s a solid slate of 2pm games coming up, featuring the aforementioned ND at UConn game where RTC is liveblogging, and Clemson at Florida St. in an ACC matchup of middle tier teams.

2:01pm. Tough move by Chris Wright to give Georgetown a 3-pt lead with under a minute to play, followed by two huge turnovers.  One more score update – St. John’s raped Depaul to put the Blue Demons at 0-16 in the Big East.  We should have a postseason tournament with Depaul, Oregon, Georgia and Colorado.  The two losers have to give up their hoops spot in a BCS conference to Gonzaga and Butler.  Can anyone get this done?

2:06pm. Despite a long three by Nova, it looks like Georgetown is going to hang on.  Their defense saved them in the last five minutes, because they sure weren’t getting it done on the other end.  6-10 with a great shot at an 8-10 conference regular season plus a win or two in the conference tourney gets them in, it says here.

2:17pm.  Ok, we have two ACC games on ESPN Full Court now, as well as the ND-UConn game going.  Creighton-Illinois St. is also on ESPN2.  You guys have anything else?

2:24pm.  Thabeet just had a volleyball spike rejection on Harangody that’ll make him think twice about fading away like that again.  Wake and FSU are up early against their respective opponents.

2:30pm.  FSU is starting out strong at home against Clemson, up seven mid-first half.  We just turned it over to Wake-Virginia for a moment to see the Deacs running an open-court lob.  Still, both of these games should tighten up.  UConn only commits 12 fouls per game, which is two less than Samford, a team whose tempo is nearly last in the nation.  Guess if you have a Thabeet back there at the rim, you don’t need to grab people out on the perimeter as much.

2:44pm.  Kellogg is right.  ND needs to hit their threes today to stay in this game.  They have no shot going inside against Thabeet.  UConn is a top five team against two-point shots defensively, but are a little softer against the three (#38 nationally).  Of course, as soon as we say that, Thabeet goes out and Gody hits his hook shot.

2:50pm. McAlarney is heating up – sometimes all it takes is seeing one of them go through the net.  ND has six threes right now, and it’ll probably take 12-16 for them to pull out this game on the road.  UVa is hanging around with Wake in Charlottesville – not surprising – and FSU is still up double digits on Clemson.

3:04pm.  Score check – Memphis cruised past Southern Miss by 16 to go 14-0 in CUSA.  Texas A&M is destroying Iowa St. to move to 7-7 in the Big 12 and Creighton is up seven on Illinois St. at halftime.  The only really intriguing 3pm game is Arizona at Washington, as the Huskies (western version) try to wrap up the Pac-10 title today.

3:12pm. Gody has figured out that he needs to face up Thabeet, and he has six quick pts in the early second half already.  That hook shot was nearly the ugliest shot I’ve ever seen, but it went in, so whatever.  Illinois St. is back within two of Creighton, but FSU continues to run Clemson (now up 17).  UVa is back also – only down three to Wake.

3:20pm.  Nice little run for UConn.  We thought maybe ND would be better than 6-3 when they hit 10+ threes in a game, but they’re not.  Wake has pushed it back up to 8, while FSU continues to smoke Clemson.

3:30pm. The best two games right now are the ND-UConn (obvious) and Creighton-Ill. St (less obvious) games.  Duke is about ready to tip it off at Virginia Tech – can the Hokies knock off the Devils again?

3:40pm. UConn is killing themselves from the line (5-13), allowing ND to hang around.  UVa is also still hanging around with Wake (4 pts with 5 to go).  Clemson is working on a comeback, now down ten at FSU.  And Arizona has moved in front of Washington just in front of the half.

3:51pm.  Looks like we’re coming down to a great finish in Storrs.  Must be the RTC Live effect.  Adrien damn near plowed through his defender on that last possession.  Gody is throwing in some ridiculously soft shots here late.   Clemson still up ten and Wake only up three with 2:20 to go.

3:54pm. Wake with back to back three-point plays to go up nine in C’ville.  McAlarney really needed to hit that three for ND there.  Duke is smoking Va Tech early 20-5, and FSU is still hanging on against Clemson, up seven with four to go.

3:58pm. Rushed follow-up by Peoples there probably finished off Notre Dame’s season.  Even if the Irish get to 9-9 in the next week, their SOS is 48th and their RPI is in the 70s.  In our eyes, they’d be in worse shape than an 8-10 Georgetown team because of those numbers.  Great game in Storrs, though.

4:02pm. Clemson has come roaring all the way back and just missed a three to tie this game with 2:54 remaining.  We’re sticking here for now.

4:06pm. Totally lost track of this game, but Creighton is only up three on Ill St. right now with a minute to go.  FSU has gone on a 6-0 run since we last updated their game.  Under a minute now, looks like FSU will move into a tie with Wake for third place at 9-5 in the ACC.

4:10pm.  We’re very interested in seeing LSU at Kentucky today because we want to get a sense as to how legit (or not) LSU might be.  They’ve been on national tv so few times this season.  And as far as we’re concerned this is a must-win for UK.  ISU continues to put the pressure on Creighton, still down two with 11 seconds to go.  Now that FSU is finishing off Clemson, we’re moving over to the Arizona-Washington game on that tv.

4:20pm. LSU looks strong so far in Rupp – this UK team has to really frustrate their fans.  As an example, the play where Michael Porter got ripped from behind walking the ball upcourt is just indefensible.  Arizona is now up ten on Washington, and Duke is up eleven on Va Tech behind Gerald Henderson’s continued excellent play (17 pts).

4:26pm.  More updates.  A ton of action going on right now.  Blake Griffin already has a dub-dub (14/10) in the first half against Texas Tech.  Kentucky can’t really throw it in the ocean right now, and UW is making a push to pressure Arizona.  We have a feeling that will be a great finish.

4:34pm. Funny sign spotted on Gameday this morning – Don’t bRuin Your Life.  Love it – not much respect from Cal fans toward UCLA.  Anybody out there this afternoon?  Leave some comments so we don’t feel like we’re talking to the walls here….

4:40pm. Jordan Hill just rolled his ankle in the Arizona-Washington game.  Could be a HUGE loss for the Wildcats – he’s in a lot of pain right now.  UW had just taken the lead in that one with seven+ minutes to go.  LSU is dropping deep threes in Rupp right now.  Uh-oh, Hill is very ginger going off the court in Seattle.  Not much change in the Duke or Oklahoma games.  Yet.  There’ll be a run.  There’s always a run.

4:51pm.  Coach K just lit into his team on the bench, which probably means Va Tech is about to make a run here.  They’re down ten after an Elliot Williams three.   LSU went into halftime up eight on the home team, and Washington has a 1-pt lead on Arizona.

4:55pm. Goodness.  AD Vassallo just dunked all over Jon Scheyer on a drive down the lane there.  Henderson has gone cold, shooting a lot of bricks up from the outside.  Here come the Hokies.  Meanwhile, Chase Budinger fouled out of the Washington-Arizona game.

4:57pm. Jordan Hill is out there limping around and he just hit a ridiculous fadeaway to keep UA within one.  No wonder this guy is considered a high lottery pick.

5:00pm. Don’t think we’ve ever seen announcers steal the game ball in the middle of a game to do a simulation of what Duke is doing defensively.  Please… let’s not do that again.  Va Tech is still down seven, but they’ve got plenty of time to make the run.  Washington is up three with thirty seconds to go.  And somehow Texas Tech is hanging with Oklahoma in the Big 12.

5:06pm. An absolutely TREMENDOUS block by Va Tech to set up the break for an AD Vassallo dunk (who is going Greivis Vasquez on that azz right now).

5:09pm. Washington hangs on against Arizona, despite Jordan Hill’s magnificent 27 pts on a bum ankle.  Dunno about you, but we’d hate to see UW on the other side of our favorite team in the bracket in two weeks.  Va Tech has cut it down to three and has all the momentum right now.

5:14pm. Another great block by Va Tech, who has finally gotten itself all the way back behind AD Vassallo (19 pts second half).  Duke is stone cold right now – largely due to VT’s defensive efforts.  Kentucky has also gotten itself back, now down 2 to LSU early in the second half.

5:16pm. Sighhhhh…. another Duke flop where Scheyer was already at 45 degrees before the player even touched him.  PLEASE NCAA GET THE SEMI-CIRCLE UNDER THE BASKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5:31pm. Wow, UK has gone on a huge run to open the second half and effectively put LSU in the outhouse (now down 10).  Meeks and Patterson have 40 of UK’s 54 pts.   Virginia Tech got it back down to four, but blew a possession that would have given them a shot at winning this game.

5:34pm.  Purdue is dominating Ohio St. in the Big Ten, and Oklahoma finished off Texas Tech behind Blake Griffin’s 20/18.  Meanwhile, Va Tech gave up a totally unacceptable runout to give Duke a five-pt lead again.  UK’s run is 28-10 in this half against LSU.

5:40pm. ABC just showed replays of Jon Scheyer lifting and moving his pivot foot three separate times in a trap situation.  Coming on the heels of this one last week, what exactly are the refs looking at in these situations?  It’s ridiculous.  Duke wins.  Va Tech is squarely on the bubble, which they seemingly domicile on every year around this time.

5:45pm. Scott, to answer your question, I wouldn’t want to see Georgetown for sure anywhere near my 3/4/5 seeded team as a first round opponent.  Kentucky – agreed because of the dynamic duo of Patterson/Meeks.  I’d throw Arizona in there as well – when you have three scorers like Wise/Budinger/Hill, there’s always a danger that two or all three have good nights.  My fourth would be a Big East team like Providence/Cincy/Notre Dame, where you’re not sure what you’re going to get on a given night, but you’re pretty sure they’re good enough on their good nights to beat just about anybody.

5:51pm. This LSU-Kentucky game is coming down to the wire, and UK is playing it like this is their entire season (partially because it could be).  Over in the A10, Dayton is leading Temple by five in a battle of 9-4 teams.  And in a huge Mountain West game, Utah leads BYU 24-19.

5:55pm. Amazing putback and-one by Marcus Thornton.  LSU has a three-pt lead on that three by Spencer.  To Scott’s question: probably because nobody has a clue who is actually on LSU’s team this year, haha.  Did that three by Darius Miller just save Kentucky’s season?

5:59pm. Ok, he made it, but WHY would Tasmin Mitchell take a three with 9 seconds still on the clock there?!?!  That looked like a John Brady-coached player there, not a Trent Johnson-coached one.

6:02pm. LSU showed a lot of guts and moxie in this one, to be down ten pts in Rupp with that place rocking and still be able to hit big shot after big shot to win their tenth in a row.  What does this mean for Kentucky and the streak of 17 NCAAs in a row?  Probably need to win the last two vs. UT and Florida and make a run to the SEC Finals, at minimum.  The Cats’ computer numbers just aren’t competitive otherwise this year.  LSU is really an unbelievable story this year.  Had the Tigers not gotten romped by Utah and dropped out-of-conference games to Xavier and Texas A&M, they’d be in the top 5.  Still, it’s hard to really gauge them because the SEC looks so terrible this year.  Something tells us that this team is better than their conference profile, though.

6:20pm. The only game we’re seeing right now is the Holy War at BYU vs. Utah – the Cougs are up two and that place is going insane right now.  Josh, the tech was ridiculous, and I completely agree with you on the “policy” for dealing with injured players on one end of the floor.  We don’t want to encourage malingering so that fast break opportunities are erased for the team with the ball, but I too have noticed the inconsistent application you’re talking about.  But the blatant pivot foot thing is driving me nuts (and it’s not just Duke).

6:45pm. The Marriot Center continues to go nuts in Provo, as Lee Cummard has dropped 12 in the second half to push the BYU Lead up to 12.  A win here would put BYU one game behind the Utes with two to play next week.  Both of these teams are probably safely in the Dance, but there’s no love lost between these two Utah schools.  Over on ESPN, Oklahoma St. has jumped out quickly on Texas 28-15, and UPSET ALERT, Wazzu is leading Arizona St. by three up in Pullman late in the second half.

7:00pm. For Josh’s sake, we’re putting this up.  :-)

7:03pm. The ASU-Wazzu game isn’t on anywhere we can find, but somehow Arizona St. scored three pts in the last two seconds of regulation to send this one to OT.  Now they’re down two with under ten seconds left in the extra period.  BYU is busy wrapping up its game against Utah – the grape juice will be flowing tonight!

7:20pm. Wazzu held on for the upset over Arizona St, 51-49.  It’s no inconceivable that Wazzu would finish with a win over Washington next week (they are playing much better) to get to 9-9 in the Pac-10, but their computer numbers are so awful that they’re going to have to win the Pac-10 Tourney to make the NCAA Tournament.  Not likely, but look at their last three wins – Arizona, UCLA, Arizona St.  Not exactly three games against Oregon there.  Texas is finally waking up in Stillwater – they really can’t afford to lose this game – their seed is dropping like a granite basketball lately.

7:40pm. Whew, the only game currently on is the Texas-OSU game.  OSU is still leading, up 8, with just under eight minutes to go.  Reviewing OSU’s numbers, a win here would put the Cowboys at 8-6 in the Big 12 with a solid RPI (32) and SOS (16).  Even more importantly, they’re trending the right way, having won four in a row (soon to be five?).   Actually, Gonzaga at San Diego should be starting soon, but there’s some NASCAR nonsense with a burning car currently on that station.

8:10pm. OSU held on after Texas made a push to get it within 1-2 pts.  This will be a tremendous boost to the Pokes’ tourney chances.  As for Texas, the fact is that they don’t have a point guard and they’re not going to have a point guard, which means when AJ Abrams isn’t going nuts (like today, 3-15 FGs), the Texas offense sputters.  Gonzaga is up early on USD, but we’re going to take a little break until the Cal-UCLA game begins in about 40 minutes.

8:47pm. Ok, we’re getting ready for the Cal-UCLA game here.  The Cal fans are all over Knight for his red-sweater wardrobe.  On the other channels, we’ve still got Gonzaga leading San Diego by five in the early second half, and we also have Pittsburgh leading Seton Hall early.  Jumping back to the Gameday game, we like Cal at home tonight.  The difference between this year’s Cal team under Mike Montgomery and last year’s under Ben Braun is that the 08-09 version actually attempts to play some defense occasionally.  They’re not great at it, ranking in the 130s in defensive efficiency, but considering they were in the bottom forty teams in America last year, they’ve come a long way already.  It’s already been discussed that UCLA’s defense isn’t what it has been for the last several years, so we’re anticipating a high-octane shootout tonight in Berkeley.

8:54pm. Does Vitale not travel to the west coast?  It’s odd that he’s not calling the Gameday game tonight, isn’t it?  We know he’s cut back considerably on games this year due to his vocal cord scare last season, but come to think of it, has anyone heard from him in a week or more?

9:22pm.  Cal is looking good so far, but UCLA is hanging around.  Pitt is in a dogfight with Seton Hall, there was a scare to DeJuan Blair earlier but it appears that he’ll be ok.  Gonzaga ran the table in the WCC again (14-0), with a road win at USD.  USD was probably one of the bigger disappointments in the mid-major world this season.

9:40pm. Cal is nailing these threes (4-7), but more importantly, they’re holding the Bruins to 36% shooting from the field.  Pitt is back on, with a two-point lead over Seton Hall.  Other scores – Stanford is up four on USC in Palo Alto and St. Mary’s appears to be heading to the #2 seed in the WCC Tourney as they’re up 15 on LMU.

9:53pm.  Wow, Mike Montgomery was absolutely livid about that seven-pt play that briefly gave UCLA the lead.  Cal should consider itself lucky by having 12 turnovers and still leading the game by two points at halftime.  This game will turn on whether Cal can cut down its turnover problem and if someone – Aboya, Collison, Shipp – can get hot for the Bruins.

10:14pm. Quick 7-0 run by UCLA to start the half, but Cal responded.  You know what really irritates me right now – the fact that I cannot see the GD three-point line in Haas Pavilion.  WHY do teams insist on putting a yellow-on-wood three-point line down on these floors?  See the Ugly Floor post for more discussion of this.

10:25pm.  Patrick Christopher hits another three – is he one of the more unknown really good players in the country?  Along with Jerome Randle, they combine for 33 ppg, both shoot a high percentage from everywhere on the floor, and they’re both juniors who are probably going to be back next season.

10:37pm. A 13-0 spearheaded by Darren Collison gives UCLA the lead, and now the Bruins appear to be running away with this game.  Pitt finished off Seton Hall in the Big East, but they’ll no longer be #1 when the new polls come out on Monday.

10:54pm. Cal’s possession where they took a ridiculous three that turned into an airball followed by Darren Collison dribbling off of his leg then throwing in a shot probably put the nail in the Bears’ coffin.

11:02pm. Cal keeping their hopes alive with a late three by Randle.  If UCLA holds on to get this one, this is an impressive win for them.  It shows that they still have the moxie to step up when their backs are against the wall (having come in losing 3 of 5).  Cal VERY nearly got a couple of steals there that would have given them a shot to tie the game.  Nevertheless, UCLA is going to the line with a chance to salt this one away.  Josh Shipp bricked the first, but got the second to essentially salt this one away.  Great win for the Bruins.

11:10pm. Well that’s pretty much it for another all-day edition of BGTD.  We’ll be back tomorrow with full coverage of tomorrow’s games, although why anyone in their right minds would want to watch the FSN games tomorrow night is beyond us (Maryland v. NC State; Oregon v. Oregon St.).  Have a great night, Hoops Nation…

]]> http://rushthecourt.net/2009/02/28/boom-goes-the-dynamite-022809-edition/feed/ 11 http://rushthecourt.net/2009/02/25/atb-1-is-the-pitts/ http://rushthecourt.net/2009/02/25/atb-1-is-the-pitts/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:57:53 +0000 rtmsf http://rushthecourt.net/?p=5278

When Rush the Court rushed the court. Providence 81, Pittsburgh 73. We’ll have a more thorough review of Providence’s huge upset of Pittsburgh in our recap of RTC IV early tomorrow morning, but we’ll talk about it here as well because it was the story of the night. Obviously we covered the action quite extensively in our RTC Live post of the game, but we have to say it’s a pretty amazing thing to be standing between a group of rabid fans and the court that they are about rush.  We’d also like to point out that we were the only media members to stay there for the buzzer and the fans’ RTC.  In fact, we ended up out there on the court to celebrate the moment with them (pictures to follow tomorrow).  Whether it was the “Curse of #1″ (teams are now just 8-5 as the #1 team since UNC lost to Boston College) or the fact that the Friars and their fans were pumped up for Senior Night, but Providence dominated this game from the opening tip. (Ok, maybe not the tip, which DeJuan Blair won, but everything afterwards) The Friars jumped out to a 15-4 lead just 5 minutes into the game thanks to some hot shooting and some poor ball-handling by the Panthers. Providence led by double digits for most of the game as they were able to force the issue getting to the FT line 29 times compared to 15 for the Panthers, but Pitt showed some of their mettle by cutting the lead to 5 with 50 seconds left on a layup (and push-off) by Blair. The Friars hung tough though shrugging off their tendency to give away big leads this year and held on by hitting their free throws down the stretch. I’m not sure what the loss means for Pitt at this point except that the #1 overall seed is officially up for grabs, but it probably would have been anyway on March 7th when UConn travels to western Pennsylvania. Jamie Dixon’s squad was killed by turnovers and the free throw disparity. The Panthers had 18 turnovers overall with 5 coming from Blair, who had a better stat line (17 points and 8 rebounds in 30 minutes) than we thought from just watching the game.  He even managed to play 30 minutes despite fouling out as he picked up his 3rd and 4th fouls in a 13-second stretch midway through the 2nd half. Pitt got a strong performance from Ashton Gibbs (15 points) off the bench and a solid one from Sam Young (16 points and 8 rebounds), but it wasn’t enough to overcome the turnovers and free throw disparity. For Providence, this game was huge. The win, which was their first over a #1 since they beat Michigan in 1976, puts them at 9-7 in the Big East with a strong chance at a 10-8 conference record (PC is at Rutgers and Villanova to finish the season). None of the Friars had an exceptional game but everyone on the team played well (Weyinmi Efejuku with 16, Sharaud Curry with 15, Jonathan Kale with 13, Geoff McDermott with 11, and Randall Hanke with 10). They also did a great job handling the ball (18 assists with just 9 turnovers) as well as pressuring Pittsburgh (forcing 18 turnovers while allowing just 12 assists) and holding their own on the glass against the #1 rebounding team in the country (-6 rebounding margin). For more on this game and the aftermath, check back in the morning for a complete post.

We Have a BCS Conference Regular Season Champ. LSU 81, Florida 75.   Possibly the biggest question-mark team going into the NCAA Tournament is going to be this LSU Tiger team of Trent Johnson’s.  Last season with largely the same group of players but a vastly inferior coach, LSU went 13-18.  Currently LSU is 24-4 and 12-1 in the SEC, which makes them the regular season champions.  The problem is that the SEC is so incredibly weak this season that it’s difficult to discern how good LSU actually might be.  Their OOC schedule was pitiful, and they lost to every good team they played, but in watching this team this evening, they “looked” like a typically talented and athletic SEC team of any other year.  But can they get past their weak conference to make a run in the NCAAs – that’s the difficult question to answer.  Marcus Thornton had 32/5/5 assts in the winning effort.  What about the Gators, now 8-5 in the SEC with an RPI still in the 40s?  Nothing really impresses us about this team.

A Bubble Team You Probably Haven’t Considered. Texas A&M 57, Nebraska 55.  At first glance, a game between two middling Big 12 teams wouldn’t arouse much interest, but a little closer analysis shows that this buzzer-beating shot by A&M’s Josh Carter to cap a huge comeback from down 18 pts may have put the Aggies back onto the bubble.  Consider that A&M is now 6-7 in the Big 12, has two games against bottom-feeders Colorado and Iowa St. (+ Missouri) and has an RPI at #40.  Their SOS is 33d, and they boast wins over LSU (looking better and better) as well as Arizona (also looking better and better).  It says here that an 8-8 TAMU team gets in, which is why this shot was enormous.  Nebraska, incidentally, is also 6-7, but their RPI and overall profile are significantly worse than A&M’s.

Some Other Games For Your Fat Tuesday.

• Iowa St. 71, Baylor 62.  How does a top-25 caliber team lose eight of its last nine games without any significant injury?  The Bears really had almost no chance of an NCAA bid prior to tonight, but this loss to a bad ISU team was the coffin nailer.
• Boston College 72, Florida St. 67.  RTC considered going live at this bubbly game instead of Providence-Pitt.  Glad we went with the game in Rhody, but BC probably guaranteed itself a bid with a minimum .500 record in the ACC after tonight.  Tyrese Rice hit the dagger three with 20 seconds remaining to lock up the game for the Eagles.
• Ohio St. 73, Penn St. 59.  Jeremie Simmons came off the bench to hit four threes as OSU moved into a four-way tie for fourth in the Big Ten at 8-7.
• Syracuse 87, St. John’s 58.  Cuse dominated from start to finish, shooting 65% behind Jonny Flynn’s 21/8 assts.
• Northern Iowa 69, Illinois St. 67 (2OT).  UNI got an unlikely tip-in to keep the pace in the MVC with Creighton, who…
• Creighton 65, Missouri St. 59.  …rallied from a double-figure second-half deficit behind Casey Harriman’s three triples in that half.
• BYU 69, San Diego St. 59.  BYU’s Jimmer Fredette dropped twenty of his 28 pts in the second half as the Cougars made a huge comeback (theme of the night) to get a key road win to stay one game off the Mountain West pace behind Utah.

Kurt of SEC Hoops: The Good, The Bad, The Dirty is the RTC correspondent for the Southeastern Conference.

Predicted Order of Finish:

EAST

1. Tennessee (25-5, 13-3)
2. Florida (25-5, 12-4)
3. Kentucky (22-8, 11-5)
4. Vanderbilt (24-6, 9-7)
5. South Carolina (19-10, 8-8)
6. Georgia (15-13, 5-11)

WEST

1. Alabama (18-11, 8-8)
2. LSU (21-10, 8-8)
3. Mississippi State (21-10, 8-8)
4. Ole Miss (17-13, 7-9)
5. Arkansas (14-15, 5-11)
6. Auburn (14-17, 3-13)

What You Need to Know.  The name of the game for the SEC this year is youth. The Western Division in particular, as nearly every team loses some nucleus from squads that formed a comparatively weak conference half as it was. Tennessee once again looks to lead a strong Eastern Division despite the loss of All-American Chris Lofton. The nation will be looking towards this typically loaded conference with several questions heading into 2008-09. Can Florida’s sophomores have a breakout season similar to those of 2006-07? Can Kentucky put enough guards around all-SEC forward Patrick Patterson to compete for the East? And can the West avoid being stomped once again in head-to-head competitions with the East? My answers: yes, yes, and no.

Predicted Champion.   Tennessee (#2 seed NCAA). It’s pretty easy to brag on Bruce Pearl. He’s one of the nation’s premier coaches, owning a ridiculous 394-108 (.785) record as a head coach, standing third amongst current head coaches. Despite losing popular 2007-08 preseason pick for National Player of the Year Chris Lofton and do-everything guard/forward JuJuan Smith, the Vols will benefit from huge losses across the board for the SEC. All-American forward Tyler Smith (13.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg) returns to provide the squad with a heavy-duty anchor inside (although the 6’7, 215 lb. junior hits 37.8% from behind the arc), while talented center Wayne Chism will be mopping up inside defensively. Hopping aboard the orange train are a pair of insanely talented newcomers. Everything-All-American out of high school Scotty Hopson will be challenging for the starting spot at shooting guard while junior-college All-American Bobby Maze looks to start at point guard. All in all, the talent, experience, and coaching level is the highest in Knoxville, and that’s why the Vols are picked to win the SEC regular season for the second consecutive season.   Here’s some clips from the classic #1 v. #2 matchup Tennessee had with Memphis last season.

NCAA Teams.

• Florida (NCAA #3) – The Gators have once again put together a formula for a set of super sophomores. The league’s top freshman, as well as one of the conference’s best point guards in years, returns in Nick Calathes while a pair of star freshmen in Kenny Kadji and Eloy Vargas will attempt to fill the rather large shoes of NBA-bound Marreese Speights. Don’t be surprised if the Gators reclaim the SEC regular-season title for the third time in the past four years and show up knocking on the door of the NCAA’s Elite Eight.
• Kentucky (NCAA #6) – The Wildcats have a lot of outside shooting to replace, after losing over 33 points per game in Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley. SEC Co-Freshman of the Year Patrick Patterson returns and looks to touch the ball on nearly every possession, and incoming freshman DeAndre Liggins should serve as this year’s heavily-relied upon freshman for the Wildcats at the point guard spot. UK could challenge for the Eastern Division (and thus, the overall SEC crown) and sneak into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen if the pieces fall correctly.
• Vanderbilt (NCAA #9) – Replacing SEC Player of the Year Shan Foster won’t be easy for Kevin Stallings, but the Commodores have another potential POY candidate in A.J. Ogilvy to step into that leadership role. Ogilvy returns as the conference’s most efficient player and scorer, and Jermaine Beal will be the guy to pass inside to the talented post-man while remaining a scoring threat this season. Although the Commodores lose an immense talent in Foster, Ogilvy should be enough to push the squad into the first couple of rounds in the NCAA Tournament.
• LSU (NCAA #11) – The Tigers return nearly every major contributor from last year’s 13-18 squad except for star freshman Anthony Randolph and head coach John Brady, who was replaced during the offseason with accomplished former Stanford coach Trent Johnson. Johnson inherits possibly the league’s most talented overall player in senior Marcus Thornton, the league’s leading returning scorer, along with a chance to get LSU back to the NCAA Tournament (if just so) for the first time since 2006’s Final Four run.
• Mississippi State (NCAA #12) – The Bulldogs lose the most talented duo in the conference in multi-dimensional Jamont Gordon and dominating post-presence Charles Rhodes. In addition, State will need to find a replacement at shooting guard with sophomore Ben Hansbrough transferring to Notre Dame. The positive, however, is that MSU is loaded with talented and will anchor around National Defensive Player of the Year Jarvis Varnado, who led the nation in blocks per game and helped the team rank second nationally in field-goal percentage defense. Adding two big new pieces to the puzzle in freshmen Dee Bost and Romero Osby, the Bulldogs could win their share of the West for the third time in the past four season and make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the past eight seasons.

NIT Teams.

• Alabama (NIT) – I’ve predicted several SEC squads with similar in-conference records, and thus those with the weaker RPIs have been restricted to the NIT. Alabama is one of them. The Tide return former All-American Ronald Steele, but major questions still surround his ability to return to his former self after several complications with knee injuries. McDonald’s All-American freshman JaMychal Green will step into the spot of the league’s most dominant offensive post-man in departed Richard Hendrix. If Green can handle the post himself, or if little-known sophomore Justin Knox can step in to assist, the Tide could find themselves away from a top NIT seed and into the NCAAs.
• South Carolina (NIT) – New head coach David Horn from Western Kentucky infamy will step into a very favorable position at the helm of the Gamecocks. USC brings back more firepower, at least percentage-wise, than any other SEC team and could post the biggest turnaround season the league has seen in quite some time. Junior Devan Downey returns as one of the league’s top point guards and toughest men to keep out of the lane along with ranking as the SEC’s second-leading returning scorer. With almost every piece seeming to come into place for a special season for USC, keep your eyes pealed for a potential Gamecock bubble squad.

Others.

• Arkansas – Just as USC returns nearly everyone, Arkansas loses nearly everyone from a team that underachieved a season ago. Namely, the Razorbacks lose former SEC Freshman of the Year Patrick Beverly, who decided to try his luck overseas. Despite a solid recruiting class, this should be a rebuilding year for John Pelphrey.
• Auburn – The Tigers simply have had a bare cupboard in both talent and depth constantly under Jeff Lebo, and this year is little different. The return of Korvotney Barber should help matters some, assuming he stays healthy, but Auburn won’t improve to any real degree until Lebo is let go.
• Georgia – The Bulldogs under Dennis Felton have been comparable to Auburn under Lebo for quite some time, except that Felton recruits a bit better and has had some nominal success such as last year’s confusing SEC Tournament run. With mass suspensions and off-the-court issues, UGA should remain near or at the bottom of the conference this season – and Felton should receive his pink slip much like Lebo.
• Ole Miss – The Rebels lost a lot last season, but were still anchored inside by solid and experienced forwards, especially Dwayne Curtis.  With those losses, this team is almost entirely underclassmen and could sneak into the NIT if they catch some breaks.

RPI Boosters.

• Kentucky @ North Carolina (11.18.08) – If the Wildcats can pull a massive upset of the consensus #1 team in the nation in Chapel Hill, they will be well on their way to returning to national recognition.
• Tennessee vs. Marquette (12.16.08) – The Volunteers get little or no breaks throughout the non-conference schedule, and this SEC vs. Big East matchup will be for conference bragging rights.
• LSU @ Texas A&M (12.20.08) – If the Tigers want to prove they are rebounding, this will be one of few opportunities for them to so in the non-conference slate.
• South Carolina @ Baylor (01.02.08) – The Gamecocks’ schedule is ridiculously light, and their schedule will be inflated by this point in the season. This game is a must-win if USC wants to take the step up into the NCAAs.
• Tennessee @ Kansas (01.03.08) – Another heavyweight matchup for the Vols, who have a chance to take down a reigning national champ on their home court.
• Kentucky @ Louisville (01.04.08) – The Cats could seriously bolster their NCAA seed and chances to advance in the NCAAs by taking down Louisville on the road.
• Memphis @ Tennessee (01.24.08) – A quickly-heating rivalry as the amount of NBA potential on this floor could drown the common man.

Important Games.

• LSU @ Mississippi State (01.11.09) – If the Tigers want to break through the cap and take the West, a win in this early conference game would be a huge advantage.
• Kentucky @ Alabama (01.24.09) – The Tide must be able to win games at home against the top tier of the East if they have any serious hope of challenging for the overall SEC crown.
• Mississippi State @ Alabama (02.21.09) – If the Bulldogs take care of the Tide at home, they have a shot to make it six in a row over their rivals and take a major step towards another West title.
• Tennessee @ Florida (03.01.09) – The Gators must hold serve at home to compete in the East, while the Vols could wrap up the conference title with a win here.
• Kentucky @ Florida (03.07.09) – We know the Wildcats can win at home, but can they win in Gainesville? This one could be for the East.

Neat-O Stat.  The Southeastern Conference is one of the nation’s deepest and most competitive leagues. The SEC ranks second only behind the ACC in average conference RPI since 1999, and has put every single member into the NCAA tournament since 2002.

65 Team Era.  The SEC has had a tremendous amount of success in this era, going 178-117 (.603) which is good enough for third behind the ACC and Big East.  This includes thirteen F4s and five national titles.  What’s particularly impressive is that only four of those F4s and two titles belong to Kentucky, the traditional standard-bearer of this league, which shows that the rest of the conference has taken basketball to heart and stepped it up. 

Final Thoughts.  The SEC was a huge disappointment on the national scene a season ago. Without major flag-bearers such as Kentucky or Florida dominating, expectations fell on Tennessee to take their #2 seed to the Final Four. Instead, the Vols served as the only team from the conference to make the Sweet Sixteen before falling on their faces to Louisville.  While this year likely won’t be much of an improvement, consider it a gigantic top-to-bottom reloading of one of the nation’s premier men’s basketball conferences, with the league’s talent being tremendously youth-oriented.  Three SEC teams look to have serious aspirations for getting past the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and all are from the East: Tennessee, Florida, and Kentucky. If a Western Division team can step up and compete better than expected and at least two of these teams make the Sweet Sixteen this season, it should serve as a useful springboard to a very potent year for the SEC on the national scene in 2009-2010.

Many of our younger fans know Dawkins as Coach K’s right-hand man for several years now and a potential candidate for several D-I head coaching positions, our older (and more well-read visitors) are also aware of his exploits on the basketball court. Here is a brief list of his accomplishments:

- 1986 Naismith College Player of the Year
- #2 on the all-time Duke scoring list (2,556 points)
- Named one of the 50 greatest ACC players of all-time
- 10th overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs (9 years in the NBA)

While I think that Dawkins will become a very good head coach, it is a pretty big jump from being an assistant coach (even at arguably the most well-known program in college basketball) to a head coach at a major D-I school in what might have been the best conference in the country last year. Dawkins will probably have a tough time the next few years especially with the Lopez twins leaving, but I think if Stanford gives him enough time he should transform it into a perennial Pac-10 power. Now the interesting question is how this will affect the Coach K succession plan as Dawkins was widely considered to be the favorite if and when Coach K decides to step down from his throne.

It had to be the money.  Otherwise, why would Trent Johnson, a west coast guy who had rebuilt Stanford basketball into a top program in the west take a job in the south at a football school with only lukewarm support for roundball?

Johnson May Find Things a Little Different in Baton Rouge

And what about LSU – they were reportedly looking at Anthony Grant or Travis Ford, two of the hotter young program-builders around.  Hiring Trent Johnson seems to come a little out of left field, but it undoubtedly will be the ship upon which new AD Joe Alleva will raise his sail.

As for Stanford, can Monty get out of his contract with Cal this quickly?  Will they now target someone such as Grant or Ford?  Do they look internally?   

Tom Izzo has done a good job getting the Spartans back on track after a bad February stretch where they lost 3 of 4 games. The Spartans returned all 5 starters from last year so they obviously have experience, which helped them withstand that rough stretch. However, coming into the tournament not a lot of people were giving them much respect particularly with Pittsburgh waiting in the 2nd round. The Spartans surprised a lot of people, including me, by knocking off the Panthers. The Spartans are led offensively by a pair of 2nd team All-Big 10 players: Raymar Morgan and the more-heralded Drew Neitzel. The duo, who average 14.2 and 14.1 PPG respectively, will need a big performance out of freshman PG Kalin Lucas if they want to try to run with the Tigers (IMO not the best strategy).

If you’re a college basketball fan (and if you’re on this blog you certainly are one unless you ended up here doing a Google search for Erin Andrews), you know about Memphis’s inability to hit free throws. I don’t buy into John Calipari that Memphis won their 2nd round game against Mississippi State at the free throw line because they made more free throws despite going 15/32 from the line. It seems like there hasn’t been a single analyst who picks Memphis to win the title, but when I look at this team I see an unbelievably athletic team that is 35-1 and came very close to being undefeated at this point in the season. The Tigers like to run and utilize a Dribble-Drive Motion offense. Leading the attack are Chris Douglas-Roberts and the ridiculously fast freshman PG Derrick Rose. While having those two along might be enough to sustain an offense, Calipari also has solid players in Robert Dozier, Joey Dorsey, and Antonio Anderson. The result is an unconvential offense filled with freakish athletes, a combination that is very hard to defend. One big key for Memphis will be is if they can keep Dorsey out of foul trouble as he is their muscle inside (at least as long as he doesn’t try to talk trash like he did last year before he got beat down by Greg Oden).

Opening Line: Memphis -5.
Prediction: A lot of analysts think the Tigers will be the first #1 seed to lose. I could definitely see that happening, but just not in this round. The Tigers have too much talent for the Spartans. If the Spartans have an X-factor, it would be Lucas. Unfortunately, he will be going against Rose who is several levels above Lucas at this point in their careers. The result is Memphis winning by 5-10 points. I think they will outplay the Spartans, but will keep the game close with their “winning” free throw shooting.

- #2 Texas vs. #3 Stanford (7:27 PM): Along with the Tennessee-Louisville game, this was our favorite game of the long weekend. Hopefully, this turns out to be more exciting than than the Cardinals rout was.

I’ll get this over with now: nobody left in the tournament can guard Brook Lopez. If he’s on, he should be getting 30 a night for the rest of the tournament. By now everyone knows that his twin brother Robin is the more defensive-minded one, which has led some people to speculate that Robin may be more successful as a pro (think Joakim Noah or Anderson Varejao). While those two will control the inside, the Cardinal use Lawrence Hill, Anthony Goods, and Mitch Johnson to control the perimeter. This trio hasn’t gotten much respect including from yours truly. However, if Stanford wants to beat Texas in Houston, they will need this group to control D.J. Augustin (and for Trent Johnson to stick around for the 2nd half).

Rick Barnes has done a great job making the Longhorns into a national title contender a year after losing Kevin Durant to the NBA. The Longhorns are led by D.J. Augustin, who has taken his game to another level as he has not had Durant to bail him out like last year. Augustin also has great support from A.J. Abrams, Damion James, and Connor Atchley. While the Longhorns don’t really have an answer for Brook Lopez, I don’t know how well the Lopez twins are going to be able to guard Atchley when he steps behind the 3 pt line where he has shot 42.3% (41/97) for the year.

Opening Line: Texas -1.
Prediction: If this game was outside of Texas, I probably would have gone with Stanford and the big guy inside. In the end, I think the homecourt and the Longhorns edge on the perimeter will let them pull away at the end of the game.

Midwest
- #1 Kansas vs. #12 Villanova (9:40 PM): This weekend in Detroit will once again focus all the attention on Bill Self and his heretofore confounding inability to get extremely talented teams into the F4 (o-4 trips to the E8). Considering that this bracket was blown apart by Cinderellas last weekend, the Jayhawks are the odds on favorite to win this region.

Villanova has looked really good in their two games against Clemson and Siena, shooting 52% and holding its opponents to only 37%. Scottie Reynolds has found his stroke, averaging 23 ppg thus far in the Tourney, and dropping eight threes in the two games. Look for Kansas to focus in on stopping Reynolds, as Villanova simply isn’t nearly as good of a team when he’s misfiring (27 total pts in Nova’s last three Ls).

But let’s be serious here. Kansas is the most talented team that Villanova has faced this season, and their season-long inconsistency is the reason they ended up a #12 seed. Their best wins of the year were probably close wins over Pitt and UConn at home, and neither of those teams bring the noise on offense (#1 off. efficency) and defense (#5 def. efficiency) as Kansas does. Villanova will play hard, but by most measures, a run to the Sweet 16 renders their season a successful one, and they’ll be happy to be there tonight. Kansas has much larger aspirations in mind, and as such, we expect a blowout win here tonight.

Opening Line: Kansas -11.5.
Prediction: KU jumps out early and often. Villanova makes a run in the second half to make things interesting, but they never seriously threaten the Jayhawks tonight. Bill Self’s albatross will be judged on Sunday.

- #3 Wisconsin vs. #10 Davidson (7:10 PM): The undercard in Detroit tonight could end up being a total washout, we’re afraid. Davidson has looked fantastic in its two come-from-behind upsets of Gonzaga and Georgetown last weekend, and Stephen Curry’s legend is already concretely imprinted into the national consciousness. But we have a sneaky suspicion that the #1 defensive team in the land will absolutely lock up Curry, leaving the rest of the Wildcats struggling to pick up the slack.

The game that concerns us was the 6-19 (3-10 from 3) clunker (15 pts) that Curry put up against UCLA back in December. The Bruin defense (#2 nationally) keyed on Curry, which allowed the other Davidson shooters to get open looks early, as Davidson ran out to a quick early lead. But once UCLA figured out that they were going to have to guard all the Davidson shooters, they took control of the game and pulled away easily in the second half.

Wisconsin will probably employ a similar strategy. They’ll slow the game down to a crawl, and essentially dare anyone but Curry to beat them. You can count on a bruising, grinding, no-mistakes gameplan by Bo Ryan’s team, and honestly, short of a superhuman effort by Curry again, we don’t see any way that Davidson wins their way into the Elite 8. Gonzaga was soft mentally, and Georgetown forgot that they had a 7’3 beast underneath the basket, but Wisconsin is a different story.

Opening Line: Wisconsin -4.
Prediction: As much as we’d like to see the Curry bandwagon continue for another game, we just don’t think it’s possible. The Badgers will bump and grind him into a poor shooting night, giving him and his teammates more motivation for next year’s possible dream season.